Wikipedia says, “A prophecy is the message that has been communicated to a prophet which the prophet then communicates to others. In general, this message can involve divine inspiration, revelation, or interpretation. More specifically, it may be a professed psychic prediction. Confusion often exists between the word ‘prophecy’ (noun) and ‘to prophesy’ (verb). A memory phrase to help distinguish between “prophecy” (pronounced with the long e sound as in ‘see’) and ‘prophesy’ (pronounced with the long i sound as in ‘sigh’): ‘When a prophet prophesies he or she utters prophecies.’
The concept is found throughout the religions of the world. The term has found popular acceptance in two of the world’s largest religious groups, Christianity and Islam, along with many others.”
We tend to be skeptical of psychics’ predictions, especially if they are current, but it seems religious advocates, who so easily substitute “prophet” for “psychic”, are most comfortable believing in prophesy especially if the prophet is long dead. This despite the failure rate of prophesy that is at least equal to that of psychic predictions. After all, if you get the date of the prophesy wrong you can just say “Oh well!” and quote a new expected by date.