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NOSTRADAMUS: PROPHET OF GOD OR MESSENGER OF SATAN?

Some Serious Questions About The 16th Century Seer

Most people are familiar with the writings, commonly called

'Quatains,' of the 16th century French physician Michel

Nostradamus. Nostradamus lived during the days of the

Inquisition, a dark period in European history during which

the Roman Catholic Church resorted to every means possible,

including horrible practices of torture, to exorcise the

demons from those who refused to embrace Catholicism as the

only true religion ordained by and blessed of God. It was

because of these conditions that Nostradamus shrouded his

writings in deep symbolism, making them just as mysterious

and esoteric as the Revelation of St. John the Divine.

Nostradamus was heavily steeped into the occult, including

astrology and the theosophy of the Kabala. It is said that

he also took mind-enhancing drugs which allowed him to make

intimate contact with the spiritual world which resulted in

what are said to be prophetic dreams and visions. Originally

written in French, the Quatrains, as well as various

interpretations of their meanings, have now been translated

into a variety of languages. Likewise movies and videos have

been made regarding the man's work. As of this writing, the

most highly acclaimed books regarding the interpretations of

the Quatrains is a series written by New Age author Dolores

Cannon. Using various 'channelers' to contact the spirit of

Nostradamus and some of his contemporary associates, D.

Cannon produced the series 'Conversations With Nostradamus'

which allegedly contain the proper interpretations of the

Quatrains.

Being deeply interested in Endtime and futuristic events, I

have taken the time to read some of the original Quatrains,

as well as various summaries of and excerpts from

'Conversations With Nostradamus.' While I find his

predictions interesting and quite intriguing, I must also

confess that I have a few reservations which are difficult

for me to simply ignore or dismiss. Let me state that this

impression was formed not so much from reading an English

translation of the Quatrains, as it was by the

interpretations provided by Dolores Cannon and others. If

one were to go by these alone, it would appear that Michel

Nostradamus was a false prophet. The problem here is that we

don't have the man here today to tell us exactly what he

meant by his Quatrains. All we have are the interpretations

of those who have tried to understand them. As such, calling

Nostradamus a false prophet may be unjustified and a bit

premature. I am sure that you will agree that accusing

someone of something based on second-hand knowledge or

someone else's understanding is not a fair practice.

While M. Nostradamus credits God for his gift of prophecy, I

noticed that at the same time, in his letters he refers in

several places to 'the gods' instead of the one true God. It

makes me wonder if perhaps he wasn't caught in a dilemma

regarding his personal beliefs, as if he was trying to

maintain a balance in his faith in the true God, but without

really forsaking the works of darkness in which he was

involved, i.e., witchcraft, drugs, kabala, etc.

I find these facts about Nostradamus rather disturbing as

there is no mention in the Bible of the prophets of old

having to rely upon any kind of outside catalyst or stimulus

to bring on their visions & prophecies. They usually say 'I

was in the spirit' or 'I was caught up in the spirit.'

Exactly how they achieved this, we really don't know. At any

rate, if a person relies upon means other than being

overcome by the Spirit of God, I think we should at least

question the source of the information recieved, regardless

of how accurate or factual it may prove to be. Satan is a

liar & a deceiver & well-versed in both the Bible & the

future of the world, so it would be quite easy for him to

pass on such knowledge to one of his servants. Because of

these factors, I advise everyone to maintain a very cautious

approach should they decide to read any of the works of

Nostradamus, and especially New Age interpretations of his

works. Jesus' warnings in Matthew 24 regarding false

prophets and false messiahs should be taken very seriously.

Another point which has also disturbed me for quite some

time is the clear absence of the Second Coming of Christ in

these predictions...at least in the interpretations of them

which I have read. If they are accurate interpretations,

then I would have to say that the predictions of Michel

Nostradamus are closely aligned with New Age beliefs which

tend to discuss soon-coming cataclysmic changes followed by

a new Golden Age of peace. We are given the impression by

the New Age interpretation of the Quatrains of Nostradamus

that, just as we have brought the cataclysms upon ourselves

through our own folly, in the same manner through our own

good works, and spiritual evolution/ascension (possibly with

a little help from some alien intervention) we will be able

to rectify our wrongs and bring in the Golden Age.

This seems contrary to the Scriptures which states that it

is only Christ's Second Coming which will be the catalyst

for these changes. According to the Bible, it is Christ

Himself who will destroy the Anti-Christ & his army of

earthly followers. If I understand these interpretations

correctly, they attribute the downfall of the Anti-Christ,

or Beast of the Bible, to military defeats and other earthly

forces.

This lack of a clear Second Coming really sticks out like a

sore thumb in my view. While his prophecies may strongly

support Biblical endtime events in certain areas, such as

the Anti-Christ, the Middle East situation, the Mark of the

Beast & worldwide credit system, etc., I fail to understand

his reasons for not mentioning that it is the invasion of

the Godly forces from Heaven which will put an end to the

Satan-Anti-Christ-False Prophet trio, and not just a natural

progression of earthly events.

Another point which seems to cast a shadow on his prophecies

are some blatant inaccuracies...at least according to the

interpretations of his writings. According to them, Pope

John Paul II was to have died during the early part of 1996,

slain by an assassin. As I write this, it is now February

1997 and the Pope is still alive. According to the

interpretations, there are to be only two more Popes before

the complete collapse of the Roman Catholic Church.

According to some, the Archbishop of Paris will follow John

Paul II and will likewise be assassinated. It is said that

the final Pope will totally compromise with the Anti-Christ.

In fact, those who have interpretted the predictions of

Nostradamus claim that this final Pope will be the False

Prophet mentioned in the book of Revelation. Thus far, these

interpreters seem to have a rather poor track record. Pope

John Paul is now 76 years old. He can't last much longer.

Surely, within a short time we will know how accurate these

people are.

Again, this is the dilemma. Should we accuse Michel

Nostradamus of being a false prophet, or should we attach

this label to those who have mis-interpretted his works? If

he hadn't been so fearful of the Inquisition, perhaps we

would have a better idea of what he meant, and we could thus

make a better evaluation regarding the validity and accuracy

of his work.

In all fairness, we find ourselves in the same position with

the Bible. We English speakers are at a clear disadvantage

here...we did not personally take part in Biblical events,

that is, the events surrounding the translation of each

book. As a matter of fact, we don't even have second-hand

knowledge. What we read today is the result of various

translations or interpretations. The accuracy of these

interpretations & the knowledge that is passed on to us is

clearly determined by the original translators and/or the

earthly governments/authorities which have or had power over

them. It could be that for religious or political reasons,

the Word or prophecies we have received today have become

heavily adulterated...they are no longer pure, the true

meanings may have been lost for intentional or unintentional

reasons. I feel this may indeed be the case with the KJV

Bible which I highly respect & have used for many years. I

tend to think that it is a much more radical book that we

tend to believe because those in power at the time (Church

of England?) had the interpretations of some areas toned

down so-to-speak so they wouldn't be so radical, so

contradictory to established beliefs at the time, and more

acceptable to the general populace.

So how does this relate to the prophecies of Nostradamus?

Well, many of us do not read French. We have never met the

man or read the original manuscripts. We are relying upon

the honesty & accuracy of the interpreters as well as that

of those who yielded power over the

translators/interpreters. In the case of the works which

have come to be regarded by some as the most accurate

translations and interpretations, that is, the trilogy by

Dolores Cannon, we are asked to express great faith in the

channeling abilities of several persons which were under the

supervision of D. Cannon. This whole concept of channeling

in itself is a highly controversial practice. We are asked

to believe that some of these channelers, one in particular,

spoke directly with Nostradamus or his spirit or took on his

essence.

Should we just outright dismiss channeling as a practice of

Satan? There does appear to be a similarity between

channeling and prophesying. In one case, channeling, we are

asked to believe that the channeler's body becomes a medium

through which the spirit of a departed person can speak &

convey some sort of knowledge.

In most Biblical prophesies, as mentioned above, the prophet

is either overcome by the Spirit of God, or is taken up in

the Spirit, or else someone, usually an angelic messenger is

chosen to bring the message to the prophet in a dream or

vision. The Bible tends to be rather nebulous in the

terminology used to describe these events. Is this due to

the original Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic...or were the

translations carefully controlled?

In some respects, channeling might be considered the New Age

term for prophesying. But is it really? True prophesying is

inspired by the Spirit of God and bears good fruit in one

way or an other...and it always comes to pass. Can the same

be said for channeled messages? Just studying some of the

New Age information will quickly reveal that there are a lot

of misses. A lot of the channeled information also

contradicts the Bible. It appears that channeling might have

more in common with the practice of divination, having a

familiar spirit, something which the Bible expressly

condemns.

Thus, in the case of the prophecies of Nostradamus, we have

no guarantee that what have come to be accepted as accurate

interpretations of his prophecies (D. Cannon's trilogy), are

indeed 100% correct. It could be in some cases that

Nostradamus meant something entirely different & that his

prophecies were indeed fulfilled to the letter...but due to

poor interpretation, the fulfillment was lost.

It could also be that the Second Coming of Christ is clearly

mentioned, but that the interpretations as received by D.

Cannon's channelers were subject to the personal religious

beliefs held by the channelers....or lack thereof. If they

are not Christians, is it not possible that they could have

subconsciously siphoned out anything related to Christianity

or the Second Coming so that the channeling sessions and/or

interpretations were more in line with their own personal

beliefs, or the belief of the New Agers, many of which do

not embrace Christianity? Including all of the cataclysmic

events of the Bible, but leaving out the actual intervention

of Christ at the Second Coming, might indeed be something

which would appeal to the New Agers. How sly of Satan to

entice his followers with all of the endtime tidbits the

Bible has to offer, but then leaving out the ultimate

revelation: The Second Coming of Christ & the utter defeat

and destruction of Satan himself!

Likewise, there is also the possibility that due to their

own willingness to want to believe, they may have

interpreted some of the prophecies in such a manner that

they would indeed appear to have been fulfilled when in fact

they were not. This may be seen as a form of self-delusion.

We see what we want to see.

There is also the temptation to believe in the mystical, the

magical, to believe that we are the possessors of some

hidden or even forbidden knowledge. Some of us are eager to

understand our own future and destiny, even though Jesus

Himself told us to take 'no thought for the morrow, for the

morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' (Matthew 6:34)

Could it be that the interpreters of the prophecies of

Nostradamus have subconsciously or even consciously sought

to fulfill this basic need of ours by sculpturing their

interpretations to meet our expectations?

And if we wish to point the finger at the prophet himself,

could it even be that the works of Nostradamus are not of

God but are the result of Satanic forces which may have

influenced or controlled him during his times of revelation?

Personally, I do not really know the answers to all of these

questions. We each have to seek the answers for ourselves,

for as the Bible tells us, 'Let every man be fully persuaded

in his own mind....' My purpose in writing this is simply to

offer an admonition, the same admonition which I have

applied to other New Age prophets and seers. Do not take

anything at face value. Research it, compare it with the

known standard...the Bible. Is it 100% in agreement? Are

there any contradictions? Does it bear good fruit? Does it

leave you with the right fruits of the Spirit? Or does it

make you feel down and condemned or fearful? Does it drive

you away from, or towards God? And in the case of prophecies

and predictions, do they come to pass exactly as predicted?

That alone will either condemn or vindicate the bearer of

the message.

We each must seek to answer these questions for ourselves

through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the recorded

Word. Let the light in and the darkness will flee of itself.