Let’s Talk Diseases
July 1, 2015
Let's Talk Diseases:
Thousands of people came from all over to the church meetings held by William Branham in the late 40's and 50's. The appeal? The promise of divine healing from a man of God that can read the 'thoughts and intents of the heart'—declaring your name, disease, and perhaps the town that you live in or the condition of your soul. Newspaper articles declared the successful healings, and in a time before much of the modern medical understanding today, divine healing was often the last resort.
There was no chemotherapy to treat cancer, and there was little hope of preserving your vision if diagnosed with cataracts. Ultrasound wasn't invented until 1956. The purpose of the appendix remained a mystery and was often routinely removed. The polio vaccine was invented in 1952, but many were already physically handicapped as a result of the virus that many believed was caused by consuming ice cream.
And so, it was with fear that the sick entered divine healing meetings, hoping that the travelling preacher could give them what the medical community could not. They come in, fill out a prayer card with their name, diseases, and hometown, giving this card to an usher who briefly chats with them and offers them reassuring words. They take their seat and await their time in the prayer line. Those without prayer cards are comforted as well; the ushers greeting them and assuring them to just have faith for their healing. Maybe, just maybe "the prophet" will call them out of the crowd and declare them healed!
When the preacher calls their number and then tells them their name and disease, the people are astonished and are filled with peace—flooded with adrenaline, they feel better—they feel hopeful. William Branham attributes his gift to an Angel on the platform that reveals the diseases to him through a number of signs—vibrations in his hand, visions of hovering clouds, and so on. Regardless of the source of the information, the audience wants to believe the story so badly. The fact that they wrote their diseases down on cards for the usher matters very little—like William Branham said, you must have faith to accept the gospel of divine healing.
Some of the "healed" people became even sicker and succumb to their diseases because they lack faith. Some got worse, and then better. And some—a rare few—received their healing immediately and fully on the platform. But most left the building, still sick, still weak, and still hopeless and in need of a miracle that simply did not come. Perhaps next time, they will have enough faith. Perhaps next time, they will "touch the garment" and be made whole.
William Branham claimed his angel revealed diseases to him by divine means—but if you read over the transcripts of the prayer line, there are some serious issues with this. First, WMB makes mistakes, healing a man of deafness when in reality he has issues speaking, not hearing. He calls out the wrong names, and he claims healing for people that later die from their diseases, such as Donny Morton.
Then, there are the "discernments" of diseases that simply do not exist. Supernatural explanations of diseases that don't adequately explain the medical phenomena are touted as revealed truth. Causes of diseases that the scientific community has now proven false are treated like the indisputable truth, revealed by divine inspiration in the prayer line.
Let's take a look at just a handful of examples where 'the prophet' got it wrong:
___
Gallbladder Seepage? This is not an actual medical condition.
And you have a gallbladder seepage with that.
50-0714 - At Thy Word
Prostate Condition Causing Nervousness? Perhaps someone can be nervous about their prostate condition, but "nervous condition" (what today we would classify depression, anxiety, or another psychological condition) is not directly caused by a prostate condition.
I want to talk to you again, after I found your trouble. You're nervous, which that's caused from a prostate condition. Isn't that right?
53-0215 - Jesus Christ The Same Yesterday, Today, And Forever
Cancer Caused by Bruises? Cancer a different life form? Though many believed cancer WAS caused from bruises before the medical community determined differently, we now know that cancer has absolutely nothing to do with the bruising of the skin. Cancer is also not a germ, and is not biologically a different life—it is genetically a part of the person who has cancer.
What's a cancer? Is a life. Look, there's no cancer on my hand. There might be sometime. What does cancer come from? (Everything in the natural, represents the spiritual.) A cancer would be a—a scavenger, buzzard, eats dead things. A cancer comes from a bruise. And then when that bruise comes, there's a—a little cell in there that's bruised, that backslides. A life, another life, not your life, a germ, comes in there. It's a spirit first that develops itself around it by a germ or takes the germ that's already in your body, and takes its place.
___
Judge for yourself--can the 'prophet of God' be simultaneously infallible and so obviously wrong about the cause of various diseases? Can "the spirit of God" reveal a disease that isn't real?
Seek the Truth. If you are holding out because of the divine healing, study it out fully and come to an informed conclusion instead of assuming it is all correct--because it isn't.
Thousands of people came from all over to the church meetings held by William Branham in the late 40's and 50's. The appeal? The promise of divine healing from a man of God that can read the 'thoughts and intents of the heart'—declaring your name, disease, and perhaps the town that you live in or the condition of your soul. Newspaper articles declared the successful healings, and in a time before much of the modern medical understanding today, divine healing was often the last resort.
There was no chemotherapy to treat cancer, and there was little hope of preserving your vision if diagnosed with cataracts. Ultrasound wasn't invented until 1956. The purpose of the appendix remained a mystery and was often routinely removed. The polio vaccine was invented in 1952, but many were already physically handicapped as a result of the virus that many believed was caused by consuming ice cream.
And so, it was with fear that the sick entered divine healing meetings, hoping that the travelling preacher could give them what the medical community could not. They come in, fill out a prayer card with their name, diseases, and hometown, giving this card to an usher who briefly chats with them and offers them reassuring words. They take their seat and await their time in the prayer line. Those without prayer cards are comforted as well; the ushers greeting them and assuring them to just have faith for their healing. Maybe, just maybe "the prophet" will call them out of the crowd and declare them healed!
When the preacher calls their number and then tells them their name and disease, the people are astonished and are filled with peace—flooded with adrenaline, they feel better—they feel hopeful. William Branham attributes his gift to an Angel on the platform that reveals the diseases to him through a number of signs—vibrations in his hand, visions of hovering clouds, and so on. Regardless of the source of the information, the audience wants to believe the story so badly. The fact that they wrote their diseases down on cards for the usher matters very little—like William Branham said, you must have faith to accept the gospel of divine healing.
Some of the "healed" people became even sicker and succumb to their diseases because they lack faith. Some got worse, and then better. And some—a rare few—received their healing immediately and fully on the platform. But most left the building, still sick, still weak, and still hopeless and in need of a miracle that simply did not come. Perhaps next time, they will have enough faith. Perhaps next time, they will "touch the garment" and be made whole.
William Branham claimed his angel revealed diseases to him by divine means—but if you read over the transcripts of the prayer line, there are some serious issues with this. First, WMB makes mistakes, healing a man of deafness when in reality he has issues speaking, not hearing. He calls out the wrong names, and he claims healing for people that later die from their diseases, such as Donny Morton.
Then, there are the "discernments" of diseases that simply do not exist. Supernatural explanations of diseases that don't adequately explain the medical phenomena are touted as revealed truth. Causes of diseases that the scientific community has now proven false are treated like the indisputable truth, revealed by divine inspiration in the prayer line.
Let's take a look at just a handful of examples where 'the prophet' got it wrong:
___
Gallbladder Seepage? This is not an actual medical condition.
And you have a gallbladder seepage with that.
50-0714 - At Thy Word
Prostate Condition Causing Nervousness? Perhaps someone can be nervous about their prostate condition, but "nervous condition" (what today we would classify depression, anxiety, or another psychological condition) is not directly caused by a prostate condition.
I want to talk to you again, after I found your trouble. You're nervous, which that's caused from a prostate condition. Isn't that right?
53-0215 - Jesus Christ The Same Yesterday, Today, And Forever
Cancer Caused by Bruises? Cancer a different life form? Though many believed cancer WAS caused from bruises before the medical community determined differently, we now know that cancer has absolutely nothing to do with the bruising of the skin. Cancer is also not a germ, and is not biologically a different life—it is genetically a part of the person who has cancer.
What's a cancer? Is a life. Look, there's no cancer on my hand. There might be sometime. What does cancer come from? (Everything in the natural, represents the spiritual.) A cancer would be a—a scavenger, buzzard, eats dead things. A cancer comes from a bruise. And then when that bruise comes, there's a—a little cell in there that's bruised, that backslides. A life, another life, not your life, a germ, comes in there. It's a spirit first that develops itself around it by a germ or takes the germ that's already in your body, and takes its place.
___
Judge for yourself--can the 'prophet of God' be simultaneously infallible and so obviously wrong about the cause of various diseases? Can "the spirit of God" reveal a disease that isn't real?
Seek the Truth. If you are holding out because of the divine healing, study it out fully and come to an informed conclusion instead of assuming it is all correct--because it isn't.