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Donny Morton: Difference between revisions
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<youtube>https://youtu.be/XG73aTjlDSw</youtube> | |||
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The November 1952 edition of Reader's Digest (condensed from an article originally published in Chatelaine, and written by Alma Edwards Smith) told a story of the hope given by William Branham to Arthur Morton regarding the healing of his son, Donny. William Branham said "Thus Saith The Lord" Donny Morton was healed. If this was the case, why did Donny Morton die 5 months later? | |||
=Summary of problems with the story of Donny Morton= | =Summary of problems with the story of Donny Morton= | ||
William Branham's version of this story told on the tapes is very different from the | |||
William Branham's version of this story told on the tapes is very different from the article in Reader's Digest. | |||
'''William Branham's version''' | '''William Branham's version''' | ||
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'''The Reader's Digest Article''' | '''The Reader's Digest Article''' | ||
#Donny | #Donny only began to improve slightly after the operation. | ||
#Donny was never able to walk or run. The best he was able to do was stretch out his arms in bed to reach for his parents. | #Donny was never able to walk or run. The best he was able to do was stretch out his arms in bed to reach for his parents. | ||
#Donny Morton died the same year | #Donny Morton died the same year and never fully recovered. | ||
'''If William Branham truly had "THUS SAITH THE LORD" as he claimed, why did it fail?'''. The gift of discernment, as reported by Reader's Digest article appeared to work correctly but William Branham's claim of healing was false. | '''If William Branham truly had "THUS SAITH THE LORD" as he claimed, why did it fail?'''. The gift of discernment, as reported by Reader's Digest article appeared to work correctly but William Branham's claim of healing was false. | ||
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We immediately emailed Denelda for clarification of her statement and the following is an excerpt from her email to us: | We immediately emailed Denelda for clarification of her statement and the following is an excerpt from her email to us: | ||
:'' | :''Donny Morton was my brother and was 2 years older than me. '''What William Branham said about my brother - that he was healed, that he wore the shoes that my dad bought him, or that he came running to my dad after he was prayed for - none of it was true.''''' | ||
:''I don't think my parents ever knew what William Branham said about my brother Donald because they would have been very upset and made sure the truth was known. I didn't find the story on the internet until after they passed away in 1984.'' | |||
This is further confirmation that William Branham's "Thus Saith The Lord" failed with respect to the healing of Donny Morton. | This is further confirmation that William Branham's "Thus Saith The Lord" failed with respect to the healing of Donny Morton. | ||
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One of the closing comments in the Readers Digest article states: ''"Skeptics will say, “You see? Miracles don’t happen in the 20th century,” But they are wrong."'' They viewed the miracle not in the failure of the boy to live but in the outpouring of love by those impacted by the plight of the young boy and his loving father. | One of the closing comments in the Readers Digest article states: ''"Skeptics will say, “You see? Miracles don’t happen in the 20th century,” But they are wrong."'' They viewed the miracle not in the failure of the boy to live but in the outpouring of love by those impacted by the plight of the young boy and his loving father. | ||
=The Readers Digest story= | =The Readers Digest story= | ||
{{Template:Donny Morton}} | {{Template:Donny Morton}} | ||
'''The Miracle of Donny Morton''' | |||
On a poverty-stricken farm near the little village of Archerwill in the bleak bushland of northern Saskatchewan lives Arthur Morton, whose desperate search for a miracle that would save his four-year-old son from a hopeless brain condition is a shining epic of devotion, faith, and courage. | On a poverty-stricken farm near the little village of Archerwill in the bleak bushland of northern Saskatchewan lives Arthur Morton, whose desperate search for a miracle that would save his four-year-old son from a hopeless brain condition is a shining epic of devotion, faith, and courage. | ||
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The Pasadena surgeon who operated on the boy has made this statement: | The Pasadena surgeon who operated on the boy has made this statement: | ||
“Donny Morton is dead, and it would seem that the tenacious struggle of the child and his father had not been justly rewarded. But the case of this one boy has brought to light the fact that there are hundreds of Donny Mortons; and some of the cases since discovered are already on the road to recovery. Arthur Morton’s unselfish devotion has not given him back his little boy, but it has opened the way for many other patients to receive adequate treatment.” | “Donny Morton is dead, and it would seem that the tenacious struggle of the child and his father had not been justly rewarded. But the case of this one boy has brought to light the fact that there are hundreds of Donny Mortons; and some of the cases since discovered are already on the road to recovery. Arthur Morton’s unselfish devotion has not given him back his little boy, but it has opened the way for many other patients to receive adequate treatment.”<ref>Smith, Alma Edwards, ''The Miracle of Donny Morton'', Chatelaine (May 1952) , Maclean-Hunter Pub. Co. Ltd., Toronto, Canada, as condensed in The Reader's Digest (November 1952), Pleasantville, NY</ref> | ||
=William Branham's Version of the Story= | |||
''And I brought the little baby up, said, never asked a question but looked right into the little baby's face and said, "You bring this baby from Canada. And you come here by a bus, a Greyhound Bus. Traveler's Aid has helped you." And he'd been there about five minutes. Said, "Traveler's Aid has helped you to get here. And the baby has been to Mayo Brothers and Johns Hopkins. It's got a rare brain disease, and there's no way for them to operate. The baby must die." | |||
''And he started screaming real loud. And I prayed for the little baby. He started crying real loud and started off the platform. He turned around. He said, "What about my baby? Will it ever get well?" | |||
''I said, "That, I don't know, sir." And while I was speaking to him, a vision broke forth. And I said, "Yes, your baby... Three days from now you're going to meet a woman with a--a brown looking, I guess you call it, coat-suit: it's got a coat here and a skirt beneath. And she's black headed. And she's going to tell you of '''some country doctor''' that can operate on that baby; and you won't believe it. But that's the only hope that you have, through the mercy of God, and that operation. You let the doctor operate on the baby."'' | |||
''And he took that baby over there, and the doctor performed the operation absolutely successfully. And the baby come out of it. And so they had the baby around there; '''it got so he could run, meet his daddy and everything'''. | |||
''The daddy went back to plant his spring wheat or something another. Now, here's what the "Digest" didn't get (See?), what didn't picture. But we had to know behind, because if you did, that a hospital would bring suit against this paper, and there's where it would be; a slip-up come. Somebody left a window up one night and throwed a draft across the baby. '''And the baby taken pneumonia and lived about two days with the pneumonia, not with the disease, with the pneumonia killed the baby.''' The "Reader's Digest" give it. Then it goes ahead and gives a nice good write up about--about the miracle was already performed anyhow.<ref>DEMONOLOGY OWENSBORO.KY 53-1112</ref> | |||
''He that receives truth... Here not long ago, you seen the article in the paper of that little Donny Morton being healed out there in California. The "Reader's Digest" packed it, went in every language under heaven, everywhere, about the miracle. Mayo Brothers had turned him down. John Hopkins had turned him down. The little fellow come on the platform and twenty-seven hundred people standing in the prayer line. Assembly of God, place we was having the meeting, out in Costa Mesa, California.'' | |||
''And when the little fellow come on the prayer line, the book--the "Reader's Digest" wrote it up right. Said, "The evangelist asked no questions. Looked into the child's face and said..." Well, many of you read it. And you know the article.'' | |||
''And it said, "Why, he looked into... The evangelist's looked into it's face. And never asked no questions. But said, 'You come from Canada. You brought the child. It's been to Mayo's; it's been to John Hopkins. It's got a rare blood disease, a brain disease. There's no cure for it.' And the father started crying.'' | |||
''Said, 'You come by... started to come part of the way by a sled. And then you went down to the place and when you did... to get on a--to get on a plane, you and your wife, you found out you didn't have even enough money for both of you to come on a bus. And now, Traveler's Aid's a helping you.'"'' | |||
''And the man like to have fainted. '''And the Holy Spirit spoke THUS SAITH THE LORD. And the baby got well.'''<ref>GOD.PERFECTING.HIS.CHURCH BINGHAMTON.NY 54-1204</ref>'' | |||
''Notice, someone then, about a year later, you read the Reader's Digest, of my meeting in California, down there at the campgrounds, when they brought that little Donny Morton. Many of you has read it, no doubt. From Donny Morton, the miracle, when they brought him down out of Canada and give a wonderful write up, how he come to the platform., little fellow, twisted all out of condition. And how, said, the evangelist never asked one question but looked straight at the child, and told him where he come from, how he'd been to Mayo Brother's, and turned down and everything. '''And just exactly how the outcome of the child would be.''' And it was just exactly word by word.<ref>GLORIFIED.JESUS PHOENIX.AZ 55-0225</ref>'' | |||
''Now, I've been interviewed. You read the "Reader's Digest" about a year or something ago, in October a year ago or something like that on the healing of little Donny Morton, that Mayo Brothers had give up. And they brought him to the platform in California, '''and there the vision showed the little boy was healed''' (see?), and they packed a big article of it, and I was at Mayo Brothers for an interview. All right.<ref>ABRAHAM BROOKLYN.NY 56-1208</ref>'' | |||
''It wasn't two years ago, October's this year, the "Reader's Digest," when God made Mayo Clinic stand still and hear the testimony of little Donny Morton on that incurable disease, '''when he was brought to the platform and the Holy Spirit told him exactly what to do, and God healed the boy there'''.'' | |||
''The scientific world, John Hopkins and Mayo's, when I went there, there lay the "Reader's Digest" on their platform, or on their table there, to be read. '''God made the medical world stand still and see Donny Morton be healed by the power of God.'''<ref>STAND.STILL.AND.SEE.THE.SALVATION.OF.THE.LORD CHICAGO.IL 57-0629</ref>'' | |||
''Let me just show you a little something. Of all the fine medicines we got (to settle this)... Now, I was interviewed. Many of you read the "Reader's Digest" of the miracle of Donny Morton.'' | |||
''And I was interviewed at Mayo Brothers Clinic on account of that, 'cause Mayo's had turned him down. And the vision told him who he was, where he come from, what was going to happen. '''And that's just the way it was, and the baby was healed.''' And they wrote it up in "Reader's Digest." <ref>HEAR.YE.HIM CHATTANOOGA.TN 58-0301E</ref>'' | |||
''Many of you, about three years ago in Reader's Digest, read the article of the miracle of Donny Morton, when I was in Arizona, I mean in California. How the Lord, after Mayo's, and John Hopkins, and all of them had turned that little twisted up baby down, the power of God unfolded that child and made him well. And Mayo's called for an interview for it, wanted to know what happened. Sure. Reader's Digest wrote it up. What happened to little Donny, that little Canadian boy?'' | |||
''All hopes was gone after Mayo and John Hopkins said the child cannot be healed. But the father said, "Donny, we're not whipped. For not long ago, there was someone here in Canada praying for the operator, long-distance operator. She was in a school, she was deaf and dumb." Like these people setting here. And when--there was two of them went to the meeting at Calgary. And the Lord healed both of them. One of them is a singer in church, and the other one's a long-distance telephone operator.'' | |||
''He said, "Donny, if God knowed them, He knows you honey, and I'll get you somewhere." He hitched his horse to the sled, down through the snow they went with the mother. And when they got to the place where they was to put the little boy, and his mother, and them on the plane, they didn't have enough money for one to get on the plane. So he found a Greyhound bus that Donny and his father could ride in. It come to Los Angeles, and--and the--some kind of an association helped them to get out to the meeting where we was at, the Assemblies of God out there at the campground, North--or Southwestern Bible School.'' | |||
''There when the father started in the line with the little baby, said, "There was a young man that had to put him out of the line, because he had no prayer card." That was Billy. Billy was doing that, because it wasn't fair for the man to come in the line, because others had been waiting for days in the prayer line.'' | |||
''But when the little fellow--I seen him walking off the platform with that little twisted baby. I said, "Let him alone, Billy. Bring him on up here."'' | |||
''And when the father, trembling, brought the little fellow, and his head sideways, his big eyes cast back in his head, shaking his hands, twisted down, his little legs drawed up behind him, I said, "Sir, if I could heal your baby, I'd do it. But you're a Canadian, and you've come a long ways, and you're... This little baby's name is Donny Morton."'' | |||
''The father begin to shake, and he said, "That's true."'' | |||
''I said, "Do you believe?"'' | |||
''And he started screaming; he said, "With all my heart."'' | |||
''He went right straight from that meeting that night and '''bought Donny his first pair of shoes, and he wore them the next day.'''<ref>BE.NOT.AFRAID.IT.IS.I PHOENIX.AZ 60-0305</ref>'' | |||
''When I--I was interviewed at Mayo's Clinic. They said to me, "We do not..." The old Jimmy Mayo in the old Mayo brothers had a thing back there in the office, where you used to have there. They took me back and showed me, when this Donny Morton... How many read the Reader's Digest? When Mayo's had turned him down, and everything, and come out there to California, and down out of Canada... '''The Lord healed him, made him well.'''<ref>ABRAHAM YAKIMA.WA 60-0803</ref>'' | |||
''I was interviewed at Mayo's; you seen it in the "Reader's Digest," and so forth, '''Donny Morton, was healed up here'''.<ref>BALM.IN.GILEAD LONG.BEACH.CA 61-0218</ref>'' | |||
''When this little Canadian, Donny Morton... You read the story in "Reader's Digest," when they brought him all the way down there so spastic and drawed that John Hopkins, Mayo Brothers, and all, turned him down. And he came down to Costa Mesa, and was in the meeting. And the Holy Spirit spoke. "Reader's Digest" wrote up, said the--said, "The evangelist didn't ask the boy. He told the boy who he was, told him what he had done, and where he come from, and what about it." '''And he was healed.''' See?'' | |||
''And then I was called in at Mayo Brothers for an interview for that, and they said... I said, "Well, I..." They never put Mayo Brothers' name on there, but they--there they had the "Reader's Digest," and it was--the father had said it. But of course the writer wouldn't say that about a hospital, and what it said.'' | |||
''Many great... If you read the article, said many great clinics through the United States and Canada had turned him down. And a spastic, drawed up, name was Donny Morton. October's "Reader's Digest," about four years ago. And then, he said this little ba... this little boy about eight years old...'' | |||
''Oh, it's a pathetic story, how this little Canadian brother come down on a sled. He said he knowed some deaf and dumb girls that was brought to my meeting before that, and the Lord healed one. And one of them is a singer in church, and the other one is a telephone operator: So was both deaf and dumb.'' | |||
''So he said, "We're not whipped, Donny. Let's go and tell..." And the mother and them thought they could maybe take fifty dollars, and all of them come to the United States, and take Donny to the meeting, and everything else. It wouldn't even pay one of their ways on a airplane. They had to come by a bus, couldn't even come by train. And when they got there, they had to take Travelers Aid to get out there to where the meeting was.'' | |||
''And the Holy Spirit told him who he was, where he come from, and so forth--little drawed-over father, holding his baby. And so... Then it told him exactly what would happen. '''The Lord healed the child to the glory of God.'''<ref>A.GREATER.THAN.SOLOMON.IS.HERE PORT.ALBERNI.BC 62-0725</ref>'' | |||
''And you seen it in Reader's Digest, not long ago, Donny Morton, The Miracle of Donny Morton. That little child right there in California, at the Assemblies of God, down there at that school, Southwestern Bible School, that child was so twisted and afflicted till even John Hopkins and Mayo Brothers said, "There's not an earthly chance for him." '''But the Lord is THUS SAITH THE LORD. That was different, see.'''<ref>HIS.UNFAILING.WORDS.OF.PROMISE PHOENIX.AZ 64-0120</ref>'' | |||
=Video Transcript= | |||
William Branham talked about the healing of a young boy, Donny Morton, numerous times: | |||
Here not long ago, you seen the article in the paper of that little Donny Morton being healed out there in California. The “Reader’s Digest” packed it, went in every language under heaven, everywhere, about the miracle. | |||
:''…And the Holy Spirit spoke THUS SAITH THE LORD. And the baby got well. (54-1204 - God Perfecting His Church, para. 45) | |||
:''And the baby come out of it. And so they had the baby around there; it got so he could run, meet his daddy and everything. (53-1112 – Demonology, para. 13)'' | |||
:''He went right straight from that meeting that night and bought Donny his first pair of shoes, and he wore them the next day. (60-0305 - Be Not Afraid, It Is I, para. 28)'' | |||
:''The Lord healed him, made him well. And Mayo’s had turned him down, and so had Johns Hopkins. The boy was made normal. (60-0803 – Abraham, para. 73)'' | |||
On November 10, 2021, in another case of bad research, Donny Reagan of Johnson City, Tennessee, talked about the healing of Donny Morton: | |||
:''Sometime, look at the miracle of Donny Morton. You remember reading about the story of Donny Morton and his daddy had to save up money to be able to bring him to Brother Branham? | |||
And when he does, what does God do? God tells Brother Branham and shows him a vision of an old country doctor that would be able to perform the surgery. Why would not God have healed him then? Probably Reader's Digest would have never published it in the Reader's Digest magazine. | |||
If he would have simply come to Brother Branham and laid hands on him, it would just have been another miracle in Brother Branham's ministry. But God had it done in such a way that it made the world... around the world testify of his great power. | |||
It is true that the story of Donny Morton was reported in the November 1952 issue of Readers Digest. But I don’t think Donny Reagan ever read it. The entire story is available on our website at the link below. I encourage you to read it for yourself. It’s a truly heartbreaking story. | |||
Here is the basic timeline of William Branham’s involvement: | |||
In June 1951, Arthur Morton took his seriously ill, 4 year old, 20 pound son, Donny, 2800 miles by bus to Costa Mesa, California to be prayed for by William Branham. That is not something that you would do if you didn’t have faith. | |||
William Branham pronounced the child healed and indicated several times that it was “Thus Saith The Lord.” | |||
A physiotherapist, who read about Donny Morton’s plight in the newspaper, recommended a doctor and offered to pay for the operation. The surgery was performed on Donny Morton a short time later at St. Luke’s Hospital in Pasadena, California by Dr. William T. Grant. | |||
Three more critical brain operations were performed over the next few months but, in October, the young boy contracted pneumonia. Donny Morton died in his sleep on November 2, 1951, less than 5 months after William Branham had pronounced him healed. | |||
The Reader’s Digest article is clear that Donny Morton was not healed. There was no miracle other than the thousands of lives that were touched by the young boy’s plight and the love of his father, Arthur Morton. | |||
In August 2018, after we discussed Donny Morton’s story on the Off The Shelf podcast, Denelda Clayton, Donny Morton’s sister left a message for us. I contacted her via email and this is her comment with respect to what William Branham said about Donny Morton: | |||
:''Donny Morton was my brother and was 2 years older than me. What William Branham said about my brother - that he was healed, that he wore the shoes that my dad bought him, or that he came running to my dad after he was prayed for - none of it was true. | |||
:''I don't think my parents ever knew what William Branham said about my brother Donald because they would have been very upset and made sure the truth was known. I didn't find the story on the internet until after they passed away in 1984.'' | |||
So what are we supposed to do with another failure of “Thus Saith The Lord”? Please remember, this is not the only time William Branham stated something was Thus Saith The Lord which later failed to come to pass. | |||
William Branham said that the Holy Spirit spoke “Thus Saith The Lord”. I disagree. It was 100% William Branham and it failed. | |||
I do understand that William Branham, as with virtually all faith healers, believed that if the patient did not really believe, they could lose their healing. | |||
My response to the followers of William Branham who will raise this excuse is – | |||
#First, we are talking about a 5 year old boy who was terribly ill. If God said that he was healed, there is nothing that could have stopped his healing. | |||
#Second, If it was possible for a person to lose their healing, why didn’t it happen in Jesus ministry or those that the apostles healed? There is not one case in scripture where someone lost their healing. This was an invention by faith-healing charlatans. | |||
William Branham took credit for Donny Morton’s healing, even though he wasn’t healed. He made up stories like this just to make himself look good. And message preachers like Donny Reagan keep feeding their congregations false information. | |||
Here are the words of Moses from Deuteronomy 18:21-22 from the Septuagint, the translation Jesus quoted from: | |||
:''But the prophet whosoever shall impiously speak in my name a word which I have not commanded him to speak, and whosoever shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. But if thou shalt say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken? Whatsoever words that prophet shall speak in the name of the Lord, and they shall not come true, and not come to pass, this is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; that prophet has spoken wickedly, ye shall not spare him.<ref>Deut. 18:20–22, The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament: English Translation, Lancelot Brenton, 1870</ref> | |||
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[[Category:Honesty and Credibility]] | [[Category:Honesty and Credibility]] | ||
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[[Category:Thus Saith The Lord]] | |||