What Is Prophecy?

Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines prophecy as “the inspired declaration of divine will and purpose 2: an inspired utterance of a prophet 3: a prediction of something to come.” This suggests that there can be various sources of prophecies.

In defending traditional religions, a university professor of religious studies, E. Bolaji Idowu, speaks of “the multi-sided concept of God in Africa.” His book African Traditional Religion explains that this “usually takes its emphasis and complexion from the sociological structure and climate.” For example, he says that “whereas in most of Africa, God is conceived in masculine terms, there are localities [particularly in matriarchal communities] where he is regarded as feminine.” Could such localized and contradictory notions be inspired by God? Professor Idowu acknowledges that “there is nothing to prevent . . . any . . . race in Africa from developing its own concept of God.” This suggests that such religious concepts spring from human ideas and observation rather than from divine revelation.​—Compare Romans 1:19-23.

Traditional soothsayers and oracles do not reveal the true God’s personality or his will and purpose. They deal with the taboos and rituals demanded by a variety of local “gods.” Their predictions are based on mystic knowledge and divination. Therefore, such prophecies are not inspired declarations of the divine will. Almighty God, who inspires true prophecy, is not their source.​—2 Peter 1:20, 21; Deuteronomy 13:1-5; 18:20-22.

What, then, is the source of such predictions? Please read the next article for the answer to this question and the others raised earlier in this discussion.

What Is the Purpose of Prophecy?

THOSE who claim that their various forms of worship are revelations from superhuman sources also acknowledge that there are good and bad supernatural powers. This acknowledgment raises these questions: Was each of these forms of worship revealed from a good source? Or do they have a bad source? Which one is inspired by the true God?

The First Religion

Mankind is recognized as being one family, and this agrees with the Bible’s account of one original human pair, Adam and Eve. Jehovah, the Creator, made himself known to them. He revealed to Adam and Eve their role in his purpose and their true relationship to him. God made Adam his first prophet, responsible to pass divine revelations on to his wife and eventually to their offspring, that is, all mankind.​—Genesis 1:27-30; 2:15-17.

This was the only religion, the one form of worship revealed by Jehovah God. It was expressed by obedience to God’s will. No rituals, sacrifices, shrines, or oracles were required.

False Religion Appears

The first opposing “revelation” came from an angel who wanted to be worshiped. He offered an alternative to true religion and induced Adam and Eve to join him in rebellion against their Creator. This made him Satan, Jehovah’s opposer. His “prophecy” pretended to offer self-determination and independence from God. Instead, it caused enslavement to Satan and to sin, bringing death.​—Genesis 3:1-19; Matthew 4:8-10; Romans 5:12.

Satan was eventually joined by other rebellious angels, or demons. No doubt these spawned false religious concepts that contributed to the corrupting of mankind. In the days of Adam’s grandson Enosh, “a start was made of calling on the name of Jehovah.” According to the Targum of Palestine, this was done profanely as part of the idolatrous worship of that time.​—Genesis 4:26; 6:1-8; 1 Peter 3:19, 20; 2 Peter 2:1-4.

False religion was wiped out in the Flood of Noah’s day, leaving just the true form of worship practiced by Jehovah’s prophet, Noah. (Genesis 6:5-9, 13; 7:23; 2 Peter 2:5) The demons remained, though, and reintroduced counterfeit prophecies and religious concepts. They caused Noah’s descendants to offend Jehovah by building the city of Babel as a center of false worship. But God confused their language and “scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth.”​—Genesis 11:1-9.

What does all of this tell us? We are all descendants of Noah and Adam. So all cultures have a common origin and have retained some concept of God as a vestige of knowledge that has survived from Noah’s day. But this basic concept is corrupted by false religious ideas inherited from those forefathers who scattered from Babel (later restored as Babylon) to all parts of the earth. This is seen in common superstitions about spirits of the dead, in ancestor worship, and in the practice of astrology, divination, and witchcraft.​—Daniel 2:1, 2.

The Purpose of Prophecy

Does this mean that present-day religions are based only on concepts inherited from that ancient past? No. Satan and the demons still inspire false prophecy to deceive and divide mankind, confuse true revelations about God, and establish false ideas and religions. (1 Timothy 4:1; 1 John 4:1-3; Revelation 16:13-16) The Bible says: “There also came to be false prophets among the people, as there will also be false teachers among you. These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects.”​—2 Peter 2:1.

The Book of True Prophecy

This vital information could not be accurately preserved by oral tradition or by separate revelations to various nations. The best avenue of preservation and of transmission to all nations is a written record. And the Bible fills this role. It alone contains God’s inspired revelations and preserves the historical and prophetic account of his dealings with humans. It alone points to Jesus Christ as God’s Agent for salvation and contains the final prophecies regarding the future accomplishment of his Messianic assignment. This is thus the complete inspired written Word of God.​—Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11; 2 Peter 1:20, 21.

Since the completing of the Bible, those who have introduced new “prophecies,” religions, and sects could not be inspired by God. True prophecies were not given to reveal new religions.