[W]hen a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously." (Deuteronomy 18:22)If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known,* ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)
(* See Jesus According to William Branham and William Branham's Golden Calf)"'Therefore,' declares the LORD, 'I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me.'" (Jeremiah 23:30)
(See the discussion, Historic Atlantis where we learn that WMB stole his California earthquake prophecy from the false prophet, Edgar Cayce)One thing that most Message believers often claim is that William Branham made thousands of prophecies which have never failed to come to pass. They say that because William Branham has told them so. The problem is, if you were to ask them for a single example of where William Branham ever prophesied of an event before it came to pass, they will not be able to do so. That's because WMB usually based his prophecies on events that already happened or were about to happen according to various public media. Those which he predicted before their fulfillment never really came to pass according to the details of his predictions. Below are several examples of William Branham's most well-known prophecies which never came to pass as predicted. If WMB were a true prophet of God, this page would be blank. Pray for those who make excuses for WMB's errors and those who may become devistated after they learn he was not the prohphet they thought he was. Pray that they will turn to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ as their only hope for the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life!
Lord to Return in 1977
Five or Seven Angels in Vision
Death of Marilyn Monroe
Discernment Errors in Prayer Lines
Brown Bear Prophecy
Prophecy of Sharks in L.A.
Did the Holy Spirit Say that Capernaum Lies at the Bottom of the Sea?
The Miracle of Donny Morton
India: Tens of Thousands Times Thousands Saved
The Tent Vision
16 Workers Fall to Their Deaths From Municipal Bridge
'64 Alaska Earthquake not Prophesied Until Months After the Fact
Prophecy of Fred Barker's Healing
7 Major Visions of 1933
Brief Narrative of Each Controversial Prophecy Lord to Return in 1977 William Branham said:
Based on these seven visions, along with the rapid changes which have swept the world in the last fifty years, I PREDICT (I do not prophesy) that these visions will have all come to pass by 1977 . And though many may feel that this is an irresponsible statement in view of the fact that Jesus said that 'no man knoweth the day nor the hour.' I still maintain this prediction after thirty years because, Jesus did NOT say no man could know the year, month or week in which His coming was to be completed. So I repeat, I sincerely believe and maintain as a private student of the Word, along with Divine inspiration that 1977 ought to terminate the world systems and usher in the millennium.Although William Branham (WMB) stated that his prediction of the end of the world was not a prophecy, there are a couple of problems with his "prediction" when viewed in light of his supposed role as a prophet.
An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, page 322First, we must ask what the difference is between a prophecy and a prediction based on "Divine inspiration." If this prediction was Divinely inspired, it can only mean that God told WMB to make it. That, by definition, is a prophecy.
Second, WMB implied that, although he did not know the day or hour of the end, he did know the year because, "Jesus did NOT say no man could know the year, month or week in which His coming was to be completed."
Next, as if to confirm this prediction with biblical authority, WMB makes a connection to the Jubilee from the book of Leviticus:
"Now, counting the time, we find that we have exactly (Listen.) seventeen years left, and we will have the same span of time given to us as God dealing with us in the power of the Holy Spirit since A.D. 33 until 1977, the same span of time of 1954 years. God deals with us the same as He did with the Jews. See? How about that? "Now, mark down in your book a little Scripture here I want to give you. Leviticus 25, begin with the 8th verse. God calls a jubilee every forty-ninth year; the fiftieth year was the jubilee. We know that. We understand that. From the first jubilee of Leviticus 25:8, in 1977 will be the seventieth jubilee, making exactly 3,430 years. Jubilee means the going up, the release. . ."Did you get that? God has dealt with us exactly the same amount of time that He dealt with the Jews from the time He give Abraham the promise until the rejecting of the Messiah in A.D. 33, was 1954 years. And now, we have seventeen years left. We had about 1930 something years. We got seventeen years left until '77 will be the seventieth jubilee since the beginning of jubilees. And what will it be? Oh, brother. Watch close now. Don't miss it. It'll be the Jubilee of the going up of the Gentile Bride and the return of Christ to the Jews, when they go out of bondage. Amen. Don't you see? From all the world they've gather there for that day. Oh, my. See where we're at? We don't know what time it might happen. We're at the end time."
The Seventieth Week of Daniel, preached August 6, 1961 (tape #61-0806)Did WMB indicate any doubt whatsoever that 1977 was the year? Not in this quote.
Finally, many have tried to discredit the "prophecy" by saying it appeared in the Church Ages book, which they say was written by Lee Vayle and not Wm. Branham himself. However, Rebekah Branham-Smith wrote an article called, "Whose Book Is It?" for the June 1991 issue of her magazine, Only Believe. In it, she points out that Lee Vayle was actually the ghost writer of the Church Ages book. She makes the definitive case for supporting the fact that William Branham had total control over what Lee Vayle put into the book. At the end of the article, she writes:
"There is no doubt in my mind that An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages is William Branham’s book. And knowing, first-hand, how hard he struggled to get it published, I cannot remain neutral on the subject of its authorship."Since the end of the world and the 2nd coming of the Lord did not come in 1977, we must conclude that this Divinely inspired prediction was another of WMB’s false prophecies.
Incidentally, many Message Believers continue to hold fast to the view that WMB’s “divine” prediction was not an actual prophecy. However, there is at least one other occasion where WMB “predicted” something that he later said was a “thus saith the Lord” prophecy. It would seem that WMB equated his predictions with actual prophecies. See, "Prediction or Prophecy?"
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (June 26, 2002), Click Here.
Discernment Errors in Prayer Lines It is often said by those who follow Wm. Branham's Message that he never made an error in discernment. Pearry Green, a close friend of William Branham and long time pastor of Tucson Tabernacle, once said:
Many others have manifested what they call “gifts of discernment,” yet there has always been that margin of error. I have known men personally who had great gifts of discernment but occasionally they would be mistaken and this would cause great sorrow in the lives of others, often great tragedy when people were told things in error. This was a source of confusion to these men of God. When they asked Brother Branham about it, he said, “If there is any margin of error in it, leave it alone.”Was there any "margin of error" in WMB's gift of discerment? Here are a few known examples where Message believers have long given WMB some "margin of error" in his gift of discernment. Is it time they recognize WMB's imperfect gift and take his advice to "leave it alone?"
(The Acts of the Prophet, pg. 75, first edition)You believe? If thou canst believe, all things are possible. You're from out-of-town too, but do you believe? You're scared, aren't you. You are to be mother, and the reason you're scared, you got a rupture; and you are afraid of this baby whether it'll be right or not. Only if you won't doubt, Mrs. Hoffman--Huffler, then you can believe--healed. You believe it? How does He know your name and know who you are? Do you believe it with all your heart? All right, Mrs. Huffler, you can go home and bring forth the baby in peace.
Jehovah-Jireh, January 6, 1957 (tape #57-0106)
If God will reveal to me what you were praying about, will you receive it? Your a praying for your son. And your son has a heart trouble. And he's got a black shadow over him, for death. No, I beg your pardon, lady. He's a sinner. The dark shadow, you are praying for the salvation of his soul. That's what that dark shadow is. Raise your hand if that's true. Hallelujah! I challenge your faith in God. Ask the woman. What did she touch? Nothing. What caused it? Was it that faithful pastor setting there praying? I don't think so. It was her faith that did that. You just believe.
Christ Outside the Door, March 30, 1958 (tape #58-0330E)
There is a man standing before me, he's had a operation for hemorrhoids; didn't do any good. Mr. Day, I beg your pardon, Mr. Short, stand up and receive your healing.
Abraham's Grace Covenant, March 17, 1961 (tape #61-0317)
We're strangers, aren't we? Lay your hand on that woman behind you, call her Mrs. McAlister. She don't know me. McAllen, rather.
Only Believe, April 27, 1961 (tape #61-0427)
You're near Bedford, Springville, something like. That's where it's at, Springville. Mrs. Burton... not... I beg your pardon; I didn't mean it. Mrs. Parker, that's your name, isn't it?
He That is In You, November 10, 1963 (tape #63-1110E)
Now, when He [Jesus]come to Simon, He told him who he was. You believe God can tell me what your name is? Would it make you believe more? It would? Mrs. Strong... [The sister says "Stout"-Ed.] Stout, would you believe? Go and believe and you... It's all over.
A Testimony on the Sea, March 7, 1964 (tape #64-0307)
Mr. Branham has said that his gift of discernment was actually the Holy Spirit speaking through his lips. Since God does not make mistakes, these incidents invalidate any such claim. One might say, "But Mr. Branham corrected himself in each case." If so, what caused him to make the errors in the first place? We find no such examples of this type of error made by the apostles and prophets of the Bible. They never had one false discernment that needed to be corrected.
We will probably never know how many times Mr. Branham has made such errors in "discernment" because they were not caught on tape as these incidents were. This page will be updated as more examples are discovered.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (December 10, 2001), Click Here.
See also, "And They Were All Healed Every One".
Most Message followers are familiar with a vision William Branham claimed to have had in which he saw himself shooting a grizzly bear (See "It Becometh Us To Fulfil [sic] All Righteousness", #61-1001M, paragraphs 38-63 ). William Branham claimed that a bearskin rug which now lies on the floor in his den at his Tucson home is the result of the fulfillment of that vision (click here to see a photo of the rug ). What many of his followers do not know is that Mr. Branham prophesied at least 3 times that he would later shoot another large brown bear. He said:
Coming home the other night, or the other day, or just 'fore I come home, I was--fell into a vision; and I seen some little fellows, thin, looked like young boys or something, had on caps. And we were standing hunting. And I'd shot a mammoth, big, brown-looking bear. And then, they turned around and said to me, said, "But there's some confusion about the meeting." And I said, "No matter what the confusion is, if I was supposed to go, wherever it was, I'll go anyhow. (See?) It doesn't matter." And the vision stopped. I don't know where that's at, but this is on tape. It's going to happen. See? Just remember; it's going to happen; it's a vision...
Wisdom Versus Faith, Jeffersonville, IN, April 1, 1962 (tape #62-0401)Many of you remember the vision that I had, where I had shot the grizzly bear, nine-foot grizzly bear (And the church remembers me telling it here.) and the caribou. I had another. Remember it's on tape here, I seen a great huge brown bear. That might be a Kodiak and it wouldn't have worked down there in Canada, 'cause they're not there. You see? But wherever it will be, it'll be. It will be; that's THUS SAITH THE LORD. It will be.
Possessing All Things, Jeffersonville, IN, May 6, 1962 (tape #62-0506)Now, I'm going back into the country, that you might know, when I come back next year. I'm going to get a brown bear that's almost twice that size. You see if it's right or not. I seen it. When we was standing, put my hands on his haunches laying on the ground, like that. And I could put my hands on his hips like that, and him laying down. Now, you find out if that's right or not.
Presuming, S. Pines, NC, June 10, 1962 (tape #62-0610M)
This prophecy was never fulfilled before Mr. Branham's death in 1965.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (December 10, 2001), Click Here.
William Branham and his son Billy Paul were once standing in front of the May Company in downtown Los Angeles. He told his son, "Billy, I may not be here but you won't be an old man until sharks will swim right where we are standing" (See The Acts of the Prophet, by Pearry Green, page 119). He was referring to his prophecy that California would one day sink into the ocean as the result of a catastrophic earthquake.
It is important to understand what Mr. Branham meant when he said that Billy Paul would not be an "old man" before the coming earthquake. Mr. Branham often called himself an old man from the time he was 56 years old. It is reasonable to conclude that Mr. Branham did not believe Billy Paul would be 56 years old before California would sink into the ocean. Billy Paul Branham died on October 19, 2023, at the age of 88. Voice of God Recordings reports that Billy Paul died "of natural causes due to his age." Since he was not yet an old man according to his father, one might wonder what kind of "natural causes due to age" could have taken Billy Paul's life. The Bible says that King David died "a good old age" at the age of about 70 (see 1 Chronicles 29:28). Billy Paul was 88, and still sharks have yet to swim the streets of Los Angeles. Geologists agree that "The Big One" could come at any moment, but according to William Branham's time frame, this prophecy has already failed to come to pass.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (February 1, 2002), Click Here.
William Branham once told of a prophecy he made concerning Los Angeles:
"That's solemn warning. We don't know what time. And you don't know what time that this city one day is going to be laying out here in the bottom of this ocean. 'O, Capernaum,' said Jesus, 'thou who exalted into heaven will be brought down into hell, for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, it'd have been standing till this day.' And Sodom and Gomorrah lays at the bottom of the Dead Sea, and Capernaum's in the bottom of the sea. Thou city, who claims to be the city of the Angels, who's exalted yourself into heaven and sent all the dirty filthy things of fashions and things, till even the foreign countries come here to pick up our filth and send it away, with your fine churches and steeples, and so forth the way you do; remember, one day you'll be laying in the bottom of this sea. You're great honeycomb under you right now. The wrath of God is belching right beneath you. How much longer He'll hold this sandbar hanging over that, when that ocean out yonder a mile deep will slide in there plumb back to the Salton Sea. It'll be worse than the last day of Pompeii. Repent, Los Angeles. Repent the rest of you and turn to God. The hour of His wrath is upon the earth. Flee while there's time to flee and come into Christ."
Choosing of a Bride, Los Angeles, CA, April 29, 1965 (tape #65-0429E)
In a later sermon, Mr. Branham spoke about this prophecy. He explained that after making the prophecy, he had no memory of it, or of quoting Jesus' prophecy against Capernaum, implying that it was the Holy Spirit speaking through him at the time. He said:
"And while in there Something struck me; I didn't know nothing for about thirty minutes. There was a prophecy went out. First thing I remember, Brother Mosley and Billy; I was out on the street, walking. And It said, 'Thou Capernaum, which calls yourself by the name of the Angels,' that's Los Angeles, city of angels (See?), the angels, 'which are exalted into heaven, will be brought down into hell. For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom, that's been done in you, it would've been standing till this day.' And that was all unconsciously to me. . . "And when I understood that, I went; I said, 'There is a Scripture about that somewhere.' And I went and found it was Jesus rebuking Capernaum by the seacoast. That night I looked up the Scriptures. Come home, got the history book; and Sodom and Gomorrah was once a--a thriving city, a Gentile headquarters of the world. And you know that city by an earthquake sank into the Dead Sea. And Jesus stood, and said, 'Capernaum, if Sodom would've had the works done in it that you've had done in you, it would've been standing today. But now you must be brought down to hell.' And about two hundred or three hundred years after His prophecy, with all them coastal towns, every one of them still standing but Capernaum, and it lays in the bottom of the sea. A earthquake sunk it into the sea.
Ashamed, Jeffersonville, IN, July 11, 1965 (65-0711)
The Lord could not have spoken through Mr. Branham in this prophecy because Capernaum never sank into the sea. Its ruins lay on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee to this day.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (December 10, 2001), Click Here.
William Branham often told that he once prayed for a young boy by the name of Donny Morton who had a terminal case of meningitis. He tells that the child was healed of the disease according to "thus saith the Lord":
"Here not long ago, you seen the article in the paper of that little Donny Morton being healed out there in California. The Reader's Digest packed it, went in every language under heaven, everywhere, about the miracle."The article that Mr. Branham referred to appeared in the November 1952 issue of The Reader's Digest. It chronicled the story of Donny Morton's losing battle with meningitis. According to the article, Mr. Branham said to the child's parents,
God Perfecting His Church, Binghamton, NY, December 4, 1954 (tape #54-1204)"And you seen it in Reader's Digest, not long ago, Donny Morton, "The Miracle Of Donny Morton." That little child right there in California, at the Assemblies of God, down there at that school, Southwestern Bible School, that child was so twisted and afflicted till even John Hopkins and Mayo Brothers said, 'There's not a earthly chance for him.' But the Lord...?... THUS SAITH THE LORD. That was different."
His Unfailing Words of Promise, Phoenix, AZ, January 20, 1964 (tape #64-0120)
". . . do not give up hope. With faith in God’s power, and help from the medical world, your little son will live."Donny’s health began to improve dramatically, but within five months of this prediction, the boy died from a combination of meningitis and pneumonia. The article describes the "miracle" somewhat differently than Mr. Branham did:
"The personal miracle Morton [Donny’s father] sought - that his child’s life be saved - was denied. But out of his search for it came another miracle, because this Saskatchewan farmer’s selfless and unquestioning pilgrimage across half a continent stirred the hearts of thousands."
(Smith, Alma E. "The Miracle of Donny Morton," The Reader's Digest, [November 1952], vol. 61)
Contrary to what Mr. Branham led his followers to believe, Donny Morton was not healed according to "thus saith the Lord."
To read the actual article from Reader's Digest, Click Here.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (December 10, 2001), Click Here.
William Branham prophesied of a great campaign in India, saying:
Mark my word; write it in the pages of your Bible, for it's THUS SAITH THE LORD, "Remember, when we land in India, you're going to hear of tens of thousands times thousands being saved." The Holy Spirit has said it; I've wrote it here in my Bible; it's wrote in tens of thousands of Bibles right here, like the resurrection of the little boy. By a vision that He said, "There's three hundred thousand of them in there." And you see if that isn't right. There's how the Gospel's going to be preached just overnight. She'll just sweep like that from place to place.As many of his other prophecies, this one did not come to pass quite as he predicted. Mr. Branham did go to India in September 1954, but the results fell far short of fulfilling this prophecy. Mr. Branham had to leave India after having been rescued by the militia from an angry mob. He tells of this:
Questions and Answers, May 15, 1954 (tape #54-0515)
When I held my hand there, and when the prayer, of course wasn't interpreted, when I dropped my hands, the man looked. He let out a scream. He grabbed me around the waist. He grabbed the mayor of the city and begin hugging him and kissing him. He was just--could see as good as any man setting in here. I'm telling you: a frantic, a scream went from those people, and the whole thing went into a turmoil. Two or three hours later, they got me through the crowd with a army there trying to push them back. I had no pockets in my coats. My shoes was gone. They'd pulled every clothes off of me, nearly stripping me, screaming and crying. And the next day with sorrow. I had to leave India with a promise that I'd be back again.Mr. Branham placed the blame for his lack of success in India on himself :
India Trip Report, January 26, 1957 (tape #57-0126B)
And when... I had been very much constrained to go to--to India. And yet, as many of you might know, the Indian trip wasn't the success that it should've been, because I failed to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and never recognized it after He give me a vision to go to Africa first and then to India.When speaking of how many were actually saved in his India campaign, he said:
India Trip Report
And yet, in the midst of five hundred thousand people that I was speaking to at Bombay, the Lord Jesus Christ and Christianity triumphed over everyone of them and put every witch doctor and holy man and everything else to shame. And there's no way of telling how many came to the Lord Jesus. We had no cooperation amongst the churches and just dropped in for three days, and there was no way of telling how many was saved.Mr. Branham never achieved the results in India that were prophesied when he said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, 'Remember, when we land in India, you're going to hear of tens of thousands times thousands being saved.' The Holy Spirit has said it . . . "
Be not Afraid, It is I, July 20, 1960 (tape #60-0720)
Thanks to a member of our forum, Phil Rickerby, for his research on this issue.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (November 2, 2002), Click Here.
Near the end of a prayer service, the Lord Himself apparently begins to speak directly to the congregation through William Branham’s lips:
There are several reasons to doubt that this was really the Lord speaking through Mr. Branham’s lips. Although this statement is apparently made by the Lord in the first person, it contains many violations of the rules of English grammar. For example:I'm the Lord that raised up Christ from the grave.
I'm the One that sent the Holy Ghost.
I'm the One that give the promise.
Brother Branham has nothing to do in this.
I have--He's surrendered his life to Me.
I'm using his Spirit;
I'm talking through his lips.
That's Me; I'm the Lord.
Looking At the Unseen, April 10, 1959 (tape #59-0410).
God knows the rules of English grammar better than the most learned scholar. Therefore, it is my contention that it was not the Lord who was speaking through William Branham's lips.
There are a couple of further observations that I believe are worth mentioning. At the point of the paragraph where Mr. Branham says, "I have. . . He has surrendered..." it appears that he was about to say, "I have surrendered myself to the Lord," but caught himself mid-sentence, changing it to, "He's surrendered himself to Me."
Also, at one point the Lord supposedly says, "I'm using his Spirit . . . " If it was true that "Brother Branham has nothing to do in this," then the Lord could not have been using Mr. Branham’s spirit, only his physical body as a vessel to work through.
The bottom line is that there is nothing in this quote to support the assertion that the Lord was actually speaking through William Branham. On the contrary, the fact that the Lord appears to be speaking in the first person while using Mr. Branham's poor grammatical skills indicates that Mr. Branham made this statement on his own initiative.
Addendum:
Although other anti-Message ministries have now run with this issue as an example of a false prophetic utterance by William Branham, I no longer believe this to be the case. Thanks to a member from a FB page I read on May 6, 2013, I believe I must stand corrected regarding my original assertion.
Originally I indicated that WMB was giving the impression that God was literally speaking through his lips. I don't think that is what he was doing after all. I had based my original view on the "Voice of God" transcript when what I should have done was listened to the tape. Let me explain.
Throughout the sermon, "Looking at the Unseen" (sermon #59-0410), WMB says things such as,
"Oh, can't you feel that pulsation of the Spirit begin to rise in your heart, saying, 'Jesus Christ is in our midst. Wherever two or three are gathered in My Name, I'll be in their midst,'" and,I believe that is what's happening he was doing in the original quote at the beginning of this topic. On tape, he precedes the quote with, "Is He pulsating to you?" Here is WMB's entire quote in context as I hear it on tape:"When that pulsation comes into your heart and begins to pulsate, 'I'm the Lord Who heals all thy diseases.'"
Keep your hands up. Keep looking at the Unseen, that little pulsation in your heart. Come, moving right on down. Is He pulsating to you, "I'm the Lord that raised up Christ from the grave. I'm the One that sent the Holy Ghost. I'm the One that give the promise. Brother Branham has nothing to do in this. I have... he surrendered his life to Me. I'm using his spirit; I'm talking through his lips. That's Me; I'm the Lord"?In other words, WMB is not trying to make it sound as if God is literally speaking through his lips. What he is doing is asking the congregation if that's what they are hearing the Lord say in their hearts. WMB has made many false prophecies in his life, but this isn't one of them. My apologies for initiating this erroneous example.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (July 8, 2002), Click Here.
William Branham made a "Thus Saith the Lord" prophecy in which he was to hold a healing revival like none other that he’d ever had. He describes this prophecy which he received in the form of a vision:
Then He taken me from there, and I seen a great huge tent. I never seen such a--a tent. And it was packed and lined everywhere with people. And I walked out to the... Looked like I was standing above the people, looking down, where I'd just made an altar call; and hundreds and hundreds of people were weeping and rejoicing after they had accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour.
And I looked, and then heard a man get up and say, "Call the prayer line." And people begin to line up over on this side, the left from where I was looking down towards the platform, and they lined all the way up and down the street for a prayer line. I noticed to my left, which would've been to my right if I was on the platform, a little wooden building. And I seen that Light, that all--they have the picture of, you know, that's always in the meetings; I seen that Light leave me, and go to that building, and go in that building; and a Voice said to me, "I'll meet you in there; that'll be the third pull."
I said, "Why?"
He said, "Well, it won't be a public show like they had it." And I came to.
And I... Now, at the beginning of this new year, back to my tabernacle where I started from (See?), back to the beginning where I--I started... I--I am very grateful to God for these things.
And many of you know that just before leaving on the other crusade, about eight or ten years... I think about ten years since... Well, nine years it has been. It was... These things were told exactly how the auditorium services (You remember.), exactly how that Brother Lawton would live exactly three years, and then be taken away; that Brother Ward would build a tabernacle down in this position, this direction here, and all of it just exactly. You know it, you old timers. It happened just that way, and so will this, for it's THUS SAITH THE LORD. And you'll know.
And now is, I believe, that the--that the brink of the greatest meetings that's ever--we've ever--I've ever held for the Lord Jesus is laying right in the future before me now.
Why Are People So Tossed About?, January 1, 1956 (tape #.56-0101)
Later, he further described his anticipation of having this vision fulfilled, even preparing the tent in which he would hold this change in his ministry:
He said, "I'll meet you in there and this time it won't be a public show." And the vision left me.
Now, we got the tent in making. And then in there I'll be able to carry a prayer line right on through. Now, you remember, I speak this before it comes to pass. The exceedingly abundantly is fixing to take place. I can't wait till I get into that place. I just... My heart's a yearning and burning.
Being Led of the Holy Spirit, February 19, 1956 (tape #56-0219)
As late as 1962, Wm. Branham continued to look forward to the fulfillment of this vision, which, up to this point, had yet to come to pass:
And so far as I know, that every vision that He's ever give me has been fulfilled except the one that I'm a change in my ministry to where I'm to pray for people in a little place like a little room under a tent, or a big auditorium or something. It looked to me like a tent. You remember that, two or three years ago?
Present Stage of My Ministry, September 8, 1962 (tape #62-0908)
A little over three years later, Wm. Branham was killed in an automobile accident, leaving this "thus saith the Lord" vision unfulfilled.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (March 17, 2003), Click Here.
And then sometime about a month after that, I was playing marbles out with my little brothers, out in the front yard. And all at once I had a strange feeling come on me. And I stopped and set down aside of a tree. And we were right up on the bank from the Ohio River. And I looked down towards Jeffersonville, and I seen a bridge rise up and go across that, the river, span the river. And I seen sixteen men (I counted them) that dropped off of there and lost their lives on that bridge. I run in real quick and told my mother, and she thought I went to sleep. But they kept it in mind, and twenty-two years from then the Municipal Bridge now (that many of you cross when you cross there) crossed the river at the same place, and sixteen men lost their life building that bridge across the river.
--William Branham, My Life Story, tape #59-0419A
The Municipal Bridge (now called the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge), was built in 1929. WMB said at least 10 or 12 different times that he had this vision 22 years before it was built. Since WMB has claimed to have been born in 1909, that would mean he had this vision 2 years before he was born!
In his quote above, WMB said he had the vision when he was a child playing marbles with his little brothers. If you read or listen to this testimony, he said a few paragraphs earlier that he had this vision about a month after his vision of the whirlwind in the poplar tree where a voice told him he would have a work to do when he got older. He said this was during Prohibition. Prohibition in the United States started in 1920 and ended in 1933. So, if WMB had the vision during Prohibition, then he would have been anywhere between 11 and 20 years old. Furthermore, the vision would have happened no more than 9 years before the bridge was built, not 22 years as he always said.
To date, I have been able to find no evidence that any workers at all died during its construction. I did find it interesting that there was another bridge in Jeffersonville with a similar statistic:
BIG FOUR BRIDGE: "Built in the 1890s for the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company, this span has suffered a checkered career. Two major construction accidents took the lives of 61 workers before the bridge was completed in 1895."
(Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau, accessed April 18, 2006)The Big Four Bridge in Jeffersonville is nicknamed the "Bridge That Goes Nowhere." In the 1890's, 61 workers died during construction of the railroad bridge over the Ohio River.
(Exploring Indiana Highways, by Michael Heim [Travel Organization Network Exchange, Inc. 2007], p. 141)
Could it be that WMB may have heard about the 61 deaths of the Big Four Bridge construction, accidentally transposed the number 61 to 16, and then confused the Municipal Bridge with the Big Four Bridge while fabricating this vision?
Addendum, April 17, 2021: I recently learned that someone named Nathanael Jones had identified several newspaper articles from January 1890 reporting that 16 men had drowned in a tragic accident when they were trapped in a failed caisson during the construction of the Big Four Bridge (see, "Grief", pages 3-4). This incident makes WMB's vision even more suspicious since it specifically mentions the number of men who drowned as 16, albeit not by falling from the bridge.
Posted April 18, 2006
Addendum, February 25, 2013: Well, after some very thorough research by "Searching for Vindication," it seems that some men did die during the construction of the Municipal Bridge--a total of 2! (see Searching for Vindication: Documented Deaths). Though it is always a tragedy when someone dies in the performance of their duties, we can be happy that 16 did not die as WMB claimed to have prophesied. Yet another WMB prophecy is proven false! Good work, Searching for Vindication!
Addendum, May 15, 2014: May 13, 2014. Voice of God Recordings finally found irrefutable evidence that WMB's Municipal Bridge Vision actually came to pass! VOG posted their findings in a video which you watch here.
In a nutshell, here is the evidence they've produced. Jeffersonville attorney, Jack Vissing, describes what happened in 1929 during the building of the bridge. You can hear the following statement by Mr. Vissing starting at the 3:37 mark in the video:
My grandmother, Maude, and another lady, Dorothy Phillips (were also St. Luke's member), were younger people. Dorothy was about my dad's age, and was standing on the bank and told me the story that she watched the scaffolding collapse, and there were people fell inside the pier, workmen. Now, cement just kept coming on top of them and they couldn't stop the pour because it would have to ruin, tear the whole pillar down. So those guys are there today, inside the pillar. I guess it was never really widely reported in the news media, but my grandmother assured me that was true, and I know that Dorothy, who has long since deceased, said she was there and saw it!
Three important facts to note in this account:
Mr. Vissing's grandmother assured him Dorothy's eyewitness testimony was true.
Prophecy fulfilled? Case close? You decide.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (April 18, 2006), Click Here.
Followers of the Message often look back to the 1964 Good Friday earthquake in Alaska as on of Wm. Branham's fulfilled prophecies. However, in his first public comments about the earthquake after it happened, he makes no indication that he had predicted it in any way [see also, Alaska Earthquake by aHf]:
And we're seeing just the catching of the last part, when we see things happening like's been happening in the world in the last few days: For instance, the great earthquake in Alaska. Never has been an earthquake like that in all the world. Did you notice? It come on Good Friday. And you know the last time the world was shaken was on Good Friday too, when our Master died; and it shook the whole world. And remember, it might be the sign of Him returning: He said that there'd be earthquakes in diverse places.
Identified Christ of All Ages, April 1, 1964 (tape #_64-0401)
Note that he did not refer to any previous prophecies of impending judgment in this sermon.
Here's a bit of background leading to this nonpredicted prediction. In March 1964, Wm. Branham was hunting javelina with several of his friends at Sunset Peak (where he was almost exactly a year earlier when he said that 7 angels told him to preach the Seals). Javelina season in 1964 ran from February 21 through March 8. Wm. Branham first describes the following incident which occurred over a two day period from on February 29 to March 1. Note that this account was given nearly 3 months after the Alaska earthquake:
There's several setting here, a number, that was with us the other day when He came in a whirlwind, told us the day before, Brother Banks Wood, them, when He said, "Take up this rock; throw it up in the air, and say, 'THUS SAITH THE LORD. You will see it right away.'" And I picked up the rock up on top of the mountain, threw it up in the air, and the... 'Course, coming down, it started a whirlwind (See?), the suction of it.
You have to do something to cause something to follow it. Jesus took a piece of bread and broke it, then multiplied from that piece of bread. He took water, poured it into a pitcher. Elijah took salt, put it in a cruse; cut down a stick, throwed it on the water. It's something to symbolize. And picking up this rock and throwing it into the air, and coming down started the whirlwind...Brother Roy Roberson from the church here, standing present, I guess all of you know him. Knowing he was a veteran and knowing what was going to take place, I put my hand on his shoulder, I said, "Brother Roberson, be careful; watch; something's fixing to happen."
I walked back to where I was supposed to be standing, and out of the air came a whirlwind, down through a canyon, from above, that was so great till it tore rocks eight or ten inches through, out of the top of the mountain, and throwed them two hundred yards out in, and clapped three times like that, and a voice came from it. See?
And all of them standing there... Brother Banks, present now, came up and said, "That was what you told me yesterday?"
I said, "Yes, sir, that's it."
He said, "Now, what did It say?"
I said, "Now, that's just for me to know, Brother Banks (See?), because it was... It would alarm people." But It went ahead, it happened just a little... Traveling northward, a little, few days later It hit in the ocean, and you seen what happened around Fairbanks. It was a judgment sign. Now, we find that--that God still... You see, it'd throw people into panic.
Unveiling of God, June 14, 1964 (tape #64-0614M)
It's clear from this account that Wm. Branham did not tell anybody about any predictions of impending judgment on the west coast at that time. In fact, in this account, he did not say the earthquake was itself the judgment of God, but only a sign of judgment.
In an article he wrote for the June 1992 issue of Only Believe magazine ("An Angel in the Camp"), Douglas McHughes described what he saw at the camp while on this hunting trip in 1964. He didn't mention seeing WMB throwing the rock up in the air the day earlier, but he said on Sunday, March 1, he heard three distinct blasts, then saw a whirlwind descend on the camp, then raise back up vertically and disappear. He said that WMB told them, "You know, one time God spoke to Job in a whirlwind." Mr. McHughes said WMB never told him what, if anything, the incident meant. In fact, he said he never heard Wm. Branham discuss the incident with anyone who was there. Mr. McHughes did not associate the incident with the Alaska earthquake in his article.
Roy Roberson described the incident similarly in a 1990 article he wrote for Only Believe magazine ("Soldier", Only Believe, vol. 3, #2). He didn't mention seeing WMB throwing the rock in the air either, but he said he heard three loud booms and saw the whirlwind. Mr. Roberson continues,
The wind disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, and several of the brothers ran up to Brother Branham and asked him, "What was that?"
He said, "The Lord was speaking to me, but at this time I cannot tell you. You'll know in a few days what it was all about."
Just a couple of days later we heard that an earthquake had struck in Alaska, and we knew that it was a part of what had been foretold in the whirlwind at Sunset Mountain.
As I mentioned, this incident occurred on March 1. Wm. Branham and Mr. Roberson both said the Alaska earthquake struck two days later, when in fact, it didn't happen until March 27, nearly a month later.
It wasn't until long after the Good Friday earthquake of 1964 that Wm. Branham first mentioned that the rock throwing/whirlwind incident at Sunset Peak was a prediction of judgment. In December 1964 (nearly 10 months after the Alaska earthquake), WMB first publicly said that on that day at Sunset, God told him that judgment was going to strike the west coast and that the Alaska earthquake was the fulfillment of this prediction:
Stand there and see a whirlwind come out of the sky. It blowed a mountain half in two, standing there where we was at; cut the top of trees off and things like that. And a blast of Word come out and shook there three times, said, "Watch it go to the west coast." Went right over there and shook down Alaska. And coming right down the west coast now. Just exactly.
Day before, I took a rock and throwed it up in the air, and said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, The hour is here; judgments will start into the earth. Earthquakes and everything will be taking place. And all the west coast will be shook and so forth." Look how perfect, day by day, everything just exactly the way He said. How can we turn back, brethren? Let us keep our faith towards Him.
Who Do You Say This Is? December 27, 1964 (tape #64-1227)
There is no evidence that Wm. Branham predicted judgment on the west coast before the Alaska earthquake of 1964. After the earthquake, he said the reason he didn't say anything was because he didn't want to alarm or panic anyone. It appears more like he used the occassion of the loud booms (sonic booms? See http://forums.delphiforums.com/kennah/messages?msg=1383.10) and the whirlwind as an opportunity to suggest to his friends that God was visiting him at the time, but hadn't yet come up with a reason for such a visit. Of couse, it wasn't until after the earhtquake struck that Wm. Branham claimed that he had predicted it.
As is the case with most, if not all of Wm. Branham's prophecies, this is another example of shooting an arrow at the wall, then painting the bull's eye around it. The Alaska earthquake was timely enough to provide just the right explanation for the booms and whirlwind he and his friends saw in early March 1964.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (February 2, 2004), Click Here.
In March 1965, a friend of Wm. Branham's by the name of Fred Barker had a serious stroke and lay in an Upland, California hospital close to death. While on a campaign in LA, Wm. Branham visited his friend in the hospital. During an interview for Only Believe magazine (December 1988) Fred Barker gives this account of his visit from Wm. Branham:
He sat down beside my bed, and we started talking about the birds that were on the windowsill, but after a few minutes, he began to tell me about the 5 instances of the Spoken Word. I had never heard anything like that before, and at that time I had no idea of what he was talking about. Scripturally, we really didn’t know the significance of Brother Branham’s ministry, and we just looked at him then as a healing evangelist.
Brother Branham prayed for me. Then, as he started for the door, he stopped and turned towards me and placed his hat, which was in his hand, over his chest. “Freddie,” he said to me, “it’s important what you say to the Lord. Some day, like the Syrophenician woman and Sister Hattie Wright, you’ll say the right thing and it’ll all be over” [emphasis added].
After 39 days in the hospital, Brother Fred was released from the hospital, partially paralyzed and nearly unable to speak. Near the end of the interview, he was asked, "How do you feel today about what Brother Branham told you so many years ago in that Upland hospital room?" Bro. Fred answered,
The Lord has richly blessed us in so many ways, but physically I am still confined to a wheelchair. I have never completely regained my health. I realize now that Brother Branham must have seen a vision as he was leaving my room, in order to have said to me what he did. I am standing on that, and am believing that in God’s time, and by inspiration, that I will ‘say the right thing’, and what was spoken on that day will be fulfilled.
During my time in the Message at Tucson Tabernacle, Fred Barker was a regular attendee as well. Bro. Barker was always optimistic and a hard worker on a project to create a concordance of Wm. Branham's sermons. He was an inspiration to us all. But his condition continued to worsen during my time at the Tabernacle. We all believed with Bro. Barker that he would one day "say the right thing" and become completely healed. Pearry Green would often remind us of that promise.
A few years ago, Brother Fred passed away having never received the healing Wm. Branham promised would one day come.
To read an archived discussion on this topic at our forum (January 26, 2004), Click Here.