Ancient prophecies

Prophecy involves a process in which one or more messages are allegedly communicated by a god. Such messages typically involve inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of divine will concerning the prophet's social world and events to come (compare divine knowledge). Prophecy is not limited to any one culture. It is a common property to all known ancient societies around the world, some more than others. Many systems and rules about prophecy have been proposed over several millennia.

The English word "prophecy" (noun) in the sense of "function of a prophet" appeared from about 1225, from [[Old Frenprofecie (12th century), and from prophetia, Greek propheteia "gift of interpreting the will of God", from Greek prophetes (see prophet). The related meaning "thing spoken or written by a prophet" dates from c. 1300, while the verb "to prophesy" is recorded by 1377.

Modern (Western esoteric) research in prophecy is a pseudoscience. In general, a diviner's foretelling or a prophetic prediction of the future does not adhere to the scientific method, therefore it is no object of science.

From a skeptical point of view, there is a Latin maxim: prophecy written after the fact vaticinium ex eventu. The Jewish Torah already deals with the topic of the false prophet (Deuteronomy 13:2-6, 18:20-22).

In 1863, Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, claimed to have been the promised messianic figure of all previous religions, and a Manifestation of God, a type of prophet in the Bahá'í writings that serves as intermediary between the divine and humanity and who speaks with the voice of a god. Bahá'u'lláh claimed that, while being imprisoned in the Siyah-Chal in Iran, he underwent a series of mystical experiences including having a vision of the Maid of Heaven who told him of his divine mission, and the promise of divine assistance; In Bahá'í belief, the Maid of Heaven is a representation of the divine.

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