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The Rules of the Message: Difference between revisions
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{{Legalism}} | |||
William Branham believed that personal holiness would produce "rapturing faith." Throughout the course of his ministry, he discussed personal habits, activities, manners of dress, entertainment, physical activities, sports and various other terrible things that he believed true Christians should not participate in. | William Branham believed that personal holiness would produce "rapturing faith." Throughout the course of his ministry, he discussed personal habits, activities, manners of dress, entertainment, physical activities, sports and various other terrible things that he believed true Christians should not participate in. | ||
Although William Branham stressed adherence to his code of conduct, many followers have lost sight of these requirements and would be considered, in the eyes of their prophet, to be living in a "backslidden" condition. Many message ministers also no longer hold to these religious conventions while others have made their own pronouncements, expanding on the legalism of the founder of their religion. | Although William Branham stressed adherence to his code of conduct, many followers have lost sight of these requirements and would be considered, in the eyes of their prophet, to be living in a "backslidden" condition. Many message ministers also no longer hold to these religious conventions while others have made their own pronouncements, expanding on the legalism of the founder of their religion. | ||
==William Branham's rules violate scripture== | |||
The doctrine of [[The Sufficiency of Scripture|the sifficiency of scripture]] reminds us that nothing is sin that is not forbidden by Scripture either explicitly or by implication. | |||
To walk in the law of the Lord is to be “blameless” (Ps. 119:1). Therefore we are not to add prohibitions to those already stated in Scripture. From time to time there may be situations in which it would be wrong, for example, for an individual Christian to attend movie theaters, or to eat meat offered to idols (see 1 Cor. 8–10), but unless some specific teaching or some general principle of Scripture can be shown to prohibit these (or any other activities) for all believers for all time, we must insist that these activities are not in themselves sinful and they are not in all situations prohibited by God for his people. | |||
This also is an important principle because there is always the tendency among believers to begin to neglect the regular daily searching of Scripture for guidance and to begin to live by a set of written or unwritten rules (or denominational traditions) concerning what one does or does not do in the Christian life. | |||
Furthermore, '''whenever we add to the list of sins that are prohibited by Scripture itself''', there will be harm to the church and to the lives of individual believers. The Holy Spirit will not empower obedience to rules that do not have God’s approval from Scripture, nor will believers generally find delight in obedience to commands that do not accord with the laws of God written on their hearts. | |||
In some cases, Christians may repeatedly and earnestly plead with God for “victory” over supposed sins that are in fact no sins at all, yet no “victory” will be given, for the attitude or action in question is in fact not a sin and is not displeasing to God. Great discouragement in prayer and frustration in the Christian life generally may be the outcome. | |||
In other cases, continued or even increasing disobedience to these new “sins” will result, together with '''a false sense of guilt''' and a resulting alienation from God. Often there arises an increasingly uncompromising and '''legalistic insistence on these new rules''' on the part of those who do follow them, and genuine fellowship among believers in the church will fade away. Evangelism will often be stifled, for the silent proclamation of the gospel that comes from the lives of believers will at least seem (to outsiders) to include the additional requirement that one must fit this uniform pattern of life in order to become a member of the body of Christ.<ref>Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 132–133</ref> | |||
==The Basic Rules of the Message (according to William Branham)== | ==The Basic Rules of the Message (according to William Branham)== | ||
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*No "booster" bras | *No "booster" bras | ||
*No high-heeled shoes | *No high-heeled shoes | ||
*No open-toed shoes | *No [[Open-toed shoes|open-toed shoes]] | ||
*No earrings | *No earrings | ||
*No cosmetics | *No cosmetics | ||
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==Rules introduced by various message ministers== | ==Rules introduced by various message ministers== | ||
*Women are not permitted to wear skirts with a fly in the front. They are only permitted to wear skirts with buttons or a fly in the back. | We asked some former message followers to give us some of the strangest rules that were taught in their message churches. These were not necessarily taught by William Branham but were extrapolated from the message: | ||
*Women are not permitted to wear skirts with a fly in the front. They are only permitted to wear skirts with buttons or a fly in the back. This is taught at [[Cloverdale Bibleway]] and other message churches. | |||
*Men are required to shave (no mustaches, beards, sideburns or goatees). This is taught at [[Golden Dawn Tabernacle]]. | |||
*Church members were not permitted to go to restaurants that served alcohol. | |||
*Cats are evil and children are taught to be afraid of them. | |||
*People who had any of the "evil" names (Elvis or Ricky) were deemed to be evil because of their name. Unisex names caused a person to have sissy traits if a man or masculine traits if a woman. | |||
*Psalm 46:10 - "Be still and know that I am God..." was displayed over the pulpit, altar or on the front of the church. It was to remind all the children (and their parents) to sit still and be quiet in church. | |||
*Never exchange money in the church building unless it was for tithing or an offering. | |||
*The only hymn books permitted were the "red book" and the " blue book". | |||
*Using a projector for lyrics was " worldly". | |||
*Televisions were not permitted as they were "worldly". However, "monitors" (TV's without tuners) were permitted along with VHS and DVD players. | |||
*Girls could swim but they had to be in long shirts and denim skirts to their calves with knee length shorts underneath (because the skirts might rise in water). However, the boys could wear shorts and no shirts. | |||
*Drums and brass instruments were worldly but guitars or other stringed instruments were permitted. | |||
*Large metal " eagle " belt buckles were required clothing for men (particularly on Sunday). | |||
*Girls were required to wear socks with sandals. And ruffled socks for young girls were generally required. | |||
*Barbie dolls were confiscated and thrown away because they had breasts. | |||
*Girls were not allowed to shave their legs until they were 18 years old. | |||
*Women who sang solo specials in church were not allowed to stand behind the pulpit. Rather they were required to take the mic to the side of the pulpit or stand by the piano. | |||
*Communion (the Lord's Supper) was not permitted until after the sun set. Wine (not grape juice) and unleavened bread were required and any bread left over had to be burned before the morning. No one was permitted to eat anything after they had partaken of communion until the next day. The deacons were required to make the wine as "store-bought" wine was "unsanctified". | |||
*A cross had to hang from your rear view mirror (so that a man could have something to look at instead of the prostitutes on the street). Only rough stained unhanded wooden cross with tiny tacks for the nails was permitted. | |||
*Women were not permitted to wear cross necklaces. | |||
*No one was permitted to own a sports car or motorcycle. | |||
*Paying cards were not permitted (some church forbid any type of games using cards) whereas others would permit games like Rook. Games with dice were not permitted so kids had to use a spinner instead. | |||
*Women were not permitted to wear clogs. | |||
*In some churches, birth control of any kind is prohibited. | |||
*Children were required to drop out of formal education at age 16 (as education was 'of the devil'). | |||
*Had to ask the pastor to do anything - go on vacation, buy a car, change job and so on. | |||
*Wearing of sunglasses is discouraged. | |||
*Eyebrow plucking or shaping was prohibited. | |||
*Eating ice cream on Sundays was not permitted. | |||
*Only "thigh high hose" was permitted, as pantyhose resembled a man's garment. | |||
*Women should always, or never, wear their hair up in a bun (different interpretations depended on the church you went to). | |||
==Quotes of William Branham== | ==Quotes of William Branham== | ||
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[[Category:Doctrines]] | |||
[[Category:Legalism]] | |||
[[Category:William Branham and Women]] | |||
[[Category:The Message]] | |||