Brother Branham’s words affect more people than we can imagine, and many of them may never hear the name “Branham” in their lives.

In fact, a world famous, Nobel Prize winning, human rights activist from South Africa named Desmond Tutu told a familiar story in a commencement speech at a Boston University. Although we cannot positively attribute his words to Brother Branham, the story does sound remarkably familiar. Here are the closing remarks from Mr. Tutu’s speech in 2000 at Brandeis University. We are sure that the audience, like us when we heard Brother Branham tell it, was blessed to hear this inspired story of the chicken in the barnyard.

You know the story of the farmer who in his back yard had chicken, and then he had a chicken that was a little odd looking, but he was a chicken. It behaved like a chicken. It was pecking away like other chickens. It didn’t know that there was a blue sky overhead and a glorious sunshine until someone who was knowledgeable in these things came along and said to the farmer, “Hey, that’s no chicken. That’s an eagle.” Then the farmer said, “Um, um, no, no, no, no man. That’s a chicken; it behaves like a chicken.” And the man said no; give it to me please. And he gave it to this knowledgeable man. And this man took this strange looking chicken and climbed the mountain and waited until sunrise. And then he turned this strange looking chicken towards the sun and said, “Eagle, fly, eagle.” And the strange looking chicken shook itself, spread out its pinions, and lifted off and soared and soared and soared and flew away, away into the distance. And God says to all of us, you are no chicken; you are an eagle. Fly, eagle, fly. And God wants us to shake ourselves, spread our pinions, and then lift off and soar and rise, and rise toward the confident and the good and the beautiful. Rise towards the compassionate and the gentle and the caring. Rise to become what God intends us to be -- eagles, not chickens (lengthy applause).