False dichotomy between winning souls & contending for truth, against the heresies of Joseph Prince – By Rev George Ong (Dated 31 Mar 2023)
Don’t miss Point 5,
the final point of this article.
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS) office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
Voddie Baucham said;
Please click here to view the 3-minute video:
“Secondly, coming from that, now let’s get down in verse 3 (Jude) more closely,
‘Beloved, although I was eager to write you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.’
Here’s the second thing, there is this false dichotomy that is often presented; what we need to be about is the salvation of souls, not all these disagreements.
Because if our passion is for souls, then we can let all the rest of that stuff go and we can just go and pursue the salvation of souls, because nothing’s more important than the salvation of souls.
Listen to verse 3 again.
‘Beloved, although I was very eager to write you about our common salvation,”
Here’s an apostle who says,
‘Oh, I sat down; I was going to write you an epistle under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So, this is God.
And all of a sudden, in my desire to write to you about our common salvation, which is seminal, primary, top shelf issue,
I felt the need in the midst of that desire to urge you to contend for the faith.’
He (Jude) obliterates the false dichotomy.
There is no either-or there.
There is no either we unite in our passion for souls or we quibble about issues.
There is no either-or there.
The apostle would argue that because of our desire for souls,
we must contend for the purity of the gospel.
It is our desire for souls
that compels us to contend for the purity of the gospel.
Not ashamed of the gospel. Why? Because it and it alone is the power of God unto salvation to all those who believed.
But if what we believe is a tainted gospel and a perverted gospel
than we are calling into question the very concept of salvation itself.
There is no either-or dichotomy here.
We must be passionate about souls,
and we must be passionate about contending for truth.
We must be passionate about contending for truth
because we are passionate about souls.”
1. Who says fighting for truth against heresies has nothing to do with saving souls?
I have met with those I had initially thought were mature believers,
but by the way they reasoned things out, I then discovered they were actually rather naive in their thinking.
I have people who say to me:
“George, please don’t spend so much time debunking Joseph Prince’s teachings; you ought to spend your time saving souls.”
Such a comment can only come from those who are simplistic in their thinking and shallow in their theology.
Contending for truth against false teachers and their false doctrines
is every bit related to saving souls,
which Voddie Baucham has so clearly and passionately argued for.
The argument
– that instead of focusing on doctrine, one should focus on saving souls
– is being simplistic.
It is not either-or, but rather, both must be passionately striven for.
Paul was a perfect example of one who preached the gospel passionately to save souls,
yet at the same time,
he fought the heretics so consummately that he was prepared to curse them. (Gal 1:6-10)
It is clear that in Paul’s life and ministry,
he never sees this issue as either-or,
but both preaching the gospel
and contending against heretics
must be done passionately.
I’ll prove to you from scripture that this is Paul’s ministry framework. Please see Point 5 for more details.
Doctrine is as important as saving souls
– given the fact that since the doctrine in the gospel of Pseudo-grace preached by Joseph Prince is false,
many souls, (not all) that are supposedly saved through her may not be saved at all.
Many are too shortsighted to see that the one who is fighting heretics like Joseph Prince,
is in effect saving souls by preventing the heaven-bound from being deceived by his heresies and becoming hell-bound.
While many save souls by preaching to the unsaved to deliver them from hell,
others do it by warning the saved to prevent them from falling back into it.
Saving souls is not only to be defined as delivering a lost sheep from hell
but also, in deterring a saved sheep from returning to it.
Is it any wonder that there are so many goats in the church that have to be reconverted into sheep
because of the preaching of an incomplete (justification-only-without-sanctification, and a no-repentance) false gospel by Joseph Prince?
The great and frightening deception is that
there are many sheep in the church
who are actually goats in sheep’s clothing
without them even realising it. (Matt 25:31-46)
Hence, saving souls is also to be seen as
shaking the many goats in the church from their presumption that they are heaven-bound,
in order that they may become the few sheep that will finally enter in.” (Matt 7:13-14, Matt 25:31-46)
Can the resources that are spent on saving souls from hell be justifiable,
if, through our negligence, nonchalance, and apathy,
many of these saved souls who are being seduced by the Pseudo-grace doctrine of Joseph Prince
are falling back to it?
What’s the use of spending tons of money and energy on saving the multitudes of souls from hell,
when little or no effort is devoted to preventing them
from being enticed by the Pseudo-grace doctrine of Joseph Prince and returning to it?
If the battle for truth is lost,
the battle for souls would also be lost
– as a false gospel would only lead them to nowhere else, except to hell.
“If truth is spoken without grace, an earthly reprimand is to be expected, but if grace is preached without truth, eternal ruin will be the consequence.” (George Ong)
2. The call to contend for the faith is to every believer.
Who is Jude addressing this letter to?
He is addressing the letter to
“those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ” (Jude 1).
In other words, Jude is addressing this letter to all the saints.
When Jude says,
“…I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith…” (Jude 3 NASB),
who is the ‘you’ that he is referring to?
He is referring to all the saints.
He is issuing this challenge not just to the pastors and leaders of the church
but to every saint and believer in God.
Every believer is called to contend for the faith,
not just the pastors and elders of the church.
So, people of God, don’t ever push the responsibility of contending for the faith against the false teachers to your pastors alone.
Yes, as shepherds of the flock, they have a specific and sober responsibility to guard the sheep against the errors of the wolves.
But that does not mean you are not responsible.
According to Jude, you are responsible too!
Every saint has the responsibility to protect the true doctrine from being corrupted.
Don’t just leave it or push it to the pastors because it is your job to do it too.
If you evade your responsibility, you are simply disobeying the scriptures.
3. If our generation of believers is infected with a virus of heresy, the next generation is guaranteed to get it full-blown.
The dangers of heresy are not hypothetical, but has happened in our own backyard of Singapore.
It is happening right under our noses in the person and ministry of Joseph Prince.
If Joseph Prince’s Pseudo-grace teaching that has influenced many is not decisively dealt with and curbed,
it will set Christianity on a harmful and irreversible course for our future generations of Christians.
Once a generation of the faithful has embraced a heretical truth, it will take a few generations to recover from the curse.
One generation’s teaching establishes a spiritual legacy (whether it is positive or negative)
that succeeding generations will inherit.
If today’s ‘fathers’ embrace a distorted form of truth,
the succeeding generations will be cursed with a full-blown corrupted faith.
And it will take many generations to recover from the curse of heresy.
Since you have benefited from the faith, you must rise up as a defender of the faith
to protect it from being perverted by heretics, such as Joseph Prince,
for the sake of our future generations of believers.
4. Heresy from inside, not persecution from outside, will destroy the church.
Jude’s warning to contend for the faith is as real today as it was during the days of Jude.
The false teaching of Pseudo-grace must be refuted with the truth of the scriptures
and the false teachers, such as Joseph Prince, who has been preaching his heresies with reckless abandon, severely rebuked.
The church is losing the battle for souls outside the church
because she is losing the battle for truth inside the church.
Isn’t it futile to expend the efforts to win souls by the front door,
if the same people are eventually lost through the back door to the wolves?
We must win all the sheep we can and nurture them,
but at the same time, we must do all we can to contend against the wolves from destroying them.
We must win the battle against false doctrines inside the church besides fighting the outside battles of winning souls.
Persecution from the outside has never been able to destroy the church and will only make it grow.
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
More than 2,000 years of church history have proven it.
But the church can be destroyed by heresies from the inside.
It’s not the dangers that come from the outside; but it’s the dangers that come from the inside that could destroy her.
And this is Jude’s primary and sober concern
that heretics have crept inside the church to destroy her:
4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 4)
Persecution from outside the church admirably unites the saints; heresy from inside the church ironically divides the flock.
The church has never been destroyed by persecutions from the outside, but it can be destroyed by heresies from the inside,
because the greater threat to the church is from the inside, not outside.
5. Paul was consumed with the threat of heretics – are we?
In the larger context of Acts 20:17-38, Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, and he came ashore at Miletus, the seaport for the city of Ephesus.
He called for the elders of the local church at Ephesus to meet him at Miletus.
The reason was that Paul wanted to give them his last instructions,
knowing that he might not see them again on this earth
as he was well aware that he could be martyred in Jerusalem (Acts 20:22-25):
Acts 20:22-25 NIV
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. 25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.”
It was indeed a poignant meeting.
I read and studied this passage with tears in my heart, and they almost streamed down my eyes.
What do you think was Paul’s chief concern that he would have to tell the elders of Ephesus as this might be his last meeting with them?
What occupied Paul’s mind before he said his last goodbye to them?
Among his last words to them was his great concern about the savage wolves who would come and not spare the flock;
and that they as elders must do their part in guarding the sheep against being harmed (Acts 20:28-31).
Doesn’t that tell us that false teachers, false teachings and the damage that they could do to the body of Christ
are of great concern to Paul?
Acts 20:31 NIV
31 “So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”
How long did Paul keep warning the shepherds about the savage wolves that would not spare the sheep in Acts 20:29?
For 3 years,
and Paul did it night and day (Acts 20:31)!
How intense was Paul’s warning to them?
Paul did it with tears (Acts 20:31)!
Are you beginning to see why I am contending against Joseph Prince, the wolf,
day and night,
and sometimes with tears?
Do you now know why I have produced 10 volumes of eBooks, comprising 4,800 pages,
and, currently, the videos and articles about Joseph Prince’s false teachings endlessly
– and more to come (unless God stops it permanently, and tells me that my job is done)?
Have you realised that I have spent countless hours, blood, sweat and tears, doing the only thing I am doing,
with no financial remuneration and at my personal expense to accomplish that,
and worsened by the fact that I’m being criticised and opposed by some sections of the church for it?
What is this all about?
I’m doing nothing more than following the example of Paul.
I’m as concerned as Paul
about alerting the larger body of Christ to the deceptive teachings of wolves, such as Joseph Prince,
and warning the sheep from being harmed by him.
Some people are wondering (and even criticised me) whether I am too fixated and overly intense
as I keep bringing up Joseph Prince as a false teacher and his heresies in my videos and articles endlessly.
Well, if that is so, these people need to take the same issue to the Apostle Paul.
This is because Paul must have been too fixated and intense, as he had warned the elders of the church about the wolves who would harm the sheep and that the elders must be alert to guard them,
for how long and how intensely?
– For 3 years, night and day, and with tears!
Some super-spiritual Christians may say to Paul:
“Paul, you are too fixated on these false teachers who will harm the sheep.
What?
Such a mere issue about false teachings and false teachers would preoccupy your mind for 3 years?
And you thought about it night and day, and it made you shed tears over it?
Paul, your approach is too radical!
What can you do with the wolves?
Leave it to God.
If they are wolves, God will destroy them.
Please don’t use your own strength to fight against them.
You must trust God to do it.
Please, would you channel your energies toward saving souls?
Please use that time to love people.
Use the time to bring about greater unity in the church.”
Paul may say to these super-spiritual people:
“Do you think I have not loved the church?
I have poured out my soul and energies for the sake of the gospel and Christ.
If you really do love the sheep, you will share the same concern about the dangers of false teachers as I do.
If you are negligent in your role as the elders of the church to guard the sheep from these savage wolves,
not only would they be destroyed in their faith, but what Christ came to die for them with His blood, would have been in vain (Acts 20:28-31).
If you neglect your role to protect and guard the sheep against being destroyed by the wolves,
all your claims that you love the sheep would just be empty talk.”
The irony is that the danger of false teachers, which was of such foremost concern to Paul
that it had gripped his heart for 3 years, night and day and with tears,
is the least priority for most modern believers.
“When the Apostle Paul was preoccupied with the threat of false teachings so intensely on a daily affair and with tears, the church ought to repent over her nonchalance and indifference.” (Acts 20:31) (George Ong)
Why I like Paul, is so fixated, intense, and concerned about heresy?
Because heresy is a cruel and heartless thing that could lead people to the lake of fire.
If one hasn’t come to grips with the cruelty and heartlessness of heresy that could lead believers to hell,
it is unlikely to feature much in one’s priorities.
Next, has it ever occurred to you that before Paul’s impending martyrdom
in 2 Timothy 4:6-8,
his last words were still the same
– about people who will be led astray by false teachings
in 2 Timothy 4:3-4?
2 Timothy 4:1-8 NIV
1 “… I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness…”
We don’t see the connection
between Paul’s concern about the threat of false teachings
in 2 Timothy 4:1-5
and his impending martyrdom
in 2 Timothy 4:6-8,
because we don’t read 2 Timothy 4:1-8 as one continuous flow.
But if we do, the connection becomes crystal clear.
In Acts 20:28-31, we talked about the fact that Paul’s last words to the elders of Ephesus
was his concern for the flock that would be led astray by wolves.
And here again in 2 Timothy 4:1-8, before his impending passing away by martyrdom,
Paul was still speaking about the same issue.
This shows that the issue of false teachings and false teachers constantly preoccupied the mind of Paul.
The influence of false teachings that will be prevalent is of great concern to Apostle Paul,
or else he wouldn’t have spoken it as one of his last words to Timothy before his impending martyrdom (2 Tim 4:3-4, 6-8).
The sad thing is that when Paul was so consumed by the issue of heretics and heresies and their harm to the body of Christ,
much of the modern church doesn’t even give two hoots about it.
Many pastors and believers have often said that Paul is a godly man and a true disciple of Christ,
and that they want to pattern their lives and ministries after him.
Really?
But my question is: why are there so few pastors and believers
who emphasise on the need of guarding the sheep against the savaging wolves
which have constantly preoccupied the mind of Paul (Acts 20:28-31; 2 Tim 4:1-8)?
Why are there so few pastors and believers
refuting false doctrines publicly and fearlessly the no-nonsense way that Paul did?
Why are there so few pastors and believers
who dare confront and rebuke false teachers the severe way that Paul did?
Obviously, many pick and choose those areas they are comfortable with to follow Paul
– like preaching the gospel passionately as Paul had
while they ignore the other areas they are uncomfortable with
– such as refuting heresies and rebuking false teachers as Paul did.
Because there are so few who have the guts to take Joseph Prince on (not even once in a while),
no wonder the Pseudo-grace doctrine has continued to spread, not only in Singapore but also around the world.
In summary, in Paul’s life and ministry,
he has demonstrated that there is no dichotomy
between saving souls and contending for the faith.
Paul was a perfect example of one who preached the gospel passionately to save souls,
yet at the same time,
he fought the heretics so consummately that he was even prepared to curse them (Gal 1:8-9 NIV).
Rev George Ong
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