MLK Jr - true prophet ?

[mlbrokish]

Would Martin Luther King, Jr. be considered a true prophet?

Edited June 29, 2019 by mlbrokish

[Blood Bought 1953]

How do you define “prophet”

[BeauJangles]

5 minutes ago, mlbrokish said:

Would Martin Luther King, Jr. be considered a true prophet?

No, I never considered MLK a prophet at all. 

[mlbrokish]

18 minutes ago, Blood Bought 1953 said:

How do you define “prophet”

Well, I know he was a minister and a great leader. 

One dictionary meaning is:

a person regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God.

I just wondered if others had a different take on "prophet", perhaps based on readings from the Bible.

 

 

Edited June 29, 2019 by mlbrokish

[Blood Bought 1953]

Not a prophet ,in my opinion......a wise leader , a great orator and extremely brave man.Fallable, apparently, If one can believe J.Edgar Hoover.Still worthy of much respect.

[Spock]

38 minutes ago, mlbrokish said:

Would Martin Luther King, Jr. be considered a true prophet?

Prophet?  Hmmm

i know he was a Minister, but not aware of this label attached to his name. When I think of a prophet, I think of someone with “foretelling” knowledge. I think my definition is probably in error, but based on that definition, he was not. 

[Guest]

He was a preacher, not a prophet.

[turtletwo]

2 hours ago, mlbrokish said:

I just wondered if others had a different take on "prophet", perhaps based on readings from the Bible.

@mlbrokish I found this in the Easton Bible dictionary. I thought it was informative (even if a bit long.)  I hope it is helpful to you.

PROPHET

(Heb. nabi, from a root meaning "to bubble forth, as from a fountain," hence "to utter", Compare Psalms 45:1 ). This Hebrew word is the first and the most generally used for a prophet. In the time of Samuel another word, ro'eh , "seer", began to be used (1 Samuel 9:9 ). It occurs seven times in reference to Samuel. Afterwards another word, hozeh , "seer" ( 2 Samuel 24:11 ), was employed. In 1 Chronicles 29:29 all these three words are used: "Samuel the seer (ro'eh), Nathan the prophet (nabi'), Gad the seer" (hozeh). In Josh 13:22 Balaam is called (Heb.) a kosem "diviner," a word used only of a false prophet.

The "prophet" proclaimed the message given to him, as the "seer" beheld the vision of God. (See Numbers 12:6 Numbers 12:8 .) Thus a prophet was a spokesman for God; he spake in God's name and by his authority ( Exodus 7:1 ). He is the mouth by which God speaks to men ( Jeremiah 1:9 ; Isaiah 51:16 ), and hence what the prophet says is not of man but of God ( 2 Peter 1:20 2 Peter 1:21 ; Compare Hebrews 3:7 ; Acts 4:25 ; 28:25 ). Prophets were the immediate organs of God for the communication of his mind and will to men ( Deuteronomy 18:18 Deuteronomy 18:19 ). The whole Word of God may in this general sense be spoken of as prophetic, inasmuch as it was written by men who received the revelation they communicated from God, no matter what its nature might be. The foretelling of future events was not a necessary but only an incidental part of the prophetic office. The great task assigned to the prophets whom God raised up among the people was "to correct moral and religious abuses, to proclaim the great moral and religious truths which are connected with the character of God, and which lie at the foundation of his government."

Any one being a spokesman for God to man might thus be called a prophet. Thus Enoch, Abraham, and the patriarchs, as bearers of God's message ( Genesis 20:7 ;Exodus 7:1 ; Psalms 105:15 ), as also Moses ( Deuteronomy 18:15 ; 34:10 ; Hosea 12:13 ), are ranked among the prophets. The seventy elders of Israel ( Numbers 11:16-29 ), "when the spirit rested upon them, prophesied;" Asaph and Jeduthun "prophesied with a harp" ( 1 Chronicles 25:3 ). Miriam and Deborah were prophetesses ( Exodus 15:20 ; Judges 4:4 ). The title thus has a general application to all who have messages from God to men.

But while the prophetic gift was thus exercised from the beginning, the prophetical order as such began with Samuel. Colleges, "schools of the prophets", were instituted for the training of prophets, who were constituted, a distinct order ( 1 Samuel 19:18-24; 2 Kings 1 Samuel 2:3 1 Samuel 2:15 ; 4:38 ), which continued to the close of the Old Testament. Such "schools" were established at Ramah, Bethel, Gilgal, Gibeah, and Jericho. The "sons" or "disciples" of the prophets were young men ( 2 Kings 5:22 ; 2 Kings 9:1 2 Kings 9:4 ) who lived together at these different "schools" ( 4:38-41 ). These young men were taught not only the rudiments of secular knowledge, but they were brought up to exercise the office of prophet, "to preach pure morality and the heart-felt worship of Jehovah, and to act along and co-ordinately with the priesthood and monarchy in guiding the state aright and checking all attempts at illegality and tyranny."

In New Testament times the prophetical office was continued. Our Lord is frequently spoken of as a prophet ( Luke 13:33 ; 24:19 ). He was and is the great Prophet of the Church. There was also in the Church a distinct order of prophets ( 1 Corinthians 12:28 ; Ephesians 2:20 ; 3:5 ), who made new revelations from God. They differed from the "teacher," whose office it was to impart truths already revealed.

Of the Old Testament prophets there are sixteen, whose prophecies form part of the inspired canon. These are divided into four groups:

 

• The prophets of the northern kingdom (Israel), viz., Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah.

   

• The prophets of Judah, viz., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah.

   

• The prophets of Captivity, viz., Ezekiel and Daniel.

   

• The prophets of the Restoration, viz., Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pekoudah]

2 hours ago, mlbrokish said:

Would Martin Luther King, Jr. be considered a true prophet?

 A difficult question to answer. He talked as if he was as Moses to his own people. He said... I have seen the promised land.

Was he a man of vision?

Was he a man that was just responding to the need of a people cast aside? A social gospel of equality?

His presence on the world stage is a bit of an enigma...not unlike Nelson Mandela...who also suffered to set his people free.

The very fact that men had to suffer such in the midst of a society that calls itself "Christian" is perplexing enough.

So then there are shadows of things. Shadows of a prophetic voice speaking to the shadow of a society claiming to be influenced by Christ.

 

In the end...we may have to wait and see what God has to say about it. For me it could go either way. It depends on whether he was acting from himself or being led by the Spirit. Too hard to call.

[ayin jade]

He promoted social justice. What prophet of God promoted social justice? Prophets promoted the Lord. 

No, he was not a prophet. He was a civil rights leader.