Crossword Genius

Prophetic teachings that put a wise man in confusion (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

messages

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'prophetic teachings' is the definition.
'messages' can be an answer for 'teachings' (I've seen this before). I am not sure about the 'prophetic' bit.

'put a wise man in confusion' is the wordplay.
'put' indicates putting letters inside.
'a wise' becomes 'sage' (I've seen this before).
'man in confusion' becomes 'mess' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sage' inserted into 'mess' is 'MESSAGES'.

'that' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for messages that I've seen before include "Shopping up north" , "Communications from one person to another" , "Communications, written, spoken or signaled" , "Notes" , "Brief communications" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.
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