Edgar Cayce was a very gifted psychic who lived in the first half of this century. He gave many readings during his lifetime. A reading consisted of Cayce lying on a couch, going into a trance and then giving answers to questions about a person or a subject. The person did not have to be present to get help from Edgar. The majority of the readings pertain to the diagnosis and treatment of people's illnesses, but many other subjects came up in the readings. Some of those subjects include previous life activities of the patient, information about Atlantis, and prophecies about the return of the Messiah.

We shall focus on the prophecies pertaining to the Second Coming. The interpretations of this material often fall into two areas. The school that focuses on the microcosmic view of the symbols and their application to self and personal development, such as the many sevens of Revelation mapping to the seven chakras of the body. The other school focuses on the literal time elements and the macrocosmic view of the symbols, their application to society and our coming transformation, at the second coming of Christ. I personally believe both views are there, and more.

We shall focus on the macrocosmic view, the world at large. In this school, Cayce is often quoted as stating that the Second Coming will occur in 1998. Is this what he said? Not exactly. Let's explore the readings themselves. The very first reading to mention the year 1998 is identified as 5748-5. The key to understanding the '98 reference is the question put to Cayce, for it invoked the naming of a year.

Question put to Cayce: You will please give at this time detailed information regarding the origin, purpose and prophecies of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh near Cairo, Egypt.

Yes. In the information as respecting the pyramids, their purpose in the experience of the peoples, in the period when there was the rebuilding of the priest ... some 10,500 before the coming of the Christ into the land, there was first that attempt to restore and to add to that which had been begun on what is called the Sphinx, and the treasure or storehouse facing same, between this and the Nile, in which those records were kept by Arart and Araaraart in the period.

Then, with Hermes and Ra (those that assumed or took up the work of Araaraart) there began the building of that now called Gizeh, with which those prophecies that had been in the Temple of Records and the Temple Beautiful ... [went into] the building of this [pyramid] that was to be the hall of the initiates of that sometimes referred to as the White Brotherhood.

This, then, receives all the records from the beginnings of that given by the priest, Arart, Araaraart and Ra, to that period when there is to be the change in the earth's position and the return of the Great Initiate ... All changes that came in the religious thought in the world are shown there, in the variations in which the passage through same is reached ... These are signified by both the layer and the color in what direction the turn is made.

... but there have been portions that have been removed by those that desecrated many of those other records in the same land. ...

More questions:

(Q) Are the deductions and conclusions arrived at by D. Davidson and H. Aldersmith in their book on The Great Pyramid correct?
(A) Many of these that have been taken as deductions are correct. Many are far overdrawn. Only an initiate may understand.

(Q) What corrections for the period of the 20th century?
(A) Only those that there will be an upheaval in '36.

To keep the remainder of this reading in perspective one should know that the book The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message by D. Davidson and H. Aldersmith basically predicted that Sept. 16, 1936 would be the return of Christ (p. 412, 418-9). Cayce's initial response to the question about corrections to this book for the 20th century was to focus on '36 and by exclusion say not to except the return of Christ in this year. Cayce ends the reading by giving the actual prediction encoded by the builders of the prophecy in stone.

(Q) Do you mean there will be an upheaval in '36 as recorded in the pyramid?
(A) As recorded in the pyramid, though this is set for a correction, ...

In this same pyramid did the Great Initiate, the Master, take those last of the Brotherhood degrees with John, the forerunner of Him, at that place. As is indicated [in the pyramid] in that period where entrance is shown to be in that land that was set apart, as that promised to that peculiar peoples, as were rejected [Israelites] - as is shown [in the pyramid] in that portion when there is the turning back from the raising up of Xerxes [the Antichrist] as the deliverer from an unknown tongue or land, and again is there seen that this occurs in the entrance of the Messiah in this period - 1998.

The year 1998 was not Edgar Cayce's prediction of when the Second Coming would occur, but rather a report of the prediction of those who built the Great Pyramid. And the first time that Cayce conveys his interpretation of the timeline in stone, he apparently reports that this prediction from 10,500 BC is due for a correction. Once the timeline in stone had been asked about, it became a frame of reference for questions concerning the timing of the Second Coming. The questioner had an effect on how this subject would be handled in the future.

The next reference to the year 1998, a month later, came in a reading that continued a discussion of the Egyptian priest Ra-Ta (aka Ra). The priest was responsible for the design of the Great Pyramid, which mapped out time until the end of this age, when the Earth will change again. According to Cayce, the soul of Jesus, the master, incarnated at the time of Ra and Hermes, so this gives rise to the allusion of the priest returning at the end of the age, 1998, as indicated by the pyramid.

(Continuance of Egyptian experience as Ra-Ta)

Yes, we have the information that has been given respecting the activities of Ra-Ta in the Egyptian experience.

... Hence there began the first preparation for what has later become that called The Great Pyramid, that was to be the presentation of that which had been gained by these peoples through the activities of Ra-Ta, who NOW was known as Ra; ... [Ra] brought the idea of the preservation of these, not only for those in the present but for the generations that were to come in the experiences ... throughout that period, until the changes were to come again in the earth's position ...

Then began the laying out of the pyramid and the building of same, ... [the task of] building, as we find, lasted for a period of what is termed now as one hundred years. It was formed according to that which had been worked out by Ra-Ta ... as this priest may develop himself to be in that position, to be in the capacity of a LIBERATOR of the world in its relationships to individuals in those periods to come; for he must enter again at that period, or in 1998.

... to make known later in the minds of peoples, as the changes came about in the earth, the rise and fall of the nations were to be depicted in this same temple that was to act as an interpreter for that which had been, that which is, and that which is to be, in the material plane.

The next mention of the year 1998 in the readings clearly shows that this year is taken from the record at Gizeh, Egypt.

(Soul-mind, seeking further information on his Egyptian incarnation as Hept-supht and its influence in the present. ...)

The old record in Gizeh is from that as recorded from the journey to Pyrenees; and to 1998 from the death of the Son of Man (as a man).

The following reading also associates 1998 with the records kept at Gizeh:

(Soul-mind, who seeks further information on his Egyptian incarnation as Hept-supht and its influence in the present; especially in reference to the incident and ceremony at the completion of the pyramid. ...) ...

In the record chambers there were more ceremonies than in calling the peoples at the finishing of that called the pyramid. For, here those that were trained in the Temple of Sacrifice as well as in the Temple Beautiful were about the sealing of the record chambers. ... to be opened only when there was the returning of those into materiality, or to earth's experience, when the change was imminent in the earth; which change, we see, begins in '58 and ends with the changes wrought in the upheavals and the shifting of the poles, as begins then the reign in '98 (as time is counted in the present) of those influences that have been given by many in the records ...

The year '98 comes up again in 3976-15. It is mentioned in a range of years that matches the previous reading, therefore, it seems to be a reference to the case already cited. These exact dates are followed by a line saying that the true dates are not yet given, so the range of years is used merely as a point of reference. That reference is the Great Pyramid.

As to the changes physical again: ... And these will begin in those periods in '58 to '98, when these will be proclaimed as the periods when His light will be seen again in the clouds. As to times, as to seasons, as to places, ALONE is it given to those who have named the name - and who bear the mark of those of His calling and His election in their bodies. To them it shall be given.

In 1939 when Cayce was asked to name a year for the changing of the ages, he used this point of reference again and qualified it by saying "may" and that we should see signs and evidence of being close by then, but not the final event. In the same reading he comments that the changing of the astrological ages is gradual and can not be pinned down to a single year.

(Q) Three hundred years ago Jacob Boehme decreed Atlantis would rise again at this crisis time when we cross from this Piscean Era into the Aquarian. Is Atlantis rising now? Will it cause a sudden convolution and about what Year?

(A) In 1998 we may find a great deal of the activities as have been wrought by the gradual changes that are coming about. ...

... As has been indicated, we will begin to understand fully in '98.

The final reference to the year 1998 leaves us with a feeling that one can not count on things occurring in that year that one might believe or assume. Cayce seems to suggest that a great event is set to happen in the future but an individual's relationship to that event depends on one's life and one's will.

(Q) Will I, or any of my immediate family, reincarnate with Mr. Cayce in 1998?
(A) This is not to be given, or things of such natures, but is to be determined by the desire, the need, the application of those who may desire to do so.

In summary, Edgar Cayce never said that from his vantage point in the early part of this century he could say that the Second Coming will occur in 1998. When asked a question about a book's interpretation of the timeline recorded in the stone of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, he confirmed that the monument is indeed a prophetic timetable. Cayce said the book's interpretation for the year 1936 was incorrect. The return of Christ, as indicated by the pyramid in its original form, was 1998, not 1936, and that this prediction was due for a correction.

Finally, from the application of Daniel's 70th Week we can know now that the Second Coming can not occur by 1998. The Mideast peace conference held in 1991, seven years prior to 1998 fell short of fulfilling the start of the 70th Week. Furthermore, the spring of 1995 passed without fulfillment of the midpoint of the 70th Week. Therefore, from a Biblical perspective, it is too late for the Second Coming to occur by 1998, since in 1997 we are at least seven years away from it. For more detail see: Discerning If We Have Entered Daniel's 70th Week