William Branham: An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages, Voice of God Recordings, 2012, Jeffersonville, Indiana

The Pergamean Church Age p.199:

"Now it is a well known historical fact that when this error crept into the church [Rev.2,15, Nicolaitanism-dominating the people in the pews-divide and conquer], men began to vie for the office of bishop with the result that this position was being given to the more educated and materially-progressive and politically-minded men. Human knowledge and program began to take over Divine wisdom's place and the Holy Spirit no longer controlled. This was indeed a tragic evil, for the bishops began to maintain that it no longer required a transparent Christian character to minister either the Word or the rites of the church for it was the elements and the ceremony that counted [ie ex opere operato, the repetition of certain words allegedly brings Christs physical body and blood at "Mass"]. This allowed evil men to rend the flock [Br. Branham is not saying that any or all men in leadership are evil in any given church].

With the man-made doctrine of the elevation of bishops to a place not accorded them in scripture, the next step was the handing out of graded titles that built up a religious hierarchy; for soon there were archbishops over bishops and cardinals over the archbishops and by the time of Boniface the third there was a pope over all, a Pontiff."

*used by permission.

http://www.zionpentecostmission.com/confusion-with-titles2.html

William Branham (1909-1965) was to 20th century American preaching what Frank Capra (1897-1991) was to 20th century American film-making.

Today is our seventh in a series of excerpts from William M. Branham's two principal written works. We're not going to take time explaining his life or the miracles that attended it, or defend his preaching style or grammar, or his doctrines.

That's all being said and done, and likely will be until Jesus comes back.

Rather than get distracted, our aim is to see Branham's gift of in depth discernment, study, and then fully shouting from the rooftops about biblical passages that Christians historically, and to this day, avoid, gloss over, explain away, or outright change, according to denominational and political fault lines.

Having said that, there might not be two bible expositors or students across the whole Christian spectrum who agree with half of what Br. Branham preached.

Yet and still, in an age where preaching has become so tepid, so nuanced, so easy-pleasy, so cookie-cutter and prosperity bound, there seems to be a famine of the prophetic word, his voice is somehow still welcome. (As to this famine: https://vimeo.com/126142650 ) Why is his voice still so welcome? I'm not sure, but it has something to with the fact that his preaching still prods and wrankles all, just like Jesus', and even galvanizes some to get serious about salvation from our savior who said "not everybody who says 'Lord Lord' will get into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew7,21)

Long before anybody heard about "the prosperity gospel", Branham was preaching against it. Instead, he preached for all God's people, for humanity, not for pastorianity or churchianity, not for secular power and wealth on behalf of the potentates of the world, but for humanity, poor as well as rich. In this homespun humanity and the breath of his gospel vision, he shares much with the renown American film-maker Frank Capra.

One note of caution, Branham's ability to communicate, especially vocally, is so effective, so boiled down and rich, the apparent temptation of some is to preach his words rather than the same written word and gospel that he so loved.

In sum, anyone who hasn't sampled something of Branham's vast gospel output has missed something of the potential breath, vision, and import of our individual faith witness according to the word of God.

Hope you enjoy this series.