The Commissions

There are many other commissions, visitations from angels, and other supernatural events described throughout Branham's ministry, but ultimately, this version of the start to his divine healing ministry would be the one referred to by his followers. According to Branham and depending upon which story was given, this angelic visitation during Israel's restoration took place in either a house with windows, a cabin with an old drum stove and wood floor, or a cave with a dirt floor.

William Branham claimed to have been given several commissions throughout his life. Many times Branham describes an angel, or a "being," present during these events, though not all of them include descriptions of a supernatural presence involved. Some of these commissions are strikingly similar to stories found in the Bible, though in some cases the scriptural versions were focused upon Jesus Christ rather than mortal men.

According to Branham, these angelic visitations or commissions happened:

Before his birth
During his birth
1915 (at seven years of age)
1920 (at 12 years of age)
1923 (at 14 or 15 years of age)
1930
1931
1932
1933
1936
1944
May 6, 1946
May 7, 1946 (or on May 6, 1947)
1950 in Houston, TX
1963 in Arizona

Chronologically speaking, the earliest account of a commission by God given by William Branham is in a 1945 tract entitled "I Was Not Disobedient To The Heavenly Vision," the same title given to the sermon preached to the followers of the false prophet John Alexander Dowie in Zion, Illinois. In this tract, William Branham claimed that he received a vision by God, and this vision started his rise to fame in the Divine Healing movement.

Later in June 1947 in Vandalia, IL, William Branham held a divine healing meeting under the alias of Henry Branham. In an interview with the Associated Press, Henry [William] Branham claimed that his commission had been given to him 11 months prior (August 1946), and this is when he began his divine healing ministry. Elements of his story are similar to those given in recorded sermons between 1947 and 1965, although the dates would later change and additional details would be added. Ultimately, this version of the commission story would replace the first published in his religious tract.

In Chicago, almost seven years later, Branham claimed that this gift of divine healing and the commission to heal the sick came much later, on May 6, 1947 -- less than two months prior to his Vandalia meeting. According to Branham, this date was significant, because at that time Branham believed it to be the same exact day that Israel became a nation restored to their homeland. Though Israel was actually established as a nation on May 14, 1948, Branham maintained that his ministry was tied to the Jewish nation throughout the rest of his ministry.

And a strange thing of that, that you might not know, the very day the Angel of the Lord called me out, May the 6th, 1947, and issued the gift to pray for the sick, was the very same day that Israel become a nation for the first time for twenty-five hundred years. Oh, I believe there's something in it. I just can't keep from believing that we're near the end of time. That's right.
54-0718A THE GREAT COMING REVIVAL AND THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT