“Baptism with the Holy Ghost”
William Branham claimed that the only way to be baptized with the Holy Ghost is to receive the “Word of the hour.”
He specifically said,
“There’s only one evidence of the Holy Spirit that I know of, and that is a genuine faith in the promised Word of the hour.” 64-0823E, Questions And Answers #2.
“Now we have been constantly saying that the true evidence of being baptized with the Holy Ghost is for the believer to receive the Word for the age in which he lives.” Seven Church Age Book, p. 155.
“The evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost today is just the same as it was back in the day of our Lord. It is receiving the Word of truth for the day in which you live.” Seven Church Age Book, p. 169.
However, those claims of his are contrary to the Bible because Acts 2:38-39 clearly establishes that all that is needed to receive the Holy Ghost is to,
“...Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
It is further evident that his claims are unfounded and untrue because there is no Scripture in the Bible which states that a person needs to receive the “Word of the hour, for the age or for the day” to receive the Holy Ghost.
William Branham never stated why he taught a different version of how to receive the Holy Ghost than what is clearly stated in the Bible in Acts 2:38. It was not due to a lack of knowledge or awareness of it, however. In fact, he even recognized “baptism” and “repentance” to be all that is needed to receive the Holy Ghost on page 44 of his “Seven Church Age” book before going on in the book to make the above-referenced unfounded claims about the Holy Ghost on pages 155 and 169,
“All too many read the Bible where it says in Acts 2:38, 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,' and just pass right on. They don’t see it. If they saw it, by getting in the Spirit, they would know that if they want to receive the Holy Spirit, they need to repent and be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus and then God would be duty bound to fulfill His Word by filling them with the Holy Ghost. They never get in His Spirit or it would happen to them exactly as the Word says.” Seven Church Age Book, p. 44.
Having been so persuaded of the Truth of Acts 2:38, why then did William Branham present his own “gospel” or “version” of how to receive the Holy Ghost? What motivation could he have had to lead people to believe something entirely different than what is clearly stated in the Bible? Was it a way to induce or convince them to follow his “message”, which he led them to believe was God's final “message” to the Gentiles in the last day and age?
By asserting that the only evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost is to believe the “word of the day or age”, he certainly induced a feeling in people that they could only receive the Holy Ghost if they believed his “message.” It is therefore not entirely out of the question that his motivation for introducing an “alternative means” to receive the Holy Ghost was based on his desire to convince people to follow what he truly believed was the alleged “capstone message” to the Gentiles and emanated from the Almighty God. As is thoroughly demonstrated on this website, however, such a desire was misplaced because his “message” could not have been the final, capstone, seventh angel or Elijah the prophet “message” to the Gentiles from God, despite his many claims.