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Plagiarism: Difference between revisions
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=Where did William Branham say he got his sermons?= | =Where did William Branham say he got his sermons?= | ||
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==Plagiarism is a Biblical '''Sin'''== | ==Plagiarism is a Biblical '''Sin'''== | ||
William Branham said he received his inspiration regarding the seven church ages from God: | William Branham said he received his inspiration regarding the seven church ages and seven seals from God and not from other men: | ||
:''Now, then, when we got finished with the book of the revelation of the church, what God did to those seven churches, which were then in their infancy, or their shadow, in Asia Minor. '''Then the Holy Spirit revealed and opened to us all the mysteries in There, of how He has brought His Church through history.''' And if you don’t have The Seven Church Ages on tape, it would be good if you listened to them. And soon they’ll be in book form.<ref>William Branham, 64-0719M - The Feast Of The Trumpets, para. 38</ref> | :''Now, then, when we got finished with the book of the revelation of the church, what God did to those seven churches, which were then in their infancy, or their shadow, in Asia Minor. '''Then the Holy Spirit revealed and opened to us all the mysteries in There, of how He has brought His Church through history.''' And if you don’t have The Seven Church Ages on tape, it would be good if you listened to them. And soon they’ll be in book form.<ref>William Branham, 64-0719M - The Feast Of The Trumpets, para. 38</ref> | ||
But as you will see below, he received most of it from the books of Clarence Larkin. | :''Now I want to make this real clear. Every time, every time that these Seals has come to the place; everything that I ever believed on Them, <u>and has read of other people</u>, has been contrary to '''what come to me in the room'''.<ref>William Branham, 63-0324E - The Seventh Seal, para. 29</ref>'' | ||
But as you will see below, he received most of it from the books of Clarence Larkin, Charles Taze Russell, and others. | |||
The Bible records what the Lord thinks of prophets who plagiarize from each other, and say it is a word from the Lord. | The Bible records what the Lord thinks of prophets who plagiarize from each other, and say it is a word from the Lord. | ||
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Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary provides the following meaning to "plagiarize": | Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary provides the following meaning to "plagiarize": | ||
pla•gia•rize \ˈplā-jə-ˌrīz also -jē-ə-\ ''verb'' | :pla•gia•rize \ˈplā-jə-ˌrīz also -jē-ə-\ ''verb'' | ||
-rized; -riz•ing [plagiary] | ::-rized; -riz•ing [plagiary] | ||
*''verb transitive'' 1716: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own: use (another’s production) without crediting the source | ::*''verb transitive'' 1716: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own: use (another’s production) without crediting the source | ||
*''verb intransitive'': to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source—pla•gia•riz•er ''noun''<ref>Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003).</ref> | ::*''verb intransitive'': to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source—pla•gia•riz•er ::''noun''<ref>Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003).</ref> | ||
Plagiarism is a sin against truth, not property. It’s first and foremost a kind of lying, not a kind of stealing. William Branham violated our trust by speaking in a voice that was not his own, which is why he lost intellectual and moral authority broadly.<ref>Reno, R.R., The Public Square, First Things, Institute on Religion and Public Life, New York, NY, no. 234 (2013): 6.</ref> | |||
If William Branham has simply said "I read this information in Clarence Larkin's book", then he would not have been guilty of plagiarism. But he didn't. Instead he said that he received it by divine revelation. He said that God gave it to him, which was a lie. He got the information directly from Clarence Larkin and others. Below are '''specific examples of plagiarism in William Branham's ministry'''. We have also addressed a few questions about plagiarism in the Bible which can be found by [[Q&A:Plagiarism|clicking here]]. | If William Branham has simply said "I read this information in Clarence Larkin's book", then he would not have been guilty of plagiarism. But he didn't. Instead he said that he received it by divine revelation. He said that God gave it to him, which was a lie. He got the information directly from Clarence Larkin and others. Below are '''specific examples of plagiarism in William Branham's ministry'''. We have also addressed a few questions about plagiarism in the Bible which can be found by [[Q&A:Plagiarism|clicking here]]. | ||
=Examples of William Branham's plagiarism= | =Examples of William Branham's plagiarism= | ||
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==Clarence Larkin== | ==Clarence Larkin== | ||
[[Image:Clarence.jpg|thumb|right|Clarence Larkin]] | [[Image:Clarence.jpg|thumb|right|Clarence Larkin]] | ||
[ | [[Clarence Larkin]] (1850-1924) was American Baptist pastor, Bible teacher and author whose writings on Dispensationalism had a great impact on modern dispensational thinking. While William Branham only mentions Clarence Larkin three times in all his recorded sermons, he drew heavily from him but never gave Larkin the credit for these teachings. | ||
Message preachers point out that William Branham did mention Larkin but the '''first time he mentioned Larkin was over 7 months after preaching the seven church age series''' which were almost totally plagiarized from Larkin. And the | Message preachers point out that William Branham did mention Larkin but the '''first time he mentioned Larkin was over 7 months after preaching the seven church age series''' which were almost totally plagiarized from Larkin. The second time was a few days later. And the third mention of Larkin was well over one year after preaching the seven seals series which again were consistently plagiarized from Larkin and Russell. In each case, he states that he does not agree with Larkin. Here are the ONLY three references to Larkin that William Branham makes in all of his sermons: | ||
:''I've been reading '''Dr. Larkin's''' book, Dr. Smith's book, Dr. Scofield's notes, different commentaries from men everywhere, and yet I cannot put theirs together to make it come out right.'' (July 30, 1961, Sermon: Gabriel's Instructions to Daniel) | :''I've been reading '''Dr. Larkin's''' book, Dr. Smith's book, Dr. Scofield's notes, different commentaries from men everywhere, and '''yet I cannot put theirs together to make it come out right'''.'' (July 30, 1961, Sermon: Gabriel's Instructions to Daniel) | ||
:''And I had read '''Mr. Larkin'''. I had read, oh, so many different ones, of their commentaries on This. But, somehow or other'n, I thought I had a--a little view of it, myself, that might be of places different. ...But then just before it happened, I was given a vision, which is on tape, as you all know, Sirs, What Time Is It? that I should go to Tucson, Arizona. ...There where the Angel of the Lord met us, and the Bible become a new Bible. There It opened up and revealed all the things that the reformers and things had left out. It was the complete revelation of Jesus Christ, altogether new to us, but perfectly exactly with the Scripture. That was the Word which has always been. I was so inspired and directed.'' (July 19, 1964, The Feast of the Trumpets) | :''And so, no doubt that down through the age, there has been hundreds times hundreds of people, scholars, abled men, trying to explain what these seventy of weeks were. And I’ve read many of their commentaries on it. And I’m very grateful to Mr. Smith, of the Adventist church, for his views. I’m very grateful to '''Dr. Larkin''', of his views. I’m grateful to all these great scholars, for their views on this. And in reading them, it enlightens me much, that '''I can find places that looks right'''. But to get the views that I—I thought that I would like to explain, I searched through the encyclopedia, of “time,” to find out what “time” meant. (61-0806 - The Seventieth Week Of Daniel, para. 51) | ||
:''And I had read '''Mr. Larkin'''. I had read, oh, so many different ones, of their commentaries on This. But, somehow or other'n, I thought I had a--a little view of it, myself, that '''might be of places different'''. ...But then just before it happened, I was given a vision, which is on tape, as you all know, Sirs, What Time Is It? that I should go to Tucson, Arizona. ...There where the Angel of the Lord met us, and the Bible become a new Bible. There It opened up and revealed all the things that the reformers and things had left out. It was the complete revelation of Jesus Christ, '''altogether new to us''', but perfectly exactly with the Scripture. That was the Word which has always been. I was so inspired and directed.'' (July 19, 1964, The Feast of the Trumpets) | |||
In these above quotes, William Branham says that he doesn't agree with Clarence Larkin or other commentaries. This gives the impression that the doctrine he preached was his own original ideas or lessons he received directly from the Angel (and not from anywhere else). '''But did he?''' Let's take a close look and compare what William Branham says to Clarence Larkin's books. | In these above quotes, William Branham says that he doesn't agree with Clarence Larkin or other commentaries. This gives the impression that the doctrine he preached was his own original ideas or lessons he received directly from the Angel (and not from anywhere else). '''But did he?''' Let's take a close look and compare what William Branham says to Clarence Larkin's books. | ||
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===Plagiarism in the Church Ages=== | ===Plagiarism in the Church Ages=== | ||
::'''Main article: [[The Seven Churches Ages]]''' | |||
NOTE: William Branham's book "An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages" (which is commonly referred to as the "Church Age Book" or the CAB) contains all of the plagiarism noted in his sermon series on the Seven Church Ages which were delivered in December, 1960. Most of the references in this article relating to the church ages are primarily to the actual sermons and not to the CAB. While the CAB contains all of the plagiarized text referred to here, some have said that the plagiarism in the CAB was the direct result of the involvement of Lee Vayle and, therefore, cannot be attributed to William Branham himself. The quotes contained below, however, clearly show that William Branham was the one that plagiarized Clarence Larkin's works. | NOTE: William Branham's book "An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages" (which is commonly referred to as the "Church Age Book" or the CAB) contains all of the plagiarism noted in his sermon series on the Seven Church Ages which were delivered in December, 1960. Most of the references in this article relating to the church ages are primarily to the actual sermons and not to the CAB. While the CAB contains all of the plagiarized text referred to here, some have said that the plagiarism in the CAB was the direct result of the involvement of Lee Vayle and, therefore, cannot be attributed to William Branham himself. The quotes contained below, however, clearly show that William Branham was the one that plagiarized Clarence Larkin's works. | ||
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===Plagiarism in the Seven Seals (click on the links below)=== | ===Plagiarism in the Seven Seals (click on the links below)=== | ||
::'''Main article: The [[Seven Seals]]''' | |||
#[[First Seal#Plagiarism|Plagiarism in the First Seal]] | #[[First Seal#Plagiarism|Plagiarism in the First Seal]] | ||
#[[Second Seal#Plagiarism|Plagiarism in the Second Seal]] | #[[Second Seal#Plagiarism|Plagiarism in the Second Seal]] | ||
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''Often give '''my little story''' of a little eagle. How the farmer set the hen one time...'' (William Branham, December 6, 1965, Sermon: Modern Events made clear by prophecy) | ''Often give '''my little story''' of a little eagle. How the farmer set the hen one time...'' (William Branham, December 6, 1965, Sermon: Modern Events made clear by prophecy) | ||
But was this really William Branham's "little story", or did he "borrow" it from C.L. Franklin? | But was this really William Branham's "little story", or did he "borrow" it from C.L. Franklin? William Branham first told the story in 1957 but C.L. Franklin told the same story at least 4 years earlier. | ||
{| class="wikitable" width="95%" | {| class="wikitable" width="95%" | ||
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Details of this plagiarized "prophecy" can be found in our article entitled "[[Don't Eat Eggs]]". | Details of this plagiarized "prophecy" can be found in our article entitled "[[Don't Eat Eggs]]". | ||
===Ellen White was also a plagiarist?=== | |||
The four techniques essential to the whitelie brand of super salesmanship are: (a) to play up anything unusual or mysterious about the one to be venerated, so that he or she becomes seen as at a supernatural level; (h) to exalt the acts and utterances to the virtuous and miraculous level, thus reinforcing the idea of the supernatural connection; (c) to deny access to information and records of the events and facts of the past; and (d) to buy time so as to get as far as possible from the point of living knowledge of the beginnings of the legend. | |||
According to Walter Rea, all four of these methods have been used by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and are still being used, in the matter of Ellen White and what has been published under her name. | |||
He also stated: | |||
:''In the matter of Ellen White's super salesmanship (in relation to both the church and the public), it is becoming evident that she too wanted to encourage, if not demand, that others accept her value structure and lifestyle. In order to obtain this end, she came to believe and to teach others that what she said and wrote was necessary to do, because God wanted it that way. Others around her who shared those views (and indeed even gave her some of them) were willing to let the faithful believe that what she said and wrote were directly the ideas and ways given her by God. This stance gave her every utterance the authority it needed in order to be believed-despite mounting evidence (and the witness of some others) to the contrary. Those who lived by faith, and likewise by evidence to support that faith, began to discover that the white lie was inconsistent with the evidence. And when they made known that discover for their honest pains they were expelled and discredited by character assassination. | |||
:''...One reason is now clear why much of the information in the 1884 edition of The Great Controversy could not have been included in the earlier works of Ellen on the same subject (Spiritual Gifts, published 185864). James had not yet gotten around to copying it from J. N Andrews; so it was not available to Ellen at the time. The 1888 and 1911 editions of The Great Controversy went back to James White's compilation of doctrines and events and picked up even more of his findings and ideas. But never once was it suggested that the heart of Adventist doctrine-such as the three angels' worldwide message that the church had applied exclusively to the Adventists, the shut door that left everyone else out in the cold, the 2300 days, the seventy weeks, the sanctuary doctrine, the United States in prophecy, the "mark of the beast," the image to that beast-had all come out earlier in James White's Life Incidents. | |||
:''So striking was the copying done under the name of Ellen-and so sensitive is the information that the heart of Adventist theology and eschatology came, not from the visions of or revelations to Ellen, but from the pen of James sixteen years before Ellen wrote them out- that time should be spent examining the evidence in Life Incidents. | |||
:''Here it should be recalled that the four small volumes of Ellen's Spiritual Gifts (185864) were amplified to the four volumes of Ellen's The Spirit of Prophecy (187084) and then expanded to Ellen's The Great Controversy (1888 ea.) of the fivevolume Conflict of the Ages Series. Inasmuch as the earlier eight volumes are now again available in facsimile editions, anyone can examine all the books and note the progressive copy work through the years. Meanwhile, during those same years, the legend grew and grew and was "sold" and accepted that God had given Ellen exclusive and firsthand knowledge of his plans for the future events of the church and the world. | |||
:''Comparison shows that words, sentences, quotations, thoughts, ideas, structures, paragraphs, and even total pages were taken from James White's book to Ellen's book under a new title-with no blush of shame, no mention of her husband, no thanks to Uriah Smith and J. N. Andrews, for the hard work and theological insights of anyone. | |||
:''Unfortunately for James, he did not have the personal advantage of angels checking in and out on schedule with the firsthand information Ellen purported to have. Without any intermediary, he had to get his material from human sources. But he was equal to the task. Much of his material in Life Incidents was taken primarily from J. N. Andrews, whose book published in 1860, interestingly enough, was entitled The Three Messages of Revelation XIV, 612, and particularly The Third Angel's Message and The Two Horned Beast. James, unlike his wife Ellen, did not even bother to paraphrase-he just took the material from Andrews wholesale into his work. | |||
:''Nothing has been released from the White Estate as to how Andrews or Uriah Smith felt about all this "taking" in the name of God. Perhaps the fact that they were brothers-in-law, both assisting in the editorial work of the Review, both personal friends of the Whites-and thus able to sit around the same table to finalize their views-might have softened the pain of Ellen's copy work. One might be tempted to think that Ellen set the pattern and James may not have given much thought to doing the same thing. Of course, there was in fact no excuse for anyone not to give thought-especially in view of the statement published in an 1864 issue of the Review under the heading "Plagiarism": This is a word that is used to signify "literary theft," or taking the productions or another and passing them off as one s own.... We are perfectly willing that pieces from the Review, or any of our books should be published to any extent, and all we ask is, that simple justice be done us, by due credit being given. | |||
:''Examination reveals that the 1860 book of J. N. Andrews was an exact replay of his own 185155 articles in the Review. Thus James and Ellen had available for their perusal and use after 1855 the content and form of Andrew's work for incorporation in their own work: Spiritual Gifts (185864); Life Incidents (1868); The Spirit of Prophecy (187084); Sketches of. . . William Miller (1875); The Great Controversy (1888). | |||
:''This information may or may not disturb those who now say that the group of pioneers sat around the table and worked out in conjunction with Ellen their ideas and theology. But it does indeed disturb those who were taught that such ideas and theology originated with greater authority and mystique than the common ideas of human endeavor seem to command.<ref>Ellen G. White, Prophet? or Plagiarist!, The White Lie! By Walter T. Rea</ref> | |||
==William Sowders== | ==William Sowders== | ||
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We have received several emails on the subject of William Branham's plagiarism. Our responses to these questions can be found in our article entitled [[Q&A:Plagiarism]]. | We have received several emails on the subject of William Branham's plagiarism. Our responses to these questions can be found in our article entitled [[Q&A:Plagiarism]]. | ||
=Defenses against the charge of plagiarism= | |||
We have had message believers state that there are several reasons why William Branham was not guilty of plagiarism. However, these claims do not hold up to any kind of scrutiny and simply appear to be symptomatic of [[Cognitive Dissonance]]. | |||
==Derivative work== | |||
It is argued by some message believers that William Branham did not plagiarize clarence Larkin's works but rather created a derivative work. The argument was presented as follows: | |||
:''...a derivative work is a work based upon one or more pre-existing works. Briefly, any other form in which an original work may be recast, transformed, or adapted can be considered a derivative work. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications that, when taken as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is also a "derivative work" (Source: Title 17 U.S.C. Section 101). In other words, using an existing idea to create or transform it into another idea. To put it bluntly, it means you can copy someone’s idea for the purpose of presenting a new idea. So basically, what William Branham did was a typical derivative work from Clarence Larkin. | |||
It is correct that U.S. copyright law protects the right to "make a derivative work," such as a movie from a book. But a derivative work does not include a direct copying of Larkin's work verbatim and including it in the Church Age book. | |||
We suggest that anyone concerned with this issue should review Larkin's work on the church ages and then read the first few chapters of Branham's church age book. Several pages of Larkin's work are copied almost verbatim. | |||
William Branham's plagiarism of Larkin's work is morally, ethically and biblically wrong. | |||
==Public domain== | |||
The argument that William Branham did not plagiarize Larkin's works is as follows (taken from an argument presented by [[The Message|a follower of William Branham]]: | |||
:''According to U.S. copyright laws, any works published before 1923 are already entered into public domain. It means it is given to the public. Anyone can freely use of the materials without asking permission or paying anything. Both of Larkin's 2 books being published before 1923, has already entered in public domain. By this alone, it is a proof that there is no plagiarism because the material was never stolen. There is no such thing as stealing in public domain materials. | |||
The problem with this argument is that it doesn't look at what the situation was during William Branham's lifetime. Larkin's ''The Book of Revelation'' was published in 1919 and passed into the public domain in 1975, 10 years after William Branham died. | |||
So William Branham was in clear violation of U.S. copyright law when he published the Church Age book in 1965. | |||
==Larkin was mentioned by Branham== | |||
William Branham only mentioned Clarence Larkin 3 times in the recorded sermons. He is never mentioned in the Church Age Book. | |||
:''I've been reading '''Dr. Larkin's book''', Dr. Smith's book, Dr. Scofield's notes, different commentaries from men everywhere, and yet I '''cannot put theirs together to make it come out right'''.<ref>GABRIEL'S.INSTRUCTIONS.TO.DANIEL JEFF.IN 61-0730M</ref> | |||
:''And so, no doubt that down through the age there has been hundreds times hundreds of people, scholars, abled men, trying to explain what these seventy of weeks were. And I've read many of their commentaries on it. And I'm very grateful to Mr. Smith of the Adventist church for his views. '''I'm very grateful to Dr. Larkin of his views.''' I'm grateful to all these great scholars for their views on this. And in reading them, it enlightens me much that '''I can find places that looks right. But''' to get the views that I--I thought that I would like to explain, I searched through the encyclopedia of time to find out what time meant.<ref>THE.SEVENTIETH.WEEK.OF.DANIEL_ JEFF.IN 61-0806</ref> | |||
:'' I had my own idea, as every minister does, of reading maybe what other man had said; and believing as much as I possible, with them, on the things that they had drawed up, their conclusion. I had read the book of Mr. Smith, Uriah Smith, which is the Adventist teacher, and I had read his--his thoughts on it. And '''I had read Mr. Larkin.''' I had read, oh, so many different ones, of their commentaries on This. But, somehow or other'n, I thought I had a--a little view of it, myself, that might be of places different. But trying one time, just speaking three subjects, the first... or the four subjects of the four horse riders. I preached on it four nights, one on one horse, and the other. B'''ut then just before it happened, I was given a vision'''...<ref>THE.FEAST.OF.THE.TRUMPETS JEFF.IN 64-0719M</ref> | |||
So while William Branham mentions Larkin, he never mentions him in the context of the sermons that he preached that were based on Larkin's materials. Larkin is never mentioned in the church age series or the seven seals series. Larkin is also not mentioned in the Church Age book. | |||
That is what plagiarism is all about. Taking someone's work and not giving them due credit. He said he didn't really agree with Larkin when he actually stole a lot of his ideas. That is just wrong morally, ethically and biblically. | |||
{{Theology}} | |||
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