El Libro de las Profecías by Christopher Columbus

We have talked before about how some important figures in history have become obsessed with prophecies such as Isaac Newton, but here we will take at another famous personality from history that was obsessed with prophecies, Christopher Columbus.

Between 1501 and 1502 he compiled a book with the help of his friend Gaspar Gorricio, the book was simply called El Libro do las Profecias, or translated to english> Book of prophecies.  The book lists a number of things that he saw as being on a 'to do' list to bring about the return of Christ.  In fact one of his voyages aims across the Atlantic was to gain gold for the monarchy to fund a crusade to Jerusalem!  The events he saw as needing to completed are as follows
1. Christianity must spread around the world
2. The Garden of Eden must be found (of which he believed he discovered it in Venezuela)
3. A crusade to take back Jerusalem from the Muslims
4. A last world leader should be chosen

These beliefs were common place during medieval times and it is clear that Columbus was influenced by the writings of Joachim of Fiore.  But some saw Columbus' obsession as a sign of madness, and refused to listen to his rants about attempting to fulfill prophecies.

It is possible to buy translations of his book, though currently they are out of print, you may still find second-hand copies online at Amazon for around $90.

Insect Surveillance Technology Foretold in Prophecy?

The above picture is just one of many new designs that are of interest to countries with big army budgets such as the U.S. government.  Recently stories of surveillance insects have been seen in the Dailymail and RT news, which begs the question, how long will it take before the governments have a million of these watching the moves of everyone, like a nanny-state.  Also, how will our society react to such a thing considering the high levels of hate to things like 'drones' .  Below is prophecy 9(vii) taken from Book of Prophecies published earlier this year;

Those who wish to dominate

Will seek The Insect anew,

Attitudes of inflated ego

They will not listen,

You have pushed too far

And now see the trouble upon you,

Memories renewed of traumatic events,

Achievement only brings judgement,

Many troubles approach you

How to spot a FALSE prophet !!!

I want to be bold here and tell you a little truth. Any person who stands up to you and says “I am a prophet” is actually not a prophet. It does not take much to find such people, even a simple search on the internet will give you a long list of people who call themselves prophets. I know that some say that a prophet is tested by the fulfillment of the prophecies that are provided. But not all prophecy is given to be fulfilled, sometimes it is given as a warning to stop a disaster, therefore the aim would be to avoid the fulfillment of the prophecy. So I would like to think that we can identify prophets as a man or woman who gives prophecies, but refuses to be given a title of 'prophet'.

I have spent time researching ancient documents and studying the lives of prophets, and in all of those documents I did not find one of the most famous prophets mention that they were a prophet. I was amazed that I had never noticed it before, actually in cases where it is suggested to them that they are a prophet, they actually deny it! But this denial has led skeptics to claim that they were indeed not prophets, I say on the other hand, that it proves that they were a prophet. The secrets are within the personality of prophets, which can reveal to us about their denials.

“I was no prophet” Amos

“I am no more than a man” Mohammad

“I do not wish to attribute to myself such a loftly title” Nostradamus

The clue about why a prophet denies his ability is all there in the ancient scripts, and it can simply be put as humility. All prophets maintain a deep spiritual relationship with God, and to maintain and keep that relationship there must be humility. This is because the prophet understands that the prophecies being uttered, are merely being passed on, in a way a prophet can be seen as God's mailman. Quite often the life of a prophet has been a humble life, but if it has been the opposite of humble, God brings him into humility. This journey into humility is oft littered with disasters or grief, in a sense breaking a person down so that God can build him back up.

But if a broken person is humble, then why would God feel the need to re-build him? It is because a prophet must have confidence. Imagine a prophet going around and saying “it is the end of the world tomorrow” and facing people who challenge the prophecy to his face or question it, a broken man would crumble in such a situation, yet a man re-built into confidence will not waiver.

I will openly admit that it is a strange combination of personality traits to be brought together, but a prophet must be confident and humble simultaneously. Dispite the fact that prophets refuse to admit openly that they are prophets, within their own private relationship that exists in-between them and God, the prophet will know that he is a prophet.

I believe that this is the last challenge that prophets learn to overcome, how to remain humble whilst walking the path of a prophet. He knows that he is a prophet, or why else would he provide prophecies? He has confidence in what God tells him because of the strength that exists in their relationship, a relationship maintained by humility. Yet this humble relationship will give him strength to stand against the odds if it is needed.

Columcille (521 - 597AD)

Church remains in Donegal

Columcille (otherwise known as Columba) was born in Donegal Ireland in 521 AD, he was the great-grandson of a 5th century Irish King.  Columcille was baptized in his local parish during a period of time where Christianity was sweeping across the country.

Columcille moved to Clonard Abbey to become a monk, where he studied with many others and he became known as one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.  He was ordained as a priest and he went on to set up monasteries at Kells, Derry and Swords.

Later in his life, an argument over the rights to a copy of the Book of Psalms resulted in a battle in 561, confronted at a gathering of clerics he exiled himself from Ireland.  From there he went with twelve companions to Scotland, eventually settling on the island of Iona off the west coast.  From this base he attempted to convert pagans and Kings.  He founded churches in Scotland and transcribed over 300 hundred books, he also wrote hymns and letters.  Towards the end of his life, he decided to return to Ireland and founded a monastery at Durrow, where he later died at the age of 75.

The main source of information about Columcille is in books by Adomnan(d.704), the ninth abbot of Iona.  These books contain details of his prophecies, his miracles that he performed and the apparitions that he saw during his life.

Some of his prophecies are quite distinct, foretelling the outcome of conflicts and so on, but others are short parables.  The miracles include healing people, subduing wild beasts, control over weather and storms, fighting evil spirits, and even raising the dead.  His actions to save a man from a river monster earned him fame, yet this is considered to be the source of the Loch Ness monster story, as he performed this miracle at the River Ness.

Elisha (est.848 - 793)

Elisha the son of Shaphat was anointed to be a prophet by Elijah to be his eventual successor; he was ploughing in a field when Elijah found him.  From there they traveled from Gilgal to Bethel, then to Jericho, then to Jordan where Elijah planned his ascension.

Elisha asks Elijah for 'double portion of thy spirit', and he is told that it will be given if he watches Elijah ascend to heaven.  After that Elisha gained new understanding, instantly able to smite and to part water, and even cursed children who mocked him, causing a bear to attack them

Elisha then traveled to Mount Carmel and then onward to Samaria.  The King came seeking his help, and so a minstrel played music and the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha to tell the king what to do.

A woman later asks for help (supposeldy the wife of a son of a prophet) and Elisha helps her, afterwards he would often pass when in the area to share bread. Elisha eventually predicts that she will have a baby (after previously being barren), later on Elisha revives the boy after he dies.

King of Syria sends Naaman to Israel to be healed by the prophet, and is told to wash in the river seven times before he gets healed, and Elisha refuses payment as a reward, but his servant Gehazi runs after Naaman and takes payment, but in doing so, incurs Elisha's curse which makes him take Naaman's leprosy.  Sons of prophets are moving to Jordan to make a new home and Elisha goes with them.  King of Syria sends an army to besiege Dothan and fetch the prophet, but Elisha made them all blind and took them to Samaria.  Elisha was able to predict the price of food, the death of various people and a seven year famine among other things.  Prophets had the power to anoint a new King, even on his death bed, sick, the King came and grieved and yet Elisha left him with a prediction that he would only defeat the Syrians three times.

False Prophecies of Merlin?

As I continue my research into the Mirabilis liber which was published in 1522, I wish to talk about a set of prophecies that appear in the book under the author name of St Gregory the Great.  But the document can be linked to an earlier publication that was attributed to that of Merlin, hence a conclusion that the collector of the Mirabilis liber chose to either disguise the name for some purpose... or simply had presumed incorrectly.

So why would prophecies from the source of Merlin be false?  As discussed previously, the character of 'Merlin' originates from a welsh person from the 6th century called Myrddin Wyllt, who had made a mess of his own prophecies and was driven to madness and lived in the wild as a crazed man.  Therefore any written prophecies said to originate from this source must have been faked or copied from elsewhere.  Yet as I studied the prophecies, they actually foretold things that have happened; 

"born of a tree a bird"

(seems to predict the invention of the plane)

[the plane] "shall wander around all those deserts killing the evil beasts"

(seems to predict planes hitting enemies, possibly the Iraq wars)

"truly even the Indies shall share in it, and know that the sea shall rise greatly and miraculously"

(seems to predict the devastating tsunami on 26th Dec 2004)

Paracelcus (1493-1541)

Paracelcus was born with the original name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, probably the longest name I have ever heard.  He was a German-Swiss physician and during his life he was linked to botany, alchemy, astrology and the occults.  He took the name of Paracelcus, which meant 'equal to or greater than Celsus', Celsus being the 1st century Roman Aulus Cornelius Celsus, possibly a man to which Paracelsus was inspired by.

Paracelcus made vast contributions to toxicology, psychotherapy, medicine and philosophy and inspired such people as Jacob Boehme.  He traveled widely across Europe, Africa and Asia Minor with the goal of finding hidden knowledge.  Many rumours circulated about his knowledge, and he was highlighted as possibly being the true identity of a major alchemist Christian Rosenkreutz.

He published a number of manuscripts during his lifetime, most notably for me, was the manuscript called Prognostications in 1536 which depicts prophecies and cryptic images. However Paracelcus had a reputation for being arrogant, inciting anger by publicly burning medical books.

If you would like to read more about Prognostications CLICK HERE

Old Document Review 'The confession of Prous Boneta'

Na Prous Boneta (d.1328) made her confession before an Inquisition in 1325, she was associated with a break away group which had become convinced that they were living in the end times.

Boneta believed that all seven seals had been opened during her own lifetime, and applied the characters in the Book of Revelations to people of her time.  She identified the two witnesses as being Francis of Assisi and Olivi, and that the current pope, Pope John XXII was actually the Antichrist!  Whats more unbelievable is that she goes on to identify herself as the woman that appears in Revelations 12, and that she seen herself as the only one worthy of opening the seals.  

It is easy to see why she had been brought before the Inquisition for her beliefs, yet, it is interesting to see that even back in the 14th Century there was those who believed that they lived in the end times, a belief which re-occurs over and over even to the present day, and it also shows how wrongly people can interpret prophecies.

Girolamo Savonarolo (1452 - 1498)

Savonarolo was born in Ferrara in Northern Italy into a highly respected family, he took up studying many sources such as the Bible and Aristotle and studied at the University of Ferrara where he took an Arts degree.  By the age of twenty he had already written a number of poems including 'On the Downfall of the World' and due to his expression of a corrupt clergy 'On the Downfall of the Church'.

He went on to become a Dominican friar in 1475 and joined a monastery in Bologna before transferring to Florence, he did return however to further his studies and become a master.  Upon his return to Florence, he seemed as if a new person, he became obsessed with preaching about the Last days (end times) and made statements about visions and prophecies.  He did not want to break away from the Catholic church but rather to fix the corruption from within.  When some of his major predictions came true, it elevated him to great success, resulting in him becoming the new leader of Florence in 1494.

Once in power, he declared it a new Christian republic and set about to change the laws including forcing homosexuals from the city and burning books, art-works, statues, mirrors and anything that was morally questionable.

In 1497, Pope Alexander VI excommunicated him and the next year demanded the arrest and execution of Savonarolo.  A crowd attacked his Convent, his supporters and guards killed, and he was charged with heresy, prophecy, sedition and other crimes called religious errors.  He was viciously tortured, they inflicted pain on his whole body except his writing arm, so that he could sign a confession which he eventually did, although later he sought forgiveness from God for confessing to something he did not do.  He was then taken out to where he had burnt the books, where he was burnt alive to the point where there was nothing left but dust.

To read about his prophecies CLICK HERE

Old Document Review 'Compendium revelationum'

This ancient document was written by Savonarola in 1495 and appeared not only in Mirabilis liber collection of prophecies in 1522, but was also seen as an important influence over what Nostradamus wrote in his preface to Cesar.

It is used as an extract in the Mirabilis liber, however, the manuscript itself is not a prophecy but a commentary about the abilities and knowledge that prophets obtain.  There are several points that the author makes, first that a prophet must not 'give what is holy to the dogs', recording that he has always been wary in revealing the things he is shown.

Next he states that a prophet is simply a person who knows things that every other human being is simply blind or ignorant to, that a prophet has a different kind of perception and a deep understanding of free will.  

Furthermore that only God knows truly what will happen in the future, this can be demonstrated in how some prophets have gone out a message for people to turn for their wicked ways to avoid destruction.  But when they have turned from the wicked ways, and the destruction avoided, the prophecy will not be fulfilled, but in a sense only God would have known that those circumstances would happen.

Lastly he mentions how prophets are under a beam of supernatural light, and within this light the prophet will understand but two things, the vision and the source of the revelation itself.  But this light is so strong upon their soul that it provides the prophet with complete certainty or the vision and the source.  Here a prophet is seen as a person without doubts.

To read more about the Mirabilis liber CLICK HERE

Old Document Review 'The Prophecy of St Vincent'

This old document which dates to about 1503 is attributed to St Vincent, yet it is not sure if this refers to St Vincent Ferrer or to Vincent of Aquila.  It was included in the collection of prophecies in the publication of Mirabilis liber which was first published in 1522.

The prophecy stats off very cryptically and mentions two Oxen, an Eagle and a Snake, and I researched for possible meanings of what is mean by these animals, for example two of them have Astrological significance and all of them bear reference to various countries, however, these countries do not match up with the countries mentioned later in the prophecy.  So as to the animals, I am still scratching my head.

Thankfully the rest of the prophecy is more clear.  First it says how a King from the west who fights but in the end has to retreat, leaving behind his loot.  This matches somewhat to the events where Charles V invaded Italy but had to retreat without his spoils after his defeat at the Battle of Fornovo in 1495.

Secondly it mentions dangers to the inhabitants of Sicily, and indeed there was a lot going on in the years following, including exchange of ownership various times, a terrible plague and two large earthquakes in 1542 and 1693, one of which claimed over 60,000 lives.

Next it mentions a schism within the church resulting in two popes existing at the same time, however the Great schism had occurred hundreds of years previous where three popes had existed, but it could refer to when Henry VIII broke away from the church and became the head of the Church of England.

Finally it mentions that three armies shall attack Italy, and indeed in the 16th century, Italy was attacked by the French, the Spanish and the Swiss.

The prophecies seem to be a mix of events which have happened before the publication yet there were some events that were foretold correctly.

To read more about the prophecies in the Mirabilis liber CLICK HERE

Old Document Review 'The prophecies of Joannes Vatiguerro'

There are three seperate manuscipts in the Mirabilis liber that are said to originate from this author, but published as a whole with the rest of the collection in Mirabilis liber in 1522, so the original prophecies would have existed before this date.

To be honest there is a huge amount of material in these prophecies, and many of them can be referenced against the prophecies of Nostradamus, in a sense proving that he had this book in his vast library of prophecy books. However there are a number of events that are foretold that have since come to pass since 1522, below I have listed a few:

-the plot against the King of France in 1503

-the capture of King Francis I during the Battle of Pavia in 1525

-the massive earthquake of 1556 in China which claimed 800,000 lives

-the French Revolution (1789-1799)

-the consolidation of Spain after the invasion of Aragon by Philip V in 1707

There is also a number of prophecies given in these manuscripts which can be seen as talking about the end times, again I have listed a few below

-frightening earthquakes in many places

-food production shall diminish

-the sea will rage

-the air will be contaminated

-two moons will be seen at the same time

-an unspeakable plague

Costa Concordia in prophecies?

I just wanted to post a quick blurb about the recent disaster of the Costa Concordia, like many people it grabbed my attention seeing such shocking pictures such as the one above.  I have to say that my heart goes out to the families of those who have been lost in this disaster.

  And I just wanted to post up a few extracts from Book of Prophecies which may mention the disaster, I would like to know your opinion, please comment;

“death to men, peril to ships” 1(vii)

“A man runs from responsibility and it will bring loss of affection” 3(ii)

“abandoned, plates left overturned, it is empty... silence on the ship” 7(iii)

“ship lost, danger, death, balance lost” 7(iv)

“a champagne glass sideways in a picture on the wall where green curtains hang” 10(xi)

“man found in orange by boat overturned” 12(vii)


Update: I was watching the documentary about the disaster, I had heard rumours, yet the program confirmed that there were indeed 13 decks on the Costa Concordia.  Why was that important? Well as you know the accident happened on Friday 13th, the exact same day on which Book of Prophecies was launched, the book contains 13 chapters, in each 13 verses, so as for the book it has 2 number thirteens, the boat and date contain 2 thirteens, and the date itself upon inspection will show you another set of thirteens, simply add the month (1) to the year.  Indeed all the events are linked together by this number, not for anything other that to highlight the words above which are carried in the messages of the book.

Video Review

Time for Change?

  If I was to look around the normal everyday household, a family home; you would see that the dad will be quietly sat on his comfortable armchair reading the text on the TV, the mother reading away on her ebook reader, their son on the sofa playing a portable games console, and their daughter also on the sofa but browsing the web on her laptop. Is this what was envisioned when electricity was invented? Is the process of developed technology, something that steals away the personal side of humanity?

Think about it, we make friends and talk to friends through online social networks, we can arrange dates by dating websites, we can do online banking to pay bills. However amazingly fancy these developments seem, we cannot ignore that there are consequences. For example, in my local bank they have removed the customer services desk and replaced it with machines. Another example would be self-service tills in the shops. Now I don’t want to sound like some backwards person thinking some old way of life is more idealistic, but there are so many ways that the modern life removes social interactions from our every day moments.

Its not that I am saying that all these changes are wrong, but what I am saying is that all these changes are taking place without us all debating as a society if this is what we want in our lives and in our children’s lives. Everything we do as a society will have consequences. For example the invention of paper eventually led to the destruction of forests around the world, which in turn has reduced the amount of leaves turning carbon dioxide into oxygen. I am sure that hasn’t had any effect on global warming at all? Or maybe it has.

Another great example of doing something without considering consequences would be the global market expansion, we thought this as being a good thing, something to increase business, to increase the interest in bonds and investments. But look at the sheer disaster of it all now. The ‘market’ can now put so much pressure onto countries that it can force a change in a president or even a government. Let me ask you, where in the description of democracy does it say that people can vote in whoever they want, until the markets become unhappy with their choice and then someone else has to be chosen. World markets now have too much power, and the more you think about it, the more scary it gets. The rating agencies guide investors to downgrade and upgrade bonds. So in a sense, the rating agencies control the market, and therefore the rating agencies can force control onto governments! Has anyone asked who owns these companies? For all we know it’s the people who lend out all the money to countries, that way, now they are getting a higher percentage for all that money they lend out. Now I am not a conspiracy kind of person, all I am saying that it is wrong not to be asking these questions. I want to know who these people are, I want to know who my country owes all that money to, I want to know who my government is giving money to.

If I was a communist right now I would be laughing in the face of democracy. Not to say that communism is perfect, maybe no system can ever be right. As soon as positions of power are created, there is always the chance that someone may come along and abuse it. It only takes seconds to think of many examples of this, and you can’t really blame anyone for it, as humans we are all flawed. But we must recognise that any system we create will also be flawed. Computer systems get viruses. Markets crash. Cars break down. Planes crash. Asset markets will cause bubbles that burst. In some ways I wish there was no system, that there was no government, that there was no debt crisis, but that is not being realistic.

But maybe the fault is not of the creation of electricity, okay there are things we could have done better with the development of electricity, like maybe invented wind power or solar panels before the mass roll-out to the public. No maybe the problem is not electricity, maybe the problem goes back a lot further, maybe the real problem is actually money. Yes I said money. Imagine for a moment a world without it, we used to have a world without it. Money when originally invented had a value to it, gold and silver coins, a value that could be measured. Nowadays money is made from worthless metals and paper, the value of it is imagined. Imagined things just like asset markets can make bubbles that can burst. If the value of the euro suddenly dropped, it is suddenly worth less dollars, and vice versa. Money created the worldwide market, money created the everyday items that remove our social interactions. However, money is actually not the root cause, the root cause to all of this is us.

Well think about it, we invented all these things, we were unhappy with a simple life of living in a straw hut, with a fire and a wife and kids, we chose to invent ways to improve ourselves and our greed has taken us to many low points. The countless wars over land, the devastation during two World Wars, the almost destruction of the world during the missile crisis in the 60’s, the global warming crisis that engulfs us now. These are all things that have originated from our ancestors greed. But is there even any point in saying these things? People may read this and think ‘Hmm some interesting points Mr’, but they won‘t go on to make changes in their life. Can we as a society change? At least to make the changes that we need to? This will ever more grow as a topic, especially in 2012, a year in which many people and ancient civilisations pointed out as an important year for humanity. Will we as humans choose to change and avoid destruction?

Cesar is author of the upcoming 'Book of Prophecies' which will be released 13^th January 2012, if you would like to find out more please visit http://www.cesarprophecies.com for more information.

Old Document Review 'The prophecy of Raynard Lolhardus'

I am reviewing the contents of this prophecy as part of my studies on the Mirabilis liber prophecy collection, this is the eighth part of the collection published in 1522, and this is very different to the other prophecies in the collection that I have already reviewed.

This prophecy is very specific, even stating that the events will happen between 1496 and 1598, and yes I did say that this was published in 1522 yet I would assume that the original pre-dates 1496, yet very little is known about Raynard apart that he is mentioned as being a hermit, and there have been other prophets in time that were also hermits such as Hermas.

The theme of the prophecy concerns the wars between Europe and the Turks when the Turks shall 'slaughter the priests at the altar', yet seeing as though the Ottoman Wars started from about 1299 it cannot be said that this prophecy foretold the slaughter of the priests, as the slaughter may have already started by the time that the prophecy was written.

However the next section of the prophecy leaves no doubt, it states that 'an invincible leader shall emerge from Spain' to fight.  In 1571, John of Austria, the half-brother of the King of Spain led a fleet containing an army of the Holy League which consisted of over 200 ships and defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Lepanto.

Yet there are sections of the prophecy that never came to be, it stated for example that the 'Church of Saint Sophia shall revive', this church was in Constantinople and had been conquered by the invaders and turned into a mosque and stayed as such until the modern era when it was converted into a museum.  Another prophecy that failed to come true was the rise of another Emperor called Doglosius.

To read more about the other prophecies in the Mirabilis liber CLICK HERE

Old Document Review 'The prophecy of Saint Severus'

This ancient document forms part of the Mirabilis liber, a collection of prophecies that was published in 1522, however this fourth section of the prophecies is believed to have originally been a 4th century composition or a 15th century composition with some confusion over who the author might be.

This set of prophecies is unlike anything I have read, and is somewhat disjointed in ways.  In places it mentions things such as 'the Church that shall be called diabolical' which could easily relate to modern time Catholic priest scandals, and there is also a reference to the 'time of the giants' which would suggest that the author would have considered other ancient texts about the giants as being the truth such as The Book of Giants and The Book of the Bee.

There is a long and specific prophecy in relation to the city of Ravenna (Italy), the author calls it the 'city of philosophers, built by the children of Noah', yet there will be a great struggle over this place, and indeed in history there has been struggles over Ravenna; with it being at points belonging to the Roman Catholic Empire and at other points it belonged to Italy and has switched between them many times.

However, despite the name, there is the possibility that this prophecy is actually talking about New York, it is called 'city of the peoples and of riches' yet its enemy shall rise and 'shall take into the air' and then says that 'The towers that are your joy shall fall into the dust'.  Could this very clear prophecy actually be predicting the 9/11 attacks?

Either way this moment in time is seen as a turning point leading to battles and wars that have not been seen since the beginning of the world, yet that faith and unity will be reborn in Ravenna (or New York) and the enemies of the Christians will be destroyed until the times of the Antichrist.

To read more about the other prophecies in the Mirabilis liber CLICK HERE

Old Document review 'The Prophecy of Bishop Bemechobus'

This old document forms part of the Mirabilis liber which is a collection of prophecies and anthologies that was published in 1522.  This part, written by a Syrian bishop forms one complete prophecy based solely upon a biblical background.

The prophecy tells of a war started by 'the arms of the south' that will cause much devastation to Northern Africa and much of Europe, and that this will be a religious war where Christians will be subject to many horrors.  Next the Christians fight back and win back their homelands and 'Peace and tranquility shall be reborn on earth' where the age that people live to shall increase drawing near to the amounts of years which Noah lived.  

Then another war, an army from the North with so many men that they are referred to as a plague that devour anything from snakes to humans and they shall capture Greece and much of the middle-east and they will rule of Jerusalem for seven years, then the Antichrist will appear and show many miracles to the world.  Then the two witnesses(Elias and Enoch) will come and attack the Antichrist, and then follows this is the return of Christ.

To read more about the other prophecies in Mirabilis liber CLICK HERE

Prophet Daniel (est 605-530BC)

The story of the prophet called Daniel which means “God is (my) judge” is told in the Book of Daniel. His overall mission can be said was to show that God was sovereign over the kingdoms of men.

Daniel was a captured Jew living in exile after the siege of Jerusalem, a student of the Babylonian court, and later rose to third in power, looking after much of the kingdom. He was known for his wisdom and for his talent as a dream interpreter, and most famously for surviving a night in the lion’s den.

He was a humble man, knew the importance of eating healthily, trustworthy, not corrupt or negligent, and had knowledge of other prophets including Jeremiah. He had visions during the day and the night; some of which would disturb him or exhaust him or even make him ill. He had the ability to talk with angels. He could make prophecies against people to force the outcome of God’s will (making a king live in the wild, telling a king his days were numbered).

Examples of his prophecies include the rise and fall of four empires (Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome), the prediction of the death of Antichus IV in 164 B.C, the prediction of the coming Messiah and his death and the prediction of Israel’s destruction by Titus in 70 A.D.

Yet his prophecies regarding the end times are equally impressive and were very much studied by prophecy collectors such as Isaac Newton and others. His end-time prophecies include; that a prince called Michael will arise, that those in dust will awake to face their judgement, that there will be a time of great distress on the scale that has never been seen before, yet he also said that more was revealed to him than he was allowed to reveal, the words were ‘sealed up’.

Fake Prophecies Mother Shipton (est1488-1561)

Ursela Southeil otherwise known as Mother shipton was born in 1488 in Knaresborough, Yorkshire, England in a cave which is now visited by tourists (pictured above). She was supposedly very ugly yet had married Toby Shipton who was a local carpenter in 1512. It is said that she made predictions throughout her life including the prediction of the great fire of London and even the end of the world in 1881.

However it has been found that many of her supposed predictions are fake including a poetic verse circulated by William Harrison in 1881 in which cars and the phone are predicted after they have been invented. But of course these became her most famous prophecies despite the fact that they were fake. In fact the first publications of her life story and prophecies did not appear until 80 years after her death, so it is very hard to know if there is any truth in the story at all. Many people put her in the same category as Robin Hood, a story based upon the real person but something that gathers momentum and 'extras' as the story is told over and over. Below I have included the fake William Harrison prophecy:

Carriages without horses shall go,
And accidents fill the world with woe.
Around the world thoughts shall fly
In the twinkling of an eye.
The world upside down shall be
And gold be found at the root of a tree.
Through hills man shall ride,
And no horse be at his side.
Under water men shall walk,
Shall ride, shall sleep, shall talk.
In the air men shall be seen,
In white, in black, in green;
Iron in the water shall float,
As easily as a wooden boat.
Gold shall be found and shown
In a land that's now not known.
Fire and water shall wonders do,
England shall at last admit a foe.
The world to an end shall come,
In eighteen hundred and eighty one