Only Believe: William Branham's Ragtime and Jazz Song
- 2 years ago
William Branham used the song "Only Believe" as the theme song for his later revivals. The song was written by Paul Rader, brother of Ralph Rader. According to William Branham, he had never heard the song before his alleged angelic commission in 1946 or 1947. Branham claimed that an "angel" told him that "it" liked this song. Interestingly, the early congregation of William Branham’s church came from Roy E. Davis’ Pentecostal sect, and that sect was the result of a church split wherein Davis stole a large part of Ralph Rader’s congregation.
Paul Rader wrote the song "Only Believe" in 1921. At the time he was the president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and had learned the power of the beat used in American Jazz music. According to Paul, ragtime and jazz were very effective in "converting heathens" to Christianity, and therefore he began stressing that they be used in the missionary field. A hundred missionaries were armed with the jazz beat by 1923, and Paul Rader said that the rocky jazz beat "delighted" the savages when he put sacred words to a jazz beat. Ironically, those in the cult following of William Branham are often scolded by their pastors for listening to any sort of music with a beat -- the pastors claim that this type of music "came from heathens." It would be comical if a person who studied the history of Chrisitan music heard such a statement in a sermon that followed the singing of "Only Believe," especially when it had enough beat to inspire Elvis Presley to sing it during his days as the "King of Rock and Roll."
"Only Believe" was also the theme song for the Smith Wigglesworth campaigns. Wigglesworth used the song along with a banner with the slogan "Jesus Christ the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever".
You can learn this and more on william-branham.org
Only Believe:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/topics/only_believe
Paul Rader:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/paul_rader
Ralph Rader:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/ralph_rader
Paul Rader wrote the song "Only Believe" in 1921. At the time he was the president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and had learned the power of the beat used in American Jazz music. According to Paul, ragtime and jazz were very effective in "converting heathens" to Christianity, and therefore he began stressing that they be used in the missionary field. A hundred missionaries were armed with the jazz beat by 1923, and Paul Rader said that the rocky jazz beat "delighted" the savages when he put sacred words to a jazz beat. Ironically, those in the cult following of William Branham are often scolded by their pastors for listening to any sort of music with a beat -- the pastors claim that this type of music "came from heathens." It would be comical if a person who studied the history of Chrisitan music heard such a statement in a sermon that followed the singing of "Only Believe," especially when it had enough beat to inspire Elvis Presley to sing it during his days as the "King of Rock and Roll."
"Only Believe" was also the theme song for the Smith Wigglesworth campaigns. Wigglesworth used the song along with a banner with the slogan "Jesus Christ the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever".
You can learn this and more on william-branham.org
Only Believe:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/topics/only_believe
Paul Rader:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/paul_rader
Ralph Rader:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/ralph_rader