Some Interesting Merchandise from Voice of God Recordings

The following are screen captures from the Voice of God Recordings website, illustrating some of the merchandise they provide to believers who follow William Branham’s ministry. This is the organization under Joseph Branham, William’s son, and is the major distributor of Message recordings, transcribed sermons, the life story of William Branham (written by a believer), and other materials. Those “other materials” contain some pretty interesting stuff:

The story of the mother opossum was one of William Branham’s favorites. At a low point in his healing ministry, the opossum crawled up to his door. She was wounded, infected and dying, and had several babies clinging to her back. He ignored her for a few days, but she didn’t go away. Eventually, he prayed for her as he would for a sick human being. She immediately was healed and trucked herself happily back to the woods with her young. William Branham held her up as an example of perfect maternal love: she had been so unselfish as to give her life for her babies, and God had rewarded her with life so that she could continue caring for them.

I have a lot of problems with the moral of the story: it teaches women that their lives only matter if they have children, and that wishing to survive for one’s own sake is selfish. I think our culture needs to do away with the cult of sacrificial motherhood this story promotes. Not only does it prevent mothers from seeking the help they need, it also teaches children that their mothers exist to serve them.

Christian Fundamentalist Homophobia, Part Two: The Argument is in the Eyebrows

Trigger warning: The following post contains frank descriptions of the hate speech against LGBTQ people that my church used to inculcate fear and contempt in its youth. It’s probably not something you want to read if you’re already having a bad day. I have decided to write about homophobia for two reasons: first, to demonstrate the falsity of fundamentalist rhetoric about “hating the sin and loving the sinner,” and, second, to shed light on the tools fundamentalists use to instill fear of LGBTQ people in their children.

Christian Fundamentalist Homophobia, Part One: Generalized Anxiety and Images of Depravity

Trigger warning: The following post contains frank descriptions of the hate speech against LGBTQ people that my church used to inculcate fear and contempt in its youth. It’s probably not something you want to read if you’re already having a bad day. I have decided to write about homophobia for two reasons: first, to demonstrate the falsity of fundamentalist rhetoric about “hating the sin and loving the sinner,” and, second, to shed light on the tools fundamentalists use to instill fear of LGBTQ people in their children.