Kari Holma
One of the most famous of William Branham's healings was that of a young boy in Finland, Kari Holma, who was said to have been killed in an automobile accident in 1950 and restored to life through William Branham's prayer, as instructed in a vision. It is examined in detail in Chapter 10 of Under The Halo, and this page draws on that material. .
What is not in dispute
Before looking at the concerns, it is worth being clear about what everyone agrees on. This is not a case where critics deny that anything happened.
A serious accident took place. A car struck two young boys on a road near Kuopio, Finland, as William Branham's party was returning from the Puijo observation tower. The injuries were grave enough that those present believed at least one boy was dead. Kari Holma was carried into the car where William Branham was sitting, the group prayed as they drove, and the boy regained consciousness before reaching the hospital. Both boys were taken to the hospital, and both survived.
We do not need to minimize the accident. It was real and it was serious. The question this page examines is narrower and more important. It is what William Branham did with the story afterward.
Were the boys "run over"?
It is often said that the boys were run over by the car. The witnesses do not actually agree on this, and the point is worth settling early, because it shows the pattern this whole page is about.
Pastor Vilho Soininen, the local pastor from Kuopio and the most careful witness, does not say run over. He says the car was "unable to avoid striking two small boys," and that the impact threw "one down on the sidewalk, and the other five yards away into a field." Struck, and thrown clear.
William Branham gives the most dramatic version, saying the car "struck a little boy, throwing him to the ground, and then ran over him with such force that it threw him back near the sidewalk." Jack Moore uses the phrase "ran over," but pairs it with "knocking them down and out," which is the language of being hit and thrown to the side.
Three things weigh against a literal running-over. First, the one precise physical description we have, from Soininen, is of boys thrown clear, one onto a sidewalk and one five yards into a field. That is what happens when a car strikes and throws a body, not when a car runs over it. Second, both boys survived. A young child whose body is run over by a car faces a very high chance of death, and two boys both being run over and both surviving would be remarkable in itself. Third, the most insistent "run over" language comes from William Branham, who placed himself "some 300 yards ahead" of the scene. From that distance no one could see whether a boy was struck and thrown or run over, and being "thrown back near the sidewalk" is not what running a boy over does. It is what striking him does.
So even the mechanism of the accident appears to have grown in the retelling. The careful, local, close witness describes a strike. The distant, dramatic account supplies the running-over but pairs with being thrown. We cannot reconstruct the scene with certainty, but the evidence points to neither boy being run over, and the best evidence points to their being struck and thrown.
Concerns with the story
There are a number of concerns with the account as William Branham told it:
- Why does William Branham's account differ so significantly from those of Pastor Soininen and Jack Moore, who were in the car with him?
- Why did the account grow more dramatic every time William Branham told it over the following twelve years?
- Branham claimed there was a statement about the event signed by the mayor of the city and a notary public. Where is it?
- Was the boy actually dead, or unconscious?
- Did the boy instantly come back to life, or did he regain consciousness over several minutes and then cry?
Two eyewitnesses besides William Branham left accounts of that day: Vilho Soininen, a Finnish pastor from Kuopio, and Jack Moore, a pastor from the United States. Their complete accounts appear below. On the following points, both agree:
- There were several carloads of people traveling together.
- William Branham was in the back seat of one of the cars.
- The car ahead struck two boys.
- The boys were placed in the cars and rushed to the hospital.
- Kari Holma was placed in the back seat with William Branham and the interpreter, Miss Isaacson.
- The men prayed for the boy while in the moving car.
- The boy regained consciousness some minutes later and began to cry.
- Both boys were taken to the hospital.
- Kari Holma was released from the hospital three days later.
The account William Branham told
William Branham's account differs significantly from those of Soininen and Moore, and it grew over time. In his later tellings he added the following:
- The boy had been dead, lying on the street, for half an hour before the party arrived.
- There was a specific vision written in the flyleaf of the Bible, matching the boy exactly.
- William Branham was told by an unseen hand to go and look at the boy.
- The boy lay dead at the scene while the other boy was rushed away.
- William Branham spoke with the mayor of the city at the scene.
- William Branham declared to the crowd that if the boy was not instantly healed, he was a false prophet.
- After prayer, the boy leapt to his feet completely well, as if nothing had happened.
Two of these details are worth weighing carefully, because they can be checked.
The pulse
According to Pastor Soininen, the only person who felt the boy's pulse and stated that he was dead was William Branham himself. No doctor examined the boy at the scene. There is no independent confirmation from anyone present that the boy had actually died, as opposed to being knocked unconscious. Head injuries commonly produce a faint or undetectable pulse, unconsciousness, and a dramatic-looking recovery, and none of the men in the car were trained to take a pulse, let alone the pulse of an injured child in a moving vehicle.
The gap that matters
Here is the heart of it. The two eyewitnesses describe a boy who regained consciousness on the way to the hospital, was crying when he arrived, and was released three days later. William Branham, in his later accounts, describes a boy who had been dead for half an hour, had been pronounced dead, and who leapt to his feet and ran around, completely whole.
That distance is the concern. It is the difference between "regained consciousness and cried" and "dead for half an hour, then leaping and running." Branham's own companions never reported the second version.
Where is the mayor's statement?
In his 1962 telling, William Branham said the account was documented and signed "by the mayor of the city, by a notary public." A notarized statement from a public official is exactly the kind of evidence that can be produced and verified. It has never been produced by anyone.
Branham also claimed, of his resurrection accounts generally, that he had "doctors' statements, of five people being pronounced dead" who came back to life. When the researcher Peter Duyzer, who we knew well, asked Billy Paul Branham for copies of those doctors' statements, he was told they had been lost.
It is also worth noting that Gordon Lindsay, who was in the front seat of the car, never told his own version of the story, in either the Voice of Healing magazine or in his book.
Why does William Branham's account change over time, grow more dramatic with each telling, and differ so sharply from the accounts of Pastor Soininen and Jack Moore?
The Story according to Pastor Soininen
Pastor Vilho Soininen, of Kuopio, related the story in Gordon Lindsay's book, William Branham: A Man Sent From God:
On Friday afternoon a remarkable and startling incident took place which meant much to Brother Branham and to those of us who happened to be its witnesses. Three carloads of us made an unforgettable trip to nearby Puijo Observation Tower situated on a beautiful scenic elevation. The outing was one of the most precious I can remember, because of the blessing of God upon us. Then as we were returning from Puijo, a terrible accident occurred. A car ahead was unable to avoid striking two small boys, who ran out into the street in front of it, throwing one down on the sidewalk, and the other five yards away into a field. One unconscious boy was carried into a car just ahead of us and the other, Kari Holma, was lifted into our car and placed in the arms of Brother Branham and Miss Isaacson who were sitting in the back seat. Brothers Moore and Lindsay were in the front seat with me.
As we hurried to the hospital, I asked through Miss Isaacson, the interpreter, how the boy was. Brother Branham, with his finger on the boy's pulse, answered that the boy seemed to be dead, since the pulse did not beat at all. Then Brother Branham placed his hand over the boy's heart and realized that it was not functioning. He further checked the boy's respiration and could detect no breath.
Remembering the vision, he asked Bro. Lindsay to look in the "fly-leaf" of his Bible and see what the vision said about "a little boy being raised from the dead". It was discovered that the description of the boy in the vision was exactly like the boy placed in Bro. Branham's arms. Then he knelt down on the floor of the car and began to pray. Brothers Lindsay and Moore joined in prayer, too, that the Lord would have mercy. As we neared the hospital, about five or six minutes later, I glanced back, and to my surprise, the boy opened his eyes. As we carried the boy into the hospital, he began to cry, and I realized that a miracle had taken place.
The other boy had been brought in a little earlier and was still unconscious. As I was taking my guests back to their hotel, Brother Branham said to me, "Do not worry! The boy, who was in our car, will surely live."
At that time Brother Branham had no assurance that the other boy would live, but on Sunday evening he assured me on the basis of a vision which he had seen early Sunday morning, that he, too, would live. At the exact time that Brother Branham was telling me this at his hotel, the boy lay dying at the hospital. The boy, who was in my car, Kari, was dismissed from the hospital in just three days.
Note what Soininen, the local pastor and the man best placed to follow up, actually reports: boys struck and thrown clear, and a boy who opened his eyes about five or six minutes later, was crying on arrival, and went home in three days. There is no running-over, no half hour of death, no crowd of hundreds, and no leaping to his feet.
Jack Moore's testimony
Voice of God Recordings has published a letter from Jack Moore containing the following:
On our way down from this mountain we witnessed a sickening sight. A car just in front of us ran over two little school boys about 10 or 11 years old, knocking them down and out. The car left the road. We stopped our car and looked upon the terrible scene. Both boys appeared to be dead, lying perfectly still. We hurried to pick up one and another car carried the other. As I lifted the lifeless form into the back seat where Bro. Branham and Sister Isaacson were sitting, I knew that it was too late to help... his pulse was gone. But as we drove on towards the city, we lifted hearts and voices in prayer, and after a bit we heard Bro. Branham say, "His pulse is beating again."... And I immediately remembered the vision he told us about in Miami, Fla., of a little boy being raised from the dead. He hadn't known when or where it would be, but he knew what the little boy would look like. By the time we reached the hospital, the little fellow had regained consciousness and was crying. He was soon sent home, and the other boy is well on the way to recovery. Bro. Branham had a vision about him and said he would live.
Moore describes the same ending as Soininen: the boy regained consciousness and was crying by the time they reached the hospital, and was soon sent home. Once again, no half hour, no crowd, no leaping to his feet.
The Story According to William Branham in 1950
The following is an article by William Branham that appeared in a special overseas edition of The Voice of Healing magazine, published in June 1950.
The Vision
One morning at about 3 A.M., I was awakened out of my sleep to find that the angel of the Lord was in the room to show me a vision. By the spirit I was transported in the vision to a scene where an accident had just happened. I saw that a little boy of about eight or ten years of age had been killed. He had light brown hair and his clothes looked very ragged and torn. Some men were taking the child to a hospital or funeral home. It was at that moment that the angel of the Lord told me to kneel and pray that the child's life would return to him. That I did, and life was restored and he lived. Now this vision is to come to pass in the future. I have told it to hundreds of people all the way from Canada to Florida. Many have written it on the flyleaf of their Bible.
The Accident and the Healing
It was in Kuopio, Finland, when the Lord Jesus fulfilled the vision... A motor car some 300 yards ahead of us struck a little boy, throwing him to the ground, and then ran over him with such force that it threw him back near the sidewalk. Brother Jack Moore picked him up and brought him back into the car with us. We saw that he was dead. I looked at the little boy and thought I recognized him. Then I remembered that he was the little boy I had seen in the vision, who was eight or ten years old, with light brown hair and who was poorly dressed. I held him to my body and began to pray. Suddenly his life came back.
Notice two things. Branham places himself 300 yards away, yet gives the most detailed account of the mechanism of the accident. And even in this earliest published version, the boy comes back to life after prayer in the moving car. There is no half hour lying dead in the road, no five-minute "false prophet" declaration before a crowd, and no leaping to his feet. Those elements appear only in the later retellings.
William Branham relates the story on many occasions
William Branham told the story of the Finland boy close to a hundred times, and the added drama accumulated with the years. A few examples show the pattern.
By the later tellings, the car was doing about sixty miles per hour, there were about five hundred people standing around, an unseen hand touched his shoulder, the mayor of the city was present, and the boy had lain dead in the road for half an hour before the party arrived. Branham described the boy's injuries in escalating detail, and staked his prophetic office on an instant, public healing:
...if that little boy isn't on his feet alive in five minutes, I'll leave Finland with a sign on my back, "False Prophet."
...the little fellow jumped to his feet just as normal as he was, hour before he got hit.[1]
In five minutes time the little lad was jumping and racing around, praising God.[2]
...him laying there dead, been dead for a half hour. You read in the book.[3]
Set these against the two eyewitnesses. Soininen and Moore, both traveling with Branham, describe a boy who regained consciousness in the car and was crying at the hospital. Branham, years later, describes a boy dead for half an hour who leapt up and ran. The account did not stay still. It grew.
The Flyleaf of William Branham's Bible
Branham said the vision of the Finland boy was written in the flyleaf of his Bible before the event. This raises a further problem.
When the Park broke up in 1974, several people visited Billy Paul Branham and asked to examine William Branham's Bible. Billy Paul allowed them to look through it. There were phrases and words written here and there in the margins and flyleaves, but the men inspecting the Bible could not make anything out of them. It was unintelligible. When they asked how this could be, Billy Paul said that William Branham had had another Bible before the one they were examining, but that it had been lost.
Once again, at the exact point where the evidence could be examined, it was said to be lost.
Conclusion
We grant the accident. It was real, and it was serious enough that those present believed at least one boy was dead. None of that is in question.
What is in question is everything William Branham added after the fact: the running-over that the careful local witness never described, the half hour of death, the crowd of hundreds, the public staking of his prophetic office, the boy leaping up and running, the mayor's notarized statement, and the vision written in a Bible that was later lost. His own traveling companions reported none of it. And every document he pointed to as proof, the mayor's statement, the doctors' certificates, the earlier Bible, has never been produced.
If William Branham could swear before God to details that his own companions never witnessed, and point to proof that no one has ever been able to find, why would we accept the rest of his account?
Footnotes