January 4, 2000: Y2K, Religion, & Nostradamus - John Hogue

Nostradamus scholar John Hogue joins Art Bell to discuss Y2K, religion, terrorism prophecy, and Nostradamus after Art's postmortem on the millennium rollover. Art opens with a postmortem on Y2K, declaring it largely a non-event while urging listeners to keep their emergency preparations for increasingly severe weather ahead. He notes record warm temperatures in New York, tornado damage in Kentucky in January, and yet another devastating storm battering Scotland with winds over 100 miles per hour.

Hogue examines why the predicted millennium terrorism and the July 1999 "king of terror" prophecy did not manifest as expected. Hogue argues that widespread public awareness of these prophecies may have helped prevent disasters, much as Y2K preparations averted a technological crisis. He proposes that the true "king of terror" descending from the skies is global warming, not a terrorist figure, and stakes his interpretive reputation on a 30-year window of escalating climate disruption.

The conversation shifts into a spirited exchange about the nature of faith, religion, and miracles. Hogue challenges traditional religious dogma while affirming a universal human impulse toward the sacred, and Art shares his own uncertainty about God, the afterlife, and the origins of existence.