SUPER NATURAL William Branham Book 2 (PDFDrive) (Translated)

Machine Translated by Google
This biography is unlike any other book you have

ever read...
Around him, the house groaned as if it were falling

to death. Plaster fell from the ceiling like rain and the
walls popped like popcorn. A loud crack echoed in
the hallway. The floor was pushed as the house
moved, causing Bill to crash into the closet door.
Another crack echoed shortly after the first, following
the sound of cracking wood. The building was being
broken since its foundation.
Walking down the hallway, Bill dove through the
front door, not knowing that the porch had just
completely separated from the house. He fell into the
freezing waters.
You are about to enter the realm of the supernatural...

SUPERNATURAL:
The Life of William Branham
Book Two:
The Young and
His Despair (1933 -
1946)
by
Owen Jorgensen
Supernatural:
The Life of William Branham
Book Two
(1933 - 1946)
Copyright© 1994
By Owen Jorgensen
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Conventions. No

part of this book may be reproduced in any form without first obtaining
written permission from the author. This covers all means of duplication,
whether electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, reproduction, or
any other stored information and retrieval system. Duplicating this book
without permission is a violation of international copyright law.
0501-004-CPEd1
Published and distributed in Brazil by:
“The Voice of the Seventh Angel”

PO Box 577 - CEP 85900-970
Toledo - Paraná - Brazil
With exclusive authorization from:

Tucson Tabernacle
2555 North Stone Avenue
Tucson, Arizona 85705 USA
BOOK 2
Somewhere in the world, an earnest teenager is searching

for answers to questions like this:
Does God really exist? If there is, who is He?

And where is He?
And is this God interested in my life?
For you young researcher, this book

is dedicated...
Because I was young once too.
Content
Author's Preface ............................................... .................. ix

Summary of Book One .............................................. .............. xiii
Book 2 - The Young Man and His Despair

12. Hovering in the Air................................................ ................ 17
13. Mysterious Star Reappears ...................................... 30
14. His Future Tabernacle Is Shown ............................ 43
15. Purposefully Tied Tongue ...................................... 49
16. Like a Bat Out of Hell ........................... 57
17. A Hopeful Marriage ....................................... 62
18. Error After Mishawaka................................................ 68
19. A Black Curtain Comes Down ....................................... 81
20. The Disastrous Flood ............................................. .91
21. Hope Dies .............................................. .................. 97
22. The Most Uncertain Moment of Your Life ..........................106
23. Fighting to Recover ....................................... 115
24. Deformed Legs Are Straightened .........................126
25. The Miracle In A Place Called Miii-lltown...........140
26. Lost on Hurricane Mountain ................................ 152
27. The Killer Bull ............................................. ......... 164
28. The Angel and the Cave .............................................. .........177
29. The Sign on His Hand .............................................. ........191
30. Prisoners Are Freed................................................ 198
Author's explanation.................................................. ......... 208

Bibliography ................................................. ....................212
Index ................................................. .............................. 215
Information book ............................................... ....... 218
Books available at: .............................................. .......222
BOOK 2
Author's Preface
ADVERSITY MAY HAVE A REASON. The apostle Paul

wrote: “...everything works together for good to those who
love God, to those who are called by his decree.” Sometimes
God allows us to go through severe tests in order to direct
us towards His greater purpose. So it was in William
Branham's life, and so it has been in my own life.
I first heard about William Branham in 1970, five years
after his death. I was amazed by what I heard. This did not
sound like an ordinary preacher's story, but it sounded like
God had once again taken direction and shown generosity
towards men. Intrigued, I quickly read two short biographies
about him – Gordon Lindsay 's 1950 book , William Branham,
A Man Sent from God; and Pearry Green 's 1969 book ,
Acts of the Prophet.
Eager to know more, I researched everything I could find out
about this extraordinary man. I found an opulence of
information available, but most of the details about his
unusual experiences were scattered throughout his tape-
recorded sermons. It occurred to me how inspiring it would
be if all of these experiences were gathered together and
put into chronological order. It was then that I began to
dream of writing a biography of my own.
But writing an extensive biography would require
commitment and a certain maturity that, in my twenties, I
didn't yet have. So instead of a detailed biography, in 1973 I
wrote an extensive booklet about William Branham. I printed
it out on my own, and sent it to some ministers and
acquaintances who I thought might be interested. His answers surprised me
People started ordering thousands of copies. Soon I was
receiving letters from other countries around the world,
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x SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham
requesting more information about the life and ministry of William Branham.
Due to lack of time and resources to respond to these requests, I let several
Christian missionary groups handle the printing and mailing of these booklets.
Over the next 20 years, hundreds of thousands of copies were distributed in
a dozen languages around the world.
The demand for this booklet made me realize the need for an
extensive and detailed biography on William Branham. But the task of
researching and correlating the vast amount of information needed to write
such a biography seemed beyond my reach.
I was working full time on the family farm - a wheat ranch that spanned
about 6,500 acres. I was also working part-time as a pastor of a small
church, and all while my four children were growing up. How could I find
time to write? This seemed impossible.
If God wants us to do something, He knows how to put us in position

to do it. In March 1986, a series of calamities struck my family. First, my wife
had to risk a back operation; second, I was seriously injured in a skiing
accident; third, I lost my part-time job; and fourth, due to a government
contract dispute, my family was at risk of losing our entire farm.
It seemed to me as if there were many explosions at once. With my life in

turmoil, I reexamined my goals and prayed about my future. What was God
trying to tell me? The only thought that kept coming back to me was my old
dream about writing a detailed history of William Branham.
Finally, fearful and trembling, I gave myself to the task.

By the grace of God, both my wife and I regained our health. Finally,
we also resolved our dispute with the government without losing the farm.
Despite all this, my commitment to writing William Branham's biography
remained. For two years I spent about 12 hours a week doing research for
this project. I read newspaper and magazine articles about him, studied
photos, and watched reel-to-reel tapes that showed miracles that occurred
in his healing campaigns. I have also traveled to some of the places where
supernatural phenomena
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xi SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham

happened in his life and I talked to eyewitnesses.
But most of my time was spent listening to hundreds of William Branham's
sermons recorded on cassette tape. By the time I actually started writing in
1988, I had cataloged about a thousand pages of notes.
If anything proves that adversity can have a purpose, it is the portion

of William Branham's life. The trials and tragedies he faced between 1933
and 1946 were tools to shape his character, making him want to do whatever
God asked... and it was God's purpose to ask a lot of him. Years later
William Branham said: “Character is a victory, not a gift.”
He spoke from experience. I hope William Branham's story of victory inspires

yours. My prayer is that you will gain from this book an awareness of the
power and closeness to Jesus Christ today and a new sense of God's love
and care for all of His children.
- Owen Jorgensen, 1995
BOOK 2
Book One Summary
IN HIS CHILDHOOD William Branham struggled to survive.

His father, Charles, was illiterate, working low-income jobs that
barely fed his growing number of children. To make matters
worse, Charles had a craving for alcohol which ultimately
weakened his health, preventing him from working at all.
Consequently, at an early age, the family's source of income
fell to Billy, the oldest of the ten Branham children.
Billy Branham was a nervous child who didn't fit in very

well with his peers. Unusual things kept happening to him,
mystical and spiritual things that made him feel angry and
confused. Often his mother, Ella, told him about the strange
light that hovered inside the hillside cabin the minute he was
born – it was five o'clock in the morning, April 6, 1909.
Fascinating as this story was, it only added to the confusion.
to Billy. Why was his life so different from those around him?
Why did a voice from a whirlwind in a tree tell him never to
drink, smoke, or corrupt his body in any way, because there
would be a work for him to do when he was older? Why did the
whirlwind appear every time he tried to disobey this command?
And why did that gypsy fortune teller at the amusement park
say she knew he was born under a sign because she saw a
light that followed him?
Despite these and other indications, Billy did not turn his
attention toward God until that day in 1931 when he nearly
died after an operation to remove his appendix. As his heart
beat slower and slower, the hospital room darkened, and then
disappeared. Suddenly he was standing under a large poplar
tree.
BOOK 2
xiv SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham

This was the same place where a voice from a whirlwind had
terrified him when he was a little boy. Now he saw the same
whirlwind whirling in the branches; but this time the voice from the
whirlwind said: “Never drink, nor smoke, nor corrupt your body in
any way - I called you and you did not answer.” Frantically Bill
asked, “Who called?
Who are you, and what do you want me to do?” The voice only
repeated: “I called you and you didn’t answer.” Billy cried out,
“Jesus, if it is You, allow me to return to earth again and I promise
that I will preach Your Gospel from the rooftops to the street
corners. I will tell everyone about this.” Suddenly he was back in the hospital room.
Miraculously he survived.
Now he became zealous to find God. For months he
searched for salvation in many denominational churches. One day
he knelt to pray in a barn behind his parents' house. With despair
in his soul he confessed both his sin and his great need. Suddenly
a cross of light formed in the air in front of him, and a voice spoke
to him in a language he did not understand. Instead of being afraid,
he felt peace and freedom, as if a weight weighing hundreds of
pounds had been lifted from his shoulders. After all, he found his
salvation on the cross of Jesus Christ.
Shortly after this experience he met a young woman, Amelia

Hope Brumbach, who invited him to visit the Missionary Baptist
Church in Jeffersonville. Bill started going there regularly. The
pastor, Dr. Roy Davis, was impressed with this young man's
sincerity and zeal. After observing him for several months, Dr.
Davis suggested that Bill should enter the ministry. Bill had not
forgotten the promise he made at his death's door - if only he could
have another chance to live, he would preach the Gospel of Jesus
Christ from rooftops to street corners. He felt filled with joy that he
now had this opportunity.
BOOK 2
Book Two:
The Young and
Your Desperation
(1933 - 1946)
William Branham as a young minister

Chapter 12
Hovering in the
Air 1933
THE RECENT FAITH OBTAINED by William Branham was

not a sideline for him; not something extra, like butter and
jam spread on your bread. This was his bread. For 24 years
he had wandered aimlessly through his own spiritual
desert, hungry to the point of starvation; in a spiritual
sense, eating bark, leaves, and grass to stay alive. And
now, for the first time in his life, he was eating real food,
packed with spiritual nourishment, feeding on Jesus, the
Bread of Life who came down from heaven to give eternal
life to a dying man. Bill felt his spiritual strength grow week
by week. Suddenly the world held more meaning than just
sweat and blisters, rejection and confusion. Now Billy had
hope, love, and a purpose that was everlasting. His faith in
Jesus Christ quickly became the center of his existence,
the pivot around which all his thoughts and activities
revolved.
Billy heard his pastor preach that the reason Almighty
God traced His thoughts in the Bible was so that every
Christian could know the Lord's will for his own life; and that
everything consisted of reading the Bible and praying.
That saying made sense to Bill, and he read the Bible
voraciously, eager to increase his knowledge of the Word
so he could put it to daily use. To him, the Bible seemed
like a house full of treasures that he had suddenly inherited.
He wanted to go to each room, pull out the drawers, open
the cupboard, and look through the cupboards to see
exactly what it was that he now owned.
BOOK 2
18 SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham
He hadn't read many books since finishing seventh grade ten

years ago, so his reading skills were rusty and slow. He followed
the general meaning enough, but he could not pronounce those
difficult Old Testament names, such as Artaxerxes,
Nebuchadnezzar, Zerubbabel, and Benaiah; He often struggled
with the strange syntax of the English translation of King James,
long ago taken from his own Kentuckian dialect. When he
preached his first sermon in early 1933, Bill did not trust his tongue
to read the Bible aloud. Instead he persuaded Hope to sit on the
platform behind him and read his text whenever he gave her a
signal. His subject was God's grace and care in Samson's
tumultuous life. Hope read Bill's text from the book of Judges and
Bill began expounding. As soon as he wanted to read to the
congregation what Jesus said in John 14. He nodded to Hope and
she began, “Let not your heart be troubled-” Bill interrupted,
“Listen to what it says; do not be disturbed.” He nodded again to
Hope and she continued reading, “you believe in God, believe in
me too-” Again Bill interrupted: “You do this? Do you really
believe?” And so he continued his first clumsy attempt to preach
- embarrassing and agitated, yes, but redeemed by an intense
sincerity that made him eloquent.
Listening in the audience, Ella Branham considered her son's

words carefully. The dramatic change in Billy's life, as well as the
miraculous healings, had awakened something deeply spiritual in
his soul. She responded by giving her life to Jesus at the age of
39. Overflowing with joy, Bill baptized his mother in the Name of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Encouraged by his mother's reaction, Billy began to insist that
his father go to church. Charles Branham refused, despite all of
Billy's efforts, he could not be moved in that direction. That
bothered Billy. He could not shake his interest by giving up, based
on the horrifying experience during the operation at the age of 14,
when he apparently descended into the region of lost wandering
souls. Now Bill prayed often: “Dear God, don't let my daddy go to
a place like that; please,
BOOK 2
Hovering in the Air 19
let him see Your grace and accept Your forgiveness.”

One night after most of his family had gone to bed, Billy lay on
a folding bed in the front room, praying for his father, who was
drinking at a local tavern. As Billy prayed, he had an impression,
as if a voice was saying, “Arise.” He got to his feet and walked out
the door, not knowing why, but feeling like he was being drawn
toward something.
Behind the house, a trail crossed a vast vegetation covered in

reddish sagebrush, a knee-high grass common in that area. Billy
followed the path by starlight. When he reached the center of the
field he knelt down, bowed his head, clasped his hands, and
continued praying for his father. Suddenly he opened his eyes, and
was startled to see a man hovering three and a half meters in front
of him; a very unusual man – small and thin, with hair down to his
shoulders, with a barely trimmed beard, and a white robe that stood
out clearly in the starlight. The man was in profile, looking toward
the west. He was peaceful in appearance. Their hands were
intertwined and one foot was slightly in front of the other. Bill looked
at those feet a second time. Amazing, they weren't touching the
ground!
“Now wait a minute,” Bill thought, as he patted his joints. “I am

not asleep. No, I was there praying for Dad and something told me
to come here... and here is this man.”
This all seemed very real; the same breeze that passed strongly
over that tall grass caused this man's white cloak to wave. Bill
grabbed a stalk of mugwort and stuck it in his mouth like a toothpick.
He thought, “This looks like the Lord Jesus. I would like to know if
it is!”
Turning away from the trail, Bill moved so he could see a little more of
the man's face. He cleared his throat: “Uh-hum.” The man didn't move. Bill
thought, “I think I’ll call Him.” Out loud he said, “Jesus?”
The man turned and extended his arms.

This was the last thing Billy remembered. He lost consciousness
and fell face down, but not before that face
BOOK 2
would be stamped eternally on his memory - a face so rich in

character that no artist in the world could paint it.
It was a countenance of authority - it seemed as if He spoke at that
moment, the world would end - yet His eyes radiated such kindness,
compassion and love.
At dawn Bill came to, still in the sagebrush field, shivering in the
cold night air and with his wet pajama shirt, evidently soaked by his
own tears. He walked home, got dressed, and then excitedly and
enthusiastically headed straight to his pastor's house to ask his
opinion.
Doctor Davis was far from enthusiastic about the incident.

“Billy, this will drive you crazy. This is the devil. Don’t be fooled by a thing
like this.”
Those were discouraging words, coming from a man Billy greatly
respected. He left the parsonage scared and confused - and wanted a
second opinion. So the next thing Billy visited was his old friend, Reverend
McKinney, and he told this elderly minister everything that had happened.
“Now, Brother McKinney, what do you think about this?”
Reverend McKinney scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“Well, Billy, I'll tell you - I believe if you keep your life clean and just
preach what's in the Bible here - the grace of God and so on - I
believe it will be better for you.
I wouldn’t go after something fantastic if I were you.”
“Sir, I don’t mean to say that I’m going after something fantastic.
I’m just trying to figure out what this is.”
Reverend McKinney shook his head. “Billy, years ago they used
to have these types of experiences at church. But when the apostles
ceased, these things ceased with them.
Now the only thing we have that shows this type of phenomenon
are demons and spiritists.”
“Oh, Brother McKinney, do you really mean this?”
"Yes definitely."
Billy shuddered at the thought. “Oh, God, have mercy on me!
Brother McKinney, would you pray with me that God would never
let this happen again? You know that
BOOK 2
I love Him and I don’t want to be wrong in these things.”

“Yes, I will pray, Brother Billy.”
The two knelt on the floor of the presbytery. Reverend McKinney prayed,
“Heavenly Father, I want to ask You to stop these demonic incidents from
infesting this young Christian life.”
“Yes, Heavenly Father,” Billy agreed prayerfully, “please never let these
things happen to me again.”
Likewise, they just continued to happen - and regularly. Sometimes he
felt a strange pressure pushing against his skin, as if something (or someone)
invisible was close and blowing on him. His skin tingled. He felt haunted.
Other times he would be working, and suddenly he would find himself
somewhere for a few minutes, watching something happen as clearly as if
he were sitting in the front row watching a play. Then soon he would be back
where he started, in a trance, resuming his life as if nothing had ever
happened. But the image remained in his mind. He had been there. He had
seen something that he could not forget or disregard, even if he did not know
what it meant.
He thought again of his pastor’s words: “If you want to know God’s will
for your own life, then read the Bible and pray.” Bill found a spot under an
old oak tree and prayed about his problem well into the night. Sometimes,
after midnight, he would dust off his clothes and return home. One night his
mother heard him coming and called him, telling him that his sister was sick.
Bill stopped near the room where Delores was sleeping, knelt down and
prayed for his three-year-old sister, then went upstairs and into his room. As
soon as he closed the door, he heard a crackling sound like the sparking of
two stripped electrical wires. Would there be a short circuit in the room? His
eyes were scanning the sockets when the room was filled with a strange
greenish-yellow light. An instant later, the room disappeared completely.
Bill seemed to be hovering in the air. Terror tightened his heart muscles.
What was happening? Was he dying? Or was he already dead? This light,
which still shined
BOOK 2
all around him was coming from a source somewhere above. He looked up in
amazement, eyes wide, as a blazing star came spinning towards him. Billy's
heart boomed like a timbale. His chest tightened and he couldn't breathe. He
tried to scream, but he couldn't breathe.
Strangely, the flaming ball shrank as it approached until it appeared no bigger

than his fist. It hit his chest with no apparent force, burying itself in his heart.
At this moment the scene changed. Billy found himself standing on a

grassy knoll. On the floor in front of him was an old glass container, the kind
used for sweets, with a round bottom and lid. But instead of containing bars
of mint candy, this container had a large moth trapped inside, frantically
beating itself against the glass, trying to free itself. Wanting to survey the
territory, Billy turned to his right. There was an angel with a serene and
formidable appearance, dressed in a white robe that seemed to radiate the
light of himself. Billy blinked as he tried to see the angel's face, but he couldn't
see it. The angel's feature appeared to be a blurred light.
The angel said, “Be careful. See what I have to show you,” and he pointed
toward the jar.
Billy turned and looked at the container just in time to see an arm throw a
rock which hit the glass, breaking the moth's prison. The heavy moth tried to
take flight, but was unable to leave the ground; its body was too heavy for its
short, thick wings. The moth opened its mouth and released a swarm of flies,
filling the air with their angry buzzing.
The flies scattered in all directions. One of them flew into Bill's ear. Billy
shuddered.
The angel said, “Be careful. Flies represent evil spirits, such as from
divination and palmistry. Take care ".
Billy doesn't know how he got home. One second he was on that little
grassy hill and the next second he was back in the darkness of his own room.
He hadn't even blinked in the meantime. Where was he
BOOK 2
state? How did he get there and how did he get home? The
experience left him shaking, so much so that he crawled onto the bed.
But he couldn't sleep that night. He kept returning to the angel's
warning over and over in his mind, wondering what it could mean.
The next day at work, Bill was extremely cautious, even acting
nervous. He waited for something drastic to happen. During his
lunch hour he stopped at the supermarket where both George
DeArk and his brother Ed worked. Bill was in the back telling
George about the vision, when a woman walked in the front door.
A strange pressure touched Bill, the same kind of feeling he had
felt when he got on that Greyhound bus, when he was approached
by an astrologer. He mentioned this to his friend. “George, there
is something strange about that lady.”
Stopping at the cash register, the woman told Ed DeArk, “I'm

looking for a man by the name of Branham.
They told me he is a man of God.”
“Well, you're in luck. He’s at the store.” Ed shouted to
the back: “Bill. There is someone here who wants to see you.”
As Billy approached, the woman asked, “Are you William
Branham, the prophet of God?”
“I am William Branham.”
“Are you the one who performed that miracle of Sir William
Merrill, in the hospital, and also healed Mary Der Ohanion after
she had been crippled for 17 years?”
Billy shook his head. “Madam, you got it wrong. I am William
Branham and I was there when both of those things happened,
but I did not heal them. Jesus Christ performed those miracles.”
That satisfied her. “I lost some documents and I would like

you locate them for me.”
Billy didn't understand what she meant by this statement, but
he knew that this situation was related to the vision from the
previous night, which had been warning him. He said, “Madam,
you have come to the wrong person; you must be looking for a
gypsy or a medium.”
She looked surprised. “Aren’t you a medium?”
BOOK 2
"It is not me. Mediums are of the devil. I am a Christian, and I have the
Spirit of God.”
She was indifferent. Suddenly Bill realized that she herself was a
medium. He said: “Last night, in a vision, the Lord sent an angel to warn me
of his coming and told me to be careful. This work in which you find yourself
is of the devil and grieves the Spirit of God.”
The woman put her hand to her chest, pressing her heart. "I -
I need some medicine.”
“Lady, stop doing these things and your heart will be fine.”
She turned on her heel and stomped out of the store in a huff. Still in
sight, she stopped and clutched her heart again. With a piercing scream,
she fell to the sidewalk. By the time Ed and Bill reached her, she was
already dead.
Other messages also came by vision, although not so clearly defined. In
one, Bill found himself jumping down the street, touched by the gray sunset.
He felt so carefree and happy - the way he had felt that day when he first
gave his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ - and in the vision he was jumping
and making movements with his hands as if he was struggling to express
his joy. Suddenly a large black shadow ran towards him, as if it were a dog
that was going to bite him. Frightened, Bill kicked him and shouted: “Pass,
dog!”
The obscure shape rose. To Bill's surprise, he saw that it was not a dog
at all, but a tall man dressed in black. The man growled, “Did you call me a
dog?”
“I'm sorry, sir,” Bill apologized. "I thought

you were a dog because you were crawling.”
The man replied: “You called me a dog, didn’t you? I will kill you for
this.” The man pulled a long saber blade from his belt, and attacked Bill with
slow, determined steps, his eyes intent on murder.
“Please, sir,” Bill defended himself, as he walked away, “please

understand me. I didn't know you were a man.
I really thought you were a dog.”
BOOK 2
The enraged man never hesitated; with every step he took he looked
more like a demon. “I'll teach you to call me a dog. I will kill you."
Suddenly, Bill, walking away, came to a ditch. He was left with no way
out. “Lord, I am not afraid of dying, because I have Jesus in my heart. I just
want you to understand that I called you a dog by mistake.”
The shadowy figure just muttered stupidly: “I will kill you.” He raised the
curved blade, and balanced it to strike.
Billy cried out. At this moment, he heard a noise coming from above,
making him look up. From the heavens a man dressed in a white robe
quickly descended. He positioned himself firmly on Bill's right side and faced
the attacker harshly, staring at him without wavering. The attacker retreated;
his knife, which was still raised, shook, and then fell. Spinning all over the
place, the black figure ran as fast as he could.
The man in white turned to Bill and smiled - at least Bill took it as a
smile. Bill tried as hard as he could to see that face clearly, but the angel's
features were blurred beyond recognition. Pulling his white cloak tightly
around him, the man took off back into the heavens. Then the vision faded.
What could this mean? Bill wasn't sure, but until something more specific
was suggested, he took it to mean that God had sent an angel to protect
him from every trap the devil set for him.
WILLIAM BRANHAM took his new ministry seriously. True to his

earnestness, he preached the Gospel at every opportunity, sharing his faith
in the love and kindness of Jesus with old friends, occasional acquaintances,
and sincere strangers. One of the first people he led to the Lord was Mr.
Short, a deputy sheriff, who had poisoned Billy's hunting dog, named Fritz.
Many others followed. Bill was constantly testifying of Jesus. Nor was I
afraid to talk about unconventional scenarios, such as:
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buses, mechanic garages, street corners, parks - and anywhere he could find
a cluster of people who would stop long enough to listen to him. As a result,
his faith was constantly being challenged.
One Saturday Bill was preaching in a park to a small group of people,

when a man who lived near the park walked by carrying a bag of groceries.
Bill knew him. This man had once studied to be a Roman Catholic priest, but
became displeased with religion in general and was now an avowed infidel.
The companion stopped to listen for a minute, chewing a large piece of

tobacco. Finally he said, “Preacher, you keep talking about the Bible as if it
were a good thing. This Bible is the most common book that has ever been
written. It is so misleading that it should not be allowed to be among public
literature.”
Bill said, “Well, this is a free country. You are giving your opinion.”
The former priest spat out the tobacco he was chewing, near Bill's feet.
“Preacher, do you really believe there is a God?”
“Yes, sir, I believe it.”

“Do you believe that this fellow Jesus was a human God?”
"Yes sir. I believe that Jesus Christ was human and also that He was God.”
“Do you believe he rose from the dead in that human body?”
“Yes, sir, I believe it.”

The man began to chew another piece of tobacco. “If I can prove to you
that there is no such thing as a human God, would you accept it?”
“Yes, sir, I would.”

The man's lips twisted with a sly smile.
“Okay, preacher, tell me – how many senses are there in the human body?”
“Why, you know how many there are.”

“Yes, but I want you to name them.”
Billy quickly said, “Sight, taste, smell, touch and hearing.”
BOOK 2
“Okay, if Jesus was a human God, as you say He was, then one of these
five senses must declare Him. Isn’t this right?”
The crowd around them listened with rapt attention. Bill cautiously replied,
“Sounds reasonable enough. Why?"
“Have you seen your God?”

"Well, yes. One night not long ago I...”
“Then let me see Him,” the man interrupted. “I'm not talking about faith.
My sense of sight is just the same as yours.”
Bill said, “I saw Him by vision.”

“Then let me see the vision.”
"I can't. Only God can show...”
“The truth is that you have never contacted Him with any of your five
senses.”
“I feel Him.”
“Well, if you feel Him, let me feel Him. My sense of touch is only as good
as yours. Bring Jesus here so I can feel Him, then I will believe in Him.”
Agitated, Bill said, “I feel Him in my heart.”

The man objected: “Then let me feel You in my heart.”
“If you believed...”

“Now, I don’t want your psychology. I want to know the truth.”
The man spat another piece of tobacco at Billy's feet.
Bill said, “Please don’t spit on my foot, sir.”
The former priest rejoiced. “Well, preacher, you're all tied up, aren't you?
You have never seen Him, felt Him, tasted Him, smelled Him, or heard Him.
Therefore, if the five senses do not declare Him, then there is no such thing
as God and you must stop deceiving these people with your foolishness.”
The man had a tough argument. Billy was praying in his heart for wisdom.
“Sir, I believe you have good points.”
The man smiled mischievously. “You’re coming to, aren’t you?”
“Maybe I am,” Bill said. “You really are a man
BOOK 2
intelligent. You have a good mentality.”

The companion spat again and laughed: “Surely, I
I have a good mentality. My mother never raised fools.”
"Just a minute. You said you have a mind?”
“Well, certainly, I have a mind. They all have it, don’t they?”
“Is it a human mind?” Billy asked.

The man looked confused. “What’s the matter with you, son? You seem
to have lost yours. Of course it is a human mind.”
Billy said, “So if it's a human mind, one of the human senses must tell it.
It is not?"
“Well, I suppose…”
“Have you seen your mind?”
Now it was the infidel's turn to be frustrated. “Well...uh...the
doctors could...”
“Not the brain, now,” Billy interrupted: “the mind. There is a difference
between the brain and the mind. The brain is the part you can see if you look
under the skull; the mind is the thoughts that the brain thinks. And you never
saw his mind, did you?”
“No, I don’t think I saw her.”

“Have you ever smelled your mind? Or did you feel it? Or have you tried
it? Or did you hear her? No, you never did this, did you?
So according to your reason, you have no mind at all.”
“I know I have a mind,” said the man furiously.
“And I know I have God too,” said Bill, satisfied that he had made his
point well. So he thought of a clever ending. Standing in the crowd of
spectators was a young man who had a rose pinned to his lapel. Bill borrowed
the pin and said, “Now do you see my point?” - and he jabbed the former
priest in the arm.
"Hey!"
“Did you feel this?” Billy asked. “Of course,”
he snapped, rubbing his arm and expressing
frown.
Billy laughed. “Funny, I didn’t feel anything.”
BOOK 2
The people around him laughed too.

“Let me stick you with the pin and then you will certainly feel it.”
Now Billy had his antagonist right where he wanted him to be. “This is
exactly my point. If you accept the same Christ that I accepted, then you will
feel Him the same way I feel Him.”
The infidel stomped away, irritated and unconvinced. Billy wasn't

surprised. Although he had only become a Christian a few months ago, he
had witnessed to enough people to realize that he could not change a
person's mind with a good argument. Faith was a revelation that came from
God.
BOOK 2
Chapter 13
Mysterious Star Reappears 1933
WILLIAM BRANHAM preached at the Missionary Baptist Church infrequently

for three months when he and Doctor Davis had a disagreement. Doctor
Davis wanted Bill to ordain several women as preachers in the local
assembly. Bill sternly refused.
"What is this?" Doctor Davis was furious, outraged by his subordinate's

audacity. “You are a minister in this congregation,” the pastor reminded him.
“It is your duty to support the bylaws of this church.”
“Doctor Davis, with all due respect to the Baptist faith, and everything
else to which I have been ordained, I did not know that it was a doctrine
of the church to ordain women.”
“Nevertheless, this is the doctrine of this church.”
Billy asked, “Sir, could I excuse myself, just for tonight?”
"No. It’s your duty to be there.”

In a way, Bill felt that Dr. Davis was right: As a minister, he should
support everything the local church did. Billy would lose enthusiasm for
something that his conviction told him was wrong.
“Could you at least answer some questions for me?”
“This I will do.”

“Could you explain why, in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul said, 'Let women be
silent in the churches, because they are not permitted to speak'?”
"Certainly." The doctor's behavior reacted with
BOOK 2
presumed trust. “In those days all the women sat back in the corners,
gossiping and making noise, and Paul said, 'Don't let them do this.' See?”
For Billy this explanation did not line up with another Scripture he had
read. “So explain to me I Timothy 2...”
- Billy flipped through his Bible until he found the passage - “where Paul
said, 'But I do not permit a wife to teach or exercise authority over her
husband, but to be silent. For first Adam was formed, then Eve. And Adam
was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, fell into transgression.
However, she will be saved, giving birth to children, if she continues with
modesty in faith, charity and sanctification.' Now, Doctor Davis, I don't mean
that she wants to do anything wrong; but she is indeed mistaken in this.
So God doesn’t want her to be a preacher.”

Doctor Davis, with a frown on his face, asked: “Is that your opinion?”
“This is the opinion of Scripture, from my point of view.”

“Young man, for this reason you may have your license taken away by
the Baptist church.”
Billy took his wallet out of his back pocket. “I'll save you the trouble and
return this right now. I better get rid of this, because I can see this is going
to be a burden for me.”
“No, no, Brother Billy, let’s not be so hasty about it.”
On this faint note of reconciliation the dispute was over. Since neither
would back down from their position, they both agreed that Bill should go his
own way and begin his own work for the Lord. A firm handshake made their
decision solid, and the two men departed as friends.
Bursting with dreams and enthusiasm, Billy rented the old Masonic Hall
in Jeffersonville and began holding services on Sundays. On the first Sunday
only a handful of people gathered to hear him preach, but from then on his
congregation increased by one or two souls a week.
Billy shared his faith constantly, witnessing to new people he met at his job,
and others he met.
BOOK 2
had known all his life. He invited many people to church, and there were
always new people taking turns attending Sunday services. Of these visitors,
few accepted Christ as their Savior and began attending Bill's meetings
regularly. Little by little his congregation grew.
Each new convert required a little more of his time, but Billy didn't mind.
In fact, he liked it. After so many years of rejection, he finally found love and
acceptance - both from Jesus Christ and from this small group of people
who had him as their pastor. Finally he had found his place in life, his
purpose for living; and he intended to give himself to the cause of Christ
sincerely.
In June 1933, Billy rented a large circus tent and pitched it on an empty
lot in Jeffersonville, planning to hold a two-week revival. On the Sunday
before this revival meeting began, as he prepared for Sunday school in the
Masonic Hall, he entered a trance unlike anything he had previously
experienced. He could see the world spread out like a tablecloth in front of
him, and it seemed as if he was somehow connected to the passage of time.
He saw olive-skinned soldiers marching in harmony, bayonets gleaming at
the ends of their rifles like javelin action; then he saw these soldiers attacking
a group of black-skinned people, who were fighting with spears, pitchforks
and scythes.
A voice spoke from behind and to Bill's right, out of his line of sight. This
was the same voice that had spoken to him from an aspen tree when he
was seven years old; a deep, resonant voice saying: “Benito Mussolini will
invade Ethiopia and take it. The poorest country will fall with its step.
Italy will then try to invade other countries, but will fail, and Mussolini himself
will meet a disastrous end.”
The scenario has changed. Bill saw an army of men dressed in drab-
green uniforms fighting with soldiers dressed in gray. Bill could see army
tanks, explosions and a huge network of concrete pillboxes, cannons,
machine gun trenches and barbed wire. The voice behind him
BOOK 2
explained: “From Germany, the young Austrian, Adolf Hitler, will lead the world
to war. America will also go to war, and in the course of it Franklin Roosevelt
will be elected to a fourth term as president. Germany will fortify itself behind a
long concrete wall, and America will pay a tremendous price in lives for
breaching this wall. But Germany will be annihilated and Hitler will have a
mysterious end.”
Again the scene changed. He saw Europe stretched out like a map before
him, and he saw national boundaries being altered and reformed into a new
political section. The voice said: “There are three political ideologies fighting
for dominance in the world today: fascism, Nazism and communism. The first
two will come to nothing, but communism will flourish. Look at Russia, the King
of the North.”
A fourth time the scene changed. The war in Europe turned blue and faded
into history. In his place Bill witnessed tremendous advances in technology
across the globe.
Among other wonders, he saw egg-shaped cars traveling on an elaborate
highway system. He even saw a car without a driver. People, once inside the
car, instead of facing the front window, were focused on an entertainment
game while the car electronically guided itself along the road. The voice made
no comment, and the scene changed a fifth time.
Now he saw women with long hair and wearing long dresses, marching
with advertisements, demanding the right to vote.
When this right was granted, he saw them elect a young man as president of
the United States. Then Bill noticed that the women cut their hair. Some of the
women took to wearing long pants, while others shortened their skirts and
made themselves mini-blouses that covered just the shape and size of a fig
leaf.
For a sixth time the vision changed. Bill watched as there in the United
States raised a beautiful woman, elegantly dressed. But despite her amiable
character, there seemed to be a hardness about her that defied description.
Great power was given to her and she dominated the earth with her authority.
BOOK 2
The voice to Bill's right said, “Look once more.” Bill slowly turned to see
the seventh and final spectacle - the United States spreading before him in
chaotic ruins. Craters, holes in the ground, piles of rubble and smoke
blackened the air. As far as Bill could see, the land was unoccupied by
humans. Then the vision faded.
Bill sat there for a long time, numb and confused. When he could make
his fingers move again, he picked up a pen and began to scribble the seven
visions, reflecting their meanings as he wrote them down.
“Mussolini will attack Ethiopia…” This would be an unexpected turn of

world events. Bill knew something about Mussolini, because he was a man
the news often talked about. Mussolini had been Italy's totalitarian dictator
since 1922 and was widely considered Italy's national savior. He had brought
order to chaos in a country impoverished by World War, stabilized Italy's
economy and restored its dignity. His social reforms had been carried out
without losing the support of both industrialists and farmers. Public figures
throughout Europe and the United States hailed Mussolini, sometimes
comparing him to Caesar, Napoleon, and Cromwell, due to his great success
in transforming and governing his country. Why would Mussolini risk his
good name to invade such a backward land as Ethiopia?
As for Adolf Hitler, near the end of January, President Paul Von
Hindenburg of Germany had appointed him chancellor, bringing Hitler's Nazi
Party to the forefront of German politics. But how could he lead the European
nations to war again, after the last war which had been so destructive and
demoralizing? Nobody in the world wanted another war. However, the
visions had never failed.
Bill did not understand world political forces; but he read the newspapers,
and so was aware of Mussolini's fascism that was gaining support in Asia
and Latin America. Fascism rejected the idea of individual freedom, on the
contrary, it believed that the state should regulate all the lives of the nation;
and supported the idea that the state should be led by a personality
BOOK 2
dynamics; which he would dictate with supreme authority. Bill knew almost
nothing about Hitler's Nazism, which hadn't been in the news much until
recently. He knew something about Russia's communism, with its disregard
for labor rights and its repressed central government run strictly by the
Communist Party elite. Of all the forces fighting in Europe at this time,
Communism seemed the least likely to dominate. However, the visions had
never failed.
And those cars he flips! So rounded and aerodynamic. How different

they looked from the square-shaped automobiles driven on the roads in
1933! What wonders must lie ahead, if science and technology could invent
such magnificent machines! However, these achievements would be offset
by the corruption of values in the world, exemplified in the vision by the
moral decadence of women. And what of that cruel beauty that should
someday dominate America? Was it really a woman, or did she represent a
power? Maybe a women's political movement, or a spiritual movement. Bill
wrote in parentheses: “Maybe the Catholic church.” And finally, there was
that terrible destruction. It seemed that America's days were numbered.
Bill read the prophecy to his congregation, commenting as he read.

When he detailed how these three “isms” of Europe would be swallowed up
by Communism, he had the people's attention and said repeatedly: “Look at
Russia. Watch the King in the North.” After describing the seventh and final
vision, he added a personal opinion to the church: “Now the Lord did not tell
me this part; This is on me. Judging by how fast everything in the world is
moving, I predict this will happen around the year 1977.”
Inspired by these visions, Bill preached his heart out that first night of
the revival meetings in the rented tent. Although he still needed Hope to read
his Bible text aloud for him, this did not detract from his sermon in which he
vigorously challenged the crowd to accept the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
The following night, and on successive nights, the tent filled with a little more
people.
BOOK 2
until, at the last Sunday morning service two weeks later, Billy
Branham preached to over 1,000 souls. He asked how many
would like to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and more than 200 people came forward. He dismissed the
church and headed for the Ohio River.
It was June 11, 1933. Around two o'clock in the afternoon, a
thousand people gathered on the banks of the Ohio River at the
end of Spring Street to watch these baptisms. The earth was
warm under a cloudless sky. Not even a light breeze moved to
cool the crowd as they sang:
I stand on the banks of the stormy Jordan,
And cast a longing glance,
Towards fair Canaan, the happy land, Where
is my possession.
I'm heading to the promised land...
When Billy reached the shore he saw a young girl he knew
named Margie sitting in a rowboat near the place where the
baptisms were to take place. Margie was scantily clad in bathing
attire. Feeling that Margie's swimwear was indecent and
inappropriate, Billy politely asked her if she could leave.
She replied indignantly: “I don’t have to leave.”

“That's right, Margie, you don't have to leave. But if I were you, I would
have enough respect for the Gospel to leave where I am baptizing.”
“Don’t talk to me about respecting the Gospel. I am a Sunday

school teacher. I don't believe in baptism, and I don't have to
leave.”
Margie snickered as Billy turned around. Billy entered the
river with the first candidate for baptism. The two stopped where
the water reached their waists as the current slowly moved
around them. The surface of the river was as flat as melted
glass under the sun. Waves of heat hit the trees on the opposite
coast.
Bill asked, “Do you believe you have met Jesus Christ?
in this revival?”
The man replied: “Yes.”
“Have you repented of your sins?”
BOOK 2
"Try."
“Do you believe that Jesus Christ has forgiven you and that you now
Are you saved from your sins?”
"Try."
“Then let’s pray.” Together they bowed their heads. Bill prayed, “Heavenly
Father, we are here because You have commanded us to go into all nations
and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." Then Bill raised his head, turned to the
candidate, and said: “Upon confession of your sins I baptize you, my dear
brother, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The candidate held his nose
while Bill immersed him in murky waters.
As the first person walked toward the bank and the second candidate
entered, Bill exhorted the crowd: “Why did Jesus tell us to be baptized?
Well, for one thing, baptism symbolizes death; death to the world.
Symbolically, the old man goes to the tomb so that the new man can come
and live a new life in Jesus Christ.
But remember, baptism doesn't change you; it is only an outward sign of the
inward work. The believer is a witness to the world that Jesus Christ has
already changed its interior.”
One by one Bill baptized the candidates in a similar manner. The 17th
person to enter the waters was Edward Colvin, a boy not much younger
than Bill himself. As soon as the two stood up to where the water reached
their waists, Bill asked, “Edward, do you believe you were regenerated in
the revival meetings?”
“Yes,” the boy replied.

Bill raised his voice to be heard by the crowd on the bank: “Everyone
bow your heads.” When they consented, Bill closed his eyes, bowed his
head, and prayed aloud: “Heavenly Father…”
Then he heard a voice say, “Look!” He opened his eyes and looked at
Edward, who was waiting patiently with his head bowed and his eyes closed.
The words hadn't come from him. Bill didn't know where they came from.
Confused, he again bowed his head, closed his eyes, and continued the
prayer, “Heavenly Father, as I baptize this boy with water,
BOOK 2
may You baptize him with the Holy Spirit.”

Again he heard the voice say: “Look!” Opening his eyes, he looked
around.
Edward opened his eyes too, curious because of the delay.
“Well, Brother Bill?”
“Did you hear that?”
“Heard what?”
For the third time Bill heard the voice say, “Look!” This time he looked
up into the sky... and gasped! Falling from the sky was a ball of fire! From
afar it resembled a star, oscillating between a shade of yellow-green and
amber. As it approached, it seemed like a circle of fire spinning and
crackling, releasing sparks and flames. Bill held his breath in terror as the
star came straight at him; however, it stopped next to him and hovered
exactly over his head. The waters around Bill stirred, making a fine mist that
reflected a small rainbow over the star.
Suddenly Bill heard a voice speaking to him. This was not a low,
melodious voice that often spoke to him in visions; this voice was like tenor
sound and was familiar. Said, “Just as John the Baptist was sent to
foreshadow the first coming of Jesus Christ, so you are sent with a message
to foreshadow His second coming.”
On the shore people still had their heads bowed in prayer, but Margie
was watching from her boat.
When she saw the light, she screamed hysterically before fainting, throwing
herself forward onto the bow of her boat. That scream caught the attention
of many. Within seconds, an uproar engulfed the crowd as they looked up
to see the fireball hovering over Billy Branham's head. Women screamed;
men clung to each other; some in a state of panic ran; some fainted; and
most just trembled.
None of those who saw the star heard the voice. But one in particular, a
14-year-old girl heard it. She kept her eyes closed and her head bowed
even during the commotion of the crowd, because her pastor had told her
to bow her head and she always tried to do what her pastor said. This girl
who heard the voice, heard every word
BOOK 2
distinctly - and because he heard, something powerful sank

deep into his soul, as if an anchor had sunk into the
accumulated slime of his experience. Her name was Meda
Broy, and she was destined to play an important role in Bill's
future.
The fireball hovered over Bill's head for less than a minute;
then threw herself back into the heavens where she came
from. The choppy waters calmed again under a blue, windless
sky. Billy spoke to the crowd until they calmed down, then
continued baptizing until he finished immersing all 200
candidates in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As he walked through the mud back to shore, a group of
Jeffersonville businessmen surrounded him and asked
anxiously, “What does that light mean?”
Bill answered honestly, “I don’t know. I am a believer.
This must have been a sign to the unbeliever. I can’t tell you.”
William Branham while baptizing in the Ohio

River on June 11, 1933
BOOK 2
THE NEXT MORNING a local newspaper published an article about this

incident, titled: “Mysterious Star Appears Over Minister While Baptizing.” For
everyone else it was just a part of another curious piece of news to discuss
on the day the paper was published... but for William Branham it was much
more. He had stood beneath that pulsating amber light and squinted at its
glow. He had seen the waters become choppy around him. He had clearly
heard that voice declare: “As John the Baptist was sent to foreshadow the
first coming of Jesus Christ, so you are sent with a message to foreshadow
His second coming.” No, it wasn't something to dismiss easily, simply
because it seemed so remote and difficult to understand.
Bill considered it a supernatural sign that demanded an explanation. And if

this sign came from God, then he believed that the explanation would have
to come from the pages of God's Word. With fervor Bill read the Bible,
searching for clues. He kept a notebook and pencil handy so he could
quickly jot down whatever Scripture seemed to fit. To his surprise, he
discovered many.
The first place he found a reference to God appearing in the form of a

supernatural fire was in Genesis 15:17, where God made a covenant with
Abraham. Moses heard God speak to him from a burning bush, which had
to be a supernatural fire because the bush would not be consumed6 Moses
saw the Lord again in a cloud of light that helped him lead the children of .
Israel out of Egypt. He later found this light on Mount Sinai when he received
the Ten Commandments7 . Moses saw this many more times, including
when he dedicated the tabernacle in the wilderness, he promptly wrote: “For
the Lord your God is a consuming fire…”8 Solomon saw this when he
dedicated the first temple in Jerusalem9 . Manoah, Samson's father, saw
this when
6 Exodus
3:2 7 Exodus 14:19-20; 19:18-19; and 20:1-17
8 Leviticus 9:24; Deuteronomy 4:24
9 II Chronicles 7:1
BOOK 2
met the angel of the Lord10. Elijah saw this on the top of Mount Carmel11.
Ezekiel saw this in a vision12. David described this in Psalm 18. Saul of
Tarsus, on his way to Damascus, when persecuting Christians, was
blinded by a “light from heaven”.
He even heard a voice speak of that light, saying, “I am Jesus whom you
persecute.”13 Finally, both Daniel and John saw this light incarnate in the
Lord Jesus Christ14.
This was a formidable order of verses, leaving no questions in Bill's
mind that that star that had shone over him on the river last Sunday had
an inheritance that spanned the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. What
more could he ask for in regards to vindication? He knew this came from
God.
Then Bill turned his attention to the fact that the river, which had been
as smooth as glass, had suddenly become choppy around him when that
light had appeared. The only thing like this he found in the Bible was John
5:4. Could it be possible that the light above him in the river was the same
angel who had stirred the waters in the pool of Bethesda in ancient
Jerusalem?
He considered this idea for a long time, but could find nothing beyond this
to prove or disprove, so he left it as a question mark.
The third and most direct piece of evidence for the meaning of this
sign came from the voice: “Just as John the Baptist was sent to precede
the first coming of Jesus Christ...” Bill reflected on these words from every
angle, trying to decide exactly what they meant. . He studied the life of
John the Baptist and was particularly fascinated by the connection that
God drew between the prophet John and the prophet Elijah. “And he
[John] will go before him [Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah [Elijah]…”
said an angel to John’s father.15 Later Jesus said about John: “And if you
want to give credit, this [ John] is the Elijah [Elias] who was
10 Judges 13:19-20
11
I Kings 18:38
12
Ezekiel 1:4
13 Acts 9:1-5
14 Daniel 10:5-7; Revelation 1:14-15

15
Lucas 1:17
BOOK 2
coming .”16 This was a lot for Bill, and he knew it would take
a long time for him to understand it better.
Finally he considered the second thing the voice had said:
“...thus art thou sent with a message to foreshadow His
second coming.” Bill believed in the second coming of Christ,
having heard Dr. Davis preach about it and having read about
it in the New Testament. But what could his own insignificant
life have to do with this most important event of all ages?
Could this supernatural light in the river be a sign? Could this
somehow be connected with the second coming of Christ?
Was the time approaching?
And what did the voice mean when it said: “you are sent with
a message”? The only message he had was the Bible. Such
thoughts made Bill's mind swim in dizzy circles. This seemed
to be too deep a mystery for him to understand. Yet he felt a
definite excitement of anticipation rise, burning in his soul.
16
Matthew 11:14
BOOK 2
Chapter 14
His Future Tabernacle Is Shown 1933
OF THE HUNDREDS of people who had attended William Branham's first

evangelistic campaign in June 1933, many of them returned to their churches
once the tent meetings ended. However, some were new converts to Christ,
without previous church affiliations. Many of these people began to appear
regularly at Sunday services. The rented Masonic Hall quickly became too
small to accommodate the crowd, leading Bill to look for another building.
At the corner of 8th and Penn in Jeffersonville, not far from where he
was living with his family, the road changed direction around a wetland,
covered with lily pads. Walking back from the Masonic Hall, Billy knelt on
the bank of this pond to pray about this problem.
“Sir, what should I do? Where do You want this church to go?”
He looked around, there were lilies with their green stems sticking out,
floating like many plates on the surface of the water. How beautiful its
flowers were, some pink, others white! Those lilies left him in awe - how
could they start in the dirt and silt, deep down, and come out into the sunlight,
ending up so clean and graceful? This reminded Bill of his own life, which
had recently emerged from the dirt of sin into the light of the love of Jesus
Christ. How wonderful was the Lord who performed such a miracle! Then it
came to him, like a revelation shot from an arrow from the throne of God:
here would be his church - right here, where this lily was.
BOOK 2
Bill got up and walked through the tall grass around the marsh.
His heart beat with excitement. Yes, this would be perfect. He
could build...
The bricks of doubt fell around his ears before the mortar of revelation
had even dried. How could he buy this lot and build a church here when he
could barely support himself, his mother, and his brothers and sister? He
was a poor man, preaching to a congregation of poor people, during one of
the worst economic depressions the country had ever seen. Many of the
men in his congregation were unemployed. Financing the construction of the
church seemed like an impossible dream. However, if this really were a
revelation from God, then somehow there would be a way...
Bill talked to members of his congregation about the issue.

Incredibly, by pooling their meager resources, the congregation
little by little raised enough money for a down payment. A plan
was drawn up, a loan secured, and the wetland buried - all in a
matter of weeks. The foundation was laid in July and the first
layer of concrete blocks laid. Before the second layer was placed
on top of the first, Bill wanted to hold a small dedication ceremony,
where he himself would place the first cornerstone on the
rectangular foundation.
The morning of the ceremony, Bill woke up around six o'clock.

Outside, birds were singing soprano melodies, while bees
hummed their tenor harmonies. The honeysuckle below her
window filled the room with the fragrant scent of summer. Bill lay
in bed for a long time, his hands behind his head, basking in the
joy of the moment, and thinking: “Oh, Great Jehovah, how
wonderful You are! Just a few moments ago it was dark; Now the
sun has risen and all nature is rejoicing. And soon the spiritual
world, which is so cold and darkened by sin, will rejoice too, for
the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings.”
As he lay there, an inner voice demanded that he stand up.

Bill got out of bed and stood facing
BOOK 2
His Future Tabernacle Shown 45
the window. Suddenly, he felt an indefinable presence in the room, like

pressure - but not a threatening evil pressure. This presence sparkled with
holy fear, as if the Lord himself were near. Bill scanned three walls in his
vision. The room seemed empty. He turned to look behind him and was
instantly immersed in a vision.
He was on the banks of the Jordan River, where John the Baptist had
baptized Jesus. Bill was preaching the Gospel to a crowd of people, when
behind him he heard grunting. He turned to look, and there was a large
pigsty very close to the river, it was full of pigs and the bad smell was taking
over the place. Bill noted, “This place is polluted. Which actually shouldn't
be. This is sacred ground, where Jesus himself trod.”
Then the angel of the Lord appeared, transporting Bill from that place to
the corner of 8th and Penn in Jeffersonville.
On the lot that was once a lily pad, there was now a large concrete block
built with an inscription above the front door that read: “Branham Tabernacle.”
The angel took him inside. Bill could hardly believe his eyes.
The building was overcrowded with people. Not only was every seat
occupied, but people lined the aisles and stood against the walls. At the end
of the hall there were three crosses hanging, one in front of the pulpit, and
one on each side of it. In the vision Bill moved to a place behind the pulpit
and said, “Oh, this is wonderful; this is glorious! God, how good You are to
give me this tabernacle!”
Then the angel of the Lord said, “But this is not your tabernacle.”
“Surely this is my tabernacle,” Bill protested.

The angel repeated: “No. Come and see.” The angel lifted Bill and
lowered him again, and this time under the vast expanse of a clear blue sky.
The angel said, “This is to be your tabernacle.”
Looking around, Bill found himself in an orchard. Fruit trees grew, about
six meters tall, in two parallel rows, creating a corridor between them, with a
single large tree at the end of the corridor, positioned in such a way that
BOOK 2
it was of equal distance from each row. One of the rows appeared to be
apple trees; and the other of plum trees. Strangely, its roots were embedded
in large green pots. On both sides, both right and left, an empty vase stood
in line with each row of trees.
A voice from heaven rumbled: “The harvest is ripe, but the

workers are few.”
Bill asked, “Sir, what can I do?” As he watched, the trees began to look
like pews in the vision of his tabernacle; and the three trees at the end of the
hall took the shape of three crosses. Bill asked, “What does this mean. And
what are these empty vessels?”
And the angel replied: “It is up to you to plant them in these two pots.”
Standing in the gap between the two rows of trees, Bill broke off a
branch from an apple tree and planted it in the empty pot in line with that
row. Then he broke off a branch from a plum tree and planted it in the empty
pot on that side. Immediately trees began to grow from these two pots, not
stopping until they reached the same height as the other trees in the orchard.
Then a great wind shook the trees; and a voice said, “You did well.
Stretch out your hands and reap.”
Bill held out both hands. Into one of his hands fell a large, yellow apple,
firm and ripe; and into his other hand fell a large yellow plum, soft and ripe.
The voice said: “Eat the fruits; they are tasty.” Bill bit one of them, and then
the other. Both were sweet, juicy and delicious. The voice repeated: “The
harvest is ripe, but the workers are few.”
Now Bill noticed that the large tree at the end of the hall, whose shape
was still that of a cross, had both apples and plums growing in clusters on
the branches. Bill ran down the hall and threw himself at the foot of this tree,
crying out, “Lord, what can I do?”
A wind shook the trees strongly, apples and plums began to fall on Bill
like raindrops. The voice said three times: “When you come out of this vision,
read II Timothy 4.” Then Bill was back in his room.
BOOK 2
His Future Tabernacle Shown 47
The sun had already risen a little higher in the morning sky,
showing that some time had passed while he had been in the
vision. Bill picked up the Bible and opened it to II Timothy. He
read the fourth chapter slowly, thinking about each word, trying
to connect it with the vision.
May you preach the word, urge in season and out of

season, rebuke, rebuke, exhort, with all patience and
doctrine. For the time will come when they will not suffer
sound doctrine; but having itching ears, they will heap
up for themselves teachers according to their own lusts;
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and
turn aside to myths. But be sober in everything, suffer
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your
ministry.
Bill tore this page out of his Bible and took it with him to the
dedication ceremony at 8th and Penn . As it was a work day,
only about 50 people from his congregation were able to be
there - mostly women and children. As Major Ulrey of the
Volunteers of America led his band in marching motion, Bill
placed the cornerstone firmly in its place in the wet cement.
This was a symbolic gesture. Given that the New Testament
proclaimed Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone of His
universal church, when Bill placed the cornerstone in the
foundation of his own building, he was declaring that this
church would be dedicated to the principles of the Chief
Cornerstone, Jesus Christ.
Then people put coins, souvenirs, and written prayer

requests into a can and placed it inside the cavity of the
cornerstone. Bill contributed the page he had torn out of his
Bible that morning—a page that contained these prophetic
words: “But thou be sober in all things, suffer afflictions, do the
work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry.”
BOOK 2
Branham Tabernacle at 8th and Penn in Jeffersonville,

Indiana (1930s)
BOOK 2
Chapter 15
Tongue Tied on Purpose 1933
ALTHOUGH William Branham was now pastor of his own

congregation and preached every Sunday morning in the old
Masonic Hall in Jeffersonville, throughout the summer of 1933 he
continued to attend Sunday and Wednesday night services at the
Missionary Baptist Church. Admittedly this was more of an excuse
to be with his girlfriend, Hope Brumbach, than to hear Dr. Davis
preach. But now that the construction of his own church would soon
be completed, this would change as he would be holding mid-week
services. How then could he see his girlfriend? Bill had always been
shy and insecure around women. The thought of losing his ready
excuse to see Hope threw him into anxiety.
Bill cherished every minute he was with Hope. When she smiled,
he smiled. When she laughed, he laughed. She held some kind of
magic about him that he didn't understand - but he loved it. To him,
she seemed like everything good and beautiful in the world - air,
rain, summer, flowers, kindness and it was everything he longed for...
The longer he was around her, the more he wanted to be. What
would happen to their relationship if he didn't have an excuse to
see her every Wednesday night? Would she walk away from him?
Bill shuddered at the thought. What if she found another boyfriend?
Bill almost couldn't breathe just thinking about it. He couldn't risk
losing her. How would he live? No, he would have to come up with
another good excuse to see her regularly. At some point, as Bill
turned the problem over and over in his mind, it occurred to him
that the best way to spend more time with Hope
BOOK 2
Brumbach would convince her to change her last name to Branham.
The minute he decided to propose to Hope, his doubts tortured him

from different angles. Her father earned $500 a month as director of a
union, the Pennsylvania Railroad Local Association. Billy, on the other
hand, was earning $0.20 an hour working for the utility company and was
helping support his mother, father, seven brothers, and one sister with his
meager salary. How could he support a wife? All he had to offer was his
love and devotion. Who was he to take Hope from her comfortable home
and subject her to the struggles of poverty? She deserved so much more
than this. After much anguish in his soul and mind, Bill decided that he
would not ask Hope to marry him. He loved her too much to ruin her life.
This decision did not put an end to his suffering; this simply created
another dilemma. If he wasn't going to propose to Hope, how could he
justify taking any of her time? Wouldn't it be better for her if he broke off
the relationship altogether? As soon as he stopped seeing her, she could
find someone else - some man who could give her a life of well-being. Yes,
this was the right thing to do. And this is what he should do. But...
The more Bill thought it would be in Hope's best interest to say

goodbye, he couldn't do it. He recalculated his financial position and his
possibilities. Some of her siblings were old enough now that they would
also help her mother with the family's expenses. This was an advantage.
And the other brothers weren't far behind. Within a few years they would
be doing their part to help - another plus. Perhaps Bill could reduce his aid
gradually without causing his mother any extra pain.
So if he worked hard, maybe he could finally make a decent home for

Hope. His enthusiasm grew as he considered the possibilities from various
angles. Yes, it looked like he could break even financially. Should he do
this? Yes - yes, he would. He was going to ask Hope Brumbach to be his
wife!
BOOK 2
But making the decision to ask, and actually asking for it, were
two different things. As August ended and September began, Bill
struggled to find enough courage to ask the ultimate question. He
would look into her dark, radiant eyes, smile and think, “Oh my,
wouldn’t we be happy together?”
But every time he started to ask a question, his mouth would dry up
and a lump would form in his throat that he could barely swallow,
only allowing him to produce an incomprehensible sentence. Every
night he was with her, he tried again, but the words just refused to
come out. He said to himself: “Tonight I will do this! Not ten more
minutes will pass on my watch until I ask her.” This didn't solve
anything; Time passed and he could not reach his purpose.
Bill agonized over his problem for hours on end. Sometimes he

would stop in a ditch where he was working, rest his chin on the
handle of a shovel, and just gaze at the horizon, while his brain
scratched and dug for an answer in the fertile soil of his mind. How
could he let her know he wanted to marry her if he didn't have the
strength to speak? For some time he toyed with the idea of asking
his friend, George DeArk, to speak to her. But this didn't seem right.
Hope could even refuse him under these conditions. How then could
he deal with this? As? Suddenly an idea occurred to him. This is it!
He would write you a
paper.
That Sunday night Bill stayed up late with pen and paper, working
out each sentence, writing and rewriting, sweating until the two-
dimensional sheet of paper expressed his feelings as well as he
could. With this Herculean feat driving him forward, the first thing he
would do was deliver the letter personally to Hope. Then he imagined
Hope reading this letter silently while he stood nervously twiddling his
thumbs and biting his lips, feeling so nervous he could easily pass
out. No, that wouldn't work. He decided he would mail it. If he did it
on Monday, Hope would get it on Tuesday, and she could give him
the answer Wednesday night when he took her to church. This
seemed like a good plan at that point.
BOOK 2
Monday morning Bill licked the stamp, stuck it in the envelope, and
dropped the letter in the mailbox on his way to work. Later that day, as he
was digging a ditch, a horrible thought came to him: What if Hope's mother
takes the letter? Bill's forehead was dripping with sweat and his knees
became so weak that he had to lean against the side of the ditch for support.
He thought, “If her mother reads the letter, I will be lost.”
Bill got along very well with Hope's father, Charlie, but it was a different
story with her mother. Properly well dressed, Mrs. Brumbach was proud to
have a high social role in the community. She lived in a very beautiful house,
wore expensive clothes, and attended a large, elegant church, and belonged
to numerous very influential organizations. She considered Bill Branham to
be just another farmhand - definitely not classy enough to marry her daughter.
She also got a good look at Bill's narrow-mindedness regarding religious

convictions. If she took that letter, she would probably object strongly. She
could even go so far as to make Hope break up with him. Bill shuddered at
that idea.
Wednesday at dusk Bill parked behind the Brumbachs' shiny Buick. He

left the door of the noisy Fordão open, in case Mrs. Brumbach had read the
letter and he had to rush to the car.
Hope answered the door, “Hi, Billy. Does not want to come in?"
“Oh no,” Bill thought, “No, your mother is in there and you are going to
close the door. Then I will be in a complicated situation.”
He forced a smile and said, “Thanks, Hope, it’s good here. I’ll wait here on
the porch until you get ready.”
“Oh, come in. My mom and dad want to see you.”
Bill thought, “Oh my God! They know everything.” He worriedly took a
step inside, took off his hat, and stood close to the door, ready to make a
quick escape.
Hope said, “Go into the kitchen where they are. I’ll be ready for church
in just a few minutes.”
Bill walked towards the kitchen door. Hope's parents were sitting at the
kitchen table. “How are you, sir?
BOOK 2
Brumbach. How are you, Mrs. Brumbach.”

Charlie Brumbach, as cordial as ever, said, “Hello, Billy.
Don’t you want to sit down and have a glass of iced tea?”
"No thanks. I’m not thirsty.”
“Well, why don’t you come and sit here then?”
The conspiracy seemed to be consummating. Bill's heart began to beat
fiercely. “No thanks, I’ll stay here if you don’t mind. The weather is very nice,
isn’t it?”
Mrs. Brumbach said, “Yes, it’s great weather.”
The three talked about weather and other incidents until Hope came
downstairs. Bill didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he and Hope reached the
porch with the front door securely closed behind them.
“Billy, it’s a lovely evening; Let’s walk to church.”
Dread came over Bill again. He thought: “That's right. She's going to tell
me we're done. I better take a good look at her, because this is probably the
last time I'll be with her.”
Hope didn't mention the letter as they went to church. This caused him
to suffer from severe anxiety throughout the service. He did not hear a single
word of Dr. Davis' preaching. Instead, he spent the time leering at Hope,
thinking how much he would hate to lose her. She was really a decent girl.
Tonight she was as radiant as ever. He thought she should find someone
who was good for her. She deserved the best life that could be offered.
It was dark when Bill and Hope left the church to leave. The brightness
of the Moon was as if in the first quarter phase and shone like a street lamp,
hanging in the heavens.
Whenever they came out from under the shadows of the trees, when they
walked, the brightness of the moon contrasted with Hope's black hair and
eyes and her gentle fair face. Bill shook inside, with love and longing.
“Well, Billy, what did you think of the service today?” Hope asked casually.
“Oh, it was good, I thought.” Bill felt like his chin was made of cardboard;
It felt so harsh and useless. He observed the
BOOK 2
Her face searching for any clue or anything that could predict that the terrible
moment had arrived. Every time she moved her lips to start speaking, Bill
was sure that would be the end. But instead she talked about another
subject, as if she had nothing on her mind except the pleasant Indian
summer.
They were getting close to her house and she hadn't mentioned anything
about the letter yet, Bill began to suspect that she hadn't received the letter.
Maybe it had been left in the mailbox or lost. Something must have happened.
If Hope had read it, she would definitely have mentioned it by now. Bill
regained his composure, and his tongue loosened. He took her arm and
calmed down.
They were almost at her house. And in the middle of

conversation, Hope said, “Billy, I got your letter.”
A chill ran up Bill's spine; A lump formed in his throat and began to choke
him so that he could barely breathe. He swallowed hard and managed to
say in a low voice: “Did you read it?”
Hope said, “Mm-hm,” and continued walking.

The tension fell on Bill unbearably. He thought, “Woman, say something
before I faint!” But Hope seemed content to leave her words hanging without
further comment. Bill thought, “Then I have to say something, because we
are close to her house.” He mustered up all his courage and said, “Did you
read the letter?”
She replied, “Uh-huh,” and that was all.

Bill felt like he was going crazy with the suspense. "Did you like it?"
His lips curved a little, with a smile. “Oh, it’s okay.”
Bill felt an adrenaline overload. He stopped walking, turned to her and

looked at her. “Hope…”
“Bill, I would love to marry you,” she said, “I love you.”
The next day Bill and Hope went downtown, to a jewelry store.
Bill paid $8.00 for a pair of rings. He attached the ring to a pin in his pocket
so that he wouldn't lose it. Then he held Hope's graceful finger gently
BOOK 2
into her calloused hand and began to slide on the engagement ring.
Hope interrupted him, “Billy, don’t you think it would be
chivalrous if you asked my mom and dad first?”
Bill felt his heart muscles skip a beat.
Oh my, he thought, “Here we go again.” He feared that if Mrs.
Brumbach objected strongly, Hope would backtrack. Slowly
and reluctantly, he managed to say, “Yes. I suppose so."
Then he had an idea. “Look, Hope, when we get married, it
will always be half and half, won’t it?”
"It is true. I will keep my share.”
“And I will keep mine. What do you say we start
right now – you ask your mother and I’ll ask your father.”
Hope shrugged. “That’s fine with me.”
“Maybe you should let me ask your father first,”
Bill suggested smartly. He wanted to get Charles' promise before Mrs.
Brumbach knew anything about it. This seemed like his best chance.
“When are you going to talk to him?”

“I will speak Sunday night.”
The following Sunday night, after Bill brought Hope home from church,
the two sat on the living room floor listening to a record player. Charlie
Brumbach was typing at his desk. Mrs. Brumbach was sitting in a comfortable
Morris chair , crocheting. Hope frowned at Bill, gesturing her head toward
her father. Bill shook his head, and gestured toward her mother. He couldn't
ask her father now, not with his mother sitting in the room. It would be like
asking them both. Your mother could ruin everything, it could end in nothing.
Bill stood up. “It’s 9:30 am, I better leave.”

Hope walked him to the door, holding his hand. He said good
night and tried to leave, but she didn't let go of his hand.
She whispered, “Aren’t you going to ask him?”
“I can’t ask with your mother sitting there.”
“Then I’ll go back and you can call him out.”
It seemed complicated to Bill, but he couldn't
BOOK 2
think of something better. "Right."

Hope returned to the living room.
Bill cleared his throat. “Mr. Brumbach, can I talk to you for just a
minute?”
Charlie stopped typing and turned around in his chair.
“Surely, Bill, what do you want?”
“I would like you to come to the porch.”
Mrs. Brumbach looked away from her crochet and raised her eyebrows
in curiosity. Charlie said, “Of course,” and followed Bill out onto the front
porch, closing the door.
Bill gazed at the moon suspended above the tree line.

“It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.” Charlie agreed.
“It’s been pretty hot lately.”
"Definitely yes."
Bill stuttered on the right words. “You know... uh... I was going to...
uh... I would like to know if...”
“You can have her, Bill.”
Relief filled him. He wanted to hug Mr. Brumbach, but he limited
himself to shaking his hand. “Charlie, you know I’m poor. I can't take
care of her as well as you. I only make $.20 an hour. But, Charlie, she
won't find someone who loves her as much as I do. I will work until
my hands bleed to support you. I will be faithful to her, I will do
everything I can to make her happy.”
Charlie placed his big hand on Bill's shoulder. “Billy, I know you
love her and she loves you; and I'd rather you have her on these
grounds than have someone mistreat her, no matter how much money
she has. Besides, it's not what you have in life that counts; It’s how
happy you are with what you have.”
“Thanks, Charlie. I will remember this.”
Bill never asked Hope what her mother said when she asked; it was
enough to know that Mrs. Brumbach would not stand in their way. The
wedding date was set for June of the following year.
BOOK 2
Chapter 16
Like a Bat Out of Hell 1933 - 1934
CONSTRUCTION on the corner of 8th and Penn was completed in

late September 1933. Out of love and respect for their pastor, the
congregation voted to call the building: “Branham Tabernacle.” This
did not look like a typical church structure. There was no steeple, no
great cross, no sharply sloping roof, or an arched ceiling. It was a
simple concrete block building with a gently sloping ceiling, a false
front, and flat, rectangular windows and doors. Some people nearby
scoffed that it looked more like a garage or storage shed than a
church. But to William Branham it looked beautiful. He positioned
his pulpit in the exact place where he had been on his knees when
the Lord had given him the inspiration to purchase this piece of land.
He placed three crucifixes at the front of the auditorium - one on the

pulpit, and one on each side of the wall behind the pulpit - exactly
as he had seen them positioned in the vision.
The entire project cost $2,000, with a 20-year term to pay off the
bank financing. It was a lot of money for a poor congregation to
finance in the midst of the Great Depression.
To make sure that the Branham Tabernacle would meet its monthly
commitment, Bill refused to take any of the people's tithes and
offerings for his own expenses, instead preferring to reinvest the
money in construction.
Bill kept his job with the Indiana Civil Service even though he
was transferred to another department. Now, he
BOOK 2
was an electrician tasked with patrolling the high-voltage power lines that
ran through the wooded countryside. The job fit well with his duties as a
ranger and he could often do both tasks at the same time. This was
favorable because he had not yet earned any money from his work as a
forester.
Since Bill's conditions were poor, he had to leave the Branham

Tabernacle bare. When the ground froze outside, the floor of the auditorium
froze too. Bill arrived early one Wednesday night for the service and lit the
stove to heat the sanctuary before the congregation began to arrive. People
entered the church on the icy floor, but when the service ended, the floor
had thawed and became muddy, messily muddy. Grandmothers and
granddaughters alike sank up to their ankles, trampling the mud to get out.
Although they all remembered this with a smile, they covered the floor with
sawdust so that this would not happen again.
Bill embraced his duties as a pastor with the youthful energy and zeal of
a young man who had finally discovered his passion. In addition, such
expectations of duties as preacher, counselor, praying for the sick, he also
led the songs, paid the bills, and cleaned the ashes from the stove; Whenever
there was something to be done, Bill volunteered his time.
Having a new ministry as a pastor and still being a newly converted

Christian, Bill's days were filled with learning and experiences - some
predictable and some unpredictable. Driving home one Saturday night in his
car, the headlights of Bill's car outlined a drunk staggering down the street.
It appeared to be Wayne Bledsoe, a young man who had been a friend of
Bill's brother Edward. Prohibition was still in evidence, so Bill put Wayne in
the car and took the drunk home with him, before the man stumbled into the
hands of the law. He helped Wayne into the house, placed him in his bed,
and made a place for himself on the couch.
“Wayne, aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” Bill scolded him.
BOOK 2
Like a Bat Out of Hell 59
“Don’t – Billy don’t – don’t say that, Billy.”

“Drinking is not the answer. This will kill you before your time.
What you must do is surrender your life completely to Jesus. This will
extend your time into eternity.”
“Ah, Billy.”
Bill placed his hands on Wayne's forehead. “I’ll pray for you,
Wayne.”
A taxi stopped in front of the house. The car door slammed and
Bill heard footsteps on the sidewalk. A woman was banging frantically
on the door, calling, “Brother Bill! Brother Bill!”
Bill thought, “My God, someone must be dying.” He
He turned on the lights, put on his clothes, and ran to the door.
It was eighteen-year-old Nellie Sanders, who was in
door, his face pale, his eyes red and swollen.
“Nellie, come in.”
Nellie entered. “Oh Billy, I’m lost. I'm lost."
“What’s the matter, Nellie? Are you having a heart attack?”
“No, Brother Bill. I was coming down Spring Street and...

Honestly, Brother Bill, I had no bad intentions.”
Bill's mind was spinning, wondering how to deal with this hysterical girl.
“Now calm down, sister. Tell me about it.”
Nellie was a recent convert, one of the converts from Bill's tent
meetings held in June. Before she gave her heart to Jesus, she had
been one of the best dancers in the city; and his dancing partner, Lee
Horn, still had the trophies to prove it.
Nellie took a deep breath to calm her shaking hands. She tried to
speak slowly and distinctly, but her words picked up speed until they
finally became a barely intelligible sound. “I was walking past
Redman's Hall and heard dance music. I stopped for a minute to
listen. The music kept sounding better and better.
I said, 'Lord, You know I love You, but I can certainly remember the
times Lee and I used to win all those trophies and awards. Maybe if I
climb these stairs I'll be able to testify to some of those people.' Then
BOOK 2
I walked up the steps and before I knew what I was doing, I was
on the dance floor in a guy's arms, dancing.
Oh, Billy, now am I lost forever? I don’t want to end up like
Margie.”
Billy remembered Margie, the girl in the skimpy bathing suit
who had refused to take his boat out when he asked her to move
away, the day he was baptizing converts after his revival meeting
in June.
When that mysterious star descended from the sky, Margie
fainted. Later she started drinking. In a bar fight, someone hit
her in the face with a broken bottle, injuring her terribly. The
last Billy had heard from her, she was in an institution of insanity.
Nellie was very distressed and shaking. Billy tried to comfort her. “No,
sister, you are not lost. But you made a mistake when you stopped for a
minute to listen to the voice of the devil, calling you back to what you did
before you found Jesus. I haven't been a Christian long, but I already know
that the greatest battle ever fought is in the human mind. This is a battle
between faith and doubt. Will you believe the Word of God or doubt it? You
have to make your own choice.”
“Oh, Billy, I want to choose faith in Jesus.”

Wayne Bledsoe was already somewhat sober and was sitting
on the bed curiously observing the commotion.
“I don't know much about the Bible,” Bill said, “but I believe
Jesus said this: 'In my name they will cast out devils.'”17 Placing
his hand on Nellie's shoulder, he prayed, “Devil, I don't know
you. , but this is my sister, and you can't hold her.
You're going to have to get out of it now. Are you listening to me?"
The door screen started to open and close quickly by itself
- blam - blam - blam - bang.
Nellie's eyes were wide open. “Billy look over there. What is
happening?"
Bill was just as surprised. "I don't know." He looked at Nellie
again and prayed, “Leave her, Satan; in the name of Jesus,
come out of her.”
17
Marcos 16:17
BOOK 2
Like a Bat Out of Hell 61
As soon as Bill mentioned the name of Jesus, a shadowy figure rose

from behind Nellie Sanders, looking like a giant bat, with long hair swinging
from its wings to her feet.
It growled a guttural “rrrrrrrrrr” and came toward Bill, who cried out, “Blood of
Jesus, protect me!” The demon changed its course, and flew towards the
bed where Wayne was sitting.
He turned once, and then disappeared into the bed. Terrified and half-sober,
Wayne screamed, threw the blanket aside, and ran into the next room.
Bill drove Nellie home. When he returned, he and his mother pulled the
bed aside and shook out the bed covers.
There was nothing there.
Distraught, Bill mentioned this incident to several ministers.
They all said basically the same thing: “Billy Branham, the days of casting
out demons are over. Furthermore, a man cannot see a demon at all. It must
have been your imagination.” Bill might have dismissed this as his
imagination, were it not for the fact that both Wayne and Nellie saw the
apparition as well. Was it this demon that was continually bothering him?
Was this what was following him?
Was this near him the whole time? Was this responsible for all the peculiar
events in his life, including the visions? Thoughts like these tormented him
constantly, making Bill wonder why his life seemed so different from that of
other Christian ministers he knew.
BOOK 2
Chapter 17
A Hopeful Marriage 1934 - 1935
WILLIAM MARRION BRANHAM married Amélia Hope Brumbach on Friday,

June 22, 1934. Bill was 25 years old; Hope was almost 21. They rented a small
house at 434 Graham Street, near the Branham Tabernacle. The house had
only two rooms. On one side they used it for both: living room and bedroom;
and the other side was the kitchen. There was no running water in the house;
Hope had to carry water from a public tap a block away. All of it wasn't much of
a house; but $4.00 a month was all they could afford.
The newlyweds were starting their lives together with few

material possessions. Bill owned a used leather sofa and his
Ford automobile. Bill's mother gave them a small bed frame.
Someone gave them an old folding bed.
At a junkyard Bill bought a used stove for $0.75 and paid $1.25
to put new grates on it.
Hope went to work at the Fine Shirt Factory to help buy
some more furniture. Soon they had saved enough money to
buy an unpainted table and chairs at Sears for $3.98. Bill
painted the base yellow, and drew a big green shamrock on
the table and on the seat of each chair, because Hope was
always making fun of him for being Irish. The table considerably
improved the appearance of the home.
However, the rigid wooden chairs were not made for resting.
Bill was very tired, working two jobs during the day and
attending to his pastoral responsibilities at night. At night he
longed to fall into a cushioned chair,
BOOK 2
A Hopeful Marriage 63
prop up your feet, and rest while you read your Bible.
With Hope working, Bill thought maybe they could buy a comfortable piece
of furniture. They both crossed the river to Louisville to buy a cushioned chair.
They found a Morris chair for just $16.98. It didn't seem out of reach. Filled with
an enthusiasm that came from a new experience, Bill gave the store clerk a
$3.00 down payment and took home that beautiful green Morris chair. They
positioned her in the corner of the room. Bill sank his back into the velvety
profile, filling his lungs with the fresh fragrance of new fabric. He could think of
only one word to describe it: heavenly!
This Morris chair was without a doubt the greatest luxury Bill had ever
owned. After running along power lines during the day and preaching around
town half the night, the Morris chair welcomed his tired muscles into its restful
cushions. Since purchasing, Bill had often fallen asleep in his chair, with his
Bible open on his lap. Lovingly, Hope coaxed him to get up so she could make
him lie down on the bed.
His purchase soon created a problem that Bill did not expect.
Under the terms of the contract, he had to pay $1.00 per week towards his
debt. This proved to be money he badly needed for other things. As the weeks
went by, paying a dollar a week did more and more damage to his precarious
budget. In the seventh week, Bill was unable to pay the first installment. He
didn't have a dollar in reserve. The following week was no different. When Bill
was late on his third installment in a row, the finance company called him. Bill
apologized, and with a heavy heart, suggested that they come and get the chair
back.
A few days later, when Bill arrived home from work, the smell of freshly
baked cherry pie - his favorite pie - emanated from the kitchen. After dinner, he
ate two pieces of pie, covered in sorghum molasses. He joked with Hope, “Why
are you being so nice to me tonight?”
She smiled as if she was hiding something: “Bill, I asked the neighbor's son
to get some worms this afternoon. Per
BOOK 2
Why don’t we go down to the river and do some fishing?”

This struck Bill strangely because Hope didn't really like fishing. “First
let’s go into the other room, settle down, and then I can let this cherry pie
digest.”
“No, Bill, let’s go fishing right now.” His words sounded almost like pleas.
“Honey, what happened today?”

Hope said, “Nothing,” but her eyes were watery.
Bill suspected the problem, and said again, “Let’s go into the other room
first.” When she tilted her face, Bill knew he was right. He hugged her and
they walked to the other room. The Morris chair was gone.
Hope laid her head on Bill's chest and cried, "Oh, Bill, I
I tried to hold it for you. I tried hard.”
Bill squeezed her sweetly. "I know honey. It's not your fault.
We couldn't help it. But one of these days, things will be different. Someday
God will provide a way and we will have a good chair.”
She lifted her head so she could look into his eyes.
reassured from her husband: “I hope so, Bill.”
Hope Branham
BOOK 2
DESPITE THE inevitable suffering of poverty, Bill and Hope Branham were
very happy. They valued and loved each other with a boundless love that
overcame the potholes and trenches in the road of their lives. In December
1934, Hope became pregnant. They were excited about the idea of having
a baby. Since Bill’s lineage was Irish and Hope’s was German, he teased
her by saying, “If it’s a boy, let’s call him Heinrick Michael.”
Hope gasped, “Oh, Bill, that sounds horrible.”

On September 13, 1935, Hope went into labor. She had a difficult
time and almost died giving birth.
Bill walked back and forth for miles on the floor of the hospital waiting
room. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the baby cried. At the same
moment Bill shouted: “Thank you, Lord! It’s a boy and his name will
be Billy Paul.”
Within minutes a doctor came out of the delivery room. With a
smile, he said, “Reverend Branham, I must charge you for this linoleum
floor you wore out. But it would be worth it.
You are the father of a boy.”
After Bill was sure his wife was okay, he couldn't resist a joke:
“Honey, I changed my mind.
I don't think we should call him Heinrich Michael.
Since he was born on Friday the 13th, I think we should name him Jinx.”
She laughed. “But, Bill, I wanted him to have the same name as
his father.”
“Then let us call him by the same name; and also of the same
name as the great apostle Saint Paul. We’ll call him Billy Paul.”
IN OCTOBER 1935 newspapers announced that Mussolini had

invaded Ethiopia. Italy, with its modern war machines, had thundered
that backward country and quickly crushed all Ethiopian resistance.
Europe expressed its fury at this unexpected invasion by immediately
forcing economic sanctions on Italy.
Bill read the news with keen interest. He didn't understand
BOOK 2
what a strange force allowed him to see the future, but whatever it was, the
events he saw always happened. He wondered again how such a gift could
come from the devil as his minister friends insisted. He felt confused.
One Sunday after church, Bill heard Walt Johnson say, “You should
have heard those saint-rollers last night.”
Bill chimed in. “What was that, Brother Walt?”

Walt was chewing a piece of orange peel for indigestion. “Pentecostals,
Billy. You've never seen anything like this.
They were jumping and rolling on the ground. And they said if you don't
speak in some kind of strange tongue you're not saved.”
"Where is it?"
“At a tent meeting on the other side of Louisville. The group calls itself
the House of David, and they are calling this meeting the School of the
Prophets. People of color, of course.”
“Oh, that explains it,” said Bill, knowing how fanatically
some people of color expressed their religion.
“There were a lot of white people too.”
"True? And they did the same too?”
“Yes, they did the same thing.” “It’s weird
that people get mixed up in things like this.” Bill shook his head. “Well, I
think we're about to go and get these things.”
The report sparked Bill's curiosity and on Monday night he crossed the
river to Louisville to check it out. Although he didn't see anyone rolling on
the ground, the crowd was certainly excited about something, and they
seemed to have no strange doctrines.
During the service something unusual happened, a middle-aged man

stood up to testify. He reminded Bill of an Old Testament prophet, with
shoulder-length gray hair and a wavy beard that reached his chest. His
testimony was as remarkable as his appearance. He introduced himself as
John Ryan from Dowagiac, Michigan. He said the Lord had told him to go
down to Louisville, Kentucky, to testify
BOOK 2
at that meeting. He spoke about the power of God, the fire of Pentecost,
and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. His testimony carried so much energy
and conviction that Bill decided he would meet with this peculiar man.
They talked for a long time after the service. John Ryan said that when
he was a young man he was an acrobat in a circus. For years he belonged
to the Catholic church, but after giving his heart to Jesus Christ, he became
a Pentecostal, and now he traveled wherever the Lord led him, testifying to
the power of God wherever he went.
Bill told him part of the seven visions he had seen in June 1933. When
John Ryan learned that one of the parts he envisioned was Mussolini's
invasion of Ethiopia, Ryan could hardly contain his excitement and asked if
they could talk more about it. posteriorly. This was fine with Bill, so he
invited this elder to his house to spend the night talking about it.
In the morning they sat for a long time around the kitchen table while
Bill shared some of his mysterious experiences. He felt more freedom
speaking to this stranger than to the ministers he had known for several
years.
John Ryan encouraged Bill to pay special attention to visions, suggesting

that they could be the voice of God speaking to him.
Then he talked about something he called the “Pentecostal Experience,” in
which he said the power of God was like a dynamic, living force in the
Christian life. Bill couldn't understand its meaning. The man used unusual
terms such as: “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” “speaking in tongues,” and
“interpretation of tongues.” But one thing was clear, John Ryan definitely
believed what he was talking about. He was excited as he spoke. Suddenly
he raised his hands and began speaking in some kind of inarticulate
language. After a minute he stopped. Then he walked around the table,
placed his hands on Bill's shoulders and said, “Brother Billy, this is the
interpretation. You're just a boy now. You still have your life ahead of you.
But someday this will come to fruition and Almighty God will use you to turn
the nations around.”
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Chapter 18
Error after Mishawaka
1936
SEVERAL TIMES over the next six months, William Branham invited John
Ryan to be in his home. Although Ryan's habits of speaking in tongues
bothered Bill, he certainly respected the elder's faith in Jesus Christ. John
Ryan often prayed to the Lord to guide him through each day, and then with
spiritual ears he heard an answer.
He called this “being led by the Holy Spirit.”

John Ryan lived in Dowagiac, Michigan, a small town about 300 miles
north of Jeffersonville, right across the Indiana state line. He invited Bill to
visit him, trying to persuade him by talking about excellent fishing near Lake
Papaw.
Bill was tempted. Although he hadn't had a vacation in years, the cost
of such a trip seemed to still affect him. Hope had saved $8.00 from her
salary from the shirt factory. How could he justify spending his wife's hard-
earned savings on a vacation when there were so many other things they
needed? Hope had a different idea. As she had saved money from her
salary, she felt she had to say how it would be spent - and she wanted her
husband to use the savings to take a break. Bill said he wanted her to go
with him. But Hope refused, saying it was better for her to stay home and
look after nine-month-old Billy Paul.
What's more, she was now three months pregnant with her second child.
Many mornings she felt tired and weak, so she thought she would not enjoy
the vacation at all.
So in June 1936, Bill filled up his Model-T Ford
BOOK 2
Error After Mishawaka 69
and headed north towards vacation. When he arrived in

Dowagiac, Michigan, Mrs. Ryan made him feel at home.
To Bill's surprise, John Ryan wasn't there. Mrs. Ryan explained,
“The Lord called him to go somewhere there in Indianapolis.”
Bill looked around the cabin's two small rooms.

The cupboards had no doors and were empty.
“You mean you allow this man to go out like this and leave you
here with nothing at home to eat?”
“Oh! But, Brother Bill, he is a servant of God,” she said.
Bill thought, “Well, bless your heart, sister. If you think that
way about your husband, then I won’t criticize him either.”
After a full day of fishing at Lake Papaw, Bill brought his catch to Mrs.
Ryan's house. She didn't even have oil to fry the fish, so Bill went downtown
and brought her some supplies.
On Saturday morning Bill made his way back home. Coming

through the small town of Mishawaka, Indiana, he saw a car
with a large sign that said, “JESUS ONLY.” Bill thought, “What
does this mean?” Then he saw another car with: “JESUS
ONLY” written on the side of the car; then another, and
another. This sign seemed to be everywhere, plastered on
Cadillacs, Buicks, Fords, and even bicycles. Interestingly, Bill
followed one of the cars, which guided him to a church, a large
building, on the edge of the city. The adjacent streets and
several empty lots were filled with parked cars, many with the
same intriguing sign: “JESUS ONLY.” As Bill passed the
church, he could hear the sound of hymns coming from the
windows, which were open.
Congregational hymns were accompanied by shouts.
It appeared to be the same type of worship service that Bill had seen in
Louisville when he visited that group called the House of David. He thought,
“So this is where I’ll see what saint-rollers are!”
He parked his car, and went inside. The sanctuary was

filled with at least 2,000 people, both white and black. Bill had
to stand in the back and look over the heads of the crowd to
see what was happening. Somewhere there
BOOK 2
in front a piano was dissonant. People clapped their hands and sang with
gusto: “One of those, one of those; You can also say: I'm one of them...”
Women screamed, sending a chill down Bill's spine. Then someone started
dancing in the hallway as much as they could. Soon others joined him. The
entire crowd seemed to sway and stagger to the music.
At first Bill thought, “Oh, my! Wow! What church manners! What is it with
these people?” But the longer he stayed there, the better he felt. He thought,
“There is nothing wrong with these people. They are not crazy; they’re just
excited.”
When he began preaching, Bill learned that it was a national Pentecostal

convention. They had to do this in the North because of the racial segregation
that still plagued the South.
A young preacher spoke about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, pointing his
finger as he preached. To Bill it seemed as if the man was pointing directly
at him. This preacher kept referring to the Scriptures as Acts 2:4 - “And they
were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as
the Holy Spirit gave them utterance.”; Acts 2:38 - “Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”; and Acts 10:44-46 - “And while
Peter was still saying these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the
word... For they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God.”
“This is part of the Bible,” Bill thought. “I've just never seen it this way
before. Maybe there is something to this after all.” The more he listened, the
more he liked what he heard.
At the end of the service he was thinking: “There is one thing I have to say
about these people, they are not ashamed of their religion. I believe I will
return tonight.”
Bill really wanted to stick around and find out what this “baptism of the
Holy Ghost” was all about, so he went to his car and counted his nickels,
dimes, and dimes. He still had $1.75. Since he knew how much gas it would
take to get home, he figured he could only have $0.20
BOOK 2
available. This wasn't enough to rent a hotel room for the night;
but no problem - he could spend the night in a cornfield. Going
downtown, Bill bought a bag of stale bread for a nickel, figuring
he could easily live on them for two days. He ate one of the
loaves, and placed the others on the backseat, and then
returned to the church for the evening service.
Before the service began, a man walked up to the platform

and said, “Tonight we want all the preachers, no matter what
their denomination, to come here and sit on the platform.” About
200 ministers came to the front, Bill among them. They sat on
chairs behind the pulpit, facing the audience. When they were
all seated, the man at the pulpit said, “We don’t have time for
all of you ministers to preach, so we want each of you to come
to the microphone and just say who you are and where you
come from.”
The microphone was suspended from the ceiling by a wire,
suspended about 60 centimeters above the pulpit. Bill had
never seen a microphone before. He looked curiously as he
passed and said, “William Branham, evangelist, Jeffersonville, Indiana.”
That night Bill saw strange and intriguing things that he
would remember for the rest of his life. There were two men
sitting in the audience who seemed to be especially used by
God. He had noticed them earlier that afternoon, and now they
were there again. A man stood up and began to speak in a
strange language like a machine gun fired; and then the other
man would stand up and interpret in English what the first man
had said in his unknown language. After some time they did
this again, but vice versa. Amazed at how spiritual these men
must be, Bill decided he should talk to them before he returned
home the next day.
When it was time to preach, an elderly black man climbed

with difficulty to the platform. He wore a long, black coat with a
velvety collar. On the back of his head was a circle of white
hair. He looked so weak and feeble, Bill wondered, "They're not
going to get this old fellow to preach, are they?"
BOOK 2
This was exactly what they were going to do. The old gentleman stepped
up to the microphone and said, "Beloved children, I'm going to take my text
tonight from Job 38:4-7." He opened his Bible and read: “Where were you
when I founded the earth?... When the morning stars sang together, and all
the children of God shouted for joy?” Then, instead of bringing his theme
down to earth, this old preacher went back in time ten million years and
described what happened in heaven when earth was only in the mind of
God. Then he came forward through time, through the dispensations,
following the rainbow horizontally all the way to the millennium and on to a
new heaven and a new earth. At this point he was so happy that he shouted:
“Glory to God! Do you think you have a new kind of religion? Brother, I just
brought a new event from the religion of antiquity! Whoopee!” He jumped
up, clicked his heels, and shouted, “Hallelujah! There’s not enough room
here for me to preach.” And he jumped off the platform, simply like a nimble
child.
Bill was amazed and surprised. He thought, “If the baptism of the Holy
Spirit makes an elder act this way, what will it do to me if I have it?”
After the service Bill stopped at a fire hydrant to drink water and eat
some of his bread, and then went out into the field and parked in a cornfield.
His pants were wrinkled beyond belief, so he tried to press down on the
thick fabric of the cotton pants. Placing the pants on the back of the front
seat of his car, he unlocked the back seat, pressing it against the front, and
placed it between them, hoping that in the morning the pressure would
smooth out the folds. Then he lay down on the grass under a cherry tree
and prayed, “Lord, what is this thing I find myself in? Is this what John Ryan
called the 'Pentecostal Experience'? Lord, help me to know what this is all
about. I have never seen more religious people in my life. I don't know
exactly what they have, but I feel like this is what my hungry heart is looking
for. God, somehow give me favor with these people.”
Sometime after midnight, he adjusted his shirt to use as a pillow and

dozed off.
BOOK 2
In the morning Bill examined his cotton pants. It hadn't improved much,
although it still looked better than his other pants. His shirt was messy. Bill's
Baptist training made him feel that he should always be dressed in better
clothes before going to the house of God. He wondered if he could go to
church wearing chinos and a T-shirt. So he thought, “Why not? Nobody
knows me here. It will be fine.”
He arrived at church early. As people settled into the sanctuary, a black

man sat next to him and a white woman sat on the other side. After the
singing, a man came to the microphone and said: “Last night here on the
platform, the youngest minister we had was an evangelist by the name of
William Branham from Jeffersonville, Indiana. We want him to come forward
and bring this morning’s message.”
Bill could hardly believe what he was hearing. He glanced at his

simple clothes, and then unconsciously bent down a little in front of him.
your seat.
The man repeated: “Does anyone here know the whereabouts of William
Branham, an evangelist from Jeffersonville? He was on the platform last
night. We want him to bring the message this morning.”
Bill bent down a little more. The colored man sitting next to him leaned
over and asked, “Say, do you know him?”
He didn't want to lie to the man, so Bill whispered, "Yes, I know him."
"He is here?"
“Uh - yes, he's here, but...”
“Then go get him.”
This really put Bill up against the wall. “Well – uh – look brother, I – I’ll
tell you, I’m him.”
The black man smiled and shook his head. “I thought you were bending
down a little to pick something up. So get up there and preach.”
“No, I can’t go up there wearing this.” Bill pointed to

your white t-shirt.
BOOK 2
“People don't care how you're dressed. Go ahead, and go up there.”
“No, sir, I really can’t.”

The microphone echoed again: “Someone found the
Reverend William Branham?”
Black man raised his hand with his finger pointing
below Bill and shouted, “He’s here! He is here!"
Bill got up very slowly. Every eye in the building was headed his way. His
face reddened so much that his ears felt like they were on fire. With his Bible
against his chest, Bill walked to the center aisle and stepped onto the platform.
Shyly he walked to the pulpit. The crowd made him nervous; the way he was
dressed made him nervous; even this modern microphone made him nervous.
But most of all, he was nervous because he had nothing on his mind to preach.
Then he started talking: “Well, guys, I don't know much about the way
you preach. I was coming down the road and...” He placed his Bible on the
lectern and let the pages open at random. As he spoke, he looked at the
first verse on the page. It was in Luke 16:23: “And he lifted up his eyes in
Hades, being in torment... And he wept...” Immediately Bill recognized the
story about the rich man who disregarded a wretch named Lazarus.
Then the rich man died and went to hell.

Bill had his sermon. He read this story to the audience and then
preached: “There was the rich man in hell. Why was he in torment? He saw
that there were no flowers there; then he cried. He saw that there were no
children there; then he cried. He saw that there was no singing there; then
he wept...” Bill continued this line, showing the tragic end of a life that had
rejected the Gospel. The more he preached, the more deeply these
Pentecostal people entered into his theme, until the crowd was stirred with
emotion. “There was no peace there; then he cried. There was no love there;
then he cried. There were no Christians there; then he cried. There was no
God there; then he cried.” Finally Bill cried.
The crowd stood up and began to cry out to God for
BOOK 2
compassion. At that moment, the meeting seemed to fade into Bill's mind
and he became lost somewhere in the emotional whirlwind of people moving
around. When he came to, he was standing in the church yard. A big, strong
man came to him and said, “Did you say you were an evangelist?”
"Yes sir."
“I am Elder Johnson from Texas. How about you go down to Texas and
hold a revival?”
Bill looked at the high heels of his cowboy boots and his hat.
typical American cowboy. “Are you a preacher?”
“Surely I am.”
Just then, a shorter man approached, wearing old-fashioned plaid pants,
like the ones golfers wore. “I am Reverend Smith from Miami, Florida. I have
500 saints in my church. I wish you would come and have a revival too.”
Bill raised his eyebrow and thought, “I guess my chinos and T-shirt aren’t
that out of line after all.”
A woman came and said, “I do missionary work with the Indians in

northern Michigan. While you were preaching, the Lord told me to ask you
to come and help me with the Indians.”
“Just a minute,” said Bill, “let me get a piece of paper.” As he scribbled

down names and addresses, more ministers came to him with the same
request - until he had enough invitations to spend a year traveling. Bill felt
ecstatic. Your life would change. He couldn't wait to get home and tell Hope.
But before he went home, there were two more men Bill wanted to meet.
He searched the crowd outside the church until he saw one of the two men
who had impressed him during their meetings with such a powerful
presentation of tongues and interpretations. Bill went ahead and introduced
himself.
“Say, you’re this morning’s young preacher,” said the old man.
knight. “Have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit?”
“I am a Baptist.”
“But have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?”
BOOK 2
“Well, brother, I haven’t gotten all you got.”

“Have you ever spoken in tongues?”
"No sir."
“I’ll tell you, you don’t have the Holy Spirit.”
Bill shrugged. “Well, if that's what it takes to have the Holy
Spirit, then I don't have it.”
As they talked, Bill watched the man closely, searching for
his spirit. Although Bill did not understand the peculiar gift he
possessed, he was learning how to use this gift to achieve his
goal. He had discovered that if he really wanted to know
something about someone, he could find out if he talked to them
long enough to capture their spirit. Now the old Christian
seemed to realize that something peculiar was happening, for
his eyes moved quickly and nervously. Bill kept the conversation
focused in the meetings and soon the vision came. Bill felt
satisfied - this man was genuine, a true Christian.
Convinced now that he was on the right track, Bill's soul was
aflame with desire for more of God. On the way back to the car,
he chanced upon the second man who had impressed him at
the hearing.
Bill introduced himself.
The man asked, “What church do you belong to?”
“I am a Baptist.”
“Do you have the Holy Spirit?”
"I don't know. I know I don’t have what you all have.”
“Have you ever spoken in tongues?”
"No sir."
“Then you don’t have it.”
The entire time they were talking, Bill sought to capture this
man's spirit as well. When the vision finally came, it cracked the
man's life like a rotten egg.
Bill saw that this man was married to a dark-skinned woman,
but was now living with a blonde woman and had two children
with her. The vision continued in shocking detail. Here was a
blatant hypocrite. This man was not “JESUS ONLY”; he was
“SUNDAY ONLY”. In the vision Bill saw him sitting in a tavern,
drinking and cursing; and then
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sitting in church on Sunday, speaking in tongues and prophesying!

Bill's thoughts recoiled in horror. “Lord, forgive me. The spirit among these
people must be wrong, and how could this hypocrite be in church and
prophesy?”
Bill made an excuse and then went to the car. As he drove away from
Mishawaka, his thoughts bounced around his head as much as his noisy
Ford bounced on the road.
“Sir, I cannot understand this. How could the genuine Holy Spirit fall on
that true Christian and that hypocrite at the same time? It can not be.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I just can't see it in the Bible. I think I should leave
this 'tongues and prophecies' business aside.”
Then Bill remembered what Jesus said in Mark 16: “Whoever believes
and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does not believe will be
condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: in my name
they will cast out demons; they will speak new tongues…” Bill thought,
“This is Scripture. What am I going to do with this?”
The puzzle wouldn't solve itself, so he left it alone, and turned his
thoughts to all those invitations he had tucked away in his pocket. His spirit
began to revive; his dream stretched forth like eagle wings and soared high
above the clouds, looking down with anticipation over his future path. He
remembered what the Lord had said to him the day he laid the cornerstone
of his tabernacle: “Do the work of an evangelist…” It seemed that God was
now providing a way for him to simply do this.
Upon arriving at his home, Bill felt so excited that he was ready to get
ready to leave the next day. Hope came running to meet him, her long
black hair flowing in the wind. As soon as they hugged, Hope felt his
enthusiasm. “Bill, why are you so happy”
“Honey, I found the best church in the world!”

"Where have you been?"
“Just outside of Mishawaka. Honey, that's what a church is! Those
people scream and cry. They are not ashamed of their religion.”
Hope raised her eyebrows skeptically. "They
BOOK 2
They’re not saint-rollers, are they?”

“I don't know what kind of rollers they are, but they have something I
need. I saw a 90-year-old man become young again. I saw some speak in
strange tongues, and others interpret what they said. And the preaching!
They preach until they are out of breath, bow completely to the ground,
stand up, catch their breath, and begin again. I've never heard anything like
that in my life. And take a look here...” Bill held up the paper with the names
and addresses.
“All these pastors want me to come preach to them, from Michigan to Texas.
I'm going to quit my job, leave my church, and start preaching full time
among these people.
I have enough invites to keep me busy for a year. Will you come with me?”
Without a moment's hesitation, Hope said, “Bill, when I married you I

promised I would stay with you until death do us part. Of course, I will go
with you. Besides, if these people are as happy as you say they are, I would
like to have this experience too. What do they call it?”
“They call it the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let’s find Jesus this way.”
The next step was to tell his parents. When Bill approached his mother,
Ella said, “Billy, I remember the dream I had a few days before you
converted. I saw you on a white cloud preaching to the whole world.”
Vaguely, Bill remembered her telling him about this dream years ago.
Bill shrugged, “Well, I don't know about the whole world, but I'll certainly
preach in every state. And, Mom, you should see how enthusiastic these
people are about Jesus. They are not a shred of shame in acclaiming His
name.”
“A long time ago in Kentucky, we had what they called 'old-fashioned'

Baptists. They used to be this way, shout and cry. This is true and sincere
religion, Billy.”
“I believe in sincere religion, mother.”

She patted his arm. “I know you believe,
BOOK 2
Billy. I trust that God will bless you.”

However, it was a completely different story when they went to tell
Hope's mother. By this time, Mr. and Mrs. Brumbach had separated. Charlie
Brumbach had moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Mrs. Brumbach still lived in
her Jeffersonville home. Sitting on the front porch with Hope and her mother,
Bill said, “Mrs. Brumbach, I have met a wonderful group of people. Hope
and I are planning to leave and travel among them.” Then he told him what
had happened in Mishawaka.
Mrs. Brumbach frowned. “William, I will make you understand

that I will never give my daughter permission to hang out with a
bunch of trash saint-rollers like that.”
“Oh! But, Mrs. Brumbach, this is the happiest group of people
in the world. They are not ashamed of their religion.
I like that."
“Trash,” she insisted, “they’re nothing but trash! Don't you
realize that those are just people that other churches have
excluded? I will never give permission to drag my daughter into
the midst of despicable people like that. And that’s it!”
“But, Mrs. Brumbach, here in my heart I feel that the Lord
wants me to go with these people.”
“Trash,” she repeated, “William, why don't you stick with your
church until you can pay it; So get yourself a parsonage and act
like someone who has some sense.
You think I would be happy knowing that you are dragging my daughter
across the country - today she eats and tomorrow she doesn't eat; never
having a change of clothes or a decent dress to wear?”
“Ms. Brumbach, it’s not about what to wear. The thing is, I
feel like God wants me to do this.”
“No, in fact, I will never allow my daughter to go out and go
to such rubbish as that.” At this point in the conversation, Mrs.
Brumbach turned and glared at Hope accusingly. “And if she
goes, her mother will go to her grave with a broken heart.”
Hope gasped, “Mom, what do you mean by that?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
Hope cried. Bill hugged her. “But, Mrs. Brumbach, she
BOOK 2
and my wife."
“But she is my daughter!”
Bill said, “Yes, ma’am.” He got up and left the porch
towards the car.
Hope came running after him. “Billy, regardless of what my
mother say, I will stay with you.”
“Oh, it's okay. Let’s just forget about it.”
“But, Bill, if you feel that God wants you to go, then you should go.”
Bill sighed. “Honey, I think I'm carrying water on both shoulders, but I
don't want to hurt your mother's feelings. What if something happens to her
while we're out on the road? Then you would spend the rest of your life
feeling like you broke your mother's heart. Let’s just leave this for now.”
So Bill ignored God's first call for national evangelism. This turned out to
be the worst mistake he ever made in his life - a mistake that would soon
have disastrous consequences.
BOOK 2
Chapter 19
A Black Curtain Comes
Down 1936
AS IF TO CALM his troubled conscience, William Branham

increased his evangelistic efforts around Jeffersonville.
Feeling that his life story could inspire others to have faith in
God, Bill wrote down some of his personal experiences and
printed them in a 15-page booklet.18 He adopted the title
Hebrews 13:8: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday , and
today, and forever, and signed his work “by Rev. Wm. (Billy)
Branham.”
In the introduction he wrote:
“This booklet has been written so that everyone who

reads it can know that Jesus Christ is still Saving and
Healing people.
It is my conviction that He is about to appear
again.
This book tells of how He chose a poor boy and called

him to his ministry, how the boy ran from Him for a while
and then with all his heart turned to Him.”
Bill followed up on the next page with a prayer: “Oh
Heavenly Father, please bless everyone who reads this book.
Let them know that You will soon call a mighty church, the likes
of which we have never seen.
We still believe in You.
18 The original version is 15 pages long. A version, later printed, had 9

pages added. (This version is still in print, see Bibliography.)
BOOK 2
Create a desire in every heart and, oh Righteous One, help

Thy humble servant to carry Thy message.
I know that You have hidden me in the reeds for some
purpose, as You did with Moses.
So Father, help me to glorify Your name, for what I ask in
the name of Jesus.
Amen."
Over the next seven pages Bill highlighted his unusual life,
beginning to recount how he and his mother almost died in a
snowstorm, only to be saved by the intervention of a neighbor. He
told of a voice that spoke to him from the branch of a tree when
he was seven years old, saying: “Never drink or smoke or corrupt
your body in any way.
There will be work for you to do when you are older.” And then he mentioned
his trip to Arizona in 1927 and told of how the death of his brother Edward
brought him home and forced him to consider what lay beyond this life. He
wrote about overcoming the gas incident while working for the utility
company, its subsequent operation, and the vision of the cross of light that
set him toward God. And then he described the miraculous cures he had
from his stomach trouble and severe astigmatism, his call to preach, and
finally the fireball that appeared over his head while baptizing in the Ohio
River in 1933.
He concluded the booklet with these words:
“Dear reader, if I only had space in this book, I would tell you
the many things that have happened, how our tabernacle was
built and the many powerful revivals we have had.
People coming from far and near to be healed. However, I am
making this booklet very small so that it can be sold at an
affordable price and reach everyone. These things are to let you
know that Jesus Christ is still the same as he was yesterday and
today and will be forever, and that you should believe in Him and
be saved. If you can, and whenever you wish, our revivals are
near you, please attend.”
BOOK 2
A Black Curtain Comes Down 83
There followed two pages of testimonies from people who had been miraculously
healed as a result of Bill's prayers, including testimonies from Mr. William Merrill and Mrs.
Mary Der Ohanion, who were the first two people seen by Bill in visions, receiving healing
before to happen.
Mr. Merril wrote:
“I was in the hospital in New Albany, Indiana, when I heard about

Brother Branham. I was hit by a car. Practically all of my ribs were
broken. My back was affected.
I was a hopeless case, according to the doctors.

Brother Branham prayed for me, and instantly my ribs fell back into
place, and so did my back. The doctor could not understand this. I got
up, put on my clothes, went home, and went to work.
Praise be to God for His healing power.”

-
William H. Merril
1034 Clark Street
New Albany, Indiana
Ms Der Ohanion wrote:
“I was crippled for years. Being bedridden for some time. My

atrophied limbs prevented me from walking. The doctor said I would
never walk.
I heard about Brother Branham and how God was answering his
prayers. So I called him. He and another young man named DeArk
came and prayed for me.
Immediately my limbs were healed. I was able to walk. And I'm still
walking. This has been four years.
I praise God for His wonderful Power.”

-
Senhora Mary Der Ohanion 2223
East Oak Street New
Albany, Indiana
BOOK 2
The booklet ended with a two-page sermon, speaking

of the power of Jesus Christ to heal today. Bill wrote:
“Many who read the Bible say, 'If I had only lived in the times
of the Bible, I would go to Jesus and He would help me.' Friend,
He's here today to help you, just the same as He was that day.
Just believe in the Holy Spirit, He is the Witness of Jesus. Please,
right where you are, believe in Him, and you will be healed.”
Members of Bill's congregation distributed copies of Jesus Christ

is the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever to their friends and
relatives, who made copies and gave them to their friends and
neighbors. With this modest booklet he would make his way to
remote places and produce some remarkable miracles...
LATER that summer of 1936, Bill and Hope were heading to Fort
Wayne, Indiana, to visit Hope's father. Bill was in a hurry to get on
the road because otherwise they wouldn't get there in time, they had
to be in time for the evening service at Redigar Tabernacle, a church
he liked to visit whenever he went to Fort Wayne.
“Hope, you’re not going to take a shower before we go, are you?”
Bill looked apprehensively at his watch.
"I will not be long. But, Bill, if we're going to church tonight, I'm
going to need a new pair of socks. While I get ready, would you go
down to JC Penney and buy me a pair?”
“Well, if this is to speed things up.”
“Yes, it will hurry. Here's $.60. Now make sure you buy a pair of
chiffon, not rayon, socks. And make sure they are ‘current’.”
"Right. Chiffon socks , 'current.'”

Chiffon socks are silky, soft and luxurious. Although it was three
times more expensive than rayon , women who wanted to feel
elegant and look current preferred chiffon. On the other hand, rayon
was the frequent choice of
BOOK 2
older women who were more interested in economy and utility than
appearance. Bill Branham knew little about women's current affairs and was
confused. To make sure he didn't forget, he kept repeating the correct
pattern as he walked to the store: “Chiffon... chiffon... chiffon... chiffon...”
Someone said hello to him as he passed by. “Hello,” he replied, and
continued whispering: “Chiffon... chiffon... chiffon...”
Then he passed Orville Spon, an old fishing friend. Orville said, “Billy,
did you know that the perch is nipping at the side of that last pillar? Some of
them are this big!” Orville drew a measurement using his hands.
Bill whistled, quite impressed. The two discussed baiting and fishing
methods for a few minutes. When Bill left, he had forgotten what kind of
socks he should buy.
Now what would you do? It was embarrassing for him to come home
and tell Hope he had forgotten. Furthermore, it would take a long time.
Suddenly he thought of Thelma Ford, a friend of his who worked at a nearby
variety store. She could probably tell him what he needed to know.
As soon as he entered, Bill stopped in the sporting goods section to

admire his favorite .22 caliber rifle on the shelf. It was a beautiful firearm,
perfect for hunting squirrels. Bill had wanted to buy it for over a year, but it
cost $17.00 - and he couldn't even come up with the $3.00 down payment.
Well, someday, maybe...
Thelma Ford approached. “Hi, Billy. I can help you?"

“Hi, Thelma. Hope wants me to buy her a pair of sock socks.”
Thelma moved her nose. “Why, Billy, Hope doesn’t want half sockets.”
“Yes, she does. She wants them very 'current'.”

“Oh, you mean socks. What kind does she want?”
Feeling like a fool and not wanting to show more of your
ignorance, Bill tried to disguise. “What type do you have?”
“We have all kinds, from rayon to...”
BOOK 2
“This is what she wants, rayon. How much does it cost?"

“It costs $0.20 a pair.”
“In this case I’ll take two pairs.”
Now Bill felt like the one. When he got home he made fun of
Hope. “You women are always talking about how good shoppers
you are. You cross the river to Louisville and spend all day looking
for a bargain, while I go straight to downtown Jeffersonville and
buy two pairs of socks with the money you gave me for one pair;
and there was still money left.”
“Did you buy chiffon?”
“Yes, I bought this one.” Chiffon - rayon - it all looked the same
to him.
Hope took the bag and looked inside. She smiled, “Yes, Bill,
you really are a bargain seeker.”
Later when they arrived in Fort Wayne at dusk, Bill was
uncomfortable when Hope said she needed to stop at a variety
store before going to church. Bill stopped and Hope hurried into
the store. A few minutes later she returned carrying a small paper
packet. She didn't say what she had bought, and since Bill's mind
was fixed on getting to the Redigar Tabernacle as quickly as
possible, he didn't ask.
Little did Bill know that his innocent mistake from that morning would soon come
back to haunt him.
A REFLECTION like sunlight crossed Bill's life when his daughter

was born on October 27, 1936. They named her Sharon Rose -
an inversion of Rose of Sharon, one of the poetic titles of Jesus
Christ. Sharon Rose was a beautiful baby, and Bill loved her more
than he had loved the warm sun of a bright autumn day. He didn't
know that Sharon's birth would be the last ray of happiness that
would touch him for many years.
Dark clouds began to gather in November.
First, Bill's sister-in-law died. And then one of his brothers was
killed, 17-year-old Charles Edward Branham Jr.
One Sunday night Charlie hitched a ride on the footboard of a car,
which was being driven by a drunk. The car grazed a power pole,
hitting
BOOK 2
to Charlie and breaking his neck. Bill was preaching at the church at this
time. One of his brothers brought the news.
Bill immediately ended the service, but when he arrived at the hospital his
brother Charlie had already died.
Young Charlie's death affected Bill's father greatly. Still unhealthy and
desperately poor, Sir Charles Branham reflected on his life, both his past
and his future. One morning Bill saw him sitting at a plow, crying.
Bill asked, “Dad, what’s the matter?”
Ella and Charles Branham

with Delores & Donny, two of their ten children
“You don’t understand, Billy, but one day you will. I want to see my old
home again. I'm 52 years old, and I haven't been there in 25 years.”
“If you want to go back there, dad, I’ll give you the money to go.”
For the last time, Charles visited the place near Burkesville, Kentucky,
where he was born. When he returned to Jeffersonville, he went to a tavern,
and there he thought how he had ruined his life with alcohol. A man offered
him a drink. Feeling guilty but unable to help himself, he accepted. As soon
as the light brown liquid filled his glass, Charles said, “Look, mate,
BOOK 2
I have a boy there in the pulpit tonight. This boy is right and I am wrong.
Don’t let this drink reflect on my boy.”
When he brought the dram to his lips, his hands shook so much that much
of the whiskey spilled onto his chin. The men made fun of him. Charles
started to cry. Taking his hat, he left there.
Two weeks later, on November 30, 1936, Charles Branham suffered a

massive heart attack. He was still alive when Bill arrived at his bedside. Bill
cradled his father's head in his arms. That black, wavy hair was just starting
to turn gray at the temples. Bill thought: “I helped put these gray hairs there.
How many headaches have I caused him?”
He looked at his father's hand, a finger missing from a shredder accident,

and he thought about how hard this man had had to work to raise his ten
children. Bill didn't care what others thought about Charles Branham; this
man was his father, and he loved him.
Charles looked up, looking into his youngest son's eyes.

old. “Billy,” he whispered, “I’ve been wrong.”
“Daddy, there is still time to change.”
Right there with his father on his deathbed, Bill led him to the Lord of all
life, Jesus Christ. Within an hour Charles Branham met his Creator. At that
moment Bill saw an angel dressed in white standing before him. Even in
distress, Bill at least knew that his father's soul was safe in Christ.
THE NEXT affliction began a week before Christmas when both of Bill's
children caught a cold. Soon Hope started coughing too. The temperature
outside was below freezing. Hope placed blankets at the base of the doors
and towels on the door frames to cut the draft. This helped a little, but
because the house had so little insulation, the kitchen stove had trouble
keeping both rooms warm.
Christmas 1936 fell on a Friday. One day before the
BOOK 2
Christmas, Hope crossed the river and went to Louisville,

Kentucky, with a friend, to buy some last-minute gifts for the
children. Bill went to work as usual. At his lunch stop he opened
a savings account for Sharon Rose, putting $0.80 into it - her
Christmas gift for her two-month-old daughter. Then he placed
a Christmas present in the office of his childhood friend, Sam
Adair, who had recently returned from medical school to open a
private practice in Jeffersonville.
Later that afternoon Bill received an urgent call. While out shopping in
Louisville, Hope had collapsed in the street. Now she was at home in bed,
urgently needing his attention. Bill hurried to find Hope some blankets as
she was shaking uncontrollably. He touched his forehead. His skin felt like
it was on fire.
Bill called Sam Adair, who came right away. Doctor Adair
slid a thermometer under Hope's tongue.
Placing his stethoscope against his chest, he listened and
frowned. Then he checked the mercury. “Oh, my, she has a
fever of 100 degrees. Bill, this is serious. She has pneumonia.
You need to give her orange juice all night.
Make her drink at least seven and a half liters of juice tonight to
break this fever.”
Bill sat by the bed, tending to Hope throughout the night,
giving her a sip of orange juice every few minutes. On Christmas
morning the fever had dropped a few degrees.
Mrs. Brumbach came to see her daughter and was horrified
by the cold room and the draft. “William, this house is not in
sufficient condition to keep Hope warm. I will take you to my
house.”
Bill said, "I'd better ask Dr. Adair if she can
mover.”
“Adair? I wouldn't ask him anything. That boy doesn't have
enough sense to go out in the rain. I will call Doctor Lawrence
to examine you.” And left.
Bill called Dr. Adair, who warned him, “Bill, don't move it. If
you take Hope outside in this cold weather, it will
BOOK 2
kill her."
“But, doctor, her mother is going to do something anyway.”
“Then I’m off the case. Bill, I love you like a brother; you know this. But
I can't be responsible for Hope under these conditions. I will pass Hope on
to Doctor Lawrence.”
“Well, doctor, you know I trust you.”
With his thoughts racing, Bill went to the church, knelt, and prayed,
“Lord, I love my wife. Please have mercy on her and heal her. Will you do
this, Lord?”
Bill saw a black sheet fall right in front of him, like a curtain ending a
theatrical performance. He gasped in horror at the sight. Then, as I watched,
gray clouds blocked the sun. Torrential rains took over the countryside,
causing the Ohio River to swell until finally Jeffersonville's levees broke,
flooding the low-lying parts of the city. He saw a man come down from the
sky with a ruler in his hand and measure the water on Spring Street, making
it six feet.
The sight disturbed Bill. Until then, every glimpse he had seen of the
future had come to pass. He shared the vision around the city, hoping that
people would notice, and prepare, and then lives could be saved. Those
people he told either laughed silently, or shamelessly. Even some in his
own congregation were skeptical—like Elder Jim Wiseheart, who said, “Billy,
the worst flood we had was in 1884, and it was still only about six inches of
water on Spring Street.”
Bill repeated the vision: “I saw a man come down from the heavens, take
a ruler, and put it down on Spring Street and say, 'Six feet and seventy
centimeters.'”
Jim Wiseheart ridiculed, “Oh, Billy, you’re just excited.”
“I'm not excited. This is 'Thus says the Lord'!

And even more, the same God who told me there will be a flood, showed
me a black curtain descend between me and Him.
Something has separated us. He doesn't listen when I pray for my wife. I’m
afraid she can’t get out of this situation anymore.”
BOOK 2
Chapter 20
The Disastrous Flood
1937
ALTHOUGH Billy Paul and Sharon Rose recovered quickly

from the flu, Hope's pneumonia took a firm hold. During the
month of January she was bedridden at her mother's house,
unable to do anything alone. Bill took care of his children after
work, but during the day he had to leave them with a babysitter.
He hired Meda Broy.
Meda was almost 18 now. She had graduated from high school
the previous May and hadn't found a full-time job, so this was
a good way to earn some money and help her pastor at the
same time.
In the second half of January 1937, a stormy front moved
northeast of the United States. For two weeks, hail rained over
a vast area of the western Appalachian Mountains, draining
into the Ohio River. Every day the Ohio River slowly increased
its level past the protective levees at Jeffersonville and
Louisville. And it still rained - sometimes snow, but often hail.
Men patrolled the dikes constantly. If one ruptured, hundreds
of miles of cultivated land would be flooded, as would the lower
parts of all the cities that bordered the area. The dikes were
well built, but they were dirty; they could not withstand such
high water levels for long. Day after day, the levees weakened.
Finally, a time came in mid-February when civil authorities
decided to evacuate everyone living in the risk zones.
Throughout that day the streets were full of people going to

the highest parts. Bill and Mrs. Brumbach's house
BOOK 2
they were both located in the risk areas, so Bill had to find somewhere to
take his wife. First he looked for hospitals. Unfortunately they were all full.
This meant he had to move his wife and children to a temporary hospital
established by the government. And so he joined the civilian evacuation
effort.
Despite the broad warning, some people still delayed leaving their
homes. Often because they did not have the means to leave. Volunteers
worked tirelessly through the night, trying to find people and get them out
before it was too late. Near midnight a portion of the levee on the Indiana
side finally broke, sending a massive wall of water crashing through
downtown Jeffersonville.
All the sirens in the city sounded one last urgent warning - the worst was
yet to come.
Bill was on the other side of town at this time, patrolling in the utility
company's truck.
He had a boat in the back in case he needed it. A call came over his radio.
“Bill, the flood hit our side. Hurry up and come to Chestnut Street with your
boat. We will need your help.”
When Bill arrived at the roll call, several men were pointing through the
turbulent waters that swirled around and between the houses. “There is a
mother and a group of children there. We can't catch them. Do you think
you can reach them with your boat?”
Looking through the sleet and darkness, Bill was able to scout a path to
the porch of the house near where the levee had failed. The torrent was
gushing through the hole in the barrier, and the house was being violently
shaken by the waters. Even over the noise of the wind and the roar of the
water, Bill could vaguely hear a woman crying for help.
The current seemed angry. “I will do everything I can.

Help me get my boat on the water.”
Starting the engine, Bill tried to head straight for the woman trapped by
the water, but the current was too strong and kept pulling him off course.
So he pointed the bow of his boat against the current and fought to keep
his way
BOOK 2
The Disastrous Flood 93
towards the current. Its small propeller engine struggled to move forward.
As he approached, he defied the broken dyke, and turned his boat and sped
against the current, which carried him diagonally towards his objective.
He crashed into one of the sides of the house and quickly wedged his
boat into one of the porch pillars. The mother had already fainted. She was
in a sorry state lying on the cold porch, with hail freezing her hair, her head,
her clothes and skin. Behind her, two little girls stood together at the
entrance, terrified. Bill managed to get the three of them off the slippery
porch and safely into their boat as it bobbed through the water.
He aimed his boat directly at higher ground where he had parked his
truck, but the strong current forced him to stop about a thousand and six
hundred meters from where he had left. A rescue group helped remove the
children from the boat first. When they lifted the unconscious mother, she
revived and screamed hysterically, “My baby!
My baby! Oh, don’t leave my baby!”

Startled, Bill looked at the two little girls he had rescued. The youngest was
at least two years old.
Panic hit him deeper than the hail hitting his face. He hadn't checked the
inside of the house! He must have left a little baby inside that condemned
building! Bill shouted to the other helpers, “I’ll be back for her baby.” The
men nodded.
Bill swung his boat around and fought his way back upstream to the
broken barrier. By the time he reached his goal, part of the porch was gone
and the rest of the house looked like it would soon be gone as well. Bill tied
his boat to one of the porch posts that was still standing and ran into the
house, desperately searching from room to room. There was no baby. What
did this mean? Then he realized: the mother had been unconscious
throughout the rescue; she didn't know that her two little babies were safe.
She must have been referring to her youngest daughter when she screamed,
“My baby!”
Around him, the house groaned as if it were falling to death.

Plaster fell from the ceiling like rain and the walls burst like
BOOK 2
popcorn. A loud crack echoed in the hallway. The floor was pushed as the
house moved, causing Bill to crash into the closet door. Another crack
echoed shortly after the first, following the sound of cracking wood. The
building was being broken since its foundation.
Walking down the hallway, Bill dove through the front door, not knowing
that the porch had just completely separated from the house. He fell into the
freezing waters. By the grace of God he was able to hold on to the edge of
the balcony as the waters carried it away. Dragging himself out of the water
and being dazed he climbed into his boat. With numb fingers he undid the
slipknot. Moments later, the house was ripped from its foundation and
carried away into the night.
Bill knew he wasn't out of the woods yet. The engine had gone out while
he was searching the house and now his feeble craft was being swept
uncontrollably by the flooded streets. At any moment he could be toppled by
a wave or tree branches. Bill grabbed and pulled the rope, covered in ice,
and tied a beveled knot on the propeller motor. He pulled hard. Nothing
happened. He pulled again - and nothing. He pulled the choke and tried
again; hasn't called yet. By then the engine was flooded. Countless times
Bill pulled the rope to start it until his tired muscles asked for a rest. The
engine refused to burn.
Meanwhile, the current was carrying him along Market Street, and then
another hole in the Ohio River barrier broke. Panic renewed Bill's energy.
And just in a matter of minutes downstream, Ohio Falls thundered!
Waves approximately four meters high roared around him. Bill struggled
to maintain his balance as he struggled with the unyielding engine. Between
the pulls, he seemed to hear a voice saying: “And now what do you think of
your decision not to go among that group of Pentecostal people?” Bill pulled
the starter rope again - nothing happened.
He could hear the Ohio Falls roaring ahead. Kneeling in the icy waters
pooling inside his boat, Bill intertwined his frozen fingers and prayed
desperately: “Lord, I have a wife and two children who are sick and bedridden.
BOOK 2
The Disastrous Flood 95
at the hospital. In just a few more minutes and I'll sink into this cataract. Oh,
Lord, please help me. I don’t want to die here on the river and leave my
family destitute.”
A different thought interrupted his prayer. It seemed as if he heard his
mother-in-law say: “Trash. They are nothing more than trash. I will never
give you permission to drag my daughter into rubbish like that.”
Shaking and feeling guilty, Bill prayed, “Dear God, I know I made a
mistake, but please forgive me. Jesus, please have mercy on me. Please
start this engine!”
The falls roared louder every minute. Rising to his feet, Bill pulled the
starting rope again. Now the engine sputtered, coughed twice, and worked.
Bill turned his boat around and gave it all the speed he could. Slowly he
gained distance against the current until he was finally far enough away from
the waterfall that he could safely point his bow toward the Indiana coast.
He landed near Howard Park, a few miles from where he left, almost in
New Albany. Securing his boat to a tree, he walked back to Jeffersonville.
It was very early when he finally exhausted, got behind the wheel of the
work car. He immediately went to see his wife and children, but had to take
a detour when he found the path blocked by the flood. He tried a different
route. It was also blocked. After almost an hour of frustrated attempts, Bill
realized that all the roads pointing in that direction were impassable.
Suddenly, a new wave of terror poured into his heart. Would the public
hospital be underwater? He rushed to the government offices and met a
friend of his, Major Weekly.
“Major, is the hospital flooded?”

“Billy, there is over 20 feet of flooding in that area. Do you have anyone
there?”
“Yes, a wife and two sick children.”
“Don’t worry, everyone got out of there. They were all put on a train and
taken north up to Charlestown. Not really sure, I'm afraid. Everything that
BOOK 2
What they had available were wagons for transporting cattle.”

Someone else said: “I heard the train was swept off the track
at the trestles at Lancassange Creek. I think they all drowned.”
All telephone and telegraph lines between Jeffersonville and

Charlestown were destroyed by water, so there was no way to get
more information without going there. Bill got into his car and
headed up Utica Pike toward Charlestown, 12 miles north of
Jeffersonville. But soon the Lancassange stream blocked it. It had
overflowed its banks for miles, entering everything from cornfields
to swamps, and submerging miles of highways. Bill sped back to
Jeffersonville, loaded his boat, filled the fuel tank, and returned to
where the train tracks disappeared underwater on Utica Pike.
The sleet had turned to ice and began to peel off the hull of Bill's boat as he
entered the water. He tried to follow those submerged railway lines and did very
well for a mile; but the closer he got to the center of the stream, the stronger the
current fought against him, until it finally pushed him out of course. Soon, he
was helpless and lost in a cornfield, a swampy maze between the bank and the
forest. It had become very dangerous both to go forward and to return. Although
it tormented his heart to do so, Bill knew he would have to wait to calm the
storm. He docked his boat on a small island, and lit a fire. So he sat and waited...
and worried.
BOOK 2
Chapter 21
Hope Dies
1937
THE FLOOD left William Branham on that tiny island for three miserable
days. Most of the time he was tormenting himself, imagining the worst,
imagining his wife and children floating in the river, with a pile of broken
branches somewhere. These types of thoughts almost tore his soul apart. In
anguish he prayed for his Master's help. But no matter how hard he prayed,
he could find no comfort in the Lord. It seemed as if God had turned His
back on him and refused to listen to him.
Every time Bill prayed, his thoughts moved toward those Pentecostal people
he had encountered in Mishawaka. Were they really “trash” from other
churches? Or had they left those churches because they had found
something genuine? Sitting hour after hour imprisoned on his island, Bill had
plenty of time to consider whether these Pentecostal, emotional people were
trash or not; and whether or not he should listen to his mother-in-law's
opinion about the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
On his second day of isolation, the rain finally stopped; the clouds
became scarce; and finally the sun could shine.
A plane located him and sent some food. On the third day, the winds calmed
and Bill decided to try to cross again. He guided his boat for another
kilometer along the flooded riverbank, reaching a small community called
Port Fulton, situated high enough that the waves only crashed against a few
steps of the houses. He remained in Port Fulton for seven days, waiting for
the flood to recede and the current to subside. Finally he
BOOK 2
He couldn't bear to wait any longer. He made another attempt to reach the
far shore and this time he succeeded.
Securing his boat to a tree, he walked along the highway toward

Charlestown. When he reached the city limits, he asked everyone he saw if
they knew about a train that had come from Jeffersonville, long before the
flood swept the tracks. No one he asked knew anything about this.
Desperate, Bill continued down the street towards the train station.
A car came alongside him and stopped. “Well, Billy Branham, what
brings you to Charlestown?” It was Colonel Hayes, an old family friend.
After Bill explained his condition, Colonel Hayes said, “Come in, Billy. I will
help you find them.”
Soon they were at the entrance to the railway dispatch office. Bill
trembled as he asked, “Ten days ago – the night the levees broke in
Jeffersonville – was there a train that arrived around midnight? It would
have been cattle cars, but they were full of people – sick people.”
“How could I forget that train?” The dispatcher responded. “This was
the last one that came before the roads were swept.”
Bill felt a wave of relief. “What happened to those people?” He asked

anxiously.
“I can’t tell you. The train didn't stop here. I don't know how far he went,
but the driver who was guiding him will come here in a little while. Hang on."
The train driver gave more information: “A mother with two small
children? Yes, I remember this case. They were very sick. We dropped
them off in Columbus, Indiana. Young man, you are unable to go there.
Flooding has taken over all the train lines to Columbus and the roads are all
blocked as well.”
As soon as Bill and the colonel left the station, Bill became uneasy with
concern, rubbing his hands together nervously, cracking his fingers. Colonel
Hayes placed his hand firmly on Bill's shoulder and said, "I can take you
BOOK 2
Hope Dies 99
There, Billy. I know a secondary path that is at a higher level. I'm pretty sure
it's above the water.”
“Then let’s leave.”
Columbus, Indiana, was 50 miles to the north. They arrived at dusk and
soon learned of a Baptist church that had been converted into a temporary
hospital to accommodate all the sick and injured victims of the flood. When
they arrived in front of the building, Bill ran up the steps three at a time. The
auditorium was full of people. Benches had been stacked against one wall,
and now many rows of army cots were lined up on the floor. Noise and
confusion dominated the vast room - people walking down the corridors and
talking; patients moaning and coughing. Bill cried desperately, “Hope! Hope!
Where are you?" Faces turned in his direction. Bill didn't care. He ran
between the beds, looking for that face that meant more to him than any
other. “Hope, where are you, honey?”
Below, at the end of the room, Bill saw a thin hand rise.
He ran down the row of beds until he reached hers. The first look at his
beloved wife made him shudder involuntarily.
“Dear God, have mercy!” he thought. Hope's skin looked as white as cotton.
His arms were very thin; She must have lost about eleven kilos. His eyes
had sunk so low that the outline of his facial bones could easily be seen.
Hope looked at him and gave a slight smile: “Bill, I'm sorry to be in this
condition.”
Bill fell to his knees and hugged her. Struggling to keep his voice level,
he said, “Honey, you look good. I'm sorry you're so sick. Where is Billy Paul
and Sharon?”
“Someone took them to that room over there. They won’t let me see
them.”
A hand touched Bill's shoulder. “Are you Reverend Branham?”
"Try."
“I'm one of the doctors here. Could I speak to you privately for just a few
minutes?”
BOOK 2
Once they were far enough away that Hope could not hear them, the
doctor said, “Reverend Branham, I am sorry to tell you this, but your wife
has developed tuberculosis. I think there is nothing that can stop it now.”
The doctor's words felt like a scalpel opening Bill's chest. “No, doctor,
this cannot be. God can save her.”
“Well, that may be true; but as far as medical science is concerned, it is

finished. There's nothing more we can do for her. I'm taking care of your
children too. Your little boy is fine, but your little girl is quite sick with
pneumonia. You will be a lucky man if she survives.”
Bill cried, “Oh, God, have mercy.”

“Don’t break down crying in front of your wife,” the doctor warned. “This
will only make things more difficult for her.
She doesn't know she's dying.”
Bill fought his anguish to control himself. “When can I take her and the
kids back to Jeffersonville?”
“As soon as the roads were open.”
Returning to Hope's bed, Bill said, “Honey, the doctor said I can take
you home in a few days. I’ll ask Dr. Sam Adair to take care of you.”
Hope’s thin lips curved slightly into a pitiful smile: “That will be good, Bill.
Maybe God will have mercy and let me live.”
Struggling to keep his voice level, Bill said, “At all

my heart, I hope He does.”
FOR FIVE MONTHS Hope was confined to the hospital in Jeffersonville.

Doctor Adair tried every resource in his black suitcase to get her out of that
pitiful condition. Nothing helped.
When Hope coughed up blood, Bill's concern increased. There was little
doctor Adair, what could I do to calm him down other than explain what was
happening: “The infectious tuberculosis bacillus has been eating his lungs
through the bronchial blood vessel. That’s where the blood is coming from.”
BOOK 2
Hope Dies 101
“Doctor, is there nothing else we can try? I am desperate."
“I know Dr. Miller who works at a sanitarium in Louisville.

He has had much experience with tuberculosis; he may have
some suggestions. I will call him."
Doctor Miller crossed the river to examine Hope before
giving his opinion. “The disease is quite advanced. The only
thing that might work is an artificial pneumothorax.”
Bill looked perplexed: “What is Pneumothorax?”
“Pneumo means lung and thorax is the cavity that contains
the heart and lungs. Pneumothorax is the condition where air
or gas enters the area between the lungs and the chest wall,
increasing the pressure in this region, which in turn brings the
lungs to a halt. This happens spontaneously in some lung
diseases and is usually very bad. With an artificial pneumothorax
we would stop a lung on purpose. Because the bacteria that
causes tuberculosis needs a high level of oxygen to survive, if
we stop one lung at a time we can sometimes suffocate the
virus.”
“This looks promising. And what does it involve?”
“We insert a needle between the ribs and go into the chest cavity. Then
we inject a certain amount of air, stopping one lung at a time. Gradually the
lungs will absorb this air, then we can inject more air at intervals during the
treatment.”
Now Bill wasn't sure. “This seems risky.”

“There are no guarantees,” said Dr. Miller.
Bill talked about this with Hope and she agreed to give him
the opportunity. The hospital in Jeffersonville did not have a
pneumothorax machine, so Bill borrowed money to rent one
from the hospital in Louisville. He held Hope's hand while
doctors numbed her side and inserted a needle into the space
between her ribs and her chest cavity.
Throughout the procedure, Hope bit her lip and squeezed Bill's
white hand. She was suffering terribly. When Dr. Miller finished,
Bill had to struggle to separate Hope's fingers from his hand.
After the treatment, Dr. Miller wanted x-rays taken.
BOOK 2
of both lungs. He examined them closely and then called Bill into the
consultation room. “Reverend Branham, I fear we have failed. His wife's
lungs are already in a state of no return. There's nothing in the world we can
do for her right now. The almighty God is calling to her. I fear she may only
live for a few more days.”
More than torn, Bill returned to Hope's room. She looked so pale and
fragile, like a big china doll lying on the bed. How he loved her! What would
he do without her? And the kids - Billy Paul wasn't even two years old; and
Sharon Rose wasn't even nine months old yet - what were they going to do
without a mother?
Hope asked, “Did the doctor tell you anything?”

Bill shook his head. “Don’t ask me, darling. I have to go to work now, but
I'll be back in a few hours to check on you.” He was upset about having to
leave her side, but with hundreds of dollars in medical expenses accruing
over the last few months, he needed to work to pay for them.
On Thursday, July 22, Bill was patrolling 30 miles north - near Scottsburg,
Indiana - when a terrible message finally came over his radio: “Calling
William Branham, his wife is dying. If you want to see her alive, you need to
come now.”
Bill parked the truck on the side of the road and got out.
Unfastening his gun belt, he placed it on the seat; then he took off his hat
and knelt by the side of the road. Bowing his head before God, he prayed,
“Heavenly Father, I have done all I can do. You know that You are tearing
the soul of Your servant; but I probably tore Yours apart when I listened to
my mother-in-law instead of You. I already told You I'm sorry. Lord, please
don't let Hope die until I can see her once more.”
Returning to the car, he turned on the siren, and ran to the hospital as
fast as he could, quickening his steps and through the front door, he saw
Sam Adair walking down the hallway heading towards him. Doctor Adair
took one look at Bill, lowered his
BOOK 2
Hope Dies 103
her head, and went through a door to the side so she wouldn't have to face
him. Bill ran down the hall and pushed the door open.
Sam hugged him and moaned compassionately, “Billy, boy.”

“Tell me, doctor, is she still alive?”
“I think so, Billy. But not for long."
“Doctor, come with me to her room, yes?”
Doctor Adair tilted his head: “Oh, Bill, don't ask me to go. Hope has
baked a lot of pies for me. She's like my sister. But I can’t bear to go back
to that room again.”
A nurse opened the door and entered the room. “Reverend Branham, I
want you to take this medicine. This will calm your nerves.”
Bill pushed it aside and walked towards Hope's room. The nurse said,
“I'll go with you,” and followed him.
Doctor Adair called him saying, “Bill, she’s unconscious.”

Hope was in bed and a sheet covered her face. Bill lifted the sheet. His
eyes were closed and his mouth was open. His body was reduced to less
than one hundred pounds. Bill placed his hand on her forehead; he felt her
cold and sweaty. Placing his hands beneath her shoulders, he moved her
gently. “Hope, honey, answer me. I love you with all my heart. Will you
speak to me just one more time?” There was no response, no movement.
Out loud Bill prayed, "God, I know I've been wrong, but please allow me to
talk to her just one..."
Before finishing her prayer, Hope's eyelids fluttered open. She tried to
lift her arms, but she was too weak. Her lips moved, speaking faint words:
“It's so calm,” she said. “Why did you call me back?”
Bill leaned over the bed to hear her better. “What do you mean, darling?”
“Bill, you've been talking about it, you've been preaching about it, but
you have no idea how beautiful it is!”
"What are you talking about?"
“I was going home. There were two people dressed in white, one on
each side. We were walking in a
BOOK 2
path lined with stunning flowers and elegant palm trees. Beautiful
birds everywhere, singing and flying from tree to tree. It was so
peaceful! Then I heard you calling me in the distance and I came
back to see you.” Hope noticed the nurse standing next to her
husband. “Louise, when you get married I hope you have a husband
as good as mine. He’s been so good to me, so understanding.”
The nurse covered her face with a handkerchief and hurriedly

left the room.
“No, honey,” Bill said, “I haven't been able to do
for you what I wish I had done.”
“You did the best you could, Bill; I love you for this. But I must
hurry; they are waiting for me. Before I go, there are a few things I
want to say. You know why I’m going, don’t you?”
He tried to say yes, but he couldn't find the words; then

he just shook his head.
“We should never have listened to my mother,” Hope whispered.
“Those Pentecostal people are right. Promise me that someday you
will go with those people. Raise our children that way.”
“I know I should never have listened to your mother. Oh, if I

could just go through this again, I would do it differently. But I will
make up for it someday.”
“Bill, do you remember the rifle you wanted to buy and we didn’t
have enough money for a down payment?”
“Yes, honey, I remember.”
“I really wish you had that rifle. I have been saving my nickels
and dimes from the allowance you gave me weekly for clothing.
When you go home, look above the folding bed. You will find an
envelope there with money in it. Promise me you’ll buy that rifle.”
He swallowed and promised: “For your sake I will buy it.”

“One other thing – I want to apologize because I kept something
from you. Remember that time we went to Fort Wayne, and you
bought me those half sockets?”
"Yes I remember."
BOOK 2
Hope Dies 105
“Bill, you bought me the wrong kind. Those stockings were for older
women. I gave them to your mother. I didn’t tell you so I wouldn’t hurt your
feelings.”
Suddenly Bill felt a different kind of pain cut through him. By his
carelessness that day he had belittled Hope's needs. How could he have
been so careless, so insensitive? His anguish now seemed unbearable.
Hope's face became calm. "They are coming back.

I can feel them approaching. Bill is so calm! This precious Holy Spirit that
we have received is what is carrying me.
Promise me that you will preach the baptism of the Holy Spirit until you die.
This is real, and this is wonderful about death.”
“I promise you I will preach.”
Hope managed a weak smile: “I want you to promise me that you won’t
live single.”
“Oh, Hope, I can't promise that. I love you so much."
“Bill, we have two children. I don't want them to be dragged here and
there. Find some Christian girl and marry her – someone who will love our
children and make a home for them.”
“Oh, Hope, please don’t ask me to promise this.”

“Please, Bill. You wouldn’t let me die unhappy, would you?”
With his heart nearly ripped from his chest, Bill

whispered, “I promise I will do the best I can.”
Her last words to him were: “Bill, stay on the field.”
Bill said, “Honey - I'm going to bury you in Walnut Ridge. And if I sleep,
I'll lie down next to you. If Jesus comes before I die, I will be on the
battlefield somewhere preaching the Gospel of the Holy Spirit. On that
great day when Jesus splits the heavens and the New Jerusalem comes
down from the sky, I will join Billy Paul and Sharon and we will meet you at
the eastern gate before we enter.”
Hope smiled one last time and shook his hand. Then she closed her
eyes and walked along that path of palm trees towards the city of God. In
Bill's thoughts, she would remain eternally 24 years old.
BOOK 2
Chapter 22
The Most Uncertain Moment of His
Life 1937
ELLA BRANHAM persuaded her son to stay with her the first
night after Hope's death. She knew that Bill's children were
being looked after by Miss Broy, and Ella didn't want Bill to be
alone. Bill said no, he wanted to go home. Although there
wasn't much there – $10.00 would buy everything in the two
rooms – the small house was still their home. Hope had left
the house clean; she had touched that environment with her
love, and transformed the small, rented place into a warm and
inviting home.
As soon as Bill walked through the front door, he knew he
had made a mistake. The place no longer offered welcome;
without life; without the power to feel joy. Walking into the
room, he looked up at the folding bed. There, under a
newspaper, was the envelope Hope had mentioned. Bill took
out the nickels and dimes and counted them. They totaled
$2.80 - just $0.20 less than he needed to put a down payment
on that .22 caliber rifle he'd been waiting for over a year. Bill
determined in his heart to put this money into that rifle; and -
despite hundreds of dollars in medical bills he owed - he
promised he would pay the monthly installments on that rifle
until he paid it all off - in memory of his devoted wife.
He lay down on the bed, wanting to fall asleep. A mouse
had entered the stove in the kitchen and was shaking some
papers on the bars. This sounded to Bill as if Hope were
opening the wrappers on some candy she had stored on the
kitchen shelf. He got up and closed the kitchen door with his
foot. There hung Hope's kimono on a
BOOK 2
The Most Uncertain Moment of Your Life 107
hook behind the door. Now he realized that he should have gone to his
mother's house; Everything there reminded him of his wife, inert, lifeless. Bill
buried his face in the mattress and vented his distress.
Someone knocked on the door, and from the knocks the call was urgent.
Bill hurriedly got up and opened the door for Frank Broy and his son to enter.
Frank said, “Bill, I have some bad news for you.”
“I know, Frank. I was with Hope when she died.”

“This is not all. Your baby is dying too.”
“Sharon?” Bill gasped. "It can not be!"
"Yes. Doctor Adair just took her to the hospital. She has meningitis. The
doctor said she won't live. Come, I’ll take you there.”
Instead of moving, Bill fell to the ground. Frank and Fletcher helped him
and led him to Frank's truck.
When Bill arrived at the hospital, Dr. Adair took him to the laboratory and
let him look under the microscope at the thick fluid coming from Sharon's
spine. “It's tuberculous meningitis,” said Doctor Adair sadly. “She got it from
her mother. Normally the tuberculosis bacillus stops in the lungs, but
sometimes it enters the bloodstream and reaches the meninges which
covers the brain.
This is what happened to your daughter. I'm sorry, Bill, but at this point
there's absolutely nothing we can do for her.”
“Where is she, doctor? I want to see her."

“She's downstairs isolated, you can't go see her.
She is infected.”
“I don’t care if I die; I have to see Sharon one more time.”
With difficulty, Doctor Adair stuck to his decision. “You can't do this, Bill.
Meningitis is highly contagious. You can take this from your coat and pass it
to Billy Paul.”
Bill sat up and put his hands over his face, crying, “Just bring me some
chloroform and let me die with it. What is life for me now? Everything I love
is gone.”
Doctor Adair felt his friend's anguish as if it were his own. “Bill stay here.
I will ask a nurse to
BOOK 2
May I bring you something to calm you down.”

As soon as Dr. Adair left the room, Bill slipped through
another door and headed for the basement. Sharon Rose was
lying in a crib, whimpering and twitching. A long cotton cloth
had been placed over his body like a mosquito net, but his
kicking and twisting had ripped it off and now two flies were
sucking the moisture from around his eyes. Bill shooed away
the flies and repositioned the screen.
“Sharon,” he said sweetly.

When she turned her head and looked at him, her lips
began to tremble. She had suffered so much that her gaze
was like that of a cross-eyed person.
Bill fell to his knees, closed his eyes, and clasped his hands: “Oh, dear
God,” he prayed: “You took my dear wife and now You are taking my baby!
Please don't take my little girl. It was I who made the mistake; You should take
me. I'm sorry I listened to someone else instead of You. I'll never try to do that
again. Lord, I will go with those people she called 'trash' and 'despicable' and
I won't care if they call me a saint-roller. I will do whatever You want me to do;
but just, please don’t let my baby die.”
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw what looked like a

black sheet falling between Sharon and him. He had seen the
same thing while praying for Hope last Christmas. He knew
that God had refused his prayer.
This instant was the most uncertain moment of his life.
Kneeling on the hard floor of the basement isolation ward, with
his nine-month-old daughter dying before him, the tempter
came to his side and whispered: “You say God is love. This is
Love? How hard you have preached His Word and how hard
you have tried to live for Him, and now when it comes to your
own baby's life, He abandons you! What kind of God do you
serve anyway?”
For a minute Bill wavered with uncertainty in that Great
Separation. Then his answer came, flowing from some hidden
source deep in his soul: “As Job in the ancient times
BOOK 2
of old I will say: 'The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be
the name of the Lord' 19 Oh, God, I don't know why You're tearing me apart
like this, but it won't change my faith in You. Even if You kill me, I'll still trust
You. I believe in You. ”
He stood up and for the last time leaned over his daughter.
“Sharon, after the angels take your soul to the afterlife to find your mother, I
will bury you here in her arms.”
Amelia Hope Branham was buried on Saturday, July 24, 1937, in Walnut
Ridge Cemetery, on a plot that her father had purchased for him and his wife.
Sharon Rose died the next day. On Monday morning the funeral director
reopened Hope's tomb and lowered Sharon's small coffin, placing it on top of
her mother's. Bill had kept his promise; he had buried Sharon Rose in her
mother's arms.
DURING the following weeks Bill experienced a difficult situation of

unbearable distress. His days seemed endless; His nights were torture and
he often had insomnia. Each morning he struggled to get up to go to work.
He knew he had an obligation to pay his medical bills and this gave him
reason to stay alive. At dusk he would pick up Billy Paul from the Broy
house, make dinner, and then walk the streets for hours, carrying his son on
his shoulders.
One day after work, Bill placed his son on the front steps and walked
toward the backyard to check on his hunting dog, which he kept tied to an
oak tree at the back of his lot. Billy Paul said, “Daddy, where’s Mommy?”
Bill had answered this question hundreds of times, but two-year-old Billy
Paul wasn't old enough to understand. “She is in heaven. She went to see
Jesus.”
"When she comes back? I want her.”
“She won't come back Billy, but you and I will see her sometime.
19 Good 1:21
BOOK 2
is."
Bill again walked towards the back of the house.
Billy Paul pointed his short, thick finger toward the sky.
“Daddy look! I saw Mom there in that cloud.”
This was too much for Bill. Falling face down on the ground,
he lay there for an hour, deathly paralyzed, while Billy Paul sat
on the steps weeping for his mother. When Bill finally gathered
the strength to get up, he took Billy Paul back to the Broy house
and left him there that night, and as for him, he walked toward
Walnut Ridge. Before arriving at the cemetery, he heard a car
pull up. Mr. Isler, a senator from Indiana who lived nearby, got
out of his car. “Where are you going, Billy? To the cemetery?”
"Try."
“This isn't the first time I've seen you climbing this hill.
What are you doing there?”
“I sit on the grave of my wife and my baby and
I hear the wind play music in the trees.”
“What kind of music does the wind play?”
Bill quoted the first verse of a hymn: “There is a land beyond
the river that we call eternal sweet, and we will only reach it by
faith. One by one we will enter this home of supreme good;
when the Savior calls you and me.”
Senator Isler shook both his hands with Bill's.
“Billy, I want to ask you something. I've seen you on street
corners preaching until you look like you're going to drop dead.
I have seen you go up and down the streets answering calls to
heal the sick at all hours of the night. After all this affliction you
have had, what does Christ mean to you now?”
“He’s all I have left, Mr. Isler. He is my life, my everything,
my ultimatum. He’s the only solid thing in life that I can hold on
to!”
Mr. Isler shook his head. “After He had taken
your wife and your baby, do you still want to serve Him?”
“Even if he kills me, I will continue to trust Him.”
Early the next morning, Bill was asked to repair damage to
the branch line on Highway 150 near New Albany. Putting on
his spur and seat belt, he hoisted himself up
BOOK 2
the power pole, and stopped right under a cross line. Hope
and Sharon Rose never left his mind. He could understand
why God took his wife, but his baby?
Why did God take your little baby?
As he worked, he sang the ancient gospel hymn: “Rude
Cross stood, from her the day fled, as an emblem of shame
and pain. But I contemplate this Cross, because on it Jesus
gave his life for me, a sinner.” Just then the sun hit the tops
of the trees on the horizon, bathing him in sunlight and
creating a shadow on the hillside next to him - the shadow of
a man hanging from a cross.
“That's right,” he cried, “my sins put You there, Jesus. I’m
as guilty as anyone else.” Suddenly a confusing idea crossed
his mind. Taking advantage of this confusion, the devil
persuaded him to shorten his own life.
Bill looked at his heavy rubber gloves, and then at the 2,300-
volt primary transmission line that ran alongside the
secondary. He considered the possibilities. This was wrong -
very wrong; but somehow in this moment, with his thinking
clouded by despair, wrong felt right.
Taking off one of his safety gloves, he said, “Dear God, I hate to do this, but
I'm a coward. I just can’t go on living without them.” He reached his bare hand
toward the 2,300-volt primary line, knowing that when he grabbed it, the
current would boil his blood and break his bones. “Sharon, Dad will see you
and Mom.”
He never knew what happened next. When he came to,

he was sitting on the ground with his seat belt tied around the
post. Sweat ran down his body and he shook uncontrollably.
Feeling unable to continue working that day, he threw his
tools in the back of his truck and headed home.
Several letters filled his mailbox. Bill picked them all up at

once and carried them inside, spreading them out on the
kitchen table. In addition to monthly expenses, a letter was
quite unexpected. It came from the bank and was addressed
to “Miss Sharon Rose Branham.” The hands of
BOOK 2
Bill trembled as he tore off the corner of the envelope. Then he understood.
The bank was giving her back $0.80. Bill had forgotten about the savings he
had deposited for Sharon a few days before Christmas. This was exactly
before...
His mental barrier crumbled, flooding his mind with those terrible memories.
He prayed: “Jesus, when I was a boy, I was often hungry and very cold.
Everyone laughed at me and called me a sissy. I felt alone. After I became a
Christian, You gave me a little home and a family. I tried to live right. Now
You've taken all of this from me. I am very tormented; I can't go on like this
anymore. Oh, God, why don’t You take me too?”
Again the devil moved like a fog, clouding Bill's mind to reason and common
sense.
For a moment, Bill lost sight of God's leading hand. In this uncertain time, Satan
persuaded him into the worst possible action he could take. Bill kept his ranger
revolver in a holster hanging from a nail behind the kitchen door. Wielding this
weapon, he knelt next to a bed that was near the stove. Placing the barrel of
the gun to his head, he cocked it and squeezed the trigger while praying aloud:
“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Thy kingdom come to
us, Thy be done...”
He pressed harder and harder on that lubricated trigger, but it wouldn't move.
He gave all the strength he had left, but that thin steel didn't move. Finally he
gave up and threw the gun aside. When she hit the floor, she fired and a shot
went through the wall.
Bill fell across the bed. “Oh, God, You are tearing me apart. You won’t even
let me die!”
Finally crying, exhausted, he fell asleep - and dreamed. It wasn't a typical
dream, with hazy edges and undefined consciousness. The picture was clear
and distinct, and the image remained in his memory as clearly as if he had
actually been there.
He dreamed that he was somewhere out West on a prairie, walking on a

desert road, singing a popular Western ballad: “There is a wheel on a wagon
that is
BOOK 2
broken, and a sign on the farm says, 'For Sale'..." Bill passed an old covered
carriage, the kind the old settlers called a wagon. One of the front wheels
was broken, and its axle was touching the ground. Near where the broken
wheel was leaning against the carriage, a beautiful young girl was standing
watching him. The wind touched her long blond hair. His blue eyes shone in
the sun. As Bill walked past her, he took off his cowboy hat and greeted her
cheerfully: “Good morning, miss.”
She replied, “Good morning, Daddy.”

Bill stopped and looked at this beautiful woman dressed in white. She
looked to be at least 20 years old. “Now, miss, how can I be your father when
you are almost the same age as me?”
His wide smile showed perfect teeth. “Dad, you just don’t know where
you are. On earth I was your little Sharon Rose.”
“Sharon? But - but you were just a little baby.”

“There are no babies here, daddy. We are all the same age;
we are immortal. Where is my brother, Billy Paul?”
“I left it with Miss Broy just now.”
Sharon said, “I'll wait here for Billy Paul. Why don't you go see mom.
She is waiting for you there in your new home.”
"New home? The Branhams never had homes; We have always been
poor wanderers.”
“You have a home here, Dad. Look."
She pointed up the road. There at the end of the trail was a magnificent
palace on top of the hill. The sun had just dipped behind the mansion's roof,
and now sunbeams shot out in all directions like a beacon guiding weary
travelers toward the harbor. Bill walked along this road with his hands up,
singing, “Dear home, merry home…” A long staircase led from the bottom of
the hill to the top at the front door.
Hope waited at the entrance, dressed in white, with her long black hair
flowing in the breeze. Bill jumped the steps three at a time.
When he reached the top, he fell at her feet. Hope gently coaxed him to his
feet. Bill said, "Hope, I'm done
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to find Sharon down there on the road. She has grown into a beautiful
young lady.”
“Yes, she is very well. Bill, you have to stop worrying about me and
Sharon.”
“Honey, I can’t help it. I have been so alone without you; and Billy Paul
cries for you all the time. I don't know what to do with him.”
“Sharon and I are much better off than you. Promise me you won’t
worry about us anymore.” Hope hugged him and patted his back, just as
she often did on earth. “Bill, you look so tired. You are wasting yourself
praying for the sick. Come in with me; now you can sit down and rest.”
He entered the mansion with her, and there was a green Morris chair ,
exactly like the one he had lost to the financial company because he
couldn't pay.
Hope said, “Do you remember this chair?”
A lump formed in Bill's throat. “How well I remember!”
“They won't take this one,” she assured him. “This is already paid for.”
"I don't understand."

“You're going back now, Bill. Promise me you won’t worry about me
and Sharon anymore.”
“Hope, I can’t promise that.”
But Hope was suddenly gone and Bill was waking up. When he woke
up he was on his knees, in the darkness of the kitchen. He stood up and
looked around the dark room. It seemed as if he felt an invisible arm on
his shoulder. “Hope is that you?” It seemed as if he felt her tap him on the
back. “Hope, are you here in this room?” Was he imagining this? And he
could hear her voice whispering, “Promise me you won’t worry.”
Bill said, “Hope, I promise.”
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Chapter 23
Struggling to Recover 1937 - 1939
THE OHIO RIVER had indeed measured twenty feet at Spring Street during
the flood of 1937, just as the angel had shown William Branham it would be.
The Branham Tabernacle, which was not far from Spring Street, had also
received a baptism. The rising waters had broken the windows, floating
everything inside that was not anchored to the floor, including the pulpit and
pews. When the muddy waters of the river finally receded, the pews came
down crossed and upside down, but the pulpit lowered almost in its exact
place - still standing and also facing the congregation.
The night before the flood, Bill had left his Bible open on the pulpit. When he
finally returned to examine the damage, he saw that the Bible was exactly
where he had left it, still open to the same page. Bill took this as a sign from
God - although the external circumstances of his life were in disarray, the
Word of God that he preached nevertheless remained true and steadfast.
This was encouragement... and Bill needed every measure of

encouragement he could get to help him get on with his life.
He simply couldn't bear the thought of losing his wife and daughter. He felt
like he was serving a prison sentence with no hope of freedom. Sadness
surrounded him like the bars of his cell; loneliness watched him like a prison
guard; and hopelessness; as a tough director; seeming to control his every
movement. The sentence seemed almost too heavy to bear.
Sometimes he took comfort from his dream of Hope and
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Sharon in heaven. He knew it was a dream because he had fallen into a

deep sleep. (Visions occurred when he was wide awake.) But it had been
such a memorable dream—so vivid, like the pieces of wood from the wagon
and the footprints left by his boots in the sand. This too seemed to be full of
meaning, as if God wanted to tell him many things. Some points seemed
obvious - the broken wagon wheel certainly represented his estranged
family; and it was true that Hope and Sharon were now in a better place
than earth. But other symbols were not so clear.
Why was this dream in the West? Was there any meaning to the sunset?
The biggest puzzle of all: what did Hope mean when he said he was wasting
himself praying for the sick? To these questions he could not find suitable
answers.
Bill drew his greatest strength from the Bible. He read from Romans
8:28 where the apostle Paul said: “And we know that all things work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are called by his decree.”
Bill struggled to believe it, but it was hard to see. What good could come
from losing your wife and daughter? He went to John 14 where Jesus said,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled; If you believe in God, believe in me too.
In my Father's house there are many mansions;... for I will prepare a place
for you... I will come again and take you to myself... Let not your heart be
troubled, nor be afraid.”
Bill tried to practice this advice, but his heart was often troubled in the
same way. Although he continued to preach in his church, he had lost much
of his former energy and manner of conduct. He cared a lot about people,
but somehow he didn't feel good about the Lord. Whenever I prayed, I could
not completely touch the throne of God in the way I had previously done. He
felt miserable.
His mother still lived a few blocks away from him. After Sir Charles'
death, she had turned her house into a boarding house, which provided a
steady, if modest, means of support. Every day Ella prepared breakfast and
dinner
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Fighting to Recover 117
for its pensioners. Bill often stopped by in the evening for

dinner. One night as he helped his mother wash the dishes,
Ella asked him what he thought about the new bridge they
were building over the Ohio River between Louisville,
Kentucky, and Jeffersonville, Indiana. “Doesn’t it look familiar?”
she asked.
“Strange, but somehow this - it seems to me
I remember this from somewhere.”
Ella shook her head: “One day, years ago, you ran into the
house, using incomprehensible words about seeing a bridge
where there was no bridge. At first I thought this was all a
mistake. But then I wondered - so I wrote it down and kept it.”
She held a folded, yellowed piece of paper in her hands.

Bill knew what was written there before he read it; childhood
memories came back quickly. He remembered the apple tree,
the game of marbles, the peculiar feeling that came over him;
He remembered how the river suddenly seemed closer, and
how the bridge had quickly formed over the water, coming
together piece by piece, until that girder up there in the middle
broke loose and came crashing down. He opened the old
piece of paper and read his mother's scribbles. Then he
thought about the new bridge that was under construction.
Here it is! It had happened exactly the way he had seen it when he was a boy
“Mommy, what do you think this means?”
She shrugged. “How would I know? But, Billy, for years I
have often tried to know whether you were born for a special
purpose in life. I still think you were born for this.”
Remembering that childhood vision - his first vision - and now realizing
it was coming true, Bill wished he knew the same thing. Could your life truly
be moved toward some unique purpose? His life now seemed so wasted,
empty, so devoid of meaning, that it was difficult to imagine how God could
use him for anything special. But he could never forget what he heard
terrifyingly, as a seven-year-old boy, as if a deep voice spoke to him from a
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whirlwind in a tree, saying: “Never drink, nor smoke, nor corrupt your body
in any way. There will be work for you to do when you are older.” Was this
why God hadn't let him die yet? Was there something more for him to
accomplish?
A tiny flame of hope burned inside his chest.
ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler ordered his troops to invade Poland.

Two days later France and Great Britain declared war on Germany. France
immediately attacked across the Rhine River along its bank with Germany,
but had difficulty penetrating the tough German defense. Meanwhile, the
cavalry of Poland's army corps was hopelessly outmatched by Germany's
mechanized divisions. After a mere 18 days of disastrous fighting, Poland's
government and military command fled to the border with Romania. From
that point Polish resistance quickly collapsed, allowing Germany to focus its
energy on invading France.
Although France hurriedly withdrew from German soil, it seemed obvious to

most political analyzers that the war in Europe, rather than ending, was just
beginning.
Since everyone else had access to radio and newspapers,

William Branham followed this European drama with serious attention.
However, his interest in the war unfolded from a completely different
perspective. This was what he had seen in June 1933, when he entered a
trance and watched seven events unfold before him in a panoramic vision of
the future. This was mysterious! What kind of power would allow him to see
events before they happened? And for what purpose? There was the word
again – purpose. Maybe God really did have a meaningful purpose planned
for your life. If so, why wasn't this clearer?
At this point, in his thoughts, Bill's mind was racing
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back to his encounter with the Pentecostal people in

Mishawaka, Indiana, two years earlier. Bill knew that he had
omitted God's plan for his life when he refused those
invitations from Pentecostal ministers to evangelize among
their churches. How could he return to being in God's will? Of
course, he could simply start visiting Pentecostal churches in
the hope that someone would ask him to preach. But there
was still a question that bothered him - as an obstacle to
progress - that prevented him from following this direction:
the question about the gifts of the Holy Spirit; specifically the
question about languages and the interpretation of languages.
By then Bill was convinced that tongues and the
interpretation of tongues were both genuine gifts of the Spirit
of God; the Bible seemed clear enough on this point.20 What
troubled Bill was his experience in Mishawaka. Those two
men who had been especially active in expressing the gifts
of tongues and their interpretations. Both demonstrated the
same powerful manifestations of God's Spirit in worship. But
later, when Bill had spoken to each one privately, he had
seen directly into their personal lives. Although one of the
men was completely a dedicated Christian, the other was
absolutely a hypocrite. Bill knew this was the truth; visions
never lied. This was what bothered him, the whole Pentecostal
idea of allowing gifts of the Spirit to operate openly in church
meetings. If this really was the Spirit of God falling at that
Pentecostal meeting in Mishawaka, how could the Spirit of
God bless that obvious hypocrite?
This did not seem likely. But could Satan's spirit produce the
works of God? This also seemed doubtful. So was it possible
that both spirits could be working on the same meeting? This
idea presented difficulties. If the Spirit of God and the spirit of
Satan produced the same result, how could anyone know
which was true?
This enigma had plagued him many times in the two years
that had passed. But now - after seeing his vision of the war
in Europe come true - Bill felt a renewed urgency
20 I Corinthians 12:1-12 and 14:1-33
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to find an answer, so he could put his mistake behind him and

begin again on the path toward the destination God had in
mind.
He took a leave of absence from his job. Bill followed
Highway 62 until he reached the Tunnel Mill area. He parked
the car off the road, trudged across Fourteen Mile Creek and
entered the woods. Autumn flaunted its beauty. Orange, brown,
and red leaves whizzed above and crunched below him as he
walked. Birds filled the background with their soft concerts.
Finally Bill arrived at the place where that eighty-foot-deep
gorge came from a steep limestone cliff.
He picked his way through the bushes and boulders along the
base of the cliff until he reached the mouth of his cave.
There was a thin stone in the front hole, pointed and protruding
like a tooth. He lit the candle, and then moved feet first toward
the opening. Following the winding corridor of approximately
seven and a half meters, into the slope, he stopped and stared
at the stone in the shape of an inverted pyramid, suspended
over a rectangular limestone table. This impressed him every
time he saw it. He placed his coat and some extra candles on
the ledge of the rock he used as a bed. So he took the Bible
and went out to seek God in the warm autumn sunlight.
There was a fallen oak tree not far from the cave entrance.
The place where the trunk of the old tree forked the branches
now formed a resting chair. Bill curled up on that fork all
afternoon, reading his Bible and praying. Finally the sky
darkened and the stars appeared.
A light but cold autumn breeze forced him to take shelter inside the cave.
The next morning he didn't move until the sun rose high
enough to warm his place. He had left his Bible open in the
fork of the fallen oak and the wind had blown its pages open
to Hebrews at the sixth chapter.
Bill sat on the fork of the tree and read:
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For it is impossible that those who have once been

enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and
have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have
tasted the good word of God and the virtues of the age
to come, and have fallen away, should be renewed
again to repentance; for in this way, as for them, they
crucify the Son of God again and expose him to reproach.
For the earth that soaks up the rain that often falls on it,
and produces grass that is beneficial to those by whom
it is tilled, receives the blessing of God; but she that
beareth thorns and thistles is reproached, and near unto
the curse; your end is to be burned.
That didn't make any sense to him. He turned the pages,

looking for a certain Scripture in II Timothy that had been on
his mind. As he took his hands off the Bible, a gust of wind
blew the pages back to Hebrews in chapter 6.
He thought, “How strange!” Was God trying to say something
with this portion of Scripture? He read chapter 6 again, but it
still didn't make sense to him.
Returning to the cave, he descended through the hole and
walked along the narrow passage to the place where that
inverted limestone pyramid was suspended over the
rectangular stone table. Bill knelt down and prayed, “Lord,
what does Hebrews chapter 6 mean? What are You trying to tell me?”
Suddenly his fingers felt numb – not from the cold of the
cave; this was that deadening feeling that often preceded a
vision. His arms and legs felt heavy and his lips felt thick as if
a dentist had given him an injection of novocaine. When he
opened his eyes, he saw the world spinning on its axis. The
ground looked like a freshly plowed field. Around the edges of
this spinning planet came a man dressed in white, carrying a
large bag at his side. Every few steps this man took a handful
of seeds from the bag and scattered them on the ground with
a throw of his arm. As soon as he disappeared around the
curvature of the earth, Bill saw another man - this one dressed
in black - dodging behind the
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first. This second man also had a sack by his side and was scattering seeds as
he tiptoed across the field. He moved his head from side to side, as if he was
doing something wrong and was afraid of being caught.
After this man in black had passed around the curvature of the world, Bill
saw the seeds germinate and quickly grow to their full sizes. It now became
apparent what the seeds were - some were wheat, others weeds, thistles and
barley. When the sun came out, it dried the field, absorbing all the moisture
from the soil. Both wheat and tares had their heads together, panting and
desperately praying for rain. Inclining more and more, the plants gave way
towards the parched earth. Then Bill saw a huge dark cloud come dripping
across the horizon. As the rain poured down, the wheat straightened up and
cried out, “Glory to God!
Praise the Lord!" At the same time the tares and the barley jumped up and
straightened themselves up and shouted, “Glory! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!"
The whole world was suddenly alive with plants rising and falling in the rain, all
shouting the same thing – “Praise the Lord!” Then the vision left him.
Bill felt excited. Now he understood Hebrews chapter 6 - “For it is impossible

that those who...have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,...and have fallen
away, should be renewed again to repentance;...For the earth that soaks up
the rain...receives God's blessing; but she that produces thorns and thistles is
disapproved...”
This was his answer: The same rain that makes the wheat grow also waters
the tares and barley. And the same Holy Spirit that blesses and nourishes the
Christian can also bless a hypocrite; the difference is that the hypocrite will
manifest another fruit. It all depends on the seed that was planted.
Bill thought about something Jesus said: “Love your enemies, bless those
who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat
you and persecute you, that you may be children of your Father who is in
heaven; because he makes his sun rise over the bad and the good and the rain
BOOK 2
come down on the just and the unjust.”21 As it was in the natural, so it was
in the spiritual. This explained why Jesus declared: “Many will say to me in
that Day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And, in your
name, we do not expel demons? And in your name have we not done
many wonders? And then I will tell them openly: I never knew you; depart
from me, you workers of iniquity.”22 Although these people showed
outward signs of God's power, their inward motives were faulty and corrupt.
Finally, Bill left his cave understanding that there were two spirits
operating within the structure of the church, drawing their lives from the
same source but heading in opposite directions. Like grafting branches of
another species onto the parent tree, they would all pull their lives from the
same trunk. An orange tree could, however, support the branches of a
lemon tree, a lime tree or a grapefruit tree. All the branches of another
species might look as if they belonged to the orange tree; yet when they
produced their fruit, the lemon branch would produce lemons; the lime
branch, limes. So there would always be people in the Christian church
who would draw their lives from the stem of the Holy Spirit, but their fruits
would be self-interest, or politics, or Pharisaic legalism, or hypocrisy -
everything except the fruit of the Holy Spirit. However, if the parent trunk
developed a new branch of itself, it would produce oranges. Jesus said in
John 15, verse 5: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in
me, and I in him, he bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do
nothing.” Paul wrote: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, temperance.”23 Jesus insisted: “By
their fruits the
24
you will know.”
Now that he understood the difference between those two men in
Mishawaka who had demonstrated tongues and
21
Matthew 5:44-45
22
Matthew 7:22-23
23 Galatians 5:22-23
24
Matthew 7:15-20
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interpretations so dramatically, Bill began to rest on his attitude toward the

gifts of the Spirit and outward displays of emotion. On December 31, 1939,
he had a vigil service in his church to enter the year 1940. He had a
blackboard placed on the platform and sketched out a Biblical timeline of the
second coming of Christ, and he did so in the best way possible. of your
knowledge. A group of Pentecostal people had crossed the river from
Louisville to attend the service. When Bill took a break from preaching, some
of the women in this group wanted to sing a special hymn. It seemed to be
a good jazz ensemble - one woman was playing a cymbal, another was
banging on a can, and another was banging on a board with thimbles, and
the fourth woman was playing a piano: They played at a fast pace, and the
congregation sang: “There will be a meeting at the air, in that sweet future; I
will find you, I will find you There, in that Home beyond the sky; such a song
never heard, never heard by mortal ears. It will be glorious, I declare! And
the Son of God Himself, He will be the Leader, the full manifestation of God,
in that meeting in the air.” At the sound and dissonance of the music, a
young blonde jumped from her seat and began to dance in the aisle.
Bill sat disdainfully, criticizing her in his heart, thinking: “There is nothing
of God in that. She is wanting to show herself. She wants to be seen. She’s
turning my church into a tavern.”
Another girl joined the first, and then another. Bill thought, “Now wait a
minute. I wonder if there is any Scripture to dance to.” He remembered how
Miriam, when she saw Pharaoh's army drowning in the Red Sea, took a
tambourine and danced along the shore, rejoicing in victory, and the
daughters of Israel followed her, dancing.25 Then Bill remembered how King
David, when the ark of the covenant had returned to Jerusalem, danced
before the Lord with all his might.26 Bill thought, “Maybe I haven’t had
enough victory with me yet.” So while I was still sitting
25 Exodus 15:20-21
26 II Samuel 6:12-15
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on the platform, he allowed his starched Baptist feet to begin tapping to the music. Soon
his hands were flapping. Before the anthem ended, he was jumping in the hall, dancing
with the others.
Taking a lesson from that experience, Bill prayed: “God, take me out of the circle of
scoffers. From now on, allow me to look at everything sensibly before I judge.”
This was a simple prayer, but it would have extensive results. He was once again
heading on the road towards his destination.
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Chapter 24
Deformed Legs Are Straightened 1940
ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON in the early spring of 1940, William Branham

stopped by his mother's house after church.
He sat with her at the kitchen table and they talked until late.
That night Meda Broy was babysitting Billy Paul at her home, he was four
years old, so Bill wasn't in a rush to go home. When he finally got up to
leave, Ella said, “It looks like it's really cold outside. Billy, why don’t you
spend the night?”
Outside, a strong wind from the north was blowing snow against the
windows. Bill thought about the two cold rooms that awaited him.
“Certainly, mother, I will spend the night here,” he said cheerfully.
In the spare bedroom of his mother's house, Bill lay on his side on the
bed and prayed. All that day he had felt an inexplicable burden weighing
on his heart and now was his chance to talk about it with his Heavenly
Father. After an hour, he fell asleep.
Around two o'clock in the morning he got up, still feeling that the dark
weight was pressing on his spirit. Recovered from his nap, he knelt beside
the bed and continued praying. The room was so dark that he didn't need
to close his eyes to concentrate. After a while he noticed something white
growing little by little in a corner of the room. At first he thought they were
clothes piled up to iron on a chair. But as he watched, it seemed to move,
rising into the air. Now it looked more like a white cloud, and it seemed to
be coming towards him.
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In another moment he was immersed in a luminescent mist.

Suddenly Bill was no longer in the room, but somewhere outside.
In front of him was a small, narrow and long two-room house.
He entered the front door and found himself in a combination
living room and bedroom. The walls were decorated with red in
the woodwork. Directly in front of him, an entrance led to the
kitchen, which - like his rental - was the only other room in this
house. A dark-haired woman in her late 20s had her head
pressed against the kitchen door, crying. To Bill's left, an elderly
woman sat in a red-cushioned chair, crying. She was without her
glasses and was cleaning them with her handkerchief. Looking
to his right, Bill saw a young man sitting on a couch with a red
cushion. This young man had his face turned to his right toward
the window so that all Bill could see of him was the wavy blond
hair at the back of his head. Further to Bill's left, a boy with brown
hair was dressed in blue overalls lying on an iron canopy-style
bed. The boy was horribly disabled - his legs were twisted like a
spiral and curled back against his hips; so too, his arms were
twisted and pressed against his side. A tall man with dark hair,
who Bill assumed was his father, was standing next to the bed,
looking at the child.
“Isn’t this strange?” Bill thought. “I was at my mother's house just a few
moments ago, and now I'm here in this house.”
Soon he felt a fearsome presence right behind his right

shoulder. Bill tried to look, but something didn't allow it. Then he
heard the same voice that always spoke to him in the visions.
The angel asked, “Can this child live?”
“Sir, I don't know,” Bill replied.
The angel said, “The father will bring the boy to you and so
you can pray for him, and he will live.”
The father picked his son up from the bed and carried him to
Bill, who placed his hands on the boy's stomach and prayed.
Surprisingly, the boy broke free from his father's arms.
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He touched the ground with his left leg, which was straight
and normal. Immediately he took another step, and as he
did so his right leg straightened. As soon as he took his third
step, his arms straightened. Then the boy put his hands in
Bill's and looked at him. Because he had just drunk milk, a
milk mustache had formed on the top of his lips.
He said, “Brother Bill, I’m perfectly healthy.”
“Well, praise the Lord,” Bill replied.
The angel – still behind Bill and out of sight – said, “Now I will take you
to another place.” He picked up Bill and carried him away, placing him in a
cemetery, close to a country church. The angel pointed to one of the
tombstones and said, “Remember the name and dates of this tomb. This will
be your place of direction.” Then he quickly took Bill to another location
where there were two stores, a gas station, and some houses together at an
intersection. One store had its front painted yellow. A man came out of this
building wearing blue overalls and a yellow cap. He had white hair and a
mustache. The angel said, “He will show you the way.”
Once again Bill was snatched from the scene. When his
feet touched the ground again, he followed a short, strong
woman into a house. Bill found himself in a room covered in
yellow wallpaper, with drawings in red. There was a sign on
the door: “God Bless Our Home.” Against the wall on the left
was a wood stove, and close to the right was an iron canopy-
style bed. A teenager in pajamas lay on the sheets, languid
from the effects of what must have been polio - both legs
were twisted and drawn up beneath him, and one arm was
completely paralyzed. Bill couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl
- parts of the face looked masculine, but the long hair and
heart-shaped lips suggested otherwise.
The angel asked, “Can that person walk?”

Bill replied, “Sir, I don’t know.”
The angel commanded: “Go and place your hands
across the person’s stomach and pray.”
When Bill did as instructed, the figure on the bed cried
out, “Praise the Lord!” while that white hand
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it took full shape and those two crippled legs stretched and strengthened.
The teenager stood up in bed, making one leg of his pajamas lift up, exposing
one knee.
Now Bill was sure of the gender. It was not a boy's bone, but a girl's gently
rounded knee. Bill heard someone nearby say, “Oh, thank you God!”
In the distance he heard someone else shouting, “Oh, Brother Branham!

Brother Branham!” Abruptly Bill was at his mother's house again, in the
middle of the room, on the floor. He shook his head, feeling confused and
disoriented. His mother called to him from the next room: “Billy, there's
someone knocking on the front door, calling for you.”
“I heard mom.” He slipped down the hall and opened the front door. A
distraught young man stood at the entrance, his eyes swollen and red.
Instantly Bill recognized him as the man from the first part of the vision, who
had released the little boy. “Come in,” Bill coaxed. "What is the problem?"
The man went inside to get rid of the cold wind. “Brother Branham, do
you remember me?”
“No, I don’t think I remember.”
“I am John Himmel. About four years ago you baptized me, as well as
my family, here in Powder Plains.”
“I remember you now,” Bill said, the memory faint but strengthening.
“You killed a man a few years ago, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir - I hit him with my fist and broke his neck in a fight. I ran away
from the law and also from God.
Last year my eldest son died of pneumonia. I have another son and now he
is dying from double pneumonia. The doctor just left my house because
there was nothing else he could do. Suddenly you came to my heart. Will
you come and pray for my son?' “Yes, sir – I will. Just let me change my
clothes and start the car.”
“You don’t need to take your car; you can go with me. I'll bring you back.
I live only about seven and a half miles from here, just a few miles above
Utica.
While you go get dressed, I'll go down to get Graham
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Snelling. He is my cousin and I want him to come and pray for my son too.”
As Bill was returning to his room to change his clothes, Ella called out to
him as she walked past her bedroom door. 'Billy, what's the matter with that
man?'
“Mom, something happened. I was in a vision just now.”
“Oh, was it?” she said, almost by accident. “Is it something good?”
“Yes - the man's little boy is going to be healed. I’ll tell you more when I
get back.”
In ten minutes John Himmel went to his cousin's house, and came back.
Bill knew Graham Snelling - a young man about his age who had recently
become a Christian. As Bill got into the car, he realized that Graham was the
blonde he had seen in the vision, who was sitting on a red-cushioned couch
looking out the window. Bill burned inside with anticipation, knowing that God
was going to perform a miracle.
They headed north to Utica Pike. Bill said, “Mr. Himmel, you live in a little
white house, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”

“His house is on a hill and the front door faces south.”
"This is right."
“It has two rooms. One of them has red plaster covering halfway up the
walls. There you have a sofa with a red cushion, a chair and an iron canopy-
style bed. Your sick child is about... I would say about three years old. He
has brown hair and is wearing blue overalls. His mother has black hair.”
John Himmel gaped at his passenger. "Have you ever

Have you been to my house, Brother Branham?”
“When you knocked on my door, I had just left your house.”
The man's face twisted in confusion. "This is strange; I didn’t see you
there.”
“I was there spiritually. Lord Himmel, if I baptized you, perhaps you have
heard me say how I sometimes see things
BOOK 2
before they happen.”

"Yes I recall. Did something like this happen to you just now?”
"It happened. Whatever it is that tells me these things, it has never told
me a lie. Lord Himmel, your son will be healed when I get there.”
With these words, John Himmel stopped his car, leaned against the
steering wheel, and, with his face buried in his hands, suddenly said: “God,
I'm ashamed of myself. If You forgive me, I promise I will live for You the rest
of my life.”
When they arrived at their destination, the house looked exactly as Bill
had seen in the vision. Confidently he strode to the front door. There was
the sofa with the red cushion and the chair; the young mother with black
hair; the iron canopy style bed; and the sick little boy.
John asked his wife, “Is he still breathing?”

The boy's lungs were not moving enough to be noticed, so the mother
held a piece of paper across the child's nose to check his breathing.
“Yes, he’s still alive,” she said, “but barely.”

Now Bill knew that those horribly twisted arms and legs he had seen in
the vision represented the pneumonia that was killing that little boy. “Bring
me the baby,” he ordered.
The father brought his son and held him while Bill prayed. But instead of
the boy getting better, he instantly began to get worse. The movement had
stimulated his senses. Now the phlegm had blocked his throat, stopping his
breathing completely. Panicked, the parents shook their son and slapped his
back repeatedly until his lungs filled again. Each new breath seemed to be
his last - he coughed with difficulty, and sometimes barely cried between
breaths.
“Something is wrong,” Bill thought. As he looked around the room, he

realized what was wrong. The situation was not exactly as he had seen in
the vision. Mom wasn't leaning against the kitchen door; Graham Snelling
wasn't sitting on the couch looking out the window; and there had to be
BOOK 2
an elderly woman sitting on the chair with a red cushion, cleaning her glasses.
As soon as the distraught mother applied medication to her son's nose,

Bill sat down on the couch, mortified. In a moment of enthusiasm he had
acted in advance of the vision, and that was why he had missed God. He
couldn't even tell the Himmels what was wrong. The only thing he could do
now was sit and wait... and hope that God's grace would overturn his error.
For an hour and a half, Bill sat quietly and prayed, while the child fought
desperately for his life.
As the first light of dawn colored the horizon, Graham Snelling said, “I have
to go, because I have to be at work at eight o’clock.”
“Okay,” said John Himmel, “I'll take you back. Brother

Branham, do you want to go too?”
“No, I will stay here.”
With a sinking heart, Bill watched the two men place their coats near the
front door. He knew that Graham Snelling was the blond man in the vision.
If Graham left now, when could he return? At night? According to the vision,
the child would not be healed unless Graham was there. Bill wondered how
this sickly little boy could survive the day.
Looking out the window, Bill saw an old lady coming down the path
toward the house. Suddenly he noticed that she was wearing glasses! Bill
thought, “Oh, God, how I thank You. Now these two men cannot leave.”
John Himmel buttoned the last button on his coat, then turned to his wife
and said, “I'll be back in a bit. I'm not going to work today."
Graham was covering his ears with a beanie when a knock sounded on
the door at the back of the house. Mom ran through the kitchen to unlock
the back door.
The old lady quickly entered, shivering from the cold.
"Who's there?" John asked. “It’s Mom,”
replied the young mother, closing the back door. “Mommy, were you
able to sleep?”
BOOK 2
“Hardly, a few hours,” said the grandmother. “How is the boy? Has he
improved since I left?”
“No,” replied the young mother, her voice trembling. “Mommy, he’s
dying” – then he burst into tears. Covering her face with her hands, she
leaned her head against the kitchen door. "This is it!" Bill thought, and his
enthusiasm increased. “This is exactly the way she looked in the vision.
Now, Grandma has to be sitting in that chair, cleaning her glasses, and
Brother Snelling has to be sitting where I am.”
Bill got up to make the couch available. Graham Snelling took off his hat,
sat where Bill had just left, and looked out the window.
“Oh, my!” Bill thought. “Only one more thing has to happen.”
Grandmother came into the front room, where she sat down in the red
chair. Her glasses had gotten dim – because it was humid outside, and it
came into the warm room – so she took them off to clean them... exactly the
way it was in the vision.
The moment everything settled into order, Bill could feel that peculiar
pressure on his skin, as if someone or something powerful was nearby. Bill
said, “Brother Himmel, do you still trust me as a servant of Christ?”
“I certainly do, Brother Branham.”

“Then bring the baby to me.”
The parents had left the boy lying down because every time they picked
him up, he had a convulsive cough with spasms and completely lost his
breath. Now, without a thought of doubt or fear, the father grabbed his son
and brought him to Bill.
Placing his hands on the child's blue skin, Bill prayed, “Heavenly Father,
forgive the stupidity of Your servant in getting ahead of the vision. Heal this
baby in the Name of Jesus Christ.”
The boy began to shake. His bluish face began to turn pink and his
inattentive eyes began to move, then focused. "Daddy!" he screamed. “Oh,
daddy, daddy!” And he hugged his father.
Everyone in the room converged on the boy at once, asking the same
question: Is he okay? The boy said he felt fine, but Bill added, “Mr Himmel,
it will take three days
BOOK 2
so that the boy will be completely well, because in the vision he took three
steps before his withered limbs straightened out.”
John Himmel took Bill and Graham back to Jeffersonville in time for
both of them to go to work.
On Wednesday night Bill told his congregation of the vision and healing,
saying, “Tomorrow afternoon, I want you all to come with me and look out
the window. You guys watch and see if that little boy doesn't come across
the floor with a milk mustache. He'll put his hands in mine and say, 'Brother
Bill, I'm perfectly healthy.'”
On Thursday afternoon the whole church followed Bill to that two-room

house in the country. People stared through the windows and others
watched behind Bill as he knocked on the front door. The mother was
working in the kitchen, in the second room of the house. Bill could hear her
running across the floor to answer the door.
“Why, it’s Brother Bill. Come in and look at the difference in our son
now.”
Bill entered without saying a word. Through the open kitchen door, he
could see the boy sitting in the corner playing with some dice. The child got
up and stumbled around the house. The top of his lip was decorated with a
chocolate milk mustache. He placed his little hands in Bill's and said,
"Brother Bill, I'm perfectly healthy."
In the following service Bill told the rest of the vision, about a girl with
one arm paralyzed and both legs twisted and who would be healed. He
emphasized: “I don't know what these things mean. I can only tell you what
I see.”
Two weeks later, when Bill arrived for work in the morning, Mr. Scott,
his boss, said, “A letter has arrived for you, Billy. I put her in her box.”
As Bill was collecting the work report for the day, he looked at the
sender of the letter. It came from a lady named Harold Nail from South
Boston, Indiana. He had never heard of a place called South Boston, Indiana.
Opening the letter and unfolding the note, he read:
BOOK 2
Dear Mr Branham,
My name is Mrs. Harold Nail. I live in South Boston, Indiana. I

have a teenager who is bedridden and in distress. The arthritis has
taken hold in her joints and she now cries day and night from the
pain. I am a Methodist.
At a prayer meeting several weeks ago... [Bill gasped

when he saw the date. It was the same night that he
had seen a vision of a crippled girl being healed.]...
someone gave me his little booklet titled Jesus Christ
is the Same Yesterday, and Today, and Forever. After
I read your book, something moved in my heart to write
to you and ask you to come and pray for my daughter.
Sincerely
Mrs. Harold Nail
That night at church, after reminding people of his vision,

Bill read the letter. “I'm sure this is the girl I saw in the vision,
but I've never heard of this place. Does anyone here know
where South Boston is?”
George Wright said, "Brother Branham, I think it's next to
on the de New Albany.”
Several people wanted to go with Bill to see the vision
fulfilled: Jim Wiseheart, Bill's oldest deacon; Meda Broy, who
was 21 years old; and Mr. and Mrs. Brace, a couple who had
recently moved nearby to be near the Branham Tabernacle
after Mrs. Brace was miraculously cured of tuberculosis by
Bill's prayers. That weekend, when they all piled into Bill's car,
Bill handed Mr. Brace a piece of paper with a name and two
dates written on it.
“What is this for?”

“Somewhere along the way we will pass a cemetery. You
will find this name on one of the tombstones.”
“I thought you said you had never been in
BOOK 2
South Boston before.”

"I never been. These dates were given to me by the angel of the Lord.
When we see them, we will know we are on the right road.”
They headed south, only to discover later that George Wright was thinking
of a town called New Boston, not South Boston. Inquiring at a post office,
they learned that South Boston was a town north of Jeffersonville, just above
Henryville. Inquiring again in Henryville, they were directed.
For nearly six miles they followed a winding, muddy road that passed
through small farms, cornfields, wooded hills, and thickets of sassafras trees.
These secondary roads (or were they main roads?) often branched off,
making it more difficult to know if they were still heading the correct way.
Suddenly, something grabbed inside Bill with such force that it stopped his
breathing. He parked the car.
"What is the problem?" Jim Wiseheart asked.

Bill trembled slightly and a bead of sweat fell from his temple. "I don't
know. There is something wrong. I need a moment alone.”
He got out and walked behind the car. Placing one of his feet on the back
bumper, he prayed, “Heavenly Father, what do You want Your servant to
know?” The cold spring air refreshed him and soon that tight feeling around
his lungs and windpipe disappeared. As he looked around, he noticed a
church far away from the road. Next to the old church was a small cemetery.
“Brother Brace,” he called excitedly, “bring me the piece of paper.”
Everyone got out of the car and followed Bill to the cemetery. Just beyond
the gate was a large marble tomb. The name and dates carved into the
smooth white surface were the same as those on the piece of paper in Mr.
Brace's hands.
“I've never been to this area before,” Bill said, “but I know we're on the
right road. What made me stop was the angel of the Lord. He didn’t want me
to miss this milestone.”
BOOK 2
Seven miles later, they climbed a hill and looked down at the small
village at the crossroads.
“That's the place,” said Bill. “There is the store with its front painted
yellow. Now watch - when we pass by, a man with a white mustache will
come out of that store and give us directions. He will be wearing blue overalls
and a yellow cap. Wait and see.”
Mrs. Brace said, “Brother Branham, I can't forget that cemetery back
there. I've never seen something like this happen before. If that man shows
up like you said, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“If he doesn't show up,” said Bill, “then I'm a big

storyteller.”
Just as the car slowed to a stop at the intersection, the front door of the
store opened and a man stepped out - white mustache, blue overalls, and
yellow cap and all. Mrs. Brace, who was sitting on her husband's lap, fainted.
Bill said, “Now watch – he’s going to act strangely because the power of
the Lord is so close.” Rolling down the car window, he said, “Sir, we hope
you can tell us where Harold Nail lives.”
The man looked surprised. So as he spoke, his eyes moved from side
to side as if he felt nervous. “You go up this road here, about half a mile,
and turn onto the first road on your left. It's the second house on your left.
You will see a big red barn on a hill. Why?"
“The Nails have a distressed daughter, don’t they?”

"Yes. And?"
“The Lord Jesus will heal her.”
Bill followed the man's directions out of South Boston, while in the back
seat Mr. Brace fanned his wife's face. Mrs. Brace revived as soon as they
entered the Nails' courtyard. Bill parked the car in the yard and everyone got
out. A short, strong woman opened the front door of the house.
"How are you doing? I am Brother Branham.”
BOOK 2
“I thought it was. I am Mrs. Harold Nail,

the one who sent you that letter.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Nail. These people came with me to pray
for their daughter. She is about to be healed.”
"What?" The woman opened the door wide. “Come in.”
Once inside the house, Bill did not wait for Mrs. Nail to guide him,
but with long strides confidently walked down the hall to the girl's
room. The others followed closely behind him. The room they entered
fit their vision perfectly: there was the wood stove; the yellow and red
wallpaper; the sign above the door that said, “God Bless Our Home”;
the iron canopy style bed; and there, on top of the blankets, was the
weakened girl with her face like a boy's - and one of her arms and
legs twisted beneath her body.
When Mrs. Brace saw the room, and the girl as Bill had described
it to them, she fainted a second time. Her husband ran to her side
and partially lifted her, lightly slapping her face, trying to revive her.
Then something happened that Bill couldn't explain.

It seemed as if his spirit separated from his body and floated in a
corner above the group. From this position, as if seen from above,
he saw himself (or at least his body) walk up to the bed and say:
“Sister, this is what the Lord says: 'You will be fine'.”
He watched himself place his hands on the girl's stomach, exactly as
he had done in the vision. Then his spirit fell back into his body. He
closed his eyes and prayed, “Lord, I do this as I believe is your
command.”
The girl screamed. Bill opened his eyes and saw that his crippled
hands were now normal. In a flurry of excitement the girl used her
newly restored arms to get up from the bed.
Her legs straightened, and as she did so, one pajama leg lifted, exposing
her rounded knee, fulfilling the vision exactly.
Mr. Brace had revived his wife enough for her to get to her feet.
The bedridden girl screamed: “Mom! Mother!" as he dangled his legs
over the edge of the bed, he dropped to the floor and stood up. Mrs.
Brace took one look at the miracle, and
BOOK 2
she fainted again, falling into her husband's arms.

A short time later, as they waited at the front door, there
came this teenage girl, dressed in a robe, walking on two
good legs and combing her hair with the hand that for years
had been paralyzed and disabled. This time, Mrs. Brace had
managed to keep her senses.
BOOK 2
Chapter 25
The Miracle in a Place
Called Miii-lltown
SEVERAL WEEKS after the healing of Mrs. Nail's daughter, William

Branham was again spending the night at his mother's house. Even though
it was late at night, he couldn't sleep; then he got up and paced the guest
room in the dark, feeling an indefinite burden weighing on his heart. He
thought, “Maybe someone is sick somewhere and needs me to pray.”
Bill knelt by the bed and prayed for a long time without any relief. Looking
above, he noticed a white spot in a corner, near where his mother had some
clothes folded on a chair. Strange enough, this seemed to be slowly growing.
When the white spot moved toward him, Bill knew it was the angel of the
Lord.
It looked like a small, luminescent cloud. The white mist floated towards him,
and suddenly he found himself walking into a shadowy jungle. Somewhere
in the distance he heard the bleating of a lamb: “Ba-aaaa. Ba-aaaa.” He
looked so helpless. Bill said, “I'm going to see if I can find that poor thing.”
He moved toward that pitiful sound, searching behind trees and under
bushes for a quivering bundle of wool. As he approached the fountain, the
bleating became louder and seemed to change pace and tone until it
sounded almost human-like. Bill stopped and listened carefully. The lamb
seemed to be bleating: “Miii-lltown... Miii-lltown.” Then the vision faded.
BOOK 2
The Miracle In A Place Called Miii-lltown 141
Bill had never heard of a place called Milltown, so at the next

evening service he asked the congregation if anyone knew of its
whereabouts.
George Wright said, “I know, Brother Branham. It’s a small town
about twenty-two kilometers west of here, not far from where I live.”
“I’ll go there next Saturday.” Bill explained. “Someone over there is

in trouble.” And he told his congregation about the vision.
“I’ll take you there,” George Wright offered.
Milltown proved to be a typical rural Indian community.
The busiest place on Saturday was a supermarket in the city center,
where all the farmers went to do their weekly shopping. Walking down
Main Street, Bill thought, “I wonder what the Lord wants of me.” As he
couldn't think of anything better, he decided to preach on the corner of
the market.
Going to the store, he bought a wooden box, turned it upside down
and placed it on the corner, climbed on top, holding the Bible in his
hand, planning to preach to passersby. Although he had done such
street corner evangelism hundreds of times in Jeffersonville, for some
reason now he could not think of a topic to preach. It soon became
obvious that people were not going to stop and listen to his stuttered,
improvised sermon.
George Wright said, “Brother Branham, I'm going up the hill to sell
some eggs, to a man I know up there.
You want to go with me?"
"He is well. I’m not doing anything around here.”
Heading towards the top of the hill, they passed a large white-
colored church. Bill commented: “Isn’t this a nice building?”
“Yes,” George replied. “You know, it's a shame what's with this
place. It was a Baptist church, but the last pastor there had problems.
The entire congregation left and went to other churches in the town
and the city has taken over the building.”
“Brother George, why don’t you stop the car and leave me here? I
feel something pulling me toward that church.”
“All right, Brother Bill. I’ll catch you on the way back.”
After the car left, Bill climbed the steps and tried to open the door.
It was locked. He sat on the front steps,
BOOK 2
He clasped his hands together, bowed his head, and prayed, “Lord, if You
want me in this church, please unlock these doors for me.”
Soon a man came walking up and said, “Hello. I saw you

sitting here and wondering if I could be of help.”
“Well, I'm a preacher,” Bill explained, “and I was
interested in seeing this church, but it is locked.”
The man said, “I have the key.”
"Thank you sir!" Bill whispered.
The stranger unlocked the front doors and guided him through a small
hall to a large sanctuary that could accommodate approximately 400 people.
“Who owns the building?” Bill asked.

“It belongs to the city. I just take care of him. We only use
for weddings and funerals.”
“Would it be possible to have a revival here?”
“You’ll have to talk to city officials about this.”
When George Wright returned, the two went to see the mayor, who said,
“Certainly, if you put the meter there.
There is no electricity in the building now.”
“That won't be a problem,” said Bill. “I work for the Jeffersonville utility
company. I put the meter there myself.”
The following Saturday morning, Bill installed the meter in the old church,
and then visited the people around the place, telling them about the revival
meetings scheduled to begin the following Wednesday evening. His first
contact was not promising. “How are you, sir. My name is William Branham.”
"Day. Mine is J...”

“Mr. J... we're having a revival meeting next Wednesday night at the old
white church on the hill. Would you come?"
Mr. J... was a tough nut to crack. “I raise chickens.

I don’t have time to go to church.”
“Well, couldn’t you leave the chickens alone for a little while and go to
the meetings?” Bill persisted.
BOOK 2
“Listen comrade,” the man scolded. "Why do not you

mind your own business and I’ll mind mine?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, sir.”
And so it went for the rest of the day. Most of the people were more
courteous than Mr. J..., but everyone he spoke to resisted the idea of revival.
Bill would have felt discouraged if it weren't for the fact that he was there for the
word of the Lord. Somewhere in Milltown one of God's lambs was bleating for
help. Since the vision had given him only one small detail - the name of the town
- Bill knew he would just have to keep trying until the lamb in need appeared.
George Wright put out a notice of the upcoming revival in the local
newspaper, advertising his pastor as “another Billy Sunday,” comparing Bill to
the famous baseball player turned preacher who died in 1935. This scheme
could have worked and attracted a small but curious crowd, except for the
announcement that also mentioned: “Divine Healing” and stated that Reverend
Billy Branham would pray for the sick. The position of Milltown conservatives
acted coolly to such radical ideas. That Sunday, local ministers warned their
congregations to stay away from such nonsense. The Church of Christ, a local
church, went even further by threatening its members with excommunication if
they dared to attend the revival. Against such a scene of opposition, it was no
surprise that, on that Wednesday night, only four people sat in the pews of the
old Milltown Baptist Church - George Wright, his wife, his son, and his daughter.
Bill delivered his message simply as if the building were full.
On Thursday night it seemed like a repeat of Wednesday. Five minutes

before the service began, a man with a pipe in his mouth walked up the steps
and looked through the open doors.
Noticing this man there, George Wright hurried to invite him in. “Well, Mr.
Hall, it’s good to see you.” George saluted him.
The man was disheveled, his clothes were dirty, and
BOOK 2
He was missing several teeth on the sides of his mouth. He turned the pipe
upside down and tapped it against the side of the building, letting the ash
fall onto the steps. “Where's this little 'Billy Sunday' you're advertising? I
want to take a look at him.”
As soon as Mr. Hall entered, he sat down in the back pew, while George
went to the front to warn his pastor. “Brother Bill, the strongest fellow in the
region just walked through the door. His name is William Hall. He works in a
quarry at the top of the hill. Oh, he is a truly robust man.”
Bill sat in a chair behind the pulpit, reading the Bible.

He put his bookmark away and stood up.
“Perhaps he is the one the Lord is looking for.”
While Bill was preaching, George Wright went to where Mr. Hall was
sitting and asked him to come closer to the front.
"No thanks. I can take care of things back here and you can take care of
things up front.”
When Bill finished his sermon, Mr. Hall had not only come into the aisle,
but had also knelt in front of the pulpit crying out to God for mercy on his
soul.
On Friday night, a new William Hall forced a dozen of his neighbors and
servants to go with him to the revival.
At the end of the service, Bill offered to pray for someone who was sick.
Several people came forward and were healed.
Afterwards, Mr. Hall said, “You know, Brother Branham, today when I
was going around talking about the meetings and inviting people, I found out
that there's a girl around here who's been asking for you. Her name is
Georgie Carter, and she has tuberculosis - has had it for years. Georgie is
almost 27 years old, and if I remember correctly, they said she has been
bedridden for nine years and eight months. She's in a terrible condition now
- just skin and bones. She's in such bad shape that they can't even lift her to
put a bedpan under her. It looks to me like she's reading a book you wrote
about Jesus being the same today as He was yesterday, and she's
BOOK 2
begging you to go and pray for her.”

Bill's intuition told her she was that bleating lamb
in vision. "What are we waiting for? Let’s pray for her.”
“I'm afraid this isn't that easy. Her parents belong to the Church of Christ,
so they don't want anything to do with you. They think you are a deceiver.”
“In that case,” said Bill, “I’ll put it before the Lord in prayer.”
The healings that took place on Friday night stirred a hornet's nest due
to debates around the community.
Many looked enraged and jeered, but some people were stung by curiosity.
On Saturday night, 30 new faces sat in the pews of the old white church,
and a dozen more curates added gasoline to the fire of local controversy.
After the service Mr. Hall brought good news to Bill. “The Carters have
changed their minds and will allow you to come and pray for their daughter
tonight, as long as neither parent has to be in the house when you go. I think
Georgie has been crying so much for you that they hope this will satisfy her.”
“I suppose they had to get permission from their pastor before they
would allow me to go there,” Bill commented. “Anyway, let’s get going.”
What Bill saw when he entered the young woman's room shocked him
to the core of compassion. For more than nine years of illness, Georgie
Carter had languished, bedridden and skeletal. His arms looked like a
broomstick. She weighed no more than 22 kilos. On the bed, next to her
head, was a copy of Bill's little booklet: Jesus Christ is the Same Yesterday,
and Today, and Forever.
Georgie's lips moved, but Bill couldn't hear what she was saying. He
walked over to the bed and leaned in close to her. She whispered, “Brother
Branham, I just believed that you would come and Jesus would allow me to
be healed.”
“Sister, if He heals you, will you serve Him with all your heart?”
She nodded positively and repeated: “With all my heart.” Then she
coughed. Your nurse held a cup
BOOK 2
into Georgie's mouth, but the poor girl was so weak she didn't have
enough energy to spit it out.
To encourage her faith, Bill told Georgie about Mrs. Nail's
daughter's healing. Georgie asked, “Why can’t you do for me like
you did for Nail?”
“Sister, that was a vision. I have to see a vision first. In two weeks
I will have another four-day revival meeting here in Milltown. Maybe
then, God will show me something more defined. For now, I can pray
for you - that's all I know. If the Lord shows me something more, I
will come back.
But I still believe that after we pray, you will be healed.”
When the doors of Milltown Baptist Church opened again two
weeks later, Bill preached about the saving grace and healing power
of Jesus Christ to twice the number of people there had been before.
Each night saw the crowd grow and produce more conversions,
urging Bill to set aside the Saturday afternoon service for a baptismal
service.
Saturday, June 1, 1940, they met at Totem Ford on the Rio Azul.
What surprised Bill was that there were many more people on the
banks of the river than had attended a single revival service. When
he mentioned this to William Hall, the man told him that one of the
local ministers had encouraged his entire congregation to go and
observe.
Bill walked into the cold, rushing waters up to his waist and invited
these new believers to come and seal their testimonies with baptism.
About 50 people responded.
One by one, Bill baptized them in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Bill went to baptize the last person in line, he prayed: “God,
as You sent John to baptize Jesus, so Jesus told us, 'Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does
not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who
believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak new
languages; they will pick up serpents; and if they drink anything
deadly, it will not harm them; and they will lay their hands on the sick
and heal them.’”27
27
Marcos 16:15-18
BOOK 2
At that moment, the crowd began to shout and clap as if the Spirit of God
moved from one to the other. Almost everyone, even with just the clothes on
their backs, lined up to be baptized, including the minister who had brought
his congregation with him. One by one these people entered the river - men
in suits and ties, women in silk dresses, fathers with their children. Bill
continued to baptize people until late. When he finished, his legs were so
cold and numb that two men had to carry him out of the water.
George Wright took Bill home, gave him something to eat, and let him
rest for the evening's service. As it was still an hour before dinner was ready,
Bill said to his friend, “I'm going out to the woods to pray. There is something
leaning heavily in my heart.”
“Okay,” George said, “but when I ring the bell, come right away because
we have to hurry and eat if we want to get to church on time.”
Bill on his way passed a bush under a tree and knelt there. The sun was
setting, the shadows lengthening. Despite his heavy heart, he had difficulty
concentrating to pray. The air was cold, and he couldn't settle; He had bites
on his legs, and he worried about being late for church. But he remained in
the bush until the wings of his prayer caught the wind of the Spirit of God,
lifting Bill high above such annoyances as stinging and chill. The bell rang,
but Bill was too deep in prayer to hear it. The bell rang and rang with no
results. Soon the Wrights were looking for him in the woods with flashlights,
calling for their shepherd.
Opening his eyes, Bill was startled by an amber light reflecting just
behind and above the bush. A deep voice resounded through the woods,
saying, “Go to the Carters, and Georgie will be healed.”
Screaming in delight, Bill jumped up and ran toward the Wrights' farm.
Crossing a field, he ran around the house, falling right into the arms of
George Wright.
“Brother Billy, where have you been? There are people everywhere
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from the hill looking for you. Mom has been waiting for you for dinner for an
hour.”
“Brother Wright, I’m not having dinner tonight. Georgie Carter will be
completely cured. That is, 'Thus Saith the Lord'!”
George Wright's eyebrows rose as he
maximum. “You mean she’s going to get up?”
“She will be normal and fine in the next few minutes once I get there.”
“Come then,” said George. “I’ll go get the car while you tell Mom you were
found. She can tell others.”
Mr. Brace was at home. When Bill told him the good news, he couldn't
believe it. “You mean that pile of bones? Can I come with you and see this?”
"Certainly."
George started the car and the three of them hurried into the twelve
kilometers of dirt road to go to Milltown.
AT THIS VERY TIME Mrs. Carter was irritated and pacing back and forth.
Earlier that day, she had sat on her daughter's bed while Georgie made a
bargain with God. Georgie had promised God that if she was healed that day,
she would go down Totem Ford and be baptized with the others. When the
afternoon passed without a miracle happening, Georgie had fallen into a state
of emotion, tears and exhaustion. Now Mrs. Carter was upset about this
whole situation. She walked to the kitchen, knelt down, and prayed, “Dear
God, have mercy on Georgie. The poor little thing, lying there so close to
death... And now this impostor has come here claiming to be something he is
not, leading my daughter into brokenness and confusion. God have mercy."
She lifted her head and rubbed her eyes. The setting sun cast an intense
red light through the kitchen window and against the far wall. Mrs. Carter saw
the shadow of a man moving on the wall. At first she thought it might be her
husband coming around outside the
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House. But when the profile turned towards her, it seemed like the shadow
of Jesus Christ.
She stammered, “Who—who are you?”
The shadow turned and looked towards the door. Mrs. Carter also turned
around and was shocked to see that preacher, Billy Branham, walking in the
front door without even knocking. She knew it was Branham, because she
had seen his picture in that booklet that had turned her daughter's life upside
down. Branham was holding a Bible to his chest and was followed by two
other men - one was a local man, George Wright; the other was a man she
didn't know. These three men walked past her towards Georgie's room; but
before they got there, they disappeared.
Mrs. Carter threw her hands to her mouth and cried, “Oh, mercy! I must
be asleep!” Running to her daughter’s room she spluttered: “Georgie!
Georgie! You won't guess what just happened. I was in the kitchen praying
and...”
She heard a car stop in front of the house. The car doors slammed. Mrs.
Carter looked through the open bedroom door toward the kitchen and saw
young Reverend Branham walking through the front door with the Bible
against his chest. Two men walked behind him. This was too bizarre for her
to comprehend. She rolled her eyes and fainted, falling like a sack of flour
falling off a chair.
WHEN BILL got out of the car in front of the Carter house, he felt the joy of
absolute confidence surging through his body. Nothing could stop him now.
He had seen the vision. He knew where he was. As he climbed the porch
steps, it seemed as if his spirit separated from his body. He watched himself
open the front door and walk in without knocking. There lying on the bed
was that poor young woman, Georgie Carter, as thin and paralyzed as an
Egyptian mummy. His mother, kneeling by the bed, took one look at him and
left. Bill watched himself walk to the bed. Then his spirit reentered his body.
He looked at that frail girl under the blankets and said, “Sister
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Georgie, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom you have loved and trusted all this
time, is the same Jesus who met me in the woods tonight and told me by
vision that you would be healed. Therefore, I take you by the hand and say
in the name of Jesus Christ, arise and be healed.”
Grabbing her bony hand, Bill pulled her gently. But there was no need
to be gentle anymore. Georgie screamed as if a supernatural power
energized her body. Throwing off the blankets, she sprang from her prison
as alive as a schoolgirl on Christmas morning.
Georgie's younger sister came running from the other room to investigate
the commotion. She saw her older sister – bedridden for as long as she
could remember – now dancing around the room like a skeletal figure. The
shock temporarily disconnected the younger sister's reasoning.
She screamed and grabbed her hair and ran out the front door, still
screaming, “Something happened! Something happened!"
Mr. Carter was coming from the barn, carrying a bucket of milk. Hearing
the screams and fearing the worst, he released the milk and ran home, only
stopping at the entrance to stare in complete amazement at his daughter
Georgie, sitting at the piano, playing a hymn she had learned when she was
a little girl: I want to be near you . from the cross, that rich source, Flows
clear and healthy, from Zion on the mountain.
Later George Wright went up the hill to the church to let the waiting
crowd know why Reverend Branham had not shown up on time. Everyone
there wanted to see the miracle firsthand. When they arrived at the Carter
house, Georgie was crawling around the front yard, kissing the flowers and
grass.28
28
Georgie Carter lived in good health until 1954 when she was diagnosed with breast
cancer. She was 41 years old. When the cancer was discovered, it had already spread,
meaning there was no longer any medical hope for her recovery. In desperation she
asked William Branham to pray for her. He prayed, and Georgie Carter was healed
again. She lived for another 44 years, dying on March 22, 1998, at the age of 84.
years.
BOOK 2
Understandably, the next night the old white church was

packed with people, even around the walls.
After the service ended, William Hall asked, “Brother
Branham, what are you planning next?”
"I'm not sure. I have thought nothing but finding that lost
lamb in the vision.”
George Wright observed: “It would be a shame to let these people go
without giving them an abundance of good foundations and Biblical
teachings.”
Bill agreed. “I think I can come back regularly until God
raises someone else up for the job.”
Mr. Hall, who would later become the pastor of Milltown
Baptist Church, expressed his approval. “It would be nice if
we used this good old church for more than funerals.
There seem to be a lot of them. We will have another one on Monday.”
“Oh, anyone I know?” George asked.
“I assume you knew Mr. J...”
George and Bill looked at each other. George said, “I don’t think
he’s going to keep chickens anymore.”
Bill added: “It's a shame he couldn't find a little time to
care for his soul.”
BOOK 2
Chapter 26
Lost on Hurricane Mountain
1941
THE MUSIC IS OVER. Eagerly Billy Paul positioned himself

in front of his cake, filled his lungs with as much air as he
could hold, and blew out until all six candles went out.
Beaming with joy, he opened his gifts.
William Branham smiled contentedly as his son was
enjoying his birthday - grateful for Meda Broy's consideration.
She had baked a cake for Billy Paul and planned the party
carefully, wanting this day - Saturday, September 13, 1941 -
to be a memorable day for her young charge.
Up until that point Meda had been Billy Paul Branham's
nanny every day of the week for almost five years. For her,
it seemed natural to have a birthday party. However, not
everyone in the community viewed Meda and Bill's situation
so innocently. Numerous busybodies spread malicious
rumors about: “that young preacher and his maid.”
Bill resented this unkind insinuation against Meda's good
character, but he could understand why people were talking:
Here was a young, pretty woman, of marriageable age, who
was doing nothing but washing her clothes, cleaning your
home, and take care of your child. It wasn't fair that he took
so much of Meda's time. Bill decided, out of love for Meda,
that he should fire her. He planned to tell her when he picked
up Billy Paul after work. But whenever an opportunity
presented itself, he would stutter on his words. How could
he tell this kind young woman, who had taken care of his
son for almost five years, that he now wanted a new nanny?
He couldn't do this. But out of love for her, he felt this should be
BOOK 2
Lost on Hurricane Mountain 153
done - somehow. Meda needed to be free from her temporary

bond with him so that she could develop a lifelong bond with
someone else.
Finally an idea occurred to him. He thought that if he asked
another woman to be his girlfriend, Meda would be very angry
with him and that she would just leave. It didn't work out that way.
Meda wasn't angry either; She was heartbroken.
She cried for days.
Bill felt terrible too. He thought so much about Meda and
tried to do what was best for her, but instead he made a mess
of everything. He at least owed her an explanation. “Meda, don’t
you see? I'm taking up too much of your time. You are a good
girl to spend your time with me.”
“But, Bill – I love you. I have always loved you. Which is

It’s more, you’re the only man I’ll ever love.”
“I appreciate it, Meda. I love you too. But you know, I'll just
live like a hermit. I’m not getting married again, ever, so how
can I keep taking up your time?”
This was an argument that Meda simply could not accept.
When she was alone, she placed the closed Bible on her lap
and prayed, “Lord, if this is what You want, I don't want to
disobey You... and yet I love Bill. I do not know what to do.
Lord Jesus, would you help me? I've never asked You this
before in my life, Lord, I hope I never have to ask You this
again; but I'm asking now - when I open this Bible, will You
please give me a Scripture for guidance and consolation?”
Closing her eyes, she opened the Bible and marked a place
in the center of the page with her index finger. Then she looked.
His finger pointed to a verse in Malachi chapter 4: “Behold, I
send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of
the LORD comes…”
“This is a strange Scripture for consolation,” she thought.
“I would like to know why the Lord...?” Then she remembered...
Years ago she was on the riverbank while Bill was in the water,
baptizing, when the star had appeared at noon. She hadn't
seen the fireball because she had kept her eyes open.
BOOK 2
eyes closed for prayer; but I could never forget the voice that declared: “As
John the Baptist was sent to foreshadow the first coming of Jesus Christ, so
are you sent with a message to foreshadow His second coming.” Now she
realized why the Lord had given her this particular Scripture for consolation.
“Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet…” Meda got up and went on her way
with a peaceful heart, convinced that she and Bill were going to get married.
Bill himself was not far from the same conclusion. One day after work, he
stopped by the Broy house to pick up his son, Billy Paul, who was playing in a
pile of sand.
Bill said, “Billy, let’s go home with Dad.”
Billy Paul turned his head and asked, “Daddy, where is my home?”
Bill was shocked. He had recently been living on a small houseboat

docked on the river because he hated being in his rented house – it felt too
empty without Hope. Now he looked at his six-year-old son and thought,
“Someday if they take him to the electric chair, he might turn to me and say,
'Dad, if you had done what Mom asked you to do and If you had married again
and made a good home for me instead of driving me around, it wouldn't have
been this way.'” As Bill brushed the sand off his son's clothes, he thought,
“Maybe Hope was right. hour of his death.”
That night something woke Bill up. Lying quietly in the dark, he heard the
waves gently lapping against his small houseboat. There was another sound.
Was someone simply inside your house? The hair on the back of his neck
stood up in fear. Then Bill heard a voice, a resonant voice say: “Go, take Meda
Broy and marry her this October on the twenty-third.”
WILLIAM BRANHAM and Meda Broy joined hands in marriage on October

23, 1941. For their honeymoon, Bill suggested they visit Niagara Falls, then
continue west along the northern U.S. border.
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United, to the Adirondack Mountains, in New York. Bill had

been to this area several times and knew one of the rangers
there. Two years earlier, he and Ranger Denton had shot three
bears near Hurricane Mountain, near the Canadian border. If
Bill could hunt this fall, he could hopefully shoot another bear,
which would give him plenty of meat for the remainder of the
winter.
This seemed appreciable to Meda. She knew how poor they
Meda Branham
they were beginning their married life. She had helped Bill pick
blackberries at night to earn enough money to buy coal for the
winter. A supply of meat would be a welcome resource for the
tight budget.
Bill wrote: “Mr. Denton, I'm going up there this fall. I
BOOK 2
I want to go bear hunting with you again.”

Mr. Denton replied, “All right, Billy, come on. I’ll be at the cabin at the
end of Hurricane Mountain Road…” And he named the day in November.
“You can help me stretch the telephone line wires this spring, and then we’ll
go bear hunting.”
A fire watched over the top of Hurricane Mountain. That spring, Bill had
helped the ranger cross the telephone line five miles along the trail that
connected the watchtower with the cabin at the end of the road. It would
take at least a day to untangle those threads in winter, but to Bill this seemed
a fair trade for the privilege of hunting with such an excellent guide.
Bill, Meda, and Billy Paul arrived a few days earlier. The ranger's cabin
was heavily locked, but nearby was a lean-to up the trail that would protect
them from the wind. Although it hadn't snowed yet, the weather looked like
it was going to snow at any time. That night the temperature dropped below
zero. To keep Billy Paul warm, Bill and Meda placed the boy between them
while they slept.
The next morning Bill said, “You know, honey, it would be nice if I could
get a big buck to take home and a bear too. If I could hunt a little today, we
would get our spring meat for sure.”
Looking up at the dark clouds, Meda asked, “Do you think it's safe to go
out without the ranger? What if you get lost?”
"I? Lose?" Bill thought that was funny. "Not even.

You couldn't lose me anywhere. My mother is half Indian, remember? I have
enough instinct to know exactly where I am at all times. I'm like my
grandfather Harvey. In addition to being a teacher, he was the best hunter
and gunman in the South.”
Meda gave him a resigned look: “I’m not so sure.” “Well, don't delay, Bill.
Remember, I've never been to the forests. I don't know anything about it.”
“I'll be back around two o'clock,” he promised.

Slinging the rifle over his shoulder, he walked back to the road until he
reached a place he had been felling trees for years.
BOOK 2
back. Among the stumps and clumps of leftover branches, new

wood had since grown fifteen feet tall. This seemed like an
ideal habitat for a deer - lots of food and lots of shelter. Bill left
the road and headed through the forest. Over the next hour,
he saw many deer tracks, but they were all thin hoofed,
meaning they were female. He needed a buck.
As he crossed the ridge, descending into the next canyon,

Bill heard something move in the bushes. He stopped and
stood as still as a tree trunk, listening. He distinctly heard feet
grinding dry pine - not hooves, these were the noises of
footsteps. Then the creature fled. Bill looked around and saw
a large mountain lion darting into a thicket. He lowered the rifle
from his shoulder and aimed, but the giant cat ran too fast. Bill
didn't have time to shoot before he was gone.
Bill chased that mountain lion for a thousand miles, down
the canyon. For some time he could hear it falling into a thick
bush. But soon the cat wandered too far ahead and Bill had to
resort to his tracking skills, watching for tracks among the
crooked branches. Finally the lion threw himself behind a large
tree, where he cunningly disappeared. Bill lost track and gave
up.
He returned to the canyon but stopped when he smelled a smell
betraying a bear. Excitedly he climbed the steep canyon wall to the top,
crossing the ridge and descending the other side. Several times I would lose
the smell, but I would smell it again. The ground flattened. Bill continued
walking, studying the terrain for clues such as a demolished anthill or paw
prints on a tree. He climbed a ridge and moved into a shallow gorge.
When he reached the base, he felt his hunt was close.

Bill searched among the rocks and crevices until he found a
bear's cave. There could be no error in this; the stench made
his eyes water. Prudently he approached the dark opening, his
rifle cocked and ready. The surface cave was empty.
Bill looked at his watch. The hands showed 12:30.

He would have to return soon if he wanted to keep his promise
to Meda. He didn't mind interrupting the hunt. Now that
BOOK 2
knew about the bear shelter, he could return as soon as he and Mr. Denton
finished unraveling the telephone line up Hurricane Mountain.
Climbing up the gorge, he had only walked a little way when he saw a
bush move in the valley. “There he is,” Bill thought. He dropped a round into
the chamber and stood still. Instead of a bear, a majestic deer came into
view. Bill leveled his rifle and squeezed the trigger. The deer was taken down
right there.
By the time Bill finished bleeding and gutting his kill, it was well past an
hour. He tied the buck by its hind legs to the branch of a tree, and then
walked into the gorge as fast as the bushes would allow him to walk.
He noticed the cloud covering with drips. Hurricane Mountain was already
hidden. He thought, “I have to hurry. This storm is approaching.” He knew
that if there was fog, he wouldn't be able to locate his footprints.
For 30 minutes he was jumping, constantly looking for the marks of where
he had entered this reserved canyon. Stopping to rest, he pulled his
handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his face. “Whew! It's
been a long road,” he thought. “I don’t think I’ve come that far.”
Once again he began to run. In a few minutes he stopped completely

surprised. There was his deer hanging!
“Well, what did I do?” he whispered. “Somewhere I took a wrong
turn.” But how did I turn around and end up here?”
He started again, thinking, “I'm going to do it right this time. I just wasn’t
paying enough attention.”
Walking briskly, he carefully looked for the places where he had descended
the steep slope. The clouds seemed to be just above the trees now. It was
getting harder to recognize anything. After forty minutes he arrived at a place
that looked familiar. In another minute he knew why. There was his deer
hanging in that tree.
As Bill went out for a third try, he thought, “I can’t make the same mistake
three times in a row.” But an hour later he found himself back on his stag
again.
BOOK 2
Tired and agitated, he sat down to rest and concentrate. The Indians
called this the death walk - a man gets lost in the forest and wanders in
circles until, exhausted, he dies from the situation. If Bill had been in the
mountains alone, he wouldn't have worried. He would have just gone back
to that bear cave and hibernated until the storm passed and the clouds rose.
Once his footprints were in sight, it would be a simple matter to make his
way back to the cabin. But under the present circumstance, this plan was
inconceivable. Meda had never been to the forest before. She wouldn't know
how to make a fire. If Bill didn't return to camp, she and Billy Paul would
easily freeze to death during the night. Furthermore, she was terrified of the
dark.
What if an animal screamed? She might think it was him and go looking for
him - and get lost. Then Bill imagined the mountain lion peering from the
woods near the porch...
Desperate and worried, Bill jumped and tore through the bushes. Soon
he stopped himself, thinking, “Wait a minute, William Branham. What's the
matter with you? You are crazy?" He had been a man of the woods all his
life. He knew what the greatest danger was in a situation like this - a man
gets excited and heads carefree through the forest; then in the spring
someone finds his bones at the bottom of a cliff. He took a deep breath to
calm his shaking nerves. “I have to control myself,” he thought. “I'm really
not lost. I'm just a little disoriented. All I have to do is take a procedure.”
The fog had completely settled now, and everything seemed unfamiliar.
To make things even more difficult, it started to snow. Worst of all, the sun
was setting and darkness was coming quickly. If he didn't find his way soon,
he wouldn't find the exit either. Then all three would perish in the night.
Struggling to calm down, Bill thought, “I can't be lost. I'm too good a
connoisseur of the forest to be lost. Think for a minute. When I came here,
the wind was in my face. This is it; all I have to do is keep
BOOK 2
the wind at my back and I will make it out.”

He went in the opposite direction of the wind. All he could see around
him were dim shapes of trees and bushes stirring in the mist and snow.
Every now and then the fickle wind changed its directions. It soon became
obvious that the wind, circling around the mountain ridge, would not serve
like a landmark.
To support his courage and remain calm, Bill said in

loud voice: “You are not lost. Do you know where is it."
But his conscience called his bluff: Billy, you know you're lost.
He replied to himself: “Me? I am not. I can't get lost.”

Then he came to a gigantic stump that he knew he had never passed before.
He started to shake. Sweat ran down his face. “No need to deceive yourself
anymore,” he thought.
"You are lost. Admit it.”
It wasn't the blow to his pride that hurt; it was the terror he felt for his
wife and son. “I'm really lost,” he said to himself. “I don’t know where east or
west is. I have to choose a direction and walk in a line because that's how it
is, I'm walking in a circle. So I will walk this path.”
Taking a random direction, he began walking, paying close attention to

the few trees he could see, trying to walk in a straight line from tree to tree.
As he walked he seemed to hear a voice whisper: “God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble.”29 Bill thought: “Now I'm going
crazy. Hearing things!”
He continued walking, focusing as much as possible on his mission.

Soon he heard it again, a little louder than before. “God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble.” Bill continued walking, dragging his
gun. He felt very tired. The persistent voice spoke louder: “God is our refuge
and strength…”
Bill stopped and said out loud, “Lord Jesus, I am lost.
29 Psalms 46:1
BOOK 2
I have no compass or landmark, but I still have You. Lord, I am not worthy
to live, but please do not allow my wife and child to die.”
Then he heard that voice again. This was not his imagination; he heard
it clearly: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Leaning his rifle against a tree, Bill took off his hat, placed it in the snow,
and knelt over it. Looking up, he prayed, “Heavenly Father, I thought I knew
everything about the forests, but I was wrong. I know I'm going wrong, but I
don't know which way to go. I have been like a braggart; I deserve to be lost.
I deserve to stay here for days and have to eat porcupines to survive. But,
Lord, my poor wife is innocent. She and my son will die tonight if I don't get
out of here. Dad, it's almost dark and I'm lost - totally lost. Please help me.
Be my landmark and my guide.”
Standing up, he brushed the snow off his hat, and then said, “Lord, I
believe this voice that whispered to me was Your voice. I believe there is an
angel of God following me somewhere through these forests. Lord, I have
been asking for leadership. This is all I can do. Now, I’m going this way.”
He started walking in some direction he had gone before. Suddenly, he

felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back as if to stop him. Frightened,
Bill turned to see who it was. Nobody was there; but as soon as he looked,
the fog dissipated for a moment and in a glance he saw Hurricane Mountain
behind him. That was the way to be safe, and he had been heading deadly
the other way! He had just enough time to turn around and align himself with
the mountain before the fog covered it again.
Raising his hand, Bill cried out: “Oh, great Jehovah God, You are so
close to me that You put Your hand on my shoulder! You truly are my help
in time of trouble!”
Bill climbed through the hazy twilight as directly as he could toward

Hurricane Mountain, watching every second that he didn't veer off course. A
BOOK 2
forest darkened. Bill walked with one arm raised, searching above his head
for that telephone line which ran from tree to tree for five miles alongside
and up the mountain. If he could just get his hand on one of these wires, he
could follow them down the side of the mountain, right to the cabin. If he
lost these threads, he, his wife, and his son would perish.
For the next three hours he maintained his course, sometimes having
to make his way up small rocky shores. The choppy snow had turned into a
downpour. The wind howled, tearing branches from trees. Bill carried his
rifle in one hand and held the other above his head until his arm felt as
heavy as a barrel of powder. Then he would switch hands, always careful
to take a few steps back before continuing, just to make sure he hadn't lost
that phone line during the switch. Sometimes his hand would brush against
an object and he would shout, “I did it!” But he had just caught it on a tree
branch. His fingers felt numb in his gloves. He had finally become so numb
that he could barely lift either of his arms. Still had to keep one arm raised.
Three lives depended on it.
Now the night was so dark that he could barely see the snow falling in
front of him. He started to get scared. What if he had gone to a lower place,
where the lines stretched from tree to tree across a depression in the earth,
making them higher than his outstretched arms could touch? If this
happened, then all three were doomed.
His arm hit something flexible. He lowered his hand until his fingers
curled around a thin thread. He had found it! He was saved! All three were
safe!
Bill threw down the rifle, took off his hat, and said grace: “Oh, God, what
a feeling it is to be found when you are lost.
How can I thank You enough? At the very end of this line is everything in
this life that I cherish - my wife and my son.
This phone line will be my guide off the mountain. I won't leave this line for
anything in this world. But truly, Lord Jesus, You are my guide. And I intend
to hold on to You
BOOK 2
for the rest of my life, because I know that in the end there is
warmth, security and rest.”
BOOK 2
Chapter 27
The Killing Bull 1945
THE devastating WAR in Europe was violently coming to an

end, with the German army being squeezed hard on both
sides by Allied forces. In January 1945, the Russian army,
led by General Zhukov, penetrated the Oder River just 64
kilometers from Berlin. Soon afterwards, the Russian
mechanized division stopped in a swamp and ended German
resistance. At the same time, the Allies on the western side
were making good progress through France and Belgium,
with the Americans having penetrated deep into German-
held territory. In early March General Patton's 3rd Army
reached the Rhine River at Koblenz. A few days later General
Hodge's 1st Army confiscated a bridge downstream of
Remagen. The American generals wanted to keep going
faster so they could reach Berlin before the Russians, but
they were given orders to wait for General Montgomery's
British 25th Division to join them.
On April 25, the Russians had not only surrounded Berlin,

but had also met American forces on the Elbe River seventy-
two kilometers to the west. At the same time, German
defenses in Italy collapsed, allowing the Western Allies to
quickly advance north into Italy and take advantage. On April
28th, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was caught and
executed by his own people while trying to flee the Allied
advances. Fascism was now dead as a global political force,
and Nazism was taking its last breath. Communism, on the
other hand,
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The Killer Bull 165
it was kicking, stretching and devouring everything within range.

As the Communists and Nazis battled in the streets of Berlin, Hitler appointed
one of his aides, Karl Donitz, as head of the German state. Then on April
30th, Adolf Hitler mysteriously disappeared from the face of the earth. Donitz
immediately began the unilateral surrender process, which was officially
completed on May 8, 1945. The war in Europe was over.
FACED WITH THESE significant world events, William Branham could only
watch and marvel; because they meant that of the seven visions of the future
he had seen in sequence that June morning in 1933, three of them had now
literally come to pass - Mussolini had died in disgrace, Hitler had met a
mysterious end, and communism was growing strongly as a force dominant
policy. Without a doubt, the other four visions would follow in God's time.
This gave Bill a reason to be optimistic about his personal future. Surely the
Lord has a specific purpose for his life, or why would the Almighty bestow
upon him such an extraordinary gift?
Bill needed all the fuel he could find to keep this little fire flame of his
optimism burning, because in the natural, he could not see a way out of his
poverty to accomplish something great for the Kingdom of God.
He still worked three jobs, two without pay.

Although he always seemed to be broke, he never thought of taking any
money from his services as a pastor. He had several reasons for this. First:
by reading his Bible and observing the ministers around him, he recognized
early in his ministry that the love of money could be one of the deadly traps
a minister could ever face; and Bill planned to avoid this. Second: even
though some of the members of his congregation earned $3.00 an hour, and
most were as poor as he was, or poorer than him, Bill could not ask these
poor people to sacrifice a little more than they were already sacrificing. He
preached the Biblical principle of
BOOK 2
tithe and every member put a tenth of their salary into a box
that was kept in the church fund specifically for this purpose.
But Bill didn't use a penny of this money for himself. Everything
went directly to monthly bill payments, with barely enough left
over for building maintenance. His third reason carried a torch
of pride and independence. Since he was strong and able to
work, he thought, “Why not work?”
One afternoon, payday, Bill and Meda received their

monthly salary income of $28.00 from the Indiana Civil Service.
His own tithes came first. Then Meda showed the bills that
absolutely had to be paid. No matter how they divided the
remaining $25.20, they simply could not cover all of their
immediate obligations. There was still around $10.00 left.
Bill held up one of the bills and said, “Honey, we can’t even
begin to pay this.”
“But we have to pay this,” she said. “Oh, Billy, what are we going to do?”
Bill had an idea. “You know what, tonight at church

I will raise an offer.”
Meda's initial surprise dissolved into entertainment.
“I’ll enjoy watching him try.”
That night after the hymns and before preaching, Bill said,
"Well friends, tonight - Now I hate to ask you this..." Meda
gave a comical look, knowing how uncomfortable he felt. Bill
tried not to look at her as he stumbled over his words. “I've
never done this before... and in these difficult times, you know,
and... we can barely keep the expense from exceeding the
income... if you all have a penny or a dime, put it in. my hat as
it is passed around... Brother Wiseheart, would you come and
take my hat?”
Deacon Wiseheart came forward, looking as confused as

everyone else - not because they didn't love their pastor; they
loved. They all loved; and they were certainly wanting to help
Bill in any way possible. They were surprised because in the
last 12 years this had never
BOOK 2
The Killer Bull 167
happened!
Brother Wiseheart passed with his hat along the front row. Bill watched
as Mrs. Weber pulled a coin purse from her checkered apron pocket. When
she fished for a nickel, Bill's heart sank like a lead on a fishing line dropped
to the bottom of a pond. He knew these were hard times for almost
everyone, not just him. He couldn't do this. “Wait a minute, Sister Weber.
You don't need to put this nickel in there. I didn't really mean it. I was just
testing you to see what you would do.”
Now old Deacon Wiseheart felt more perplexed than ever! He asked,
“Brother Branham, what should I do?”
“Just put my hat back on, Brother Wiseheart. I

I will continue with the service.”
Meda covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. Bill could
tell by her eyes that she was laughing.
John Ryan, an old friend of Bill's from up north, had been in
Jeffersonville that week on a visit. This brave old man had come from
Michigan, on his bicycle, about 400 kilometers. But the bike had caused
him so much trouble along the way that he decided to abandon it and
hitchhike back home. With characteristic generosity, John Ryan gave the
bicycle to Bill, who promptly repaired it and decorated it with a dime-a-
dozen paint job. Bill didn't really need a bike for himself, but he thought he
might be able to sell it and get some extra money that he needed.
Bill's second unpaid service, that of the state of Indiana as a park

ranger, coincided so closely with his work at the utility company that he
rarely considered it extra effort. This was to be fortunate, because working
as a wire repairman, he was capable enough for both jobs. One of his
primary duties in the Indiana Public Service was to patrol the high-voltage
transmission lines that stretched hundreds of miles through rugged, remote
areas of Indiana. Lots of
BOOK 2
These distances had no roads nearby, so Bill often went on foot, walking 30
miles a day, six days a week - all for just $0.60 an hour. There were still other
rewards besides money. The job took him out of the city and into the
wilderness he loved. Occasionally, through his skills as a ranger, he could
help correct poachers and thus protect local wildlife.
However, he would stop and talk to farmers who were working in their fields.
Invariably the theme was around God and Bill had a chance to share with
them the love of Jesus Christ. Every now and then, a farmer would rejoice
and give his heart to Jesus. Bill immediately took him to the nearest stream
and baptized him in the name of the Lord.
With clothes dripping wet, the two separated, and both rejoiced as they
returned to their respective tasks.
One afternoon, Bill was near Henryville, Indiana, releasing some fish into
a creek for the Game and Fish Department. He was near a farm belonging to
a friend of his who was sick - so Bill thought it would be good if he stopped
and prayed for the man. As the farm was just across a few fences, Bill didn't
mind stopping at the side of the road. Unfastening his holster, he tossed his
gun into the front seat of the truck, closed the door, and climbed the first
fence, forgetting that there was a sign at every corner of the pasture, warning:
“DANGER! BEWARE OF THE BULL!”
Bill hummed a hymn as he walked across the grassy field. In the middle
of the pasture there was a small pile of oak branches - and small trees three
meters high. Bill was approaching them when suddenly a gigantic bull stood
up and snorted. He had been lying quietly in the shade of the oak branches,
out of sight until now. Bill instantly recognized his risk, because this Guernsey
bull had a wide reputation. He had been bred for competition on the Burk farm
near Jeffersonville, but had always shown a bad temper and had finally injured
his watchman to death,
BOOK 2
The Killer Bull 169
forcing its owner to get rid of it. Because he was a competition bull, Burk
had sold him to this man in Henryville, hoping that the isolated interior
would allow him no further opportunities for damage.
Bill had known this, but it had just slipped his mind. Now he desperately
calculated his chances. The oak bushes were very inconsistent and in the
wrong direction. The fences were too far away. There was his gun.
He could shoot the animal, and then pay the farmer for the catch.
The killer bull tilted its head, snorted, and dug into the ground.
Its long, pointed horns indeed looked like lethal weapons.
Bill looked for his gun. It wasn't there. Then he remembered - he had left
his holster on the seat of the truck!
“Well, Lord – if my time to die has come, I want to take it like a man.”
He squared his shoulders and looked coldly at his enemy. At this moment,
something incredible happened inside him. His fear evaporated, replaced
by a love born of sympathy and understanding unlike anything he had ever
experienced before. He thought, “That poor bull was lying there in the field
and I came along the path and disturbed him. He doesn’t know anything
other than protecting himself.”
The bull snorted faster and faster, crushing the ground with kicks,
throwing dust behind it as they do before attacking.
Bill said in a loud voice, “Taurus, I’m sorry I disturbed you.
I don't want you to kill me. I am a servant of God and I am going to pray for
a sick man. I didn't notice the warnings.”
The bull braced himself, lowered his head, his curved horns aimed
squarely at the target. Incredibly, Bill felt no fear, only love. He said, “In the
name of Jesus Christ, go and lie down under those trees.”
The bull continued to brace himself with all his muscle and fury. When
it was only three meters away, it reined in its front paws and stopped in a
cloud of dust. A very strange expression crossed his face as he shook his
head to the right, and then to the left. Then the animal turned and turned its
back on Bill. He walked very slowly
BOOK 2
Back in the oak bushes, he lay down, and watched as Bill continued the rest
of the way across the pasture.
For the rest of that day - and for many more days - Bill marveled at what
had happened in that pasture between him and that bull. Facing death, he
had somehow stepped beyond his own affections, to feel the heartbeat of
another life. Somehow he had understood the bull's agitation and felt
sympathy for the animal.
As a pastor, he often reached out to others, helping and caring for whomever
he could. But this experience was something different, something deeper.
For a few minutes in his life, all fear had disappeared and he had felt perfect
love.
IN THOSE DAYS Bill learned that one of his neighbors – Mrs. Reed, who
lived at the end of his block – was dying of tuberculosis. She had moved to
a sanitarium in Louisville to protect her four little children from a highly
contagious disease. As tuberculosis was the demon that had killed Hope,
Bill had a deep feeling for Mrs. Reed. He just couldn't get her out of his mind
- a mother so young, suffering so much, and having to leave those little ones
in need.
One night Bill went to the sanitarium and prayed for her. Two days later,
as Bill sat on the front porch of his home, the Lord showed him a vision of
Mrs. Reed as a gray-haired grandmother shaking hands with her grown
children. Bill returned to the sanitarium and told her, “Thus Saith the Lord:
'Thou shalt live'!”
Mrs. Reed cried, “Oh, thank God!”
Bill asked, “Will you arise and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, crying out to Him to cleanse your sins?”
She replied, “I will do anything God tells me to do.”
A few days later, Bill was on the sidewalk outside his house, getting
ready to ride his newly acquired bicycle to the supermarket. He had just
swung his leg over the pipe
BOOK 2
The Killer Bull 171
bike center and was about to leave, when his neighbor called him: “Tell me,
wait a minute, preacher. Where are you going?"
“Good morning, Mr. Andrews. I'm going to the supermarket.

Do you want me to bring you something?”
"No. I just wanted to ask you something.” His voice took
a reprimanding tone. “Aren’t you embarrassed?”
"What you mean?"
“Telling that poor dying mother that she will live and
giving his family false hope.”
Now Bill understood what it was about. Mr. Andrews was a decent
neighbor most of the time, but he was always insolent when it came to Bill's
faith in God. Mr. Andrews worked with Mr. Reed in a government warehouse
and must have heard about Mr. Reed's visions.
“Well, Mr. Andrews, she will live,” Bill insisted.

“Thousands of people die from tuberculosis every year. O
What makes you think Mrs. Reed will live?”
Bill gave the only explanation he could. “Because Jesus said
like this. He showed me a vision of it.”
Mr. Andrews snorted in disgust. “I would be ashamed if I were you,
going around and deceiving people like this. I know I'm being hard on you,
but..."
“Okay, Mr. Andrews. You have your ideas and I have mine.” Bill took
the bike and left.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Reed's condition improved so markedly that doctors
wanted to take X-rays of her lungs again. To their surprise, they found no
traces of illness in her body. There was no longer any reason to keep her in
the sanatorium. With great joy and vigor, she returned to her home and
family.
Two days later Meda said, “Billy, I found out today that the
Mrs. Andrews is very ill. You should see her.”
"Sure I will; but I have to watch my steps close
of her husband. He doesn’t like me much.”
Bill got close to the door and knocked. Mr. Andrews opened the door.
“Hello, Mr. Andrews. I heard your wife is sick. Can I do something for you?”
BOOK 2
“Look here,” said his neighbor sharply, “we have a good doctor and we
don't need any help from you. She just has appendicitis. Let's get it out and
let's take care of her. We don’t need any prayers in this place.”
“Mr. Andrews, I didn't ask if I could pray for your wife. I just wanted to
offer my help. I could prepare some food for you or bring you some supplies
from the market or something else that I can help with.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” said Mr. Andrew

insolently. “Everything is under control.”
“I certainly hope so,” said Bill. “If I can be of any help, just let me know.”
His neighbor grunted and closed the door.

The next morning Bill went to work as usual, patrolling the power lines
for the Indiana utility company. He got out of his truck, strapped on his ranger
gun, and walked up the road. He had not gone far when he felt a strong
impression of returning home.
A gray slate-colored drizzle fell from the sky, but not enough to make him
stop working, so he shook himself off and kept his pace hurried. The
impression returned again, stronger than before. Bill returned to his truck and
radioed his boss that he would not be working that day. Then he returned
home.
This surprised Meda: seeing her husband walking through the door
mid-morning! “What are you doing back?”
"I do not know exactly. The Lord told me to go back, so I did.”
He placed the gun on the kitchen table, disassembled it, and began oiling
and polishing the parts. Through the window he saw Mr. Andrews coming
around the house. Moments later, he knocked on the door and called, “Mrs.
Branham, is the preacher here?”
Meda, working at the sink, dried her hands on her apron, and said, “Yes.
Come in, Mr. Andrews.”
The neighbor came in through the kitchen door looking like a beaten dog.
His eyes were swollen and red, his nose was running, and his hat was placed
sideways on his head.
BOOK 2
The Killer Bull 173
“Hello, preacher,” he said contritely.

“Hello, Mr. Andrews. Pull up a chair.”
Mr. Andrews sat next to Bill. An emotional turmoil was shown in every
line of his face. “Did you hear about Mrs. Andrews?”
"No. What is wrong?"

“Well, preacher”—his voice shook—“she’s going to die.”
“I'm sorry to hear this, Mr. Andrews. Although I know you have a good
doctor.”
“Yes,” he said, blowing his nose, “but besides, it wasn't appendicitis.
The blood has clotted and is just a few hours away from her heart. We have
a specialist from Louisville at the hospital now. He said that when the clotted
blood reaches her heart, she will die.”
“My, this is really bad,” said Bill. “I am upset to hear this. But I’m glad you
guys have a good doctor on the case.”
Mr. Andrews stuttered and struggled for his next words. “Well – uh –
she’s in a bad way, you see, and – uh – I was wondering if – if – I could
count on you to help her?”
"I?" Bill pressed his hand against his chest. "It is not me
doctor. How would I know what to do?”
“Well - uh - you know - I thought maybe you could help her a little, like
you did with the woman over there on the corner - Mrs. Reed?”
“That wasn't me,” Bill explained. “That was the Lord Jesus who helped
Mrs. Reed. I thought you didn't believe in Him.”
Mr. Andrews shrugged. “You know, one of my aunts, who lived in the
hills, was a Christian. She once made a promise to God that she would pay
the missionaries $5.00 at the end of the year. She was washing clothes,
trying to save some money, but the end of the year approached, and she
simply didn't have the money. The day before the preacher arrived, she
bought a new bar of soap for $0.05. She was in the tank, crying because
she hadn't been able to keep her promise. She dried her tears on her apron,
put her hands in the water and rubbed the bar of soap on the washboard,
BOOK 2
to soap the clothes. The soap clinked a funny sound. When she
looked closer, she found a $5.00 piece of gold stuck to that bar of
soap. So finally, she was able to keep her promise to God.”
“How did that piece of gold get there?” Bill asked,

even though I knew the answer.
Mr. Andrews shook his head. "I don't know. I always wanted to
know.”
“I'll tell you how: The resurrected Jesus did this. The woman made her
promise in good faith and a pure heart. She thought she could do this. God
simply provided a way for him to keep his promise.”
Mr. Andrews shook his head. “I always thought about this a lot. This has
always made me wonder if there is a God.”
“Mr Andrews, there is a God.”

The man tilted his head. “Do you think He would help my wife?”
"Certainly. I know He can.”

“Will you pray for her?” Mr. Andrews begged.
“First of all, you need to surrender your own heart now. How
about you kneel here with me and we pray together.”
“Well, I—I hardly know what to say.”
"I'm going to help you."
Then they pushed the chairs behind the table and knelt, placing
their elbows on the seats of the chairs.
Bill instructed him: “From the bottom of your heart, say, 'God, be
merciful to me, a sinner.'”
They continued to pray in such a way that even the greatest
atheist would lament their path of faith in Jesus Christ. Then Mr.
Andrews wiped his eyes and asked, “Well, preacher, shall we go to
the hospital now?”
"Yes, I will."
Meda went with them. When they entered the hospital room, Mrs.
Andrews was so unwell that there was no color in her eyes. His face
was so swollen that he barely looked like the same person who had
lived in the house next to them for many years.
Meda was sorry to see her like that. Bill knelt down
BOOK 2
The Killer Bull 175
beside the bed and prayed, “Dear God, please help Mrs. Andrews. We are
all unable. The doctor did everything he could, and she's still dying. Jesus,
we know that You rose from the dead and live among us, with the power to
do something. We ask You to have mercy and allow this poor woman to
live.”
Bill stood there for a while, holding Mrs. Andrews's swollen hand.
Meda asked, “See something?”

“No, honey, I don’t see.”
They left the room and walked down the maternity ward hallway to look
at the newborn babies through the window.
They were returning to Mrs. Andrews's room, and as Bill entered the
threshold he saw Mrs. Andrews in her own kitchen taking an apple pie out
of the oven. Then Bill saw himself sitting on the front porch of his house.
Mrs. Andrews came around the house and offered him the whole pie.
After he had sliced that pie into pieces, he ate a piece. Then, just as quickly
as he had gone, he returned to the hospital room. He turned to Meda and
said, “Honey, everything is going to be okay. Don’t worry, God has heard
our prayers.”
The nurse happened to hear the comment. She asked, “Reverend
Branham, what do you mean?”
Bill explained: “In three days Mrs. Andrews is going to bake me a pie. If
not, then I will leave the ministry.”
Returning to Mr. Andrews' house, Bill told him, “This is what the Lord
says: 'Your wife will be healed.' Don’t worry, Mr. Andrews.”
“How can you be sure?”

“God has told me so by the same vision that He told Mrs. Reed would
live, and she is at home feeling well.” But Bill didn't mention the part about
the apple pie.
Bill and Meda went home. Two hours later Mr. Andrews knocked on
Bill's door again. “Preacher, the doctor said she’s dying right now. She was
in agony.”
“But the Lord Jesus said she will live,” Bill replied,
BOOK 2
trying to calm him down. “You don’t believe what I tell you?”
“Well, preacher, I want to believe, but the doctors said she won’t survive
another hour.”
“It doesn’t make any difference what the doctors say. When God says
something, it will happen.”
Nervous and not at all confident, Mr Andrews went to the hospital. Meda,
remembering how terrible Mrs. Andrews looked, asked her husband, “Bill,
what do you really think?”
“Now, don't worry about it. God has said so and it is resolved. That
woman is going to bake me an apple pie in three days, and I'll be sitting on
the front porch when I eat the first piece. If this doesn’t happen, then God is
not speaking to me.”
Within an hour Mr. Andrews returned, all excited and shouting, “Preacher,
do you know what happened?”
Bill was over there, putting the parts back into his revolver. He turned the
cylinder, closed it, and slid the gun back into its holster. “What happened, Mr.
Andrews?”
“The problems are gone from her. She got up from the bed and said, 'I'm
starving.' When one of the nurses brought chicken soup, she said, 'I don't
want chicken soup; I want sausage and sauerkraut.' Preacher, they said I can
bring her home in two days!”
Three days after that, while Bill was sitting on the front porch of his house,
Mrs. Andrews came around the corner, carrying a pie. Bill enjoyed the nicest
apple pie he had ever eaten.
The next day Bill sold his renovated bicycle for $10.00, which was exactly
the amount that would pay off his monthly debts.
He knew the Lord was watching over him.
BOOK 2
Chapter 28
The Angel and the Cave
1946
FOR MANY HOURS William Branham paced back and forth on the floor of
the hospital waiting room. In a nearby room, his wife, Meda, had gone into
labor to give birth to their first child. It was not an easy birth.
Finally the doctor had to perform a cesarean section. It was March 21, 1946
- five days before Meda's 27th birthday.
Later that day, the doctor warned Bill not to have any more children. In
her professional opinion, Meda's body could no longer support the weight of
a second pregnancy. Bill took this advice psychologically. He was almost 37
years old. A few years earlier, he had thought his son Billy Paul would be all
the family he would have. Now he not only loved a wife, but cradled a little
girl as well. If God had determined that it was just this, he would not complain.
Meda and Bill named their new daughter Rebeca.

Although she was an extra person to live in that two-room house, Rebeca
compensated for this inconvenience by adding drops of refreshment to Bill's
days, which would have been burdened with indisposition, melancholy and
low self-esteem.
Bill's depression had deep roots. Since he had turned down the
opportunity to preach among Pentecostal churches nearly 10 years earlier,
Bill was rarely satisfied with his relationship with God. Even though Bill had
prayed, studied, preached, and witnessed for years, it seemed like he was
going nowhere. There were certainly some
BOOK 2
visions and many healings, some of which were quite remarkable. But as a
paradox, these incidents made Bill more disturbed and confused rather than
reassuring him, because they were heavily criticized by almost all the
ministers in his area.
The ministers harshly condemned Bill as a devil-possessed deceiver and an
unscrupulous charlatan; the more compassionate simply called him a well-
intentioned man who had been deceived. But all these ministers agreed that
Bill's visions, and the miracles they followed, came from demonic powers;
God just didn't do those kinds of things anymore.
When Bill became a Christian, this kind of condemning attitude confused

him. Not only did the visions he saw of the future happen, they always
helped someone, often showing the way to a miraculous healing in
someone's life. How could something that produces good results be inspired
by the prince of evil? For years, constant criticism from his colleagues
eventually tilted Bill's thoughts in another direction. If so many learned men
- his co-workers in the Gospel of Christ - agreed that the visions were
demonic inspirations, then the visions must be coming from the wrong
source. This agonized Bill's soul beyond measure. Because he loved Jesus
Christ with all his heart, and the thought of having a strange, inexplicable
power of the devil over his life made Bill miserable. He prayed to be delivered
from such extraordinary occurrences, asking, “Please, God, take these
things away from me. I don't want to see this again, ever again. Heavenly
Father, I am a Christian now. I do not belong to Satan; I belong to You.
Please don't let these strange things happen to me again. Don't allow me to
continue the way I am. I want to be like other Christian ministers, just
studying the Word as I was taught to do.”
This prayer was not answered. Shortly after the birth of his daughter
Rebeca, he had another vision in which he found himself walking northeast
on a road.
The present Spirit of God turned him and pointed him to the west. Bill saw a
great plain; then saw a mountain rise
BOOK 2
The Angel and the Cave 179
of the prairie, a mountain like a church, and a high steeple on its top.
An angel stood behind and to Bill's right, but he couldn't be seen. The
angel ordered: “Go west toward that mountain.”
Bill obeyed. As soon as he got closer, he saw a door located at the base
of the mountain. He entered and found a beautiful woman, dressed in
wedding garments. The elaborate dress, which had certainly once been
snow-white, was now stained and dirty. The woman said, “Hello. I am the
Methodist lady. Are you Brother Billy Branham?”
"I am. Tell me, why is your dress so stained?”

“Oh, this,” she said, making a dismissive motion with her hand, showing
her lack of concern. “I've been so busy.”
“That's right,” Bill agreed. “You Methodists have so many organizations

and societies in your churches, that you have not had much time for the
Lord.”
The Methodist lady said, “I was told you were being sent to me. Maybe I
should wake my husband up.” She hurried and went down to a nearby tunnel
and didn't come back.
Looking to his left, Bill noticed a small collection of bread surrounded by
a group of white chickens. Clucking, the birds raised their heads to both
sides to look at the feast; Some pecked a little at the pile, but most of the
bread remained intact.
The angel asked, “Do you know them?”

“No,” Bill replied.
“This is their tabernacle and they will no longer eat the bread
of life. I’m sending you further west.”
Continuing west, Bill left the mountain and came to a vast desert, where
he saw a large structure of something like a tent or a cathedral-like building.
Bill entered the open side of the mountain and climbed onto a raised
platform, finally stopping in front of a massive curtain.
The angel ordered: “Open the curtain.”

When Bill pulled the curtain cord, it slid easily to the side, revealing a
gigantic collection of Bread.
BOOK 2
of life.
The angel said, “Feed the people with this.”
Bill turned to watch as the crowd of people dressed in white
came running from various directions, gathering beneath the
pavilion, forming a vast audience.
Then the vision faded.
The sight disturbed Bill more than usual. He had been
praying so hard lately to be delivered from these unwanted
distractions and yet here came one. Why was God allowing
Satan to torment him in this way? To make matters worse, the
vision seemed very spiritual – yet all it left behind were
questions. Why west? Why was that Bread of Life mountain so
big? Where did those people come from? And finally, how
could he feed all those people with the Bread of Life? What's
more, he was just a poor, illiterate, small-town preacher. Why
would so many people come to hear him preach the Gospel?
Until then the visions had never failed. This was probably the
most perplexing question on Bill's mind: Why would the devil
give him visions that would come true?
Why? Why? Why? This all seemed very confusing.

At noon on Tuesday, May 7, Bill parked his work truck in
front of his home at 922 East 8th Street, just across the street
from the Branham Tabernacle. Roger Gibbs, who was a
member of his church, parked behind him.
Roger said, “Billy, do you want to go to Madison with me this afternoon?”
“I'm sorry, Brother Roger, but I can't. This afternoon I have

to go up to Henryville to patrol. Let's go inside a little. My wife
has been preparing lunch.”
“No, I better go. See you at church next Sunday.”
"Right. See you on Sunday.”
Bill rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands at a tap in
the front yard. Then he walked around the side of the house,
unfastening his gun belt as he walked so he could leave it on
the porch. A large maple tree shaded this area.
Bill had just entered beneath its branches when he heard a
wind roaring above him. He looked up and was shocked
BOOK 2
to see a gigantic whirlpool coming straight at him. It felt like it was

going to take the roof of the house and the tree away, sending every
tile and leaf crashing against his chest. Bill staggered and fell
backwards onto the porch, nearly passing out.
Roger Gibbs jumped out of his car and ran to his pastor's side. “Brother
Bill, what happened?”
Bill slowly looked around, not understanding what had happened. The
whirlwind was gone. The day was calm and mild. He looked up at the
branches of the maple tree, and then up at the roof of the house. Surprisingly,
they were both intact and unharmed. Then he realized what had happened.
“I'm fine,” he said weakly. “Brother Roger, you can go.

I am fine."
Meda came running from inside the house, with a jar of
water. “Bill, did you faint?”
Pushing away the water, Bill said, “No. I am fine."
After Roger left, Meda wanted to know details. “What really happened,
Billy? You are sick?"
"No dear. It’s the same thing again.”
She helped him to get up. “Come, come in. Lunch is ready."
“Meda, honey, I’m tired of this.” His voice was tired with the agony of
these doubts and inner depressions.
“I know in my heart that I love Jesus Christ. I don't want the devil to have
anything to do with me. I have prayed and begged God for this to never
happen again; and it still happens. I can't go on like this - everyone tells me
I'm chased by a devil and I'm trying to live a Christian life. I am a prisoner!”
“Billy, you shouldn’t listen to what people say.”
“But, honey, look at the other preachers. They are not

tormented by such things.”
Meda could see a distant decision forming in her husband's eyes, and it
scared her. “What are you planning to do?”
“I want you to call my boss and tell him I'm not going to work this
afternoon. I can be back tomorrow; I
BOOK 2
I may never go back. Tell him if I don't come back on Friday, to put someone
else in my place. Meda, I have $17.00 in the bank. This is enough for you
to live on while I’m gone.”
“Billy, where are you going? What will you do?"
“I'm going to go up to my cave, at Moinho do Túnel, to have a conclusion
on the matter with God. I don't know when I'll return home; It could be two
days or two weeks.
Meda, I will never leave those woods until God promises me that He will
take these things away from me and never allow them to happen again.”
Arriving at the Tunnel Mill area, Bill parked his car where the road
curved sharply into a gorge. He stretched out the barbed wire, crawled
slowly, and walked quickly toward his hiding place, praying most of the way.
When he arrived in front of his cave, he threw himself onto a fallen, forked
tree, opened his Bible, read, and prayed for the rest of the afternoon.
In the book of 1 Corinthians, a portion of chapter 14 was confused in his

mind. Verses 32 and 33 say, “And the spirits of the prophets are subject to
the prophets. For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace...” This is
what Bill desired for his heart – peace. Ever since he was a boy, since his
first vision, he had been laced with confusion.
Becoming a Christian eased his confusion for a time, but it had not
completely dissipated. Where was this peace that God had promised? And
what did the Bible mean by: “the spirits of the prophets are subject to the
prophets.”
After sunset he entered his cave. There, pacing back and forth in the
dark, in the narrow passage, he continued in desperation to find an answer.
“Father, why do You allow these strange things to happen to me?
You know that I love You. I don't want to be possessed by the devil.
I want these things to never happen again. Please God, never allow this to
happen again. I don't want to go to hell. What would be the point of preaching
hard if I'm wrong?
I'm not just taking myself to hell; but also deceiving hundreds of others.”
Hour after hour, he poured out his anguish to the Lord. He prayed
BOOK 2
with intensity, he begged and cried until he was hoarse and

his eyes were swollen. Then he sat, meditating in the dark, on
Almighty God, directing his thoughts beyond the moon and
stars and dimensions of time and eternity, searching for a
place where he could finally meet his Creator. After a while he
rose and again paced to and fro, allowing his voice to declare
the feelings of his desperate heart.
Very late at night, he sat down on the ledge of the rock he

used as a bed. But sleep was far from his mind.
“God, please set me free. You know my heart. You know that I
love You. All those clerics keep saying that the spirit that
moves around me is of the devil. Why do You allow my life to
be tormented in this way? Why don't You free me from this?
God, I'm going to stay right here until I die, if You don't find me
and release me from this prison. Why don’t You free me from
these things so that I can be like other ministers?”
He felt that strange pressure again, as if it was some kind

of invisible power that had entered the dark cave! His skin
tingled and the hair on the back of his neck stood up!
Perhaps the Lord was about to give him the answer. The night
was dark as coal, and silently he sat, waiting to hear the voice
of God. As he waited, he was struck by a new thought: What if
all those ministers were wrong? Bill had never considered such
a possibility before. However, what if they were? What if it was
God, not Satan, generating those supernatural occurrences?
But if this were the case, then how could such people as
diviners, astrologers, and devil-possessed mediums recognize
a gift in their lives, and yet these Christian ministers know
nothing about it?
As soon as he framed this question in words, the answer

came to him with the force of a flood. When Jesus was born,
only the wise men - who were astrologers - saw his star in the
east and followed it to Bethlehem. Not a single holy man in
Palestine saw this. Could this be the same star that had
appeared over the Ohio River in 1933, while he was
BOOK 2
baptizing people after their first revival meetings? He could remember

that day so clearly - the clear water; the cloudless blue sky; that ball of
fire spinning over his head; and the voice that declared: “As John the
Baptist was sent to foreshadow the first coming of Jesus Christ, so you
are sent with a message to foreshadow His second coming.” Bill
remembered when a group of businessmen came up to him later that
day and asked what this meant.
He didn't know then; all these years he didn't know. But now... now, in
the silence of the night, after shedding all the tears from her eyes; now,
after begging until his throat was parched and sore; now, after begging
God to take those visions away from him and never let them happen
again; now, for the first time in his life, he wondered if perhaps he was
asking for the wrong thing!
The picture, which for many years had been dark and confusing,
was now becoming surprisingly clear. It occurred to Bill that when Jesus
walked the earth, Israel was overflowing with religious men - Pharisees,
Sadducees, Teachers of the Law, Scribes, Priests, and Rabbis. Many of
these men were scholars, well trained in the Scriptures. However, it was
strange that when Jesus began his public ministry, many of these men
simply accused him, calling Jesus the devil, Beelzebub, the prince of
soothsayers, the best medium of all.30 Stranger still, was the fact that
possessed people by the devil they identified Jesus correctly, saying,
“He is the Son of God!”31 Bill trembled as the Scriptures poured into his
understanding. Preachers said Jesus was a devil; the demons said that
Jesus was
the Holy One of Israel. Could that example be applied to Bill's own
life? Yes - yes it could, because that example was not limited only to the
life of Christ. When Paul and Silas were preaching the Gospel throughout
Asia Minor, in every city the holy men
30
Matthew 9:32-34, 10:25 and 12:22-28; Mark 3:22-26; Luke 11:15-20
31
Matthew 8:28-29; Mark 1:22-24
BOOK 2
Jews called them liars and impostors; Still in Philippi, a demon-possessed

soothsayer proclaimed Paul and Silas to be men of God who were showing
the way of salvation.32 Then Bill remembered how Jesus and Paul dealt
with those demons by rebuking them and commanding them to be silent.
They didn't need the demons' help. Both Jesus and Paul knew who they
were.
“Maybe all this time I've been wrong,” Bill thought. Maybe I should have
embraced this instead of fighting it. He prayed out loud, “God, if I have been
wrong and refused something from You because I don't understand; If I have
been wrong, then please forgive me.”
As soon as he said these words, a light caught Bill's attention. This

scared him. Now, what is this? Is that someone coming with a flashlight?
No, this was not coming from outside. This was inside the cave - a small
point of light hanging in the air, pulsing with energy, growing bigger and
brighter until it became a whirlpool, a spinning ball of fire, casting its
illumination onto the walls and floor. Bill blinked and shielded his eyes from
the glare with his hands. Then he heard the heavy thump, thump, thump of
footsteps on the cave floor. Far below that amber-colored flaming ball, he
saw feet, and a white cloak. Then from that light came a man.
Such a man as Bill had never seen before! He was stocky – at least six
feet tall and maybe two hundred pounds. He had strong arms, which were
crossed. His black hair fell to his shoulders. He appeared to be around 30
years old. His clean-shaven face gave him a dark, almost olive green
appearance. His eyes were black and piercing.
The man walked towards Bill. The amber light dimmed as it rose to the
top of the cave and hovered just over the visitor's head, still spinning and
pulsing with energy. Bill wanted to run away, but there was nowhere to run.
This man blocked the narrow corridor leading out. Bill waited in terror, and
bit one of his fingers so hard that it bled.
32 Acts 16:16-18
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When the man was just a few steps away, he stopped and looked at Bill
with a kind expression.
Bill would remember that face forever, although he would never be able to
describe it completely - so docile, so calm; and yet there was an underlying
sense of power and authority that moved Bill to fear.
In a low, deep voice, the man said, “Fear not…”

As soon as Bill heard that voice, his fear disappeared.
It was him! There was no mistake in this. This was the same voice that had
spoken to him from the aspen tree when he was a boy, telling him: “Never
drink, nor smoke, nor corrupt your body in any way. There will be work for
you to do when you are older.” Bill could never forget that voice. He had
heard it many times and for years. This man must be the same angel who
had spoken to Bill in all those visions. Bill had never been able to get a good
look at him before. Sometimes the angel stood behind and to Bill's right,
positioned so that Bill could not see him. At other times, when the angel
himself appeared in a vision, he was always dim, and Bill couldn't quite
define his features. But now Bill saw him clearly. This was not a vision! This
man struck Bill's senses as hard as the teeth marks and the drops of blood
on his finger.
The angel continued: “I have been sent from the presence of Almighty
God to tell you that your peculiar birth and misunderstood life have been to
indicate that you will bring a gift of Divine healing to the people of the world.
If you are sincere when you pray and lead people to believe in you, nothing
will stand in the way of your prayer, not even cancer. You will go to many
parts of the earth and pray for kings, rulers and potentates. You will preach
to crowds around the world and thousands will come to you for advice. You
must tell them that their thoughts speak louder in the heavens than their
words.”
Bill heard the angel's message as clearly as if he were listening to his

boss giving him his daily work reports in the Indiana Civil Service, but he
could not imagine how he could fulfill such a grand commission.
BOOK 2
“Lord, I am a poor man, and I live among poor people.

How could I go around the world? How could I make myself understood? All
I have is elementary school.
Maybe it should be someone senior enough to speak to people. They
wouldn’t listen to me.”
The angel looked at him with a stern look: “Just as the prophet Moses
was given two signs to prove that he was sent by God, so you will be given
two signs.33 First - when you take a person's right hand in your left hand,
you will be able to detect the presence of some disease caused by germ, by
the vibrations that will appear in your left hand. Then you must pray for the
person. If your hand returns to normal, you can pronounce that the person
is cured; if not, just ask for the blessing on her and go. Under the anointing
of God, do not try to put your own thoughts; you will be given what to say.”
“But what if they still don’t believe me?” Bill asked.

“The second signal is bigger than the first. If you remain humble and
sincere, it will happen that you will be able to tell by vision exactly the secret
of their hearts. Then people will have to believe in you. This will initiate the
Gospel into power that will bring about the second coming of Christ.”
Those words hit nerves that had been bruised and exposed from months
—no, years—of doubt and depression. His anguish burst into hot, painful
flames in his chest.
“Lord, this is the reason I am here praying tonight.
The clergymen told me that those visions came from an evil spirit.”
“Do you not understand,” said the angel, “that it was so in the days of
Jesus Christ our Lord?”
Bill's perception of the spiritual world was changing so quickly that he
had trouble maintaining his balance.
“Well then, what kind of spirit would it be that gives me those visions?”
“This is the Holy Spirit of God. Now those visions
33 Exodus 4:1-8
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will multiply in your life.”

Hearing these words Bill's perception changed forever. He had been
agitated about the other men's opinions long enough. Now he truly
realized how personal it is for a man to walk with Jesus Christ!
The angel's arms remained crossed and his face impassive. He

instructed Bill using the King James English translation wherever he cited
the Bible, knowing that Bill would easily recognize it as Holy Scripture.
The angel said, “Consider the life of Jesus Christ. When Nathanael first
came into His presence, Jesus said, 'Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom
is no guile!' Nathanael asked: 'Where do you know me from?' To which
the Lord replied: 'Before Philip called you, I saw you while you were under
the fig tree.'34 How did our Lord 'see' Nathanael? He saw him in a vision.
Remember how the Son of God declared: 'The son can do nothing of
himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for whatsoever he doeth, the
Son doeth likewise.' 35 Have you ever wondered what that meant? This
means that the Father showed the Son visions that allowed Him to know
what He should do. He proved this when at the pool of Bethesda, He
passed through a vast crowd of sick and needy people to heal a certain
man.”36
“The visions showed our Lord Jesus in advance what would happen.
Remember how He knew that Peter would find a coin in a fish's mouth?
37 Consider how our Lord Jesus when He approached Jerusalem, and
said to His disciples, 'Go into the village opposite you, and soon you will
find a donkey tied up. and a colt with her; untie it and bring it to us. And if
anyone says anything to you, you will say that the Lord has need of them;
and will soon send them out.'38 It didn't happen
34
John 1:43-51
35
John 5:19
36
John 5:1-15
37
Matthew 17:24-27
38
Matthew 21:1-7; Mark 11:1-7; Luke 19:28-35
BOOK 2
exactly as our Lord described? He knew it would happen, because He first

saw it in a vision from the Father.”
“What’s more, there will come a time in your ministry when the visions
will reveal to you the secrets hidden in people’s hearts that prevent them
from being healed. Consider the woman at the well in Samaria. Jesus spoke
to her until He contacted her spirit; then by vision He saw where his problem
was. He said, 'Go, call your husband and come here.' When the woman
replied, 'I have no husband,' Jesus replied, 'You said well: I have no
husband, because you have had five husbands and the one you now have
is not your husband.' This made the woman exclaim, 'Lord, I see that you
are a prophet.'39So it must be in your ministry, if you are
sincere."
Then the angel paused, giving Bill an opportunity to repeat his doubts.
“Lord, how could all this happen in my life. I am poor and illiterate and...”
The angel interrupted him. “Never forget that Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever, as the Scriptures have declared.40 You will
not be the one to accomplish any of these things; will be the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember that Jesus promised His followers: 'He who believes in
me will also do the works that I do and will do greater works than these,
because I go to my Father... Yet a little while, and the world will not see me
more, but you will see me; for I live, and you will live. In that day you will
know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.'”41 What else
could Bill say? Before him stood a messenger from God, with a fantastic
commission - that he, Billy Branham, was
commanded to bring a gift of Divine healing to the people of the world.
This seemed almost impossible. He felt oppressed; and yet, something
deep in his heart stirred at the thought of all those Scriptures which the
angel had so
39
John 4:6-19
40 Hebrews 13:8
41
John 14:12, 19-20
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skillfully applied - Scriptures that made Bill understand the meaning

of his eccentric and different life. However, he hesitated.
“I will be with you,” said the angel.
That turned Bill's mind around. "I will."
The angel didn't smile. He merely nodded once and said,
“Whenever you have this same feeling that you feel now in my
presence, you will know that I am near.”
The fireball above the angel's head began to expand, crackling

and hissing as it rotated, shooting out tongues of fire. The angel
seemed to evaporate in the midst of that expanding light. Then
the Pillar of Fire disappeared above through the limestone ceiling.
Suddenly, the cave was as dark as coal and as quiet as a

cemetery, causing Bill's nerves to tense up.
He felt the pinch of temptation to doubt his own sanity. Placing a
finger between his teeth, he bit down hard enough to make sure
he wasn't asleep. That meant the angel he had seen was as real
as the taste of blood on his fingertip. No, he would not doubt a
word the angel had said.
Bill knelt down, clasped his hands, and said, “Heavenly Father,
I thank You for sending Your angel to explain these things to me.
It seems incredible that all these things will happen to me - that I
will preach to crowds around the world and pray for kings and
rulers and so on. I am very poor. How could I be able to do this? I
know that for myself, I cannot; but I also know that You can do
anything. Lord, I will go; and I promise You that I will be in the
field as long as You meet my needs so I don’t have to beg for
money.”
That Wednesday morning – May 8, 1946 –

William Branham returned home a new man.
BOOK 2
Chapter 29
The Sign on His Hand
1946
AFTER WILLIAM BRANHAM told his wife about the angel's

commission, he immediately called his former pastor. Doctor
Roy Davis was now bishop over all the Missionary Baptist
Churches in the vicinity of Indiana. Although there had been
some disagreements between Doctor Davis and Bill in the
past, Bill still respected the elder's judgment and considered
him his superintendent. And now, more than at any other time
in his life, Bill needed good advice. The angel had painted a
fantastic picture of his worldwide ministry, but had given him
no clue as to where he should begin or in what direction he
should travel. Perhaps the Lord wanted him to begin within the
structure of the Missionary Baptist church. If it was, then Doctor
Davis could help you get started.
In the bishop's office, Bill described his previous anguish

and depression at the thought that the devil might be influencing
his life. He told how the day before, a maple tree seemed to be
falling on him, and how he had resolved to enter the forest and
never come out until God met with him and freed him from that
agony. He told Doctor Davis about the fireball swirling in the
cave and the angel that came into line of sight. He described
the angel's countenance and then began to share what the
angel had told him - how he would pray for kings and rulers,
and how people would come from all over the world to ask him
for advice.
At this point in the conversation, Doctor Davis abruptly
interrupted him and gave him his verdict. “Billy, what did you eat?
BOOK 2
at that night? Obviously you had a nightmare.”

Bill felt struck. “Doctor Davis, I don’t like this.”
The old man raised his arm and made a brief observation. “Oh, go home
and forget about it, Billy. This is just another one of those hallucinations you
have, your imagination is too active.”
“Doctor Davis, you can tell me to forget about this, but God has
anchored something inside my heart. If you don't want to accept me, there
are others who will. I am under God's obligation to preach to the world.”
Seeing how seriously this young man seemed to be taking his story
about the angelic visitation, Doctor Davis tried to reason with him. “Bill, do
you mean to tell me that you will go around the world winning thousands of
souls for Christ - you, with an elementary education?”
“This is what he told me and this is what I believe.”

“How are you going to do this?”
"I don't know. I was hoping you would give me some helpful suggestions.”
Doctor Davis laughed. “My suggestion is that you go home and take a
long nap. Maybe you will be more aware when you wake up. Do you really
think you can face a world educated with such theology as Divine healing?”
“This is not my Divine healing,” Bill objected. “This is the

God's promise. He is the One who gave me this commission.”
Doctor Davis was not impressed. "You really
Do you think people will believe you?”
“That's not my problem,” said Bill, fearlessly. “It’s my business to stay
true to this Word.”
“Billy, if you preach such a thing as this, you will preach to
the columns that support the roof of your church.”
“I will be preaching to the pillars then, because God is able to raise
children from them to Abraham. If God is sending me, there will be someone
there who will believe it.”
Bill left Dr. Davis's house still determined and committed to following
the angel's commission, regardless of the consequences or difficulties.
However, the bishop's ridicule had left a thin sliver of doubt in his heart.
BOOK 2
The Sign on Your Hand 193
which festered and pestered him for the rest of the week. Furthermore, this
seemed like an absurd dream. How could he - the humble Billy Branham - bring
a gift of Divine healing to the people of the world? Looking at it logically, it
seemed unlikely.
On Friday afternoon Bill went to Mason's Pharmacy on Spring Street to
cash his $28.00 weekly salary check and pick up some bottles so that Rebecca,
who was six weeks old, could start drinking tea. Bill had just gotten off work and
was still dressed in his ranger uniform. As he approached the store, a Louisville
bus stopped at the corner for passengers to disembark. Most people got off the
bus to their destinations; but not a man. This man placed his suitcase on the
sidewalk and took a look at the surroundings, although confused about being
there. When he focused on Bill, his gaze had a strange expression.
Entering Mason's Pharmacy to do his business, Bill forgot all about the
peculiar man outside. When he left, he saw that man picked up his suitcase
and walked towards the pharmacy. The man saw Bill again and stopped,
looking at him with the same confused look. For a moment, Bill thought the
man might want to rob him. Then Bill realized this was ridiculous, since it was
in broad daylight and at a busy intersection and Bill was wearing a gun on his
belt in plain sight.
Bill turned and walked up the street. Momentarily he felt a hand touch his
shoulder. Turning around, he saw it was the enigmatic stranger.
“Excuse me,” the man said. “Are you an officer?”

“I’m a conservation officer,” Bill replied. “I work for the Indiana State
Department of Game Conservation.”
The man spoke slowly, as if he was unsure of himself. “I'm...uh...looking to

find a...certain someone. Maybe you could help me. Are you... uh... pretty
familiar around here?”
“I’ve lived here pretty much my whole life,” Bill said. "Who
Are you trying to find it?”
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Now the man's face took on a strange and confused appearance again.
"I'm not sure. You might think I'm crazy, but let me tell you my story. I live in
Paducah, Kentucky, about 200 miles downriver from here.
For about two years my health has been failing. Earlier this week, I had a
dream where I saw a big, shining angel descending from heaven and telling
me to go to Jeffersonville, Indiana, and ask for someone named Branham to
pray for me. Do you know anyone around here by the name of Branham?”
Bill's heart pounded so hard with excitement that he felt as if it would

leap out of his chest. He said: “My mother has a boarding house around the
corner; his name is Branham.”
“Oh, she is Branham. Would that be your name too?”
“Brother,” said Bill, putting his arm around the stranger's shoulders,
“earlier this week, I was in a cave when a great light came shining and an
angel told me to go pray for the sick.”
The man burst into tears. Bill took off his hat and together they knelt on
the corner and asked God to give him back his health. When Bill finished
praying and opened his eyes, he saw that the pedestrians had stopped; men
with their hats in their hands in respect and women keeping their children
quiet. Bill felt as if God's needle had just pricked his skin and definitively
removed that thin sliver of doubt for good. Now he was certain that God was
sending him; and if God was sending him, God would make a way for him to
go.
WHEN BILL walked into church that Sunday, the first thing he heard was a
new hymn that his congregation was singing. He liked what he heard. (This
was destined to become his theme song.) The rhythm followed a simple but
beautiful pattern. As Bill listened to the people repeat the chorus with its
many variations, he felt the presence of the angel of the Lord approaching...
as if the angel had enjoyed this hymn too.
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Just believe, just believe, Everything

is possible, just believe...
He is here, He is here, Everything is

possible, He is here...
I believe Lord; I believe Lord,

everything is possible, I believe Lord...
That Sunday, before his congregation and without a sliver of doubt in his
mind, Bill courageously shared everything the angel had told him. He said:
“There will be thousands of people who will come from all parts of the
country. They will gather here. You won’t find a seat unless you’re honest
with God and get there early.”
His congregation believed him, including a man named Charlie McDowell.

On Monday, at work, Charlie burned his eyes with the welding light. The
doctor said the blindness would be temporary, lasting only eight to ten days.
But Charlie still called Bill to pray for him. The next morning he could see
well enough to return to work.
His boss, Mr. Morgan, was surprised to see Charlie back at work so
quickly, and questioned him about it.
Charlie explained that Jesus had answered his pastor's prayer.
Mr. Morgan said, “I wonder if your pastor's prayers would help my wife?
She is at Batista Hospital dying of cancer.”
Charlie replied, “I don’t know. Why don’t you take her to church on
Wednesday night and find out?”
Morgan's wife Margie - a nurse for 21 years - had been dying of cancer
for a few months. She was suffering from undergoing multiple x-ray
treatments, but to no avail. Doctors performed exploratory surgeries and
found cancer taking over her body, from the chest down. The cancer was so
severe that it had wrapped itself around the intestinal area like tree roots
around a pipe. Closing the operation, the doctors
BOOK 2
They gave only the prognosis they could: “There is no hope for her.”
At Wednesday night's service, Mr Morgan carried his wife to church on

a stretcher. She was barely conscious. Bill looked with pity at this devastated
woman. She mumbled deliriously, while contracting in pain. Bill took her right
hand in his left, just as the angel said he should. His wrist and arm tingled.
His hand swelled slightly and turned an angry red. Small white dots appeared
in a pattern on the back of his hand. He could feel vibrations moving up his
arm, past his shoulder, moving through his chest, all the way to his heart.
Looking at Mr. Morgan, Bill asked, “What’s wrong with the woman?”
“She’s dying of cancer,” said Mr. Morgan.

“Can you help her?”
Bill thought about the angel's words: “If you are sincere and lead people
to believe in you, nothing will stop your prayer, not even cancer.” He looked
into Mr. Morgan's eyes. “Sir, I believe God can heal her. The question is: do
you believe it?”
“Yes,” came Mr. Morgan’s reply.

Bill closed his eyes and asked for the woman's healing in the name of
Jesus Christ. Suddenly, the throbbing in his left arm stopped. Bill opened his
eyes and was surprised to see that his left hand was as normal as his right.
At this moment he had a vision of Mrs. Morgan dressed in a nurse's uniform,
tending to patients in the hospital. Bill stood up and declared, “Mr. Morgan,
fear not; This is what the Lord says: 'Your wife will live'!”
Margie Morgan's doctor, who had accompanied them to the church,

protested: "I'm sorry, Reverend Branham, but this cancer is squeezing your
intestines so tightly that we can't even give you an enema."
“I don't care what problems she has. I saw a vision where she was
taking care of patients in the hospital again.
That man who found me in the forest told me that whatever I saw I should
say, and that is
BOOK 2
simply the way it would be. And I believe in him!”

The next day, Margie Morgan was completely conscious
and mentally well. By Friday his appetite had returned,
along with some strength. On Saturday, much to the
astonishment and amazement of her doctor, she walked
through the hospital corridors, asking to go home.
BOOK 2
Chapter 30
Prisoners Are Freed
1946
NEWS OF Margie Morgan's healing followed from friend to neighbor, twisting

and turning on her own mysterious path until she crossed the Mississippi
River. Soon, William Branham received a telegram from St. Louis, Missouri.
Reverend Robert Daugherty wanted Bill to come and pray for his daughter,
Betty, who was suffering from an unknown illness. Recognizing the Lord's
hand in this, Bill told his church that he would go as soon as he had enough
money for the trip. His congregation also felt that this was God's will. Pooling
resources, they immediately collected the $11.00 needed to buy a round-trip
train ticket. Bill borrowed a change of clothes from one of his brothers and
took the train at night to Missouri.
When the train pulled into the St. Louis station the next morning, Robert
Daugherty was waiting at the station. With a weary look, he said, “Brother
Branham, have you heard anything from the Lord?”
“No, Brother Daugherty. How is your little girl?”

His shoulders sagged and his voice sounded vague and haggard. “She
is really bad. Come, I’ll take you to her.”
On the way home he explained: “My daughter has been suffering from
this for three months. Doctors are perplexed.
Her constant tremors make them think it could be St. Vitus' dance disease,
but she has other symptoms that don't fit with this diagnosis. Nothing the
doctors have tried has helped her. I have been praying a lot for her; my
family has been praying; my congregation has been praying; and others
Prisoners Are Freed 199
ministers in the city have been fasting and praying for her. But it still hasn’t
improved.”
Arriving at the house, Bill found Mrs. Daugherty. She looked faded; the
rims of his eyes and the corners of his mouth were drooping. Week after
week, this mother had been at her sick daughter's bedside. As for little wavy-
haired Betty Daugherty, she was suffering incessantly. His appearance was
pitiful. The bottom of her lips were so swollen and red with blood because
she had bitten them in pain. She was constantly tossing and turning in bed.
The poor child had whimpered and screamed so much that he no longer
had a voice; I still tried to cry.
Kneeling beside the bed, Bill took the little girl's right hand in his left. It
surprised him that there were no vibrations. The angel had said he would
feel the disease in his left hand, and this was exactly what had happened to
Margie Morgan. Why couldn't he feel it here? Then Bill remembered - the
angel said he would only feel vibrations in his hand if the afflictions came
from demonic life, such as a germ. This meant that Betty Daugherty had no
illness. What then was ailing her?
Bill prayed for the suffering little girl, with no immediate results. Not
knowing what else to do, Bill suggested that he and Reverend Daugherty go
down to his church to continue petitioning God. There in the quiet sanctuary
those two men stood in prayer for three hours, pleading with Almighty God
to have mercy on Betty Daugherty. Before they stopped, Bill prayed,
“Heavenly Father, if You will allow that poor little girl to be healed, I promise
You that I will change my ministry to what You have called me to do. I
promise You again that I will continue in the field as long as You provide for
my needs, because I never want to beg people for money.”
When they returned home, Betty Daugherty was the same way. Bill sat
on the living room couch, praying quietly. People were constantly coming
and going.
After several hours, Bill went out to stretch his legs, praying
BOOK 2
as he walked block after block.

Grandfather Daugherty met him on the porch when he returned, and
asked, “Has the Lord shown you anything yet, Brother Branham?”
Sadly, Bill replied, “Not yet.” He came in and sat down on the couch.
As I looked out the window, the room changed. He saw the little girl's bed;
saw people gathering around; and saw himself doing something for the child.
What was this? Before he could say it, the vision abruptly faded and he
found himself back in the living room sitting on the couch. Then Bill realized
what had happened. The grandfather had returned to the house, interrupting
the vision.
Grandfather asked, “Can I do something for you, Brother Branham?”
"No thanks." Bill got up and went to the front door.

“Excuse me, but I need to be alone for a while.” He went outside and got
into Robert Daugherty's car, praying to God that his vision would return.
Soon his ears caught the rhythmic whipping sound like a whirlwind. Looking
above, he saw the same Pillar of Fire that had pulsed over the angel in the
cave. Now she was spinning a few inches above the hood of the car.
The vision formed instantly: Bill saw a little girl outside the Daugherty
house playing in a slanted basement door; jumping on the highest part of
the door; and saw her slipping and hitting her back. Then Bill saw what her
problem was - and saw what he must do to help her.
Getting out of the car, he entered the house. “Brother Daugherty, do you
have confidence in me as a servant of God?”
“Yes, Brother Branham.”
“I have 'Thus Saith the Lord' for your daughter. But you must do exactly
what I tell you to do. First, I want everyone to leave the house except the
family.” After the numerous friends had left, Bill said to his mother: “Sister
Daugherty, two days ago you bought a white bucket and placed it under the
sink in your pantry. You haven’t used it yet.”
“Brother Branham, this is true. How did you know?"
BOOK 2
“Go get it, fill it with water and bring it here, along with a white cloth.”
When she returned, Bill knelt beside the child's bed and said, “I want
Grandfather to kneel on one side of me and Father on the other. As I repeat
the Lord's Prayer, I want the mother to wet this cloth, wring it out, and rub it
on the child's face, then on the hands, and on the feet as soon as I have
finished.”
Bill bowed his head and began, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be
Your Name; Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven...” As soon as he finished the model prayer, he said with authority:
“Thus Saith the Lord, Betty Daugherty will be healed.' She fell from the
basement door and dislocated a bone in her back. Put this bone back in its
place and she will be fine.”
Robert Daugherty turned his daughter onto her back and felt a curvature
along her spine. Without a doubt, a vertebra had swollen excessively. With
strong hands he gave the spot a quick, firm push and the vertebra slid back
into place. Immediately, Betty stopped moaning and hitting herself. Soon
she was sitting on the bed, smiling. Later that day Bill and Betty walked to
an ice cream shop and had a malted milkshake.
SEVERAL WEEKS LATER, Bill was sitting on the front porch of his home
late in the afternoon when the Daugherty family arrived. Betty jumped out of
the car first. Her blond curls bounced as she ran to Bill and gave him a hug.
Robert Daugherty sat on the porch and asked Bill if he would consider
returning to St. Louis for a weeklong healing revival.
Bill didn't have to take long to consider the offer.

He thought about the vision he had seen in March, where he was in the west
distributing the great mountain of the Bread of Life. St. Louis was west of
Jeffersonville. Perhaps this revival would fulfill that vision. But even if this
was not the case, Bill felt he must now keep his promise to God and move
his new ministry full-time.
BOOK 2
The next day he asked for his Indiana Civil Service bill and his position
as an Indiana state forester.
At church on Sunday, Bill told his congregation about the coming revival in
St. Louis. He also explained his promise to God, that if Betty Daugherty was
healed, he would move to the evangelistic field and stay there as long as
God met his financial needs, so that he would never have to ask people for
money. Then Bill delivered his last sermon that he would preach at the
Branham Tabernacle for many
years.
He took the theme of little David defeating the giant Philistine warrior,
Goliath. This seemed an appropriate text because like little David, Bill was
also in a disproportionate position against his enemies. He had no money
and was a small town preacher and was stepping out in faith to fight some
of the giant demons of the world - sickness, pain and spiritual ignorance. He
was not worried about his lack of qualifications and resources, because he
knew that God was with him - and with God, all things are possible (as the
story of David and Goliath proves).42 Margie Morgan accompanied Bill and
Meda to St. Louis, along with several other members of his church. Robert
Daugherty rented a circus-sized tent and announced
revival meetings around the city.
Only a few dozen people came to the first night of the revival. Bill told
how the angel had found him and given him a commission from God to bring
a gift of Divine healing to the people of the world. Then he asked Margie
Morgan to come to the platform and give her testimony - and what a
spectacular testimony it was! A month and a half ago, Margie was restless
in bed, delirious with pain. His days seemed to be numbered. Cancer had
consumed her beyond hope.
Then God performed a miracle. Now she felt as strong and healthy as she
had ever felt in her life. After this, Betty Daugherty took the lead. She also
looked healthy and strong like a seven year old little girl would. With these
two
42
In Samuel 17
BOOK 2
testimonies as a basis, Bill preached a short sermon, encouraging people to

have absolute faith in God's promises for healing. Then he called those who
were sick to come forward. Eighteen people came to be prayed for.
One of Bill's first prayers was for a seventy-year-old woman who had a
band around her head. She also had a tumor the size of a golf ball on the tip
of her nose. Taking the woman's right hand in his left, the back of Bill's hand
turned an angry red and began to swell. He could feel the woman's throbbing
vibration, moving through his hand, up his arm, until it reached his heart. He
studied the cluster of white dots that had formed on the back of his red,
swollen hand. They moved just like a polka dot pattern he had seen when
he touched Margie Morgan's hand. “It’s cancer, isn’t it?” he said.
The woman said yes. After Bill prayed for her in the name of Jesus
Christ, the vibrations in his own arm stopped, the throbbing subsided, and
his arm returned to its normal state. Bill pronounced her healing even though
the cancer remained visible on her nose.
Then Bill went to an old man who had limped forward, leaning heavily
on a cane. The man told Bill that he had been crippled for many years. When
Bill took the man's hand, there were no vibrations; then Bill claimed God's
promises in St. James 5:14-15 - “Is anyone among you sick? Call the elders
of the church, and pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him
up.”
Bill touched the man's forehead with a drop of olive oil and asked Jesus
Christ to heal him. Before Bill had finished his prayer, the man threw aside
his cane and walked away as if he were twenty years younger. Picking up
the discarded cane, Bill hung it on a cross line above the platform.
Entering the night, it was one cure after another. That night two deaf
people received hearing and a blind man received his sight. Of course, not
all healings were visible; but everyone who came
BOOK 2
ahead they claimed that something supernatural had happened after they
had been prayed for by Bill. The crowd went home excited.
News of such spectacular miracles caused local rumors, and the next
night every seat in the tent was occupied.
More chairs were provided for the following night, and still many people
were left standing. It was the same throughout the revival week; the tent
was not big enough to support all those people inside.
However, those who could not enter did not go home. They pressed closer
to the openings to hear Bill preach, hoping they might have a chance later
to come forward for prayer.
And the cures! Bill had never seen so many healings and miracles
packed into a single week. Squint people were freed from arthritis, ruptures,
tuberculosis, diabetes, heart problems, infantile paralysis, tumors, cancers,
nervous and stomach disorders, and so on.
Those people who had illnesses, Bill identified them by the sign on their
hand. He began to scratch out a rudimentary understanding of what the gift
in his hand could do.
Apparently the life of each germ-related illness vibrated with a specific
frequency. His left arm physically reacted to those vibrations. The white
dots that appeared on the back of his hand were what interested him most.
The polka dot model seemed to be different for each disease. By learning
the meaning of each particular model, he would be able to diagnose any
disease caused by a demonic presence, whether germ or virus.
He was certainly getting plenty of practice.

On Saturday night, a man about ninety-three years of age, with a long
white beard, was carried to the front.
He had an artificial leg and eye, but his prayer request was for his hearing.
He was completely deaf. After being anointed with oil and prayed to in the
name of Jesus, the man could even hear a whisper. On Sunday evening a
colored minister, 65 years of age, was led to the front. This man had been
blind for 20 years. Bill pointed
BOOK 2
a flashlight in the man's face, without achieving much more than a slight
movement of the eyelid. He prayed for the man, anointed him with oil, and
called on the name of the Lord. Then Bill held his own hand in front of the
man's face and asked, "Can you see my hand?"
The man cheered excitedly. "Yes! Yes, I see something. It’s dark and
blurry.”
“This is my hand,” said Bill. “Keep your eyes on her and tell me when
you can’t see her anymore.” Bill took a few steps back on the platform,
keeping his hand in the same position and eye level. When Bill reached
the end of the platform, about 40 feet away, the man suddenly looked up
and shouted, “Praise the Lord! I can count the lights! I can see the frame
that holds them.”
On Monday morning, some ministers from the city came to Bill's hotel
room to ask if he could continue the meetings for a week longer. Bill said
he would pray about it and let them know. When the ministers left, Bill and
Meda knelt down and asked the Lord for guidance. After they had prayed
for some time, Meda felt led to read her Bible. She opened it at random
and began reading from Isaiah chapter 42:
“Behold my Servant, whom I uphold, my Elect, in whom my

soul delights; I put my Spirit upon him; judgment will be wrought
among the Gentiles...
I, the Lord, will call you in righteousness, and will take you by the
hand, and will keep you, and will give you as a covenant for the
people and for a light to the Gentiles; to open the eyes of the
blind, to bring out of prison those who are prisoners, and out of
prison those who sit in darkness.”
Bill felt this was his answer. Hadn't he seen prisoners freed the week
before, and even blind people see? Calling and assembling the St. Louis
ministers, he told them that he would continue the healing revival for longer.
one week.
That night he preached to a full tent and prayed for the
BOOK 2
sick until one o'clock in the morning. Prisoners continued to be freed - from
sinusitis, gallstones, glandular diseases, faulty vision, high blood pressure,
arthritis and cancer.
Nothing seemed to be able to resist people's faith in the power of Jesus
Christ. A man had an arm that had been paralyzed for 29 years. After being
prayed for, I could swing it up. A crippled woman, who had been carried
away, walked away under her own power.
A man, who had tuberculosis in the bone of his right leg, walked standing on
his once diseased foot, without feeling the slightest bit of pain. A woman,
holding a child, told Bill that the baby had never had its eyes open.
Bill prayed in the name of Jesus and the baby's eyes opened.
One night, an 11-year-old girl named Evangeline Getty brought a little
boy forward who was deaf. When Bill heard the story, he asked her to repeat
it into the microphone. Evangeline said Bobby's parents didn't believe in
God - but she did. She had seen what God could do, so she had brought her
friend Bobby to the meeting to be healed. Bill anointed Bobby with oil and
prayed for him in the name of Jesus. Bobby's hearing has been restored.
This was not the only deaf child who received healing. One night, around
half past midnight, as Bill was preparing to close the prayer service, a man
burst in behind the tent, shouting, “Brother Branham, wait! Don’t close yet.”
The man led a 12-year-old girl in front. He explained: “I'm a minister up north
in Illinois. Some friends called me and told me how the Lord Jesus was
answering their prayers. I drove all day to get here so you could pray for my
daughter. She never heard a sound in her life. She was born deaf.”
Anointing the girl with a drop of olive oil, Bill lifted his eyes toward heaven
and prayed softly, “Please, dear Lord, restore this child’s hearing in the
name of Jesus Christ.”
The girl jumped as if scared. Taking the

hands to her ears, she ran to her father. She could hear!
As each evening service began, some of the
BOOK 2
People who had been prayed for on other days of the revival came forward
to tell about their healings. Just like the old woman who had cancer on the
tip of her nose. The same night she was prayed for, the cancer fell out,
leaving a mark where the tumor was. Another elderly woman showed how
well her hands now worked, explaining that for the past two years, both
hands had been paralyzed and useless after a failed operation. A man, who
previously could barely move due to rheumatoid arthritis, demonstrated how
effectively he could now move his limbs. A young woman told how she had
injured her left foot, breaking the metatarsal bone which then simply swelled.
The doctors said they couldn't do anything for her. But fifteen minutes after
Bill prayed for her, she felt her foot freeze.
Looking down, she was surprised to see that the swelling had gone down
and the bone had been moved back into place.
On the last nights of the revival, there were so many people around the platform to
be prayed for that Bill could barely move from one person to the next. With great difficulty
he managed to pray for everyone who wanted prayer, but this meant that the service
lasted until two in the morning. When he finished worship each night, he was so weak
that Reverend Daugherty helped him walk to his car. Adding to this workload, during the
day Reverend Daugherty took Bill on house calls to pray for those who were very sick
and unable to attend evening services.
Finally, his first healing revival ended, leaving Bill excited about the
future. By faith he had entered into his new evangelistic ministry and God
was blessing him. During the past 11 days, Bill had touched and prayed for
over 1,000 people. Prisoners were freed, but this had not been without cost.
Physically Bill was exhausted. Still, he felt satisfied because he knew he had
tried as hard as he could to advance the cause of Christ. Unfortunately, in
St. Louis he had established a model for his campaigns that in two more
years would almost completely debilitate him.
BOOK 2
Author's Explanation
FOR THOSE READERS who are curious about the accuracy of this text,
these personal comments should be helpful.
Style-wise, as in Book One: The Boy and His Deprivation, most of the
conversations in Book Two are based on recorded personal testimonies
from William Branham himself, as he told these stories in the more than
1,100 sermons he preached between 1947 and and 1965. An exception to
this rule is found at the beginning of “Chapter 23: Struggling to Recover,” is
the conversation where his mother, Ella, reminds him of his childhood vision
of the 16 men who fell from a construction project. building a bridge over the
Ohio River and died. This conversation is my speculation. I added it to
suggest how fulfilling the vision in your childhood would encourage you
through this dark period in your life. The basic facts are correct: Ella Branham
had a boarding house at this time and her eldest son often dined there; Ella
had written down her son's childhood vision and kept the note; The Clark
Memorial Bridge, which spans the Ohio River between Jeffersonville and
Louisville, was built this year. (Although numerous bridges crossed the river
between these two cities, William Branham pointed out the Clark Memorial
Bridge to his friend Pearry Green and told him that this was the bridge he
had seen in a vision in his childhood).
Concerning his commission, in more than 19 years of William Branham's

international ministry, he often mentioned that night in May 1946 when the
angel met him in his cave and talked with him for about half an hour. His
conversation with the angel - which I recorded in “Chapter 28: The Angel
and the Cave” - is a composite of everything William Branham said about
this angelic visitation throughout
BOOK 2
Author's Explanation 209
of his many years of preaching. Therefore, this conversation cannot be

located in its entirety in a single sermon.
One other point about that important night - in his early sermons, William
Branham habitually said that he was praying in an old abandoned forester's
hut when the Angel found him and gave him his commission.
However, he privately told Pearry Green and others that this actually
happened in the cave not far from that cabin. No doubt he was worried that
if he said publicly that the angel had found him in his cave, people might
search the forest until they found her. Since he used his cave as a retreat
for prayer, he wanted to keep its location a secret. He once made it known
publicly that the Angel had first appeared to him in his cave: "One night at
Green's Mill, Indiana, in a cave where I was, the Angel of the Lord appeared
and said, 'You will pray for the sick.' Then he told me what would happen.
He said, 'Fear not. I will be with you.' I left there and went across the country
to Jonesboro, telling people what He said would happen. And it has been
this way, proven around the world.”43 Finally, here are some of my thoughts
about the sign on your hand. Although this sign was a supernatural gift,
there was a natural side as well. When your left hand touched the right hand
of someone who was sick, the germ or virus caused a physical reaction in
your hand. His touch didn't produce the vibrations. The
vibrations were already present in the other person, caused by the
demonic life of the illness. With his gift William Branham was able to feel
these vibrations and observe how they changed in his hand.
Each illness affected his hand differently. In his sermon titled: “Children in
the Wilderness,” dated November 23, 1947, he said that his hand had
become “blood red and little white balls were jumping out in accordance
with the illness.”
43 William Branham, “The Pillar of Fire,” sermon preached in Jonesboro,

Arkansas, May 9, 1953 (edited).
BOOK 2
From my study of chemistry, I know that all elements vibrate at different

frequencies; that electrons are constantly moving around the nucleus of
atoms.
Given that it is the electron configuration of atoms that gives matter its
shape, matter and motion are, in a sense, synonymous.
All atoms, molecules and consequently the cells of all living tissues are
composed of vibrations. This understands that demonic life in germs and
viruses also vibrates at different frequencies and are subject to the natural
laws of the universe.
There are two sides to life - physical and spiritual. It should be obvious
to anyone who examines the death of living tissue.
All the physical attributes may be there, but the life is already gone. Life, in
the purest sense of the work, is spiritual. The demonic life of an illness also
has a physical and a spiritual side. Although the first sign made this physical
side of an illness manifest so that people could see, only the spiritual power
of Jesus Christ could end the demon's life.
Regarding how much William Branham had to learn to use his gift, I
know that some learning was involved, because when he took Margie
Morgan's hand and felt the vibrations for the first time, he didn't know what it
meant.
He had to ask her husband what was wrong with her. I don't know how long
this process took. It may have been brief. Even when he was learning, there
were never any errors in his discernments. If he didn't recognize an illness,
he asked. In 1947 when the first recordings of his services were made, he
wasn't asking questions, he was telling people their illnesses, and he was
never wrong.
There is also a spiritual dimension to his gift, which defies human

understanding. In the cave, when the angel was telling William Branham
about the first sign, the angel said, “Under the anointing of God, don't try to
put your own thoughts; you will be given what to say.” This cannot be
explained, but the results can be heard on tape recordings of their prayer
services.
BOOK 2
Author's Explanation 211
William Branham always emphasized this gift of his by saying that

he could not heal anyone. However, seeing the problems diagnosed
by the gift with 100% accuracy, could raise faith to the point where
people would accept their healings received from Jesus Christ. Faith
is a spiritual law. The power of faith is available to every Christian who
uses it. Allow me to leave you with this thought: Don't think of William
Branham's life as just a story. Think about how this applies to you.
God has revealed His power again to our generation. Allow your own
faith to rise to the point where you can receive what you need from
God - salvation, healing, revelation, or whatever.
Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive…”
BOOK 2
Bibliography
Acts of the Prophet, by Pearry Green, 1969. Covers the highlights of William
Branham's life, along with Pearry Green's personal experiences with
William Branham. 207 pages. Available at Tucson Tabernacle, 2555
North Stone Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85705, USA.
Anything is Possible: Healing and Charismatic Revivals in America

Rich Modern, by David Harrell, Jr., 1975. Shows how William Branham's
ministry began to prosper with another healing/revival minister in the
1950s. 304 pages. Available from Indiana University Press, 601 North
Morton Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47404, USA.
Christ the Healer, by FF Bosworth, 1973. Fleming H.

Revell Co., Old Tappan, New Jersey. A collection of sermons by Fred
Bosworth preached in the 20s and 30s, proving from Scripture that
Jesus Christ is still a healer in the world today. 241 pages. Available
from World Outreach Publications, PO Box 4402, Dallas, Texas 75208,
USA.
Pegadas na Areia do Tempo, edited by Publicações A Palavra Falada,

1975. A compilation of stories told by William Branham about his unusual
life, transcribed from his recorded sermons, and placed in an
autobiography format. 700 pages.
I Was Not Disobedient to the Heavenly Vision, by Rev. William Branham,

1947. Describes the healing of seven-year-old Betty Daugherty and
provides a day-by-day diary of subsequent healings from William
Branham's campaign in
BOOK 2
Bibliography 213
St. Louis, Missouri. 27 pages.
Jesus Christ is the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever, by Rev. William
Branham, 1936. Briefly describes the beginning of his call to the ministry
and his first visions of healing after his conversion in 1932. 24 pages.
Available from Voice of God Recordings, Inc., PO Box 950, Jeffersonville,

Indiana 47131, USA.
Only Believe Magazine , edited by Rebekah Branham Smith.

This magazine features articles on the life and ministry of William
Branham. Available on the internet at www.onlybelieve.com.
Sermons by William Branham are available through the following addresses:
Bible Believers, 18603-60th Avenue, Surrey, BC V3S-7P4, Canada. You

can listen to or print the sermons online at the following address:
www.bibleway.org.
End Time Message Tabernacle, 9200 - 156 Street, Edmonton, Alberta

T5R-1Z1, Canada, has several sermons in print.
The Word Publications, PO Box 10008, Glendale, Arizona 85318, USA,

has several sermons in print.
Voice of God Recordings, Inc., PO Box 950, Jeffersonville, Indiana

47131, USA, has several sermons and audio cassettes and CD's,
several printed sermons, and a sermon index, and a software package
that contains all of the sermons. -hands on laser disk drives.
William Branham, A Man Sent from God, by Gordon Lindsay (in collaboration
with William Branham), 1950.
Covers the life of William Branham after 1950, with chapters contributed
by Jack Moore, Gordon Lindsay, and Fred Bosworth, 216 pages.
Available from The William Branham
BOOK 2
Evangelistic Association, P.O. Box 325, Jeffersonville, In-

diana 47131, USA.
William Branham, A Prophet Visits South Africa, by Julius

Stadsklev, 1952. Tells in detail about William Branham's
trip to South Africa in 1951. 195 pages.
Available from The William Branham Evangelistic
Association, PO Box 325, Jeffersonville, Indiana 47131,
USA.
BOOK 2
Index
1937 Ohio River Flood, Branham, Hope

91 accepts Bill's proposal, 54
Angel of the Lord, 45, 127, marries Bill, 62
140, 154, 179 Branham, Hope (Brumbach) dies
finds Bill in a in 1937, 105
Cave in the Tunnel Mill, Branham, Meda
185 explains marries Bill, 154 reads
Bill's commission, 186 Isaiah chapter 42, 205
explains Branham, Rebekah (Becky) born
scriptural visions, in 1946, 177
187 protects Bill from Branham, Sharon Rose
attack, 25 saves Bill dreams that she
Bill when lost in is waiting for
the mountains, 161 him, 113 born in 1936,
86 dies in 1937, 109
THUS SAITH THE Branham, William (Bill)
LORD, 138, 148, 175, 196, 200 approached by a
Branham in the Tabernacle medium, 23
Bill lays the cornerstone, angel tells him to marry Meda
47 after the 1937 Broy, 154 learns the
flood, 115 meaning of
Hebrews 6, 121
marry with
Branham, Billy Paul
born 1935, 65 Branham, Hope Brumbach, 62
Charles Edward Jr. dies 1936, 87 marries Meda Broy, 154 starts
Branham, Sr. Charles her own church, 31 debates
dies 1936, 88 Branham, with former
Ella baptized in the priest, 26 writes
name of Jesus, a booklet about
18
BOOK 2
experiences of your Davis, Doctor Roy

life, 81 gives Bill a negative
Morris chair incident , 63 opinion about visions, 20 reaction
chiffon socks incident, 84 to the story of Bill meeting an
honeymoon/ angel, 191 Doctrine baptism
hunting trip, 154 in the name
of Jesus,
37 tithes, 165 two
preaches spirits operating
his first sermon, 18 in the church,
proposal to 123 Elijah the forerunner of the
Hope Brumbach, 51 his 1st and 2nd
attitude toward money, 57, 165 coming of Christ, 42 women
attempts to commit should not be commanded to
suicide, 111 Broy, Meda, preach, 31 Supernatural
91, 135 hears prophecy at experiences love towards a
baptism in the Ohio River, 38 fighting bull, 169 Bill casts out a
receives a sign that demon for the 1st
he should marry with Bill, time, 61 Bill sees Jesus in
153 Campaigns, the Artemisia field, 19 leaving
location of St. his body, 138, 149
Louis, Missouri, 202 Cave in the star appears in baptism over the
Tunnel Mill, 121, 182 Ohio River, 38
Hope sees
paradise before
Charlie Brumbach dying, 103 'Never drink...', 82,
philosophy of life, 55 118, 186 Hymn Just
Pentecostal Convention of believe, 195
Mishawaka, 69
Cure of
Mrs. Nail's daughter, 138 son of
John Himmel, 134
Georgie Carter, 150 Hitler, 32, 34, 165
Paducah man, Supernatural light, 22, 147, 190
Kentucky, 193 identified in
Margie Morgan, 196 Scriptures, 40 in
Mrs Reed the cave, 185
(tuberculosis), 170
BOOK 2
Index 217
Miracle of Warning
Betty Daugherty, 201 vision against
Mussolini, 32, 34, 65, 67, 164 spiritualism, 22
Pentecostals dancing in the Bill sees an angel when his
spirit, 124 father dies, 88
Prophecy harvesting in the orchard...,
6.70 meters of water over 46 lost lamb in Milltown,
Spring Street, 90 140 black curtain
'Just like John the Baptist falls, 90 two sowers sow
was sent...', 38, in the world, 121 deception of a
40, 42, 154, 184 by John man with a dog
Ryan on Bill Branham, black, 24 daughter of Mrs. Nail
67 'Do the work of healed, 128 son of John
an evangelist...', 47, 77 Himmel healed, 126 man
'Georgie Carter will be who spoke in
healed', 148 'There will tongues..., 76 Ohio River
be a work for flood of 1937,
you to do...', 82, 118, 186 90 pitcher with moth, 22
'The boy will have a milk bread of life
mustache', 128, 134 Signs, stacked behind curtain.. .,
two first foretold, 178 bridge
187 Sign, over the Ohio River, 117
the first discernment by polluted Jordan River, 45 Mrs.
physical touch, 187 Carter sees Bill's vision,
Sign, the second 148 seven greatest events of
discernment by the end times, 32 Mrs.
vision, 187 Dream Andrews healed, 175 sees
Difference Between Dreams and future
Visions, Branham Tabernacle, 45
116 Ella Branham Speaks of Visions difference
Bill's Dream between dreams and visions,
Preaching on a White 116 explained, 188
Cloud, 78 Broken Wagon Whirlwind of
Wheel in the West, 113 God,
Bill's Dream of Hope and Sharon 180
in Heaven, 113
BOOK 2
Information Book
Book One:
The Boy and His
Deprivation (1909 - 1932)
From the minute he was born, William Branham was set apart
from the ordinary. Plagued by poverty and rejection, he
became a nervous child. Unusual things kept happening to
him, mystical and spiritual things... But he hadn't even started
thinking about God until he was 14, when he came close to
losing both his legs in a rifle accident. As he lay dying in a
pool of blood, he saw a terrible vision of hell - saw himself
falling steadily and deeply into that region of lost and
wandering souls. He cried out to God for mercy and was
miraculously given a second chance - a chance he later
almost failed to understand.
Book Two:
The Young Man and His
Despair (1933 - 1946)
As a young pastor, William Branham struggled to understand

his peculiar life. Why was he the only minister in town who
saw visions? When God first called him to the nation - to
widespread evangelism in 1936, he refused, but paid dearly
for his mistake by losing his wife and daughter to tuberculosis. The vi-
BOOK 2
Information Book 219
sessions continued. Ministers told him that those visions came from Satan.
Desperate, he finally went looking for God in the forest, where he came
face to face with a supernatural being. The angel gave him a commission
from God to bring a gift of Divine healing to the people of the world. William
Branham questioned whether the people of the world would believe that
an angel really met him, the angel said that he would be given two
supernatural signs as proof of his calling. So they would have to believe.
And I believe they believed!
Book Three:
The Man and His Commission
(1946 - 1950)
Soon after the angel visited William Branham and told him that he was
ordained to bring a gift of healing to the people of the world, the first sign
appeared - a physical reaction in his hand that only happened when he
touched someone's hand. who suffered from a germ - and which caused
illness.
Within two months of his commission, William Branham's extraordinary gift
gained national attention. Thousands of people flocked to his meetings,
where he preached salvation and Divine healing in the Name of Jesus
Christ. Miracles abounded. The world had not seen anything like this since
the days when Jesus walked through Galilee, casting out demons and
healing all who were sick and afflicted.
Even so, some people still questioned whether an angel had really met this
humble man. Then the second sign appeared... they had to believe!
Book Four:
The Evangelist and His Acclamation
(1951 - 1954)
William Branham is a paradox in modern history. Beginning in 1946, his

ministry rose from obscurity to
BOOK 2
gaining national attention in less than six months, and in the process
This sparked faith worldwide - healing revival. He accomplished this feat
with the help of a unique gift - a sign
supernatural that surprised and made people take notice. Christians
around the world were quickly warned. In between
1951 and 1954 William Branham led the largest Christian meeting
of the history of that time - about 300,000 people in one
meeting in Bombay, India. The demand for their services in
America and abroad seemed insatiable. But William
Branham was not satisfied. Something felt wrong. For one
He didn't know what this was for a long time, but at the end of 1954
he knew. His ministry would have to change.
Book Five:
The Master and His Rejection
(1955 - 1960)
William Branham's international ministry had three stages. First, he

discerned sickness by a sign
supernatural in your hand. Later, visions allowed him to discern
diseases, many other things. Between 1946 and 1954, around
500,000 people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior
by reason of his preaching - and there was no way to estimate
how many millions received healing because of their prayers.
Discerning that people were not accepting the depth and stature
that the Word of God and the Spirit was offering to them, William
Branham felt the Spirit of God overwhelm him.
call for more. He knew that people came to his meetings for a
variety of reasons. Some people came because they believed
that the Spirit of Jesus Christ was present. Others came
for the newness and excitement of it, just in the same way
that people gathered to see Jesus heal the sick and
multiply wine, bread, and fish. But this was the teaching
of Jesus who changed the history of the world. William Branham
felt that God was calling him to teach during his faith healing
campaigns. He knew what his ministry could do
something lasting, a beneficial contribution to the Christian church.
BOOK 2
Information Book 221
Beginning in 1955, he not only taught Divine healing,

as well as teaching other aspects of the Word of God.
God gave him a vision of a new stage for his ministry - a “third
pull” (Using the angel's words) - the
which would exceed everything that God had ever done through
him in the past. Inevitably, he offended some people.
Future books...
Book Six:
The Prophet and His Revelation
(1960 - 1965)
Book Seven
BOOK 2
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SUPER NATURAL William Branham Book 2 (PDFDrive) (Translated)

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SUPER NATURAL William Branham Book 2 (PDFDrive) (Translated)

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This biography is unlike any other book you have

Around him, the house groaned as if it were falling

You are about to enter the realm of the supernatural...

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Conventions. No

Published and distributed in Brazil by:

“The Voice of the Seventh Angel”

With exclusive authorization from:

Somewhere in the world, an earnest teenager is searching

Does God really exist? If there is, who is He?

For you young researcher, this book

Author's Preface ............................................... .................. ix

Book 2 - The Young Man and His Despair

Author's explanation.................................................. ......... 208

ADVERSITY MAY HAVE A REASON. The apostle Paul

x SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham

If God wants us to do something, He knows how to put us in position

It seemed to me as if there were many explosions at once. With my life in

Finally, fearful and trembling, I gave myself to the task.

xi SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham

If anything proves that adversity can have a purpose, it is the portion

He spoke from experience. I hope William Branham's story of victory inspires

- Owen Jorgensen, 1995

Book One Summary

IN HIS CHILDHOOD William Branham struggled to survive.

Billy Branham was a nervous child who didn't fit in very

xiv SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham

Shortly after this experience he met a young woman, Amelia

William Branham as a young minister

THE RECENT FAITH OBTAINED by William Branham was

18 SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham

He hadn't read many books since finishing seventh grade ten

Listening in the audience, Ella Branham considered her son's

Hovering in the Air 19

let him see Your grace and accept Your forgiveness.”

Behind the house, a trail crossed a vast vegetation covered in

“Now wait a minute,” Bill thought, as he patted his joints. “I am

The man turned and extended his arms.

20 SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham

would be stamped eternally on his memory - a face so rich in

Doctor Davis was far from enthusiastic about the incident.

Reverend McKinney scratched his chin thoughtfully.

Hovering in the Air 21

I love Him and I don’t want to be wrong in these things.”

22 SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham

Strangely, the flaming ball shrank as it approached until it appeared no bigger

At this moment the scene changed. Billy found himself standing on a

Hovering in the Air 23

Stopping at the cash register, the woman told Ed DeArk, “I'm

That satisfied her. “I lost some documents and I would like

24 SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham

“I'm sorry, sir,” Bill apologized. "I thought

“Please, sir,” Bill defended himself, as he walked away, “please

Hovering in the Air 25

WILLIAM BRANHAM took his new ministry seriously. True to his

26 SUPERNATURAL: The Life of William Branham

One Saturday Bill was preaching in a park to a small group of people,

The companion stopped to listen for a minute, chewing a large piece of

“Yes, sir, I believe it.”

“Yes, sir, I believe it.”

“Yes, sir, I would.”

“Why, you know how many there are.”