PROPHECY

A divinely-inspired vision or revelation of the future, usually of important events on a grand scale; a prediction or foretelling of what is to come.

A prophet is a person who, by divine inspiration, declares to the world the divine will or judgments; a person who foretells the course or nature of future events.

Religious prophets are men or women divinely chosen to preach the divine message, such as Jesus and Mohammed. The ancient Hebrews had
many prophets; 18 of the 39 books of the Old Testament are ascribed to prophets. 


In Islam, Mohammed is the Seal of the Prophets, the last of all prophets for the rest of history.

Ordinary people with psychic gifts have also been called prophets. 


In the sixteenth century Nostradamus believed his visions were inspired by God; the ancient Greeks and Romans revered oracles, whose pronouncements were treated as unchangeable. 


Even today we have scores of people who claim to posses prophetic skills and wisdom.

Every age has had its share of visionaries, seers who seem to posses a kind of second sight that enables them to peer through the walls of time. 


And it is not the past or the present, but the future that holds the greatest allure for would-be soothsayers; and not just any future, but the fascinating matter of human fate " be it the destiny of an individual, of a nation, of the world or of the universe.