Serpent Seed - William Branham's Teachings

William Branham's Teachings

William Branham was not the first to preach the doctrine of serpent seed, but he was one of the major proponents of the doctrine in modern times. Branham was the most widely known minister of the 20th century to actually teach serpent seed and much of its spread can be attributed to him. William Branham taught that the fall of mankind resulted from Eve having sexual intercourse with an upright Beast, man-like in appearance, whom Adam had named 'Serpent'.

Because of his wide acclaim in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, Branham was widely followed in Charismatic and Pentecostal movements and to a lesser degree by Methodists and Baptists. His meetings, held all over the world, were attended by hundreds of thousands of people which gave him a very large audience. This popularity and influence gave him the best platform of all adherents of the serpent seed doctrine to spread it to the masses. Although he did not regularly espouse the doctrine in front of his largest audiences his belief in the doctrine was not kept secret and he did preach several sermons on it in smaller meetings.

Branham was well aware of the potential connections of the doctrine to racism but he tried to show that his belief was not racially targeted. ("He Cares, Do You Care?", 21 July 1963). He tried to show that although he believed the doctrine he did not think it was a basis for racism, never applying his understanding to any ethnic group or race.