Agabus or Abrakadabracus

As Christians, we affirm that the Old and New Testament are our sole infallible rule to faith and practice. We uphold that all doctrine must be derived from Scripture; that our traditions and opinions must be in conformity to the special revelation given to us from God. When we elevate our traditions above the text, the interpretation of Scripture thereof becomes a mechanism used to bring about the purposes of man, instead of having the Holy Spirit illuminate the revelation given to us from God. Prophetic words and the ability to prophecy is one such tradition that has taken off within the Bethel movement.

It was during our initial interview with Elijah Stephens that the prophet Agabus in the book of Acts was mentioned. Elijah stated that Agabus was not one-hundred percent accurate in his prophecy, therefore the standard of prophecy in the New Testament is different than that of prophecy in the Old Testament.

:53-1:05 “The point is that there is a difference between a bad prophetic word and a false prophet. You can get the word wrong and not be a false prophet.”

1:05-1:14 “Because you give words that aren’t completely accurate does not mean you are a false prophet. It just means that you have prophetic words that need help.”

1:21-1:27 “There’s a difference between a false prophet and a bad prophet. A false prophet has a bad heart, a bad prophet just gets everything wrong.”

However the question is - where did this tradition come from? Did Elijah just pull this out from thin air? Low and behold, Kris Vallotton (one of the head Elders at Bethel) also holds and supports this view. He claims that someone can have the ability to have inaccurate prophecies yet not be labeled as a false prophet. See the video to the left and scrub through to the time stamps provided to hear it for yourself.

Kris’ claim seeks to reform the test of a prophet found in Deuteronomy 18. Deuteronomy 18 states that if there is even one false prophecy that comes from the mouth of a so-called prophet then that person is a false prophet and they are not from God. This charge to reform God’s law must not be taken lightly. In order to make this extraordinary claim there must be extraordinary proof that God’s law has been reformed and this proof needs to be derived from Scripture alone. Kris tries to justify his tradition from a prophecy given by Agabus in the book of Acts.

Agabus through the Holy Spirit delivers a prophecy to Paul stating, “This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles (Acts 21:11).”

Notice the passage states that the Jews will deliver Paul to the Gentiles.

Later in the passage while Paul is in Jerusalem the following happens, “Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains (Acts 21:30-33).”

The argument made is that it was the Gentiles who bound Paul, not the Jews. Therefore Agabus did not deliver an accurate prophecy.

Hence the argument from Kris Vallotton is as follows:

Agabus was called a prophet and had the gift of prophecy.
Agabus had a prophecy that was inaccurate and was not labeled as a false prophet.
Since he was not labeled as a false prophet, we too then can have inaccurate prophecies without being labeled as a false prophet.

“The burden of proof falls on the people who hold to this doctrine, so let’s test their argument to Scripture and see whether or not the tradition is molding Scripture (changing God’s law) or if Scripture is transforming the mind.”

The point of this blog post is not to argue about Cessationism vs. Continuationism but it is to hold the claims of those who have the gift of prophecy to Biblical law and to test the traditions of men to Scripture. The burden of proof falls on the people who hold to this doctrine, so let’s test their argument to Scripture and see whether or not the tradition is molding Scripture (changing God’s law) or if Scripture is transforming the mind.

In Acts 21 Agabus does indeed give a prophecy to Paul starting in 21:7-14:

“When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied. While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

First it is crucial to note that the phrase “Thus says the Holy Spirit” this is the same as “Thus says the LORD” there is no indication that the nature of this prophecy changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
During Agabus’ prophecy we see that Old Testament prophetic symbolism is being used, similar to that of Isaiah 20:1-6, Jeremiah 13:1-11, and Ezekiel 4:1-17.
The verb bind in the Greek is δέω which means “to confine a person or thing by various kinds of restraints.”

Now in Acts 21:27-36 we clearly see the prophecy from Agabus coming to light:

“When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, for the mob of the people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”

Note in the italicized section that Paul was seized by the Jews and dragged out of the Temple.
1. The Greek word for dragged is εἷλκον and the definition implies, “to move an object from one area to another in a pulling motion, draw, with implication that the object being moved is incapable of propelling itself or in the case of the person is unwilling to do so voluntarily, in either case with implication of exertion on the part of the mover.”
  1. We see that it is against Paul’s volition that he is being dragged. Paul is forcefully and violently being dragged by the Jews, but first in order to drag Paul, he must be seized and made immobile, therefore at this moment he is bound by the Jews against his will.
  2. Reading what happened in context we see that at that moment Paul was seized and being dragged. Paul was bound at that moment by the Jews and then the Romans came and bound him with two chains. He was then delivered from Jerusalem to the hands of the Romans.

“Remember, the Greek word for the verb bind is δέω which means “to confine a person or thing by various kinds of restraints.” At this moment Paul was definitely confined, and restrained by the Jews; he was being dragged against his will, he was immobilized unable to leave capture thus in conformity to Agabus’ prophecy.”

Furthermore in Acts 28:17-19 we have Paul recounting what happened to him in Jerusalem and he affirms Agabus’ prophecy:

“After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them,“Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation.”

Upon looking at Scripture it is clear that Agabus’ prophecy was one-hundred percent accurate. Paul even recounts what happens in accordance with the prophecy. Since the prophecy is one- hundred percent accurate it is safe to say that the nature of prophecy from the Old Testament to the New Testament has not changed. Furthermore, the general equity of God’s law from Deuteronomy 18 still applies. In order to find the New Testament application of God’s law we are to find where in the New Testament the affirmation of His law is applied. There multiple verses in the New Testament verses that support the testing of prophets like 1 Corinthians 14:29 and 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21. Both aim to test and to prove prophets and the standard by which the prophets were tested was that of Deuteronomy 13 and 18, just like the prophets of the Old Testament (1 Samuel 3:19-20).

“The burden of proof rests on the claims of those who hold to Kris’ doctrine and there is no proof from the text that supports the ability to have inaccurate prophecies while still claiming to be a true prophet. ”

Therefore the burden of proof rests on the claims of those who hold to Kris’ doctrine and there is no proof from the text that supports the ability to have inaccurate prophecies while still claiming to be a true prophet. In fact the issue is that the tradition of prophecy being held to is causing people to inaccurately exegete Scripture. Which causes you to nullify God’s law for the sake of tradition. Nullifying the Word of God for the sake of tradition is a scary position to hold, Jesus even condemns the Pharisees for trying to reform the law of God in Matthew 15:6:

“Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother, ‘and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God, “he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites!”

God, as gracious as He is, has given us His law. God’s law acts as a safe guard, it protects His people from error. Furthermore, Jesus Christ said it best in Matthew 5:17-18:

“I did not come here to abolish the law but to fulfill it. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away; not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

So what does all of this mean? It means that the God, in His mercy revealed to us in His Word that we need to equip ourselves from being led astray by the false traditions of men. We need to equip ourselves with His Word and our minds need to be transformed by Scripture. That transformation occurs by submitting to Scripture as our sole infallible rule of faith and practice. This enables the Christian to challenge any tradition that aims to elevate itself above God’s Word and allows the Christian to be sanctified by the Truth.

The only reformation of God’s law was that of the Holiness Code which was fulfilled through the perfect sacrifice of Christ. The holiness code was done away with for Christ perfectly fulfilled all the priestly and sacrificial requirements; ushering in the beginning of the New Covenant and this is shown in the book of Hebrews. Any other requirement of God’s law shows how we stand before God condemned, and Paul states that since we are filled with the Holy Spirit we should not throw away the law, rather we should uphold it (Romans 3:31). The general equity of God’s law in the tests of a prophet from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 18; 1 Samuel 3:19-20) are shown in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 14:29, 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21). Therefore the questions for anyone who holds to the Bethel tradition of prophecy are these:

How can you consistently minister to those in the cults who follow prophets who could be labeled as merely inaccurate?
How do you condemn those prophets when the law of God has been reformed to your tradition?
What are your safe guards from being led astray by those who claim to speak as the mouth piece of God if they can be inaccurate?
Do you truly hold to your tradition or are you inconsistent with your tradition and would point the cultist to Deuteronomy 18?

If you are inconsistent in your apologetic, it shows the failure of a position built on tradition and your traditions need to be reformed. The tradition needs to be held captive to the word of God, lest you nullify the word of God for the sake of tradition. Do not place yourself in odds with Jesus Christ and His safeguards He revealed to us in Scripture, it will not go well with you.

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