“The Tongues of Fire” Photo
In a sermon that William Branham preached in his tabernacle on November 30, 1958 entitled, “Watchman, What of the Night?”, he claimed that the following photo was taken of him when he was preaching in Tulsa a few weeks prior.
Click photo to enlarge.
Therein, he specifically claimed that the Lord Jesus Christ was captured behind him in the photo with “tongues of fire flying off from His hands” and “is the most outstanding of all” of the photos that were taken during his ministry, as follows,
“And I thought, if... I've always been ashamed of my faith. But people, as good as the Lord has been, He has showed things, told visions; everything has been perfect. You people know that. It's not a individual. It's not a man. It's God that does it. And this picture here, how it's went over the world. The ones in Germany... And here a few weeks ago (Maybe a stranger is here never seen it.), they caught another one. I got it at home.
It's the profile of the Lord Jesus standing right behind where I was standing.
And His hands are out and tongues of fire are flying off from His hands, while I was speaking on the subject, "Say To This Mountain Be Moved And Don't Doubt In Your Heart, But Believe."
And we've got it. It's in Techni--Kodachrome colors. And we've got it at the home now. And they're making... It's been examined now by science and so forth in laboratories. It'll be out pretty soon. Another one, which makes about six of them now in different places that's been took. This is the most outstanding of all of them.
Never seen... There's His--His beard, His face, His profile, His arms hanging out. And I was standing right in like this and where He's got His arms, you can't even see a place of Him like that. My head, then my feet down at the floor; just head and feet, that's all there was left. See?
And He--He's standing with His arms right like this, and I've got my hands out like this a preaching, saying, "Say to this mountain." And about that time something took place, and they snapped the picture of it like that. And there it was behind. All in colors. And a big...
So as God does arrange a big basket of calla lilies setting close: He's the lily of the valley. And where do you get opium? Out of lilies. That's right. What is the opium God has? Peace. Opium just makes you forget all about your troubles. Opium smokers, that's how they kill themselves with that opium. God has an opium. Amen. He eases every pain, heals all sickness, takes every weary away. As long as we're breathing into His opium, we're at peace.
And the big basket of lilies was sitting right in front where I'm a speaking on the platform.
And I prayed for the sick there at Tulsa, and I just walked on down and went out.” “Watchman, What of the Night?” (58-1130).
From a close look at the photo, it is evident that the hands, arms, face, beard and profile of the Lord Jesus Christ are not seen in it, as William Branham claimed.
In addition, it is not possible for his claims to be true that Jesus Christ was behind him in the photo because the “tongues of fire” that he said “are flying off” from Jesus Christ are actually in the foreground of the photo. (In other words, Jesus Christ cannot be both behind and in front of William Branham in the photo at the same time.)
Moreover, it is clear in the photo that the “calla lilies”, which William Branham said were “setting close” to him are so much taller than him that it is obvious that something went awry when the picture was taken or the film was developed.
In this photo, which was also taken of him during the same meeting, the “calla lilies” were captured in their true size and proportion and were not taller than the height of the microphone on the podium.
Audio
Click photo to enlarge.
What was the likely cause of the extreme distortion of the “calla lilies” in the alleged “tongues of fire” version of the photo?
It was most likely due to a multiple exposure of the film.
Multiple exposure of the film is, in fact, evident from the fact that there are two images of William Branham standing behind the pulpit with his hand raised in the same photo.
(The red arrow at the top left corner of the photo points to the second image of him with his hand raised and the red arrow under it points to second image of the pulpit.)
Click photo to enlarge.
Is there also a reasonable explanation for the alleged “tongues of fire” in the photo?
Considering the fact that the photo was the likely result of multiple exposure, any of the sources of light that were nearby when it was taken could have caused the unusual looking arcs of light in it.
In the following photo from the same meeting, it is evident that there were, in fact, multiple sources of light with curved aspects to them that could have caused the “arcs of light” in it.
Click photo to enlarge.
William Branham apparently believed that Jesus Christ's “beard, face and profile” are seen behind him in the portion of the photo that is circled in red below.
Click photo to enlarge.
However, it is obvious from the photo that it is not an image of the Lord Jesus Christ because His hairline and mustache would not ever be in such an odd form or shape.
Notice how there seems to be a horseshoe-shaped “mustache”, but it is much too large and thick to actually be a man's mustache, let alone the “mustache” of Jesus Christ. Notice also how it extends backwards down to the jaw and nearly meets what seems to be “hair” from the side of the head, as well as covers where a “nose” of the “face” would be expected to be.
All such bizarre aspects are certainly not consistent with or indicative of real facial features and therefore the image cannot be rightly accepted to be of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What caused the illusion of a man's head to form in the photo?
Like the distorted “calla lilies”, it was most likely caused by multiple exposure of the film.
The “arcs of light” that are seen across the photo are also seen in higher parts of it, including the area where the illusion of a man's head is.
In fact, the area that seems to be a “chin” is actually one of the “arcs of light” and the area that seems to be the top of a “mustache” is another “arc of light”, as outlined in red below.
Click photo to enlarge.
Although William Branham believed that the photo was “supernatural” in origin and even had a framed copy of the photo in his home, it clearly did not have any spiritual or supernatural significance.
Click photo to enlarge.