In 1971, I came
across the message of William Branham while I was in an Assembly of God
church. Being a Pentecostal (in the 1960s), I kept myself updated
on the Pentecostal Movement. I was also immersed in all sorts
of Pentecostal publications ―
magazines, pamphlets and books of many different Pentecostal
organizations, ministers and their ministries. I was acquainted with
Gordon Lindsay, Anna Schrader, Kenneth Hagin, A. A. Allen, T. L. Osborn,
Oral Robert and many others; and had even corresponded with some of
them.
At
that time, I was in the
Assemblies of God (and even after I left), Gordon Lindsay of Christ For The Nations was assisting me in my evangelical
outreach by supplying me with some of his written materials on various
Biblical subjects. He also sent me his books on Branham’s life and
ministry. Certain reports regarding Branham’s
claims was brought to my attention and I wrote to Lindsay to enquire.
I do not have a
copy of my letter to Gordon Lindsay (or to the others) because I had no
reason to keep a carbon copy; so I cannot produce it here.
However, the
letters from Gordon Lindsay, his wife Freda and Kenneth Hagin should
throw light on to what I was seeking for.
Here is Gordon
Lindsay’s reply to my query:

You can see from
the letter, I had circled some words and annotated remarks. I then wrote
another letter to Lindsay inquiring how the prophecy was shown to Hagin, and also
what error and false doctrine Branham was getting into. I
also wrote to Kenneth Hagin since Lindsay said “Hagin came into my
office and told me that the Lord had showed him…”
Lindsay did not mention anyone else being in his office or anyone else
connected to the prophecy.
Here is Freda
Lindsay’s reply on her husband’s behalf:

Notice that the
“error” of Branham was primarily because he is believed to be Elijah and
a messenger of the covenant. You also see that in Lindsay’s
response dated April 28, 1971 (below).
There
is no doubt that the religious leaders at the
First Advent of Christ had fought over John the Baptist’s ministry and
his claim of being “the voice of one crying in the wilderness”,
prophesied by Prophet Isaiah. Even Jesus’ disciples were at a lost
concerning John the Baptist. Until the Word told them, they had no
idea who John the Baptist was. John the Baptist did not claim to
be Elijah; he even denied that he was Elijah. However, Jesus said he was Elijah, whose ministry, a part of it, was “to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children” as was told by the
angel to his father. Therefore, until the Word reveals, no one will ever
know that other Elijah, who was “to turn the hearts of the children to
their fathers”.
Here is Kenneth
Hagin’s reply:

Notice, he wrote: “A
Sister Schrader…could tell you more details maybe.” I wondered back
then, why Sister Schrader? If the Lord “showed him”, why
referred me to Anna Schrader? He also added the word “maybe” in
his statement, why “maybe”? Why could not he just tell me how
he was shown the prophecy? How was Schrader (a prophetess) involved in his
prophecy of Branham? Was a confirmation required from her to show
that the prophecy was “Thus saith the Lord” according
to 1 Corinthians 14:29 as some people believe? Did not Kenneth Hagin claim he was a
prophet? If so, why, as a prophet of the 5-fold “Ascension Gifts”
ministry, should he attach himself to the prophetic gift in the 9
spiritual gifts to the church (1Cor.12)? Did those Old Testament prophets, who
were contemporary to one another, seek each other’s approval with
their “the Lord had showed me” prophecies? Lastly, was the
prophecy made public, or was it just for the privileged few (of four)?
Anyway, with the advice to get “more detail maybe” from Anna
Schrader, I wrote her, care of Gordon Lindsay’s office. Lindsay
replied:

With that reply, I
ceased pursuing the actual truth surrounding Kenneth Hagin’s
prophecy concerning William Branham’s death even though my spirit told
me something was amiss. I had no reason to disbelieve what those
three ministers said, and what they believed concerning Branham.
However, it is strange that the detail of Kenneth Hagin’s prophecy came
to light only after many years had passed, in Freda Lindsay’s
book, entitled, “My Diary Secrets”. (I have no information
whether it was mentioned in her first print of 1976, or only later in her 1998 revised edition.) Hagin also made mention of his 1964 prophecy,
28 years later, in his book, “He Gave Gifts Unto Men” published
in 1992. [Consider this: Kenneth E. Hagin's mother said that
an angel appeared to her during her pregnancy and told her, “Fear
not! The baby shall be born, for as John the Baptist was a forerunner to
My First coming, this child will be a forerunner to My Second Coming.”
No doubt, Hagin was aware of it.]
Both
books (mentioned above) related the “error” of Branham to be that
he refused to heed the warning that he was not to teach the
Bible. Hagin wrote: “Brother Lindsay said, “I told him,
‘You’re not a teacher, so don’t try to teach.’” “I begged him
not to teach. I said, ‘You don’t know the Bible, and you’re
confusing folks. Leave the Bible teaching to the teachers...’”
Strangely odd, Hagin's prophecy and Lindsay's warning came only after
more than a decade of Branham's preaching and teaching.
Concerning Branham being “messenger of the covenant”, notice how
the Lindsays clearly worded the statement in their letters to me:
“that he was a messenger of the covenant”. However, Lindsay's
words in his wife's book reads “He thinks he is the messenger
of the covenant.”. Do they know the Scripture as to who “the
messenger of the covenant” is?
Indisputably,
William Branham was a very controversial person. He was to some people,
Jesus Christ or the Absolute of God; to others, a liar and deceiver or a
false prophet; and to certain others, a devil. Truly, many of Branham’s
followers are guilty of idol worshipping Branham in the first degree,
and making the Word of God of no effect when they place Branham’s every
statement above the Sacred Scripture.
I believe in
Branham’s message, and that message is just this: Come out of
Babylon! Come back to the Apostolic Faith! Come back to the Original!
Simply, the Sacred Scripture is the Absolute Foundation for True
Worshippers; nothing more, nothing less. And because of my belief
and my stand for the WORD, a great number of Branhamites called
me a false believer and a false preacher. In several countries where I
ministered, I was besieged by some Branhamic ministers during meetings, and even
at the hotels where I stayed. A few had even prophesied against me, and
warned me that unless I changed my belief and teachings, I would
receive a curse from God, some dreadful diseases or even death
(spiritual or physical). I have heard from Branhamites (and how they
triumphantly proclaimed), about certain ones who had died, or were
afflicted with some terrible diseases because they were into cults
(meaning, into a church other than the Branhamic church).
“But these, as natural
brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things
that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own
corruption”
(2Pet.2:12).
On the other end, anti-Branham proponents are even getting at me simply because I
believe the message. Most of the anti-Branham proponents are those who
were once believers of the message. Some have been in Branhamic churches
for many years, 20, and even 30 years, before they realized “something was wrong with the message”,
as they put it. Whatever they have found
wrong with the message is due to the fact that they did not know WHAT
THE MESSAGE WAS in the first place. They had been taught by their
pastors to stay with the tapes of Branham, to “say what the tapes
say”, never to question but to only believe, even the contradicting
statements and discrepancies. These Branhamic pastors and preachers misapplied the
Scripture to believe the prophet’s every word, no matter even if common sense and
logic tell them otherwise. They believe Branham made no mistakes in his
speech. To question Branham’s statements, as one looks for Truth, is to
question God which makes one an unbeliever. Hence, they stay with the
utterances of Branham over the in-breathed Sacred Scripture of God. Well, that is what I was
hearing from such preachers when I came into the message in 1971.
For about two years, I heard statements such as, “Say what the tapes
say”, “Bro. Branham had the full Word”, “Bro. Branham was vindicated. He
had ‘Thus
saith the Lord’”,
etc. Being a student of the Scripture, I was not deceived.
However I was striving to understand this Branhamic standing; about two
years later God opened my eyes to that error. I am glad that I did
not fall into such foolishness. Certainly
Branham did not teach the people the nonsense that is being
propagated after his death. He told the people to check what he taught
with the Scripture and not to believe it, if it was not found in the Book.
His strong, and sometime very extreme emphases on certain issues were
much misunderstood by the believers, especially preachers. God had
used an uneducated individual, whose articulation was imperfect, and
sometime sounded silly, to teach the truth. And now, the
anti-Branham proponents are highlighting those statements on the
Internet to call attention to Branham’s teachings as cultic, fanatical,
idiotic, false, etc.
Why is it so hard
for people to understand the message? The message Branham
brought is not about Branham. It is also not what Branham said, but
rather what he said the Scripture says ― “Back to the Word!”
I thank God for the
messenger and the message, without which I would still be walking in
denominational darkness.