This tract is the product of a broken heart. A lifetime spent in the Message of William Branham, deeply loving its teachings, and trusting deeply the leaders who preached it. The writer of this article has been a message minister living his life in the Jeffersonville Indiana area. The sorrow with which these things are wrote cannot be overstated.
There is no conclusive proof that William Branham was a homosexual. But there is overwhelming evidence that he was frequently in the company of known homosexuals and maintained close relationships with them, including promoting them and their ministries. William Branham’s many relationships with homosexuals span his entire ministry. This is a topic that is hushed up and not spoken publicly by the ministers. But in Jeffersonville, it is whispered about behind the scenes. It is fair for everyone to hear this information and make up their own minds.
Much of this information was shared with me by other Message believers, including multiple old-timer Message preachers who knew William Branham personally.
Leo Mercer and Gene Goad
Leo Mercer was a known homosexual. The following is an except from a legal case concerning Leo.
Leo Mercer, a self-proclaimed minister, ran the park. After Brother Branham’s death in 1965, Mercer gradually became more authoritative, employing various forms of punishment. He would ostracize people from the community and separate families. Children were beaten for minor infractions like talking during a march or not tying their shoes. Mercer would punish girls by cutting their hair, and force boys to wear girls’ clothing. There was also evidence that Mercer sexually abused children.”
California Supreme Court Case #S045060
In one instance, “…Mercer ordered that [a girl’s] hair be cut off to punish her because he had had a vision from God that she was being sexually inappropriate with young children. [She] was beaten and forced to wear masculine clothes that covered much of her body, hiding her bruises. Her fingertips were burned so she would know what hell felt like.”
California Supreme Court Case #S045060
Lee Vayle confirmed Leo was a homosexual and that William Branham was aware of that fact. The author of this tract can also confirm that knowledge of Leo and his activities was well known among the Jeffersonville Message leadership. He made the following statement:
At the same time Leo and Gene, two homosexuals, attached themselves to Bro. Branham’s ministry, tape boys, which was allowed by God, and when they absolutely showed what they were, God warned Bro. Branham what would happen to them. And I saw the vision in the vision book.
I believe it was about 1956 and no later, that Leo and Gene, Leo Mercier and Gene Goad, God told Bro. Branham to hire them; two homosexuals. So I want you to get the drift of what I’m saying.
From a sermon titled “Godhead” preached by Lee Vayle on July 2, 2000
Leo and Gene were responsible for recording and duplicating all of William Branham’s tapes. The Branham tape recordings which are widely spread throughout the Message were created by them. They were the original “Tape Boys”. They traveled with William Branham on his campaign meetings to record his sermons, and tapes of William Branham’s sermons could only be purchased from them. They were also his frequent hunting trip companions. If William Branham had a vision about them and knew what they were, why did he give them such important and prominent positions?
William Branham spoke very highly of his homosexual assistants and the compound where they were molesting and torturing children.
Brother Leo, Brother Gene and pilgrims, I—I deem this one of the grand privileges that I’ve had, to come here to see for myself what you have here on these grounds. It’s a…I have been blessed as I moved across the little creek there, and see this court. And I…One time when Brother Leo was making tapes, and I told him that surely there was something greater in life for him than to make tapes. And, course, tape-making is something that we must do, but it’s blessed us, but there is something else. We’re all cut out for different things to do. And to come here this morning and look, this fine little Jerusalem setting out here, little, what I called, it Goshen, I believe, when we come over this morning.
William Branham speaking about Gene and Leo’s compound in Arizona. 964, May 31. The Oddball (64-0531)
In her 2022 book, The Serpent’s Tail, one child who grew up in the compound explained that her family stayed in the compound and subjected themselves to the molestations and abuse after being instructed to do so by William Branham. The abuses were ongoing during the times William Branham was visiting the group and he encouraged them to stay.
Why did William Branham call the molestation and torture commune “a fine little Jerusalem”? William Branham knew the commune was being led by a homosexual. Did he not discern the widespread abuse being conducted by its homosexual leader while he was there? Wouldn’t a true man of God tell those people to flee for their lives, rather than encourage them to stay? People died as a result of listening to William Branham’s advice. How much responsibility does William Branham bear for these things?
Paul Cain
Paul Cain was a frequent ministering companion of William Branham. They traveled and ministered together regularly during the healing revival period. William Branham explains their relationship in the following quote:
I was just coming in a few moments ago and met a friend of mine, a friend of yours. Many people know him. I asked him if he’d speak for me tonight, and he wouldn’t do it. So it’s Brother Paul Cain. Would you just come out here, Brother Paul Cain, just for a moment? Brother Paul Cain, who has ministry friends everywhere. And we’re always happy to have our visiting brothers with us off the field.
55-0223 – Job – Rev. William Marrion Branham
Paul Cain was a closeted homosexual during the 1950s. He later confessed of his lifestyle.
Leslie Douglas Ashley
In 1963 – the same week the cloud appeared in Arizona – William Branham was actually involved at meetings in Texas to help get a homosexual prostitute off death row for the murder of one of his clients. The man was the step son of a Full Gospel Businessmen who financed many of William Branham’s campaigns. William Branham had a deep affection for the boy.
I had arrangements made for something else, another place, and I knew that those children were facing death, I thought, “If something would happen to those children, I would never forgive myself,” of not coming here to give my opinion and doing all that I could, to help this mother and father, and of these children, and to do all that I could for the saving of their lives.
63-0304 – A Absolute Rev. William Marrion Branham
The other day I was called to Houston, Texas, to try to get a pardon… I gathered some people together to preach a message to get people there to sign a pardon of—of this young fellow and young girl, you know, that got in that trouble (I guess you’ve read about it in the paper) and that was Mr. Ayers’ step son.
– William Branham, 63-0317M
It is curious that William Branham said the 23-year-old was a child. It is even more curious that he failed to tell his audiences that he was a homosexual prostitute who shot and burnt one of his customers. Why would William Branham feel an obligation to help him avoid the death penalty?
Here are the newspaper articles that give the details of the pair William Branham was helping.
Very strangely, after William Branham visited the condemned pair and plead before authorities on their behalf, Ashley began to claim he was mentally insane. What was the proof of his insanity? He began telling everyone he was Elijah the prophet. The ploy was successful and Ashley had his sentence commuted.
In explaining how he helped the pair get off death row, William Branham told his audiences he deserved an oscar award: the award given by Hollywood to the best actors of the year.
…Give me what they call an oscar, or whatever you want to call it, for saving a life.
Branham, William, 1965, Jul 25. What is the Attraction on the Mountain (65-0725E)
Ashley remained a transvestite homosexual for the rest of his life, and changed his name after a sex change operation to become a woman. He-She ran for political office several times later in his-her life.
Frary Von Blomberg
Frary Von Blomberg, from Boston, was an important member of the Full Gospel Businessmen, an important financier of William Branham’s campaigns, and served as William Branham’s translator and campaign manager on his overseas tours. William Branham and Frary Von Blomberg spent alot of time together in the 1950s. William Branham made many references to Von Blomberg and their relationship in his sermons.
And here not long ago I was talking to Baron Von Blomberg. Probably you know him, he’s a good friend of mine.
Branham, William. 1955, Jun 12. The Presence Of The Lord Jesus, Macon GA.
According to multiple sources, including Lee Vayle, Von Blomberg was another homosexual who frequented William Branham’s company.
And at that time there was with that group that went to Europe, a Christian Full Gospel businessman, identified with them, named Faery Von Blomberg-even the name is typical-Fairy? Not trying to be facetious, but look at it. It’s absolutely true. That was his name, and he was an avowed homosexual.
From a sermon titled “Godhead” preached by Lee Vayle on July 2, 2000
William Branham’s Hunting Trips
William Branham was an outdoorsman who loved to get away with just his buddies and camp out. Oddly, on many of his trips, the majority of his companions were known homosexuals.
During one of his hunting trips, a member of William Branham’s hunting party was arrested by police for committing homosexual acts, which was still a crime at the time. Following the arrest, William Branham was accused of being a homosexual by a ministerial association. William Branham personally related some of the details of the event in one of his sermons, saying:
Then when this come up… Now, we got people out in the audience… There’s one right… went right before me up there in Canada even the… Why, the agents picked him up as a homosexual. See?
…
Now, when I was in Canada they picked up this fellow that went up there.
…
Then the man was picked up right there by the–the FBI from here, sent up there and picked him up up there, the Royal Mounted Police. And the ministerial association come to me, and, “A homosexual,” they say, “why, Brother Branham’s probably the same thing.
Branham, William. 1961, June 18. Revelation Chapter Five 2 (61-0618)
These are a few examples of William Branham’s unusual connections to homosexuals. He assisted a homosexual murder and transvestite get off death row. A prominent minister who traveled and ministered with William Branham was a closeted homosexual. One of his key financiers and translator was a homosexual. A homosexual man was arrested by police while with William Branham in Canada, and William Branham was accused by other ministers of being a homosexual at the time.
These homosexual rumors swirled around William Branham while he was living and are still repeated by Message preachers in secret. He had a very close relationship and tolerated and promoted Leo Mercer and Gene Goad – who were guilty of child molestation and abuse and homosexuality. Worst of all, despite knowing they were homosexuals, he frequently invited them on his private hunting trips and was even willing to rest his head on the lap of a man while in their company as seen in the preceding photographs.
Homosexual Rumors While William Branham Was Living
Message ministers in Indiana and the Jeffersonville area have been aware of homosexual rumors about William Branham since he was living.
For example, a witness of William Branham’s ministry often mentioned in his sermons, and who was a minister in nearby Bloomington Indiana, spoke openly about the homosexual rumors concerning William Branham during the 1980s. He shared his knowledge of the homosexual rumors quite widely before he eventually left the Message in the early 1990s.
The rumor has primarily swirled around William Branham’s hunting trips where the majority of his companions were homosexuals. When I questioned the pastor of our Message church about this topic, he informed me that he had heard the homosexual rumors while William Branham was still living and was very disturbed by them and things he had personally witnessed. He was so troubled he was actually considering leaving The Message, until he had a dream. In the dream, William Branham came to him dressed in white and told him the rumors were false, and this convinced him to stay. He encouraged me to accept his dream as exoneration of William Branham, as he had.
William Branham on Women
She is nothing but a human garbage can, a sex exposal… a human sexual garbage can, a pollution, where filthy, dirty, ornery, low-down filth is disposed by her. What is she made this way for? For deception. Every sin that ever was on the earth was caused by a woman. And an analyst just from Chicago, a—a woman wrote this article, the police force; that they chased down, in United States, metropolitan United States, that “Ninety-eight percent of every crime that was ever did in any form, in the United States, there was either a woman in it or behind it.
Branham, 65-0221M
This was my remark then, “They’re not worth a good clean bullet to kill them with it.” That’s right. And I hated women. That’s right. And I just have to watch every move now, to keep from still thinking the same thing.
Branham, 59-0419
The woman is a tree of death, the man is a tree of life; for the woman doesn’t even bear life in her. That’s exactly right.
Branham, William. 1957, Sept 25. Questions And Answers On Hebrews #1
When I grew up in the Message, we were told that people who accused William Branham of being a woman hater were just twisting his words. But I would encourage you to actually listen to what William Branham’s sermon on Marriage and Divorce and see what you think for yourself. I think it is possible William Branham did hate women. He used some of the most filthy ungodly language to describe women and directly instructed men to use physical discipline on their wives to control their behavior. Message followers have obeyed his instructions and spousal abuse is widespread in Message churches.
My Questions
How could a prophet who had the gift of discernment knowingly associate himself in so many compromising ways with homosexuals? Especially when it was confirmed he knew they were homosexuals!
Would you go on a hunting trip and sleep with men you knew were homosexual? William Branham did.
Could any of these things be related to why he spoke so harshly towards women at times?
Could William Branham’s love for hunting and camping be related to more than a desire to be out in nature?
I really don’t know. I am not prepared to draw a conclusion, but there is more than enough evidence to justify asking these questions. I know there were multiple Message preachers who were around William Branham in the 1950s and 1960s who asked these question. Were they justified in wondering about this topic? Why are they worthy of knowing the answer, but not the rest of us?
When sharing all the wonderful details of William Branham’s hunting trips with us, why do the Message leaders leave out the fact that many of his companions on those trips were homosexuals? Isn’t that a noteworthy fact for us to consider?
If you discovered your pastor was spending the night with homosexuals, wouldn’t you be justified to expect an explanation? How can Message ministers condemn us for expecting an explanation that makes sense. I have not heard that explanation yet.
According to William Branham’s own words, multiple ministers who knew him while he was still living did indeed conclude he was a homosexual.
And the ministerial association come to me, and, “A homosexual,” they say, “why, Brother Branham’s probably the same thing.
Branham, William. 1961, June 18. Revelation Chapter Five 2 (61-0618)