GUEST ARTICLE
 

The Facts about Nostradamus and His Prophecies 

What you are about to read is an objective examination of the practices and prophecies of Nostradamus. The reader is encouraged to lay down all preconceived biased opinions and consider only the facts. Truth based on the evidence should be your only consideration when evaluating this man and his ability to foretell events.  

The following quotes primarily come from the books entitled, The Prophecies of Nostradamus by Erika Cheetham published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons of New York, New York, copyrighted in 1973, hereafter abbreviated PON and The Nostradamus Encyclopedia by Peter Lemesurier published by St. Martin's Press of New York, New York, copyrighted in 1997, hereafter abbreviated NE. [All bold emphasis is my own.]

Nostradamus is the Latinized form of Michel de Nostredame, the French astrologer, who lived from 1503 to 1566. His great popularity is apparent when one ponders that he is one of the few authors whose work has never been out of print for over four hundred years!

His family converted from Judaism to Catholicism when he was 9 years old. Regarding Roman Catholicism:

He approved the Ceremonies of the Roman Church and remained faithful to the Catholic faith and religion, holding that outside it there was no salvation. He gravely reproved those who, having withdrawn from its embrace, were prepared to let themselves be fed and watered by the easy-going freedoms of damnable foreign doctrines. Their end, he asserted, would be evil and nasty (NE, p. 43).

Furthermore:

It is important to remember the Jewish element of Nostradamus’ childhood when trying to decipher the Prophecies, as he was greatly influenced by occult Jewish literature (PON, p. 5).

Nostradamus had accurate predictive abilities in knowing a future Pope:

Legends about Nostradamus’ prophetic powers also start to appear at this time. Apparently when in Italy he saw a young monk who had been a swineherd pass by him in the street, and immediately knelt down and called him ‘Your Holiness’. Felice Peretti became Sextus V in 1585, long after Nostradamus’ death (PON, p. 8).

Nostradamus Was An Occultist

His interest in the occult was strong and presumably he was still experiencing odd flashes of prophetic insight (PON, p. 9).

Nostradamus converted the top room of his house at Salon into a study and as he tells us in the Prophecies, worked there at night with his occult books (PON, p. 9).

Nostradamus’ Method of Divination

In the following quatrain, he wrote how he came up with his prophecies:

Sitting alone at night in secret study; it is placed on the brass tripod. A slight flame comes out of the emptiness and makes successful that which should not be believed in vain (PON, p. 20).

Erika Cheetham comments on his divination:

Both this and the following quatrain describe Nostradamus’ method of divination, they are not predictions. Nostradamus used the methods of the 4th Century neo-Platonist Iamblichus, a reprint of whose book De Mysteriis Egyptorum was published at Lyons in 1547 and almost certainly read by Nostradamus. It may well have been the source of his experiments with prophecy, for soon afterwards his almanacs started to appear. All the ingredients for magical practices are in this quatrain. It is night. Nostradamus is alone in his study reading the secret forbidden books which inspire his prophecies; the brass tripod is a method used by Iamblichus—on it was placed a bowl of water into which the seer gazed until the water became cloudy and pictures of the future were revealed. Flambe exiquë is the light of inspiration which seizes Nostradamus as he begins to prophesy (PON, p. 20).

Scrying, which is commonly practiced by witches, was his method of predicting:

The term scrying, deriving from the English descry--"to make out dimly" or "to reveal"--denotes an ancient art of clairvoyance: concentrating on an object until visions appear. Scrying has been practiced by magicians and Witches through the ages. Among the purposes of scrying are predictions of the future, answers to questions, solutions to problems, help in finding lost objects, and help in tracking down criminals.

The object on which to concentrate is usually a shiny, smooth surface that makes a good speculum, such as the crystal ball used by Gypsy fortune-tellers or the still water of a lake or pond into which many early scryers gazed. Some of the most frequently used objects are mirrors, polished stones or metals, and bowls of liquid. Ink, blood, and other dark liquids were used by the Egyptians for centuries. Bowls of water were used by Nostradamus (Witchcraft Today, by James R. Lewis, copyrighted 1999, p. 264).

Nostradamus Knew He Was Headed For Hell

Unlike the truly inspired Biblical prophets, who would see visions, have dreams or hear God’s audible voice without the aid of material objects, the above method of predicting the future used by Nostradamus is of the occult and, therefore, clearly forbidden by God:

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. (Deut. 18:10-12)

According to the aforementioned Scripture, the well-known Nostradamus was detestable to the LORD because of his occult involvement. In fact, Nostradamus seems to have known his soul was headed for hell (perdition) over this and burnt to ashes the books in which he discovered these techniques:

... he indicates how it is possible for the diviner to open the mind to divine inspiration not merely through the use of judicial astrology, but with the ritual aid of lymbe and exigue flamme ... Almost in the same breath, however, he beseeches his infant son never to dabble in such practices for, he says, they desiccate the body, disturb the mind, and send the soul to perdition. For that reason he has reduced to ashes the ancient books in which he first discovered the techniques involved. They burned, he says, with an unnatural brilliance (NE, p. 64).

But there is more you need to know about him and his prophecies which might surprise you. Let’s note the following quatrain:

Nostradamus Was Demon Possessed

The wand in the hand is placed in the middle of the tripod’s legs. With water he sprinkles both the hem of his garment and his foot. A voice, fear; he trembles in his robes. Divine splendour [sic]; the god sits nearby.

Cheetham gives her interpretation:

Nostradamus continues to explain his method. He touches the middle of the tripod with his wand, and then moistens his robe and his feet with the water placed on it. This is the same method as was used to obtain inspiration by the Apollonian prophetess at the oracles of Branchus in Classical times. Nostradamus is afraid of the power he evokes when it comes to him; he hears it, as well as sees it; it appears to speak to him and he writes down the prophecies. He is unafraid once the gift has possessed him. This dual aspect of his vision is most important when interpreting the centuries (PON, pp. 20, 21).

A spirit being would approach Nostradamus when he began doing divination, as was done by an Apollonian false prophetess. At such a time he became possessed by it. In a different quatrain we read:

The divine word will give to the substance (that which) contains heaven and earth, occult gold in the mystic deed. Body, soul and spirit are all powerful. Everything is beneath his feet, as at the seat of heaven (PON, p. 120).

The interpretation is given as such:

Although many commentators dismiss this verse I think it is a rare and important description of Nostradamus’ beliefs and experiences. The divine word which takes on substance is either Nostradamus literally calling forth the spirit who inspires him to prophecy, or an incantation which gives him divine powers, ‘the occult gold and the mystic deed’. He feels his body to be possessed of great powers and possibly the last line indicates that during his prophetic sessions he felt disembodied, that his soul was outside his body looking down on himself, at the foot of the heavenly seat. This is a common trance-like experience. Alternatively Nostradamus could mean that the spirit of inspiration came down to him and is as much present beneath his feet, and therefore under his control, as it is at its heavenly source (PON, p. 120).

When Nostradamus would become possessed he would also enter into a trance. A different quatrain goes on to say:

The heavenly bodies endlessly visible to the eye come to cloud (the intellect) for their own reasons. The body, together with the forehead, senses and head all invisible, as the sacred prayers diminish (PON, p. 177).

That is understood to mean the following:

But I think that Nostradamus is here describing the sensation of ‘bodilessness’ which he experiences when in a predictive trance, when his mind and intellect are used by the heavenly beings for their own purposes. The prayers of the last line are the invocations to the spirits made by Nostradamus. As they finish, he is possessed (PON, p. 177).

The Kennedy Assassinations

Many have heard that Nostradamus accurately predicted the assassinations of JFK and RFK 400 years in advance, but did he really make such a prediction or are his fans trying to make his prophecies fit history and thereby unduly exalt his predictive powers? Dear reader, carefully ponder the following for yourself. This is supposed to be the Kennedy assassination predictions:

The great man will be struck down in the day by a thunderbolt. An evil deed, foretold by the bearer of a petition. According to the prediction another falls at night time. Conflict at Reims, London, and pestilence in Tuscany (PON, p. 33).

Please note that the facts reveal that there was no specific mention of the name Kennedy as you might have thought, or of his time frame or century, neither was it stated that it would be the brother or even a relative who would “fall at night time.”  Furthermore, as we look back into history, how did the Kennedy assassinations trigger pestilence in Tuscany?  In spite of all of this, however, one of his devotees wishes to understand this quatrain as meaning:

The first three lines here may apply to the assassinations of the two Kennedy brothers. John F. Kennedy was shot down (thunderbolt) in broad daylight at Dallas, Texas on 22nd November 1963 by the psychopath, Lee Harvey Oswald. The other man linked with him who is killed at night, was his brother Robert F. Kennedy who was shot down on 5th June 1968 in the early morning while celebrating his victory in the presidential primary elections at a hotel. Line 2, the fact that the assassination had been told by the bearer of a petition may refer to the many death threats John F. Kennedy and his brother received during their terms of office. The troubles in France, England and Italy would refer to the world repercussions of these assassinations (PON, p. 33).

Dear reader, isn’t it clear from the evidence that the predictions that Nostradamus allegedly made about the Kennedy assassinations are contrived!  If you stopped someone at random on the sidewalk who never heard of Nostradamus and gave him this actual quatrain, do you sincerely think he would say it predicted the Kennedy assassinations? Never! Furthermore, if RFK was to be the other man who falls at night time, why does the record instead show he was shot in the early morning?

Did Nostradamus Predict Hitler?

In the actual quatrain written by Nostradamus we do not read of “Hitler” but instead of a different person or thing called Hister. This fact is concealed in this English translation of this famous quatrain:

Beasts wild with hunger will cross the rivers, the greater part of the battlefield will be against Hitler. He will drag the leader in a cage of iron, when the child of Germany observes no law (PON, p. 82).

This is what that supposedly means:

One of Nostradamus’ most remarkable series of quatrains, with the name Hitler given in anagram as Hister. There can be little doubt that Hitler is implied; who else could be so well described by the last line, the German who observed no law? In 16th-Century handwriting the resemblance is even closer with the use of the long s, Hifter. Commentators before 1930 understood the Hister to be the river Danube, from its latin name Ister. But Hitler recognized himself in these quatrains by the mid 1930s and Goebbells made great propaganda out of them in the pre-war party years. Evidence of this is found in many sources, chiefly Ellic Howe’s book ‘Nostradamus and the Nazis’. During the first year of the Second World War the development of the war was to a great extent dependent upon the rivers crossed by the Germans who came into Europe in a never-ending stream looting and pillaging (farouches de faim) (PON, p. 82).

Notice: it is admitted that before 1930 it was understood that Hister (not Hitler) was the subject of the quatrain!

Nostradamus’ Failed Prophecies

Without a doubt, at least some of the times Nostradamus failed in his prophecies. This is candidly admitted by a devotee:

He believed himself to possess certain powers, although there is reason to believe he could not draw on these to order. They certainly sometimes let him down in the Prophecies (PON, p. 14).

That last sentence is very important for it factually declares that Nostradamus made false prophecies! But the author admits to more:

I can dismiss ninety-five per cent of Nostradamus’ predictions as historical coincidence (PON, p. 14).

The July 1999 End of the World False Prophecy

Though many of Nostradamus’ prophecies were vague and obscure, at least the following one was exact as to the timing of a major event which was supposed to occur in July 1999:

In the year 1999, and seven months, from the sky will come the great King of Terror. He will bring back to life the great king of the Mongols. Before and after War reigns happily (PON, p. 417).

That was understood in 1973 and earlier to mean the following:

In his gloomy prediction Nostradamus seems to foresee the end of the world at the Millennium, the year 2000. He was greatly influenced in this by medieval thinking which held all millenniums in great dread. From the verse it appears that first we must suffer the Asian antichrist ‘the King of Mongols’ before the advent of this new and terrifying figure. Note that Nostradamus expects war both before and after his coming (PON, p. 417).

Time is the enemy of false prophets. This is no exception with Nostradamus and his failed prophecy of July 1999. Clearly, Nostradamus was a proven false prophet, and not "the prophet" as Peter Lemesurier calls him (NE, p. 43), because he made at least one false prophecy. But even Lemesurier unwittingly admits to one of Nostradamus' false prophecies:

Indeed, the seer predicts that the Pope's flight from Rome in the year 2000 ... will be accompanied by the appearance of just such a comet as this verse seems to describe (NE, p. 152).

But this prophecy is also false. Nostradamus is further indicted by the facts that he was an occultist who used divination for his prophecies and was himself demon possessed. Regarding the latter and the gift of fortune-telling, please ponder the following Scripture:

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone ... (Acts 16:16-19, NRSV).

From the above Scripture, it should be clear that demon spirits can predict the future to some degree of accuracy or that demon possessed slave girl couldn’t have made a great deal of money for her owners. We should remember this as we evaluate Nostradamus and his predictive powers, which came from spirit beings. Moreover, remember this: a false prophet can make true prophecies (Dt. 13:1-10), but when a false prophecy is made, that person is always a false prophet (Dt. 18:21,22):

You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him (Dt. 18:21,22)

Also, remember that the "prophet" Nostradamus claimed his own revelations were of Divine origin:

His revelations, he [Nostradamus] constantly claimed, were of Divine, not human, origin let alone the product of mere magic. Indeed, only such Divine revelations, he repeatedly pointed out in his dedicatory letters ... could possibly hope to foretell the future (NE, p. 114).

But Nostradamus was correct about one thing--he himself was hell-bound, as is anyone involved in the occult. Besides Dt. 18:10-12 other Scriptures apply:

All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you. Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by. (Isa 47:13,14)

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Rev 21:8)

Dear reader, if you or someone you know is involved in the occult, repent from this evil and turn to Jesus Christ. Prove your repentance by your deeds, including the destroying of your sorcery materials (Acts 19:19).

Also, if the reader wants to read the future before it happens, he/she should go to the Bible (God’s word), the only reliable source from God that mankind has, and carefully ponder its pages as to the coming of the antichrist, the Lord’s return, Judgment Day and other events.  There they will find 100% accurate information about anything the Scriptures speak out upon, unlike the prophecies of Nostradamus!  Of utmost importance, the reader should examine what the Bible declares about how to find forgiveness of sins and salvation.

Dan Corner 

Evangelical Outreach

http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/nostradamus.htm