LESSON 25
SPECIAL MESSENGERS TO JERUSALEM
"God has so ordered that men, being in need of each other, should learn to love each other, and bear each other's burdens."
"To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is God-like."
Agabus.
While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch, there came "prophets from Jerusalem," one of whom was named Agabus. He is thought to have been one of the Seventy chosen by the Savior; but just what priesthood and what position in the Church he held we do not know for certain. But he must have been a righteous man, and filled with the Holy Ghost, for he could foretell, through the inspiration of the Spirit, things that other people, by their own intelligence, could not see. At the time of which we are speaking he prophesied that "there should be a great dearth throughout all the world," meaning that there would be a famine in the land, and that people would go hungry.
Offerings to Poor.
The disciples had faith in Agabus and believed to be true what he said. They knew of some of the Saints in Judea who could not stand a famine; in fact, many of them had given all they had to the Church; so "every man according to his ability determined to send relief unto the brethren who dwelt in Judea." Paul and Barnabas were chosen as the messengers of relief.
Famine.