The method

A prophecy is only notable if the text can be dated before the event. Everything on this site follows from that one sentence.

The whole evidentiary weight of a fulfilled prophecy rests on the dating of the document, not on how impressive the fulfilment looks. That is where two centuries of scholarly argument sit — and it is exactly where popular writing on the subject tends to go quiet. So we start there, every time.

What a dossier contains

Every dossier on this site has the same shape, and the shape is enforced by software rather than by good intentions. A dossier cannot be published unless it carries: a dating range with a stated authority for each limit; at least two primary or peer-reviewed sources, each carrying a permanent identifier that resolves to the item cited; the strongest available case for the traditional reading, stated as its defenders state it; the strongest available case against it; and an explicit verdict on a five-grade scale, with a paragraph explaining why that grade and not the one next to it.

If any of those is missing, the publication gate returns the page to draft. There is no override button in the interface. That is deliberate: a button marked “publish anyway” gets clicked on the first bad Friday.

The verdict scale

• 1 · Documented — An independent record produced outside the biblical tradition identifies the same event, person or place — not merely a situation compatible with it — agrees on the substance, and does not derive from the biblical account. Where the text announces the event rather than reporting one it postdates, the grade additionally requires that the text be datable before the event by manuscript or external evidence, and not by reading the announcement itself as a prediction.
• 2 · Probable — External attestation is solid; the dating is broadly accepted but carries relevant dissent.
• 3 · Disputed — The verdict depends entirely on the dating or on the interpretive key adopted.
• 4 · Unconfirmed — No external attestation available. Neither confirmed nor refuted.
• 5 · Contradicted or partial — The external record diverges from the traditional reading, including where the biblical text itself records the divergence.

Grades 4 and 5 are published with the same care as grade 1. A site that only ever returns a favourable verdict is not assessing anything, and a reader who checks footnotes works that out within two pages.

What counts as a source

• T1 — Primary. An artefact, inscription or ancient document in a critical edition, held in an identifiable repository.
• T2 — Peer-reviewed. An article in a peer-reviewed journal of biblical studies, archaeology or ancient history.
• T3 — Reference. Standard dictionaries and major commentary series. Useful for orientation; never the sole support for a claim.
• T4 — Qualified popular. Serious popular publications with named authors and visible sourcing.
• T5 — Barred. Sourceless blogs, unreferenced videos, unverified AI-generated text, forwarded claims. Never cited here, not even as “according to some”.

Only T1 and T2 satisfy the minimum, and linking one is not enough: a source counts only once it carries a permanent identifier — a museum registration number, a CDLI P-number, a DOI, an ISBN, an archive identifier — that resolves to the item cited. A source without one does not count towards the minimum, and the page does not publish. The status of every identifier is printed at the foot of the dossier, generated from the database. See how this site is written for the full protocol.

Lines we do not cross

• No date for the end of the world, in any formulation — not conditional, not “according to some scholars”.
• No identification of a contemporary nation or political figure with an eschatological character.
• No claim that contradicts established scientific consensus.
• No content that disparages any religious group.
• No health or financial guidance derived from a prophetic reading.
• No commercial recommendation without a visible disclosure.
• Public, dated correction of any error reported to us.

These are confirmed item by item, by the author, before the software will let a page go live.

The scripture text

Quotations use the World English Bible, with the King James Version in a comparative column where the difference matters. Both are in the public domain. Modern copyrighted translations appear only in short, attributed quotation. This site does not host a Bible reader: scripture appears in excerpt, inside a dossier, surrounded by apparatus.

Method notes