May Many More Pastors, Church leaders and Believers Rise Up to Refute, Correct and Warn Fellow Believers of Such False Teachings which are both Dangerous and Destructive
– By Lam Chun Mun (Dated 9 November 2020)
Many years ago, I attended two services at New Creation Church which Joseph Prince is pastoring, out of curiosity to hear from the man whom quite a few of my friends were talking about and saying good things about his teachings. Both times, they left me with more questions and doubts about his teachings. Money and wealth featured very prominently in his sermons. I found myself asking – what about Apostle Paul’s instructions to young pastor Timothy to teach and exhort the church about godliness with contentment, warning them not to desire to be rich and about the love of money (1 Tim 6:6-10)? Didn’t Paul warn that a Christian who desires to be rich will fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts that will lead to destruction and perdition, and that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and how one can stray from the faith in greediness and pierce himself through with many sorrows?
Hearing Joseph Prince preach left me with the impression that if I am not rich, there is something wrong with my faith. In fact, I find myself asking who is this Jesus he is preaching about? His Jesus seems to be different from what I know from the Bible. He even had an altar call at the end of that service for those who wanted to believe in Jesus when he did not even preach a word on sin, repentance and forgiveness. It left me wondering who are they believing in for those who went forward. I concluded this man’s teachings were dangerous and decided not to have anything to do with this man and his teachings. I came to know later that the gospel he was preaching was the prosperity gospel. I began to warn others about his teachings.
My last encounter with his teaching was when I had a serious illness in 2011 and a sincere Christian brother gave me a small booklet on the Holy Communion written by Joseph Prince. At that time, I had heard that some Christians were taking the Holy Communion regularly on their own. I decided to read it to find out what he wrote. I was upset after reading the book. He took Paul’s teaching on the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 out of context, taking certain verses and gave them his own twist and interpretation. The Holy Communion became like a magic bullet for healing and health. I began to warn others about this teaching. I raised my concerns to the Christian brother who gave me the booklet but he would not want to listen to what I had to say but kept repeating “by His stripes we are healed”. Such is the influence of his teachings. I even encountered another Christian brother who heard about my objections to his teachings telling me in my face that he supports Joseph Prince and his teachings 100%.
At that time, I wished that some pastors or bible teachers would speak up and warn believers about such false teachings. Thank God that He has raised Rev George Ong to be the man to speak out against Joseph Prince and his teachings. He has been very thorough in his research and soundly refutes these false teachings. This takes courage, hard work and perseverance. It is no easy task. May many more pastors, church leaders and believers rise up to refute, correct and warn fellow believers of such false teachings which are both dangerous and destructive.”
Lam Chun Mun
Attending Faith Methodist Church, Singapore