Sandbox
Is William Branham's floating table a true story?
In 1965 William Branham makes this statement. "I was at a camp one time, where a minister and I went to see them in there. They had raised the table up from the floor, and had whisky glasses sitting over it; and taken that table, turned it back and forth. And guitar flying through the building; people’s clothes. Had this up, in the room. Said, this medium said, “I challenge anybody to knock it down.” Two man said, “I’ll get it down.” They grabbed it around the legs like that, and tried to hold it. It wouldn’t. Why, that table throwed them plumb across the floor........I said, “I command that table to fall down, in the name of the ‘holy Church,’” and it stayed right there. I said, “I command that table to fall down there, in the name of the ‘Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,’” it stayed right there. I said, “I command that table to fall down, in the Name of ‘Jesus Christ,’” and like to broke all four legs off, hitting the floor!"[1]
The floating or levitation[2] of objects was an extremely popular illusion in the last 19th and early 20th centuries. Harry Kellar[3] (1849-1922) became famous for his act which he called "Levitation of Princess Karnac". The act was an illusion. The assistant who was levitated was actually supported by an "S" shape metal bar which allowed Harry Kellar to move the hoop through the length of her body in either direction.
Is there any known proof that a table can be levitated as William Branham describes?
The most knowledgeable people in Mediumship, Spiritualism, and Magic have all offered rewards for anyone who could levitate an object. No one has ever been proved to be able to do it.
Below are two examples of famous and extremely knowledgeable performers who offered substantial rewards for anyone who could levitate an object.
1) Joseph Dunninger[4] (April 28, 1892 – March 9, 1975), known as "The Amazing Dunninger", was one of the most famous and proficient mentalists of all time. At the age of seventeen, he was invited to perform at the home of Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay and at the home of the inventor Thomas Edison, both of whom were avid admirers of Dunninger. President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Dunninger to the White House on a number of occasions to demonstrate his mentalist skills.[5] Through Scientific American magazine and his own organization the Universal Council for Psychic Research he also made an offer to any medium who could produce by psychic or supernatural means any physical phenomena that he could not duplicate or explain by natural means. No medium ever won the reward.[6][7]
2) James Randi[8] Born August 7, 1928, and is the founder of the Randi Educational Foundation.[9] This organization offered a large reward to anyone who could demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability. This offer started in 1964 when Randi began offering a prize of US$1000 and was later increased to US$1 million. Since its inception, more than 1000 people have applied to be tested. To date, no one has been able to demonstrate their claimed abilities under the testing conditions, all applicants either failing to demonstrate the claimed ability during the test or deviating from the foundation conditions for taking the test such that any apparent success was held invalid; the prize money remains unclaimed.
With in-depth research, the evidence only points to one thing, the levitation of objects was a parlor trick nothing more. As the famous saying goes "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"[10] The evidence eliminates that William Branham actually saw a table floating. Two possibilities remain 1) William Branham was deceived by the medium into thinking the table was floating and then the medium decided to play along with William Branham to have the table drop when he spoke the name, Jesus Christ. This is highly unlikely since the medium would lose prestige. 2) William Branham lied and it never happen. One motive to tell this falsehood would be to gain prestige with the audience as an authority on the paranormal. This type of behavior has been see in other lies William Branham told. An example would be his false story about eagles[11] that can carry their young on their wings which he appeared to tell to gain prestige with his audience that he was an outdoorsman.
===1 John 5:20 (HCSB) And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true One. We are in the true One—that is, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.===[12]
Footnotes
- ↑ William Branham, April 25, 1965, God's Provided Place Of Worship
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitation_(illusion)
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kellar
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Dunninger#cite_note-6
- ↑ Samuel, Lawrence R. (2011). Supernatural America: A Cultural History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 48-51. ISBN 978-0-313-39899-5
- ↑ https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kkwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=vlQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA106#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi_Educational_Foundation
- ↑ https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes
- ↑ http://believethesign.com/index.php?title=Stories_about_Eagles
- ↑ 1 John 5:20 (HCSB)