Supernatural photographs
There are a number of photographs that William Branham and his followers point to as being supernatural vindication of his status of a prophet. But are these photographs really of a visible manifestation of God?
Please examine these photographs and decide for yourselves.
The Pillar of Fire with Joseph Branham
Below is a photograph that is available for purchase from Voice of God Recordings entitled "Pillar Of Fire On The Rock Under Brother Branham and his son, Joseph". The picture was supposedly taken at Sunset Mountain in Arizona on May 19, 1965. however, it is more likely that the picture was taken at Rattlesnake Mesa.
If you are interested in whether this video is, in fact, supernatural, we would recommend watching the following video in which Pearry Green provides details on this video.
<mediaplayer width='800' height='500'>http://youtu.be/VS2CI6INFh8</mediaplayer>
This video was produced by Seek The Truth
Pillar of Fire on his shoulder?
Here is the photo that is available for purchase from Voice of God Recordings entitled "Pillar Of Fire Over Brother Branham's Shoulder". It is a black & white photograph that was taken in March, 1964, at Soul's Harbor Temple in Dallas, Texas.
The problem is that the picture sold by Voice of God Recordings has been cropped. The original of the photograph is displayed below:
Please note the door is slight ajar in the top left of the photograph letting in a small stream of light which hits William Branham on his shoulder with a very small amount spilling onto his tie.
There is a light on his shoulder but it is sunlight. There is nothing supernatural about this photograph.
The Fire of God?
The following two photographs are available for purchase from Voice of God Recordings and are entitled "Brother Branham Preaching Just Before The Fire Of God Appeared" and "The Fire Of God Surrounding Bro. Branham As He Is Preaching", respectively. These colour photographs were taken in 1958 in Lakeport, California.
It is clear to anyone that has the slightest knowledge of photography that the second photograph is a "double exposure" (that is, a superimposition of two exposures to create a single image) photograph. Additionally, the camera was moved in the second exposure using a fairly slow shutter speed. This is indicated by the multiple streaks of light that are duplicated in the photograph.
Here are a couple of examples of what happens when a the camera is moved while directed at several point sources of light. Notice the similarities to the streaks of light in the "supernatural photo" of William Branham.
The conclusion: The picture of William Branham with the streaks of light is an accidental double exposure, something that was fairly easy to do accidentally on the cheap cameras that were common in the 1950's and 1960's.
Houston photograph
The iconic image of William Branham in the Sam Houston Coliseum has an entire article on this website devoted to it.
However, it is worthwhile to make a couple of brief observations.
The picture below is available from Voice of God Recordings for purchase. The original photograph was taken in Houston, TX by Douglas Studios on January 24, 1950. However, the original photograph was black and white and therefore the photo below has been manipulated to add colour.
William Branham was adamant that this picture was supernatural in nature. But there are a number of problems with the statement that the photograph is of the pillar of fire.
If the light passed through the lens and struck the film, why did know one else in the auditorium see the light. Could it be that the light was seen by everyone but just not from the specific angle of the camera. It should be added that a flood light bank would appear "blown out" on a normal exposure of a portrait photograph such as that of William Branham. Here are other example of flood lamps in a stage setting. Notice the similarities with tthe "pillar of fire in the Houston photograph.
For more details on this photograph, please see our article on The Houston Photograph.
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Quotes of William Branham
Footnotes