WILLIAM
SOWDERS & WILLIAM BRANHAM
SIMALARITIES IN DOCTRINE
Disclaimer: This is
according to documents that I have in my possession that were given to us by
Lloyd Goodwin and my own recollections of the teachings from various Gospel
Assembly Churches through the years. I got the information about William
Branham from one of his follower’s Websites. If I am wrong about William
Sowders, please give me your input. I was told that Branham met Sowders in the
1930’s so it is possible that he got some of his teachings from Will Sowders.
My comparison is not an acceptance or a denial of the truth or non truth of
these doctrines but just to see if they were direct NEW revelations as claimed
or were taken from other’s and claimed as original. In my opinion, it is not
what a group believes or teaches that makes it a destructive cult but the
amount of control and coerciveness that is used to hold people in bondage to
man made systems. Sincerely, Wanda Mason
Click
here for PRINTER
FRIENDLY VERSION
|
William Sowders (1879 – 1952) |
William Branham (1909 – 1965)
|
|
The young man, William
Sowders, born to Charles and Florence Meeky Sowders in Louisville, Kentucky
on September 13, 1879, was Called by God to preach HIS (Gods) gospel.
He was chosen by God to bring together the Body of Christ in this day. |
Those who loved him call him "Brother
Branham". He was born in the hills of Kentucky in a crude log
cabin, April 6, 1906. Those present witnessed a strange hazy light
hovering over him, although it was before daylight. |
|
Brother
Sowders began by running from God. Brother Sowders had been searching
for something, which only God could give him. He became a hunter and
fisherman in the small town of Olmstead, Illinois. Olmstead is where the Lord
would lead Bro. Sowders to find his Calling. |
For a time he still resisted
the call of God on his life. At the age of fourteen he was seriously
wounded while hunting and had to spend seven months in hospital. God dealt
with him then, but still he did not take heed. Nevertheless the urgency
of the call became more an more conscious to him. |
|
From
the banks of the beautiful Ohio River in Southern Illinois, the
movement of The Body of Jesus Christ was to originate in the twentieth
century. Brother Sowders heard a Voice thundering over his head said, Son,
I want you to preach MY GOSPEL! He later recalled that the voice was so
loud it actually took the life out of his body and almost burst his eardrums,
especially when the Lord voiced MY GOSPEL! |
He was called to bring about the
healing of the Mystical Body of Christ - which is His Church. Brother Branham was baptizing in the Ohio
river and a strange Light,
like a star, suddenly came whirling down and hung over his head. A Voice
spoke from the Light and
said these words, "As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first
Coming of the Lord, so are you sent to forerun His second
Coming..." |
|
When he came to himself, he looked up and a golden
light was around him. He then felt strength coming back into his body and
he rose to his feet. However, from that wonderful experience he started out
from there to study GOD'S GOSPEL. |
He spoke to me in that Great Light telling me to preach
the Gospel, pray for the sick and He would heal them regardless of what
disease they had. Obedient to His Voice I went forth preaching and praying for
the sick, and the Lord has confirmed His Word with signs following. |
|
This man, with the divine call of God, gave up his
own life, subjected his life to Jesus, and launched into the ministry. These Pentecostal
revival themes were receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in
other tongues, divine healing, and the soon coming of Jesus Christ. In fact they
were saying then, that Jesus could come any night! About nine months after
conversion, in 1912, William Sowders received the baptism of the Holy
Ghost according to Acts 2:4 under the ministry of Bob Shelton and George
Aubrey on the “Gospel Boat.” |
There was another reason why
God chose William Branham for the great task of calling His people
to the unity of spirit. The Lord knew that he would never attempt to
start another organization of his own. This he could have done. But to such
suggestion he never gave one moment of consideration. “I began to pray for
the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. One day about six months later God gave
me the desire of my heart. It was then that something swept over me
and I experienced an exquisite feeling I had never known before |
|
The oneness people
stressed using the ceremonial formula of baptizing in the name of Jesus. The Trinitarians
steadfastly uttered the words, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The
Pentecostal churches split over these issues. Many of the early twentieth
centuries Pentecostal groups shattered because of the friction and fury
generated by the Godhead and water baptism issues. God the
Father, whom he alleged, was a Spirit (Being) Jesus
the Son, a Heavenly Creature. He agreed with the Oneness element that the Holy Ghost was
not a person, but rather the Spirit, or essence of God. |
Though he embraced the "Oneness"
formula for water baptism - in the NAME of the Lord Jesus Christ,
William Branham's view of the Godhead is far from the "Unitarian"
concept or the concept preached by the United Pentecostal Church. Yet, the
teaching of "three persons' in the Godhead is so ingrained in the people
that to question it's validity is immediately called heresy and branded as a 'cult'. The trinity and oneness
doctrine are both in error. The Word of God reveals the revelation of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and every Christian must confess that Jesus is the Son of
God (1 John 4:15). |
|
He advanced beyond his fellow
Ministers in revealed truth. God restored to him the many Doctrines of the
early church, which were lost during the falling away and the apostasy of the
dark ages. He moved beyond the knowledge of the Holy Ghost and the Second
Coming of Christ. Brother Sowders began to preach the truth as God
gave him on Hell; Babylon; the Body of
Christ; Charity, Water Baptism (more than &
in Jesus name). In addition, Eternal Judgment; the Number and
qualifications to be part of Christ's Bride; and The
Godhead. |
And God is making an "end" of the "Fullness of the Gentiles"
(Spiritual) and the "Times of the Gentiles" (Political) -
the "Fullness", covering the period of the Seven Church Ages of
Revelation chapters 2 and 3, will climax with an "Indictment" of
the religious systems of man, followed by the Rapture of the Bride of
Christ. The "Times", beginning with Babylon and
Nebuchadnezzar, will conclude with the battle of Armageddon - the ultimate
end of Gentile domination, control and influence over Israel. |
|
Brother William Sowders was a
“specially-called” and a “specially-anointed” man of God, a leader and a teacher
of men, called and sustained by God to further the work of restoring God’s
church in the earth in these last days. Truly in every sense of the word, he
was God’s man for the hour. God will see that his work continues until the
Body of Jesus Christ, in its healing, reaches maturity and the last
remaining members that go to make up the Bride of Jesus Christ are made
ready. |
We will also show the fulfillment of these prophecies in a
man whom God has mightily used in this age - to deny it is to deny
"manifested" Truth. God called the man! God vindicated the man! God
used the man in a ministry of restoration to restore and reveal His Word
to His Sons and Daughters. By no means does that Ministry add to the
Bible - but rather the mysteries contained in Scripture are revealed and will
ultimately give Rapturing Faith to the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ in
this Age. |
Between Jehovah’s Witnesses and William Sowders