Life Begins at Birth

In the early versions of William Branham's stage persona, Branham took the common conservative position that life begins in the womb.  According to Branham, before a baby is delivered, it has life but not spirit.  In Branham's early theology the spirit entered the body when a doctor gives the child a "little spank or two".

Do you know when a baby is begotten in this earth, before it's delivered it's got life. But it hasn't been delivered. And just as soon as that baby comes to it's…it begins to…is borned…It's lungs are all closed up, and it's dead. It's muscles are quivering and jerking. But the first thing, just a little spank or two [Brother Branham claps his hands three times—Ed.] like that, and he'll [Brother Branham gasps.] catch his breath. What's the matter? As soon as that natural body is being formed in the mother, there is a spiritual body waiting to receive it just as soon as that baby's born.[1]

Later versions of his stage persona did not take the same position.  When Branham became more open about this Manifest Sons of God doctrine, Branham described a clear separation between life and the physical body and moved the point of life to the time of birth.  According to the Manifest Sons of God theology, human vessels contained a lesser or greater "manifestation" of God, and a person's "theophany"[2] waited outside the body until the child is born.  In the 1964 questions and answers session, Questions and Answers #3, Branham rebuked those who claim the baby is alive in the womb.  He says, “You say, “Oh, it’s alive!” No, it isn’t! That’s little nerves jerking, muscles. See? The baby hasn’t received life till it’s born.

Just as soon as—as the baby's dropped into the earth in flesh, there's a spiritual body waiting to receive it. And as soon as the spiritual body…the natural body is dissolved there's a spiritual body waiting yonder. See? A "theophany' we call it, see, a theophany."[3]

The baby that…When the act is taken place between the—the egg and the sperm, or the gene…But when they…Potentially, the baby's there when the act is done. Then the body is developed, second stage; but the baby has to be born here, and then it receives the breath of life. It is not yet the breath of life. You say, “Oh, it's alive!' No, it isn't! That's little nerves jerking, muscles. See? The baby hasn't received life till it's born. And you may jump and jerk, but you're not…See, see? You got to be born. You know what I mean? All right.[4]