William Branham: ‘the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) is speaking in tongues not the Holy Spirit’
WMB: ‘the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) is speaking in tongues not the Holy Spirit’
William Branham perverted the holy and inspired words of Scripture to fit his own thoughts while claiming God told him and “cleared” it by the Scripture. He asserted that “the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38) is not the Holy Ghost itself but the gift of speaking in tongues (based on his and others experiences). That is categorically and fundamentally false, and William Branham is found to be bearing false witness against God by saying he told him that. The Scriptures affirm that “the gift of the Holy Spirit” is the Holy Spirit. The abiding presence of the Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father, not “a gift” or “that gift” (charisma) but “the gift.” The word used here for “gift” (dôrea) differs from the more specific “gift” (charisma) of 1 Cor. 12. What William Branham says here also directly contradicts what he says later in the sermon (see further down)—that the Apostles were not speaking in unknown tongues but simply speaking their naive language and the unbelievers were hearing in their own language.
“Now, I do believe that Spirit-filled people (See?) sometimes get so filled with the Holy Ghost till they don’t have any control of their own language. I believe that. Sometime another it happens, for it’s happened to me, and it’s happened to others and…
Now, watch. On Acts 2:38. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” ’cause they were marveling, because they heard every man speaking in his own language wherein he was born. See? “And He said if you would repent, you would receive that gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, the gift of William Branham is not William Branham. See? Now, if you’ll notice you say, “Well, the gift of God is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is God.” Couldn’t use it there. [Writer: in other words, the gift of the Holy Ghost couldn’t be the Holy Ghost] Well, to everything that I speak of, it must line with the Scripture. I—I won’t receive it. Now, I only receive when He tells me, then He always clears it with the Scripture.” William Branham - 1960-0807 - Debate On Tongues See Less
Another observation is that William Branham seems to think that the point of Acts 2:38 is based on the unbelievers marveling and desiring to receive the gift of tongues, when the reasoning is in fact, they were pierced to the heart by Peter’s words concerning Christ and their part in crucifying him, and these men desired to know what they needed to do to make themselves right with God. A desire to speak in tongues is far removed from Acts 2:38, and the idea is preposterous.
Contradiction: “SPEAKING GALILEAN” (i.e., not languages unknown to them)
Here (below) in the same sermon, William Branham put forward that those on the Day of Pentecost were not speaking in “different languages”(2:4) (unknown to themselves), but in their native Galilean language and that “God did something” to the hearers to make them hear in their own language. This contradicts himself and the Scripture.
“And so I said, “What if I told you that God did something to these men that.. everyone now heard them in their own tongue?” He said, “But they were speaking in tongues.” [Writer: the man was correct on this point, but WB challenged that] I said, “Just a minute, brother. The unbeliever out there said, “Behold, are not all these Galileans which are speaking, and how do we hear them every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? These that are speaking are Galileans, speaking Galilean, but we’re hearing them in our own language, wherein we were born.’” [Writer: WB misquotes and thus changes the meaning of the Scripture to accommodate his idea] See? He couldn’t stand nowhere then.”
1960-807 Debate On Tongues WM Branham
"SPEAKING IN OUR TONGUES THE MIGHTY WORKS OF GOD"
(Acts 2:11) “Indicating that the audience understood precisely what was being said. For if the "tongues" were babbling-then how did such a diverse audience all reach the same conclusion concerning the specific message of what was being spoken, i.e. "the mighty works of God"? If you can’t understand what a person is saying, for all you know they might be cursing God.
Point to Note:
Some have said that the miracle happened in the ears of the people. But the Holy Spirit didn’t come upon those who heard. Stott notes, "it was not a mistake or a miracle of hearing..so that the audience supposed that the believers spoke in other languages when they did not." (p. 66) Luke is very clear: The apostles spoke in the languages (), and what people were hearing was true and accurate-they were hearing their own dialects (2:33).” Mark Dunagan Commentary on the Bible