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Copyright 1993 by the Christian Research Institute.
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"Nostradamus" (an article from the Christian Research Newsletter,
Volume 1: Number 3, 1988) by Elliot Miller and Craig Hawkins.

    The editor of the Christian Research Newsletter is Ron
Rhodes.

From the RESEARCH NOTES column:
-------------

   In recent weeks, a French seer has become a very common name 
in American households. This is primarily a result of an 
earthquake that he supposedly predicted to occur in California
during the month of May. But what is the story behind the man who
is sending Californians running for cover?

   Michel Nostradamus was a sixteenth century French astrologer 
and physician. His Centuries (an assortment of brief rhymed
prophecies call quatrains), have been interpreted as predictions
of the French Revolution, the Second World War, and many other
events ranging over half a millennium. Nostradamus is perhaps the
most respected occult prophet of all time.

   In Italy, Nostradamus reportedly predicted that Felix Paretti, 
a young swine herder who had become a monk, would one day be 
Pope.  Two years after Nostradamus's death Paretti became Pope
Sixtus V.  Many other accurate predictions of events in his own
era are attributed to Nostradamus.

   Nostradamus's more astonishing prophecies, however, are those 
that seem to foretell major European events that occurred 200-400 
years after his death. It must be admitted that some of his 
predictions do seem to fit certain events well, such as the 
flight of Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette from Paris,
their capture in Varennes, and their ultimate execution. However, 
most of his predictions are vague and open-ended. As it is 
observed in _Man, Myth and Magic - An Illustrated Encyclopedia of 
the Supernatural:_ "Generation after generation of Nostradamus
enthusiasts have supposed that the quatrains, no mater how
obscure their contents, must be regarded as genuine prophetic
messages. It is conceivable, however, that Nostradamus composed
them with tongue in cheek, and that he was well aware that there
is an enduring market for prophecies and particularly for veiled
ones." (Vol.15, p.2017).

   The prediction of a giant earthquake to occur in California
actually gets its base from a film about Nostradamus. In the
Orson Welles narrated film "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow," the
details about the prediction are made.

   Nostradamus bases his predictions on the alignment of planets 
and constellations particularly Saturn, Capricorn, Jupiter, 
Mercury in Taurus, Venus, Cancer, and Virgo. Unfortunately for 
his prognostitions, the planets are not lined up according to how 
they were predicted to be.

   The possibility of an earthquake occurring in California 
around the time of Nostradamus's prediction is likely. The 
primary reason though is that California is earthquake country. 
Particularly over the past several months, earthquakes have been
happening on a regular basis.

   Nostradamus was a Roman Catholic of Jewish descent, but it is 
clear that he did not foretell events through the biblical gift 
of prophecy (I Cor. 12:10). He relied heavily upon horoscopes and 
other occult methods of divination and so we must say if any 
supernatural power was responsible for his accuracy, that power
was not of God (Deut. 18:9-14).

   The Bible does not teach that Satan has a full knowledge of 
the future. However, it is conceivable that through his superior 
intelligence he could accurately predict certain events, or, for 
that matter, exert his power over man to cause previously 
predicted events to come to pass. This could serve Satan's 
purposes by leading some people to embrace occultism because it 
_appears_ to really "work."

End of document, CRN0002A.TXT (original CRI file name),
"Nostradamus"
release A, March 9, 1993
R. Poll, CRI
(A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in
the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.)

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