William M. Branham

William M. Branham
Born (1909-04-06)April 6, 1909
Cumberland County, Kentucky
Died December 24, 1965(1965-12-24) (aged 56)
Amarillo, Texas
Cause of death Car accident
Spouse(s)

Amelia Hope Brumbach m. 1934 (b. July 16, 1913 - d. July 22, 1937)

Meda Marie Broy m.1941 (b. April 26, 1919 - d. 1981)
Children

William 'Billy' Paul Branham (b. September 13, 1935)

Sharon Rose Branham (b. October 27, 1936 - d. July 26, 1937)

Rebekah Branham Smith (b. March 21, 1946 - d. November 28, 2006)

Sarah Branham De Corado (b. March 19, 1950)

Joseph Branham (b. May 19, 1955)
Parent(s)

Charles C. E. Branham (b. January 2, 1887 - d. November 30, 1936)

Ella Rhee Harvey (b. June 24, 1887 - d. October 27, 1961)
Religion Christian

William Marrion Branham (April 6, 1909 – December 24, 1965) was an American Christian minister, generally acknowledged as initiating the post World War II healing revival.

Branham's first meetings as a faith healer started in 1946. Branham's sensational healing services are well documented and he is regarded as the pacesetter for those who followed him. Historians generally mark the 1946 meetings as inaugurating the modern healing revival. William Branham claimed to have received an angelic visitation on May 7, 1946 commissioning his worldwide ministry. Branham's healing power became legendary and there were continued reports that he had raised the dead, although controversy surrounded Branham from the early stages of his ministry. His ministry started to falter in 1955 and never regained the status it had in its initial stages. Branham died in a car accident in 1965.

Branham's most controversial revelation was his claim to be the end-time "Elijah" prophet of the Laodicean Church age. His theology seemed complicated and bizarre to many people who admired him personally. In his last days, Branham's followers had placed him at the center of a Pentecostal following that continues to this day. However, other than those that still follow him as their prophet, Branham has faded into obscurity.

Early Life

William Branham was born in a small log cabin near Burkesville, Kentucky on April 9, 1909. Branham claimed that a “Light come [sic] whirling through the window, about the size of a pillow, and circled around where I was, and when down on the bed.” He also claimed to have heard a "voice" speaking to him from a tree at the age of three, informing him that the family would be moving.[1]

Branham’s father was an alcoholic which contributed to the family’s abject poverty. He left home at age nineteen and journeyed to Phoenix, Arizona where he worked for several years on a ranch. He returned home to Jeffersonville, Indiana when his brother died. Soon after, while working for the Public Service Company of Indiana, Branham had an accident and was almost killed. He claimed to have heard a "voice" again and this started Branham seeking God. He began attending the First Pentecostal Baptist Church in Jeffersonville[2] and was eventually ordained as an Independent Baptist minister.[3][4]

Branham claimed that his first exposure to Pentecostalism was in 1936; however, the First Pentecostal Baptist Church which he attended prior to 1933 was "a Holy Ghost church" that believed in prayer for healing and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.[5] Branham's wife and daughter died shortly after the Ohio River flood of 1937 and William Branham interpreted their deaths as God's punishment for his resistance to joining the Oneness Pentecostals.[3][6]

Public Ministry

William Branham was baptizing converts on June 11, 1933 in the Ohio River near Jeffersonville when he claimed that people along the bank saw a bright light descend over where he was standing, and that he heard a voice say, "As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming of Jesus Christ, so your message will forerun His second coming."[7] The only available newspaper report on the event was the Jeffersonville Evening News on June 2, 1933 which indicated that the Branham campaign reported 14 converts.[8] Given the lack of corroborating evidence for this supposed supernatural event, Weaver’s opinion is that it is possible that Branham later embellished the incident by "remembering" the forerunner message when he was achieving success in the healing revival.[9]

Branham's first meetings as a faith healer started in 1946. Branham's sensational healing services are well documented and he is regarded as the pacesetter for those who followed.[10] Historians generally mark the 1946 meetings as inaugurating the modern healing revival.[11] William Branham claimed to have received an angelic visitation on May 7, 1946 commissioning his worldwide ministry. In an attempt to link his ministry with the "end time", he claimed that this was the same day that the State of Israel became "a nation". Pre-millenial dispensationalism views the establishing of a Jewish state as a sign of the imminent return of Christ. Branham viewed it as providing vindication for the supernatural nature of his ministry.[12] However, Branham was obviously confused, as the establishment of the State of Israel was May 14, 1948.[13]

During the mid-1940s William Branham was conducting healing campaigns almost exclusively with Oneness Pentecostal groups. The broadening of Branham's ministry to the wider Pentecostal community came as a result of his introduction to Gordon Lindsay in 1947, who soon became his primary promoter.[14] In the same year, Ern Baxter joined the campaign team.[15][14] Gordon Lindsay proved to be an able publicist for Branham, founding The Voice of Healing magazine in 1948, which was originally aimed at reporting solely Branham's healing campaigns.[15][16] According to a Pentecostal historian, "Branham filled the largest stadiums and meeting halls in the world."[17]

Controversy surrounded Branham from the early stages of his ministry. In 1947, a minister in Saskatchewan, Canada, stated that many who Branham pronounced as healed later died. A year later, W.J. Taylor, a district superintendent with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, raised the same concern and asked for a thorough investigation, presenting evidence that claims of the number of people healed were vastly overestimated. He stated that "there is a possibility that this whole thing is wrong".[18] [19]

Perhaps the largest number of mass healing miracles in the world came at Branham's meetings in Durban, South Africa in 1951. One newspaper had the heading “Cripples Rise from Wheel-Chairs and Walk” “There were scenes of mass-healing of cripples and stretcher cases getting up and walking” following Branham’s prayer. A huge crowd came forward: crippled women and children threw down crutches and leg irons; mothers wept as children took a few steps, for some the first time in their lives. Twisted bodies were made straight, deaf and dumb were healed. There was a TB and Cancer case mentioned which were both healed.[3] An 18-year old deaf girl was healed in Winnipeg,[4]. An arthritis patient walked onto the stage with help and then walked lively away in El Paso.[5]

By 1950, the Branham campaign team now included F. F. Bosworth. On the night of January 24, 1950, a photograph was taken of Branham during a debate between F. F. Bosworth and a Baptist minister regarding the biblical justification for healing.[20] The photograph showed a light appearing above Branham's head.[20][21] Arrangements were made to have the photograph scientifically examined to ensure that the photograph was authentic. Branham believed that the light was supernatural and was a divine vindication of his ministry.[20] The photographer, Theodore J. Kipperman[22] stated in 1984 that it was "the most amazing thing I ever saw".[23] The photograph became "perhaps the most famous relic in the history of the revival."[19] In 1951, U.S. Congressman William Upshaw, crippled for fifty-nine of his sixty-six years, claimed he was miraculously healed in a Branham meeting and sent a letter describing his unsubstantiated experience to each member of Congress.[24][19] Branham claimed that King George VI of England was healed through his prayers,[25] although there is significant doubt in this regard given that the King died less than two years after Branham claimed to have prayed for him.[26] Branham also claimed to have witnessed a young boy raised from the dead in Finland in April 1950, although again the actual facts surrounding the event must be discounted.[27]

In 1955, Branham's career suddenly began to falter.[28][29] Jim Jones, the founder and the leader of the Peoples Temple, best known for the mass suicide in November 1978, used Branham to springboard his own ministry. He organized a mammoth religious convention that took place June 11 through June 15, 1956, at Cadle Tabernacle in Indianapolis. To draw the crowds, Jones needed a religious headliner, and so he arranged to share the pulpit with Branham.[30][31]

Financial difficulties came to a head in 1956 when the Internal Revenue Service charged Branham with tax evasion.[28][32] Where he once had received "a thousand letters a day, his mail dropped down to 75" but Branham thought the decline was only temporary.[33]

By the 1960s, he had become an extremely controversial teacher.[34] In 1963, Branham taught that the "End Time Messenger who was the Angel of the Seventh Church Age in these final closing days of time had come in the spirit of Elijah".[34] But an analysis of his teaching on the identity of the Laodicean prophet-messenger reveals an array of conflicting and confusing assertions and disclaimers. Branham clearly believed that he was (and desired to be) the eschatological prophet, but also had doubts about his role.[35]

The result of his controversial teaching was that many Pentecostals judged that Branham had "stepped out of his anointing" and had become a "bad teacher of heretical doctrine."[36]

Death

The grave of William Branham in Jeffersonville, Indiana

On December 18, 1965, William Branham and his family (all except his daughter Rebekah) were returning to Jeffersonville, Indiana from Tucson, Arizona for the Christmas holiday. About three miles east of Friona, Texas (about 70 miles south-west of Amarillo on U.S. Highway 60), just after dark, a car travelling west in the eastbound lane hit Branham's car head-on by accident.[37] He was rushed to the hospital in Amarillo, Texas but succumbed to his injuries on Christmas Eve.[38]

The initial reaction of Branham's followers to his death was one of shocking disbelief. In the confusion immediately following his death, expectations developed that he would rise from the dead. His funeral was held on December 29, 1965 but his burial was delayed indefinitely. The press surmised that this was a result of Branham's expected resurrection. He was finally buried on April 11, 1966, the day after Easter Sunday, which was accepted reluctantly by his followers. Most believed that he would have to return to fulfill a vision that he had regarding future tent meetings.[39]

Gordon Lindsay's eulogy stated that Branham's death was the will of God and privately, he accepted the interpretation of Kenneth Hagin, who claimed to have prophesied Branham's death two years before it happened. According to Hagin, God revealed that Branham was teaching false doctrine and God was removing Branham because of his disobedience. [40][41]

Teaching

William Branham became more controversial in his later years and this was particularly evident in his development of a theology that emphasized a few select doctrines. His theology seemed complicated and bizarre to many people who admired him personally.[38] Although not always consistent with each other, his primary concerns were eschatology, the denial of an eternal hell, Oneness Pentecostalism, predestination, eternal security and the serpent's seed.[42] Branham asserted that his doctrinal teachings were given to him by divine revelation.[43]

Denial of an eternal hell

Prior to 1957, Branham taught a doctrine of eternal punishment in hell. However, by 1957 he was proclaiming that hell was not eternal:[43]

'If you see a man that's cheating, stealing, lying, just remember, his part is waiting in hell, for him, his place where he'll be tormented in the Presence of God and the holy Angels, with fire and brimstone. He'll be tormented there. Not forever, he can't be tormented forever, forever don't mean all, for all times. Eternity is forever, Eternity is ... has no beginning or end. But forever is "a space of time." The Bible said, "Forever and," conjunction, "forever." Jonah said he was in the belly of the whale "forever." Is a space of time.[44]

Annihilationism was not a new concept to Pentecostalism as Charles Fox Parham had also advocated the doctrine.[45]

While Branham had taught the doctrine since 1957, he suggested in 1960 that the Holy Spirit had just revealed it to him as one of the mysteries that God was revealing in the "end-time".[45]

Oneness Pentecostalism

Early in his ministry, Branham at times referred to the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity.[45] It was even reported that Branham had told some Trinitarians that he agreed with them but that he felt obligated to the "Jesus Only" Pentecostals because they had supported him early in the revival. However, by the 1960s Branham was openly teaching the oneness position.[34]

Branham preached that trinitarianism was tritheism and insisted that members of his congregation be rebaptized in Jesus' name in imitation of the example of the Apostle Paul. He tried to distinguish himself from the Oneness baptism in the name of "Jesus" by teaching the baptism in the name of the "Lord Jesus Christ".[46]

While Branham was at times inconsistent with respect to the need to be rebaptized, by the end of his ministry part of his message required an acceptance of the "oneness" of the Godhead and baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.[47]

Serpent's Seed

Branham taught that Eve and the serpent had sexual intercourse and Cain was born.[42] Consequently, every woman potentially carried the literal seed of the devil.[48] Cain's descendants were today masquerading as the educated and the scientists,[49] who were "a big religious bunch of illegitimate bastard children."[50] The serpent was the "missing link" between the chimpanzee and man, who was perhaps ten feet tall and looked just like a man.[51]

The central sins of modern culture - immoral women and education - were a result of the serpent's seed. Branham's attitude toward culture was a very extremist perspective of "Christ against Culture". Education was Satan's snare for intellectual Christians who rejected the supernatural. Education was Satan's tool for obscuring the "simplicity of the Message and the messenger".[52]

His view of women

Branham was very critical of the "immorality of modern women".[53] He taught that a woman with short hair was breaking the commandments of God and ridiculed women's desire to artificially beautify themselves with make-up. Branham believed that scantily clad women were guilty of committing adultery because their appearance motivated men to lust. A woman's place was in the kitchen.[54]

Branham also taught that women were not a "created product of God". Rather she was merely a byproduct of man. His pronouncements with respect to women were often contradictory. He once told women who wore shorts not to call themselves Christians. But he qualified his denunciations by affirming that obedience to his moral code was not a requirement for salvation. However, he also implied that no woman that disobeyed his "Thus Saith the Lord" moral code would be part of the rapture.[48]

Branham's attitude towards women was decidedly misogynistic, covering physical appearance, sexual drive and marital relations.[55][56] According to Weaver, Branham saw women as "essentially immoral sexual machines who were to blame for adultery, divorce and death. They were the tools of the Devil."[52]

Eschatological teachings

Branham claimed to have had a prophetic revelation in June 1933 that comprised seven major events that would occur before the Second Coming of Christ.[57] He believed that five of the seven predictions, relating to world politics, science and the moral condition of the world, had been fulfilled. The final two visions, one related to the Roman Catholic Church gaining power in the United States and the second detailing the destruction of the USA, would be fulfilled by 1977, subsequent to which Christ would return.[58] A comparison of Branham's descriptions of the prophecies reveals his tendency to exaggerate and embellish his actual predictions.[59]

In December 1964, Branham also prophesied that the city of Los Angeles would sink into the Pacific Ocean. This was subsequently embellished to a prediction that a chunk of land fifteen hundred miles long, three or four hundred miles wide and forty miles deep would break loose causing waves that would "shoot plumb out to Kentucky."[34][60]

In 1960, Branham preached a series of sermons on the seven church ages based on chapters two and three of The Book of Revelation. The sermons depended heavily on C. I. Scofield's dispensationalism and the publications of Clarence Larkin. Branham described each church as representing an historical age and suggested that the angel of each age was an earthly messenger. His most important "revelation" was the description of the messenger to the Laodicean Church, age immediately preceding the rapture, whose characteristics were all strikingly compatible to Branham's personality.[61]

Branham regarded his series of sermons on the Seven Seals in 1963 as a highlight of his ministry.[62] In reality, the opening of the seals revealed very little new doctrine and were essentially a laborious restatement of the dispensationalism espoused in the sermons on the seven church ages.[63]

Branham's most controversial revelation was his claim to be the end-time "Elijah" prophet of the Laodicean Church age.[64][65][66]

Anti-denominationalism

Another contributor to the controversy surrounding Branham's ministry in his later ministry was that he believed that denominationalism was the mark of the beast.[52][34]

Much of Branham's "revelation" was similar to Scofield's dispensationalism and the anti-Catholic rhetoric of classical Pentecostalism. In his later years, he came to believe that all denominations were "synagogues of Satan." The heart of Branham's "message" was for the elect Bride to "come out" of denominationalism and to accept the message of the Laodicean messenger who had the "message of the hour." Continued allegiance to a denomination was to take the mark of the beast which would mean missing the rapture.[67]

Branham's legacy and influence

Along with Oral Roberts, Branham was the most revered leader of the healing revival.[68][69] The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements refers to Branham as the "initiator of the post-WWII healing revival."[70] However, Branham is also viewed as having been well outside of orthodoxy by most evangelicals. Michael Moriarty in The New Charismatics states:

'Branham's aberrational teachings not only cultivated cultic fringe movements like the Latter Rain Movement and the Manifested Sons of God, but they also paved a pathway leading to false predictions, revelatory madness, doctrinal heresies, and a cultic following that treated his sermons as oral Scriptures.'[71]

Hank Hanegraaff in Counterfeit Revival states that 'Branham's failed prophecies were exceeded only by his false doctrine'.[72] For the most part, William Branham, his message and followers are little known in the Western world. Bob Larson, in Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality, refers to Branham as an "odd historical footnote".[65]

However, Branham had a significant influence on several infamous leaders of religious sects: Jim Jones[73] and Paul Schäfer.[74]

Other than those that still follow him as their prophet, Branham has faded into obscurity. Robert Price (as quoted by Douglas Weaver) summarized Branham's legacy as follows:

'In the days of his prominence, the 1950's, what Spirit-filled believer did not know his name? Yet today, we may wonder, what believer does?'[75]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 22.
  2. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 33.
  3. 1 2 Harrell 1978, pp. 28.
  4. ↑ Duyzer 2014, pp. 12.
  5. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 32-33.
  6. ↑ Duyzer 2014, pp. 32-33.
  7. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 38.
  8. ↑ Jeffersonville Evening News, June 2, 1933
  9. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 28–29.
  10. ↑ Anderson 2004, p. 58.
  11. ↑ Krapohl & Lippy 1999, p. 69.
  12. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 37.
  13. ↑ "Milestones: 1945–1952 - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  14. 1 2 Harrell 1978, p. 32.
  15. 1 2 Harrell 1978, p. 47.
  16. ↑ Voice of Healing, Vol 1, No 1, April 1948
  17. ↑ Hollenweger 1972, p. 354.
  18. ↑ Kydd 1998, pp. 172–173.
  19. 1 2 3 Harrell 1978, p. 35.
  20. 1 2 3 Weaver 2000, p. 50.
  21. ↑ Harrell 1978, p. 34.
  22. ↑ Can somebody shout amen! & Sims 1988, p. 195.
  23. ↑ Sims 1988, p. 195.
  24. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 57.
  25. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 56.
  26. ↑ Duyzer 2014, p. 192.
  27. ↑ Duyzer 2014, p. 193.
  28. 1 2 Harrell 1978, p. 39.
  29. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 93.
  30. ↑ Reiterman & Jacobs 1982, pp. 9–10.
  31. ↑ http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=61481 The Intersection of William Branham and Jim Jones by John Collins and Peter M. Duyzer, Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple, San Diego State University
  32. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 94.
  33. ↑ Harrell 1978, p. 160.
  34. 1 2 3 4 5 Harrell 1978, p. 163.
  35. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 133.
  36. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 140.
  37. ↑ Head-On Collision Kills 1, Injures 6, Friona Star, December 1965
  38. 1 2 Harrell 1978, p. 164.
  39. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 153–154.
  40. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 105.
  41. ↑ Liardon 2003, p. 354.
  42. 1 2 Weaver 2000, p. 98.
  43. 1 2 Weaver 2000, p. 118.
  44. ↑ William Branham, Sermon:Hebrews Chapter Four, September 1, 1957
  45. 1 2 3 Weaver 2000, p. 119.
  46. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 120.
  47. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 121.
  48. 1 2 Weaver 2000, p. 111.
  49. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 113.
  50. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 125.
  51. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 124.
  52. 1 2 3 Weaver 2000, p. 114.
  53. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 109.
  54. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 110.
  55. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 112.
  56. ↑ Edward T. Babinski (1995). Leaving the Fold. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 277.
  57. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 29.
  58. ↑ Edward T. Babinski (1995). Leaving the Fold. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 277.
  59. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 30–31.
  60. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 103–104.
  61. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 99.
  62. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 99–100.
  63. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 101.
  64. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 173.
  65. 1 2 Larson 2004, p. 79.
  66. ↑ Edward T. Babinski (1995). Leaving the Fold. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. p. 277.
  67. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 116–117.
  68. ↑ Harrell 1978, p. 19.
  69. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. 58.
  70. ↑ Burgess & van der Maas 2002, p. 440.
  71. ↑ Moriarty 1992, p. 55.
  72. ↑ Hanegraaff 2001, p. 152.
  73. ↑ http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=67372 Mind Control and Jonestown by John Collins and Steven Hassan, Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple, San Diego State University
  74. ↑ http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=67352 Colonia Dignidad and Jonestown by John Collins, Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple, San Diego State University
  75. ↑ Weaver 2000, p. x.

Bibliography

Secondary sources

Primary sources

The reliability of William Branham's primary source biographical material should be viewed with caution. This is because Branham's autobiographical stories were often embellished, and sometimes contradictory. Other sources, written by his associates or followers, are apologetic and hagiographical in nature.[1][2]

  1. ↑ Weaver 2000, pp. 20–22.
  2. ↑ Sheryl 2013, p. 11.
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