How a Squirrel Spawned the Word of Faith Movement

Music Hello and welcome to another episode of the William Brannum Historical Research Podcast. I'm your host, John Collins, the author and founder of William Brannum Historical Research at www.William-brannum.org and with me I have my co-host, researcher and friend, John McKinnon, the author of the Persuasive Preacher, the Gifted Profit, and the Noble Politician.

John is good to be back and to talk about the word of faith movement, more specifically the backbone to what developed into the word of faith movement. Not many people are aware of this history and you can see it in the comment feed's people just they get up in arms. If you mentioned it, William Brannum actually was the prototype for a lot of this stuff.

And there are others too, you know Brannum wasn't the only one, but the full gospel business man as Charles and I have gone through the history of this. It was founded specifically for this healing revival movement that Brannum was the forefront leader of.

And it started back with Avoc Hagopian, you can find that history, I've got a publish on the website, the Kardashian family, and the Patriarch's nephew, Dima Shekarian, founded the full gospel business man. And there was a co-founder and he lived not far from my house. He was a Brannumite. Charles and I go through that history if you want to learn more about that, you can find it in the Revival History series.

But this movement, which was all funded, organized, you know, grew into the entertainment industry through the full gospel business man, it produced people like Kenneth Hagin and other word of faith leaders. They were in the movement and there was a period of time in which they all believed that in one way, shape or another, God had sent his son Jesus Christ through the form of William Brannum.

And there were varying levels of this. Some of them just believed it was a spirit of the end time. Others like T.L. Osborne, who was also in the word of faith movement, very strong, very strong component to the word of faith movement, just like Kenneth Hagin.

T.L. Osborne said at William Brannum's memorial service that God had sent his son again in human flash on paraphrasing, but that's the kind of movement that this spawned. And the reason why this is so important and significant to understand is because like the story we're about to get into, which is completely absurd, there were people that either believe did or decided they could make a lot of money off of it.

And it was the notion that God had sent his son or the spirit or whatever form they wanted to take into William Brannum and Brannum had this gift of speaking things into existence. And it was so weird to believe I've got a meme out there somewhere that it's got the face of Jim Carrey with his silly look on his face and he says, yes, I too believed a man from Indiana claiming to be Kentucky could speak a squirrel into existence.

And that's what these people were believing. And you know, Brannum got most of his theology from people like FF Bosworth, who came out of John Alexander Dauy's cult, Bosworth openly admitted that he studied E. W. Kenyon.

E. W. Kenyon, most people attribute him to be the founder of what became word of faith. But they missed that lineage, they missed the fact that it went from Kenyon to Bosworth to Brannum to people like Kenneth Hagen.

And it all really revolves around this one story that we're going to get into this story about a squirrel. Hi, John. Yes. Good to be back again. I'm ready to talk more about these nuggets we're finding and digging as we dig deeper into the message.

And subject today is just a little bit unusual. You know, today I'm going back to a story where Brannum told about those pesky, rat-like creatures with tails we call squirrels. I really didn't expect to get into this subject, but I'm really excited about it today.

And there's a lot to be said about it. And I was thinking about what I had known about it in the past about the squirrels and there were two times. He said he had spoken the word and created squirrels and then killed them.

So I want to review those details again and get it real clear in my mind as to what happened. I know he said the spoken word in one sermon in 1963, look away to Jesus in December.

He said it was used five times. So I wondered just wonder why squirrels were used twice by God rather than something else, why use squirrels twice. But I actually found some details that should be of a concern to us because when we talk about Brannum speaking for God, that's a serious thing, especially when you're speaking the spoken word of God, which is something that will materialize as if God is speaking.

And so if the word just didn't come to pass exactly, then there's a problem there. So that's what led to today's broadcast today. We've been speaking on some stories that we've talked about so far in the message that been told about events.

We spoke about the cloud and then I started talking about the bending of scripture in a second episode and in the third episode we used an example of scripture taking out a context and it led to the careless use of scripture for your own ends.

You know, it's more to come on that of course, but this is much different. This doesn't really relate to scripture too much at all except He mentioned Mark 11, 23, if you say in your heart and you don't doubt but believe what you say comes to pass, you know, you'll have what you say and he was trying to show how that scripture came to pass in his ministry.

But these things that we find as we're finding today is very prevalent in the message if you just look and way of random referred to what he was doing and creating with his own words.

He called this the third pull. So this was the capstone, his new ministry, what God was going to do in his ministry. It all culminated in the third pull and which he believed was part of the rapture going away of the bride as well.

So I know I'll be accused of not understanding the ways of God after this broadcast or even something worse but there's some things we need to look out here and I want others to know.

I want to detail these issues with the story as vindicating the third pull but also to tie this into the ladder rain and the new apostolic reformation. There's some ties to that as well.

So he spoke of those five manifestations of the spoken word and said it represented, you know, faith, F-A-I-T-H or G-A-R-C-E. The number five is significant, you know, in the Bible. And so he liked to use numbers and numerology to make it sound significant.

Any time he could relate numbers in his ministry to the Bible or he would do that. So he used it like he did in the 62 actually and another example we had was his vision of five angels representing grace.

But then strange thing, you know, seven days later he changed it to seven angels for some reason. And William Brown's ministry visions did have a way of changing and updating over time. So I think this squirrel situation is no different.

You know, I think the squirrel should be thought of as one of the sacred creatures in the message just as much as the eagle, the dove or the caribou or the grizzly bear. And it probably should take center stage because according to the message, you know, God used them to manifest the third pull not only once, but actually twice.

And I can show you a third time that God used it to manifest the third pull as we go through this broadcast. You know, we might get into what the third pull is at some point, but for now we can just say us another capstone of this ministry.

The manifestation of the Son of God on earth where you speak and it happens just as you say it. There's some issues with the squirrel story and how many times the third pull is actually manifested here.

There's issues of what he spoke and what actually took place. There's also issues of him ignoring or downplaying wise words didn't come to pass is spoken. And then and then also calling out someone who question him about his word and on and on it goes.

So there's an element in two of the cases of the spoken word where William Brown displayed some unhappiness. Now that we're talking about the five times the five manifestations and we'll go through those two, but there's two cases of these where he displayed.

It's an unhappiness and with some kind of attention and conflict that led to the spoken word, he was always unhappy when he was doubted or disrespected and we'll find that also in these cases that I'll mention.

It's strange that the cases of the spoken word involved either William Brown on being angry or God being angry in one case you know God was even angry. So in one case he also spun the story and of course in the squirrel case he spun the story and put the pressure on the deacon that doubted so the outcome of the spoken word was true even though it didn't exactly manifest as spoken.

But in the other case it was dealing with his wife. The spoken word was manifested as a result of the judgment of God on his wife for showing him probably some much deserved disrespect John.

You know when I started to research the third pool theology of William Brannum it was an odd study because no matter which sect of the message you go to they all have a different interpretation of what exactly this so-called third pool was and yes Brannum does mention things like the squirrel and other events with it but they all they all look to it like it's this great supernatural thing and this thing was happening and was supposed to bring the fulfillment of Brannum's theology which was that he would rise up and he would lead the entire nation of Israel to back to God he said he would be the one to do it before

he died and that there would be this sudden pool of people and they would go up into the rapture and then he died and so after he died everybody's you know what what was this what was the third pool what did it mean what is the significance of it and at the time I was studying that I was looking into all of the clan related things and I found this old handbook from the 1915 Ku Klux Klan which I don't I don't know if I believe it or not but Roy E. Davis William Brannum's mentor at one point claimed that he wrote all of the by-laws

and constitution of the 1915 clan there is some evidence that kind of backs up what he says but he he was a scoundrel and he like Brannum he liked to tell things that weren't true I'll just say like that but in the handbook it was talking about all the different coded language that they used and this allowed them to talk openly in public about things that were related to the clan and the public just couldn't hear it and I found it interesting as I'm studying that and I'm studying the history of the clan I find that the third wave of the clan is happening exactly the time of

William Brannum's third pool and this led to all kinds of conspiracy theories that you know I don't go down that path very often but you know you start to wonder was it loaded language because some of the things he's saying is just so absurd and it doesn't really fit the pattern of the other things that he said and did this this really took a took things to a new level. So was it coded language? Was it just nonsense? Or did he go insane? I, you know, I could go down all three pathways. It's just hard to believe that that we believe this kind of

stuff. But, you know, we're talking about squirrels and one of the things that in the support groups, everybody likes to go back to is whenever they want to have fun, they talk about the squirrel.

So this episode is going to be something else. Yeah, this episode is going to be fun all the way through John. So I want to give a little background. Let's keep in mind the events that are surrounding William Brown's ministry at this time. You know, at this time, he has a clear fail prophecy under his ministry. And I'll go into that at a later date and happen in 1952.

And after that prophecy was spoken, he went around the country to raise funds for this overseas meetings given him by a vision. And that meetings turned out to be a failure. Then he was rejected by the assemblies of God and around 1953. And then eventually by one, the Spent of Costals.

By 1955, his meetings had failed to raise enough money to support. And he found himself 15,000 and dead in one meeting out in California. And he had another vision about that time when he was at a low spot of a great tent revival he was going to have. And he started prophesying about that as well.

And then right after that, he began ministering with Jim Jones from the mid-50s to about 1957 to 58 in some conferences. And that's pretty significant as well for a prophet of God to associate with a man like Jim Jones. He then associated, of course, he'd always been associating with Latter-Rain Christianity and Matt and Bozay was pretty much a leader in that group.

But they promoted the manifest sons of God ministry, modern day apostles and prophets. And that's now led to the New Aspicellate kind of Reformation and all the things you've been speaking of in your podcasts. So by 1959, you know, he finds himself again at this low point.

And I figure he has to find a way to reinvent himself. He's a very unpopular minister at the time because he just got through preaching a serpent seed about a year earlier. And everyone knew where that came from. So that was in 58. So in order for him to remain relevant, you know, to the broader Christian world, he has to come up with something more, a new ministry, a new manifestation which could draw crowds and lift him back up in the eyes of the people. So this event of the spoken word supposedly occurred three years before the vision of the five angels in December.

So the five angels in December occurred in 62 and this occurred in 59. And then a couple of months later in 63, of course, after that vision of five angels, the cloud appeared. So these are very significant things here and worth looking at. But talking about the manifestation of a third pool, There was a pro-message website that said this.

He said, God manifested the third pole twice more in October, November, 1959, allowed hunting in October. Brother Random was meditating on March 11, 23, and God revealed to him that a man can be so anointed with the Holy Spirit that when he opens his lips, this is if God is speaking.

After showing Brother Random this, the Lord instructed him to say whatever he desired, and it would be granted him. Brother Random requested squirrels to meet his hunting allocation. The Lord pushed him to speak squirrels into existence twice, and they materialized out of nowhere before being shot by Brother Random.

Later God showed him that these signs pointed to a change in his ministry that would soon culminate in a magnificent ending. So that's pretty much it as to how the squirrel situation came about.

So at this time, he preached a couple of messages called new ministry, and one was in the spring, and of course one was in the fall after he shot the squirrels. And so the background for the spoken word was occurring right around 1957 when it was ministering, of course, with Jim Jones.

And here's a quote he mentioned, and Faith wants to deliver to the saints. He said, God's obligated to his word when that real, not put on, not make believe, but a real subtle faith and a man's heart that don't vary from God's word a bit.

It is God's word being spoken by mortal lips. And he said, that is the faith wants to deliver to the saints. And another message in 1959 in April, this was before the squirrels, he said, if a dream or dream's a dream or a prophet prophesies, and it's not according to God's word, forget it.

God is not in it. But if God brings it back and proves it by his word, then it's God's spoken word, confirming what he said was the truth. So we see here, he lays the foundation for the word of God having to be exact.

This is troublesome when you get to the squirrel event because we find it's not very exact. And he also says, forget it if it's not prophesying according to God's word, if it's not as if he had spoken, but he said, God has to bring it back and prove it by his word for it to be the spoken word, to confirm it was the truth.

And we'll find this interesting situation here with his deacon, where as he was praying through that evening, he was, he was, had some doubts in his heart, and we'll see some interesting things there.

So and another one, 1961 paradox, when he talks about the spoken word, he said, your spirit came into the car, and there I said, you shall have it. And today I hold this fine little baby boy in my hand, your spoken word, your promise, talking about his grandson in that case.

So many cases I could read here about him, talking about the spoken word. And when he said, I only had five times of it being confirmed, I've just read one here where that would be a six time.

So there was really more cases of the spoken word that he preached about than just these five cases we'll talk about. So I want to mention a little bit about the Latter-Rain group, just talking about the underlying goal within the Latter-Rain message, and this is by a man named Bill Heyman.

He wrote a book called The Eternal Church, and it really dovetails and goes right along with William Brown's ministry, because William Brown's ministry really a product of the Latter-Rain and all that they believed, and so he was making his ministry relevant to the Latter-Rain at this time.

I fully believe, because he had lost the assemblies of God, the mainstream Pentecostal world and the one that's been accostals by this time. So Bill Heyman says, the whole creation is waiting for the last generation church, the earth and all its creation, or waiting for the manifestation of God's last day of apostles and prophets, and fully restored church.

He said again, this can only take place when the church realizes its full sonship, its bodily redemption, will cause a redemptive chain reaction throughout all creation. Heyman states, at that time the sons of God will be fully manifested on earth, widespread spiritual warfare will result with the sons of God doing battle with Satan and company.

The non-Christian nation of the world will also be defeated. Once the earth has been subdue, Jesus will come back to earth and be given the kingdom that has been won for him by this man-child company.

The manifested sons of God doctrine teaches that these sons will be equal to Jesus Christ, immortal, semis, perfected sons who have partaken of the divine nature. They will have every right to be called gods and will be called gods.

That's a book, a prophets and a prophetic movement by Bill Heyman. William Brown said this in the church age book. He said, he knows, God knows that if the people get the true revelation of the true church and what she is, what she stands for, and that she can do the great of work, she will be an invincible army.

He also said in other places, if the church can only realize who she is or the bride can realize who she is, the rapture would come. This message of the latter reign ties directly into what brother Brannum was doing here with the spoken word, showing that he was a manifested son of God on earth, but I can show more than five times.

Even in 1957, this was June 22nd, he preached a sermon where he talked about speaking a fish back to life that had the guts had been pulled out of it after they caught it, and he spoke it back to life.

So that was an example there, then in 59, two instances of the squirrels in October, and actually as part of that squirrel event, that was a fourth squirrel killed, and that squirrel had to be spoken to be found.

In 1959, right after that, had he right spoke, as he was talking about the squirrels, nothing but the truth, and he supposedly gave her two sons in salvation. In writing, I think it's either...

In 1963, I couldn't tell which because I've seen two different accounts there. He supposedly spoke the storm out of existence in Colorado while they were hunting and he was, you know, not caught up in the storm because it was coming on him while he was in the mountains and he couldn't get down, so he spoke it out of existence so they could have clear weather while they finished their hunting trip.

And in 1963, around November, his wife, Mita, had developed a tumor and he spoke that tumor to be gone by the time the doctor touches her and he said it was so. And December of 1963, he spoke about all these events, really only five of them.

He really didn't talk about the fish or the fourth squirrel. So he only spoke about as five events happening. But I just showed you up here where he, a quote where he was talking about his grandson and this was in 61, he says, your spirit came in the car, there I said, you shall have it.

I hold this final boy in my hand, your spoken word, your promise. He says, but we're coming to something greater than that now. We're rising above that. They were coming to that spoken word that was in the servant paradox in 1961, December the 10th.

So you see, there's even more instances than just these five. So you can't say that because it was five number of grace that it only happened five times because really with all these, there turns out to be eight cases I've found and I'm sure there's probably more, I just haven't looked, but eight cases there of the spoken word where I can see that he spoke something after God told him to or after he spoke it by feeling the inspiration and it came to pass.

So there you are. He really didn't count that four squirrel as significant really, but the spoken word did come to him and he said and told him to speak for him as he did the other five or six squirrels that he killed.

And this would have been the seventh squirrel that he killed and God told him to speak that he would find that squirrel and he did find it and he had to speak it to find it evidently.

So I mentioned those five times that he talked about if you go back and listen to the sermon, look away to Jesus in December 29th of 63, he explains those five times. So I won't spend time maybe going through that, but I will mention briefly about maybe what he said here.

He says, so I'm going to say something to you now, I haven't said all along and the thing we've looked for for so long for many years, four or five years or maybe longer.

The third pull has now been vindicated. I'm sure you all know what it is. He said, how many remembers about the squirrels? And when it happened down in Kentucky, which was the second time it happened.

The first time it was in Indiana, he said just simply speaking into existence, things that wasn't. He said the third time it happened was had he right. The fourth time it happened, I just...

Plain here, when I was here last, I was up on the mountain when the storm raging. And he said, he spoke to the storm out. Just speak to the storm, it'll cease. Whatever you say, that's what will happen.

And that's where he said, storm you cease, a new shine, normally for four days to wear out of here. And he said, it happened. Meet his tumor, tumor. He said, just then I heard something in the room, I looked up, and a voice said, stand up.

Now, whatever you say, that's the way it'll be. I waited just a minute, before the doctor's hand shall touch her. The hand of God shall take the tumor away, and it won't even be found.

What was it, just exactly according to the Word of the Lord? He said, that's the fifth time. He said, five is the number of grace, a number of faith, too, F A I T H. There's no more doubt in my mind.

I know what the third pole is, and I know what it does. Now, be reverent, keep quiet, the hour will soon arrive, where God is going to do something for us. So here in that sermon, he says, five times, but as I've just shown, there's a few more times that you could probably point to where the spoken Word was actually spoken.

And I want to pause there, because that phrase, the spoken Word was actually spoken. Not many people realize that in the Brannamite cults and all of their splinter groups, that this phrase, the spoken Word, is so commonly used.

And they also, the people who are in it don't realize that it is used by other splinter groups, such as Jim Jones of People's Temple, also used the phrase spoken Word. The entire movement was using this phrase, as though the words that they spoke, because of their divine authority, as apostles and prophets in the fivefold ministry, their word was a spoken Word, or they called the Bible the Word.

So this was a new Word, a new thing, a new, a new, a, a, a, a, a, a, as one of the phrases that, you know, Kenneth Hagen used, it all means the same thing.

Somebody who's in this movement, from, from its inception, I'm probably from 19, I guess it was 1940s, whenever Brannam started using it on the recordings, but I can assure you, it was probably used before this, because the way that this thing has developed from John Alexander Dowie into Bosworth into Brannam and his mentors, this was probably a phrase that was evolving over that time, largely due to E. W. Kenyon, but through Bosworth's training of Kenyon and then that flowing into Brannamism, this became a big thing, the spoken Word.

And now we have Rayma Bible College, all of these other things that are basically, they're just pillars that are built on top of the foundation that Brannam and Bosworth and those like him laid.

So John, let's continue on about these squirrels in detail. Way of Brannam preached on the squirrels, very detailed two times on the 15th and 23rd November, just supposedly after it happened in October. And he mentioned it many more times, I know the sermons, just as a reference, but he went into very great detail if you go back at these two sermons.

The first one was 1959, November the 15th. of my new ministry priestess in Jeffersonville. The second one was in San Jose, California on November the 23rd. So, and he also titled it my new ministry.

So this is another, the second time he preached a sermon called new ministry that year. So he said on the 18th, the season we close in Indiana, we would have no more squirrel hunting.

So I said, this will be the last time I can go out. And then he went to Salem. He said, that's about 40 miles from Jeffersonville, a little bit to the north. He said, season was late, squirrels were few.

I've been out several times, just getting one squirrel at a time. I want you to notice as we go through this quote here that he always gives the backdrop that squirrels were very scarce.

It's late in the season, it's hardly any squirrels out there, and should not be very many seen if any at all. And I think he does this just to kind of build up the expectation that, you know, God would have to do something miraculous for him to even see a squirrel.

And so I think it's pretty deliberate there. He even says this, so this morning I made my way to the same woods and a wind rose that began to blow and anyone who hunts knows, that's a bad morning.

So, you know, he's always, he's talking about how bad it was and how it wasn't good for squirrel hunting. So while he was hunting out there, he said, I just sit under a tree, got snug down and warm and sunshine on me, something said, if you say to this mountain, you know, plucked up and cast into the sea and shall not doubt in your heart and believe that those things you said will come to pass.

You can have what you said. So he goes under that scripture.

He said, he was thinking about it musing on it. He said, Jesus gave them power on the other side of the atonement like he did the prophets. And he said, when I said prophets, he said, something struck me again.

What was the prophets? And then he begins to think of it more what God did with the prophets and after he was kind of musing upon that, something he said, he realized he was talking to somebody and he said, something said to me, that's in the atonement.

If for a man or woman is so consecrated and surrendered to God that God just moves in and uses their voice, it isn't man speaking. It's God in him speaking. He said, I thought that's right.

So God keeps speaking to him internally like that. He said, God asked him, isn't the individual or the spirit of the living God? I said, that is true. I see it. It's God that's speaking at all the church needs as a step closer to him and more of a consecrated life to live with him.

If you notice, he mentions, you know, you got to get more consecrated, more surrendered. You know, and William Brown's mind and throughout his ministry was always kind of a workspace religion. You know, we didn't get there by grace.

We had to become somehow more and more consecrated, more and more devoted to God, do more works, you know, to get there. And that was really true in this, in this same thing here.

The way he talks is more like you have to vote yourself. or more. So, and then he said, he caught himself speaking to someone and I said, what do you? I said, who am I talking to? Who are you? Who's standing here with these bushes that I can hear the voice talking to me? Who are you? Speak out to me. You know, I think this was so humorous to me for him to say that because if you listen to him on tape, you really dramaticize this thing.

Like, like, he almost jumped out of his skin. Like, who is this talking to me? But, you know, for a man that's heard from God all his life, he seems very confused right now as to who's talking to it.

You know, maybe he's just trying to be overly dramatic to play it up. But, he just got all excited and jumped up from him between the trees. He says, I said, speak to me. Who are you? I can't see you. And so, anyway, he keeps going on trying to say who was speaking to him.

And God said, prove all things. I said, Lord, if that be you. And this is a sign that you're fixing to change my ministry from those visions to something greater. I've looked to you for so long.

Let it come to pass. You'll answer my prayer. So, so that's when he was talking about the squirrels. And then he mentioned November. He was on Kentucky. And he started in the woods. Squirrels are very scarce. They'll know the leaves deep on the ground. I started up in the woods and something said to me, how many squirrels do you want this morning? So, this was the second time. I didn't go through the first time all the details about the three squirrels that he hit. But he hit them pretty solidly, you know, one after the other after that after he asked for them. So, I want to hop over to November

when he went to Kentucky because things are a little different there. That was a few weeks later. And things he said, now that was scarce. The squirrels were scarce. The leaves deep on the ground.

And then something said to him, how many squirrels does he want that morning? He says, well, I've got 114 this year. 117 if I had three more it'd make 120. That will make even number to stop on.

And I said another thing. It would be given, give me six to take home, which I love them better than to meet there is to eat. And I said, if I could just get three more. And then something said, speak, say to it, speak the three squirrels and you'll have it. And that on 19 come so great till I could hardly stand on the ground. And I said, speak, what do you say? Don't doubt, and you can have what you said. And I said, I shall get three squirrels. And then it said, where will they come from? And then he pointed different ways they came from. And then

he said, make it radical. God don't care how radical it seems. He's the God of circumstance. And I just want to deviate just a little quick detour here when I say God of circumstance.

I wonder what that was. And I looked up a few quotes on God of circumstance. He said in a couple of times, he said, if the doctor can't do you know good? You've got to write to go to God. That's what you should do. Call on God. God is the author of circumstance.

He can do when nothing else can. When a man comes to the end of their line, God can do. And we just believe what you said, no matter how unreasonable it seems, you're the God of circumstance. You're able to keep what you have promised. So he uses this slow term, God of circumstance, just to say that this was impossible, is an impossible situation to kill squirrels or to this to happen, but he's the God of circumstance. He's going to make it come out all right. So then he continues on. He saw his first squirrel way back up there around 90 yards. He said,

he shot it. He didn't kill it. He said, there's one might as well turn, look the other way because they're coming. He said, now listen real close to this. And this is going to be tape recording that go all over the world. So see what he's doing. He's now realizing, he knows these tapes go all out. He's saying this tape will go all over the world. So he's really careful about what he's saying. But he also wants to build it up as, you know, something miraculous that has happened here. So he says, he kept watching and he said, there come a

gray squirrel, just exactly that way. That's right, Lord. I turned down, raised up to shoot him and there come another squirrel. And so there you have two right there together. That would be three.

He said, there's two just exactly make my three and I raised down, shot the first squirrel to her dead now. So two or two are dead at this point. He knows he shot two. Then the other one, run under the log. I could see him cutting on a hickory nut or something under the log. He said, the log was about that high on the end raised up a foot. I could see the squirrel. He said, I killed the first one. Now I'll get the other one. So actually, when he's talking about, I killed the first one. He's talking about the second squirrel. Now he's going to try to get the third one. And then

he, he did shoot at it, but he, he shot and hit the log. He shot four inches above him. He shot a foot under him. So he couldn't hit that squirrel. And he said, the squirrel just went up on up through the woods. So that was the third squirrel got away. And he said, he believed it got away or said, he, he wouldn't have got it anyway because he claimed it had to come through to the, from the north. So he missed that third squirrel. And so he waited on at around four o'clock. He says, well,

I'll go get my squirrels because he gave up about that point. He went up and got his two squirrels and he come back and he said, it was so dark he can hardly see. And then he said, the voice said, why aren't you going to go up there and get that squirrel, which would have been the third squirrel.

He needed for the word of the Lord to come to pass. He said, well, I wish I could somehow

see what, hear that, what that really means, Fran, see under that anointing. It wasn't me that said it. It was God said it. I walked a couple of steps and said, turn and go back towards the north. Your squirrel is there. And that was the third squirrel. So then he looked up there and said, after why he saw it, not on a tree. And he said, way up there it was darkest. I'll try that anyhow. Now shot. And so that's the third squirrel that he killed. He saw that knot. He thought it was the squirrel's head. He shot and it killed it. He said, but when I did the squirrel run around

the tree and run down. I heard he hit the ground. He said, I thought it jumped off. Same time that happened about 20 feet from it, run up another one up a wide oak.

So he thought he had missed that squirrel and it had run up a wide oak. So actually what is happening here, he had killed that third squirrel. Then another squirrel ran up a wide oak and that would be the fourth squirrel.

And then he goes on, he said, I said, he run down one and run up the other one. That's what he thought. He said, now surely Lord, you won't let me miss him after I've already said under that anointing that this would be, you're confirming my ministry.

This will be six times that you've confirmed it to me. The number of men, six times, I said, you won't let me miss him. So he thought he had missed when that squirrel ran up the wide oak.

But he actually had hit him, we'll find. And so now he said, I looked up or down the tree way up there. I thought seeing some leaves, seeing something moving in it. I raised up and shot and the squirrel dropped to the ground, stone dead.

So that was the fourth squirrel. So now we have the, he claims he had going to have six squirrels, but now he's now killed a seventh squirrel. But he said up to the hill, I went happy and rejoicing.

I went to the first tree over to my left and there laid the squirrel, which was the fourth squirrel. He said, well, I know I got that one, but I wasn't sure this one, which was the one he shot and killed he wasn't sure of.

And then he said, Lord, do you give me one for good measure? So he believes he did shoot four. He wasn't sure, but now he realizes he had shot four. And he says, you give me one for good measure.

So since the squirrel, the third squirrel was already dead, even if you didn't know it, you know, for the word of the Lord to come to pass when that squirrel went up the wide oak, you know, really, it should have ended as, if God was in this, it should have ended as squirrel hunting.

That fourth squirrel wasn't even have been there. He would have gone back and just said, I only got two, couldn't find the third one. But in his mind, I think at that time when that squirrel went up that tree, he really needed three, because he spoke three.

And then he goes and looks for that squirrel now, even though he doesn't need him, he killed four, but if he would have just kept quiet about it, he really could have claimed he only shot three.

But I think, of course, he wouldn't want to tell a fill about it, you know, he would want to be truthful. So he, he'll find a way out of it anyway. So he goes over and finds the other squirrel, which was the third squirrel, but he wasn't there.

He said he looked and looked, searched under leaves, raised up little pieces of junk, tore open an old log. So he couldn't find that squirrel at all. Then he just went on back that house to the house for supper that night.

And before going to bed, you know, brother Charlie asked for the Tony Zable to lead in prayer. Now, he related all this to the brothers there about these squirrels. So he told all about, you know, shooting them and then not being able to find that one.

And so... He says, now I don't say this to conflict or hurt brother Tony. He's one of the finest Christian gentlemen that I know of. But just to show you how the Lord works, Tony in his prayer that night said, Lord, let it be known to us that our brothers telling the truth that tomorrow he will find that squirrel in the stump.

So he told this occasion about another one here in the next sermon he preached and speak to this mountain and said it was a California. He said, and one of my deacons by the name of Tony that was in my church, he was with me.

He said, now Lord, we ask him to lead in prayer. He said, now Lord, to confirm that our brothers told the truth. He said, it looked like my heart just dropped out of me.

Know that I've told the truth of something like that. And how would tell a lie about it God forbid such a hypocrite? And I thought, how would a man that loves me, a man of that caliber, a man that his wife laid down on the floor and the doctors had walked away from her, went over and offered prayer for her.

She got up and went to the church with me. How could he question my word? How did he say that and the other brother and caught it? Now I'll come back to the sermon where he said, he was still talking to brother Tony.

He said, that was, I never said I'd find a squirrel in a stump under that anointing. I said, I shot the squirrel. Of course, I couldn't get the squirrel because if I did, that made more than I said.

Just exactly what I said under that anointing, that's what God produced. So I didn't say nothing about it. You know, since he couldn't find three squirrels, he had to shoot a fourth one. So he could take three home to fulfill the word that he spoke.

And then he says, but brother Tony didn't get it. He said, if that squirrel is there, then one of our brothers told us the truth. And then something interesting here, he says, he says, brother woods, brother Charlie, I'll then pick it up.

We said nothing. He said, I slept with brother Tony that night. The next morning, early before daylight, well, brother Brannum, we'll go up to get your squirrel. We'll get one anyhow because it'll be there.

I said, brother Tony, you just didn't understand. When I spoke under that inspiration, I said three squirrels. The fourth one had nothing to do with it. I'm picturing the people who's outside looking in at this.

You hear something like this and you know the guy is making it up. You can tell that he's just pulling it straight out of his backside and people are eating it up as though it's religious nonsense.

It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. Tony said, oh, it'll be in that log anyhow, we'll know by that. He said, I looked across the table and I thought, brother Tony, would you, would you doubt me telling you the truth?

And I never said it. The brother looked at each other. You know, we have Brannum at this time. He must have been angry a little bit. He thought this, he thought this, he never spoke it out, but he thought it.

But it seems the other brothers knew by him saying it, you know, by him saying they looked at each other. They kind of knew that. There was a tension in the room during this time.

So then he goes on, when they start looking for that squirrel, he said, and something said to me, you know, if it isn't there or if it is in there, what makes a difference?

I said, he will. He wouldn't believe me. He prayed and said that if we find that squirrel, he would know that our brothers told us the truth. And that great anointing come said, just say the squirrel will be up there and you'll get him.

I thought, surely, Lord, surely. This will be seven times straight while this anointing is on me. I said, is that you? Here he even says, finding that four squirrel makes seven times. So now the squirrel event becomes three times the spoken word was manifested, makes a total of six times.

So for him to have to speak that squirrel to get the seventh one, God said, say what you will. I said, I shall find that squirrel, the anointing then left me. And then he went on hunt.

He said, I hunted on till nine thirty. So they were hunting again that next morning. And then he did find that squirrel eventually. And he says, down to hill, I went, told him about it.

We were joist. When I come to the car, Charlie standing right there, banks they were talking, wasn't that strange that Tony would say a thing like that in his prayer as well as he loves brother, random.

And while he doubted his word and say that, see, he just had to say it that way. God knew that I'd stand in his pulpit this morning and claim the same thing. So you see, he had to smooth over the fact that, you know, hey, that was a fourth squirrel I killed, but I'd only spoke three, but it was all because, you know, God knew Tony was going to pray that prayer and then we'd have to go back and find a squirrel.

It was, it was an easy way to try to get out of the situation. You know, when you're making stuff up as you go, as he obviously was, and people are going to eventually catch it, whenever you slip up, you make some mistake.

And so we have three squirrels, third pool, now there's a four squirrel. What do you do with this? And the sad part about it is, because of the way people are manipulated in these types of movements, this is the word of faith, this is the rama, this is God speaking, well, now there's a fourth one.

What do you make of this? There's no real description of the four squirrel. So people, you know, will jump to their own conclusions is to try to spiritualize what is the meaning of the four squirrel.

Maybe it means that I am the next prophet to rise up and become William Brannum's successor. Sadly, I think that may have actually happened, so you've got all these squirrel successors. So the whole thing is just really absurd, and I think if people in the word of faith movement and all of its descendants were to realize that this came from nonsense of a man claiming to have spoken squirrels into existence and doing so by claiming it is the spoken word, robbing from EW Canyon through FF Bosworth.

I think people might just take a step back and say, wait a minute, is this movement really from God or is this just some nut job saying that he could speak a squirrel into existence?

Yeah, John, I hope that was very clear to everyone. And so I just want to wrap up and say what we've learned in these events is really eye-opening just highlights another issue with this ministry.

You know, first, I'd say the word of the Lord really changed. It has seemed to matter two way in random that four squirrels were killed when he said the word of the Lord says there were three.

William Brantum seemed to think what difference does it make? He says God told him to speak and whatever he spoke would come to pass and what the Lord said was three. He got the three but then got one for good measure, you know, perhaps because he didn't realize he had killed that one of the three and he was probably a little desperate.

He said it was getting dark, been a little desperate. He saw another squirrel. He shot him. So maybe by accident, he got this one. So since he couldn't find the third one, he hunted till he'd be sure he had the three.

So his words, you know, didn't come to pass exactly because you would think that if God was in this and spoke three, that he wouldn't even allowed that other squirrel to be seen and he wouldn't even have come out.

And other times, you know, William Brantum had a big deal about there being no squirrel around and how hunting conditions were so poor there were no squirrels. How God's spoken word is to be exact.

That squirrels had to come exactly the way it was spoken. And then to avoid lying about what happened, he had to say he shot four, but then he had to provide a cover story for the word of the Lord not being exact by saying the Lord said it to him.

It made no difference if there were three or four. He actually had to speak the word again to find the fourth squirrel. So this made even more times spoken where it was used. His mistake was telling about a fourth squirrel.

It caused his deacon to even pray as he did, you know, the deacon had some doubts. He was pretty sure that third squirrel hit the ground, but he just didn't find it. So he needed three squirrels and would say that if this was the word of the Lord, that he would not have shot that fourth squirrel and they would have gone back the next day and even found the third just as he did.

And even if he would have hunted all day and not night, he would not be able to shoot a forest because the word of the Lord that was spoken said three was all. So this should be a huge issue when we're dealing with something like the spoken word and this new ministry.

You know, the second thing or more we glean from this is his influence on the people who question things. He couldn't find the third squirrel. Tony has deacon had a question about life four, not three.

So the situation reveals William Brown's attitude toward people who question. William Brown was careful to pay attention to everyone in the room's attitude at the time too because he realized that the other brothers picked up on what was going on and he even spoke that in a sermon.

But after that night spent sleeping with the prophet, you know, Tony must have straight up and didn't openly question anything because he continues to be a deacon at the church. And that's the really sad part.

I think people who are in these cults deep down, they know something's wrong, deep down everyone wants to be in something. that is following truth. And sadly, people are just hoodwinked. But when you've got a ministry that is claiming that I have the spoken word, the rhyme, or whatever you want to call this thing, and that this is divinely inspired words coming directly from God, everything that I say must be the truth because it came from God. Through cognitive dissonance, people take, here's the thing that I know that I'm questioning is to be false. But here's the spiritual authority of this person speaking

to me. Let's reconcile this and let's just make it true in some way shape or form. And sadly, that's what happens. And like this gentleman who stayed to be a deacon, it's really sad to watch because people, they bury theirself deeper into the movement whenever they start to question and suppress their critical thinking. I'll read a couple of quotes in closing here. You know, he said, talking about being judged, he believed himself to be a prophet, and of course a prophet in his mind is not to be judged. He said, now, those are the spirits of the gifts that send the church,

tell them about the gift of prophecy. But the only person that has a right to say, thus say, if the Lord is a vindicated prophet, you never seen anybody judge an Isaiah or Jeremiah or those people. They were prophets for a day and born in this world to be prophets and they for salt things by a vision, and then said, thus say, if the Lord for the Lord had already said it.

In 1964, Christ has identified the same knowledge in generations. He said, before the prophecy can receive by the church, it has to be judged by five spiritual judges or three spiritual judges, but not a prophet. A prophet is born a prophet, gifts and collings are without repentance, it's something that is in you, it's something you were born in you, God is ordained to in you.

So we see at least two quotes and many others, you know, he thinks himself to be a vindicated prophet and he is not to be judged. That's why he tended to look down on others who questioned, you know, his, what he said. And that's just it. Like I said, when you are speaking, claiming that the words coming out of your mouth are the spoken word of God. In other words, this is a new Bible being spoken out of my mouth to you, whether you call it the spoken word, or ramah, or any of the things that they're saying, many of these people are speaking opinions

and calling it prophecy because they're labeled as a prophet in the movement. It, you know, people just shut off critical thinking. It's a problem. And this is the foundation that was laid that eventually developed into all the apostolic networks that developed into the new apostolic reformation. So each one of these prophetic figures or these apostle figures, they rose into power and governance over the bodies of people in such a way that their words become the word of God to the people. And from the outside looking in, everybody's wondering, well, why are they submitting to this authority? Why do they go to this man, this human being,

as a divine authority on doctrine and scripture? Why don't they just go to the scripture itself? And it's because of the foundation that was laid here. And like it or not, I know that there were people that argue with this, that especially...

and the people in the Kenneth Hagen support groups and fans, they, in the cult of Kenneth Hagen, I guess I'll say it outright. They look at this and they say, no, this has nothing to do with Kenneth Hagen because Branham was a nut job.

Well, if you understand that that nut job is what laid the foundation for your movement, you can't really make that argument. And sadly, that's what we have here today. So, so much more we could get into, maybe we'll save it for next time.

If you've enjoyed our show and you want more information, you can check us out on the web. You can find us at William-Branham.org. For more about Roy Davis and William Branham, you can read the persuasive preacher, the gifted prophet, and the noble politician.

For more about the dark side of the new apostolic reformation, you can read Weaponized Religion from Christian Identity to the NAR. Available on Amazon, Kindle, and Audible.

Thanks for watching. See you next time. Bye.