Revising The Prophecies

William Branham's stage persona was molded by his campaign team.  Alterations to his life story, doctrine, and even "prophecies" and "visions" appear to be influenced by and in some cases revised by members of his team responsible for his persona as a "prophet".  In some cases, these changes also appear to be politically motivated.

But, last week, the reason I was expressing the way I did, there was more than politics included. I’d like to read you a prophecy that was given. I got on… And may…By the way, Mr. Mercier and many of them are going to take some of these old prophecies, and dig them out, and revise them a little, or bring them up to date, and put them in papers"
Branham, William. 1960, November 13. Condemnation By Representation (60-1113)

The alterations to Branham's prophecies were significant.  Branham's egg-shaped car prophecy, which was first introduced in approximately 1953, started as a claim to have predicted the shape of automobiles in 1933.   After an advertisement by Central Power and Lights was published and technology had advanced to the point of autonomous driving, those new technologies were introduced into the prophecies.  The most significant politically motivated change appears to be Branham's alleged prophecy of the female President.  Over time, this prophecy shifted from female to male to Vice President, to Kennedy or the Catholic Church.

Alterations to his life story also impacted prophecy.  Branham's alleged "toddler prophecy", for instance, required the log cabin he and his siblings were raised in to be in Kentucky, while earlier versions of Branham's stage persona and United States Census records confirm that William Branham was raised in Indiana.   Changes to the timeline of death for his father, Charles Branham, also impacted that prophecy.  In some versions of the stage persona, Branham was forced to fish and trap game to feed his mother and siblings in Kentucky, while other versions and government documents list Charles Branham's death during the time Branham was pastor of the Billie Branham Pentecostal Tabernacle.  The Baptist persona used to describe his ministry before the 1937 Flood further impacted his life story, starting additional cycles of change to erase his Pentecostal background.

William Branham, A Man Sent From God, by Gordon Lindsay in collaboration with Wm. Branham Actual book version

It was breaking dawn on a beautiful April morning in the year 1909 in the hill country of Kentucky not far from the place where Abraham Lincoln was born almost exactly one hundred years before. In a humble cabin the light began to creep through the window over a small crude bed, when a baby’s voice was heard. Two little hands of a five-pound infant were stroking the cheeks of its fifteen year old mother. Standing near the bed was the young father, Charles Branham, with his arms folded in the bib of his new overalls, dressed up a bit, for mountain folk for this special occasion. As the day dawned, the birds had already begun their singing, and it seemed to the father that the morning star shone a little brighter. The little one cried again as its tiny hand brushed against his mother’s face. “We’ll call his name William,” said the father, as he gazed happily down on his newborn son. “That will be well,” said the mother, “for then he will go by the name of Billy.” Little did the mother know that the hands of this little child, that were touching her cheeks would be used of Almighty God for delivering His people from sickness and bondage. No one in that part of the country would ever have thought that this little humble-born mountain baby would carry the message of the Gospel all over the world.

Of all the mountain folk, the Branham family was the poorest of the poor. However, God’s ways are past finding out! How could these people have believed it, if someone had told them that God, through those hands someday would cause demons to go out, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, cancers to vanish, and thousands upon thousands to fall prostrate at altars in tears of repentance? Nor could they have believed that airplanes crossing the continent at high speed would fly the sick to him. Or that trains and buses loaded with sick would be brought to him for deliverance. That they would come from the East and the West, the North and the South, to hear him tell the story of Jesus Christ the Saviour in his simple, humble way. As the neighbours gathered in to see the new born babe, there seemed to be, so it is told, a strange feeling of awe in the room. Who can say that it was not the presence of the angel who, under the direction of God, has guided William Branham in many of the events of his life, and who later was to speak to him in person? It was just two weeks later that the father and mother carried their baby down the creek to the Lone Star meeting house—a little old fashioned Missionary Baptist Church made of logs and clapboard shingles, with a dirt floor and seats made of boards lying across blocks of wood. It was little William Branham’s first visit to a church!

William Branham, A Man Sent From God, by Gordon Lindsay in collaboration with Wm. Branham. Substantially modified from the original. Internet version

Not unlike some of the Bible prophets, the birth of William Branham was marked by the Presence of the Supernatural. He was born on April 6th. 1909. The first child of Charles and Ella Branham. It was a beautiful morning in the hill country of Kentucky. In a humble log cabin the voice of a baby was heard. The parents of this child were delighted over the birth of their first son. But even from birth he would be a peculiar child. On this morning, God Himself would confirm that this child was His choice. The young mother and father watched in astonishment as the Pillar of Fire came into the little cabin, moved across the room and stopped directly over the sleeping child. Little did the mother know that this little five pound infant would be used of Almighty God to deliver His people from sickness and bondage. God would use him to carry the Gospel all over the world. No wonder, the neighbors, who had gathered to see the new born baby, spoke of a strange feeling of awe in the room. No doubt it was caused by the Presence of the Angel, who would later speak to him and guide him through his life and ministry.

Of all the mountain folk, the Branham's were the poorest of the poor. God's ways are past finding out. In the years to come God would use this child to cast out demons, bring sight to the blind - physically and spiritually, cause the deaf to hear, cancers to vanish, and thousands upon thousands to fall prostrate at altars in tears of repentance. They would come by airplane, boat, trains, busses and automobile, bringing the sick to him. They would come from all over the world to hear him tell the story of Jesus in his simple, humble way. It was just two weeks after his birth that the father and mother took baby William down the creek to the old fashioned, Lone Star Missionary Baptist Church. It was here that the Pastor took William in his arms and dedicated him to the Lord. Little did that Pastor realize that this child would be used so mightily of the Lord to pull down the strong holds of Satan in the Twentieth Century. [Emphases theirs – P.M.D.]

Accessed 2021, Jun 8 from http://www.williambranhamhomepage.org/manse nt2.htm

Duyzer, Peter. Legend of the Fall.