False Prophets Series – Part 7: Jack Parsons

History is littered with individuals and sacred texts that make the momentous claim of being able to see into the future. In this series of articles, we are going to examine the prophetic credentials of those in whom millions of people have put their trust. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and we will utilise a number of different tools in order to put the most popular of those in history to the test.

Jack Parsons

Jack Parsons (October 2, 1914 – June 17, 1952) was an American rocket engineer, chemist, and occultist. Parsons is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the U.S. space program. If you were to tell someone you were a rocket scientist during the 1920s and 1930s, you would not have been taken seriously as a scientist. Rockery was synonymous with science fiction, no universities taught rocketry courses, and there were no government grants allotted to rocketry research. Against this backdrop, he pioneered the advancement of rocket fuel propellant and co-founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, an organisation that paved the way for man’s exploration of space. He even has a crater on the dark side of the moon named after him.

Despite his momentous achievements, his name has been largely forgotten in the fields of space and aeronautical engineering. So why isn’t he celebrated as one of the founding fathers of spaceflight? At the same time he was driving America’s early rocket program he was also a leading American figure in the world of the occult. By day he built rockets for the government and by night he performed sex magic rituals with his followers. With the onset of the Cold War, a “Red Scare” developed in the U.S. during the 1940s and 1950s. Congress commenced a witch-hunt against Communists and their collaborators. The FBI began investigating and obstructing the careers of people with perceived Communist sympathies. During this time, Jack Parsons came to the attention of the authorities when he was accused of espionage. Although his scientific colleagues rallied to his defence, the case against him worsened when accounts of his occult and sexually permissive activities came to light. Although he was found not guilty of espionage in October 1951 [1] he was still considered a liability because of his past investigations by the FBI. In January 1952 a permanent ban was instated which prevented him from working on classified projects, effectively prohibiting him from working in rocketry [2]. To make a living he founded a company which created pyrotechnics and explosives for the film industry. On June 17, 1952, Parsons was working on a project in his home laboratory when an explosion went off, during which he sustained mortal wounds [3]. He died at the young age of 37.

Occult working

Jack Parsons entered the occult milieu in California towards the end of 1940. In 1941, he was initiated into the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). This was an occult organisation headed by Aleister Crowley, a leading English occultist (Aleister Crowley has been covered in this article here). Parson’s impressed the older members of the O.T.O. and in 1943 he was appointed by Aleister Crowley as California’s new lodge master.

With the money that Parsons had earned from his booming rocketry business, he bought a mansion and created a commune, inviting actors, actresses, poets, and writers to participate in wild parties. Parsons pursued his occult interests and scientific research with equal intensity. In the spring of 1946, he performed a series of magical rituals with the aim of incarnating the goddess of female sexuality, Babalon, into a human being. Parsons desired to fertilise a “magical child” which when born would usher in a new age for mankind, the Aeon of Horus. Parsons performed these magic rituals, known as the Babalon Working, for eleven days. He made use of the Enochian system of magic developed by the sixteenth century English occultist John Dee (John Dee has been covered in this article here). After its completion, Parsons claimed that he went on to have a number of mystical experiences with the goddess Babalon.

Becoming the Antichrist

When Parsons was in the Mojave Desert, he claimed that “the presence of the Goddess came upon me, and I was commanded to write the following communication” [4]. What he wrote was Liber 49, or The Book of Babalon. In this short book consisting of 77 verses, the goddess made a number of predictions. In the following prediction, Bablon informed Parsons that he will soon experience ordeals:

Parsons would later write that after receiving this communication he experienced great setbacks in life, which he saw as a fulfillment of Babalon’s prediction:

It’s true that Parsons went on to suffer in life. Not only did he experience setbacks in his scientific career, his personal finances took a turn for the worst when he was left “flat broke” after being defrauded of his money. His standing in the occult also suffered, as he fell out of favour with Aleister Crowley and ultimately resigned from the O.T.O. Is this a remarkable prediction? The prediction itself is very general in nature, it just says “There shall be ordeals”. People go through triumphs and ordeals all the time, such is life. Moreover the prediction provides no details whatsoever.

In another prediction, Babalon informed Parsons that he will take a life-changing trip referred to as the “black pilgrimage”:

The “black pilgrimage” refers to a later incident during which Parsons claimed he had an out-of-body experience and was transported to the biblical City of Chorazin. He witnessed a number of his past lives and went on to take an oath that resulted in him becoming the Antichrist:

Parsons went on to make the following pledges in an occult text known as “The Manifesto of the Antichrist” in the year 1949:

While it’s not possible to objectively verify Parson’s mystical encounters in the desert, what we can do is put his prophetic claims to the test. Under his new persona of the Antichrist, Parsons proclaimed some world-changing events in the following prophecies:

 We can see that Parsons prophesied that the following events would all take place within nine years:

• The goddess Babalon would manifest among men
• A nation on earth would adopt his occultic religion of Thelema
• Domination of the earth by the converts to his religion who will perform “miracles”

It’s been more than half a century since Parsons first made these predictions in 1949 and none of the above events have taken place. These claims stand as clear failed prophecies which rules out his claims of divine inspiration.

Muhammad ﷺ A Genuinely Inspired Prophet

The purpose of spending some time looking at examples of false prophets and false systems of prophesy was to establish a benchmark to help us distinguish truth from falsehood. One can only make accurate predictions about the future and get it right every time when one is inspired by God, Who has perfect knowledge of the future. Muhammad ﷺ demonstrated this unique quality of possessing an insight into the unseen throughout his Prophethood. He not only made numerous detailed predictions about the future which came true, as shown in this article here, but he also rejected the baseless superstitious beliefs and practices of his day, as shown in this article here. These facts should leave us in no doubt that he was inspired by God Almighty.

References

1 – John Carter, Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons, pp. 170–172.

2 – Ibid., p. 172.

3 – Ibid., pp. 177–178.

4 – The Collected Writings of Jack Parsons, Part One, Section B. Communications.

5 – The Collected Writings of Jack Parsons, Part Two, The Book of Antichrist.

6 – Jack Parsons, The Manifesto of the Antichrist.

7 – Ibid.