< False Prophecies of Other Religions

These people have made the following claims.

…Christ returned

Grigori Rasputin (at least some others claimed this)

Rev. Jim Jones of Jonestown (died 11/16/1978)

Rev. Moon of the Unification Church

Jacob Katzan (1977-)

Guru Maharah Ji of the Divine Light Mission

Many Hindu and New Age gurus

…A Jewish Messiah Come the First Time

Sabbatai Sebi/Zvi In Sept. 1666 A.D. he was forced to become Muslim

Rabbi Schneerson of New York (now dead)

Probably Theudas in Acts 5:36. He claimed to be someone great

…The Messiah, or Mahdi in Islamic Religions

Imam al Husayn bin al-Kasim al-’Iyani (1010-1013 A.D.) (Husayniiya Zaydite sect)

1st Fatimid caliph ‘Obaidallah/’Ubaydullah 909-933/4 A.D.

The Bahaullah (Baha’is) (1817-1892)

Husayn ‘Ali Nuri Baha’, half-brother to the Baha’ullah

Sliman Murshad of Syria (1900-1949)

The Mahdist movement in Sudan

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1879, Ahmadiyya Movement)

Many others

…God

Lord Hakim (Druse worship him as visible God)

‘Ali is divine according to the ‘Ulyaniyya/’Alaya’iyya

Mohammed is worshipped as visible God by Muhammidiyya

‘Ali bin Abi Talib and Saliman al-Farisi (They did not claim to be God, but long after their death some ‘Alawite sects worshipped them as sort of a Muslim Tritheism.

God existed in the form of all the prophets according to the Rizamiyya / Muslimiyya Shi’ite sect

For many religions, the idea that a faith can be verified by prophecy is an unknown concept for them.

Rev. Moon: the Bible says Christ will come back in the clouds. Since one verse in the entire Bible, Heb 12:1, mentions clouds of witnesses as groups of people, Christ will come among crowds of people. Rev. Moon’s followers believe him to be the Lord of the Second Advent, Christ returned, visible God. Rev. Moon is getting old now, and some of his followers are realizing that he is not going to usher in a new age.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are famous for predicting when Christ will return in 1874, 1914, 1918, 1925, and 1975. Some say he did return in 1918, but you had to have “spiritual eyes” to see him. Other Jehovah’s Witnesses admit the Watchtower has been wrong on predicting Christ’s return, but justify that by saying Nathan the prophet was wrong too.

Mormon founder Joseph Smith did not make many prophecies, but in Doctrines and Covenants section 87:1-8, written Dec. 25, 1832 he prophesied a rebellion in South Carolina, which at that time war will be poured out upon all nations. There will also be plague, earthquake, and thunder of heaven, and vivid lightning also, until the consumption decreed has made a full end of all nations. In fact, a tariff was passed in 1832 that on Nov 24, 1832 South Carolina declared unacceptable. However, the Civil War did not start until 30 years later. This prophecy was actually removed from the History of the Church, and only added back later in 1852.

Polygamy, and the blacks being denied the priesthood were two LDS doctrines that Joseph Smith said would never change. Polygamy was an “everlasting covenant” in Doctrines and Covenants sections 132. Brigham Young banned polygamy on earth when a U.S. army was about to enter Salt Lake City. The anti-black doctrine, given in the Mormon Book of Abraham 1:25-27, was repealed in June 1978.

The Mormon Book of Abraham was Joseph Smith’s greatest boondoggle. In July 1835, Joseph Smith saw some Egyptian scrolls, which he said were the same language “Reformed Egyptian” as the Book of Mormon. He said they were written by Abraham, and proceeded to make “A Translation of some ancient Records … the writings of Abraham written by his own hand, upon papyrus.” Nobody in America back then could read ancient Egyptian and say whether he was right or wrong. However, he have the scrolls today, and three of the four original manuscripts of the Mormon Book of Abraham have the Egyptian hieroglyphs written right next to them. Joseph Smith made up an average of 110 words where there should have been only one word.

Joseph Smith III was appointed by Joseph Smith to be the Second prophet of the Mormon Church, - unless he was a wicked man, and then he would die at a young age. Joseph Smith III lived to be over 70 years old, but Brigham Young took most of the Mormon Church away from him in 1844. Today, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints follows Joseph Smith III and his successors as prophets.

Finally, 30 days before a mob murdered Joseph Smith in a jail, Joseph Smith said, “I have more to boast of than any man ever had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a church together since the days of Adam…. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet.” (History of the Church volume 6 p.408-409.)

Details on Genesis 49:10

   The Jews themselves understood Gen 49:10 as a Messianic prophecy. In the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin, Chap.4 following 37, recto. Rabbi Rachman said, “When the members of the Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of the/their right over life and death, a general consternation took possession of them; they covered their heads with ashes, and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming: ‘Woe unto us, for the scepter has departed from Judah, and the Messiah has not come!’”

   In a Dead Sea Scroll Commentary on Genesis (4Q252 [=4QpGen^a), fragment 2 in discussing Genesis 49:10, says “Whenever Israel rules, there shall [not] fail to be a descendant of David upon the throne. For the ruler’s staff is the Covenant of kingship, [and the clans] of Israel are the divisions, until the Messiah of Righteousness comes, the Branch of David.” See The Dead Sea Scrolls in English 4th ed. p.300-302, which also points out that this commentary sees the Jewish Hasmonean kings as illegitimate rulers, since they were not from Judah.

Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b, Rabbi Johanan wrote, “The world was created for the sake of the Messiah, what is this Messiah’s name? The school of Rabbi Shila said ‘his name is Shiloh, for it is written; until Shiloh come.”

Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin folio 24. “A little more than forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the power of pronouncing capital sentences was taken away from the Jews.”

Targum Onkelos says, “The transmission of dominion shall not cease from the house of Judah, nor the scribe from his children’s children, forever, until Messiah comes.”

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 49:11a, “Kings and rulers shall not cease from the house of Judah … until King Messiah comes”

   An additional Jewish source that indicates the Jews understood this was a Messianic prophecy are Targum Jonathan on Genesis 49:10,11a.

General Objections on Bible Prophecy

Objection: Can a prophet be wrong, as Nathan was in 2 Sam 7:3, and still be a true prophet? (Jehovah’s Witnesses sometimes bring this up.)

Answer: In 2 Samuel 7:3, Nathan was not speaking as a prophet. David asked Nathan if building the temple was OK, and Nathan said it was. Nathan gave his own opinion, nowhere saying God told him to say this. Immediately afterward, God did speak to Nathan, and Nathan returned to David telling him that God did not want Nathan building the Temple. In summary, a true prophet could have wrong opinions, but a true prophet would never be wrong when he is speaking as a prophet.

Objection: Does the Bible have a false prophecy about Tyre in Ezek 26:14,19-21?

Answer: No, and one can call this question “the tale of three cities”.

Tyre #1 (Old Tyre) originally was only a mainland city build by Phoenician colonists from Sidon. Nobody actually conquered this city until 573 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians destroyed the mainland city after a 13-year siege. Today it is uninhabited, bare rock east of the modern city called Tyre (Sur in Arabic).

Tyre #2 (New Tyre) However, during those 13 years, the Tyrians in Old Tyre moved almost everything of value to the  new Tyre on the island half a mile from the mainland city. Alexander built a causeway connecting New Tyre and Old Tyre. The landscape has changed almost beyond recognition, as silt built up along the causeway, and now there is no island, only a peninsula. What was the major, southern harbor has now filled up with sand, making it a good place to spread nets, but a poor place to have buildings or to launch ships.

Tyre #3 (modern Sur in Arabic) is between the two Tyres. It is on the causeway and the northern part of what was once the island. It is a fishing village with a population of 16,483 in 1972, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The Bible is very precise in what it said about Tyre’s future.

Ezekiel 26:14 does not say not a soul would live there, but that the city would never be rebuilt.

Ezekiel 26:19 says the city will be laid waste, like cities that are not inhabited. The deep will come over Tyre.

Ezekiel 26:21 says that the city of Tyre will be no more, and never be found again.

Today there is a different landscape, a different people, in a different city, that was built over where there used to be water.