Prophets come from God

prophet (n.) A person who speaks by divine inspiration or as the interpreter through whom the will of a god is expressed. The American Heritage® Dictionary

Prophet. That sounds like a pretty serious person who has a serious job!! I have been a Christian my whole life and believe in the teachings of the Bible, which are almost all based on the writings of prophets. For me, a prophet is someone whom God has chosen to speak to and show something that is relevant and important for those who have a faith in him. So according to what I’ve been taught through the Bible: A prophet literally means one who has the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose of the Lord. Most of what was said by the writers of the Old Testament were prophetic and than validated in the New Testament. The prophetic gift is listed as a Spiritual Gift. This gift is something that a person discovers through usually a dream or vision (according to Numbers 12). The prophet can understand secret truths, mysteries and possess all knowledge…but it must be done in love. God never gives people visions of evil or tries to scare them. Another important attribute to prophets is that they are never appointed or “discovered” by other humans the Lord makes it clear who he has chosen. Prophets are ultimately teachers of what God has revealed to them.

Most religions have some sort of person that has started the belief or receives messages from “someone” else. Mohammed is said to have received the word from god for the teachings in the Qur’an. Budduh was “enlightened” as he was sitting under the Bodh Tree and brought about the Buddhist religion from his “Awakening.” In Judaism, Abraham was the first prophet, but the whole religion is based on prophecies. There have been so many different types of people that have called themselves “prophets.” In my opinion they are not prophets. Prophets are defined as one who has the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose of the Lord. There is a psychological disorder that has caused the visions of these people.

In Bessie Head’s novel, A Question of Power, the main character Elizabeth, is constantly seeing visions and is in an altered state of consciousness almost throughout the whole book. She struggles with the horrible visions that she has. They include horrible torturous run-ins with “the wild-eyed Medusa” (p 38) who is constantly tormenting and bringing Elizabeth down. “Suddenly, a terrible thunderbolt struck her heart....’oh God, oh God, what’s happening to me’” (p 39)? Her visions are scary and are brought on by what seems to be a psychological disorder. She is exposed to a very ‘real’ evil that she must deal with. It almost seems as if what she sees and hears are things that most people deal with on a daily basis, but for her they appear as real people. Medusa says things like, “Don’t eat too much. You’re too fat” (p 61) and “Dog, filth, the Africans will eat you to death” (p45). She is constantly torturing Elizabeth! Not only does Elizabeth have to deal with Medusa but with Sello as well. He also doesn’t treat her very well, yet she refers to him as “Father” and almost a godlike figure. “Her second-in-command, Sello...There was a mean expression in his eyes…like Medusa, he too wanted to eliminate her” (p62). Basically, both of her visions are out to get her. She is battling a horrible evil and will hopefully end up better in the end.

Elizabeth may be gaining insight and finding things about herself through her visions and dreams, I don’t think that qualifies her as a prophet.  The prophets that I read about in the Bible are given a message that will affect a group of people.  What they learn from God doesn’t usually just affect them or help them deal with one specific aspect of their life.  In certain cases, yes, a prophet may be personally shaped, but that person goes on to change a great amount of people.  I suppose that I can’t say for sure what Elizabeth does with what she discovers from her visions, because I haven’t finished the book, however, from what it sounds like so far, I don’t believe she is a prophet of God.  I believe that prophets only come from God. 

In my opinion these kinds of visions are not prophecies. Elizabeth I don’t think could be considered a prophet. I mean, for what I believe prophets are tellers of good news and are told this in love through God. I know that God would not speak through someone and scare them. God isn’t a God who teaches by making someone afraid or by pointing at their faults. There may have been prophets who might have seemed to be crazy, but none of which were given visions that frightened them. Elizabeth even ended up hospitalized and given some kind of drug to try to calm her down. There is no way that God would put a person through that. Elizabeth is purely dealing with psychological problems, she is not a prophet. The messages that she sees don’t have any sort of value for anyone else other than herself. She is battling her visions not gaining huge insight or teachings that a group of people could follow. Prophets are divinely chosen by God and will be given that message in a loving and purposeful way.