{"id":65112,"date":"2015-10-31T00:32:22","date_gmt":"2015-10-31T00:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=65112"},"modified":"2026-03-01T14:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T22:31:14","slug":"branham-even-better","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=65112","title":{"rendered":"The Message Connection of Jim Jones and William Branham"},"content":{"rendered":"

(The previous article by John Collins and Peter M. Duyzer for this website is The Intersection of William Branham and Jim Jones<\/a>. More information about Rev. Branham prepared by John Collins and Peter M. Duyzer may be found at the informational website, <\/em>https:\/\/william-branham.org<\/em><\/a>, and in the book <\/em>Legend of the Fall<\/a> available on Amazon.com. Additional information is also available at the Freedom of Mind<\/a> website here<\/a>.)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

This article seeks to examine what kind of a connection exists between what both Jim Jones and William Branham referred to as \u201cThe Message.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"vol14pp87.91_earl\"<\/a>\"vol14pp87.91_earl2\"<\/a>In a handwritten note from Rev. Jim Jones to Earl Jackson, believed to be dated between 1957 and 1965, Jones refers to a movement that he describes \u201cthe Message,\u201d when the note reads: \u201cGod sent you to People\u2019s Temple and you must not release yourself. I know there are things about the Message that you may not see but it is God.\u201d[1]<\/a> The fact that Jones both capitalized and underlined the word \u201cMessage\u201d is stresses its importance. Indeed, the markings on the handwritten note suggest there is more to \u201cThe Message\u201d than meets the eye.<\/p>\n

Within the overarching understanding of Christendom, use of the term \u201cThe Message\u201d is not a novel thing. For the past few centuries, several movements have sprung up claiming to have \u201cThe Message.\u201d By simply adding the definite article to \u201cmessage,\u201d the statement claims authority, as in, \u201cThis is not just a message like any other message, this is THE message.\u201d This term then becomes loaded with information that explains what this message contains and means, but it also intends to correct, if not demonize, all that falls outside of its parameters.<\/p>\n

An example might be helpful here. At this point in time, the LDS movement (Mormonism) is re-branding itself, which includes subtly substituting, or replacing, words in their message to soften animosity towards the LDS and increase their market share. As a Mormon blog writer notes, the church\u2019s push has become, \u201cStay on message. Only 12% of Americans know our central message. It is this: We are the re-established, original Christian Church.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

In Pentecostal circles, it is also not uncommon to use the word \u201cmessage\u201d instead of the word \u201csermon.\u201d One might refer to a sermon as a \u201cmessage from god,\u201d or a \u201cmessage I am bringing you today.\u201d However, the emphasis in Jones\u2019 handwritten note to Brother Jackson is that he is writing about something beyond just a message: it is \u201cThe Message.\u201d He uses it in context of a religious movement. His core argument is that the Message itself is not just a message from God, it is God.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rev. William Branham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In our previous article<\/a>, we pointed out that the intersection between the ministries of Jim Jones and William Branham was critical to the success of Jones\u2019 early ministry and his rise to prominence. William Branham initiated Jones into the mainstream of post-World War II healing campaigns at the Cadle Tabernacle in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1956. In many of these services, the mentor was advertised as the main speaker. Beyond that, Branham also appears to have held joint faith healing meetings with Jones in multiple cities.<\/p>\n

Happy to see today as our host pastor Brother James Jones, from Indianapolis, back there.[3]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

William Branham used the term \u201cThe Message\u201d in much the same way throughout his own ministry. Even today, Branham\u2019s followers still refer to the religious movement Branham started in the early 1930\u2019s as \u201cThe Message.\u201d This is seen in question like, \u201cDo you believe the Message,\u201d or \u201cWhen did you come into the Message?\u201d<\/p>\n

I never called this message to go over the world like this.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like Jones, Branham said the prophet is the Word (which is The Message) which is god.<\/p>\n

A prophet is the Word\u2026you know, the prophet in the Old Testament was called “god.”[5]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While no transcriptions of the personal conversations between Rev. Jim Jones and Rev. William Branham have yet been discovered or released by Branham or Jones\u2019 sources, there exist audio and written records from both ministers to compare the similarities between what each man considered to be \u201cThe Message.\u201d A number of Jones\u2019 sermons during this timeframe with references to his understanding of \u201cThe Message\u201d within his belief system can be found in transcripts long after Jones\u2019 Pentecostal days. At much the same time, Branham\u2019s campaign team started the process of recording and mass producing reel-to-reel and cassette tape recordings of his sermons. These records provide the necessary information needed to examine whether there is a link between \u201cThe Message\u201d of Jones and Branham. It also will help to determine which of these usages had precedence.<\/p>\n

Usage of the term \u201cThe Message\u201d compared<\/strong><\/p>\n

William Branham stressed the necessity of salvation through a prophet. He introduces it slowly, using Old Testament prophets as examples before introducing and establishing his own ministry, as can be seen in the following quotes:<\/p>\n

When John came upon the earth, He was the manifested Word of God for that hour. We know that. He was God’s manifested Word.[6]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In fact, Branham made it very clear that, without receiving \u201cThe Message\u201d or the Word of the age, day or hour, of which he is the prophet, there is no salvation:<\/p>\n

The evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost today\u2026is receiving the Word of Truth for the day in which you live.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

There’s only one evidence of the Holy Spirit that I know of, and that is a genuine faith in the promised Word of the hour.[8]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Throughout Branham\u2019s ministry and until this time, the terms \u201cThe Message\u201d and \u201cThe Spoken Word\u201d are used interchangeably.<\/p>\n

Towards the end of his own life Jim Jones makes a similar claim, referring to himself as \u201cThe Spoken Word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without a prophet, you cannot be saved. That\u2019s what I am. The Word. The Spoken Word. The Living Word.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019re not in a praying house here, we\u2019re in a speaking house. The Spoken Word is here. The Word is made flesh.[10]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"spoken\"<\/a>In many Christian churches \u2013 especially in the Pentecostal-style churches in the era of Jones and Branham \u2013 the Bible in its written form is referred to as the \u201cWord of God,\u201d or simplified to \u201cthe Word.\u201d The statements made by both Jones and Branham, in contrast, were considered to be the \u201cSpoken Word.\u201d They were in effect making the claim that their own statements were a continuation of the Bible and should be regarded as holy, without error and indisputable. Upon William Branham\u2019s death, his sermons were sold under the title \u201cThe Spoken Word\u201d until ownership was transferred to the \u201cVoice of God Recordings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Healing Methods Compared<\/strong><\/p>\n

Healed by a picture:<\/em><\/p>\n

Child: And when I seen a bird in front of my house, I asked my sister to go get some food for it and she went to go get some\u2026 When I got it, I dropped the bird. I sure did and my (unintelligible) said go get the picture of Jim, and she got it and I put it on the bird and it came back alive![11]<\/a><\/p>\n

She went and got that picture, and set it down on the floor, and knelt down, and she said, \u201cOh, angel of God, whose picture is on this paper, send Brother Branham to me, right quick.\u201d[12]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Healed by the Message:<\/em><\/p>\n

When you get my teaching\u2026 you\u2019ll get your healing. You\u2019ll get your protection.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

This woman saw me as God\u2026 That\u2019s why the woman over there with a paralyzed side was healed, because they saw me as God. but when you start telling me something, you see me as man. You have to have faith and keep coming and see God.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

You’re to take a message of Divine healing to the peoples of the world.[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

The greatest support I have on the field is the Pentecostal people, because they believe the message of Divine healing\u2026The rest of them turn their nose up at it.[16]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Claims of being \u201cGod\u201d or \u201ca god.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I have come in the name of Jesus. I have come in the fathership degree. I am a God.[17]<\/a><\/p>\n

When I say I am God, when I say I am God, when I say I am God! (Glossolalia). When I say I am God, then I feel (unintelligible word) well up within my soul. And I see it well up in you, and I see the sick healed, and the blind see, and the dead raised. You wanna know how I feel, I never feel so good as when I say I am God.[18]<\/a><\/p>\n

I am God, I\u2019m the only God there is\u2013[19]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Branham too, intimated that he was God or a god.<\/p>\n

Man is omnipotent. You don’t believe that, but he is. A man that’s fully surrendered to God is omnipotent.[20]<\/a><\/p>\n

I want you to know now that my heart is completely surrendered\u2026[21]<\/a><\/p>\n

If you could see the Spirit of God in Moses, which he was God. Moses was a god. Joseph was a god. The prophets were gods. The Bible said they were. They were gods because it–they had completely surrendered themselves to the Spirit of God.[22]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Deification of the Prophet<\/strong><\/p>\n

A very critical component to the establishment of a religious cult is found in the theology of prophet deification. Using illustrations of key figures in the Bible, the \u201cMessage\u201d of both Jim Jones and William Branham shaped their followers to deify prophets of the Old Testament. The two men then applied this deification to their own persons. The listeners were led to conclude that were no ordinary men, that they were likened to gods. Some in both followings went so far as to claim that the men were gods. According to the \u201cMessage\u201d of both men, this made perfect sense to their followers.<\/p>\n

Jesus said, we all are gods, and I had to come back to remind you what I told you 2000 years ago. I\u2019m on the scene to tell you, ye are gods. And not take it away. Won\u2019t let you take it away. So don\u2019t be judges of the fact, that my people say I am God. Jesus said, ye are gods.[23]<\/a><\/p>\n

Moses was what? \u2026 He was the God of his day, leading his people through the wilderness.[24]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A core concept repeated throughout Branham\u2019s \u201cMessage\u201d is the idea that the Bible itself is written in mystery, and that it required a prophet to interpret the hidden meanings. God sent a prophet in each age, Branham said, to correct the errors of the theologians.<\/p>\n

Each age, He sends a prophet on there, with anointed. The Word of the Lord comes to the prophet, always, to vindicate It in the age.[25]<\/a><\/p>\n

God in sundry times wrote the Bible by His Own chosen way. He never wrote It by theologians, neither does He interpret by theologians\u2026 The interpretation comes only to a prophet. And the only way we’re ever going to get out of this mess is for God to send us that prophet\u2026The Bible said, \u2018The Word of the Lord comes to the prophets.\u201d[26]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Though Jones was not as articulate in his explanation of this aspect of the \u201cMessage\u201d, his view was much the same. The Temple leader promoted the idea that a prophet was sent to each dispensation to interpret the Bible and to separate truth from error. Even later in his ministry, long after he abandoned his Pentecostal faith, Jones continued this concept.<\/p>\n

There is a prophet in our day who unquestioningly proves that he is sent from God. He has all the gifts of the spirit as given in the Bible: Word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues. (See I Cor. 12:8-10). We must have a prophet who is living the Christ life to direct us in this hour.[27]<\/a><\/p>\n

But King James put lies in the Bible, and that\u2019s why you have to have a prophet in every dispensation, to teach you, to show you the truth from the error.[28]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The terms \u201cThe Message\u201d and \u201cGospel of Divine Healing,\u201d were used interchangeably by both men. Crowds came from all over the nation and beyond for healing of their physical ailments and conditions. As each person stepped up to the platform, Branham and Jones would each claim to have a prophetic voice that could \u201cdiscern\u201d their diseases and afflictions. This process Branham called \u201cdiscernment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under that power of discernment, when the prophetic utterance goes forth, it tells you just exactly where your trouble is\u2026Then get that out of the way first. Then God’s got to heal you.[29]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jones\u2019 Message was much the same. According to Jones, the prophetic voice was directly tied to the physical healing.<\/p>\n

Last week, there was one that was lame, lame for some 20 years, unable to walk, but the Spoken Word went forth, and the discernment about her condition was given.[30]<\/a><\/p>\n

Thus his prophets will be loving, compassionate and yet powerfully wise and all consumed by the power, the power of God Almighty to proceed to break the bondages of negation over the earth. By healing the sick both physically, psychologically, emotionally and mentally, all shall be healed by the power of a prophetic voice. You can know a prophet.[31]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Message was sent to correct doctrinal error in the church<\/strong><\/p>\n

The \u201cMessage\u201d of both men as God\u2019s prophets was to proclaim that Christianity as a whole \u2013 but especially the Pentecostal movement \u2013 was in error, setting up the platform for their doctrinal correction. According to both, doctrinal issues had caused divisions in the church, and because of these divisions, they could not ascend to a higher plane. The \u201cMessage\u201d of Divine Healing had the answer:<\/p>\n

And that’s where it comes to show to me that all you Pentecostal groups of people who fuss about your little doctrines and things, some of these days that’ll be shook out of you. That’s right. You’re one big Church, brother. That’s right. Your little points don’t mean nothing in the sight of God. You’re one big Church of God\u2026They believed in Divine healing, and they all run together in that big coliseum, about thirty-thousand packed out.[32]<\/a><\/p>\n

You could have sixty percent of God as some endeavor to do in the so-called Pentecostal and Latter Rain movements. Or you could move on, on beyond the sixty percent, in which forty percent of you are still dead, and only sixty percent alive. You could move on up to the consciousness of one hundred percent, where there is nothing but God.[33]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Healing by means of prophetic discernment<\/strong><\/p>\n

The strategies employed by Jones to \u201cdiscern\u201d the secrets of the hearts may never be known beyond the anecdotal suggestions of Temple leaders poking through parishioners\u2019 trash \u2013 or even their medicine cabinets \u2013 to collect clues. While modern faith healers are often exposed using technology, mnemonics or other techniques to guess their patients\u2019 private lives, Jones\u2019 intelligence apparently was collected in a cruder, more clandestine manner.<\/p>\n

Branham\u2019s campaigns, on the other hand, often required the sick and afflicted attending his services to fill out designated \u201cprayer cards\u201d soliciting their names, addresses, and afflictions. As patients stepped up to the platform, Branham claimed his own prophetic voice knew the information written on their cards. Evidence clearly shows his gift suffered when the prayer lines were not in the same order as the cards, or when a difficult name was written on the card.<\/p>\n

\"250px-Prayer_Card_Front_and_Back\"<\/a>Evidence exists that Branham was in contacts with his campaign staff during the sermons, including with his son, Billy Paul, whom the healer mentioned as being in charge of organizing the prayer cards. Witnesses have described ushers approaching the platform in the lag time between patients coming to Branham, or during prayer times. A 1954 campaign video entitled \u201cDeep Calleth Unto The Deep\u201d shows Billy Paul, approaching the pulpit and standing at Branham\u2019s right side during the prayer, prior to a series of people approaching the healer. For a long period of time during this prayer, Billy Paul can be seen holding his hand over his mouth.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the strategy used, Branham\u2019s healing lines were well-polished. Even when mistakes were made, Branham was able to quickly divert the focus and to continue without distraction. In a 1963 prayer line, Branham appears to fumble the names he is \u201cdiscerning.\u201d A Mrs. Burton comes first, followed by his landlord, and finally a \u201cMrs. Parker.\u201d Branham misses the Parker person and he mistakenly \u201cdiscerns\u201d another \u201cBurton,\u201d and claims that \u201che didn\u2019t mean it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Burton\u2026 I don’t know the woman, but if you’ll believe with all your heart {\u2026}
\n[Next person approaches]
\nSister Larsen, I do know you. She’s my landlord. {\u2026}
\n[Next person approaches] {\u2026}
\nYou’re near Bedford, Springville, something like. That’s where it’s at, Springville. Mrs. Burton\u2026 not\u2026 I beg your pardon; I didn’t mean it. Mrs. Parker, that’s your name, isn’t it?[34]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Close examination of the transcripts of Jim Jones\u2019 prayer lines suggests that he was using a similar strategy, though his technique does not appear as polished as Branham\u2019s. In Transcript Q 920, he appears to have expected a \u201cRussell\u201d and then \u201cLoreen Hayes\u201d instead of Ms. Mitchell. Mitchell is a bit confused, and Jones quickly shifts focus from one name to another.<\/p>\n

Jones<\/strong>: Uh\u2013 Russell\u2013 Mitchell? Mitchell! Who\u2019s Mitchell? Hands clasped. I\u2019m in the realms of heart\u2026 Willis. Hmm. (Pause) My God. Who is Loreen Hayes?
\nMs. Mitchell<\/strong>: (Pause) I don\u2019t know him.
\nJones<\/strong>: You know anyone of the name Loreen Hayes?
\nMs. Mitchell<\/strong>: No\u2013
\nJones<\/strong>: Yeah, we\u2019ll move on from one to another. Loreen\u2013 what is it?
\nMs. Mitchell<\/strong>: (unintelligible)
\nJones<\/strong>: Hayes\u2013 Is Mitchell\u2013 Mitchell connected with you?
\nMs. Mitchell<\/strong>: Right.
\nJones<\/strong>: There\u2019s another Mitchell?
\nMs. Mitchell<\/strong>: Right. I\u2019m Mitchell.[35]<\/a><\/p>\n

Once this \u201cprophecy\u201d was uttered, Branham would send the patient from the platform to accept their healing. And on their way out, they could purchase a pamphlet written by Gordon Lindsay[36]<\/a> entitled \u201cDivine Healing in the Branham Campaigns,\u201d which described how their sickness would return if their faith wavered.<\/p>\n

There are, however, numbers of good Christians, conscientious people who evidently receive a gracious touch from the Lord, but for some reason or other do not seem to get a complete healing. To those who have had certain types of disease, special instructions need to be given. In the case of a cancer patient, the cancer is usually killed after prayer. Nevertheless, in some cases the cancer has yet to be eliminated from the body. Sometimes severe pain attends this elimination. If the person fails to understand this, he may fail to recognize his healing altogether.[37]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Healing conditional to the faith of the patients<\/strong><\/p>\n

Branham himself would prepare the audience by issuing a warning about the level of faith required for healing. He warned that regardless of their religious affiliation, if they did not have enough faith to heal themselves, the ritual would not be successful.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen many people come by, lovely people, real Christians, but didn’t have enough faith to be healed, and some sinner pass by and has the faith to be healed.[38]<\/a><\/p>\n

When faith fails, then your healing will fail.[39]<\/a><\/p>\n

Divine healing lasts just as long as faith lasts (That’s right.), just as long as faith last.[40]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jones also placed the actual healing on the shoulders of the \u201chealed.\u201d When a the healing was not successful, Jones blamed the failure on their lack of faith.<\/p>\n

She called me and told me she wanted me to come to prayer for her. So, I went there and told her\u2026 I says you lack faith. You were where you would\u2013 you\u2019d kept going and been under his teachings, you would\u2019ve been healed by now.[41]<\/a><\/p>\n

You gotta have faith before you get healed.[42]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Message was the End-Time Message<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the aftermath of World War II, a new era of political and military tensions known as the Cold War between the two remaining superpowers \u2013 the Communist USSR in the east, and the capitalist USA in the west \u2013 commenced. The era was made more dangerous by the development of nuclear weapons, which each side possessed. Coincidentally, the Great Healing Revival began in 1947, about the same time as the Cold War, according to one source, and lasted through 1958:<\/p>\n

After the lean spiritual years of World War II, two major national movements revitalized the American church. One was the evangelical movement spearheaded by Billy Graham and [the] other was the healing revival represented by William Branham and Oral Roberts.[43]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both the Branham and Jones ministries started out as healing ministries. Beyond the common themes of healing and salvation through a god-prophet alone, both men recognized that Communism was a force preparing to take over the world, a realization that re-shaped their ministries. Jones seemed to embrace Communism in his sermons, declaring it was the only path to peace on earth. He preached that the ultimate salvation, communalism, was founded by Jesus and His disciples, and was developed into its present form by Karl Marx:<\/p>\n

The only ethic by which we can lift mankind today is some form of socialism. There\u2019s a smattering of it in the New Testament. It\u2019s very evidently clear on the day of Pentecost that they that believed were together and had all things common. They bought their possessions to the apostles\u2019 feet, and the apostles parted every man as he had need. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Now we\u2019ve been told that this was a Marxist concoction, but it isn\u2019t. It\u2019s older than the Bible by far, it\u2019s a couple thousand years and then even more than that in its age.[44]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Branham too, believed that Communism would take over the world. In fact, Branham agreed with the system of Communism, but not the Russian kind:<\/p>\n

Like Russia\u2026communism is right, but not forced like that.[45]<\/a><\/p>\n

I said, “If communism had Christianity in it, I’d be a communist.\u201d But I can’t be, because it denies Christianity.[46]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jones, like Branham, was not happy with the hard-core expression of it as it was seen in Russia and other Communist nations:<\/p>\n

I shall call myself a Marxist, because certainly no one taught me my brand of Marxism… I wanted to retreat from this gnawing sense of conscience that pushed me forward. Then I decided, where can I demonstrate my Marxism? I demonstrated it in many places\u2026 And today, no matter what disillusionment I may have \u2014 and I have come to the point that I\u2019m a communalist. I sought haven in a socialist country, I theoretically feel that communism in unobtainable in the terms of man\u2019s present evolution in the nuclear technology, but I do believe that a communal lifestyle offers much to people, and it certainly is greatly accepted in the republic in which we lived in\u2026 I decided, how can I demonstrate my Marxism? The thought was, infiltrate the church. So I consciously made a decision to look into\u2026 And so I did. (Laughs) Very quickly did. I\u2019d had my religious heritage in Pentecostalism \u2014 deep-rooted emotions in the Christian tradition\u2026The early years, I\u2019d approached Christendom from a communalist standpoint, with only intermittent mention of my Marxist views. However, in later years, there wasn\u2019t a person that attended any of my meetings that did not hear me say, at some time, that I was a communist\u2026The main purpose of writing is that, to help protect my people, because I really have a strong desire to die. At the time of this writing, I have been imprisoned in my mind for many, many years constantly trying to conceal a lifestyle alien to the American society, that would have caused great pain for my devoted and precious wife, and those who followed on in my footsteps to become socialist or communist\u2026 everyone in our parish certainly subscribes to some form of socialism.[47]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It would appear that Jones became disillusioned with not being able to realize the bringing of his own brand of Marxism, Communism or Socialism to the USA. Instead, he moved his people and assets to Guyana in South America. Jones was conflicted in his mind regarding his original ideas of melding the best of his experiences in Pentecostalism and Communism.<\/p>\n

Salvation was available to mankind, Jones preached, a social salvation, a deliverance from oppression, sickness, loneliness, etc., right here on earth. But he couldn\u2019t get it to work in Indianapolis, so he went to California and again it did not work. In the end, he moved his people to Guyana and, as we know now, it didn\u2019t work there either. It is peculiar that Jones still hung on to a kind of \u201cspiritual\u201d escape when he speaks about death.<\/p>\n

I, with respect, die with dignity. Lay down your life with dignity. Dson\u2019tDon\u2019t lay down with tears and agony. There\u2019s noting to death\u2026it\u2019s just stepping over into another plane.[48]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In every era there appears in people\u2019s minds an antichrist and it was no different in the Twentieth Century. There were at least three major considerations within Christianity at that time \u2013 Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin \u2013 as can be seen even in Branham\u2019s messages.<\/p>\n

That was Communism, and\u2014and Hitler and\u2014and Nazi, and so forth; and how that Fascism of Mussolini, and Hitler, and Stalin. I said, “One of them will take the place of it. I don’t know which one it’ll be, but I believe it’ll be the king of the north.”[49]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Years later, Branham affirmed that he did warn about Russia as King of the North and had prophesied that all isms wound up in Communism.<\/p>\n

Watch Russia! Watch Russia, the King of the North! Watch Russia, King of the North! Watch Russia, King of the North!”?<\/em> How many has heard me just say, just wave that over, over? \u2026 ” Watch Russia, the King of the North! See, what he would do, for all those isms will heap up into Russia.”[50]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, Branham\u2019s view of Communism eventually changed from it being a danger to the West, to simply being a tool in the hand of God:<\/p>\n

Don’t think that Stalin is the antichrist.[51]<\/a><\/p>\n

Russia’s not the antichrist\u2026[52]<\/a><\/p>\n

God’s using Communism. He will use it. And Communism will destroy the entire thing according to the Scripture, and we’re in that day.[53]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, in the end \u2013 literally \u2013 all of the various political and economic systems held out little hope for humankind. Instead, it was his \u201cMessage\u201d that the only way out was the Rapture, which is a fairly novel interpretation of the \u201cThings of the End.\u201d
\nThe Rapture is a doctrine which teaches that when the world comes to an end, there is a means of escape from all the troubles, known as the Tribulation. Believers who are alive will be taken up from the earth into heaven. Regardless of its biblical meaning, it is the way Branham developed the theory that is disturbing:<\/p>\n

65 The true Bride of Christ will be waiting for that revelation of the rapture\u2026 81 This rapture that we’re talking about is only for the Bride\u2026 The Message calls the Bride together.[54]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"1977\"<\/a>This means that all who did not receive Branham as the End-Time prophet or who would not hear \u201cThe Message,\u201d would end up as what he called cannon fodder, people who were used sacrificially during battles. This, of course, created a great urgency on the part of Branham\u2019s followers. Somewhere around 1973, William Branham\u2019s son(s) published a 60-page booklet entitled \u201c\u2026by 1977,\u201c which contains Branham\u2019s prophecies of the imminent end of the world.<\/p>\n

As the inside page states:<\/p>\n

Brother William Marrion Branham, God\u2019s major prophet to this Laodicean Church Age, predicted seven events, including the United States of America, according to a vision he had from the Lord in 1933, and \u201cI predict that that\u2019ll all happen between right now, 1933, and 1977.\u201d Many excerpts have been taken from his Messages, regarding these events, and printed herein unabridged. This booklet is printed and distributed free of charge by: SPOKEN WORD PUBLICATIONS, P.O..P.O. Box 888, Jeffersonville, Indiana, USA. 47130.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If for no other reason, the prophecy of 1977 as doomsday arguably came to pass for Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. His health had started to deteriorate, and he took more and more drugs. His critics were becoming more numerous and emboldened, especially after publication of an article in New West Magazine,[55]<\/a> the first detailed criticism of Jones in five years. Rumors of official probes into the Temple\u2019s wealth and political influences were circulating. In response, Jones took 1000 of his followers and left for Guyana, a socialist country, to the agricultural mission known as Jonestown.<\/p>\n

All hope of redemption through faith was long abandoned. God had become the Sky God whom Jones mocked; there was no heaven unless it was founded on earth.<\/p>\n

Let them go out there and believe in a Sky God that\u2019ll never come. Let them believe that these things\u2019ll never happen. Let them die in the gas chambers if they want to, even though I want to save everyone. That\u2019s their choice. But don\u2019t let them be in here holding us back by looking back to other gods or looking back to Sodom and Gomorrah. Don\u2019t let it be.[56]<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no hope up there. Nobody\u2019s going to come out of the sky. Nobody ever come to save us. There\u2019s no heaven up there! We\u2019ll have to make heaven down here![57]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jones had claimed to be a reincarnation of his childhood heroes, Jesus, Buddha, Lenin, and Father Divine,[58]<\/a> but in his later years, it abundantly clear that he thought he was God and was pushing his followers to confess the same:<\/p>\n

How many believe I\u2019m the Almighty God?…Creator of heaven and earth\u2026How many of you believe I created everything that ever was?[59]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There can only be speculation but, it seems quite possible that, had Jones remained in the US, his influence would have diminished and he might have spent the rest of his days, if not in prison, in obscurity. All that he was, even his Message, would have become a dim memory. This was not to be. In 1978 Jones and more than 900 people died in Guyana. The Message of Jim Jones did disappear, but his intended meaning did.<\/p>\n

This same obscure fate might have awaited the Message of William Branham \u2013 he too might have disappeared into the annals of history as a figure of the American Restoration scene \u2013 had it not been for some clever business people who made Branham into a mythological giant. Years after Branham\u2019s death in 1965, several of his pastoral associates and children started mass-producing audiotapes and transcribing his sermons into booklets and later into larger bound volumes. These entrepreneurs had a ready made audience for their wares. Fortunes have been made \u2013 and will continue to be made \u2013 as the Message of William Branham now shifts to the Third World. Millions of unsuspecting people have been duped and brainwashed into believing that The Message has the power to transform mortals into immortals. Jim Jones conveyed this very overtly, but Branham did it in very subtle ways, mostly by insinuation, leading questions and other means, leaving people on both sides of any of his statements wondering what he really said. Those who believed his subtle \u201cpromptings\u201d that only true believers would understand and get it, made for very dedicated followers.<\/p>\n

Was \u201cThe Message\u201d successful?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Success is measured by the outcome of what the original premise of the venture was designed to be. Both Jones and Branham were born in obscurity and poverty, and both experienced the Hungry Thirties. They both had alcoholic, unemployed fathers and mothers who had to support the family. They both understood the menace of the Cold War, that the world could come to an end at any moment. And they both offered solutions.<\/p>\n

Jones offered Utopia on earth in the here and now, and Branham offered a spiritual escape from the troubles. Both saw Communism taking over the world as it was, but where Jones saw it as a positive development, Branham initially saw it in negative terms. Still, both used Communism to generate finances to procure their end goal. Both capitalized on fear as a motivating factor to hold on to followers. They both showed strong signs of paranoia: in Jones\u2019s case it was exacerbated by drugs; in Branham\u2019s case it appears to have been a mental illness he had since childhood, with his mother, father, doctor and others describing him as a nervous, hysterical and crazy child.[60]<\/a> Over time, both men were able to promote themselves as saviors, at least within the Christian Fringe, claiming godlike power.<\/p>\n

But was this what they set out to become?<\/p>\n

Jim Jones\u2019 Story<\/strong><\/p>\n

By most accounts, Jim Jones appeared to have been quite successful in his early endeavors. He decided to use religion to promote his versions of Marxism, Communism, socialism and communalism to achieve his goals. His church offered physical and emotional help for those lacking in such things as medical assistance, shelter, clothing, education, etc. As a result, Temple membership roles swelled.<\/p>\n

Garrett Lambrev, Peoples Temple Member: When I joined Peoples Temple in the spring of 1966, there were exactly eighty-one members. Five years later, an extended family of eighty people had become an organization of thousands.<\/p>\n

Deborah Layton, Peoples Temple Member, Author, Seductive Poison: Every single person felt that they had a purpose there and that they were exceptionally special. And that is how he brought so many young college kids in, so many older black women in, so many people from diverse backgrounds who realized that there was something bigger than themselves that they needed to be involved in \u2014 and that Jim Jones offered that\u2026The membership increased substantially as he procured more and more Greyhound buses and fixed them up, and every summer he began this cross-country tour\u2026 As older people joined, it took a year or so and he\u2019d convince the people that he was doing so much in the community and so why not rather than just tithe your twenty percent, why not sell your home, give the money to the church? And that is what people began to do.<\/p>\n

Mike Touchette, Peoples Temple Member: They had their own rooms, they had every need taken care of, they had their food provided. They were well looked after.<\/p>\n

Tim Carter, Peoples Temple Member: If I had to go to the doctor, it was taken care of. If I had to go to the dentist, it was taken care of. If I needed clothes, that was taken care of.[61]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Positive things were also being said by non-members:<\/p>\n

John R. Hall, Sociologist: They were giving their life\u2019s money and savings to the church, but in exchange, the church was agreeing to take care of them in the community, not just in a nursing home.<\/p>\n

Willie Brown, California State Assemblyman (archival): You have managed to make the many persons associated with Peoples Temple part of a family. If you are in need of healthcare, you get healthcare. If you\u2019re in need of legal assistance of some sort, you get that. If you\u2019re in need of transportation, you get that. And that\u2019s the kind of religious thing that I am excited about, and have some respect for.<\/p>\n

Tim Reiterman, Journalist: When vice presidential candidate, Walter Mondale, came to San Francisco, Jim Jones was part of the entourage that boarded his private jet. When Rosalyn Carter came to San Francisco, she gave Jim Jones a private audience. Jim Jones had political power that few people, let alone preachers, could have imagined.[62]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What happened? By 1977, mounting pressures had forced Jim Jones to emigrate to Guyana and to take his followers with him. But his maladies \u2013 his drug use, his paranoia, his antipathy towards the political and economic systems of the United States \u2013 not only accompanied him, they flourished in the jungle heat in the months to follow. One of Jones\u2019 speeches from his last year in Jonestown is uncannily and eerily similar to Branham\u2019s voice in tone, pitch and cadence. Jones, like Branham, shouts very loudly and appears to be completely out of control:<\/p>\n

I’ve got a hell of a lot of weapons to fight! I’ve got my claws. I’ve got cutlasses. I’ve got guns. I’ve got dynamite. I’ve got a hell of a lot to fight! I’ll fight! I’ll fight![63]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the end \u2013 when all these maladies exploded with the assassination of Leo Ryan and the mass murder\/suicide in Jonestown \u2013 he ensured that his Message would fail miserably.<\/p>\n

William Branham\u2019s Story<\/strong><\/p>\n

Branham often spoke of his father as running a family business selling moonshine from a number of his own stills. Contrary to Branham\u2019s stories about his childhood poverty, the business was most likely a profitable one. In 1926, for example, he owned a 1926 Ford.<\/p>\n

I had to come and pack water to this still, to keep those coils cool while they were making the whiskey. Then he got to selling it, and then he got two or three of those stills.[64]<\/a><\/p>\n

Mama, you remember when I had that little old T-model Ford, the little old ’26 model? How I’d polish that thing. I was just a kid about sixteen, seventeen years old.[65]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The younger Branham hung around boxing emporiums and horse races, which at the time were considered quite questionable businesses. Jeffersonville was a noted hang-out for gangsters, with casinos and betting venues for horse races taking place across the country, a good fit someone already involved in the illegal moonshine business? In time, the government shut these operations down, and people had to find legal opportunities to make a profit. What could be more legal than a church organization? The shift to religion is what appears to have been Branham\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

What support exists for this shift in direction? We don\u2019t know, since everything Branham stated from the very beginning appears to be false. He lied about his parent\u2019s ages. He lied about their wedding date, as well as about his own birth date. He fabricated his background history and even perjured his marriage certificate. His name was modified to Marrion from Marion and Branham from Branan or Branam, to fit his \u201cnumerology of sevens.\u201d He lied about being ordained as a Missionary Baptist pastor. He set himself up as an infallible Old Testament prophet, whose prophecies were not to be judged. His biography will show that he was never a Christian in any sense of the word. Like Jim Jones, William Branham finally ended up in a \u201cJesus Only,\u201d church which he used as a springboard to launch his campaigns.<\/p>\n

After Branham made his way into the post-war Healing Movement, he recruited some well-known healing professionals as campaign managers, as well as a number of his siblings for his campaigns. He was able to amass a sizeable fortune before his death, and his progeny has carried on the empire they inherited from him. If William Branham\u2019s goal was to never ever be poor again, he must be considered successful in that endeavor. He owned a number of homes, and he went on trophy hunts and African safaris. Though he masked himself in humility, for all intents and purposes, he lived the life of the rich and famous. As a spiritual leader and prophet, he and his ministry turned out disastrous for his followers.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article has sought to demonstrate the connection between what both Jim Jones and William Branham referred to as \u201cThe Message.\u201d Clearly both men drank from the same fountain. Even though they were a generation apart, some of their early childhood experiences were quite similar. Growing up within Oneness Pentecostalism \u2013 which was quite small at that time \u2013 Jones would have been aware of the older man\u2019s status as a famed Pentecostal Healing Evangelist; livingEvangelist, since Branham lived only a couple of hours away. Already in 1953, Branham used to preach in Connersville, Indiana, about 40 miles from where Jones grew up. Jones started his own ministry of healing and deliverance around 1952 or 1953. A few years later, in 1956 \u2013 when Branham was about 49 years old and Jones was about 25 \u2013 Branham headlined at the opening of Jones\u2019 Peoples Temple convention in Indianapolis. Jones witnessed Branham\u2019s ministry up close and personal, and appears to have patterned his ministry on that of his mentor. The connection that existed between The Message of Jim Jones and that of William Branham is seen in their use of Oneness Pentecostalism and Communism to achieve their ends. The difference is that Jones opted to use religion to promote a positive view of Communism and Branham chose a negative view.<\/p>\n

At the close of 1977 \u2013 and the continued existence of the earth \u2013 Branham\u2019s followers were in complete confusion, and the thrust of The Message disappeared. Yes, the Message of William Branham is still being promoted today. However, due to the electronic availability of all Branham said, the younger and better-educated generation now has instant access to information and eyes are being opened. The Message has failed, is continuing to fail, and will most likely have its complete demise within the next generation.<\/p>\n

And at the end of 1977, Jim Jones was in Jonestown, Guyana, the community which he would never leave. Within a year, he, his most loyal followers, and his Message would all be dead.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> The full text of the note appears at http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=13782<\/a>
\n[2]<\/a> Sharon Lindbloom, \u201cThe Central Message of Mormonism,\u201d E-magazine Mormon Coffee, dated May 2, 2011. Http:\/\/blog.mrm.org\/2011\/05\/the-central-message-of-mormonism\/<\/a>, Accessed Aug 18, 2015.
\n[3]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 56-1002A, Father, The Hour Has Come<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[4]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 48-0302, Experiences<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[5]<\/a> William Marion Branham, 60-1204M, Revelation Of Jesus Christ<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[6]<\/a> William Marion Branham, 64-0206B, Paradox<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[7]<\/a> William Marion Branham, Church Ages<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a> Italics added by authors.
\n[8]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 64-0823E, Questions And Answers #2.<\/em> http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[9]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 612, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27492<\/a>.
\n[10]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 353, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27429<\/a>.
\n[11]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 357, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27432<\/a>.
\n[12]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 58-0330A. Missionary Talk<\/em>, http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[13]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 356, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27431<\/a>.
\n[14]<\/a> Jones, Q 356<\/a>.
\n[15]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 50-0819, Show Us The Father And It Suffices.<\/em> http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[16]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 54-0515, Questions And Answers<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[17]<\/a> Jones, Q 356<\/a>.
\n[18]<\/a> Jones, Q 356<\/a>.
\n[19]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 1059-1, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27331<\/a>.
\n[20]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 60- 0412E, Patmos Vision<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[21]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 64-0307, Testimony On The Sea<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[22]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 60-0308, Discernment Of Spirit<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[23]<\/a> Jones, Q 353<\/a>.
\n[24]<\/a> Jones, Q 612<\/a>.
\n[25]<\/a> William Marrion Branham,,Branham, 64-0212 , When Their Eyes Were Opened, They Knew Him<\/em>, http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[26]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 65-1206, Modern Events Are Made Clear By Prophecy<\/em>, http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[27]<\/a> Jim Jones, The Letter Killeth<\/em> (original Version, n\/d. 24 pp.) California Historical Society, MS 3800 (Peoples Temple) & MS 4123 (Margaret T. Singer materials on Peoples Temple, 1956-1998). Also available here<\/a>.
\n[28]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 953, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27625<\/a>.
\n[29]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 53-0905, Faith without works is dead<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[30]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 1053-6, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27319<\/a>.
\n[31]<\/a> Jones, Q 1053-6<\/a>.
\n[32]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 53-0509, The Pillar Of Fire<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[33]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 951, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27623<\/a>.
\n[34]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 63-1110E, He That Is In You<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[35]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 920, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27612<\/a>.
\n[36]<\/a> James Gordon Lindsay<\/a>, a revivalist preacher and contemporary of William Branham, should not be confused with a reporter named Gordon Lindsay<\/a>, whose article for the National Enquirer<\/em> \u2013 one that was never published \u2013 earned him the enmity of Peoples Temple.
\n[37]<\/a> Gordon Lindsay, Divine Healing in the Branham Campaigns<\/em>, available from https:\/\/www.google.ca\/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=pInkVZr_JOqV8QeanoSoCg&gws_rd=ssl#q=Gordon+Lindsay%2C+Divine+Healing+in+the+Branham+Campaigns<\/a>. Accessed August 31, 2015.
\n[38]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 47-0412, Faith Is The Substance<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[39]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 50-0100, Diseases and Afflictions<\/em>, http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[40]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 58-1002, From The Beginning It Was Not So<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[41]<\/a> Jones, Q 357<\/a>.
\n[42]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 968, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=60700<\/a>.
\n[43]<\/a> Voice of Healing, The Healing Revival 1947-1958 \u2013 An Overview<\/em>. Available from https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190725164038\/http:\/\/www.voiceofhealing.info\/03healingrevival\/overview.html<\/a>. Accessed 21 September 2015; updated 16 May 2020.
\n[44]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 932, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27618<\/a>.
\n[45]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 58-0130, The Handwriting On The Wall<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[46]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 58-1012, Sudden, Secret Going Away Of The Church<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[47]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript 134, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27339<\/a>. Italics added by authors.
\n[48]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 042, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=29079<\/a>.
\n[49]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 54-0103M, Questions And Answers #1<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[50]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 60-1211E, The Laodicean Church Age<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a> Italics added by authors.
\n[51]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 52- 0900, God\u2019s Way That\u2019s Been Made For Us<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[52]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 53-0609A, Demonology, Religious Realm<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[53]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 58-0928M, The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit<\/em>. http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[54]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 65-1204, The Rapture<\/em>, http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[55]<\/a> http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=14025.<\/a>
\n[56]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 1057-4, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27327<\/a>.
\n[57]<\/a> Jim Jones, Transcript Q 1057-2, http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27325<\/a>.
\n[58]<\/a> Antoinette Pick-Jones, Jim Jones and the History of Peoples Temple,<\/em> http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=33190.<\/a> Accessed 21 September 2015.
\n[59]<\/a> Jones, Q 1057-4<\/a>.
\n[60]<\/a> Branham, 48-0302, Experiences<\/em>; 51-0923, The Principles Of Divine Healing<\/em>; 62-0713, From That Time<\/em>; 53-1108A, Life Story.<\/em> http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[61]<\/a> Transcript, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple,<\/em> https:\/\/www-tc.pbs.org\/wgbh\/americanexperience\/media\/pdf\/transcript\/Jonestown_transcript.pdf<\/a>.
\n[62]<\/a> Transcript, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple<\/a>.<\/em>
\n[63]<\/a> Available from https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nUyBaOgKIXo<\/a>. Accessed 17 September 2015. Clip starts at 2:20 ends at 4:00. Originally featured on NPR\u2019s series, Father Cares<\/a>.<\/em>
\n[64]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 59-0419A, My Life Story<\/em>, http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a>
\n[65]<\/a> William Marrion Branham, 56-0603, Lamb\u2019s Book Of Life<\/em>, http:\/\/table.branham.org.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(The previous article by John Collins and Peter M. Duyzer for this website is The Intersection of William Branham and Jim Jones. More information about Rev. Branham prepared by John Collins and Peter M. Duyzer may be found at the informational website, https:\/\/william-branham.org, and in the book Legend of the Fall available on Amazon.com. Additional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":64830,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-65112","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65112"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134467,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65112\/revisions\/134467"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/64830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}