Kris Vallotton teaches that you are the Father in the story of the Prodigal Son...ugh

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but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' -- Luke 15: 29-30 (ESV)

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Kris Vallotton is the second in command at the cesspool known as Bethel Church. A false teacher and prophet, Vallotton is kind enough to host a blog where we can peer into the deceitful heart of a false teacher so we might better discern the truth from error. His latest article, linked above, is breathtakingly bad in basic Bible knowledge, interpretation and understanding. Beloved realize that thousands of people follow this man and his church's teachings. The potential damage is very real. Let us reason together as we review just how badly Kris Vallotton is with dividing the word of truth:

"It's insane to me the stupid things Christians say in an effort to get people saved! In a world where believers spew judgement on entire cities, like "Hurricane Katrina is God's punishment on Louisiana for being the modern Sodom and Gomorrah. Turn now or burn!" I'm like, "What kind of idiotic thinking is that?!" If we truly understand just how much we deserved to be judged, and just how HUGE God's grace and mercy is that we are rather covered in Christ (and therefore judged by His standard of righteousness which is perfect), then maybe these idiotic statements would cease to flow from Christian mouths. If we understood that we are supposed to be the father to the prodigals, and not the elder brother, maybe then we'd start to spread the true gospel--which is supposed to be Good News, folks!" -- Kris Vallotton

Now, I agree with Kris that such statements from the mouths of Christians are idiotic. While we certainly can discuss the cost of sin, it is not our place to judge those on the outside of salvation. That judgment is God's alone. The problem in his premise here is in completely misappropriating the story of the Prodigal Son. Beloved we are not supposed to be the father of prodigals. That role belongs to God. Now considering Vallotton's warped theology often places himself in the role of the Almighty it does not surprise me that he could read this story and want to usurp what is God's. It is an astounding disconnect in that he just properly delineated that we received God's huge grace and mercy yet he cannot see that places us in the role of the prodigal in the story. We are the sinner who came home to the Father, not the Father himself. Kris now goes into bullet points to summarize his teaching:

"1 Corinthians 14 says to let two or three prophets prophesy and let the others pass judgement. So why is it that we judge people when Paul told us to judge prophecy?" -- Kris Vallotton

Sigh. Let us first deal with the fact that just because he found a verse that supports judging prophecy, that does not mean we discard any other form of judgment. Secondly, we are to test everything to make sure it lines up with the word of God. Thirdly, we are to judge righteously. When dealing with unbelievers we do not judge in terms of heaven and hell but that does not mean we are devoid of discernment! This is simply a silly unbiblical point.

"What would happen if you took an Old Testament prophet and brought them into the new covenant?" -- Kris Vallotton

We would finally have a real prophet? In the Old Testament the prophets actually heard from God. There was no wiggle room. Not speaking to my heart or I think the Lord is saying this. There was also consequence. A wrong prophecy resulted in death. The result is that few were willing to test God and lie on His behalf as so many, including Vallotton do today. In the Old Testament there was no revealed will of God. There was no Bible. Thus the Word of the Lord came through the prophets. If you brought one of them into the new covenant, they would point people to what God has said in His Word. The other major difference is that the word being brought forth would be truer and harsher. False prophets of today are in the business of selling encouragement and false hope.

"The Old Testament's ministry (which used to be based in judgement) becomes a ministry of reconciliation because the prophet moved into a new covenant!" -- Kris Vallotton

Here is where Vallotton starts to get cute. The ministry of the prophet in the Old Testament was not based on judgement. Again the issue was that there was no written word of God so this was how God chose to speak to His people and their leaders. Was a great deal of the prophecies recorded judgmental? Yes because the people were always disobedient. This gives an insight into the way Vallotton approaches his beliefs. The Old Testament was a time of judgment but now? It is all fairy tales and lollipops. Man has not fundamentally changed however. We are still as disobedient as ever. What has changed is that the final judgment will not require our eternal lives if we are found in Christ Jesus. What is Vallotton hinting at with this reference to reconciliation?

'2 Corinthians 5:17-19 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation."' -- Kris Vallotton

These verses have to do with our individual status with the Lord. We all as believers have been given a ministry of reconciliation because God has reconciled Himself to His people? How? Through the Gospel! Through His Son! Through the cross! How does one get to the point of reconciliation? By repentance for the forgiveness of their sins! What does this have to do with the ministry of the prophet? Absolutely nothing! The true prophet is still required to say what God says to His people. Just as the judgmental prophets in the Old Testament would say repent, so do the prophets of the New Testament! How about the first two prophets on the scene in the New Testament?

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." -- Matthew 3: 1-2 (ESV)

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." -- Matthew 4: 17 (ESV)

"We've been given the ministry of reconciliation! What's your job? Not counting their trespasses against them. You're not the elder brother, you're the father in the story!" -- Kris Vallotton

Wow. How monumentally confused is Kris Vallotton at this point? We are never supposed to hold sins against our brothers and sisters -- that belongs to God. The ministry of reconciliation however begins with repentance. You do not get to reconciliation without repentance. The first words in the ministry of both John the Baptist and Jesus Christ was REPENT.

"The gospel isn't about judgement! It's about GOOD NEWS. We've been extended both mercy and grace!" -- Kris Vallotton

Let the real fluffiness begin. This is the sloppy agape theology that Bethel Church wallows in so it is no surprise that Vallotton traffics in it. While it is certainly Good News to have received mercy and grace to pretend there is no judgment involved is simply a biblical untruth. One must still turn from their sins beloved. It is not a magical seven word prayer. It is not about the sincerity found in the depths of our wickedly deceitful heart. It is about repenting to avoid judgment. When we hear John the Baptist say repent, or Jesus, or any New Testament prophet we are hearing the invitation to reconcile and it most assuredly Good News. Vallotton wants to skip the part required to get to reconciliation.

"Mercy is you don't get what you deserved. Grace is when you get what you don't deserve. If you're speeding and get pulled over and the cop doesn't give you a ticket, that's mercy. If you get pulled over for speeding and the cop gives you $1000 for speeding" that's grace. You got what you didn't deserve. You didn't just get mercy, but GRACE." -- Kris Vallotton

Yes Kris but what cop is going to not give you the ticket if you deny the crime? As for grace -- does God randomly bestow this grace upon all speeders? Of course not because that would be Universalism. He offers His grace to those who are willing to believe in Him and the result is that we should stop speeding because we see how it grieves God.

"We say stupid statements like: "The Twin Towers was God's punishment for the abortion epidemic in America!" Anyone with a brain can tell this is stupid! Why would a God, who is upset about lives being taken, respond with taking more lives!? I believe it's an elder brother mentality that causes such nonsense to come out of people's mouths. The elder brother is about punishment! But the KINDNESS of God, a good Father, leads to repentance!" -- Kris Vallotton

Beloved, it is a calling to divide the word of God. Yes we are all supposed to do the work of a Berean for our own walk and to hear from God but to divide the word for His people? That is an awesome responsibility and not one that should be undertaken lightly. When it is undertaken lightly, this is the result. The elder brother is not about punishment. That is not what God is conveying here. The key verses are all we have in terms of substantive dialogue from the elder brother. You can make the argument that this is highlighting the dangers of serving God but not being saved by God. Churchianity versus true faith if you wanted to go deeper. Certainly the elder brother is angry but he gives no indication of desire for punishment. His words are dealing with an affront that he feels about how HE was treated. Sure he uses his brother as a foil but the comparison is only to highlight his own grievances. I love this story because it shows the real dangers of superficial faith. He stayed home like many go to church -- because they feel they should. That is not saving faith beloved. The true irony of the story is the elder son ends up being the prodigal son. The lesson should not be missed. You can spend your every waking day in a church and still be far away from the Lord you claim to serve. But punishment? No beloved. Kris Vallotton approaches the Bible unfortunately as many poor teachers today do -- to confirm pre-concluded points. He had a premise that he made up. That Old Testament prophets were about judgment and now it is all puppies and pancakes so he scoured the Bible to try and find something to prop up his premise. This is known as proof-texting. He then settled on the concept of an "elder brother" mentality:

"Do You Have An Elder Brother Mentality? Take a look at the verses on this in Luke 15:25-32.

Let's break it down a little more. Here are some symptoms of an elder brother mentality: Respond to your siblings with a lack mentality. Instead of focusing on celebrating the good thing that happened, he complains about all the things he's NOT getting. Anger and an unwillingness to celebrate his brother. Comparison, leading to self-righteousness (I was always good and he was so bad! I deserve more! He deserves punishment.)" -- Kris Vallotton

That seems like 27 degrees of separation to get to this point about the elder feeling like the prodigal deserved punishment but no matter how he tries the text does not support this. Moreover the point of the parable is lost in Vallotton's pursuit of his talking points. This is a picture of salvation and the grace of God. The father in the story is God, eyes fixed on the horizon, waiting for a son to come back home. The prodigal is us before we knew Christ. Reveling in the carnality of this world until we come to our senses and come back home. The elder son as pointed out earlier becomes the prodigal. He represents a churched person whose gospel is focused on themselves and what they feel they should get for their sacrifices instead of on the sacrifice of Calvary. Self-righteous? Sure but not seeking punishment. That is simply a conclusion in search of a fact pattern to support it and it just is not there. Mercifully, Vallotton concludes:

"Choose the Father Heart. If any of those sound familiar then today is your day to repent (turn away) from that thinking and embrace your true identity in Christ. When we understand how much grace we ourselves walked in to enter the Kingdom, then gratitude, kindness and mercy will flow from us. The next time you catch yourself saying something stupid and judgmental, choose to be like the father in the story instead. He celebrated his son coming home, didn't rub his sin in his face, and threw a huge party! To keep it simple here's one truth that I hope will help you face both your own and other people's idiotic thoughts--kindness leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). Do you struggle with an elder brother mentality? What other action points do you get from the parable?" -- Kris Vallotton

Listen beloved. If the overall message was stop being jealous or be happy with what God has for you, I would be all in. You did not need to flip this story on its head though to get there. When you proof text the Bible like this you also miss the point God is trying to make. The prodigal son parable is rich in theology. Claiming that you can have an elder son mentality because you believe in an Old Testament prophetic paradigm of punishment is not one of them. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. His plan has not changed and neither have His design for prophets. They still are supposed to say what sayeth the Lord. Not what they think He is laying on their heart or any other Christianese version of prophecy. It is a shame because he had some solid points to teach about in this message. Christians do sometimes say the stupidest things. As do false prophets like Kris Vallotton.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- January

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.