All language subtitles for Nostradamus.Effect.S01E01-en

>> narrator: a charismatic

leader, one who has risen above

all others, speaks to the

multitudes.

they have waited for him.

they believe in him.

they expect he will heal the

world's ills.

some say he is the messiah

finally returned.

but this man is not a savior.

he is the king of terror who

will usher in the end of

everything.

for thousands of years, prophets

around the world have predicted

the end of days.

more than one suggests the

apocalypse is fast approaching.

we call this theoretical

convergence between doomsday

prophecies and today's events

the "nostradamus effect."

how will the end begin? o0 c1

>> narrator: the antichrist.

the false messiah.

a child of satan.

the word "antichrist" first

appears in the new testament.

in this ancient text, there is a

prophecy that states the

antichrist, the beast, will come

to seduce mankind.

instead, believers say he will

usher in the end of days ‐‐

armageddon.

>> the antichrist is a man who

receives the power of satan.

>> the antichrist, of course,

represents the devil on earth.

he is a false messiah.

that's exactly what he is.

>> narrator: we will examine the

theory that the antichrist is

already among us.

who is the antichrist?

who predicted his arrival?

if prophecies are to be

believed, do they connect to

more than one warning about such

a figure?

and are they linked to events in

our own time in a web of

convergence?

we will neither refute nor

endorse these theories, merely

present the evidence.

the word "antichrist" has its

origins in religion, combining

the greek "anti" ‐‐ instead

of or in place of ‐‐ with

"christ" or "christos" ‐‐

the anointed.

>> what it refers to is a period

in the early church when various

groups were starting to split

off, each of them understanding

christ's teaching in their own

unique way, and each of them

denouncing all the others as

heretical.

so, from the point of view of

any one of these groups,

everybody else was an

antichrist.

>> narrator: other religions

have their own malevolent

figures, but only the religions

in the judaic tradition have an

antichrist.

>> the term "antichrist" is

literally only alluded to,

really, in islam besides judaism

and christianity.

and they have their imposter

messiah.

and he will come on the scene

in the last days, much like the

antichrist in the bible will

come on the scene in the last

days.

>> narrator: in islam, he is

called "masih ad‐dajjal," or

"the imposter."

some biblical interpreters

believe that just as jesus is

the son of god, the antichrist

is considered the son of satan.

>> in spirituality, the enemy of

christ himself is the

antichrist.

even as god the father sent

jesus christ the son,

theoretically, satan himself

will send this man on the planet

to be the enemy of all that is

good.

>> narrator: one of the earliest

of the biblical antichrist

prophecies comes from the

new testament, in the book of

revelation.

it describes the antichrist's

arrival in the world.

[ bell tolls ]

how is this ancient prophecy

entwined with other, later

prophecies about the

antichrist...

prophecies that may be an

example of the nostradamus

effect?

for some, the key may lie with

nostradamus himself.

>> nostradamus was a messenger

of the divine plan.

he would have been interested in

the antichrist because he would

want the human race to know what

they were facing in the future,

specifically toward the end

times.

>> narrator: nostradamus began

publishing all of his

prophecies, including his

visions of the antichrist, in

the mid‐16th century.

>> nostradamus straddled this

really obscure line between

magic and science, between

heresy and conformity.

>> narrator: his prophecies

consist of 10 books, called

centuries, each consisting of

four‐lined poems called

quatrains.

it was within these writings

that nostradamus revealed his

visions of the antichrist.

>> nostradamus categorically

believed that his gift of

prophecy was a gift from god.

it was his responsibility to

alert the world to these things.

>> narrator: some suggest that

the visions he experienced were

horrible and confusing, a mix of

unrecognizable technology and

staggering violence.

>> try to imagine what it would

be like if you had an ability to

open a window to 500 years ahead

into the future and you saw

fantastic things that went

against everything you believed.

what would you do with that?

>> narrator: he attempted to

describe them in his writings.

nostradamus dedicated a number

of quatrains to antichrist

prophecy.

followers of his quatrains

confirm that nostradamus did not

see just one antichrist.

he saw three antichrists, each

appearing in his own time, each

worse than the last.

>> nostradamus is unique in the

history of prophecy.

all other traditions, east and

west, have one antichrist, but

he has three.

>> narrator: experts say

nostradamus wrote of two

antichrists that have since come

and gone, leaving unparalleled

destruction and bloodshed in

their wake.

many insist that the final part

of this prophecy has yet to come

true.

they suggest that the third

false prophet may be destined to

wreak havoc in our own time...

and that he may be among us

right now.

some believe that the key to

unlocking the mystery of the

third antichrist may be found in

the identities of the first two

and that clues revealing who

they are could be found in

nostradamus' quatrains.

in this quatrain, it is

suggested that nostradamus

prophesied the first antichrist.

nostradamus predicts this

destructive leader will come

from southern europe to plague

his own people.

>> napoleon was born near italy.

he did bring his empire to ruin.

in that quatrain, we have a

story of a ruler who brought

about disaster.

>> narrator: is napoleon the

leader nostradamus envisioned?

>> century 1, quatrain 60 would

seem to be a pretty good,

dead‐on prediction, as close as

nostradamus comes, to an

identifiable prophecy which came

true in a way that we can

recognize.

>> narrator: the second

antichrist is even worse.

nostradamus writes that he, too,

is european and possesses

unprecedented powers of

persuasion.

>> hitler was famous for his

oratory, for leading a nation

astray with his oratorical gift.

>> narrator: once again,

nostradamus' prophecy seems to

converge with an actual

historical figure, one born

centuries later, a man who

very nearly conquered the world.

many believe that if nostradamus

successfully predicted the

appearance of napoleon and

hitler, his prophecy of the

third antichrist is also likely

to come true.

is this exaggerated doctrine or

credible evidence?

what are the exact links between

these three alleged false

prophets?

a closer examination of

nostradamus' antichrist

quatrains may allow us to reveal

the truth.

[ clocks ticking ]

>> narrator: nearly 500 years

ago, history's famed prophet,

nostradamus, predicted the

arrival of three antichrists,

each building on the power of

the last.

some believe the third and most

dangerous antichrist may be

among us now.

>> things tend to go in threes.

in the esoteric world, we call

it the "law of threes."

so the basic idea was that there

would be three people that

would, together, if you looked

at the broad range of their

history, completely change

civilization.

>> narrator: will an

investigation of various threads

of evidence help us judge the

accuracy of the belief that the

third antichrist will appear in

our lifetime?

>> most people already are

looking for somebody to lead the

world to a global peace, to

solve these great crises that we

have throughout the world.

the antichrist will be that

savior.

>> narrator: what clues are

embedded in the quatrains of

nostradamus, hints to help us

identify the third and worst

antichrist?

he warned...

some suggest that this is a

vision nostradamus had of our

current time and that it proves

the antichrist is in our midst.

in using the word "vengeance,"

is he pointing to our current

wars in iraq, afghanistan, the

far east, in our own inner

cities?

[ woman screams ]

could the seer's reference to

thirst and famine describe the

starvation that exists today in

drought‐ and poverty‐stricken

villages?

>> nostradamus' genius may not

have been as a seer or a

prophet but as a surrealist

poet.

his verses are broken.

they're hard to understand, and

they seem to speak to certain

levels of the human mind that

aren't always that easy to

approach.

>> narrator: 1555, provence,

france.

nostradamus sits in his secluded

study.

he appears to embark on a

psychic journey in search of

answers.

>> he hears a voice at a certain

point, and suddenly there's a

shaking through his robes, and

then a terror followed by divine

splendor.

and then he hears the god speak.

>> narrator: is nostradamus

really seeing the future?

evidence suggests nostradamus

identified the first antichrist

in one especially cryptic

quatrain.

many believe this is

nostradamus' first antichrist

prophecy.

he wrote it in 1555.

>> "pau, nay, oloron" are three

towns in southwest france.

the fact that the first three

words are in bold font,

uppercase ‐‐ it's like, "nudge,

nudge, nudge.

i'm saying something here that

you should look a second time

at."

>> narrator: for those who see

prophecy in his work,

nostradamus is trying, in this

quatrain, to reveal the identity

of the first antichrist by

placing him in france.

>> when you rearrange the

letters of these three small

towns, they spell out

"napoleon roi" ‐‐

"napoleon the king."

>> la roi, spelled r‐o‐y in the

old french for r‐o‐i.

>> narrator: napoleon bonaparte,

one of history's most notorious

tyrants ‐‐ is this quatrain

proof that the emperor of france

was the first antichrist

prophesied?

did nostradamus see napoleon's

arrival on the world stage

233 years before he came to

power?

born in corsica, about 30 miles

from italy, napoleon proclaimed

himself emperor of france in

1799.

he presented himself as a

champion and savior of his

people.

>> historians see napoleon as a

hero, a savior of france during

a time that france was

economically suppressed, during

a time when france needed a

savior.

he came as a false messiah, one

who dominated the entire

population and even crowned

himself.

>> people that follow him create

evil.

in other words, he influences

people.

>> narrator: according to

nostradamus, the ability to

appear as a savior and seduce

entire populations is

characteristic of the

antichrist, but for interpreters

of the prophecies, additional

clues point to napoleon as the

first antichrist...

including nostradamus' veiled

warning to a catholic pope of

approaching danger.

in fact, napoleon held

pope pius vi prisoner in the

town of valence, where he later

died vomiting blood in the

month of august.

valence can be found at the

confluence of two rivers.

followers of the famed seer say

even napoleon's contemporaries

saw the likeness of the emperor

in the writings of nostradamus.

>> various prophecies in

nostradamus' verses were even

applied to him in napoleon's own

time.

one, for example...

that is to say, no one else was

named napoleon in the french

monarchy and he wasn't part of

the old bourbon ruling family.

all of whom napoleon either

invaded or fought with, so this

kind of prophecy has been very

easily applied to napoleon.

>> narrator: but it is believed

that perhaps the level of havoc

and bloodshed committed in

napoleon's name has most aptly

branded him antichrist.

nostradamus seems clear that the

supposed first antichrist, too,

will be soaked in blood.

>> certainly napoleon was

responsible for the deaths of

many people.

when he invaded russia in 1812,

his army, starting out, was

600,000 men.

when he went back, defeated, it

was 18,000.

>> he is the first antichrist

because one of the things they

all share is a great shedding of

blood, and that was the first

big modern shedding of blood ‐‐

from napoleon.

>> narrator: responsible one way

or another for 3.5 million

deaths, likely more than any

other single human being before

him, many conclude that napoleon

does fit the description of the

first antichrist.

the quatrains further state...

even his wintry defeat after

pushing too far into russia, the

"north wind," seems to be echoed

in nostradamus' quatrains.

did napoleon himself believe he

was the first antichrist

nostradamus prophesied?

evidence suggests the emperor

was drawn to his writings.

>> napoleon traveled with a

collection of nostradamus'

prophecies on his bedside table.

unfortunately, they were

forgeries.

>> narrator: at the turn of the

19th century, napoleon ordered a

genocide in france's colony in

haiti.

his troops slaughtered as many

as 100,000 slaves, gassing some

of them with sulfur dioxide in

the holds of french ships, a

preview of genocide to come.

experts on nostradamus'

antichrist prophecy believe

napoleon's actions created the

conditions for a second and

third antichrist to follow, each

who would ravage mankind just as

nostradamus prophesied.

>> if you did not have a

napoleon bonaparte, you would

not have had the steps which

would have led to a unification

of germany later in the 19th

century, which led to the second

antichrist, which created the

modern world that created the

atmosphere for the oncoming and

third and final antichrist.

>> narrator: there is no doubt

that napoleon's trail of misery

and destruction marks him as one

of history's monsters, and if

prophecy is to be believed, he

is more ‐‐ perhaps the first

antichrist foretold by

nostradamus.

are there really multiple links

between nostradamus and

napoleon bonaparte?

and are they more than

coincidence?

how strong is the connection

between napoleon and our second

alleged antichrist,

adolf hitler?

is it possible that these

connections will lead us to

identify the third antichrist?

[ machine‐gun fire ]

>> narrator: if the

nostradamus effect is true,

have the warnings in ancient

texts and prophecies from

nostradamus himself converged to

suggest that the end of days has

actually begun?

what, if any, would be the signs

of armageddon?

>> god said throughout the

old testament that, "in the last

days, i will draw my people from

the four corners of the earth

back to the land of their

forefathers, palestine."

that, literally, opened the

curtain for the antichrist to

come on the scene.

>> narrator: we are examining

whether an antichrist of

biblical proportions has arrived

to accelerate the chaos and

destruction witnessed in the

modern world.

the quatrains of nostradamus

suggest that this antichrist

will be the last of three false

messiahs.

his arrival will be immediately

preceded by a second evil, one

who creates the conditions for

the last of nostradamus'

antichrists to destroy the

world.

for centuries, followers of

nostradamus have examined his

quatrains for clues to the

identity of the second

antichrist.

nostradamus feared that the

second antichrist would be many

times more brutal than the

first.

>> nostradamus is telling us

that something is coming upon

the earth that we are not used

to, that he has described, if

you like, in the first two

antichrists.

they weren't simply national

monsters.

they were supernational

monsters.

they had enormous worldwide

influence, and i think that

that's what he's implying here.

>> narrator: his prophecies

about the second antichrist are

among his most persistent and

specific.

many agree they point directly

at history's most notorious

madman.

nostradamus first mentions the

second antichrist in this

chilling quatrain, which dooms

europe to another round of

terror and destruction.

and there is just such a man

from the exact location

prophesied by nostradamus ‐‐

adolf hitler.

>> hitler often appears in

interpretations of nostradamus,

largely because nostradamus

keeps referring to a figure

called "hister," which is fairly

close to "hitler."

and it means the danube.

>> narrator: here, nostradamus'

prophecy seems precisely

on‐target.

hitler was born in austria, and

austria's main river is the

danube.

>> it didn't take people long in

hitler's time to start applying

them to him.

moreover, magda goebbels, who

was the wife of hitler's

propaganda minister,

joseph goebbels, who was

interested in the occult,

came across these things and

said, "wow, this must be about

hitler."

>> narrator: she wasn't alone.

others made this same

connection.

>> the typesetter in one of the

early versions of the prophecies

actually turned one of the

hister/ister quatrains into

"hitler" by mistaking the letter

and substituting the "t."

>> narrator: hitler was known

for his mesmerizing and

charismatic speeches.

in less than 10 years, he

seduced germany into waging war

across the globe with virtually

unquestioned impunity.

most disturbing, he convinced

germans to carry out a genocide

that virtually wiped out

european jews and other victims,

in all more than 6 million

people.

nostradamus writes...

>> the last line is quite

interesting, which also points

to it being about hitler.

imperial japan became so

enamored with adolf hitler that

it led to the tripartite act,

the axis alliance, which united

mussolini's rome with hitler's

third reich and imperial japan.

>> narrator: responsible for a

death toll that reached into the

tens of millions, hitler is

synonymous with evil more than

any other single human being in

history.

but could he also be

nostradamus' second antichrist?

>> the way to understand why

hitler is the second antichrist

is, again, the steps that the

first antichrist initiates ‐‐

napoleon ‐‐ by creating the

modern world through the

napoleonic wars that created the

unification of germany, the

second reich, which led to the

creation of the third reich of

adolf hitler.

that's the link between the

first and the second.

>> narrator: it is suggested

that, like napoleon before him,

hitler may have been aware of

his own destiny as an

antichrist as revealed in the

quatrains of nostradamus.

>> hitler was part of an

esoteric and occult underworld

before the first world war that

was fascinated by nostradamus

and his prophecies.

by 1939, hitler was

self‐identifying with the idea

of being the second antichrist.

since this was such a large

conflict, since this was another

one of nostradamus' very

meaningful time periods, then

this must be the second of his

three antichrists.

>> narrator: they also believe

hitler perhaps saw napoleon as

his antichrist predecessor.

he revered napoleon and, soon

after the fall of france in

1940, visited the french

dictator's tomb.

and even more verses seem to

link hitler to nostradamus'

second antichrist.

he seems to hint at hitler's

downfall.

>> if you were in the 16th

century and you had to describe

an automobile or a tank or a

floating attack boat, you might

call it a beast that roared with

its thundering engines, that

breathed like a dragon, that

come across the great rivers.

"beasts ferocious with

hunger" ‐‐ he's trying to look

at fantastic technology that he

has never seen before.

>> narrator: and the "cage of

iron" ‐‐ is this hitler's

bunker, the bunker that hitler

retreated to toward the end of

this reign?

>> if an emissary of future

visions gave you a great trench

dug in berlin that had all this

amazing iron rebar work for a

huge bunker that was under

construction, wouldn't it be

said that you put that man

underground into this great

cage, which became the fuhrer

bunker?

>> narrator: it was in this

bunker that hitler, on the verge

of losing the war he himself

initiated, committed suicide.

some see hitler's sociopathic

lack of conscience as further

proof that he is nostradamus'

second antichrist.

if christ embodies pure

compassion, hitler is his exact

opposite.

>> i am haunted by a quote that

hitler gave very honestly about

his ability to find the right

way and make the right decision.

"i follow my path with the

complete confidence and

certainty of a sleepwalker."

to be asleep is the ultimate

unconsciousness ‐‐ to literally

be a somnambulist through life.

here is this very powerful,

charismatic sleepwalker leading

the whole world into an abyss.

that, to me, is antichrist.

>> narrator: according to

believers, the nostradamus

effect may be overwhelming our

modern world.

but how can these theories be

tested?

if napoleon was the first

antichrist and hitler the

second, who is the third?

and is he among us?

evidence suggests that before

this false prophet can unleash a

terrible battle between the

forces of good and evil, another

critical step must first take

place.

>> narrator: the prophecies of

nostradamus suggest that a third

false messiah, a new antichrist,

may arrive in our lifetime.

some believe his predictions are

foreshadowed by the book of

revelation.

this biblical text purports that

a so‐called savior will set the

conditions for armageddon.

from where do believers suspect

this third antichrist will

emerge?

will it be in the turbulent

middle east ‐‐ iraq, iran?

or might he appear from

desperate regions within africa?

some say he will perhaps emerge

from within a superpower

government such as the

united states.

>> i believe that the world is

already preparing for him coming

on the scene.

>> narrator: what clues in the

quatrains of nostradamus provide

solid leads to identify the

third antichrist?

>> the one he wanted to warn our

time about was the third one,

because he was the worst of all

of them because he would learn

from the mistakes made by

hitler.

this way, he would know which

way to go.

and he's a very dangerous man ‐‐

very powerful and very

dangerous.

>> narrator: but there's a

strange and unexpected twist.

some believe this most horrible

of nostradamus' antichrists will

be heralded by evil

forerunners ‐‐ extremely

dangerous men who will signal

his arrival.

nostradamus seems to suggest as

much in this obscure quatrain...

are the followers of nostradamus

suggesting that some of today's

most savage leaders who have

targeted the united states and

western europe with their

terrorist attacks may be trusty

lieutenants of this third

antichrist?

are they actually clearing the

way for the third antichrist's

arrival?

>> he saw at least seven rulers

that would come to power before

the time of the antichrist.

>> narrator: some believe

saddam hussein was one of these

forerunners.

they say it was written in the

stars and interpreted by

nostradamus himself, who

predicted...

>> saddam hussein died, was

hung, and on that very night

before his death, a little

smudge in the sky called

comet mcnaught became visible.

comet mcnaught, in the next two

weeks, became the brightest

comet in 60 years.

>> narrator: although

nostradamus experts suggest

saddam himself was the third

antichrist, others disagree.

they argue that, unlike napoleon

and hitler as the supposed first

two antichrists, hussein lacked

their vast power.

>> before you can qualify,

really, to be the third

antichrist, you've got to have a

big army, you got to have a big

air force, you got to have a big

navy, you got to have a lot of

manpower, you got to have a lot

of economic resources.

saddam had a little of that, but

not a whole lot of it, so he

didn't really qualify to be the

big, bad wolf of the future.

>> he saw saddam hussein as not

the antichrist, but a

forerunner.

many of these would set the

stage.

>> narrator: others suggest yet

another quatrain as possible

proof that the theory of

forerunners to the third

antichrist is valid.

it seems to implicate

osama bin laden, mastermind of

the attacks on 9/11.

>> we have the famous prophecy

about the king of terror

descending from the skies in

1999, which could be a reverse

code for 1‐9‐9‐9 becomes

9‐1‐1‐1 ‐‐ september month,

"great king of terror coming

from the sky" ‐‐ hijacked

planes.

>> narrator: other followers of

end‐of‐day prophecy have echoed

the belief that bin laden is the

third antichrist, but is he

really?

>> at first, i thought,

"osama bin laden ‐‐ he might

qualify to be the third

antichrist, but it's a little

bit too early to tell."

well, as time has gone on, i

think we were jumping the gun to

think that either saddam or

bin laden was nostradamus' third

antichrist.

>> narrator: further examination

of yet another quatrain focuses

the emphasis back on the third

antichrist described by

nostradamus.

>> so antichrists can pop up in

any country, and we don't know

if he's going to be from the

middle east.

he might be from china.

we don't know.

he says that, "he will rise

above all the kings in the

orient."

>> narrator: the

ayatollah khomeini,

mu'ammar gadhafi, kim jong il...

with so many possible

forerunners having come from the

middle and far east, some

interpreters believe it is no

coincidence that the search for

the antichrist is now focused in

such unstable regions.

in the middle east, some

faithful see the return of the

jewish people to israel as

further fulfillment of biblical

prophecy and further evidence

the end times and the antichrist

are here today.

>> primarily in 1917, britain

took control of palestine.

in the balfour declaration, they

invited jews from all over the

world back to israel.

that began, in some bible

scholars' opinion, the last days

as we know it today.

>> narrator: for other scholars,

this hunt for the antichrist

conveniently pits one religion

against another.

>> it's so interesting that we,

as humans, love to have an

enemy.

and throughout the ages, we have

always wanted to focus either on

a whole people group, on a

society that we can have as our

enemy.

>> narrator: but what does

nostradamus say?

if the evil forerunners to the

third antichrist have come and

gone, what happens now?

the enduring mystery of his

quatrains has allowed multiple

interpretations over the

centuries on the details of the

third antichrist's appearance.

who do his followers actually

believe may be this third and

final false savior?

>> as i read through some of

these time‐period predictions of

nostradamus, some of these

shifts, is that he's presenting

us with alternative future

paths.

if we make a choice in this

decade, then it's gonna result

in these events further down the

line.

if we respond to those events

negatively, then this is gonna

happen.

if we respond positively, then

maybe we can change things.

>> narrator: today, believers

see signs everywhere of global

destruction.

to them, this may confirm that

the third antichrist is among

us.

if we accept these theories as

fact, who is he finally?

and how far along is he in his

timeline of destruction?

[ clocks ticking ]

>> narrator: is the clock

ticking?

is doomsday fast approaching?

there are those who believe the

nostradamus effect is occurring

as ancient prophecies and

today's cataclysmic events

converge.

some say this course is

irrevocable.

>> if it were up to human will,

if it were a human‐willed

choice, we could change this and

not have to go through it.

we don't have that choice.

>> narrator: biblical prophecy

warns of an antichrist who will

destroy mankind.

nostradamus says we will suffer

three.

if we accept the theory that

napoleon and hitler were the

first two, what might the third

and most cunning antichrist hold

in store for us?

could the antichrist be a real

person and not a construct of

religion and symbolism?

>> we are racing irreversibly

toward the end of time and

through the ultimate prophecies

that condemn the earth.

it is prophecy, and prophecy

will be fulfilled to the letter.

>> narrator: nostradamus'

prophecies suggest the third

antichrist may have powers that

far exceed the other two.

>> "...in steel, fire, water,

bloody and monstrous."

>> narrator: so the question

becomes ‐‐ are any real leaders

today actual candidates who meet

the criteria identified in these

prophecies?

critics point out that just

about every world leader has

been accused of fitting the

profile of antichrist at one

time or another, according to

who is or is not popular at any

given time.

>> this individual changes with

the generations, practically

with the decades.

in the 1970s, it was common, or

at least done, to identify

possibly someone like

henry kissinger.

>> narrator: and the list of

unlikely candidates goes on.

still, some cite a mysterious

name ‐‐ mabus.

it appears in another of one of

nostradamus' quatrains.

some believe "mabus" is the name

nostradamus has assigned to the

third antichrist.

could "mabus" be a coded

reference?

two presidents have been linked

to the name mabus by extreme

adherents of prophecy.

the first is the 43rd president

of the united states,

george w. bush.

even nonbelievers of this theory

can explain the connection.

>> you follow the rule of

everything in lowercase letters.

the "g‐w" becomes "a‐m," because

you can turn them upside‐down.

swivel them, and you have

"mabush."

drop the redundant letter, you

have mabus.

>> narrator: although this seems

to implicate george w. bush as a

candidate for the third

antichrist, scholars dismiss

that suggestion, especially

since his transition out of

power is credited as being

orderly.

but what about president 44?

>> more recently, there was a

mayor in georgia who got into

trouble for circulating an

e‐mail asking if barack obama

was the antichrist.

so, the antichrist is a very

fluid concept that can adapt to

your needs.

>> narrator: in fact,

nostradamus himself seems to

definitively say that no recent

u.s. president fits the bill.

this prophecy suggests a

long‐lasting worldwide war will

follow the third antichrist's

death.

could the third antichrist have

already come and gone?

the bible points to a series of

cataclysms that may coincide

with the aftermath of the third

antichrist.

the book of revelation states...

many say the natural and

unnatural disasters that now

plague the earth indicate we are

at a tipping point, but are we

really closer to the end than

ever before?

>> the prophets are trying to

tell us about climate change,

about famine, about a figure in

the middle east that we need to

recognize before he starts a

27‐year war.

these are the things that the

prophets like nostradamus are

trying to make us see and

change.

>> narrator: if we accept the

theories by adherents of

prophecy that we may be on the

path to armageddon, might we

have time to influence those

events?

are the multiple quatrains of

nostradamus hard evidence that

the third antichrist is among

us?

>> the final line, he talks

about one of the ugliest visions

that i've ever seen.

is he talking about hemorrhagic

fever when he talks about

"blood‐soaked human bodies,"

which is also something that

certain biological agents do?

does he mean a "reddened, icy

hail" from some kind of nuclear

discharge that creates a modest

nuclear winter?

>> the pestilences ‐‐ those

kinds of things are just getting

closer together, and then

they're escalating.

>> i think nostradamus, in his

prophecies, often shows a

fascination and a horror.

he uses the world "horrible" a

lot in looking at the more

negative possibilities of the

future.

>> narrator: it is fact that

multiple crises worldwide have

deepened.

nuclear weapons among rogue

nations have increased tenfold.

economies around the world

remain on the brink of collapse.

the u. s. government prepares for

another terrorist attack on

american soil.

more coincidence?

for believers, these are not

random events, but dire signs of

the coming apocalypse.

>> we're seeing the mass

deterioration of our earth and

its environment.

as that sea level starts to

raise up and countries start to

be flooded, that's when the mass

panic is gonna hit.

>> it's going to come upon us so

quick that people will be

panicked.

we're talking about complete,

universal destruction, where

nobody can help anybody.

>> narrator: but others suggest

the prophecies of nostradamus

have a decidedly different

meaning and purpose.

>> i think people need comfort.

they want to know what's going

to happen, especially at times

of great unease, such as we're

experiencing at the moment, and

nostradamus appears to offer

some sort of certainty, in the

sense that so many of his

quatrains have been seen to be

correct in retrospect.

>> narrator: as the theory goes,

the end fast approaches.

the sands slip away.

and the hands spin out of

control.

the third antichrist wreaks

havoc.

is this our future?

perhaps nostradamus is warning

us that people must pay

attention and act.

>> we've been here before.

we're going through it now.

we'll go through it in the

future, but humanity will go on.

>> narrator: but many

interpreters say we won't, that

it's only a question of when the

third antichrist will make his

demonic entrance.

if we accept the premise that

the bible and nostradamus are

warning us, what messages remain

for us to decode, or are we

ultimately destined to

experience the

nostradamus effect?