God's prophet, Brother Branham (1909-1965), has been accused of plagiarizing Clarence Larkin (1850-1924). He didn't plagiarize. Yes, he used some of this teachings. But that's not plagiarism. I think this subject will be covered on my next YouTube video.
Like every preacher, Brother Branham studied other authors, books, commentaries, and notes of preachers. When he preached the Seven Church Ages, he used 5 or 6 books:
"The natural history, which is of the... taken from the most outstanding historians that I know of. I have laying in my study room, right now, about five or six commentaries, Hislop's Two Babylons, Foxe's Book Of The Martyrs, and other great books; like the Pre-Nicene Council, about four books on that, around four hundred pages in each book. And there the Nicene Council, and all the history that we can. Because, behind this, from the magnetic tape, we're going to write a commentary on the Seven Church Ages, to send to all the world, that we can, because we are in the last days. We are at the end time."
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Branham's skeptics accuse him of plagiarism but it seems Brother Branham simply did not know the rules for citing his sources. Recall Brother Branham only had a 7th grade education. He wasn't a scholar; he was a prophet!
Plagiarism is defined as the following: to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source".
Brother Branham never, ever claimed every single word, thought, or interpretation from his Seven Church Age or Seven Seals sermons were original. Numerous quotes reveal he was reading other authors. He just didn't always cite them.
Furthermore, Brother Branham wasn't trying to make profits off of his tapes or books. Here you can see his heart to get the Message out, telling his workers to give out books if the people cannot afford them:
"You reading the life story. How many's read the book of my life story? Just... We have just a few of them. I don't sell books. Now, I'm not a book salesman. These books are not mine. Someone wrote them, and I buy them at forty cents less than what I sell them here at, and then I have to haul them and everything. I... It's money; I lose on them, and I give the ushers and so forth orders, if some poor brother, sister comes by and wants one and hasn't got the money to pay for it, give it to him anyhow (See?), and so something will take place. It's always come out some way. It still will. The thing is to get the message to the people."
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That's the same way I run my humble, little book ministry. If you can't afford my book, I'll send it to you for free.
In the coming weeks, I'll be studying this subject. Be assured, Brother Branham did not plaguerize Larkin. In some cases he used Larkin's thoughts, as he said he did, but you'll soon see in the First Seal from Revelation 6:1-2 God gave Branham divine revelation that completely contradicted Larkin's thoughts. That's because God gave Brother Branham "Thus saith the Lord" when He wanted to, because Branham was His prophet.
Stay tuned. Stay prayed up. Stay watching and praying. Stay in the good fight of faith, for God has not left Himself without a witness. Brother Branham was God's true prophetic witness.
I hope you saw my latest YouTube video about Brother Branham's 6th Major Vision. May the Holy Ghost continue to lead and guide us into all truth (John 16:13)!
~Pastor Jesse Smith
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