More on William Branham

[Sam]

I’ve gone through my files and tried to assemble everything said about William Branham in the Pentecostal Herald. It’s possible I missed some of it but here it is in chronollogical order.
I didn’t find any notices repudiating him or warning against him. The last item is by Bro. O.F. Fauss several years after Bro. Branham’s death.

This is neither a promotion nor condemnation of Bro. Branham, just what I could find in the Pentecostal Herald.


Pentecostal Herald, March 1947 page 6, Travelogue of the General Superintendent (H.A. Goss)
On Monday, Brother and Sister Brown and myself went to Camden, Arkansas where Brother Branham was conducting a revival meeting and it seems that the hand of the Lord is on this brother. He is used of the Lord in praying for the sick.


Pentecostal Herald, May 1947 page 12, Field News
Vandalia, Illinois
...This summer we are looking forward to a speccial week of services with evangelist Wm. Branham whom God is blessing in praying for the sick. This meeting will be held in a large tent in the, Vandalia City Park the week of June 22 to June 29. We wish to invite all who read this report to please remember us in prayer and God bless you all.-J. H. Reeter,
Pastor.


Pentecostal Herald, June 1947 page 12, Gleanings From the Field
Norphlet. Arkansas-... Recently we also had a fine fellowship meeting at which five were buried in the Name of Jesus one of which received the Holy Ghost in the water. One of those baptized was a young girl who had been deaf and dumb but was healed in Brother Branham's services in El Dorado, Arkansas in December. Everyone could hear her praying and praising the Lord during the baptismal service. We rejoice in the Lord for His blessings and feel He is getting the church ready for His coming. W. A. Odom, Pastor. Mrs. Ralph Vines,Reporter



Pentecostal Herald, July 1947 page 5, Travelogue by the General Superintendent
Sunday, February 23, we preached at Brother 0. F. Fauss' church in Houston, Texas, at the 11 a. m. service, and on Sunday night ministered to Brother Matney's Assembly, also in Houston. While there I had a good visit with my son Joseph, and his wife on Monday. Brother Pair of Picton, Ontario, Canada, and myself went to San Antonio, Texas to visit Brother Coote's school. As Brother Pair had never been in Brother Branham's meetings, we decided to visit these meetings also, as a Healing Campaign was in progress in San Antonio at this time. We were there for two days, then we went to Kilgore, Texas and ministered to Brother Spear's assembly, a nice group of saints.


Pentecostal Herald, August 1947, page 14, Field News
Phoenix. Ariz.-We are glad to report victory in Jesus' name . We just closed a revival with Brother G . H . Ellis . We can recommend Brother and Sister Ellis as real ministers of God . During the revival six received the Holv Ghost and three backsliders were reclaimed and the saints were blessed by the fine preaching of Brother Ellis . Hls address is 1833 Beachhawk Street. Dallas 15. Texas . We were blessed by having Brother William Branham with us in Phoenix for five nights . The whole town was stirred as many were healed in his meetings . We desire the prayers of God's people everywhere . R . Outlaw. Pastor .

Pentcostal Herald, August 1947 page 15
A Remarkable Healing
Greetings in the name of Jesus. God has wrought a mimcle for us after 19 years of seeing our daughter suffer with that awful affliction of epilepsy. Those who knew her and saw her sufferings can rejoice with us for a God given deliverance. We had heard of Brother Branham being in Oakland, California and through the mercies of God and the kindness of our Brother Ellis Scism we drove over six hundred miles to get to Oakland. Our daughter had fasted for 12 days and felt that she would be healed. We sure thank God that when Brother Branham prayed for her, she was healed of this dreaded affliction and we are rejoicing in the Lord and praising Htm for His goodness to us. To God be all the glory.
Brother and Sister Clovis Cagle Salem, Oregon

Pentecostal Herald, October, 1947 page 12, Field News
Vandalia, Ill....We are glad to report the blessings of the Lord in a series of meetings including the Wm. Branham campaign of divine healing.... The Branham campaign was advertised to begin on June 22nd but Bro. Branham was unable to come until 3 daiys later...Brother Branham finally arrived and from Wenesdaiy to the end of the campaign the services and results far exceeded our fondest hopes. Cross eyes were straightened, blind eyes were definitely opened, deaf and dumb were made to hear and speak and cancers were healed. One man was carried into the meeting on a cot and God healed him of cancer and two nights later he returned to the service unaided and testified of healing and now works about his own yard. Demons were cast out of the insane and epilepsy cured. One girl who was deaf and dumb for some 18 to 20 years and who had never spoken a word was healed after being prayed for by Brother Branham. During the last Sunday afternoon one received the Holy and six were baptized. We surely thank God for all that was done during this campaign...J.H. Reeter, Pastor


Pentecostal Herald, November 1947, Pentecostal Conquerors Page
Missouri District
We wish to report the blessings of God upon a youth conference of the Missouri District Pentecostal Conquerors which was held at Kennett . Missouri. on September 29-30 with Pastor L . D . Segraves and saints . The first day's service was opened with prayer and the day was devoted to worshipping God in song. testimony and praise with special singing. sermons and sermonettes being given by many of those present . One of the outstanding testimonies was that of a young lady who was healed recently of insanity as a result of prayer . The evening servize was blessed of God with Sister Bonnie Cullins. a student of Pentecostal Bible Institute. and Brother Robert Wolfe from Brother Branding's church in St . Louis. talring charge of the preliminaries . A report was given telling of 97 being baptized in the name of Jesus and of many healings which took place at the "Little David-Branham" meeting in St . Louis ....


Pentecostal Herald, August 1977 Your Questions Answered column by Bro. O.F. Fauss
In response to a question on Malachi 4:7 ...A precious woman of God asked this question because there is a group in her area whose worship is geared through their love for a man, Billy Branham, who lived several years ago. He was killed in a car accident in the month of December and was kept embalmed (I suppose) until the following Easter. His followers were praying and believing that he was going to come back to life. The newspapers reported that about seven hundred of his followers were at his funeral. Some say they were expecting a resurrection, but he is still in the grave as far as anyone knows. May God have mercy for any person who can be led away from the TRUTH of God's Word and believe that Malachi 4:s has any such fulfillment. Jesus said, In the last days many such heresies and false teachers will arise, deceiving many. "

[Sam]

from http://healingandrevival.com/BioWBranham.htm

Healer and Prophet

William Marrion Branham was born April 6, 1909 in Kentucky near Burksville. His parents were extremely poor farmers. As Branham got older they moved to Jeffersonville, Indiana. They were so poor he did not have a shirt to wear to school and he would wear a winter coat inside so he would not have to expose his poverty. He had no religious training, but at an early age heard a voice say to him "Do not drink or smoke or defile your body in any way, for when you get older I'll have a work for you to do." This so terrified the boy he ran away as fast as he could.

Branham did not have a grid for what had happened to him, but tried to obey what he'd heard. He continued to struggle with God, and when his brother Edward died he began to seek Him. Still it wasn't until he became seriously ill that he turned his life around. He believed he was about to die. While he was in the hospital he heard the same voice that had spoken to him in his childhood. It repeated the same thing three times 'I called you and you would not go.' He told God "if you let me live I'll preach the the gospel". He felt somewhat better that day. After he got out of the hospital he began to seek a church that would lead him to repentance. He found a disciples church that believed in the baptism of the Spirit and anointing with oil. They prayed for him and he was instantly healed.

He was on fire from that point on. For six months he cried out to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. One day God's presence came upon him in a mighty way. He felt God called him to preach the gospel and pray for the sick. He was 24 years old and he began holding tent meetings and doing what God had asked him to do. He saw many people converted. In 1933 he also saw a series of visions that spoke about the coming years including the rise of Nazism, Facism, and Communism.

With his ministry now rolling, he built an independent Baptist church in Jeffersonville, Indiana. These were happy years for Braham. He married and had two children. During this time he became interested in the Pentecostal meesage, which was still highly controversial at that time. He attended a Pentecostal convention, and was asked to join them as a traveling evangelist. He believed that this was God, but was talked out of it by friends who thought it too controversial. He turned them down. Everything seemed to go wrong for him from that point on. His church began to fail and his wife and daughter were killed in the Ohio River flood of 1937. He believed he was under judgement from God for not doing what he was called to do.

Branham struggled over the next several years. He worked as a game warden, and a logger, and sometimes preached. He married his second wife Meda, and eventually had three more children. One day he went off to pray by himself to see if could find out God's heart for him. He repented of his choice to not go with the Pentecostals. On May7, 1946 he had a visitation from an angel of God. The angel said he was a seer prophet and would have two distinct signs in his life. The first was that he would be able to detect illness in people, and the second was that he would see sins in their life they needed to repent of.

Branham started his healing ministry immediately after this visitation. He started in St. Louis and then went to Texas, Louisiana, Florida, California, and eventually all over the United States. In 1948 Branham was visited by Jack Moore, a pastor out of Shreveport, Louisiana. He was so impressed he took Branham to several churches across the United States. When Moore had to return to his home church he contacted Gordon Lindsay, who took over as Branham's campaign manager. The meetings were so dramatic that Moore, Lindsay, and Branham began the magazine and organization named "The Voice of Healing" which was headquartered in Shreveport, Louisiana. The original purpose was to report on Branham meetings, although it later expanded to include many other healing evangelists. On one campaign trip in Florida F.F. Bosworth, who had an extensive healing ministry of his own, joined the organization to support Branham's ministry.

These meetings kicked off the healing revival that began in 1947 and continued through the 1950s. Although he was the first, and most well known, several other healing evangelists were also raised up including A.A. Allen, Jack Coe, and Oral Roberts. Branham said himself that "Deaf, dumb, blind, all manners of diseases have been healed, and thousands of testimonies are on record to date. I do not have any power of my own to do this... God always has something or someone to work through, and I am only an instrument used by Him." The most famous healing in the history of the healing revival was when William Branham prayed for US Congressman William Upshaw from California. Upshaw had been crippled in a farming accident as a youth and was healed when Branham prayed for him. Branham eventually took international trips to Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa, and India.

In the mid 1950's things began to go wrong for Branham. He had run his organization in a loose manner and felt God would take care of everything. In 1955 Branham started having financial problems. He was not having the same success in his meetings and was having trouble covering his expenses. The California Campaign put him $15,000 in debt. Others were called on to help make up the differences. The IRS began a review of his finances and found he had never kept good records of the money that flowed in and out of his ministry. It was not that he was keeping an extravagent lifestyle, quite the contrary, he lived an extremely simple life. Branham simply didn't track where the money went. The outcome was a settlement where Branham owed the government a staggering $40,000 in back taxes.

By 1957 it was clear that God was taking his hand off the healing movement. Branham was exhausted and refused to do large meetings anymore. He was surrounding himself with supporters who began to control who was allowed to see Branham and who wasn't. Gordon Lindsay attempted to see Branham a month before he died but refused access to Branham by the men around him. Some of those were suggesting that he was Elijah the prophet heralding the end times. His friend Gordon Lindsay felt he was falling into the same delusion that took John Alexander Dowie and wrote that in the Voice of Healing magazine. People who knew Branham say that he never made the Elijah claim on his own. Things were definitely out of balance in Branham's life. He ministered primarily in Arizona in the winters in the last few years of his life to support his family.

In 1964 Branham had a vision where he was riding tired into the sunset. He understood that God was warning him that he would die soon. In 1965, while driving to Tucson, Arizona Branham's car was struck by a drunk driver. He lived a fews day longer and then died on Christmas Eve, 1965. A couple of years before his death he asked his dear friend Jack Moore and his daughter Anna Jeanne to write his biography. He warned them that there would be a lot of confusion that came in about his life after he died. Unfortunately they did not have the time to do what he asked, and confusion did come in. Some people created a religious group around Branham's teachings, becoming known as Branhamites. Others wrote him off as a heritic. Branham was, and continues to be, a highly controversial figure in the healing movement. Probably the best known book written about Branham is Gordon Lindsay's "A Man Sent From God", which was published in the 1950's.

[Sam]

from http://www.godsgenerals.com/bio_w_branham.htm


“A Man of Notable Signs and Wonders”

God didn’t put His endorsement upon one particular church, but He revealed that the pure in heart would see God . . . Let the fellow believe whatever he wants to about it. These things don’t amount to very much anyhow. Be brothers, have fellowship with one another.1

William Branham was beyond doubt a man of notable signs and wonders. From birth, supernatural manifestations marked his life. He truly walked with God for a time, but in the latter years of his life, began to err in doctrine and veer from his true calling. He did indeed have a divine impartation to minister healing and deliverance. A modern day prophet of biblical proportion, he healed the multitudes and delivered the afflicted from all kinds of demonic bondages and strongholds. He walked in the Spirit, guided by visions and angels: For a period of time the supernatural seemed to permeate his life and all he set his hand to.

During the height of Branham’s ministry, from 1946-1954, great men came alongside him to promote and partner with him; men such as Gordon Lindsey, F.F. Bosworth, and Jack Moore. Branham’s healing team launched what became known as the Voice of Healing magazine, which gave rise to the great healing revival of the early 1950s. This movement directly impacted T.L. Osborn, Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts, and others so that today the wider church has a firmer grasp on the truths regarding faith and healing.

Meager Beginnings
William Marrion Branham was born to a fifteen-year-old mother, and an eighteen-year-old father, in a tiny, dirt floor shack up in the hills of Kentucky. They were poor and illiterate, and had no interest in spiritual matters. William grew up without any knowledge of God, the Bible, or prayer. Yet God had a special call on his life and would go to great lengths throughout William’s childhood to get his attention. From a young age, William heard God’s voice, and knew that he was being called to a different kind of life than those around him.

He didn’t understand the calling or how to quiet the longing he felt in his heart. At the age of nineteen he decided to move away hoping that he would find solace in a new location. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona where he worked on a ranch, but he still couldn’t escape the sense that God was calling him. When he received news that his brother had died, he returned home to his grief-stricken family. It was at the funeral that he heard his first prayer and knew then that he needed to learn to pray.

Answering the Call
He stayed close to home to be near his grieving family, taking a job at a nearby gas works company. After two years on the job, William was overcome with gas fumes when testing a meter and ended up in the hospital where he underwent surgery for appendicitis. As he lay in the recovery room, he felt his life ebbing away. His body grew weaker and his mind grew dark; and then he heard the familiar voice saying, “I called you and you would not go.” The words were repeated again and again. William’s inner voice answered back, “Lord, if that is You, let me go back again to earth and I will preach our Gospel from the housetops and street corners.”2

He was released from the hospital a few days later and began immediately to seek the Lord. He found a small, independent Baptist church that nurtured and prayed for him and then six months later ordained him an independent Baptist minister. William obtained a small tent and began to minister with great results. It was in June of 1933 at the age of twenty-four, that Branham held his first major tent revival. Three thousand people attended in one night. It was during this time that a supernatural manifestation occurred.

Branham Tabernacle
William was holding a special baptism service where he baptized 130 believers in the Ohio River. When he had baptized the seventieth person, this is what William described happened: “A whirl came down from the heavens above, here come that light, shining down . . . it hung right over where I was at . . . and it like to a-scared me to death.” Many of the four thousand that saw the light ran in fear, some remained and fell in worship, others claimed to have heard an actual voice.3

Several months later, in the fall of that year, the people who attended those powerful meetings built a headquarters for William’s anointed ministry calling it “Branham Tabernacle.” From 1933 to 1946, Branham ministered at the Tabernacle while working at a secular job. During this time he also met his future wife, Hope Brumback, with whom he had two children before tragedy struck in 1937.

The Price of Disobedience
While Branham was on a fishing trip, he came across a camp meeting of the “Oneness Pentecostals” (a denomination often referred to today as “Jesus Only”) and was asked to minister there. Shortly after he started to speak, the power of God engulfed him and he ministered for the next two hours. Pastors from all over the country invited Branham to speak at their churches so that he completely filled his calendar for the following year.

When he had excitedly returned home to share the news with his wife, her mother was there and scorned him for associating with the Oneness Pentecostals. Branham capitulated to her rebuke and cancelled all his meetings. He would later regret this as the biggest mistake of his life. If he had gone on to hold those meetings, his family would not have been caught in the great Ohio flood of 1937.

As it turned out, in the winter of 1937, Hope had just given birth to their second child. Because her immune system had not been completely restored, she had succumbed to a serious lung disease. It was during this period of recovery that the levee broke on the Ohio River and the floodwaters rose. She and her two young children were transported to several locations during which time both became seriously ill with pneumonia. Hope’s lung condition turned to tuberculosis and she died only weeks later. Although the older child eventually recovered, the younger infant’s pneumonia turned to a fatal spinal meningitis and the baby died the same night as her mother.

to be continued in part 2

[Sam]

continued from part 1

The Rushing Wind
The next five years were difficult for William as he reeled from the loss. He continued to preach at the Branham Tabernacle and have prophetic visions. No one seemed to understand him or the nature of his visions and he grew more restless. He did remarry during this time for his oldest child’s sake and worked to provide for the family as a game warden in addition to preaching at the Tabernacle.

One spring day, in 1946, he came home for lunch and sat with a friend under a large maple tree. All of a sudden, according to Branham, “It seemed that the whole top of the tree let loose . . . it seemed like something came down from that tree like a great rushing wind.” His wife came running out to see what the commotion was all about, and after getting a hold of his emotions, Branham shared all the past experiences he’d had with the wind rushing above him in the trees. Since he was a young child, a “mighty rushing wind” haunted him, spoke to him, and compelled him to seek God for answers.

He then told her that he was going to find out once and for all what was behind this “wind” and recalled that he had said, “I told her and my child good-bye and warned her that if I didn’t come back in a few days, perhaps I might never return.” 4

A Visit from an Angel
Branham left for a secluded place to pray and read the Bible. He cried out to the Lord to speak to him in some way. That night he noticed a light flickering in the room that began to spread across the floor and then grew into a ball of fire shining on the floor. Footsteps approached and he saw a large man dressed in a white robe coming toward him. The man spoke,

“Fear not, I am sent from the presence of Almighty God to tell you that your peculiar life and your misunderstood ways have been to indicate that God has sent you to take a gift of divine healing to the people of the world. If you will be sincere, and can get the people to believe you, nothing shall stand before your prayer, not even cancer.”

William humbly replied that he was so poor and uneducated no one would listen to him. The Angel gave him two gifts that he would use as signs to help the people believe. The first would be his ability to detect disease by a vibration in his left hand; and the other would be the word of knowledge revealing the secret sin hidden in a person’s heart.

Walking Out The Calling
The following Sunday after returning home, Branham shared with his congregation what he had experienced. While he was speaking, someone handed him a telegram requesting that he come to St. Louis to pray for a gravely sick daughter. He quickly took up an offering for the train-fare and borrowed a suit of clothes. At midnight he boarded the train for St. Louis.

He arrived to find the girl dying from an unknown sickness. She was weak and wasting away, hoarse from crying out in pain. William was moved to tears and pulled away to seek the Lord privately about what to do. He saw the answer in a vision and waited until the conditions were just as he had seen them in the spirit. He asked the people present if they believed he was God’s servant and directed them to do just he told them, nothing doubting. He proceeded to ask for several things and prayed according the vision the Lord had given him. Immediately the child was healed.

News spread quickly and the people of St. Louis asked Branham to return. In June of 1946 he conducted a twelve-day healing revival there where tremendous manifestations took place. The lame walked, the blind saw, the deaf heard, and the dead were raised. A woman who stood mocking outside dropped dead from a heart attack. Branham went out to pray for her and she revived praising God. The healings that took place were beyond count as Branham often stayed until 2:00 a.m. to pray for the sick.

From St. Louis he went on to Jonesboro, Arkansas, were 25,000 people attended the meetings.5 On one occasion, Branham went out to pray for a woman who had died in an ambulance outside the meeting hall. She sat up healed and Branham had to sneak out of the front of the ambulance under cover of disguise to return to the meeting.

Relentless Revival
1947 was a high profile year for Branham. In Arkansas he acquired his first campaign manager. Time published news of his campaigns as his ministry toured the western states. While in Portland, Oregon, T.L. and Daisy Osborn attended his meetings and were greatly influenced by what they witnessed. It has been said that this was the refreshing and refocus they needed to launch their world-changing international ministry.

This was also the year that Gordon Lindsey joined forces with Branham. Lindsey became his administrator and organized and promoted one of the greatest healing revivals to this day. Accompanied by Jack Moore, the “Union Campaign” joined the forces of the Oneness Pentecostals and the Full Gospel circles for a series of revival campaigns held throughout the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Branham was successful at avoiding doctrinal differences and leading thousands to salvation and healing. Reports stated that 1,500 souls were born again in a single service and as many as 35,000 healings were manifested during that stretch of ministry.

The Voice of Healing
The Branham team wanted to give a greater voice to the message of healing that could reach beyond the confine of their meetings so decided to distribute a monthly publication they called The Voice of Healing magazine. Not long after his quick rise to national success, Branham suffered a nervous breakdown. In 1948, it was thought he might die when another rising healing evangelist, Oral Roberts, rallied believers everywhere to pray for Branham’s restoration. Six months later, Branham was back on the scene.

In 1950, F.F. Bosworth joined the Branham team and together they conducted another major healing crusade gathering crowds of over 8,000 at a single service. During the same year, Branham traveled to Scandinavia making him the first Voice of Healing evangelist to travel to Europe. In the fall of 1951, the Voice of Healing ministry team traveled to Africa and held healing campaigns there through December. It is reported that the meetings were the greatest ever in South Africa with crowds exceeding 50,000 in number.6

Deviating from the Call
Branham remained very influential in the ministry of divine healing for nine years. During this time healing evangelists began to surface all over the country. In 1952, at the height of the Voice of Healing revival, forty-nine prominent healing evangelists were featured in The Voice of Healing magazine. The revelation of divine healing had reached an all-time peak across the world. But from that year on, the healing revival fires began to dwindle. By 1955, Branham began to experience difficulties, and his ministry took a radical change.

Branham had a falling out with Gordon Lindsey, who was forced to leave the ministry. Without Lindsey, his organization was mismanaged and fell into financial ruin. He also began to err in doctrine without the balanced voice of Lindsey who brought stability not only to his administrative affairs, but also kept his teaching sound and bible-based.

As the glory days of the Voice of Healing revival began to wind down toward 1958, Branham searched for other ways to make his mark. He began teaching from his visions rather than from the Word of God. Not called to be a teacher, Branham began to veer off in extreme directions regarding his interpretation of truth. Disturbing doctrines were taught and emphasized throughout the remainder of his ministry.

God Removes a Prophet
On December 18, 1965, Branham and his family were traveling home to Indiana from Texas where William had preached for the last time at Jack Moore’s church. His son was in the car ahead of theirs when a drunk driver swerved and missed the son’s car but hit William’s car head on. Mrs. Branham was immediately killed. William was still alive when his son found him. He asked about his wife and when he was told she was dead, he instructed his son to place his hand upon her. His son picked up Branham’s bloodied hand and placed it on Mrs. Branham. Instantly a pulse returned and she revived.

Branham remained in a coma for six days before he went to be with the Lord on December 24, 1965. Though saddened by his death, his ministry colleagues were not surprised. Gordon Lindsey wrote in his eulogy, “God may see that a man’s special ministry has reached its fruition and it is time to take him home.”7

Lindsey also accepted the interpretation of Kenneth E. Hagin—father of the Word of Faith movement—who had prophesied two years before that the Lord was “removing the prophet” from the scene. Branham died exactly when the Lord told Hagin he would. According to Hagin’s prophecy, William Marrion Branham, the “father of the healing revival” had to be removed from the earth because of his disobedience to his call and the creation of doctrinal confusion.

Works Consulted

1. C. Douglas Weaver, The Healer-Prophet, William Marrion Branham: A Study of the Prophetic in American Pentecostalism (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1987), 54
2. Gordon Lindsey, A Man Sent From God (Jefferson, IN: William Branham, 1950), 39-41
3. Weaver, The Healer-Prophet, 27
4. Roberts Liardon, God’s Generals: Why They Succeeded and Why Some Failed (Laguna Hills, CA: Roberts Liardon Ministries, reprinted by permission of Whittaker House, 1996), 324.
5. Lindsey, William Branham, 93.
6. Liardon, Gods Generals, 331
7. Weaver, The Healer Prophet, 105

[mfblume]

A minister whom I know had a personal acquaintance with Bro. Peter Shebley of Texas. Shebley allegedly claimed he sponsored Wm. Branham's entrance into the UPCI, but said the UPCI responded allegedly saying "The UPCI is not big enough for Wm. Branham."

Anyone hear of this?

[Sam]

Originally Posted by mfblume

A minister whom I know had a personal acquaintance with Bro. Peter Shebley of Texas. Shebley allegedly claimed he sponsored Wm. Branham's entrance into the UPCI, but said the UPCI responded allegedly saying "The UPCI is not big enough for Wm. Branham."

Anyone hear of this?

I had never heard that. Who (if you know) actually said that? Was it one person like a district official? or was that the consensus of a board or group of ministers?

[Sam]

I didn't come into Pentecost until 1955 when I was 17 years old. I don't really remember hearing much about Bro. Branham but I'm sure I did because I used to listen to radio preachers such as Jack Coe, A.A. Allen, Oral Roberts, Glenn Thompson and maybe others.

I do remember that when I was at ABI in 1956/1957 one young minister from Louisiana who held a local license with the UPC mentioned a couple of things about Bro. Jack Moore. He did not come across as bitter or angry but the way he said it, it seemed like it was common knowledge in Louisiana. He mentioned Jack Moore having a large church and said that he had trinity ministers in there preaching for him. I think he mentioned Gordon Lindsay and maybe (I don't really remember) William Branham. He said that Jack Moore could get away with that because of the size of his church and because he carried the note on the UPC headquarters. I have no idea how true that may have been or not. I think I do remember someone at ABI saying that William Branham was UPC but I had no idea who Bro. Branham was. I don't ever remember Bro. Norris talking about him.

I do remember Bro. Norris saying something about Little David once. Someone mentioned Little David one time and Bro. Norris said something like, "Oh, that's some preacher who claimed to have spent ---(can't remember the quantity)-- hours in heaven or hades, or somewhere. Wherever it was, he should have stayed there." Bro. Norris was also critical of A.A. Allen and had some kind of report publicly posted on a school bulletin board about A.A. Allen driving under the influence of alcohol. He seemed to relish attacking the man instead of the message. I'd probably remember if he said something about Bill Branham but maybe not.

i heard a report of someone (can't remember who it was now) going to hear Bill Branham at Branham Tabernacle and marveling at how strong he preached Jesus' Name.

[rgcraig]

My friend, Joel Barnaby just posted this picture on FB today. He visited WB's gravesite.
He posted that his grandfather baptized WB in Jesus name.

[Jermyn Davidson]

I have heard of A. A. Allen outside of AFF before.

I've only heard of William Branham thorugh AFF and to hear people speaking "posting" of his followers, I thought he was some very bad false prophet or something.

Thank you for posting this stuff about him, Sam.


What was Mr. Hagin talking about in his reference to the doctrinal confusion allegedly started by William Branham?

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by Sam

I had never heard that. Who (if you know) actually said that? Was it one person like a district official? or was that the consensus of a board or group of ministers?

I do not know.