BOOK 5: The Teacher and His Rejection

By Owen Jorgensen

William Branham's international ministry had three main stages. First, he discerned diseases through a supernatural sign in his hand. Later, visions allowed him to discern sickness and more. Between 1946 and 1954, over 500,000 people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior because of his preaching-and there was no way to estimate

• Language: English
• Publisher: Supernatural Christian Books LLC
• Release date: Apr 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781955401203

Book preview

SUPERNATURAL

The Life of

William Branham

Book Five

The Teacher and His Rejection

(1955-1960)

Owen Jorgensen

SUPERNATURAL:

The Life of William Branham

Book Five: The Teacher and His Rejection

(1955–1960)

Copyright © 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without first obtaining written permission from the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-955401-20-3

Published by: Supernatural Christian Books

560 S 8th St. Silsbee, Texas 77656

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Distributed by: Supernatural Christian Books

Somewhere in the world, a sincere teenager is searching for answers to questions like: Does God really exist? If so, who is He? And where is He? And is this God interested in my life?

To you, young searcher, this book is dedicated. For so once was I.

INTRODUCTION

Twenty-five years have passed since Supernatural: The Life of William Branham was first printed in 1993. Its readership and its infuence continue to expand. Written in English, it has now been translated into more than a dozen languages. Some of these languages are widely spoken, like Chinese, French, German, Russian and Spanish. But people in smaller countries have also desired to share it, translating it into languages as diverse as Norwegian, Farsi and Vietnamese.

In the fall of 2015, I traveled through eastern Europe where I met some of these translators. Starting from Germany, I visited the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Romania and Hungary. I have never asked anyone to translate my biography of William Branham. People simply see its value and volunteer. In the last six months I have had a request from Sweden to translate it into Swedish, and from Pakistan to translate into Urdu. The list of languages keeps growing. This biography has become a world-wide project. (My sincere thanks to everyone who has contributed to this project in any capacity.) A man in Zimbabwe has even developed an app so these books can be read or listened to for free on a smart-phones to help those in disadvanted countries.

Why is there so much interest in the life of William Branham? Of course, it is an exciting story—one of the most intriguing true stories you will ever read. But there are a lot of interesting stories in the world. What sets this story apart?

Te reason is simple. His story speaks to the heart in a way that very few other things do. It strikes people as infnitely applicable to their own lives—so much so that many read it more than once. With some additional thought and prayer, the story of William Branham can answer many of life’s greatest questions—both spiritual and practical.

In the end, it is probably the eternal answers that are the most compelling. I have found it so in my life. I hope you will too.

Owen Jorgensen, 2018

CONTENTS

Introduction vii

Shifting His Emphasis 11

A Solemn Warning 23

True And False Vines 33

Controversy In Switzerland 45

Opossum Fever 53

Preaching In Germany And Switzerland 63

The Angel Teaches Him How To Fish 75

Mexico: Mystery And Miracles 87

America Stands Like Israel At Kadesh-Barnea 103

Dividing An Inheritance 117

Disappointed At Waterloo 141

The Knowledge Of Good And Evil Explained 149

The Word Of Life 159

Beyond The Curtain Of Time 181

Endnotes And Sources 193

About The Author 205

CHAPTER 68

SHIFTING HIS EMPHASIS

1955

HAVING MADE his decision to teach on a wider range of Biblical doctrines, William Branham eagerly looked forward to another year of faith-healing campaigns. But first he needed to regain his strength. He rested through Christmas and into the first few weeks of January 1955. On Sunday January 9 he spoke at his home church in Jeffersonville, Indiana, taking both the morning and the evening services. Then on Thursday evening, January 13, he began a faith-healing campaign at the Philadelphia Church in Chicago, Illinois, where he preached 13 times in 11 days. Pastor Mattsson-Boze gave him liberty to speak on any subject he wanted. Bill used this freedom to deliver several doctrinal sermons—among them: Fundamental Foundation for Faith, Position in Christ, The Seven Compound Names of Jehovah, and Earnestly Contending for the Faith.

On Monday night, January 17, he told the spiritual side of his life story. He explained how, as a young man, he was confused when Christian ministers told him that his visions came from the devil. Bill described the afternoon in 1946 when he fled to a cabin in the woods and sought God for answers. Sometime in the dark beyond midnight, a supernatural light appeared in the air. From the midst of that light stepped a man. He stood over six feet tall and weighed at least 200 pounds. His white robe contrasted sharply with the dark hair that surrounded his beardless face.

Speaking to this audience sitting comfortably in a warm Chicago church, Bill tried to convey the terror he felt at that moment. "Honest, friends, I thought my heart would fail me. Just imagine! Put yourself there. It would make you feel the same way. After hundreds and hundreds of visitations, it still paralyzes me when He comes near. Sometimes I almost completely pass out. If I stay too long praying for the sick, I will go completely out.

So I was sitting there looking at him. He had a deep voice, and he said, ‘Do not fear. I am sent from the presence of Almighty God.’ When he spoke, I recognized that voice as the same one that had spoken to me since I was three years old. I knew that was him. He said, ‘Do not fear. I am sent from the presence of Almighty God, to tell you that your peculiar birth—(as you know what happened at my birth up there in that Kentucky cabin in 1909. That same Light hung over me when I was born)—and your misunderstood life has been to indicate that you are to go all over the world and pray for sick people. Regardless of what they have, if you get the people to believe you, and be sincere when you pray, nothing shall stand before your prayers, not even cancer.’

I said, ‘Sir, I’m a poor man and I live with my people who are poor. I’m uneducated. They wouldn’t listen to me.’

"He said, ‘As the prophet Moses was given two signs to vindicate his ministry, so you will be given two gifts to vindicate your ministry.¹⁸⁵ One gift will be a sign in your hand—when you pray for a sick person, hold the person’s right hand with your left hand. Then just stand quietly. Demon-caused diseases will have a physical effect on your body, which will allow you to identify them. Then you pray. If the swelling leaves your left hand, then the disease is gone from the person. Pronounce them well. If it doesn’t leave, just ask a blessing and walk away.’"

I said, ‘Sir, I’m afraid they won’t receive me.’

He said, ‘If they won’t hear the first sign, then it will come to pass that you will know the very secrets of their hearts. This they will hear.’

I said, ‘Sir, that’s why I’m here tonight. I have been told by clergymen that those visions that come to me are wrong.’

He said, ‘You were born into this world for that purpose.’

When Bill finished his testimony, an unseen presence settled beside him, overwhelming his emotions with a sacred awe so tangible that it made his skin tingle. He knew the angel of the Lord was standing beside him. Then he felt the angel leave him and glide over the audience. He could see it plainly now, an amber ball of fire, shining like a camera flash that would not fade. Bill watched its movement closely, knowing that his visions were somehow connected with that light. The angel stopped over a black woman. Bill felt her faith pulling on his gift.

There’s a colored lady sitting here with her hands up. Stand up so I can single you out. I’m just a man, but Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and He sent His Spirit to vindicate these things. If God will tell me what’s wrong with you (and you know there’s no way for me to have contact with you at all) will you believe with all your heart?

The woman answered, Yes!

God bless you. Your high blood pressure has left you. That’s what you had. Isn’t that right? Then sit down. You feel different, don’t you, lady? Yeah. That’s right.

The little lady sitting next to you, she is suffering with arthritis and a female trouble. Isn’t that right, lady? Stand up just a minute—the little lady with the red dress on. You were so close to the angel that now the vision has come to you. You have arthritis, female trouble, and something else... You are worried about your husband. He’s a drunkard. He won’t go to church. If that’s right, raise your hand.

She confirmed with her upraised arm.

God bless you, lady. Go home now and receive your blessing. You’re healed. I saw it turn light around you.

The angel floated to the back of the sanctuary. Bill kept talking to the crowd while he waited to see where the light would stop. Have faith in God. What do you all think about it way back there? Do you believe? Be reverent.

There is a lady wearing a scarf sitting back there in the corner. I see that light hanging over her. She is suffering with heart trouble. Her husband is sitting next to her. He has an upset stomach. Isn’t that right, sir? Raise your hands up if that is true.

In the back row of the building a man raised his hand.

Sir, you with your hand up, I see in the vision you have the habit of smoking. Quit doing that. You smoke cigars. You shouldn’t do that. It makes you sick. Isn’t that right? If it is, wave your hand like this. That is what’s upsetting you. It’s bad on your nerves. Throw those nasty things away and don’t do it anymore, and you’ll be all right—and your wife’s heart trouble will leave her too. You believe that? Isn’t that right? I can’t see you from here, and you know that; but you’re carrying cigars in your front pocket. That’s right. Lay the things out and put your hand over on your wife; tell God that you are through with that kind of stuff, and you’ll both go home well. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus!

The audience rumbled with excitement. Bill could actually feel their faith rising, pulling on his gift from every angle. He kept his eyes fixed on the Pillar of Fire as it moved over the heads of the people. Have faith in God, he said. I can’t do this within myself; it’s only His sovereign grace. Do you believe? I can only say these things as He shows me. Do you realize that this is not your brother doing this? It’s your faith operating a divine gift. You are standing in His presence. Just a minute…

He watched the light glide back toward him. It stopped over an old man. In this corner I see a colored man sitting there, kind of elderly, with glasses on. Stand up a minute, sir. Do you believe me to be God’s servant? You’re thinking about somebody else, aren’t you? If that’s right, wave your hand.

As the man waved, Bill said to the audience, I see that light hanging above him. It hasn’t broken into a vision yet. If Almighty God will tell this man what his trouble is, will the rest of you receive your healing? There is a man standing 15 yards away from me. I have never seen him before in my life. If Almighty God will reveal what’s wrong with that man, every one of you ought to walk out of here a well person. What more can God do?

Sir, there is nothing much wrong with you. You’re weak and have a little problem with your prostate, but that’s not your trouble. Your problem is your son, who is in a state mental institution because he has a dual personality. Isn’t that right? Wave your hand if that’s true. See, that’s exactly right.

Now, how many believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God is here? Let’s stand and offer praise and receive our healing.

The microphone amplified Bill’s prayer over the noise of the crowd. Almighty God, Author of Life, Giver of every good gift, You’re here, the same Lord Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Satan, you’ve bluffed these people long enough. I adjure thee by the living God—whose presence is here in the form of the Pillar of Fire—I adjure thee in the name of Jesus Christ to leave these people and come out of them.

Now, every one of you raise your hands, praise God, and receive your healing!

Many did, but not all.

AFTER his January campaign in Chicago, William Branham traveled southwest to Phoenix, Arizona. Billy Paul Branham, Jack Moore, and Young Brown went with him. Bill had 12 services scheduled at the Shriner Temple in Phoenix, Arizona, beginning Sunday, February 20, 1955.

The Saturday before these meetings started Bill drove into the desert outside of Phoenix, looking for a place to pray. He still wasn’t sure what he should do about his method of praying for the sick and needy. Why couldn’t he be more like the other evangelists who had faith-healing ministries? In the time it took Bill to pray for five people, Oral Roberts could pray for fifty. Oral Roberts laid his hands on people and prayed for them as they walked by him. Bill, on the other hand, put people in a line, then called them forward one by one so he could discern each person’s need through a supernatural vision. Not only did Bill’s method take longer, the visions themselves taxed his body severely, limiting how many people he could personally touch each night. A single vision tired him more than if he had spent an hour digging a ditch with a pickax and shovel. After 15 visions in a row, he would feel so tired he could barely stand. If he tried to continue beyond this point, he risked collapsing from exhaustion, which had happened on several occasions. His son, Billy Paul, and his current manager, Jack Moore, watched him closely to make sure he didn’t overdo it.

Although Bill often explained this phenomenon to his audiences, many people still didn’t understand. Even his associates had trouble understanding. Gordon Lindsay once asked, Why couldn’t you just discern one or two people, then step back and pray for the rest of the prayer-line like we do? For some reason his gift of discernment didn’t work that way. When the angel stood beside him during a prayer-line, the visions just came. He couldn’t control them. Many times it felt like people were actually pulling the discernment out of him by their faith.

On this particular Saturday in the desert outside of Phoenix, Bill knelt in the shade of a boulder and asked God to help him pray personally for more people in each meeting. The sun rose higher, baking the red sand and causing heat waves to blur the distant mountains. Everything that could move sought shelter in whatever shade was available. The plants had to endure this heat, but God gave them the special ability to do so. Here the desert was covered with tall, straight saguaros cactus, the bushy cholla cactus, and the whip-like ocotillo cactus, as well as many other cactus varieties.

After a while Bill felt the angel of the Lord draw near. Suddenly the desert vanished. Bill found himself standing on a platform in an auditorium, facing a line of people waiting for prayer. Behind him he noticed a short, bald-headed man and a tall, thin man, neither of whom he knew. A short woman wearing a brown suit coat with a matching skirt walked toward him. In her arms she carried a baby wrapped in a blanket. She stopped a few feet in front of him, close enough for Bill to see her light complexion, her dark eyes and black hair. Looking down into her arms, he saw a tiny, pasty-skinned infant who looked like it was near death. After Bill prayed, God healed the baby. Then the angel stepped into view and said, When you see this come to pass, your ministry will change.

Every night in Phoenix, he expected this vision to be fulfilled. It didn’t happen during that campaign, but something else astonishing did. On Wednesday night, February 23, 1955, Bill was halfway through his sermon when suddenly he saw a vision. (He rarely saw visions while he was preaching; usually they came under the anointing during the prayer service.) He continued to preach as he watched this vision unfold, incorporating it directly into his sermon.

He described the vision like this, "Yonder I see Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. I see Adam put his arm around his sweetheart to walk out with her, for God had condemned them. Adam was not deceived; he didn’t have to walk out. But he walked out because he loved his wife. He walked out with both eyes wide open. I hear something that sounds like clapping. What is it? It’s that bloody sheepskin smacking against their thighs, the blood running down their legs, which speaks of redemption, pointing towards a time when they will get back into Eden.

"Now let’s change our scene. Four thousand years later in Jerusalem... there - coming through the streets I see someone… bumpity, bumpity, bump… out of the gate towards Golgotha… I see a little Fellow with a crown of thorns on His head and a cross over His shoulder. Look! All over His back there are little red spots of blood. As He walks they get bigger until they become one big spot. There He is, moving up the hill, going to Calvary, His poor shoulder rubbing on the cross, the old bee of death buzzing around Him…and then it stung Him. But, friend, you know that if a bee ever stings anybody deeply, it can’t sting anymore because it pulls it’s stinger out. After that it can fly, but it can’t sting. Like Paul said, ‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’¹⁸⁶

"Christ, the kinsman Redeemer has made a way of escape for every believer on this earth today. The bee of death might buzz, trying to make us afraid, but it can’t hurt us because we can point back to Calvary, where God Himself was made flesh and held the stinger of death, taking our place as sinners and paying the price. And He laid out the welcome mat for us, saying, ‘Whosoever will, let him drink the water of life freely’ and ‘whoever comes to Me I will in no wise cast out.’¹⁸⁷

John 3:16 says, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…’ Adam so loved Eve that he went out of the Garden with her, knowing she was wrong. He was innocent, but she was guilty. But Adam said, ‘I’ll go with her.’ Likewise Christ looked at His church, and knowing she was wrong, still He went with us to take our place as a sinner, to die for us, to take the sting out of death for us. Sinner, how can you reject such matchless love?

After the meeting ended, Bill and his associates stayed up until one o’clock talking about this vision. On Thursday night he mentioned it to his audience. He felt this vision confirmed his decision to teach more doctrine.

During the Friday night meeting he said, "Tonight, how many people in the building have prayer-cards? Let me see your hands. Well, that’s a good, nice number. Now, I intend to pray for everyone who has a prayer-card. I can’t bring them all through the line. As you can see, my strength becomes depleted quickly after a few visions, so I can’t get to all of them that way. But my meetings are not based upon me personally contacting each person. They are based upon the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection through preaching and demonstrating the Word of God. By hearing the Word preached, people should believe that the Lord Jesus in His resurrecting power is in our midst and is doing the same things He did when He was here on earth, as a vindication of His everlasting omnipotence. He is here with us and will be forever. Christian believers, we will never be without the Lord. We are associated with Him for eternity. Isn’t that wonderful? Jesus said, ‘I will be with you always...’¹⁸⁸ My meetings are based on the principle that the believer should just look and live."¹⁸⁹

Although this campaign was going to run through Wednesday, March 2, 1955, there was no meeting scheduled in Phoenix for Saturday night, February 26. That Saturday Bill drove 100 miles east so he could hold one prayer service for the Apaches at the San Carlos Indian Reservation. The last time he had preached at San Carlos was in 1947, two years before his second sign appeared. Back then he could only discern diseases by the sign in his hand. When that 1947 meeting began, the Indians were reluctant to come forward for prayer, thinking he was probably a fraud. In a community as tightly-knit as the Apaches, where everyone knew everyone else, after they saw an outsider accurately diagnose the first few patients, their suspicion vanished and they eagerly formed a line which kept Bill praying half of the night. Miracles flowed as freely as water down the White Mountains in spring.

Now, in 1955, the Apache Indians were eager to have another faith-healing service on their reservation. As soon as Bill arrived, one woman came out of a tar-papered shack, knelt in the yard, bowed her head, and prayed continually through the entire service.

Young Brown and Jack Moore accompanied Bill on this excursion, but Billy Paul stayed behind in Phoenix. Since Billy Paul usually distributed the prayer-cards before each meeting, Bill had not given any thought to this detail until he was already at San Carlos. Then he realized he didn’t have any prayer-cards to keep order in the prayer-line. Fortunately, these Apaches stayed orderly without such a device. Bill planned to pray for as many people as he could, then after his strength failed, his associates would continue praying until they had touched everyone in line.

To begin the prayer-line, a mother walked forward with a baby in her arms. The mother wore a traditional Apache dress, with its ankle-length wool skirt having pastel patterns woven into its fibers. Bill talked with her a minute to