Main Title: Is Tithing for us under the New Covenant? Joseph Prince is both for Grace & Law on Tithing – a Confused & Mixed-Up Kid
Sub Title: Joseph Prince Vs David Pawson, John Piper, John MacArthur, Mike Winger & Michael Brown on Tithing
– By Rev George Ong (Dated 27 Sep 2024)
Announcement:
There are 10 videos altogether:
1 video each on David Pawson, John Piper,
John MacArthur, Michael Brown, Paul Washer,
Peter Tan-chi, George Ong & Joseph Prince
& 2 videos on Mike Winger.
Two of the Most Self-Deluded Statements of Joseph Prince:
The two of the most self-deluded statements (in red)
that Joseph Prince ever made
was when he said in his sermon
5 days ago on 22 Sep 2024:
“Listen carefully,
but the enemy uses sometimes people
who are just against us, you know.
I’m glad there are people, not for me
because it tells me that my ministry is safe.
… So, please criticise me.
Okay, it will do me good, my soul good, Amen.
It will do my soul good, praise God.
And then I check, I check the scriptures and all that,
it makes me more attentive
to make sure that everything is accurate.”
My Opening Shot to Joseph Prince:
“Hey Joe,
since you asked for it last Sunday,
I have fired 4 shots this week (articles)
in my replies to your sermon 5 days ago, on 22 Sep 2024.
In your reply to me in your next preaching
either this Sunday or the next,
don’t try and hide behind
your general and motherhood statements like,
“I’d be the first one to tell you I’m not perfect.”
You ought to know that what is needed to counter me
are specific arguments of how I have misrepresented you
or how I have wrongly accused you
– in which you have never, never, never done
in all my exchanges with you.
Then, you go and complain childishly to the world
that my critics have criticised me unfairly or wrongly.
“Mati mati, they must criticise me.”
So, cut out all the motherhood statements
this Sunday or the next.
And have the guts to engage me on the specifics.
Anyway, I will hear from you again this Sunday.
Make sure you mention me, this Sunday, okay
if you are preaching.
Don’t be a coward.
You must have guts.
Millions of your supporters are looking at you.
Never show that you are afraid of me.
If you, with millions of fans,
can’t even handle an ordinary and mere me,
you are no different from a terrified church mouse.
If you choose to keep silent this or next Sunday,
that only proves that you are not a man
because you have no guts.”
Excerpt No 1 from the Article:
Next, Joseph Prince teaches the heretical view
that God only owns our ten percent
but the rest of the money belongs to the person
and not to God
If God Himself had said that,
“the world is mine, and all that is in it.” (Psa 50:12)
why is Joseph Prince saying
that only ten percent belongs to God
while the rest belongs to us?
If Joseph Prince
dares to go against God’s word and God Himself
so many times, as I have proven
in the many articles on this website,
how can he not be a heretic?
Excerpt No 2 from the Article:
John MacArthur said:
“There are no guarantees,
however, that you’re going to be rich at all.
The Prosperity Gospel is a deception.
It’s a pyramid, you know, it’s a scheme.
It’s a con job that makes the people at the top
very very rich.”
Paul Washer said:
“Are these silly charismatic prosperity preachers
who have their hand out.
You notice this, some of you need to hear this.
because sooner or later,
they find out the only one getting rich
is the preacher.”
It is a well-known fact
that Joseph Prince is the richest Pastor in Singapore
and one of the wealthiest Pastors in the world.
As far as I am concerned,
whether a speaker markets his CDs and books,
and as a result, earns the big bucks,
is finally not the real issue.
The real issue here is that Joseph Prince
became very wealthy
and profited from the millions from what?
– From preaching his deadly heresies
that could lead the same people he had profited from
to hell.
This is what is nauseating and ‘unforgivable’.
(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.)
Since this topic of tithing is rather controversial
but does not affect our salvation,
and that Christians and churches should not divide over,
let me at the outset state that
I am not against those churches who hold to the view
that New Covenant Christians should continue to tithe.
But this doesn’t mean that I don’t have a stand on the issue.
Like the 5 well-respected Bible teachers of the word,
which I have featured in this article on video (see below),
my stand is that the tithe is no more binding
on New Covenant believers.
Yet, true teachers of the word
on both sides of the divide
would also be aware
that this does not mean New Covenant believers
are excused from giving,
as giving is taught in the New Covenant.
In fact, those who truly understand grace
will give more than those who are under law
because we have a better Covenant – the New Covenant.
People who are saved by grace and respond out of grace,
will certainly be more generous and be better givers
than those who are under law.
Here is what I want to be clear again.
While this article is not to debate with those
who teach that tithing
is still binding on New Covenant believers,
what I am categorically against is Joseph Prince’s hypocrisy
in his attitude and teaching towards the tithe.
While Joseph Prince teaches grace, (to be exact; Pseudo-grace)
and is world-renowned for his grace teaching
(to be exact; he deceived the world with his Pseudo-grace),
he, at the same time, reverts to law,
whenever it serves his ungodly purpose.
One clear example is his Health and Wealth doctrine.
The main justifications by Joseph Prince for this doctrine
is from the Old Covenant.
This has been clearly documented
in many articles on this website
And because this is not the focus of this article,
I will not belabour on this point.
The other issue is the tithe.
Joseph Prince, though he is a teacher of grace,
went backwards to the law regarding the tithe
as the tithe is under the Old Covenant.
But to be precise,
Joseph Prince straddles between grace and law
regarding this tithe issue.
And in doing so,
he massively contradicted himself and his own teachings.
In a teaching session, George Ong said;
to view the 1-minute-40-second video:
In ‘Destined To Reign’, Pages 263,
Joseph Prince wrote:
“I can’t understand why many believers
are still trying to balance law and grace.
If you are for the law, be for the law completely.
If you are for grace, then be for grace completely.
It is impossible to balance the two of them!
The Lord was saying that He would
the church be cold – entirely under law,
or hot – entirely under grace.
You see, if you were at least completely under law,
it would lead you to despair
and into the saving arms of Jesus.
The law would unveil to you your sinfulness and inability
to keep the full measure of it,
and this would cause you to see your need for His grace.
But when you have mixture,
where you believe in grace,
but still hold on to the law,
you neutralize the convicting power of the law
to bring you to the end of yourself
so that you will cry out for the grace of the Savior.
That is why you cannot be cold and hot at the same time,
or be for both law and grace at the same time.
The moment you attempt to balance grace with the law,
you neutralize both
and each covenant is robbed of its full effect in your life.
You become lukewarm because of the mixture,
and God hates mixture
because it robs you of the power to reign in life
through the abundance of His grace!
You cannot put new wine into old wineskins.
You will lose both!”
As I said in 2,000 years of church history,
I don’t find any evangelical scholar
ever interpret in this way.”
Though Joseph Prince
was trying to so-called exegete Revelation 3:14-21
(but he did it totally and horrendously out of context),
this is not the focus of this discussion.
What I want to highlight is that Joseph Prince stressed
that we cannot have a mixture of grace and law
at the same time.
And if we try, we will lose both.
Yet, in the area of tithing,
he did that which he had expressly forbidden.
Tithing is under the Old Covenant law,
and yet, he says that it is still applicable
to New Covenant believers under grace.
By doing that,
Joseph Prince is clearly mixing law with grace.
One moment,
Joseph Prince says we must not mix law with grace.
The next moment,
he does it in the area of tithing.
Contradictions after contradictions after contradictions.
In ‘Unmerited Favor’, Joseph Prince wrote,
“The standards that grace sets
are much higher than the standards of the law of Moses.
When you are under grace,
you will effortlessly fulfill and even super-exceed
the expectations of the law of Moses!”
So, Joseph Prince had categorically boasted
that his Super-grace doctrine
can be so powerful that it can help you
super-exceed the expectations of the law of Moses
by effortlessly, not only in fulfilling the law,
but also in exceeding it.
But if that is the case,
why is he going back to the law on tithing.
To be true to what Joseph Prince had written,
he could have said that under grace,
you will effortlessly fulfill and even super-exceed
the expectations of the law of Moses
by giving far beyond the tithe or the ten percent
that is legislated under law.
But Joseph Prince didn’t.
He went back to the law.
How can Joseph Prince say that
his Super-grace can help you
super-exceed the expectations of the Law of Moses
which must include the tithe,
and yet, at the same time,
also said that grace has no power
to help you give beyond the ten percent
which is under law;
and that’s why he has to go back to the law
to ask you to give the tithe.
Does this make sense?
The truth is Joseph Prince is a totally mix-up kid
when he gave conflicting signals
as to what his grace doctrine can do.
It is totally contradictory
that on the one hand,
Joseph Prince believes so wholeheartedly
that his super-grace can super-exceed
what the law requires
which must include tithing.
And yet, on the other hand,
Joseph Prince is filled with unbelief
that his grace doctrine can help,
and that’s why he had to go back to the law
to ask you to give your tithe.
Andrew Tan, a Ex New Creation Church member
for 20 years testified:
“Before leaders are appointed in New Creation Church,
they will have their tithing record checked
before being appointed.
They will have to show
that they are tithing regularly to the church.
Interestingly, Joseph Prince preaches grace and against law,
and yet, he institutes such rigid ‘law’
to check people’s tithing record
before they can be appointed to leadership.
As far as I know,
there is hardly any church that practices that.
In the Bible, stewardship is more than money.
It encompasses time, talent and other resources.
The biblical qualifications for church leadership
are found in Titus 1:5-9; 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and 1 Peter 5:1-4.
None of them mention tithing.”
George Ong’s comments:
So, is Joseph Prince a grace teacher or a law preacher?
Joseph Prince would have to make up his mind
as his legalistic action
is antithetical to his grace teachings.
Devising such legalistic means
of checking a person’s tithing record
is not only an invasion of a person’s privacy,
but also, a grave contradiction
to Joseph Prince’s image and credibility
as a grace teacher.
As a matter of fact,
I cannot find anywhere in the Bible
in which a person’s tithing record is scrutinised
before one can be appointed to leadership.
The bottom line is Joseph Prince is so obsessed
about whether people tithe to his church
that he will go to the extent
of invading into a person’s privacy
by checking his tithing record.
Money! Money! Money!
Janice Lee, an Ex New Cration Church member
for 10 years, testified:
“Why the giving of money to the church
is a criterion before one can qualify
to serve in New Creation Church.
I did apply to serve as an Usher at New Creation Church.
I presumed they did not contact me
because I didn’t tithe regularly for 6 months.
I gave to New Creation Church, but not regularly.
I wondered why money
would be a criterion to serve God.
Later, I found out from someone
who attends the church for a long time,
and she told me that giving 10 percent of my income
is a requirement of serving in the church.”
How can Joseph Prince claim to be the super-grace teacher
when ‘he is so law’ in his approach towards his members
on money and tithing.
In the sermon preached on 22 Sep 2024, 5 days ago,
Joseph Prince said;
to view the 1-minute-30-second video:
“Not greedy, always one more million,
one more million, one more million.
No, no, no.
That can destroy you. Amen.
And God loves you too much.
So, sometimes you wonder why?
God, no problem with you, what, just your little finger,
just, Tok, Wah, I become a multi-millionaire. Amen.
No problem for you.
Why, why do you let all these other billionaires,
and all that.
Why not me?
I’m a Christian, what, right?
You ever thought of that way?
You know why?
Because He loves you more.
He loves you more because He knows that
that right now, at this level, okay,
you don’t even tithe.
Don’t tithe. Don’t.
Because not a revelation.
No use, if you tithe also no use.
It profits you nothing.
God wants you to have a revelation.
‘Lord, I don’t forget you.
You are the first one.
Ten percent goes to you.’
Now, which senior partner ask for ten percent?
But He (God) says ten percent.
But some Christians say,
“Well, what I have, everything belongs to God.”
It’s like a man telling his wife; the wife says,
“I just want you to spend at least one week,
uninterrupted with me, can or not?”
(Husband says),
“Darling, when I married you,
you don’t understand, ah.
My whole life is yours.”
Does she buy it? Does she buy it?
It’s wonderful excuse,
all my money is the Lord. Amen.”
Joseph Prince uses guilt and money
to entice his people to tithe
when he said;
“Why, why do you let all these other billionaires,
and all that.
Why not me?
I’m a Christian, what, right?
You ever thought of that way?
You know why?
Because He loves you more.
He loves you more because He knows that
that right now, at this level, okay,
you don’t even tithe.”
The message by Joseph Prince is clear
– you haven’t become a billionaire
because you don’t even tithe.
How low can a preacher get
that he has to entice his people with money and riches
in order to get them to tithe.
Joseph Prince also resorts to non-biblical reasons
to teach his people about tithing
when he said;
“Don’t tithe. Don’t.
Because not a revelation.
No use, if you tithe also no use.
It profits you nothing.
God wants you to have a revelation.”
Where in the Old Testament has tithing been related
as to whether one should have revelation or not?
Tithing is God’s command for His Old Covenant people, period.
There is also nothing in the New Testament
that giving has ever been related
as to whether one has revelation or not.
Hey Joe, what is in your mind when you talk about revelation?
Is it your goose-pimple bumps you feel
that tells you to do something?
Come on.
Don’t you know that we don’t need any more revelation
because it has already been revealed to us
– that tithing is compulsory in the Old Covenant
and giving is strongly encouraged in the New Covenant?
What is sacrilegious
is that Joseph Prince has put words into God’s mouth
when he said:
“God wants you to have a revelation.”
I can’t find anywhere in the Bible
where God says that He wants you to have a revelation to tithe;
and that if you don’t have the revelation,
you can be excused from it.
Friends, I want you to note
that in many of Joseph Prince’s sermons,
he has used and abused the word ‘revelation’ many times
to twist God’s word and impose his views on the scriptures.
And, unbelievably, Joseph Prince has contradicted himself again.
If Joseph Prince says that if you don’t have the revelation,
you can be excused from it because there is no point you giving,
why is he insisting,
as revealed by Andrew Tan and Janice Lee,
both Ex New Creation Church members,
that leaders and servers in New Creation Church must tithe;
and if they don’t, they cannot be leaders and servers.
Next, Joseph Prince teaches the heretical view
that God only owns our ten percent
but the rest of the money belongs to the person
and not to God
when he said;
“Now, which senior partner ask for ten percent?
But He (God) says ten percent.
But some Christians say,
“Well, what I have, everything belongs to God.”
It’s like a man telling his wife; the wife says,
“I just want you to spend at least one week,
uninterrupted with me, can or not?”
(Husband says),
“Darling, when I married you,
you don’t understand, ah.
My whole life is yours.”
Does she buy it? Does she buy it?
It’s wonderful excuse,
all my money is the Lord. Amen.”
In a teaching session, Pastor Peter Tan-chi said;
“Because if you don’t remind yourself
everything you have belongs to the Lord,
you will be in trouble.
Everything belongs to God.
So, whatever you do with your money,
I want you to know something,
it’s God’s money.”
What cannot be stomached is that though
Pastor Peter Tan-chi, who is a godly man,
whom I know personally,
teaches from God’s word,
Joseph Prince speaks against
the word of God:
Psalm 24:1 NLT
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.
The world and all its people belong to him.
Deuteronomy 10:14 NLT
14 “Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the Lord your God.
Job 41:11 NLT
11 Who has given me anything that I need to pay back? Everything under heaven is mine.
1 Corinthians 10:26 NLT
26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”
Hebrew 2:10 CEV
10 Everything belongs to God, and all things were created by his power…
Psalm 50: 9-12 NIV
9 I have no need of a bull from your stall
or of goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
If God Himself had said that,
“the world is mine, and all that is in it.” (Psa 50:12)
why is Joseph Prince saying
that only ten percent belongs to God
while the rest belongs to us.
Friends, one, such as Joseph Prince,
who teaches against God’s word
is going against God Himself.
If Joseph Prince
dares to go against God’s word and God Himself
so many times, as I have proven
in the many articles on this website,
how can he not be a heretic?
In a sermon, David Pawson said;
to view the 1-minute-15-second video:
“I have never preached tithing in my life.
I’ve preached giving.
Because in the New Testament,
we are to give out of gratitude to the Lord.
The Lord doesn’t want you to give
if you don’t want to give it.
But in the Old Testament, they had to tithe.
It’s not a Christian practice.
But it was Jewish practice.
And my wife and I sat and listened
to a young man in church,
preaching on tithing.
And he said to the congregation:
“If you don’t tithe, your grandchildren,
great-grandchildren will suffer
because the Lord says,
“To the third and fourth generation.”
He said,
“You’ll be under the curse.
You will put your grandchildren under a curse.
You want to do that?”
Then, let’s take up the offering this morning.
And they got the biggest offering I think they had for years.
But I said afterwards to the leaders of that church:
“That was wicked teaching
and it makes people give out of fear.”
But the Lord loves a cheerful giver
under the New Covenant.
Frankly, churches that are taught giving,
give far more than tithing.
For some people, tithing will be far too little.
And for others, it will be far too much.
And we need to be much more flexible.
The one we are exempt from
is the Old Covenant which was made with Moses.
If your church insists on you tithing,
they have put you straight back under the Old Covenant.”
Joseph Prince is a dishonest man
and a confirmed half-truth con man.
Although he teaches the half-truth
about the blessings of tithing
under the Old Covenant,
he never tells you the other half-truth
that there are curses involved
if one doesn’t tithe.
Joseph Prince is infamous for cherry-picking the good part
– the blessings,
but he would hide the unpleasant part
– the cursings from you.
In a teaching session, Michael Brown said;
to view the 1-minute-30-second video:
“Don’t hit people with the head with it
as a requirement under the law
because there is no New Testament requirement
for the tithe.
Let me say it again.
There is not a New Testament requirement for tithe.
Rather, as we will see, there is a principle.
And the principle calls for generosity.
And the principle calls for support of those
who are in ministry.
As Paul wrote the 1 Corinthians 9,
those who preach the gospel
should make their living by the gospel.
These are taught in the New Testament,
but the specific tithe command is not taught.
Let me say it again; the principle of generosity is taught.
The principle of supporting those
that minister to you spiritually, that is taught.
But the specific requirement of the tithe is not taught.
Are Christians required to tithe
under the New Testament?
No, they are not required to tithe.
But, as we go through the New Testament,
we see that the New Testament,
encourages systematic giving.
It encourages proportional giving.
In other words, as you have, you are able to give.
It encourages generous
and even sacrificially generous giving at certain times.
And it does call for those who minister to you spiritually
to sow back in naturally
to support those who ministered to them.
Now, I have said that Malachi 3
is not a legal thing over us today
because we are not under the Sinai Covenant.
That you are under a curse if you don’t tithe.
And if you tithe, you will be out from under the curse.
But there are principles of generosity there
that God will honour.”
In a teaching session, Mike Winger said;
“You’d be surprised to know that in the New Testament,
there is no command in the New Testament
for Christians who are Gentiles, who are not Jews, to tithe.
But some pastors are very inconsistent here.
And I think that they’re being driven by fear
about their own paycheque.
Fear about their church.
And maybe their love for ministry.
They realised that if only, gosh,
only 8 percent of our church even tithes;
if you go out telling them they don’t have to,
we’re going to end up closing our doors,
and this ministry is going to end; I get that.
Your church is being, perhaps your church
is being greedy and selfish with their money.
But the ten percent rule is not the fix;
it’s not the fix.
Nowhere in the New Testament
is tithing affirmed for Christians
who are not under the law.
Tithing ten percent is not required.
Giving is absolutely something
I’m supposed to do as a Christian.
Local fellowship and beyond
and I’m not going to limit that to ten percent.”
Mike Winger talks about some pastors
who teaches tithing
because of the fear that if they don’t,
members won’t give.
Joseph Prince is such a man
who is driven by fear and insecurity.
That is why he has once again preached about tithing
5 days ago, on 22 Sep 2024,
using examples of Mr Colgate, Rockefeller and Henry Ford
to entice his people to give.
My guess is that because the attendance
at his worship services has dropped,
resulting also in a drop in giving,
that he felt urgent enough to mention about tithing again.
In another teaching session, Mike Winger said;
“But that (tithing) is not required.
There is no New Testament teaching that’s required.
How do Pastors,
they’re so good at verse-by-verse teaching;
they are weird on tithing?
I don’t understand.
Are we told however to give and support those
who ministered to us spiritually?
Yes.
It’s there an amount associated with that?
No.
Because in the body of Christ,
people of different situations,
with different amounts of money and all that.
So, you give how?
Cheerfully.
You give according to what you have decided
in your own heart.
Ten percent isn’t that unless you’ve decided that.
But no one can dump it on you.
So, the New Testament text doesn’t say that.
Giving is something that we should do.
I want to help the poor among us.
I want to pay for the people who ministered to me.”
In a teaching session, John Piper said;
“I would say we should value our riches in Christ
in this new covenant relationship so highly,
and our freedom from sin so highly,
and our gospel so highly,
that we would simply love to give.
Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).
And we would be free from a love of things,
and a dependence on things,
and we would outgive those who lived under the law
because we have a better covenant and a better promise.
Everything is greater with Christ.
Why wouldn’t giving be greater?
I think the gist of it was:
Brothers and sisters, why would we want to do less?
I mean, the person who is saying:
Do I have to?
They are getting off on the wrong foot immediately.
Everything is greater in the New Covenant.
We have better promises, a better covenant
– Hebrews says
– why wouldn’t there be better sacrifice, better giving?”
Last, you must pay attention
to what John MacArthur and Paul Washer have to say,
especially those who preach the Prosperity Gospel,
such as Joseph Prince:
In a teaching session, John MacArthur said;
“I assume you are not promoting a Prosperity Gospel
in that explanation.
Are you?
No, no.
All I’m saying is the Lord has promised
to bless the faithful giver.
And I think one of the reasons
the Lord blessed the faithful giver
is because a faithful giver being blessed
is able to give more.
It’s not an indulgent kind of thing.
There are no guarantees,
however, that you’re going to be rich at all.
The Prosperity Gospel is a deception.
It’s a pyramid, you know, it’s a scheme.
It’s a con job that makes the people at the top
very very rich.”
In a teaching session, Paul Washer said;
“Are these silly charismatic prosperity preachers
who have their hand out.
You notice this, some of you need to hear this.
because sooner or later,
they find out the only one getting rich is the preacher.
It is a well-known fact
that Joseph Prince is the richest Pastor in Singapore
and one of the wealthiest Pastors in the world.
As far as I am concerned,
whether a speaker markets his CDs and books,
and as a result, earns the big bucks,
is finally not the real issue.
The real issue here is that Joseph Prince
became very wealthy
and profited from the millions from what?
– From preaching his deadly heresies
that could lead the same people he had profited from
to hell.
This is what is nauseating and ‘unforgivable’.
Rev George Ong