THE STRANGE CLOUD AND REVELATION OF ANGELS BY WILLIAM BRANHAM IN 1962.

Chapter 17 in the Bible:

This "Whore" really signifies the church or whorish system, the one supposed to be the "Bride of Christ" but in actuality goes whoring after the system! Not just the worship system of the church, but also the commercial system of its Capitalism and Materialism, and all the rest of its Whorish system.
Branham also said:

DAVID BERG ON BRANHAM
It was the making of a man! I had to get out & I was forced to go back to college--I didn't even want to but I had to--living on $25 a week, which was a lot of money in those days, in a way, but barely supported us, living in somebody else's borrowed little 14-foot trailer with a family of a wife & three children! It was pretty rough, hand-to-mouth & living by faith, but it was the making of things, because it was from there we went to build a church in Arizona & had all those experiences & Branham prophesied over me & it was from there I got out of the church entirely, broke loose, & joined Fred Jordan. He was another rebel, he'd broken with the churches & was really preaching the Truth, the facts
He began giving his testimony all around in churches, like my mother:--About the horrible experience in the flood when they were swept away, his wife dying & his miraculous healing & experiences.
WILLIAM BRANHAM WAS ABOUT 10 YEARS OLDER THAN I, & he was just a young fellow then. I think I must have been a teenager when it happened & he was a married young man & had a child & was working. HE'D KNOWN THE LORD ALL HIS LIFE & HAD THIS GIFT OF PROPHETIC VISIONS seeing things happen, sometimes years ahead! He lived as a little boy near the banks of the Ohio River at a time when there was no bridge over the river at Louisville at all. They just had ferries. HE WAS ABOUT 9 YEARS OLD & HE SAW THIS HUGE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER & he saw men falling off of it into the river! He went home really scared & told his mother & she thought it was a child's imagination. But about 20 years later they built that bridge, & there was something like a dozen men who fell off the bridge & were killed while they were building it! He had seen that happen!
HE HAD THIS GIFT ALL HIS LIFE. He'd know things & see things before they happened. Or someone would lose something & he'd know where it was, he'd seen where it was. Or some accident would happen or be about to happen & he'd warn somebody that it was going to happen.
HE CALLED IT THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE, to know things that other people didn't know or beforehand. He'd just see pictures of it happening. That's how he got into healing people, he'd see pictures of whether they were going to be healed or not. He didn't claim to have the gift of healing at all.
PEOPLE WOULD COME TO HIM WITH SOME ILLNESS or sickness & he'd tell them whether they were going to get well or die or what. A lot of times they didn't even know what they had, the doctors couldn't even tell them, & he'd tell them what was wrong with them. He could just see it. He would pray for them & lots of them got healed.
HE BEGAN JUST BY TELLING HIS LIFE STORY: How he & his wife were swept away in the flood & his wife & baby died, & he nearly died, & his vision of Heaven & how he began to want to live then because Heaven was so beautiful! First he wanted to die & then he wanted to live then because Heaven was so beautiful! First he wanted to die & then he wanted to live because he wanted to tell other people about the Lord. So he began giving his testimony & became quite popular in the churches going around telling his story. So he sort of became a preacher.
HE WAS VERY SIMPLE. He hadn't had much education at all, & he butchered the king's English! He was just a simple little hillbilly boy really, & he just spoke so simply, like a little child.
THEY WERE SO POOR HE HAD TO GO TO WORK right away to help his family because his father died & his mother was a widow then, & she had several children. He could remember living in a cold little shack in Kentucky when they ran out of fuel & it was ice cold, there was even ice inside the house! Then his mother couldn't take it anymore & his mother died, & he went to live with his grandmother. He had all kinds of terrible tragedies in his life.
THERE WAS ALWAYS THIS VOICE SPEAKING TO HIM THAT ENCOURAGED HIM, that he knew must be the voice of God. Once, he was out in the woods when there was no wind or anything & this whole tree just shook! The leaves rustled & shook & sort of blew, just this one tree, like Moses & the burning bush! He stood there & looked & thought, "That's funny! There's no wind & the other trees aren't doing that."
THE LORD APPARENTLY JUST DID IT TO GET HIS ATTENTION as a little boy--he was about 7 years old then. Then the Lord spoke out of the tree & told him to be a good boy. He'd been with some other bad boys that were smoking. The Lord said, "Don't smoke! You be a good boy & I'll take care of you. Some day you'll grow up to be a great man that will work for Me!" The voice of the angel called him right out of the shaking tree & it scared him!
HE KNEW IT MUST BE THE VOICE OF AN ANGEL or God or something. He ran home & told his mother. Most of the time they thought it was just his imagination that these things had happened, until he told them things that did happen, & then they began to believe him, that he really had a gift. So he went around giving his testimony & even telling about his calling & his gift.
PEOPLE BEGAN TO COME TO HIM & WANT TO KNOW THINGS. "I lost my son," or "I haven't seen my brother for years, where is he?" or, "I lost some money that we hid & I can't remember where I put it" & things like that. He'd just see pictures of it. Or, "I'm sick & the doctors don't know what's wrong with me."--He'd just see a picture of a tumor or cancer or something & tell them what was going to happen.
SO OF COURSE HE BECAME VERY FAMOUS AS WILLIAM BRANHAM THE MODERN PROPHET! I think there's a book on his life. I'm sure that the Pentecostal Evangel Publishing House in Springfield, Mo. USA would probably have it, although they turned against him finally. The Assemblies of God sponsored him for awhile because he was so famous & drew crowds of thousands! We heard about him quite a bit from various religious sources & in Los Angeles when we were there, but we had never gotten to hear him.
IN THOSE VERY DISCOURAGING DAYS AFTER I GOT KICKED OUT OF THE CHURCH that I built in Valley Farms, Arizona, I had gone back to college at the University of Arizona at Tempe. We were living there & we heard that Branham had come to Phoenix. So we went to hear him.
EVE HAD A TERRIBLE TIME TRYING TO PERSUADE ME TO GO because I was so fed up with churches & church people & religion & Christianity & everything.--Everything except for the Lord! I knew He was real, but I was sure fed up with church people, & I'd seen so many evangelists as religious racketeers!
I SAID, "OH, I DON'T WANT TO GO, I'VE SEEN THEM ALL! They're all a bunch of promoters & show men & whatnot, & I've seen it all!" She said, "Well just come, just this once, & if you don't like it, we won't go anymore. Just come just to see. He's famous!" So we went & took all the kids to this huge big tent that held several thousand people.
THEY HAD A LOT OF MUSIC & PRAYER & PRAISING & shouting hallelujah, a Pentecostal meeting, & that was all interesting. Then one preacher after another would get up & make a speech. All these little preachers from the local churches ride along on the coattails of the big preachers & sit on the platform. I kept waiting for the big evangelist.
THERE WAS THIS ONE LITTLE HICKY HILLBILLY PREACHER THAT KEPT TALKING, & who used all kinds of bad English. He was talking away giving his testimony & I thought, "That's interesting, but when is this big evangelist coming on anyhow? When is this bigshot coming on, the big boy, the famous fellow?" And I turned to Eve & asked her, "I wonder when William Branham's coming on?" She said, "That is William Branham!" I said,
"THAT'S WILLIAM BRANHAM, WORLD FAMOUS PROPHET & EVANGELIST?--That little tiny shrimp up there that's talking in that little weak voice & butchers the King's English--that's William Branham the great prophet & evangelist?--No!" She said, "That's he, that's the one! I'm sure that's the one."
I'D MISSED IT WHEN THEY INTRODUCED HIM because I was getting so bored with all these different preachers getting up & giving their testimony & preaching. The service must have gone on an hour & a half or two hours before he came on. You know how those Pentecostals are, they can go on four, five & six hours in a service!
BUT THEN I BEGAN TO REALLY LISTEN WHEN HE WAS TELLING HIS LIFE STORY about when he was a little boy & it was so cold & he was an orphan living here & there so poor. Then he had these dreams & visions & these experiences, hearing voices & seeing things, & how God dealt with him & spoke to him even when he was small. I guess that's sort of like what I went through too when I used to go out in the woods & walk.
IT SEEMED LIKE I COULD HEAR THE VOICE OF GOD SO CLEARLY! Not out loud like he did, but it just seemed like the Lord spoke to me in everything:--Every flower, every bush, every tree, every animal, every scene, every sunset, like the Lord was explaining everything to me. Isn't that something? The voice of the Spirit was so clear! That's one reason I liked to go out & get away from everybody & walk through the woods alone.
HIS TESTIMONY WAS SO LONG HE HAD TO CONTINUE IT FROM NIGHT TO NIGHT. He was mostly telling about being a little boy this first night & about growing up & getting married & working as a carpenter & almost to the flood. Then he said it was too late & he'd have to continue the next night. So of course everybody came back to hear about the flood.
THE NEXT TIME HE TOLD MOSTLY ABOUT THE FLOOD & his wife dying & how he nearly died. Then it was too late again & I had to come back the next night to hear some more about how the Lord saved him & healed him. The first night was about his childhood, the next night about the flood, then the next night about his salvation, his dream of Heaven & all that. We just loved it!
WE LISTENED & IT WAS SO ENCOURAGING, because he was not any particular church member or anything, he hadn't really had too much church when he was a boy. He was real poor & kind of a real hillbilly, what would have been considered very low white trash when I was a kid, like migrant workers & cotton pickers. (Maria: What a testimony, how the Lord can use somebody like that!--No matter who you are!) Yes!
SO WE TOOK THE KIDS BACK EVERY NIGHT, & they loved it because he was so simple & so childlike the older kids could even understand it. They were all exciting stories of experiences, not just sermons. They were real experience stories, exciting stories about dreams & visions & miracles & experience with the flood. So we were quite thrilled.
I THINK THE LORD REALLY SENT HIM ALONG AT THAT TIME TO BE A GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT IN MY LIFE because it really really encouraged me. It was then, at the end of his meetings, that all the preachers were invited to a special Christian Businessmen's Luncheon at this big hotel.
SOMEHOW OR ANOTHER A FRIEND OF OURS GOT ME AN INVITATION & a ticket, because it cost a dollar-and-a-half, & that was a lot of money in those days! Of course in a way it was a money-raiser too, but it was something special just for all the preachers after the meeting was over. I went, & it so happened that the Lord sat me down almost right straight across from him at the next table!
HE HAD A GOOD MESSAGE FOR THE PREACHERS, all kinds of good things about how they ought to live it more & they ought to get their people out witnessing more, they ought to get their people to really live the Gospel more than just sitting in church. I thought, "Boy, that's terrific! Just like what we were preaching!"
I WAS SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM, about 20 feet away.--Right where he couldn't escape seeing this poor young preacher sitting there in front of him. I was about 30 by this time & we had all four children & had just been kicked out of the church at Valley Farms.
HE KEPT LOOKING AT ME & I just knew that he was conscious I was there. I was just sort of sucking on him, drawing on him, because I was so desperately in need of encouragement. I was almost ready to give up.
I WAS REALLY DISCOURAGED & WONDERING WHAT TO DO. Here I was a poor preacher with 4 kids & kicked out of my church & virtually out of my denomination because they wouldn't give me another church. What was I to do? I'd just gone back to college on the GI bill. Spring session was almost over. Summer was coming, & at this school they didn't have much in the way of courses during summer.
WE WERE WONDERING WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GO. We had this little old Model-A Ford, little V-8 we bought from an old lady for $400, & I had this motion picture projector with a film on Palestine. That was about all I owned beside the big library of books that I finally gave away to the college in Tempe.
I WAS SITTING THERE SUCKING ON HIM & DRAWING ON HIM, just really hungry to get some little word of encouragement from him. A lot of it was very encouraging. It must have been so obvious in the Spirit, the spiritual magnetism must have been so strong, because after all, he was a prophet & he'd had all these experiences about people.
I WAS DRAWING ON HIM SO STRONG THAT HE LOOKED ME STRAIGHT IN THE EYE! There were about 300 preachers at this big luncheon, & it was sort of like he was speaking generally to all of them in a way, but he was looking me right in the eye & I knew he was talking to me. This could have applied to a lot of the guys of course, because we were all out in the middle of the desert in Phoenix. He said,
"IT DOESN'T MATTER, YOUNG FELLOW, IF YOU CAME OUT HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT to PASTOR A LITTLE CHURCH & they don't seem to appreciate you. Just be faithful to the Lord, & God's going to do great things for you."--And I just broke down & wept because I knew that was the word for me!
THEN AS WE WENT OUT, HE STOOD BY THE DOOR like the typical pastor or preacher shaking hands with everybody going out. Of course he had seen in his talk that I was deeply moved & I was sitting there weeping. As I came to him to shake his hand going out the door,
HE THREW HIS ARMS AROUND ME & HUGGED ME & kissed me & said, "Don't worry, son, don't worry. Everything's going to be all right." Then he quoted that same little verse from the Philadelphia Prophecy. (See Letter No.695.) He said,
"THE LORD IS GOING TO OPEN UNTO YOU A GREAT DOOR THAT NO MAN CAN CLOSE. He's going to close all these other doors that no man can open. Don't even try to open them. The Lord's going to open unto you a great door, greater than anything you ever dreamed of!--A door that no man can close!" (Rev.3:7-18.) Of course I had no idea what it was. I thought it might be some big church or something, talking about doors.
SO I WENT OFF WEEPING THEN, HAPPY & ALMOST WALKING ON AIR because I'd had this message of encouragement straight from the Lord, that the Lord was still going to use me! I had felt like maybe my ministry was up, that I was done. After all, my denomination didn't like me anymore because I'd sassed them back & been rebellious to them when they wanted me to leave the church & I wouldn't leave.

"Jesus spoke about it and it will be like that. Here is a repetition of what happened at the time of Ahab. Israel's history under Ahab reflects in America where the prophet that Malachy talks about, will appear. Just like Israel left Egypt, to serve God in freedom and in this wise became a mighty nation with leaders like David, and then put Ahab on the throne, with Jezebel controlling behind Ahab, so the same happened in America."
[President Hilary behind husband Bill?]