They didn't believe in three Gods in the beginning of the church. You can't find that sort of belief amongst the apostles. It was after the apostolic age that this theory came in and really became an issue and cardinal doctrine at the Nicene Council. The doctrine of the Godhead caused a two-way split at Nicea. And from that split there came two extremes. One actually went into polytheism, believing in three Gods, and the others went into Unitarianism. Of course, that was a little while in coming about, but it did, and we have it right today. But the revelation through John by the spirit to the churches was, 'I am the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am ALL of It. There isn't any other God.' And He put His seal on the Revelation.

Consider this: Who was the Father of Jesus? Matthew 1:18 says, 'She was found with child of the Holy Ghost.' But Jesus Himself, claimed that God was His Father. God the Father and God the Holy Ghost, as we often express these terms, make the Father and the Spirit ONE. Indeed they are, or else Jesus had two Fathers. But notice that Jesus said that He and His Father were one - not two. That makes ONE God.

Since this is historically and Scripturally true, people wonder where the three came from. It became a foundational doctrine at the Nicene Council in AD 325. This trinity (an absolutely unscriptural word) was based upon the many gods of Rome. The Romans had many gods to whom they prayed. They also prayed to ancestors as mediators. It was just a step to give new names to old gods, so we have saints to make it more Biblical. Thus, instead of Jupiter, Venus, Mars, etc., we have Paul, Peter, Fatima, Christopher etc., etc. They could not make their pagan religion work out with just one god, so they split Him up into three, and they made intercessors of the saints as they had made intercessors of their ancestors.

 I Will Restore Saith The Lord

As we have already illustrated the Gentile church world William Branham stepped into had drifted into a mixture of God's Word, and man's tradition. They had the Word of God, they had the Bible, and from the Bible, the preachers drew their sermon texts but permeating EVERY church and interwoven with every church creed, was a collection of sayings, traditions and misinterpretations which dated back to the original apostatizing in the fourth century A.D. No denomination was innocent in this regard and no denomination was' capable of repenting. I have selected only three of the doctrines William Branham taught which will serve to illustrate why it was essential for God to anoint this restoration ministry"

 

The Truth On Water Baptism

And on the day of Pentecost, Peter required that man must repent and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sin. And Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is no name. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost... Matthew 28:19 said "Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them into the Name," not into the names, in the Name, singular of... Not in the name of the Father, name of the Son, name of the Holy Ghost, but in the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Father's not a name; Son's not a name; Holy Ghost is not a name. They're titles that belong to a Name.

Now, ten days later Peter said, "Repent, every one of you and be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, see how the extreme Trinitarian idea... See, they try to make three gods out of that. There's no three gods. I'd like to read that to you out of the original Greek here. The only way they baptized in Jesus' Name was, and the Bible said in the original Greek, was to make them recognize that He was God.
     
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is offices of one God. He was the Father; He was the Son; He is the Holy Ghost. It's three offices or three dispensations, the Fatherhood, the Sonship, and the Holy Ghost dispensation. But Father, Son, and Holy Ghost has one Name, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Every person from that day on was baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, and they found some that was baptized in no Name at all, and the original Greek said right here and both the Hebrew, that the baptism in the Name of Jesus is for the forgiveness of sins, both Greek and Hebrew. "Remit" means, "to forgive," of course. If I remit anything, is to take it away, to remit it--"take it away."

But there is no Scripture in the Bible... And Paul the apostle passed through and found some Baptist brethren, Acts 19. They were having a great time; they were shouting; they were having great joy and great things; and they were preaching, had joy in the camp.
     
Aquila and Priscilla in the 18th chapter had visited these people, Apollo's; they were Baptists. And Paul went to them, and he said, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since you have believed?"And they said, "We know not whether there be any Holy Ghost." He said, "How was you baptized?" I know in the King James it says "unto what"; in the original it said "unto how." "What or how was you baptized?"
     
They said, "We've been baptized by the same man that baptized Jesus, John." Paul said, "That won't work no more. You got to be baptized over again." And when they heard this, they come back into the water and was rebaptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. Paul laid his hands upon them, and the Holy Ghost came on them. Now, if that--if Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, says here, and the Lord Jesus Christ, says here, I can't hit both targets. It's got to be right.
Now, Matthew 28:19, that's the last chapter and the last verse in Matthew. If you read a love story, and it said, "John and Mary lived happy ever after," who is John and Mary?

Go back to the first of the book; find out who they are. See who John and Mary was that lived happy ever after. If Jesus said, "Go baptize in the Name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost," and Father's no name, Son's no name, and Holy Ghost is no name, then what was He talking about? Who is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? Go back to the first of it and read. I'll quote after the genealogies of Jesus Christ, 1st chapter, 18th verse.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. Now watch real close. That post, we're going to call it Father, this pulpit, Son, this, the Holy Ghost. Now, Who is the Father of Jesus Christ? God is. Do you all admit that? God's the Father of Jesus Christ. That's God the Father. This is God the Son. That's God the Holy Ghost.
     
Now the birth of Jesus Christ... on this wise:... (Matthew 1:18)... When... his Mary--mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with a child of the... [Congregation says "Holy Ghost."] (I thought God was His Father; I thought He said God was His Father. Then how can God and the Holy Ghost both be His Father, if they're two different peoples, two different persons, personalities, anyway you want to place it? They've got to be the same self Person, or He had two spiritual daddies.) ... birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When... his mother Mary... espoused to Joseph, before she came together, she was found with a child... (not of God the Father, but of)... the Holy Ghost.
     
And this was all done, that it might be fulfilled as spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a child,... (See?)... and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is by interpretation, God with us.

And His Name was called what? Jesus. All right. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, now, Father and the Holy Ghost is the self same Spirit. What is Ghost? It's the Spirit of God. And when it was, He came on the baptism of Jesus and dwelt in Him, "This is My beloved Son in Whom I'm well pleased to dwell in." He came down and dwelled in Jesus, and that made Him Emmanuel on earth. So what was the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? [Congregation answers, "Jesus Christ."] Certainly it was.
     
So Peter had the same revelation. Now, we got our sights trained in. We're hitting the bull's-eye. Let's see if the disciples used that kind of a shooting. Every time they come together, every time a baptism was mentioned, they had to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, for He said, "There's not another name given under heaven among men whereby you must be saved." It's a false conception of the devil and is no Scripture at all for such. That's right.
And now, I hope that didn't hurt, but it's truth. See? It's truth, brother. You can't make that... You can't hit Father, Son, Holy Ghost one place and Jesus in the other, when nobody was ever baptized in the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Every person in the Bible was baptized in the Name of Jesus, and those that wasn't baptized that way had to come and be baptized over again before they could even get the Holy Ghost. They might act like they got a lot of power. You've got to follow God's infinite plan.

…never was a person…in all the pages of the Bible, ever baptized in the name of the “Father, Son, Holy Ghost.” There never was a person baptized in the name of the “Father, Son, Holy Ghost” until the early Catholic church (came). It's not in the Bible, nowhere! And if anybody can find a piece in there, tell me and show me where one person was baptized using the name of the “Father, Son, Holy Ghost.” Please show me for I've gone through and through and through and through and through the Bible for twenty some odd years now. It's an error! it's a Catholic creed and not a Bible command!

…Look down on your Bible and see if that says “in the names of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt.28:19). Does it? No, sir. Did it say, “in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Ghost”? It said, “in the name!” Is that right? Well, which name did He want them to baptize, the name of the Father, or the name of the Son, or in the name of the Holy Ghost? He said, “in the NAME!” Well, frankly, there isn't any one of them a name.

…First thing to do is straighten out your “trinity” — Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Now, in the first place, not one place in the Bible is “trinity” ever mentioned. You find it and show it to me. There's no such a thing. It's Catholic error, and you Protestants bow to it!

…Now, who is Father, Son, Holy Spirit? Did Peter do wrong? (Acts 2:38). He done what Jesus told him. That's three titles.
I'm a minister, and I'm a father, and I'm a “Reverend” (they called it a title), but none of that's my name. My name's William Branham.
He was the Father, He was Son, He was the Holy Ghost. You try to make three Gods, friends; it's wrong, it's error.
…You see, you misunderstand it… It's One God in three dispensations. The dispensation of “Fatherhood”, “Sonship”, and now, the Holy Spirit. It's the same God. And when He said, “Go, baptize them in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost,” it was Jesus Christ. And that's why we baptize in Jesus' Name.

[Questions & Answers Book 6]
Well, there is no such a thing as a “name” of “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” That's the reason there was nobody in the Bible ever baptized in the “Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Every person in the Bible, or three hundred years this side the Bible, was baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. Not one apostle, not one Christian, (not one time) ever used the “Father, Son, Holy Ghost” as NAME for baptism until the Catholic church was organized at the Nicene Council, three hundred and six years after the death of the last apostle.

There is no such a thing as name of “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” Father is not a name, Son is not a name, Holy Ghost is not a name. It's three titles, therefore there is no such a thing as the name of “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” That's no name, So I baptize in the Name of Jesus Christ which is the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Clear?

"...The LORD our God is One Lord" (Mark 12:29)

Directly associated with the understanding on water baptism is the truth about the Godhead. The churches "traditionally" believe in three separate or distinct persons in one God. This was the result of a misinterpretation of Scripture which mentions the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost incorporated in a Trinitarian definition at the fourth century meeting of the First Nicea Council.

Like the false so-called "baptismal formula," this "new" concept (with the help of armed might,) swept Christendom, and over the centuries has become so embedded in Christian thought that to question its validity is tantamount to heresy.

The church lost the revelation that the one God, Jehovah, expressed Himself in the Old Testament as the Father, manifested Himself in the Gospels in the Son, Jesus, and revealed Himself in the Book of Acts as the Holy Spirit. In reality, it is three dispensations of the same God - God above us - God with us - God in us, NOT three persons, but one glorious personage finally and wonderfully unveiled (Hebrews 1:3.)

The heathen intellectual minds of the theologians could not reconcile the appearance of the Son on earth to the Father remaining in heaven. They, forgetting that God can be in heaven whilst at the same time manifesting Himself on earth, (John 14:10,) decided there had to be at least two in the Godhead and the entrance of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 made it three. They made the Son the second person of this Godhead, failing to realize that the Scriptures do not teach that Jesus is in the Godhead, rather that the Godhead is in Jesus. "For in Him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9.) They could only see that the Father was a God and the Son was a God and missed the true concept that the Father was God and the Son was the flesh or man in Whom that God dwelt to redeem Adam's fallen race and was the beginning of the creation of God in the form of His Family, the New testament saints in whom he will dwell and be worshipped throughout eternity (Luke 1:35; I Timothy 3:16.)
The ensuing three-personned deity is every bit as much a form of idolatry as the various pagan gods the children of Israel consistently worshipped.

Through the ages, Bible Truth became increasingly obscured by ignorance and superstition forced upon what was once the Empire of Imperial Rome by a new mistress, the Roman Catholic church. Such was her power, kings submitted to her outrageous demands, and laity were forbidden to read the Bible on pain of excommunication or death. By her own records, and history found in any encyclopedia she martyred over 68 million Christians during almost a thousand years of "Dark Ages" which ensued, many by unspeakable torture.

Because the faith was thus lost, God "winked" at the ignorance of the saints during the Church Ages provided they walked in the Light as He was restoring It. The ministry of the last angel was to fully restore the true understanding or faith (including the Godhead and water baptism) to the elect. (For more on the Godhead, see Appendix IV.)
I have selected some comments made by Brother Branham in his series on the Seven Church Ages:

"Now all these expressions, 'Him Which Is,' and 'Him Which Was,' and 'Is To Come,' and 'Faithful Witness,' and 'Firstborn from Among the Dead,' and 'Prince of the Kings of the Earth,' and 'The Alpha and Omega,' and 'The Almighty,' are titles and descriptions of one and the same person, Who is the Lord Jesus Christ, Who washed us from our sins in His own blood.

The Spirit of God in John expressed thusly in order to set forth the supreme deity of Jesus Christ and to reveal the Godhead as ONE God. Today there is a gross error. It is that there are three gods instead of one. Thus, revelation as given to John by Jesus, Himself corrects that error. It is not that there are three Gods, but one God with three offices. There is ONE God with three titles, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This mighty revelation is what the early church had, and it must he restored in this last day along with the correct formula of water baptism.

Now modern theologians won't agree with me for here is what was written in a great Christian magazine. 'That teaching (on the Trinity) is at the very heart and core of the Old Testament. The New Testament is just as much opposed as the Old Testament is to the thought that there are more gods than one. Yet the New Testament with equal clearness teaches that the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and that these three are NOT three aspects of the same Person, but three persons standing in a truly personal relationship to one another.' There we have the great doctrine of the Three Persons but one God."

They also state, 'God, according to the Bible, is but just one person, but He is three persons in one God. That is the great mystery of the Trinity.' It sure is. How can three persons be in one God? Not only is there no Bible for it, but it shows even a lack of intelligent reasoning. Three distinct persons, though identical substances, make three gods, or language has lost its meaning entirely.

Just listen to these words again, 'I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, saith the Lord, Which Is, and Which Was, and Which Is to Come, the Almighty.' This is deity. This is not simply a prophet, a man. This is God. And it is not a revelation of three Gods, but one God, the Almighty.

They didn't believe in three Gods in the beginning of the church. You can't find that sort of belief amongst the apostles. It was after the apostolic age that this theory came in and really became an issue and cardinal doctrine at the Nicene Council. The doctrine of the Godhead caused a two-way split at Nicea. And from that split there came two extremes. One actually went into polytheism, believing in three Gods, and the others went into Unitarianism. Of course, that was a little while in coming about, but it did, and we have it right today. But the revelation through John by the spirit to the churches was, 'I am the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am ALL of It. There isn't any other God.' And He put His seal on the Revelation.

Consider this: Who was the Father of Jesus? Matthew 1:18 says, 'She was found with child of the Holy Ghost.' But Jesus Himself, claimed that God was His Father. God the Father and God the Holy Ghost, as we often express these terms, make the Father and the Spirit ONE. Indeed they are, or else Jesus had two Fathers. But notice that Jesus said that He and His Father were one - not two. That makes ONE God.

Since this is historically and Scripturally true, people wonder where the three came from. It became a foundational doctrine at the Nicene Council in AD 325. This trinity (an absolutely unscriptural word) was based upon the many gods of Rome. The Romans had many gods to whom they prayed. They also prayed to ancestors as mediators. It was just a step to give new names to old gods, so we have saints to make it more Biblical. Thus, instead of Jupiter, Venus, Mars, etc., we have Paul, Peter, Fatima, Christopher etc., etc. They could not make their pagan religion work out with just one god, so they split Him up into three, and they made intercessors of the saints as they had made intercessors of their ancestors.

Ever since then, people have failed to realize that there is one God according to Scripture, but they try to make it the fantastic theory that God is like a bunch of grapes: three persons with the same Divinity shared equally by all. But it plainly says here in Revelation that Jesus is "That Which Is,' 'That Which Was,' and 'That Which Is to Come,' He is the 'Alpha and Omega," which means He is the "A to Z" of THE ALL OF IT. He is everything - the Almighty. He is the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star, the Righteous Branch, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. He is God, Almighty God. ONE GOD.

I Timothy 3:16 says, 'And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up unto Glory.' This is what the Bible says. It doesn't say a thing about a first or second or third person here. It says God was manifest in flesh. One God. That One God was manifested in flesh. That ought to settle it. God came in a human form. That didn't make Him ANOTHER GOD. HE WAS GOD, THE SAME GOD. It was a revelation then, and it is a revelation now. One God

(Seven Church Ages)