Raised in a rural and deeply religious environment, Branham’s childhood experiences with nature and visions— which he claimed started at an early age—seemed to foreshadow his future as a religious leader.
He had barely learned to speak when he began to scare his parents with his strange stories. He said that he remembers the moment of his birth and that one day a beam of light “the size of a pillow” burst into his room, flew under the room around him, and then landed on his bed.
When he was three years old, he began to say that he heard messages from God, which is why other children began to consider him crazy and even relatives began to treat the boy with prejudice.
Branham experienced his first supernatural encounter at the age of seven, when he claimed to hear a voice instructing him that his life would be dedicated to a divine mission. This experience laid the foundation for what would become a lifelong belief that he was chosen as a prophet by God to lead a spiritual revival.
In his early 20s, Branham became more involved in religious life. After a near-death experience in 1933—an event where he claimed to have been visited by angels—he began preaching, initially as a Baptist, but soon gravitating toward the Pentecostal tradition due to its emphasis on spiritual gifts, including healing and prophecy. This set the stage for what would become a defining feature of his ministry...<<<Read More>>>....