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Recently many Christian commentators have told me that a Christian prophet by the name of Kim Clement predicted a wide array of events like the Russo-Ukranian War.

This video summarises Kim Clement's prophecies, and starts:

Russia! My spirit has moved away for a small season. Your ambition has offended me, says the Lord. You ambition and your taste for power has offended me. Therefore, I will teach you a lesson, says the Lord.

I want to know if the video is accurate in its dating of the prophecies and if these events could be predicted without "supernatural intervention"?

Oddthinking
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John
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    Do they mention Ukraine, war, and a time period? If not, this is "I predict something bad will happen to you". – Schwern Dec 19 '22 at 01:18
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    "*if the video is accurate in its dating of the prophecies*" — but the question doesn't mention anything about dates. – Ray Butterworth Dec 19 '22 at 04:15
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    "*summarises Kim Clement's prophecies*" — *all* of Clement's prophecies, or only those that are now claimed to have come true? – Ray Butterworth Dec 19 '22 at 04:16
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    Even the authors of the SU-27 Flanker video game in 1995 predicted it better. – Vladimir F Героям слава Dec 19 '22 at 10:54
  • It wasn't really hard to predict. Fun fact: We (a western European group) used the same anti-war banners the evening before the war in front of the Russian embassy and in the demonstrations that ensued in the weeks after. Before war: https://gsoa.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/image-scaled.jpeg After war: https://gsoa.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/4J3nc1FL4kV8BMZhQQdumQ.webp – Nobody Dec 19 '22 at 11:15
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    All very vague predictions eventually come true in some way, even those byNostradamus. – Bib Dec 19 '22 at 11:42
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    @Bib, yep. Nostradamus is so vague that every one of his "predictions" have been used to describe probably dozens or more incidents, each. https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/extrasensory-perceptions/nostradamus.htm – computercarguy Dec 19 '22 at 19:05
  • Would it be all right if I were to ask more questions regarding his other prophecies? – John Dec 20 '22 at 02:10
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    If the general points of the answer here also apply to his other predictions (vague and/or made after major hints were of the possibility was available), then no, I think it wouldn't merit a separate question. If you had a different kind of question, like one that tried to look at the complete set of predictions to see which came true, that would at least not be a duplicate. I don't have a specific suggestion of how to construct and phrase such a question to be on-topic and not too broad. – Peter Cordes Dec 20 '22 at 04:43
  • Jack Van Impe has been prophesying a war involving Russia for decades. https://youtu.be/k0Q883ZEYYI – Dave Dec 20 '22 at 18:34

1 Answers1

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The prediction is extremely vague.

There are (almost) no specifics in the statements. No timeline. No mention of a war. Ukraine is mentioned only once in the video. Just vague statements like "i will teach you a lesson". It's stream of consciousness.

Most of the video is after the 2014 annexation of Crimea; you don't need supernatural powers to predict they might come to blows. However, there is a portion from August 7, 2013 before the annexation. It is transcribed below. (Sorry for the lack of punctuation, it's hard to tell when one sentence ends and one begins.) It is largely gibberish and never mentions Ukraine nor a war.

russia my spirit has moved away for a small season your ambition has offended me says the lord your ambition and your taste for power has offended me therefore i will teach you a lesson says the lord forget all these numbers they're throwing out there in the soil of this nation and above and below is enough to clear that debt and put us in a place well i won't say it we can say to what's that what's that group OPEC shove it we've got our own resources you've stolen from us for too long

What about Estonia?

Ukraine is mentioned only once in the video, Estonia is mentioned twice. Russia did not invade Estonia.

that once again within a few months you will look and say is this the one that fooled the nations is this the one that had the nations petrified for god said light shall shine from nations that are in obscurity now from ukraine light shall shine and i will defend that nation and light shall shine says the lord from estonia and they shall say but they the troublemakers and i will take a little little child-like nation to bring to its knees

great britain now listen no we no the norwegian territories scandinavian territories but estonia what are you doing there are those praying and demonic powers are terrorized

What happened on April 14th?

He provides one specific date, April 14th of an unknown year when "shiftings" will happen.

look to the 14th of april and there shall be shiftings that will take place|

The Moscova was sunk April 14th, 2022. While dramatic, this event did not have a major impact on the war.

If one were to point to a major shift in the war around that time it would be the retreat of Russia from Kyiv on April 7th. I guess he overlooked that one.

We still don't know what the outcome will be.

The theme, when there is a theme, is Russia and Putin will be punished. We still don't know if that's the case. Putin is still in power. Russia still occupies a significant portion of Ukraine. Putin may yet come out the victor, we don't know.

Cherry picking.

As Ray Butterworth pointed out in the comments...

[does the video summarize] all of Clement's prophecies, or only those that are now claimed to have come true?

If this video is typical of Clement, he says a lot of things. It would be very easy to pick only the ones which came true... or in this case, happen to contain a few words which match the current headlines.

To claim Clement is making predictions, rather than being a stopped clock, one would have to analyze the whole corpus of his pronouncements.

Schwern
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  • This was my first skeptical instinct, but the video claims to be from 2013. – Avery Dec 19 '22 at 03:41
  • @Avery True, the very first part is prior to the annexation. It doesn't mention Ukraine. I've adjusted the answer. – Schwern Dec 19 '22 at 04:54
  • There was a significant Russian [*cyber*attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_cyberattacks_on_Estonia) on Estonia in 2007, it was even in April, though later in the month, on the 27th. Not that this lends any more credibility to the "prediction" or anything... – Darrel Hoffman Dec 19 '22 at 19:19
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    @DarrelHoffman The mentions of Estonia are from 2014. – Schwern Dec 19 '22 at 19:28
  • Ah, okay, that's even less impressive then. (Did not watch the video, I thought it was just another ancient Nostradamus-like situation, and not worth wasting time on.) But predicting *in 2014 of all years* that Russia would do something aggressive to its neighbors is not exactly a stretch... – Darrel Hoffman Dec 19 '22 at 20:01
  • @Schwern I heard a proponent of the prophecies claim that he is talking about the Rafale deal in India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafale_deal_controversy Because at 1:20 he says "The Northwest of India... mischievousness, anger. and grieve; a new territorial spirit has fooled the nations of the Earth. Steel/Steal Jets." (March 20th, 2014). – John Dec 20 '22 at 03:42
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    @John This is supposed to be a prediction. Rather than hunting for a match, ask what predictive power does if have? Could one reasonably guess he was talking about a deal for fighter jets? How many other things could have potentially matched? For example, what if there was an international trade dispute about Indian steel tarrifs? And why is a corruption charge that went nowhere significant? Also the Rafale is mostly made of composites, aluminum, and titanium, not steel. https://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/defense/rafale/a-fully-optimized-airframe/ – Schwern Dec 20 '22 at 07:01
  • +1 for cherry-picking. Another point would be that if Kim had prophetic powers, then one would expect his predictions of a specific to become more accurate as time goes by (as it is the case in science). What did he say about the war in, say, December 2021? Was it less vague than his 2013 prediction? – Taladris Dec 21 '22 at 03:33
  • @Schwern I asked another question about another one of his predications which were more accurate like the predication of a plane attack from a terrorist that would spark a war in long island in 1996). https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/54165/did-kim-clement-predict-9-11 – John Dec 21 '22 at 06:07