But Calvin was hardly an anomaly in this regard. Martin Luther, the founder of the Reformation, repeatedly called himself a prophet. In 1539 he confided to a friend that, “I don’t like prophesying, and I also don’t want to prophesy, because what I prophesy—especially the evil—occurs more than I like… Because I speak God’s word, it has to happen.” In spite of his professed dislike for prophesying, inspired predictions were not at all out of place in Luther’s daily life. In January 1532, Luther “foretold that he would be sick, that in March he would be overtaken by a grave illness.”