William Branham: Difference between revisions

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William Branham said that he received two visions as a young boy.  The first was when his father asked him to haul water from the barn to the house.  As he was carrying water, a voice spoke to him out of a whirlwind in a tree and said, ''"Never drink, smoke, or defile your body in any way, for I have a work for you to do when you get older."'' The second vision happened a few weeks later when he was playing marbles with his brother.  What he saw was of the construction of the Louisville Municipal Bridge being built across the Ohio River, and 16 men falling off to their death during its construction.   

It was at this time that William Branham began praying for the sick.   

William Branham became an elder in the First Pentecostal Baptist Church, and began ministering.  Later that year, he has two visions: one of a man hit by a car getting healed, and another of an infirm woman being instantly healed.  Within weeks, he prayed for both of these people and they were instantly healed.   

[[Image:Image-rs-018 - Sis Hope and Bro Branham.jpg|220px|thumb|William and Hope Branham]]

In 1936 William Branham began receiving a number of invitations to preach at various Oneness and mixed-race churches, and was pressured by his mother-in-law not to accept these invitations.  William Branham also said that he prophesied that the Ohio river would flood, and reach 22 feet over Spring Street in Jeffersonville.  Finally, a daughter named Sharon Rose Branham was born to William and Hope Branham.

In January 1937, the [[Ohio River flood of 1937|Ohio river flooded]] over Spring Street.  Hope Branham became sick around this time, and died in the summer of 1937.  Sharon Rose also passed away from disease in 1937.  William Branham blamed the death of Hope and Sharon Rose on his decision to respect his mother-in-law’s request.  

In 1940, William Branham prayed for a crippled boy and girl, and both were healed.  This marked the start of his recovery.  In 1941, he married Meda Broy.  William Branham again continued to work and preach, while life quietly passed by.  There is evidence of early healing revivals in the local areas around Jeffersonville at this time, primarily with the Oneness Pentecostal groups.  

In March 1945 William Branham saw a vision of birds who would not eat from a small pile of white bread.  A voice told him ''“That is your Tabernacle and they won't eat the bread of life anymore. I am sending you…westward.”''  William Branham was then shown a large tent with a platform at the front.  Behind the tent was a great pile of the same white bread, and he was told to feed a white-robed audience that had gathered from everywhere.  The following day, William Branham explained the vision to his church.  

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From the mid 1950s onwards William Branham became more open with his beliefs, and by the late 1950s he was openly stating that the Trinity as presented by most churches was not scriptural.  He took the position that neither Oneness theology nor Trinitarianism lined up with the Bible.  William Branham also started to teach a number of other doctrines which were considered to be unorthodox, such as the 'serpent's seed doctrine.   

It was during these years that William Branham introduced the vision of the “third pull” that was to play a more significant part in later years.  The third pull relates to a vision of an Angel who was teaching him how to fish.  He was to cast his line out, pull slow at first (his healing ministry), jerk a little harder the second time (his discernment ministry), and set the hook for the catch on the third pull.  However, in the vision William Branham got his line tangled, and the Angel rebuked him for making a public show of his ministry.  The angel then took him back to a tent where people were being saved (reminiscent of his 1945 commissioning vision), and the pillar of fire leaves William Branham and goes back into a small building to meet people privately.   

   

In 1960 William Branham spoke a series of sermons on the Church Ages (see [[Seven Church Ages]] for more details) that outlined his views of church history and his interpretation of the first few chapters of the book of Revelation.  In these sermons, William Branham predicted that the seven visions he saw in 1933 would be fulfilled by 1977.  Much of these sermons is similar to the doctrines published by the Baptist theologian Clarence Larkin.  

In May 1962 William Branham expressed his confusion and decision at becoming a seer or an evangelist.<ref>Questions and Answers, May 27, 1962</ref>  In June 1963 he tells of an angelic visitation where he is told to ''"Return! Did not I tell you in the beginning to do the work of an Evangelist?"''  In the same sermon, William Branham confesses that he has lost the love for the people, calling them "Ricky and Ricketta" when they are still children of God, and are only under bondage to denominations who tell them ''"don't you do this, and don't you do that."'' <ref>Standing in the Gap, June 23, 1963</ref>

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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 Holidays. About three miles east of Friona, Texas just after dark, a car traveling west struck Branham's car head-on.  

The driver of the other car died at the scene, as did the other front seat passenger.  The other two passengers in the back seat of the car were severely injured. Branham's wife was seriously injured and his daughter Sarah was lying in the back seat and was also injured. Branham's left arm was mangled and caught in the driver-side door, and his left leg was wrapped around the steering wheel.  After about 45 minutes Branham was pulled from his car and transported to the hospital at Friona, and then later transported to the hospital at Amarillo, Texas. He lived for six days after the crash, dying on December 24, 1965 at 5:49 PM. His body was returned to Jeffersonville, Indiana for burial.

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