Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

The Latter Rain Movement

At one point Branham pointed to three people in the third row near the middle aisle-a father, mother and grown daughter. The girl looked extremely ill. Branham told us who they were and of their battle with a ter rible disease. The young woman was barely sustained, he said, by the large amounts of drugs that her pharmacist father supplied her. Standing before several thousand people, the three wept copiously for the accuracy of the prophetic word and the joy of the announced healing. It was awesome! When the series of meetings was over, we pastors were given the fol low-up names of people who had received ministry. I went out to visit my assigned families, not realizing whom I would be calling on but filled with confidence and anticipating success. To my surprise, at one home the phar macist opened the door. Inside I was introduced to the two other people who had received Branham's prophetic words so joyfully. Immediately I knew something was wrong. Like waters gushing from a broken dam, their story poured forth from anguished hearts. They had abruptly stopped the prescribed medications and testified to family and friends of the healing. But the girl was not healed. They felt shocked by the absence of a miracle and shamed before the community. Nothing I could say helped. A bitter disillusionment possessed these dear people and they declared their abhorrence of all that had happened. I left discouraged, disappointed and disillusioned myself. Now, some 40 years later, I am still numb telling the story. The accu racy with which Branham described the situation had been uncanny, yet his faith for the healing-or the manner in which the public announce ment about the healing had been made-was certainly faulty. This trau matic experience launched me on a personal quest to understand better the reality of spiritual manifestations and their importance for today's Church. I am an advocate of spiritual gifts and prophecy. Why, then, talk of fail ure, especially since thousands testified of miraculous signs and miracles during Branham's ministry, and multitudes were converted to Christ? The simple fact is, prophets and prophecies can fail or be wrong. Religious leaders can make mistakes or even be misled. This is a fact of life we must live with, but it does not invalidate the Word of God. In spite of stories like the above, I find myself an even stronger (although wiser) advocate of God speaking in our day. There are reasons such tragedies occur, and our all-too-brief study in Parts 5 and 6 of this book will, I hope, make some of the reasons clear. We must learn from the strengths and weaknesses of those who have pio neered in the restoration of spiritual gifts. William Branham, part of the healing movement of the mid-twentieth century awakening, represents a legendary figure in American Pente 287.