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1933 Ohio River Experience: Difference between revisions
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=Concerns with the experience= | =Concerns with the experience= | ||
===Some things stay the same, and some things change | ==The testimony of eyewitnesses== | ||
William Branham retells this story many times. Each time he tells the story, a light always appears when the 17th person is being baptised, and a voice says "Look up". However, there are some differences in each retelling. | |||
There are numerous recorded accounts of people sharing their testimonies of William Branham’s ministry. Several of these relate the 1933 baptismal story quite differently than William Branham did. This lead a former message minister to speak with every single person in his fellowship who was acquainted with William Branham while he was still living. On the topic of the baptism, he asked them if they knew eyewitnesses of the 1933 baptisms, and asked for them to relate the story of the baptism they heard from the eye witnesses. | |||
To his great surprise, he was only able to identify three people who were an actual eye witness to the baptism besides William Branham | |||
The first person, who many people knew, was named Fannie Wilson. She was a resident of Jeffersonville who died in the 1970s. She was referred to on a tape by William Branham as a witness of the baptism: | |||
:''And I suppose, besides my wife, there’s people here tonight, from thirty years ago, that was standing close when That come down. Is there anybody in the audience now that was there when the Angel of the Lord, that come down on the river the first time, before people? Raise up your hands. Yes, there they are. See? Now, I see Mrs. Wilson raise up her hand. She was standing there. My wife, there, she was there. And I don’t know who some of the rest of them is, that was standing on the bank here, before many, many people, when I was baptizing at two o’clock in the afternoon. (William Branham, Is This The Sign Of The End, Sir?, December 30, 1962 (62-1230E) | |||
According to everyone who recalled her eyewitness testimony, she never saw a light or a heard a voice the day William Branham was baptizing in June 1933. It never happened. Her testimony was that on the day of the baptism there was a loud frightening noise, like thunder or sonic boom, that happened during the baptismal service, but that was all. | |||
The second eyewitness known to the old timers was William Branham’s brother, Doc Branham. According to the old timers, Doc Branham’s version of the baptismal story matched Fannie Wilson’s. He saw no light and heard no voice, but there was some type of an explosive noise like dynamite that happened during the baptismal service. | |||
The third, and most interesting eyewitness was Graham Snelling. | |||
Snelling had been a founding member of the Branham Tabernacle and assistant pastor of the Branham Tabernacle in the 1950s when William Branham began to tour away from the church frequently. Snelling went on to open his own church outside of Jeffersonville in later years and remained in contact with several of the old times up until his death in the 1980s. According to several of the old timers, Snelling had confronted William Branham during the early 1950s over the baptismal story. Snelling, who had been a witness of the baptism, was upset that William Branham had exaggerated the story to his audiences. Shortly after the confrontation, William Branham had a vision that indicated Snelling had committed adultery and Snelling and his family subsequently left the Branham Tabernacle. | |||
In light of this last testimony, one of William Branham’s statements is of interest: | |||
:''My pastor said to me, he said, “Billy, what kind of a dream did you have? Why, you know you didn’t see…” I said, “There were hundreds standing there, witnessed It.” And they’d come down, said, “Oh, that’s a mental delusion.”<ref>A Trial preached in Louisville, Mississippi on April 5, 1964</ref> | |||
According to William Branham’s own words, he was confronted by other eye witnesses of the baptism who insisted to him that his account of what happened was a mental delusion. | |||
It is initially surprising that there were no known eyewitness testimonies that matched William Branham’s version of the story. Most message followers have concluded (as Lee Vayle did) that William Branham must have been the only person who saw the light or heard the voice, similar to the experience of the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road, or the voice of God speaking in John 12:29. | |||
However, it is troubling to know Fannie Wilson on tape served a witness, but privately shared a very different story. It seems like people would agree to anything when put on the spot. If anyone had an incentive to be a witness to William Branham’s version of the story, surely it was Doc Branham, but even he was upfront telling a different version of the story. More troubling was the aspect that Rev. Graham Snelling was so concerned about the way William Branham told the story he felt the need to confront him over it. And most troubling of all, we must ask the question: Did William Branham purposefully defame Graham Snelling to silence him? | |||
Some of these things are impossible to ever find the answer too, as all the living witnesses are dead and record keeping seems to have been very thin. One thing is certain though, there is something seriously wrong with William Branham’s 1933 baptismal story. | |||
==Some things stay the same, and some things change== | |||
William Branham retells this story many times. Each time he tells the story, a light always appears when the 17th person is being baptised, and a voice says "Look up". However, there are some important differences in each retelling. | |||
==How many people attended the baptism?== | ==How many people attended the baptism?== | ||