William Branham: Difference between revisions

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.  

William Branham left Jeffersonville on June 14, 1945 and headed directly west with his wife, son, and Rev. Daugherty to St. Louis, Missouri. The testimonies from the tent meetings in St. Louis were compiled in a tract called [[Heavenly Vision|I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision]] and distributed at subsequent revival meetings.

In 1946, Meda Branham gave birth to a girl, Rebekah.   

In June 1947, the ''Evening Sun'' newspaper of Jonesboro, Arkansas reported that "Residents of at least 25 States and Mexico have visited Jonesboro since Rev. Branham opened the camp meeting, June 1st. The total attendance for the services is likely to surpass the 20,000 mark."

William Branham also met [[Gordon Lindsay]] in 1947, who became his primary manager and promoter. Shortly after, several other prominent Pentecostals joined his ministry team, including [[Ern Baxter]] and [[F.F. Bosworth]]. Gordon Lindsay proved to be an able publicist for Branham, founding The Voice of Healing magazine in 1948 which was originally aimed at reporting on Branham's healing campaigns.

His early work in faith healing attracted attention, and as stories began to spread of his healing gift, local pastors came to ask Branham to minister to their congregations and pray for the sick. When local churches could not accommodate the crowds, Branham's meetings were moved to larger auditoriums or stadiums for united campaigns in major cities in North America.  His success soon took him to minister in countries around the world. According to a Pentecostal historian, "Branham filled the largest stadiums and meeting halls in the world."

On the night of January 24, 1950, an unusual photograph was taken during a speaking engagement in the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas.  The photograph was of William Branham standing at the podium, with a halo of light behind his head. William Branham claimed that this was a supernatural light, and paid to have the photograph examined by a professional, George J. Lacy, to confirm that the negative had not been tampered with. 

William Branham continued his worldwide ministry, and the “Voice of Healing” magazine published in article in June 1950 about a boy who was raised to life in Finland during the William Branham campaigns, after being hit by a car. 

By this time, William Branham was praying for the sick using two methods. The first was a physical reaction in his hand indicating the presence of germ diseases.  The second was that he knew could talk to people directly about their lives without the need to ask questions.  In 1951, William Branham prayed for a boy named [[Donny Morton]], which was reported in both Chatelaine and Reader’s Digest. This article describes how William Branham described the boy’s situation to his father, without asking questions. However, after a long and difficult battle with meningitis, Donny Morton died of pneumonia while recovering from surgery.

In Durban, South Africa in 1951 William Branham addressed meetings sponsored by the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal Holiness Church, and the Full Gospel Church of God. Meetings were conducted in eleven cities, with a combined attendance of a half million people. On the final day of the Durban meetings, held at the Greyville Racecourse, an estimated 45,000 people attended and thousands more were turned away at the gates. As he travelled around the world he met many individuals of public influence.  

During this time, over 1100 of William Branham’s sermons were recorded and transcribed.