William Branham's Early Ministry

According to William Branham and the dates given for ordination,[1] his "conversion experience" was the moment that he was recruited into Roy E. Davis's Pentecostal Baptist Church of God Sect.  Davis was a "personal friend"[2]  that baptized him,[3] converted him,[4] and ordained him as a minister for the sect.[5]  Though different versions of William Branham's stage persona used multiple dates for his recruitment, the date that Branham appears to have started working in the Pentecostal Baptist Church of God sect was 1928.  Branham mentioned this date, mathematically, multiple times.  In April 1959, Branham told his audience that he was converted "thirty-one years ago".

He was on his road backsliding right then. 'Well, you know, if I don't—if I get away from Divine healing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, why, maybe the—the better class of church will accept me.' There's no better class than Jesus Christ. He was the One Who taught it. I'd rather take my lot with Him. Let the world go. Let every man's word be a lie and His be truth. Take your lot with Him. I've casted mine with Him thirty-one years ago. I've been preaching the Gospel thirty years. I'm not tired. I wish I had ten thousand lives to give for it, because I know it's the truth. That's right. Never get tired, it grows sweeter every day. He means more to me than He ever did now. 'Cause I love Him more, I know more of Him now, of His grace and mercy to me.[6]

This same date was used in July 1959:

I do not believe that healing is anything that a minister could do to you, only explain to you what Christ has already done for you. I do not believe that I was saved thirty-one years ago. I believe I was saved nineteen hundred years ago when Jesus died for my sins. I accepted it thirty-one years ago.[7]

The 1928 date links Branham to the origins of Roy E. Davis' Pentecostal sect in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  In August 1928 it was announced that Roy Davis' sect was organizing and that they were building a 45-foot by 90-foot tabernacle on Forty-first Street and Oglethorpe car line in Chattanooga.[8]  It was also announced that the sect would be erecting a religious broadcasting station inside the tabernacle.[9]  

Branham's 1928 timeline coincides with the newspaper accounts.  According to news reporters, "large crowds"[10] were in attendance, and there were both many conversions and additions to the church, which was at that time located at Thirty-fifth street and Avenue G.[11]  Davis himself had been holding revivals throughout the state, advertising himself as the "lecturer for the Ku Klux Klan and the Fundamentalist association"[12]  Davis also advertised himself as being associated with John Roach Straton, who had been recently a leader in the "Supreme Kingdom" white supremacy group.  At the time Branham converted to the Pentecostal Baptist Church of God sect, there was no question as to whether or not he was joining a white supremacy sect.  The sect advertised itself in conjunction with both white supremacy groups and leaders.

In September 1928, Davis began focusing on Nashville, Tennessee and began holding revivals that would result in the planting of a Pentecostal Baptist Church of God church in Nashville.[13]  A church was planted on Spring and Meridian Streets, and by July 1929, the Nashville branch of the sect had outgrown the building.[14]  Roy E. Davis and William Branham[15] invited Caleb A. Ridley, the former Imperial Kludd (the highest-ranking religious chaplain) of the Ku Klux Klan to hold revival meetings to rally support.[16]

According to the historical timeline, however, William Branham was not truthful about the early years of working with Davis.  Prior to 1928 and long before Davis planted his Pentecostal Baptist Church of God church in Jeffersonville, Davis was a Southern Baptist minister that was on the Missionary Board.  Though William Branham used an incorrect year, he does state that he was ordained into this specific Baptist ministry.

And, but, when I left the Baptist church…which is the only church I ever come in, or was ordained in. And I was ordained in 1933, in the Missionary Baptist church, Jeffersonville, Indiana. It's a—a…it's a member of the Southern Baptist Convention.[17]

I'm a Baptist preacher, out of a Missionary Baptist church, ordained by Dr. Roy E. Davis out of Dallas, Texas, and was made a local elder for the church at Jeffersonville.[18]

This would place William Branham's ordination by Roy E. Davis long before 1933 and the establishment of the Jeffersonville church.  It would also position the timeline in which William Branham began working with Roy E. Davis closer to 1925 or 1926 — the same years in which William Branham claimed to have traveled west.[19]  Roy E. Davis was banished by the Missionary Board of the Baptist Church on August 12, 1926, and if Branham was ordained as a Baptist, it would have had to be prior to Davis' banishment.

This would also bind William Branham to the criminal activities that Davis was involved with, as well as Davis' work with reorganizing the Ku Klux Klan.  

August 12, 1926:

Important Notice,The State Board of Missions through its Ex. Com. regrets to say that in its best judgment Mr. Roy E. Davis, now operating in and around Jacksonville and posing as a Baptist preacher, is not worthy of the confidence of the brotherhood, nor the public at large.  A thorough investigation has been made and from the many personal letters and affidavits in hand from trustworthy brethren it is evident that Mr. Davis is an excluded member of a Baptist church, and he has a long and black record behind him.

W. L. C. Mahan, Pres.
C. M. Brittain, Acting Sec'y[20]

For the next several years, William Branham continued to claim that he was converted to the Missionary Baptist Church "thirty-one years ago".  As late as 1962, Branham told his audiences that he "cast his lots with God" exactly thirty-one years in the past, moving the timeline forward by one year each year until his conversion date transitioned to the year 1931.

Examples:

1959

Let every man's word be a lie and His be truth. Take your lot with Him. I've casted mine with Him thirty-one years ago. I've been preaching the Gospel thirty years.[21]

1960

I found a Christ that means the same to me as that fawn did to that doe. He's more than my life, ready to give it any time. And I've sacrificed it to Him thirty one years ago. He gets sweeter day by day, as my days are growing weaker now, and I'm getting old.[22]

1961

And now, when I mentioned a few moments ago, Assemblies of God, now that's just one denominational church. We don't…For myself, as everyone knows, that I was ordained at about twenty-one years old, and that's been about thirty-one years ago in the Missionary Baptist church.[23]

1962

Some day, as I look towards the setting of the sun, I too, thirty-one years ago, made a pledge to One that I loved, all my love to Him. I've always tried to hold up for Him and His Word, wherever I go. I know there's many others setting in here, like that, waiting for the day that when the old ship of Zion shall come into the port, pick up our souls and take us in the Presence of Him Who we love and has pledged our love to.[24]