Last prophet

The last prophet, or final prophet, is a term used in religious contexts to refer to the last person through whom God speaks, after which there is to be no other. The appellation also refers to the prophet who will induce mankind to turn back to God. Judaism considers Malachi to be the last of the biblical prophets. In Christianity, the last prophet of the Old Covenant before the arrival of Jesus is John the Baptist (cf. ). The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that Malachi was the "Seal of Prophets" in the Old Testament. Christian denominations who hold that spiritual gifts (including prophecy) continue to be bestowed by the Holy Spirit on Christians are known as "continuationists" (including Catholics, Methodists, and Pentecostals), while the cessationist perspective, which teaches that charismata ended in the Apostolic era, is held by much of Reformed Christianity and Baptists. The Iglesia ni Cristo, an independent, nontrinitarian Christian religion based in the Philippines, professes that founder and first Executive Minister Felix Manalo was the last messenger sent by God to reestablish the original church founded by Jesus. In Mandaeism, John the Baptist is the greatest and final prophet. In Manichaeism, the founder Mani is believed by adherents of the faith to be the last and final prophet after a long succession of religious figures, including Zoroaster, the Gautama Buddha and the Jesus Christ. According to Al-Biruni, a 10th-century Iranian scholar, Mani claimed to be the Paraclete promised in the New Testament and the Last Prophet. The phrase Khatamu ’n-Nabiyyīn ("Seal of the Prophets") is a title used in the Quran to designate the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It is generally regarded to mean that Muhammad is the last of the prophets sent by God. In Hinduism, the history of mankind is described in four religious (dharmic) ages (yugas), which depict a gradual decline in religious activities, only to be renewed at the end to start a new cycle of the four ages.