Toddler Prophecy

As early as 1951,[1] William Branham introduced a story into his stage persona describing his prophetic gifts as a toddler at age three. Branham claimed to have been a mouthpiece for God to his parents, instructing them to move "near a city called New Albany."[2] In some accounts made available to the public, Branham claimed that a voice spoke to him from a tree and gave him this prophecy. [3] According to Branham, this event happened at the early age of fifteen [4] or eighteen months — a time when most children are learning motor skills and attempting to grasp the basics of language.

The details of this prophecy changed over time depending upon the version of Branham’s stage persona or the audience to which he was speaking. Sometimes Branham claimed this vision came to him as early as fifteen months, while in other accounts he described this prophecy being given around age four.[5] The accounts claiming the vision came at age four would seem more likely based upon the rate of child development and the descriptions of the setting during the "prophetic" event, but they do not align with the historical record. According to United States Census reports, [6] the Branham family had already been in Indiana for almost a year by William Branham’s age four. The birth of William's younger brother, Melvin Branham, took place after the family moved to Clark County, Indiana.

The United States Census presents significant issues with not only Branham’s "Toddler Prophecy" claim, but also many other details woven through various iterations of the "Life Story" presented by the differing versions of William Branham’s stage persona. The birthdates of his siblings are in direct conflict with Branham's descriptions of his brothers and sister in the Kentucky log cabin. Branham often described himself wearing a toddler's dress, and described his brother "Humpy" crawling around in the same outfit. According to William Branham, the alleged prophecy took place while Humpy was still crawling on the floor wearing that dress.

Edward "Humpy" Branham was born in Kentucky on May 12, 1910. During some versions of his "Life Story" accounts, Branham claimed to have been born April 6, 1909. He also admitted that the family moved to Indiana less than a year later, which would place the family's relocation around May 12, 1912. The next oldest brother, Melvin Branham, was born in Indiana in 1912. The United States Census confirms that of the siblings, only William and Humpy were born in Kentucky. This becomes problematic in the versions of Branham’s stage persona that used a "Life Story" having all siblings in the Kentucky log cabin at the same time.[7]

It becomes even more problematic in the versions of the "Life Story" that included tales of hunting and trapping to support his widowed mother [8] and siblings[9] in the cabin – According to the United States Census, Branham’s father was very much alive when the family migrated to Indiana.

When William Branham altered his stage persona from a non-angelic vision to include the alleged 1946 or 1947 commission by an angelic encounter, several consistency errors were created.  Some claims were easily re-worked by combining them, but others were mutually exclusive and could not be combined.   In 1962, for example, he claimed that he could not understand his spirit guide’s language the first time they met,[10] which he claimed to have happened at age twenty.  In the same sermon, Branham realized his conflicting story, and admitted that he did understand the language, and had talked with the spirit guide at an earlier age than twenty,[11] but just could not understand spiritual things.  Yet he had already claimed that his spirit guide spoke to him when he was fifteen months old, and he did understand the language.  In some versions of his stage persona, Branham claimed his visitation and gift came after his 1941 marriage to Meda Broy,[12] and he understood the language by receiving the "signs of Moses".[13]