Is anyone familiar with Branhamites

[rookie]

I have a dear friend (Since '83, and both born in '76), so you might say a good part of our lives.

He is of the Branhamite movement, and doesn't believe Jesus is God. And the key verse for this is Matt 24:36

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only

I am looking to see what explanation I can give him regarding this text. I have seen many answers, but the key to him, was when he told me "until I have an answer to my satisfaction". That pretty much told me, that no matter what I bring back to him, he won't believe it anyway.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[JonathanHunt]

You won't win. If he will make this one verse the sticking point and ignores the rest of the testimony of scripture, arguments seem to me to be pretty pointless.

It is a fairly mysterious/difficult text, which I have always read as Christ addressing the question of the second coming from the point of view of his humanity. 'No man knows the time, and neither (as a man) do I'. Nobody who wants to believe otherwise will find this convincing.

 

[fralo4truth]

Agree with the above. Jesus is speaking from the perspective of his humanity. Your friend seems to be avoiding the analogy of faith. But I think it's typical for those in error to put their whole weight behind a verse here and there without considering it within the whole realm of revealed scripture.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1)

 

[rookie]

Thanks for the above suggestions.

I remember dealing with him on the serpent seed, and they change context 3-4 times in Genesis 3, where the serpent beguiles Eve. The trees are laws, and at some point, they change to physical trees.

And since they believe in a local flood, that becomes a pointless debate about all humans dying in the flood, and therefore Cain's descendants carry on.

And, they refuse to look at the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic for some translations. They say "God is not inadequate when He translates, He will make the language work". And to that I advised him, that sometimes, there are certain words in Greek that didn't exist in english.

Romans 9 has an example.

Greek - I will mercy whom I will mercy (Mercy is actually a verb in the Greek, not so in English)

Thanks again for your thoughts.

I pray daily for God to remove the scales from his eyes that he might see the truth.

 

[JonathanHunt]

Hi Ray - the power of a cult is so plain, and so sad to see. It is whatever is taught from the top that carries the weight. Nothing else will do, and if all else fails, point to the photo of Brother Branham with a halo, which 'proves' we must place his words above those of every other man.