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Prophecy, prophet(s) and prophesying were usual religious and spiritual phenomena in ancient Israel which do pose challenges for the contemporary church. Sending of divine messages or revelation to the covenant people through the chosen spokespersons were part of deity and human transactions. The violent and crazy act of the prophet in the course of relating the messages of the divine has posed certain apprehensions and was often a source of fear in the people. Such manner of display by prophets is often done as a way to authenticate and make their oracles look as though they are original. The methodology employed in this brief study is an exegetical word study of key concepts and words as used in biblical texts and its applicability in African Initiated Churches. The researcher additionally employed a comparative approach on Ancient Israel and African Initiated Churches. The study discovered that in biblical times, ecstatic prophecy at times involved violence, crazy displays and emotional outbursts. Similarly, among the African Initiated Churches such practices are still employed with all the privileges and dangers attached to them. In the process of receiving or/and delivering divine messages, a state of ecstasy might be expressed by the recipients of the messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insistence that the prophets of the Hebrew Bible were "forthtellers, not foretellers" is ubiquitous in academic, liberal Christian, and even secular circles. It categorically denies that the prophets of ancient Israel predicted the future and characterizes them instead as voices of social critique. This article explains the origins of the phrase, its philosophical and religious underpinnings in Protestant, Enlightenment, Romantic, "scientific" and "modern" thought and traces its rhetorical usage in religious debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Ancient Orient it was the king's high duty to take care of the poor. The same expectation existed also in Israel, but Israel knew that God JHWH himself took care of the poor and punished those who, although they were rich, did not mind people in suffering. In Israel there was the ideal that no poor should exist, that is why the prophets attacked the rich people in a period of welfare, if they ignored the poor. When Israel was under foreign rule, the whole people understood themselves as „poor‟ and the support for the outcast grew significantly. Jesus blesses the „poor‟ and gives them a new impulse, a real perspective. The Christians underline the fact that it is not only about eradicating poverty, but also about the communion with Christ and with each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to point out the specificity of the Fourth Gospel regarding Jesus' activity as Prophet and how his contemporaries understood him as such. The Johannine Jesus, in addition to being the Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, and King of Israel, he is also a prophet. But in the Fourth Gospel, unlike in the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus reveals Himself as more than the awaited prophet; He is in the same time The Messiah and even the Son of God. In this respect, the former blind man worships him: "Then he said: 'Lord, I believe'! And he worshiped him" (Jn 9, 38). Thus, the Johannine perspective of understanding Jesus as being the Eschatological Prophet is exceeded. What is remarkable to be noted in John's perspective concerning Jesus activity as Prophet is his progress in estimating and understanding the Person of Jesus: from "the man called Jesus" (9,11) to "a prophet" (9,17), to one who might be followed by disciples (9,27), to "from God" (9,33) and finally to "Lord" to be worshiped (9,38). In this sense, the main purpose of the evangelist John is not to designate Jesus' place among the prophets, but to emphasize his unique identity as the Son of God, who has been given the power and the authority to speak God's words and to do God's works in the world. The "Prophet - Jesus" is identified in the Fourth Gospel with "God-Jesus". Therefore, in the Johannine Christology the title of "prophet" plays a dominant role in pointing out the messianic character of Jesus Christ's activity and the deity of His Person, as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]