The Message Movement

William Branham’s Missing Recordings

When a researcher examines the recordings of William Branham, their first impression is that of a small, isolated, extremist cult of personality formed around a deceased faith healer from the 1940s through 1960s. When a researcher comes across the term “The Message” used to describe that group of people, their first impression is simply that; a name for the cult of personality. As it exists today, that assumption seems fairly accurate, but it was not always the case.

Many of the key figures in the modern televangelist and charismatic movements collectively forming the New Apostolic Reformation were at one time part of “The Message.” Kenneth Hagin, for example, who popularized the Word of Faith movement, was simply repackaging William Branham’s “Manifest Sons of God” doctrine. In his unusual rhyming and somewhat hard-to-swallow “prophesies” of the mid-1960s, Hagin declared his allegiance to “The Message.”

As late as 1965, “The Message” was a term used to describe the overall movement — not simply a cult of personality that formed around William Branham. From Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones to Word of Faith leader Kenneth Hagin to many others in the movement, “The Message” was used to describe their overall agenda. At the same event, hosting hundreds of other evangelists, ministers, and teachers, William Branham included these same men and women as those “that believe the message.”

The men involved with “The Message” in the 1950s and 1960s were widely recognized, both before and after William Branham’s death. As we have proven in other research publications, leaders in Branham’s cult of personality have cut Branham’s statements mentioning these men from the recordings and transcripts. To the outside world, this of course, helps to erase the histories of these men. Very few people, for example, are aware that Oral Roberts was the climax at some of the events in the movement called “The Message.”

When William Branham was alive and participated in these events, he was considered by many of these men to be a prophet in the movement’s “Five Fold Ministry”. According to this doctrine of the movement, God had empowered apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers and had given them authority over the people. Leaders in “the message” believed that they held the supernatural authority to bring restoration. Some believed this restoration movement, “The Message,” had the power to overthrow the government and place leaders of the movement into high-ranking political office. It was a militant force, one that Vice President Richard Nixon used as the vehicle for spreading fear of communism. Nixon empowered these men to fight the greatest battle ever fought — the battle of the mind.

Though Branham’s doctrinal position was not aligned with others in “The Message,” his rank among the five-fold ministry was still significant. Demos Shakarian, who married into the Kardashian family and was the founder of the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International, introduced William Branham at events hosted by the organization as one of the most important prophets in the movement. Interestingly, Shakarian placed the starting date of Branham’s ministry in 1945 or 1946, unaware that later versions of Branham’s stage persona used the years 1947 or 1948.

[demos shakarian]

William Branham, who openly boasted of his role as “prophet” in the movement, did not limit the other “offices” in the Five Fold Ministry held by others in the “Message.” With the leaders of his cult of personality that formed after Branham’s death removing his statements — sometimes removing entire speeches — members of Branham’s cult mistakenly assume that Branham was the central figure and that the others were cheap impersonators. Very few people in his cult of personality would consider Oral Roberts to be the climax of an event with William Branham present, even though Branham himself considered this to be the case.

Here is one of the speeches made by William Branham that has been removed by leaders in his cult of personality. After Demos Shakarian introduced Branham as a prophet in the “Message,” Branham gave tribute to “Papa Shakarian,” Demos’ father.