Proof of the Prophetic
Most people think of prophecy as a prediction of an event or occurrence that will happen in the future.
Prophesy /ˈprɒfɪsʌɪ/
- verb (prophesies, prophesying, prophesied)
- predict.
- speak or write by divine inspiration.[1]
Was William Branham a prophet?
One significant problem with William Branham's prophetic ministry is that we have been unable to find a single occurrence where we have a clear prophecy recorded on tape that was later clearly fulfilled.
The Test
This is a test for anyone that is a follower of the message of William Branham. Did William Branham make any REAL "before the fact" prophecies in any of his tapes?
To answer this question, please provide us with an unambiguous prophecy made by William Branham that was recorded publicly (i.e. we can verify on a tape) and that was later fulfilled in a clear manner. We will publish any such prophecy and its fulfillment on our website. Surely somewhere on a tape between 1947 and 1965, there is a prophecy that he recorded before the event that was later clearly fulfilled. However, to date no one has brought us such a prophecy and we have been unable to find a single one.
While some view William Branham's healing ministry and his gift with the word of knowledge as proof that he was a prophet, this is not the Biblical test. There are numerous prophecies on this website that were made by William Branham in advance but were not fulfilled. This creates a clear problem with Deuteronomy 18:20-22. One would think that those that believe him to be a prophet would have numerous examples of publicly available prophecies that were later clearly fulfilled. Sadly, this is not the case.
All of the prophecies that we have had pointed out to us are either after the fact (i.e. William Branham only mentions them on tape after they have been fulfilled) or are ambiguous prophecies (i.e. if they were not fulfilled, no one would have been able to point to the prophecy and say that it was clearly wrong).
We will publish any responses on this page for the benefit of all.
The Problem
A significant problem with William Branham's prophetic ministry is that there does not seem to be a single occurrence where he makes an unambiguous public prophecy (i.e. recorded on tape) that was later clearly fulfilled.
Five Types of Prophecies
There are a number of different types of prophecies that William Branham could have made:
1 - Vague Prophecies (verified) that are (sort of) fulfilled
This is the kind of prophecy that is seen quite commonly in popular culture and amongst those that call themselves prophets, seers, psychics or fortune tellers.
Such prophecies are made in advance but contain enough vagueness for deniability if they don't happen but also something that can be pointed to as a "fulfillment of prophecy" if it does happen. With respect to William Branham, a good example of this would be the "prophecy" of the birth of his son, Joseph.
2 - Prophecies made beforehand (verified) that was not fulfilled
We have several occasions where William Branham prophesied of things that would come to pass in the future but did not happen as prophesied ("failed prophecies"). Examples of this would include:
- A. The vision of the brown bear
- B. The vision of the African meetings.
3 - Prophecies (unverified) that were not fulfilled
When we state that such prophecies are "unverified", it means that the first time they were told was after the prophesied event had occurred. Such prophecies are also referred to as "after the fact". Some message believers will protest that there is evidence that such prophecies were clearly made in advance but we have been unable to find any independent evidence that would confirm this. The only evidence we have is William Branham's own words, which do not qualify as independent evidence.
Such prophesies would include those that William Branham said had been fulfilled but, in fact, were not. Examples of this type of failed prophecy would include:
- A. The Municipal Bridge Vision; and
- B. The Marilyn Monroe Vision.
- While these are "after the fact" prophecies, it is strange that William Branham held out that they were validly fulfilled, when they clearly were not.
4 - Prophecies (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 or the vision of the grizzly bear. However, there would appear to be no record of these events being publicly recorded before the fact. Therefore, they must be considered after-the-fact prophecies. While one would normally think that "after the fact" prophecies would be amazingly accurate, there are significant problems associated with a number of William Branham's "after-the-fact" prophecies.
- Any of the following "so-called" prophecies cannot be used as proof of a prophetic ministry. Why? There is NO EVIDENCE that they were made publicly prior to the events occurring. This would include the following:
5 - Prophecies made beforehand (verified) that were clearly fulfilled
Anything in this category would be considered a true prophecy. We are only aware of one of William Branham's prophecies that could be considered to fulfill this criteria.
The prophecy of The Death of Florence Shakarian was made publicly a few months before she died. However, this prophecy has a couple of problems:
- 1. In 1963, Florence (Demos Shakarian's sister) was diagnosed with cancer. Although she was only 39, the cancer had advanced to a stage where her doctors couldn't stop it. How hard is it to predict that someone will die when they have received a medical diagnosis 2 years earlier that they have terminal inoperable cancer?
- 2. The prophecy was not ambiguous because William Branham left open the possibility that she might be healed when he stated:
- And I said, "Pray, just pray. You know there's... A prophet one time was told to go tell a king put his house in order. And he prayed, and He spared his life, fifteen years longer." I said, "Pray."
Other than the Florence Shakarian prophecy (which is dubious because of the factors listed above), there would appear to be no independent evidence that William Branham actually had a prophetic gift.
It is quite amazing, given the claims made of William Branham's prophetic ministry, that there is not a single clear example of a fulfilled "before the fact" prophecy on any of William Branham's tapes from 1947 to 1965. This calls into serious question the testimonies of his supporters who claim they heard an unrecorded prophecy, and saw it fulfilled - the evidence that William Branham left on the tapes speaks against them.
We have repeatedly asked publicly for examples of unambiguous prophecies that were made on tape and clearly fulfilled at a later date, but have had no response to date other than the Florence Shakarian prophecy.
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?’— 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.
Footnotes
- ↑ Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, Concise Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
Category: Visions]]