William Branham (1909-1965)

William was born in Kentucky near Burksville. His family were so poor he wore his winter coat in the classroom because he had no shirt.

At an early age he heard a voice say Do not drink or smoke or defile your body in any way, for when you are older I’ll have work for you to do. This frightened him so much he ran away as fast as he could.

He struggled with what to do. His brother Edward died and he began to seek Him. He was seriously ill in hospital when he heard the same voice say 3 times I called you would not go. William replied, if you let me live I’ll preach the gospel.

The next day he felt better. After he left hospital he looked for a church. He found a disciple church which believed in the baptism of the Spirit. He was anointed and instantly healed.

He was now on fire. For 6 months he cried out for baptism of the Holy Spirit. God’s presence came upon him in a mighty way. He felt called to preach and to heal. Aged 24 he began to hold tent meetings. Many people were converted.

He had visions about the rise of Nazism, Facism and Communism.

He built an independent Baptist church in Jeffersonville, Indiana. These were happy years, he got married and they had 2 children

Things started to go wrong. He turned down the chance to become a travelling evangelist withe Pentecostals. The church began to fail. Tragically his wife and one of their daughters were killed in the Ohio River flood of 1937.

He worked as a game warden and a logger and occasionally preached. He married Meda and they had 3 children.

7th May, 1946 he had a visitation from an angel . He was told he was a seer prophet in 2 ways - he would be able to detect illness and to see sins in their life they need to repent of.

William immediately started his healing ministry. He started in St. Louis and it would eventually spread all over the USA. Jack Moore took William to several churches across the USA. Gordon Lindsay became his campaign manager. The meetings were so dramatic they began the magazine and organization named The Voice of Healing. F.F. Bosworth joined them.

These meetings kicked off the healing revival that began in 1947 and continued throughout the 1950s. William was the first and best known but A.A. Allen, Jack Coe and Oral Roberts played their part. William took international trips abroad.

In 1955 things started to go wrong again. William lived an extremely simple life but the IRS settlement showed he owed $40,000 in back taxes.

By 1957 an exhausted William refused to do large meetings. Some of his teaching was being regarded as heretical., In the last years of his life he ministered in Arizona to support his family

In 1965 William died 5 days after a fatal, head on collision, on 24th December.

I have included a definition of Voice of Healing Revival

Sources used
A Man Sent by God
Healing and Revival Press
Evangelical times
Believe the Sign
wikipedia