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Proof of the Prophetic: Difference between revisions
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Most people think of prophecy as a prediction of an event or occurrence that will happen in the future. | |||
One significant problem with William Branham's prophetic ministry is that there does not seem to be a single occurrence where we have a clear prophecy recorded on tape that was later fulfilled. | |||
We have several occasions where he prophesied that things would come to pass in the future that did not happen. Examples of this would include the vision of the brown bear and the vision of the African meetings. | |||
We have asked publicly for examples of prophecies that were publicly announced and clearly fulfilled at a later date but have had no response to date. | |||
This is a serious problem for those that wish to thing that William Branham was a prophet. | |||
=Prophecy in the New Testament= | |||
There are three expressions of prophecy that the New Testament speaks of. The first is forthtelling the word of God. It is essentially preaching. This is spoken of in 1 Corinthians 14:6-7 speaks of a prophecy or a word of instruction. So it links prophecy with teaching or word of instruction as synonyms. Thereby, in this sense, the prophecy is teaching the Bible. It’s the word of instruction. That’s preaching and teaching. That’s what I do. And then in 1 Corinthians 14:24 and 25, it says that preaching the Bible, prophesying the truth that is already in Scripture, will allow non-Christians to come in, learn about Jesus, recognize they’re sinful and get saved | |||
The second use of the gift is the foretelling of the future; the revelation of some future knowledge that would otherwise be unknown. An example of this would be Agabus in Acts 11: 28-29 | |||
Thirdly, prophecy can be a personal word from God through someone with a gift of prophesy to an individual. Agabus is again a good illustration of this in Acts 21:10-11. | |||
=How can we tell whether a prophet is from God?= | |||
When we speak of William Branham's visions and prophecies, we are generally speaking of the foretelling of a future event. The Bible lays out a clear test for determining whether a prophet is from God: | |||
:''And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. (Deut. 18:21–22) | |||
To verify whether William Branham's prophecies came to pass, there should be publicly verifiable documentation of the foretelling of the event and then the event must take place at a subsequent time in a clear manner. | |||
Unfortunately, we are not aware of any evidence to this effect. | |||