Prophet
From RationalWiki
A prophet is a person who claims to have received a message or revelation from a God. The religions which are based on those revelations are called revealed religions. Of course, from any natural, rational perspective, the idea is laughable, but they are still taken very seriously by the vast majority of the world.
Commonly accepted prophets include Moses, David, and Muhammed. Depending on the religion, and the sect in question, various prophets may be accepted or disallowed. In more modern times, some religions or cults have grown up around self-proclaimed prophets such as David Koresh or Jim Jones.
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[edit] False Prophets
Most prophets tell their people to look out for "false prophets," or prophets who just make things up, rather than receiving their messages from God. Naturally the speaker thinks he (rarely she) is a true prophet. Those who disagree with the speaker are false prophets.
People are supposed to be able to distinguish a false prophet by their lack of predictive power. However, when one considers the batting record of modern prophets, it starts to look like they're all false.
[edit] Profits
Many prophets over the course of history have harbored a desire for profits. Indeed, the making of prophets is seemingly the ulterior motive of many religious leaders, whether they be profits or not.
[edit] Profligacy
Many prophets over the course of history have also shown a tendency towards sexual profiligacy.
