William Branham and the Healing of Florence Nightingale

On January 24, 1950, Brother Fred Bosworth showed William Branham a picture of a certain Florence Nightingale of Durban, South Africa who was suffering from cancer at the entrance of the stomach which was causing her to slowly starve to death. She was a tall woman but now weighed only about fifty pounds and was a mere skeleton. She had written asking Brother Branham to come to South Africa to pray for her. It was learned that she was a distant relative of the Florence Nightingale that founded the Red Cross. That evening they prayed that God would make her completely well.

Eight weeks later, while on the way to Finland, the Branham party landed in England and as they entered the International airport, William Branham's name was paged over the public address system. Florence Nightingale had arrived at the airport just fifteen minutes before and those with her wanted Brother Branham to come to her quickly because she was dying.

When they met at her hotel, no one in the party had ever seen a woman in such pitiful condition. She was so thin that her skin stuck to her bones and even stuck back to back through the voids in her pelvis. Her pain and weakness were such that speech was nearly impossible.

She asked if she could shake Brother Branham's hand which required the nurse to raise her hand because it was little more than just bones. She pleaded that he pray that God would let her die. He asked her, "Are you a Christian?" and she whispered, "Yes."

Brother Branham then led those present in a simple prayer. As they knelt, he began, "Almighty God, Creator of heavens and earth, Author of Everlasting Life, Giver of all good gifts..." As he reached this point, a dove flew in from the thick London fog and landed on the windowsill. It remained there cooing and pacing along the sill until the prayer concluded with "Amen." Then it flew back into the fog. A minister of the Church of England was amongst those present and asked, "Did you notice that dove?" and another minister advised "It wasn't a pet." As Brother Branham started to say he had thought it was a pet, the Spirit of God moved upon him and he saw a vision of Florence Nightingale walking down a street in perfect health. Immediately he declared; "Thus saith the Lord, sister, you will live and not die."

As they walked from the room, Brother Ern Baxter gasped "How could she live? God will have to create a new woman."

Eight months later, Brother Branham received another picture from Florence Nightingale, this time showing her to be a picture of health weighing 155 pounds. She had resumed her own nursing career.

In 1960, Brother Branham reported that a magazine in England had published an article stating that Florence Nightingale's testimony was false and so he arranged for a copy of the article to be sent to her in England where she was then living. Florence Nightingale went to the man who had written the article and challenged him with, "Who said this testimony wasn't right?" The man then wrote Brother Branham a letter of apology, advising that he had "taken somebody else's word for it."

(See WBSC folder 'Events')