Most people think of prophecy as a prediction of an event or occurrence that will happen in the future.

One significant problem with William Branham's prophetic ministry is that there does not seem to be a single occurrence where we have a clear prophecy recorded on tape that was later clearly fulfilled.

There are 4 types of prophecies that could occur with respect to William Branham:

1. Prophecy beforehand (verified) that was not fulfilled - We have several occasions where William Branham prophesied of things would come to pass in the future that did not happen. Examples of this would include the vision of the brown bear and the vision of the African meetings.

2. Prophecy beforehand (unverified) that was not be fulfilled - This would include prophecies that William Branham said had been fulfilled that were not. Examples of this would include the Municipal Bridge vision and the vision of Marilyn Monroe.

3. Prophecy beforehand (unverified) that was clearly fulfilled - Message believers will provide several examples where William Branham stated that he had prophesied something that actually did come to pass. There are several examples of this such as Kari Holma and the vision of the grizzly bear. However, we have no record of these events being publicly recorded before the fact. Also, there are problems associated with all of these so-called prophecies.

4. Prophecy beforehand (verified) that was clearly fulfilled - We are unaware of any prophecies that would fulfill this criteria. Because of this, there would appear to be no independent evidence that William Branham actually had a prophetic gift.

We have asked publicly for examples of prophecies that were publicly announced and clearly fulfilled at a later date but have had no response to date.

This is a serious problem for those that wish to believe that William Branham was a prophet.

Prophecy in the New Testament

There are three expressions of prophecy that the New Testament speaks of. The first is forthtelling the word of God. It is essentially preaching. This is spoken of in 1 Corinthians 14:6-7 speaks of a prophecy or a word of instruction. So it links prophecy with teaching or word of instruction as synonyms. Thereby, in this sense, the prophecy is teaching the Bible. It’s the word of instruction. That’s preaching and teaching. That’s what I do. And then in 1 Corinthians 14:24 and 25, it says that preaching the Bible, prophesying the truth that is already in Scripture, will allow non-Christians to come in, learn about Jesus, recognize they’re sinful and get saved

The second use of the gift is the foretelling of the future; the revelation of some future knowledge that would otherwise be unknown. An example of this would be Agabus in Acts 11: 28-29

Thirdly, prophecy can be a personal word from God through someone with a gift of prophesy to an individual. Agabus is again a good illustration of this in Acts 21:10-11.

How can we tell whether a prophet is from God?

When we speak of William Branham's visions and prophecies, we are generally speaking of the foretelling of a future event. The Bible lays out a clear test for determining whether a prophet is from God:

And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 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. (Deut. 18:21–22)

To verify whether William Branham's prophecies came to pass, there should be publicly verifiable documentation of the foretelling of the event and then the event must take place at a subsequent time in a clear manner.

Unfortunately, we are not aware of any evidence to this effect.