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Did William Branham Teach Oneness?: Difference between revisions

Did William Branham Teach Oneness? (view source)

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Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Christ.  Jesus is Lord, and Jesus is God.  The basis for those statements can all be found in scripture.  Saying that Holy Spirit is a title and that Christ is the Name is not scriptural.  And saying that "Abba" is impersonal is like telling a child that she must call her father by his given name.  William Branham's doctrine of the Godhead sacrifices the relationship that God has with man.
Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the Christ.  Jesus is Lord, and Jesus is God.  The basis for those statements can all be found in scripture.  Saying that Holy Spirit is a title and that Christ is the Name is not scriptural.  And saying that "Abba" is impersonal is like telling a child that she must call her father by his given name.  William Branham's doctrine of the Godhead sacrifices the relationship that God has with man.
= Unitarianism versus Oneness =
There are many who confuse the terms unitarian and Oneness. This is because both essentially believe that God can only exist as a single "unit," or monad.  He cannot be divided into separate parts, or a plurality of "persons" and still exist as a whole deity.  Although unitarians and Oneness are similar in the belief that there is not a plurality of persons in the Godhead, unitarians believe that Jesus was only a moral authority whereas the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ is essential to Oneness doctrine.
In Oneness theology there is an existential distinction, where God in the incarnation comes to exist in Christ in complete human existence and continues to exist as God eternally as Spirit ("Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us" - Matthew 1:23).
=Monarchianism=
Monarchianism refers to a movement in the second and third centuries that attempted to safeguard monotheism and the unity (mono-archē = “one source”) of the Godhead.  Monarchianism denied any kind of difference in reality of the Son and the Spirit as separate from the Father.  The first form of monarchianism was referred to as "patripassianism", which derived from the Greek words patēr (father) and paschō (to suffer).  The term refers to an early type of modalism that suggested that the one God (the Father) became incarnate in the form of the Son, was born of a virgin and suffered and died on the cross.
From this, two distinct forms of monarchianism developed:
:1. Adoptionist, or [[Dynamic Monarchianism|dynamic monarchianism]], which understood Jesus as merely a prophet filled with the Spirit and thus “adopted” by God; and
:2. Modalism (modalistic monarchianism or Sabellianism), which viewed Jesus as one of the modes through which the one God reveals himself to us.<ref>Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, 80 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999).</ref>


==Oneness/Modalist Theology==
==Oneness/Modalist Theology==
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[[Vaylism|Lee Vayle]] took the teachings of William Branham and used them to teach his own heretical view of the Godhead, a strange admixture of [[Nestorianism]], [[Arianism]], and [[Dynamic Monarchianism|Adoptionism]].  A detailed analysis of Lee Vayle's teachings can be found in our [[Vaylism|article on the subject]].
[[Vaylism|Lee Vayle]] took the teachings of William Branham and used them to teach his own heretical view of the Godhead, a strange admixture of [[Nestorianism]], [[Arianism]], and [[Dynamic Monarchianism|Adoptionism]].  A detailed analysis of Lee Vayle's teachings can be found in our [[Vaylism|article on the subject]].
=Concerns with the Oneness doctrine=
[[Image:FatherJesus.jpg|thumb|150px|An extreme Oneness t-shirt from fatherjesus.com]]
Sabellius was the original proponent of modalism. 
Calvin saw Sabellius as having a false belief because he:
:''counted the names of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as almost of no importance, arguing that it was not because of any distinction that they were put forward, but that they were diverse attributes of God, of which sort there are very many. If it came to a debate, he was accustomed to confess that he recognized the Father as God, the Son as God, and the Spirit as God; but afterward a way out was found, contending that he had said nothing else than if he had spoken of God as strong, and just, and wise. And so he re-echoed another old song, that the Father is the Son, and the Holy Spirit the Father, without rank, without distinction. <ref> John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volumes 1 & 2, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, The Library of Christian Classics, 125 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011).</ref>
==Wording that modalist (and message) believers never use==
It is interesting to note that the people that ascribe to the modalist view of the Godhead never use wording like the following when they are talking about God:
:''But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, '''and Jesus standing at the right hand of God'''.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ac 7:55.</ref>


:'''''God''' is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of '''his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord'''.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Co 1:9.</ref>
:''The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ '''and''' the love of God '''and''' the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 2 Co 13:14.</ref>
:''Blessed be the '''God and Father''' of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places...<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eph 1:3.</ref>
:''I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that '''the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory''', may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him...<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eph 1:16–17.</ref>
:''Grace to you and peace from God our Father '''and''' the Lord Jesus Christ.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Php 1:2.</ref>
:''We always thank '''God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ''', when we pray for you...<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Col 1:3.</ref>
:''And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, '''giving thanks to God the Father through him'''.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Col 3:17.</ref>
:''To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father '''and''' the Lord Jesus Christ...<ref>Grace to you and peace. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Th 1:1.</ref>
:''To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father '''and''' the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 2 Th 1:1–2.</ref>
:''Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, '''and''' God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 2 Th 2:16–17.</ref>
:''Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father '''and''' Christ Jesus our Lord.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Ti 1:2.</ref>
:''Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father '''and''' Christ Jesus our Lord.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 2 Ti 1:2.</ref>
:''Grace and peace from God the Father '''and''' Christ Jesus our Savior.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Tt 1:4.</ref>
:''Grace to you and peace from God our Father '''and''' the Lord Jesus Christ.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Phm 3.</ref>
:''Blessed be the '''God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ'''! According to his great mercy...<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Pe 1:3.</ref>
:''...that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is '''with the Father and with his Son''' Jesus Christ.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Jn 1:3.</ref>
:'''''This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.'''<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Jn 2:22.</ref>
:''...according to the foreknowledge of '''God the Father''', in the sanctification of the '''Spirit''', for obedience to '''Jesus Christ''' and for sprinkling with his blood...''<Ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Pe 1:2.</ref>
:''Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, '''from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son''', in truth and love.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 2 Jn 3.</ref>
:''To those who are called, beloved in '''God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ'''...<ref>Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Jud 1.</ref>
Why is it that they never refer to ''God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ''?  Could it be that their understanding of the Godhead is incorrect?  Could it be an antichrist spirit that ''denies the Father '''and''' the Son''?




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:''There is where '''the oneness missed it, there is where the trinity missed it, both sides of the road. But the happy medium is right in between.''' If God could be His Own Father, if Jesus was His Own Father, He couldn’t be. And if He had another Father besides God, and the Bible said the “Holy Ghost” was His Father, and if they’re two different spirits, He was an illegitimate child. That’s right. Which was the Father of Him, God or the Holy Ghost? You say one and watch how embarrassed you’re going to get. God was His Father. Is that right?<ref>William Branham, 65-0429B - The Seed Shall Not Be Heir With The Shuck, para. 107</ref>
:''There is where '''the oneness missed it, there is where the trinity missed it, both sides of the road. But the happy medium is right in between.''' If God could be His Own Father, if Jesus was His Own Father, He couldn’t be. And if He had another Father besides God, and the Bible said the “Holy Ghost” was His Father, and if they’re two different spirits, He was an illegitimate child. That’s right. Which was the Father of Him, God or the Holy Ghost? You say one and watch how embarrassed you’re going to get. God was His Father. Is that right?<ref>William Branham, 65-0429B - The Seed Shall Not Be Heir With The Shuck, para. 107</ref>
=Denominations that follow Oneness Theology=
Besides the majority of message believers, there are many Oneness Pentecostal organizations, although their numbers are not significant. Here are a few of the larger ones:
*[http://www.pawinc.org Pentecostal Assemblies of the World]
*[http://www.upci.org United Pentecostal Church]
*[http://apostolicassembly.org Apostolic Assembly of the Faith in Christ Jesus]
*[http://ALJC.org Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ]
== International Denominations ==
Oneness Pentecostal groups with headquarters in other countries include the United Pentecostal Church of Colombia, an indigenous church and the largest non-Catholic church in the country; the United Pentecostal Church of Australia; the Apostolic Church of the Faith in Christ Jesus, with headquarters in Mexico; the Oneness Pentecostal movement in the former U.S.S.R.; and the True Jesus Church], an indigenous church founded by Chinese Christians on the mainland but whose headquarters is now in Taiwan.  At times they have affirmed to be the only true church.  There are many smaller organizations (approximately 130 worldwide), independent churches, and charismatic fellowships that are Oneness in doctrine.
In existence is also the Apostolic World Christian Fellowship which has been trying to unite all Oneness Pentecostal denominations in existence through a loose fellowship.  There are some Oneness denominations that have refused to join -- for example the United Pentecostal Church.<ref>"The Pentecostals", by Walter J. Hollenweger, Professor of Mission at the University of Birmingham</ref>
==External links==
* [http://www.carm.org/oneness.htm Oneness Pentecostal theology, also known as Jesus Only theology] What is Oneness Pentecostal Theology?
* [http://christiandefense.org/oneness.htm A Definitive Look at Oneness Theology] Defending the Tri-Unity of God


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