From: Bro. George Smith
 

Date: 9/01/2008 4:01:41 PM
To: Joseph Saigal (Gmail)
Subject: Response from Bro. George Smith
 
Bro. Joseph,
Greetings on this fine day in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The subject of the mysterious cloud has come up quite often recently;  and by God's grace the answer is in the Message, not my imagination.  It is perfectly in order to mention my name along with this story.

First, let us acknowledge an item from the letter you forwarded to me.  It is a known fact that Bro. Branham told us to consult the tape for any clarification. Those consulting only the books will not arrive at the proper conclusions.

Now this entire controversy began when some make-believer challenged the idea of Bro. Branham hunting the Javelina in Arizona on Feb. 28, 1963, as was widely preached at that time, and still to this day by some that will not accept Bro. Branham's words. The challenge was issued because research shows that the hunting season did not open until March 1, 1963; therefore "some prophet you all have, out there hunting illegally." The only place you will find 02/28/63 is attached to the published photos, that would be in Life, Science, and others. We will come back to those later. The plain facts are that Bro. Branham was NOT hunting out of season, that was not his method, nor would it have been the method of Gene Norman (one of the two hunting partners) who worked at that time in a sporting goods store where hunting licenses were sold.

Most of this that you are reading is printed in Only Believe Magazine, under the title: The Road to Sunset. And I might add here that when that was printed, it did cause controversy and even outrage in some. One man in particular almost lost his mind over the issue. Others have quietly continued their opposition but not with any blessing.

To get the full picture, let us focus on Jan, 1963:

Bro. Branham moved his family to Arizona in January 1963, at midterm in the school year.  One of the first things he did in Az, was have Billy Paul send out announcements for "preaching the Seven Seals in Jeffersonville, March 17 - 24, 1963".

Later, Bro. Branham promised Bros. Fred Sothman and Gene Norman that he would go Javelina hunting with them at the area of Sunset, north of Wilcox, as soon as possible near the opening of the season. And then thirdly, Bro. Branham received an invitation from his long-time friend, Raymond Hoekstra (Chaplain Ray) to be present at a prayer meeting in Houston, Texas, on March 4, 1963.
Bro. Branham felt very impressed to accept the invitation. The case was that the man who took the original Halo photo in Houston in 1950, Ted Kipperman, had a nephew and his girlfriend who had been involved in a robbery and a man was murdered. The kids were already found guilty and now they were facing the death penalty and thus the need for a prayer meeting to intervene for them.

So, the pressure was mounting on Bro. Branham with these and other obligations coming in from different directions, at about the same time. Of at least eight occasions that Bro. Branham tells about the Javelina hunting trip in Arizona in 1963, on three of those accounts he says, "But first I went to Houston." And we know by the tape catalog that would have been on March 4.

So, Bro. Branham and Bro. Gene Norman rode in one car and Bro. Billy Paul and his wife in another car, and the drove to Houston, Texas, for the Monday night prayer meeting of March 4, 1963. Bro. Billy Paul continued on to Jeffersonville to make sure the church remodeling was on schedule for the upcoming meetings.

Bro.Branham and Bro. Norman left immediately after the service on Monday night and drove all the way back to Tucson, approx. 1,100 miles (one way), putting them home on the afternoon of the 5th of May (should be 5th of March, typo error in Bro George's original). On the 6th they would take off early for the area of Sunset Mountain, get their camp set up, and ready for hunting on the 7th.

In the many accounts Bro. Branham says "I already had mine (his Javelina) and so we were hunting for Bro. Fred's (Javelina)." This indicates that they hunted for Bro. Branham's Javelina on the 7th, and now on this hunting day (in question) they were busy looking for one for Bro. Fred, March 8th.

In the extensive interview we had with Bro. Norman, it was revealed that on the night of the 7th, they were all three around the fire and Bro. Branham was telling the brothers many things about their families. One item that he mentioned later that did not get put in the story (Road to Sunset): "Bro. Branham told us that the Angels had been there waiting for us for a week."

So, on March 8th, the hunters went off into three directions, promising to come back to camp before 10am. While they are out there, they all heard a very loud blast. And it is during this time that the entire story takes place as Bro. Branham gives the account many times. When they came back together, Bro. Branham asked the other two, "Did you guys hear that?" He never asked them if they saw anything. Nothing more was said. They finished the hunt, went back to Tucson, and then packed up and went to Jeffersonville for the preaching of the Seals.

During the first week of May, 1963, Bro. Norman was visiting at the home of his brother-in-law and he saw the May 17, Life Magazine on the table. While looking through it, he was attracted to the article about the mysterious cloud ring in Arizona. And he asked if he could borrow it. The next Sunday Bro. Branham came by to take the Normans to dinner and he saw the magazine and asked if he could borrow it. This would have been the first time Bro. Branham saw the photograph. On the tape Come, Follow Me, June 1, 1963, is where Bro. Branham mentions the magazine and the photo for the first time.

My humble conclusion is that while he was hunting on that 8th of March, the Angelic visit took place in the other dimension (where he himself said that he spent over half of his time) and therefore only he saw it, no one else. That is why he only asked "Did you hear that?" The published photographs, from where we obtain the dates, could have been taken anytime, but the actual experience of the prophet would have been very close to what I have described for you. The result of the prayer meeting was that the kids received a life sentence and they were set free 15 years later.

Bro. Joseph, this will only be a help to the sincere seekers; all the others will have something to pitch
around and get excited about. God bless you. Any other questions, I would be happy to help out.
 
Bro. George
  (We will examine the fine details later in another article with some additional information received.....)