Homosexuality
Though William Branham preached against homosexuality, his close associate Lee Vayle alleged that some of Branham's other close associates were homosexual. According to Vayle, Gene Goad, Leo Mercier, and Frary von Blomberg were homosexual, which is partially confirmed in the California Supreme Court trial of Keith Loker. William Branham displayed public signs of affection with these and other men, either by holding hands or laying his head upon their crotch.
Frary von Blomberg
Baron William Theobald Frary von Blomberg was a Boston publicity agent turned adopted German baron, World Fellowship of Religions leader, International Christian Leadership director, Bob Jones University trustee, and William Branham campaign sponsor whose career connected elite religious diplomacy, anti-communist political networking, The Fellowship Foundation orbit, Full Gospel revivalism, and Branham's overseas expansion; through his claimed ties to the German aristocracy, meetings with Nazi-era figures, work organizing Christian leadership groups across Europe, and sponsorship of Branham's international offices and tours, von Blomberg became one of the most unusual bridges between Washington prayer-breakfast networks, European political-religious influence, Branham's Latter Rain campaigns, and the global spread of Message-adjacent revivalism.
Holding Hands
Some researchers have noticed that photos of William Branham with close companions display unusual signs of affection for heterosexual men. On many occasions, William Branham is pictured holding hands, affectionately, with others. One particular photo captured William Branham lying with his head upon another man's crotch.
From Branham's Healing Revival to Armed Cult: The Dark Legacy of Colonia Dignidad
Colonia Dignidad was not an isolated aberration but the product of apocalyptic fear, authoritarian control, and religious absolutism exported through William Branham’s Message movement. By tracing the shared roots connecting Branham, Jim Jones, and Paul Schäfer, the narrative shows how prophetic claims and revivalist rhetoric became tools for psychological domination, abuse, and violence.
John Robert Stevens
John Robert Stevens was the central figure of "The Walk", a splinter group of the Latter Rain version of William Branham's "Message". Stevens was an Assemblies of God minister raised by his parents according to the doctrinal teachings of Aimee Semple McPherson,[1] and a disciple of William Branham.[2] When the Assemblies of God denounced Latter Rain in 1949[3] and the Assemblies began to split, Stevens chose the Latter Rain side of the split. As a result, he was defrocked in 1951.[4]
Ralph G. Stair
Rev. Ralph G. Stair was a "Message"[1] cult pastor and evangelist from Pennsylvania who openly groped women during church services, and used cult doctrine and coercion to prey upon the female members of his congregation including young girls.[2] In 2002, Stair was arrested in Walterboro, South Carolina on two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree.[3] Stair's wife, Teresa Stair, was aware of extra-marital affairs and defended her husband during the investigation.[4]
Ewald Frank and the German Expansion of William Branham’s Message
Ewald Frank emerged as the central German leader of William Branham’s Message movement, founding Freie Volksmission and modeling his authority on Branham’s prophetic claims. His career has been marked by controversy, including allegations of moral misconduct, claimed supernatural experiences, and documented associations with Colonia Dignidad and its international fallout.
Robert Gumbura
Robert Martin Gumbura was a Zimbabwean End Time Message preacher who transformed William Branham's authoritarian theology into a system of cultic control, sexual exploitation, and social domination. By presenting himself as the exclusive voice of God, surrounding his ministry with Branham's imagery and teachings, and sanctifying polygamy through Message doctrine, Gumbura conditioned followers to equate obedience to him with obedience to God, making dissent, refusal, or resistance appear spiritually dangerous. His abuse of women, coercive sexual practices, economic control over congregants, and later prison-based efforts to preserve influence and allegedly extend Message control into political and financial institutions reveal how Branhamite prophetic authority, when localized through Gumbura's leadership, became a mechanism for systemic spiritual, sexual, and institutional abuse.
Joaquim Goncalves
Joaquim Goncalves Silva was a major Brazilian promoter of William Branham's "Message" movement, claiming that he encountered Branham's teachings in 1968 through Spoken Word booklets before using radio, translation work, and organized evangelism to spread Branham's doctrine across Brazil. His influence helped create a powerful Portuguese-language network of Branham followers, but his legacy was later overshadowed by serious abuse allegations reported by Brazilian media in 2021, when multiple women accused him of sexual harassment and abuse, including incidents involving vulnerable women, religious camps, pastoral office meetings, and a minor placed in church leadership. The allegations suggested that local Message leaders knew of predatory behavior but remained silent, turning Goncalves' story into a stark example of how Branhamite authority structures could protect abusive leaders while silencing victims through fear, loyalty, and spiritual control.
Roy E. Davis
Rev. Roy E. Davis Sr. was a Baptist and Pentecostal preacher, founder of the Pentecostal Baptist Church of God, mentor and ordaining pastor of William Branham, and a lifelong organizer in white supremacist movements, serving under William Joseph Simmons in the reborn Ku Klux Klan, helping form the Knights of the Flaming Sword, and later becoming a nationally recognized leader of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan; his career connected criminal scandal, religious fraud, gospel music, fundamentalist revivalism, Pentecostal sect-building, orphanage fundraising schemes, Klan reorganization, and Branham's early ministry, making Davis one of the clearest links between Branham's origins, Pentecostal restorationism, Christian nationalism, and organized white supremacy.
Gene Goad
International House of Prayer
The International House of Prayer (IHOPKC), an organization in Kansas City established in 1999 by Mike Bickle, is a very influential part of the New Apostolic Reformation's (NAR) apostolic network. IHOPKC is known for its 24/7 prayer and worship services and its emphasis on prophetic and apostolic authority. The organization is frequently under fire for its lack of accountability, especially after former members began claiming that members of the leadership were grooming them for sex.[1]
Drinking and Homosexuality: Moral Absolutes, Private Exceptions
William Branham’s Message enforced strict prohibitions against alcohol and homosexuality as markers of holiness and separation, yet historical records, testimony, and visual evidence reveal persistent exceptions within his inner circle. This investigation traces how authority, proximity, and institutional preservation consistently overrode the very moral standards imposed on followers.
Sex Glands
Similar to the Gnostic groups that Irenaeus mentioned in “Against Heresies”, William Branham considered human sex glands to be "filthy". In his Creation Theology, these glands were not in the original human design from the Garden of Eden since (according to that theology) women were “not in the original creation”. Branham claimed that women were "designed by satan" for the purpose of "deceiving men",[1] and apparently the human reproductive system was part of Satan’s evil design.
Women Saved Through Sex
Some versions of William Branham's stage persona taught that female Christians could only be saved through sex. Building upon his Serpent's Seed (Christian Identity) doctrine, Branham insinuated that the "good bloodline" would be maintained through the offspring of the female, which was her sole purpose in God's "master plan" for the "master race". During sermons preached by this version of the stage persona, Branham disagreed with Genesis 5:2, claiming that the female human was not in the original creation, and instead was designed by Satan.
William Branham’s “Giant Ants” Prophecy: Fear, Fantasy, and Control in the Message Movement
In his later years, William Branham introduced increasingly extreme apocalyptic teachings—such as visions of giant ants and birds—that he linked to end-time plagues and used to reinforce gender-focused punishments and fear-based control. After his death, some “Message” leaders, including Roger Rudin in Phoenix, further exploited these prophecies to drive doomsday migration, suppress critical thinking, and conceal personal hypocrisy, even as followers’ tithes quietly funded Rudin’s gay bar.
The Sex Papers
William Branham allegedly discussed sexual matters with men of the church. Some of these matters were discussed over printed materials, at a time when white supremacy groups were discussing the sexual "differences" between African American and white males. One statement still exists on a transcript that has not been removed with a [blank spot on tape], seeming to confirm these allegations. In the statement, Branham described his opinion of the female facial expressions during sexual intercourse but stopped short of discussing the more graphic content. That content, he claimed, was not intended for "mixed crowd" (intended for male audiences only), and he had brought the "papers and things" to show the men.
The Woman's Breast
William Branham preached strongly against women wearing support bras. According to Branham, women who wore support bras were doing so because of getting a "devil spirit", not understanding the purpose of wearing proper support. As a result, some women in Branham's "Message" cult following feel ashamed of their shape, especially those women with larger cup sizes, and some women do not wear the proper support. Others try to conceal their shape, either through loosely fitting blouses or by folding their shoulders inward. They do not want to be at risk of being accused of supporting their breasts "to attract [the] attention of men through sex".
Quartier Pigalle
Quartier Pigalle is one of the 20 Arrondissements (administrative districts) of Paris, France. Since the early 1900’s, it has been known world-wide as a tourist district containing many sex shops, theatres and adult shows throughout the district. During the second World War, it’s infamy spread to the English speaking soldiers, and the Allied soldiers nicknamed the district “Pig Alley.” But before the War, the city itself was already recognized in America as the world’s most raunchy “Sin City,” long before this nickname got reassigned to Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1928, American-born actress Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri) established a nightclub in Pigalle. There, she would become famous for her erotic dancing, almost completely nude.
Charles Sanson and the Collapse of Zion: Free Love, Prophecy, and Polygamy
After the decline of John Alexander Dowie, Zion City became a breeding ground for rival prophets, none more controversial than Charles Sanson, leader of the Adam and Eve Free Love Cult. Sanson’s rejection of civil marriage, embrace of sexual communalism, and repeated clashes with the courts reveal how Zion’s authoritarian religious structure collapsed into sectarian extremism and legal intervention.
Sex Education
Education, in William Branham’s cult of personality, is a topic of strong debate. Many sects in the cult forbid higher education and even basic education according to William Branham’s instruction, while other sects choose to ignore Branham’s rules and educate their children.
Roger Rudin
Roger Somers Rudin was a "Message" cult pastor from St. Paul, MN, who led the Upper Room Fellowship in Phoenix, AZ. Most of his congregation migrated from Iowa, after Rudin convinced his converts that the result of William Branham's Los Angeles Prophecy would create a paradise in Arizona.[1] During his three decades as a minister, Rudin was the target of dozens of lawsuits ranging from fraud and swindling to criminal suits involving drug possession.[2] Members of his church also accused Rudin of swindling.[3] It wasn't until after Rudin's death that members of his church began to question the allegations, and came to realize that Rudin's private life was much different than his public appearance. Rudin was a homosexual man, well known in the gay community.
Paul Cain
Paul Cain was a member of William Branham's "Message" cult of personality from as early as 1951[1] until his death in 2019.[2] He was very active in spreading Branham's Manifested Sons of God theology throughout the United States and abroad. He was also instrumental in the formation of neo-Pentecostal sects including the Kansas City Prophets,[3] the Vinyard Movement,[4] the British Evangelical Alliance,[5] International House of Prayer,[6] and more. Cain was connected with and "ministered to" key political figures, including President Clinton, Saddam Hussein,[7] and Prime Minister Netanyahu.[8]
Keith Loker
On November 27, 1991, the headlines of newspapers were filled with news of a killer on the run. Very little was known by the man, other than the fact that he was a twenty-year-old man named Keith Loker. San Bernardino County Sun ran a large article complete with map describing the crime spree entitled, "Arizona man sought in 3-day crime spree." According to the report, Loker had killed and wounded people inside the California "Robin Hood Adult Book Store," and then made his way back into Arizona robbing, raping, and shooting. Inside the adult bookstore, Loker had proven that his motive was not simply robbery; he paused to enter the pornography stalls and shoot and kill a man engaged in self pleasure. At his trial, he was accused of shooting to death two men in the adult bookstore, wounding two others in the same location, rape, and attempting to murder another. His crime spree ended in a 49-minute high-speed chase with 20 police officers pursuing in Arizona. Loker waved at TV cameras as he ran from police.
No records found.