Yiye Ávila, one of the most influential preachers in Latin America, referred to by many as the Latino "Billy Graham", took on the subject of the imminent return of Jesus on the clouds and the rapture as the center of his preaching.
From his pulpit at his church he would repeatedly ask his members "te va a llevar a ti?" "Is Jesus going to take you?" He had just told everyone that Jesus was coming soon. He had told everyone that Jesus was going to take him up in the rapture. He felt extremely confident that his live of total dedication to bring thousands to Jesus and to let God use him as an instrument of healing others demonstrated that his faith met the requirements for he to participate of the rapture. He wanted to urge people to reflect upon their own lives.His questioning may have sound very powerful to the ears of many Pentecostals but the reality set in one day when on June 28, 2013, Yiye Ávila died from cardiac arrest at the age of 87.
Doris Ávila, the only surviving daughter of the three he had, took up the vanguard of the "Cristo Viene" movement by immediately saying that we should not lower our guard for Jesus' coming was very near as her father had preached so often.
Unfortunately, despite Ávila's fervent preaching on the Second Coming Jesus did not come then, nor are there any signals that he should be appearing any time soon. .
Was Yiye Ávila wrong in focusing his preaching on the subject of the imminent return of Jesus.?
The Second Coming, has been part of the Christian message from as early as Jesus and the apostles themselves.
When towards the end of his ministry Jesus is asked by the disciples about his return he tells them that:
Moreover, in this speech Jesus also advises his disciples to be ready for his coming for no one knows the hour or the day when he will return, only God knows. In verses 32-33 Jesus offers a very enigmatic sign for recognizing the imminent reappearance of the Lord: the parable of the fig tree.
St. Paul also spoke of the impending return of Christ during his time. In I Thessalonians 4: 15 Paul says:
This verse clearly shows Paul awaiting the return of Jesus either during his lifetime or during that of his readers. Obviously this did not occur. Did anyone in the early church thought that Paul demonstrated that he was a false prophet because of this. Hardly. If only, he showed great zeal in his faith in Jesus' promise of what most, if not all, of the faithful thought to be a prompt return.
Revelations urges people also to prepare themselves and to be alert for Jesus is coming soon. In 1:7 we find:
Preparing ourselves for the return of Christ is part of the central message of Christianity.
In preaching this topic Yiye Ávila excelled.
He created the Ministry Christ is Coming (Cristo Viene) 58 years ago in Puerto Rico, afterwards taking it throughout Latin America and even the United States.
No, evangelist Ávila was not wrong in following the tradition of preaching the return of Christ and urging people to repent and prepare for his coming.
Yet Ávila's numerous public declarations on his belief that Jesus was not only coming but that Jesus would take him up to heaven sounds as prophetic preaching; one which was not realized. Should we then wonder if Ávila was a false prophet?
To answer this question we can look into the different verses which warn the faithful about the existence and future coming of false prophets.
We can start by looking into the first reference to false prophets in scripture which appears in Deuteronomy 18.
1. The prophecies are not fulfilled Deuteronomy describes false prophets as those whose prophecies do not come true. In chapter 18 after Moses prophecies that a new prophet will come to the Jewish people and that they must listen to him, he gives them God's message on how to identify someone falsely claiming to be speaking for God:
According to that chapter the penalty that should be enacted against such presumptuous people is death.
2. The centrality of Jesus The apostle Peter warns his audience about the existence of false teachers. The litmus test for these is the content of their preaching. At the end they reject Jesus' sacrificial offering for our salvation
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.(emphasis mine) 2 Peter 2:1-3
The apostle John gave further clarity to the idea of a false prophet or teacher.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (emphasis mine) 1 John 4:1-3
3. Good Fruits vs. Bad Fruits Jesus gave us one other important point for us to know who is a false prophet.
Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Matthew 7:15-20
What are the good fruits? Paul made a list of the fruits of the Spirit: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5:22-23 The apostle John though seemingly contradicting Paul on the issue of the value of works, would have agreed with Paul on the manifestation of good fruits as selfless actions. James 2:14-20 tells us
Thus to distinguish a false prophet from a true one we must do several things.
1. See if his word comes true (Old Testament)
2. Examine if what he preaches is destructive to the church and if he denies the Master (New Testament)
3. Examine if he confesses Jesus (New Testament)
4. Examine the type of fruits that he bears (New Testament)
Based on this we have to conclude that No, Yiye Ávila was no false prophet. Far from it. he dedicated his life to serve others by fasting for them, and focusing his time and energies to bring the message of hope through the salvation offered through JesusChrist.
He was a man upon God placed a huge responsibility: the education of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Christians.
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