The Brown Bear Vision: Difference between revisions

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[[Image:BrownBearSmall.jpg|250px|thumb|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.'''

William Branham shot a silver-tip grizzly bear while hunting in British Columbia in May of 1961. In a sermon called “Presuming” in June 1962, William Branham tells this story and then says, ''“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. …God's perfect and never fails.”'' A month earlier, in a sermon called “Possessing All Things”, William Branham said that the vision of the brown bear was '''''“THUS SAITH THE LORD.”'''''

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 [[Image:BrownBearSmall.jpg|250px|thumb|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.'''
 William Branham shot a silver-tip grizzly bear while hunting in British Columbia in May of 1961.  In a sermon called “Presuming” in June 1962, William Branham tells this story and then says, ''“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. …God's perfect and never fails.”''  A month earlier, in a sermon called “Possessing All Things”, William Branham said that the vision of the brown bear was '''''“THUS SAITH THE LORD.”'''''