Whoever said all negative publicity was bad? The fact of the matter is any type of publicity can be good as long as people are curious enough. And that just seems to be the case where ‘prophet’ William Braham is concerned. Ever since the media picked up on the story of the self-acclaimed miracle worker, who has been ‘healing’ and ‘delivering’ people on the island, the numbers attending his services have grown significantly.
William Braham was a guest on Timothy Poleon’s lunchtime NewsSpin program on Wednesday, March 23 and some called to profess their love for the ‘prophet’ while others wanted to find out why they’d been turned away with their problems because they didn’t have money at the time.
In some ways the show seemed a continuation from a recent one with Sam “Juk Bois” Flood featuring the ‘prophet’ who seems to have become something of a local celebrity here. The controversial Sam Flood interview shocked people first of all because the usually Creole speaking host was now conducting an interview in English. One of Braham’s statements on Juk Bois’s show which has generated the most attention is a line where he stated: “The prime minister is in the house of the Lord, everybody is in the house of the Lord, it’s either you change and follow us, or God will deal with you!”
He went on to say: “I am apostle William Braham; you can catch me on Facebook and ask me anything you want to ask me.”
The clip from Sam Flood’s show has already made its way to Youtube. Braham appeared on Timothy Poleon’s show with Virgil Leonty, a representative of God’s Trumpet to the Nations Ministry and during the show expressed: “I’m not here to defend myself. I’m here because I needed to speak to you. If you choose to believe, believe, if not, leave it like that.”
One of the more relevant questions Timothy Poleon asked Braham had to do with how God’s Trumpet to the Nations Ministry found him in the first place, considering it is literally impossible to find any information about Braham on any other Website on the Internet apart from his personal Facebook page.
Virgil Leonty, PR officer for God’s Trumpet to the Nations stepped in and said the Ministry’s prophet Shawn Jules had traveled to Nigeria in 2010 and had gone to several conferences in Nigeria and Ghana. She said the St Lucian prophet Shawn Jules met the Nigerian president; prophesized for him and it was through that meeting William Braham was in St Lucia today.
On Wednesday’s show one caller challenged Braham, saying his neighbours had both gone to Braham for healing and one week later, one was told he had no faith, while prayers for the other stopped because he had no money.
To that Braham responded: “If I want to pray for you, and you don’t believe, somehow it may not have an impact on your life. I don’t have control over what God can do; it is what God chooses to do. If you brought someone to be healed I don’t have the power, it’s God that is doing the work. I’m doing a ministry. I am busy; I don’t have time to ask anyone for money.”
If he wasn’t collecting money directly, how was he benefiting? What’s in it for you?” the show’s host probed.
“I benefit when I see people healed, people getting delivered,” Braham responded. “I see people getting their lives back and that is what I would call my benefit. I am not collecting any offering. It is not to my pocket. I am not a hungry man. I live well and I’m very comfortable because the Lord has blessed me.”
Then came another caller: “I would like to ask the prophet, why did he turn me away because I didn’t have a seed to sow? At the Town Hall he said when I have the money come back. That was on Tuesday last week. I couldn’t come up with that money. Do I have to steal the money and bring it back? Why didn’t you help me?”
“I don’t remember unless I see her,” Braham answered. “If you could come back and let me see you; I don’t remember. I don’t know who is talking.”
At that point Leonty stepped in suggesting there was a segment for “sewing seeds,” during their ministry and if someone came at that time they would be told it was not the time for prayer and healing. She said a seed was a free will offering.
“It did not sound like a free will offering,” the woman pressed on. “I was given a certain amount, I didn’t have it so I was turned away. “When you have the money come back.” That is what I was told by Mr Braham.”
“I don’t really know her or remember talking to her,” Braham repeated. “If you come then I would know.”
Callers wanted to know why the prophet had chosen St Lucia, out of all other countries with problems, particularly Haiti and Japan. “Are we more gullible?” one person questioned.
“Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem but the miracles and places he went were far from his home,” Braham said. “God doesn’t call us for one nation, he said “Go ye into the nations and preach the gospel.” If you obey the voice of God you go. God sends his messengers around to preach the gospel.”
Then came calls in support of Braham’s ministering: “I was there on Monday I was blessed, me and my family. Don’t let anything discourage you,” said one woman. Then another: “That’s the lady you prayed for when you were closing, I would like to thank you. I believe you’re a true man of God. I’ve been to the Town Hall on several occasion and seen the miracles you have worked especially yesterday when we were casting out that serpent from the young girl.”
“Who are we to question when we are seeing it with our own eyes?” one man said. “I saw with my own eyes on Friday, he moved a demon in a young girl,” another woman said. “Those who saying he is false have too much evil in them, he’s doing a damn good job.”
Most people just seemed to want hard proof that Braham was who he said he was.
“It’s difficult to say whether these things are from God or not,” one man said forming his own conclusion. “Not because that person is performing miracles, healing people. I’m not saying what you’re doing is fake, it is not for me to say whether you are from God or not, but that’s not the sign for me. The criteria is not performing miracles or casting out demons. Believe not every spirit but try them, whether try are of God or of man.”
Then came the caller who caused William Braham to finally lose his cool.
“No man has a direct connection to God, only though Christ so you cannot say you have a direct connection to God,” the man put forth. Braham denied ever saying he had a direct connection to God and the man demanded that the talk show host replay his words as proof.
“Even if I said that and I’m correcting it what’s you problem?” Braham said in an agitated tone, his Ghanian accent strong now. “Yeah, even if I made a mistake and I’m correcting what’s your problem? Listen, if you think you have Christ in you go and pray about me and stop arguing on the radio, man. If you were a true believer you would say brother, thanks for correcting yourself. Why argue with me? I did not say that… even if I said that… man, man, listen. You don’t know the bible.”
“What do you mean I don’t know the bible?” The caller retorted still calm. “I probably know the bible more than you do.”
“You don’t know,” Braham said. “Let me ask you, go ahead with what you know . . . go and preach to St Lucians and teach them about the bible, that will help you.”
On talk of investigations into the prophet’s legitimacy, minister Leonard Montoute told the STAR no official complaints had been made of anything on Braham’s part.
“If there is a complaint or any reason to believe there is anything wrong I would imagine that the faith based officer with the ministry of ecclesiastical affairs would have to carry out an investigation and act accordingly.”
Since the implementation of the new Faith Based Policy back in October, 2010 there is a new stipulation that host churches in circumstances of the like must make an application to ecclesiastical affairs and they wouldthen be granted a certificate of exemption, which means that the person in question would not be required to obtain a work permit. Montoute said Trumpet to the Nations Ministry was affiliated with Pentecostal churches of the West Indies and confirmed they’d been granted clearance on Braham’s behalf.
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