Prophet

A prophet is a person who has directly encountered God, of whose intentions he can then speak. Those who are not prophets must then commit themselves to the divinely inspired word as an act of faith. This can be problematic, especially as there are false prophets. When the prophet is held to be genuine, new religions may be adopted, based on the prophet's teachings, and on their interpretation.

A prophet often operates through some means of divination or channeling. The process of receiving a message from God (or the gods) is known either as prophecy or as revelation. (In this sense, the terms are synonyms.)

In popular usage, especially among Christians, a prophet is believed to be someone foretelling the future. While the Bible certainly does contain examples of this sort of prophecy, the majority of messages from Biblical prophets in the Hebrew Bible were social or religious messages that contained no such predictions. As Greek poets were inspired, Thomas Paine argued in The Age of Reason that "prophet" among the Jews had simply meant poet or musician:

"There is not, throughout the whole book called the Bible, any word that describes to us what we call a poet, nor any word that describes what we call poetry. The case is, that the word prophet, to which a later times have affixed a new idea, was the Bible word for poet, and the word 'prophesying' meant the art of making poetry. It also meant the art of playing poetry to a tune upon any instrument of music."
The prophets of the Hebrew Bible were speakers for God rather than "seer-priests" and were absolutely against divination and the like (Allen, 1971). Some prophecies that seem to foretell the future are now widely believed as having been made some time after the event; these prophecies are sometimes given the technical name vaticinia ex eventu.

The concept of a prophet is an old one, and is important in numerous religions. The Greek oracles were inherited from autochthonous sacred sites that preceded the Greeks' arrival in the Aegean. The Bible refers to prophets of Yahweh, Baal, and other regional deities (see Bible prophecy). Christians refer to John the Baptist as a prophet of the Christian God, and Muslims refer to Muhammad as the Prophet, the last and greatest of the prophets of Allah, or God. Latter Day Saints also commonly refer to Joseph Smith, Jr. and his successors as prophets.

Prophets in Jewish thought

Classical Jewish texts teach that the most direct forms of prophecy ended shortly after the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE and the codification of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) by the Men of the Great Assembly (Anshei Knessset HaGedolah). However, various rabbinic Jewish works, including the midrash, state that other less direct forms of communication between man and God still exist, and have never ended.

Many Jewish works, including the Talmud and Maimonides's Guide for the Perplexed states that gentiles may receive prophecy. However, Judaism generally does not accept that any of the specific people well known in other religions are genuine prophets. Jews have not recognized any specific gentile leader as a prophet, as most people who claim to be prophets in other religions have done so in such a way as to delegitimize or supersede Judaism itself. Judaism (based on Deuteronomy Ch. 13 and 18:20) holds that no true prophet will create a new faith or religion as a successor to Judaism. Maimonide's work was thought upon by Spinoza, in particular in his Theologico-Political Treatise.

The Talmud states that minor forms of prophecy still occur. One example of this is the bat kol. (e.g. Tosefta Sota 13:3, Yerushalmi Sota 24b, and Bavli Sota 48b). The Talmud states that each time a Jew studies the Torah or its rabbinic commentaries, God is revealed anew; there is still a link between the God and the Jewish people. Reference: Abraham Joshua Heschel's Prophetic Inspiration After the Prophets: Maimonides and Others (Ktav)

Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote one of the 20th century's classic commentaries on the prophets, entitled "The Prophets".

Also see: False Prophet for detailed definition of prophet and false prophet in Judaism.

Christian concepts of a prophet

Christians believe a prophet is a person who speaks for God, in the name of God, and who carries God's message to others. Some Christian denominations teach that a person who receives a personal message not intended for the body of believers (where such an event is credited at all) should not be termed a prophet. The reception of a message is termed revelation; the delivery of the message is termed prophecy. For Christians the authenticity of a prophet is judged by their fruits as Jesus said that one should judge a prophet by his fruits, (Gospel of Matthew 7) and by checking whether his predictions come true. Deuteronomy 18:21-22 contains several warnings about false prophets and is very specific about the test of whether a prophet is true or false. A false prophet is considered to be someone who is purposely trying to deceive, or is delusional, or is under the influence of Satan (for detail, see main article False prophet).

Biblical prophecies were often conditional, even if the conditions were not explicitly stated; repentance and faithfulness, as well as their opposite (sin), were common reasons why prophecies were rescinded (Jeremiah 18:7-10). Examples of such prophesies that were not fulfilled as anticipated include Jonah's prophesy concerning the destruction of Ninevah (Jonah 3:4), Ezekial's prophesy concerning the destruction of Tyre (Ezekial ch. 26-29), Jeremiah's prophecy concerning the death of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 34:4-5), Nathan's prophesy concerning Israel's future (2 Samuel 7:5-17), the angel's prophecy concerning Samson (Judges 13:5), Elijah's prophecy of Ahab's destruction (1 Kings 21:17-29), and Isaiah's prophecy of Hezekiah's death (Isaiah 38:1-5).

Christians recognize that anyone they consider prophetic is still human and fallible, and may make wrong decisions, have incorrect personal beliefs or opinions, and sin from time to time; the human characteristics of a prophet are independent of the message God has given him and do not negate the validity of his prophecies.

Nevertheless, some Christians believe the minimum requirements of a true prophet can be summarized as follows:

Clear (not vague) prophecies,
100% accuracy in prophecying (i.e. one false prophecy is all it takes to disqualify them as a prophet), and
Must not contradict the Bible.
Many Christians believe these standards create a conundrum for other Christians who actively support high profile ministers who have large followings who claim to have received prophecies that have later turned out to be mistaken.

See Unfulfilled historical predictions by Christians.

Some sects of Christianity would also use these guidelines to disqualify other sects as prophets of God.

Some Christians, including many who believe in dispensationalism, believe prophecy ended with the coming of Jesus, who delivered the "fullness of the law." Within this group, many Protestants believe that prophecy ended with the last of the Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament of the Bible, leaving a gap of about 400 years between then and the life of Jesus. The majority, including the Eastern Orthodox, allow an exception for John the Baptist as a prophet contemporary with Jesus.

New Testament passages that explicity discuss prophets existing after the death of Christ include Joel 2:28-31, Revelation 11:10, Matthew 10:40-41 & 23:34, John 13:20 & 15:20, and Acts 11:25-30, 13:1 & 15:32.

The Islamic concept of prophet

Main article: Prophets of Islam
Islam holds that Allah (Allah is the sole deity in Islam), sent messengers to all tribes on earth, at various stages of their histories. These messengers, who are also considered prophets, had the task of conveying religious guidance to the people of the world. Certain messengers were sent to guide certain people and they all held the same basic message of submission to God's Will. The Qur'an is held by all Muslims to be the literal word of God and revealed via the angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad, who is regarded as the final prophet.

The Qur'an specifically mentions the names of 25 prophets (Prophets in the Qur'an), and indicates that there have been many others sent to humanity throughout time. These 25 include Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. These individuals were mortal humans; Islam demands that a believer accept all of the prophets, making no distinction between them. It is Muhammad who is held to be the last prophet, ending a long line of messengers. Also believed, according to tradition, is the return of prophet Isa (Jesus) before the Last Day to complete his interrupted duty and establish one community of believers for all the people on the whole surface of the earth.

Some historical figures who claimed to be a prophet in a more or less Islamic sense of the word include Musaylimah of Yamamah, Ha-Mim of the Ghomara, Salih of the Berghouata, and (possibly less than seriously) the great Arab poet al-Mutanabbi; no groups maintain their prophethood today. A sect of the Ahmadiyya movement consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian to be a prophet. However as he comes after the prophet Muhammad, their teachings are considered heretical and non-Islamic by all Muslims.

Most Muslims, according to certain schools, distinguish between prophets per se and messengers, the latter being those prophets who have brought a holy book risala (such as the Qur'an or Torah).

Other prophets

Other people throughout history have been described as prophets in the sense of foretelling the future (as opposed to forthtelling the message of the Deity). Examples of such prophets include:

Nostradamus

Shirdi Sai Baba

Sathya Sai Baba

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (Madame Blavatsky)

Deganawidah

Dan Evehema, Hopi Elder

Mitar Tarabich

John Titor

Jeane Dixon

Richard Rossi

Hal Lindsey

Edgar Cayce

William Miller

Merlin the wizard

Mother Shipton

Elizabeth Clare Prophet

St Malachy - see Prophecy of the Popes

Bobby Henderson