Possession
THE MOST FAMOUS astrologer in history was probably Nostradamus.
Michel Nostradamus, the celebrated French seer, physician and astrologer, was born in a small town south of Avignon, in 1503. He was the son of a notary public (a more significant office then than now). His grandfather taught him mathematics and astronomy.
Soon after he had completed his medical training, a great plague broke out. Nostradamus saved many people from dying; he could not save his own wife and children.
Suffering was a potent force in maturing the young physician's ideas.
In the attic of his house at Salon (after remarriage to a wife who bore his six children), Nostradamus had a special room where he observed the stars. Calculating orbits and conjunctions, he tried to foresee the future, writing down his predictions.
Nostradamus' celebrated work was published in 1555. Its success was so great that King Henry II invited the author to become part of his court. Nostradamus accepted, and spent the next eleven years moving in royal circles. He died at the age of 63, having — according to the record — predicted the hour of his death.
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Here is how Nostradamus began his book of prophecies:Absorbed in Nature's mysteries, I spend my nights,
In lonely solitude on seer's throne of brass
But soon the forlorn little flame makes me hope
That my faith will be rewarded
When I hold the wand in my hands
The wave soon moistens my feet and the hem of my garments
I listen to a Voice and turn pale.
The heavenly light, the Divine inspiration, has come over me.
Nostradamus' work is divided into ten "Centuriates," each of which consists of one hundred quatrains (like those just given). The language is strange and obscure, but plain enough for followers of the prophet to claim that more than one hundred predictions have already been fulfilled.
Central in these prophecies is the history of France and Europe. Order is missing, either chronological or logical. Dates are given in only a few instances, but — according to Nostradamus — this was intentional.
Here are a few examples of his predictions, with the interpretations that were later given:
In the deepest part of Western EuropeA child will be born of poor parents
Who by his language will seduce the great army.
His fame will increase further because of a government expedition toward the East.
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An Emperor will be born near Italy
Who will cost the Empire dearly.
Those with whom he allies himself will refer to him
As butcher rather than a prince.
From the town near the sea from which contributions are levied.
The shorn head will remove the satrapy.
Chasing away the dirt-mongers who oppose him.
For fourteen years he will retain the tyrant's scepter.
These quatrains are understood to be predictions of Napoleon's life and rule, more than two hundred years before the incidents occurred.
Napoleon was born in Corsica ("near Italy"). Contrary to prevailing fashion, he wore his hair closely cut ("shorn head"). The British occupied Toulon ("town near the sea"), and Napoleon ruled a few months more than "fourteen years."
The disastrous Russian expedition is supposedly predicted by this quatrain:
A large fire will be seen in the direction of the rising sun,
Rumor and the bright light point to Aquilon.
Death and the cry of death rule all around
The aggressors will perish by the sword, through fire and starvation.
More recent events are also claimed by adherents to Nostradamus' predictions. The following
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quatrain was pin-pointed as referring to World War I. Notice the reference to submarines.
Gold and silver are fused by lightning in the arc,
The two prisoners will devour one another.
The greatest of the extensive city,
When the fleet, submerged, will swim.
Does the following quatrain predict the abortive League of Nations experiment? Nostradamus buffs claim it did.
The speeches delivered by the shores of Lake Geneva will cause annoyance.
Days will be shortened for weeks on end,
And even for months and years. Then all will secede.
The governments will condemn the meaningless statures.
If we accept these examples (and many others) as valid predictions that were later fulfilled, how do we explain Nostradamus' strange power?
Nostradamus himself spoke of "voices" reaching him from heaven, and the "divine splendor of the exhibition of light." These references are without doubt to astrology, with its dependence on the stars. But they may be a claim to more than that, since the prophet was a devout Christian (in the sense that these words were understood in the 16th century).
God was recognized by Nostradamus in the preface to his prophecies as the source of all power;
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therefore God must inspire a man before he can understand the future.
The astrologer also warned, in the words of "the true Savior," against casting pearls before swine. And he acknowledged that man cannot "know the times or seasons" which God has reserved to His own knowledge alone.
But Nostradamus departed from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures in believing that God choose to rule man's destiny on earth through the influence of stars and constellations. The revelations he had about the future came in this way, Nostradamus believed, because God had thus ordained it.
But the Bible teaches something different about foretelling future events from the stars.
God warned His people, the Jewish nation, through Moses against turning for guidance about the present or future to any other source than Himself.
"Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.... If a person turns to mediums and wizards, playing the harlot after them, I will set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people." (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6 R.S.V.)
"When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one who ... practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord; and because
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of these abominable practices the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, give heed to soothsayers and to diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you so to do." (Deuteronomy 18:9-13 R.S.V.)
Later in the Old Testament history, during the monarchy, God pronounced judgment against His people through His prophet Isaiah: "Evil shall come upon you, for which you cannot atone; disaster shall fall upon you, which you will not be able to expiate; and ruin shall come on you suddenly, of which you know nothing.
"Disaster will come upon you,
and you will not know how to conjure it away.
A calamity will fall upon you
that you cannot ward off with a ransom;
a catastrophe you cannot foresee
will suddenly come upon you.
"Keep on, then, with your magic spells
and with your many sorceries,
which you have labored at since childhood.
Perhaps you will succeed,
perhaps you will cause terror.
All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!
Let your astrologers come forward,
those stargazers who make predictions month by month,
let them save you from what is coming upon you.
Surely they are like stubble;
the fire will burn them up.
They cannot even save themselves
from the power of the flame.
Here are no coals to warm anyone;
here is no fire to sit by.
That is all they can do for you—
these you have labored with
and trafficked with since childhood.
Each of them goes on in his error;
there is not one that can save you"
(Isaiah 47:11-15 NIV)
