Contending against the Heresies of Joseph Prince – By Anita Lee (Dated 28 June 2021)
Indeed, I want to thank God for raising a dedicated servant like Rev George Ong to speak out boldly for God by exposing all the lies taught by Pseudo-grace preachers especially Joseph Prince. In fact, I have been crying foul over this issue of Pseudo-grace that has caused so much damage to the Church, but unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears because many out there had been so deceived that they do not realise there is anything wrong with the teachings of Joseph Prince.
When I first listened to Joseph Prince’s preaching on YouTube, I was so shocked to hear him say, “The Holy Spirit does not convict us of sin”. As the Bible clearly teaches us that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgement to come, I told myself that Joseph Prince is a false preacher who is trying to deceive his flock. Since then, I never wanted to listen to his preaching ever again. I told my friends that what Joseph Prince is preaching may be 95% truth and 5% lies so as to stealthily lead the people astray.
But when I came across Rev George Ong’s teachings on his website, and as he places the Bible truth next to Joseph Prince’s so-called truth, the errors are starkly exposed! From there, I realised that instead of preaching 5% lies, he is probably preaching 50% lies (doctrinally speaking). Yet, the followers are so ignorant and naive that they absorb everything he teaches. No wonder Rev George Ong said that even if Joseph Prince teaches that a cat is a dog, people who are so grossly deceived and blinded will believe him too. Indeed, he is really a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Next, Joseph Prince said that our obedience to God is a stronghold that must be torn down and that the issue is Christ’s obedience, not our obedience to God. What a big fat lie! What must be taught is that Christ’s obedience and our obedience are both required for salvation. In fact, without obedience, we cannot have salvation (Heb 5:9). By his teaching that it is not about our obedience to Christ, he is robbing us of our salvation in Christ. If this is not the work of Satan, what else can it be? Christ’s obedience to God is to show us that we too, have to be obedient to God. Joseph Prince is preaching half-truths. Half-truths are no different from lies as truth is distorted.
Another great folly of Pseudo-grace preachers like Joseph Prince is to teach that Christ’s death on the cross had taken away all our sins – sins of the past, present and future. Today, we don’t have to ask for forgiveness of sins anymore because Christ had forgiven us 2,000 years ago on the cross. This was what I was told by Joseph Prince’s followers in Sabah, “If you still ask for forgiveness of sins, then you do not know what Christ’s death on the cross is all about.”
Pseudo-grace followers indeed believe that there is no condemnation in Christ even though they may be committing all sorts of sins and what not. What is worse is that they say that there is no place to ask God for the forgiveness of their sins as all such sins have been forgiven and also because the Holy Spirit does not convict them of sin. Indeed, the weight of their unconfessed sins will drag them to the bottomless pit. And that’s what Satan is waiting for, ‘to harvest their souls’ to hell.
Naïve, immature and baby Christians are ‘overjoyed’ that they can do everything in this world and the grace and love of God will not condemn them as they are forever saved. This is nothing but cheap grace and easy gospel. The truth is, if they ask for forgiveness of sin, Christ, who is full of grace is ever ready to forgive them. But because they listen to the lie of Joseph Prince that all their sins are forgiven and don’t confess them, they will come under condemnation on the day of judgement.
Joseph Prince also teaches the false doctrine that the moral law in the 10 Commandments, which is now obsolete is irrelevant to New Covenant believers. This is another big fat lie as Matthew 5:17-20 and 1 John 2:7 clearly state that the law is still relevant for us. What is heartbreaking is that I was even asked by one pastor in Sabah who is influenced by the teachings of Joseph Prince to “Repent… for today we are New Covenant believers and we do not need the law!”
Joseph Prince deceives his flock that the New Covenant is about God’s love for us and not about our love for God. But Jesus clearly taught us in the New Testament that the greatest commandment is to LOVE GOD (containing the first 4 of the 10 commandments) and the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbours (containing the last 6 of the 10 commandments.) Yes, it is indeed the devil who is at work in the teachings of Joseph Prince to twist the words of God. God loves us so much. He created the universe and all that is in it for us – the food, air and light, etc. He even gave His only begotten Son to die on the cross for our sake. The only rightful response is to love Him back in return by obeying the 10 commandments which Jesus taught.
My last area of great concern is the Pre-trib rapture preached by Joseph Prince. I have been bringing up this subject to many brothers and sisters in Christ, but there is hardly anyone who can understand the Post trib rapture. It is sad that the Pre-trib rapture has influenced so many in the church. There is no need for me to elaborate about the scriptural basis of the Post-trib rapture and the falsity of Pre-trib as Rev George Ong has already covered them quite adequately in his videos.
I want to thank God for sending Rev George Ong to reaffirm my belief, lest I am a lone ranger out there, facing all the opposition.
It is so sad and tragic that the false grace teachings of Joseph Prince have spread from Singapore to Malaysia and have now permeated the world.
So let’s join hands together to pray and fight against Pseudo-grace doctrines of Joseph Prince. He is indeed a wolf in sheep’s clothing. If we do not wake up the ‘sleeping’ church like what Rev George Ong is doing, Satan will be laughing away, ready to ‘harvest the many souls’ to hell.
In Rev George Ong’s task to warn believers in the church, and especially innocent and young baby Christians from falling into the bottomless pit, he had to face all the opposition. Let’s support him in his zeal to speak boldly for God by exposing all the lies and half-truths of Joseph Prince.
While Joseph Prince and his supporters may rejoice over the multitudes of followers that they have won all over the world to their cause, they have foolishly forgotten about what Jesus had taught in Matthew 7:13-14.
It is ultimately the few who travel along the narrow road that leads to life, while the many, who have been deceived to travel on the broad-road and false grace gospel of Joseph Prince that leads to destruction.
I really hope and pray that those who have been deceived by Joseph Prince, would repent and turn back to the narrow-road gospel of the Lord Jesus before it is too late.
May I encourage Rev George Ong and others who are the few not to lose heart. The truth will ultimately prevail on the day of judgement when the wheat (true church) and tares (false church) will be separated – one to eternal joy and the other to everlasting destruction (Matt 13:24-30, 36-43).
Rev George, I know how difficult it is for you to carry this burden of exposing Joseph Prince’s heresies that many would not appreciate and even criticise and oppose. But press on Rev George in what you are doing. Pleasing God by staying faithful to His calling is more important than pleasing people. Your courage to confront heretics head-on at great cost is to be emulated, but sadly, this is what many leaders lack. You are not alone. I am with you and ‘the many of the few’ are with you too. But what is most important is God is with you!
Anita Lee
Attending Calvary Charismatic Centre, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia