William Branham was the Prophet used to instigate the Revival. A poor, Grade-7-educated Baptist minister in Indiana, his life had been marked by supernatural occurrences. From a swirling ball of fire manifesting over his birth cot, to open visions leading to miraculous healings, Branham’s ministry was extraordinary. In May 1946, frustrated at the visions his leaders were convinced were demonic, he determined to “have it out with God”, and went off into the woods to his cave to pray. After several hours pleading with God to take the vision away, he was reminded of all the Biblical passages he had read of God speaking to men in just those same ways. He repented, and the swirling ball of light manifested in the cave, and the Angel of the Lord stepped out of it.

“I have called you to take Divine Healing to the Nations…” he was told. “If you are sincere when you pray, and can get the people to believe you, no sickness will stand before you, not even cancer.” 

Branham protested that he wasn’t educated, and the Angel told him of two sign he would be given to help convince people to believe God. First was a manifestation of “bumps” or “vibrations” on his hand which would tell him what illness the person had, then later “if you are faithful”, he would know a person’s illness by vision alone.

Branham did not set out to create a ministry – God supernaturally brought people from surrounding states to Jeffersonville to be healed, speaking to many of them through their dreams. A few weeks later, Branham was invited to hold a Crusade in St Louis, Missouri, and world of the amazing healings exploded. Crusade followed crusade, with crowds of thousands driving across State lines to attend. In the fall of 1946, he preached at Jonesboro, Arkansas, and stayed at the platform for eight days straight. Streets were jammed for blocks in every direction as huge crowds waited for a chance to get into the auditorium.

On several occasions the Angel of the Lord was visibly manifested to the whole crowd. Some saw the swirling ball of fire, some saw the figure of the Angel. All those who knew Branham testified to his humble character and conviction – many of those close to him say they never knew him to miss a single detail when he spoke prophetically.

The Voice of Healing Magazine was originally begun to report on Branham’s meetings, but expanded to cover other healing ministries when Branham took time off to rest in May – November 1948.

Many false accusations have been levelled at Branham in the decades since the Revival. His gifting was so remarkable that, like Biblical prophets, he was a polarising figure to many believers. Some of his “fans” began claiming that he was the “end-time Elijah”, others that he was God. Branham was appalled at this and withdrew from Campaign ministry, but was unable to defuse the heretical beliefs of some of his followers.  Accusations that he himself believed these things are untrue, and easily debunked. I recommend listening to the excellent audio messages by Paul Keith Davis and Steve Shelley called The Ministry of William Branham, where they discuss and debunk most criticisms, on the  VoH Free Media page.

The most accurate sources for reading about the life of William Branham are:

• William Branham: A Man Sent from God – Gordon Lindsay (ebook free here)
• Supernatural: The Life of William Branham – Owen Jorgensen (6 volume bio)

Many of his sermons are recorded and freely available at: https://branham.org/home

Oral Roberts was miraculously healed from Tuberculosis in a George Moncey meeting in the 1930s. In 1947, while pastoring in Enid, Arizona, the Lord challenged him about ministering compassion to the needy. He resigned and started an itinerant healing and evangelistic ministry. The next year, he attended a Branham Campaign and was greatly encouraged. He established the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, bought a large tent, and began travelling full-time.

Roberts was a Pentecostal minister, and was able to maintain relationships with the denominations that others struggled to attain. He was a savvy businessman, and was able to levy financial support for his Campaigns. He was the main contact between the Revivalists and the fledgling Full Gospel Businessmen’s fellowship International, who became the mainstay supporters of the Voice of Healing Revival.

Roberts was one of the first to hold inter-racial meetings, at a time when this was illegal in some states. He was quick to see the potential for new media, and embraced radio and television broadcasts, filming his Campaigns as early as 1954. As the revival petered out in the late 1950s, Roberts transitioned successfully into establishing the Oral Roberts University. Of the major players, he was arguable the most well-known outside Pentecostal circles.

Oral Roberts Ministries are still operating and easy to find, for further research, at https://oralroberts.com.

Paul Cain was known as “the Boy Prophet”, and was the most similarly gifted to William Branham of all the Evangelists of the day. At age 45 in 1929, his pregnant mother Anner was sent home to die, being told “neither you nor the child shall live.” She had a terminal heart condition, Tuberculosis in both lungs, both breasts eaten away by cancer and three malignant tumours blocking the birth canal. A devout woman, she was waiting on the Lord when an Angel appeared to her and said:

“Do not be afraid. You will live and not die. The child in your womb is a son, and you shall name him Troaz Paul, as he will preach my gospel like my evangelist of old.” The Angel touched her body and she was instantly healed. Her breasts were restored, and Paul was a breast-fed baby. Anner was written up in the hospital records as a ‘miracle woman’ (Jack Deere checked). William Branham said several times Anner Cain’s healing was the greatest miracle he had ever heard about.

Anner never told Paul of these events, but waited fo the Lord to tell him. When he was seven years old, the Angel appeared to both Paul and his sister in their room, which terrified the young boy, who hid in fear under the covers, and maintains he never “saw” the Angel, but he certainly heard him.

His miraculous birth and childhood were marked by his isolation from others due to his gift – he was rejected by other children because of his remarkable ability to foresee events. He began public ministry as a teenager, and caused a stir when, in his immaturity, he began calling out the sins of people in the crowd publicly. Like Branham, Paul said the Angel would come and stand behind him on the stage and whisper revelation into his ear. In the early 1950s, Paul’s father was saved after seeing the Angel standing behind his son on the platform.

Paul became good friends with William Branham, felling that he had finally found someone who understood him. He often ministered in the prayer line with Branham (though not on stage), and was the only one Branham sent in his place when Branham couldn’t fulfil a meeting commitment.  In 1957, the Lord began to challenge Paul over the excesses of the Revival, where many of the ministers had become seduced by Girls, Gold or Glory, and many had fallen into sin. Paul was horrified by some things he witnessed, including evangelists fist-fighting over the offering out the back of the auditorium.

The Lord spoke to him clearly, and called him to step away, until He would “cause him to stand before a new breed of leaders who would never be corrupted by the 3-Gs”. Paul wrote a public letter, folded up his magazine and the plans to go on television, and retreated into obscurity. He thought it would only be a few years, but he spent 25 years waiting on the Lord, and studying the Word. the Lord sustained him throughout the time (he was not allowed to work), and he went from 300+ speaking engagements a year to only one or two.

In the early 80s, the Lord began to call Paul out of hiddenness, and told him to visit major leaders, and He would show Paul the man he had appointed to give him a platform for his end-time ministry. After many visits, Paul was told (in 1989) “John Wimber is that man,” which astounded him, and began a sequence of events that linked the Vineyard/Third Wave movement with the Prophetic and led directly to the major moves of the 1990s.

Paul struggled in the 90s with the after-effects of molestation as a teen by an older minister from which he had never been able to get help, but repented and was restored to ministry. He became a regular minister at the Santa Maria Healing Rooms in California. He finished well, and was used but he Lord to testify to the miraculous events of the 1950s which had been all  but totally suppressed by the church.

Further research can be found at http://www.PaulCain.com, and the book, The Nameless and Faceless Generation, by Robert Towery, which details the end-time vision the Lord gave Paul numerous times over the years about the Generation of the Righteous, mentioned in Psalm 14. An older book about the cross-pollination of the Vineyard and Kansas City Fellowship in the 80s is Some Said it Thundered, by David Pytches. Video and audio messages are in the Prophetic History section of this site.