7

bitten, then
thought that he
may just have
been in nervous
shock, so she put
him to bed and
calledthe
doctor.At the age
of nine, one day
while he was
playing with
friends he saw a
vision of a
bridge. This
bridgewas to
extend across
the Ohio River
from Louisville to
Jeffersonville. He
told his friends
that he couldsee
the bridge and to
his horror, he
saw a portion of
it collapse,
carrying sixteen
men to their
deaths.His
friends told this
around the
community and
twenty two years
later that bridge
was built at the
costof the lives
of sixteen
men. The bridge
stands today,
between
Jeffersonville and
Louisville.Once
as a young man,
a girl made fun
of him because
he wouldn't
smoke, and he
actually tried
tosmoke to stop
her derision. His
testimony is that
as he reached for
the cigarette he
heard
thewhirlwind
again, and the
more he tried,
the stronger it
became, until its
rushing sound
frightened
him.Because of
this Brother
Branham never
did
smoke.Another
time a man
offered him a
drink in the
presence of
young William
Branham's
father,
andinsisted that
he take it. He
was about to
take the drink,
because his own
father called him
a sissy,when the
whirlwind came
again. He could
hear it rushing,
and as
he continued to
put the bottle
towardhis lips,
the wind became
stronger until It
frightened him
and he ran off.
He did not
disobey God -
hecould not - for
God had a plan
for his life which
He was bringing
to pass.As a
teenager, he
once went to a
carnival, and
there a fortune
teller, an
astrologer,
walked up to
himand said,
"Young man, did
you know that
there is a sign
following you?"
How similar to
the time
whenthe evil
spirit said to
Jesus,
"We know who
you are, thou art
the Christ, the
Son of God."
The priestsand
the religious
leaders, the most
religious people
in the world at
the time of
Christ, didn't
recognizeHim,
the evil spirits
did. When the
apostle Paul
went to Thyatira
to preach, he
was not
welcomed,
butput in stocks,
and a young
sorceress said,
"This is Paul,
who preaches
Christ unto us,
the Message
of salvation."
There was an evil
spirit in her that
recognized who
Paul was when
the others
sought
topersecute him.
So it was in this
generation. The
evil spirits could
recognize there
was
somethingdiffere
nt about Brother
Branham before
the religious
people of the
world would
admit it.Brother
Branham almost
died for the
second time at
the age of
fourteen.
Accidentally
shot, lying in
hisown blood
with part of his
leg shot away
where the blast
of a shotgun had
struck him,
he had a
vision,or
experience,
where he himself
faded away and
he saw people in
hell. He saw
things that were
to takeplace
among the
women of the
world in the
1960's, the
grotesque use of
makeup and the
like.
Thesewomen
were in hell and
it shocked him to
realize that there
was such a
place, yet he
resisted the
callof God upon
his life.God
continued
through the
years to deal
with him, for
there was a work
for him to do
when he
wasolder.He
came west to
Phoenix Arizona,
in 1927, at the
age of nineteen.
It was while
there, working
on aranch, that
he received word
of the death of
his brother
Edward, who was
closest to him in
age. Whenhe
heard of
Edward's death,
he stood and
looked out across
the desert, and
asked himself
whetherEdward
had been ready
to meet God.
Then, as he
made the
journey back to
Jeffersonville to
thefuneral, the
question came to
him, "Are you
ready?" He
recalled how his
father and
mother wept
andthe great
impact this made
on his life as he
began to wonder
about
himself. He was
ever aware of
thisVoice, this
Presence that he
had experienced
since he was a
baby, wishing to
speak to him.
Itseparated him
from the other
boys his age,
preventing their
friendship
because he
spoke of
strangethings
and wouldn't
smoke, drink,
dance, or run
around as they
did. He couldn't
pattern his life
aftertheirs, yet
he didn't
know how to
surrender
himself to God.
But through the
death of Edward,
the Spiritof God
continued to be
with him and
brought him to
where he
actually tried to
pray. He didn't
knowhow, but
loving the
wilderness, he
wrote on a piece
of paper, "God,
help me!" He left
the note stuck
ona tree because
he knew that
God was there in
nature. Finally
the day arrived
when he went to
a place,knelt
down, and th