Prophecy: A History of the Future

Robert A. Nelson

Internet Edition
Copyright 1986/2000: All rights reserved

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 ~ Ancient & Oriental Prophecy: Prophecy as a Historical Force (The Delphic Oracle ~ Egyptian Prophecies ~ Alexander the Great ~ The Caesars) ~ The Sibylline Oracles ~ References.

Chapter 2 ~ Biblical Apocalypsis: Judao-Christian Messianism ~ Sephir Zohar ~ Jesus Christ ~ The Resurrection & Rapture ~ Ezekiel ~ Joel ~ Zechariah ~ Daniel ~ Apocrypha ~ Esdras ~ Epistle of the Apostles ~ Epistle of James ~ Apocalypse of Thomas ~ Nathan ~ The Revelation of St. John ~ The Millenial Kingdom ~ Muslim Prophecy ~
Oriental Prophecy ~ References.

Chapter 3 ~ European Prophets: The Pseudo-Methodius ~ St. Hilarion ~ St. Ephraim ~St. Columbcille ~ St. Brogan ~ St. Ultan ~ Bede the Venerable & Monk Adso ~ St. Edward ~ The Brahan Seer ~ Frater Balthassar Mas ~ Rudolfo Gilther ~ Liber Mirabilis ~ Mother Shipton ~ Rigord of St. Denis ~ Hepidanus ~ Caesarius of Heisterbach ~ Johann Friede ~ Anonymous ~ Pere Nechtou ~ Trappist Monk ~ Catholic Nuns ~ Anna Emmerich ~ Hildegard of Bingen ~ St.Odile ~ The Seeress of Prague ~
Anna Maria Taigi ~ Marie Jehannet ~ The Mother of All People ~ Melanie Calvat ~ Our Lady of Fatima ~ Our Lady of Garabandal ~ St. Malachi ~ St. John Capistrano ~
The Monk of Padua ~ Pope Pius X ~ St. John Bosco ~ The Monk of Premol ~ The Angelic Pope & Great Monarch ~ St. Cataldus of Tarentino ~ Rabanus Maurus ~
St. Caesarius of Arles ~ Merlin Ambrosius ~ Pope Leo VI ~ Joaquim Merlin ~ Barthalomew Holzhauser ~ St. Francisco de Paola ~ Abbe Souffrant ~ The Mother of Bourg ~ Cheiro ~ Mathias Lang ~ M. Tarabich ~ Alois Irlmaier ~ The Birch Tree Prophecies ~ Johannes Lichtenberger ~ Spielbahn ~ Bernard Rembold ~ The Prophecy of Mayence ~ The Monk of Werl ~ Wessel Eilert ~ Antonius ~ Peter Schlinkert ~ Brother Anthony  ~ Paracelsus ~ Alchemy & Prophecy ~ References.

Chapter 4 ~ Marian Prophecy: Venerable Mary of Agreda ~ Our Lady of La Salette ~ Our Lady of Lourdes ~ St. John Bosco ~ Our Lady of Fatima ~ Our Lady of Garabandal ~ Padre Pio ~ Sr. Agnes Sasagawa ~ Veronica Lueken ~ Maria Bianchini ~ Our Lady of Medjugorje ~ References

Chapter 5 ~ Moslem Prophecy: Signs of Qiyamah ~ Dajjal ~ Imam Mahdi ~ Isa / Jesus ~ Yajuj & Majuj ~ Dabbah al-Ard ~ Minor Signs ~ The Great Hour & Day of Doom ~ References

Chapter 6 ~ Asian Prophecy: Hindu Prophecy ~ Buddhist Prophecy ~ Zoroastran Prophecy ~ Bahai Prophecy

Chapter 7 ~ Michel Nostradamus : Biography ~ Recently Fulfilled Quatrains ~ The Moslem Invasion of Europe ~The Papacy ~ The Grand Monarch ~ The Antichrist ~ Earth Changes ~ The Presages ~ The Sixains ~ The "Lost Quatrains" ~ References.

Chapter 8 ~ American Prophecy :Aztec Prophecy ~ Quetzelcoatl ~ The Eagle Bowl Calendar ~ Maya Prophecy ~ Inca Prophecy ~ Hopi Prophecy ~ Prophecy Rock ~ Deganawida ~ Crazy Horse ~ Sioux & Navajo, &c.~ Tecumseh ~ Stalking Wolf ~ Mary No-Eyes ~ Sun Bear ~ George Washington ~ Molly Pitcher ~ General McClellan ~ David Croly ~ Joseph Smith ~ Charles Evans ~ Orson Pratt  ~ Brigham Young ~ D. Modin ~ Edgar Cayce ~ Dannion Brinkley ~ Gordon-M. Scallion ~ Lori Toye ~ Jeanne Dixon ~ Nostradamus ~
Novus Ordo Seculorum ~ References.

Chapter 9 ~ Cycles, Earth Changes & Time: Introduction ~ The 20-Year Cycle of U.S. Presidential Deaths ~ The Kondratieff Wave ~ Cycle of Power, Affiliation & War ~ Edward Dewey ~ The Wheeler Weather Cycle ~ Tchijevsky: Universal Historical Process ~ Astrometeorology  ~ Pole Shifts ~ Geomagnetic Depletion ~ Extinction Events ~ The McKenna/I Ching Apocalpypse ~ The Physics of Time ~ Time Cameras (Ernetti ~ Von Lubek ~ Pelley ~ De La Warr) ~ Time & Mind ~ The End? ~ References.

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Chapter 1: Ancient Western Prophecy

1. Prophecy as a Historical Force

1a. The Delphic Oracle

1b. Egyptian Prophecies

1c. Alexander the Great

1d. The Caesars

2. The Sibylline Oracles

3. Reference

1. Prophecy as a Historical Force

PROPHECIES are memories of possible futures, echoing across time and space. Prophecy is a proven talent of the human mind --- one that baffles our notions of time, fate, and free will. The future is revealed to us through dreams, drugs, religious epiphany, magical rituals and the mantic arts. If a predicted event does not occur, then the seer has misinterpreted the psychic impression or was hallucinating. But false prophecies do not disprove or discredit the many that have been fulfilled. Indeed, many major events have been foretold with astonishing accuracy. Prophecy has exerted a powerful influence on the course of history. Many great persons, such as Alexander the Great, Julius and Augustus Caesar, and George Washington, were gifted with prophecy.

Hundreds of ancient and modern prophets have given accounts of their visions. Many of them are concerned with global catastrophes in the "near future". Although no prophet has been 100% accurate, many of the seers represented here have made short-and long-term predictions that were fulfilled during and after their lifetimes. Considering the established credibility of these visionaries, their warnings of impending doom deserve our close attention. It behooves us to know the signs of the times, to recognize the shadows that great events cast before them. Prophecies can help guide some of us out of harm's way when "insanity will attack the spirit of man and unrestrained hate shall rage." In any event, with grace, courage and love, some of us will survive to live in peace at long last.

Time is running out for these prophecies to be fulfilled or annulled. It is not too late to heed the warnings and prevent some disasters. The outcome of events can be modified by right action, unless and until it is too late. Prophecies also can be misunderstood and misused, and yet prove to be historically effective, though not in the ways we might expect. Prophecies often tend to be self-fulfilling, a kind of deathwish that derives power from feedback between people and circumstances. The Delphic Oracle of Apollo is an excellent example of this process.

1a. The Delphic Oracle ~

The utterances of the Greek Oracles of Dodona and of Apollo at Delphi were gospel in their time, and guided the course of Greek and Roman history for several centuries. The Delphic Oracle was located on Mount Parnassus. There the virgin priestesses, called Pythia, uttered ecstatic prophecies during an elaborate ritual that included chewing the leaf of a sacred bay tree and drinking from the holy fountain Kassotis that flowed from Omphalos, "the navel of the the earth." The Pythia sat on a tripod over a fissure in the cavern Adyton, and breathed the vapors arising from the abyss. The fumes induced a trance in them, and they proceeded to pronounce (or more often mumble incoherently) messages that were interpreted by attendant priests, who conveyed their translations to the supplicants. Socrates declared:

"Such prophecy is akin to madness, but it is a madness which is the special gift of heaven, and the source of the chiefest blessings among men. For prophecy is a madness, and the prophetess at Delphi and the priestesses of Dodona, when out of their senses have conferred great benefits to Hellas, both in public and private life, but when their senses were few or none."

The Oracle at Delphi was enriched with gifts from grateful supplicants who worshipped and propitiated Apollo and his oracle with beautiful temples and fountains, a theater and stadium, thousands of marble, bronze and gold statues, and many other gifts of exquisite workmanship. The Roman author Cicero wrote, "Never could the oracle of Delphi have been so overwhelmed with significant presents from all kings and nations had not the ages proven the truth of its oracle."

Heraclitus wrote, "The god of Delphi neither revealeth, nor concealeth, but hinteth." However, while most of its advice was given in ambiguous terms, the Delphic Oracle also gave exact answers on occasion. Both types of response were exemplified in the case of Croesus, King of Lydia (6th century BC). The immensely wealthy monarch was concerned about the threat posed by Cyrus the Elder, King of Persia and Babylon. Seeking divine counsel, King Croesus tested several of the most eminent oracles of his time: Zeus Ammon in Libya, Dudyma near Miletus, Amphiarus and Trophonia in Boeotia, Zeus Dodona in Epirus, and Abae and Delphi in Phoeis.

Only the Delphic Oracle correctly answered the test question posed by Croesus: What was King Croesus engaged in at the moment of the query (which was on the hundredth day since they had departed from Sardis)? The Phytia answered thus: "I can count the sands and I can measure the Ocean, I have ears for the silent, and know what the dumb man meaneth. Lo, on my sense there striketh the smell of shell-covered tortoise, boiling now in fire with the flesh of lamb in a cauldron, brass in the vessel below and brass the cover of it."

The messengers returned to Sardis and reported the Pythia's answer, which was completely correct and satisfactory to Croesus. The king then made a huge sacrificial offering to Apollo and presented the Oracle with many priceless gifts. He asked, "Whether Croesus should march against the Persians, and if so, whether he should join himself with any army of men as his friends."

The Oracle replied, "After crossing the Halys, Croesus will destroy a great empire." Croesus also inquired if he would have a long reign, to which the Pythia answered, "Nay, when a mule becometh king of Medes, flee, soft-soled Lydian, by pebbly Hermus, and stay not, nor feel shame to be a coward." This answer did not please Croesus, but since it seemed impossible for a mule to be king, he did not worry about it. Finally, he asked about his deaf-mute son. The Oracle replied: "Son of Lydia, ruler of men, Croesus, thou prince of fools, desire not to hear in thy halls the voice long prayed for of a son speaking. He will speak first on a day that is not propitious."

This last answer disappointed Croesus, but encouraged by the first, he formed an alliance with Sparta and mounted an army against Cyrus the Great. Croesus crossed the river Halys to invade Cappadocia, but withdrew to his own capitol at Sardis after a fierce battle at Pteria. Croesus then disbanded his army, but Cyrus followed him with the Persian army and besieged Sardis, which soon fell.

Pythia's prophecy thus became clear. Croesus did indeed destroy a great empire --- his own. And a "mule" did become monarch of Media insofar as Cyrus was born of mixed parentage, as are mules; his mother was a princess of Media, and his father was a Persian. The third prophecy was fulfilled when a Persian soldier attacked Croesus without recognizing him. Croesus' deaf-mute son suddenly cried out, "Man, do not kill Croesus!"

Soon after becoming Emperor of Rome in 54 AD, Nero killed his mother, then went vacationing in Greece. When he visited the Oracle at Delphi, the Pythia shouted angrily at Nero:

"Your presence here outrages the god you seek. Go back, matricide! The number 73 marks the hour of your downfall!"

Nero was infuriated and had the Pythia buried alive in the sacred cavern, along with the bodies of the temple priests after their hands and feet had been chopped off.

Nero thought the number 73 would be his age at death. He was only 30 years old then, so he did not worry about it. Actually, the number related to Galba, who was 73 years old when he succeeded Nero in 68 AD.

Before he came to rule the Roman Empire, Hadrian visited the Delphic Oracle and drank from the sacred fountain Kassotis. Thus he learned firsthand of his destiny. After he reached the throne, Hadrian ordered the fountain to be plugged up to prevent anyone else from getting the same idea from the same source.

Emperor Julian had the blockage removed during his reign (361-363 AD) because he believed it should be available to everyone. He said:

"Through the Oracles of Apollo, the greater part of civilization had come into being because they had revealed the will of the gods in the sphere of politics, as well as religion, which they regulated wisely for those who kept their advice."

The Delphic Oracle endured until 390 AD, when Emperor Theodosius closed the temple; his successor, Arcadius, demolished it.

1b. Egyptian Prophecies ~

The priests of ancient Egypt were powerful magicians who practised the mantic arts for the kings and pharoahs and accurately predicted the course of Egypt's dynastic history. The rulers also occasionally received advice directly from the gods.

For example, about 1420 BC, when Thutmose IV was still a prince and had uncertain prospects for rulership, the god Harmachis-Chepera Re-Tenu appeared to him in a dream and promised that if Thutmose would clear away the sand that had accumulated around the Sphinx (the image of the god), he would rule over both North and South Egypt --- the entire land. Thutmose immediately set men to work at the task, and subsequently enjoyed the fulfillment of the god's promise.

Similarly, it was truly prophesied to Nut-Amon (circa 670 BC):

"All the land of the south is thine, and thou shalt have dominion over all the land of the north. The White Crown and the Red Crown shall adorn thine head. The length and breadth of the land shall be given unto thee, and the god Amon, the only god, shall be with thee."

The birth of Jesus Christ was foretold almost 2,000 years before the event by Chechepetresonbu, an Egyptian priest at Heliopolis during the reign of Sesostris II (1906-1887 BC) had a prophetic vision:

"The ideal ruler for whose advent he longs --- he brings cooling to the flames. It is said that he is the shepherd of all men. There is no evil in his heart... Where is he today? Behold, his might is not seen."

Nectanebo, the last king of Egypt, also was a prophet, astrologer, and Hermetic magus who used his skills wisely to prevent his assassination and to win the wars he fought. Eventually, however, he abdicated and left Egypt for Macedonia because the gods no longer would cooperate in his magical operations. In Macedonia, he earned a good reputation as an astrologer. He was consulted by King Phillip while Olympia was pregnant with Alexander. Nectanebo constructed a natal horoscope for the most auspicious moment of birth, and insisted to Olympia that she must not allow the child to be born until the moment he specified. At that time the earth quaked, the sky tore with lightning, and thunder sounded like cosmic drum rolls saluting the event. As the infant gave his first cry, Nectanebo announced:

"O Queen, now thou hast given birth to a governor of the world." (2)

1c. Alexander the Great ~

The night before Queen Olympia and King Phillip met as newleyweds in the bridal chamber, Olympia dreamed that a flash of lightning discharged within her womb with a thunderous crash. A sheet of fire erupted and spread flaming in all directions, then faded away. Phillip later dreamed that he was sealing up his wife's womb with the image of a lion. The sage Aristander of Telesmus interpreted these signs to mean that Olympia was pregnant, for we do not seal up anything empty, and that the son she bore would be courageous, as a lion symbolizes.

Alexander had many precognitive dreams that benefited his career. The most famous of his dreams occurred while he laid siege to the city of Tyre. Alexander dreamed that he had captured a satyr dancing on a shield. Aristander interpreted the dream as an acronym of the Greek words "Sa Tyros", meaning, "Tyre is yours." After a seven month siege, it became his prize. He also had a dream in which he saw Heracles reach out and call from the walls of Tyre. Thus inspired, Alexander won the city on the next day.

When Alexander's friend Ptolemaeus was wounded in battle by a poison arrow, death seemed imminent. Alexander dreamed that he was watching his wife Olympia feed a fish with roots of strange plants. The fish showed Alexander where the plants could be found. When Alexander awoke he searched out the plants and administered them to Ptolemaeus, who recovered. Later he became Pharoah of Egypt.

Having conquered Egypt, Alexander wanted to build a great city, to be called Alexandria. Again he had a prophetic dream in which an ancient sage quoted certain passages in Homer's writings referring to Pharos. Alexander went quickly to Pharos, where he found an excellent site with outstanding advantages. Alexander ordered that a city be mapped out to fit the site. The Macedonians had no chalk with them so they marked the area with barley. Suddenly, countless flocks of birds of all species flew to the place and ate every grain of barley. This amazing omen disturbed Alexander, but his soothsayer told him it meant that Alexandria would be a nurse and feeder of great men of every race. The library of Alexandria became the greatest in the ancient world.

1d. The Caesars ~

All of the mantic arts, and especially astrology, were widely practiced in ancient Rome. Several astrologers accurately predicted the destinies of the Caesarian dynasty andother emperors. The Romans took dreams so seriously that the citizens of Rome were legally bound to report to the Senate any dreams that could be connected with the security and destiny of the empire.

The astrologer Tyrasyllus accurately figured that Claudius would die when he was "63 years, 63 days, 63 watches, 63 hours old" on October 13, 54 AD. Claudius was murdered by his wife Agrippina, who fed him a dish of poisoned mushrooms when she learned that he might not name Nero as his heir. He died the next day, on October 13.

Claudius and Nero frequently consulted the astrologer Barbillius for advice. He had predicted that Claudius would die in the 14th year of his reign, and he told Agrippina that Nero would reign. "But," he warned her, "if he comes to the throne, he will kill his mother." Her lifelong ambition was to make her son Emperor of Rome; thus she replied, "If he but reigns, I do not care. Let him kill me." And he did.

Perhaps the most famous Roman prophecy was the warning, "Beware the Ides of March" (March 15) given to Julius Caesar by the seer Spurinna Vestritius during a religious sacrifice. The night before his assassination, Caesar's wife Calpurnia dreamt that the turret of her house crumbled and that the corpse of Caesar was carried into their home, and she wept over him. In the morning, she pleaded with Caesar not to go to the Senate, but he would not heed her despite his own suspicions. Brutus argued that a great throng was awaiting his arrival at the Senate and he must not disappoint them. On his way there he met the seer Spurinna and said to him, "The Ides of march are here without any calamity." Spurinna replied, "Yes, they are here, but they have not yet gone." Caesar died that day in 44 BC.

Augustus was Julius Caesar's adopted son and successor. When Augustus went to Philippi in 42 BC to revenge the murder of Julius by Brutus and company, he was too weak to walk and had to be carried in a litter. Cassius' forces overran Augustus' camp and captured many soldiers. But Augustus had been carried away by his doctor and hidden in a marsh until the battle ended. The doctor swore that he had been awakened by a dream telling him to remove Augustus.

The Roman historian Dion Cassius recorded the following prophecy by the astrologer-senator Nigidius Figulus concerning Augustus Caesar, the son of Octavius:

Scarcely was the boy born when Nigidius Figulus prophesied for him the absolute empire of the world. Among his contemporaries, this prophet was held to be the wisest in the knowledge of the stars and constellations... When he saw that Octavius, because of the birth of his son, was somewhat late in getting to the Curia.. He came towards him and asked him why he was so tardy. When he heard the reason, he announced:

"You have given us a master."

Octavius, depressed by this announcement [in those days many Romans still thought they were a democratic nation], wished to have the child slain. But the prophet advised him against it, saying:

"It were impossible for anything of the sort to happen to this child."

Later, when Octavius was leading an army in Thrace, he consulted a local oracle concerning his son. As the priest poured wine over the altar, a flame burst forth, leapt to the roof of the temple, and into the sky. The priests told Octavius that such an omen had occurred only once before --- to Alexander the Great during a sacrifice.

While still a young man and before rising to power, Augustus consulted the sage Theogenes for his horoscope. When Augustus told his birth time to Theogenes, the man knelt before the youth and forecast his ascent to imperial power. The horoscope so impressed Augustus that he had it published and minted a silver coin with the sigil of Capricorn, his Sun sign.

To express appreciation for his great good fortune, Augustus built a temple of peace. He consulted the Delphic Oracle, asking how long the temple would stand and peace last. The Oracle answered, "Until a virgin gives birth to a child and yet remains a virgin." As that seemed impossible, Augustus thought the oracle was predicting eternal peace. He dedicated the temple with a tablet inscribed "Templum pacis aeterna." But at the birth of Christ, the temple collapsed "without warning or discoverable cause."

At the same time Christ was born, Augustus Caesar was consulting the Tiburtine Sibyl to ask if he should accept the title "God of the nations" which the Senate wanted to confer on him. While the Sibyl consulted her sacred books, a brilliant meteor flashed across the sky. The Sibyl took the celestial omen as her answer, saying:

"Look! It is a sign of the future that is revealed to you. One world is ending, and another is beginning. A child has just been born, who is the king of future millenia, the true god of the world. He is of humble birth and of an obscure race. His divinity is unrealized; when he at last makes himself known, he will be persecuted. He will work miracles, he will be accused of trafficking with evil spirits, but I see him victor in the end over death, rising from the place where his murderers entombed him. He will reunite all nations."

2. The Sibylline Oracles ~

The ancient prophecies known as the Sibylline Oracles or Sibyllae are attributed to divinely inspired seeresses who lived in the Greek colonies in the 8th century BC. The earliest reference to a Sibyl was by the philosopher Heraclitus (ca. 500 BC):

"The Sibyl with frenzied lips, uttering words mirthless, unembellished, unperfumed, penetrates through the centuries by the powers of the gods."

The Sibyllae were presented to Tarquin I (The Proud), the fifth king of Rome, by the Sibyl of Cumae in 615 BC. She offered him nine books foretelling the destiny of the Romans with instructions to be followed so that the predicted events would follow their course. The Sibyl demanded a payment of 300 gold philippi, a large sum, but Tarquin refused the offer. The Sibyl then burned three volumes of the set, and again requested 300 philippi for the remaining books. Tarquin again declined the offer, whereupon the Sibyl burned three more of the books, and again demanded the same price. King Tarquin was thus convinced of the value of the books, and paid for the remaining three volumes. Only fragments of one book survive to this day.

The Sibyllae were very popular with the Romans, who installed them in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, guarded by a special priesthood. The Sibyllae were consulted during crises of the Republic and upon the appearance of unusual omens. The books were destroyed in 83 BC when Rome burned during a civil war. The Senate assigned three senators to reconstruct the remaining book as much as possible. Emperor Augustus later collected all available Sibylline verses from Greece and other Roman colonies and edited them into about 200 spurious oracles. The books were destroyed by the Vandal General Flavius Stilicho "in order to cause the ruin of the Empire by getting rid of its guarantee of eternal life." (3-6)

The Sibylline Oracles were well respected by the Jewish and early Christian Fathers, who quoted them frequently and even published their own revised editions containing Judaeo-Christian prophecies and teachings for dissemination amongst the pagans. The Sibylline Oracles (1:381-388) include this prediction of the birth of Christ:

"And then the child of the great God to men

Shall come incarnate, being fashioned like

The mortals on the earth. And he shall bear

Four vowels, and the consonants in Him

Are twice told; and the whole sum I name:

For eight ones, and as many tens to these,

And yet eight hundred will the name reveal

To men who are given up to unbelief."

In the Greek language in which this prophecy was written, Jesus is spelled Iota, Eta, Sigma, Omicron, Upsilon, Sigma. The gematrial values are: Iota, 10 (vowel 1); Eta, 8 (vowel 2); Sigma, 200 (consonant); Omicron, 70 (vowel 3); Upsilon, 400 (vowel 4, line 384); Sigma, 200 (consonant, "twice told", line 385); total, 888 (lines 386 and 387).

The Tiburtine Sibyl, composed ca. 500 AD, includes a description of the legendary Final Emperor, who will be succeeded by the Antichrist:

"At that time the Prince of Iniquity who will be called Antichrist will arise from the tribe of Dan. He will be the Son of Perdition, the head of pride, the master of error, the fulness of malice who will overturn the world and do wonders and great signs through dissimulation. He will delude many by magic art so that fire will seem to come down from heaven. The years will be shortened like months, the months like weeks, the weeks like days, the days like hours, and an hour like a moment. The unclean nations that Alexander, the Indian king, shut up will arise from the North. These are the 22 realms whose number is like the sand of the sea. When the king of the Romans hears of this he will call his army together and vanquish and utterly destroy them. After this he will come to Jerusalem, and having put off the diadem from his head and laid aside the whole imperial garb, he will hand over the empire of the Christians to God the Father and to Jesus Christ His Son. When the Roman Empire shall have ceased, then the Antichrist will be openly revealed and will sit in the House of the Lord in Jerusalem. While he is reigning, two very famous men, Elijah and Enoch, will go forth to announce the coming of the Lord. Antichrist will kill them and after three days they will be raised up by the Lord. Then there will be a great persecution, such as has not been before nor shall be thereafter. The Lord will shorten those days for the sake of the elect, and the Antichrist will be slain by the power of God through Michael the Archangel on the Mount of Olives"

The Vaticinium Erythrian Sibyl was composed in the 12th century. Part III contains this Catholic Sibyl's view of apocalypse:

" There will arise another king from Heliopolis and he will wage war against the king from the East and kill him. And he will grant a tax-exemption to entire countries for three years and six months, and the earth will bring forth its fruit, and there is none to eat them. And there will come the ruler of perdition, he who is changed, and will smite and kill him. And he will do signs and wonders on earth. He will turn the sun into darkness and the moon into blood. And after that the springs and rivers will dry up, and the Nile will be transformed into blood. And then there will appear two men who did not come to know the experience of death, Enoch and Elijah, and they will wage war upon the ruler of perdition. And he will say: "My time has come," and he will be angered and slay them. And then he who was crucified on the wood of the cross will come from the heavens, like a great and flashing star, and he will resurrect those two men. And he who was hung on the cross will wage war with the son of perdition and will slay him and all his host. Then the land of Egypt will burn twelve cubits deep, and the land will shout to God: "Lord, I am a virgin." And then the son of God will come with great power and glory to judge the nine generations. And then Christ will rule, the son of the living God, and his holy angels. Amen, so be it...

"The Last Judgment will follow the Abomination. Signs will precede. There will be four kinds of unusual color in the elements and a change in the course in the heavenly bodies. There will be a celestial sign in that the air will appear at times yellow, at times pitch-black, now green, now clear red. Apollo will be split, now in ten, now in four, now in two parts; the moon will run together with the sun. Those dwelling on the earth will be struck with fear when they see the stars all bloody. At the same time the earth will well up in different places, and there will be a fearful sign of commotion. There will be collision of kingdoms, seizure of thrones, earthquakes, and famines. Out of desire for food mothers will abase their sons and daughters in debauchery... All these things are indications of the Abomination for whom there is no rule.

"When three signs come the inhabitants of the earth should know that he is near. In the city of Aeneas a 100-year old woman will bear twins with the aid of the faithless. A burning river will issue from Mt. Aetna and devour the inhabitants. After this two peaks will crash together in the snowy mountains, the earth there will be opened in an abyss, and a snowy mist will ascend to heaven.

"After these things, there will be a gathering together of many nations bestial in their manner of life and a division of the world into ten sceptres. The vilest forms of copulation will precede pregnancies, the worst of all being that of the Abomination. He will then kill many kings whom he has put under his yoke. The Spouse will be silent, the cock will grow hoarse, and there will be abuse of the Lamb. Heaven, the sun, and the elements will seem to be a testimony to the Abomination in that he will do wonders, make the stars dark, weaken the perfect, regain the Jews. All this will happen so that he may renew what was old and cast out what has been renewed...

"The Last Judgment will be imminent; the signs will precede it. The sun will be frequently eclipsing and stretching out in vast fashion will destroy. The Euphrates will be dried up to a mere trickle; Aetna will be laid open on two sides, Avernus will roar, and three parts of the inhabitants of Sicily will perish. Pharos will swell up most horibly and flood the nearby areas. After this the sea will sink to the depths and the fish gathered together will give forth a roar. Then the heavens will be opened in four parts, there will be thunder, and the inhabitants of the earth will hear the threats of Judgment. Ineffable things will blare forth on the trumpet. Blameless heralds will announce the destruction of all things, saying: "Let there be humility and repentence!"...

"Then all the kings and princes will appear and behold the Lamb who pays back all men uupon his throne of terror. No discrimination of wealthy or poor will take place there, but only the weighing of merits. Then crimes will be made evident, fear and trembling and horror of the abyss set out for punishment will strike all so that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. They will stretch out their hands in prayer, but the lamb will be inflexible; he will be fearful in punishing. In his sight there will be lightning and thunder, merit along with sins. Blessing will be on his right; curses will come from his left. He will judge the good and evil to lift the former on high and allow hell to swallow the latter to the fate of the demons. This is the end of the book of the Erythraean Sibyl of Babylon."

Much of what little remains of the Sibylline Oracles exists in fragments. The following are most apoclyptic and well written:

"And then will God speak with a mighty voice

To all rude people of an empty mind;

And judgments from the mighty God shall come

Upon them, and they shall be destroyed

By an immortal hand. And fiery swords

Shall fall from heaven on earth, and mighty lights

Shall come down flaming in the midst of men.

And mother earth shall be tossed in those days

By an immortal hand...

Then shall all the elements of all the world

Be desolate, air, earth, sea, flaming fire,

And sky and night, and all days to one fire

And to one barren shapeless mass to come.

For all the luminous stars shall fall from heaven;

No more will winged birds fly through the air,

Nor footsteps be on ear; for all wild beasts

Shall perish, voices of men, beasts and birds

Shall be no more. The world, being disarranged,

Shall hear no useful sound, but the deep sea

Shall echo back a mighty threatening voice,

And swimming, trembling creatures of the sea

Shall all die; and no longer on the waves

Will sail a freighted ship. The earth shall groan

Bloodstained by wars; and all the souls of men

Shall gnash their teeth --- the souls of lawless men,

Wasted by lamentations and by fear,

By hunger, thirst and pestilence and murders ---

And they shall call it beautiful to die,

And death will flee from them, for death no more

Nor night shall give them rest. And many things

Will they in vain ask God who rules on high,

And then he will turn openly his face

Away from them... All these things to my mind did God reveal

And all that has been spoken by my mouth

Will be fulfilled...

No more will treacherous gold and silver be

Nor earthly wealth, nor toilsome servitude,

But one vast friendship and one mode of life

Will be with glad people, and all things

Will common be, and equal light of life.

And wickedness from earth in the vast sea

Shall sink away. And then the harvest-time

of Mortals is near. Strong necessity

Is laid upon these things to be fulfilled.

Nor then will any other traveler say,

Recalling, that men's perishable race

Shall ever cease. And then o'er all the earth

A holy nation will the sceptre hold

Unto all ages with their mighty sires..."

3. References [Not included in the Internet Edition] ~

Chapter 2

Biblical Apocalypsis

1. Judaeo-Christian Messianism

2. Jesus Christ

3. The Resurrection & Rapture

4. Ezekiel

5. Joel

6. Zechariah

7. Daniel

8. Esdras

9. Epistle of the Apostles

10. Epistle of James

11. Apocalypse of Thomas

12. The Revelation of John

13. Esther of Sidon

14. The Bible Code

15. The Millennial Kingdom

1. Judaeo-Christian Messianism ~

Beginning with Genesis and continuing through the Revelation of St. John, the Hebrew prophets spoke forth in Jehovah's name to promise their downtrodden countrymen divine deliverance from their oppressors.

The Bible contains 1,817 predictions in 8,352 verses; the Old Testament includes 1,239 predictions in 6,641 verses, and the New Testament contains 578 predictions in 1,711 verses, for a total of 27% predictive material. This multitude of prophecies assures the Jews and Christians that God will deliver Israel from its enemies and itself and build it into a glorious empire to which a conquered world will be subject.

Christians hold the Bible to be the infallible word of God, but several passages in the book caution against taking prophecies as gospel: I Samuel 9:9; Jeremiah 23:11, 14, 16, 25-28, 30-32, 40; Deuteronomy 18:22; Matthew 7:15-23; ibid., 13:57; ibid., 24:5, 23, 24. Ezekiel 3:17-19 defines the prophets' task:

"Son of Man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

"When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die: and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked ways, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

"Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul."

Insanity is often concomitant with prophetic ability. According to Hosea 9:7, "The prophet is a fool, and the spiritual man is mad." Jeremiah 29:26 described his fellow prophets as "every man that is mad", and in II Kings 9:11, the prophet Elijah is called a "mad fellow" for his bizarre behavior. Yet there is method in their madness: the whole of Jewish and Christian belief predicts a personal, enlightened, and divinely appointed king --- the Messiah --- by whom the Holy Kingdom of God will be established.

"Messiah" is the Anglicized form of the Hebrew word Mashiah (anointed). The use of the word derives from its reference to Aaron and his sons, who were anointed with oil and consecrated to the service of Jehovah (Exodus 28: 41). The High Priest of Israel was titled "The Mashiah of God" (Leviticus 4: 3, 5, 16) and the Jewish kings were "the Anointed of the Lord" (I Samuel 2: 10, 35, etc.). Some of the prophets also were anointed (I Kings 19: 16). The prophetic concept of a Messiah first appears in Isaiah 11: 1-12:

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

"And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;

"And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

"But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

"And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

"And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den.

"They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

"And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious.

"A shoot out of the stock of Jesse" refers to a genealogical or spiritual descendant of the royal Davidic lineage.

The Jewish Messianic program calls for two Messiahs. The first, Messiah ben Joseph, will be killed in Jerusalem by Armilus (the Antichrist). He will be resurrected by Messiah ben David, who will kill Armilus in turn.

In Sefer Ta'am Z'qenim, Eliziezer Askenazi transmitted an explicit Jewish prophecy, first recorded by Hai Gaon (938-1038 AD), which describes to the two Messiahs:

"When eight years will be left of the years of the end, which are the years of the beginning of the redemption... a man will rule over Israel for not less than nine months and not more than three years. At that time a man will arise from among the Children of Joseph... and he will be called Messiah of God. And many people will gather around him in Upper Galilee, and he will be their king... But most of Israel will be in their exile, for it will not be clear to them that the end has come. And then Messiah ben Joseph, with the men who rally around him, will go up from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they will slay the procurator of the king of Edom, and the people who will be with him... And when all the nations hear that a king has risen among the Children of Israel in Jerusalem, they will rise up against them in the other countries and will expel them, saying: "Until now you were with us in faith, and so that you should have neither king nor prince; but now that you have a king you must not dwell in our land."

"And many of Israel will go out into the desert... and will dwell there in tents, and many of them will lack bread and water... and they will suffer in accordance with their deeds. And many of them will leave the covenant of Israel, for they will become weary of their lives...

"And when Messiah ben Joseph and all the people with him will dwell in Jerusalem, Armilus will hear their tidings and will come and make magic and sorcery to lead many astray with them, and he will go up and wage war against Israel, and will defeat Messiah ben Joseph and his people, and will kill many of them, and will capture others, and divide their booty.. And he will slay Messiah ben Joseph and it will be a great calamity for Israel... Why will permission be granted to Armilus to slay Messiah ben Joseph? In order that the heart of those of Israel who have no faith should break, and so they will say: "This is the man for whom we have hoped; now he came and was killed and no redemption is left for us." And they will leave the covenant of Israel, and attach themselves to the nations, and the latter will kill them.

"And to those who are left in the land of Pathros, Messiah ben David will reveal himself...

"And most of the slain will be in the land for forty days. When Messiah ben Joseph is killed, his body will remain cast out for forty days, but no unclean thing will touch him, until Messiah ben David comes and brings him back to life, as commanded by the Lord. And this will be the beginning of the signs he will perform, and this is the resurrection of the dead which will come to pass. And then Messiah ben David and Elijah and Israel, who come from the deserts to Jerusalem, will sit in peace and safety for many days, and will build houses and plant vineyards, and they will succeed in herds and property, until Gog will hear their tidings... And the Land of Gog and Magog is of the Land of Edom... And they will come to fight and they will wage war against Jerusalem and Messiah ben David, and Elijah and all the people who are in it..."

The Jewish Sephir Zohar (2:7b) contains a similar prophecy:

"Sufferings will overtake Israel, and all the nations and their kings will consult together against her, and many evil decrees will arise and will bring trouble upon trouble, and each subsequent one will cause the earlier to be forgotten. And then a pillar of fire will appear, positioned from Above to Below for forty days, and all the nations of the world will see it. At that time King Messiah will be stirred up to come forth from the Garden of Eden, from that place which is called Bird's Nest. And he will arise in the Land of Galilee. And on the day on which he comes there the whole world will tremble, and all the children of the world will hide in caves and crevices, and will think that they cannot be saved... The Messiah will arise and reveal himself in the Land of Galilee because that was the first place to be destroyed in the Holy Land; therefore he will reveal himself there of all places, and from thence he will stir up battles in the whole world. And after the forty days in which the pillar of fire will stand from the earth to heaven in the sight of the whole world, and the Messiah will reveal himself, there will arise from the east a star flaming with all colors. And seven other stars will surround that star and attack it in battle from all sides, three times every day, for seventy days, and the children of the world will see it. And that star will wage war against them with arrows of flaming fire which will erupt on all sides, and it will crush them until it swallows them every evening. And in the morning it will disgorge them, and they will again wage war against it in the sight of the whole world, and thus every day for seventy days. And after the seventy days that star will be hidden, and the Messiah will be hidden for twelve months. And that pillar of fire will return as before, and in it the Messiah will be hidden, and that pillar will not be visible. After twelve months they will raise the Messiah in that pillar to the firmament, and there he will receive power and the crown of kingship. And when he descends, that pillar of fire will again be visible as before to the eyes of the whole world. And thereafter the Messiah will be revealed, and many nations will gather against him, and he will stir up wars in the whole world. And at that time the Holy One, blessed be He, will manifest His power against all the nations of the world, and King Messiah will become known in all the world, and all the kings of the world will rise up to wage war against him. And many of the wicked among the Jews will join them and come with them to wage war against King Messiah. And then the whole world will darken for fifteen days, and many of the People of Israel will die in that darkness..."

2. Jesus Christ

In the Bible, Jesus never called himself Messiah, except once by implication (Matthew 22: 41). Although Jesus often spoke of God as Father and himself as the Son, he never used the expression Son of God as a title for himself. Evangelists, however, use the term freely when referring to Jesus.

As the Suffering Messiah, as he is so often described, Joshua of Nazareth or Jesus Christ fulfilled many prophecies in the Old Testament. Jesus also prophesied at length and in detail concerning the "latter days" of civilization. The prophetic message of the New Testament is to announce His imminent return to redeem the prodigal family of humanity after it has been tested and purified in hell on earth.

The time preceding the return of Christ will be characterized by degeneracy and apostasy. Unbelievers will mock the promise of Christ's Second Coming. (I Timothy 4:1; II Timothy 3:1 & 4:3; II Peter 3:3; II Thessalonians 2:3, and Luke 17:26). Christ will appear in the spirit before doing so in the flesh.

The first mention of the Second Coming of Christ is found in Psalms 96:13. It is also mentioned or described in the following citations:

Acts 1:11; I Chronicles 16:33; Colossians 3:4; I Corinthians 1:7 and 15:23; Daniel 7:13; Hebrews 9:28; Isaiah 2:2, 4:1, and 26:21; James 5:7; John 2:28 and 14:3; Jude 1:14; Luke 9:26 and 17:20; Zephaniel 1:12 and 3:8; Malachi 3:1; Mark 8:38; Matthew 16:27 and 24:30; I Peter 1:7; Revelation 1:7, 12:5 and 19:11; I Thessalonians 1:10, 2:19, 3:13, 4:15 and 5:23; II Thessalonians 2:1; I Timothy 6:14; II Timothy 1:10 and 4:1; Titus 2:13; Zechariah 14:5; and Zechariah 1:12 and 3:8.

Jesus' own prophesies about the Apocalypse are recorded in Mark 13, Matthew 24:1, and as follows from Luke 21:

"And he said, take heed that ye be not deceived, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

"But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified, for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.

"Then he said to them, nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:

"And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines and pestilences: and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

"But before all these, they shall lay their hands upon you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.

"And it shall turn to you for a testimony.

"Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:

"For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.

Jesus elaborated further in Luke 12:11 and in Matthew 10:16:

"And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; and some of you they shall cause to be put to death.

"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.

"But there shall not an hair of head perish.

"In your patience possess ye your souls.

"And when ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.

"And let them which are in Judea flee into the mountains: and let them which are in the midst of it depart out: and do not let them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

"But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon the people.

"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring:

"Mens' hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

"And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, till all be fulfilled.

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away..."

3. The Resurrection & Rapture

The Advent of the Messiah, the Great Day of Judgment, and the Resurrection of the Dead are cornerstones of the Jewish and Christian faiths. Ideas about the Resurrection began to develop from a possible misinterpretation of Ezekiel 37. However, his vision of the Dry Bones restored to life more properly symbolizes Zionism, the Restoration of the Jews to Israel. This prophecy was transformed and projected into a necromantic hope for the revival of the righteous dead so that they too can enjoy the good life on Earth with Jesus. The idea of the Resurrection goes to show that people will believe anything, provided it's incredible. Yet it may well happen anyway, for nothing is impossible to God:

"Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Daniel 12:2)

"The dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing ye that dwell in the earth... and the earth shall cast out the dead." (Isaiah 26:19)

Another important element of New Testament prophecy is called the Rapture or Translation, in which event faithful Christians will be removed from the Earth. Many Christians believe that the Rapture will be timed to rescue them from the misery of the Apocalypse. But according to Matthew 24:31, the Rapture follows the Apocalypse:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days... then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven... and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other".

This promise is reaffirmed in I Corinthians 15:51-52:

"Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised up incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

There is no difference between the Resurrection and the Rapture except that one refers to the dead and the other to the living. Both the dead and living in Christ will be transformed into immortal bodies. The Rapture of the living Christians is prophesied by other Bible authors. Mark 13:27 merely repeats Matthew 24:31; Luke 17:34-36 is more original:

"I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left; two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other one shall be left.

"The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (I Thessalonians 4:16 )

The Biblical Rapture has taken on a modern form in the Great Exodus or World Evacuation project that is planned as a mission of mercy by extraterrestrials to rescue some earthlings from harm in the event of a global disaster. The Space Brother Kuthumi explains it thus through a human channel:

"The situation is greatly related to international affairs. It cannot be dogmatically determined the exact nature of the event that will precipitate these crucial events. Whether a panic button reaction or a polarity that cannot be maintained, when a certain critical point is reached in planetary affairs, the changing of the auric color and magnetic field surrounding the earth will automatically trigger the plan into action.

"The unpredictable element of human action must be considered. The freedom of will of humanity prevents any actual knowing of the moment and time when these things will occur, for the action and reaction of humanity to given influences and situations are a key factor. The onset of war on a devastating level would be a crucial incident, which would then precipitate intervention of a cataclysmic nature. Geological factors taking place within the orb itself are an intricate part of the triggering action. The combination of both of these events would trigger the first two phases of evacuation immediately in a secret manner. The third phase would follow shortly thereafter. For the third phase is a public occurrence, while the first two are covert maneuvers, to insure their completion...

"The Space Confederation has announced that the coming evacuation will not necessarily involve landings except in rare isolated areas. They have measured the hostility factor within the core of your protective forces... It was determined that in most cases, a large majority of these forces would openly attack us and fire upon us in the event of our appearing. This they would do even in disastrous circumstances and disrupt rescue, thinking it to be some form of invasion.

"We are therefore forced to forsake almost all landings... and to resort to the invisible levitation plan...

"As the scenario reaches its final stages it will be experienced as a great time warp. Time will appear to stand still in some experiences and in others, to feel like entire lifetimes in hours, moments, or days...

"The Great Evacuation will come upon the world very suddenly. The flash of emergency events will be as lightning that flashes in the sky. So sudden and so quick in its happening that it is almost over before you are aware of its presence. And so it will be when events that warrant this action have come to this planet. It is not possible to totally describe these events, but it is possible to instill at this time into the hearts of humanity the hope and the knowledge of our vigilance and emergency actions on their behalf." (8)

4. Ezekiel

When the Jews returned to Israel after World War II, they fulfilled several prophecies of the rebirth of that nation: Obadiah 17; Isaiah 11:1 and 35:10 and 36:8-12, 24. Ezekiel's famous vision of the Dry Bones restored to life (37:1-12, 21) has been interpreted as foretelling both the restoration of the Jews to Israel and the Resurrection of the Dead.

Ezekiel also had a vision of "Gog and Magog." The name Gog is the Hebrew equivalent of the Assyrian Gugu (Gyges, king of Lydia, ca. 670-653 BC) in the extreme north of Asia Minor. Noah's sons Mesech and Tubal settled there after the Deluge (Genesis 6-10). Today the area is part of Russia. Gog, Mesech, and Tubal are the prophet's symbolic names for Russia, Iran, Turkey and Armenia as described in Ezekiel 38 and 39:

"And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Mesech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.

"And say, thus saith the Lord God; behold, I am against thee, O God, the chief prince of Mesech and Tubal.

"And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horse and horsemen, all of them clothed in all sorts of armor....

"Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them... Gomer and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarter, and all his bands: and many people with thee.

"Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

"And after many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have always been waste; but it is brought forth out of all nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.

"Thus saith the lord God; it shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:

"And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates.

"To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

"Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? Hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey, to take away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

"Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; in that day when my people in Israel dwelleth safely, shall thou not know it?

"And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:

"And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

"Thus saith the Lord God; art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?

"And it shall come to pass at the same time when God shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.

"For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken; Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

"So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

"And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God; every man's sword shall be against his brother.

"And I will plead with him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone.

"Thus I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

"Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Mesech and Tubal:

"And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause you to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel.

"Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thine bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the fields to be devoured.

"And I will send a fire upon Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

"And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth and set on fire and burn the weapons, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:

"So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any of the forests, for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God.

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I shall give unto Gog a place there of graves, a place of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea, and it shall stop up the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and his multitude; and they shall call it the valley of Hamon-Gog.

"And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.

"And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it; after the end of seven months they shall search.

"And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-Gog.

"And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land."

In short, if the Russians and allies invade Israel, they will be destroyed. Eighty per cent of the invaders will be annihilated. The Israelis will burn captured weapon stocks instead of cutting down trees for firewood. The dead will be buried in the valley of Hamon-Gog; the undertakers will be at the task for several months.

5. Joel

The prophet Joel lived in the 8th century BC. Prophecies make up 68% of his 73 verses, warning us of these latter days (Joel 2:1-11, 20, 21, 28-31 & 3:1-2, 9-21):

"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

"A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not ever been the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

"A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

"The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.

"Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

"Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.

"They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:

"Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his own path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.

"They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.

"The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: and the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

"And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible...

"But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he hath done great things.

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions:

"And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour my spirit.

"And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

"And it shall come to pass, that whomsoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

"For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and

"I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehosaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land...

"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles: Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up!

"Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

"Assemble yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.

"Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehosaphat: for there will I sit to judge the heathen round about.

"Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

"The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

"The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from, Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel...

"Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they had shed innocent blood in their land.

"But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

"For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed; for the Lord dwelleth in Zion."

6. Zechariah

This prophecy is attached (but not attributed) to Zechariah (13:8, 9& 14:1-9):

"And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third part shall be left therein.

"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: and they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, it is my people and they shall say, the Lord is my God.

"Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee.

"For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

"Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

"And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

"And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark;

"But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

"And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go forth from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter it shall be.

"And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and His name one.

"And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth."

7. Daniel

The prophet Daniel lived in Babylon during the Jewish exile about 600 BC. Daniel's book contains four apocalyptic visions that describe the rise of four beasts that symbolize the successive empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The vision describes Rome as a beast with ten horns. In recent years, this symbol has been interpreted to mean the European Common Market or NATO.

Many Bible scholars affirm that the prophecies of Daniel were fulfilled long ago, and they have presented sound arguments supported by history. For example, in the Sibylline Oracle 3:381-400, written ca. 140 BC, the ten horns (Daniel 7:7, 20, 24) are recognized as the ten kings preceding Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 BC). The historian Josephus identified the "little horn" (Daniel 7:20-27) with Antiochus Epiphanes. In the 4th century AD, the Neo-Platonist philosopher Porphyry in his Arguments Against the Christians showed that Daniel 11 is not a prophecy, but a history of the Seleucids and Ptolemies. However, history seems to repeat itself with new actors, so some of Daniel's history may well be prophecies that apply to the Antichrist. The following are genuine prophecies pertaining to these latter days:

"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

"And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and holy people.

"And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace he shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon the holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times.

"After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that come shall destroy the wall and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even unto the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 8:23-25)

In other words, the Antichrist will make a covenant with Israel, but he will break it by desecrating Solomon's Temple, which will be rebuilt by that time. The Tribulation shall begin immediately thereafter. Biblical exegetes hold that David's "weeks" are "weeks of years" (seven years), if not also of days. Concerning the Tabernacle, see also Ezekiel 41-43, Malachi 3:1, Haggai 2:9, and Amos 9:11. The following are from Daniel 11:21-45; ibid., 12:1:

"And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

"And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully; for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.

"He shall enter peaceably even unto the fattest places of the province; he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers: he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil and riches;

"Yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the stronghold, even for a time.

"Then he shall return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.

"At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south, but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.

"For the ships of Chittim shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant; so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

"And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

"And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall be corrupt by flatteries; but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits;

"And they that understand among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoils, many days.

"Now when they fall, they shall be helped a little bit, but many will cleave to them with flatteries.

"And some of them understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed.

"And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of Gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that that is determined shall be done.

"Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall magnify himself above all.

"But in his estate he shall honor the god of forces; and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.

"And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

"He shall enter into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

"But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

"But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

"And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written within the book."

8. Esdras

The apocryphal author Esdras suffered through long fasts and other penances to induce his visions of the apocalypse and human destiny, but the editors of the Bible did not find his writings worthy of inclusion in the good book:

"There will come a time when the inhabitants of the earth will be seized with panic. The way of truth will be hidden from sight, and the land will be barren of faith. There will be a great increase of wickedness, worse than anything you now see or ever have heard of. The country you now see ruling the world will become a trackless desert, laid waste for all to see. After the third period (if the Most High grants you a long enough life) you will see confusion everywhere. The sun will suddenly begin to shine in the middle of the night, and the moon in the day-time. Trees will drip blood, stones will speak nations will be in confusion, and the courses of the stars will be changed. A king unwelcome to the inhabitants of the earth will succeed to the throne; even the birds will all fly away. The dead Sea will cast up fish, and at night a voice will sound out, unknown to many but heard by all. Chasms will open in many places and spurt out flames incessantly. Wild bests will range far afield, women will give birth to monsters, fresh springs will run with salt water, and everywhere friends will become enemies. Then understanding will be hidden, and reason withdraw to her secret chamber. Many will seek her, but not find her; the earth will overflow with vice and wickedness. One country will ask another, "Has justice passed your way, or any just man?", and it will answer, "No." In those days men will hope , but hope in vain; they will strive, but never succeed." (II Esdras 5:1-13)

"The time draws near when I shall come to judge those who live on the earth, the time when I shall inquire into the wickedness of wrongdoers, the time when Zion's humiliation will be over, the time when a seal will be set on the age about to pass away. Then I will perform these signs: the books shall be opened in the sight of heaven, and all shall then see at the same moment. Children only one year old shall be able to talk, and pregnant women shall give birth to premature babies of three or four months, who shall live and leap about. Fields that were sown shall suddenly prove unsown, and barns that were full shall suddenly be found empty. There shall be a loud trumpet-blast and it shall strike terror into all who hear it. At that time friends shall make war upon friends as though they were enemies, and the earth and all its inhabitants shall be terrified. Running streams shall stand still; for three hours they shall cease to flow.

"Whoever is left after all that I have foretold, he shall be preserved, and shall see the deliverance that I bring and the end of this world is mine. They shall all see the men who were taken up to heaven without ever knowing death. Then shall men on earth feel a change of heart and come to a better mind. Wickedness shall be blotted out and deceit destroyed, but fidelity shall flourish, corruption be overcome, and truth, so long unfruitful, be brought to light." (II Esdras 6:18-28)

9. The Epistle of the Apostles

The apocrypha includes the so-called Epistle of the Apostles, which contains this prophetic warning and advice:

"In the last days the kinsman shall show no favor to his kinsman, nor any man to his neighbor. And they that were overthrown shall rise up and behold them that overthrew them; and men shall take from one and give to another... But they that are deceivers in the world and the enemies of righteousness, upon them shall come the fulfillment of the prophecy of David, who said: Their feet are swift to shed blood, their tongue uttereth slander, adder's poison is under their lips. I behold thee companying with thieves, partaking with adulterers, thou continuest speaking against thy brother and puttest stumbling blocks before thine own mother's son... And there shall be many that believe on my name and yet follow after evil and spread vain doctrine. And men shall follow after them and their riches, and be subject unto their pride, and lust for drink and bribery, and there shall be respect of persons among them... There shall come forth another doctrine, and because they shall strive after their own advancement, they shall bring forth an unprofitable doctrine. And therein shall be a deadly corruption, and they shall teach it, and shall turn away from eternal life. But woe unto them that falsify this my word and commandment, and draw away them that hearken to the commandment of life; for together with them they shall come into everlasting judgment."

10. The Epistle of James ~

This apocryphal Epistle from the Nag Hammadi scrolls is purported to be a prophecy by Jesus:

"There shall be wonders and strange appearances in heaven and on earth before the end of the world comes. "Tell us now, how shall we perceive it?"

"And he answered us: "I will teach it to you that believe, as wellas them who shall hear that man and believe in me. In those years and days it shall come to pass. The sun and moon fighting with the other, a continual rolling and noise of thunder and lightning, and earthquake; cities falling and men perishing in their overthrow, a continual dearth for lack of rain, a terrible pestilence and great mortality, mighty and untimely, so they that die lack burial: and the bearing forth of brethren and sisters and kinsfolk, nor any man to his neighbor.

"And they that were overthrown shall rise up and behold them that overthrew them, that they lack burial, for the pestilence shall be full of hatred and pain and envy: and man shall take from one and give to another, and thereafter shall it wax yet worse than before.

"Then shall my Father be wroth at the wickedness of men, for many are their transgressions and the abominations of their uncleanliness weigheth heavy upon them in the corruption of their life.

"Lord, will not then the nations say: "Where is their God?"

"And he answered and said unto us: "Thereby shall the elect be known, that they, being plagued with such afflictions, come forth." We said: "Will then their departure out of the world be by a pestilence which giveth them pain?" He answered us: "Nay, but if they suffer such affliction, it will be a proving of them."

"In those years and days shall war be kindled upon war, the four ends of the earth shall be in commotion and fight against each other. Thereafter shall be quakings of clouds, and dearth, and persecutions of them that believe in me and against the elect. Thereupon shall come doubt and strife and transgressions against one another..."

11. The Apocalypse of Thomas ~

"Hear thou, Thomas, the things which must come to pass in the last times: there shall be famine and war and earthquakes in divers places, snow and ice and great drought shall there be, and many dissensions among the peoples.

"At that time shall be a very great rising of the sea, so that no man shall tell the news to any man. The kings of the earth and the princes and captains shall be troubled, and no man shall speak freely. Grey hairs shall be seen upon boys, and the young shall not give place unto the aged. After that shall rise another king, a crafty man, who shall hold rule for a short space: in those days there shall be all manners of evils, even the death of the race of men from the east even unto Babylon. And thereafter death and famine and sword in the land of Canaan even unto Rome. Then shall all the fountains of waters and wells boil over and be turned into dust and blood. The heaven shall be moved, the stars shall fall upon the earth, the sun shall be cut in half like the moon, and the moon shall not give up her light.

"On the fourth day at the first hour, the earth of the east shall speak, the abyss shall roar: then shall all the earth be moved by the strength of a great earthquake. In that day shall all the idols of the heathen fall, and all the buildings of the earth. These are the signs of the fourth day. And on the fifth day, at the sixth hour, there shall be a great thundering suddenly in the heaven, and the powers of light and the wheel of the sun shall be caught away, and there shall be a great darkness over the world until evening, and the stars shall be turned away from their ministry. In that day all nations shall hate the world and despise the life of this world. These are the signs of the fifth day.

"After a little space there shall arise a king out of the east, a lover of the law, who shall cause all good things and necessary to abound in the house of the Lord: he shall show mercy unto the widows and to the needy, and command a royal gift to be given unto the priests: in his days shall be abundance of all things.

"In the last times there shall be many dissensions among the peoples, blasphemy, iniquity, envy, and villainy, indolence, pride and intemperance, so that every man shall speak that which pleaseth him. And my priests shall not have peace among themselves, but shall sacrifice unto me with deceitful minds: therefore will I not look upon them. Then shall the priest behold the people parting from the House of the Lord and turning unto the world, as well as transgressing in the House of God... The House of the Lord shall be desolate and her altars be abhorred.. The place of holiness shall be corrupted, the priesthood polluted, distress shall increase, virtues shall be overcome, joy perish, and gladness depart. In those day evils shall abound: there shall be respecters of persons, hymns shall cease out of the House of the Lord, truths shall be no more, covetousness shall abound among the priests: an upright man shall not be found."

12. The Revelation of John ~

The Revelation of St. John is the 66th and last book of the Bible. It is one of the most prophetic and controversial. Although it is attributed to St. John, who allegedly received this knowledge when he was imprisoned at Patmos, there are many indications that the book actually is a plagiarized Mithraic document. The ancient mystery cult of Mithra was the official religion of Rome and Christianity's chief competitor for men's souls. Eventually Christianity dominated and destroyed Mithraism. In the process, the Church adopted much of Mithraic doctrine and symbolism into Christian dogma and rituals.

The extensive editing suffered by the book (and the entire Bible) is highlighted in the closing words of Revelation 22: 18-19:

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God will add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecsy, God will take away his part from the Book of Life, from the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book."

The above is from the Authorized King James and other versions. Older versions read: "...if any man shall take away an jot or tittle from the words of this book.." Jots and tittles are the Hebrew equivalent of periods and commas. If this prophetic curse is effective, then the editors of the Bible are in serious trouble.

We are not concerned here with the fate of editors, however, but with Revelation's prophetic message. Therefore, as John tells us in Chapter 2:7, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches":

"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.

"And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." (Revelation 6:12-14 )

Apparently, one of the first signs of God's wrath will be a mighty earthquake. The sun's light will be darkened, and the moon will be reddened. These effects could be caused by volcanic dust. The heavens will be deranged, possibly because of a shift of the earth's axis. "The stars of heaven fell to earth" may describe a huge meteor shower.

"And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood;

"And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships ere destroyed.

"And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

"And the name of the star is Wormwood; and the third part of the waters becamewormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

"And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise." (Revelation 8: 8-12 )

Revelation 17 and 18 describe the "Mystery Babylon", a symbolic scenario that continues to fascinate exegetes of prophecy:

"And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sittest upon many waters:

"With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

"So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

"And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

"And I saw a woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus; and I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

"And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

"And here is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

"And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

"And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

"And the ten horns which thou saweth are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

"These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

"And he saith unto me, "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

"And the ten horns which thou saweth upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

"For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his wish, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

"When the woman which thou saweth is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." (Revelation 17:1-8)

Scholarly exegesis has determined that apart from the Resurrection, Tribulation and Millenium, St. John's vision of the Apocalypse refers to leading historical events of his time. Since then, theological and political editorialists have variously identified the Beast and Harlot as Mohammed, the Papacy, Napoleon, Hitler, etc.. An acceptable historic interpretation, free of theological odium, suggests that the beast from the sea (Revelation 13:1) is the Roman Empire. The Mark of Beast (Revelation 13:16) is the emperor's image on the coin of the realm. The abomination of desolation was fulfilled by Caligula, who confiscated several Jewish synagogues and defiled them by installing his own statue. The historian Josephus (Antiq. XIII, viii, 2) noted that Caligula even sought to have a statue of his image erected in the Temple of Jerusalem.

The seven heads of the beast were seven emperors, five of whom had fallen by St. John's time: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, who died in 68 AD. The sixth one was Vespasian (70-79 AD), and the seventh, "yet to come," was Titus, who reigned a mere two years (79-81 AD): "But when he comes he must continue a short space" (Revelation 17:9-11). The eighth emperor-head was Domitian (81-96 AD), who was identified with the beast "which was, and is not, and shall come up out of the bottomless pit... And the beast which was and is not: the same also is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." This mysterious language can be explained by thewidespread contemporary belief that Nero was still alive (as documented by Tacitus: Hist. II, 8and the Sibylline Oracles V, 28-33). In the opinion of pagan authors such as Juvenal (IV, 38), Domitian was a second Nero and thus "the one that was, that is not, and that is to return."

In this scheme of interpretation, the ten horns (Revelation 17:12-16) represent the vassal rulers under Rome's supremacy. The second beast, the False Prophet (Revelation 13:11), signifies the apostate Christians who tried to corrupt their fellows into adopting heathen practices such as Christmas (Mithra's birthday) and the Eucharist sacrament (another Mithraic ritual). The woman in travail (Revelation 12) is the Church, whose child is Christ.

This summary interpretation suffers from two difficulties: (1) its enumeration passes over three emperors (Galba, Otho, and Vitellius), but they may be discounted since each one reigned but a few months; (2) the prophet assigned his work to the reign of Vespasian, who was "the one that is," rather than Domitian as suggested above. However, it was customary for apocalyptic authors to predate their writings to give them the appearance of being older and thus more accurately prophetic. John followed this practice. No fraud was intended by this literary device; it was merely a peculiar stylistic convenience suited to the subject matter.

The Antichrist legend is the biblical and medieval anthropomorphictransformation of the ancient Babylonian Dragon myth, adapted to Christian apocalyptic purposes. Tiawat ("Sea"), the Dragon of Chaos, was a myth among the Akkadian founding fathers of Babylon some 6,000 years ago. Tiawat, a crocodilian female monster, presided over the confusion of waters prior to the creation of the other Babylonian gods. Tiawat rebelled against the new gods, but was defeated and imprisoned. Tiawat in fact represented the estuary of the Euphrates River, which raged out of control until it was confined somewhat and diverted by a vast system of dikes and irrigation canals. Wilhelm Bousset explains the matter in The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore. (9)

The words "Mystery Babylon" and the Roman numerals DCLXVI (666) appear on the hat worn the Pope. This has led some people to speculate that the Catholic Church is the Mystery Babylon and the Beast.

The entirety of Revelation 18 is a description of a great city on seven hills, obviously Rome. The ten horns or kings may represent the member nations of the European Common Market.

Revelation 9 describes monstrous creatures which combine characteristics of locusts, scorpions, horses and men. These probably refer to modern military equipment. They could also be the products of genetic engineering, if not an act of God:

"And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

"And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

"And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh man.

"And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

"And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns of gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

"And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

"And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

"And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months." (Revelation 9:3-10)

Thereafter, the sources of the Euphrates River will dry up. This will facilitate the invasion of a huge army from Asia:

"And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

"Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

"And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

"And the number of the army of horsemen were two myriad myriad [myriad = 10,000]; and I heard the number of them.

"By these was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths." (Revelation 9:13-16, 18)

The prophets Malachi (4:5, 6) and Zechariah (4:14) wrote that God would send the prophet Elijah to earth before the Battle of Armageddon. John also foretells the appearance of two great prophets in the latter days:

"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, that they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

"These are the two olive branches, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

"And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

"These have the power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

"And when they have finished their testimony, the beast shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

"And their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

"And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

"And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts to one another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth.

"And after three days and an half the Spirit of Life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them that saw them.

"And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

"And at that hour there was an earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake there were slain of men seven thousand, and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven." (Revelation 11:3-8, 11-13 )

The Two Witnesses will be murdered at the behest of the Beast, whose appearance is described in Revelation 13:1-8. Authors of the Bible call this evil personage by different names: Little Horn (Daniel 11:21); Assyrian (Isaiah 10:5); Chaldean (Habukkuk 1:6); Nebuchadnessar (Ezekiel 29:19); Man of Sin and Son of Perdition (II Thessalonians 2:3-9); Beast 666 (Revelation 13 & 17); Antichrist (I John 2:18), and Armilus (Sephir Zohar). The first use of the popular term Antichrist occurs in I John 2:18, 22. However, in these instances the term is merely applied to anyone who refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah.

Because Habukkuk calls him the Chaldean, and Isaiah named him the Assyrian, some exegetes think that the Antichrist will be a Muslim leader. Others claim that he will be from the Jewish tribe of Dan. He will rise to power through diplomacy and intrigue, supported by Arab oil money and the European Common Market. He will be assassinated but will revive from a fatal neck wound in a "miraculous" manner (and with the aid of modern medical science). He will be "born again" and thereafter exert enormous charismatic power and demonstrate phenomenal magical effects with the aid of his propagandist, the False Prophet. Together they will deceive many people (even some Christians) into thinking that the Beast is Messiah. He will make a covenant with Israel, but will break it after three and a half years of relative peace. For another three and a half years humanity will live and die in utter misery, culminating in the battle of Armageddon. During the tribulation the corrupt Christian Church will suffer terrible martyrdom, horror with grace.

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him power, and his seat, and great authority.

"And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.

"And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?

"And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

"And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given unto him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

"If any man hath an ear, let him hear.

"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints.

"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and spake as a dragon.

"And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

"And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of men.

"And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image of the beast, which had the wound by the sword, and did live.

"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.

"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had that mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six." (Revelation 13:1-8 )

The number of the Beast, 666, can be understood as a credit card number without which people will unable to buy, sell, bank or hold employment. Such technology exists today and awaits implementation, probably in the form of subcutaneous microcircuit implants. Other interpretations have been advanced based on a cabalistic translation of the alphabet into numbers. For example, if 6 is added to each successive number, so that A=6, B=12, C=18, and so on, then "computer" equals 666. So does "Kissinger", who meets several of the Biblical qualifications for the Man of Sin. Henry received the "wound of the sword" (Revelation 13:3, 12, 14) by undergoing open-heart surgery in 1982. His diplomatic career produced a "covenant" (the Camp David Treaty) with Israel and Egypt. His success has been "conquest by flattery" (Daniel 11:21). According to the Sephir Zohar (v.i.), the Son of Perdition is a Jew; so is Kissinger. At his advanced age, however, it is quite unlikely that he is the person in question.

The thrall of Antichrist will last for less than four years; then the wrath of God will be loosed upon mankind:

"And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your way, and pour out the vials of wrath of God upon the earth.

"And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men who had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

"And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

"And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became as blood.

"And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.

"And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

"And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

"And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great River Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

"For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them unto the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

"And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, it is done.

"And there were voices, and thunders, and lightning; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

"And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

"And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

"And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceedingly great." (Revelation 16:1-21)

The Seven Judgments (the plague of sores, the poisoned waters, extreme heat, and giant hail) will drive the Beast and his subjects to desperation. They will vent their frustration against Israel in the Battle of Jehosaphat or Armageddon. The Beast and company will be defeated and killed by Messiah Jesus, as described in Revelation 19.

13. Esther of Sidon ~

Esther of Sidon was an Essene who chronicled the life of Jesus (whom she never knew) after interviewing many of his disciples. She was martyred in Athens in 86 AD. Her writings were collected by Emperor Vespasian, and were preserved in the Vatican archives. They emerged in 1997. Esther recorded the "Ten Final Messages of the Savior" which he allegedly gave as promises while he was in the Garden of Gethsemene. These promises are to be fulfilled in the Latter Days. Esther states:

"All that the Lord promised will come to pass in the end times, when men will count on their fingers and marvel that 2,000 years have passed since his death. In those days the gates of Heaven will be opened wide for the angels to carry within the righteous hosts of the Rapture."

The Ten Great Promises of Jesus are said to be: (1) an herbal panacea, (2) the Rapture, (3) a last chance to repent on Judgment Day, (4) signs in the sky will warn of the Second Coming, (5) angelic guidance for humanity, (6) eternal life, (7) the gospel of Christ will be spread throughout the universe, (8) the Second Coming, (9) Heaven will be located in space by astronomers, (10) a divinely inspired system of space travel will be discovered.

Esther also is attributed with numerous predictions about modern medicine, world finance and human welfare, war and peace, extreme weather conditions before and during the Apocalypse, the reigns of Satan and of Christ.

14. The Bible Code ~

In the 1990s, Dr. Eli Rips, a leading expert in group theory, used computer analysis to discover a prophetic code hidden in the Old Testament. He published his study of "Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis" in the mathematical journal Statistical Science (1994) in collaboration with physicist Doron Witztom and cryptologist Harold Gans. According to Rips, et al., "When the Book of Genesis is written in to-dimensional arrays, letter sequences spelling words with related meanings often appear in close proximity... Randomization analysis shows that the effect is significant at the level of 0.00002..." The odds against the code being random are so high as to be impossible; the code appears to be genuine, but its origin remains a mystery, apparently divine.

Rips, et al., found dozens of prophecies, many of which have already been fulfilled. Several warn of disasters in our near future. For example, they found the words "Hitler", Nazi and enemy", "Evil man", and "Slaughter" in Genesis 8: 17-21; "Shakespeare", "Hamlet" and "Macbeth" in Leviticus; "Wright brothers" and "Airplane" in Genesis 30-43; "Edison", "Lightbulb", and "Electricity" in Numbers 11-14; "Newton" and "Gravity" in Numbers 18 and 19; "Einstein" and "Science" in Numbers; "Atomic holocaust", and "World War" encoded with "in the End of Days" in plain text; "Man on Moon" and "Spaceship" in Numbers; "President Kennedy", "to die", "Dallas", "Oswald", "Ruby", etc., in Genesis and Numbers.

The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was mentioned, and the name of his assassin, "Amir". The prophecy was dated "In 5756" (September 1995) and located ("Tel Aviv"). The Gulf War was foretold: "Fire on 3 Shevat" (18 January 1991, the date of the first Scud missile attack) and "Hussein picked a day" (Genesis 14: 6-17).

The code also predicts the murder of Prime Minister Netanyahu, but no date is given. Furthermore, the code warns of "Holocaust of Israel", "the next war" with "Libya"; "It will be after the death of the Prime Minister" (Genesis 25: 11).

According to the Bible Code, Armageddon will occur "in 5760" (2000) and "in 5766" (2006). In the year 2113, Israel will be "empty, depopulated, desolated" (Deuteronomy 33: 14); "For everyone, the great terror, fire earthquake" (Deut. 34: 12). A "Great Earthquake" is repeatedly mentioned, scheduled for the years 2000 and 2006. Los Angeles will be destroyed by a quake in 5770 (2010); China and Japan also will be struck thus. A comet will strike the earth in 2012. (7, 8)

15. The Millenial Kingdom ~

When Christ returns, hewill be accompanied by an army of saints (Joel 3:11; Zechariah 14:5; Matthew 16:27 and 25:31; Mark 8:38; Luke 8:26; Thessalonians 1:7) He will also bring the raptured Christians with Him (Isaiah 27:13; Joel 2:32; Micah 2:12; Revelation 14:1). The wrath of God will be temporarily suspended (Revelation 8:1). Many Jews will repent and convert to Christ (Hosea 1:11, Zechariah 12;10; Luke 13:35; Matthew 23:39; Joel 2:2; Romans 11:26). The converted Jews will escape from Jerusalem by way of a valley which will be created by an earthquake when Christ sets foot on the Mount of Olives (Ezekiel 47:1-5; Acts 1:1-12; Zechariah 14:4,5). Jews will join the Christian forces (Zechariah 12:5; ibid., 14:14). According to Leviticus 26:8, the strength of the Jewish soldiers will be made superhuman by divine grace: "And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword." See also Zechariah 17:8 in this regard.

The Jewish and Christian forces will recapture Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:5 and 14:11) and rebuild the city (Zechariah 12:6 and 14:11). The wrath of God will resume (Revelation 7 and 8; Isaiah 8:7; ibid., 13:9-10; ibid., 19:1-10, 17-20, 22-24; Joel 3:19). The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers will dry up to prepare the way for the invasion of the Middle East by the Chinese army (Revelation 9:14). The Nile River also will cease to flow. Concerning the fate of Egypt, see also Jeremiah 46:7-9; Deuteronomy 26:68; Isaiah 19:1-5, 17-25; Ezekiel 29:15; ibid., 20:36, 37; ibid., 30; Isaiah 11:15; Zechariah 1:11). The Antichrist will gather his armies at Har-Megiddo (Mt. Megiddo), also known as Armageddon. Har-Megiddo is about 55 miles north of Jerusalem, on the southern rim of the Valley of Jehosaphat (Joel 3:2, 9-14). It has been an important battlefield throughout Jewish history. Jehosaphat means "judgment of Jahweh" or "judgment of the Eternal."

Jehosaphat and Armageddon also are referred to in Numbers 24:17; Deuteronomy 28:7; ibid., 30:7; I Samuel 2:10; Daniel 11:45; Revelation 16:16; Zephariah 3:8; II Thessalonians 2:8; Joel 13:16; ibid., 14:17-20; and Zechariah 14:1-4.

According to Daniel 7:11 and Revelation 19:20, the Antichrist and his followers will be cast into a lake of fire.

There will be a period of darkness in which the sun, moon and stars are obscured (Joel 2:2, 10, 31 & 3:15; Revelation 8:12; Isaiah 24:23 & 13:10; Zechariah 14:6; Mark 13:24; Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25; Acts 2:19-20; Revelation 6:12, 14).

Christ will then rule the earth (Genesis 49:10; Psalms 2:6; ibid., 22:28; ibid., 72:10; I Chronicles 16:33; Isaiah 2:4; Revelation 11:15; Zechariah 9:10; I Samuel 2;10; Ezekiel 21:27; Daniel 7:14, 27; Micah 4:3; II Timothy 4:1; Psalms 72:8; Luke 1:32; I Corinthians 15:24-25; Hebrews 1:13).

All violence will be restrained by God's presence (Leviticus 26:6-8; Isaiah 2:4; Hosea 2:18; Deuteronomy 18:7; ibid., 30:7; Micah 4:3).

There will be abundant crops and general prosperity (Exodus 23:25; Leviticus 26:5-6; Hosea 2:21; Joel 3:18; Psalms 72:7,16; Isaiah 4:2; ibid., 61:4; Genesis 8:21, 22; Amos 9:13,14; Deuteronomy 28:11,12).

There will be no diseases, and people will enjoy extended lifespans (Exodus 23:25; Deuteronomy 7:15; Isaiah 35:5-6).

Fertility and birthrates will increase (Exodus 23:26; Deuteronomy 7:14; ibid., 28:4,11; Isaiah 9:3).

After 1,000 years, Satan will be released to deceive the nations and test their faith, but he will be defeated (Jeremiah 25:29-38; ibid., 45:5; Revelation 11:18; ibid., 20:3,7-9).

Heaven and Earth shall pass away; there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Malachi 4:1; Matthew 24:35; Isaiah 66:20; ibid., 65:17; ibid., 60:19-20; Revelation 20:11; ibid., 21;1; Mark 13:31; Hebrews 1:10-12; ibid., 12:26,27; II Peter 3:7, 10-12).

Then comes the Final Judgment of all men (Ecclesiastes 3:17, 18; Matthew 25:31-33; II Timothy 4:1; Revelation 11:18; ibid., 20:13; Acts 10:42; Romans 2:5,6,16; ibid., 14:10-12; Hebrews 6:2; ibid., 9:27; I Peter 1:3,4).

After the Final Judgment, God's Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, will descend to Earth (Revelation 3:12; ibid., 21:2, 10-27).The Righteous will gather there (Isaiah 60:21; ibid., 65:17-19; Matthew 13:49; ibid., 24:34, 46; Revelation 22:3-5). There will be a healing of nations (Revelation 22:1-3). God and Christ will rule forever (II Chronicles 9:8; Ezekiel 37:25; Daniel 2:44; ibid., 7:14, 18, 27; Micah 4:7; Luke 1:33; Psalms 72:17; ibid., 102:26, 27. (1, 2, 4-6)

19. References [Not available in the Internet Edition]

Chapter 3

European Prophets

1. Pseudo-Methodius

2. St. Hilarion

3. St. Ephrem

4. St. Columbcille

5. St. Brogan

6. St. Ultan

7. Bede the Venerable & Monk Adso

8. St. Edward

9. The Brahan Seer

10. Balthasar Mas

11. Rudolfo Gilthier

12. Liber Mirabilis

13. Mother Shipton

14. Rigord of St. Denis

15. Hepidanus

16. Caesarius of Heisterbach

17. Johann Friede

18. Anonymous

19. Anonymous

20. Anonymous

21. Pere Nechtou

22. Catholic Nuns

23. Anna Emmerich

25. St. Odile

26. The Seeress of Prague

27. Anna Taigi

28. Marie Jehannet

29. Melanie Calvat

30. Our Lady of Fatima

31. Our Lady of Garabandal

32. St. Malachi

33. The Monk of Padua

34. St.Capistran

35. Pope Pius X

36. St John Bosco

37. The Monk of Premol

38. The Angelic Pope &…

39. St. Cataldus

40. Rabanus Maurus

41. St. Caesarius

42. Merlin Ambrosius

43. Pope Leo VI

44. Sibylline Oracles

45. Joaquim Merlin

46. Barthalomew Holzhauser

47. St. Francisco de Paola

48. Abbe Souffrant

49. The Mother of Bourg

50. Cheiro

51. Mathias Lang

52. M. Tarabich

53. Alois Irlmaier

54. The Birch Tree Prophecies

55. Johannes Lichtenberger

56. Spielbahn

57. Bernard Rembold

58. The Prophecy of Mayence

59. The Monk of Werl

60. Wessel Eilert

61. Antonius

62. Peter Schlinkert

63. Brother Anthony

64. Paracelsus

65. Alchemy & Prophecy

66. References

Through psychic stress induced by faith or other dispositions, many cleric and lay Christians have enjoyed --- or suffered --- many apocalyptic visions. Pope Benedict IV (1657-1758), generously decreed that "the recipients of prophecy may be angels, devils, men, women, children, heathen or gentiles; nor is it necessary that a man should be gifted with any particular disposition in order to receive the light of prophecy provided that his intellect and senses be adapted for making manifest the things which God reveals to him."

Apocalyptic prophecy is a particular species of eschatology (dealing with death and final judgment). Many of such prophecies are not inspired originals, but are paraphrases of earlier writings (such as the Sibylline oracles) that were incorporated with hopeful political propaganda for the historical period in which the writers lived. However, such pseudo-prophecies contain valuable fragments which can be distinguished and selected for the present purpose. Many others of the representative prophecies included here were genuine original visions of doom, untainted by the odium of theology and politics.

1. The Pseudo-Methodius ~

The prophecies attributed to St. Methodius of Patara (a martyred bishop of the 4th century) are some of the earliest post-biblical Christian prophecies extant. Most authoritative scholars now agree that the prophecies are the work of a pseudonymous author who wrote in Syriac circa 680 AD. The manuscript in question(Monumenta Patrum Orthodoxographa, 1569) was located in the Patrium Veterum Library nearly 1000 years after the death of St. Methodius. (1)

The pseudo-Methodius collection comprises several distinguishable documents that recur in fragments in many other Medieval prophecies: (1) a historical survey of the nations, beginning with Adam; (2) Gideon's victory over the Ishmaelites; (3) a history of Alexander the Great and Gog-Magog (the Huns, who will attack the world again in the latter days); (4) the new Roman Empire and the ascendancy of Islam; (5) the Moslem reign of terror; (6) the victory of a holy Roman Emperor; and (7) the overthrow of Gog-Magog by the Roman Emperor, the birth of the Antichrist, and the Last Judgment. The following excerpts may have some bearing on our future:

"A time will come when the enemies of Christ will boast: "We have subjected the earth and all its inhabitants, and the Christians cannot escape our hands." Then a Roman Emperor will arise in great fury against them... Drawing his sword, he will fall upon the foes of Christianity and crush them. Then peace will reign on earth, and priests will be relieved of all their anxieties.

"In the last period Christians will not appreciate the great grace of God who provided a monarch, a long duration of peace, a splendid fertility of the earth. They will be very ungrateful, lead a sinful life, in pride, vanity, unchastity, frivolity, hatred, avarice, gluttony, and many other vices, [so] that the sins of men will stink more than a pestilence before God. Many will doubt whether the Catholic faith is the true and only saving one and whether the Jews are correct when they still expect the Messiah. Many will be the false teachings and resultant bewilderment. The just God will in consequence give Lucifer and all his devils power to come on earth and tempt his godless creatures...

"...Then suddenly tribulation and distress will arise against them [the Moslems]. The King of the Greeks, i.e., the Romans, will come out against them in anger, roused as from a drunken stupor like one whom men had thought dead and worthless [Psalms 77:65]. He will go forth against them from the Ethiopian sea and will send the sword and desolation into Ethribus, their homeland, capturing their women and children living in the Land of Promise [Israel]. The sons of the king will come down with the sword and cut them off from the earth. Fear and trembling will rush upon them and their wives and their children from all sides. They will mourn their offspring, weeping over them and all the villages in the lands of their fathers. By the sword they will be given over into the hands of the king of the Romans -- to captivity, death, and decay.

"The King of the Romans will impose his yoke upon them seven times as much as their yoke weighed upon the earth. Great distress will seize them; tribulation will bring them hunger and thirst. They, their wives, and their children will be slaves and serve those who used to serve them, and their slavery will be a hundred times more bitter and hard. The earth which they destituted will then be at peace; each man will return to his own land and to the inheritance of his fathers... Every man who was left captive will return to the things that were his and his fathers', and men will multiply upon the once desolated land like locusts. Egypt will be desolated, Arabia burned with fire, the land of Ausania burned, and the sea provinces pacified. The whole indignation and fury of the King of the Romans will blaze forth against those who deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the earth will sit in peace and there will be great peace and tranquillity upon the earth such as has never been nor ever will be any more, since it is the final peace at the End of Time...

"Then the "Gates of the North" will be opened and the strength of those nations which Alexander shut up there will go forth. The whole earth will be terrified at the sight of them; men will be afraid and flee in terror to hide themselves in mountains and caves and graves. They will die of fright and very many will be wasted with fear. There will be no one to bury the bodies. The tribes which will go forth from the North will eat the flesh of men and will drink the blood of beasts like water. They will eat unclean serpents, scorpions, and every kind of filthy and abominable beast and reptile which crawls upon the earth. They will consume the dead bodies of beasts of burden and even women's abortions. They will slay the young and take them from their mothers and eat them. They will corrupt the earth and contaminate it. No one will be able to stand against them.

"After a week of years, when they have already captured the city of Jappa, the Lord will send one of the princes of his host and strike them down in a moment. After this the King of the Romans will go down and live in Jerusalem for seven and a half-seven times, i.e., years. When the ten and a half years are completed the Son of Perdition will appear.

"He will be born in Chorazaim, nourished in Bethsaida, and reign in Capharnaum. Chorazim will rejoice because he was born in her, and Capharnaum because he will have reigned in her. For this reason in the Third Gospel the Lord gave the following statement: "Woe to you, Chorazaim, woe to you Bethsaida, woe to you Capharnaum --- if you have risen up to heaven, you will descend to hell" [Luke 10:13, 15]. When the Son of Perdition has arisen, the King of the Romans will ascend Golgotha upon which the wood of the Holy Cross is fixed, in the place where the Lord underwent death for us. The king will take the crown from his head and place it upon the cross and stretching out his hands to heaven will hand over the kingdom of the Christians to God the Father. The cross and crown of the king will be taken up together to heaven. This is because the Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ hung for the common salvation of all will begin to appear before him at his coming to convict the lack of faith of the unbelievers. The prophecy of David which says, "In the last days Ethiopia will stretch out her hand to God" [Psalm 67:32] will be fulfilled in that these last men who stretch out their hands to God are from the seed of Chuseth, the daughter of Phol, king of Ethiopia. When the Cross has been lifted up on high to heaven, the King of the Romans will directly give up his spirit. Then every principality and power will be destroyed that the Son of Perdition may manifest...

"When the Son of Perdition appears, he will be of the tribe of Dan, according to the prophecy of Jacob. This enemy of religion will use a diabolic art to produce many false miracles, such as causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear. Those possessed with demons will be exorcised. He will deceive many and, if he could, as our Lord has said, even the faithful elect.

"Even the Antichrist will enter Jerusalem, where he will enthrone himself in the temple as a god (even though he will be an ordinary man of the tribe of Dan to which Judas Iscariot also belonged).

"In those days, the Antichrist will bring about many tribulation; but God will not allow those redeemed by the divine blood to be deceived. For that reason, he will send his two servants, Enoch and Elias, who will declare the prodigies of the Antichrist to be false, and will denounce him as an impostor. After the death and ruin of many, he will leave the Temple in confusion; and many of his followers will forsake him to join the company of the righteous. The seducer, upon seeing himself reproached and scorned, will become enraged and will put to death those saints of God. It is then that there will appear the sign of the Son of Man, and he will come upon the clouds of heaven."

2. St. Hilarion ~

St. Hilarion of Czenstochau was born at Tabatha, Palestine about 291 AD. He died on Cyprus circa 371. As a boy he was sent to study in the schools of Alexandria in Egypt. He became a Christian after studying with St. Anthony, the great "Father of Anchorites", and adopted the ascetic life of a hermit. He began to exorcise demons and performed miraculous cures, thus attracting over 300 disciples. He also was gifted with prophecy. According to St. Hilarion, World War III will be preceded by the appearance of a great comet. Here is his vision of our near future:

"After the World War they will make peace but not a lasting peace. They will immediately begin again preparing to strike at one another...

"Before the Christian Churches are renovated and united, God will send the Eagle, who will travel to Rome and bring much happiness and good. The Holy Man will bring peace between the clergy and the Eagle and his reign will last four years. Then after his death God will send three men who are rich in wisdom and virtue. These men will administer the laws of the Holy Man and spread Christianity everywhere. Then there will be one Flock, one Faith, one Law, one Life, and one Baptism throughout the World.

"The people of the Peninsula of Europe will suffer by unnecessary wars until the Holy Man comes. The people of Pannonia [Austria-Hungary] will be the cause of a great war, overcome a neighbor, and become an independent nation. Then will a Scourge of God come and chastise them, a Lion, which will reign a long time over the nation. The Lion will come from a high mountain in the Enlightened Nation between the Rhine and the North Sea, with a great army meet them by the mouth of the Rhine River and in a fierce battle almost entirely annihilate them.

"From the Northeast, where the People live in crude Houses, they will move out in a swarm and cut their way to the midday Sea [Mediterranean] and swarm over to many kingdoms. There where upwards the Rivers wander [Africa], there with six Armies in the Black Sea will surrender; as soon as they have defeated the Stream from Rome, themselves will turn in the midday Sea...

"Not far from the Outflow of one Plain, the great Eagle with a Leader will again come from the Rock Island. A final battle will be delivered. The wild horde will be defeated and made to pay, when they come, but will not win the Waste nor return to their Homeland...

"One day, before the Comet shines, a lot of People (that inspired present company excepted) from Need and Misery will be wanting a Home. The great Empire in the Sea, who are a different Folk stock and origin, will be devastated by Earthquake, Storm and Flood. This Empire will suffer much Misfortune from the Sea. It will be divided into two islands and part of it will sink. The distant possession in the East will be lost through a Tiger and a Lion."

This remarkable prophecy, nearly 1700 years old, apparently foretells the fate of England; it will be wracked and split by earthquakes and incursions of the ocean, and it will be invaded. This foresight has been reiterated by several other prophets since then.

3. St. Ephrem ~

Saint Ephrem was a 4th century Syrian churchman and writer, born in Mesopotamia. He wrote commentaries on the Bible and several theological treatises, homilies, and hymns. A collection of his prophecies about the Antichrist are found in Codex Barberinus XIV (The Utterances of St. Ephrem About the End of the World, and the Consummation of the Universe, and the Tribulation of the Nations). The following excerpts pertain to the Antichrist:

"Let us learn, my friends, in what form shall come on earth the shameless serpent, since the Redeemer, wishing to save all mankind, was born of a Virgin and in human form crushed the enemy with the holy power of his godhead. This then the enemy, having learnt that again shall the Lord come from heaven in the glory of His divinity, thus bethought him to assume the form of His coming and beguile all men. So in very truth shall he be born of a defiled woman, his instrument. In the form of Him shall come the all-polluted, as a wily thief to beguile all beings. Humble and gentle, hating the speech of the unjust, overturning all idols, honoring piety, a good lover of the poor, exceedingly fair, altogether well disposed, pleasant towards all. To conciliate all, he plots craftily, that he may be loved soon by the peoples; neither gifts shall he accept, nor speak in anger. He shows himself not sullen, but ever cheerful. And in all these well-planned schemes he beguileth the world so long as he shall rule. For when the many peoples and nations shall behold such great virtues, fair deeds and powers, all of one mind shall become and with great joy shall crown him, saying one to another, surely there is not found such another man so good and just... For the shameless one, grasping authority, sends his demons unto all the ends of the earth to announce unto all that a great king hath appeared in glory; come thither and behold... The peoples shall be gathered, and they shall come that they may see God, and the crowds of the peoples shall cleave to him, and all shall deny their own God and invite their fellows to praise the son of perdition, and one on another they shall fall and with swords each other destroy... Magnifying his miracles, performing his portents, Deceiver and not in truth manifesting these things, in such fashion the tyrant removeth the mountains, and simulates falsely and not truly while the multitude stands by, many nations and peoples applauding him for his illusions... Again this same dragon stretches out his hands and gathers the multitudes of reptiles and birds; and likewise he moves over the surface of the deep, andas on dry ground he walks thereon. But he simulates these things... The lightnings shall be his ministers and signify his advent; the demons shall constitute his forces, and the princes of the demons shall be his disciples; to far-distant lands he shall send captains of his bands, who shall impart virtue and healing... A great conflict, Brethren, in those times amongst all men, but especially amongst the faithful, when there shall be signs and wonders wrought by the Dragon in great abundance, when he shall again manifest himself as God in fearful phantasms flying in the air, and show all the demons in the forms of angels flying in terror before the tyrant, for he crieth out loudly, changing his forms also to strike infinite dread into all men...

"Then the skies no longer rain, the earth no longer beareth fruit, the springs run out, the rivers dry up, herbs no longer sprout, grass no longer grows, trees wither from their roots and no longer put forth fruits, the fishes of the sea and the monsters therein die out, and thus they say a fetid stench emits with a fearful roar, that men shall fail and perish through terror. And then in dread shall moan and groan all life alike when all shall see the pitiless distress that compasseth them by night and eke by day, and nowhere find the food wherewith to fill themselves... For stern governors of the people shall be appointed each in his place, and whoso bears with him the seal of the tyrant may buy a little food.

"But before these things be, the Lord sendeth Elias the Thesbite and Enoch the compassionate, that they may proclaim reverence to the race of men, and openly announce unto all the knowledge of God, that they believe not nor obey the false one through fear, crying out and saying, "A deceiver, O men, is he; let no one believe in him." But few are those who shall then obey and believe in the words of these two prophets.

"Many therefore of the saints as many are then found, as soon as they shall hear of the coming of the man of corruption, shall most speedily flee to the deserts and lie hid in the deserts and mountains and caves through fear, and strew earth and ashes on their heads, destitute and weeping both day and night with great humility. And this shall to them be granted by God the Holy One: And grace shall lead them unto the appointed places.

"But all those dwelling in the east of the earth shall fly to the west, through their great fear, and again those dwelling under the setting sun unto its rising shall fly in trembling...

"In the end like lightning flashing from heaven shall come God, our King and the deathless Bridegroom, in the clouds with glory unimaginable. And behold his Glory shall run the serried hosts of angels and archangels, all breathing flames, and a river full of fire, with a frightful crash...

"How may we then endure, my beloved brethren, when we shall see the fiery river coming out in fury like the wild seething ocean, and the hills and the valleys consuming, and all the world and the works therein; then, beloved, with that fire the rivers shall fail, the springs shall vanish, the sea dry up, the air be agitated, the stars shall fall out from the sky; the sun shall be consumed, the moon pass away, the heavens rolled up like a scroll..."

4. St. Columbcille ~

The very influential Irish Saint Columbcille (also called Colm, Colum, Columba, and Comcille, 521-597 AD) was the founder of a great monastery on the Isle of Iona. There he wrote numerous religious tracts and prophecies that especially concern Ireland. St. Columbcille predicted the Viking raids on Eire from the 8th through 10th centuries, the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169, the Turod conquest, the Irish rebellion of 1641, the great potato famine of 1845-50, and the invention of railroads ("In both North and South iron wheels shall support fiery chariots..."). He prophesied the following concerning what is now our near future:

"Hearken, thou, until I relate things that shall come to pass in the latter ages of the world. Great carnage shall be made, justice shall be outraged, multitudinous evils, great suffering shall prevail, and many unjust laws will be administered. The time shall come when they will not perform charitable acts, and truth shall not remain in them, and truth shall not remain in them. They will plunder the property of the church, they will be continually sneering at each other, they will employ them at reading and writing. They will scoff at acts of humility; there will come times of dark affliction, of scarcity, monarchs will be addicted to falsehood. Neither justice nor covenant will be observed by any one people of the race of Adam; they will become hard-hearted and penurious, and will be devoid of piety. The clergy will become fosterers, in consequence of the tidings of wretchedness; churches will be held in bondage by the all-powerful men of the day. Judges will administer injustice, under the sanction of powerful, outrageous kings; the common people will adopt false principles. Oh, how lamentable shall be their position! Doctors of science will have cause to murmur, they will become niggardly in spirit; the aged will mourn in deep sorrow, on account of the woeful times that shall prevail. Cemeteries shall become all red, in consequence of the wrath that will follow sinners; wars and contentions shall range in the bosoms of every family. Excellent men shall be steeped in poverty, the people will become inhospitable to their guests, the voice of the parasite shall be more agreeable to them than the melody of the harp touched by the sage's finger. In consequence of the general prevalence of sinful practices, humility shall produce no fruit. The professors of science shall not be rewarded, amiability shall not characterize the people; prosperity and hospitality shall not exist, but niggardliness and destitution will assume their place. The changes of the seasons shall produce only half their verdure, the regular festivals of the Church will not be observed; all classes of men shall be filled with hatred and enmity toward each other. The people will not associate affectionately with each other during the great festivals of the seasons; they will live devoid of justice and rectitude, up from the youth of tender age to the aged. The clergy shall be led into error by the misinterpretation of their reading; the relics of the saints will be considered powerless, every race of mankind will become wicked! Young women will become unblushing, the aged people will be of irascible temper; the kine will seldom be productive, as of old; lords will become murderers. Young people will decline in vigor, they will despise those who have hoary hair; there will be no standard by which morals may be regulated, and marriages will be solemnized without witnesses. Troublous shall be the latter ages of the world, the dispositions of the generality of men I will point out, from the time they shall abandon hospitable habits -- with the view of winning honor for themselves, they will hold each other as objects for ridicule. The possessors of abundance shall fall through the multiplicity of their falsehoods; covetousness shall take possession of every glutton, and when satisfied their arrogance shall know no bounds. Between mother and daughter anger and bitter sarcasms shall continuously exist; neighbors will become treacherous, cold, and false-hearted towards each another. The gentry will become grudgeful, with respect to their trifling donations; and blood relations shall become cool towards each other; Church livings shall become lay property. Such is the description of the people who shall live in the ages to come; more unjust and iniquitous shall be very succeeding race of men. The trees shall not bear the usual quantity of fruit, fisheries shall become unproductive and the earth shall not yield its usual abundance. Inclement weather and famine shall come and fishes shall forsake the rivers. The people will be oppressed for lack of food, shall pine to death. Dreadful storms and hurricanes shall afflict them. Numberless diseases shall then prevail. Fortifications shall be built narrow during these times of dreadful danger.

"Then a great event shall happen. I fail not to notice it: rectitude shall be its specious motive, and if ye be not truly holy, a more sorrowful event could not possibly happen.

"I cannot observe after the death of Conn, aught but a sameness among his kindred clans, until the son of Ruadh from the glen appear, the span of the kingly reign shall be but brief. After the blameless son of Ruadh, Cathbarr from Cruachin shall assume the sovereign power, and though many fraudulent acts will be committed during his reign, he will be upon the whole friend to the church.

"After the conclusion of a long and blood rule of Ireland by England, the garment of death will descend and the rowing wheels will arrive. Ten hundred compartments shall be in the fleet, and each compartment shall contain ten hundred men. The armament will spread its forces over the sea and land and rear up mounds with mangled bones. They will inflict on their enemies a severe, flesh-hewing course of warfare to such a degree that scarce a man of them shall escape. The fleet of rowing vehicles will remain two short years and a half.

"This fleet that will come across the sea shall consist of ten ships, ten hundred fairy barks, ten hundred boats, ten hundred cock-boats and ten hundred spacious skiffs. The principal seaport belonging to the country abroad shall look to the west. Such a large assemblage of men never before met in the east or west; and never again shall such a muster congregate while Ireland is a seagirt island.

"The nobility shall sink into humble life before the great war; that war will be proclaimed against them from beyond the seas, by means of which the frantically-proud race shall be subdued. The enemies of the English shall be aroused into activity --- they who reside in the eastern and western parts of the world --- so that they will engage in a battle on the circumscribed sea, in consequence of which the English will be defeated.

"A fleet belonging to a foreign country will come hither, manned by the descendants of Golimh of the gold-embroidered garments, they shall lay prostrate the Gauls of the ships, and liberate the people who have been held in bondage. This fleet that shall arrive here from the east, cannot be impeded by the mighty ocean; through the impetuosity of its noisy breathing, its strange appearance shall be marked by flaming mouths. They will engage in furious conflict, it shall be a wonder that it will not be a mutual slaughter, the conflict of those who will come hither to sever the intricate knot.

"After the English shall be defeated in this battle, they shall be harassed from every quarter; like a fawn surrounded by a pack of voracious hounds, shall be the position of the English among their enemies. The English afterwards shall dwindle down into a disreputable people, and every obstacle shall be opposed to their future prosperity; because they did not (rather: as long as they do not) observe justice and rectitude, they shall be forever after deprived of power! Three warnings will be given them before their final fall, the burning of the Tower of the great kings; the conflagration of the dockyard of the English, and the burning of the Treasury where gold is deposited."

The first two warnings may have been fulfilled in World War II, when German air raids bombed the Tower of London and the dockyards. The burning of the Treasury has yet to occur. St. Columbcille concluded his prophecy with a promise of prosperity and the destruction of Ireland:

"This new Eire shall be Eire the prosperous; great shall be her renown and her power, and there shall not be on the surface of the wide earth a country found to be equal to this fine country... Seven years before the last day, the sea shall submerge Eire by one inundation."

5. St. Brogan ~

Like St. Columbcille, the 6th century Irish Saint Brogan (also written "Bearchan") predicted a leader named Ruadh (Red) who will appear in Ireland n the latter days:

"After the man whose cognomen will be Ruadh, a spirit of fire will come from the north; there will be but one Lord over Ireland. It is he who will bring affliction to the Gauls, by which their savage hordes shall suffer; until he will sail across the azure sea to Rome he will be a great king renowned for feats of arms."

6. St. Ultan ~

The Irish Saint Ultan of Ardbraccan (died 657) also predicted Ruadh:

"Then the Ruadh will proceed to the south, he will offer much opposition to the English; my confidence is in the Redhead for valor --- he will free Eire from her difficulties. In a month after that hard-fought battle, another king will come from the north; I assure, without the least deception, that three battles will be broken in one day. The battle shall continue during a whole week; after that, the aliens shall be dispersed. Wednesday will be the day of the battle, by which the aliens shall be driven from their strongholds; none of them shall remain after that but what birds could not carry off in their claws!"

7. Bede the Venerable & Monk Adso ~

The British monk known as Bede the Venerable (to acknowledge his wisdom and learning) lived most of his life (circa 672-735) at the monastery of St. Peter and St. `Paul at Warmouth-Jarrow. he is recognized as the "father of British history". He was the first to date events "Anno Domine" (AD). The prophetic writings of Bede the Venerable are very similar to those of Monk Adso, who authored an apocalypse in 954 at the request of Queen Gerberga. The priest Albinus of Cologne borrowed it, and the work was published under his name. Bede's work lies at the base of Adso's, and both authors drew on some older, unidentified sources (probably a Sibylline book).

Bede's prophecy is found in the Elucidorum of Honorius of Autun and Monumentum (22:146) by Godfrey of Citerbo (ca. 1190). It ends with a description of the "King by name and steadfast mind" and the advent of Antichrist. The end of the world ensues thereafter:

"And then will arise a king by name and of steadfast mind. The same will be the steadfast king of the Romans and Greeks... and the King himself will have before his eyes the scripture saying:

"The king of the Romans will claim for himself the whole kingdom of the lands; therefore he will lay waste all the islands and cities, and destroy all the temples of the false gods, and all the pagans will he call to baptism, and the cross of Christ shall be raised over all the temples..."

Monk Adso, who borrowed from and added to the writing of Bede, wrote thus of the Antichrist:

"Against the faithful will he rise up in three ways --- that is, by terror, by gifts, and by wonders; to the believers in him will he give gold and silver in abundance; but those whom he shall fail to corrupt by presents he will overcome by fear, and those whom he shall fail to vanquish by fear he will seek to seduce by signs and wonders...

"The ruined Temple also, which Solomon raised to God, he shall build and restore to its former state... and he shall circumcise himself, and lie that he is the Son of God almighty... Thereafter shall he send his messengers and preachers to the whole world...

"Then shall all the Jews flock unto him, and thinking they shall receive Christ they shall receive the devil... Coming to Jerusalem he shall be circumcised, saying to the Jews, I am the Christ promised unto you, who have come for your weal that I may gather and defend you that are scattered...

"Then shall be sent into the world the two great prophets Elias and Enoch, who shall forearm the faithful with godly weapons against the task of the Antichrist, and they shall encourage and get them ready for the war... But after they have accomplished their preaching, the Antichrist shall rise up and slay them, and after three days they shall be raised up by the Lord...

"The doctors also teach, as saith Pope Gregory, that Michael the Archangel shall destroy him on Mount Olivet in his pavilion and seat, in that place where the Lord ascended into heaven..."

Here is Bede the Venerable on the Antichrist:

"For he shall work such stupendous marvels, as to bid fire to come down from heaven... and the dead shall rise... he shall raise the dead, not verily, but the devil shall enter some dead man's body... and speak in him, that he may seem alive...

"There shall go forth the two most glorious men Enoch and Elias to announce the advent of the Lord, and them shall the Antichrist slay, and after three days they shall be resuscitated...

"The sign of the doom: the earth shall be moist with sweat; from heaven the king shall come to reign forever... At midnight in the hour when the angel made Egypt desolate, and when the Lord despoiled hell, in the same hour He shall deliver His elect from this world...

"Fire shall burn up earth and sea and heaven... The springs shall fail, and the everlasting flame consume; He shall cast down the hills, and raise up valleys from the depth... From the heavens shall fall both fire and a sulfur stream."

Bede also left this prophetic note among his writings:

"As long as the Coliseum stands Rome will stand; when Rome falls, the world will fall."

8. St. Edward ~

St. Edward (died 1066) prophesied the following for England:

"The extreme corruption and wickedness of the English nation has provoked the just anger of God. When malice shall have reached the fullness of its measure, God will, in his wrath, send to the English people wicked spirits, who will punish and afflict them with great severity, by separating the green tree from its parent stem the length of three furlongs. But at last this same tree, through the compassionate mercy of God, and without any national assistance, shall return to its original root, reflourish, and bear abundant fruit."

The prophecy seemingly concerns the return of the English to Catholicism, to be followed by the blessings of abundance. The contradicts St. Columbcille, who denies them such forgiveness.

9. The Brahan Seer ~

The Gaelic Coineach Odhar Fiosaiche, or Kenneth MacKenzie, the Brahan Seer or "Warlock of the Glen", was the most highly respected of the Scottish prophets. The one-eyed magician foresaw the future through a hole in a smooth pebble that he always carried with him. Most of this predictions concerned 17th century Scotland, but he also foretold the Industrial Revolution and developments such as gas and water mains: "Fire and water shall run in long streams through all the streets and lanes of Inverness" and locomotives: "Long strings of carriages without horses shall run between Dingwall and Inverness." The Brahan Seer forecast a gloomy future for Scotland:

"The day will come when the jaw-bone of the big sheep will put the plow on the rafters; when the sheep shall become so numerous that the bleating of one shall be heard by the other from Conchra in Lochalsh to Bun-da-Loch in Kintail, they shall be at the height of their price, and henceforth will go back and deteriorate, until they disappear altogether, and be so thoroughly forgotten that a man finding the jawbone of a sheep in a cairn, will not recognize it, or be able to tell what animal it belonged to. The ancient proprietors of the soil shall give place to strange merchant proprietors, and the whole Highlands will become one huge deer forest; the whole country will become so utterly desolated and depopulated that the crow of cock shall not be heard north of Druim-Uachdair; the people will emigrate to islands now unknown, but which shall yet be discovered in the boundless oceans after which deer and other wild animals in the huge wilderness shall be exterminated and browned by horrid black rains. The people will then return and take undisturbed possession of the lands of their ancestors...

"The day will come when a river in Ester Ross shall be dried up.

"At bleak Runish in Lochs, they will spoil and devour, at the foot of the drags, and will split heads by the score.

"The day will come when there shall be such dire persecution and bloodshed in the county of Sutherland, that people can ford the river Oykel dryshod, over dead men's bodies.

"A severe battle will be fought at Ardelve market stance, in Lochalsh, when the slaughter will be so great that people can cross the ferry over dead men's bodies. The battle will be finally decided by a powerful man and his five sons, who will come across from the Strath (the Achamore district).

"A battle will be fought at Ault-nan-Torcan, in the Lewis, which will be a bloody one indeed. It will truly take place, though the time may be far hence, but woe to the mothers of sucklings that day. The defeated host will continue to be cut down till it reaches Ard-a-chaolais [about 7 miles from Ault-a-Torcan], and there the swords will make a terrible havoc.

"When a holly bush shall grow out of the face of the rock at Torr-a-chuilinn [Kintail] to a size sufficiently large to make a shaft for a sledge-cart, a battle will be fought there.

"However unlikely it may now appear, the Island of Lews will be laid waste by a destructive war, which will continue till the contending armies, slaughtering each other as they proceed, shall reach Tarbert in Harris. In the Caws of Tarbert, the retreating host will suddenly halt; an onslaught, left by a left-handed Maclaod, called Donald, son of Donald, will then be made upon the pursuers. The only weapon in this champion's hand will be a black sooty cabar, taken off a neighboring hut; but his intrepidity and courage will so inspire the fugitives that they will fight like mighty men, and overpower their pursuers. The Lews will then enjoy a long period of repose."

10. Frater Balthassar Mas ~

In 1630, Frater Balthassar Mas recorded a vision about England's destiny. Like several other prophets, he foresaw that the island will be inundated by the ocean:

"I saw a land swallowed by the sea and covered with water, but afterwards I saw that little by little, the sea retreated and left the land visible, and the upper parts of the towers and the turrets of the cities rose and appeared more beautiful than before being swallowed by the sea, and it was told me that was England."

11. Rudolfo Gilthier ~

The monk Rudolfo Gilthier made the following prophecy in 1765. The French text was found in the Augustine Library in Rome:

"From the Middle of the Twentieth Century on, there will be uprisings in all parts of Europe. The Republics will be upheaved. Kings, the Great, and Priests will be killed and Padres and Nuns will leave their Cloister. Hunger, Epidemics and Earthquakes will destroy numerous cities.

"Rome will lose its Sceptre through following False Prophets. The Pope will be taken Prisoner by his attendants. The Church will be held hostage, and after a short time there will be no more Pope.

"A Prince from the East with a great Army will move throughout Europe. The Republicans will be annihilated through the Rebellions. His Cross will be for God, he will fight for the Christian teachings and the Orthodox Belief, and he will subjugate the Kingdom of Mohammed. He will be a new Knight of the Faith, and Peace will be regained in the World." (3)

12. Liber Mirabilis ~

Liber Mirabilis is a collection of Medieval prophecies, first published in 1524. It was translated from Latin to French by Jean de Vatiguerro in 1831. The following anonymous apocalyptic prophecy is drawn from the book:

"All elements will become altered, because it is necessary, that the whole condition of the Centuries becomes changed; Certainly will the Earth at many places be in a dreadful state of collapse and all living things will be swallowed up. Numerous strong Towns and Cities will be shattered and collapse in Earthquakes... The Sea will scream out and raise itself against the whole World. The Air will be dirty and be polluted because of the Grossness and Discord of Men...The air will completely change and because of Pestilence, Illness through it will break out, and will completely spoiled. Men will become like animals from the various new Diseases. They will be overcome and die suddenly. An indescribable plague will break out from a sudden and terrible Famine and will torment Men. It will be such great suffering in the whole World, and there is nowherein the West that this will not find its place. Since the beginning of the World there has been nothing as horrible as this."

13. Mother Shipton ~

The English seeress Mother Ursula Shipton, as she was popularly known, was christened Janet Ursula Southiel (Southill). She lived inYorkshire from 1488 to 1561, during the reign of Henry VII. The first collection of her visions was published in 1641, and a more complete edition was published in 1646 by the astrologer and alchemist Sir William Lilly in his Collections of Prophecies. Most of her prophecies concerned her own times, but numerous fragments pertain to our future. Mother Shipton allegedly wrote the following verses about today and the near future, but in 1862 the English editor Charles Hindley admitted to the authorship of this falsely ascribed but nonetheless highly accurate prophecy, which includes descriptions of the radio, television, airplanes, and World Wars, including possibly WW3:

"Carriages without horses shall go.

And accidents fill the world with woe.

Around the world thoughts shall fly

In the twinkling of an eye.

Waters shall yet more wonders do

Now stranger, yet shall be true.

The world upside down shall be

And gold be found at the root of tree.

Through the hills man shall ride

And no horse be at his side.

Underwater men shall walk,

Shall ride, shall sleep, shall talk.

In the air man shall be seen

In white, in black, in green:

Gold shall be found in mid stone

In a land that's now unknown;

Fire and water shall wonders do,

England shall admit a Jew.

Women will dress like men and trousers wear,

And cut off all their locks of hair.

They will ride astride with brazen brow,

And love shall die, and marriage cease,

And nations wane and babes decrease,

And wives shall fondle cats and dogs;

And men shall live much like hogs,

Just for food and lust.

When pictures look alive, with movements free,

When ships, like fishes, swim beneath the sea,

When men, outstripping birds, can soar the sky,

Then half the world, deep-drenched in blood, shall die.

The fiery year as soon as over,

Peace shall then be as before.

Plenty everywhere be found,

And men with swords shall plow the ground.

All England's sons that plow the land,

Shall be seen with book in hand.

Learning shall so ebb and flow,

The poor shall most wisdom know.

And water wind where corn doth grow;

Great houses stand in farflung vale,

All covered o'er with snow and hail.

Taxes for blood and war

Shall come to every door.

And state and state in fierce strife

Will seek after each other's life.

But when the North shall divide the South

An Eagle shall build in the Lion's mouth.

In London Primrose Hill shall be,

Its center hold a Bishop's See.

Three times shall lovely France

Be led to play a bloody dance;

Before the people shall be free,

Three tyrant rulers shall she see:

Three times the people's hope is gone,

Three rulers in succession, be ---

Each sprung from different dynasty.

Then, when the fiercest fight is done,

England and France shall be as one.

The British olive next shall entwine

In marriage with the German vine

The Jew that once was held in scorn

Shall of a Christian be born,

A house of glass shall come to pass

In England --- but alas! alas!

A war will follow with the work

Where dwells the Pagan and the Turk.

The gods will send the Dragon back

To light the sky his tail will crack

Upon the Earth and rend the Earth

And man shall flee, King, Lord and serf."

14. Rigord of St. Denis ~

The French chronicler Rigord of St. Denis lived in the 12th century. He wrote a prophetic text in Latin, which was later translated and printed by Fritz Baer. The following parts pertain to our future:

"At that time from the sea will rise a very strong wind, which will strike terror in the hearts of men, and it will raise sand and dust from the surface of the earth, until it will cover the trees and the towers... And there will be heard in the air quakes and thunder and voices which will strike terror in the hearts of men, and all the countries will be covered with sand and dust... For that wind will rise from the west corner and reach until the west corner, encompassing all the countries of Egypt and Ethiopia... and also the lands of Rome.

"After those events of the winds, five miracles will come to pass one after another.

"First, a most wise man will arise from the east, versed in secret wisdom, that is, in wisdom which is beyond man. And he will walk in justice and will teach the law of truth, and he will cause many to return to straight mores from the darkness of ignorance, and from unbelief to the way of truth, and he will instruct the sinners in the way of righteousness, and he will not pride himself with being counted among the prophets.

"Secondly, a man will come forth from Elam and will assemble a multitude of great forces (Daniel 11:1), and will wage a great war against the nations (Zechariah 14), and he will not live long.

"Thirdly, up will rise another man who will say that he is a prophet. He will hold a book in his hand and say that he was sent by God and by His prophets. And with his teachings he will cause many nations to go astray, and will seduce even more. But that which he will prophesy will come upon his own head. And he, too, will not live long.

"Fourthly, a comet will be seen in heaven -- a star, that is, with a tail or appendage -- and this apparition will signify destructions and tumults and hard strifes, and withholding of rains, and dryness of the earth, and mighty battles, and the flowing of blood upon the earth of the east, and from beyond the River Habor it will reach to the very end of the west. And the just and the truly righteous will be oppressed and will suffer persecutions, and the house of prayer will be destroyed.

"Fifthly, there will be an eclipse of the sun, like the color of fire, until the whole body of the sun will be obscured, and at the time of the eclipse there will such darkness over the earth as there is at midnight on those nights when there is no moonlight, in the days of the rains..."

15. Hepidanus ~

The Swiss monk Hepidanus, who lived in the 11th century, accurately foresaw the coming of Napolean Bonaparte, the French Revolution, Adolf Hitler, and World Wars I and II. Furthermore, he saw a third World War:

"From North to South, the world will be split into two mighty hosts. The North will march against the South, the son against the father, and bring misfortune with him across the mountains as the night follows the day... A gloomy cloud will appear, and a terrible tempest will come forth from this cloud. It will consume a third of mankind, still living then. And it will destroy a third of all the crops, villages, and cities, and there will be a great misery and lamentation.

"A mighty empire will vanish thereafter, and another will take its place. From the East blows a storm, from the West a hurricane howls; woe to those who come into the sphere of this bloody whirlpool. Thrones a thousand years old will fall from the height... between the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Danube there will be a vast morgue, and a landscape of vultures and ravens... When a sign of fire will appear in the heavens, the time will have come close for these days to engulf humanity... but the date, when this sign will flash across the heavens, no mortal will know." (5)

16. Caesarius of Heisterbach ~

Caesarius of Heisterbach was a Cistercian monk who lived in Cologne from 1180 to 1240. Caesarius foretold the rise of Napolean and the event of the French Revolution. He also predicted the following events, still to come:

"There will be no Pope, and the air will be as a pestilence, destroying men and beasts alike. Not since the creation of the world has one experienced such misfortune."

17. Johann Friede ~

According to a vision received by Johann Friede (1204-1257), an Austrian monk of the Order of St. John, several extraordinary phenomena will give warning that the present order of civilization is about to end:

"When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature; the alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy greater regions and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but man will penetrate into the bowels of the earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder, and the age of iron will plunge into nothingness. When the nights will be filled with more intensive cold and the day with heat, a new life will begin in nature. The heat means radiation from the earth, the cold the waning light of the sun. Only a few more years and you will become aware that sunlight has become perceptibly weaker. When even your artificial light will cease to give service, the great event of the firmament will be near.

"The nebula of the Greater Bear will arrive in the vicinity of earth... and will fill the space of five hundred suns at the horizon. It will more and more cover up the light of the sun until the days will be like nights at full moon. The illumination will not come from the moon, but from Orion, which constellation, by the light of Jupiter, will send forth its rays on the Greater Bear and will dissolve its nebula with the force of light.

"By this time mankind will be stricken with terror. Birds will be like reptiles and will not use their wings. Animals of the ground, in fear and alarm, will raise such a clamor that it will make human hearts tremble. Men will flee their abodes in order not to see the weird occurrence. Finally, complete darkness will set in and last for three days and three nights.

"During this time, men, deprived of the power of light, will fall into a slumber-like sleep from which many will not awaken, especially those who have no spark of spiritual life. When the sun will again rise and emerge, earth will be covered with a blanket of ashes like snow in winter, except that the ashes will have the color of sulfur. Damp fog will ascend from the ground, illuminated by igneous gases.

"Of mankind there will be more dead than there have been casualties in all wars. In the abodes of the children of light, the Book of Revelations will be read, and in the palaces of the Church they will await the arrival of the great comet. On the seventh day after the return of light, earth will have absorbed the ashes and formed such a fertility as has not been experienced ever before. But Orion will cast its ray on the earth and show a path toward the last resting place of the greatest and most eminent man who had ever lived on the earth. The survivors will proclaim his ancient doctrine in peace and will institute the millennium, announced by the Messiah in the light of true brotherly and sisterly love for the glory of the Creator and for the blessedness of all mankind."

18. Anonymous ~

An unknown 17th century German monk left this prophecy, which Ludwig Emmerich recorded in Die Zukunft der Welt (The Future of the World):

"The twentieth century will be a period of terror and misery. In that century everything evil and disagreeable that can be imagined will happen. In many countries the princes will rise up against their father, the citizens against authority, the children against their parents, the pagans against God, entire peoples against the established order. A civil war will break out in which almost all the world will be turned upside down. Financial disasters and ruin of property will cause many tears to fall. Men will be without mind and without piety. Poisoned clouds and rays which can burn more deeply than the equatorial sun, iron armies marching, flying vessels full of terrible bombs and of arrow, fatal flying stars and sulphuric fire destroying great cities. This century will be the most perverse of all because men will raise themselves up and destroy each other mutually."

Today we know that the "poisoned clouds" are those produced by pollution, chemical warfare, or atomic fallout. The burning rays are lasers, the iron armies are tanks, the flying vessels are airplanes, and "fatal flying stars" are rockets.

19. Anonymous ~

In his collection of Voix Prophetiques (1872), Abbe Curique of Metz, France, included this anonymous prediction of a war between the East and West:

"A terrible war will ensue. the enemy will come from the East like a flood. In the evening they will call "Peace, Peace", but the next day they will be before our doors. There will be an early and beautiful spring in the year in which the war will start. The cows will walk through opulent grass in the meadows in April. Wheat can be harvested, but oats not any more. The conflict, in which one half the world will oppose the other half, will not be of long duration. God will scare the warring factions by producing a terrible natural catastrophe."

20. Anonymous ~

In the 16th century, an unknown German monk in the Maria Laach monastery recorded this prophecy of our times:

"The twentieth century will bring death and destruction, defection from the Church; families, cities, and governments will go to pieces. It will be the century of three great wars, which will follow each other in decades and will become increasingly devastating and bloody. Not only the Rhineland but all countries to the East and West will be laid desolate. After Germany has lost a terrible war, there will soon follow yet another. There will be no bread for the people and no hay for the cattle. Poisonous vapors, created by human hand, will sink down, destroying everything. Insanity will attack the spirit of man, and unrestrained hate shall rage. Evil will destroy evil, and many innocents shall perish."

21. Pere Nechtou ~

Pere Nechtou (died ca. 1790) was the Father Superior of the Company of Jesus in Belgium, and the author of several ascetic works. He made this prophecy for France:

"When those things come to pass which will bring on the triumph of the Church, then such confusion will reign on earth that people will think God has permitted them to have their own contrary will and that the provenance of God is not concerned about the world. The confusion will be so general that mankind will not be able to think aright, as if God had entirely withheld his providence from mankind, and that, during the worst crisis, the best that can be done would be to remain where God has placed us, and persevere in fervent prayer.

"Two parties will be formed in France which shall fight unto death. The party of evil will at first be stronger; the good side shall be weaker. At that time there shall be such a terrible crisis that people, frightened by events, shall believe that the end of the world has come. Blood shall flow in several large cities. The very elements shall be convulsed. It will be like a little general judgment. A great multitude of persons shall perish in these calamitous times. But the wicked shall never prevail. They indeed shall conspire for the destruction of the Church, but time shall not be allowed them, because this frightful crisis shall be of short duration. When all will be considered lost, all will be found safe.

"During this revolution, which shall very likely be general, and not confined to France, Paris shall be destroyed so completely that, twenty years afterwards, fathers will promenade their children over the ruins, and they will ask what place that was; to satisfy their questions, they will tell them: "My child, here was a great city; God destroyed it, because of its crimes." Paris shall certainly be destroyed, but before this occurs, such signs and portents shall be observed, that all good people will be induced to fly away from it. After this most terrible event, everything shall return to order; justice shall reign in the world, and the counter-revolution shall be accomplished. The triumph of the Church will then be so complete that nothing like it shall ever be seen, for this will be the last victory of the Church upon earth. Those persons who shall behold this last revolution will thank God for having preserved them to witness this glorious triumph of the Church.

"A man disliked by France will be placed on the throne; a man of the house of Orleans will be made king. It is only after this event that the counter-revolution shall begin.

"As when the fig tree begins to sprout and produce leaves, it is a certain sign that summer is near, so when England shall begin to wave in power, the destruction of Paris shall be near at hand. This shall be a sign. England shall, in her turn, experience a more frightful revolution than that of France. It shall continue long enough to give time for France to recover her strength, then she will help England return to order and peace."

22. Catholic Nuns ~

Several Catholic nuns of the 19th century reported their visions of a third and final world war and three days of darkness that will enshroud the planet. Such a darkness is prophesied several times in the Bible, and may have served to inspire their prophecies; see Joel 2:10, 31 and 3:15; Matthew 24:25, 29; Revelation 6:12, 14 and 8:12; Zechariah 14:6, 7; Isaiah 13:10 and 24:23; Mark 13:24; Luke 21:25, and Acts 2:19, 20.

Sister Palma Maria (d. 1863) of Oria, Italy, saw the event thus:

"There will be an attempt by the sectaries to establish a republican government in France, Spain and Italy; a civil war will, in consequence, break out in those countries, accompanied by other dreadful punishments, as pestilence and famine, the massacre of priests, and also of some dignitaries of the Church. Rome shall have to endure severe trials from the malice of wicked men. But at the critical moment, when the rebellious Republicans shall attempt to take possession of the Holy City, they shall be suddenly arrested at the gates and forced to fly away in terror...

"There shall be three days of darkness, during which the atmosphere will be infected by innumerable devils, who shall cause the death of large multitudes of unbelievers and wicked men.

"Blessed candles alone shall be able to give light and preserve the faithful Catholics from this impending scourge. Supernatural prodigies shall appear in the heavens. There is to be a short but furious war, during which the enemies of religion and of mankind shall be universally destroyed. A general purification of the world, and the universal triumph of the Church are to follow."

In 1878, the year of her death, Sister Marie de Jesus Crucifice of Pau, France, made this prophecy of apocalypse:

"All states will be shaken by war and civil conflict. During a period of three days of darkness, those who walk along the paths of deprivation will perish; only the fourth part of humanity will survive. The clergy, too will be greatly reduced in number, as most of them will die in the defense of the faith or their country."

The French nun Marie Dehenny de la Faudais received a similar vision in 1819:

"There will be three days of continuous darkness. During this fearful darkness only candles which have been blessed will burn. One candle will last for threedays, but in the houses of the impious they will not burn. During these three days demons will appear in horrible and nauseating forms and will make the air resound with appalling blasphemies. Rays and flashes will penetrate through the streets at an unusual time of the year. The sea will reverse in foamy waves upon the Earth. Indeed, our planet will become one huge cemetery. The bodies of the impious as well as with those of the just will cover the soil. The famine which will follow will be enormous; all the vegetation of the earth will be destroyed as also will be three-fourths of mankind. The crisis will come suddenly and the disaster will be universal."

The prophecies of Sister Rosa Columba of Taggia (died 1847) also foretell of tribulation for the Catholic Church:

"A great revolution will spread over all of Europe and peace will not be restored until the white flower, the Lily, has taken possession of the throne of France. Not only religious communities, but also good lay Catholics, shall have their property confiscated. Many of the nobility shall be cast into prison. A lawless democratic spirit of disorder shall reign supreme throughout all Europe. There will be a general overthrow. There shall be a great confusion of people against people, and nations against nations, with clashing of arms and beating of drums. The Russians and Prussians shall come to make war in Italy. They shall profane many churches, and turn them into stables for their horses. Some bishops shall fall from the faith, but many more will remain steadfast and suffer much for the Church. There will be a great persecution of the Church, begun by her own children.

"Many terrible calamities impend over Italy. Priests and religious shall be butchered and the earth, especially in Italy, shall be watered with their blood.

"The persecution in Italy is to begin by the suppression of the Jesuits; they shall be called back again; then a third time they will be suppressed and never more revived.

"During a frightful storm against the Church, all religious orders will be abolished except two, namely, the Capuchins and the Dominicans, together with the Hospitalers, who shall receive the pious pilgrims who, in great numbers, shall go to visit and venerate the many martyrs in Italy, killed during the impending persecution."

Shortly before her death in 1847, Sister Marie Lataste, who was a nun of the Sacred Heart, made this vague prophecy of doom for Paris:

"O Paris, execrable city, for how long have you deserved my indignation! Your inhabitants will one day curse you, for that you have steeped them in your baleful atmosphere, and even those to whom you gave refuge will hurl their maledictions at you, because they have found death in your bosom!

"Pray for France; pray much and never cease from praying. France shall not perish. When disorder and confusion are at their height in France, the merciful God will intervene in a marvelous manner, overthrow the evildoers and restore order. Afflictions shall come over the earth. Oppression shall reign in the city which I love, and where I have left my heart. She shall be in mourning and desolation, surroundedon every side by her enemies, like a bird caught in the net. During three years and a little more, this city shall appear overcome. But my Mother will come to that city; she will take the hand of the old man sitting on the throne, and will say to him: "Lo! the hour has come; rise up; behold thine enemies. I make them disappear, one after another, and they shall disappear forevermore. Thou hast given me glory both on earth and in heaven. Behold, men venerate thy name, venerate thy courage, venerate thy power: thou shalt live, and I will live with thee. Dry up thy tears, old man; I bless thee!"

Peace shall return to the world, because the Blessed Virgin Mary will breathe over the storms and quell the"m. Her name will be praised, blessed and exalted forever. Prisoners or captives shall recover their liberty; exiles shall return to their country, and the unfortunate or unhappy shall be restored to peace and happiness..."

Marie de Terreaux of Lyons made a doomsday prophecy in 1843, with these warning signs:

"These events will be preceded by a bad year. But, on the contrary, the year of the events will be an exceptionally fertile year, yet too few people will have remained on the earth to consume this abundance".

In 1790, Helena Walraff predicted thus:

"The Pope will be forced to flee, followed by four cardinals. He will find refuge in Cologne."

23. Anna Emmerich ~

Anna Katherine Emmerich, "The Nun of Dulmen", was a German ecstatic visionary and stigmatic, born in Flamske in Westphalia on September 4, 1774. She died in February 1824. In 1802, at age 28, she entered the Augustine convent at Agnetenburg (Dulmen). She was zealous, and her ecstasies and other spiritual manifestations disturbed her more serene sisters. When the convent closed in 1812, she found refuge in the house of a poor widow. She became bedridden in 1813, and began to show stigmata such as crosses on her breast and the wounds of Christ. In 1817, a scrupulous investigation by an episcopal committee determined her stigmata to be genuine. (8, 9)

In 1819, the poet Klemens Brentano was induced to visit Anna, and he was astounded when she recognized him; he had been shown to her in a vision as the man who would enable her to fulfill God's command to put in writing the revelations made to her, for the benefit of human souls. This Brentano did with great care.

Anna Emmerich said that the Papacy will be replaced by a council of twelve new apostolic disciples who will merge with the people and bring forth a renewal of spiritual life after World War III. In 1820, Anna received this vision:

"All around me I see a terrible, bloody war, which approaches from Midnight, the North, and Evening, the East. I heard that Lucifer -- if I am not wrong, would be let go for a time, fifty or sixty years before the year 2000. I saw the earth covered with darkness, everything was withered and barren, everything made the impression of pining away. It seems that even the waters of the springs were exhausted. I saw how the labor of darkness multiplied among the people, I saw countries and people in the greatest of distress, and fighting each other violently. In the center of the battleground was a giant abyss, into which the warring factions seemed to fall.

A pale faced man floated slowly over the earth and, loosening the cloths which wrapped around his sword, he t"hrew them on sleeping cities, which were bound by them. This figure also dropped pestilence on Russia, Italy, and Spain. A red noose lay around Berlin, and from there it came to Westphalia. Now the man's sword was naked, bands red as blood hung from its hilt and blood trickled from it on Westphalia...

"...The Jews shall return to Palestine, and become Christians toward the end of the world."

24. Hildegard of Bingen ~

Nearly 900 years ago, the Abbess Hildegard, founder of the Benedictine convents at Bingen and Eibingen, predicted such events as the coming of Protestantism, the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, the diminution of both the spiritual and temporal powers of the Holy See, and the universal secularization of Church property. Three popes, two emperors, and many bishops, saints, and common people sought advice from "The Sibyl of the Rhine".

She was born in 1098 at Bockelheim. When Hildegard was 8 years old, her parents placed her in the care of a recluse nun, and she remained in the service of God for the rest of her life. While still a child, she began to have beatific visions:

"Up to my fifteenth year I saw much, and related some of the things seen to others, who would inquire with astonishment, whence such things might come. ... Frequently, I my conversations, I would relate future things which I saw as if present, but, noting the amazement of my listeners, I became more reticent."

When she was about 40 years old, Hildegard received a spiritual command to publish her visions for the world to share. Her best known work, Scrivias, (ca. 1145) is a record of 26 visions. Like many other prophets, Hildegard foresaw the decline of the Church and the rise of Antichrist, whose career she described in detail:

"The time is coming when princes and people will renounce the authority of the Pope. Individual countries will prefer their own Church rulers to the Pope. The German Empire will be divided. Church property will be secularized. Priests will be persecuted. After the birth of Antichrist heretic will preach their false doctrines undisturbed, resulting in Christians having doubts about their holy Catholic faith."

"Toward the end of the world, mankind will be purified through sufferings. This will be true especially of the clergy, who will be robbed of all property. When the clergy has adopted a simple manner of living, conditions will improve.

"A powerful wind will rise in the North carrying heavy fog and the densest dust by divine command and it will fill their throats and eyes so they will cease their savagery and be stricken with great fear. After that there will be so few men left that seven women will fight for one man, that they will say to the man: "Marry me to take the disgrace from me." For in those days it will be a disgrace for a woman to be without child, as it was by the Jews in the Old Testament.

"Before the Comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scoured with want and famine. The great nation in the ocean that is inhabited by people of different tribes and descent by an earthquake, storm and tidal waves will be devastated. It will be divided, and in great part submerged. That nation will also have many misfortunes at sea, and lose its colonies in the east through a Tiger and a Lion. The Comet by its tremendous pressure, will force much out of the ocean and flood many countries, causing much want and many plagues. All sea coast cities will be fearful and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves, and most living creatures will be killed and even those who escape will die from a horrible disease. For in none of these cities does a person live according to the laws of God.

"Peace will return to Europe when the white flower again takes possession of the throne of France. During this time of peace the people will be forbidden to carry weapons and iron will be used solely for making agricultural implements and tools. Also during this period the soil will be very productive and many Jews, heathens and heretics will join the Church.

"The son of perdition (the Antichrist), who will reign very few of times, will come at the end day of the duration of the world, at the times corresponding to the moment just before the sun disappears from the horizon...

"After having passed a licentious youth among very perverted men, and in a desert, she being conducted by a demon disguised as an angel of light, the mother of the son of perdition will conceive and give birth without knowing the father. In another land, she will make men believe that her birth was some miraculous thing, seeing that she had not appointed a spouse, and she will ignore that, she will say, how the infant she had brought into the world had been formed in her womb, and the people will regard it as a saint and qualified to the title.

"The son of perdition is this very wicked beast who will put to death those who refuse to believe in him; who will associate with kings, priests, the great and the rich; who will mistake the humility and will esteem pride; who will finally subjugate the entire universe by his diabolic means.

"He will gain over many people and tell them: "You are allowed to do all that you please; renounce the fasts; it suffices that you love me; I who am your God."

"He will show them treasures and riches, and he will permit them to riot in all sorts of festivities, as they please. He will oblige them to practice circumcision and other Judaic observances, and he will tell them: "Those who believe in me will receive pardon of their sins and will live with me eternally."

"He will reject baptism and evangelism, and he will reject in derision all the precepts the Spirit has given to men of my part.

"Then he will say to his partisans, "Strike me with a sword, and place my corpse in a proper shroud until the day of my resurrection." They will believe him to have really given over to death, and from his mortal wound he will make a striking semblance of resuscitation.

"After which, he will compose himself a certain cipher, which he will say is to be a pledge of salute; he will give it to all his servitors like the sign of our faith in heaven, and he will command them to adore it. Concerning those who, for the love of my name, will refuse to render this sacrilegious adoration to the son of perdition, he will put them to death amidst the cruelest torments.

"But I will defend my two Witnesses, Enoch and Elias, whom I have reserved for those times. Their mission will be to combat the man of evil and reprimand him in the sight of the faithful whom he has seduced. They will have the virtue of operating the most brilliant miracles, in all the places where the son of perdition has spread his evil doctrines. In the meanwhile, I will permit this evildoer to put them to death; but I will give them in heaven the recompense of their travails.

"Later, however, after the coming of Enoch and Elias, the Antichrist will be destroyed, and the Church will sing forth with unprecedented glory, and the victims of the great error will throng to return to the fold."

Hildegard elaborated on the life of Antichrist in her book Heptachronon:

"The Man of Sin will be born of an ungodly woman who, from her infancy, will have been initiated into occult sciences and the wiles of the demon. She will live in the desert with perverse men, and abandon herself to crime with so much the greater ardor, as she will think she is authorized thereby to by the revelations of an angel. And thus, in the fire of burning concupiscence she will conceive the Son of Perdition, without knowing by what father. Then she will teach that fornication is permitted, declaring herself holy and honored as a saint.

"But Lucifer, the old and cunning serpent, will find the fruit of her womb with his infernal spirit and entirely possess the fruit of sin.

"Now when he shall have attained the age of manhood, he will set himself up as a new master and teach perverse doctrine. Soon he will revolt against the saints; and he will acquire such great power that in the madness of his pride he would raise himself above the clouds; and as in the beginning Satan said: "I will be like unto the most high", and fell; so in those days, he will fall when he will say in the person of his son, "I am the Savior of the World!"

"He will ally himself with the kings, the princes and the powerful ones of the earth; he will condemn humility and will extol all the doctrines of pride. His magic art will feign the most astonishing prodigies; he will disturb the atmosphere, command thunder and tempest, produce hail and horrible lightning. He will move mountains, dry up streams, reanimate the withered verdure of forests. His arts will be practiced upon the elements, but chiefly upon man will he exhaust his infernal power. He will seem to take away health and restore it. How so? By sending some possessed soul into a dead body, to move it for a time. But these resurrections will be of short duration.

"At the sight of these things, many will be terrified and will believe in him; and some, preserving their primitive faith, will nevertheless court the favor of the Man of Sin or fear his displeasure. And so many will be led astray among those who, shutting the interior eye of their soul, will live habitually in exterior things...

"After the Antichrist has ascended a high mountain and been destroyed by Christ, many erring souls will return to truth, and men will make rapid progress in the ways of holiness."

Hildegard gave more details about the Antichrist in her Vision X:

"Nothing good will enter into him nor be able to be in him. For he will be nourished in diverse and secret places, lest he should be known by men, and he will be imbued with all diabolical arts, and he will be hidden until he is of full age, nor will he show the perversities which will be in him, until he knows himself to be full and superabundant in all iniquities.

"He will appear to agitate the air, to make fire descend from heaven, to produce rainbows, lightning, thunder and hail, to tumble mountains, dry up streams, to strip the verdure of trees, of forests, and to restore them again. He will also appear to be able to make men sick or well at will, to chase out demons, and at times even to resuscitate the dead, making a cadaver move like it was alive. But this kind of resurrection will never endure beyond a little time, for the glory of God will not suffer it.

"Ostensibly he will be murdered, spill his blood and die. With bewilderment and consternation, mankind will learn that he is not dead, but has awakened from his deathsleep.

"From the beginning of his course many battles and many things contrary to the lawful dispensation will arise, and charity will be extinguished in men. In them also will arise bitterness and harshness and there will be so many heresies that heretics will preach their errors openly and certainly; and there shall be so much doubt and incertitude in the Catholic faith of Christians that men shall be in doubt of what God they invoke, and many signs shall appear in the sun and moon, and in the stars and in the waters, and in other elements and creatures, so that, as it were in a picture, future events shall be foretold in their portents.

"Then so much sadness shall occupy men at that time, that they shall be led to die as if for nothing. But those who are perfect in the Catholic faith will await in great contrition what God wills to ordain. And these great tribulations shall proceed in this way, while the Son of Perdition shall open his mouth in the words of falsehood and his deceptions, heaven and earth shall tremble together. But after the fall of the Antichrist the glory of the Son of God shall be increased.

"As soon as he is born, he will have teeth and pronounce blasphemies; in short, he will be a born devil. He will emit fearful cries, work miracles, and wallow in luxury and vice. He will have brothers who are also demons incarnate, and at the age of twelve, they will distinguish themselves in brilliant achievements. They will command an armed force, which will be supported by the infernal legions.

"After the Son of Perdition has accomplished all of his evil designs, he will call together all of his believers and tell them that he wishes to ascend into heaven.

"At the moment of his ascension, a thunderbolt will strike him to the ground, and he will die.

"The mountain where he was established for the operation of his ascension, in an instant will be covered with a thick cloud which emits an unbearable odor of truly infernal corruption... At the sight of his body, the eyes of great number of persons will open and they will be made to see their miserable error.

"After the sorrowful defeat of the Son of Perdition, the spouse of my Son, who is the Church, will shine with a glory without equal, and the victims of the error will be impressed to reenter the sheepfold.

"As to the day, after the fall of Antichrist, when the world will end, man must not seek to know, for he can never learn it. That secret the Father has reserved for Himself."

Hildegard repeated much of the above in more detail in Scivias, Vision XI: 25-27, 33-41.

25. St. Odile ~

Saint Odile was born blind to Duke Attich (or Adalric), Lord of Alsace, France, in the 7th century. Her father sent her to the convent of Baume-les-Dames near Besancon, where she was miraculously healed by St. Erhard, Bishop of Ratisbon. Thereafter she became known as Odile ("Daughter of Light"). In thanksgiving, her father allowed Odile to convert the family castle into a nunnery. Odile lived there in piety until her death in 720.

Most of St. Odile's prophecies concerned her own time and local events, but one prophecy attributed to her is a detailed description of World War II, which was fulfilled in every detail. Here is her warning about World War III and the Antichrist:

"There will come a time when war will break out, more terrible than all other wars combined, which have ever visited mankind. A horrible warrior will unleash it, and his adversaries will call him Antichrist. All nations of the earth will fight each other in this war. The fighters will rise up to the heavens to take the stars and throw them on the cities, to set ablaze the buildings and to cause immense devastations. Oceans will lie between the great warriors, and the monsters of the sea, terrified by everything that happens on or under the sea, will flee to the deep. Battles of the past will only be skirmishes compared to the battles that will take place, since blood will flow in all directions. The earth will shake from the violent fighting. Famine and pestilence will join the war. The nations will then cry "Peace, peace", but there will be no peace. Thrice will the sun rise over the heads of the combatants, without having been seen by them. But afterwards there will be peace, and all who have broken peace will have lost their lives. On a single day more men will have lost been killed than the catacombs of Rome have ever held. Pyres will be erected greater than the greatestcity, and people will ascend the highest mountains to praise God, and nobody will want to make war anymore. Strange signs will appear in the skies: both horns of the moon will join the cross. Happy will be those who will have survived the war, since the pleasures of life will begin again, and the sun will have a new brilliance...

"Woe to those who, in those days, do not fear the Antichrist, for he is the father of those who are not repelled by crime. He will arouse more homicides and many people will shed tears over his evil customs. Men will set themselves one against the other and at the end will want to re-establish order. Some will try to do so, but this will not succeed and thus will end up even worse off than before! But if things will have reached the summit and if the hand of man can no longer do anything, it will be put in the hands of Him, who can send down a punishment so terrible that it will not have been seen before. God has already sent the Flood, but he has sworn never to send one again. What he will do will be something unexpected and terrible." (4)

26. The Seeress of Prague ~

The Seeress of Prague was a Bohemian orphan who traveled with gypsies throughout the Holy Land, the Orient, Italy, and Europe before settling down in her old age in Prague. The Seeress predicted many modern inventions, as well as the end of this civilization. She died in 1658. Her prophecies, made while in trance, were written down by her gardener. Here is a sample:

"In the Fog-land [England], a Virgin girl will become Queen [Victoria] and will bring her land Empire and Greatness. These blessing will remain for a long time. However, the coming Race will not be worthy of their Pay, and they will marry each other; following relationships within the Family will not make it possible to sustain this wealth, and this will then end after about 300 years, after which the Land of Fog will sink into the Ocean...

"In Germany speaks a Man [Hitler], whose sign is a strange Cross with Arms [swastika] , and he speaks to his Folk and promises them Might and Dominion. He aligns with the Axe-Bearer of the Eternal State [Mussolini], but this will bring him no luck.

"His Soldiers with steel Horses that move on Tracks will come to Prague. The people of the Moldaustadt [Prague] are guilty of greed. The Cross-Bearer feels sure of himself and looks with Pride over the City.

"But he feels he does not have enough power and moves further into the World. He gives the order and his Officers and Soldiers move thousands of miles to the North, South, East and West. They will melt under the black Sun [Africa], and freeze in the Snow blizzards of the Bear-Land [Russia]. The War will have no end for some time and from the Sky will fall Pitch and Sulfur. Great Cities will go up in Flames.

"Mankind is partially annihilated. They want to overcome God Himself. With bad hearts they will sow a Mushroom, whose Seed will fall from the Sky to Earth. Great is the Fear, for the Mushroom reaches to the sky and overshadows much of the land. Through this Poison Thousands will die a horrible Death.

"The Cross-Bearer also will find an End and for a Thousand Years they will try to find his Body.

"A small Box with round knobs will bring Mankind Joy and Desire into the smallest Rooms. Music, frolic and laughter come from this remarkable Thing, and people shall listen to the good and bad words.

"Darkness has entered into the Heart. The people are so strange. All knowledge is mischief that threatens the World. Everyone knows the Unholiness that moves through, but everyone hates, nobody wants to believe in God. They are building a Tower of Steel, filled with Water, and believe with this to rule the Stars. Because of their Boldness, Men will become carried away with presumptuousness and will have grief in difficulty. The People will come to suffer very heavily, because the Human Spirit feels it has conquered over the all, and the Nature is changed.

"I see a small cornered thing in their hands, which will give them information about everything they wish to know. On a white Surface, there appears a small box in which we can see People, Animals, Mountains and Valleys. Beautiful Music accompanies the Figures, and the People are happy over it. But all their joys will mean nothing.

"Tears will flow out of their Eyes and they will flow in a torrential Stream. God's Voice will sound from the Sky, and the People will fall to their Knees shaking.

"A Ball, propelled from Water, rolls over the Earth. It could bring Blessings, but it brings only Need.

"A colored Box will help Mankind, to open the Womb of the Earth. But Poison and Fire will be their harvest and it will be difficult for them to close the Womb. Glowing Air itself will become useless, and the Ice of the North will melt and the Land will become prosperous.

"A small Land will become large and then again a Man will be born, who will be great with the power of the All. Millions will applaud him and raise their Hands to him, and he will be strong, the trouble to banish. But even him a dark power will bring to an End, and a Plate made of heavy Steel will crush this Worm.

"Yet all at once Mankind will realize that they are fighting a desperate War, but somehow an unjust War will become a holy Quest. Later, but later than ever they will attain the Judgment of it all. Joyous and freer will men then be but also a great deal poorer. The Sheep of the world will learn in their Spirit, and they will ban Lies and Dogma, and the Work of their Spirit will take first place over Work with their Hands. Because of this the Fields will yield many times what today is thought to be great Blessing, and Mankind will a Day of Work in four hours.

"They will hold Rod in hand, which will bring joy with skillful use. It can also delay Death. Balls will be formed of the Food, which they will eat when they are hungry. But they will not become satisfied and full because the Bean makes their bodies even hungrier. Again there will be surprises, and they will think of totally remarkable things to help Mankind. On the Streets there will be Wagons, which are faster than anything else but which possess no Wheels. Out of Glass and Earth garments will be woven, and these will last a lifetime. The Night they will make to Day, and out of blown Glass pipes will come bright daylight.

"They will again mock God. Their crimes will disgust God, because they will be able to manufacture People artificially. These artificial Humans, however, are poor in Spirit, because they have only small brains, but they will be strong and resilient, so there will come a new Time of Slavery.

"New Religions will come, and there, where today stands the Statue of Holy Wenzel, a high Tower will crown a new Temple. Splendid will this Temple be, built with Gold and Silver.

"Again there are dark Times. In the Year in which two Fives are across Nineteen, on the Day of holy Veronika [Feb. 4] will Mankind Scream in Fear out into the World, and the End of Prague will certainly happen. The Earth will be raped and God will hold a horrible trial.

"Nothing compares previously to anything like this. Out of East there comes a Dragon, who looks gross. Out of his 9 Tongues and 99 Eyes there will shoot deadly lightning and out of his open Mouth there will blow a poisonous Breath. Prague, my dear Prague, you will find a unique but gruesome End. One Breath dissociates your Walkways, sweet and warm. The people will feel amazed. Thousands of People will lie to rest with horribly twisted Faces, and will freeze in spite of the Warmth. The End is at Hand. Ten dampened blows to the Church are in the air. Yellow dust clouds and poisonous Dusts will take the Breath of Man and Animal. In the City there is Fire everywhere. The Earth moves, deep Crevices open and draw into them the Dead and the Living. The Cemeteries open themselves and the Skeletons laugh a gruesome laugh. Everything sinks into the black depths.

"From Vysehrad comes a Fireball, Blunders fly through the Air and everywhere there is screaming, and a Fire Ocean. Everything that was the result of Men, lies in Disarray and Ashes. Life is wiped out. I only see pieces and Skeletons. Slowly the Clouds move away. There, where the Dome once stood, I see only a bloody Fireball. It is over, Prague, your destiny has fulfilled itself."

Apparently, the Chinese army will reach Prague, which will be attacked with poison gas and finally nuked. Before that time, humans will be cloned and the clones will be enslaved. (3)

27. Anna Taigi ~

The Italian Trinitarian tertiary and mystic Anna Maria Taigi was born in Sienna on 1769; she died in Rome in 1857. One day in the 1790s, a Servite priest who met her in the streets of Rome heard a voice within him telling him that she would be entrusted by God to his guidance and become a saint. Anna later went to that priest for confession after the birth her first child. Anna was the wife of a foul-tempered valet (Domenico Taigi), and raised their seven children and nursed her repulsively ill mother in a crowded house. Despite such circumstances, she was often in ecstasy and had prophetic gifts. A mystic sun surrounded by a crown of thorns appeared to her, and within it she foresaw distant events. However, she exercised her gift only when it was demanded by charity. She was consulted frequently by Popes Leo XII and Gregory XVI, and by Napolean Bonaparte's mother. Here is her account of a vision she received concerning our future:

"God will ordain two punishments: One, in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils, will originate on earth; the other will be sent from Heaven. I see above the earth an intense darkness which will last for three days and nights. Nothing will be visible and the air will vomit pestilence, which will claim principally but not exclusively the enemies of religion. During these three days, artificial light will be impossible. Only sacred candles can be lighted and will afford light. During this alarm, the faithful should stay in their houses and recite the Rosary and give Misericords to God. He who out of curiosity opens his window to look out or leave his house will fall dead on the spot.

"On this terrible occasion so many of these wicked men, enemies of His Church, and of their God, shall be killed by this divine scourge, that their corpses around Rome will be as numerous as the fishes, which a recent inundation of the Tiber had carried into the city. All the enemies of the Church, secret as well as known, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of some few, whom God will soon after convert. The air shall be infested by demons, who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.

"After the three days of darkness, Saints Peter and Paul, having come down from heaven, will preach throughout the world and designate a new Pope. A great light will flash from their bodies and settle upon the cardinal, the future pontiff. Then Christianity will spread throughout the world. Whole nations will join the Church shortly before the reign of the Antichrist. These conversions will be amazing. Those who survive shall have to conduct themselves well. There shall be innumerable conversions of heretics, who will return to the bosom of the Church; all will note the edifying conduct of their lives, as well as that of other Catholics. Russia, England and China will come into the Church.

"France will fall into frightful anarchy. The French people shall have a desperate civil war, in which old men themselves will take up arms. The political parties having exhausted their blood and their rage, without being able to arrive at any satisfactory understanding, shall at the last extremity agree by common consent to have recourse to the Holy See. Then the Pope shall send France a special legate, in order that he may examine the state of affairs and the dispositions of the people. In consequence of the information received, His Holiness himself shall nominate a most Christian king for the government of France...

"Religions shall be persecuted, priests shall be massacred, the churches shall be closed, but only for a short time; the Holy Father shall be obliged to abandon Rome." (7-9)

28. Marie Jehannet ~

The French nun Marie Julie Jehannet (born 1850) manifested stigmata on her hands and feet from age 23 until her death in 1900. During that entire period she lived without sleep, food or drink! Although she lay bedridden for several years in her old age, she always had the face of a young girl. She made the following prophecy in March 1891:

"There will a three-day Darkness in the entirety of nature; during the three Nights and two Days there will be an uninterrupted night.

"The lit Candles will be all the Light to be had. A single candle will last for three Days. Lightning will smash into those homes, but they will not wipe out the light of the candles. Neither the wind nor the storm nor earthquake will destroy the lighted candles.

"But in the Houses of the Godless and those who have not found God through all this, there will be bad spirits in the most horrible configurations imaginable and they will make the strangest sounds ever heard. Red clouds like blood will move across the heavens. The cracking and thunder will shake the Earth. Unbelievable lightning will shake the streets in a way that has never been seen. The Earth will shake to its Foundation. The Water of the Ocean will foam over the Land and will be tossed over the embankment. And the entire Earth will become a Cemetery. The Famine will then be great. This Crisis will happen very quickly, and the Punishment will be the same all over the World."

Another recorded version of the prophecy states:

"The earth will be like a vast cemetary. Corpses of the impious and of the just will cover it. The earth will tremble to its fundaments, then great waves will agitate the sea and invade the continents."

29. Melanie Calvat ~

The shepherdess Melanie Calvat (1831-1940) was the daughter of a stonemason in La Salette, France. On September 19, 1846, Melanie, then 14 years old, andMaxime Giraud, age 11, were approaching a mountain stream near when they saw a ball of light downhill from them, looking "as though the sun had fallen there. A beautiful lady, all light and flowers," appeared out of the brilliant light and sat down on a stone in apparent great sorrow. The woman then levitated before Melanie and Maxime and addressed them with a prophetic message to the world, warning of a terrible future in which spirituality would decline and the clergy would degenerate. Then the Antichrist would come, followed by God's wrath:

"France, Italy, Spain and England will be at war. Blood will flow on the streets, Frenchmen will fight Frenchmen and Italian against Italian and in the end will come a war that will be terrible.

"For a period of time God will not remember Italy or France for they will have forgotten the Gospel. The evil ones will display all their malice and there will be murders even in houses. At the first blow of the sword of God which will fall, like lightning on humanity, the mountains and all nature will tremble because the disorder and the misdeeds of man will rise to the vault of heaven.

"Paris will be destroyed by fire and Marseilles will be inundated by the sea, other great cities will be destroyed by fire and razed to the ground. The just will have to suffer much: their prayers, penitence, and tears will rise to heaven; all the people of God will pray for pardon and sing misericords, and they will come to Me for My intercession and My help... There will be reconciliation between God and man and peace. They will serve, adore, and glorify Jesus Christ: love will blossom everywhere. The new rulers will be the right arm of the holy Church, which will be strong, humble, pious, poor, fervent, and a perfect imitator of the virtue of Jesus Christ. The Gospel will be preached everywhere and men will make great progress in the faith because there will be union between the workers for Jesus Christ and all who live in the fear of God.

"But this peace will not last for long; twenty-five years of plenty will be almost forgotten and the sins of men will be the cause of all the punishment which will once again be meted out to Earth.

"A forerunner of Antichrist will marshall an army drawn from all nations, united under his banner. He will lead them in a bloody war against those still faithful to the living God. He will shed much blood in eradicating the cult of the living God and by taking His place. Then there will be seen many types of punishment on Earth besides the diseases and hunger which will be universal. Wars will follow wars and the final one will be led by one of the ten kings of Antichrist who will have only one will and will be the only ones to rule in the world.

"Before this event the world will have apparent peace and people will think of nothing but pleasure and the bad ones will commit sins of all kinds. But the sons of the Holy Church, the Sons of Faith, My perfect imitators, will grow in the love of God and in all virtue, under the guide of the Holy Spirit. I will fight on their side until they arrive at the fullness of time.

"For the evil done by men even Nature will cry out and earthquakes will occur in protest even against those who have committed crimes on Earth. The Earth will tremble and you yourself will also tremble of you, who are dedicated to the service of Christ, yet inside only admire yourselves. Tremble! The Lord is on the point of giving you into the hands of your enemies, inasmuch as the holy places are contaminated by corruption. Many convents are no longer the houses of God, but pastures of "Asmodeus," that is of the devil, impurity, and their followers.

"Thus the time will be reached in which the Antichrist will be born of a Jewish nun, a false virgin who will have intimate relations with the ancient serpent, the master of luxury. His father will be a bishop. As soon as he is born he will have teeth and pronounce blasphemies; in a word he will be a born devil. He will emit fearful cries, work miracles and wallow in luxury and impurity. He will have brothers who are demons incarnate as he will be, but sons of evil, and at the age of twelve years they will distinguish themselves in brilliant victories. Almost all of them will be the head of an armed force, supported by the infernal legions.

"The seasons will change their characteristics, the Earth will be lit with a fiendish red light; the water and the fire will cause terrible seismic movements which will engulf mountains and cities.

"Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist. The demons allied to Antichrist will operate on Earth and in the sky and Humanity will become worse. But God will not give up his truly faithful servants who are men of good will. The Gospel will be preached everywhere to all the people and the nations will know the truth.

"I make an urgent appeal to the whole universe; I call the true disciples of God who lives and reigns in the sky! I use my voice as the perfect imitator of the Word Incarnate, Christ, the only Savior of men. I warn my sons, those truly devoted to me, who are faithful to Me because they lead me to My Son, whom I carried in My arms and Who lives always in My Spirit. Lastly, I appeal to the apostles of the last days, the disciples faithful to Jesus Christ who wait for the rule Melanie will receive for them, who lead a life despising the world and themselves and who live in sight of a world in poverty and humility, in silence and in self-effacement, in continual prayer and in mortification, in love and in union with God in concealment and in suffering.

"The time has come that you should show yourselves to lighten the world. Go and show yourselves, my beloved sons. I am with you and in you. While your faith is the light which will help you in these days of disappointment, your zeal will give you fame in the glory of Christ.

"Fight, Sons of light, you small number who see, because the time of times, the final end, is near.

"The Church will be in the dark, the world will be convulsed, but in this confusion Enoch and Elijah will appear full in the spirit of God. They will preach, and in their words will be the power of God, and men of good will believe in God, and many spirits will be consoled, in virtue of the Holy Spirit they will make great progress and condemn the diabolical errors of Antichrist.

"Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth. There will be sanquinary war, hunger, pestilence and epidemics, terrible rains of insects, thunder which will shake entire cities, earthquakes which will make entire regions uninhabitable. Voices will be heard in the air, and men will strike their heads against the wall, wishing for death, but this will bring them, for their part, terrible torture. Blood will flow everywhere. Who could ever report victory unless God shortened the time of trial?

"Enoch and Elijah will be put to death; pagan Rome will be destroyed and fire will fall from heaven destroying three cities. The sun will be blackened and only the Faith will survive.

"The time is at hand. The abyss is opening: the king of darkness is watching, the beast is watching with his subjects who will proclaim him "savior of the world." He will rise into the air superbly to reach the sky, but the breath of Archangel Michael will kill him. He will fall back and the earth will shake without ceasing for three days. It will then open its womb full of fire and the best and his followers will be allowed into the eternal abyss of inferno. Then water and fire will purify the earth to destroy all human pride and everything will be renewed.

"If humanity is converted, stones and rocks will become fertile and produce grain, and the fields will give abundant harvest." (4)

30. Our Lady of Fatima ~

On May 13, 1917, in a field called Cova da Iria near the Portuguese village of Fatima, "a beautiful lady from Heaven", shining like the sun and standing on a cloud over a beech tree, appeared to three children: Lucia Dos Santos (age 10) and her two cousins, Francisco (9) and Jacinta Marti (7). Lucia saw and heard the Madonna and spoke with her. Jacinta also saw and heard her, but did not speak, and Francisco only saw the Virgin. The radiant being spoke with the children for several minutes, and asked them to meet her again at the same place on the 13th of each month until October. Then, she promised, she would identify herself. (4, 9, 13, 14)

The Madonna reappeared six times in all, and the reports of the events drew increasing crowds of spectators. About 50 persons attended on June 13, and nearly 70,000 were present on October 13. Many witnesses saw a bright cloud over the beech tree, but only the three children could see and hear the woman.

At the behest of a group of political activists and doubters who wished to "put an end to the nonsense," the civil prefect of Outrem seized, interrogated and threatened the children for two days in the hope of forcing a confession of fraud from them. Though the children had been prevented from meeting the Madonna on August 13, she appeared to them on August 19 at Valinhos, near the site of her first appearance. The Madonna then told them that she would appear a final time on October 13, and then produce a miracle.

On that day the Madonna transmitted the prophecy known as the Secret of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was a rainy day, but newspaper journalists who were eyewitnesses reported that the rain stopped suddenly and the sun reappeared. In the words of A. Garret, a professor at Coimbra University, the sun looked like "a burnished wheel cut out of mother of pearl. This disc spun dizzily around... It whirled upon itself with mad rapidity, then advanced, blood red, towards the Earth, threatening to crush us with its weight." Terrified spectators fell to their knees in prayer. The sun returned to normal, then twice again repeated the prodigy. In addition, the rain-soaked clothes of the audience dried out during the brief time of the solar phenomenon.

The Secret of Our Lady of the Rosary is a three-part prophecy that she ordered to be kept secret for 25 years or until the death of Lucia, whichever came first. Francisco and Jacinta died in the influenza pandemic that ravaged Europe in 1918 and 1919. Lucia became a Dorothe Sister, and in 1948 she became a Barefoot Carmelite in a closed convent at Coimbra. Lucia learned to write, and recorded the text of the secret prophecy. This was kept in the Bishopric of Leiria until 1943, when Pope Pius XII revealed the first two parts through the agency of Cardinal Schuster. The final, secret part of the prophecy was opened by Pope John XXIII and several cardinals in 1960, according to the Madonna's directions, but it was not revealed to the public. The first section is a vision of Hell. The second part predicts World War II. The following segment was published with Papal approval:

"If you do what I tell you, many souls will be saved and we shall have peace. The war is coming to an end; but it does not cease to offend the Lord, and another, more terrible one will break out. When you see a night lit up by an unknown light, you will know that it the great sign that God gives you of the next punishment of the sins of the world with war, famine, and persecution against the Church and against the Holy Father.

"In order to prevent this, I have some to intercede for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart and the communion of the first Sabbaths.

"If you carry out my demands, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. Otherwise the errors will be spread around the world, provoking war and persecution against the Church; many good people will become martyrs, the Holy Father will suffer much; many nations will be suppressed...

"But in the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph, the Holy Father will consecrate Russia for me, which will be converted and the world will be granted a period of peace..."

The "great sign", "a night lit up by an unknown light," occurred on January 25, 1938. It has been explained as an unusual aurora borealis. World War II began soon afterward.