Along with these modern day prophets, there are also modern people who call themselves prophets. Unlike the prophets discussed above, however, their goals are much different from the goals of prophets in ancient societies. In his book When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture, Paul Boyer explores the culture and motivation of those in modern American society who call themselves prophets. In contrast to the ancient prophets who spent their lives reforming society according to God’s commands, the modern prophets studied by Boyer have very different motivations. They are certainly concerned with the moral health of society, but they do not seek to change it. They hold “the conviction that the course of history, and the sequence of events that will herald the end of the world, are foretold in the Bible” (Boyer 1992, ix) and they “painstakingly build from hundreds of Bible verses a picture of the final days of human history – a picture strikingly similar to the world today” (Boyer 1992, 1). Modern prophets do not think that the whole of society can be changed. In fact, they think that attempting to change society is futile. They believe that “regardless of what governments and uplift organizations might do, war, suffering, and conflict [are] bound to grow worse” (Boyer 1992, 298). This world is not worth saving because it is so close to being destroyed anyway. Trying to change society for the better is compared to “polishing the brass fixtures on a sinking ocean liner” (Boyer 1992, 299). The world’s descent into sin and its eventual destruction is inevitable and all they can do is try to convert and save as many people as they can. It is possible for individual people to be saved, but not the world as a whole.
A clear and enlightening example of modern prophets is a website called “End Times Prophecy Report.” This website run predominantly by Jeremiah J. Jameson with the help of Elaine M. Frazier, Mondo Frazier, Rob Bennett, and Liz Kaye. In its own words, the site “features news and original research, commentary and opinion on current events, as well as End Times Bible Prophecy and News and End Times Deception” (“OUR STAFF” 2013). The site features daily articles about current events, explaining how they show society’s rapidly increasing descent into sin and correspond to biblical omens predicting the end of the world. The authors use an aggressive rhetoric, heavy biblical literalism, and flashy, attention-grabbing headlines to try to attract readers. Some examples of these titles are "Science Constantly Changes, The Truth Never Changes" (Jameson 2016b) which condemns “science worshipers” (Jameson 2016b) because the truths of science are constantly changing with new discoveries and thus they cannot actually be truths, and "World Without Borders: ONE WORLD UNITED FOR SATAN" (Jameson 2016c), which claims that the author’s foreseen future in which all countries will be unified will bring about a single world government that “the Bible calls the “beast.”” (Jameson 2016c). The authors purposely use highly sensationalized titles and controversial topics like the claim that truth does not come from science, striking words like “SATAN,” and all capital letters to make the articles seem even more high-stakes and intense.
The End Times Prophecy Report is an almost exact example of the types of modern prophets that Boyer studies. The articles base all of their evidence for the coming apocalypse on the biblical text, arguing that the events we are currently experiencing were foretold in the books of the Bible. In fact, in an article published in April 2016, they wrote that the media cannot be trusted and that “God’s Word is the only source of truth in a fallen world” (Jameson 2016a), showing how devoted they are to these books and how distrustful they are of everything except the word of God. As Boyer noted, the sources for their articles are all lines from throughout the bible that they do not connect well either to each other or to the article they are writing. The passages are awkwardly stuck in between the text of the article and seem to act more as an attempt to make their clams seem more legitimate because they are sitting next to quotes from the Bible. The Bible is the only source evidence they give for the strong claims they make in each of their articles, and they do not use it effectively. They start with the article, put bible quotes in between the text of the article, and then just continue with their own words, without explaining how the passage relates to their argument or their message. The hermeneutical frame they use to interpret the Bible, as a roadmap to future events for the world and for humanity, is quite different from the frame used by most Christian denominations worldwide, but they do not take the time to explain how they interpret the evidence they use and how it connects to their articles. This may be because they only expect to be writing to people who already agree with them, but it is a detriment to them because it pushes people who may be convinced even farther away and makes them seem like even more of an untrustworthy and unstable fringe group.
In the modern age, there is a huge divide between those who still function in society as prophets and those who call themselves prophets. There are certainly still prophets today. People like Pope Francis and who tap into ancient prophetic rhetoric in order to speak out against societal injustice and enact social change perform the same duties that prophets played for the ancient people of Israel. Their methods have been slightly updated for the modern age. They have the possibility to reach a larger audience than ever before and their reformations are focused on the larger society or even the whole world, instead of just their local community, but the essence of their mission is the same: societal reformation. In contrast, there are also people today who self-identify as prophets whose mission in no way resembles the mission of ancient prophets. Their goal, as noted by Boyer and seen in the articles posted on the End Times Prophecy Report website, is not to reform or change society. They do not think that society is worth saving because the way they have interpreted the Bible has shown them that the end of the world is immanent. There’s no point in saving something that is about to be destroyed anyway. Instead, they focus on getting people to convert so that they can be saved from the coming end of the world. There is a clear difference between people today who are actually prophets and those who call themselves prophets. Actual prophets are focused on making society better. Their focus is on improving this world. Self-proclaimed prophets’ goal is to escape this world. They care little for this doomed world and their goal is to try to get themselves and as many people as possible to heaven.
A clear and enlightening example of modern prophets is a website called “End Times Prophecy Report.” This website run predominantly by Jeremiah J. Jameson with the help of Elaine M. Frazier, Mondo Frazier, Rob Bennett, and Liz Kaye. In its own words, the site “features news and original research, commentary and opinion on current events, as well as End Times Bible Prophecy and News and End Times Deception” (“OUR STAFF” 2013). The site features daily articles about current events, explaining how they show society’s rapidly increasing descent into sin and correspond to biblical omens predicting the end of the world. The authors use an aggressive rhetoric, heavy biblical literalism, and flashy, attention-grabbing headlines to try to attract readers. Some examples of these titles are "Science Constantly Changes, The Truth Never Changes" (Jameson 2016b) which condemns “science worshipers” (Jameson 2016b) because the truths of science are constantly changing with new discoveries and thus they cannot actually be truths, and "World Without Borders: ONE WORLD UNITED FOR SATAN" (Jameson 2016c), which claims that the author’s foreseen future in which all countries will be unified will bring about a single world government that “the Bible calls the “beast.”” (Jameson 2016c). The authors purposely use highly sensationalized titles and controversial topics like the claim that truth does not come from science, striking words like “SATAN,” and all capital letters to make the articles seem even more high-stakes and intense.
The End Times Prophecy Report is an almost exact example of the types of modern prophets that Boyer studies. The articles base all of their evidence for the coming apocalypse on the biblical text, arguing that the events we are currently experiencing were foretold in the books of the Bible. In fact, in an article published in April 2016, they wrote that the media cannot be trusted and that “God’s Word is the only source of truth in a fallen world” (Jameson 2016a), showing how devoted they are to these books and how distrustful they are of everything except the word of God. As Boyer noted, the sources for their articles are all lines from throughout the bible that they do not connect well either to each other or to the article they are writing. The passages are awkwardly stuck in between the text of the article and seem to act more as an attempt to make their clams seem more legitimate because they are sitting next to quotes from the Bible. The Bible is the only source evidence they give for the strong claims they make in each of their articles, and they do not use it effectively. They start with the article, put bible quotes in between the text of the article, and then just continue with their own words, without explaining how the passage relates to their argument or their message. The hermeneutical frame they use to interpret the Bible, as a roadmap to future events for the world and for humanity, is quite different from the frame used by most Christian denominations worldwide, but they do not take the time to explain how they interpret the evidence they use and how it connects to their articles. This may be because they only expect to be writing to people who already agree with them, but it is a detriment to them because it pushes people who may be convinced even farther away and makes them seem like even more of an untrustworthy and unstable fringe group.
In the modern age, there is a huge divide between those who still function in society as prophets and those who call themselves prophets. There are certainly still prophets today. People like Pope Francis and who tap into ancient prophetic rhetoric in order to speak out against societal injustice and enact social change perform the same duties that prophets played for the ancient people of Israel. Their methods have been slightly updated for the modern age. They have the possibility to reach a larger audience than ever before and their reformations are focused on the larger society or even the whole world, instead of just their local community, but the essence of their mission is the same: societal reformation. In contrast, there are also people today who self-identify as prophets whose mission in no way resembles the mission of ancient prophets. Their goal, as noted by Boyer and seen in the articles posted on the End Times Prophecy Report website, is not to reform or change society. They do not think that society is worth saving because the way they have interpreted the Bible has shown them that the end of the world is immanent. There’s no point in saving something that is about to be destroyed anyway. Instead, they focus on getting people to convert so that they can be saved from the coming end of the world. There is a clear difference between people today who are actually prophets and those who call themselves prophets. Actual prophets are focused on making society better. Their focus is on improving this world. Self-proclaimed prophets’ goal is to escape this world. They care little for this doomed world and their goal is to try to get themselves and as many people as possible to heaven.
