Peoples Temple: Open Letter to William Branham

The final convention that Jim Jones and Peoples Temple held with William Branham in June of 1957 did not share the same success as the prior meetings Jones held with William Branham and Joseph Mattsson-Boze in Indianapolis, Chicago, and other cities.  After the June 1957 meeting, several Voice of Healing evangelists revolted against Branham and sent an open letter condemning him.  The letter was circulated among several evangelists, and a copy was sent to Branham's Voice of Healing editors.  Voice of Healing launched an internal investigation, and announced it in an article entitled "CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CONVENTION Replies to 'Open Letter' to William Branham."

The fact that Evangelist William Branham was the main speaker at the Christian Fellowship Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 10-14, 1957, caused many brethren to be deeply concerned regarding the veracity fo the statements in an open letter addressed to him and circulated widely.  The convention decided upon an investigation of the matter in order to be able to give correct information to those who have been disturbed by this and other letters.[1]

The contents of the letter are not included in the article, but the article does describe several ministers who were greatly offended by whatever William Branham did or said at the convention.  The last paragraph of the article, however, could give clues as to what they were offended by.  Apparently, several evangelists recognized that William Branham's sermons strayed from the Gospel and stated as much in the letter.  The Voice of Healing editors argued that Branham's ministry could be confirmed by his "gift" rather than his misrepresentation of the Gospel.

we are convinced that there is no truth in the insinuation that Rev. Branham has deviated from his normal, gracious, positive ministry of the Gospel, confirmed of God with signs following.  Rather his supernatural ministry gift is more than fruitful of mighty miracles than ever before.[2]

After this 1957 convention, Jim Jones and Peoples Temple parted ways with William Branham.  According to Jones' own account of parting ways with William Branham, several evangelists approached Jones at the Claypool hotel describing some sort of altercation.  Jones also did not fully describe what happened, but clearly described being upset.  According to Jones, William Branham did not want to "preach the truth of the bible", which seems to match that other ministers apparently said in the letter. 

Some are listening. They won’t tell you the truth, because the black book is the easiest gravy train that they’ve ever been on. Yet Allen [A.A. Allen, Pentecostal evangelist] came to me, Oral Roberts [Pentecostal evangelist] spoke this, Billy Graham came right to us – Ijames [Archie Ijames], Jack [Jack Arnold Beam], and me – in Claypool Hotel, said I don’t believe a thing in that Bible hardly. But he said, it’s the way to make a living. Billy Graham, who I prophesied his death, Billy Branham rather, said his head would be— I said he’d lose his head. His head was cut off in Texas. [Editorial note: The reference is to William Branham, an evangelical preacher and acquaintance of Jim Jones during the Temple’s Indianapolis days. Branham died in an automobile accident on Christmas Eve 1965 in Texas, but was not decapitated.] He said you can’t preach the truth about that Bible, he said (tape cuts out about three seconds) preach reincarnation, you cannot preach the truth about the Bible, you will be in trouble. I said, I choose to treat th— preach the truth. He said, well, I’ll be around, while you will be in trouble. Well, I’m still here, and his head is cut off from his body.
Jim Jones, Q612 Transcript[3]

Towards the end of Jones' account of what happened, Jones said that he prophesied concerning Branham's death.  Jones apparently prophesied that Branham would be decapitated, which he claimed to have been fulfilled by Branham's horrific automobile accident that lead to his death in 1965.  This also seems to match the statements made in the "Open Letter to William Branham".  Not only Jones, but several other ministers were warning Branham of death and destruction for his apparent abandonment of the Gospel.

It is hoped that other mis-statements in the letter were due to misinformation, but we are constrained to believe that one statement repeated several times was a serious breach.  We refer to warnings of "death" and "destruction" forecast against Brother Branham, and we wonder whether the writer or writers would circulate such remarks if they had it to do over again?[4]

This article published by The Voice of Healing immediately after Branham's convention with Jim Jones and Peoples Temple could very well explain why Jim Jones split with William Branham and the Voice of Healing Evangelists.  It could also explain why several sermons are being withheld by Voice of God Recordings.