The Brown Bear Vision

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The Brown Bear vision

Just before a hunting trip in 1962, William Branham said it was "Thus Saith The Lord" that he would shoot an enormous brown bear. This vision never came to pass.

In 1962, William Branham announced — on tape, publicly, in front of his congregation — that he was going to shoot a massive brown bear on his next hunting trip. It wasn’t a casual remark. He called it “Thus Saith The Lord.”

He never shot the bear. He died in December 1965 with that vision still unfulfilled.

That’s the core problem. Everything else is just cleanup.

The Timeline

Branham had already shot a silver-tip grizzly bear in British Columbia in May of 1961 — a nine-foot animal he described in enthusiastic detail from the pulpit. Riding that high, he started talking about what was coming next. In April 1962 he described a new vision:

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… 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.

A month later, May 1962, he upgraded the language:

I seen a great huge brown bear… It will be; that’s THUS SAITH THE LORD. It will be. See?

Then in June 1962 he said it again in a sermon literally titled “Presuming” — apparently without irony:

I’m going to get a brown bear that’s almost twice that size. You see if it’s right or not… God’s perfect and never fails.

He returned to British Columbia in late July 1962. No bear. He went back in October 1964 with Pearry Green. Still no bear. He died December 25, 1965. The vision was never fulfilled.

Scripture has something to say about exactly this situation:

“When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” — Deuteronomy 18:20–22

How Message Believers Explain It Away

There are four responses you’ll typically hear from people defending Branham on this. None of them hold up.

1. He’ll Rise from the Dead to Fulfill It

There’s a large stone pyramid sitting on Branham’s grave in Indiana right now. He’s been dead for over sixty years. There’s no scriptural precedent for a prophet rising from the dead specifically to complete an unfulfilled hunting vision. This isn’t theology — it’s wishful thinking that happens to use theological language.

2. The Jonah Excuse

The argument goes: God told Jonah to prophecy Nineveh’s destruction, it never happened, and Jonah wasn’t disqualified as a prophet. So a failed prophecy doesn’t necessarily mean someone is false.

This completely misreads the Jonah story. Nineveh didn’t get destroyed because the entire city repented. God explicitly relented because of that repentance (Jonah 3:10). Jeremiah spells out the same principle: God withdraws judgment when the judged party turns from evil (Jeremiah 18:7–8). That’s the only biblical exception to the Deuteronomy 18 standard.

Now apply that logic to the brown bear. For the Jonah exception to cover this, the bear would have had to repent of its evil ways. That’s not a joke — that’s literally what the argument requires.

But there’s a deeper problem lurking here. If repentance by the “target” is always a valid exit ramp, then Deuteronomy 18 can never disqualify a false prophet. Any time a prediction fails, the false prophet just says the subject must have secretly repented. The standard becomes meaningless. That can’t be what scripture intends.

3. Branham’s Own Disobedience Caused the Failure

This argument comes primarily from Ed Byskal, a minister who accompanied Branham on several hunting trips. Byskal has publicly stated that Branham privately acknowledged his disobedience, citing this quote from Branham:

So I, in these thirty—going on thirty-two years of ministry, I have tried to stay true to the Word… We seen that, as I told you last night, of a vision just recently (See?), that it… I had to be there, and warning to be there, and telling me six months before to be on that spot, and stand there, and saying, “Go down there (three times) with them.” And I just walked on with the other men. And the vision passed right through exactly, God’s part; and I was left standing.

Worth noting: this quote doesn’t actually name the brown bear. It’s vague enough that it could apply to any number of situations. And Byskal’s credibility as a witness is worth examining — the majority of his own congregation, including most of the church leadership, left because of his personal moral failures. That’s relevant context.

But even setting the source aside, the argument collapses on its own terms.

Branham reportedly also said, “I am the Jonah in this group. This is only the second time in my life that I know that I have disobeyed a vision.” Those defending him point to Moses, who disobeyed God directly but was still a prophet. Fair enough — but that comparison misses what Deuteronomy 18 is actually doing. Moses wasn’t validated by Deuteronomy 18; he was already established. Deuteronomy 18 is a test for establishing whether someone qualifies as a prophet in the first place. It’s forward-looking, not a post-hoc audit of already-confirmed prophets.

More importantly: if personal disobedience can nullify a “Thus Saith The Lord” prophecy, then once again, Deuteronomy 18 becomes permanently unenforceable. Every false prophet whose prediction fails can just say, “Oops, I made a personal mistake and that’s why it didn’t happen.” The biblical standard only allows one exception for a failed vision — the repentance of the person or nation being judged. There’s no clause for the prophet’s own personal misstep, because if there were, the test would be meaningless.

Branham himself said in that very sermon: “God’s perfect and never fails.” Either God failed here, or Branham was speaking presumptuously. Those are the only two options.

4. “What Vision?”

This last group — Message followers whose pastors have simply never preached on this and probably never will — is arguably the most revealing. It’s not a theological defense. It’s avoidance. But the vision is on tape, repeated across multiple sermons, in Branham’s own words. Not mentioning it isn’t an answer.

A Note on the 1961 Grizzly Bear Vision

People sometimes conflate two separate stories: the 1961 grizzly bear and the 1962 brown bear. They’re not the same vision. The 1961 vision — which involved shooting a silver-tip grizzly, along with a large caribou — was fulfilled. Branham described it after the fact in October 1961:

About two months ago, or hardly that long, I was woke up one morning… in a vision I saw, that I’d saw a great animal, looked like a deer. And it had great high horns… And on the road back, I saw a great huge silver-tip grizzly bear… I shot the bear with a heart shot, killed him.

That fulfilled vision is sometimes used to frame Branham as a reliable prophet, and then the unfulfilled brown bear vision gets quietly set aside. But having one accurate prediction doesn’t cover for a specific, emphatic, tape-recorded “Thus Saith The Lord” that never came to pass.

The Bottom Line

Branham made a specific, testable, recorded prediction. He called it “Thus Saith The Lord.” He repeated it across multiple sermons. He staked his credibility on it. It didn’t happen.

Deuteronomy 18 doesn’t require complicated theological gymnastics. It’s one of the clearest tests in the entire Bible for distinguishing a true prophet from a false one, and it works precisely because it’s simple: did the thing happen or not? The excuses on offer — resurrection, Jonah, disobedience, ignorance — all share the same fatal flaw: they make the test permanently unenforceable. And a test that can never disqualify anyone isn’t really a test at all.

The vision failed. By scripture’s own standard, that matters.

And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ — when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. ~ Deuteronomy 18:20-22

Video Script

In May 1961, on a hunting trip in Northern British Columbia, William Branham shot a silver-tip grizzly bear which he stated he prophesied in advance, although this prophecy was not recorded on tape.

The following year, in 1962, he tells of a vision in which he shoots a brown bear that is even larger than the grizzly he shot.

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.

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.

While William Branham did go hunting a number of times after he told this vision, he did not shoot the large brown bear that he spoke of. Those that went hunting with him have admitted that this vision was never fulfilled.

Now… some have excused the failure of this vision as being directly related to William Branham’s disobedience to God. His disobedience prevented the vision from being fulfilled. In fact, one minister quotes William Branham as having said that it was “only the second time I know that I disobeyed a vision.”

By this statement, this minister attempts to excuse William Branham’s failed prophecy.

But what does the Bible say?

First, Deuteronomy 18:20-22 does not permit any excuse relating to the failure of a vision or prophecy.

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

If Deuteronomy 18 did allow for excuses, a prophet with a failed vision could simply have said, “Oops… sorry… I disobeyed God… so you can’t kill me.”

Secondly, the prophet Jeremiah does provide a specific rule that can apply with respect to a prophecy that fails to come to pass.

The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10 if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.

However, the failure of the brown bear vision does not fall within the allowance that Jeremiah provided.

Sure Jonah disobeyed God, but that was not the reason that Nineveh was spared. Nineveh repented and so that great city was spared. But William Branham’s vision did not relate to a kingdom or nation. He gave it as an attempt to vindicate his own prophetic ministry. God decided not to provide that vindication.

So on what basis can anyone excuse the failure of the brown bear vision from being fulfilled?

Jesus said, “beware of false prophets”, and the apostle John said to “test the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

These warnings tell us that we should test the prophecies of those who claim they are prophets. This is the only way to know whether you should embrace or abandon their teaching.

Why would you accept a prophet who says things that do not come to pass?

Why did God provide clear tests we mentioned for judging a prophet if He wanted you to ignore them?

Do you really want to believe something so badly that you are willing to accept an excuse and reject the plain teaching of the Bible?

How are you going to explain that to God?

You may be wondering among yourselves, “How can we tell the difference, whether it was GOD who spoke or not?” Here’s how: If what the prophet spoke in GOD’s name doesn’t happen, then obviously GOD wasn’t behind it; the prophet made it up. Forget about him.

This article is one in a series outlining a number of William Branham's visions that appear to have failed - you are currently in the article that is in bold:

• The Municipal Bridge Vision
• The Vision of the Meetings in South Africa
• The Franklin D. Roosevelt Prophecy
• The Brown Bear Vision
• Fred Barker
• Failed Prophecies

There were also many visions that changed significantly over time.

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