Episode 20 - Two Ding Dongs and a Microphone (Summer Shorts)
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One of our listeners informed us of a recent comment made by the pastor of a message church in Beaufort, South Carolina. This pastor labeled those who dared challenge William Branham as “ding dongs”.
But was it the case that no one dared challenge William Braham when he was alive? Find out what actually happened to those who challenged William Branham.
We also include a sneak preview of an upcoming interview with Sylvia Perkins in September.
This podcast is part of our summer series of short podcasts that we are calling “Summer Shorts”. They will only be 4-5 minutes… just enough to get you thinking about something that you might not have thought about. Some may be the two of them, while others may just be solo.
Music – Ding Dong by The Ding Dongs, from the album – Johnny Otis Presents Eldo Records Vol. 2 Featuring Sugarcane Harris & Little Julian Herrera – available from iTunes
For July and August, Bryan and Rod are doing a series of short podcasts that they are calling “Summer Shorts”. They will only be 4-5 minutes… just enough to get you thinking about something that you might not have thought about before. Some may be the two of them, while others may just be solo.
William Branham wearing “women’s underneath clothes” in South Africa
William Branham stated that when a man wore shorts, he was wearing a “woman’s underneath clothes”, but don’t men were shorts for underwear as well? Could it be that William Branham didn’t wear any underwear?
In this podcast, we look at William Branham’s condemnation of men wearing shorts and his apparent hypocrisy in wearing shorts himself.
Emily Arndt grew up in the message in Wisconsin but never heard the good news of Jesus Christ until she was 21 years of age. Emily became a veterinary technician and is currently living and serving with the Christian Veterinary Mission in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa. She is Assistant Clinician Facilitator in the surgical department of Uganda’s only veterinary college.
She works under a missionary veterinarian from the UK and also assists the Africa Center for Apologetics Research, who work to train believers for the defense of the faith, and mobilize Christians for the neglected but essential task of cult evangelism.
Emily Arndt grew up in the message in Wisconsin but never heard the good news of Jesus Christ until she was 21 years of age. Emily became a veterinary technician and is currently living and serving with the Christian Veterinary Mission in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa. She is Assistant Clinician Facilitator in the surgical department of Uganda’s only veterinary college.
She works under a missionary veterinarian from the UK and also assists the Africa Center for Apologetics Research, who work to train believers for the defense of the faith, and mobilize Christians for the neglected but essential task of cult evangelism.
Emily Arndt grew up in the message in Wisconsin but never heard the good news of Jesus Christ until she was 21 years of age. Emily became a veterinary technician and is currently living and serving with the Christian Veterinary Mission in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa. She is Assistant Clinician Facilitator in the surgical department of Uganda’s only veterinary college.
She works under a missionary veterinarian from the UK and also assists the Africa Center for Apologetics Research, who work to train believers for the defense of the faith, and mobilize Christians for the neglected but essential task of cult evangelism.
Episode 15 - The 1963 Arizona Cloud with Pastor Jeff Jenkins (Part 3)
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Jeff Jenkins, pastor of Believers Christian Fellowship (BCF) in Lima, Ohio for almost 35 years, discusses the 1963 Arizona Cloud with host, Rod Bergen in part 3 of their interview.
Some of the questions they discuss include:
Have those the criticize our cloud research actually looked at it?
What does numerology have to do the cloud? Is numerology rooted in paganism?
Did the cloud move towards Sunset Mountain?
Were some of William Branham’s visions fabricated?
What is Jesus Christ doing in the world today?
The Parable of the Prodigal Son – Are message believers akin to the elder brother?
“It’s not the power of your faith but the object of your faith that saves you.”
What is biblical modesty?
Was William Branham under a Nazarite vow?
Was William Branham’s teaching on alcohol biblical?
Articles referred to on the podcast (click on the links):
Episode 14 - The 1963 Arizona Cloud with Pastor Jeff Jenkins (Part 2)
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Jeff Jenkins, pastor of Believers Christian Fellowship (BCF) in Lima, Ohio for almost 35 years, discusses the 1963 Arizona Cloud with host, Rod Bergen.
Some of the questions which they discuss include:
The Cause of the Cloud – Was it the aftermath of a constellation of angels visiting the earth or was there a natural explanation?
What are noctilucent clouds? – Why did no one see the cloud until sunset?
Only believe? – Does Bible tell us to simply have blind faith?
Articles referred to on the podcast (click on the links):
Episode 13 - The 1963 Arizona Cloud with Pastor Jeff Jenkins (Part 1)
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Jeff Jenkins, pastor of Believers Christian Fellowship (BCF) in Lima, Ohio for almost 35 years, discusses the 1963 Arizona Cloud with host, Rod Bergen.
Some of the questions which they discuss include:
The Prophecy of the Cloud – Did William Branham prophesy the cloud in advance of it appearing?
The Timing of the Cloud – Why did the cloud appear 8 days before William Branham went hunting?
The Location of the Cloud – Why did the cloud show up 200 miles away from where William Branham was hunting?
Gene Norman’s testimony of the cloud – What did William Branham;s friend, Gene Norman, hear and see?
Chad Lamb’s sermon on the cloud – Does the cloud have anything to do with Exodus 19:16?
The Cause of the Cloud – Was it the aftermath of a constellation of angels visiting the earth or was there a natural explanation?
Articles referred to on the podcast (click on the links):
Episode 12 - An interview with Careyann M. (part 2)
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In this episode, Careyann continues to discuss some of the strange things she experienced in the Returned Ministry sub-cult within the message, along with the following:
The strange circumstances that began her journey out of the message;
Careyann M. was raised in the message and has seen more than her share of the bizarre things that the message has to offer. In this episode, Careyann discusses her time in the message and some of the strange things she experienced. To be fair, not all people in the message experience the things that Careyann did but the strange sub-cults are definitely there to be found.
Some of the issues she discusses include:
The failure of message ministers to stand against abortion;
Growing up as a girl in the message;
The treatment of women in the message;
Examples of William Branham’s hypocrisy;
Steven Shelley and Ezekiel’s Wheel;
Donald Parnell and the Third Testament Millennium sub-cult;
Episode 10 - An interview with James Rozak (Part 3)
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Join Rod and Bryan in part 3 of their interview with James Rozak, the author of the Morning Mercy website.
James Rozak was the Associate Pastor of Edmonton Word Assembly for 10 years, serving alongside Eugene Braun. James believed and preached the message as best he knew.
But in February of 2013, the unthinkable happened and James made a decision with his wife to leave the message of William Branham.
In this last part of the interview, James discusses:
How MorningMercy.com started and how it got its name.
Fear and phobia in the message.
James answers a question that was sent to us by one of our listeners.
The creeds and dogmas of the message.
Legalism and anti-nomianism.
Why people have problems leaving the message.
The question that one of our listeners asked was this:
I noticed that our minister almost every week at least mentions once that women should wear a long skirt, shouldn’t have any makeup or cut their hair in any shape or form. And often he adds: “Well you can hate me for telling you these things, but then you must hate god’s prophet too, cause he told it first.”
It sounds as if he is feeling that there is something wrong with these regulations, so he tries to protect himself by saying: “Hey, it’s not my fault that you have to suffer because of these rules!”
Can you talk about similar experiences you [had]? I would appreciate it if you could do a whole podcast on this topic! What does the Bible tell us according to these things??
Referenced website – MorningMercy.com is a resource for former followers of William Branham and contains encouragement from the perspective of an ex-message follower.
Music – Mercy by Andraé Crouch from Mercy (1994) – View Album
Episode 9 - An interview with James Rozak (Part 2)
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Rod and Bryan continue their discussion with James Rozak, the author of the Morning Mercy website, in part 2 of their interview
James Rozak was the Associate Pastor of Edmonton Word Assembly for 10 years, serving alongside Eugene Braun. James believed and preached the message as best he knew.
But in February of 2013, the unthinkable happened and James made a decision with his wife to leave the message of William Branham. Issues discussed on this podcast include:
Concerns with the emphasis by ministers on William Branham, rather than Jesus Christ;
Reaction of other ministers to James’ focus on helping people that were subject to abuse;
The problem with abuse in the message and how ministers deal with it;
Cognitive dissonance and the impact on Christians who are still in the message;
The testimony of Alfred Pohl, a man who questioned whether people were actually being healed in William Branham’s meetings.
Referenced website – MorningMercy.com is a resource for formers followers of William Branham and contains encouragement from the perspective of an ex-message follower.
Music – Great Is Thy Faithfulness by Jon Gibson, (lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm and music by William Runyan – 1923) from Soulful Hymns (2002) – View Album
James Rozak was the Associate Pastor of Edmonton Word Assembly for 10 years, serving alongside Eugene Braun. James believed and preached the message as best he knew.
But in February of 2013, the unthinkable happened and James made a decision with his wife to leave the message of William Branham.
James was someone that loved the message, and lived it with a passion. He and his wife did not leave because they didn’t want to ‘live the life’. Instead, came to the realization that something was clearly very wrong.
James initially felt that the message was being mishandled by men; in fact, he felt he could be a voice that captured the truth and essence of what the message really was. But when the realization came that the problems were much more foundational, and the teaching itself was questionable – it became too much for him to ignore.
As a minister, he personally felt a responsibility to try to understand and resolve the questions. The problem was, there were no answers that adequately stood without turning a blind eye or performing mental gymnastics to excuse them. Consequently, when he felt he could no longer preach in good faith, he resolved to step down from my ministry. But it quickly became clear they could no longer continue attending the church, so with heavy hearts, they walked away.
As most people that leave the message, James experienced great hurt. The decision to leave the Message resulted in a complete annihilation of his reputation, a loss of everything familar – and left him, his wife and their children without friendships that he had expected were lifelong.
His desire to heal and help found expression through his website, Morning Mercy. While he still has many questions, he has no doubt that they made the right decision.
Referenced website – MorningMercy.com is a resource for formers followers of William Branham and contains encouragement from the perspective of an ex-message follower.
Music – Great Is Thy Faithfulness by 2nd Chapter of Acts, (lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm and music by William Runyan-1923) from Hymn Collection (2003) – View Album
Episode 5 - An Interview with Pastor Jeff Jenkins (part 2)
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Jeff Jenkins was the pastor of Believers Christian Fellowship (BCF) in Lima, Ohio for almost 34 years. Pastor Jeff was a committed and fervent follower of William Branham but left the message and his church several years ago. This is part 2 of Rod Bergen’s interview with Pastor Jeff as they discuss how he came to his monumental decision to leave the message and the church he had pastored for almost three and a half decades, as well as his current thoughts on William Branham and the message.
Music – I Have Decided to Follow Jesus by Bill & Gloria Gaither, from their album – Bill & Gloria Gaither and Their Homecoming Friends, Vol. 1 – available on iTunes
Episode 4 - An interview with Pastor Jeff Jenkins (part 1)
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Jeff Jenkins was the pastor of Believers Christian Fellowship (BCF) in Lima, Ohio for almost 34 years. Pastor Jeff was a committed and fervent follower of William Branham but left the message and his church several years ago. Rod Bergen interviews Pastor Jeff to discuss his background and how he came to his monumental decision to leave the message and the church he had pastored for almost three and a half decades.
Music – For the Sake of the Call by Avalon, from their album – Another Time, Another Place: Timeless Christian Classics – available on iTunes
Rod Bergen interviews co-host Bryan Lynch about his background, how he came into the message and what led him to leave the message after spending almost 20 years following William Branham.
Music – Off The Shelf by The Brothers Bright from A Song Treasury (2012) – View More by This Artist
This is the second part of a 3 part series focused on introducing the co-hosts of the Off The Shelf podcast. In this episode, Bryan Lynch interviews Rod Bergen about how he came into the message; what led him to leave the message after spending almost 40 years following William Branham; and his current perspective on the message and those still following the message.
Music – Off The Shelf by The Brothers Bright from A Song Treasury (2012) – View More by This Artist
The first three episodes of the Off The Shelf podcast will be focused on introducing co-hosts Rod Bergen and Bryan Lynch. Hosts Bryan Lynch and Rod Bergen talk about:
Why are we doing a podcast?
Where did the name “Off The Shelf” come from?
Then, Bryan interviews Rod about how he came into the message and what led him to leave Cloverdale Bibleway and the message after spending almost 40 years following William Branham. Rod talks about the relationship of faith and doubt, the municipal bridge vision, conversations Rod had with Pearry Green and George Smith, Deuteronomy 18:20-22, fear in the message and his view of the message and those still in the message.
Music – Off The Shelf by The Brothers Bright from A Song Treasury (2012) – View More by This Artist
One of our listeners informed us of a recent comment made by the pastor of a message church in Beaufort, South Carolina. This pastor labeled those who dared challenge William Branham as “ding dongs”.
