Covid-19 Discredits Joseph Prince’s Health & Wealth Gospel – By Rev George Ong (Dated 14 Oct 2021)
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, NCCS office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
Recently, a friend of mine, Dr Raymond Yuen, a devoted Christian, passed away on 9 October 2021 at the age of 65 from Covid-19. He was a physician at Hosanna Medical Centre who provided free medical services to some sections of the community, and to others at discounted fees. He also kept his fees low for needy people and was well-loved by his patients for his kindness and generosity. Such an altruistic and magnanimous Christian doctor is hard to come by.
His story was featured in the Strait Times on 12 October 2021, last Tuesday. It may still be on the news. We are saddened by his death, and yet rejoiced that he is in the loving arms of our Heavenly Father.
Dr Raymond Yuen attended 2 of my seminars. In my “Rapture & Great Tribulation Seminar”, he wrote this testimony:
“Rev George Ong is one of the few pastors in Singapore who teaches the Biblical truth about the Post-trib rapture. Personally, I have always held on to the Post-trib doctrine and rejected the Pre-trib as it is a false doctrine.
I have been reading Rev George Ong’s 350-page notes in the past two days. They are very detailed, entirely scriptural and provide solid proof that Pre-trib doctrine is not biblical.
Believing the Pre-trib doctrine is like taking sweets, pleasurable to the tongue but harmful to health. Embracing Post-trib doctrine is like taking bitter medicine. Though it is unpleasant in its taste, it strengthens the body and soul to resist Satan’s plan to destroy the Church through false teachings.”
Dr Raymond Yuen
Attending Grace Church, Singapore
Besides, Dr Raymond Yuen, most of us are aware that in the early stages of Covid-19, many believers, including the Senior Pastor in Grace Assembly of God, contracted the same virus.
I’m sure a number of you, too, may have Christian friends and relatives who, either, have been infected by Covid-19 or have died from the disease. Of course, we don’t want that to happen to them. For those who have been infected, we pray for their healing and continued health.
But this brings me to the point about Joseph Prince’s Health and Wealth Gospel. He falsely teaches that believers will never be afflicted by diseases and die from them as God will always protect them from sicknesses.
Yes, God can protect us from diseases. But this doesn’t mean He always will. He has His own sovereign will and purposes. God can heal all diseases but this doesn’t mean He will heal everyone. Some have even died from them. We must leave it to the good hands of the sovereign God who knows exactly what He is doing.
We must make Joseph Prince account for his words and teachings. We mustn’t let him off that easily anymore. Joseph Prince is mouthing out lies and giving believers false hope – that they will always be protected by God from all diseases and even death.
In “Eat Your Way to Life and Health,” Pages 107 and 114, Joseph Prince wrote,
“Whatever condition you might have, whether it is irritable bowel syndrome, an ulcerated stomach, cirrhosis, chronic lower respiratory disease, or pneumonia, see Jesus on the cross smitten with your disease and receive His perfect health in these areas.”
“This means that as Jesus is without any disease, and as He is in complete divine health, so are we in this world.”
Joseph Prince teaches that every believer ought to live in perfect health and that God is obligated to heal every of our diseases, including Covid-19. Now, this is not only false theology but this is also giving people false hope.
If believers who place their complete trust in Joseph Prince’s health theology that “… no virus can come near you (his sermon title found on YouTube, 6 February 2020),” were to contract Covid-19, it may shatter their dreams and cause them to lose faith in God. That’s how serious his teachings can lead to.
Covid-19 has totally discredited Joseph Prince’s doctrine on healing. His repeated falsehoods along these lines, such as, “God will always protect you from pestilence,” “You will never be afflicted with diseases,” “By faith, you must act as if you are healed even though you may feel sickly,” does not only sound like a broken record but all of these are mere lies.
They are lies because it is a fact that unbelievers, as well as believers, such as Dr Raymond Yuen, had contracted Covid-19 and even died from the disease.
In recent weeks, many more people in Singapore have been infected with Covid-19 and more have died from the disease. And among these, in all probability, must also have included believers.
Joseph Prince has always gotten away with lying and his heretic teachings because most people don’t make him account for what he says and teaches. Friends, it’s time to make him account for whatever he dishes out from the pulpit and his books.
Covid-19 also plainly shows that many unbelievers and believers alike, are financially worse off. Christians in general, instead of becoming very rich, have become poorer. So, where is the wealth that Joseph Prince promises to believers?
A gospel that must include health and wealth is a false gospel. Yes, God can certainly choose to bless believers with special blessings of health and wealth. But to say as Joseph Prince does, that every believer must always enjoy perfect health because “…no virus can come near you,” and every believer must be very rich as Abraham was as a covenantal right is a false gospel.
What does this imply? This implies that a Christian who does not enjoy perfect or good health and isn’t very rich, isn’t a Christian. Joseph Prince can deny all he wants but the truth is that’s what his teaching would amount to as he teaches that a Christian must enjoy perfect health as Jesus did and must be very rich as Abraham was as a covenantal right.
Joseph Prince’s gospel is somewhat akin to a gospel plus health and wealth, not substantially different from the Galatian gospel plus circumcision, which is heresy.
In John Piper’s view, he called the Prosperity Gospel another gospel. He said,
“So why do I abominate this so-called (Prosperity) gospel? I think it is another gospel.”
Don’t miss the 3-minute video by John Piper whose view is that the Prosperity Gospel is not the gospel. Click to view the video.
John Piper also said:
“Jesus said, ‘It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ How would he say that? It’s because riches are such dangerous things. They’re not a blessing, usually. They’re usually a curse. People are cursed with riches; they’re destroyed by riches, and here again, little parentheses or qualification. I don’t mean it’s sinful to make a lot of money. I just mean it’s sinful to want to keep a lot of money.”
“Prosperity cannot be proof of God’s favour for it is what the devil promises to those who worship him.”
What John Piper said that wealth is not a blessing but a curse, and is no proof of God’s favour because it is what the devil promises is the complete opposite of what Joseph Prince teaches – that wealth is a blessing and a mark of God’s favour.
Jim Bakker (known to many older believers), a preacher of the gospel, went to prison many years ago over some major indiscretion. At that time, he was preaching the Prosperity Gospel. After he was released from prison, he repented of his Prosperity Gospel doctrine.
This is what Jim Bakker said,
“The more I studied the Bible, however, I had to admit that the prosperity message did not line up with the tenor of Scripture. My heart was crushed to think that I led so many people astray. I was appalled that I could have been so wrong, and I was deeply grateful that God had not struck me dead as a false prophet.”
Jim Bakker’s view is that one who preaches the Prosperity Gospel is a false prophet, and so is Joseph Prince. How can a false prophet like Joseph Prince not be a heretic?