The Prophetess Jeane Dixon – Part 2: Was She or Was She Not?

Each day, millions of Americans’ first activity is to check the daily horoscope in their local newspaper. Given that most younger adults no longer even read a newspaper, many of them now go to one of the many astrological websites where they can read their horoscopes. Some wealthy celebrities even hire their own private astrologers to give them a personal horoscope reading each day. It is actually a big business. It is also scientifically and spiritually bogus.

As we introduced in part one of this two part series, one the most famous of all professional astrologers in the last century was Jeane Dixon (AKA: Lydia Emma Pinckert – 1904-1997). Dixon not only claimed that she could decipher people’s futures by reading the stars, but also that she possessed a God given special gift of prophecy to predict the future. For fifty years she offered her supposedly supernatural insight to world events, politics, and religion.

As we discussed before, her best known prediction was made in 1963 when she foretold the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. She is still regarded by many Americans as an authentic modern prophetess who could see into the future. This begs the question: was she or was she not a true prophet? In part one we showed the Bible’s gauge by which to evaluate whether a person was or is an authentic prophet of God.

Throughout history there have been those who made claims to be prophets who were actually fakes, deluded, or possibly demonically possessed. Most modern pseudo-Christian cults were started by men and women who claimed supernatural divine powers. Two notable examples were Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of Mormonism, and Mary Baker Eddy, originator of Christian Science.

In the last installment, we focused our attention on God’s directions to the Israelite people as they prepared to enter the promised land. He first warned them to reject the occultic practices of the pagans who were in the land, as they were all detestable to Him. (Deuteronomy 18:9-14)

The LORD, however, did promise He would raise up a prophet like Moses to lead them to know His will. But God also gave them two key principles by which to judge the authenticity of a prophet who came to them.

First, he declared that if the seer spoke in the name of any other god or gods than Himself (Yahweh), he or she was to be ignored and had committed a capital offense (Exodus 20:1; Deuteronomy 5:7). He also warned that if a prophet made a prediction and it failed to come true, they also would know he or she was a counterfeit. (Deuteronomy 18:15-22).

So, now let’s evaluate Jeane Dixon. How did she fare by this biblical standard? In 1969 she wrote a rather audacious book entitled Jeane Dixon: My Life and Prophecies – Her Own Story as told to Rene Noorbergen (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1969). The book contains dozens of predictions Dixon made on numerous topics that went well into the last part of the 20th century, and even into the 21st. So, based on the standards specified in Deuteronomy 18, we will examine her prophecies and see how she measured up.

Note first, Dixon admitted that not all of her predictions came true. “People have often asked me how I know that what I receive psychically will come true. The answer is: my predictions do not always come true” (Pg. 58 – italics in original). That should tell us something right there. Anyway let’s look at some of her specific predictions. Remember these were all made in 1969.

1. Dixon predicted that the signing of a Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty would embolden the Soviet Union to invade West Germany in the 1970s. She insisted, “the signing of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty marks the beginning of the end of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). This organization will become rather ineffective, starting in 1970, for prior to the end of that year most interested nations will have ratified the treaty, and the Russians inspections will be allowed to check NATO activities.” (pg. 141)

If you know anything about the history of the late 20th century and the Cold War, you know that the Soviet Union never invaded West Germany or western Europe. In fact, the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990 and Germany reunified that same year! NATO is still going strong.

2. Dixon likewise prophesied, “The money saved as a result of the disarmament will be turned into the expansion of the consumer industry, but it will lead to a great destruction, for while peace seems to be on everyone’s mind, sudden destruction and war will occur in 1999.” (pg. 143) There was no great destruction nor any war in 1999.

3. She also predicted that, “Cuba’s dictator, Fidel Castro is rapidly losing both influence and power in his island government. On each occasion that I concentrate on him I see that his days are numbered because he is no longer useful to his Communist bosses … I sense he feels sudden death lurking around the corner and that it will not be a natural one. Raoul’s influence, too, is declining.” (pg. 144)

Remember, Dixon made that prediction in 1969. Fidel Castro remained a thorn in the side of the United States in Cuba until he turned over his government to his brother Raoul in 2011, 42 years later! Fidel died in 2016 at age 90, and his brother Raoul remains First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party to this day.

4. Dixon also said, “I predict a serious food shortage creeping up (in America) in 1979 if no steps are taken to eradicate the imbalance in our educational system.” (pg. 145)

I am not sure how the educational system was supposed to cause a food shortage. In any case, it never happened.

5. Dixon foresaw a great calamity from outer space. No need to comment on this one. “I have seen a comet strike our earth around the middle of the 1980s. Earthquakes and tidal waves will befall us as a result of the tremendous impact of this heavenly body in one of our great oceans.” (pg. 145)

6. One curious prediction of Dixon was that “before the completion of the next decade (the 1970s), popularity of ESP and psychic phenomena will reach an all-time high … Many will find faith in the Lord through ESP.” (pg. 156)

It is certainly true that many people were fascinated with psychics, ESP, and other occult practices during the New Age Movement of the 1980s and 90s. Most of those practices were thoroughly debunked. In any case, I have never heard of it producing some great revival in faith for Christ. If anything it corrupted the faith of many in the True God.

7. One man Dixon apparently admired was an Episcopal Bishop named James Pike. In the 1960s, he was well known for advocating unorthodox teachings and dabbling in spiritism to communicate with his dead son. Dixon stated, “He is a great lover of science and all truths. He will eventually become successful in another field.” Pike died of thirst in September of 1969 stranded in a Israeli desert while searching for material on a book about the “historical Jesus.”

8. In the religious field, Dixon prophesied that the ecumenical movement, which was big in the 1960s, would fail. She was basically right. You don’t hear much about that program anymore, even in mainline denominations. She did, however, predict that the world’s religions would become more united because of a divine miracle. “This intervention will take place at the end of this (20th) century, when a Cross will appear in the Eastern sky and a great voice from heaven will call all men to unite under one God.” (pg. 158)

We all must not have been paying attention.

9. We mentioned in part one that Jeane Dixon was a devout Roman Catholic. In her book, however, she makes an amazing prediction. “During this century one pope will suffer bodily harm.” Dixon was right, one Pope did suffer harm. Pope John Paul II was shot in May of 1981 in Rome by a Turkish radical. He survived the attack and remained Pope until his death in 2005.

Dixon’s prophecy would have been remarkable had she stopped at that point. But she went on to write in the same paragraph, “Another (Pope) will be assassinated. The assassination will be the final blow to the office of the Holy See.” (pg. 159)

No Pope has been assassinated and two more Popes have served since John Paul II, both of whom are still living.

10. Dixon predicted that Ethel Kennedy would remarry after the death of her husband Robert in 1968. (pg. 156) She never did. She is now 91 years old, so maybe she will still do so.

11. Dixon predicted that a woman would be elected president of the United States, “surely it will be in the 1980s.” (pg. 156) No woman has yet held that office. One was nominated in 2016.

12. Perhaps the most astounding prediction Jeane Dixon detailed in her book was about something she experienced from February 2-5, 1962. She claimed that during those four days she received a series of profound visionary revelations from the Lord. She said God showed her that the Biblical Antichrist, the son of perdition, had been “born somewhere in the Middle East shortly after 7 A.M. on February 5, 1962.” She went on to say, “He will form a new ‘Christianity’, based on his ‘almighty power,’ but leading man in a direction far removed from the teachings and life of Christ, the Son.” (pg. 184)

Dixon states that when the satanic child is eleven years old (1973-74) he “will become aware of his Satanic mission and purpose in life. He will then expand his influence, and those around him will finally form a small nucleus of dedicated followers when he reaches the age of nineteen. He will work quietly with them until he is twenty-nine or thirty years old, when the forcefulness and impact of his presence in the world will begin to bear his forbidden fruit.” (pg. 193)

That is a scary scenario. Is it possible that the Antichrist prophesied in the Bible is now alive and is preparing to carry out his evil plans? Many well-meaning Christian writers and speakers have made just such a claim over the past century. Many best selling books and movies on the subject have flooded the Christian market in recent decades (making the authors wealthy) and millions of evangelical Christians believe them to be true.

Now I do not pretend to know if the Antichrist is or is not alive today. But I do find Jeane Dixon’s assertions that he was born in 1962, and would become world famous when he was thirty years old, as spurious. He would have been thirty years old in 1992. I don’t recall any world political or religious leader at that time who fit the description Dixon laid out in her book. Furthermore, that man would now be more than 58 years old. What world leader of that age now is a candidate for the office? A Google search of famous people born on February 5, 1962 does not mention a single individual who could fit the bill. The only famous persons listed were actress Jennifer Jason Leigh and some musician I never heard of named Tommy Skeoch.

There is another serious problem with Jeane Dixon’s claims to be a prophet. It is not just with what she predicted, but with what she did not predict. She failed to mention some of the most important events that actually did happen after 1969. For examples, she made no prophecies about the Israeli-Arab war of 1973, the resignation of President Nixon in 1974, the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1990, the terrorist attacks of September 1, 2001, or hundreds of other historically significant occurrences.

Conclusion
These faulty prophetic predictions of Jeane Dixon made back in 1969 are sufficient evidence for us to render a Biblical verdict on her claim to have been a divinely inspired prophetess. In our view, she fails to meet the standard of a true prophet as revealed to Moses. This is true on two counts. First, she violated the clear prohibitions described in Deuteronomy 18:9-14 against practicing the detestable occult arts of the pagans. Dixon was deeply entrenched in astrology and divination (crystal ball gazing).

Second, and more important, Dixon made dozens of specific and general prognostications of future events she claimed were revealed to her by God. We analyzed just a handful of those prophecies that were published in Jeane Dixon: My Life and Prophecies – Her Own Story. We showed how in almost every case, the predictions she made failed to come to pass in the time frame she gave, or ever in the fifty years since they were made.

We might wonder; did Jeane Dixon really believe that she was what she claimed to be? Was she self-diluted or mentally ill, hearing voices and seeing visions? Was she a fake and a fraud scamming celebrities and readers out of millions of dollars? Was she demon possessed allowing unholy spirits to speak falsehoods through her? I am not sure we can definitely say. But what this overwhelming evidence does reveal, once and for all, is that Jeane Dixon was a false prophet.
We will let God Himself render the verdict.

“When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him (or her!).” (Deuteronomy 18:22 NASB)

© 2020 Tal Davis