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Polygamy in the Message: Difference between revisions
→Some African Ministers believe William Branham taught that polygamy was acceptable
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William Branham stated publicly that "the nation in a whole would be better off if it practiced polygamy." He also stated that he would rather stand before God as a polygamist with "five married women standing by my side", than to be found committing adultery. Given these and other statements he made we have to ask whether William Branham actually understood the New Testament concept of marriage? | |||
==Some African Ministers believe William Branham taught that polygamy was acceptable== | |||
[[File:Richard Kimera.png|right|thumb]] | |||
Because of William Branham's statements, some ministers in Africa see polygamy as being acceptable to those who follow the message. | |||
Patrick Kimera of Uganda claims the message preached by William Branham titled "Marriage and Divorce" caused him to understand why he loved his wife.....yet he longed to marry another. He claims the message of William Branham gave him the revelation of POLYGAMY. | |||
From a news article in DAILY MONITOR of July 16, 2013: | |||
:''While many may have heard of the pastor with many wives, not many have heard of his End Times Gospel Message church. | |||
:''The transition to polygamy with a growing church to explain it to was helped along a little, by another preacher who had gained popularity in the 50s and 60s and is seen as extremely anointed and controversial in equal measure. William Marrion Branham. Kimera is full of praise for Branham who was known for his extreme views on modest dressing for women and immorality. | |||
:''“I had received his word, read his work and was impressed. I decided to model my church and teachings on his. '''His message on marriage and divorce was the first time a preacher helped me understand why I still loved one wife and wanted another one''',” he says. | |||
:''But despite the background and Branham’s teaching, the pastor still didn’t make the leap into polygamy immediately. | |||
:''It was in 2001 when he moved from theory to practice. According to him, he and his wife had a small disagreement. “It was a scuffle really, she wanted to travel for some time and I told her if she left me alone, I would marry another wife. His first wife in a burst of defiance told him to go ahead and left the country. | |||
:''Pastor Kimera kept his promise but not before sharing with the church his intentions. “I preached the marriage and divorce message and they clapped and cheered when I told them I would marry another wife,” he says. | |||
:''Kimera met Christine, then a university student and proudly introduced her to his members thinking they would cheer him on. They did not. They left in droves and Kimera found himself with only a handful of church members. Some of those who left went to court in an attempt to get their pastor to vacate the church property hence the long drawn lawsuit. | |||
:''While his first wife stayed away for three years indignant at him marrying a second and then a third, she eventually came back to the fold. | |||
:''“She apologised and said I was right, and also refuted allegations that I had divorced her to marry other wives,” he says. '''The pastor of many wives says he divorced one wife due to infidelity, one of the few allowed grounds for divorce in the Bible.''' | |||
:''“Of the four I have, only three are active,” he says cheekily. His eldest wife who was on a visit to the US at the time of our interview is relieved of some wifely duties which the other three all below 35 pick up. “Margaret is my wife, but she is almost my age, she will cook for me, spend time with me but I do not disturb her very much,” says the pastor. | |||
:''I am most curious about the living arrangement, how Kimera is able to divide his time between the different homes. He thinks nothing of it saying casually, “I manage, I respond to the one who needs me, and the wives know it. I am there for whoever needs me, even if it is in the middle of the night, I will go. I just let the one I am with know I am needed elsewhere.” Sometimes this avid reader needs his space, and then he withdraws to one of the homes where he can be alone, summoning one wife to take care of him from time to time. | |||
:''He is not about to stop either marrying or preaching the polygamy gospel. “Why should I? Fathers are jostling to give me their daughters,” he says. | |||
==Text of letter to Voice of God Recordings== | ==Text of letter to Voice of God Recordings== | ||
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'''“But Fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be once mentioned among you as becometh saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks. For this you know no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God”''' | '''“But Fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be once mentioned among you as becometh saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks. For this you know no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God”''' | ||
However it is important to point out that the VOGR has persistedly followed a policy of discrimination against African brethren who believe and practice polygamy by refusing to | However it is important to point out that the VOGR has persistedly followed a policy of discrimination against African brethren who believe and practice polygamy by refusing to appoint us as Librarians, subjecting us to humiliation, rejection, insults , derision, and denying us a smooth flow of Branham’s books and tapes. We literary have to grovel and beg to receive even a token of the VOGR services that you offer, all because we dared believe the Prophet’s Revelation of '''MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE (65-0221M)'''. The VOGR holds that African Brothers who believe and practice polygamy are a depraved lot, immoral and are on lower rung of godliness. I myself have been called awful names by fellow Message Believers some which are too awful to be printed here. I cant forget the hurt I felt when the Chairman of the Voice of God Recordings Joseph Branham issued a newsletter some years back and equated polygamy with sodomy. I still smart at the slur because I believe in true holiness and godliness among God’s people and honour the institution of marriage even a polygamous unions. I hope and pray Joseph Branham will find room to repent before the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Prophet said, | ||
appoint us as Librarians, subjecting us to humiliation, rejection, insults , derision, and denying us a smooth flow of Branham’s books and tapes. We literary have to grovel and beg to receive even a token of the VOGR services that you offer, all because we dared believe the Prophet’s Revelation of '''MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE (65-0221M)'''. The VOGR holds that African Brothers who believe and practice polygamy are a depraved lot, immoral and are on lower rung of godliness. I myself have been called awful names by fellow Message Believers some which are too awful to be printed here. I cant forget the hurt I felt when the Chairman of the Voice of God Recordings Joseph Branham issued a newsletter some years back and equated polygamy with sodomy. I still smart at the slur because I believe in true holiness and godliness among God’s people and honour the institution of marriage even a polygamous unions. I hope and pray Joseph Branham will find room to repent before the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Prophet said, | |||
'''“I'd rather stand before God with three married women, or five married women standing by my side, than to stand there with one wife, and running with another man's... Yes, sir. I'd have a better chance before God”. (Abraham restored 61-2-11)''' | '''“I'd rather stand before God with three married women, or five married women standing by my side, than to stand there with one wife, and running with another man's... Yes, sir. I'd have a better chance before God”. (Abraham restored 61-2-11)''' | ||
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=Quotes of William Branham= | =Quotes of William Branham= | ||
''Speaking to someone the other day about polygamy. I said '''the nation in a whole would be better off if it practiced polygamy. It would.''' We’re the highest-rated nation in the world with divorces, marrying and intermarrying, marrying and intermarrying. Because we try to make the men of the world outside coincide with Christian doctrine, and you can’t put the nature of a lamb in a pig. Polygamy would be better off for him. You may not believe it but God would look at polygamy and excuse it a lot quicker than what He would. Now, you remember, don’t you say that I believe in polygamy; I don’t. I remember what God said, Moses said, or, the Pharisee said to Jesus, said, “Why did Moses suffer a writing of divorcement?” Said, “He did it because the hardness of your heart.” Right. But it wasn’t so from the beginning, never will be. God did it because of the hardness of their heart. But '''in the nations where they have polygamy the divorce courts are at ebb, low.''' But in here where we’re trying to make and govern this country as a nation, because being a Christian nation, but the name of Christian nation doesn’t make it a Christian nation. And you cannot govern the world by the rules of God. You can’t. I have no—nothing against a sinner drinking. I have nothing against a sinner committing adultery, nothing against the sinner doing this. But what I’m talking about is these people who are supposed to be Christians and then doing that.<ref>William Branham, 56-0129 - The Supernatural, para. 47</ref> | |||
''This nation would be better off if it had—if it had a… I better not say that. All right. But anyhow '''it’d be better to have three or four wives''' than… '''I’d rather stand before God with three married women, or five married women standing by my side, than to stand there with one wife, and running with another man’s'''… Yes, sir. I’d have a better chance before God. You can’t force sinners to take a Christian’s duty and do that; they can’t do it until they’re borned again. That’s right. We’re a long ways from being a Christian nation.<ref>William Branham, 61-0211 - Abraham, para. 61</ref> | |||
'''''In the nations where they have polygamy, it’s a thousand times better.''' And, yet, polygamy is wrong, we know. But, just show how degraded we are. <ref>William Branham, 61-0806 - The Seventieth Week Of Daniel, para. 210</ref> | |||
''Then when the double covenant was made by man and woman, through sex, another covenant altogether (not the original covenant, but another covenant), now what’s introduced? '''Polygamy, in all. Then, after the beginning, polygamy was introduced both in man and in beasts'''; after the beginning, the fall. God now, secondarily, sets a new nature again, by sex. God created the first without sex. Do you believe that? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] Now it’s another covenant with nature, He sets it in another order, by sex. '''Second covenant: one male, many females; one buck deer, a whole harem of does.''' Is that right? One bull, a whole herd of cattle, cows; one rooster, a yardful of hens. Is that right? '''One David, after His Own heart, with five hundred wives'''; with a hundred children born to him, in one year, of different women, a man after God’s Own heart. One Solomon, with a thousand wives. But notice now, it wasn’t so at the beginning, but now it’s “after” the beginning. The woman has done this, then she just becomes what she is now. See? | |||
''Now you notice in First Corinthians 7:10, notice, Paul commands the wife that is, that divorces her husband, to remain single or be reconciled, not to remarry. She must remain single, or to be reconciled back to her husband. She cannot remarry. '''She must remain single, but, notice, he never said about the man. See, you can’t make the Word lie. “From the beginning,” the sex law by polygamy.''' Now, the Word of God runs true with nature of God, runs in to continuity. | |||
''But she is designed to be a sex act, and no other animal is designed like that. No other creature on the earth is designed like that. '''That’s the reason you see polygamy, because of that. That’s what brought it in.'''<ref>William Branham, 65-0221M - Marriage And Divorce, para. 203, 230, 237</ref> | |||
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[[Category: Unfinished articles]] | [[Category: Unfinished articles]] | ||