It's obvious that anybody may claim the title of a prophet or a prophetess. However, it's obvious that such an individual needs followers to gain more than the reckoning of being a claimant of the ability to prophecy. The same goes for politicians or philosophers: To propose social improvements may be fine, but to set them going it takes more than just the proposal. When I think of those nameless, and often confused-looking, people who take a stand on the street, shouting what they themselves call prophecies then it's difficult not to see them as deluded or plainly insane. Still, some celebrate them, e.g. with a T-shirt.
As the believers in prophets and prophetesses consider them some sort of divine messenger, bringing news and commands from the god they believe in they sure may attain a considerable power. I don't think there is any known religion which doesn't have their holy men and women, and they are seen as messengers of the deity/deities of this individual faith system. For instance, in The Old Testament there are five female prophets: Miriam (Exod. 15:20), Deborah (Judg. 4: 4), Huldah (2 Kgs 22: 14-20), Noadiah (Neh. 6: 14) and an unknown woman (Isaiah 8: 3)
Jeremiah by Michelangelo
One of the problems of prophets is that they may not always represent the same deity or give the same prophecies. The god of The Bible, Yahweh, who started out as one of the toyboys of the primary supreme deity, the goddess Asherah, had a fervent and devout servant in Elijah. Another one of the toyboys of Asherah was Baal, and needless to say, the prophets and the servants of either of them didn't see eye to eye when they fought to gain the status of the supreme god of e.g. the old Jews. In 1 Kings 18:20-40 there is an interesting, but to us, rather weird account of one of the fights of the adherents to "prove" that their chosen god is the right - i.e. the GENUINE one: The Yahweh-man, Elijah, "proves" that his god is the best one by slaughtering a bull and also letting the Baal-priests slaughter one. To me not only this slaughtering, but all the ongoing in this "proof" is really WEIRD, but to the old Jews it's very impressive.
I suppose that all religions have prophets who teach the followers what it's all about, but not all religions accept the prophets of other religions. All of them want to be seen as the servants of the ultimate, the only genuine GOD that turns all the others - and there are many!!! - into bogus deities. However, not only the "Big Guys", Yahweh, Allah, Jesus, etc., claim godly status, no, far from it. All mental hospitals may brag about giving room to people who claim to be God or the son/daughter of said God. People with e.g. a severe bipolar disorder may disclose their own beliefs in being the one who created the world, and thus being the true and genuine GOD whom all of us should obey and worship ....
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