The World Council Of Churches
Brother Branham spoke and prophesied many times about the World Council of Churches. It was officially established in 1948, with only 147 member churches (denominations). It now has about 350 different denominational members. Here is an excerpt from their website, defining their mission.
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is a community of churches on the way to visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ. It seeks to advance towards this unity, as Jesus prayed for his followers, "so that the world may believe." (John 17:21)
Here’s what it takes to become a member:
Applicant churches are asked to give an account of their faith and witness as they relate to the purpose and functions of the WCC. A prospective member must evidence "sustained autonomous life and organization" and "constructive ecumenical relations" with other churches in its country. An applicant church must ordinarily have at least 50,000 members. Churches with more than 10,000 but less than and 50,000 members are eligible for membership without the right to participate in decision-making in an assembly.
If you look at the list of denominations and churches that are members, you see an extensive list of almost every Protestant denomination. But currently its membership only represents a little less than 600 million people. Doesn’t sound very powerful does it? When you factor in that there are 2.2 billion Christians in the world, 600 million is a small number indeed.
The figure 27% is a little deceiving. The Catholic Church is not an “official” member of the World Council, HOWEVER, she sends a representative to every meeting and plays an integral role in all decisions (“integral” is probably a vast understatement). In fact, representatives from the Roman Catholic Church have voting rights. If you add 1.2 billion Catholics (that’s about how many Church members there are worldwide), then the number grows to 1.8 billion, or over 81% of all Christians are currently members of the World Council of Churches.
The World Council Of Churches website address is www.oikoumene.org. What is “oikoumene?” It’s a Greek word that means, “the inhabited world.” Ironically, the Catholic Encyclopedia is loaded with that word, and especially used when referring to an ecumenical council. Here’s a quote from the Catholic Encyclopedia on “general councils:”
Ecumenical Councils are those to which the bishops, and others entitled to vote, are convoked from the whole world (oikoumene) under the presidency of the pope or his legates, and the decrees of which, having received papal confirmation, bind all Christians.
With the influence of the Catholic Church and the huge membership of the World Council, it is a little more imposing force than the world may give it credit for. Here are a few interesting facts.
- He was elected on 3-13-13.
- The first Latin American pope.
- The first Jesuit pope: the Jesuits were the militant arm of the Catholic Church.
- The first non-European pope in over 1,000 years.
- He replaced Benedict, the first pope to resign in almost 600 years.
- Francis took his name from Francis of Assisi. He was the first pope to have this name.
Pope Francis recently met with the president of the World Council of Churches. Can you guess what they discussed? You got it! They discussed “Christian Unity,” also called “ecumenicalism.”
Pope Francis,
Separated because, it’s sin that has separated us, all our sins. The misunderstandings throughout history. It has been a long road of sins that we all shared in. Who is to blame? We all share the blame. We have all sinned. There is only one blameless, the Lord. I am yearning, that this separation comes to an end and gives us communion. I am yearning, of that embrace that the Holy Scripture speaks of when Joseph’s brothers began to starve from hunger, they went to Egypt, to buy, so that they could eat.
Brother Branham, December 27, 1964
I wonder if this great thing, this Ecumenical Council that we got in the world today, and the World Council of Churches forming together make us all one... I wonder if they realize if... That is exactly what the Scriptures said they would do. But they think it's the most wonderful thing in the world, that all of us can join hands and be one. Said, "Jesus prayed that we might be one." That is true. But not that kind of one.
Catholics on the United States Supreme Court
Of the 112 justices appointed to the Supreme Court in the history of the United States, only 12 have been Catholic. The vast majority, 91, were from Protestant denominations.
The first Roman Catholic was Roger B. Taney, appointed Chief Justice in 1836 by then President Andrew Jackson. Edward Douglas White was appointed as an Associate Justice in 1894, but later became Chief Justice. Pierce Butler was appointed Associate Justice in 1923, and Frank Murphy in 1940. William J. Brennan was appointed in 1956 as a result of a Catholic Cardinal lobbying President Eisenhower to elect a Catholic. He was the lone Catholic on the Supreme Court until things drastically changed in these modern days.
Antonin Scalia was appointed in 1986, and then Anthony Kennedy in 1988. Although raised Catholic and having attended a Roman Catholic seminary, Clarence Thomas was not Catholic when appointed in 1991. However, he quickly converted. Chief Justice John Roberts was appointed in 2005, and followed by Samuel Alito in 2006. With Alito’s appointment, the Supreme Court had a Catholic majority for the first time in history. In fact, today the only other members of the Supreme Court are Jewish.
It may seem like a calm in the storm, but the prophesies we have heard are just as true today as they were 50 years ago. We may not know how or when, but the prophet's words will come to pass just as they were spoken.