Prophesying encyclopedia topics

Etymology

The word 'prophecy' in the sense of "function of a prophet" appeared from about 1225, from Old French 'profecie' (12th century), and from Late Latin 'prophetia', from Greek 'prophetia', "gift of interpreting the will of the gods," from 'prophetes' (see prophet). The related meaning "thing spoken or written by a prophet" is from c.1300, while the verb 'prophesy' is recorded by 1377.

Nature of prophecy

Prophecy first came into existance in respect to the ancestors of the Jewish religion. Other than a single instance of pseudoprophecy that occurs in Matthew, no other religion can boast a real prophecy.

While many prophecies of the Old Testament often consist of a warning that God's wrath would destroy the people if they disobeyed God or did not repent, and some others included promises of blessing for obeying God or repenting, neither of these are directly related to the essence of prophecy.

To understand exactly what prophecy actually is, it is important to understand what prophecy is not. Prophecy is not just a statement about the future; if it were, all instances of stock price prediction and weather forecasts would be included in prophecy. For prophecy to be genuine, a few criteria need to be met:

The prediction must be about the future
The prediction must be irrational

Although it might be obvious that prophecy must foretell things about the future, not all "prophecies" have been. In the Book of Matthew, a purported prophecy is made about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple was destroyed in 70 CE but Matthew was only written in 85 CE.

Instances of prophecy

Judaism

Torah

The Tanakh contains prophecies from various Hebrew prophets who communicated messages from HaShem to the nation of Israel and population of Judea and elsewhere.

Malachi's full name was Ezra Ha'Sofer (the scribe), and he was the last prophet of Israel if one accepts the opinion that Nechemyah died in Babylon before 9th Tevet 3448 (313 BCE).

Book of Enoch

Around the time of the Maccabees, ~150 BC, a Jewish prophet left a 108 chapter book of prophecies. It is the largest source of prophecies relating to the End of an Age (End of Time). It is quoted or referred to in the New Testament.

Christianity

According to the New Testament, John the Baptist prophesied Jesus' arrival. Jesus is also depicting prophesying the arrival of the Son of Man and imminent judgment on unrepentant sinners.

The gospels of Mathew, Mark, and Luke share the same incident, where the disciples were pointing out how magnificent the Second Temple in Jerusalem was, when Jesus then replied by prophesying its destruction.

The Book of Revelation in the New Testament is accepted by many Christians as a prophecy that includes divine promises of an anointed messiah or Christ that would: lead the people in war, personally issue judgment at the end times, and Armageddon (see Eschatology, Bible prophecy and "End of the World").

The Book of Mormon contains many prophesies concerning the last days revolving around The Son of God. It relates many of the famous prophesies of Isaiah, and many other prophesies concerning The Last Days, given by The Holy Spirit, through Chosen Prophets that lived in the Americas.

Christians believe that Jesus fulfilled many of the promises spoken in Old Testament prophecy, including that he would be called 'son of God', and that he will return in the future and fulfill other prophecies such as those in the Book of Revelation. In the New Testament, many Christians see most of Jesus' life as God speaking through Jesus.

In the New Testament the prophet is often referred as one of the fivefold ministries or spiritual gifts that accompany the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The five ministries being; Apostles; Prophets; Evangelists; Teachers and Pastors. (Eph. 4:11) The focus of prophecy is not just future events though, this is only part of the prophetic gifting. Jesus often brought words of comfort, exhortation or general uplifting to those in need. Paul teaches in Corinthians that it is for the benefit of the whole body. But it is important for God to speak to believers as he does through prophets of the Hebrew Torah.

In the 1800s, Joseph Smith claimed to have translated golden plates through divine inspiration from Jesus, thereby producing the Book of Mormon. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that their founder was a "latter-day" prophet and that God has continued to call prophets to lead the Church in modern times. Joseph Smith is well known for polygamy, taking teenage girls to wife. Because of Smith's practices like this, and the belief that humans can become gods of their own planets and other beliefs about the nature of God, nonMormon groups generally reject Mormon prophecy.

Various other groups have claimed the gift of prophecy in more recent centuries. There are many accounts from the early Scottish Reformation of prophecies that came to pass. Jack Deere's book Surprised by the Voice of God recounts many examples of such prophecies.

Since the early 1900's, the number of Christians prophesying has greatly increased with the growth of the Pentecostal movement. Pentecostals believe in the gifts of the Spirit operating in the church today. The Charismatic movement, which started in the 1960's, started as an acceptance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gift by groups within mainline churches. Charismatics also believe in the gift of prophecy. It is reported that when Ronald Reagan was governor, a certain Charismatic Presbyterian minister, accompanied by entertainer Pat Boone, prophesied over Reagan that he would one day be president. Evangelist Perry Stone recounts receiving and sharing a similar revelation to George W. Bush while he was governor.

Islam

Muslims maintain Muhammad (circa 600 AD), was mentioned in the prophecies of earlier prophets, in the succession of Moses, David and Elijah, as well as Christian scriptural texts that include Jesus Muslim belief is that an angel (Gabriel) visited Muhammad in a cave called Hira on the Mount Jabal-al-Noor in Mecca. From then onwards Muhammad started reciting the Quran which Muslims believe to be dictated by God ("Allah," in Arabic). Phenomena equated with interpretation of dreams, visions and remote viewing by deniers of Muhammad's prophecy were accepted to be true by Muhammad's followers who accepted him to be the 'Last Prophet' until the 'End of Times'. Muhammad left some prophecies about future personalities Mahdi and the second return of Jesus. Some of the followers keep waiting for such prophecies to be fulfilled.

Ahmadiyya

Ahmadiyya is a reform movement which claims to be Islamic but is not recognised by mainstream Muslims as such. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad a controversial religious figure who claimed to have fulfilled the Prophecies concerning the Messiah (second coming of Christ) and the Mahdi, the Promised One of Christianity, Islam and various other religions. Ahmadies believe he was the promised Messiah who appeared in the last age of humanity.

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is known to have made many prophecies himself.

See main article: Prophecies of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad

Bahá'í Faith

In 1863, Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, claimed the he is the 'Promised One' of all religions. And Bahá'ís sees both the Jewish and Christian scriptures, especially the books of Isaiah, Daniel, Micah, and Revelation as containing many prophecies promising the coming of Bahá'u'lláh and the Bahá'í Faith. He is not acknowledged by Christians, Jews or Muslims as the 'Promised One' as they believe the events of the End Time did not occur during his lifetime.

Others

Prophecy has been claimed for, but not by, Michel de Nostredame popularly referred to as Nostradamus.

Relationship to Messianic beliefs

Many prophecies from many differing sources relate to some form of Messiah or Promised One, as diverse as the Book of Enoch, Hebrew Tanakh, Christian New Testament, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, Buddhist texts, Hindu texts, Chinese texts, Muslim Qur'an and Zoroastrian sources, and prophecies of indigenous people's from other regions of the world.

Evidence

Most skeptics reject prophecies of the future as being out of harmony with empirical science. Skeptics believe many apparently fulfilled prophecies can be explained as coincidences (possibly aided by the prophecy's own vagueness), or that some prophecies were actually invented after the fact to match the circumstances of a past event ("postdiction"). Believers, however, claim that prophecy is possible through supernatural means, which are witnessed historically.