“Angel Draws Church Ages on Wall”

 

When William Branham taught his series on the “Seven Church Ages” in 1960, he allegedly made a drawing of all seven “church ages” on a blackboard in his church. He claimed that when he finished making the drawing, the Angel of the Lord came down into the room and made an identical drawing on a wall before hundreds of people.

 

As is evident below, he made the claims to persuade people that his “Seven Church Age” teachings were of God and vindicated by Him. However, the claims are unquestionably unfounded and untrue as demonstrated after these statements of his about the alleged event,

​

“And I’ve just got finished at my tabernacle at home with the—the seven last church ages, and it’s coming out. It’s on tape now, and it’s… I took each church age each night, made the Seven Church Ages and the seven last… the candlesticks and the seven messengers of the church ages and I… of all… I’m not much of a preacher, but all that I… Every effort I put forth for the Lord in all my life, I don’t believe ever was as effective as that was, for as soon as I come down, and not knowing what… to draw these church ages on a blackboard, showing just how much the Holy Spirit come in the Ephesus Church Age, then on down to the Smyrna, and Pergamos, and Thyatira, and on out.

And if that Angel of the Lord, that Light, didn’t come right in before three hundred people, moved Itself right over on the wall, and drawed with that round Light (just the way I drawed the churches), and showed exactly the same depths and everything, as it went through; while three hundred people screaming, and crying, and looking at It on the side of the wall. Why, It stood out here, and reflected Itself on the wall and made that same thing. And they’ve got it drawn now on, in pictures, and it’s standing in the tabernacle. Mr. Arganbright, our dear precious brother, has just left up there, went up to look at it, where it was at on the wall. We’re just living in a tremendous time. But I’m afraid that we don’t… have to pinch ourselves a little bit and shake a little bit to find out just where we’re at.” “Sirs, We Would See Jesus” (61-0208).
 

“And, by the way, has anybody ever heard them tapes on the church ages? On the last time I had those ages drawed out there on the blackboard, and the Heavenly Father knows this is true, when I completed it with the best I could, under the inspiration that God would give me, that Angel of the Lord that you see in the picture (many have seen that picture, haven’t you, that Light?), It came right down in the room, before about three hundred or four hundred people, went right over on the side of the wall (as a Light like that) and drawed those church ages by Itself. We all stood there looking at It, watched It draw the first church age, the second, third, and fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh.” “The Evening Messenger” (63-0116).
 

“Well, when we got through with the Church Ages, down there in the tabernacle, about this many people. There is people sitting right here now was present. That same Pillar of Fire come right over by the side of the wall, and drawed out those Church Ages the way I had them on the blackboard. Is that right? Many of you was there. And the people fainting, and everything else. I said, 'There It is now, if there’s a question.'” “Once More” (63-1117).

 

“And now, just before the Seven Church Ages was preached, as they’re drawed there…There is many, today, that was here during that time, and know that how the Lord did bless that, on the wall back there, It reflected it. Just to…How many is here now, that was there then when He—He came? That did it.” “Standing In The Gap” (63-0623M).
 

“Now, a few months ago I preached, for a series of meetings at the tabernacle, on The Seven Church Ages. You, perhaps, all have heard them. And when I finished drawing out on the blackboard the Seven Church Ages, how the Light come in and how the Light went out. And I guess you have that, perhaps, here somewhere; but it’s among us, anyhow, we know. And the strange thing, on the last day when the last Church Age was drawed out, this great Pillar of Fire (which is among us) came down among hundreds of people, and took Itself back to the back wall of the tabernacle. And there, before these hundreds, drawed those Church Ages, darkening and lightening, just exactly the way I had it drawed on the board. Mysteriously!” “Shalom” (64-0112).
 

“But in there, preaching on The Seven Church Ages, and to have a sanction from God; drawing them out, of how that the darkness come into the church, Nicaea; and the church angels, the messengers. It must have been right, for, as soon as I got them drawed at the last church age, on Sunday morning, at eleven o’clock, that great Light came down into the building, before almost as many people as sitting here; come down and flickered Itself on the side of the wall, before all those people, and drawed those Church Ages just exactly the way I had them drawed there. Now, there is hundreds and hundred of witnesses there to prove that.” “Shalom” (64-0119).
 

At the onset, it is evident that God could not have sent or used a “great Light”, “Pillar of Fire” or “Angel” to make a drawing on a wall of the “seven church ages” that was the “same” as or similar to William Branham's alleged drawing because his “Seven Church Age” teachings are false and not of God, as is fully demonstrated on this website here. (God certainly would not ever vindicate false teachings.)

 

It is further evident that the alleged “supernatural” event did not occur because William Branham said the “great Light” came down into the building during his last “church age” sermon on “Sunday morning, at eleven o’clock” and there is no part of his recorded sermon that reflects or indicates that the church service was interrupted by a “Light” appearing and drawing out “seven church ages” on a wall. From a plain reading of the sermon's text here, it is apparent that there is not a single indication from William Branham that a “Light”, “Pillar of Fire” or “Angel” had appeared during the service or of him stopping to witness a “supernatural” event unfold.

​

In addition, the audio of the recorded sermon, which can played here, contains no evidence of “three hundred people screaming, and crying” after witnessing the alleged “supernatural” event, as William Branham claimed they did. (Had there been loud screaming, it would certainly have been captured in the audio because even exclamations like “Amen” and “Hallelujah” from the audience are commonly heard in the audio recordings of his 1,205 sermons.)

​

What's more, because William Branham preached his last “church age” sermon on Sunday evening, his claim that the “great Light” appeared on “Sunday morning, at eleven o’clock” is false. (It is evident that he preached the sermon in the evening, not in the morning because he stated therein, “And, by the way, where's Fred at tonight, Fred Sothmann?” and the sermon's text, which can be viewed here also indicates that he preached it in the evening.)

​

Despite William Branham's claims of hundreds of people witnessing the “great Light” drawing the “seven church ages” on a wall of his church, there is no eyewitness testimony or other evidence from anyone to corroborate or verify any of his related claims. Consequently, they are completely unfounded.

​

William Branham's claims that the “great Light” in his Sunday morning church service was the “Pillar of Fire” are also unfounded because the only recognized time that God used the “Pillar of Fire” with a large group of people was for the specific purpose of guiding the children of Israel at night. It was the “Pillar of Cloud” that He used in the daytime to guide them, as is established in the Bible in Exodus 13:21–22. (See the write-ups here and here that demonstrate the false nature of William Branham's claims about the “Pillar of Fire.”)

​

William Branham also made it known that it was just his “opinion” that the “Light” was the “Pillar of Fire” when speaking about it being photographed over his head in in Houston, Texas,

 

“Now, this picture—this picture which was taken, this Light that was on this picture is, to my opinion, the same Pillar of Fire that led the children of Israel.” “God's Provided Way Of Dealing With Sin” (54-0305).
 

“To my opinion, and if I'm wrong God forgive me, and as your brother, I think it's the same pillar of fire that led the children of Israel.” “The Queen of Sheba” (58-0107).

​

“To my opinion, It’s the same Angel of God that followed the children of Israel from Egypt unto Palestine. You know as a scholar yourself, that was the Angel of the Covenant, none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. And when here on earth, manifested in flesh, He did not claim to be a great Person.” “The Twentieth-Century Prophet” (53-0800).

​

​

William Branham's claims that God also drew the “seven church ages” in the heavens are additionally untrue and unbelievable.

​

To further persuade people that his “Seven Church Age” teachings were of God, William Branham also claimed that God drew “in the heavens the same thing” that He “let” him “draw” on the blackboard” and He Himself drew on the wall of the church. This is evident in these statements of his,

 

“Did any of you see the paper where they took the pictures of the moon? I have it here.

If it ain’t a perfect image, leaving out the seventh age which is not yet, exactly the way I drawed by the Holy Spirit, the Church Ages. There’s the six of them, the seventh is not finished yet. The six conditions of the moon, how in its brightness in the first church age; dark in the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth; just the way the Holy Spirit let me draw them on the board, and then identified them with Hisself on the wall of the tabernacle, two years ago. The moon reflects itself, and science again picks up the picture of the, Church Ages, just as they picked up that Light yonder and put it in Life Magazine, of the opening of the Seals, of the revealing in the age of the seventh angel. In the days of his ministry, the seventh messenger, the mysteries of God, which all the mysteries has been along the ages, should be revealed, made manifest, it should be at that time. And He did it! His words don’t fail. Isn’t that a mysterious thing? God drawing in the heavens the same thing that they hold, same God let me draw on the blackboard, and then by Himself. That’s three times He’s perfectly identified it, and just before the pope goes into Jerusalem.” “Shalom” (64-0112).

 

“You have astounding picture there, tonight, that’s going in that book, of three years,

how the Lord has let me draw it out on a blackboard, and show just how the Church Ages would fail, and when and how they would go up-and-down. And as soon as that was finished, that great Angel of the Lord, that Light, before practically as many people sitting here, come right on the side of the wall, standing there. And people fainting. And drawed it right out, with Itself, on the wall. Three years later, the moon darkened and went right out, just exactly, in the day…just before the pope, first pope, went to Rome.” “Scriptural Signs Of The Time” (64-0410).

 

God obviously did not “draw” anything in the heavens because the darkening of the moon was due to a lunar eclipse that occurred on December 30, 1963, just before Pope Paul VI traveled the following week to the Holy Land in the far East (not to Rome).

​

In addition, the lunar eclipse also occurred more than three years after the “church ages” were allegedly drawn “supernaturally” on a wall of his church and therefore could not have been related to that alleged event.

​

From the information provided here, it is also evident that the lunar eclipse did not occur in seven stages or correspond with Pope Paul VI's pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as William Branham led people to believe.

​

Because no eclipse of the moon occurs in seven distinct stages, it is evident that William Branham's additional claims about it in his “Seven Church Age” book below are also false,

​

“Matthew 24, mentions signs in the heavens concerning this last day just before Jesus comes. I wonder if you noticed such a sign recently fulfilled as to portray the very truth we have been discussing. . . .The last eclipse of the moon was a total eclipse. It waned to a total darkness in seven stages. In the seventh stage, the total darkness came as the Pope of Rome (Paul the Sixth) went to Palestine to make a holy tour of Jerusalem. He was the first pope to ever go to Jerusalem. The pope is named Paul the Sixth. Paul was the first messenger and this man goes by that name. Notice it is the sixth, or the number of man. This is more than a coincidence. And when he went to Jerusalem, the moon or the church went into total darkness. This is it. This is the end. This generation shall not pass away until all be fulfilled. Even so Lord Jesus, come quickly!” “An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages” Chapter 9, pp. 357-359.

​

It is important to note that William Branham published his “Seven Church Age” book in 1963

after the “great Light” allegedly drew the “seven church ages” on a wall of his church and hundreds of people cried, screamed and fainted. Had such a momentous event occurred, he certainly would have mentioned it in that “church age” book of his. However, there is not a single reference to it anywhere in the book. Consequently, his claims about it are unbelievable.

​​

Furthermore, it is questionable whether and to what extent William Branham ever “drew out” the “seven church ages” on a blackboard before hundreds of people in his church in 1960.

 

Although he made the below claims in 1964 that he had “drawed” the “Church Ages” out on a “board” according to “six conditions of the moon”, there is not a single statement from him

in any of his seven “church age” sermons in 1960 that indicate he ever compared or likened the “church ages” to the moon.[1]

 

“Did any of you see the paper where they took the pictures of the moon? I have it here. If it ain’t a perfect image, leaving out the seventh age which is not yet, exactly the way I drawed by the Holy Spirit, the Church Ages. There’s the six of them, the seventh is not finished yet. The six conditions of the moon, how in its brightness in the first church age; dark in the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth; just the way the Holy Spirit let me draw them on the board, and then identified them with Hisself on the wall of the tabernacle, two years ago.” “Shalom” (64-0112).

 

In addition, there is not a single statement from him in the seven “church age” sermons in 1960 that would indicate that he had depicted or provided an illustration of the moon on a blackboard with “waning” stages or phases, like the one below that he later provided in his “Church Age” book.

​