Prophecies of William Branham's Death
Two different people prophesied that William Branham would die before he was killed in a car crash in December 1965. They are the late American and world-renowned minister, Kenneth Erwin Hagin (1917-2003) and the late American prophetess and reverend, Anna Morehead Schrader (1892-1985).
Kenneth Hagin's prophecy
Kenneth Hagin retold his prophecy in a book that he wrote entitled, He Gave Gifts Unto Men, as follows,
“Another instance of private foretelling occurred in my ministry in January 1964. . . .
In this prophecy, the Lord also said, “At the end of ’65, he who now stands in the forefront of the healing ministry as a prophet will be taken out of the way. He’ll make a false step and Satan shall destroy his life, but his spirit will be saved, and his works will follow him. Ere ’66 shall come, he shall be gone.”[5]
The “false step” that William Branham apparently made was leading people to believe that he was “Elijah the prophet” and the “messenger of the covenant”, as is evident in the accounts and correspondence that follow.
In his book, Kenneth Hagin specifically references former American minister, Gordon Lindsay, who traveled extensively with William Branham as a campaign manager beginning in 1947. Therein, Hagin retells how he brought the prophecy to Lindsay's attention and how Branham would not listen to Lindsay after he implored him not to teach, as follows,
“I took that prophecy to Brother Lindsay, because it’s scriptural to have other spiritual men judge prophecy. I never made it public. Prophets make a mistake by publicly broadcasting some of these things.
On December 27, 1965, my wife was at the beauty parlor, and she called home to say that this minister, who was the leading prophet at the time, had been in an automobile accident. He was unconscious, and doctors said he would never regain consciousness.
I told her, 'There is no use praying. He’ll be dead within two or three days,' I said that because I remembered what the Lord had said in that prophecy. Then the Lord explained to me, 'I had to permit him to be removed because of the damage he was causing in the Body of Christ.'
Two days later, Brother Lindsay called me and said, 'Brother Hagin, the brother you referred to just died. I got out that prophecy the Lord gave us eighteen months ago and read it. It’s right on.'
Brother Lindsay related an experience he’d had with that prophet. Brother Lindsay said, 'I told him, ‘You’re not a teacher, so don’t try to teach.’' He was a preacher and a good one at that, and he had marvelous manifestations of the Holy Spirit in his ministry.
Brother Lindsay said, 'I begged him not to teach. I said, ‘You don’t know the Bible, and you’re confusing folks. Leave the Bible teaching to the teachers. Just go ahead and preach and exercise the word of knowledge and gifts of healings as the Spirit wills, and be a blessing to the Body of Christ.’'
“This prophet said to Brother Lindsay, 'I know I’m not a teacher, but I want to teach. And I’m going to teach!'”[5]
NOTE: William Branham actually died on December 24, 1965, so he was not in a state of unconsciousness on December 27, 1965, as Kenneth Hagin stated. Notwithstanding his assertion of the incorrect date, whether the result of simple error or inaccurate information conveyed to and from his wife, the original prophecy was not nullified or negated, but was
fulfilled because Branham was, in fact, “gone” before the start of 1966, as the one who stood “in the forefront of the healing ministry as a prophet.” (Gordon Lindsay confirmed that it “came to pass exactly as the prophecy stated” in his February 9, 1971 letter to Richard E. Gan, which can be viewed on the next page below.)
Freda Lindsay Substantiates Hagin's Prophecy
Kenneth Hagin's prophecy that foretold the death of William Branham is substantiated by Gordon Lindsay's wife, Freda Lindsay, in her book, My Diary Secrets, as follows,
“One day Kenneth Hagin came into our offices. He handed Gordon a piece of paper on which was written a prophecy he said the Lord had given him. The prophecy stated that the leader of the deliverance movement was soon to be taken in death because he was getting into error, and the Lord was having to remove him from the scene for that reason. Gordon took the prophecy and placed it on his desk.
After Brother Hagin left, I asked, 'What do you think about this?
Is this Branham?'
Gordon answered gravely, 'Yes, it is Branham. He is getting into error. He thinks he is Elijah. He thinks he is the messenger of the covenant. The sad thing is that unscrupulous men around him are putting words into his mouth, and due to his limited background he is taking them up.'
Two years later William Branham, who had moved from his home in Jeffersonville, Indiana, was driving to Tuscon, Arizona, his new base. In West Texas he had a head-on collision with a drunken driver and was taken to the hospital. His head became terribly swollen. A tube was placed in his throat to assist his breathing, but on Christmas Eve, 1965 he departed this world, even as the prophecy had stated.
A tremendous ministry that had veered from the course!”[6]
Anna Schrader's prophecy
In the aforesaid book of Kenneth Hagin, he references Anna Schrader's prophecy of William Branham as follows,
“... Then brother Lindsay related something else to me that had happened regarding this same prophet. He said to me, 'This past year, I was praying with my wife and sister Schrader about the work of the ministry. (Sister Schrader was a prophetess who has since gone on to be with the Lord.) We were praying about different projects in our ministry. Right in the middle of the prayer, Sister Schrader blurted out, 'Go warn Brother [Branham]... he's going to die.' Brother Lindsay said, 'I was busy, and I let that get by me, and I didn't go warn him like I was supposed to. Then later, my wife and I and Sister Schrader were again praying about ministry projects. Again Sister Schrader blurted out right in the middle of prayer, 'Go warn Brother [Branham]... he's going to die. He's walking in the way of Dowie.' After his morning meeting, Brother Lindsay said, 'I talked to him as the Lord had instructed me, but I saw that he wouldn't listen...'”[5]
Therein, Kenneth Hagin explains the significance of William Branham “walking in the way of Dowie”, as follows,
“What did that prophecy mean, "He's walking in the way of Dowie"? Sister Schrader didn't even know what that meant; she didn't know Dowie. This prophet (DOWIE) had proclaimed that he was Elijah that was to come, and that he was the messenger of the covenant. But Jesus is the Messenger of the Covenant! Dowie had proclaimed the same thing. I read one of Dowie's sermons in which he proclaimed, "I'm Elijah number three." This prophet who died also said he was Elijah. That's what the Lord meant by, "He's walking in the way of Dowie."”[5]
William Branham knew Sister Schrader and stated that she did have a gift of prophecy,
“How many knows the visions almost kill you. Jesus… One woman touched His garment and virtue went from Him. You know that? Here’s little Miss Schrader here. I was talking to her today in there. You wonder why she lays like that. She has a gift of prophecy. That’s what does it.” “Conference” (60-1125).
On page 13 of the December 1961 issue of “The Voice of Healing” magazine here,
Gordon Lindsay provided a transcript of his interview with Anna Schrader about her gift of prophecy. Therein, he stated that “All agree that she possesses a rare gift of prophecy.”
Ern Baxter also identified why William Branham's ministry was brought to a close.
A former Canadian pastor by the name of Ern Baxter also traveled extensively with William Branham as a campaign manager beginning in 1947. Like Lindsay and Schrader, Baxter realized that Branham was in error with his teachings and even left the Branham team in 1953 or 1954 due, in part, to his disagreement with them.[7]
When Ern Baxter was asked what brought William Branham's ministry to a close, he replied,
“I believe there’s a Bible principle involved. No matter who we are, if we don’t relate to the principles of truth, we pay for it. We either fall on it and break in repentance, or it falls on us and breaks us in judgment.
The measure of faith Paul talks about in Romans 12 where he says,
“to each man is given a measure of faith . . . he that prophesieth, let him prophecy according to the measure of faith,” indicates that we all have been given a grace gift. But we must walk within the confines of our gift. For instance, if a miracle worker, who may be used mightily in working miracles, steps over the boundaries of that gift and presumes, to be a teacher when God has not called him to teach, then he is violating the rule of walking within his grace.
Branham saw himself as a teacher of some kind of “in” truth. To me, some of it was quite esoteric. I became aware early in his ministry that there was a mixture. I urged him not to say some things in public. As long as we worked together he refrained. One of the reasons for my leaving him was that he was starting to say some seriously wrong things. When that, coupled with other circumstances, eventually became unbearable, I resigned.
I think there can be a lesson in this. Branham, as a miracle worker, had a real place. Branham as a teacher was outside of his calling. The fruits of his teaching ministry are not good.”[7]
When Ern Baxter was also asked what he thought is one of the main things that we can learn from the healing revival and the ministry of William Branham and others, he replied,
“That’s an excellent question. I think we need to learn out of it the absolutely mandatory nature of the principle of plurality. No man, no matter how gifted, can afford to violate plurality and walk alone.
Number two, I would say it points up the great necessity of staying in your calling or gift, and not making use of whatever accrues to you from that gift to get into other areas. I think it also points up the need of having responsible community to receive the fruits of this kind of evangelistic ministry. If the converts are not brought into a New Testament biblical community or church, they become followers of a man who cannot develop them into maturity.
I believe these principles are very basic. In addition, man does not live by miracles alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Miracles and signs arid wonders are not food. They are signs to tell you where the food is. If you try to live on the signs, you get unbalanced nutrition.”[7]
Footnotes:
[1] Weaver, C. Douglas (2000). The Healer-Prophet: William Marrion Branham (A study of the Prophetic in American Pentecostalism). Mercer University Press. ISBN 978-0-865-54710-0.
[2] Moriarty, Michael (1992). The New Charismatics. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-310-53431-0, p. 119.
[3] Moriarty (1992), p. 55.
[4] Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Branham
[5] Hagin, Kenneth E. He Gave Gifts Unto Men, A Biblical Perspective of Apostles, Prophets and Pastors, Kenneth Hagin Ministries Inc., Tulsa, OK, (1992), pp. 164-170.
[6] Lindsay, Freda. My Diary Secrets. Christ for the Nations Inc., Dallas, TX, seventh printing rev., (1998), pp. 209-210.
[7] New Wine Interviews Ern Baxter – New Wine Magazine – December 1978,
http://ern-baxter.blogspot.com/2006/12/happy-christmas-to-one-and-all-i-do.html,
February 9, 1971 letter from Gordon Lindsay to Richard E. Gan stating that William Branham was getting into error and his death came to pass exactly as the prophecy stated (annotations were later added to the letter by Richard E. Gan).[8]
Footnotes:
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
March 24, 1971 letter from Freda Lindsay to Richard E. Gan indicating the error that William Branham got into.[9] (Gordon Lindsay negated the one about water baptism in the 4/28/71 letter that follows.)
April 28, 1971 letter from Gordon Lindsay to Richard Gan on behalf of Sister Anna Schrader in which Lindsay indicates that the error Branham was getting into was related to statements of him being Elijah the prophet and a messenger of the covenant.[10]
March 23, 1971 letter from Kenneth E. Hagin to Richard Gan indicating that the prophecy was about Branham taking a false step and referring Gan to Sister Anna Schrader for more details.[11]
