Branham's Russian Prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ

Before William Branham reversed his 1933 Prophecy from fear of Communist global domination to a claim that Roman Catholicism would defeat communism[1] and while Russia was a communist country, Branham began claiming to have been under local persecution by the Jeffersonville Police for prophesying that Communism would send such persecution that it would "send Jesus Christ to the earth again".  

Now, notice, and since the First World War there has constantly been a persecution against the Jew. Up raised Hitler for the Second World War, and when he did, he begin to…What? He was going to tear the whole world right around. Is that right? He was going to tear it up, and right around. Yes, he was. Everything had to be Communism. Do you remember when they was going to put me in a jail down here? I was preaching this same thing down here at the Redman’s Hall that night. Yes, sir. Saying, 'There’ll be three isms. And they would all heap up in one ism, and that ism will bring forth a persecution that would send Jesus Christ to the earth again.” And that’s exactly so. And that was Communism, and—and Hitler and—and Nazi, and so forth; and how that Fascism of Mussolini, and Hitler, and Stalin. I said, “One of them will take the place. I don’t know which one it’ll be, but I believe it’ll be the king of the North.'"[2]

This particular version of his prophetic claim concerning Communist Russia is interesting for several reasons.  Though Branham did not introduce his 1933 Prophecies into his stage persona until the early 1950s, and none of his converts has ever claimed to have heard Branham making the claim in 1933, Branham was appealing to members of his congregation who were in Jeffersonville during the time that Roy E. Davis' Pentecostal Baptist Church cult was making headlines for both civil and criminal charges.  It is a well-known technique of a confidence man[3] wherein a person or persons are defrauded in one area after gaining trust in another.  Combined with the fact that Branham revised this "prophecy" multiple times,[4] this statement would suggest that Branham was included in the criminal investigation into the headquarters of the Pentecostal Baptist Church sect.[5]

From a religious standpoint, this version of the prophecy is also interesting.  William Branham claimed to be a Christian minister.  For a Christian, there is nothing more eagerly anticipated than the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  It is what both Christians and members of William Branham's cult believe will be the greatest event since the First Coming.  Yet William Branham, who implied that he was the "prophet with 'Thus Saith The Lord'", declared that Russia needed his spiritual leadership to "drive communism into the sea".

But what it is, thing that professes Christianity and doesn't produce any results, they lay it aside. They want some reality. See, that's the reason Communism has raised up, because the let down of the Church. The Church is guilty of Communism, because it was the one who let down. And now just think, only one percent of Russia now is Communist, one percent. Ninety-nine percent of the people are still Christian. What they need is a real on Fire, with a prophet with THUS SAITH THE LORD. That, see, that would drive the communistic force into the sea.[6]

People who are unaware that William Branham and his campaign team revised his prophecies,[7] given both versions of the same prophecy, would assume that William Branham declared himself to be the anti-Christ.  The original version of the prophecy was that Communism would bring the return of Christ, while the latter versions of the prophecy declared that William Branham would prevent Communism from rising — resulting in his prevention of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.