William M. Branham Early Life Conversion And Ordination

Branham was considered by many to have initiated the faith healing and charismatic Christian revival movement that began in 1947. Several modern-day religious movements in the Pentecostal and Charismatic church have at least a partial basis in Branham's teaching, including the Latter Rain Movement, Manifest Sons of God, and Kingdom Now theology. His ministry had effects felt around the world, and it fostered a number of other ministers who became internationally known. One historian of the revival movement called Branham "a prophet to our generation."

1 Early life, conversion, and ordination

Branham was born in a log cabinA log cabin is a small house built from logs. Typically in a rural or rustic setting, this type of structure is a fairly simplistic type of construction. The method for constructing a log cabin is as follows: Chop down or acquire a quantity of tree trunks in the KentuckyCommonwealth of Kentucky ( In Detail) (Full size) State nickname: Bluegrass State Other U. States Capital Frankfort Largest City Louisville Governor Ernie Fletcher Area Total Land Water % water Ranked 37th 104,749 km² 102,989 km² 1,760 km² 1. 7% Populatio hills, the first of nine children of Charles and Ella Branham, and was raised near Jeffersonville, IndianaJeffersonville is a city located in Clark County, Indiana. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 27,362. The city is the county seat of Clark County 6. Geography Jeffersonville is located at 38°17'44" North, 85°43'53" West (38. 295669,. Branham's father was an illiterate alcoholic, and his upbringing was difficult and impoverished. Branham reported a conversion experience in 19311931 is the common year starting on Thursday. see link for calendar) Events January January 4 Female aviator Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa January 6 Thomas Edison submits his last patent application. January 22 Sir Isaac Isaacs sworn in as the, and was ordained as a Missionary Baptist Church minister in December 19321932 is the leap year starting on Friday. see link for calendar) Events January-February January 3 British arrest and intern Mohandas Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel January 8 In Britain the Archbishop of Canterbury forbids church remarriage of divorcees Jan. You can request for a free William Branham Biography Book.

2 Successful public ministry

Branham reported that in May 1946Events January January 4 Theodore Schurch becomes the last person to be executed for offences committed under the Treachery Act of 1940 January 7 Allied recognize Austrian republic with 1937 borders the country is divided into four occupation zones Januar he broke from daily life to seek God and establish the meaning of his life. In 1947 he began a public ministry that involved public evangelism and faith healing. From then through the end of his life, Branham, who explictly denied the orthodox view of the Trinity, was well known in gospel meetings. His early work in faith healing attracted attention, and as stories began to spread of his healings, local pastors came to ask Branham to minister to their congregations and pray for the sick. When local churches could not accommodate the attendant crowds, Branham's meetings were moved to larger auditoriums or stadiums for united campaigns in major cities in North America.

Branham's lectured to ever larger groups. 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." He soon began to speak in other countries, again with much success. According to a Pentecostal historian, "Branham filled the largest stadiums and meeting halls in the world." In Durban, South Africa in 1951 he addressed meetings sponsored by the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal Holiness and the Full Gospel Church of God 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, including U.S. Congressman Upshaw and King George VI of England who were allegedly healed after his prayers.

3 Claims of angelic visitations and supernatural signs

Branham's supporters claimed that supernatural signs were given to him in order to encourage people to believe. A physical sign appearing in his hand was said to indicate a disease or healing. Later on, they claimed, secret thoughts and needs of individuals would be revealed to him. The notion spread among them that Branham was a prophet fulfilling scriptural prophecies about the end times.

Branham's claims of experience with the supernatural went back to his childhood. As a young boy he was considered "nervous" because from an early age he spoke of " visions" and "a voice" that spoke to him out of a wind, saying, "Don't ever drink, or smoke, or defile your body in any way. There will be a work for you to do when you get older." Shortly after being ordained, he was baptized on June 11, 1933 in the Ohio River near Jeffersonville, and he reported that a bright fiery light suddenly appeared over his head and he heard a voice say, "As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming of Jesus Christ, so are you sent to forerun His second coming!" The next edition of the Jeffersonville Evening News reported the incident with the subheading, "Mysterious Star Appears Over Minister While Baptizing".

Branham asserted that as he prayed alone late one night during his search for personal meaning in 1946 or 1947, an angel of light appeared, saying:

"Do not fear. I am sent from the presence of the Almighty God to tell you that your peculiar birth and misunderstood life has been to indicate that you are to take a gift of Divine healing to the peoples of the world. If you will be sincere when you pray and can get the people to believe you, nothing shall stand before your prayer, not even cancer. You will go into many parts of the earth and will pray for kings and rulers and potentates. You will preach to multitudes the world over and thousands will come to you for counsel." Branham later claimed that his successful career around the world and his meetings with world dignitaries was a fulfillment of this prophecy.

Branham's engagement with the supernatural included claims of miracles. He claimed that in 1948 God had shown him a vision of a boy being raised from the dead. He said that he related the details to his audiences and asked them to write those details down in the flyleaves of their bibles. He later claimed the vision had been fulfilled two years later during a speaking trip to Helsinki, Finland in 1950 at the scene of a street accident near Kuopio, Finland . Branham reported that a boy on a bicycle had been struck by a car and had supposedly been killed. Branham's party had come upon the scene, Branham related, and he then asked that the sheet covering the boy's body be removed, because he recognized the boy as the one he had seen in his vision. He claimed that he then prayed over the child and the child was raised from the dead.

On the night of January 24, 1950, an unusual photograph was taken during a speaking engagement in the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas. As Branham stood at the podium, an apparent halo of fire reportedly appeared above his head. A photograph of this phenomenon was produced, reported to be the only one of its film roll that developed an image. George J. Lacy , an investigator of questioned documents who claimed to have been consulted by the FBI in that capacity, subjected the negative to testing[1] and declared at a news conference that, "To my knowledge, this is the first time in all the world's history that a supernatural being has been photographed and scientifically vindicated." The original of the photograph is in the archives of the Religious Department of the Smithsonian Institution.

4 Branham's doctrines and teachings

Branham preached thousands of sermons, of which 1100 were recorded and transcribed. His sermons dealt not only with the doctrines that would secure his place in modern religious history, but with staples of Pentecostalism such as personal prophecy. Branham contended he had received seven major prophecies between 1928 and 1933, though he only recounted them thirty years after. When revealing them, he claimed the first five had already come true, and he expected (i.e., he personally predicted, as opposed to prophesied) that the last two would occur by 1977:

" Franklin D. Roosevelt will run four terms and take America into a second world war.
"The dictator that's now arising in Italy will come into power, Ethiopia will fall. He'll come to a shameful end.
"The women has been permitted to vote. And in voting, someday they'll elect the wrong man.
"Our war will be with Germany, and they will build a great big concrete place and fortify themselves in there, and the Americans will take a horrible beating.
"Science will progress in such a way until they will make a car that will not have to be guided by a steering wheel, and the cars will continue to be shaped like an egg until the consummation
"I saw a great woman stand up, beautiful looking, dressed in real highly royals like purple, and I got little parenthesis down here, 'She was a great ruler in the United States, perhaps the Catholic church'
"I saw this United States burning like a smolder; rocks had been blowed up. And it was burning like a--a heap of fire in logs or something that just set it afire; and looked as far as I could see and she'd been blown up.[2]

Branham's sermons give insights into, among other things, his level of understanding of his contempory world, in passages such as:

"President Franklin D. Roosevelt took America to England's tea party. That's right. Germany never picked on us; we picked on them, throwed the whole world into a war, to cause a world war. The Germans built the Maginot Line, which there—any veteran here knows what she took there at the Maginot Line."

This is a somewhat anomalous statement, considering that in the second world war Germany declared war on the USA, at which time America was already at war with Japan, and in essence the "whole world" was already at war. More specifically, it was not the Germans, but the French who built the Maginot Line, as a defense against Germany.

5 His last years

Branham's popularity continued through the last years of his life. In its February 1961 issue, the Full Gospel Men's Voice (now the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International ) glowed: "In Bible Days, there were men of God who were Prophets and Seers. But in all the Sacred Records, none of these had a greater ministry than that of William Branham, a Prophet and Seer of God.... Branham has been used by God, in the Name of Jesus, to raise the dead!"

Branham died in 1965 after his car was hit buy a drunk driver. It is alleged that a number of ministers associated with his Latter Rain Movement tried to raise him from the dead for a number of days afterwards[3].

6 External links

Branham, William M.

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