Nation of Israel

When William Branham's stage persona shifted from that of a Pentecostal working with Roy E. Davis to that of a "Baptist minister" curious about the Pentecostal religion, Branham also adjusted his "commission". In his 1945 pamphlet describing his already thriving "healing ministry" entitled "I Was Not Disobedient to the Heavenly Vision", his stage persona described a "vision" of "white-robed people" initiating his ministry. Versions of his stage persona after 1947, however, claimed to have been initiated by an "angelic visitation".

In some versions of his stage persona, William Branham forgot the date for his change in backstory.  Several times from 1954 through 1959, Branham claimed that this "angelic event" happened May 6 or 7, 1947.[1] In the list of sermons that remain available to the public, the earliest recorded healing revival is April 1947,[2] one month prior to the alleged event.  Other times, William Branham used the year 1946, which came after the 1945 healing revival.

In August of 1950, William Branham introduced a claim that the formation of the Nation of Israel was spiritually connected to this "angelic visitation" introduced into the stage persona. According to William Branham, this "angel" met him the same hour that Israel was formed — even though the Nation of Israel did not form for 1-2 years later. According to Branham, the exact date for this event was May the 7th, 1946.[3]  This alleged event resulted in a failed prediction that William Branham would lead the entire nation of Israel "back to the Lord" before he died.  It is commonly understood that this did not happen and that the tiny, scattered groups of Branham adherents in Israel made very little impact before Branham's death in 1965.

Israel returning to their homeland, Israel. Let me just say this now while…I guess it’s off of tape. Let me say this. The very hour that Israel become a nation…The reason I’ve always believed, ’fore my class here, that there was something that I’d have a part, before I die, of getting Israel back to the Lord. Because, when the very hour, by the Pan American chart, that Israel was declared a nation, for the first time for two thousand years since they been scattered, not a people; it was that very same hour, exactly to the hour, that the Angel of the Lord met me up yonder and sent me to the…with the Gospel. The very same thing, May the 7th, 1946.
Branham, William. 1961, July 30. Gabriel's Instructions To Daniel.

This becomes problematic when considering the history of Israel. While Branham claimed that the Nation of Israel was spiritually connected to May the 7th, 1946, the Nation of Israel was not formed until 1948.[4] In 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency and rejected by Arab leaders. The following year, the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the State of Israel, and the subsequent 1948 Arab–Israeli War finalized the establishment. 

Branham appears to have learned this doctrine through faith healer and "Elijah" doomsday prophet John Alexander Dowie, who claimed that the Nation of Israel was going to form in 1910 which would result in the end of the world.[5]