David Wilkerson see's a catastrophe coming

[Openly Curious]

The disciples in Tyre (Acts 21:4) believed the Spirit was telling them to warn Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Paul evidently believe the warning was not from God. Agabus, gave no such warning. he simply described what would happen to Paul when he went to Jerusalem. Since Paul was an Apostle and leader of the church, he was free to evaluate what was said (and did so). he decided the warning was not from God, but what Agabus said probably was, but not a reason for him not to go.

From my experience with prophecy, my evaluation of the situation was that through the Spirit the disciples in Tyre knew that bad things would happen to Paul in Jerusalem, and thus they warned him not to go there.

What I am saying is that often times people (being the humans that we are) put our own interpretations into the words and visions the Lord gives us.

Thus, from their persepctive, the Spirit was telling them these things about Paul to warn him not to go. But Paul instead took the revelation as preparation for what he must endure for the sake of the Lord.

Make sense?

Yes, and you are making the exact argument that I have been for the nature of the gift prophecy as practiced in the NT. It is subject to the interpretation of the one receiving it. These men believed they had received this message through the Spirit. That is what the passage says clearly. But they were off. That is exactly why it is important that we heed Paul's command to undergo evaluation of each utterance.

Dr. Wilkerson is no different. He has reported what he believes God told him. But he is subject to error as well. That is why an evaluation by the community of faith is so essential. That is the process which I have been pushing for here.

Agabus's case was different. He got most of the details right (with a few minor exceptions) in his prophecy. It was his listeners that made the jump in logic that Paul should not go (notice the text does not say they did so through the Spirt. Just that they concluded this as a result of what Agabus said). They took the prophecy and drew unwarranted conclusions as to the action required (which Agabus did not state in his prophecy).

On a side note, notice that when Peter described the encoding of scripture, he made no such provision for evaluation. He indicated God did something more:

First of all, you should know this: no prophecy of Scripture comes from one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, moved by the Holy Spirit, men spoke from God. (2Peter 1:20-21 CSB)

Hello EricH,

I was just wondering if this could be a possibility in the part I high lighted above. Do you think that Agabus could have had a direct word of knowledge to give to Paul himself instead of Agabus having a prophecy to Paul?

thanks

OC

[Chiquita]

I have been dreaming of missiles flying through the clouds and a nuclear bomb somewhere by a beach. I'm not claiming to predict anything, I'm simply voicing my dream. There was also a rainbow in the clouds as one of the missiles flew by in one of the dreams...