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William Branham believed that he was commissioned to reveal mysteries that had been hidden by God. But what does the Bible say about | William Branham believed that he was commissioned to reveal mysteries that had been hidden by God from the foundation of the world. But what does the Bible say about how the mysteries of God should be revealed? Do we really have to [[Reading between the lines|read between the lines]] when reading the Bible? | ||
Did William Branham ignore the big "No Trespassing" sign that God set up as a warning specifically for men like him?<ref>The concept of "Theological Trespassing" comes from Dr. Aaron Denlinger, professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Reformation Bible College.</ref> | |||
==What the Bible says== | ==What the Bible says== | ||
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:''The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Dt 29:29.</ref> | :''The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Dt 29:29.</ref> | ||
This seems to be a caution against inquiring into the “secret things”. We should stick to the “revealed things and | This seems to be a caution against inquiring into the “secret things”. We should stick to the “revealed things" and leave other things alone as belonging to God. God has revealed the things that are beneficial to us; and our attention should focus on these discoveries, and end with them. | ||
In 1536, John Calvin published his Institutes of the Christian Religion in which he | In 1536, John Calvin published his Institutes of the Christian Religion in which he warned: | ||
:''This is clearly expressed by Moses in a few words, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever,” (Deut. 29:29.) We see how he exhorts the people to study the doctrine of the law in accordance with a heavenly decree, because God has been pleased to promulgate it, while he at the same time confines them within these boundaries, '''for the simple reason that it is not lawful for men to pry into the secret things of God.'''<ref>John Calvin and Henry Beveridge, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 2 (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1845), 532–533.</ref> | :''This is clearly expressed by Moses in a few words, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever,” (Deut. 29:29.) We see how he exhorts the people to study the doctrine of the law in accordance with a heavenly decree, because God has been pleased to promulgate it, while he at the same time confines them within these boundaries, '''for the simple reason that it is not lawful for men to pry into the secret things of God.'''<ref>John Calvin and Henry Beveridge, Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 2 (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1845), 532–533.</ref> | ||
Thomas Scott | Thomas Scott repeated this warning in a book he wrote in 1823: | ||
:'''''Almost all the heresies and controversies''', which have corrupted the purity, or disturbed the peace of the church in every age, have originated from disregard to this distinction; from vain attempts, by human reasonings and authority, to fill up supposed chasms in revelation, and to make it more apparently consistent and systematical, than it has pleased God to make it; from deducing disputable consequences from revelation; or from tracing back its sacred mysteries to some unrevealed antecedent causes.<ref>Scott, T. The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. 5 vols. Boston: Samuel T. Armstrong, 1823. 1:488–585.</ref> | :'''''Almost all the heresies and controversies''', which have corrupted the purity, or disturbed the peace of the church in every age, have originated from disregard to this distinction; from vain attempts, by human reasonings and authority, to fill up supposed chasms in revelation, and to make it more apparently consistent and systematical, than it has pleased God to make it; from deducing disputable consequences from revelation; or from tracing back its sacred mysteries to some unrevealed antecedent causes.<ref>Scott, T. The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. 5 vols. Boston: Samuel T. Armstrong, 1823. 1:488–585.</ref> | ||
Duane Christensen | Duane Christensen more recently penned the following admonition: | ||
:''Silence is an appropriate response in the face of ultimate mystery. As the prophet Isaiah put it, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8–9 NRSV). | :''Silence is an appropriate response in the face of ultimate mystery. As the prophet Isaiah put it, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8–9 NRSV). | ||
:'''''The Scriptures reveal plainly all that is needed for us to know God and to love and to serve him;''' to know our state as sinners, and to know the way of acceptance in Jesus Christ; to understand our duty as redeemed sinners, with respect to our talents and opportunities for service to others; and to know the nature of the spiritual enemies and dangers to which we are exposed. All this belongs to the “revealed things” that are the substance of useful knowledge and, when put into practice, are the substance of heavenly wisdom. But all those things that we are tempted to add to revealed truth, or substitute in its place, serve only to bewilder and confuse the benighted traveler. Such speculations may amuse and distract the curious; but they often mislead as well, leading the unwary to the pit of destruction. The prophet Isaiah warned against those who consult other gods “for teaching and for instruction”: “Surely, those who speak like this will have no dawn!” (Isa 8:20 NRSV).<ref>Duane L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 21:10–34:12, vol. 6B, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), 732.</ref> | :'''''The Scriptures reveal plainly all that is needed for us to know God and to love and to serve him;''' to know our state as sinners, and to know the way of acceptance in Jesus Christ; to understand our duty as redeemed sinners, with respect to our talents and opportunities for service to others; and to know the nature of the spiritual enemies and dangers to which we are exposed. All this belongs to the “revealed things” that are the substance of useful knowledge and, when put into practice, are the substance of heavenly wisdom. '''But all those things that we are tempted to add to revealed truth, or substitute in its place, serve only to bewilder and confuse the benighted traveler. Such speculations may amuse and distract the curious; but they often mislead as well, leading the unwary to the pit of destruction.''' The prophet Isaiah warned against those who consult other gods “for teaching and for instruction”: “Surely, those who speak like this will have no dawn!” (Isa 8:20 NRSV).<ref>Duane L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 21:10–34:12, vol. 6B, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), 732.</ref> | ||
==Quotes of William Branham== | ==Quotes of William Branham== | ||
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''We are now coming to '''this great hidden mystery that's been hid since the foundation of the world and now being revealed in the last days''' to the sons of God. You believe that to be true, that sons of God are manifested?<ref>ADOPTION.2_ JEFF.IN AD.2 WEDNESDAY_ 60-0518</ref> | ''We are now coming to '''this great hidden mystery that's been hid since the foundation of the world and now being revealed in the last days''' to the sons of God. You believe that to be true, that sons of God are manifested?<ref>ADOPTION.2_ JEFF.IN AD.2 WEDNESDAY_ 60-0518</ref> | ||
''What do you think the writer of this Book that seen it, and seen where it would be manifested in the last days, waiting and groaning for those sons of God to rise in the last days with the power of the Holy Ghost at the end of the age, '''to reveal the secret things from the foundation of the world''', to bring it up.<ref>ADOPTION.2_ JEFF.IN AD.2 WEDNESDAY_ 60-0518</ref> | |||
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''...And seven thunders right in the revelation here of Jesus Christ, is some mystery. Does not the Bible say that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ? Why, there's some hidden mystery then of it. What is it? The seven thunders have it. For John was just about to write, and a voice came down from heaven, said, "Don't write it. But seal it. Seal it up. Put it on the backside of the Book." It's got to be revealed. It's the mysteries. | ''...And seven thunders right in the revelation here of Jesus Christ, is some mystery. Does not the Bible say that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ? Why, there's some hidden mystery then of it. What is it? The seven thunders have it. For John was just about to write, and a voice came down from heaven, said, "Don't write it. But seal it. Seal it up. Put it on the backside of the Book." It's got to be revealed. It's the mysteries. | ||
Now, we solved out these things by the Holy Spirit. It's told us it wasn't apples; it was sexual. Told us these things... There's not no-one able to stand before it. I never seen a preacher in my life agreed with it. But I've asked them.<ref>IS.THIS.THE.SIGN.OF.THE.END.SIR_ JEFF.IN V-2 N-11 SUNDAY_ 62-1230E</ref> | Now, we solved out these things by the Holy Spirit. It's told us it wasn't apples; it was sexual. Told us these things... There's not no-one able to stand before it. I never seen a preacher in my life agreed with it. But I've asked them.<ref>IS.THIS.THE.SIGN.OF.THE.END.SIR_ JEFF.IN V-2 N-11 SUNDAY_ 62-1230E</ref> | ||
''The mystery of It, is, those Seals, each one of those churches made an organization and got into it, and that's '''one of the secret things''' that's been wrong before God. You see it, Doctor Lee? See, look. It is. That's the thing right there. That's one of the secrets. They organized and, see, and was completely out of the will of God. And that will be exposed in the last days, and lead the people, not to a creed or a denomination, but back to the true Word. And the true Word will come to a certain group of people, and the Son of man will reveal Himself in the midst of them, "the same yesterday, today, and forever."<ref>SPIRITUAL.FOOD.IN.DUE.SEASON_ JEFF.IN V-8 N-7 SUNDAY_ 65-0718E</ref> | |||
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''Now, remember, "The Word of the Lord comes to the prophet," not the theologian. The prophet, he is a reflector of God's Word. He can't say nothing; he can't say his own thoughts. He can only speak what God reveals. Even to the prophet Balaam when he was tried to be sold, sell his right, he said, "How can any prophet say anything but what God puts in his mouth?" It's a thing that God does, that you can't say nothing else. And you're born that way. No more than you could...<ref>THE.RAPTURE_ YUMA.AZ V-5 N-14 SATURDAY_ 65-1204</ref> | ''Now, remember, "The Word of the Lord comes to the prophet," not the theologian. The prophet, he is a reflector of God's Word. He can't say nothing; he can't say his own thoughts. He can only speak what God reveals. Even to the prophet Balaam when he was tried to be sold, sell his right, he said, "How can any prophet say anything but what God puts in his mouth?" It's a thing that God does, that you can't say nothing else. And you're born that way. No more than you could...<ref>THE.RAPTURE_ YUMA.AZ V-5 N-14 SATURDAY_ 65-1204</ref> | ||
''And now to these Sons of God, who by Him overcome, are given the privilege of the paradise of God, and the constant fellowship of Jesus Christ. There will never more be any separation from Him. Whither He goes, His bride will go. What is His, He shares with His beloved on a joint-heir relationship. '''The secret things will be revealed.''' The dark things will be made plain. We shall know as we are known. And we shall be like Him. This is the heritage of the overcomer who has overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of testimony to Jesus Christ.<ref>EPHESIAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.3</ref> | |||
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[[Category:Critical analysis of William Branham]] | |||