Serpent seed

==Modern adherents==
===William Branham===
{{further|The Message of William Branham}}
[[File:Rev._William_M._Branham_in_Kansas_City,_1947.jpg|thumb|William Branham]]

[[William M. Branham]] (1909–1965), a prominent American Pentecostal minister in the 1940s and 1950s who had links to the KKK,<ref name ="cbc">{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/street-preacher-cult-william-branham-1.4302531|title=How a dead U.S. evangelist inspires London's reviled street preachers|date=25 September 2017|author=Andrew Lupton}}</ref> also promoted the serpent seed doctrine.{{sfn|Schamber|2000|p=11}} Branham taught the belief that the [[Serpent (Bible)|serpent]] had sexual intercourse with Eve and their offspring was [[Cain]].{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=98}} Branham also taught the belief that Cain's modern descendants were masquerading as educated people and scientists,{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=113}} along with the belief that Cain's descendants were "a big religious bunch of illegitimate bastard children"{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=125}}{{sfn|Moriarty|1992|p=50}} who comprised the majority of society's criminals.{{sfn|Kydd|1998|p=174}} He believed that the serpent was the [[Transitional fossil|missing link]] between the [[Common chimpanzee|chimpanzee]] and man, and he also speculated that the serpent was possibly a human-like giant.{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=124}} Branham believed that the serpent was transformed into a reptile after it was cursed by God.{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=124}}

According to Steven Hassan, "Branham's sermons lay the foundation to believe that black people are the inferior race."<ref name = "tre">{{cite web|title=The Racist Effects of William Branham's Message Churches|publisher=Freedom of Mind Institute|url=https://freedomofmind.com/the-racist-effects-of-william-branhams-message-churches/|author=Hassan, Steven|author-link=Steve Hassan|date=September 28, 2021|access-date=2021-09-28}}</ref> Branham used the term "hybrid" to describe anything he believed to be tainted by the serpent.<ref name = "tre"/> Branham accused Eve of producing a "hybrid" race, and he provided a way to trace the hybrid line of the Serpent's Seed to Africans and Jews through [[Ham (son of Noah)|Ham]] the biblical progenitor of the African peoples, King [[Ahab]], [[Judas Iscariot]], [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholics]], and the future [[Antichrist]].{{sfn|Barkun|1997|p=162}}{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=124}}<ref name = "ptu">{{cite web|url=https://prophecytoday.uk/study/resources/item/2314-review-preacher-behind-the-white-hoods.html|title=Review: Preacher Behind the White Hoods|publisher=Prophecy Today UK|date=September 9, 2021|access-date=2021-09-12|author=Lennie, Tom}}</ref>

{{blockquote
|text=Now, Noah and his sons, which come out, Ham, [[Shem]], and [[Japheth]], come out in the righteous line. How did the [serpent's] seed ever get over? The [serpent's] seed come over in the ark, just like it did in the beginning, through the woman, their wives. They carried the seed of Satan, through the ark, just as Eve packed the seed of Satan, to give birth to Cain, through the woman. ... Notice this now. And out of there, then, come Ham, Ham with his wife, and them. He had a curse put on him.
|source=The Serpent's Seed, September 28, 1958
|author=William Branham
}}

{{blockquote
|text=What good would a white woman want to have a baby by a colored man making him a mulatto child? It's not sensible. ... If I was a colored man, or a brown man, or a yellow man, or a red man, I would be just as happy about it. Yes, sir. I sure would. That's the way that my Maker wanted me and that's the way I am. Right. Why does man want to tamper with anything for? When man gets into it, he ruins it. Let it alone the way God made it. Let a man be what he is; by the grace of God let him be. But he has to cause great fusses now calling our… causing riots, and big fusses, and everything else across the nations, and across the world just because he wanted to stick his head out about something. That's the ignorance of the man. That's right; hybrid again. Instead of leaving it the way God wants it, he wants to make his own way. He has to do something about it, you know. He has to make his own self a name. God be merciful to him. It's a pitiful thing.
|source=But It Wasn't So From The Beginning, April 11, 1960
|author=William Branham
}}

{{blockquote
|text=God is a segregationalist {{sic}}. I am too. Any Christian's a segregation. God segregates His people from all the rest of them. They're... They've always been a segregation. He chose a nation. He chooses a people. He is a segregationalist {{sic}}. He made all nations. But still, a real genuine Christian has to be a segregationalist {{sic}}. Separating himself from the things of the world and everything, and come into one purpose, Jesus Christ.
|author=William Branham
|source=Who Do You Say This Is?, December 27, 1964
}}

[[Michael Barkun]] wrote that Branham was the most significant proponent of the racial teaching outside of the [[Christian Identity]] movement and directly influenced their theology. Branham's teachings on serpent seed was particularly significant to the development of Identity's view of the Jews as the seed of the Devil through Cain. Branham's 1958 introduction of serpent seed teaching coincided with [[Wesley A. Swift|Wesley Swift]]'s introduction of demonic origin of the Jews through the serpent the same year.{{sfn|Barkun|1997|pp=160-162}}

Branham related a story in which he privately discussed the belief that blacks were descended from apes as early as 1929. Branham publicly hinted his belief in the serpent seed doctrine as early as 1953.{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=124}} He first began to teach serpent seed in 1958 at the [[Civil rights movement|height of racial unrest in the United States]]. Prof. [[Doug Weaver (author)|Douglas Weaver]] believed that Branham may have become acquainted with the serpent seed doctrine through his [[Baptists|Baptist]] roots. Branham was baptized and ordained at a First Pentecostal Baptist Church which was pastored by [[Roy Elonzo Davis|Roy Davis]], a founding member and later Imperial Wizard of the second [[Ku Klux Klan]]. Branham may also have made contact with Kentucky churches which espoused Daniel Parker's [[Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists|two-seed doctrine]].{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=125}} Professor Jon Schamber also reviewed Branham's serpent seed teachings and the role which he played in spreading the doctrine. Schamber also connected Branham's serpent seed doctrine to Russel Carter's teachings which were integrated into Christian Identity Theology and Daniel Parker's Two-Seed Theology.{{sfn|Schamber|2000|p=11}} The [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] connected William Branham to the Ku Klux Klan during a 2017 investigation.<ref name ="cbc"/> Branham's embrace of the serpent seed doctrine alienated most of the members of his [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] audience. According to Pearry Green, adherents of the broader Pentecostal movement consider Branham's version of the serpent seed doctrine repugnant and in their point of view, it was the "filthy doctrine&nbsp;... that ruined his ministry."{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=123}} No other mainstream Christian group held a similar view; Branham was widely criticized for spreading the doctrine,{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=123}} but his followers view the doctrine as one of his greatest revelations.{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=123}}

There are millions of adherents of William Branham's serpent seed teachings. Voice of God Recordings reported that about two million people subscribe to Branham's teachings through the William Branham Evangelical Association.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://branham.org/en/faq|title=Frequently Asked Questions| publisher=Voice of God Recordings |access-date=28 February 2018 }}</ref> His followers continue to promote the doctrine and as a result, they have made international news for their racial views in connection to the teaching.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.news.com.au/pastor-donny-reagan-rails-against-interracial-marriage-in-viral-sermon/news-story/48c7eb067ba0a7747c109f371c4b9093|title=Pastor Donny Reagan rails against interracial marriage in viral sermon|publisher=News.Com.Au}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23mx_vRCg64 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/23mx_vRCg64| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Is God Racist? Pastor Rants Against Biracial Babies at Happy Valley Church|publisher=YouTube|author=Young Turks}}{{cbignore}}</ref> According to Weaver, Branham's followers are very proud of his serpent seed teaching, believing it to be "his most original revelation". Many of his followers are unaware of the doctrine's true origin.{{sfn|Weaver|2000|p=125}} When confronted with the accusations of racism, some of his followers have denied the teaching of serpent seed has any connection to white supremacy or racism.<ref name="Blair, Leonardo">{{cite news|url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/bro-donny-reagan-apologizes-church-explains-his-message-saying-hes-not-racist-he-simply-does-not-marry-interracially.html|title=Bro. Donny Reagan Apologizes; Church Explains His Message Saying He's Not Racist, He 'Simply Does Not Marry Interracially'|author=Blair, Leonardo|publisher=[[Christian Post]]}}</ref> According to  the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]], "Not all Branham churches are racist or embrace the anti-race-mixing position," "but the theology clearly invites racism."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2014/tennessee-pastor-thunders-against-interracial-relationships|title=TENNESSEE PASTOR THUNDERS AGAINST INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIPS|publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]|date=May 24, 2014|access-date=2022-04-19}}</ref>

In 2014, Pastor Donny Reagan made news in the United States for promoting Branham's racial teachings. Several news outlets labeled Reagan as the "most racist pastor in America."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/johnson-city-preachers-video-against-biracial-marriage-goes-viral/article_2e61d9e1-ddce-5336-b22c-6a731327a4d0.html|title=Johnson City preacher's video against biracial marriage goes viral|publisher=Johnson City Press|date=February 18, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Blair, Leonardo"/> Kacou Philippe, a leader of Branham's followers in Africa, was arrested in 2017 for hate speech and sentenced to one year prison after preaching in multiple African nations that blacks should be submissive towards whites. Philippe insisted decolonization of Africa was a sin, and that Africans could only prosper when in servitude to Europeans.<ref name = koaci>{{cite news|url=https://www.koaci.com/article/2019/02/05/cote-divoire/politique/cote-divoire-philippe-kacou-gracie-continue-dinsulter-alassane-ouattara_127624.html|title=Ivory Coast Kacou Philippe Pardoned|date=February 9, 2019|access-date=2022-03-21|author=Cherus, John|publisher=KOACI}}</ref><ref name = laxroic>{{cite news|url=https://international.la-croix.com/news/world/apostle-of-self-styled-only-prophet-of-god-on-earth-arrested-in-west-africa/5499|title=Apostle of self-styled 'only prophet of God on earth' arrested in West Africa|author=Lucie Sarr, Abidjan|date=July 9, 2017|access-date=2022-03-21}}</ref>

===Arnold Murray===
[[Televangelist]] [[Arnold Murray (pastor)|Arnold Murray]] (1929–2014), founder of [[The Shepherd's Chapel]] and a prominent televangelist, taught the serpent seed doctrine. He accepted the belief that the Jews ([[Kingdom of Judah]]) were descended from Adam through [[Seth]], as the Bible describes. However, he held the view that the [[Kenites]] were the offspring of Cain. He also believed that they infiltrated the northern [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]].<ref name=shepherdschapel>[http://www.shepherdschapel.com/critics.htm The Shepherd's Chapel Answers Page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216160255/http://www.shepherdschapel.com/critics.htm |date=16 February 2010 }}. Retrieved 17 November 2013.</ref> Murray's teachings are disputed by [[Protestant]] [[apologetics]] ministries [[CARM]] and the [[Christian Research Institute|CRI]].<ref name=CARM>Matt Slick, [http://carm.org/serpent-seed-and-kenites The serpent seed and the Kenites], criticizing the teaching of Arnold Murray and the Shepherd's Chapel. [[Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry]]. Retrieved 17 November 2013.</ref><ref>[http://deceptioninthechurch.com/arnoldmurray.html Arnold Murray and the Shepherd's Chapel], criticisms by the [[Christian Research Institute]]. Retrieved 17 November 2013.</ref>

According to Southern Poverty Law,  Murray was ordained a minister in 1958 by Roy Gillaspie and Kenneth Goff, two members of the KKK and early preachers of Christian Identity. Until at least 1978, Murray served as a leader in Gillaspie's [[Church of Jesus Christ–Christian|Church of Jesus Christ]] organization, which had been founded by Wesley Swift. Murray was also connected to Goff's Soldiers of the Cross Training Institute where Christian Identity was taught. Dan Gayman, the most prominent Christian Identity Leader in the 1980s, attended the institute.<ref name = spl2>{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2008/branson-televangelist-arnold-murray-preaches-christian-identity-theology|publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]|date=May 8, 2008|access-date=2022-04-26|title=A popular Arkansas televangelist says his theology about the 'Kenites' is not anti-Semitic. The evidence suggests otherwise}}</ref>

Explaining his beliefs in a 1979 Shepherd's Bible, Murray explained that the Kenites were serpent's offspring who "slipped in among the Jewish people in Jerusalem and claim to be God's chosen people, when in fact they are of Lucifer."<ref name = spl2/> Connecting the Kennites to the modern Jewish people, Murray explained that "in 1967 … Jerusalem fell to the Kenites during the 6 day war".<ref name = spl2/>  In another sermon, Murray said that the Kenites "are responsible for the slaying of Christ."<ref name = spl2/> Although his teachings portrayed Jews as descendants of Lucifer, Murray insisted that his beliefs were not anti-semitic.<ref name = spl2/>

===Christian Identity movement===

[[File:Logo of Aryan Nations.svg|thumb|Aryan Nations logo]]
Adherents of the [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] theology which is known as two-seedline [[Christian Identity]] do not believe [[Jews as the chosen people|that the Jews are the chosen people of God]] because in their view, only white people are the descendants of Adam and hence the [[chosen people]] of God. According to their belief, members of all other races are descended from Cain and are thus descended from Satan, especially Jews and blacks. This belief was popularized by [[Wesley A. Swift]] ([[Church of Jesus Christ–Christian]]), [[Conrad Gaard]], Dan Gayman<ref name="ADL">{{cite web|title=Extremism in America: Dan Gayman|url=http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/gayman.asp?xpicked=2&item=gayman|publisher=[[Anti-Defamation League]]|access-date=16 August 2012|year=2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929194615/http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/gayman.asp?xpicked=2&item=gayman|archive-date=29 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Christian Identity|url=http://www.watchman.org/profile/identitypro.htm|publisher=Watchman Fellowship|access-date=16 August 2012}}</ref> ([[Church of Israel]]) and [[William Potter Gale]] among others.<ref name="Lewis">{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=James R.|author2=Jesper Aagaard Petersen|title=Controversial New Religions|publisher=Oxford University Press US|year=2005|edition=illustrated|pages=394–395|isbn=0-19-515682-X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e0TfqG3XNmEC&pg=PA394|access-date=20 February 2009}}</ref> The opposing faction is called One-Seedline Christian Identity because its adherents hold the view that all people are descended from Adam, but they believe that only [[Aryan race|Aryans]] (meaning Northern Europeans) are God's chosen people.<ref name="Borgeson" /><ref name="Martin" /><ref name="Dobratz">{{cite book|last=Dobratz|first=Betty A.|author2=Shanks-Meile, Stephanie L.|title=The White Separatist Movement in the United States|publisher=[[JHU Press]]|year=2000|edition=illustrated|page=134|isbn=0-8018-6537-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r59bGyH4lOAC&pg=PA134|access-date=20 February 2009}}</ref><ref name="Barkun">{{cite book|last=Barkun|first=Michael|title=A Culture of Conspiracy|publisher=University of California Press|year=2006|edition=illustrated|page=124|isbn=0-520-24812-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LiwjVsNBw-cC&pg=PA124|access-date=20 February 2009}}</ref> Christian Identity followers "believe that they are in or are about to enter into the time of the [[Great Tribulation|Tribulation]], a great battle between good and evil in which they will take part."<ref name="adl"/>

Groups which adhere to Christian Identity theology include Aryan Nations, the [[Christian Defense League]], and the Ku Klux Klan.<ref>Schamber, pp. 7-8</ref> In 2000, the Southern Poverty Law Center estimated that there were 50,000 adherents of Christian Identity theology in the United States.{{sfn|Schamber|2000|p=6}}

===Unification Church===
[[File:Rev. Sun Myung Moon speaks, Las Vegas, NV, USA on April 4, 2010.png|thumb|Sun Myung Moon]]
The [[Unification Church]] has taught a version of the serpent seed doctrine since at least 1961. [[Sun Myung Moon]] taught that the [[Fall of Man]] occurred when [[Eve]] was sexually seduced by [[Satan]], and since then, the human [[bloodline]] has been contaminated. Moon believed that both Cain and Abel were physically descended from Adam and Eve, but taught that "Cain is in the position of Satan's son".<ref>Hwan Kwak, p.256</ref> Moon referred to secular society and religious people outside of the Unification Church as "Cain people".<ref>Hwan Kwak, p. 254–256</ref> Members of the Unification Church believe that through their [[Blessing ceremony of the Unification Church|Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony]], married couples are removed from the lineage of Adam and Eve and grafted into God's sinless lineage as the adopted children of their new Adam: Sun Myung Moon. The first of these ceremonies occurred in 1961.<ref name="Unification Church"/><ref name = "moon">Hwan Kwak, p.252</ref>

{{blockquote
|text=Adam and Eve fell by the sin of illicit love, a transgression that violated God's ideal of true love. Prior to the fall, when they were constrained by the commandment [not to eat the fruit], Adam and Eve were in an imperfect state, that is, in their growing period. The archangel Lucifer, symbolized by the serpent, tempted Eve, and she spiritually fell with him. She then tempted Adam to eat the fruit before the time was ripe, and they fell physically. ... By this principle, God divided fallen Adam and Eve into two through their two children. Cain represented Satan, and Abel represented sinless Adam. Hence God placed Abel, the second son, in the internal position. Abel represented the second love between Adam and Eve, which contained fewer evil elements, while Cain was the fruit of the first love. God took Abel because Adam and Eve's relationship was more principled than the first relationship between Eve and the archangel. ... The religious people whom God has blessed take the role of Abel, while the secular people who do not know God and may have grudges against religion are in the role of Cain. 
|source=World Scripture II, pp. 248, 256, 1139
|author=Sun Myung Moon
}}

In ''World Scripture'' the Unification Church uses excerpts from  the ''[[Koran]]'', the ''[[Midrash Rabbah]]'', the ''[[Bahir]]'', the ''[[Stromata]]'' and [[Sigmund Freud]] to support their interpretation.<ref>Hwan Kwak, p. 247–248</ref> Moon attended many different Christian churches during the 1930s and 1940s in both Korea and Japan, and was exposed to British missionaries and Pentecostals.<ref>{{cite book|author=Breen, Michael|title=Sun Myung Moon: The Early Years 1920-53|location=Hurstpierpoint West Sussex, U.K.|publisher=Refuge Books|year=1997|isbn=978-0953163700}}</ref> He may have been exposed to seedline teachings during this period.

[[P'ikareum]] is a related ritual which is performed by members of several Korean [[new religious movements]], in which a female devotee has sex with the male leader ([[Messiah claimant|who claims to be the messiah]]) in order to purify her descendants from inherited sin.<ref name="Chryssides"/><ref name="Barlow"/> The purpose of this ritual is to undo the original sin, which (as in the classic serpent seed doctrine) was believed to have been committed when Eve had sex with the serpent.<ref name="Chryssides"/> British religious scholar [[George Chryssides]] also noted that there were cases in which the messianic leader was a female and the neophyte was a male.<ref name="Chryssides"/> The person who is so initiated will then have intercourse with his or her spouse, and the purity which is acquired from the messianic leader will be transmitted to both the spouse and the spouse's progeny.<ref name="Chryssides"/> The most notable Korean new religious movement to have faced allegations of performing p'ikareum is the early Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon;<ref name="Barlow">{{cite book |author-last=Barlow |author-first=Richard |chapter=The Unification movement: Key Issues in Historical Perspective |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rS2TDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 |editor-last=Gallagher |editor-first=Eugene V. |editor-link=Eugene V. Gallagher |year=2017 |title='Cult Wars' in Historical Perspective: New and Minority Religions |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=127–129 |isbn=978-1-4724-5812-4}}</ref> however, Chryssides notes that, aside from the use of language which involves the purifying of sinful bloodlines, there is no actual evidence that this ritual occurs within the Unification movement.<ref name="Chryssides">{{cite book |last=Chryssides |first=George |author-link=George Chryssides |title=The Advent of Sun Myung Moon: The Origins, Beliefs and Practices of the Unification Church |year=1991 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |location=New York City |isbn=978-0312053475 |pages=102–105 |url=https://archive.org/details/adventofsunmyung0000chry/page/91}}</ref>