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List of Issues with the Message: Difference between revisions
→What is the motivation for this website?
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=What is the motivation for this website?= | =What is the motivation for this website?= | ||
The development of this website started out in 2004, and was ultimately published in 2007, with the purpose of being a sane voice in defense of the message of William Branham. | |||
Paul, in Acts 17, considered those that searched scripture to try to prove | We left the message church we had attended for 37 years after it turned out that the pastor of the church had covered up the sexual abuse of a minor. The majority of the congregation also left within a month after our leaving and a new church started up. It did not differ doctrinally from the church we left, yet the pastor believed all those who left were apostate. The most problematic issue was the fact that not a single message minister stood up publicly against the egregious sin of our former pastor. | ||
How could this be? Wasn't the purpose of the message to create a pure bride that could stand above sin and the world? We began to think that the message had somehow been perverted by the ministers of the message. To determine whether this was the case, we went to the very foundation of our faith and started examining what we believed. | |||
Because the message was basically a "King James Version Only" denomination (and, yes, we believe the message is a "denomination" as that word is commonly defined), we started examining the Bible and which versions we could consider as trustworthy. Through our research, it became readily apparent that the Bible was very trustworthy, although our understanding was changed somewhat as we clearly understood how the New Testament had been passed down to us today. | |||
We then started to research the message. Our sole purpose was to prove the message to be true so that we could determine how it had been perverted by the message ministers who refused to stand up against sin in the pulpit. | |||
While the Bible had stood up well to intense scrutiny, our research into the message started raising some very difficult questions - visions that had apparently failed, prophecies that had changed over time, credibility issues and doctrinal problems. | |||
Paul, in Acts 17, considered those that searched scripture to try to prove whether things were true to be more noble than those that did not: | |||
:''The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ac 17:10–11.</ref> | :''The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ac 17:10–11.</ref> | ||
The research we did to try answer to the | The research we did to try answer to the questions we encountered raised even more questions, '''so we became even more diligent in our efforts to prove that the message was correct and that William Branham was a true prophet of God'''. The ongoing results of our research continued to raise even more questions. We spent several years researching these issues which in turn raised multitudes of questions. | ||
==What happened next...== | ==What happened next...== | ||
Our biggest problem was that '''no one in our church''' was prepared to sincerely consider our questions and try to answer them. We talked to many well known ministers that also followed William Branham, but they didn't have any answers either. A few of the more honest ministers actually admitted that we had stumbled onto some questions that they couldn't answer (at least in a way that reflected positively on William Branham). So we kept searching for answers. | Our biggest problem was that '''no one in our church''' was prepared to sincerely consider our questions and try to answer them. We talked to many well-known ministers that also followed William Branham, but they didn't have any answers either. A few of the more honest ministers actually admitted that we had stumbled onto some questions that they couldn't answer (at least in a way that reflected positively on William Branham). So we kept searching for answers. | ||
What was important to us was the Bible and it has always been our sincere desire to follow Christ regardless of the cost. That is more important to us than family, friends or work. Our questions were driven by our desire to know Jesus Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. | What was important to us was the Bible and it has always been our sincere desire to follow Christ regardless of the cost. That is more important to us than family, friends or work. Our questions were driven by our desire to know Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. | ||
==What does the Bible say about sincere questions?== | ==What does the Bible say about sincere questions?== | ||