Two Major Prophets

After the Latter Rain Five-Fold Ministry had produced numerous "prophets", many of which joined William Branham's Voice of Healing Revival, [1] William Branham introduced his "two major prophet" doctrine, strongly associated with his Church Age theology. According to the doctrine, God only allowed one "major" prophet per "age", and there were no examples of two "major" prophets in the Bible. This was also strongly associated with his Manifested Sons of God theology. According to William Branham, the "Elijah prophet" of the last "age" - which he claimed to be [2] - was the full manifestation of Jesus Christ:

But the Elijah of this day is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to come according to Matthew the seventeen-…Luke 17:30, is, the Son of man is to reveal Himself among His people. Not a man, God! But it'll come through a prophet. Now, He never had two major prophets at the same time, never, in the world. [3]

In Christianity, the distinction of "minor" and "major" for an Old Testament prophet has nothing to do with their rank, position, or supernatural power. The terms are used simply to categorize certain books in the Old Testament by length - not by significance. [4] The "Four Major Prophets" were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets were Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Contrary to William Branham's claim, there were major prophets alive at the same time, some of which described the same events or people. The major prophets Isaiah and Daniel, for instance, describe the reign of Cyrus:

Thus says the Lord to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held- To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut - Isaiah 45:1

So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian - Daniel 6:28