I Visited A Branham Meeting, 1954
It is 12:30 midnight. I have just come from a Branham meeting, and wish to jot down my impressions while everything is on my mind. I feel that I owe it to others to tell what I have seen and heard tonight. It has been as close to Heaven as I have ever been - as close to Heaven as I ever expect to be on earth. I shall never forget tonight. Something has happened to me; and I shall never be quite the same again. I will tell you what I heard and saw - please believe me, however incredible it may seem, for it is the truth.
Upon my arrival at Shreveport, the church secretary told me that the following night Brother Branham would be taking the service, and that both our meetings had been advertised together. I was delighted; I had wanted so badly to be in such a meeting, for I had heard so much about Brother Branham's ministry.
The only advertising given his meeting was the one advertisement in the newspaper; no more is needed when William Branham visits a town. The church was packed to capacity, with people standing. Some had come as far as 200 miles to that meeting. One of the first men I met was the pastor from Baton Rouge, 250 miles away, for whom I had preached recently. Rev. Gordon Lindsay, Editor of THE VOICE OF HEALING, came a similar distance from Dallas, Texas.
In his message tonight, Brother Branham said that he was to have left for South Africa and India yesterday but, as he was making preparation, a man came to him in his home, dressed in a peculiar garb with certain headgear that he described whom he had never seen before, and said to him, "Don't go overseas until September." He looked, again (later he described the man to me) and the man was gone, and he realized that he had seen a vision. It was this touch of the miraculous that characterized the whole of that meeting, for we were yet to see and hear many wonderful things. Brother Branham immediately canceled his visit to South Africa and India, and will leave as instructed. His meetings in India are being sponsored by a leading dignitary of the Anglican Church.
Speaking on the Scripture, "Perfect love casteth out fear" he said that love was the greatest thing in the world and that nothing could stand against it. He said, "People and animals knew if you loved them, and you cannot deceive them." Illustrating this, he told two stories from his own experience.
One day he was crossing an open field when a ferocious bull rushed him. There was no tree to climb and no fence to get through, for he was in the center of the field. There was no hope but God. He said a strange peace possessed him, and he knew the animal could not hurt him. The bull pawed the ground for a time and then charged him at great speed. There he stood, helpless, in the middle of the field, with a charging bull coming toward him. All that he did was to stand there and quietly say, as the bull got closer and closer, "You can't hurt me, and I don't want to hurt you - now just go over there and lie down." On the bull came, until it was within three feet of him, when it just stopped in its tracks and did exactly as he said. Our minds went back to Daniel in the lion's den.
Further illustrating the power of love, not only upon people but upon animals and insects. He said that one day he was mowing his lawn with his shirt off because it was a hot day. A swarm of hornets was disturbed and came flying around his ears, prepared to attack. He again spoke quietly to the hornets and told them to go away, for he didn't wish to hurt them and didn't want them to hurt him. Presently they just flew quietly away without molesting him. This, he said, was exactly what happened to the Apostle Paul when the viper fastened itself to his hand - he just shook it off into the fire, without any fear.
Speaking of healing, Brother Branham said that Jesus did not heal everyone at the Pool of Bethesda. He walked past many, without saying a word. He could have healed them all, but He didn't; there was just one man who was healed. And so, he said, it is the same today. The Lord can do it alright, but only some press through and touch the hem of His garment.
He said that Jesus could do nothing of Himself, which was why He walked past so many at the Pool of Bethesda, and why He didn't go the first day in response to the plea of Mary and Martha, in connection with their brother Lazarus. He had to wait until the Father spoke to Him, for He could do nothing until the Father showed Him.
He said that Jesus saw everything in visions. He discerned the thoughts of men. What can we say to such statements? What do we know about such things? This is all out of our realm, but here was a man who lives in that very realm and, before that night was through, was going to do the very thing he was talking about in a most amazing manner. Branham is a man out of this world! He lives in another world altogether! Never have I heard such things! Never have I seen such things! Never have I met such a man, and never do I expect to again as long as I live.
After he had finished speaking he said, "Now if I am a prophet of God, the things, I have spoken about will come to pass tonight. If they don't come to pass, you can brand me as a false prophet." Never have I heard a man say anything like that! Never have I heard a man speak with such authority!
Before the meeting started, cards had been handed out… by his son to those who wished to be prayed for. These cards numbered from L 50 to L 100. Brother Branham said that he would pray for all with cards numbered from L 85 to L 100. From that crowded auditorium, 15 people came forward to be prayed for and stood in the line. Now, I thought, we will see if this man is just theorizing and theologizing like the rest of us, or whether he has an experimental knowledge of the things that he affirms. Soon I was to be convinced that here, indeed, was a man that did the things that we preach.
As the fifteen people stood in front of him, he said, "These people are all strangers to me. I have never seen them before. I don't know them at all! Now," he said, "we will see what the Lord is going to do tonight. Satan is only a bluff. Jesus won the victory on Calvary's Cross and has made us the boss." We also say the same thing, but this man was going to demonstrate it before our very eyes.
The first person that stood in front of him was a quiet, slim, middle aged woman. Brother Branham was so gentle and quiet spoken in all his dealings with the people - never once did he raise his voice or get excited or disturbed. He was a complete master of the situation all the time. Branham is just the kind of man that I always thought a Christian ought to be. There is nothing boisterous or arrogant about him. He is a meek and humble man, in the truest sense of the word, with one purpose in life only and that is to please the Lord. He is a man loved by all. No one begrudges him any of his success or is envious of his great popularity. He is just as much at home in the largest auditoriums in the land seating 10,000, which are frequently packed to capacity wherever he goes, as he is in his humble home, ministering to the people who come to him there.
As this first person stood in front of him, everyone waited breathlessly to see whether what he said was going to come to pass in that meeting. Many preachers tell what has happened in other meetings and in other places, but here was a man who had already said, "If I am a prophet of God, the things that I have spoken about will come to pass tonight. If they don't come to pass, you can brand me as a false prophet."
He waited for a little while, for he was in no hurry. Quietly he spoke to her as if waiting for inspiration, "Now, I don't know you at all. We have never met before. If I can tell you things about yourself and what is wrong with you, you will admit that the Lord has revealed this to me, for no man could do such things by his own power." To this she agreed. The air was electrified, and the atmosphere was tense with excitement and expectancy. I now record exactly what he said to her, for I wrote it down as he said it:
"You don't live in Shreveport. You come from a place out of town. I see that the place you come from has a lot of pine trees. Is that right?" The lady quietly assented. "I will tell you where it is," he continued, "it is Camden, Camden in Arkansas. Yes, and your name is Dorothy, but they call you Dolly. Yes. it is Dolly Yacht and you have two growths in your stomach."
When he said this, pandemonium broke out among the great crowd. It seemed that everyone was weeping and sobbing and shouting all at once. Something happened to me inside, and I know that I shall never be the same again. Please don't suggest that there was any fake about all this - the very atmosphere of the place, and the spirit of the man would make such a thought almost sacrilegious. This all happened within six feet of where I was sitting on the platform. The woman went off the platform weeping, sobbing and praising God. When I last saw her she was kneeling quietly in one of the aisles of the church with her hands raised praising God, with tears streaming down her cheeks.