The 1934 Burning of the Church

The 1934 burning of Roy E. Davis' Pentecostal church is critical to understanding the difference between recorded history and William Branham's claim to have been an Old-Testament-style prophet who had a series of prophecies in 1933.  It is the time marker recorded by history to document Branham's transition from an assistant pastor of Roy E. Davis' Pentecostal church to the head pastor of the Billie Branham Pentecostal Tabernacle, at which time these alleged 1933 Prophecies came according to some versions of his stage persona.  William Branham read the year 1932 from his alleged list of prophecies and claimed that he had transitioned to become the pastor when the "divine commission" came, which cannot coexist with recorded history.

According to William Branham, he remained with Davis as an assistant pastor until Davis' church burned and Davis left Jeffersonville.  Branham described the transition of the church after Davis' leaving, which included preaching from tents in Jeffersonville first, before moving Davis' congregation into his own Pentecostal assembly.

Then, about seventeen years after that, I was, had become a minister, a Baptist preacher, of the Missionary Baptist Church. Dr. Roy E. Davis ordained me as one of the local pastors, give me rights then, by the state, to marry, bury, baptize, so forth. And the Missionary Baptist Church burned down, which I was assistant pastor, at the time. And Mr. Davis come back to Texas, which he was of Davis mountains, and—and down near Van Horn, Texas. That’s where they come from. And so, while he was gone, I started to take over the congregation. Got a tent, and I begin to preach in the city, and just a boy preacher.[1]

Roy Davis' Pentecostal church was advertised in the Jeffersonville Evening News until at least February 1934.[2]  Several people were apparently angered after Roy Davis filed a lawsuit against multiple people, businesses, and churches to claim ownership of the estate of the wealthy Laura Belle Eaken in March of 1934,[3] and Davis' church was burned.  Shortly after, on April 3, 1934, the newspaper described the burning of the church.  A request was made to the city council to ask Jeffersonville authorities to refuse the rebuilding of Davis' First Pentecostal Baptist church on Watt street near Maple.  Seventeen property owners fought to keep the church from reopening.[4]

William Branham claimed to have had seven prophecies of 1931, 1932, or 1933, and also claimed that he had two copies: one in the flyleaf of his bible, and one buried in the cornerstone of his Branham Tabernacle.[5]  According to the timeline given in newer versions of his stage persona, Branham claimed that he was the pastor at the time,[6] and was Baptist instead of Pentecostal.  Branham claimed that the alleged 1933 prophecies were fundamental to his founding of the church and that the church was part of the 1933 "commission."[7]. When reading from the alleged copy kept in his Bible, Branham claimed the prophecies were written in 1932.[8]  The deed to Branham's Pentecostal church is dated November 9, 1936,[9] and the first mention of Branham's Pentecostal assembly (which he said was held in tents) was on August 17, 1935.[10]