The Message Churches

The churches and believers who hold the recorded sermons of William Marrion Branham (1909–1965) to be the Word of God for this day, and who call his teaching "the Message."

Voice Of God Recordings, About Us

Voice Of God Recordings, Frequently Asked Questions

Voice Of God Recordings, William Branham

Branham Tabernacle, Jeffersonville, home page (weekly letters of Bro. Joseph Branham; service times)

Branham Tabernacle, A brief history

William Branham, The Serpent's Seed, 58-0928E (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, The Revelation Of Jesus Christ, 60-1204M (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, The Laodicean Church Age, 60-1211E (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, The Breach Between The Seven Church Ages And The Seven Seals, 63-0317E (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, The First Seal, 63-0318 (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, The Seventh Seal, 63-0324E (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, This Day This Scripture Is Fulfilled, 65-0219 (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, Does God Ever Change His Mind About His Word?, 65-0418E (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, The Seed Shall Not Be Heir With The Shuck, 65-0429B (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, Spiritual Food In Due Season, 65-0718E (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, The Anointed Ones At The End Time, 65-0725M (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, A Thinking Man's Filter, 65-0822E (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, Leadership, 65-1031A (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, The Invisible Union Of The Bride Of Christ, 65-1125 (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, Trying To Do God A Service Without It Being God's Will, 65-1127B (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, The Rapture, 65-1204 (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, Things That Are To Be, 65-1205 (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

William Branham, Communion, 65-1212 (Voice Of God Recordings transcript)

Emily Hamer and Tim Steller, "Glossary: Common words and phrases at Message churches," from the series "Twisted Message: A prophet's unchecked global sect," Arizona Daily Star / Lee Enterprises (12 November 2024)

Emily Hamer and Tim Steller, "'Cults' sprout globally from Christian group 'The Message'" Arizona Daily Star / Lee Enterprises (15 November 2024)

C. Douglas Weaver, The Healer-Prophet, William Marrion Branham: A Study of the Prophetic in American Pentecostalism (Mercer University Press, 2000), publisher's description

The Message began as a healing ministry. William Branham, a former Baptist assistant pastor in Jeffersonville, took a gift of divine healing across America and overseas from 1946, in the postwar healing revival. In the late 1950s and the 1960s his preaching turned to doctrine: the serpent's seed, the seven church ages, the seven seals of Revelation and the godhead. After his death in 1965 his followers did not form a church. They kept his tapes, then printed them, and the Message spread through independent congregations, most of all in Africa.

Branham is born

William Marrion Branham is born into a poor family in the hills of southern Kentucky, according to Voice Of God Recordings.

A baptismal service on the Ohio River

The Branham Tabernacle's history says that Branham, then assistant pastor of a Missionary Baptist church in Jeffersonville, was baptizing a convert in the Ohio River when he heard a voice. The Tabernacle records the words as: "As John the Baptist was sent forth to forerun the first coming of Christ, your Message shall cover the earth and forerun the Second Coming of Christ." This is the church's own account. The other sources read do not confirm it. The Tabernacle's cornerstone is laid later that year.

The commission to heal

The Tabernacle says that in May 1946 Branham received his commission from an angel to take the gift of divine healing to the peoples of the world. His campaigns followed, and they are counted among the beginnings of the healing revival that marked American Pentecostalism after the war. C. Douglas Weaver's study of Branham, published by Mercer University Press, treats him in that setting.

The Serpent's Seed

Branham preaches "The Serpent's Seed" at the Branham Tabernacle. It is the oldest sermon the research read in full, and it sets out the teaching that Eve's firstborn, Cain, was fathered by the serpent. The same sermon calls for baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ only, and it states that God decided before the foundation of the world who would be saved.

The seven church ages

At the Branham Tabernacle Branham preaches a series on Revelation 2 and 3, one sermon on each of the seven churches, from "The Ephesian Church Age" to "The Laodicean Church Age." He gives the seven ages dates from the first century to his own day, and says a promised Elijah-like messenger will come in the last age.

The seven seals

In a week of services at the Branham Tabernacle, Branham preaches on the seven seals of Revelation 6 to 8. He says the seals hold mysteries that the seventh angel's message is to reveal, and he treats the seventh seal as the last of them.

Branham dies

Voice Of God Recordings says Branham passed away as a result of a car crash in December 1965, and that he left behind the tape recordings of his sermons, which his followers cherish.

The sermons go into print

Voice Of God Recordings reports that from 1980 it has printed and distributed about 195 million books and 8.6 million cassette tapes, and it says about 95 percent of all it produces is sent out free of charge. These are VGR's own figures.

Joseph Branham becomes pastor

Willard Collins retires, and the Tabernacle elects Joseph Branham, William Branham's son, as pastor and Samuel Barber as associate pastor. The congregation outgrows its old building and moves its Sunday services to Sellersburg, Indiana.

A newspaper series

The Arizona Daily Star and Lee Enterprises publish "Twisted Message," a series based on interviews with more than 50 former and current followers, experts and religious leaders. It reports that leaders influenced by Branham have overseen controlling groups, and former members describe harm in some churches. VGR's spokesperson, Jeremy Evans, says "Brother Branham never stood for those kinds of things," and he disputes that some of the groups named belong to the Message at all.

William Marrion Branham

Healing evangelist and preacher; the source of the Message. The Tabernacle calls him "the prophet of Malachi 4," and VGR calls him "a prophet of God."

Orman Neville

A Methodist minister converted and baptized by Branham, who became pastor of the Tabernacle alongside him and carried on after Branham's death.

Willard Collins

Pastor of the Branham Tabernacle until he retired in 2015.

Joseph Branham

William Branham's son. Pastor of the Branham Tabernacle, and author of its weekly letters, which tell the congregation to play the tapes.

Where the Message stands in the lineage. The Message came out of the healing revival of the 1940s and 1950s, which itself came out of Pentecostalism. It does not appear on "The Line and the Branches," the lineage chart, because it treats one man's recorded sermons as binding beside the Bible. The chart on The Oneness Pentecostals covers the churches Branham's baptismal teaching resembles.

Numbers. Three figures are in the sources and they do not agree. VGR's FAQ says about 2 million people are served. The 2024 press series, quoting VGR's distribution figures, says an estimated 3 million. Neither is a count of members, and VGR says it is "difficult to estimate that number" because there is no governing system. No scholarly count was found.

What this chart leaves out. The 2024 press series reports on abuse and other harm in specific groups said to be influenced by Branham, and on cases abroad. The Message's publisher disputes that some of those groups belong to the Message. This chart weighs no legal case, because none could be verified as being about a Message church from court or government records. It also does not weigh any group's conduct. It weighs what is taught.

The Word of God is the only authority, and Branham's spoken words are that Word for this age.

The Message publisher says it holds to no man-made creed, and that its only doctrinal statement is a belief in "the absolute authority of the Word of God." The Branham Tabernacle's pastor writes that the Holy Spirit led Branham to say believers "must only say what is on the tapes; not add to or take away from." The Tabernacle's pastor writes that the Words Branham spoke are the Holy Spirit and not Branham himself. The Message treats Branham's recorded sermons as the Word of God for this age. His sermons teach the same: God, he says, always sent a messenger to each age, and the Word and the messenger of the age are one thing. He also tells hearers to test any prophet by whether God vindicates what he says.

We do not subscribe to any man-made creeds and our only “doctrinal statement” is our belief in the absolute authority of the Word of God.

The Words he spoke IS the Holy Spirit and not Brother Branham;

The Holy Spirit also led Brother Branham to say we must only say what is on the tapes; not add to or take away from.

Branham in 1965, on the messenger and the Word: "So the Word of God and the messenger of the age was the selfsame thing, all the time." (65-0718E, para. 68). In 1963 he gave the test for a prophet: "If the prophet rises and tells you that This is just That, and God don't vindicate the same, forget it." (63-0317E, para. 48). The Tabernacle's weekly letter calls him "His earthly angel guide, William Marrion Branham."

Saved by grace through Christ; baptized by immersion in the name of Jesus Christ as a sign of what God has done.

Branham preached that eternal life comes only through Jesus Christ, and that no pastor or leader can give it. He taught that salvation is a gift of God's choosing, made before the foundation of the world. He taught baptism by immersion of believers in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ only, and he insisted that anyone baptized another way be baptized again. He taught that baptism does not forgive sins but shows that they have been forgiven, and he said so against Oneness churches that teach baptism for remission. He did not make tongues the sign of the Holy Spirit.

Your pastor can't give It to you. Your leader here can't give It to you. Everybody that gets Eternal Life has got to come to Jesus Christ.

I do not believe that the water forgives sins.

No matter how they had been baptized, they had to come, be baptized again.

On God's choosing, Branham taught: "God knew, before the foundation of the world, who would be saved and who would not be saved." (65-0429B, para. 47). In 1958 he said: "So, you had nothing to do with it. You haven't one thing to do." (58-0928E, para. 95). On the water, in 1960 he said to Oneness hearers: "Water don't save a man; it's the Blood, repentance." (60-1204M, para. 265). In the same paragraph: "Regeneration comes by the Spirit." (60-1204M, para. 265). He still required the water: "I believe it's compelling to us to do it" (65-1212, para. 70), and he invited hearers who "wants to be immersed, baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, here's the pool." (58-0928E, para. 291). On tongues: "So, 'cause you've spoke with tongues, that don't mean you got It." (58-0928E, para. 62).

A real memorial taken in reverence, with footwashing, one of three ordinances; no set schedule is stated.

Branham taught that there are three ordinances left to the church: communion, footwashing and water baptism. He held that the Lord's Supper is not the literal body of Christ. It is an ordinance God gave the church. It is to be taken in sincerity, and not by a person who lives as the world lives. He warned against taking it from habit or tradition. The Tabernacle in his day held footwashing with it. The sources give no rule for how often it is held, and none for the elements or who may take part.

Now, we only have three physical Divine orders left to us: one of them is--is communion, feet-washing, water baptism.

I believe it's only an ordinance that God made with us, see, it isn't the actual body.

You don't take the Lord's Supper by a tradition.

Of footwashing, Branham said in the same sermon: "at our tabernacle, we've always observed this and feet-washing, always, because they go hand in hand together." (65-1212, para. 66). The sermon was preached at the Tucson Tabernacle on 12 December 1965. On how often, he said only that the interval does not make it right: "Well, our church observes communion once every Sunday, or once every month, or twice a year," taken without sincerity, "that's just a tradition." (65-1212, para. 41). The research found no statement from any Message church on how often it takes the Supper.

Independent churches with no governing body; a pastor, an associate pastor and boards of deacons and trustees.

The Message has no hierarchy above the congregation. Its publisher says it is "not affiliated with any denomination" and has "no governing system." The one local church the research could read, the Branham Tabernacle, has an elected pastor and associate pastor, a deacon board and a trustee board. In 1965 Branham asked the elders of the church to lay hands on a minister to set him apart. Branham taught against denominations and church organizations, and said the promised messenger of the last age would be one who would hate them.

Voice Of God Recordings is not affiliated with any denomination and is not supported by any governing church body.

We are not a denomination and we have no governing system, so it is difficult to estimate that number.

Brother Joseph Branham was then elected pastor and Brother Samuel Barber elected associate pastor.

Branham at the setting-apart in 1965: "they lay hands upon them and set them apart then." (65-0418E, para. 21). On denominations, 1960: "He will hate denominations like Elijah did." (60-1211E, para. 91). The research found no writing from Branham or a Message church on a plurality of elders, and none on how a pastor is chosen outside the Tabernacle. The press series calls the structure "unaccountable" and "independent." That is a reporter's description, not the churches' own.

The recorded sermon is played at every service; Branham's own meetings sang hymns with piano or organ.

The Branham Tabernacle says the heart of its Sunday meeting is the playing of Branham's recorded sermon at every service. It holds silent prayer on Wednesday evenings. The research found no written rule on music. In Branham's own meetings the congregation sang hymns with a piano or organ. At the Branham Tabernacle in 1960 he closed by asking whoever was "playing the piano" for a chord of "Take The Name Of Jesus With You." At the Life Tabernacle in Shreveport in 1965 he remembered sisters "playing the organ and piano." The sources do not show what Message churches do today.

Brother Joseph stands strong in playing Brother Branham's tapes, not at some services or even at most services, but at EVERY SERVICE.

Silent Prayer services are held at the Branham Tabernacle

playing the organ and piano, how they never had to wait

At the Branham Tabernacle in 1960: "And ever who is playing the piano, give us a little chord if you will, Take The Name Of Jesus With You." (60-1204M, para. 397). Branham's prayers in these sermons are addressed to the Father and to Jesus: "Dear Heavenly Father, we are grateful tonight" (65-0219, para. 2) and "Dear Lord Jesus, we are assembled again in Your Name" (65-0418E, para. 1). Branham also preached rules for how women dress. They are set out under the distinctives below.

The Holy Spirit gives gifts today, healing, visions and foresight among them; tongues are not the proof of the Spirit.

The Message holds that the gifts of the Spirit continue. Branham's own ministry was one of divine healing, and he taught that the Spirit speaks through visions and discernment. The Tabernacle's weekly letter lists what believers are to expect when the church is in one accord: divine healing, tongues, interpretations, visions, powers, foreknowledge and revelation. Branham taught that the sign of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit's fruit, not tongues.

So, 'cause you've spoke with tongues, that don't mean you got It.

Every heart will be filled with the Spirit.

Baptized with the Holy Ghost, filled with God’s blessings

In the same sermon (para. 62) he named the fruits of the Spirit, love, faith, joy, peace and the rest, as the way a person knows he has the Holy Ghost.

A rapture before the tribulation; the church now lives in the seventh and last church age, and the seals are opened.

Branham taught that Christ will come for his church in a rapture, and that the church is caught up before the tribulation and returns with Christ at the end. He said himself that this was contrary to pretty near every teacher he had talked to. He taught that the church is in the seventh and last church age, the Laodicean, and that in this age the mysteries of the seven seals have been opened by the message of the seventh angel. Message believers hold that Branham was that messenger.

Now, we believe that there will be a Rapture. All Christians believe that, that's Bible readers, believes that there will be a Rapture.

Therefore, the Church misses the Tribulation.

Now, there's no doubt, we're in the seventh church age. We all know it.

The church ages, in Branham's own dating: "The first was between A.D. 55 and 170, Ephesus." (60-1211E, para. 42). On the seals and the seventh angel: "for this alone, the mysteries of God, is the ministry of the seventh angel." (63-0318, para. 68).

Branham as the messenger to the seventh age

Branham is the prophet of Malachi 4 and the seventh angel of the last church age.

The Tabernacle calls Branham "the prophet of Malachi 4." The Message holds that God sent a messenger to each of the seven church ages, and that Branham is the messenger of the seventh and last. Branham, for his part, spoke in 1960 of an Elijah who was "to come." The sermons the research read do not have him say outright that he is that man, but the Message reads them so. The 2024 press glossary says the same: Branham did not claim to be Elijah, "but he described characteristics of this messenger and all of them matched himself," and Message followers believe he was the messenger of the seventh and final church age.

hear the prophet of Malachi 4 preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ

I believe the great Elijah, the great one that's to come, will be the anointed Elijah that's prophesied for the last days.

The primary source of the material that we distribute is the recorded sermons of the late William Marrion Branham, a prophet of God and internationally-recognized evangelist.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, that is to come.

but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema.

The Lord himself named the Elijah of Malachi 4: "this is Elijah, that is to come" (Matthew 11:13-14). John the Baptist was that messenger, and the New Testament knows no other. Nothing in Scripture says a seventh angel, a seventh age or a last prophet will arrive after the apostles, and what the apostles wrote is complete. Paul says that even "an angel from heaven" who preached another gospel was to be cursed (Galatians 1:8). A claim that one man was sent to finish the mysteries of God asks for the trust that belongs to Christ and his apostles, and the Bible does not give it to him.

The Message does not teach that Branham is divine, and the Tabernacle's pastor writes that the Spirit, not Branham, speaks in the words. But when a man's sermons are called the Spirit's own words, the practical effect is the same.

The tapes as the Spoken Word

Branham's recorded sermons are played at every service and nothing is to be added to them.

The Tabernacle's pastor writes that believers are to say only what is on the tapes, and the Tabernacle plays the tapes at every service. The pastor's letters call the recordings "the Spoken Word of God, which lives and dwells in us." The Message teaches that the tapes are how the Holy Spirit now speaks. The publisher says its only doctrinal statement is the Word of God.

And He has provided a way we can do exactly what he instructed us we must do, Press Play.

the Spoken Word of God, which lives and dwells in us

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Scripture is complete: it makes the man of God "complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible closes with a warning against anyone who would "add unto" the words of its prophecy (Revelation 22:18-19). A body that says the tapes are the Holy Spirit's own words, and that its members may say only what is on them, has set a second book beside the first. The Bereans were praised for examining the Scriptures "daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11), and they did not take even an apostle's word without testing it. Branham's own test, that God must vindicate the prophet, looks to signs, and the apostles looked to the teaching.

The Message deserves credit where it sends people to the text. Branham read long passages of Scripture in his sermons, and VGR says its only doctrinal statement is the Word. The fault is the one added thing that the Message binds beside it.

The serpent's seed

Branham taught that Cain was fathered by the serpent, not by Adam.

Branham taught in 1958 that the serpent in Eden was not a reptile but a beast "between the chimpanzee and the man," that the devil entered the serpent, that Eve conceived by him, and that Cain was "the son of Satan." He said, "she was already pregnant, by Satan," when she went to her husband. He named it among the mysteries the seventh angel's message was to reveal. In 1965 he said: "Here we are, today, understanding Serpent's Seed." The research found the teaching in his own sermons. It did not find a Message-wide statement on how many churches hold it or how closely, and this chart attributes it to Branham and to those who hold his sermons as the Word.

He begin making love to Eve, and he lived with her, as a husband.

And she brought forth her first son, whose name was Cain, the son of Satan.

All the mysteries, serpent's seed, and whatever more, is to be revealed.

and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah.

not as Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

And the man called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Genesis says of Cain's birth that Eve said, "I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah" (Genesis 4:1). Adam is named with Eve, and the text says nothing of a serpent as father. The seed of the serpent in Genesis 3:15 sets two lines of people at enmity, those who follow the serpent and the line that ends in Christ, and John uses the same words of Cain: he "was of the evil one" (1 John 3:12), which is said of his deeds, not of a bloodline. Eve is called "the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20), and the teaching puts one line of mankind outside Adam. The New Testament does not know this doctrine. To bind it on a church as a mystery that had to wait for 1958 is to bind what the apostles never taught.

The teaching also sits against the gospel's plain offer. If some people were born of the serpent, the call to "every one of you" to repent (Acts 2:38) is not to all. The sermons the research read do not draw that conclusion about any living person, and the chart does not say they do.

One God in three offices, and baptism in Jesus' name

God is one, in three offices; baptism is in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ only, and those baptized otherwise are baptized again.

Branham taught that God is one, "in three offices, three manifestations of the same God." He rejected both the Trinity and the Oneness label, saying each "missed it." He taught that baptism must be in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in no other form, and that no one in the Bible was baptized with the words Father, Son and Holy Ghost. He said that those baptized another way had to come and be baptized again. Here he stands close to the Oneness Pentecostals on the formula, and he differs from them on three things: he teaches that baptism does not remit sins, that tongues are not the sign of the Spirit, and that both the Trinity and the Oneness views miss the truth about God.

He's one God that lived in three offices, three manifestations of the same God.

There is where the Oneness missed it, there is where the Trinity missed it, both sides of the road. But the happy medium is right in between.

How can you do that, and refuse to be baptized in Jesus' Name?

Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway from the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him; and lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify thee: even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.

The Lord's command is to baptize "into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19), and Peter's is "in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 2:38). Both are Scripture, and neither is given as a formula that voids the other. At the Jordan the Son is baptized, the Spirit descends and the Father speaks (Matthew 3:16-17), and in prayer the Son speaks to the Father: "that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send" (John 17:3). Three persons act and speak together, and "one God in three offices" does not do justice to it. A believer immersed at the Lord's command into the threefold name has obeyed him, and so has one immersed in the name of Jesus. To command a second baptism for the first is to bind a formula that Scripture does not give.

The Oneness Pentecostals' chart weighs the formula in the same way. Branham differs from them on tongues, which is to his credit. On the purpose of baptism he is further from the text than they are: "wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16) and "unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38) tie the washing to the water, and Branham says the water does not forgive.

The seven church ages and the seven seals

The seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 are seven ages of history, and the seals were opened to Branham in 1963.

Branham read the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 as seven ages of church history, from the first century to his own day. In his dating the first age ran from A.D. 55 to 170. He taught that the seven seals of Revelation 6 to 8 held mysteries that no one understood until the seventh angel's message revealed them, and that the seventh seal was the last. He said the seven ages and the seven seals are joined by a breach between them, and the messenger of the last age would settle the Godhead, the serpent's seed and everything else.

The first was between A.D. 55 and 170, Ephesus.

for this alone, the mysteries of God, is the ministry of the seventh angel.

Here is the Seven Seals, or the opening

But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.

The seven churches were seven real congregations that John was told to write to, and the letters speak of their own lamps and their own works, not of centuries to come. The Lord said of the end that "of that day and hour knoweth no one" (Matthew 24:36). A plan that dates the ages and says which one we are in has taken that knowledge for itself. The idea that the seals had to wait for a man in 1963 sits badly with the word given to John, "Seal not up the words of the prophecy of this book" (Revelation 22:10). If the mysteries had been shut till 1963, the church for nineteen centuries would have been without them, and the apostles did not teach so.

Revelation has been read in more than one way by those who hold to the text. The fault is not in reading the seven letters as history. The fault is in binding one man's reading as the end of the matter.

Rules for women's dress and hair

Branham preached that women should not cut their hair, wear make-up, or wear clothes that pertain to men.

Branham preached against women cutting their hair, wearing make-up and wearing clothing that pertains to men. He held this to be "The real Bible way," the old way of Pentecost, and he said the Bible calls men's clothing on a woman an abomination to God. In 1965 he said: "Quit wearing paints, make-up, and bobbing your hair, and stuff like that" and "You wearing these shorts and clothes that pertains to men, do you know the Bible says that that's an abomination to God?" He also named bobbed hair and shorts among the things that make a person unfit to take the communion. How Message churches keep these rules today is unsourced. The research found no church's written standard and no named account of current practice, so this chart states only Branham's own words.

Quit wearing paints, make-up, and bobbing your hair, and stuff like that

You wearing these shorts and clothes that pertains to men, do you know the Bible says that that's an abomination to God?

But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoreth her head; for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven. For if a woman is not veiled, let her also be shorn: but if it is a shame to a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled.

A woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto Jehovah thy God.

In like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment; but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works.

If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances, Handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Paul does call for modesty: women are to adorn themselves "in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety" (1 Timothy 2:9-10), and a church may teach it. The command in 1 Corinthians 11 concerns the covering in the assembly, and the rules about hair and cloth are fixed to that custom. Deuteronomy 22:5 belongs to the law of Moses, which Christ fulfilled. To make the cut of a woman's hair or the cloth she wears a mark of holiness is to go beyond Scripture: "Handle not, nor taste, nor touch" is what Paul calls the precepts of men (Colossians 2:20-23). The call to modesty stands. The rulebook built on it does not bind.

Such rules are heavier when a church measures a person's standing by them. Branham did so at the Lord's table: he named those "wearing bobbed hair, and shorts" with those who live in filth and still "take the communion" (65-0822E, para. 99). The sources do not show how today's Message churches use the rules.

The Message churches are weighed by the same plumb line as every other body in this series. Their sources are mostly the sermons of one man, and what Branham preached is weighed here as the Message's teaching, because the Message treats it as the Word. Their own publisher says no creed and no doctrinal statement stand beside the Bible. The test is whether that is how they teach and act.

The Message says that the Word of God is its only authority, and in that it speaks well. But it teaches that one man's sermons are the Word for this age, that the Holy Spirit is in the words he spoke, and that members may say only what is on the tapes. That is a second authority beside the Bible. The Bible is complete: it makes the man of God "complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and the apostles' own gospel is the standard even over "an angel from heaven" (Galatians 1:8). Branham's test, that God must vindicate a prophet, is not the apostle's: John says to "prove the spirits, whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1) by what they teach. The tapes bind the serpent's seed, the church ages, the seals and rules of dress, none of which the Scriptures state.

This placement is authored, because the Message falls outside the lineage chart's rule: a body whose messenger's words bind beside Scripture has no lane. The Message holds that the Bible is the Word of God. It also holds that Branham's sermons are, and the second binds everything else in this chart.

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

And with many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.

The Message immerses believers and sends them to Christ alone, and in this it stands near the New Testament. But Branham denied what the water is for. He said, "I do not believe that the water forgives sins," and that baptism is "to show that you have been forgiven." Peter said the opposite: "be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38), and Saul, a believer who had prayed three days, was still told to "wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16). Branham also said the sinner has "nothing to do with it," yet the same sermon in Acts ends with a command to act: "Save yourselves from this crooked generation" (Acts 2:40).

How the placement was reached. It rests on the three baptism questions. Who is baptized: penitent believers. How: immersion. For what: a sign of a forgiveness already given, not the remission the text names. That last answer is the denial the site's conviction charges, and it is charged in full here, on the same rung as the Baptists, who say the same thing. It is not a lighter rung, because Branham does not make baptism optional: he calls it "compelling" and requires those baptized another way to be baptized again. The rounded mean puts the Message one step from the line, and the chart does not move it.

Why election and the serpent's seed do not move it. Branham quoted 2 Peter 3:9 himself, "not willing that any should perish" (58-0928E, para. 92), and then taught that God "could predestinate everything." The site does not move the Reformed or the Baptists for their doctrine of election, so it does not move the Message for its version. The sermons read never say that anyone born of the serpent's line cannot be saved. The serpent's seed is charged as bound doctrine, under authority.

The formula. The Message binds the Jesus-name formula and rebaptizes those immersed into the threefold name of Matthew 28:19. The chart on The Oneness Pentecostals weighs that under authority and in its verdict on the formula, and this chart does the same. Branham is not placed with the Oneness Pentecostals. They make the water the place of remission, which is nearer the text, and they make tongues the sign of the new birth, which Branham does not.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.

If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you.

The Message takes the Supper as Paul gives it: bread and the cup as a memorial of the Lord's death, "till he come" (1 Corinthians 11:23-26), after a man has examined himself (1 Corinthians 11:28). Branham denied that the bread is the literal body, and he joined footwashing to it, as the Lord's example in John 13 asks. On what the Supper is, the Message stands near the line. It stands short on when. The apostolic example is the first day: "upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7). Branham treated the interval as indifferent. He named a church that takes it "once every Sunday, or once every month, or twice a year" and said all three are tradition if the heart is not in it. No source shows any Message church keeping the table every first day, so this chart does not credit one with it.

How the placement was reached. What the Supper is: a memorial, sourced in Branham's own words, on the line. Who may take it: the communicant examines himself, as Paul says. But Branham also named "wearing bobbed hair, and shorts" among the things that make a person unfit to take the communion (65-0822E, para. 99). That is a test the text does not set, and it is charged one step. How often: no Message church's practice was found. The 1965 communion at Tucson came after "Three years I waited for a church to come in Tucson" (65-1212, para. 2), and Branham's own words make the interval a matter of indifference. With no evidence of a weekly table, the chart takes the middle of that question rather than the line. The three together round to one step from the line.

Branham's warning against "tradition" is right in what it fears, which is a table taken without thought. But a weekly meeting at the Lord's table is the apostolic example, and sincerity does not set it aside.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

The Message has no hierarchy above the congregation, and no bishop, board or conference rules over the local church, which is how the New Testament organizes it, and the Message deserves credit for it. But the one church whose order could be read is led by an elected pastor and an associate, with boards of deacons and trustees, and it shows no plurality of elders ruling together, though Paul "appointed for them elders in every church" (Acts 14:23). That structure gives one step from the line, and this chart moves it one step further, because one man's recorded word binds doctrine on every congregation: the Tabernacle calls the sermons "the Spoken Word of God" and tells members "we must only say what is on the tapes." Elders are to be "holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching" (Titus 1:9), not to a later voice beside it, and even an apostle wrote, "Not that we have lordship over your faith" (2 Corinthians 1:24).

How the placement was reached. Independence is sourced in the body's own words: "we have no governing system." That stands on the line. The eldership and the clergy are sourced only for the Branham Tabernacle. Its pastor leads, and VGR itself writes of "Rev. Branham." For other Message churches nothing was found, so the chart gives both the middle of the scale rather than credit it cannot show. The three round to one step from the line; the move off that, for the binding tapes, is stated above. The sources show no check on the pastor, but absence of evidence is not counted as a fault.

In 1965 Branham asked "the elders of the church here" at the Tabernacle to lay hands on a minister (65-0418E, para. 20), saying "they lay hands upon them and set them apart then" (65-0418E, para. 21). Timothy was set apart "with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery" (1 Timothy 4:14). That is the New Testament pattern, and it is a credit to the Message where it is kept. The press series reports that some groups' pastors exert control over members. The research did not verify these reports, and they are not weighed here.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

What is it then, brethren? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

The Tabernacle's Sunday has one fixed element, the playing of a recorded sermon at every service. Scripture names the parts of the assembly: the Supper (Acts 20:7), teaching, praying and "singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19), with every member taking part (1 Corinthians 14:26). A recording takes the place of the teachers God gave the congregation, and it is bound: the pastor writes that believers "must only say what is on the tapes." The congregation sang in Branham's meetings, which is right, but with a piano or organ. The text commands singing "with grace in your hearts unto God" (Colossians 3:16), and an instrument is an addition to what it commands.

How the placement was reached. Music: the congregation sings, with an instrument, as in Branham's own services. That is the step on the music question that churches dispute, and the site counts it. Acts added: the recorded sermon at every service, made binding, is a fixed form the New Testament does not give. Footwashing is not charged, because the Lord commanded it (John 13:14-15). Prayer: to the Father, and at times to Jesus. The three round to two steps from the line. Current practice in other Message churches was not found.

The silent prayer service on Wednesday evening is a credit to the Tabernacle, where prayer is offered in the open.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,

Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works.

The Message holds that the Spirit dwells in believers and bears fruit in them, and Branham was right to say that tongues do not prove that a person has the Spirit. The Message is wrong to hold that the miraculous gifts continue as they did in the apostles' day. They came "through the laying on of the apostles’ hands" (Acts 8:18), and they confirmed the word "unto us by them that heard" (Hebrews 2:3-4). When the confirming was done, they stopped: "whether there be tongues, they shall cease" (1 Corinthians 13:8-10). A ministry of healing, visions and discernment, and a messenger whose visions are said to make known the mysteries of God, rests on a claim that the signs of an apostle continue (2 Corinthians 12:12). The Spirit's real work in a Christian today is the fruit he bears.

Prayer for the sick is commanded in James 5, and the Message prays for them. That is right. The claim to gifts of healing like those of the apostles is a different thing.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.

The Message teaches that Christ will return in person and that the dead in Christ will rise, and on this it stands on the line: "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven" and the church is "caught up" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). It fails in two ways. The first is that it binds a rapture before the tribulation as part of Branham's message, whose recorded sermons its believers treat as the Word of God for this age. Holding that order is not the fault by itself, though the text leans against it: the Lord places the gathering of his elect "immediately after the tribulation of those days" (Matthew 24:29-31). The fault is binding it. The second is that it binds a scheme of seven ages, in which the church now lives in the last, and a messenger of the last age who unseals the book. The Lord said "of that day and hour knoweth no one" (Matthew 24:36), and the plan claims to know where in history we stand.

A pre-tribulation rapture is held by many sincere Christians who are not part of the Message. What is distinctive here is that the Message ties the rapture to Branham's own place in the seven ages.

The Message holds a good deal that Scripture also holds. It sends people to Christ alone for eternal life. It immerses believers. Branham's teaching that baptism does not remit sins is wrong, but his refusal to make tongues the proof of the Spirit is right. It keeps the Lord's Supper as a memorial and joins footwashing to it, as the Lord's example asks. It has no bishop, council or headquarters over its congregations, and the Tabernacle elects its own pastor. It calls believers to holiness, to prayer and to the return of the Lord. And its publisher says it gives away about 95 percent of what it produces.

The Message churches are weighed by the plumb line and found right on several practices and wrong on the root.

The root is that one man's sermons are the Word of God for this age. From that single claim come the serpent's seed, the seven ages, the seals and the rules of dress, none of which the apostles taught.

Some of the people who hold it love the Lord, and the Message gets many things right, but it binds them beside Scripture, and what is bound beside Scripture cannot stand. Those who follow the Message should keep the Bible they already honor, and set down everything that rests on the tapes alone.

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