Anton Johansson's Prophecies
The
Nordic seer Anton Johansson was born on May 24, 1858, in Ängesdalen
in Swedish Lapland, near the Norwegian border. His parents had a
small farm here. But after several years of crop failure, they
decided in 1874 to move north to a place near the sea. They settled
in Lebesby at Laxfjorden in Norway, not far from the North Cape. Both
parents were capable and hardworking people, and in addition to
farming, they also fished there. Anton, who was the eldest of eight
siblings, was 16 when they moved up there, and he stayed there for
the rest of his life.
Anton was a respected and honored man,
and like his parents, he was very diligent. In addition to his work
with farming and fishing, he was employed by the police for 30 years.
For many years, he was also active as an assistant in the Norwegian
Land Survey Commission in Finnmarken, and he sat on the municipal
council for 18 years. In addition to all this, he took on the unpaid
work of a churchwarden. Throughout the village he was known as an
honest and reliable man, always available to help if needed.
His
clairvoyant ability, which would later become known far beyond the
country's borders, first appeared when he was 16 years old and the
family had moved to Lebesby. Suddenly, he saw in a vision his two
younger brothers lying on the seabed. As it would later turn out,
they drowned at that moment. In the following years, he saw many
accidents before they happened, not only at home but also abroad. He
himself tells about it: "When the visions came, at first a veil
was lowered over my eyes. Then it felt as if I had new eyes and what
I saw afterwards was as clear to me as if I had seen it with my
earthly eyes. The revelations always stood before me for so long that
I could calmly perceive and observe them." In this way, he saw
two terrible earthquakes at an early age, one in San Francisco in
1906 where the city of a million people was practically leveled to
the ground and the other in Messina in 1908 where 84,000 people died.
But the most shocking event in his life occurred on the night between
November 13 and 14, 1907 when he was almost 50 years old.
The
vision in 1907
He himself tells this story: "The days
before November 13 had been calm. Nothing special had happened. In
the evening I went to bed early and fell asleep immediately. But at
midnight I was awakened by a voice that said: "It shall be given
to you to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven." At the
same time, I was irradiated by an overwhelming heavenly light and I
felt myself lifted to a sphere of indescribable purity. The light was
so bright that it almost blinded me. The whole space was one sea of
light of inconceivable beauty, and the one who
accompanied me said: "That's how it looks in the heavenly
regions." At this moment I feared that I would be tempted by
pride and I silently prayed my Lord's Prayer. Then I heard about
events that would occur in my own life and the lives of those closest
to me in the coming years. At the same time as this was described to
me, I saw how it would happen. The first was the death of my nephew
the very next day. In the spirit I was taken to the place where the
accident would happen. I saw how he was thrown overboard in the storm
and drowned. Everything happened exactly as I had seen. This nephew
was particularly close to me and therefore it made a very strong
impression on me. The voice that spoke to me came from my right side;
it was gentle and pleasant and very clear. The language was
Norwegian, which I myself spoke. At the same time, a purifying
heavenly power flowed through me. I felt myself in the immediate
vicinity of the divine."
Anton Johansson was now taken
into space and during this single night he saw and experienced the
most dramatic events of this century. He witnessed ship disasters,
earthquakes and hurricanes. Thus he saw how the most modern ship of
the time, the passenger ship "Titanic" on its first voyage
to the USA in April 1912, hit an iceberg near Newfoundland and more
than 1500 people drowned.
But above all he experienced the
three world wars of the 20th century. Slowly the images slipped past
his inner vision, so that they had time to attach themselves to his
consciousness while the voice explained everything he saw. When he
experienced the First World War in this way and was taken through the
fronts of Europe in both the south, east and west, he was given his
task. The voice told him: "Because of the evil of man this war
must come but you must do what you can to warn the emperors Wilhelm.
He must not be tempted to join this war, it would devastate both
Germany and Austria. You shall be my witness. Go to the Storting in
Kristiania (now Oslo) and Stockholm and you shall warn Wilhelm
II."
But Anton Johansson withdrew and replied: "I am
not worthy to be Your witness, Lord. I do not write very well, I
cannot speak German and the road there is several hundred miles
long." But then the one who spoke to him assumed visible form
and he saw Christ on the cross with the crown of thorns on his head.
He said: "This is how I looked when I suffered for your and all
mankind's sins. You must not lose heart and despair but do as I tell
you."
Anton Johansson says: "At that moment I became
afraid, that perhaps it was the tempter who was playing his game with
me. But the Lord knew my thoughts and said: 'Do not be afraid! The
tempter will never wear the crown of thorns.' Then my heart was
filled with great power and a complete conviction that it was truly
my Savior I saw. I knelt before him in humble prayer for help in the
coming years and I asked that the Holy Spirit would enlighten me and
let me know when the time for my journey had come so that I would not
be mistaken about the timing. He promised me that. Then the vision
changed and I felt that he was again walking on my right side through
space while he continued to tell me about everything that was to
happen.
The sinking of the Titanic
One of the first
things that Anton Johansson saw that night was the sinking of the
"Titanic". It is one of the things he has told most vividly
about and which he himself has never been able to forget: "I was
taken in the spirit to the place in the Atlantic Ocean near the
American coast where the accident was to happen. Icebergs of various
sizes were floating on the sea. The night was dark with dense fog.
Suddenly I saw a light and immediately afterwards the lanterns of a
ship were lit. It was approaching rapidly and I could clearly see the
outlines of a huge steamboat. At the same time a huge block of ice
appeared in the direction of the ship. It rattled around the ship as
it moved forward at high speed. The block of ice that I had seen
emerging from the sea had been rammed by the steamer which was now
beginning to sink. I was seized with terrible anxiety when I saw how
the people in the water were desperately fighting for their lives. I
was told to telegraph the ship's shipping company and warn of the
sinking and I was even given the clear name and address of the
shipping company in England. When a few years later I read in the
newspaper about the large passenger steamer that had been launched in
England and that was to be named "Titanic" I was completely
paralyzed with fear. I had not done what I was supposed to do. I had
not told anyone because I thought no one would believe me. I fell on
my knees and prayed with all my heart to God to preserve this ship
and all the people on board. The night the ship sank (April 14-15,
1912) I could not sleep. My thoughts revolved incessantly around this
ship. I was deeply unhappy that I had not done as I had been told. I
prayed all the time, but after a while I felt that the accident had
happened. It felt as if a wave had washed over me and an icy cold
went through my soul. Then there was only silence." That night
Anton Johansson learned not to betray but to do exactly as he was
told.
In the autumn of 1913 he learned that the time was now
ripe for him to travel. He first went to Oslo to inform the Norwegian
General Staff about the coming war. But no one there took him
seriously. It was just silly talk, they said. In December he traveled
to Stockholm and there he had better luck. He turned to Colonel E.
Melander in the Swedish General Staff and he believed him. He
persuaded Johansson to dictate his visions and on March 14, 1914,
Melander published Johansson's predictions in the Svenska Dagbladet
in an article under the headline: "Colonel Melander's prophet."
In it he tells the story of the man who, in his opinion, was honest
and God-fearing, who had been given the task by higher powers to warn
people of coming disasters. Soon a major war would break out between
Germany-Austria on the one hand and Russia, France, Belgium, England
and later also Italy on the other side. Germany would lose the war
and Alsace-Lorraine and Austria would have to cede Trent. Sweden
would not be drawn into the war.
World War I
Everything
he had predicted came to pass. The outbreak of war came in the first
days of August, five months after Melander's article had been
published. The end of the war was also as Johansson had
predicted.
In the great vision of 1907, he had also been given
a sign so that he could know when the war would come. In the summers,
he worked in Finnmark as an assistant to an officer in the Land
Survey Commission. He was now told that the summer when officer no. 7
named Knutson arrived, the war would break out.
When he
returned from Stockholm in the spring of 1914, he received a letter
from a Captain Knutson who informed Johansson that he would be
working for him. He then understood that war was very close. He went
to his parish priest and asked him to write letters to a member of
the government in Oslo named H. Lund and to Colonel Melander that
they must do everything to warn Emperor Wilhelm and the German and
Austrian peoples. He had seen such terrible things happen, both
during and after the war, that he knew that it could lead to the
annihilation of both countries.
Of course, it is impossible to
say whether these letters had anything to do with the fact that the
Emperor was demonstrably trying to stop the Austrians when they had
started the war by attacking Serbia. But they were so embittered by
the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne Franz
Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 (which a Serbian
nationalist terrorist organization was behind), that they were not at
all inclined to peace. It was impossible to prevent the First World
War.
When in the spring of 1918 it looked as if Johansson
would be right about who would win the war, the Swedish newspapers
began to take an interest in him again. For example, on April 16,
Aftonbladet had an interview with this "famous man" as they
now called him. It was printed under the headline "Anton
Johansson's latest prophecies". In the article, he urged the
warring parties to begin peace negotiations in August, after the
Germans had concluded a separate peace with the Bolshevik government
in March.
He also foresaw a terrible epidemic that was to
come. He said that all of Europe would become one big hospital. It
only took six months for the Spanish flu to ravage all countries and
15 million people to die.
Johansson also predicted the German
inflation after the war and the internal unrest that would come in
both Germany and England. That was also true. In Germany there was a
communist revolt and in England the Irish rebelled under the
leadership of the revolutionary nationalist De Valera.
About
Russia he said that the revolution there would claim so many victims
that the world would never know about it. He foresaw the civil war in
Spain and about the USA he said that five major wars awaited in the
future (counting from 1907). In the end the United States would split
into four or five parts. Finland would achieve a brief liberation
from Russia but then come back under the Russian yoke and be even
worse oppressed than during the time of the Tsar.
He had also
heard Schleswig mentioned and it sounded as if Denmark would get this
land back. But when he learned at the same time that Denmark would
not be involved in the conflict and did not see any military
operations on the country's border, he did not understand how this
was the case. (He could not possibly have known in 1907 that some of
President Wilson's idealistic 14 clauses would be included in the
Treaty of Versailles in 1919. One of them was that small border
populations would be allowed to vote on which country they wanted to
belong to. In this way, North Schleswig voted its way back to Denmark
and on June 15, 1920, this part of the country was reunited with its
fatherland.
Johansson told all this in the big interview in
Aftonbladet in April 1918 and it was the direct reason why he met the
engineer Anton Gustavsson whom he had seen in a vision before, at the
same time he was informed that this man would publish his prophecies.
Johansson now stayed in Stockholm for a couple of months and dictated
his revelations to Gustavsson. The book "Visions and Revelations
about the Future of the World" became a huge success. It was
published in 21 editions and was translated into several languages.
It was not always easy for Johansson to distinguish the events of the
First and Second World Wars from each other when he saw the images
roll away as if on film. But there were still differences. During the
First World War, battles were fought only on the ground. He saw vast
fronts with trenches full of people and weapons. He heard cannons
roar and followed the firelight in the sky. "Everywhere was a
terrible noise and gunfire." But during the Second World War
something new was added. In 1907, of course, he did not know about
aviation, but now he suddenly saw - in addition to the battles on the
ground - bombing raids from the air against the darkened cities of
Europe with large "air fleets" devastating both Germany and
Austria. You shall be my witness. Go to the Storting in Kristiania
(now Oslo) and Stockholm and you will warn Wilhelm II." "England
must call upon God that London will not be destroyed," he said.
He also saw that the occupation of Norway would bring battles.
Of
the events after the war, he saw the division of Germany, the return
of the Jews to Palestine and the liberation of India from England. He
also mentions major political upheavals in China and earthquakes in
Southern Europe, during which masses of people would be left
homeless.
The Third World War
Johansson heard that
immediately before the Third World War there was much talk of peace
and that ostensibly peace talks were to take place. Therefore, it
came as a complete surprise when Russian units suddenly one day
rolled through Germany towards the Rhine and France, where fierce
battles were being fought. He saw that the American arms stores that
were there fell into the hands of the Russians. He said: "I both
heard and saw that at this time terrible weapons will be found that
are not known today" (1907).
The Russians gained control
of France with the help of the country's own communists, who during a
violent civil war had caused major fires in Paris immediately before.
They ravaged Central and Southern France, from where they attacked
Spain. This Franco-Spanish war was completely devastating, not only
for the parties involved but for the entire world. It was carried out
with new, terrible weapons and the result was terrible consequences
such as blindness, madness and total destruction of the human body.
Around the same time that the Russians were pushing through Germany,
Johansson experienced a volcanic explosion in the North Sea. He saw
how the sea rose many meters and flooded all the coastal areas that
were destroyed. Of all the countries, England was hit hardest, yes,
for London it was a complete disaster. Countless buildings collapsed,
harbors and quays were destroyed, and many ships were wrecked and
thrown ashore. Never had such a disaster been experienced. He saw
that Scotland was hit so hard that part of the country sank into the
sea.
Then he was taken home to his own country. He stood on
the beach at Trondheim and looked out over the sea. Suddenly the
ground began to shake beneath him and some of the wooden houses
collapsed. The sea came rolling in towards the mountains and the
entire Norwegian coast from southern Norway to the area of Bodø
was flooded. The Swedish and Danish west coasts were also affected by
the floods. Holland, Belgium and northern Germany were badly
affected. Here, Antwerp and Hamburg were the worst affected. The
season for these events was late summer/autumn. He noticed that it
had not yet snowed in the Norwegian mountains. From northern Germany,
Johansson was taken to the USA. Around the same time as the explosion
off the coast of England, he saw terrible things happening in
America.
In some cities - he mainly mentions New York,
Washington, Chicago and Minneapolis. The hurricane also wreaked havoc
inland. Large forests and facilities were destroyed. In Canada, he
saw trees in the vast forest areas fall. The areas around the Great
Lakes were hit hardest. During the vision, he followed the
hurricane's path across the Atlantic to southwestern Europe. Through
France, Spain and the Mediterranean countries it continued to
southern Russia and caused damage everywhere but he could not follow
it any further.
At the same time as these terrible explosions
in the cities he saw a Russian army coming from Siberia across the
Bering Strait to Alaska and Canada. However, it did not make it very
far. But this attack was probably the reason why America was unable
to come to Europe's aid. "All in all, I learned quite a bit
about America," said Johansson. "But I did not make a great
effort to remember it since it did not affect us in Europe to any
great extent." He could not have known that he would be the only
European seer who was given the opportunity to see the events in the
United States during the Third World War.
Johansson thought a
lot about what could be the reason for these disasters occurring
almost simultaneously in England and America. Of course, in 1907 he
did not know about the atomic bomb and its terrible consequences.
Today we know that the enormous explosions not only cause major fires
but also cause such disturbances in the upper layers of the air that
they trigger colossal storms. To us today, the Russian strategy must
seem quite logical: At the same time as the lightning invasion of
Europe, it would be of the utmost importance for them to paralyze
both England and America and thus prevent the United States from
coming to the rescue of the besieged Europe.
Russia's
attack on Sweden and Norway
The last war that Johansson
witnessed in his great vision made an enormous impression on him, not
least because it also affected his own country. He also experienced
how both Sweden and Norway were invaded by the Russians, who were
supported by the French air force. In terms of time, it is difficult
to place this short but fateful war, which only lasted a couple of
summer months. He saw that Russia had become a greatly reduced
country "without Ukraine, the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania) and Poland, with which it no longer had anything in
common". Russia is therefore at that stage the end of its great
power. The Third World War has brought about an internal division,
civil war and division into smaller states, which other seers have
also predicted. That it will be the French who help the Russians to
attack Scandinavia is understandable when you know that most of
France at that stage will be purely communist. After thorough
consideration, Johansson and his publisher considered it most likely
that this Nordic war would occur in connection with the Third World
War.
In the book about Johansson's visions and revelations,
one senses sadness and pain over the misfortune that was to befall
his homeland in the opening remarks. He says: "Gradually,
socialism had penetrated throughout the Nordic countries and in
Sweden the socialists had government power. This was partly the
reason for the unfortunate outcome of the war against the Russians.
The socialists had succeeded in cutting the defense, which meant that
many Swedish men had to give their lives. It had not been necessary
at all, since there was very little that could have been done to give
the war a completely different course. In addition, the socialists
turned large parts of the Swedish people into atheists, which the
Lord deeply regretted." (A large opinion poll from 1983 gives
the surprising result that over half of Swedes no longer believe in
God.)
But Johansson thus experienced in his vision that Russia
unexpectedly attacked Sweden and Norway one summer day. In the North,
Russian troops stormed in over Torneå-Haparanda while others
were landed at Umeå. The Swedes mobilized in great haste and a
couple of new war inventions "in the electrical field" that
only the Swedes had were of great use in the defense.
The
fight was fierce and with great bravery on the Swedish side, but the
Russians constantly sent new reinforcements and the whole of northern
Sweden was conquered. One of the cities that was hit hardest was
Gävle. The fortress of Boden was abandoned without a fight,
which was blamed on treachery on the part of the socialists. Öland
and Gotland fell into Russian hands. Large troops intended for
Stockholm and Gothenburg were landed in the harbor of Västervik.
The
French took on the west coast. Whole swarms of aircraft bombed
Gothenburg, whereupon large warships anchored outside the city and
landed their troops. The biggest battle was fought west of the Göta
River out towards the coast. There was thick smoke all over the west
coast down to Helsingborg and Malmö and these cities were not
completely liberated either. Stockholm was also bombed, but the air
defenses there worked better and proved more effective than
elsewhere. The French were not content with bombing Swedish cities:
They continued up the Norwegian west coast and directed air attacks
against all cities from Oslo in the south to Trondheim in the north.
The city that was hit hardest was Kristiansand, which was completely
destroyed. Only ruins remained.
Russia's attack on Sweden and
Norway took place simultaneously. In the northeasternmost part of
Norwegian Finnmarken, Russian troops marched in. At Kirkenäs,
the Norwegians set up a counter-defense. The first major front line,
which was 15-20 km long, was formed at Karasjok. The fighting here
was very violent and bloody with repeated attacks and
counter-attacks. The Norwegians retreated and formed new fronts, but
were eventually pushed further south by the endless Russian
reinforcements. Full of anxiety, Johansson asked if the Russians
would take the whole country. But the Lord pointed to the Lyngfjord
and said: "There they will come, but no further."
Suddenly
and unexpectedly, the Swedes in Gothenburg surrendered, and with them
the rest of the country. The Russian troops that were on their way
from Västervik to Gothenburg never made it, but stopped in the
middle of Småland.
After Sweden's surrender, Norway
followed. The anger and bitterness were great among the Swedish
population; they couldn't understand it. It had happened in just a
couple of months. Johansson remarked: "If only the Swedes had
held out another 14 days, the French would have been defeated because
their resources were almost exhausted by then." Now the Swedes
had to cede Gotland to Russia. Johansson had seen more than this, but
there was something about the southernmost part of Norway down to the
Lyngfjord north of Tromsö that was not yet allowed to be made
public. It was put aside and has never since surfaced.
Johansson
ends the story of his revelation thus: "After seeing these great
calamities, I received information about my own life. I would attain
to have white hair and a beard and have a peaceful death. I could
choose between two paths: Either I could start a family or travel
around among people to convey to them the information and warnings
that the Lord wanted to give them through me. If I chose the latter,
He promised me that He would protect and bless me; so I chose that
path. Finally, the Lord said: 'You must be careful not to become
arrogant and go away from me.' I then asked Him to help me and with
His Holy Spirit to enlighten me, so that I would never be mistaken.
When He had promised this, the vision disappeared. It was then four
o'clock in the morning."
Anton Johansson did not succeed
in changing the course of history, but he still had his very special
mission. He came into contact with an incredible number of people and
everywhere he traveled he warned and gave advice and help to people
as he had been told. He could look at a person when they were about
to die. He then saw a shadow over their face. Then he prayed for this
person and tried to turn their thoughts towards God.
In 1926
he died quietly and peacefully in his childhood home in Lebesby,
respected and esteemed by all.
Sources:
Anton
Johansson: New Visions of the Future of the World, Gustafsons Förlag
Stockholm 1920, 9th edition,
Inge Stoltenberg: The New Kingdom
- Prophecies about the North, Förlaget Mot Ljuset - Sundsvall
1995