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At least, this is one variant of apocalyptic rumor that hit the Internet soon after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center. But it isn't true. The French astrologer—who died in 1566—never published the lines now being attributed to him.

Claims of prediction and prophecy are common during events of great magnitude. For instance, prophecy popularizers were quick to incorporate Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait into end-times scenarios. But over a week after the terrorist offensive on New York City and Washington, D.C., dispensationalist voices have been relatively quiet.

What has been said?
The day after the attacks, radio program Beverly LaHaye Today focused on whether the event marked the onslaught of the end. The consensus among her guests, Tim LaHaye, Thomas Ice, and Ed Hindson, was that it did not.

Pointing out that the rapture didn't happen yet, they stressed that this was not the wrath of God. It was the wrath of man. This was only a foretaste of what is to come, they said.

The day of the attack, Hal Lindsey, author of The Late Great Planet Earth, wrote on his Web site that he has been warning America for years of an attack by the combined terrorist forces of Islam.

"In my video, Where Is America in Bible Prophecy, I warned that America will be destroyed as a world power and that terrorism was one way this could happen," Lindsey wrote. "This scenario seems to have begun."

On September 12, Jack Van Impe wrote, "I have been warning the nation and the world … for the past two years that terrorists would soon strike America. That moment has arrived. Jesus predicted this rise of terrorism just before His return to set up His kingdom on earth."

In a BreakPoint radio commentary, Charles Colson, brushed off end times speculation. He said: "Make no mistake; Jesus is going to return. Obviously, I believe that. But like C. S. Lewis, I refuse to speculate as to when. Rather than speculate, I want to concentrate on the great and unique contribution Christians can make in this hour."

Why the lack of speculation?
"The Gulf War was rather easy picking because it happened in an area of the world just dripping with biblical prophecy," Timothy Weber, dean of Northern Baptist Seminary, told Christianity Today this week. "This [recent event] doesn't work like that. Dispensationalists have tried for years to fit the United States in, but it's hard to find Scripture to support it."

Robert Clouse, professor of history at Indiana State University, agreed that America's absence from prophecy is the main reason for the "amazingly quiet" prophecy scene. This sticking point, however, leads to the currently abundant theories that America must fall before Christ's return.

Clouse, co-author of The New Millennium Manual, said another cause for the lack of speculation is that "dispensationalists have become much more careful in pinning events down in prophecy."

Paul Boyer, Merle Curti Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin and author of When Time Shall Be No More, told CT that it could be too soon for apocalyptic discussion.

It may be a little early for the prophecy popularizers to weigh in on this. They are obviously sensitive to the high level of emotion surrounding these events, and aware of a public backlash if they too quickly treat it as a divinely ordained prophetic fulfillment. I suspect that with the passage of time these events will be assimilated into the prophecy popularizers' end-time scenario, as everything is.

I was particularly reminded on Tuesday of Revelation 18, with its memorable description of the fiery destruction of Babylon in one hour, as the merchants stand afar off, weeping and wailing. Even the word "trade" is in there. For the author of Revelation, "Babylon" was presumably a not-too-subtle allusion to Rome, but modern popularizers have often described New York City as the modern Babylon. I suspect this theme may gain some credence in prophecy circles, once the initial shock wears off.

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September (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45