William Branham

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{{christianity}}'''William Marrion Branham''' {{lived|1909|1965}} was an [[American]] [[Pentecostal]] evangelist<ref name=lupton>Andrew Lupton, [https://web.archive.org/web/20210729142617/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/street-preacher-cult-william-branham-1.4302531 How a dead U.S. evangelist inspires London's reviled street preachers]. Archived from ''CBC News'', 25 September 2017.</ref> who [[List of predictions of the end of the world|predicted]] [[End times|the end of the world]] would be in 1977. This did not happen, making him a false prophet. Some wingnuts claim that because he said "predicted" and not "prophesy", he was not a false prophet.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070705104630/http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/radio112.htm The End of the World in 1977???] Archived from ''Selected Bible Believers Radio Broadcasts'', 2002.</ref> Nonetheless, thanks to the [[Internet]], he has a growing group of followers who believe he was [[God]]'s [[end times]] prophet for this age, the second coming of Elijah or [[John the Baptist]], or something equally silly along those lines.

==Miraculous cloud==
As evidence of Branham's supposed anointed status, his followers point to a photo of a circular shaped cloud that appeared over Flagstaff, [[Arizona]] back in 1963. What a cloud over Flagstaff had to do with William Branham is anyone's guess, and indeed as anyone who has ever lived in Flagstaff knows, that area gets a lot of oddball cloud formations (or at least smoke, being the dry lightning capital of the civilized world). Regardless, Branham's followers claim the cloud was formed by the wings of seven [[angel]]s who had personally spoken with Branham revealing the meaning of the Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation.

==Incoherence==
Branham was originally a Baptist. However, strong criticism of his Pentecostal-like teachings led to his nervous breakdown in 1951 and a temporary absence.  Returning two years later Brahham was determined to separate himself from the Baptists and affiliate with one of the Pentecostal denominations who had been more supportive of him.  Unfortunately, he didn't know one Pentecostal group from another, and ended up joining the United Pentecostal Church International, a non-Trinitarian (Oneness [[theology]]) [[cult]] which had been ostracized from the Assemblies of God because of teaching that water baptism in their odd [[Jesus-only baptism|Jesus only]] formula and speaking in tongues are necessary for salvation.  Oneness theology is considered heretical by most other evangelical Christians including, presumably, Jack Chick, Hal Lindsey, and Todd Bentley. Additionally Branham seems to have become rather jealous of his imitators (individuals such as Oral Roberts and Jack Coe) who had by now passed Branham in terms of following. 
Branham later claimed he was the last great prophet of God
. To further confuse things, he subscribed to the [[Calvinist]] belief in absolute predestination (as opposed to the Arminianism usually prevalent among Pentecostals).  His Dispensationalism is unusual among both Calvinists and non-Trinitarian Oneness believers.  He embraced the [[serpent seed doctrine]] which is unusual among any of the above.  As an added bonus, many [[snake handling|snake handlers]] like the guy and will tell you William Branham was the closest to snake handler theology you will find outside the snake handling churches themselves, which is [[snake oil|all you really need to know]] about him.  All of this leads one to suspect William Branham was the type to latch onto any new novel doctrine he ran across and mix it up with his existing incoherent stew of beliefs.

==Influence==
[[John Todd]] (a onetime Branham follower) got most of his disinformation about the supposed nature of [[spiritual warfare]], the spirit world, and the occult from William Branham, and in turn passed it along to [[Jack Chick]].  The [[theology]] in Chick's comic book "Angel of Light" is total William Branham.  There is also a very strong possibility that [[Hal Lindsey]]'s attempts to tie modern political [[liberal]]ism and especially the [[United Nations]] to the rise of the [[Antichrist]] in [[Bible]] prophecy came straight from Branham's end times "prophecies".  Branham, like Lindsey, was a [[Dispensationalism|Dispensationalist]] and the same right-wing interpretations of current events and Bible prophecy popularized in the 1970s by Lindsey's ''The Late Great Planet Earth'' appeared a decade earlier in Branham's ''The Seven Church Ages''.

==Second coming==
A nutty [[faith healing]] evangelist named [[Todd Bentley]] has claimed to be the second coming of William Branham.  Bentley's modus operandi mostly appears to be punching the advanced-stage [[cancer]] patients who show up at his crusades in the gut, and drop-kicking them across the stage, supposedly because God "told him" to "kick them in the behind with his big biker boots" so they could receive the Holy Spirit and be healed, making him a violent [[Benny Hinn]].

==References==
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Categories: Anti-Catholicism, Anti-intellectualism, Antisemites, Christians, Conspiracy theorists, Crank magnetism, Cult leaders, End of the world, Faith healing, Fundamentalists, Ministers, Prophets, Pseudohistory promoters, Racists, Segregationists, Sexists, Shysters, War on science, We're on a mission from God