Nostradamus’ world trade center prophecy?

Some people on Internet Newsgroups claim that the French physician and astrologer, Nostradamus (1503), prophesied the destruction of the World Trade Center.
Some assert that Nostradamus wrote specifically about the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They claim that he wrote the following,

“In the City of God there will be great thunder,
Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb.” Nostradamus 1654.

This is patently false because Nostradamus died in 1566. This is a blatant hoax. It probably came from a web site written by Neil Marshall in an article called, “A Critical Analysis of Nostradamus.” Marshal invented this to show that Nostradamus’ writings are obscure enough to mean almost whatever anyone wanted them to mean.

Some assert that the writings of Nostradamus contain the ideas that “two metal birds” will crash into “two tall statues.” This is a supposed reference to the two towers and two airplanes crashing into the Trade Center.

“…two metal birds would crash into two tall statues…in the new city… and the world will end soon after” From the book of Nostradamus

This is also a hoax for it cannot be found in his writings and not in his Centuries. He never referred to “two steel birds” or that “the undead will roam the earth.”

Another false, current claim has to do with Century 6, Quatrain 97 and asserts that Nostradamus prophesies a Third World War.

“Two steel birds will fall from the sky on the
Metropolis. The sky will burn at forty-five degrees
latitude. Fire approaches the great new city
[New York City lies between 40-45 degrees] Immediately
a huge, scattered flame leaps up. Within months,
rivers will flow with blood. The undead will roam
earth for little time.”

This version twists the actual verse by Nostradamus:

“The sky will burn at forty-five degrees latitude,
Fire approaches the great new city
Immediately a huge, scattered flame leaps up
When they want to have verification from the Normans.”

Does Nostradamus predict a third World War?

“In the year of the new century and nine months,
From the sky will come a great King of Terror…
The sky will burn at forty-five degrees.
Fire approaches the great new city…”

“In the city of york there will be a great collapse,
2 twin brothers torn apart by chaos
while the fortress falls the great leader will succumb
third big war will begin when the big city is burning”
Nostradamus

Nostradamus wrote very few of these words. The faker draws lines from different quatrains and supplemented with his own words to make them appear like a reference to the World Trade Center. Another fraud.

[Credit for the above analysis goes to Internet site
http://www.urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa091101b.htm]

Nostradamus leaned heavily on occult divination and horoscopes to enter into ecstatic trances.
Nostradamus mostly framed his prophecies in general and vague terminology. His prophecies can apply to any range of interpretations. This does not measure up to the standards of prophecy set forth in Scripture:

Deuteronomy 18: 9 “When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 “or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 “For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you. 13 “You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. 14 “For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you.”

18: 21 “And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’- 22 “when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”

Nostradamus’ prophesies are vague generalities put forth in cryptic form that can lend themselves to multiple interpretations.

True Prophecy

God has never had an afterthought. He has never been surprised. He has never had to change his mind. All events in the scope of time eternal are to Him as the present moment is to us.
With those thoughts in mind, consider the majesty of God’s plan for mankind, and how He not only humbled Himself to the point of giving His one and only Son to die for your sins and mine, but that He told the world about these plans hundreds of years before they would be fulfilled. Some 70 major prophesies and over 200 others describe the coming of Christ in staggering detail.

To the people of Israel, this plan was so clear that they eagerly awaited the coming of the Savior, the Messiah who would deliver men and women throughout the world from the clutches of sin. The plan was outlined in a way that provided mankind with an exact address in time. Only one Man in all of recorded history could possibly fulfill all those specific requirements. According to historian Peter Stoner, the chance that any one man could fulfill the eight most significant prophesies alone is one in 10^17. That’s 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. It’s equivalent to a blindfolded person finding one marked silver dollar in a pile covering the state of Texas to a depth of two feet! The chance that any one person could fulfill 48 of the prophesies is one in 10^157 (one followed by 157 zeros).

And these are prophecies of the first birth of Christ only. No book in history has ever approached the number of fulfilled prophecies as does the Bible. In contrast to the vague generalities of Nostradamus, the prophecies of the Bible are specific and concrete. According to Randi, of his 104 verifiable predictions where he named a time, place or person, he was wrong on 103 of the 104 times.

Why not put your confidence in the infallible, inspired Word of God? You can trust God’s Word to tell you the truth about Heaven and how to get there. The message is simple so that all may embrace it for themselves:

1) I fall short of God’s standard of righteousness,
2) Jesus paid for my shortcoming in relation to God,
3) If I trust Jesus’ death on the cross to pay for my personal sins, He gives me eternal life.

If you would like to get a fuller explanation on how to become a Christian, click here.

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Previously a successful pastor in two churches in Winipeg and Manitoba, Dr. Grant C. Richison is a well known international conference speaker, as well as serving as special consultant and speaker for the president of Campus Crusade for Christ, Canada. He also maintains a devotional website called Today’s Word. (http://www.crusade.org/word)

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