NICOLAAS VAN RENSBURG
(1862 - 1926)
The Boer Prophet
During the last quarter of the 19th century and the first twenty five years of the 20th century, there probably was no-one more famous than Uncle Niklaas van Rensburg, the well-loved prophet (seer).
This simple Boer pioneer possessed the supernatural gift to see into the future - the immediate and distant future - in the form of visual images. He could interpret some of these visions correctly, but many others he could not explain.
Due to this extraordinary God-given gift family members, acquaintances and strangers, even from distant places, visited him with the expectation that he would be able to help them with their problems. He always received them humbly and with modest friendliness and let them leave satisfied.
He was born on the farm Rietkuil near Ottosdal, South Africa, on 30 August 1862. There he grew up with his brothers and sisters. Since he was small he was unpretentious and listened attentively to stories from the Bible when his mother read it to him. She cherished high expectations of him as his knowledge of the Bible was surprisingly good. As a shepherd he even took the Bible with him to the veld to read there and to immerse himself in the affairs of old Biblical figures and prophets. Already from a young age he exhibited prophetical powers and especially surprised his mother. The most remarkable thing about Nicolaas van Rensburg was that although he knew much about world affairs, he had never read a single newspaper in his life. His visions came to him in symbolic form and reminds one of Nostradamus, as well as the visions of John in Revelations in the Bible.
The older he got, the more lonely he was. Many of his later visions were written down by his daughter, Mrs. Anna Badenhorst of Rietkuil, - two exercise books full. Nicolaas Pieter Johannes van Rensburg died on 11 March 1926, at the age of 64.

VAN RENSBURG's PREDICTIONS
Some 70 years ago Nicolaas van Rensburg, had more than 700 visions about the future of South Africa and the rest of the world. A Boer Prophet, Nicolaas van Rensburg, a modern Nostradamus, became a legend during his lifetime and was one of the most remarkable and controversial characters that ever lived in South Africa. Well-known generals of the Boer War, like De La Rey and Kemp, believed that he was a prophet, and statesmen like Generals Hertzog, Louis Botha and J.C. Smuts, had on more than one occasion witnessed - even in Parliament in 1916 - that Nicolaas van Rensburg's prophecies had come true during their lifetimes.
After the 1914 Rebellion, he was sentenced to two years in prison by Judge Lang, who told him: "You eat too much meat at night. That is why you dream and see visions. But I tell you to keep your dreams and visions to yourself, or I will imprison you for the remainder of the War!"
That night in his cell the old prophet said to a friend: "I feel sorry for him - I 'see' him being buried." Three days later Judge Lang suddenly passed away and was buried.

FORESAW DEFEAT OF THE BOERS
When Van Rensburg predicted the outcome of the Anglo-Boer War on 16 September 1899, (only five days after the outbreak), some of his comrades were so infuriated that they threatened to kill him! During the war years, he was physically attacked several times.
He saw the outcame of the war one night in a vision: At first he saw swirling clouds which became more dense by the minute. He thought a storm was brewing, but then the clouds cleared, revealing a landscape before him. The next day he told his comrades that he had seen burning houses and women and children fleeing in terror. He saw many thousands of children dying in agony; everything going up in flames and he experienced all the heartbreak and pain, all the suffering he saw.
After this, the strange visions increased, often he warned the Boer commandos against enemy forces and other visions that literally came true. His fellow Boers were convinced that he could see into the future and started to speak of "Siener van Rensburg", or "seer" and "the prophet". People believed in him as seer, a prophet given to the Boer nation by God. He was never captured and survived the war.

FIRST WORLD WAR -- MORAL DECAY
Already in 1911 he felt the next World War approaching. He predicted the rebellion of 1914 and the flu epidemic of 1918. He had visions of red dust clouds arising with the diggings of diamonds, the victory of the National Party 1924, the depression of 1930 - 32, the symbolic Ox wagon trek, and dozens of visions of events that would happen in the future without him being able to explain it. Van Rensburg also 'foresaw enormous moral decay coming, first in Namibia, then in South Africa, and that the present struggle and divison among Afrikaners would go hand-in-hand with this decay'.

LIST OF PREDICTIONS
Prophecies from 1899 until his death in 1926:
* The outcome of the Boer War.
* The Great 'Flu epidemic of 1918.
* England's loss of all her colonies.
* Independence for Ireland.
* The atomic disaster at Chernobyl on April 26 1986.
* Lady Di's death The divorce and tragic death of "a beautiful English Lady in a car accident who would be mourned by the whole world."
* England will be struck by seven terrible plagues when World War 3 is at hand.
* Civil war in Bosnia.
* Dr HF Verwoerd, former Prime Minister, will die at the hand of a close friend.
* The release of Nelson Mandela by ex-President FW de Klerk.
* The Necklace Murders by blacks against blacks
* South Africa will be governed by a black government.
* Japan will be destroyed by earthquakes.
* Ethnical violence in Russia and Europe
* Racial violence will explode worldwide at the turn of the century and start World War III, in which Germany and America will fight side by side.
* Laser weapons?: It is a chilling experience to read about his predictions in 1920 of this coming Third and Final War at the beginning of the 21st century when the armies of the world will use what he called "terrible electrical rays that sow death and destruction from above and below, and soak the earth in blood".
The old prophet described the events on the battlefields of the world in such detail as though he himself had been an eye-witness.

In 1918 Rensburg prophesied:
"I see there will be a time when the whole world will be ploughed under. This will be the beginning of the Third - and last - World War and everything will be in confusion. Then I saw a snake lying on the ploughed land. I could not see its head or tail. I then saw my daughter, Anna, seated and writing, and I realised when that time arrives, no one would be able to make head or tail of my visions. From then on I asked my daughter to write down all my visions so that everybody would understand when the time comes...."
Because of this decision his visions and prophecies have been preserved and have now become known throughout South Africa, and the following words are becoming part of the Afrikaner nation's daily discussions: "'Seer' Van Rensburg said so...."
Seer Van Rensburg was visited frequently by prominent figures in South Africa, such as General JC Smuts, a former Prime Minister of South Africa, during his lifetime. In 1916 General Smuts, past Prime Minister of South Africa, as well as General J.B.M. Hertzog, gave witness before a Parliamentary Committee regarding the truth of this old Boer prophet's visions.
However, the same Jan Smuts, not only prohibited distribution of the prophecies during World War 2, but when a friend of the Boer Prophet, Boy Mussmann, tried to publish them secretly, he was attacked by the police and the visions were confiscated.
Because of the controversial nature of his visions, the old Boer Prophet is today still the centre of many heated debates. Shortly after the 1992 Referendum in South Africa, a prophecy by Van Rensburg, that a future Afrikaner leader would one day hand over power to the blacks, caused a fist-fight in Parliament.

The Necklace Murders: These type of murder were done mostly by blacks on blacks. An old tyre was taken, then put on the neck of the victim, who was to be "necklaced" - this person is then soaked with petrol and put alight. The tyre burns and clings to the flesh and such a person dies in agony. Sometimes a victim is also thrown with stones and kicked.

AIDS: After a vision on December 1917 and March 1918, he said immorality will increase throughout the world; he saw how a disease broke out in Africa as a result and mainly blacks dying from it. It spreads throughout the world, but whites are relatively untouched by it. He saw an old little 'kaffir' dressed in women's clothing sit in Europe and droppings roll off him to the West (he is totally infected with this disease and the Western nations will also be infected). This was the first vision the Seer had which predicted worldwide decadence, immorality and pornography, also referring to a horrendous sexually transmitted disease' as result. At that time nobody knew of the existence of Aids.

Divorce and death of Princess Diana
According to Professor A.G. Raath of the University of the Orange Free State, the Boer prophet predicted Prince Charles' and Princess Diana's divorce in January 1919.
The Seer said "a divorce was hanging over the head of a very renowned British lady of 'noble birth' (Diana). And when she dies, we prepare for a big election..".
Van Rensburg said "when he sees ripe wheat, it means an election is on the cards." And this is exactly what happened! A few days after Princess Diana's death on 29th August 1997, the first election shots were fired by the NP and ANC.
In three important visions in January 1916 & September 1920, he not only saw how Diana would be stripped of everything after her divorce, but that her sudden death would plunge the whole of England into mourning. He further said that there would be dirty tricks involved in her death, and that she would die in a car accident. The scandal, he said, which she brought over the Royal House was the reason she had to die. Among other things, there were rumours that Diana was expecting her Arab lover's child and that she would marry him shortly.