Prophecy

Prophecy involves a process in which one or more messages are allegedly communicated to a prophet by a god or spirit and often are then communicated to other people. Such messages typically involve inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of 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 in Europe from about 1225, from Old French profecie (12th century), and from Late Latin 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" is 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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