William Branham and His Message
Issues and Events in the Life of William Branham
Light Over 1933 Baptism I was baptizing down on the river, my first converts, at the Ohio River, and the seventeenth person I was baptizing, as I started to baptize, then I said, "Father, as I baptize him with water, You baptize him with the Holy Spirit." I started to--to put him under the water.
And just then a whirl come from the heavens above, and here come that Light, shining down. Hundreds and hundreds of people on the bank, right at two o'clock in the afternoon, in June. And It hung right over where I was at. A Voice spoke from there, and said, "As John the Baptist was sent for the forerunner of the first coming of Christ, you've got a--have a Message that will bring forth the forerunning of the second coming of Christ."--William Branham
How the Angel Came To Me, January 17, 1955 (tape #55-0117)_The first recorded instance we have in which Wm. Branham indicates that a voice prophesied from the mysterious light during this event was actually in 1952. What most people don’t know is that previous to 1952 (19 years after the incident), we have no record that he ever mentioned such a prophecy at the time of this event. For example, in his first recorded account of this baptismal service, WMB said:
And I looked, coming right down out of the heavens, out of a place about as big as this platform, where the blue skies churning like waters... Coming right down out of there came a big thing, like a star, whirling around, going, whew [Brother Branham illustrates--Ed.], coming right down visibly before the eyes. Moved right down, looked like a star at a distance. When it got close, It looked like a milling fire of Light, moving right down and set over where I was. Then went right back up into the heavens again. The waters let up.
God Revealing Himself to His People, August 13, 1950 (tape #50-0813E)So where did the prophetic statement come from that is so familiar to Message believers today? Gordon Lindsay’s book, A Man Sent From God--published in 1950--provides the answer.
On page 43 of Mr. Lindsay’s book, Wm. Branham gives an account of this incident but didn't mention a voice with the message comparing John the Baptist’s ministry with his own. But later in the book, we learn something very interesting. On page 105, Mr. Lindsay describes a prophecy given at a Branham meeting which said, "...that as John the Baptist was sent as a forerunner of the Lord's first coming, so was He sending forth this evangelist [Wm. Branham] and others like him to move the people and prepare them for His second coming." It was only after A Man Sent From God containing this prophecy was published that Wm. Branham began to attribute the nearly identical prophecy to his own ministry, saying that a supernatural voice spoke it at the 1933 baptismal service.
As for whether or not the supernatural element of the 1933 baptism incident even occurred, I have found no extant evidence to support that it did. William Branham claimed that local newspapers carried the story, but even Voice of God Recordings Inc. admits that there are no known existing copies of such articles (they say the newspaper company which supposedly carried the story, The Louisville Herald Post, went out of business and all back issues were destroyed in the 1937 Ohio River flood). Could it be that the supernatural light was nothing more than the sun reflecting off the wings of an airplane, and the loud sound the roar of its engine, perhaps a rare occurance in those days? Who can say? The answer itself may have been provided in the newspaper article which is no longer to be found.
In my opinion, Wm. Branham's claim that a voice spoke to him on the Ohio River in 1933 saying, "As John the Baptist was sent forth to forerun the first coming of Christ, so will your Message forerun the second coming of Christ," is doubtful. It is apparent that he borrowed the prophecy from Gordon Lindsay's book in order to further the perception that he was the sole prophet to our day who was sent to usher in the second coming of Christ.