William Branham's View of Creation: Difference between revisions

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    William Branham believed that man was created first as a spirit and then God put that "spirit being" into a body.  But is that what the Bible teaches?


    Science has undergone what can almost be described as a revolution. For generations the prevailing view of the universe had been what is known as the steady-state theory. That is, the universe has always been and will always be. It is ungenerated and indestructible. Such a view was materialistic and atheistic. It contained no place for God.
    =The Creation of Man=


    In recent years this view has given way to the theory that the universe actually had an instant of creation. It came into being 15 to 20 billion years ago in a gigantic fireball explosion that sent suns and planets tumbling outward from this center into the form we observe them now. Moreover, they are still moving outward. In contrast to the steady state idea, this is called the big bang theory in reference to the instant of creation.
    William Branham's view of the "spirit man" being created first was apparently held by some Jews at the time of Christ, notably Philo. Philo held that God created a ‘heavenly man’ after his own image (Gen. 1:27), and only later an ‘earthly one’ (Gen. 2:7)<ref>Charles Duke Yonge with Philo of Alexandria, The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 19.</ref><ref>Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 219.</ref>


    The change in scientific thinking goes back to 1913, when an astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Vesto Melvin Slipher, discovered through his study of the shifting light spectrum of very distant stars that the galaxies in which these stars were found appeared to be receding from the earth at tremendous speeds—up to 2 million miles per hour. Six years later, in 1919, another American astronomer, Edwin Hubble, used Slipher’s findings to formulate a law for an expanding universe, which pointed to a moment of creation. Meanwhile, Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity were shaking Newtonian physics. <ref>James Montgomery Boice, Genesis: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 13–14.
    Philo of Alexandria was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt, who married Jewish theology with Stoic philosophy.  While it is unlikely that William Branham read Philo's works, we do know that he was familiar with Mormon teaching. Mormons teach that " Man is first spiritual, then temporal."<ref>Ed Decker, Decker’s Complete Handbook on Mormonism (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1995), 24.</ref>


    However, we understand that William Branham's teaching is false since, Paul states clearly in 1 Corinthians 15 that the "spirit being" did not come first:


    In 1964, Drs. Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson of Bell Labs discovered a noise coming from all directions, permeating the universe. Physicists hailed this as the first observational evidence of the Big Bang known as “the radio echo of creation.”
    :''If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.  So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. '''The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.'''  The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.<ref>The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Co 15:44–47.</ref>
     
    Penzias saw the philosophical significance in his discovery. “[T]he best data we have,” he said, “are exactly what I would have predicted, had I had nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole … [T]he creation of the universe is supported by all the observable data astronomy has produced so far.”<ref>Ray Comfort, Scientific Facts in the Bible: 100 Reasons to Believe the Bible Is Supernatural in Origin (Alachua, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2001), 48–49.</ref>
     
    As astronomer Fred Hoyle points out, the Big Bang theory requires the creation of the universe from nothing. This is because as one goes back in time, one reaches a point at which, in Hoyle’s words, the universe was “shrunk down to nothing at all.” So what the Big Bang model implies is that the universe had a beginning and was created out of nothing.<ref>William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith : Christian Truth and Apologetics, Rev. ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1994), 102.</ref>


    Paul rejects Philo's (and William Branham's) teaching about a "spirit" original man with his argument in 1 Corinthians 15:46.  He accepts the order revealed by scripture and redemptive history, which according to Gen 2:7, is that the first man is from the earth, whereas the second man is from heaven”.  Each “imprints his likeness on those under his headship (1 Cor 15:48).<ref>Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 1283.</ref>


    =Quotes of William Branham=
    =Quotes of William Branham=


    ''“In the beginning God created the heavens and earth.” It might have been a hundred million, or billion, or whatever it was. And how He done it, that’s up to Him to know, see, not to me. But the world, well, “The earth was without form, and void; and the water was upon the—the earth. And God,” said, “moved upon the water.” And said, “Let there be light.” 
    It is clear that William Branham taught that Adam was first created as a "spirit being":
     
    ''Now, '''I believe that the sun, and so forth, was already in existence''', I believe, the moon. As it goes on, Genesis 3, to explain it…But I believe, what was here, that the world, we was going to use it, and therefore…And it moved in; there was fog and mist all over the earth, making it dark. And God said, “Let there be light,” and the darkness faded away, and there was a cloudless sky.<ref>William Branham, 63-1229M - There Is A Man Here That Can Turn On The Light, para. 63</ref>
     
    ''Now God said, “Let there be light.” And six thousand years it took this Eden to come into existence, and we are taught in the Scripture, “For one day upon the earth is…or—or—or is as a thousand years, with God; a thousand years upon the earth, is one day with God.” So it took six thousand years to make this earth, and to bring it into an Eden. But, you see, it was God, the great Master of all intelligence, and He—He had in His mind what He wanted to do.<ref>William Branham, 65-1031M - Power Of Transformation, para. 55</ref>


    ''God, at the beginning, He said, “Let there be. Let there be. Let there be.” The world was just dark, in a chaos. Even when He said, “Let there be light,” there might have been hundreds of years before light ever sprung in. But when He spoke it, it has to come to pass. It must be that way. See? And He spoke His Word. Them seeds was beneath the water. When He dried off the earth, then the seeds come up. What He says must come to pass.<ref>William Branham, 65-1205 - Things That Are To Be, para. 27</ref>
    :''And then, first, '''man was made, he was a spirit man''', in the image of God. Which, “God is a Spirit,” Saint John 4. Now, “He is a—a Spirit. And they that worship Him, worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. And Thy Word is the Truth.” Now, we worship Him in Spirit and Truth. He is a—a Spirit Being.  
     


     
    :''Then there was no man to till the soil, and then God formed man out of the dust of the earth.<ref>William Branham, 63-1110M - Souls That Are In Prison Now, para. 38-40</ref>


    :''For, when God separated Adam, he was both. We find out, '''Adam was spirit, to begin with.''' “He made man in His Own image, created He male and female.” And then, Genesis 2 and on, He created man in…out of the dust of the earth. Man was created in God’s image (God is a Spirit), so he’s a spirit man. Then '''when he become flesh man''', animal flesh on the earth, He is—He is showing, portraying here the Bride. He never taken and made another being, but He took part of Adam, the original creation, took from him, a rib from his side; and took the feminish spirit out of Adam, left the masculine spirit in there, and placed it in the feminish part. Therefore, part of his spirit, part of his body; flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone; Word of His Word, Life of His Life, and that’s the way the Bride is to Christ!<ref>William Branham, 65-0429B - The Seed Shall Not Be Heir With The Shuck, para. 51</ref>
       
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    Latest revision as of 18:47, 18 October 2020

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    William Branham believed that man was created first as a spirit and then God put that "spirit being" into a body. But is that what the Bible teaches?

    The Creation of Man

    William Branham's view of the "spirit man" being created first was apparently held by some Jews at the time of Christ, notably Philo. Philo held that God created a ‘heavenly man’ after his own image (Gen. 1:27), and only later an ‘earthly one’ (Gen. 2:7)[1][2]

    Philo of Alexandria was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt, who married Jewish theology with Stoic philosophy. While it is unlikely that William Branham read Philo's works, we do know that he was familiar with Mormon teaching. Mormons teach that " Man is first spiritual, then temporal."[3]

    However, we understand that William Branham's teaching is false since, Paul states clearly in 1 Corinthians 15 that the "spirit being" did not come first:

    If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.  So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.  The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.[4]

    Paul rejects Philo's (and William Branham's) teaching about a "spirit" original man with his argument in 1 Corinthians 15:46. He accepts the order revealed by scripture and redemptive history, which according to Gen 2:7, is that the first man is from the earth, whereas the second man is from heaven”. Each “imprints his likeness on those under his headship (1 Cor 15:48).[5]

    Quotes of William Branham

    It is clear that William Branham taught that Adam was first created as a "spirit being":

    And then, first, man was made, he was a spirit man, in the image of God. Which, “God is a Spirit,” Saint John 4. Now, “He is a—a Spirit. And they that worship Him, worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. And Thy Word is the Truth.” Now, we worship Him in Spirit and Truth. He is a—a Spirit Being.
    Then there was no man to till the soil, and then God formed man out of the dust of the earth.[6]
    For, when God separated Adam, he was both. We find out, Adam was spirit, to begin with. “He made man in His Own image, created He male and female.” And then, Genesis 2 and on, He created man in…out of the dust of the earth. Man was created in God’s image (God is a Spirit), so he’s a spirit man. Then when he become flesh man, animal flesh on the earth, He is—He is showing, portraying here the Bride. He never taken and made another being, but He took part of Adam, the original creation, took from him, a rib from his side; and took the feminish spirit out of Adam, left the masculine spirit in there, and placed it in the feminish part. Therefore, part of his spirit, part of his body; flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone; Word of His Word, Life of His Life, and that’s the way the Bride is to Christ![7]


    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Charles Duke Yonge with Philo of Alexandria, The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 19.
    2. ↑ Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 219.
    3. ↑ Ed Decker, Decker’s Complete Handbook on Mormonism (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1995), 24.
    4. ↑ The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Co 15:44–47.
    5. ↑ Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 1283.
    6. ↑ William Branham, 63-1110M - Souls That Are In Prison Now, para. 38-40
    7. ↑ William Branham, 65-0429B - The Seed Shall Not Be Heir With The Shuck, para. 51


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