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GUEST
ARTICLE
Nostradamus—Prophet
or Pretender?
Predictive
prophecy is one of the strongest evidences in support of
the biblical claim that the Scriptures are inspired of
God—only God knows the future. If the Bible contains genuine
prophecy, such would argue for its divine origin (see Isaiah
41:21-23).
Atheists
allege, however, that there are examples of “prophecy” in
writings other than the Bible, and so such a phenomenon
no more proves the inspiration of the Scriptures than it
does for these other works.
For
example, Dan Barker, a former Pentecostal turned atheist,
claims the prophecies of the Bible are no more remarkable
than those of the French prognosticator Nostradamus. In
attempting to evade the force of Ezekiel’s predictions
concerning the destruction of Tyre (chapter 26), Barker
declares: “[I]f Ezekiel is a true prophet, then so are
Nostradamus and Jeanne Dixon” (1992, 192).
The
careful student who compares the oracles of the prophet
Ezekiel with those of Nostradamus and Dixon will see light-years
of distance between the specificity of the divine utterances
and the garbled verses of bogus prophecy.
Let
us briefly consider the case of Nostradamus since his name
is frequently mentioned in connection with prophecy.
Nostradamus
was the assumed name of Michel De Notredame, a French physician-astrologer
who flourished in the sixteenth century A.D. In
1555, he published a book of rhymed “prophecies” under
the title Centuries, which secured for him considerable
fame in an age of gross superstition.
The
success of Nostradamus is based upon the following factors:
(1)
The declarations are extremely vague. One authority notes:
The
verses are deliberately obscure. Couched in a French that
was already archaic in the sixteenth century, they are
interlarded with words from other languages, as well as
with anagrams, obscure images, and terms the seer apparently
invented (Visions and Prophecies 1988, 18).
(2)
Some of the “prophecies” were obviously written after the
fact.
(3)
A number of the predictions were simply educated guesses.
As one scholar observed, arrows shot in all directions,
even in the dark, are bound to hit something occasionally
(M’Clintock and Strong 1969, 198).
Even
the most devoted disciples of Nostradamus have been woefully
confused as to the meaning of his prophecies.
For
example, during World War II, devotees of the seer in Great
Britain claimed that Nostradamus had predicted the defeat
of Germany in the war, while fellow disciples in Germany
were claiming their prophet had foretold the destruction
of England. The truth is, neither prediction had been made.
Here
is another example: Nostradamas wrote about the birth of
an emperor in Italy who would be “less a prince than a
butcher.” Some see the allusion to Napoleon, while others
think the reference is to Hitler. Which is it?
But
try one of the prophecies for yourself. To what does the
following refer?
To maintain the great troubled
cloak
The reds march to clear it.
A family almost ruined by death,
The red reds strike down the red one.
Give
up? Of course you do. According to some, however, the above
lines “foretold the fate of the Kennedys” (as quoted by
Barker, 185).
Nostradamus’s
most famous oracle—supposedly the best evidence for his
gift—reads as follows:
The young lion will overcome
the old one,
On the field of war in single combat:
He will burst his eyes in a cage of gold,
Two fleets one, then to die, a cruel death.
Allegedly,
this has reference to the death of France’s king, Henry
II, who was wounded in a jousting contest in 1557; he died
ten days later. Here are the actual historical facts:
- Only six years separated
the ages of Henry and his opponent in the tournament;
it was hardly a contest between the young and the old
(Henry was only forty).
- The accident occurred
during a friendly sporting event, not on a battlefield.
- There is no evidence that
Henry was wearing a gilded visor (cage) of
gold. Moreover, the king’s eyes were not damaged;
a splinter from the lance pierced his skull and entered
the
brain.
- The reference to “two
fleets” is utterly meaningless.
Besides
these significant factors, only two years before this tragic
accident, Nostradamus had written a letter to Henry in
which he had described the monarch as “most invincible” (see
Randi 1990, 173). The king was hardly invincible!
A
fair consideration of the facts clearly demonstrates that
Nostradamus was not a genuine prophet. His feigned ability
stands in bold contrast to the unambiguous and precisely
fulfilled predictions of the Old Testament prophets.
Consider,
for instance, the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament
Scriptures. Scholars have cataloged more than three hundred.
A convincing example is found in Isaiah 53. In this remarkable
chapter of a dozen verses, there are more than twenty-five
prophetic details regarding Christ. If we may borrow the
words of infidel Dan Barker, “It would be very unlikely
that so many predictions would all be accidentally satisfied
in one person” (186).
That
is our very point—they were not “accidentally” fulfilled!
--Wayne
Jackson
Sources/Footnotes
Barker,
Dan. 1992. Losing Faith in Faith. Madison, WI: Freedom
From Religion Foundation, Inc.
M’Clintock,
John and James Strong. 1969. Cyclopedia of Biblical
Literature. Vol. 7. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.
Randi,
James. 1990. The Mask of Nostradamus. Amherst, NY:
Prometheus Books.
Visions
and Prophecies.
1988. Des Moines, IA: Time-Life Books.
http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/
193-nostradamus-prophet-or-pretender
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