“Seeing Jesus Christ”
William Branham claimed he saw Jesus Christ twice in visions, as follows,
“I’ve got to get on those sands again, where I was at a few years ago. I want to talk to Him. I—I seen Him in vision, twice.” “The Evidence Of The Resurrection” (58-0406E).
“I say it with reverence; I’ve seen Him twice. ’Course it was vision.” “Faith” (53-1213E).
According to him, he was only a “boy preacher” who had been preaching for about six months when he saw the two visions two years apart from each other.[1]
However, it is evident that he was not certain that he actually saw Jesus Christ on either occasion from his “I think I saw”, “I believe I saw” and “I claim I saw” statements below,
“I think… I’m saying this with, humbly with grace in my heart towards you. In visions I’ve seen Him twice. Hope I see Him again before I die. And twice, two years apart…” “Witnesses” (54-0303).
“I went to pray all night about it. And I heard Someone walking. I looked, coming over to this side, there come a tall Man, big, long hair. Not, didn’t look like the picture of Jesus. I believe, I say this reverently, I believe, by vision, I seen Jesus twice. I—I—I… It was a little Man, but it doesn’t look much like the artist paints Him. But I—I fainted when He… I looked at Him, so I… it was… He was standing off to my side.” “Why I'm Praying For The Sick” (54-0314).
“And we come with this assurance and this authority that Jesus Christ the Son of God; Whom I’ve claim have seen twice; I pray that through His Sovereign suffering, and by His stripes, that she was healed.” “Prayer Line” (53-1100).
Footnotes:
[1] William Branham said, “Now I never thought, of this new auditorium just being built up here, it’s exactly where I saw Jesus the first time in vision. Now it’s built, auditorium built right over the same spot. I went right there the other day, to look. When I looked and seen Him looking towards the east, you remember hearing me tell it, when I was out there praying for my father; a—a little boy, just a boy preacher. That’s where I saw Him.” “The Masterpiece” (64-0705).
“And I looked up, and He was standing there. And I bit my finger, to see if I was asleep. You know how you…Just seems like it couldn’t be so. And I was just young in the Lord then, about six months I had been preaching.” “The Seed Is Not Heir With The Shuck” (65-0218).
“I think… I’m saying this with, humbly with grace in my heart towards you. In visions I’ve seen Him twice. Hope I see Him again before I die. And twice, two years apart…” “Witnesses” (54-0303).
Jesus Christ – a very small, thin-built, 130-pound man with a short beard
William Branham claimed that Jesus Christ appeared to him in the first of the two visions as a very small, thin-built man who “looked like He wouldn’t weigh over a hundred and thirty pounds” and had a beard that was “kind of short” with “hair down to His shoulders” and looked to be about thirty-years old, as follows,
“Now, I’m not allergic to illusions, as I know of. But visions are real. And there stood the Lord Jesus, the first time I had ever saw Him in a vision of that type. He was just about, oh, probably ten feet above my head, standing in mid-air, with one foot just making a step. He had on a white garment, a fringe around the side of it. He had hair down to His shoulders. He looked to be about, a Man about what the Bible said He was, about thirty. But, a small, thin-built Fellow, very small, looked like He wouldn’t weigh over a hundred and thirty pounds.
And I looked, and I thought there was something, that I might be wrong. So I—I rubbed my eyes and—and looked up again. And He was standing kind of sideways, kind of a profile of His face. And the looks of His face, which I’ve always seen in the visions, has been like Hofmann’s head of Christ at thirty. That’s the reason I have that in my house, on my literature, wherever I can put that, because that’s the way it looked, more like that. Only, He seemed to be small.” “The Seed Is Not Heir With The Shuck” (65-0218).
“And I one night saw our Lord Jesus. I’m saying this with permission, I believe, from the Holy Spirit. The Angel of the Lord that comes is not the Lord Jesus. It doesn’t look like Him in the same vision. For, the vision I saw of the Lord Jesus, He was a little Man. He wasn’t…I had been out in the field, praying for my dad. And I come back in and I went to the bed, and that night I looked at him and I—I said, “O God, save him!”
My mother has already been saved and I’d baptized her. Then I thought, “Oh, my dad drinks so.” And I thought, “If I could just get him to accept the Lord Jesus!” I went out, laid down on a little old pallet out in the front room, near the door.
And Something said to me, “Rise up.” And I raised up, went walking, and went back into the field behind me, an old broom sage field.
And there, standing not over ten feet from me, stood a Man; white garment on, a little Fellow; had His arms folded like this; a beard, kind of short; hair down to His shoulders; and He was looking sideways from me, like that; peaceful-looking figure. But I couldn’t understand it, how His feet, one just behind the other. And the wind blowing, His robe moving, sage blowing.” “How The Angel Came To Me, And His Commission” (55-0117).
Note that William Branham claimed Jesus Christ appeared to him in his first vision as a thin-built, “little Fellow” who did not weigh more than one-hundred thirty pounds. However, he did not describe what Jesus Christ looked like in his “second vision” in his only apparent reference to it, which can be read here.
William Branham said Jesus Christ looked “just like” Hoffman's painting of Him:
When referring to the first of the two alleged “visions”, William Branham specifically claimed that Jesus Christ looked “just like” the rendition that the late German artist, Heinrich Hoffman, made of Him at thirty-three years old, as follows,
“Something said, "Stand up on your feet." And I stopped praying, and looked up. And the picture of Christ, the one that...I never did care for Sallman's picture. I--I like Hofmann's picture, the Head At Thirty-three, you know. And I've got a big picture of it, 'cause, when I seen Him in the vision that time, that's just the way He looked.” “Testimony” (63-1128M).
“And I looked, and I thought there was something that I might've--be wrong. So I--I rubbed my eyes and--and looked up again. And he was standing kinda sideways, kind of a profile of His face. And the looks of His face, which I've always seen in the visions, has been like Hofmann's head of Christ at thirty. That's the reason I have that in my house, on my literature, wherever I can put that, because that's the way it looked, more like that. Only He seemed to be small.” “The Seed is Not Heir With the Shuck” (65-0218).
But William Branham said “we don't know” and “cannot know” what Jesus looked like:
Despite claiming that he saw Jesus Christ twice and describing Him as a very small, thin-built, 130-pound man with hair down to His shoulders who looked “just like” Hoffman's picture
of Him, William Branham fully contradicted himself by making all of the following “we don't know” and “we cannot know” what Jesus looked like statements,
“Now, what if we go downtown to look for Jesus, that He's the same? We'd see a man come along with a robe on like He wore, and the psychological thought of it that He had long hair... We have no record of that, that He ever had long hair. We don't know. But say that we did--we did see a man that looked like the artist's picture that painted of Jesus. And He had scars in his hands, scars in his feet, and--and thorn marks, and so forth, and looked like maybe the Hofmann's picture of Him, the "Head at Thirty-three," or maybe some of the other ones, like the inspirational, or--or some picture...That still couldn't be Jesus, because I'll tell you why. Because no man will see Jesus on earth in a physical body until first he goes to glory; because we'll be caught up to meet Him in the air. That's right. For He said in the last days, there'd be false Christs, and everything saying, "Lo, He's in the desert, and in the secret chamber. Believe it not."” “We Would See Jesus” (61-0208).
“And how do we know that He had a robe on and how He dressed? We only know it... Would He look like the pictures that we see the--the painters paint? No. That's the psychological painting that some man had, his conception of what Christ would look like. And if we had go to by that, which one would be right? There's Hofmann, Sallman, and how many more? All different descriptions of Him. So you'd be a bit confused what He would look like. Would He look like Hofmann's painting of Him, or Sallman's, or some of the rest of them? We don't know. If Hofmann's right, then Sallman's wrong. See? Sallman's right, then Hofmann's wrong, and (See?) you wouldn't know what to look for.” “Jesus Christ the Same Yesterday, And Today, And Forever” (63-0604).
“Now, if he stood here with scars, that would be a human being; that's flesh. Anybody can impersonate that; a human being can disfigure himself. Or, maybe, we don't know what Jesus looked like; we just got the--the--the artist's idea, the psychology of it, what He looked like; Hofmann had one kind, Sallman another, and how many more...” “A Greater Than Solomon Is Here” (64-0306).
“So then, we find out that He must've looked a little aged, setting over against the side of the wall. We don't know just what He looked like. I wouldn't know. Psychiatrists, or psychology, paints us a picture. But Hofmann, and one, and Sallmon, and whoevermore... But that's just what they think about it. See, we don't know just what He looked like. And there He was setting there. And then He said this.” “Sirs, We Would See Jesus”(64-0318).
“There's so many people has so many different ideas about Him. See, each one as an individual try to draw up our idea about Christ, what He was, what He looks like, and--and how the psychologist's have painted the picture, like Hofmann's "Head of Christ at Thirty-three," and Salman and different ones. But see, we don't know He looked like that. So we could never understand, or what He looked like and by just a painting of some picture.” “Christ is Identified the Same in All Generations” (64-0415).
“Now, He appeared here as a physical body, looked just exactly like Hofmann's Head of Christ at Thirty-three, and blood running out of His hand, and so forth, nail scars all over Him, I wouldn't accept it. No, no, no, no. When He comes, Hisself, "Every eye shall see Him, every tongue shall confess Him; and as the lightning cometh from the east unto the west, so shall it be."” “Spiritual Food in Due Season” (65-0718E).
Conclusions:
Because William Branham was not sure that he actually saw Jesus Christ twice, but made it known that it was merely his “thought”, “belief” and “claim” that he did, all of his other statements in which he affirmatively declared that he saw Him are not believable.
In addition, it is not possible to accept William Branham's claims of actually seeing Jesus Christ to be true because he contradicted himself by specifically stating that he would not know what Jesus would look like.
His claims are also not credible because he portrayed Jesus Christ in his “vision” as looking “just like” Hoffman's painting of Him, but contradicted himself further by stating that “we don't know” that Jesus Christ looked like Hoffman's "Head of Christ at Thirty-three."
Lastly, his portrayals of the Lord Jesus Christ being a “very small”, “little Fellow” who weighed no more than 130 pounds are also too far-fetched to believe.
“I thought, "That looks like the Lord Jesus." I thought, "I wonder if it is?" He was looking just exactly, directly towards where our house sets now. So I moved around this way to s ee if I could see Him. And I could see the side of His face like that. But He... I had to turn way around this way to see Him. And I said, "Uhm!" Never moved Him. And I thought, "I believe I'll call Him." And I said, "Jesus." And when He did, He looked around like that. That was all I remember; He just reached out His arms. There's not an artist in the world could paint His picture, the character of His face. The best I've ever seen was that Hofmann's Head of Christ at Thirty-three, I've got it on all literature and everything I use. That's it, 'cause that looks just like it, and so then--or pretty near, as close as it could be.” “How the Angel Came to Me, And His Commission” (55-0117).
