William Branham's Exaggerations
William Branham admitted that he was prone to exaggeration:
- I'm not very good at making a…?… or estimating crowds, because I usually exaggerate on it.[1]
But just how bad was he went it came to exaggerating things?
Ministers walking to the platform
February 1950:
- They called, said, "Every preacher come to the platform." Hundred and fifty, more preachers come up to the platform. They was having a conference, international conference.[2]
August 1950:
- They said, "All the preachers come to the platform." Two or three hundred preachers walked to the platform.[3]
April 1951:
- They was having a conference…he said, "I want all the preachers to come to the platform." And I guess there's three or four hundred preachers got on the platform.[4]
November 1953:
- So that night I just waited to see what the would do. They had all the preachers come up on the platform. They said, "We're—we have…" About five hundred of us up there.[5]
Notice that on every telling, the number became larger. In the short space of less than 4 years, the numbers change from 150 to 500 (333% increase). Is that the formula that should be used to correct all his numbers?[6]
1933 on the Ohio River
In 1933, William Branham tells of how he baptized a number of converts in the Ohio River after he had held a tent meeting. The Jeffersonville Evening News, June 2, 1933 states that, “Fourteen people were converted in a tent meeting conducted at Eighth and Pratt Streets by the Rev. William Branham.” Remember, William Branham stated that when he was at Mishawaka in September of 1934, he signed his name as “Baptist” as well as “Evangelist.” He said he had no church (building) but he went around holding tent meetings (mostly Pentecostal churches.)
William Branham mentioned holding his first Baptismal service at the Ohio River about six months after his ordination by Roy Davis. The population of Jeffersonvile between 1930 to 1940 was just shy of 12,000 people. William Branham claimed that many thousands attended his service at the Ohio River:
- The Angel Of The Covenant, 54-0301 - baptizing five hundred
- Why I'm Praying For The Sick, 54-0314 - baptized five hundred,
- How The Angel Came To Me, And His Commission, 55-0117 - baptized two or three hundred
- Blind Bartimaeus, 55-0400 - baptizing five hundred
- This Day This Scripture Is Fulfilled, 65-0219 - I was baptizing five hundred
- Watchman, What Of The Night? 60-0722 - I was baptizing five hundred converts
- A Testimony Upon The Sea, 62-0726 - around ten thousand people was standing there
- An Absolute, 63-0127 - I had around five hundred, after my revival, to be baptized.
- Go, Awake Jesus, 63-1130E - I was baptizing five hundred people,
- A Court Trial, 64-0412 - My first great revival, somewhat around a thousand converts,
- At Thy Word, 50-0714 - around ten thousand people.
- Believe Ye That I Am Able To Do This? 50-0820E - thousands
- My Commission, 51-0505 - up to probably ten thousand
- The Healing Of Jairus' Daughter, 55-0227E - nearly seven or eight thousand people standing
- How The Angel Came To Me, And His Commission, 55-0117 - Hundreds and hundreds
- Watchman, What Of The Night? 60-0722 - three thousand something people attended.
- Perseverant, 62-0623 - I was baptizing five hundred.
- An Absolute, 63-0127 - four or five thousand, maybe more,
- God Hiding Himself In Simplicity, Then Revealing Himself In The Same, 63-0317M - before five thousand people or more.
- Go, Awake Jesus, 63-1130E - and about five thousand people or more
- A Court Trial, 64-0412 - About ten thousand people standing on the bank,
- A Trial, 64-0427 - around seven or eight thousand people on the bank.