In Upshaw's full account of his healing, which was published in the April-May, 1951 issue of “The Voice of Healing” magazine here, he makes it known that William Branham was not on the platform when he declared him healed, but informed him of his healing through Brother Leroy Kopp:

 

“I walked into that Branham-Baxter meeting in Calvary Temple, Los Angeles in February, 1951, on my crutches that had been my "buddies"... my helpful companions for 59 of my 66 years as a cripple.... 7 of those years having been spent in bed. I walked out of the meeting, leaving my crutches on the platform with the "Song of Deliverance" ringing in my heart in happy consonance with the shouts of victory from those who thronged about me. Their tears of joy were crystal with the light of the skies, and chief among them was my blessed wife, whose dear face, glowing amid her joyous exclamations, "Praise the Lord," and "Glory to God," was beaming like a patch of heaven.

But my story will be a truer story, and far more helpful to those seeking what I now have, if it deals in something besides "Hallelujahs" and "Hosannas" to God on high! Manifestly, I cannot tell it unless I tell it in relative detail.

I was hurt when a farmer boy of 18, falling on the crosspiece of a wagon frame and fracturing my spine. Thank God I was converted just before I was hurt, so naturally I prayed at first to be healed. I know that there was too much “Willie Upshaw” in that prayer. I wanted to be instantly healed, dash down to the lot, saddle a mule or a horse and go galloping to my church at Powder Springs, or Lost Mountain, or Mount Zion, and run up to the pulpit, stop the pastor, and shout. "Stop, Brother, I have been healed ... let me tell my story!" and every time I prayed to be immediately healed, the Lord seemed to say to me, "Not yet! I am going to do something through you in this condition you could not do otherwise.... leave it to me." I rested under the shadow of His wing.

Certain it is that if He had healed me then, in my impetuous youth, lying amid the wreckage of my shattered rosy dreams, I could not have written the books, "Earnest Willie" and "Echoes from a Recluse," which I sold from my rolling chair, making money to, enter Mercer University on that rolling chair at 31. And I never could have taught many millions of students in 42 states my motto, "LET NOTHING DISCOURAGE YOU... NEVER GIVE UP," inspiring many young lives with "A purpose linked to God." Yes ' and I never would have given years to Christian Education in Georgia without salary ... falling in my tracks, helping 7 boys and 52 girls through college.

"But," said my Bible-loving wife and some of her devout friends, "That contract with the Lord was long ago. He has brought you victoriously through many trials ... now it would honor Him far more for you to Cross the continent and witness for Him without crutches, not only as the personal Saviour of your soul, but as the Great Physician Who has healed your body." And I knew it.

Nobody knows how I suffered as I sat under the powerful preaching of Wm. Freeman, of winsome Oral Roberts over the radio, and dear Wilbur Ogilvie, who under God prayed away the incipient cancer on my face two years ago, after medical help had failed. All the time I have prayed for "appropriating faith." Somehow I just could not "take hold and walk."

Then came God's humble prophet, William Branham and that son of thunder (who can "out-Hollywood" Hollywood, and never get away from Calvary), W. J. Ern Baxter . . . making one of the greatest evangelistic Bible teams that has ever blessed the world since Paul and Barnabas laid the pillars of God's kingdom on the shores of Tiberius and the Mediterranean.

We just knew "Billy" Branham would be great, but we were not prepared for Baxter, who is an imperative John the Baptist, preparing the way for Branham. I sat entranced, still praying for "appropriating faith" but holden, somehow of that contact, and . . . that contract with the Lord 60 odd years ago. Others were being healed all around me. Then Bro. Branham, exhausted, was carried from the platform. Angels were hovering near and I knew my blessed wife and her "prayer warriors" were wrapping me in prayer. I remembered how she said, "When you are trying to lead a sinner to accept Christ, you say,’Accept, confess Christ and step out... He will do the rest and bring the feeling.’

"It was the touchstone. Brother LeRoy Kopp, Calvary Temple's golden-hearted pastor, came back to the pulpit and said, "Brother Branham says THE CONGRESSMAN IS HEALED!" My heart leaped. I said in my battling soul, "Branham knows the mind of God ... I will step out and accept the Lord as my Healer." I laid aside my crutches and started toward the startled LeRoy Kopp and my happy, shouting wife. . . and the bottom of heaven fell out!

"Heaven came down our souls to greet, and Glory crowned the Mercy Seat." And now at 84, with no gray hairs, and without my boon companions for 59 years (my crutches) I began a new life, joyously testifying that Christ the Great Physician who said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life," can not only save the souls of wicked men and women, but He can and does heal the bodies of the sick, the maimed the deaf, the dumb, and blind, bringing Heaven down to this sinning, staggering world. My crutches are still on Lite Calvary Temple pulpit, and I am "Happy on the way. . . Leaning on the Everlasting Arms." Praise God!”

William David Upshaw

2524 24th Street

Santa Monica, Calif.

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In May of 1951, William Branham provided his first accounts of how Congressman Upshaw was healed. Similar to what Upshaw stated in the April-May 1951 issue of “The Voice of Healing” magazine, Branham asserted that he had Brother Kopp tell “the congressman that God has healed him”,

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“And one night, I walked into the platform here. Mr. Baxter had just left the platform. I looked, hanging right out here, and I seen the White House, seen all about it. Begin to speak, and I couldn't tell. And I told Mr. Baxter. In a few moments, It fell and I seen where the man was setting. I seen it was him, seen him get hurt when he was just a little boy. And he'd been a crippled for all...

And I started to leave and the Spirit of God begin to fall. And a woman had raised out of a wheelchair, and some more things had taken place where the Holy Spirit revealing to them.

And as I started, Mr. Kopp here, the... Brother Kopp, the pastor run up there. And I said, "Go tell the congressman that God has healed him. I seen him, going walking away."” “My Commission” (51-0505).

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Thus, it is apparent from both Upshaw's and Branham's accounts above that William Branham did not speak directly with Upshaw when he was allegedly healed.

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​William Branham nevertheless changed his story in 1953 to say that he not only had the following back-and-forth dialogue with Upshaw while he was still on the platform, but that

he was one who told Upshaw he was healed (and not Brother Kopp), 

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“I knowed that that man was healed. I looked again. I thought, “Now’s the time,” and I said, “Congressman.”

And he said, “Yes, my son.”

And I said, “I would like to ask you a question.”

He said, “Yes, sir.”

I said, “Do you own a brown pinstriped suit?”

He said, “Yes, sir, my son, I bought one day before yesterday.”

I said, “Well, my brother in Christ, though you have laid sixty-six years on crutches, wheelchairs, and beds, and rushed up, and believed in healing all your life.”

“That’s right.” I said, “But… And stood for pro—against the evil, refused to become president, because you chose the right thing, God has honored you, and Jesus Christ has healed you.”

He said, “God be praised, my boy.” He said, “If Jesus Christ will ever let me walk without crutches and things again,” said, “I’ll—I’ll spend the rest of my days, which is very few I know left, I’ll spend them for His glory.”

I said, “Congressman,” and I felt myself fainting then. Done got me. I said, “In the Name of Jesus Christ stand up to your feet. God’s healed you.”

And that man who had been invalid for sixty-six years, the congressman of the United States rose to his feet, rushed to the platform, reached down, touched his toes, raised back up, and was perfectly normal as long as he lived. That’s right. Went to see Churchill, visit him, stood in time in Billy Graham’s meeting up there on the White House steps and sang before those congressmen, “Leaning On The Everlasting Arms.” God… The man lived so long. He went over years after that. That’s been about four years ago.” “Has The Lord Spoken Only To Moses?” (53-1130).
 

In 1954, William Branham changed and embellished his story further by claiming that he and Upshaw specifically stated all of the following to each other,

 

“And I looked. And coming in, they just got off of an airplane. And here come a wheelchair. They'd just got inside the building and it begin come... It was moving on down to get it with the rest of wheelchairs. I said, "That's the old gentleman now." It was about twice the distance of this building. I said, "That's the old man now."

And he was weeping so, I went ahead and told my brother to call the prayer line. And so we begin to get them lined up, and so the next thing taking place, why, they had an extension mike here, and Mr. Baxter said, "Brother Branham," said--said, "That old man that you were speaking to is the Congressman of the United States. It's William D. Upshaw."

I said, "I don't know who he was."

He said, "He wants to speak to you through this mike."

And he said, "My son, how did you know that I fell and hurt myself when I was a boy?"

I said, "I can't tell you, sir. I've never heard of you in my life. I'm sorry."

"And he said, "Well, I was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention." said, "Dr. Davis, the one that ordained you in the Baptist church, was the one who sent me here to see you."

"I said, "I am acquainted with Dr. Davis."

"He said, "I been prayed for." said, "I've been a invalid in this wheelchair for sixty-six years." And he said, "I'm eighty-six years old now." And he said, "I have trusted God, since I was seventeen years old when I was hurt to heal me." Said, "Do you think I will ever be healed?"”

"I said, "I could not tell you, sir." I said, "I can only say what I see."

He said, “God bless you, my boy.”

And I said, “Thank you, kind sir.” And I turned this way and when I did, my brother, being the chief usher in the meetings, was getting the people lined up down there.

. . .

And as I looked, I seen that old congressman, like a shadow, going walking like that. And he was sitting there with a blue suit on and a red tie. Only in the vision he had a brown suit, a kind of a chocolate colored brown, with a white stripe in it. And I said, “Congressman, have you got a brown suit with a white stripe?”

He said, “My son, I just bought one yesterday.”

I said, “You have been a very reverent man and has honored God all these years. And through the honoring of God and believing God, God is rewarding you now, to give your last days happy. You can walk, Congressman. The Lord Jesus Christ has healed you, 'Thus saith the Lord.'”

He said, “When will I be able to walk, my boy?”

I said, “Right now, Congressman.” And up he jumped from that chair, threw aside.... He had big crutches that went up over his shoulders, when they'd stand him up; it was like Mr. Roosevelt, like that, in his back.

And a man, when it looked like God would've healed him when he was young (seventeen years old) not wait till he's sixty-six ... or, eighty-six, rather. And his back, all bones all brittle. But that man for the first time, eighty-six years old, since being an invalid for sixty-six years, rose to his feet.” “Jesus On The Authority Of The Word” (54-0217).

 

Then in 1958, William Branham provided the following vastly different and embellished story,

 

“How many remembers the healing of Congressman Upshaw? I was just standing there talking like this when there's thousands of people standing there, and they was fixing to line up, and I looked out. I'd seen an old man, and they'd been a many a wheelchair, oh, there was just wheelchairs all over the places in California. And I looked across, and

I seen a little boy playing on a haystack, and he fell and hit his back across a--the edge of a frame. And it must've broke his back. I seen a doctor with little glasses hanging low on his nose, white mustache and white hair, a working on him but it was no good, too far gone. And I seen them boring holes in the house so that the people walking in, it wouldn't vibrate on the floor. He was so bad. And that's the only thing I can say is what I'm looking at.

And just then, I seen there come a great man, a famous speaker, and the vision left. And I looked around; I couldn't find him. And they'd just brought him in, I think, by a plane. And I said, "There's the old man setting right there now." And his wife was down with him. He's eighty-six years old, been in a wheelchair for sixty-six years. And there he was, and bowing down. And to you Baptist tonight, you surely ought to know him. He was the Vice President of Southern Baptist Convention.

So when he a... And he said, "My son, how did you ever know that I fell on a hay frame?"

I said, "Sir, I didn't know."

He said, "It has to come from God, for that is the same type of doctor that operated on me which has been gone for years." He said, "And no minister anywhere..." Said, and they told me, said, "It's Congressman Upshaw."

Well, I didn't... He might've said somebody from India. I wouldn't knowed any different 'cause I didn't know no Congressman. And so Mr. Baxter said, "That's Congressman Willie D. Upshaw."

I said, "I never heard of him."

So he said, "Will I be healed, my son?"

I said, "Sir, I don't know. The only thing I can say is what I see."

. . .

And just as I turned, I seen the old Congressman with a brown pin striped suit on. He wore a blue suit with a red tie at the time. He was going right over the tops of the heads of the people. He was very southern hospitality, going along, going like this.
I said, "Congressman," (they run the address system to him quickly). And I said, "Haven't you got a brown pin striped suit?" He said, "My son, I just bought one yesterday."
I said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD. It looks like that God would've healed you when you were about seventeen years old and your bones all young to wait till you're eighty-six and then heal you." But I said, "He's healed you, Congressman."
He said, "Do you mean to say, my son, that I can rise from this chair?"
I said, "In Jesus' Name, come here." And that man, being bound to his... When they raised him up like President Roosevelt, with those great, big things over him (braces) and he walked. You know how he walked, if you knew him. And he threw those down, raised from his wheelchair, run to the platform and touched his toes like that, and stand up as a real man. And it's...?... the nation.” “The Queen Of The South” (58-0208).

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Just a few months later, William Branham further changed and embellished the details of his story by stating,

 

“How about Congressman Upshaw out here? Been in the wheelchair for sixty-six years. And stood in Billy Graham’s meeting on the White House steps and sang Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.

He was healed by God in my meeting that night in California, a square away from him, nearly, when I seen him and called who he was, and asked him to rise from the wheelchair for the first time he’d been on his feet (he was eighty-something years old) since he was seventeen. And he run to the platform, touching his toes.

Congressman William D. Upshaw: run for president in ’26 and was defeated because he was on the dry ticket.

And I said, “Sir, I don’t know who you are, but you fell on a… off of an ol’ haystack and hit a hay frame. You been crippled since you was a little boy.”

He said, “That’s right.”

I said, “I see you bore… they bored the holes in the house so that your bed would… walking on the floor, vibrating, would hurt your back.”

“That’s right.”

And I said, “You become a great man.” He was a president of the Southern Baptist Convention. And I said, “Then, you become a great speaker; and you’re from the White House.”

Mr. Baxter run an extension mike back there to see who it was. He run back up to me, he said, “That’s… you know who that is?” Said, “That’s Congressman Upshaw.”

I said, “Never heard of, in my life. I don’t know nothing about politics.”

So they said, or, he said, “He said, wants to talk to you through this mike.”

He said, “My boy, how did you know that I was in that shape?” I said, “Sir, I only can say what I’m looking at.”

. . .

Started to turn to the—the little girl, or, to the lady, was standing there, I looked: going across the platform in front of me, and there went that old man with a striped suit on, two tone brown, striped suit, with a little hat, like you see laying there. He’s the one that gives them to me. And he was going across this… across the platform like a shadow, tipping his hat to everybody, that southern way of doing it, like that, as he bowed.

I said, “Congressman.” He had on a blue suit and a red tie; as you politicians know, that was his way of dressing. And I said, “It looks like that God would have healed you back there when you was seventeen years old, when your bones was all, had lot of calcium. But, wait, here, till you’re eighty-four, before He heals you?”

He said, “My son, do you mean that God will heal me?”

I said, “Sir, have you got a—a brown suit, dark brown, with a light stripe in it?”

Said, “Just bought one yesterday.”

I said, “You wear a little semi-western hat, don’t you?”

He said, “Yes, sir, I do.”

I said, “In the Name of the Lord Jesus, come up from that wheelchair, and come here.”

He said, “You mean I can get up?”

His wife run down to his feet, like that, said, “Oh, honey, you’ll fall.”

He said, “If that man could tell me…” Said, “Dr. Roy Davis ordained you in the Baptist church, didn’t he?”

I said, “Yes.”

Said, “He was the one, sent me here.” He said, “If God has let you know how I was hurt, yeah, I can get out of this chair.” And out of there he went, and run to the platform, and touched his toes, and just as nimble as a sixteen-year-old boy.

Congressman Upshaw, at Billy Graham’s meeting in Washington, DC, stood on the steps and sang Leaning On The Everlasting Arm.” “Behold, I Stand At The Door And Knock” (58-0521).

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In 1959, William Branham even falsely claimed that Upshaw was healed after setting in a wheelchair for more than sixty years,

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“Setting in this audience tonight somewhere is Mrs. Upshaw, William Upshaw’s widow. How was it down here at Kopp Church the—I believe called the World Church now. When Brother Kopp was there that had the meeting that night, I never heard of William Upshaw in my life. And he would been the congressman, I believe, for about seventeen years.

But when I walked to the platform, and it happened to be that he knew the old Baptist preacher that ordained me in the Baptist church, Doctor Roy E. Davis. Doctor Davis told him to come, see me when I come to the coast, to have me to pray for him. And he moved in and was setting in his wheelchair. All of a sudden I saw an old hay frame and a little boy fall, hurt his back, begin to relate just what I was seeing. Someone said, “That’s the old congressman setting there, William Upshaw.”

And in a few minutes he’d asked me if he thought—if I thought he’d get well? And just in a few moments I saw him in a vision walking across the top of the people’s head, bowing hisself down as he did as the southern hospitality. And in one minute’s time he was on the platform rejoicing and praising God, after being in a wheelchair for sixty something years, I think. It’s the evidence that God heals from the wheelchair, after setting there in that wheelchair, wheeled around for over a half a hundred years.” “Mary's Belief” (59-0409).

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“Oh, I remember Congressman Upshaw, setting in a wheel chair for sixty-six years. That night, yonder in California, when the Holy Spirit come down, and begin to speak, he met God. And from then on, he could walk without his crutches.” “And From That Time” (59-1231).

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Was Congressman Upshaw ever really crippled and “healed” by God as he and William Branham claimed?

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Despite all of the above claims of Congressman Upshaw being miraculously healed by God after being unable to walk without crutches for most of his life, the facts and evidence below demonstrate that he likely was not crippled as he led people to believe.

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After Upshaw struck a Boston Herald reporter on the head in a lobby of the House of Representatives in 1926, a news story was published in the Gettysburg Times, which states, 

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“By way of interpolation it should be explained that Representative Upshaw uses crutches. Whenever excited, as today in the House, he totally discards their use and runs about as well as any other man.”

Upshaw told Choate he had written a "lie" Choate replied that any member of the House Press Gallery who observed Uphsaw "in action" on Thursday certainly formed the impression that Upshaw could do without his crutches "in moments of excitement." Upshaw insisted he could not do without his crutches.”[1]

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In that news story, which follows, the reporter even regarded Upshaw to be a “faker”,