Prophecy

William Branham was a self-proclaimed prophet, claiming to see visions and prophesy. Some versions of his stage persona were that of a humble prophet among other prophets, while later versions of his stage persona were that of a deity, or prophet-god. His claim of prophet focused upon the stage persona and not the prophecy itself; vindication was claimed for his alleged prophecies by his alleged gift of healing rather than the accuracy of the prophecies themselves.

In each example of "prophecy" used in Branham's stage persona, one or more elements were missing from the claim. To be confirmed as a Biblical prophet for predictions, one must:

1. Have had a prediction, with evidence or witnesses confirming the prediction occurred before the event being predicted
2. Have recognized that the event being predicted happened
3. Confirmed that the event occurred as described by the prediction, with all matching detail.

Branham's theology also omitted various forms of prophecy, focusing solely upon guessing an outcome. A prophecy, according to the Christian Bible, is much more. Prophecy is a message that is claimed by a prophet to have been communicated to them by God, including messages of inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of divine will. Prophecy in the Bible was frequently messages to the current timeline, though some were describing future events.

In William Branham's "Bridge Prophecy", for example, Branham focused solely upon point #2 (recognized that the event happened). He alleged that he made a prediction as a small child concerning the deaths of men during the construction of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge. According to the "vision", a sign with the number twenty-two represented twenty-two years in the future:

A little later on, about two weeks later I was playing marbles with my brother, and I felt something come to me. We lived up on a hill, and the river was below us: a wilderness around. And I saw a bridge come up out of the wilderness. And it started across the river. Sixteen men dropped off in—into the water and perished. And I seen a big sign, it said "twenty-two years." I run in and told my mother. Oh, she said, "Son, you're nervous. You went to sleep and you were dreaming." I said, "No. No. I saw it." So they wrote it down on a piece of paper. And twenty-two years from then, the great bridge crossed the river, and twen—sixteen men dropped off of it and—and drowned in the river. Every time, it's perfect.
Branham, William. 1955, Jun 26. My Life Story. 55-0626A

For this prophetic claim, there were no witnesses or evidence to support his claim of first having had the vision, and listeners could only assume that he was telling the truth. Those who did were not educated in the history of bridge construction, unaware that the bridge opened in 1929 — for the twenty-two years detail to be accurate, Branham would have had to predict the prophecy before his alleged 1909 birth year. Both the first and third points were omitted.

Very few of Branham's prophecies included evidence to support his having had a prediction, almost all were introduced after the target event happened. This enabled Branham to change details of his alleged prophecies during each retelling of the description of his vision. Worse, members of Branham's campaign team were tasked with revising prophecies.

By the way, Mr. Mercier and many of them are going to take some of these old prophecies, and dig them out, and revise them a little, or bring them up to date, and put them in papers. I'd like to read some things that I'd like for you to—to…This one, first. I'd like to read something to you.
Branham, William. 1960, Nov 13. Condemnation by Representation. 60-1113.