|
In 1961, William Branham shot a silver-tip grizzly bear. Then in 1962, he states that he has received a vision that he will shoot a brown bear that is larger than the grizzly bear that he shot. This vision was never fulfilled.
Does God permit a prophet to say, "I did something wrong personally and that is why the vision did not come to pass"? There is only one exception for a prophesy not to be fulfilled - this is the same exception that applied to Jonah's failed prophecy regarding Nineveh - Jeremiah 18:7-10 (see below). There are no other exceptions permitted or reasons mentioned in scripture that would otherwise allow for failed prophecies.
| But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 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.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22
|
If it was acceptable for a prophet to say "I am sorry, I made a personal mistake and therefore the vision was not fulfilled", then wouldn't every prophet that had a failed vision say this in order to get out of being put to death? For this reason, the Word of God only permitted one explanation for a failed vision, one that could be clearly seen by all.
The explanation for the failed vision
Cognitive dissonance requires that those that believe William Branham to be a prophet explain clearly why the vision was not fulfilled.
They point to Jonah who prophesied the destruction of Nineveh but whose prophecy was not fulfilled.
The problem with this explanation is that the reason for the failure of Jonah's prophecy is clearly outlined in Jeremiah 18:7-10:
- The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
This is also specifically referred to in Jonah 3:10:
- Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
Jonah's prophesy was not fulfilled because of Jonah's disobedience. Rather the destruction of Nineveh did not come to pass because of God's mercy for a repentant people.
Some have said that William Branham somehow failed the Lord in some way and that, as a direct result of this failure, he was like Jonah and the prophecy was not fulfilled.
However, the exception given by Jeremiah does not apply to the disobedience of a prophet. So how could it apply to the brown bear vision or the other visions of William Branham that failed?
The Vision of the Brown Bear
WISDOM.VERSUS.FAITH JEFF.IN 62-0401
- 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. And then, they turned around and said to me, said, "But there's some confusion about the meeting."
- And I said, "No matter what the confusion is, if I was supposed to go, wherever it was, I'll go anyhow. (See?) It doesn't matter." And the vision stopped. 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.
POSSESSING.ALL.THINGS JEFF.IN 62-0506
- Many of you remember the vision that I had, where I had shot the grizzly bear, nine-foot grizzly bear (And the church remembers me telling it here.) and the caribou. I had another. Remember it's on tape here, I seen a great huge brown bear. That might be a Kodiak and it wouldn't have worked down there in Canada, 'cause they're not there. You see? But wherever it will be, it'll be. It will be; that's THUS SAITH THE LORD. It will be. See?
PRESUMING S.PINES.NC 62-0610M
- 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. I seen it. When we was standing, put my hands on his haunches laying on the ground, like that. And I could put my hands on his hips like that, and him laying down. Now, you find out if that's right or not.
- There's a whole lot to that. But I just happened to think, I'm supposed to be teaching Sunday school. See? Oh, friends. You all see these little visions around here? No wonder you minister brothers sometimes get suspicious. "Well, it might be mental telepathy. It might be psychology." Show me somewhere else it's going on. What about these great psychologists, telepathists? They guess. It sometimes happens, sometimes it never. And it's this, that, or the other. But God's perfect and never fails.
Testimony of shooting the grizzly bear
William Branham tells the story of shooting the grizzly bear several times but this is the first time he tells it:
IT.BECOMETH.US.TO.FULFIL.ALL.RIGHTEOUSNESS JEFF.IN 61-1001M
- About two months ago, or hardly that long, I was woke up one morning. I believe, I'm not sure... I told it to most of the church. There's many here has heard me tell this before it come to pass. And in the--a vision I saw, that I'd saw a great animal, looked like a deer. And it had great high horns. And it was... I had to go around a side shale, like this, to get to it. And it was a very famous animal. It was a great trophy animal. And there was a man that I saw that had on a green checkered shirt. And then on the road, after I'd got the animal, I'd heard a--a voice say that, "Those horns are forty-two inches high." That's about this high. And it was a mammoth animal. And on the road back, I saw a great huge silver-tip grizzly bear.
- Now, that's the famous bear. There's four in the grizzly family. One is the silver-tip, which is the famous. Next is called, the native name, kadish, which is a black with a round ear; the second. Third is the regular grizzly, which is between black and brown, a huge bear. And the next is the Kodiak, which is only found on Kodiak Island and--and western Alaska; he's great, mammoth, biggest of all bears, but he's a grizzly. But the silver-tip is black, and the white is on--the silver is on the end of the tip of the hair. He's the famous one, very high-strung, ill-tempered bear. I shot the bear with a heart shot, killed him.
Navigation
|