All language subtitles for oracles.and.prophets.s01e08.1080p.web.h264-cbfm_track3_[eng]

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] To believers,
the powers of the paranormal

can manifest in many ways.

They have the potential
to aid humanity

in the most unlikely of ways
by the most unlikely of people.

- Dorothy Allison looks like
a very unassuming housewife

from New Jersey, but
she is also arguably

the most successful psychic
detective in the world.

- Dorothy Allison's gifts
put her at the center

of many of the most famous
crimes of the 1970s.

From the kidnapping
of Patty Hearst

to the crimes of the Son of Sam.

- [Narrator] While some use
their power to help humanity,

others use their powers
for much darker ends.

- John of God claims
that he has the power

to do psychic healings
with the power of touch,

cancer, HIV, really
severe medical conditions.

He becomes massively
popular, a media sensation.

- But at the same time,

there are rumblings that
darker forces are at play.

- [Narrator] And in first
century Roman province of Judea,

revolution and prophecy meet
in the most unlikely of ways.

- Josephus is
taking this prophecy

and tying it to a Roman general.

Now, was this pure politics,

or was he tapping
into something else?

(clock ticking)
(mysterious music)

(pensive music)

- [Narrator] May, 1976.
Staten Island, New York.

14 year old Susan Jacobson
leaves her family home

to meet some friends at
a nearby ice cream shop.

As the sun sets, her
parents are worried

as Susan has yet to return.

As days turn to weeks, a
frantic search is underway

for the missing child.

The police are stumped.

It is as if Susan has
disappeared without a trace,

leaving no clues.

Enter Dorothy Allison,
a New Jersey homemaker

who claims she can find Susan

thanks to her psychic abilities.

- Dorothy Allison was
a pretty unassuming

New Jersey housewife

and somebody you wouldn't
think was a psychic detective.

And yet that's
exactly what she was,

the kind of person that was
called on by the police,

by the FBI when they
couldn't crack a crime.

- [Narrator] But can
this ordinary woman

help the Jacobson family
find their missing daughter?

And who exactly is this person

the media has dubbed
"the psychic detective"?

- Born in Jersey City in 1924,

she grows up in a
working class family

and claims to have psychic
impressions from a young age.

When she's young,
she has visions

of her father falling
ill and dying.

Soon after her father dies.

- When something
like that happens

that can really produce
this confirmation effect,

that makes her truly
start to believe,

I do have this power
to see the future.

- [Narrator] As she grows
older, Dorothy begins to view

her apparent powers as a gift

and seeks to assist
families in need,

helping them find their
missing loved ones.

- She eventually
develops a reputation

as a psychic detective,

and she's someone that
the police will turn to

when traditional methods
of investigation fail.

- It's not altogether uncommon
for police departments

to turn to psychics and
mystics in these kind of

last ditch efforts for
particularly difficult cases.

- One of Dorothy's first cases

revolved around a missing
boy in Nutley, New Jersey.

Dorothy becomes involved
when she approaches

the Nutley police, telling
them she has had a vision

that the boy's body

will be found with his
shoes on the wrong feet.

And when the boy's
body is found,

the police are shocked
to find that his shoes

are as Dorothy described
from her vision.

- [Narrator] Whispers of her
work with the missing boy

from Nutley begin to spread,
drawing the attention

of not just law
enforcement, but families

who are in similarly
desperate situations.

In 1974, her supposed
powers reach headlines

when the daughter of a
prominent American businessman

is abducted by a
militant organization.

- When the heiress Patty
Hearst, gets kidnapped

by members of the
SLA, her father

actually turns to
Dorothy Allison for help.

And she does make a
number of predictions

that turn out to be accurate.

She predicts that Patty would
initially be in Pennsylvania,

then in New York, both of which
prove to later be accurate.

And she also notably
predicts that the heiress

would join her captors
in robbing a bank,

which also proves to be true.

- [Narrator] With such
high-profile successes,

Dorothy Allison's abilities
bring her national attention,

and she becomes a
fixture in the media.

But what is the source
of her abilities?

- Dorothy Allison claims
that her psychic visions

come to her through a process

akin to tuning into a hidden
channel of information.

First, she tries
to quiet her mind,

often holding an
object or photograph

connected to the missing person.

She believes that by
physically touching something

imbued with that
individual's energy,

like a piece of clothing,
she can bridge a link

between herself and the
person's experiences.

- [Narrator] After
calming herself,

Allison says she begins to see
flashes or mental pictures.

These are rarely
straightforward.

Instead, she receives
symbols, images of landmarks,

letters, numbers, or colors

that come to her as
fleeting impressions.

Sometimes she hears
sounds or words.

She notes that her visions are
more like pieces of a puzzle

rather than a full,
coherent narrative.

- So Dorothy Allison claims

to have multiple modes
of psychic ability.

She has not just clairvoyance,
which is the ability

to see things in the mind's eye,

but she also has clairaudience,

which is an ability to hear
messages passed orally,

and clairsentience,
which is the ability

to feel things with the body.

Of course, there are going
to be a lot of skeptics,

who have ways of explaining

her ability to
predict or see things.

They will explain
it as coincidence,

they'll say "you
say a lot of things,

some of them are gonna
turn out to be right"

but the people who are
working with Dorothy,

the police departments
who are working with her,

many of them really
swear by her abilities.

- [Narrator] Allison
soon establishes

a prophetic reputation,
which prompts police

to seek her help again in 1974

after a particularly strange
missing person's report.

John DeMars is a
happily married,

30 year old New York
banker and family man

with two young children.

But when he boards his
evening commuter train

to Nutley, New Jersey,
on December 20th, 1974,

he disappears,
leaving his family

and police scratching their
heads as to what happened.

- The police entertain
all of the possibilities

they can imagine but the
fact is they don't know

where he is, and so
eventually the police

call on Dorothy
Allison to help them.

- [Narrator] Allison
tells detectives

that she sees John falling
off the train and drowning.

While she cannot say
where this occurs,

she mentions a bow and
arrow and the numbers 2 2 2.

Law enforcement cannot make
immediate sense of these clues,

and soon the case becomes cold,

until a chance encounter
blows the case wide open.

- Two months later,
on February 22nd,

a father and son are
practicing archery

by the shore of
the Passaic River,

which runs along
DeMars train route,

and one of the arrows

lands beside DeMars'
body in shallow water.

- [Narrator] And thanks to
Dorothy Allison's visions,

police believe they know
how John DeMars disappeared.

- What Police believe happened,
is actually that he was

on a train that made
an unscheduled stop,

and he must have fallen
asleep on the train.

And when the train stopped,

it was on a bridge
over the river.

And when the doors
opened, half asleep,

he literally just
got off the train,

falls into the water
and is carried upstream.

- [Narrator] Her
breakthroughs with John DeMars

opens the floodgates
across America.

Word spreads through police
departments from coast to coast

about the psychic detective

who somehow knows
things she shouldn't.

Throughout the 1970s, she
becomes a household name,

regularly brought in by
families and law enforcement

to help them solve some
of the most difficult

and controversial
cases of the decade.

- Perhaps the most famous
case that Dorothy Allison

is involved in was the
investigation of Son of Sam.

- [Narrator] Son of Sam,

also known as the
44 Caliber Killer,

terrorized New York City

with a deadly spree of
murders in the 1970s.

- She does provide details in
this very high profile case.

She offers a description
of Son of Sam

that does resemble Berkowitz,

and she predicts that
he's going to be caught

in the course of a
traffic violation,

which is actually what happened.

- [Narrator] Yet despite the
familiarity with Son of Sam,

one of Allison's most famous
cases will be the disappearance

of a 14 year old girl
named Susan Jacobson.

- In May 1976, in
Staten Island, New York,

14 year old Susan
Jacobson disappears.

At first, the police believe
Susan just ran away from home

and do not take the
case too seriously.

But after a few days,
Susan is still missing

and the police have
to jump into action.

Investigators comb the area,
question the neighbors,

and follow leads, but
each path is frustrating.

As days stretch into weeks,
the family and law enforcement

grow anxious, fearful
that time is running out.

- [Narrator] Into
this tense atmosphere

steps Dorothy Allison,

contacted by a
desperate police force

hoping for any clue
to break the case.

The decision is unconventional,

perhaps even controversial.

But when all logic and
leads meet a dead end,

the authorities find
themselves with no choice

but to engage with
the inexplicable.

Dorothy Allison meets with
police and the Jacobson family.

She asks to have some
possessions of Susan's

so she can begin her process.

And the images that flood

into Dorothy Allison's mind
paint a haunting picture.

- She sees a rock with
the letters M A R on it.

She can see a
steeple-like structure,

and she describes what she
calls "a feeling of oil."

- Although Allison's clues
are not a direct roadmap,

they spur detectives
on to look in areas

where they previously had not.

- [Narrator] Encouraged
by these cryptic hints,

detectives and family
revisit neglected leads.

Acting on Allison's
descriptions,

they search regions
throughout the city

looking for anything
that matches her details.

While this initial search
turns nothing over,

soon after Dorothy
Allison's visions,

a group of young boys find a
strange oil drum in the woods.

Inside is the dead
body of Susan Jacobson.

- And when Susan
Jacobson's body is found,

there is a rock nearby,
and there is a building

like the one that she described.

The confluence of these
details is stunning.

- The discovery of
Susan Jacobson's body

brings heartbreak and a grim
resolution to the family,

but also closure.

After finding the body
of their daughter,

the Jacobsons become
some of Dorothy Allison's

biggest advocates and defenders,

as are the police investigators
who worked the case.

- [Narrator] The aftermath
of the Susan Jacobson case

brings about murder
charges on her boyfriend

for the slaying, and
to many in America,

Dorothy Allison is now seen

as a legitimate
psychic detective.

- So the Susan
Jacobson case is really

what seals Allison's reputation
as a serious consultant

in these kinds of police cases.

There are skeptics, and
there are many people

who question the reliance
of police on people

who claim to be providing
information via psychic means.

But the success of Allison's
career in this line of work

and the confidence that the
people with worked with her

does suggest that there is
an important role for people

who introduce unorthodox methods

into the solving of mysteries.

- [Narrator] While Allison
is championed by many,

she does have her doubters

who question the validity of
psychics and the paranormal.

- What is termed as
a psychic detective

may actually be a
fresh pair of eyes

that starts looking
at the evidence

and makes random suggestions.

It may just be through
that interchange

that the police begin
to form new ideas,

but they convince themselves

that they are being exposed to
some kind of psychic process.

- [Narrator] Some skeptics argue

that her correct predictions

stem from coincidence,
selective interpretation,

or the sheer volume of
cases she addresses.

- Dorothy Allison was not
always successful, however,

and her critics
point in particular

to two very high profile
cases that she was involved in

from the late 1970s
to the early 1980s

involving two young boys,
Etan Patz and Adam Walsh.

Critics argue that not only
were her visions very vague,

they actually ended
up being dead ends.

- Yet there are times
when Allison's predictions

seem eerily on target.

In one case, she
describes a submerged car

and the letters on a
license plate that match

a missing person's vehicle
found at the bottom of a lake.

In another instance, she
describes a distinctive piece

of clothing worn by a victim,

a detail that is later verified.

- [Narrator] Although
her methods never gained

full acceptance in the
law enforcement community,

Allison's legacy persists.

She represents that rare
intersection of belief and doubt

where psychic impressions
sometimes align

startlingly with the truth

yet often fail
conventional verification.

Police departments rarely
rely solely on her input,

but a few credit her
with providing leads

they might never
have considered.

- Dorothy Allison
passes away in 1999,

leaving behind a reputation

as one of America's most
celebrated psychic detectives.

- Dorothy Allison is
involved in over 5,000 cases.

She helps to solve
over a dozen murders,

and she helps to locate
over 50 missing people.

- [Narrator] Dorothy
Allison's story

stands as a curious chapter

in criminal
investigation history,

illustrating how
hope, desperation,
belief, and skepticism

meet at the hazy boundaries of
what we can and cannot prove.

- The legacy of Dorothy Allison

we can look at it
in different ways.

One is that she had
a very mixed legacy

in which she had some
success with certain cases

and not very much
success at all in others.

And so whether she truly
is a successful psychic

is, I guess, open to question.

But for those that she helped,

she remains someone that
they staunchly defend.

And we have to take
the longer view

that police departments will
still consult with psychics

to this day when they cannot
resolve the cases themselves.

- [Narrator] Locating
the lost is one thing,

but what if one's
psychic abilities

could do something
far more powerful?

While Dorothy Allison's visions
led police to hidden graves

and missing loved ones,
halfway around the world,

in the heart of Brazil,
another purported diviner

claims to perform miracles,

curing the incurable and
cheating death itself.

(mysterious music)

Throngs of thousands
gather in rural Brazil

to hear the words of
a spiritual healer

and self-described psychic
surgeon, John of God.

John reaches his hands
out to the waiting crowd,

promising that his touch
has the ability to heal.

Many claim that
he has cured them

of chronic and debilitating
illnesses with his abilities.

- John of God is this
curious figure from Brazil

who claims that he has the
power to do psychic healing

through the power of
touch through his hands.

And he acquires an
international following.

He becomes massively
popular, a media sensation.

(intriguing music)

- Devotees travel from across
the globe to be close to him,

including the rich and famous.

- [Narrator] To many, John of
God is seen as a living saint.

But underneath the surface
of his miraculous acts,

dark rumors swirl
that will challenge

the faithful to their core.

John of God's real name
is Joao Teixeira de Faria.

He is born into poverty in 1942,

in the state of Goias, Brazil.

As a young man, John of God
claims to experience visions

and sudden bursts
of healing power

that he claims is a gift
given to him from God.

- John has no formal education.

He grows up steeped in
the Catholic Church.

He's a very active
member of his church.

He can often be found there,
and he traces the roots

of his gift to his childhood
experiences of vivid visions

and direct communication
with spirit guides.

- [Narrator] These
spiritual guides

tell John that he
has the ability

to cure the sick with his touch.

He begins to treat
people in his region.

And many believe he has
cured them of cancer

and other deadly and
chronic diseases.

- He claims the
spiritual entities are
working through him,

guiding his hands in
invisible operations,

and his reputation starts to
spread across South America.

- John of God is kind of
plugged into Roman Catholicism,

and especially a long
history of saints

in the Roman Catholic Church
that perform healing powers.

Often women, like Saint
Rita, for example,

who are said to
have healed people

through the power of miracles.

- In the hagiographic tradition,

healing and healing powers

have always been
associated with saints.

Nearly every saint, in
some form or fashion,

expresses healing power,

and so by associating himself

with the saints of
old in this way,

what he's really trying to say
is, "Well, I'm a saint too."

- [Narrator] Over time,
his practice blossoms

into the Casa De Dom
Inacio De Loyola,

a spiritual compound where
the sick, the desperate,

and the curious line up
for his healing touch.

- He develops this
spiritual center,

which is a space of
sanctuary and healing, right?

It's a sacred gathering place.

And he is really
cementing his reputation

among his followers as a healer.

They believe that he has
mystical abilities to heal.

And his reputation grows so vast

that his center brings
in people from all over,

including celebrities,
politicians.

It's a really
extraordinary mix of people

who, for whatever
reason, at this moment,

are drawn to the idea of some
kind of extraordinary healer.

- [Narrator] The most
controversial aspect

of John of God's practice

are his psychic surgeries.

Without anesthesia
or medical training,

he appears to remove
tumors and other ailments

with a mere knife edge
pressed lightly to the skin,

an act believers
consider miraculous,

and skeptics call a performance.

- Sometimes the more
theatrical a situation is,

the more psychologically
powerful it is,

and if you have an
individual like John,

with strong confidence
telling you this will work,

and that he has developed this
craft that nobody else has,

it's probably going
to feel powerful.

- Most controversially,
John of God claimed

to be able to perform what
he called psychic surgery.

Now there was an
invisible form to this.

So basically the patient
would close their eyes

and then he would
claim to, as it were,

suck out the ailment and
this could be cancer, HIV.

I mean, really severe
medical conditions.

- What would happen is
people would come through.

He would tell them to
close their eyes and pray,

and he would say
that essentially

the entities were
working on them

in the course of their
having their eyes closed.

And people would
sometimes report

that they would feel warm or
tingling in certain areas.

After the treatments,
they would often be given

passionflower capsules,
and that was it.

(suspenseful music)

So the thing that's interesting
about passionflower,

Passiflora, is that
it's a sleep remedy.

It's often something used
to create drowsiness,

help you get to sleep,

kind of deal with
anxiety on some levels.

So is this man
using these capsules

in order to convince people

that they've just
gone through surgery?

It seems like it.

- He also carried out what
he called "visible surgery."

And this involves using things
like even kitchen knives

to basically, scrape
a knife across an eye

or press it against the flesh.

But he was claiming to carry
out a more invasive procedure.

And of course, this was
hugely controversial

and condemned by the
medical profession.

- [Narrator] John
of God promises that
his psychic surgeries

can cure a wide
range of illnesses.

These include chronic
pain, depression,

anxiety, migraines, diabetes

and even serious conditions
like cancer and HIV AIDS.

- There may be healing going on,

but probably nothing as a
result of the actual things

that he's doing but more
the overall context,

which would start from the
moment somebody has decided,

"I need help and this
guy can help me."

You know, as soon
as they believe that

and start making a trek,

then they're already on the path

towards potentially being
psychologically influenced

by the context which
can make them feel,

if it reduces stress, if
it makes them feel hope,

these are powerful
psychological forces

that can really help
somebody overcome

a lot of the illnesses
that are faced,

many of our illnesses are
in fact stress induced.

- [Narrator] Despite warnings

from many in the
medical community,

John of God's practice makes
him internationally famous.

He now has millions
of followers,

but none as influential

as American talk show
icon Oprah Winfrey.

- Oprah goes to John of
God and is really creating

this huge kind of
spotlight for his movement

and his ministry and it becomes
almost this watershed moment

where, you know,
thousands more people

are becoming aware all at once

of what he's kind
of talking about.

And it's a really
interesting phenomena

of media allowing these
types of movements

or, you know, practices

to grow at a rate that's
kind of unprecedented.

- In 2013, Oprah Winfrey
conducts an interview

and records some of his healings

and this helps to cement him

even further in
popular consciousness.

But at the same time,
there are rumblings

that darker forces are at play,

that nefarious
activities are occurring.

- [Narrator] John of God
is now an institution

within the New Age
health community.

With millions of dedicated
supporters worldwide

offering him money and gifts,

he begins to enjoy the lavish
lifestyle of a celebrity.

What began as a healing practice

has turned into a
massive business,

as hundreds of thousands
flock to Brazil

to meet the seemingly saintly
man with the healing touch.

But as the money
and adoration grew,

so do the cries from
those accusing John of God

of some of the most
terrible crimes imaginable.

- A number of women

among his following

start coming forward with
stories and allegations

of forms of abuse that happened

under the guise of
healing practices.

They report sexual abuse.

They report trafficking.

- After months of investigation,

the police finally raid
John of God's compound.

They formally arrest him

and they charge him
with numerous offenses.

- Eventually, he is convicted

and imprisoned for these crimes.

- [Narrator] This revelation
sent shockwaves through both

the global New Age community
and the Brazilian public.

John of God's arrest
marks the near collapse

of the global New Age movement

that elevated him
to celebrity status.

His legacy is now one
marked by scandal, betrayal

and the destruction
of a reputation

built on deceit and abuse.

- This was a man
with a background

in child trafficking,
fraud and assault.

And like many people who
have sought to exploit

the weakness and
the vulnerability
of those around him

who have a real pressing
need, for example,

being terminally ill
or seriously ill,

he was basically
defrauding these people.

He was abusing them.

This was a criminal activity

that was dressed up
as something psychic,

something New Age,
something predictive.

But it was nothing of the sort.

- [Narrator] But the
most shocking crimes

would soon be uncovered.

- Activist Sabrina Bittencourt,

who really blows this
case open and exposes

the sordid details of what
John is actually practicing

in his so-called healing center

and it's horrifying.

There is sexual abuse, but
it it appears to be linked

to an operation of
producing babies

for a kind of market.

So he is forcibly using women

in his following

to have babies that are
then kind of trafficked.

And he's profiting
from all of this.

- [Narrator] These
revelations starkly contrast

with the public persona John
of God cultivated over decades.

Initially celebrated as a humble
servant of divine entities

who selflessly channeled
healing energies,

he had earned the admiration
of countless pilgrims,

including international
celebrities.

He was seen as a beacon of
hope and spiritual upliftment,

someone who inspired
faith by his words,

presence and alleged
healing touch.

Now he is seen as a
monster who took advantage

of some of the most
vulnerable members of society.

- John of God was once seen

as a pillar in the
New Age community.

But these allegations
of trafficking

absolutely smash any
credibility he might have.

- [Narrator] In the
end, these allegations

taint his legacy far more deeply

than any claims of
ineffective healing

or theatrical
showmanship ever could.

They imply a monstrous,
hidden dimension

to a public figure once revered.

In 2019, John of God was
sentenced to 19 years in prison.

And in 2023, he was sentenced
to an additional 118 years.

Mystic powers have a long

and complex place
in human history.

Some, such as Dorothy Allison,

use these powers to help people,

while others, such
as John of God,

use their powers
for nefarious ends.

But there are also those
who use mystical powers

and prophecy to legitimize rule.

And one of the greatest
examples of this

is the complicated story
of Flavius Josephus.

(intriguing music)

Judea, 67 CE.

In the dim glow
of a command tent,

Roman General Vespasian
pores over battle plans.

A Jewish commander
named Josephus,

recently captured,
stands before him.

He tells General Vespasian
that he has a prophecy

to share with him.

Josephus then tells the general
that a star has appeared

in the east,
signaling that a ruler

from humble origins
will rise to greatness.

That man, according to
Josephus, is Vespasian.

Silence hangs heavy as
Vespasian contemplates

the weight of these words,

the flicker of ambition
igniting in his eyes.

- Josephus was a rebel leader

during the first Jewish revolt
against the Emperor Nero

when Jerusalem rose
up against Roman rule.

But Josephus was
captured by the Romans

and he basically switched sides.

And in order to curry
favor with Vespasian,

who was a very ambitious man,

he said that Vespasian
would be the fulfillment

of the prophecy of a messiah,

which would be signaled by
a special star in the sky,

and Vespasian would
become emperor.

Well, obviously,
Vespasian was very pleased

with this prophecy,
and the two men

became the firmest of friends.

- [Narrator] And it seems,
Josephus's prophecy comes true.

In 69 CE, Vespasian is declared

ruler of the Roman
Empire by his troops.

In that same year, Vespasian
makes Josephus a Roman citizen.

- Josephus is
taking this prophecy

and tying it to a Roman general.

Now, was this pure politics,

or was he tapping
into something else?

- [Narrator] The story
of Josephus and Vespasian

is one where prophecy,
religion and politics clash

to create a strange
haze which historians

are still trying
to pierce through.

But who was Josephus, and
what made his life and times

so rich for prophetic
interpretation?

- Josephus is born into an
aristocratic priestly family,

and according to
his own account,

he was recognized for
his genius at a young age

and spent much time studying
the Jewish traditions

and the Jewish prayers.

At that time, Judea
was an occupied region.

The Romans controlled
every aspect of life.

Yet within Judea itself,
there are many different

Jewish sects that are all
coexisting with one another,

including the Pharisees,
the Sadducees,

the Essenes, and the Zealots.

Messianic expectation
is running high.

This is a world that is
on edge, a tinderbox.

- [Narrator] At 16, Josephus
embarks on a three year sojourn

in the wilderness with
the hermit Bannus,

a member of one of the
ascetic Jewish sects

flourishing in
Judea at this time.

Returning to Jerusalem,
he joins the Pharisees.

- The Pharisees were a tradition
that was deeply religious.

They were anxious to
preserve their tradition

and were willing to do it

even within the context
of Roman governance.

This was in contrast, for
example, to the Zealots,

who were Jewish nationalists

and who believed that their
role was to overthrow Rome.

- [Narrator] Josephus, now
part of the Pharisee faction,

looks to secure peace with Rome,

and to this effort
he becomes a diplomat

looking to lobby the great
empire for his people.

- In 64 CE, Josephus travels
to Rome as an emissary

to secure the release of
some Jewish prisoners.

However, there he
meets Poppaea Sabina,

the wife of Emperor Nero,

and he becomes enamored
with everything Roman,

their culture, their military.

In many ways, he
becomes a Romaphile.

- [Narrator] Despite
their best efforts,

the Pharisee
faction and Josephus

are not able to stop the
war against the Romans.

- In 66 CE, Josephus
returns to Judea,

and he finds a country on
the edge of revolution.

Urged on by the Zealots,

the Jews of Judea
overthrow the Romans,

and they install their own

revolutionary
government in Jerusalem.

Like many of the priestly class,
Josephus urged compromise,

but reluctantly he was
drawn into the conflict too,

and he becomes a military
commander in Galilee.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] The
Romans will not allow

this rebellion against
their rule to stand.

The Roman Emperor Nero sends
one of his top generals,

Vespasian, to put down
the rebellion at any cost.

Vespasian arrives in Galilee
in the spring of 67 CE

and swiftly crushes Jewish
resistance in the north.

Josephus defends the fortress
of Jotapata for 47 days,

but after the city falls,

he takes refuge with 40
loyalists in a nearby cave.

- So Josephus is trapped
along with 40 other loyalists.

He is dismayed when it
begins to become a topic

of conversation that suicide
is their only option.

Josephus, though, counsels
that the best way to do this

would be for each man
to kill his neighbor,

decided by drawing lots.

Now, whether it was
by luck or by design,

Josephus manages to be one
of the last two members

still alive, and he
convinces his fellow loyalist

that maybe death
isn't the option.

- I mean, from the
story of Josephus,

one thing we learn about
him is he's a survivor,

and he really is focused on
himself and success for himself,

to the point where he is
willing to kind of give up

on everything that had defined
him before that battle.

He sort of turns his back
on his previous existence

in a way that allows
him to survive.

- [Narrator] After
his surrender,

Josephus is brought in
chains before Vespasian.

While this meeting
with an enemy general

is a dangerous setting for
anyone, Josephus has a plan.

- Josephus is brought
before the general,

and he makes the choice
to drop his identity

as a Jewish military leader,

and he adopts the role
of Jewish prophet,

and he suggests to Vespasian

that his coming was
foretold by the star above,

which suggests that his
ascendancy to emperor

has always been foretold.

- [Narrator] What makes
this prophecy so remarkable

is the context.

This prophecy has a
long history in Jewish,

not Roman, tradition.

- He draws upon several
prophetic ideas,

such as Numbers 24:17, which
prophesies of a Jewish Messiah.

- Josephus was
crafting the prophecy

in a way that would
secure his own survival

in a very dangerous moment,

but he was doing it with a
prophecy that was revered

within the Jewish tradition,
which was important

to their salvific narrative.

And to repurpose it in a way
that legitimized Roman conquest

seems remarkably dangerous

in terms of his own
relations with Jewish people.

- Throughout history,
people have used prophecy

to bolster their own power,
to venerate themselves,

or instill fear in
their followers,

or suggest that they're
on a mission to glory.

- One of the interesting
parts of the story of Josephus

is when he predicts
that Vespasian

will become the next leader.

And when you do that, you
can actually change the way,

in this case, Vespasian may act.

He may carry himself
with more confidence,

more strength,
more decisiveness.

He may begin to feel,
himself, as a future leader,

and that, in fact, may
be critical to convincing

other people that he
has those qualities.

And so, in some
way, this could be

an example of a
self-fulfilling prophecy.

- Josephus, in bringing
this prophecy to Vespasian,

was offering him a prophecy

that had enormous
political portent,

not only for legitimizing
his authority

over Judea and Israel,

but also for grounding any
future claims to being emperor.

- [Narrator] But most
in Judea do not believe

in Josephus' reading of
the prophecy of the star.

- When Josephus connects a
Roman general to Jewish prophecy

and ingratiates
himself to the Romans,

in many ways he marks himself

as a traitor to his own people.

- [Narrator] While Josephus'
prophecy may seem like a ploy

for self survival, his
claim gains credibility

after Emperor Nero's
death in 68 CE.

This fortuitous event
saves Josephus' life.

- Vespasian is elected
as emperor by his troops,

and this is seen as
the fulfillment of
Josephus's prophecy.

He is given his freedom,
and increasingly,

from that point onward,

Josephus aligns himself
with the Romans.

He takes on the name Flavius,

which is from the
Vespasian's family,

and he travels with his
patron to Alexandria.

- [Narrator] Josephus
is so entrenched

with the Romans at this time

he joins with the army
of Titus, Vespasian's son

and eventual successor, at the
siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE.

It is here when another one of
Josephus' prophecies unfolds.

- In 70 CE, the now
fully Romanized Josephus

is marching with Titus,
the son of Vespasian,

and troops which are on their
way to besiege Jerusalem.

He sees over Jerusalem a
star which seems to him

almost like a sword
hanging over the city.

In his later writings, he
suggests that this prophesies

the destruction of Jerusalem
and the Second Temple.

- [Narrator] "As
if thunderstruck

and bereft of eyes and mind,

disregarded the plain
warnings of God.

So it was when a star,
resembling a sword,

stood over the
city, and a comet,

which continued for a year."

- Josephus had a prophecy

that the Second Temple
would be destroyed.

He was so worried about
this prophecy coming true

that he rushed down to Jerusalem

with the aim of trying
to broker a peace

before that came true.

He was in a precarious
situation, however,

because neither
side trusted him.

He was not trusted
by his own people

because they believed
he had betrayed them

a few years earlier.

And at the same time, the Roman
leadership did not trust him

because he was a Jew and they
regarded Jews as insurgents,

and for that reason they
were unable to come to peace.

And in the end, the Romans
did destroy the Second Temple.

- [Narrator] The destruction
of the Second Temple in 70 CE

marks a pivotal moment
for the Jewish people.

It signifies the loss of
their central place of worship

and profoundly alters
the practice of Judaism.

Without the temple,
sacrificial rituals cease,

leading to a shift
towards Rabbinic Judaism,

which emphasizes study and
prayer over sacrifices.

This event disperses
many Jews from Judea,

intensifying the
Jewish diaspora.

The destruction affects
Jewish cultural,

religious, and
social structures,

reshaping Jewish
identity and practices

for centuries to come.

- In the aftermath
of the destruction
of the Second Temple,

there's actually a divergence
in the source material.

According to Jewish sources,

it's a rabbi, Yohanan ben
Zakkai, who is smuggled

out of Judea and meets with
Emperor Vespasian in Egypt.

There, he strikes a pivotal
deal with the emperor.

He asks the emperor to
allow him to establish

a Jewish center for study
and learning in Yavneh.

This act will ultimately
secure the future of Judaism.

- [Narrator] The story of
Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai

is important for another reason.

It has many similarities
to that of Josephus.

- According to Jewish sources,
it's Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai

that proclaims that Vespasian
will be the future emperor.

There's no mention of Josephus,

and really, this calls into
question this divergence

in the source material,
whether Josephus' story

about the prophecy
and meeting Vespasian,

whether any of that happened,
or whether it's actually

Josephus who is
retroactively putting himself

at the center of the story.

- [Narrator] After
Jerusalem falls

and the temple is destroyed,

Josephus settles in Rome.

There, under imperial patronage,

he dedicates the rest of his
life to literary pursuits.

But the question remains,
were Josephus' prophecies

legitimate or simply a case
of self-serving propaganda?

- Centuries later,
Christian scholars in Europe

would become interested
in the same story

of the prophecy
involving Vespasian,

and in particular a
passage which suggests

that he saw a star over
the head of Vespasian.

It seems to have
been interpreted this

as a sign of Christ coming.

But scholars suggest that
this was probably apocryphal,

and that this passage
might have been written in

long after the event, and
certainly not by Josephus.

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] From visionaries

who wield their
gifts for guidance

to those who exploit
their powers for fame,

and those whose abilities
remain shrouded in mystery,

the question of authenticity
haunts every tale.

Yet they all reveal
a profound truth.

The ultimate power is
not prophecy itself,

but in the choices one makes
with their professed gifts.

(mysterious music)