A Brief Biography of the Life of William Branham

Rev William Marrion Branham, "a man sent from God" with a healing and exposition of Bible mysteries, a ministry unparalleled in our age as prophesied in Malachi 4:2: "Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall." Malachi 4:5-6:

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse", Luke 17:30:"Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" and Revelation 10:7:"But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets".

From the minute he was born (April 6, 1909), William Branham was set apart from the ordinary. Right after he was born, a light, almost like a star, flew into the room and startled his parents Charles and Ella Branham. The strange light circled the room several times, then stopped over the bed hovering over the new mother and child.

Then as quickly as it had come in, the fireball left, whirling up past the rafters and out through the roof. Ella Branham, thought that her child has been dreaming, when one day he came running into to house, and told her that a little bird had told him that "you will live near a city called New Albany". Shortly after, the family moved to New Albany.

However, the most supernatural event that would affect William Branham happened when he was seven years old. He noticed a whirlwind in a tree, a tree. As he watched, a voice suddenly boomed from the tree saying, “Don’t ever drink, or smoke, or defile your body in any way.

There will be work for you to do when you get older.” He became hysterical, and would not calm down. A doctor was summoned, who declared that he was just nervous, and would get over it with time. He never went near that tree again.

From then on, he would sometimes feel a presence or see visions of things that would terrify him. However, he did not think about God until he was fourteen, when he nearly lost both legs in a shotgun accident. As he lay dying in a pool of blood, he saw a terrifying vision of hell. He cried out to God for mercy promising that he would be a good boy if he lived. Miraculously, he was given that second chance. He lived.

After that accident, William Branham did not know what his promise to be a good boy meant, so he did not think about God. One day, as he walked past a church when he felt something telling him to go into the church. He however he refused to stop and continued on his way, even though. Soon after, he heard a voice saying, “I called you, and you would not go.”

He realized then that he had to approach the Lord since his life has been spared, but he did not know how. One day he decided to tack a letter to a tree. He then went into a barn and prayed sincerely from his heart. When he opened his eyes he saw floating in front of him, a brilliant amber light, forming a perfect cross in the air. There, in that barn, he accepted the Lord 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, Indiana, USA. The pastor, Dr. Roy Davis, was impressed by the young man’s sincerity and zeal. After watching him for several months, Dr. Davis suggested that he should enter the ministry and he was ordained as a minister in the Baptist church.

As a young pastor, he struggled to understand his peculiar life. Why was he the only minister in town who saw visions? When God first called him into nation-wide evangelism in 1934, he refused because his mother-in-law felt that he should not drag his new wife, Hope, around the country.

He paid dearly for the mistake of not listening to the Lord by losing his wife, Hope, and daughter, Sharon Rose, to tuberculosis in the Flood of 1936. After the death of his wife and daughter, he fell into a deep depression, feeling that God had abandoned him. He tried to commit suicide a few times but did not succeed.

Meanwhile, The visions continued. Ministers told him that these visions came from Satan. Desperation finally drove him to seek God in the wilderness, where he came face to face with a supernatural Being. This supernatural being, the angel of the Lord, gave him a commission from God to take the gift of Divine healing to the people of the world. When William Branham argued that people would not believe an angel had really met him, the angel said he would be given two supernatural signs to prove his calling.

Soon after the angel visited him and told him he was ordained to take a gift of healing to the people of the world, the first sign appeared – a physical reaction in his hand that happened only when he touched the hand of someone suffering from a germ-caused disease. Within two months of his commission, William Branham’s extraordinary gift had gained national attention.

People by the thousands 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 it since the days when Jesus walked through Galilee, casting out demons and healing all who were sick and afflicted, and infallibly discerning the secrets of hearts, hundreds of thousands of times, without once being wrong. The second gift appeared soon after – he was now able to discern the hearts of the people.

As he testified in his Sermons below:

Rev. William Branham prays"Now, shall we bow our heads now for prayer. Father, realizing that I be afraid to step into this realm now, without You would hold my hand... Now, my mind is going back to around two years ago, when in the room that night, that Angel of God came walking in there and said, "You are--been borned in this world to take a gift of Divine healing to the people. Many will not believe you; yet many will. If you'll be sincere and will get the people to believe you, not even cancer shall stand before your prayer."

Angel of God, I do not see You. But I know that You are standing near. Please, Thou knowest my heart, and know how I love these people. Stand by me tonight. And may not one go through without faith. And I know that Your Words have been true. I've took You at Your Word, for You said You were sent from God. I believed You. And You've stuck by me. You have confirmed the Word with signs following. Now, again tonight, in this March the fifth, this Memorial night, may You stand now and heal every one. Grant it. May every demon be submissive to the Name of Jesus Christ. And now, Father, I step out here in this realm of Spirit faith, challenging every demon that's here in the Name of Jesus Christ.[At Thy Word, Lord Phoenix, AZ 48-0305]

Rev. William Branham speaks to a lady in need:Bring the lady. All right, sister, what do you think about it? You believe? Put your handkerchief in your other hand, lay your hand on mine. What does that look like to you? Strange looking sight there, isn't it? It's cancer.

Come here just a moment. You know when the Angel of the Lord met me, that was the first thing He said, "Till not even cancer will stand before the prayer." Do you believe it? I want you to repeat this and watch my hand. Repeat this as I say, from your heart.

Lord Jesus, now I want you to watch, see that moving on my hand? Lord Jesus, [Lady repeats after Brother Branham.--Ed.] I believe You; I accept You as my Healer; I believe that there was a supernatural Being said these things to Brother Branham. I believe His Presence is here now. I accept my healing. Now, what happened? Something changed there, didn't it? Vibrations stopped, didn't it? Your faith has made you whole, sister, your cancer is dead and gone. God bless you.[The Second Miracle, Erie, PA 51-0729E]

Rev. William Branham speaks to people in need:

Praise the Lord. All right. Come now. You believe? Now, just a moment. There's something dark hanging at the lady, real dark, circling her. (O God, be merciful). Oh, it's a cancer. Yeah.

All right. Do you believe God can heal you of it now? He is the Healer, isn't He? You believe it with all your heart? When the Angel of the Lord met me, He designated cancer would be healed. Come here.

Almighty God, this poor woman, knowing this condition exists in her body, I now, ask Lord, that my faith join with hers. And great Angel of God, Who met me that night, and designated, and said, "Not even cancer will stand, if you'll be sincere, get the people to believe." And Father, with all my heart, I believe that You'll heal her

And I say to the Devil, leave her in Jesus Name, come out from her

God bless you. Go, believing with all your heart now.

You want to get over the high blood pressure, lady, setting there? You've been healed for about ten minutes now, setting there. Amen. I want you to do me a favor. Will you do it now? Your daughter's in the hospital, setting there next to her. That's right. Lay your hand over on him. Will you?

Father, grant the deliverance of her, through Jesus Name I pray. Amen.

Don't worry, brother, don't be scared of heart trouble. Go on your road rejoicing. Jesus Christ...?... Have faith in God. Believe with all your heart. Don't move now. If you go to moving around, we're going have the close the service here. See? 'Cause it upsets me. See?

You got trouble in your side, setting right there, that second person setting in from the end, there. Don't you, lady? You was healed just then of it. Stand up, and just--just say, "Praise the Lord," for your healing. God bless you. [Earnestly Contending For The Faith, Chicago, IL,
55-0123E]

Rev. William Branham’s ministry continued to flourish. He traveled all over the world proclaiming the message of the hour. Between 1951 to 1954, he conducted the largest Christian meetings in history up to that point. The high point of his ministry came after he met the seven Angels where the Seven Seals were opened.

On December 22, 1962, the Lord gave him a vision foretelling this event immediately after six dreams in succession were brought to him by brothers and sisters in the Lord. Having gone west at the command of the Lord, on February 28, 1963, he was hunting in the mountains surrounding Tucson, Arizona, when his vision suddenly was fulfilled.

First, a blast shook the earth, then what looked like little dots way off in Eternity rushed in and materialized as a constellation of seven angels in a pyramid, into which he was caught up. The seventh notable angel on top spoke to him of matters that St. John was forbidden to write in the Book of Revelations, "Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not."

It was at this time when the mysteries of the seven seals were revealed to him.The angels departure resulted in the cloud formation which when viewed, reveals the full face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The celestial phenomenon of an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) left waves of publicity. Both The Arizona Republic and The Phoenix Gazette printed stories.LIFE Magazine, May 17th 1963 edition carried it. Science Magazine also included it in the April 19, 1963.

The year 1965 approached ushering in the last year of William Branham’s life. The last message he preached was Communion on December 12, 1965.

On December 18, 1965, William Branham and his son Billy Paul Branham were traveling in two separate cars to Tucson when a drunk driver hit Brother Branham’s car. Brother Branham was taken to hospital in Amarillo, Texas.

He went into shock, and never regained consciousness. The other two passengers in the car, Meda Branham (Brother Branham’s wife) and Sarah Branham (his daughter) were injured, but survived. William Marrion Branham died on December 24, 1965, seven days after the accident had occurred. However, since his wife, Meda Branham, was in no condition to decide where he should be buried, his burial was delayed until April 11, 1966.

Over one thousand-one hundred (1,100) of William Marrion Branham's unabridgedsermons (often referred to as Brother Branham's Messages) in MP3 audio format and Sermon Text are available for you to download free from our Website.