Nostradamus' 2012 Predictions of the End
Sorry - if you were hoping for the end - It Cannot Be Correct

Nostradamus: 2012 the world will end. Many people are looking at "prophetic writings" attributed to Nostradamus and suggesting that the year 2012 will bring the end of the world or at least the end of civilization as we know it.

Michel de Nostredame, commonly called, in western culture, simply Nostradamus, lived from 1503 to 1566 in France. He was an apothecary and reputed seer who wrote a number of prophecies that have become famous worldwide. His best-known book Les Propheties ("The Prophecies") first appeared in 1555 and has been reprinted many times since. Nostradamus has had a following that has credited him with correctly predicting many major world events. Most academic sources, however, suggest that the associations others have made between world events and Nostradamus' predictions are largely misinterpretations or mistranslations or are so vague that the connection is not real. There is also the charge that no one has really ever interpreted any of the prophecies specifically enough to allow a clear prediction of any event in advance.

There are many web sites proclaiming that Nostradamus "predicted" the end of the world in 2012. Even TV's "The History Channel" has produced an episode ("The Lost Book of Nostradamus") focusing on Nostradamus' predictions about the end.

There are some obvious problems with the theory of a Nostradamus' 2012 end of the world prophecy or about any of his predictions.

1. Nostradamus, 2012 and beyond: Nostradamus has predicted events as far in the future as the year 3797. It does not make sense that he would do that if he knew or was predicting that the world would end in 2012.

2. The 2012 Mayan Calendar: Somehow, the 2012-Mayan calendar connection seems to be involved in this. The Mayan Calendar does end in 2012 but it is just a calendar. When our annual calendar ends we go out and get one for the next year. Coming to the end of the calendar doesn't mean the end of the world, just start the calendar cycle over again.

It seems odd that the Mayans may have predicted the end of the world to happen a few years from now (late 2009) and yet didn't know that "their" world would come to its end centuries earlier thus making a future end of the world irrelevant to them.

3. The astrology connection: Nostradamus claimed to have based his published predictions on astrological information with the assumption that future planetary configurations could predict what would happen in the future. The practice of astrology (but not astronomy) is condemned in the Bible - see Isaiah 47:13-14.

4. Bible Evidence: Biblical prophecy suggests, in number of places (especially the books of Daniel and The Revelation) a time period of at least three and a half years involving specific events that have not yet transpired. The Bible is a book that has made many very specific predictions that have come to pass. Its author can be depended upon.

So you can see that Nostradamus' 2012 predictions have a number of serious problems. Why not go to God's word where there are dependable predictions, precious promises to help in our daily lives and hope for an eternal future of happiness?