List of fulfilled prophecies
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Prophecies are predictions based on claimed supernatural revelation. This is a list of prophecies that were specific enough in time, place, or both to be widely associated with later events and are thus fulfilled prophecies. It is not, however, a list of "real revelations" or "real prophecies", as correlation does not imply causation.
Calanus of India[edit]
Calanus of India was an Indian ascetic who met Alexander the Great and predicted the place of his death.
Vespasian and Titus became Roman Emperors[edit]
During the First Jewish-Roman War of 66-73 AD the Jewish commander Josephus was captured by the Roman commander Vespasian. Vespasian intended to soon send him to Nero, but this is how Josephus responded:
- O Vespasian, although you suppose you have taken captive a forsaken Josephus, I have come as a messenger of great tidings. Had I not been sent by God to you, I know the law of the Jews, and how it is fitting for generals to die. Do you send me to Nero? For what? Will any successors of Nero endure -- until you?
- You are to be Caesar, O Vespasian, and Emperor, you, and this your son. Bind me now still more securely, and keep me for yourself, for thou, O Caesar, are not only lord over me, but over the land, and the sea, and all the human race; and certainly I deserve to be punished by closer custody than now, if I fabricate anything concerning God.[1]
This was an odd thing to suggest since Vespasian and his son Titus weren't members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which had ruled Rome for almost a century. The history follows: "Vespasian at that time did not believe him, supposing that Josephus came up with this as a cunning trick to save himself."
But on 9 June 68 AD Emperor Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became the new Emperor and founded the Flavian dynasty. In 69 Josephus was released and was granted Roman citizenship.
The Jewish War is the only source in which this prophecy is mentioned. Since this book describes the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in the First Jewish–Roman War, Josephus wrote this book after AD 70. It was probably written c. 75 AD, which is seven years after Nero committed suicide and Vespasian became emperor. However, a number of historians think that Josephus really made this prediction when he was captured. It gives a good explanation why Vespasian honoured Josephus with freedom and Roman citizenship after he became emperor.[2]
AIMA prophecy[edit]
The AIMA prophecy was a rumor circulated in the Byzantine empire about the succession of emperors, which turned out to be true.
Bahá'í prophecies[edit]
The Báb proclaimed that he was the forerunner of a coming prophet, "he whom God shall make manifest". Followers of the Bahá'í Faith believe that Bahá'u'lláh was this prophet.
In 1873, Bahá'u'lláh, who was living at the time in Acre in Ottoman Palestine, prophesied that Germany would lose one war and then fight another:
- "O banks of the Rhine! We have seen you covered with gore, inasmuch as the swords of retribution were drawn against you; and you shall have another turn. And We hear the lamentations of Berlin, though she be today in conspicuous glory."
Liberation of Indonesia[edit]
Jayabaya or Joyoboyo was the king of Kediri in East Java from 1135 to 1157. He is most famous for his oracles or prophesies attributed to him. The authorship of these prophecies is actually unknown. Skeptics claim that they actually date to the 17th century.[3] However, many of the prophecies cannot be traced to any specific document, but are simply baseless gossip which is widely repeated and believed in Indonesia, similar to the Maid of Lorraine prophecies.
During the Pacific War a rumor, again of unclear origin but attributed by some to the 17th century document,[3] circulated widely that Joyoboyo had prophesied that yellow "dwarves" from the north would come and rule for "a hundred days"[4] or "the life of the maize plant",[3] after which Indonesia would be ruled by a Ratu Adil, the Good King which is the focus of many of Joyoboyo's prophecies. In 1941 a nationalist named Thamrin told the Volksraad about this prophecy and warned them that the Dutch reign in Indonesia would soon come to an end. He was imprisoned and died shortly thereafter.[5]
When Japan occupied the Netherlands East Indies in the first weeks of 1942, Indonesians danced in the streets, welcoming the Japanese army as the fulfillment of the prophecy ascribed to Joyoboyo.[6] In 1944 it was clear that Japan could not win World War II. The Japanese officially granted Indonesia its independence on 9 August 1945, and the commander of Japan's Southeast Asian forces appointed future President Sukarno as chairman of the preparatory committee for Indonesian independence. As one account of Indonesian history puts it, "With the minor exception that three crops had been harvested, Jayabaya's prophecy had been realized."
Louis XIV, the Sun King[edit]
When Louis XIV of France was born in 1638, Tommaso Campanella was called to the court to draw up a horoscope, which read as follows:
- Erit puer ille luxuriosus, sicut Henricus Quartus, et valde superbus. Regnabit diu, sed duré, tamen feliciter ; desinet miserè, et in Jine erit confusio magna in religione et in imperio.
Which, translated into English reads "There shall be a boy who had been lustful, just as Henry the Fourth, and very proud man. Shall reign for a long time, but it goes on, however, happily, will cease to send us, in religion and in the confusion is great and it will be close in the government."
A print of the original prophecy exists in the 1638-1639 volume of the Cabinet des Estampes (Département des Estampes) of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.[7]
In 1639, Capanella published a book elucidating this at length, entitled Ecloga Christianissimis Regi et Reginæ in portentosam Delphini, Orbis Christiani Summæ spei Nativitatem. His prediction turned out to be completely true. It was Campanella who gave Louis his common appellation, the "Sun King".
Maid of Lorraine[edit]
For some years before and around the time of activity of Joan of Arc, a number of vague prophecies concerning a young Maid who would save France were circulating. Some of these spoke of a Maid who was supposed to come from the "borders of Lorraine". Since Joan's village was near the border between France and the Duchy of Lorraine, at the time many in France believed in her.
Durand Laxart, Joan's uncle, who accompanied Joan on both of her journeys to Vaucouleurs, reported at the rehabilitation trial that Joan had told him: "Was it not said that France would be ruined through a woman and afterwards restored by a virgin?".
It is known that such prophecies were widely known in France at around that time and that many in France among the supporters of the Dauphin identified Joan with the Maiden in the prophecies and this identification contributed to her popularity and following. Joan (who claimed divine guidance) led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII.[8]
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad prophecies[edit]
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is known to have made many prophecies during his lifetime. Some were of an intuitive nature, pertaining to everyday affairs which are said to have either been fulfilled immediately after having been foreseen or concerned distant or unseen events of which Ghulam Ahmad expressed cognizance. Some of greater significance are believed to have been fulfilled during his lifetime; some, according to his followers, were fulfilled after his death, while some await fulfilment. Others, according to his critics, seemed to have been proven wrong.
These prophecies or 'hidden matters' and the knowledge or awareness of events that had not yet come to pass were, he claimed, disclosed to him by God often through visions, dreams and verbal revelation.
Mormon prophecies[edit]
Section 87 of the Mormon Doctrine and Covenants, written in 1832, accurately predicts that South Carolina will begin a war of the South against the North and call on Great Britain for assistance.
Mother Shipton[edit]
Mother Shipton is a shadowy figure in medieval English history. Her prophecies were first printed in 1645, at which point it was claimed that most of them had already been fulfilled; the accuracy of this account cannot be determined.[9] Prince Rupert of the Rhine is recorded by Samuel Pepys as saying that Mother Shipton predicted the Great Fire of London.[10] This may have been a reference to the final line of the 1645 pamphlet, which does not specifically describe a large fire or catastrophe, but only a lack of liquor in downtown London.
Oomoto prophecies[edit]
Members of the Japanese new religious group Oomoto were responsible for several fulfilled prophecies in the early 20th century. Specifically, the prophet Onisaburō Deguchi predicted that Japan would fight a war in 1931, which was realized with the Manchurian Incident.[11] He predicted the complete course of the Pacific War multiple times from the 1920s on, saying that Japan would be bombed to rubble by America in air raids and eventually occupied. Some of these predictions are noted in the record of his 1938 trial in Tokyo.[12] On the day he was released from prison, he told his followers that Japan had begun to lose the war. Unbeknownst to anyone, this was the day of the Guadalcanal Campaign.[13]
Deguchi's own teacher, Oishigori Masuumi, accurately predicted in 1891 that Ise Grand Shrine would be destroyed in a fire. He claimed this would occur because some of the traditional rituals of consecration had not been carried out when it was being refurbished. Oishigori was arrested on suspicion of starting the fire himself but the police could find no evidence for this.[14] The Oomoto foundress, Nao Deguchi, predicted the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake in the Ofudesaki. She said that Tokyo would become a "burnt field". Onisaburō made a similar prophecy at the same time, bringing the two of them closer together.[15]
Our Lady of Kibeho[edit]
Eyewitnesses reported that the Virgin Mary appeared in a field in Rwanda in 1982. Mary, now called Our Lady of Kibeho, showed the young seers images of streams of blood and people killing each other. This is generally accepted to refer to the Rwandan Genocide, and specifically the Kibeho Massacre in which some of those visionaries died.
Paora Te Potangaroa[edit]
Paora Te Potangaroa is believed to have predicted the arrival of Mormons in New Zealand a year before anyone had seen one. He spoke of "missionaries who will travel in pairs and learn our language". This was in 1881, but by the account of the Mormons themselves, missionaries had begun work in New Zealand in 1854.[16]
World War II[edit]
The three seers of Our Lady of Fátima indicated in 1917 that the Virgin Mary had prophesied a "great sign in the night sky" which would precede a second great war.[17][18] On January 25, 1938, bright lights (an aurora borealis) appeared all over the northern hemisphere, visible from all of Europe and from places as far south as North Africa, Bermuda and California.[17][18] This, the widest occurrence of the aurora since 1709,[19] caused people in Paris and elsewhere to believe that a great fire was burning and to call fire departments.[20] Lúcia, the sole surviving seer at the time, indicated that it was the sign foretold and apprised her superior and bishop accordingly in letters the following day.[17][18] Six weeks later, Germany began its first unlawful seizure of foreign land, the occupation of Austria.
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ The Jewish War, 3.8.9 399-408.
- ↑ SJD Cohen, History and Theory, Wesleyan University, Vol. 21, No. 3, October , 1982. Chapter: Josephus, Jeremiah, and Polybius. Archived at JSTOR: [1].
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Soetopo Soetanto. "Indonesian Nationalism and the Japanese Occupation during World War II". Journal of Sophia Asian Studies 19 (2001). p. 112.
- ↑ Sutan Sjahrir. Out of Exile. p. 189
- ↑ Ami M. Van De Ryt. "Japanese Occupation of Indonesia". Perspectives in History XVII (2001) p. 57
- ↑ R. B. Cribb, Audrey Kahin: 2004. Historical dictionary of Indonesia: Volume 51 of Historical dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East. Scarecrow Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8108-4935-6, ISBN 978-0-8108-4935-8. 583 pages. pp210
- ↑ Léon Blanchet. Campanella. Paris, 1920. p. 64. Burt Franklin Research and Source Works Series #56.
- ↑ Warner, Marina (2001). Joan of Arc: the image of female heroism. Berkeley and Los Angeles, Califorinia: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22464-7. Search this book on
- ↑ Mother Shipton investigated
- ↑ Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 20 October 1666
- ↑ Nancy K. Stalker. Prophet Motive: Deguchi Onisaburō, Oomoto, and the Rise of New Religions in Japan. p. 170.
- ↑ 出口京太郎 『現代教養文庫 巨人 出口王仁三郎』 社会思想社、1995. pp. 161-2. See also Stalker, p. 158 etc.
- ↑ 出口和明 『スサノオと出口王仁三郎』 八幡書店. p. 188
- ↑ Stalker, pp. 56-57.
- ↑ 出口京太郎, pp. 214-5
- ↑ Britsch, R. Lanier. Maori Traditions and the Mormon Church"
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Petrisko, Thomas W., Rene Laurentin, and Michael J. Fontecchio, The Fatima Prophecies: At the Doorstep of the World, p. 48, St. Andrews Productions 1998
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Hessaman, Michael The Fatima Secret, Random House 2008
- ↑ "Aurora borealis glows in widest area since 1709" - [Chicago Daily Tribune, January 26, 1938, p.2
- ↑ "Aurora borealis startles Europe. People flee, call fireman" - [New York Times, January 26, 1938, p.25 ]
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