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A review by housedesignerking
End of Days: Predictions and Prophecies About the End of the World by Sylvia Browne
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
2.0
'End of Days: Predictions and Prophecies about the End of the World' is different than '<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6401.Prophecy?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=SSug4wXIuF&rank=2">Prophecy: What The Future Holds For You</a>. This is best described as basically a schoolbook for a religion class or perhaps a companion book for Browne's church. While in the other book, a reader gets to her predictions almost right away, the reader has to read 3/4ths of this one before she makes a second prediction. Much like her other book that I've read..., I was able to make several lists. If the prediction was in her 2004 book, there will be 3 asterisks following it (***). I am not an expert on everything, so if you see something in the "who knows?" category of which there is proof that she got it right, please let me know in the comments or in a PM.
What she got wrong:
1.) On pg 2, she said that from 2008 on, there would be an unprecedented growth in spirituality.
(She didn't make any other predictions until pg 203)
2.) Between 2008 and 2020, a sitting president will die of a heart attack and that their male vice president would announce war on North Korea, but he will get a resounding "no" from congress and our allies and will subsequently be assassinated before he can finish the term of the heart-attack president. ***
3.) 2008, law enforcement 'human eye fingerprint detector' in development and in full use by 2014.
4.) 2009, an internationally renowned kidnapping is finally solved. ***
5.) 2010, common cold eradicated. ***
6.) 2010, doctors will be able to diagnose deficiencies and illnesses in the fetus thanks to improved ultrasound and amniocentesis. Research showed me that a lot in the medical field are actually incorrectly diagnosing issues with an unborn child and pushing the mother to have an abortion and ultimately, a lot of their diagnoses are incorrect, and the baby is born without the alleged issue. (The real reason they are pushing for abortions is possibly because the first thing President Obama did after being sworn in was undoing President [W.] Bush's ban on having abortions for the sake of providing stem cells.
7.) 2010, reemergence of birthing chambers.
8.) 2010, medical staff will be legally required to take some of a newborn's DNA for legal databases. ***
9.) 2010, cancer 'tricked' into 'eating itself' with a medicine injection.
10.) 2010, diabetes cured.
11.) 2010, flesh-eating disease travels the globe without our consent and infects millions.
12.) 2012, skin cells being programmed to mimic embryonic stem cells to the point of curing illnesses, preventing strokes, undoing or preventing paralysis, as well as exchanging suddenly 'incompatible' body parts like spinal cords, limbs, and even skin.
13.) 2012, alien debris found in either California or Nevada.
14.) 2012, manned Mars mission.
15.) 2013/14, cure for muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gerhig's Disease.
16.) 2014, pill replaces gastric bypass and lapband surgeries and cures a human of anorexia/bulimia.
17.) 2014, satellites spy on everyone so invasively that cops anywhere can be alerted instantly of the when/where/who of a crime.
18.) Between 2015 and 2018, some Protestant faiths will unite to solve world problems, leading to the welcoming of any faith to the initiative, ecumenical by 2025.
19.) 2015, invasive surgery is rare. ***
20.) 2015, new houses are all solar powered, made of stone and fire-resistant.
21.) 2015, air purifiers built into new houses. ***
22.) 2018, volcanoes and earthquakes lead to dust pollution causing crop failures by the early 2020s.
23.) 2018, aliens outing themselves to the world in a very public fashion. ***
24.) 2019, robots available for every home. ***
25.) Approx. 2020, American education reformed, teachers well-paid, and no more than 15 students per teacher.
26.) 2020, cure for blindness.
27.) 2020, end of USA presidency and executive branch.
28.) 2020, end of stock market, pensions, mutual funds, and retirement plans.
29.) Early 2020s, humans reaching an accord with aliens.
30.) Pope Benedict XVI will be the last Pope.
What she got right:
1.) Browne unextraordinarily stated the world would not end "tomorrow." According to Goodreads, this book was published on June 24th, 2008, and I can guarantee you without preternatural ability that the world did not end on the 25th.
2.) No later than 2020, a cure for hearing loss in the form of synthetic material. Cochlear implants are now a thing.
3.) 2020, a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the world resisting known treatments (very obvious; not gonna explain) ***
What she sorta got right:
1.) That fetal surgeries will be a thing to correct deficiencies and illnesses without causing the mother to go into labor. Recently, there was a fetal surgery in the news, and I believe it was to correct a heart problem.
2.) 2010, fetuses would be kept for studies regarding Alzheimer's disease. It's 2022, and they are studying the idea that fetus cells can assist with neurological disorders.
3.) 2012, microchips helping with paralysis. It happened in 2016. ***
4.) 2020s, neutering of pedos. Chemical castration only in Alabama. ***
Who knows if she got it right:
1.) Atlantis will rise sometime this century. ***
2.) That the world is not going to end because of an overheated core, by drifting out of its orbit, or because of a meteor shower.
3.) That the 21st century would usher in a flood of paranormal activity.
4.) That identity theft will 'eventually' become an archaic crime.
5.) No year given: that a great number of humans will be infertile.
6.) Numerous natural disasters leading -- yet again --- to the resurrection of Atlantis and Lemuria. ***
7.) 2020s, USA's image rehabilitated.
8.) 2024, a new version of the Senate with merged parties.
9.) 2025, human cloning so advanced that a donor can have an organ cloned for someone who needs it.
10.) 2025, synthetic blood becomes a thing and is safe for everyone.
11.) 2040, healing centres, compounds of 4 pyramid-shaped buildings of interfaith initiatives. ***
2nd half of the century will see these ecumenical centres as only the beginning of a worldwide spiritual transformation.
12.) 2040, new homes with retractable roofs to allow hovercraft vehicles in and out. ***
13.) 2040s, domed cities that only open for approved air travel. ***
14.) During the first 50 years of the millennium, we'll see the end of the most insidious diseases and afflictions.
15.) 2050, today's most devastating diseases eradicated.
16.) 2058, we'll see crime rarely.
27.) 2075 to 2080, illnesses like polio and smallpox reappear thanks to the unvaccinated.
28.) 2085, volcano erupts, destroying much of Japan.
Contradictions:
1.) On pg 215, she reiterates her prediction from 2004 that Pope Benedict XVI would be the last Pope. However, on pg 88, she told of St. Malachy's 12th century prophecy about seeing all the Popes in a line. There's a list of 5 Popes; the first 4 from Paul VI to Benedict XVI. She didn't say that the one after Benedict would be Francis. The way she interprets or describes the Saint's prophecy is that the 5th one mentioned would be known as Peter. There has only been one recognized Pope Peter, who wasn't a Pope like the others: he was St. Peter the Apostle. As everyone who's been paying attention knows, the Pope that followed Benedict XVI was not Pope Peter II, but Francis. It is bizarre that she included this prophecy on pg 215 of this book when, in her 2004 release, she predicted that there would only be 1 Pope after Pope John Paul II.
Hmm...
2.) Even more head-scratching is that she included a prophecy allegedly from Pope Piux X that contradicts St. Malachy's prophecy as well as her 2004 prediction of only 1 more Pope. That contradictory prediction from Pius X states that another Pope Pius of an unspecified roman numeral would have to leave Rome by stepping over the dead bodies of his priests. Hopefully, that will never happen. There hasn't been a Pius since Pius XII - unless you count Pius XIII of Montana, USA, who was elected by the 'True Catholic Church' in October 1998. He is regarded as an 'antipope,' and he never left Rome the way Pius X allegedly described. Oddly, when I did research about this, I could only find 2 websites that mention it. One was a reworded paragraph , nd the other said this prophecy was extracted from a Sylvia Browne book, and I was unable to find anything else.
Inaccuracies:
1.) On pg 56, Browne said that St. John the Apostle's anger was a widely known facet of his generally passionate personality. My mother pointed out that it was actually St. Peter , hose anger was widely known, and my fiancé, who has a Masters in theology, confirmed this. Oops!
2.) On pg 137, there is a very interesting typo which makes it look like a Madame Helena Blavatsky inexplicably traveled 100 years into the future to meet someone and then just as inexplicably traveled right back to her own time. Again: oops! LoL
Phew! This is the 2nd time I've done this, and it's a lot of typing, haha.
This book, as basically a Religion schoolbook, shows (if nothing else) her dedication to the subject and that her research was definitely extensive. The chapters ranged from various religions and their views of the end of days to cults to alleged prophets to her predictions. Interesting -- for the most part, anyway -- is the best word I can use to describe what I think of this book, the 2nd of hers that I've read. For the most part, it's decently easy to read. The third to last chapter on cults was the only one that wasn't easy to read. It could be said (theoretically, of course) that Browne was cleverly and inadvertently comparing herself to cult leaders, and, between the text, sending a message that she and her career(?) were nothing close to cult leaders (whether she was legit or not). If -- and I emphasize 'if' here -- that's what she was doing, I'd have to agree that she was definitely NOWHERE near the likes of Charles Manson.
Speaking of Manson, however, I was disappointed that while describing 'dark entities' and merging it with the idea of reincarnation, she said something that could scare the naïve: 'do not have children right after Manson passes away unless you want to risk your child being his reincarnation.' Seeing as he passed just recently, can you imagine the fear some naïve young mother may feel if she unwittingly and unsuspectedly picks this book up during her pregnancy? Goodness.
On a lighter note, she may have not been a legit psychic, but you can definitely tell by reading her books that she had a sense of humor. Her description of 'dark entities' was clearly put together to make the reader picture controlling, narcissistic people who may or may not be criminals. I found this -- with no pun intended -- to be darkly humorous as I pictured the fake friends with whom I have recently parted ways. Despite my rating, there were numerous parts of this that made me and my fiancé laugh out loud, so there's another lighter note.
Speaking on the content, however, I definitely see how she managed to finish this book. After the obviously exhaustive research and meticulous attention to detail for 90% of this book, the conclusion is really just her melding a lot of what she'd already said in that 2004 book as well as repetitive mentions of her claim that the other side is merely 3-feet above our ground level and that Atlantis and Lemuria will do what the south is always rumored to do. Second to last, I will say that a lot of her claims about Heaven, Jesus, and the end of days just aren't Biblical (even from a Christian perspective), but I will allow my fiancé to do that justice; <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4535781037">here</a>. (Please note, his review comes from a pastor's standpoint. My linking to his review is not an attempt to ram beliefs down anyone's throat; we're an interfaith couple. This is already a 'religious' type of book)
As a final note on the book, I can only think to end it as I did my review of her 2004 book: This book was interesting enough for what it is. I can't really say that it was horrible or that I hated it, so I am going to give it 2 stars.
First edit, 1-26-22: "1. 2021, huge asteroid taken care of by USAF and NASA" was moved from the "who knows?" category and was added to what she got wrong.
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Violence, War