When Jesus Becomes a Demigod: The Theology Behind Modern Apostolic Movements

Music Hello and welcome to another episode of the William Brandham Historical Research Podcast. I'm your host, John Collins, the author and founder of William Brandham Historical Research at William-brandham.org, and with me I have my co-host, researcher and friend, John McKinnon, the author of the persuasive preacher, the gifted prophet, and the noble politician.

John, I feel like we have been focusing on a theme over the past few episodes. People are probably going to get tired of this, but it is such an important theme that I think people don't really recognize. Whenever I talk to many of the different groups that have spun off of Brandhamism from IHOP KC to Wimbler's Group, all the new charismatic Reformation groups, the ones who are connected and associated with Bethel, those who are not, all of these different apostolic groups, I mention frequently that there's an architectural framework from which all of this was built, and I mentioned that Brandham was at the center of it, and

not many people really understand and fathom the depth of that statement. It really takes a lot of research, and I'll admit I have spent more hours than most people should researching it. You know, William Brandham was the foremost leader of the post-World War II healing revival, and that is significant. If you look through any of the voice of healing magazines or the photographs from the era, you will find that all of these people were gathering together around it, and they thought it was going to be the end of day's revival. They thought this is the big one. This is it. We're coming to the end. They were looking for World War

III. I've not got into publishing it yet, but right before the latter-rain movement launched, Gordon Lindsay, who was William Brandham's campaign manager through a large part of the Revival, he started preaching that World War III was here. It was imminent. It was tied to Christian identity. He actually quit his ministry and started publishing books on both British Israelism and Christian identity as identity was being developed. It was at the point at which it was turning racist, and I can't yet put my finger on it, but it looks very much like Gordon Lindsay was involved with the racist side of it, just due to the names of the

organizations that was having him as keynote speaker. So there's a lot there. I'm still trying to digest it. But the bottom line is this William Brannum was part of this movement He was part of he was a leader in this movement people were gathering around thinking This is the end of days and there was this cross-pollination of ideas But Brannum's voice was important and I think that's the thing that people need to grasp otherwise He would not be the foremost leader of the post-World War II healing revival these people were gathering around to this idea and

And then fast forward to today you have today all of these different networks of apostolic groups that are teaching just horrifically Heretical themes and you can look at the connections as they go deeply Into their roots you'll find them all connected back to this ladder rain thing that we're talking about people like Cindy Jacobs people of like Bill Johnson at Bethel all of these different groups if you trace their histories back You're going to find in some way shape or form they were influenced by this movement Maybe not directly some of them directly maybe was indirectly

But they all share a common thing And if you understand what that is which we're going to talk about today You will understand why it has turned into the heresy that it did But also understand that it was heresy from the beginning So when these big names say Brannum was a good Man until he went astray he was teaching Some of them even say sound doctrine until he went astray But it was always this until he went astray because they know it turned into a destructive cult And few of them are willing to admit that the theology itself was the reason for the destructive cult

We're going to unpack that a little bit today too So very glad to have you back to talk through this Well John, I think we've find ourselves here once again and it's great to be back It's great to continue on this discussion here And we're going through part two of where we started from last time In episode five, you know, this will be episode six but You know, we're going to go through how the groups of the message and others have altered scripture And you know, we've gone through the views that they've had of who God is and how it's not scriptural

And we've gone through how the teaching It mimics the ancient heresy's Talked back in the third and fourth centuries in the Christian church And all these things are really nothing new but it's it's really challenging You know the mainstream Christian church and this day The folks that come in contact with it they have to You know, you have to be well have enough knowledge to even even refute what they're saying So it takes a lot of study But you know the reason the message people have to do all these gymnastics with scripture and even remove words as we saw last time

And we'll see this time and and also change scriptures because they know if they If they leave if they open openly leave the word of God You know if if the ministers are teaching and and plainly show that they're leaving the word of God and leaving things out such as alterations, you know such as what we've shown in John 1-1 being the main one, then they have no ground to stand on.

And the congregations will see that very, very quickly. But instead, if they would only take John 1-1 and face value, then they would have to acknowledge the existence of Father God and the Word, which is God, and being with God in the beginning.

They have to acknowledge that there's more to God's being than they're really teaching. And instead, they do alter the Word of God and make it fit their theology. And some don't even touch these subjects at all because they themselves don't know how to teach them and be in a court with scripture.

I truly believe there's people in these groups that want to be Christians, but it's really the cult that tends to harm them or that does harm them. And it gives them an ultimatum, believe our doctrine or burn with the unbelievers.

And that's a pretty strong ultimatum. So let's continue on. We're left off last time. I was quoting some scriptures or sermons from the Godhead series and pulling out the quotes that explain what the message believes about Jesus Christ.

And really, I'll have to do this time. It's just read through them. And the people will quickly see the heresy involved there. But we've got a lot of background in parts 1 through 5.

But it's plainly to see now that they've put Jesus out of the Godhead. And they relegate him to one of the many sons of God. It teaches that Jesus can only be called God as long as God dwells in him, and which was only from the river Jordan baptism and to the Garden of Gethsemane.

When they say God was done with that body. And it also removes these believers from the doctrine of depravity of man, because what is done is create prideful thinking because their view of being saved is just by seeing a manifestation of the supernatural in a prophet, universe is realizing their own depravity and then repenting and bowing the knee of Jesus Christ as being God.

Philippians 2.10 does say that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and on earth and those are under the earth. Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

Now, how can you confess Jesus Christ of Lord if you don't believe He's God?

That defies explanation. So, let's go on with this sermon, Godhead, it was their sermon number five. He said, now the interpolation is there by explanation and the word was with God. It's going back to John 1-1.

He said, I'm sorry, it's even in there, but I can't change the Bible, but I can look at it and find out what it means because if it weren't important in part of the living word today, it wouldn't be in there.

And I would agree with that. God wouldn't have put that word with in the Bible if it wasn't very important to know what He's talking about. But here He said, I'm sorry, it's even in there.

But you'll notice what it is in the beginning was the word. And what was the word? He said the word was God. So when it says with God, the word was with God, you have to know that there was a union here, and that there is that which is under the actual God at Himself, and yet being a part of Him, because it says was with God and was God.

And he goes on to say, this is a juicy verse for the Trinitarians. Well, because it actually proves, you know, the triumphant being of God here. And he's trying to refute this. He said, but brother Bram demanded of us, now he demanded of us to clearly recognize and keep in mind, that in the end time, that this is the only age in 6,000 years, that is spoken of as perilous times.

And the perilous times have everything to do with this verse, which I will show you as we go along. So see, this minister not only preached about John 1-1, and one sermon, he preached a multitude of sermons, but John 1-1 hung him up every time, and he had to say, well, I wish that word wasn't there, or I wish it wasn't even in there, and I can't rewrite the Bible, but if I could, you know, I'd certainly take it out.

It's not that meaningful to you, and so on and so forth. So I'll carry on with some more things he said about John 1-1. He said, John 1-1 is being questioned and questioned and questioned.

You can sit here for 20 years under by ministry and leave here questioning, John 1-1. Actually quoting it as the prophet said it, and then turn it right back on Jesus when Jesus is not that one, no way any more than you are Jesus.

You say, that's pretty strong. Know what it isn't? It's nothing but the uncondemned truth. John 1-1 does not belong to Jesus. He has a part in it, but he's not the subject. But remember, Christ isn't the word in John 1-1.

He's only the word that God gave through the prophets, and he became that whole word that God had given. So what he's saying here is, when John 1-1 says the word was with God and the word was God, that wasn't Jesus.

That wasn't Christ. But I would disagree with that. Strongly disagree with that. Because I would say it is Christ. It is Jesus. Here's where he listens Christ to be just one of the prophets.

Here's this next one that I'm going to read here. It's a vessel which God speaks through. Not really the being of God, and certainly not God himself. And then he also takes further and equates that same thing to William Branagh's ministry, being just like Jesus, that William Branagh only stood there when God came down and spoke through the vessel.

And that's not what he's saying. How Jesus became God in the flesh, is because God came down and spoke through Jesus in the vessel. But Jesus didn't have to be God, just as brother Ram didn't have to be God, but it's God speaking through him.

So that's how they lesson who Jesus sits. So here he sits. So Jesus himself admitted, and brother Branagh himself admitted that he was only... voice. He was the one that stood there when that one descended. Christ was identically the same. He was the one that stood there at the river Jordan when God came down. So you see what he did there. He just relegated Jesus to be in just a man, not the being of God, you know, as he was born Christ the Lord. He was not that until, you know, God came and dwelt in

him. And so that just lessens Jesus out together, John. And I think that's wrong to do that because I think you're getting a very dangerous ground to deny the deity of Jesus Christ, being with the Father in the beginning.

You know, that's just it. Whenever I was in the movement, there were people who would hear things like this that was pure heresy. And they would say, Amen. And they would say, you know, I've had conversations with people outside of the church who were talking theologically. And they would say the outside world doesn't know the secret mysteries of this. And they're not really realizing that what William Brannum was doing was nothing new. It was an ancient heresy condemned long ago in the ancient world. And that also William Brannum was introducing themes that were of the pagan ideas of the ancient world.

You know, he, like you said, he is against the Trinitarian doctrine for when he's speaking to one this Pentecostals. What's interesting is he is not against it when he's speaking to Trinitarians. And he even says in a prayer that he accepted the third person of the Trinity. And you can't make those two reconcile if he's accepted the Trinity. And he's also condemning anyone who accepts the Trinity to hell. You can't reconcile that. But people try to. And the point that's really, you know, you really have to understand is this.

In the ancient world, there was usually an Almighty deity that was a very rathful god of vengeance, the king basically in the pantheon of the gods. And there were also demigods that would rise up into power, but they were a lesser god. They were a demigod.

They were part human, part man, part god, part human part god, I should say. And that was part of the mythology. You had to understand that the Almighty God is the all-powerful one. The demigod is the less powerful one, but it's still god. And what he is saying here is exactly that.

He has literally turned Jesus into a demigod. And if you don't believe me, you can go to table.pranum.org and you can do some searches. Just search for things like Jesus couldn't perform one miracle. He would say frequently that Jesus never could perform a miracle unless he first saw a vision from God. And what he's saying there essentially is Jesus was a demigod. Yes, he was God. He was empowered by God. But he was a lesser god. And that concept is really, really deep when you consider today's New Apostolic Reformation, because they're teaching many

of the same things. Whenever they introduce the ye are God's theology, what they're saying is that Jesus was less. He was like a us, and there's an Almighty Powerful God. The difference is they use it in the Trinitarian form, which is really interesting as Brannum tries to do it in the Oneness form through a large part of the sermons, not all of them, sometimes he is Trinitarian.

But think of that, if you have a Oneness form of God, but yet Jesus is less divine, Jesus is less deity, well it can't be the same God, so it can't be Oneness. But he's actually teaching is not Oneness, he's going back to Trinitarianism, but deceitfully he's repackaging it as Oneness Pentecostalism to the Oneness Pentecostalism he's speaking to.

And yet at the same time, he's preaching just pure heresy to the Oneness Pentecostals. So this turns into just such a mess. So John, as we go on, I'm going to go back to this strong condemnation of believing anything else, so then the prophet.

I'm going to show you, I'm going to quote something which shows you they have no tolerance. Message believers, as we know, as we were thrown out of the church, they've got no tolerance for anyone who questions the prophet.

You know, it's the very reason why I know ministers have been in fellowship with the message for 40 years or more, and then the second you begin to doubt the prophet or say anything that might bring up a question, none of those relationships matter to them anymore to the people that are fully brainwashed and still in the message, because they worship the prophet and his words only and they give all their devotion to William Brownham.

Even though he's dead, they fail to critically think about the questions being raised because they've let William Brownham's thoughts permeate their beans is to the degree that they're afraid to question anything because they fear their salvation will be taken away.

They fear that bringing any doubt is just bringing a demon spirit into their life. Whereas we're strongly encouraged to question the spirits and to try the spirits to see where they be of God, and the only way you can know for a fact that any spirit that's teaching you something is of God is if it corresponds with scripture.

So there's nothing wrong with bringing challenges to what someone's teaching and bring it alongside the Bible. But these people just totally throw that out the window and all those dear relationships of 30, 40 years are thrown out the window, even family members.

And as you know, you and I have experienced that as well and many others have. So at another sermon here, he is where he invokes the prophet again. He says, so William Brownham, vindicated of God according to these scriptures, said, if you make Jesus the Word, you have three gods.

He said, now this is the crux. So after I filtered through all these sermons here to get down to some of these words here, he's finally telling you, plain out what it is. He said, is the Word God or is it Jesus?

Now he said, brother Brownham said, if you make the Word in John 1.1 Jesus, you have three gods. Of course. You can make it two gods, but the audience he spoke to was part Jesus only, part Trinitarian in doctrine about the Godhead.

So William Bramston somewhere in between the two. He wasn't Trinitarian, and certainly he wasn't Jesus only because he would say God had a son. Jesus only would say it was the father that played all three parts.

So then he also says, for they must bow to this prophet's declaration of John 1-1, it is not Jesus the man, the son of God, born to a virgin Mary, but it is Jehovah Elohim himself, period, exclamation point, Mark, amen and amen.

He said, so now if you're looking at this through Mr. Lambs' eyes, he mentions Lambs of Bible, he says, you are saying that Jesus is God. Well Jesus is not God, God is Elohim, and Jesus is the son of Elohim.

So right there, he's making that plain statement that Jesus is not God, he was just a son. And then he also says, brother Bram, took us to the beginning when the son came forth as a light, and we showed last time that the Aryan heresy described Jesus as coming out of the father as a light.

He said, and then God forming that body by creating the sperm in the egg, which he has to be a physical factor in order to manifest life, wrapping himself in it to produce the DNA circuitry, and then the son could step in and come forth as a born one.

But when he did, he had a memory which you and I never had. So you see, Jesus has been born of God in the beginning, coming out from God, but not being with God, he was actually formed, but he had a memory of being formed in the beginning.

That's what he's trying to say, whereas he would say you and I in the bride were in God like Jesus was, but we hadn't a memory of that because we came into sinful bodies and God himself created a body for Jesus to come down in, but Jesus still had the memory of where he came from.

And all we're trying to do here is wake up to where we came from by seeing a manifestation of the prophet of God in some supernatural way. So it just totally bypasses repentance and all that because why you need all that when you came from God to begin with and all in your soul was already righteous before God.

But that's just contrary to Bible teaching because we know there's none righteous, no not one, and all around the same play and filled. But here's another way he invokes the prophet so you won't try to question his teaching.

He says, no matter what you know, you cannot prevail against the prophet who is vindicated by God because God is eyeballing you in the prophet and you are eyeballing God in the prophet. And he says right there, this is the Lord.

This is John 11, which this is Jehovah Elohim. It is not Jesus. And he said, I don't care then what anybody says, how one tries to finagle around it and do this and do that and say, brother, brother, brother, I'm also said in many, many, many places that Jesus was the word.

Yes, he was the word, but brother. Bam said, the prophets were part of the Word, but Jesus was the whole Word, and this Bible sets forth that one who is the Word within the Word, which is written here.

He said, Jesus as the Word is not God the Word. So what he's saying here is that Jesus is a part of the Word, and he's only a part, he's not the whole. God is the only whole Word, but Jesus came out from God, so he's only a part of God, not fully God, but him coming out from God, he was a little logos, so you could call him logos, but you can't call him the logos.

And the same way the bride becomes a word, bride, she can be called the Word of God, but not the Word God, but she is a part of the Word. It's all the same thing.

He says, he said, Jesus as the Word is not God the Word, but they better be Word, both better be Word, because I've never seen a horse produce a cow. I can't say God whose Word would produce Word, who wouldn't produce Word sons, it's just that simple.

He said, all right, we've taken a little journey away from our subject, wherein I again show you that people believe that Jesus is the Word, and he is not the Word as a capital THE Word.

In this case, this is capital THE Word, Almighty God. Jesus is also Word, and I'll say a little logos, and remember Jesus is the Son of God but he is only begotten, uniquely born, one of the kinds, Son of God.

He said, but we are also sons of God. So he's, he's lessening Jesus here, but still in God, you know, as Jesus was in the beginning coming out from God. So this minister says, you know, we're also sons of God.

And what he's done there, he's lessening Jesus to just be in a son, whereas we also are sons of God, just like Jesus. So we were also in God in the beginning, as Jesus was in God in the beginning, and just was born out of God.

So I hope this is all coming clear to listeners. Let me read one more. He said, so when you see the Word's Son, do you just talk about Jesus, or do you talk about yourself also in a lower order?

So all this, I hope, is becoming clear, you know, the message really is nothing but hearsay. And when it comes to explaining the Son of God, it even, even dives deeper into hearsay. I'm just going to quote from a few more sermons here to nail it down.

He said, this is quoted scripturally, God created all things, but Christ Jesus, he said, it didn't say Jesus is doing it. He said, God's doing it. The Son is now empowered with the omniscience and omnipotence and a measure.

So here he's teaching Jesus is not really deity. It's just like we go back to the former minister we talked about in a little cartoon illustration that he had, deities stepped into Christ. And that's how Jesus spoke as deity because God stepped into the...

at form, but the form itself was not deity. So he says, in a measure, because God don't use it all, just the measure that his son and through his son and by his son as is necessary for the glory and grace of God and getting his purpose done.

He says, see now you can trace us down from the seed of God right back there when we were in him seed, even as Jesus came down and fleshed like us, becoming like us and into visibility.

Elohim invisible became the logos or word, which he really was inherently to become a form. He says, now you trace us down from the seed of God, even as Jesus came down and fleshed like us, brother Bram said so, becoming like us into visibility, Elohim invisible.

So if you're seed of God, you will be born again. And if you're seed of God born again, you will receive the prophet and the message. If you're born again, you'll understand Godhead. You will enter into the mysteries.

You will be initiated into the mysteries and knowing the mysteries, you now belong to the sacred club called the bride. And John, I'll say it's just like a, maybe a lodge or something, you know, they're in.

They have to be initiated into the mysteries. But you know, I would almost venture to say that if you go into any message, church that tries to be mainstream, they've not really gone deep into these subjects here like we're going into now.

And they've not really gone down the rabbit trail, we've gone down. But you know, I'll say if they're not, they're really not preaching the message to begin with because the people really need to know, you know, what the message is really teaching because isn't it not that you have to know the mysteries to be raptured and receive rapturing faith?

Well, I would say the message preachers need to make up their mind. Are you either going to teach your people these mysteries about who Jesus really is, according to the message or, you know, they're not going to be initiated to have rapturing faith?

So I think it's a real contradiction there. But it will be very interesting to know what all the sincere believers in these churches really would think about such doctrines of these. You know, that's just it.

I truly believe that there are sincere people who are in these movements in the charismatic movement, NAR, Pentecostalism, et cetera. I just don't think they're aware of the deep heresies that are involved in the movement.

Because not many people have the ability to think things out to their logical conclusions. And worse, there are people who show up to church on Sunday and they just shut off all critical thinking.

So there's never even a chance for them to think them out to their logical conclusion. But those who are preaching the little God's doctrine, Jesus has to be a lesser deity because you're going to be like God, therefore you're going to be like the demigod Jesus.

It's literally turning Jesus into a demigod. And to the de-deification of Jesus to follow that out to its logical conclusion, Jesus cannot be God if he's a lesser God. in Christianity. There is no lesser God. There is only one God. And the Bible is very clear about this. Jesus was not just some God-like figure in the context of the Bible of scriptures. Jesus was God. Jesus read the beginning of John. It goes through that very clearly. And the idea of being adopted, this adoption theme, there are so many different forms of this theology. Again, it's a framework that so much was built upon. Thank you through the manifested sons of God,

doctrine. That's something that's common in a lot of the NAR groups. And to believe that doctrine, you literally have to believe that Jesus was a demigod and not the Almighty God, because you too are going to become eventually a demigod. You're basically reinventing the Greek and Roman pantheons of the gods and demigods and creating it and re-branding it and calling it Christianity.

And you know, you can take this as far as you want. You can connect it. If you look at the themes that are being preached at Bethel, you can find it there. IHOPKC, you can just literally go down the line. Anything that has an apostolic prophetic governance scenario, you're going to find it in that doctrine. But even right down to just the little apostolic churches on the corner, who will say, we're nothing like this. We're not teaching NAR. You're going to find different themes that align with this concept that Jesus was a far lesser God than the Bible clearly states.

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You know, these things out very thoroughly. So the message doctrine we're talking about is not really new, as we said in the early, say, first couple of hundred years of Christianity. You know, the church fathers dealt with these same topics about God and His Son.

You know, it's just a rehashing of those things, and there's another ancient tradition that we mentioned that describes Godhead as a mask. It's called modalism. God wears masks to perform various roles, you know, being the same one, but just jumping into different roles.

And that's strongly associated with modalism, also known as civilianism, named after the man, and it's also known as modalistic monarchy anism. And the theological perspective of that emerged in the early centuries of Christianity, and is considered a non-Trenitarian heresy, you know, by the mainstream.

I'm going to continue on with this minister in what he says here, which is quite amusing to me. He said, the more you hear Brother Brannum, you're going to hear old sounds like Jesus only, and he sure does, but he tells you I'm not oneness organized because Jesus is not his own father.

He tells you, flat, I am not Trenitarian then. He told us now there's two of them. One is not God. One's the only begotten. As long as you know he's the son of God born, he wasn't created by God. He was born a God. Now listen to that, born a God.

That I know the truth, the only begotten son of God, I know the terminology what Logos really is, and I know it applies to the Father in the case of John 1-1. I know it applies to the Son in other cases down the line, and I would say like when there's been a manifestation of Christ in the various forms, such as the prophets, such as the pillar of fire, such as the cloud by day, and so forth, and the rock that followed Israel in the wilderness.

He also says this at the very last, he says, but there's times when I'm confused. Now I'd say no wonder this minister gets confused because I don't think anybody can begin to study the message of William Brannum and not really get confused.

But it's amazing that he can be as coherent as he is in bringing out what the message is really teaching here. And William Brannum spoke a lot of times on both sides of the argument because like he said, you think he's Jesus only here, and you think he's trainitarian there, which made what he taught sound like it was scriptural, because he would always speak to the audiences the way they wanted to hear it.

But when you see just what I read to you there is totally outside of scripture to say Jesus was a lesser being or not even God. Jesus is only a form of God and then only enough of that form that God needed to use at the time.

And the Christian has also exalted alongside Christ as being equal to Christ from the same time Jesus was conceived in God's mind near the bride was. Then they make the leap to make you God. That's how you get this little God's concept.

It's very subtle and if you take step by step you'll eventually be led into that. But it's very subtle and becomes exactly what I'll say the serpent said that even the beginning said you'll be like God if you know these secret mysteries.

Let me read a couple of quotes from William Brandham now in 1962, Wisdom vs Faith, he said, and if you are born again child of God and got the Holy Spirit in you, you are the manifestations of God's spoken word before it was a word.

And the thoughts was in God and then we were in God in eternity and we were spoken into existence by the Word. And the same ceremony said, therefore I like to ask the question, how can we ever make sense out of the word, the eternal sonship of God?

If he was a son, he had a beginning. So here he's, we say, William Brandham plainly saying, Christ Jesus had a beginning. He could not be eternally with God in the beginning. So as you see what this minister said, William Brandham said about John 1.

William Brandham is saying it plainly now, Jesus was not with God in the beginning. It was only God in the beginning. The son had a beginning. And see, that's very contrary to who God really is, because Jesus was as eternal as God is from the beginning.

And that word was born in flesh and a baby as God himself. And that word was the same one with God in the beginning. It wasn't God the Father, but it was the Word of God being God himself too, co-equal with God that was born.

So Jesus did not have to wait to be 30 years of age to be God. He was born God in the flesh. So let's go on with what this minister says here. He said, or you could take every thought and bring it into captivity, what Brother Brandham said, and judge it by the actual reality of the doctrine.

Here he, it's kind of funny. He said, just take all your thoughts captive and bring them under the captivity of Brother Brandham and just judge the actual reality of the doctrine. Don't take the scriptures now because you'll definitely get confused if you try to pull scripture into it.

Just take the reality of the doctrine and bring your thoughts into captivity to Brother Brandham. He said, this is his statement after that. There's one God and Jesus is not God. He's the Son of God.

And listen to these heretical statements. He said, he can be worshipped and called God as the prophet right up there with Elohim because even the prophets down here were God to the people. Yes, we can do that, but he's not God.

He's the Son of God. And he was in the adoption. As you and I are coming into it and are today, there's one God, period. And Jesus is the Son of God and therefore in his own right, a God.

So right there, he's telling you, you know, we're coming into the adoption and Jesus came into the adoption. Now that word adoption is what this whole series is all about. Seeds of adoption, how it got to where it started from as the seed doctrine and how it's come all the way to what how we and Bram are taught adoption.

And our next episode, I'm going to go into that very deeply. And that was my whole purpose and getting into this actually is to show you how he Toly was contrary to the word of God on his teaching on adoption, so let me go on here He said he was in the adoption as you and I are coming into it and we'll see what we'll set about that next time He said in UI and I to whom the word of the prophets have come have received it in our own right. We are lesser but gods

because we are of God right genetics species the God race the father and his family directly descended from him life of his life So they believe the message teaches that you come to earth with God's gene already in you Not that you were dead and your new birth actually puts God's word in you But that you came from heaven already from eternity past with the gene of God. So therefore it was a righteous seed but totally contrary to scripture because the Bible says there's none righteous no not one and Like I've said a couple of times already this episode we're all in the same plane field

We all have to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ the only name given among men where we were saved and Jesus was fully God from the very beginning So let's read on on another message here he teaches on Godhead and This is his 14th message by the way. He said so then that soul within you never did sin It always was saved What when a stray your body went astray?

That's why the Holy Ghost comes in and seals you to the day of redemption that you can give get your body back So so look at this This is where the pride comes in because when they Study out the message and they see things like this you always were saved your soul never did sin So it was always righteous that's just totally contrary to scripture as I just said they said it was only your body You were born in that was sinful and you really don't remember being a righteous son in the in the mind of God in the

Beginning Let's go on here what he says. This is this is total total here. See here Jesus definitely is not God he's the son of God and his form as I mentioned already brother Brandham said the only difference between God and his son is that sons have beginnings What do you mean sons have beginnings? Well sons are procreated the thought of having a son does not give anybody the ability to create one So he's saying God You know procreated the son Jesus Not that Jesus existed in the eternity past, but he had to be procreated

He said that's why Jesus was in the image of God and that's why when God said let us make man in our image It was made in the image of Jesus and it came out of men That's why brother Brandham said God was the first man Jesus was the second man and Adam the third because God comes in threes He said what for not his persons one two three gods, but God doing what he did to bring forth himself through children All right, so so right there. He's just saying that what and that's what also what the first minister we

who is saying, God is becoming a family, so God is only taking part of Himself. Each time a person is born, it's predestinated to be born again. He's only taking part of Himself and putting them into these bodies, and then He's saving them, of course, and then bringing them back to Himself so they can be God as well. Totally loses your perspective the way we should be with God, which will forever be bowing the knee before Jesus Christ and God's throne, knowing that we were sinners in the beginning, and we had no hope and we were without God in the world, except that God would have mercy on us.

So here He goes on. Another heretical statement. So Jesus can't be deity. When we consider true deity, He was the Son of deity, Son of God, and since, since, elevated by God, He's worthy of worship, but not as God is worshiped, He can't be. And how will He equal with God?

Because He was first begotten Son of God. So therefore, positively, tithedly, He was equal in the inheritance because it split the kingdom right down the middle. Now, how can He even say that, you know, God's kingdom is one, and it's not split down the middle and part given to the Son and part left for the Father and part left for the bride. You know, God's kingdom is one. So God being Father, Son, Holy Spirit did not split a kingdom up. He said, but God didn't split Himself down the middle. God didn't split His sovereignty down the middle. He had an equality talking about Jesus. The same as Brother

Bram says Satan was one time equal with God and led in the worship. So He's even placed in Satan on par with Jesus here. He said, was He equal with God as per Godhead talking about Jesus? He said, oh, don't be ridiculous. Was He equaled in the majesty and glory and power? Don't be ridiculous. But Jesus is not deity. I'm talking now of sovereign supreme, one and only God, period. And the Son refused worship and said, put it on God. Don't worship me worship God. Yet God raised him to the place where he can be worshiped.

So is he deity? He said, in a sense, you might say a demigod, a demigod in a particular way. Again, John, this is just outright here. See, no doubt about it. He's calling Jesus a semi-god, a demigod. You know, he's only worship because God exalted him into a place where he could be worshiped. That's the only reason he deserves worship. Now, I mean, how can they bring Jesus that the very God of the universe down to such a level? It's just disgusting. And he said, the Bible said, when God raised him, Peter's sermon at Pentecost, he's made him both forward in Christ. He said, in other words, God made him.

He came from God a part of God and God said, you will be Lord in Christ, but you'll pay a price for it. So here he has Jesus having to work out his own salvation to be Lord in Christ.

Jesus had to pay a price, but I'll say again. Jesus was born Christ the Lord. There's a baby born in the city of David Christ the Lord as was told to the shepherds. So here he's saying that Jesus had to pay a price so he could be Made Lord in Christ. He said and God doesn't change, but the Bible said he was born Christ the Lord already as I said Not that he would be made Lord in Christ. He was already from eternity past that and All right, now he goes on. He said he says the same thing to you and me. So here's he's exalting the bride

God is now working to put everything under the feet of Jesus except himself Why? Because he's a sovereign God and Jesus is not God This is part of the elevation of God Jesus the son God son Jesus for what he did now listen to this statement. This blows you out of the water Remember he is worship not for who he is I hope that sinks in Jesus is being worshiped not for who he is but for what he did He wouldn't have done what he did except for who he is Uh, that's a that's a circular statement

But he's even saying Jesus because he did what he did. That's why he's worshiped not because he's really God He said now that's coming Jesus then is not sovereign God. He's not deity He's only deity in so far that he's the son of God and he acts just like God speaks just like God Maybe even looks just like God dresses like God whatever God wants Now if you have a son that manifests you completely you can step out of the way and let him go ahead You just give him the key and that's adoption That's exactly what Brother Ram spoke of his name is on the check as good as the fathers

So so that's the what I'm gonna get to in the next episode here this adoption that he's talking about Because he's now saying you know, the son had to be adopted and then his name is as good on the check as the fathers And that's the only way he's beginning to act like God And that's how they make the leap to say the bride's gonna be acting like God You know speaking things into existence and so forth Uh Now now you can see how ridiculous you can get with these things when you step out of line with the with the guidelines

And the principles when Brother Bram said now I'm quoting him now not myself But I'm quoting him now he said you can say how ridiculous you can get When brother Bram said listen to me if you make John 1 1 the word Jesus you have three gods He said and it places it right there that Jesus is not God see I tell you I believe Jesus deity which we have had the people here do that as an entire misunderstanding or no understanding of seed That God is the father the progenitor the author the all in all of our

Erase of his own children genetically legitimately spiritually physically every single way Jesus is right on par here as not deity now what we see here. I want to read this other verse The verse I wanted to read to you because of the fact Jesus not being deity as people want to place because he's given great authority and power by God and equality to God, but he's not God.

So, you know, this goes on and on. I'm just quoting here, taking these little snippets out of his sermon. He also mentioned God is not our creator. He's our father. He's our source, our progenitor.

Call it what you want. Out of the great fountain, God came every one of his sons and nothing else came from that lifeline because the Bible said in him was life. He said, in fact, Jesus is exalted a multiply. If you didn't have that life in you from God, that soul life from God, there'd be no life in you. So, here he's exalted the bride again and, you know, saying, because God's our father, you know, we were seed in the God, God's mind in the beginning. Now, this harkens back to serpent seed. This is how the serpent seed doctrine is probably the very foundation of this

and how they believe that there's God's children being born on earth as righteous seed, as well as serpent seed. And that's how they can make this thing twist it all the way they want to because they first start out with the serpent seed doctrine.

But the people really don't realize they're being fed these false doctrines and heretical doctrines that really it eventually just dam their souls because they're convinced that the prophet is speaking for God and that he alone reads between the lands of Scripture. Even even what's not written and we see he's taken the Bible out of context. He's taken words out of the scripture. He's saying they don't they don't mean what they say or it's better for them not to be there.

So, even speaking truth only and only because he seemed to have the ability to discern people's sicknesses, do they believe he's speaking truth? You know, that's going to be a very weak argument too when people finally meet Jesus and they have to say, why do you believe this man? Well, he discerned people's sicknesses and that's same to vindicate him but Jesus will probably answer what did not I say I would send there would be false prophets arise and show you great signs and wonders that could lead you astray. And so we can't rely on discernment, discernment of

diseases, sicknesses, no matter how miraculous it's same to be. You can't rely on that and you could only rely on the Scriptures. So that's going to be a weak argument. So when people follow this teaching they don't realize they're following a different Jesus than the Jesus of the Scriptures.

You know, why does this matter? Well, you end up believing all these wrong concepts, you know, about first the Godhead and how God eternally dwells his father's son or word and Holy Spirit and about the true nature of man, who we are before God is sinners and that all human beings are on the same playing field. You know, when it comes to God as far as being called to believe the gospel, all are dead unless God acts on the human being in the act of salvation. You know, none will go to heaven without God acting on people to call them to salvation. And the worst end of this

The result of all of this false teaching, John, is that the gospel itself has been changed for a different gospel, a whole different Jesus. And that is the heart of the problem right there.

You know, whenever I first left the cult and I started examining all of the different things that Brandon claimed, the doctrines that he taught and began publishing highly critical information of William Branham. There were a number of people who contacted me and said, John, what does that matter?

What is it, my own grandfather said, what does it hurt you to believe it anyway? In other words, why are you speaking out? It doesn't affect you in either way, if you join or if you don't join, if you stay with us or you don't stay with us, believe in God, that's essentially what they're saying.

But yes, it does matter. If you are a Christian and you believe the Bible, it really, really matters. If you're believing in a Jesus that's not the same deity that is described in the Bible, you're essentially like you said, it is a different Jesus, it's a different God.

And therefore, it is a different religion. It's not Christianity. You can't say that it is a Christian religion if the Jesus that you're teaching is a demigod. You just simply can't. I don't care if you're a Branhamism, I don't care if you're word of faith, NAR, Pentecostal, I don't care who you are.

Yes, you're believing in something. Yes, you're calling it Christianity, but it is not Christianity. It can't be, according to what the Bible says. And so for me, that is a huge problem. Now, I have friends who are in Islam, I have friends who are in different, well, one friend is a Buddhist.

It's, you know, there are people who believe different things. And I, you know, this is a historical podcast. I could go into doctrines of what's wrong with all of those as well. But the problem is this is being posed as Christianity.

It's not like these people are coming and saying, hey, I'm joining the Buddhist compound, commune, whatever it is. They're saying simply, I'm a Christian, but I believe in this Jesus that's not in the Bible.

And it's so deceptive. That's really the heart of it. It is so deceptive. And to be in deception like this, whenever you can be tricked and believe that you are something that you're not, in other words, believe you are a Christian and you're in a different religion entirely, well, what else can they throw at you?

What else can they make you believe? And for me, that's the heart of the problem. And that's why all of these different movements turn to be destructive. Because it's, at the very core of its existence is deception.

So John, that just wraps up everything I wanted to say today. And I certainly believe it's a good stopping place because next time we're really gonna get into this adoption here and really lay it out there and how it was taught and how plainly it's just a total disregard of scripture.

It's just the, I guess the uneducated way William Bratt, I wanted to explain the scripture to meet his own ends or to promote his own message. And he did that many times and we showed that in other examples in earlier episodes.

But I just scratched the surface of this and we'll continue to examine some more of what these ministers... say, perhaps, but it's leading up to the final climax here and how this fed the latter rain believers in the 1950s and bits and pieces falling into the N.A.R. now, because when William Brown taught adoption, he was way off scripture.

And all this background has been getting to this point. You know, the adoption is what everybody seems to be on the edge of their seat for is that God's going to unleash some type of baptism of the Holy Spirit.

God's going to allow them to walk on water, to speak worlds into existence, to call down fire from heaven, to speak people out of existence. But we're going to really show what this is the next time.

But I know doctrine, and we focused a lot on doctrine here in these last episodes, is very important. But John, I want to emphasize to the listeners that is even more important is good to have a heart to love your neighbor as yourself.

So regardless of us focusing on this doctrine, we still want to be sure we love our neighbor as ourselves and love God first. But you know, in the message, we don't find a lot of love there when the truth is presented to them.

You know, in fact, you tend to be scratching the cat in the wrong way and ruffling his feathers and fur. But I can love any person, you know, if they don't agree with me on these things, because, you know, I'm not mistake proof, but I do always have to take the scriptures and I believe that's our final authority there.

So I hope that's what we accomplished here, and I do look forward to another podcast when we have more time. Absolutely. Now, let's try not to laugh, man, rubbing a cat the wrong way.

It's true, not even just with brannemism, but with any of them. If you challenge their core belief set, in other words, if you challenge the fact that they're worshiping a demigod instead of the Jesus that is described in the Bible, they're going to simply attack you.

But what's interesting is I mentioned I had a Buddhist friend, I've got people, my neighbors are in Islam, if you challenge them on their belief set, they will stand their ground and they will tell you exactly what they believe and why.

Now, I've done it. I've talked to my Buddhist friend, I was like, you know, I'm not certain that that's a good idea. And he went through and described the philosophies and all of the different things that he believes.

And we had a healthy disagreement, I simply said, I choose to disagree with you. And that's the way it should be. But when you're in these movements of deception, you're trained that you must attack the enemy.

That's the other core, at the very core of its existence, is the thought that you must attack those who oppose you. And it is just so deceptive and so militant and so wrong. So we'll get into it a bit more.

If you've enjoyed our show and you want more information, you can check us out on the web. You can find us at www.Williamdashbrannem.org. From more about the dark side of Roy Davis and William Brannem, you can read the persuasive preacher, the gifted prophet, and the noble politician.

And 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 all. Well…

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