“Christian Prophets Are on the Rise. What Happens When They’re Wrong” by Ruth Graham Review and Summary (Article Critique Sample)

Student’s name:
Professor’s Name:
Course:
Date:
Article Review and Summary
Introduction
The article “Christian Prophets Are on the Rise. What Happens When They’re Wrong” by Ruth Graham, recently published New York Times, adds a topic to the discussion on module 6 Lecture about the distribution of religion. Graham’s article talks about the rising trend of individuals who claim to have prophetic powers in the country and how they have managed to gather believers across a broader geographic region in the country. Module six lecture highlighted how Christianity grew to become the dominant religion within the United States and the world. Prophesy, being a fast-growing corner of Christianity according to Graham, therefore relates to Module 6 Lecture about the distribution of religion. This piece offers a summary of Graham's article and informed analysis and reflection of the article's event.
Summary
Graham asserts that the rise of self-proclaimed prophets has consequently led to the massive growth of believers who follow the prophesies both online and from physical presentations. Graham narrates how 33-year-old Jeremiah Johnson managed to get followers from 2015 due to his track record of political prophecies. Johnson amassed several social media followers who hoped to get a prophecy of other topics like supreme court makeup, coronavirus pandemic, and hope for America's spiritual revival besides his political prophecies. Johnson had predicted that Donald Trump would win the 2020 elections and had to apologize to his followers upon Biden’s victory.
Graham further explains that faithful Christians fall into the prophetic traps since the foundation of Christianity is based on prophecies that are fulfilled by the end of the Bible (Graham). While all believers accept the existence of Biblical prophesies that were fulfilled, they still debate about the existence of genuine prophets in the contemporary world. The self-proclaimed prophets who believe they can interpret spiritual insights about the events occurring in the country have significantly increased during the Trump era. Most of the self-proclaimed prophets are independent evangelists who act as guest speakers or appear on online platforms and make money from donations, sale of books, and prophesy fees (Graham). Graham also criticizes the prophets who ask their believers to ignore what they see on the news.