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William Branham told about a series of eight prophetic visions he experienced in June 1933. In the third vision, William Branham witnessed Germany building a concrete line, and the deaths of many American soldiers on this line.
Retelling of the 1933 Prophecy
<mediaplayer height= 50>Seventy Weeks of Daniel, August 6, 1961|hitler 61-0806.mp3</mediaplayer>
- Our war will be with Germany, and they will build a great big concrete place and fortify themselves in there, and the Americans will take a horrible beating.' Almighty God knows that Who I stand before now; I seen those independent Nazis kicking the Americans like that and things at that wall. And there's many boys standing here now that was at that Siegfried Line that knows what it was. And remember, that was eleven years before the Siegfried Line was built. Is God true? Does He still foretell things to happen? Watch. (See the sermon Seventy Weeks of Daniel for the full text of this prophecy.)
- The next vision foretold that an Austrian by the name of Adolph Hitler would rise up as dictator over Germany, and that he would draw the world into war. It showed the Siegfried line and how our troops would have a terrible time to overcome it. Then it showed that Hitler would come to a mysterious end. (Taken from Chapter 9 of the Church Ages Book (the Laodicean Church Age)).
Problems with the prophecy
In the Laodicean Church Age book, William Branham says, “Now let me say this. Can anyone prove any of those visions wrong? Were they not all fulfilled?” Almost 70 years after 1933, we now have the benefit of hindsight in our ability to confirm the accuracy of these prophecies.
Vision was 11 years before the concrete line was built
William Branham mentions a number of times that he saw a line of defenses (either the Maginot or the Siegried line) being built 11 years prior to the concrete being poured. The Maginot line was built by the French starting in 1930. The Siegfried line was, in fact, part of the Hindenberg line that was built by Germany from 1916-1917. The Siegfried Line was built between 1938 and 1940. On 24 August 1944, Hitler gave a directive to initiate repairs on the Siegfried Line. 20,000 forced labourers, most of whom were 14-16-year-old boys, attempted to reequip the line for defence purposes. This consisted primarily of building ant-tank ditches.
Did William Branham think that this repair work was the actual construction of the line? How could "Thus Saith The Lord" be so far off when it comes to dates?
Changes in the prophecy over time
William Branham mentions that these visions that he received in 1933 were “Thus Saith the Lord”. The prophecy was written down, so each retelling of it should have been consistent. However, in 1963 William Branham substitutes the Siegfried line for the Maginot line, and then in 1964 mentions Hitler's mysterious end for the first time in connection with this vision. The version of the vision in the Church Ages Book (published in 1965) is historically accurate, but is not consistent with the audio recorded versions of the vision.
A summary of the prophecy over time is as follows:
- 1958: Germany would rise, build the Maginot Line, and the Americans would take a beating. Thus Saith the Lord. [1]
- 1960: Thus Saith the Lord, the Americans will take a beating at the Maginot line, but Americans would be victorious. This prophecy was 11 years before the line was built. [2]
- 1960: War with Germany, Americans take a beating at the concrete Maginot Line (noted that prophecy was 11 years before line was built). [3]
- 1960: It was the Siegfried line, not the Maginot Line. Still “Thus Saith The Lord”. It was the Maginot Line, not the Siegfried line. [4]
- 1960: Said that Germany would be fortified behind the Maginot line eleven years before it was built. [5]
- 1960: Said that Germany would be fortified behind the Maginot line eleven years before it was built, and the Americans would take a beating, but finally overcome. [6]
- 1961: 1933 vision in the book. Germany fortified behind the Maginot Line. America takes a beating. [7]
- 1961: Germany will fortify themselves behind concrete, and America will take a beating. [8]
- 1963: On an old paper at the church: War with Hitler, with Germany behind the Siegfried line. Vision was 11 years before the Siegfried Line was ever thought of. Thus Saith the Lord. [9]
- 1964: America would go to war with Germany at the Siegfied Line, and take a beating. Eleven years before the concrete was poured. [10]
- 1964: Written in a book 11 years before Germany would build the Siegried line, at which America would take a beating. [11]
- 1964: Hitler would come to a mysterious end. [12]
- 1964: Hitler would declare war on the United States, build a concrete line (saw this 11 years before it was built). Americans would take a beating at the Siegfried Line, but that America would win and Hitler would come to a mysterious end. [13]
- Church Age Book: Hitler would rise as dictator, he would draw the world into war, the Americans would have trouble at the Siegfried line, and Hitler would come to a mysterious end. [14]
Shouldn't something that was "Thus Saith The Lord" be accurate with respect to the name of the line? Why does the prophecy change with respect to details in its retelling?
Siegfried Line
The Siegfried Line, called the Westwall by the Germans, was a defense system stretching more than 630km (392 miles) with more than 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps. It went from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the western border of the old German Empire as far as the town of Weil am Rhein on the border to Switzerland. More with propaganda in mind than for strategic reasons, Adolf Hitler planned the line from 1936 and had it built between 1938 and 1940.
Battles along the Siegfried line include the Battle of Hurtgen Forest (Sept. 19, 1944 - Feb. 10, 1945; 33,000 estimated American casualties, 9,000 estimated German casualties), the Battle of Aachen (Oct. 1944, 5,000 estimated American casualties, 5,000 estimated German casualties), and Operation Market Garden (3,500 American casualties, 6,484 British Casualties, and 4,000 - 8,000 German casualties). Other major offensives across the Siegfried Line that did not include the American forces, including the Battle of the Schelt and the Battle of Moerbrugge (both led by Canadian forces), were Allied successes with few casualties and large numbers of German soldiers captured as POWs.
One reason so many American soldiers perished in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest was the German method of bombing, and the American soldier's method of defense. Ernest Hemingway, who was there, described the battle as Passchendaele with tree bursts. Tree bursts is a technique of using artillery shells that burst in the treetops causing hot metal shrapnel and wood fragments to rain down. Since American soldiers had been trained to fall prone when artillery fired, this technique proved particularly deadly until American G.I.s learned instead to "hug-a-tree" during bombardment. Passchendaele was a reference to a terrible battle in the first World War.
Hitler's Mysterious End
Adolf and Eva Hitler committed suicide together on April 30, 1945 at the Führerbunker in Berlin. Eva was Adolf's long-term mistress whom he had finally married on April 29, 1945. After much debate, most historians have concluded that Hitler shot himself in the right temple while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule, while Eva died from cyanide. Their corpses were doused with gasoline by other Führerbunker aides in the Reich Chancellery garden just outside the bunker's emergency exit, and set alight as the Red Army advanced.
These charred remains were found by the Russians and, to avoid any possibility of creating a potential shrine or rallying point for the Nazis, were secretly buried at the SMERSH compound in Magdeburg, East Germany. In April 1970, when the facility was about to be turned over to the East German government, the remains were reportedly exhumed and thoroughly cremated. According to the Russian Federal Security Service, a fragment of human skull stored in its archives and displayed to the public in a 2000 exhibition came from the remains of Hitler's body uncovered by the Red Army in Berlin, and is all that remains of Hitler; however, the authenticity of the skull has been challenged by many historians and researchers.
German authorities officially released the location of Hitler's bunker in June 2006. The bunker was destroyed by Soviet troops after the war and filled with concrete, however, it was feared that identifying the location of the bunker might provide neo-nazis and other right-wing extremists with a memorial or rallying point. The bunker lies within a quarter of a kilometer of Berlin's Holocaust Memorial, and currently serves as a parking lot.
While much is now known or agreed about Hitler's death, most of the details remained a mystery for political purposes (i.e. to deprive Nazis of a rallying point) by the U.S.S.R and East Germany for years following WWII.
Ref: BBC News, 2000-08-26.[1]
References
- ↑ And in 1933 when…the vision of the Lord came to me up here and predicted that, Germany would rise up and have put that Maginot Line there. Many of you remember. And how they'd be all fortified in there, and the Americans would take a great beating right there at that line…Now, you remember; that's THUS SAITH THE LORD." (September 27, 1958))
- ↑ I got, THUS SAITH THE LORD. In her voting she will elect the wrong person. The Americans will take a great beating at a place that Germany will build, which will be a great wall built of concrete (The Maginot Line, eleven years before it was ever built.) But finally they will be victors…It will be near the end. (Then I've got in parenthesis: "I predict that this will take place." Now, remember, the Lord ne... That's what the Lord showed, but "I predict this will take place before 1977.") (November 13, 1960)
- ↑ I was on my way to Sunday school, and when I was getting my Bible, a vision came before me; and I was stopped in the floor. And here was what it said. It's on yellow paper…Watch how accurate His Word is…"We will go to war with Germany, and Germany will be fortified behind concrete. And we will take an awful beating at this place," the Maginot Line eleven years before it was built. See? Exactly. (November 25, 1960, Shreveport, Louisiana)
- ↑ I was quoting last night a prophecy that was given me back in 1933 of seven things that'd take place: Germany, the Sieg—Siegfried line... Watch. It's THUS SAITH THE LORD. And then I seen them create an automobile that didn't need a steering wheel in it. I seen that Maginot (Maginot line, it was instead of the Siegfried)--the Maginot line eleven years and told the people. It's wrote on paper. He's never one time... ‘’’I charge any person in Divine Presence, or in the world, to ever tell me one time that the Holy Spirit ever spoke and said these things that it didn't come to pass.’ (November 26, 1960, Shreveport, Louisiana)
- ↑ How many remembers that vision, here in the church? Sure. Said that, how …eleven years beforehand, it said that "We'd go to war with Germany, and Germany would be fortified behind concrete," the Maginot Line. It happened just that way. (December 5, 1960, Jeffersonville, Indiana) and And now, and as I started the Sunday school I fell into a trance. …And I said, "We'll finally go to war with Germany, but" I said " Germany will be fortified in, in a great big bunch of concrete." Eleven years before the Maginot Line was built, eleven years. (December 8, 1960, Jeffersonville, Indiana)
- ↑ Then I said, that "This nation would finally go to war with Germany. And Germany would be built in a concrete wall." And that was the Maginot Line, eleven years before it was ever started to build it, eleven years before. And I said, "The Americans will take an awful beating at that line." …"But finally," I said, "we will overcome and will be one of the winner in the war between us and Germany.” (December 11, 1960 Jeffersonville, Indiana)
- ↑ But I picked up an old book there that the--the Lord had gave me a vision in 1933 when I just first become a minister…Then I seen also that--that was eleven years before the Maginot line was built, I seen Germany fortify themselves in this big concrete place. (January 28, 1961, Phoenix Arizona) and 1933, one morning going to the Baptist tabernacle, I went into a trance, saw a vision…And I said, "They'll go to war with Germany." Eleven years before the Maginot Line was built, I said, "There..." in that same vision I saw Germany fortified in concrete. And America took a terrible beating there, and many of you boys know what happened, was there. (March 12, 1961, Richmond, Virginia)
- ↑ The fourth, I said, "Our war will be with Germany, and they will build a great big concrete place and fortify themselves in there, and the Americans will take a horrible beating." Almighty God knows that Who I stand before now; I seen those independent Nazis kicking the Americans like that and things at that wall. (August 6, 1961, Jeffersonville, Indiana)
- ↑ 1933, the Holy Spirit came one morning and told me seven things that would take place before this nation was destroyed. One of them is that. It's on old paper there at the church, many has looked at it. How that we would go to war with Hitler and they'd... How Germany would fortify and build a Maginot line, or the Siegfried line, I believe it was, eleven years before it was ever thought of. …Many, many years before it happened perfectly on the dot. And it's never failed, and it won't fail, because it's THUS SAITH THE LORD. (November 17, 1963, New York, New York)
- ↑ How that the Americas would go to war with Germany, they'd take an awful beating at a place called, a great line where there would be concrete fortified in there, I believe it's called the Siegfried line. And there's one called Maginot, I believe that was the French. Was that right? And the Siegfried line was the German line. And the Lord let me see that, eleven years before it was built. And they never would admit getting a beating on it, the Americans wouldn't, till they almost sunk the complete army. When they went in there, the Germans had their guns just trained right out on that fleet, and let it get right in there, and almost sunk it. And I seen that, eleven years before the line was ever--ever a foundation was ever poured for it, or anything, the Siegfried line.’’ (January 12, 1964, Sierra Vista, Arizona)
- ↑ In my book in there, that I keep wrote down. In 1933, one morning, fixing to go to Sunday school, a Baptist Sunday school where I was pastor, the Holy Spirit come and showed me down to the end time, and showed me seven things that would happen. I marked them down. It's on old yellow paper. Told me exactly how Germany would build that Siegfried line, and how the Americans would take a great beating at it, eleven years before the—the line was ever built. (March 21, 1964, Denham Springs, Louisiana)
- ↑ Look at 1933, how it say…Hitler would come to a mysterious end. (July 26, 1964, Jeffersonville, Indiana)
- ↑ And now remember that these things was said. Said, "Adolph Hitler would come to a mysterious end. And he would declare war on the United States. And they would build a great--a--a great concrete thing, that they'd even live in it. And right there the Americans would take a horrible beating, at this." And it was the Siegfried line, eleven years before it was ever started to be built. And then said, "But he would come to an end; and the States would win the war." (July 26, 1964, Jeffersonville, Indiana)
- ↑ The next vision foretold that an Austrian by the name of Adolph Hitler would rise up as dictator over Germany, and that he would draw the world into war. It showed the Siegfried line and how our troops would have a terrible time to overcome it. Then it showed that Hitler would come to a mysterious end. (Church Age Book)
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