PROPHECY

(Redirected from Prophetic)

'Prophecy' is only understood as a concept connected to the foretelling of future events in some, often modern European societies.
Prophecy should not be confused with divination (including use of oracles), premonition, interpretation of dreams or fortune telling defined elsewhere in Wikipedia because they differ significantly from prophecy in that the human medium is actively engaged, often for a fee, in providing information which is sought by an individual or a group in a consultative capacity, often through use of specific object/s, site/s or point in time.
Prophecy is an instrument of social change, predominantly in the ancient societies through communication delivered usually by an individual prophet, male or female, usually orally to a large group. Its purpose is that of changing the group’s current
intentions, behaviours, cultural or social practice or structure to conform to standards demanded by a Divine power accepted as the source of Universal creation of all knowledge, energy and matter.
As a result of the prophetic message, the consequences of the change not taking place may be included in the message in the form of positive or negative effects on the society as a whole, groups within the society, specific communities, or individuals and their immediate relatives, friends or employees.
Prophecy is either self-evident due to the change in the individuals physiology or behaviour, or claimed as a gifted ability from a Divine source which is usually followed by a display in the change in the individuals physiology or behaviour.
So typical is the description of the change mentioned above, that it is the most often witnessed display by individuals seeking to imitate prophetic phenomena in modern times, that such change is sometimes mimicked as displays of quasi-psychotic episodes and often through extreme kinesiological or verbal displays often accompanied by loss of consciousness.
A prophet can be true or false, and may be tested as such by the group to verify his or her authenticity. 'The prophet does not seek prophecy', the ability being an unexpected and sometimes disturbing mental phenomena, while the group rarely desires its communication due to its unwanted content. Prophecy may be acquired spontaneously, or over a short time, at any age usually after early teenage-hood, in any lifestyle environment, to individuals in any profession or position within the society. The only prerequisite for being chosen as a prophetic messenger is the individual’s ability to satisfy the selection criteria of the Divine that is gifting the ability. Usually this is enshrined in absolute adherence to the highest standards of faith in the said Divine power.
At the core of the viability of the prophecy is the element of uncertainty usually found in the content. The content of the prophetic message may contain information of one or more types that are understood through explicit literal interpretation, suggestive analysis based on a degree of literary interpretation, allusive through use of mental imagery, similes, metaphors and allegories, or implicit requiring extensive and complex data analysis. For this reason, prophetic messages are difficult to authenticate immediately at the time of their delivery. This denies the receiver the ability to attempt to micro-manage events while seeking to avoid the effects of the prophecy.
The life of the prophet may be an eventful one because the group, or its elite, may seek to persecute, exile, incarcerate or execute the messenger in the attempt to eliminate the source of the message that may be countering their own intended actions, decisions, or policies.
The uniqueness of the prophetic experience is the ability of the messenger to foretell the consequences for the group should the message’s content not be heeded.
At the core of the prophetic concept is therefore the society’s acceptance of the higher Divine and Supreme power that is able to enact supernatural events beyond the control of the society in which prophecy is taking place, and which can not be predicted by reason, calculation of probability or historical analysis. Therefore, prophecy cannot be compared to methodologies used as part of scientific reasoning, calculation of probability or historic analysis in disciplines such as engineering, social psychology, public health, meteorology, Earth sciences, governance or economics.

It is reasonable to suggest that prophecy may not take place in a society which does not accept the Divine source of the prophetic content as the supreme Universal authority over nature’s understood and accepted laws, and understood and expected behaviour of society’s own and other societies' behaviour.
It is therefore simplistic to say that prophecy is the ability to foretell the future.
Scepticism of prophecy is therefore founded on the basis of:
# objective criteria specific to the system of faith within which it occurs
# the evidence that substantiates the content of the prophecy
# the society’s evidential willingness to accept a higher authority over that of its chosen human individual or elite group exercising governance over it
# the willingness to deny prophecy through acceptance of statistically improbable occurrences as inconsequential
# the subjective comparative methods by which it is being authenticated by various modern methodologies used as part of scientific reasoning, calculation of probability or historic analysis

Terms used to describe prophecy

★ Hebrew

★ Babylonian

★ Persian

★ Sanskrit

★ Tibetan

★ Chinese

★ Hellenic

★ Latin

★ Celtic

★ Old Germanic

★ Old French

★ Turkish

★ Modern English

Etymology in English

First sited c.1225, "function of a prophet," from O.Fr. profecie (12c.), from L.L. prophetia, from Gk. prophetia construct pro- "before" plus the root of phanai "speak","gift of interpreting the will of the gods", from Gk. ''prophetes'' (see prophet). Meaning "thing spoken or written by a prophet" is from c.1300. The verb prophesy is recorded from 1377. The Greek ''phanai'' may be a corrupted borrowing from Hebrew ''peh v'ro'eh phan'ya'' meaning "speak and see addressing/entreating". Sometimes the Greek word mantikê (divination) is translated as prophecy.[1]

Record of prophecy in the Ancient World

Pre-Sinai prophecy

In many religions, gods or other supernatural agents are thought to sometimes provide prophecies to certain individuals, sometimes known as prophets, by dreams or visions.

Torah prophetic record

The Jewish Tanakh (Old Testament of the Christian Bible), contains prophecies from various Hebrew prophets who communicated messaged from HaShem ('the Name' in English; a way to refer to God in Hebrew) 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).
List prophecies

Prophecy of the Jewish Scriptures

Text on the content of the prophecies

Prophecy of the Twelve Prophets (Trei-Assar)

Text on the content of the prophecies

Why is Daniel Not a Prophet?

Site rabbinic sources

Levels of prophecy

Rambam's writings on levels of prophecy

False prophecy

Test to be administered to claimants of prophecy

Post-Torah prophecy

Gnosticism

Gnostic view of prophecy

Arianism

Arianism's view of prophecy

Roman Catholicism

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").
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 prophecy 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. It is not meant in Christianity for believers to know the future. But it is important for God to speak to believers as he does through prophets of the Hebrew Torah.

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 [1]. Muslim belief is that an angel (Gabriel) visited Muhammad in a cave called Hira on the Mount Jabal-al-Noor in Makkah. 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.

Prophecy outside of the Biblical region

Record of prophecy in pre-Modern World

Claims of prophecy since the European Renaissance

Prophecy has been claimed for, but not by Michel de Nostredame popularly referred to as Nostradamus.
More recently, 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.
In 1863, Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, claimed the he is the 'Promised One' of all religions. And Baha'is see both the Jewish and Christian scriptures, especially the books of Isaiah, Daniel, Micah, and Revelation as containing many prophecies promising the coming of Baha'u'llah and the Baha'i 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.^[1]

Relationship to Messianic beliefs

Many prophecies from many differing sources relate to the Promised One as diverse as the Book of Enoch, Hebrew TANAKH, Christian New Testament, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, Buddhist texts, Hindu texts, Chinese texts, Muslim Qua'ran and Zoroastrian sources, and prophecies of indigenous people's from other regions of the World to name a few.

Communicating prophecies about imminent emergence to eminence of a spiritual teacher is one way of recognizing someone claiming prophecy. By necessity the person must appear to fulfill all prophecies about their foreseen emergence from mediocrity, life and actions. The events of (and solutions for) the society would need to be significant enough that no dispute will exist as to the identity, but not before they occur according to prophecies. One of the features of true prophecy is that the contend make identity of the individual, the time and manner of appearance difficult to predict accurately, preventing impostors claims to the role.

Sources

Sources of understanding prophecy.

Interpretation

How prophecy is interpreted.

Evidence

Prophecy always involves some kind of communication regarding the future or with different realms of existence, which are sometimes not identifiable through history, discernible by or in harmony with empirical science. Therefore, some sceptics consider prophecy to be false. Believers, however, claim that prophecy is possible through supernatural means, which bypass the natural laws and is witnessed historically. Scientists tend to reject phenomena regarded as supernatural because they do not believe there is a way to bypass the physical laws of this universe.
The hypothetical power allowing fulfilment of prophecy has not been scientifically tested and remains unproven, but many people believe that certain prophecies have been fulfilled. Skeptics believe many apparently fulfilled prophecies can be explained as coincidences, or that some prophecies were actually invented after the fact to match the circumstances of a past event ("Postdiction").
Many prophecies are vague, allowing them to be applied to many possible future events. The cryptic prophecies of Nostradamus are a prime example of this, but Nostradamus's supporters argue that detailed predictions would have earned him a reputation for witchcraft. Some charismatic ministers such as William Branham, Richard Rossi, and Paul Cain are regarded as prophets by their Pentecostal followers. And still lived forever!

Folk prophecy

Sortes virgilianae

In the Middle Ages, as the figure of the Latin poet Virgil developed into a kind of ''magus'' or wizard, manuscripts of his work ''The Aeneid'' were used for divination, the sortes virgilianae. A line would be selected at random and interpreted, very much in the way Old Testament lines were interpreted for arcane meanings, in light of a current situation.

The crawling baby

In some cultures it is customary to place a series of objects evocative of possible future occupations in front of a baby. Whichever object the baby crawls to or picks up is said to indicate the kind of profession the baby will grow up to have.

Modern analytical prediction

For a theory to be considered genuinely scientific it must in some sense predict the future. A scientific theory differs from prophecy in that it is both falsifiable and reproducible. In principle, a scientific theory makes a prediction that could actually invalidate the theory by not coming true. Furthermore, a scientific theory makes a prediction that can be tested under reproducible conditions by different experimenters. All of classical physics claims to do this, that is condition A will always lead to condition B in all experiments. Newton's Laws and the theory of relativity generate quantified solutions that can be tested with measurements. Using them one can predict to high accuracy, millennia into the future, the orbits of the planets for instance. Quantum physics, however, generates statistical probabilities. Thus, condition A will sometimes lead to B and sometimes to C or even D,E,F..., and one cannot predict what will happen in a certain instance, but only that A will lead to B or C x out of y instances.

References

1. A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith, , P., Smith, Oneworld Publications, 1999, ISBN 1851681841

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