Throughout his ministry, William Branham collaborated with other cult leaders to gain supreme authority on doctrine and scripture, a strategy that eventually gained him the role of the central figure in his own cult of personality. Branham asked other cult leaders to plant doctrinal seeds, which would continue to grow until Branham himself reaped the fruits of the harvest. In basketball, this is called an "alley-oop" -- one player lobs the ball near the goal, while another player redirects the ball into the hoop for the score.
For example, William Branham sent an audio recording asking Lee Vayle to plan the doctrinal seed that seven letters in a name were spiritually significant, while six letters were not. William Branham’s first and last name had seven letters, while his competitor Billy Graham had only six letters in his last name. Branham’s middle name was questionable; Branham said that it had seven letters, but used the six-letter name “Marvin” on government documents. He told Vayle, “Now if you’re going to make that in conclusion, it might be a good thing,” and then asked Vayle to “inject” other subject matter into his literature and sermons.
The cult claims that the letter was dated 1964, but the timeline suggests that it was much earlier. Branham began planting the same seeds in his home church in the 1963 sermon Second Seal, and then both men continued to build upon the doctrine until its climax. By 1965, both men had built upon the doctrine until his “seven-letter name ending in HAM” was associated with the coming of the Son of Man — just as was instructed in the letter to Vayle
You can learn this and more on william-branham.org
Letter to Lee Vayle:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/topics/audio_letter_to_lee_vayle
Son of Man Doctrine:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/topics/not_a_man_but_god
Manifest Sons of God Foundation:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/topics/manifest_sons_of_god
