[music playing] NARRATOR: A
charismatic leader, one who has risen above all others,
speaks to the multitudes. [cheering] They had 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. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
The end begin. 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. BRETT PETERSON: The
Antichrist is a man who receives the power of Satan. MARIO READING: 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 them 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. BRETT PETERSON: The term
Antichrist is literally only alluded to really in
Islam besides Judaism and Christianity. And they have their
impostor 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 impostor. Some biblical
interpreters believe that just as Jesus
is the son of God, the Antichrist is
considered the son of Satan. BRETT PETERSON: 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. [chanting] 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. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: Let him
that hath understanding count the number of the beast for
it is the number of a man. And his number has 6, 6, 6. NARRATOR: 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. MARIO READING:
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. JOHN HOGUE: Try to imagine
what it would be like if you had the 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. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: One who
the infernal gods of Hannibal will cause to be reborn
terror to all mankind. NARRATOR: Nostradamus
dedicated a number of quatrains to Antichrist prophecy. Followers of his quatrains
confirmed that Nostradamus did not see just one Antichrist. He saw three Antichrists each
appearing in his own time, each worse than the last. JOHN HOGUE: 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 the clues
revealing who they are could be found in
Nostradamus's quatrains. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: An
emperor will be born near Italy. He will cost his
empire very dearly. NARRATOR: 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. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
From the very depths of the West of
Europe, a young child will be born of poor
people, he who by his tongue will seduce a great troop. Hitler was famous
for his oratory, for leading a nation astray
with his oratorical gift. NARRATOR: Once again,
Nostradamus's 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's Antichrist quatrains may
allow us to reveal the truth. [music playing] 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. VINCENT BRIDGES: 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? BRETT PETERSON:
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-- ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
At once one will see vengeance, one
hundred powers, thirst, famine. NARRATOR: 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? Could the seer's reference
to thirst and famine describe the starvation
that exists today in drought and poverty-stricken villages? RICHARD SMOLEY:
Nostradamus's 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 a divine splendor. And then he hears
the God speaking. NARRATOR: Is Nostradamus
really seeing the future? Evidence suggests Nostradamus
identified the first Antichrist in one especially
cryptic quatrain. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
Pau, Nay, Oloron will be more of fire than blood. NARRATOR: Many believe this is
Nostradamus's first Antichrist prophecy. He wrote it in 1555. JOHN HOGUE: Pau, Nau,
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. VINCENT BRIDGES: When
you rearrange the letters of these three small towns,
they spell out Napoleon Roi, Napoleon the king. The roi is 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? ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: An
emperor will be born near Italy. He will cost his
empire very dearly. NARRATOR: 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. MICHAL DESCHAUSSES:
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's veiled warning to
a Catholic pope of approaching danger. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
Roman pontiff, beware of approaching out of the city
which the two rivers water. In that place, you will
come to spit your blood. NARRATOR: In fact, Napoleon held
Pope Pius the sixth 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. RICHARD SMOLEY:
Various prophecies in Nostradamus's verses
are even applied to him in Napoleon's own time. One, for example, "bearing
a name which no French king passed on to him." 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. "More fearsome
than a thunderbolt. Tremble will Italy, Spain, and
England," 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. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: That he
is less a prince than a butcher. RICHARD SMOLEY:
Certainly, Napoleon was responsible for the
deaths of many people. When he invaded Russia in
1812, his army starting out with 600,000 men, when he went
back defeated, it was 18,000. JOHN HOGUE: 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, Napoleon. NARRATOR: Responsible
one way or another for 3 and 1/2 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-- ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
But the French nation will fear the hour, North wind,
the army having pushed too far. NARRATOR: Even his wintery
defeat after pushing too far into Russia, the
North wind, seems to be echoed in
Nostradamus's quatrains. Did Napoleon himself believe
he was the first Antichrist Nostradamus prophesied? Evidence suggests the emperor
was drawn to his writings. VINCENT BRIDGES:
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's
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. JOHN HOGUE: 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? [music playing] 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? ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: I
will take the Israelites out of the nations where
they have gone. I will gather them from all
around and bring them back into their own land. BRETT PETERSON: 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. [explosion] 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
suggests 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's Antichrist to destroy the world. For centuries,
followers of Nostradamus have examined his
quatrains for clues to the identity of
the second Antichrist. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
From the very depths of the West of Europe-- NARRATOR: Nostradamus feared
that the second Antichrist would be many times more
brutal than the first. MARIO READING: 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
supranational 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. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
He who by his tongue will seduce a great troop. NARRATOR: 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. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
Liberty will not be regained. It will be occupied by a black,
proud, villainous, and unjust man. When the matter of
the pontiff is opened, the Republic of Venice
will be vexed by D'ister. 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's 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. VINCENT BRIDGES: 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-- ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: His fame
will increase towards the realm of the East. JOHN HOGUE: 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
Pact, 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's second Antichrist? JOHN HOGUE: 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. VINCENT BRIDGES: 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-identified with the idea of being the second Antichrist. Since this was such
a large conflict, since this was another one of
Nostradamus's 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 seemed to
link Hitler to Nostradamus's second Antichrist. He seems to hint at
Hitler's downfall. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
Beast ferocious with hunger will cross the rivers. The greater part
of the battlefield will be against Hister. JOHN HOGUE: 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. Beast ferocious with hunger-- he's trying to look at
fantastic technology that he's never seen before. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
Into a cage of iron will the great one be drawn
when the child of Germany observes nothing. NARRATOR: And the cage of iron-- is this Hitler's
bunker, the bunker that Hitler retreated to
toward the end of his reign? JOHN HOGUE: 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 Fuhrerbunker? 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's second Antichrist. If Christ embodies
pure compassion, Hitler is his exact opposite. JOHN HOGUE: 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 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 was 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. [music playing] 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. [cheering] NARRATOR: What clues in the
quatrains of Nostradamus provide solid leads to
identify the third Antichrist? DOLORES CANNON:
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 is a
strange and unexpected twist. Some believe this most horrible
of Nostradamus's Antichrist will be heralded by evil
forerunners, extremely dangerous men who will
signal his arrival. Nostradamus seems to suggest as
much in this obscure quatrain. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: The chief
of London through the realm of America, the Isle of
Scotland will be tried by frost. King and Reb will face
an Antichrist so false that he will place them in
the conflict all together. NARRATOR: 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? DOLORES CANNON: 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-- ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
At once, one will see vengeance, one
hundred powers, first, famine, when the comet will pass. JOHN HOGUE: Saddam
Hussein died and 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. VICTOR BAINES: 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. DOLORES CANNON: 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. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: In the
year 1999 and seven months, a great king of terror
will come from the sky. JOHN HOGUE: We had the famous
prophecy about the king of terror descending
from the skies in 1999, which could be a reverse
code for 1999 becomes 9-11-1, 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? VICTOR BAINES: 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's third Antichrist. [gunshots] NARRATOR: Further examination
of yet another quatrain focuses the emphasis back on
the third Antichrist described by Nostradamus. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: Long
awaited, he will never return in Europe. He will appear in Asia. So Antichrist 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 he will rise above
all the kings in the Orient. NARRATOR: The Ayatollah
Khomeini, Muammar Gaddafi, Kim Jong-il. With so many possible foreigners
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. BRETT PETERSON: 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. BRETT PETERSON: 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? VINCENT BRIDGES: 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 going to
result in these events further down the line. If we respond to those
events negatively, then this is going to happen. 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? [music playing] 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. MICHAL DESCHAUSSES: If
it were up to human will, if it were a human will 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's
prophecies suggest the third Antichrist
may have powers that far exceed the other two. MARIO READING: Stained
with mass murder and adultery, this
great enemy of humanity will be worse than any man
before him 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. RICHARD SMOLEY: 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 one
of Nostradamus's quatrains. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
Mabus will soon die. Then will come a horrible
undoing of people and animals. NARRATOR: 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 gw becomes am 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 number 44? RICHARD SMOLEY: More recently,
there was a mayor in Georgia who got into trouble for
circulating an email 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 US president fits the bill. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
The third Antichrist very soon annihilated, 27
years his bloody war will last. NARRATOR: 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-- ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: There
was a great earthquake. And the sun became black
as sackcloth made of hair. And the whole moon
became like blood. And the stars fell from
the sky to the Earth. NARRATOR: 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? JOHN HOGUE: 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? JOHN HOGUE: The final
line, he talks about one of the ugliest visions
that I've ever seen. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: The
heretics dead, captives exiled, blood-soaked human bodies. JOHN HOGUE: Is he talking
about hemorrhagic fever when he talks about blood-soaked
human bodies, which is also something that certain
biological agents do? ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS:
And a reddened, icy hail covering the Earth. Does he mean a
reddened, icy hail from some kind of
nuclear discharge that creates a modest
nuclear winter? ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: Little
rain, warm wind, wars, incursions. The pestilences,
those kinds of things are just getting
closer together, and then they're escalating. ACTOR AS NOSTRADAMUS: A horrible
undoing of people and animals. JOHN HOGUE: I think
Nostradamus in his prophecies often shows a
fascination and horror. He uses the word 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 US 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. VICTOR BAINES: We're seeing a
vast deterioration of our Earth in this environment. As our sea level
starts to raise up, and countries start
to be flooded, that's when the mass
panic is going to hit. JOYE JEFFRIES PUGH: 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. MARIO READING: 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. VINCENT BRIDGES: 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?
