John Burton & Chace Gordon warned about Joseph Prince’s Heresies & Michael Brown & Sid Roth spoke against Hyper grace – By Rev George Ong (Dated 11 Mar 2022)
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, NCCS office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
I have reproduced parts of John Burton’s article featured on the internet on this website.
Included in John Burton’s article is a 30-minute interview with Michael Brown by Sid Roth about Hyper grace teachings.
But you can view a crisp 5-minute excerpt prepared by me by clicking here.
Please see right at the end of this article for the transcript of the 5-minute interview.
Here is John Burton’s article….
(Kindly note that I have added my interjection in parts of John Burton’s article and they are purple in colour.)
Joseph Prince, false-grace and the risk of millions falling away
Millions of current Christians are at risk of spending an eternity in Hell – and few are saying anything about it.
The leading teacher of what I believe to be the most dangerous, widespread heresy in the church today is the extremely popular pastor and teacher Joseph Prince.
Understand, I am extremely careful when it comes to dropping names – the fear of the Lord is all over me even as I write this. In fact, I can’t remember another person I’ve mentioned by name in this fashion in the last several years.
As I said, the fear of the Lord is on me, and when that happens, it sometimes propels me into caution, and at other times into risk. I understand this message put me in the category of risk.
However, it’s a risk that’s easily worth it since literally millions of people’s eternities are at risk.
I absolutely believe the core message that Joseph Prince teaches will result in shocked, church going, professing Christians entering Hell one day. It’s that serious.
(George Ong’s interjection: Like John Burton, this is the main reason why I am contending against Joseph Prince’s heresies. In Volume One, Chapter 2, titled, “Pseudo-Grace Not Just Hyper-Grace” featured on my website, I wrote,
“After an exhaustive study into his (Joseph Prince) teachings, I concluded that if one were to embrace his teachings, hell would be where he could land… Friends, that’s why I am giving my heart and soul at contending against him and his heretical teachings – to save people from hell.”)
(Back to John Burton and quoting Sid Roth) “I believe the hyper-grace message could be the end-time deception that will cause millions of people to fall away from God.” (Sid Roth)
While we should desire to talk about unity, our common salvation, I don’t believe we can do so on this matter. False-grace is an eternity and salvation issue. It’s not minor, it’s major.
Regarding naming the name of Joseph Prince, Chace Gordon said (John Burton quoted Chace Gordon):
When I first stumbled into the false grace teachings of Joseph Prince, I was deeply grieved over it and sensed a tidal wave of heresy coming to American shores. I felt America was blessed that he was from Singapore, or the pervasive deception would have been even deadlier in America than it currently is, because it gave us time to counteract the error by teaching the Word before he became an American superstar and the false doctrine would expedite the demise of church influence in preserving the culture. I knew of NO ONE (initially) who was speaking out against this false doctrine on a large stage, only quiet murmurings of resistance, or the typical grumblings of denominational critics who despise prosperity, big churches and the Word of Faith movement.
I do not know Joseph Prince personally (although I know many close to him and some of his elders before him, both living and dead), but I became intimately acquainted with his message, and within a few weeks period, I wrote a detailed refutation of his book “Destined to Reign” and submitted it to fellow ministers whom I have relationship with, and to friends who accepted his teaching and propagated it themselves. My notes eventually became widespread, not because I led a public campaign attacking Joseph Prince, but because it was being privately distributed by other ministers who were also greatly disturbed.
During that time, before publicly denouncing him, I even contacted Joseph Prince Ministries and submitted a copy of my notes to them for them to respond to or correct any false conclusions I may have come to regarding his doctrine. After the typical form letter response, I finally received an email from one of the associate pastors who responded to none of the content itself, only stating that they did not wish to debate for the sake of Christian unity…but none of the grave concerns that I had communicated were addressed or any of the blatant errors apologized for.
(George Ong’s interjection: Who is talking about unity? It is nothing but a lame excuse and a deceptive and poisonous ploy of Joseph Prince to shift the blame of causing disunity to others just because they are contending against his heresies.
The truth is it is Joseph Prince himself who has been causing great disunity in the Church by his heresies that no evangelical church holds to, such as:
all your future sins are forgiven in advance; there is no need to confess your sins as 1 John 1:9 was written to unbelievers; the Holy Spirit never convicts you of sin as the devil can do a better job; the Old Covenant God who is angry and wrathful, acts differently from the New Covenant God, who will never be angry with you and will always be pleased with you; what Jesus said before the cross, including the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7) and Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:14-15) don’t apply to New Covenant believers today; the Holy Communion, mainly for healing, can also make you young; every New Covenant believer has the covenantal right to be very wealthy as Abraham was; God will protect you from diseases such as from COVID-19 as no virus can come near you, etc.)
(Back to Chace Gordon) Finally, I started to get contacted by pastors who had received copies of my notes given to them by friends of friends. I started hearing testimonies of church splits and the like; but I still knew of few who were publicly taking a stand against this message. I did, however, hear of numerous private confrontations by respected ministers, who challenged him on his doctrine but he refused correction. If anything, Joseph Prince dug in his heels and even increased his outlandish unbiblical comments.
It became clear to me that there were grounds here for marking him publicly, as the heresy was widely publicized, damage to the body of Christ was ongoing, even impacting people within my own church congregation, and repentance was refused…”
(Back to John Burton after quoting Chace Gordon) This is what burns in my spirit day after day. I know I’ve been given a serious mandate to sound the alarms necessary to awaken people out of a slumber that will result in an eternity in Hell.
I ask God often to keep reawakening me to the mandate that originated in an encounter I had with Hell 23 years ago. I will never be the same after that fateful night as the forces of Hell overtook me.
(George Ong’s interjection: The reason for such grave concern of John Burton is that he himself had a dream from God that he landed in hell. God was using that to warn him that he, being a born again believer, and many other Christians, may, one day, end up in the same dark destiny.)
(Back to John Burton) God said very clearly, “John, many in the church will be shocked to find themselves in Hell one day.”
Now, 23 years later, I believe we have stumbled upon a great end time deception (referring to Joseph Prince’s heresies) that can in fact result in what God warned me about. Church going, hand raising, tithe paying professing Christians who are convinced through false-theologies that they don’t have to deal with their sin…wonderful people who will die in those sins if we don’t warn them.
“The fundamental deception in hyper-grace is that all of your future sins are forgiven in advance.” (Dr Michael Brown)
I strongly encourage you to watch the interview of Dr Michael Brown by Sid Roth here: http://sidroth.org/television/tv-archives/dr-michael-brown/
Honestly, it’s extremely easy to see the clear heresy that’s in his (Joseph Prince) book – if only we have eyes to see.
I’m (John Burton) going to include a lengthy study by Pastor Chace Gordon below. Before I do, read what he (Chace Gordon) wrote to me earlier today:
When I first wrote the notes refuting Destined to Reign, they were circulated widely and did not have my name attached to them. I was contacted by an elder minister who received an anonymous copy after going through a church split over Joseph Prince. He tracked me down through the person who gave it to him, and told me the story of how he was on a pastor’s cruise with a handful of copies of my notes on Destined to Reign. He asked another respected minister who was on the cruise what he thought of Joseph Prince. The respected minister defended him adamantly, saying “I’ve known Joe and ministered in his church every year for 18 years! There’s nothing wrong with him!” After taking a look at my notes including quotes from the book, the respected minister exclaimed, “That’s heresy! I never read the book but I will now!” The rest of the story is that the minister on the cruise ship went on to become one of the ministers who confronted Joseph Prince in person over these matters. Joseph Prince refused to listen; but this man of God is now an outspoken voice against the false grace message.
(Back to John Burton) This was very interesting to me as a highly respected national leader and a good friend mentioned that senior Christian leaders had attempted to bring Joseph Prince under church discipline for his teachings, but he (Joseph Prince) refused to comply.
This is the end of John Burton’s article.
(Back to George Ong) The details of Pastor Chace Gordon’s “A THOROUGH REFUTATION OF THE FALSE-GRACE HERESY OF JOSEPH PRINCE” can be viewed in this link; please click to read: https://burton.tv/2014/01/03/joseph-prince-false-grace-and-the-risk-of-millions-falling-away/)
Finally, both John Burton and Sid Roth had highlighted that Joseph Prince’s heresies could be the end time deception that would result in believers falling away and ending themselves in hell.
So, being aware of Joseph Prince’s teachings and consistently and constantly warning others from being deceived by him (like what I have been doing, and you must too) ARE EVEN MORE CRUCIAL, RELEVANT AND URGENT NOW AS WE ARE LIVING IN END TIMES.
Transcript of the interview of Michael Brown by Sid Roth:
Sid Roth: “The grace message is wonderful, but the hyper grace message, I believe could be the End Time deception that will cause millions of people to fall away from God.”
Sid Roth: What are you hearing around the world from this hyper grace message?
Michael Brown: Well, I’m seeing such reaction against holiness, such reaction against hunger and thirst for God, because that’s “doing” something. We don’t have to do anything. We just rest. Jesus has done it all. The finished work of the cross means there’s nothing left for me to do.
So they preach against repentance. They preach against conviction of sin. They preach against the need to confess our sins. They preach against real accountability in your own life. That’s just legalism. That’s just commandments. You’re a grace hater, you’re a law preacher. You’re a Pharisee. That’s what they’re throwing at you.
So I see division. I see spiritual deception. I see people letting sin in their lives. Now here’s what’s interesting. The leading grace preachers, they will all say this is not a license to sin. They will all say grace empowers you not to sin. The problem is the other things they preach with it, the additions, the distortions, the mixture, the poison, it does give people license to sin and it takes away the dealings of God in our lives.
Sid Roth: Mike, what would you say the fundamental deception is in this hyper grace message?
Michael Brown: One of the big concepts is this. When you get saved, God not only forgives your past sins and your present sins, but all of your future sins He forgives in advance.
So that means if you go out and blow it tomorrow, you don’t have to say, “God, I’m sorry, I sinned, wash me, cleanse me, forgive me,” because you’re already forgiven. That means that the Holy Spirit will never convict you of sin because God has already forgiven that sin. That means no matter what you do it cannot even affect your relationship with God or your standing with God because you’ve already been pronounced forgiven. That means that if you or I do something atrocious and God said, it doesn’t even grieve Him because He doesn’t even see it, He always only sees you as perfectly righteous and, therefore, you never, ever have to deal with sin.
Michael Brown: But hyper grace teachers have a big problem. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray, “Father forgive as we forgive.” That means forgiveness is ongoing. No, no, no. That’s not for us today. Throw out the words of Jesus. Those were just for the Jews in Jesus’ day. Anything that Jesus taught before the Cross doesn’t apply to us. The Sermon on the Mount is the law on steroids to bring law-keeping people to frustration. It is not grace. This is what mainstream hyper grace teachers are putting forth.
Sid Roth: I’m here with Dr Michael Brown and you will not believe what he just told me during our commercial break. The hyper grace people are advocating not only throwing out the Old Testament, but get this, throwing out the words of Jesus. Explain.
Michael Brown: Well one hyper grace teacher actually says this, he says, “The Bible Society” – I don’t know which Bible society he means – “The Bible Society made a terrible mistake when they put the Old Testament together with the New Testament. It totally confuses people.”
Another leading hyper grace teacher, well known, TV, books, he actually has a series teaching the differences between the God of the Old Testament, the cruel, angry God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is the Father of Jesus. I mean, it’s mind boggling they get this wrong. But some teach this in mainstream that what Jesus said before the Cross was for the Jewish people that were listening to him then, and he gave teaching so that they would come to despair and see their own legalistic righteousness, how that fails, and they finally leave for grace, but it doesn’t apply to us today.
Well why does Jesus say in John 15, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask what you will, it will be done for you”? Why does Jesus in the Great Commission in Matthew 28 say that the way we make disciples is to teach them to “observe everything I commanded you”? Why does it say in John 14 that, “The Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance everything I’ve taught”? Why in fact did the gospel authors work for years to put their accounts together and then publish them, and why were these words prized by the early believers if they’re just for the Jews “before the cross”? It’s crazy.
And Sid, that means all the demands of Jesus, take up your cross, follow me, I don’t have to worry about that. That means all the parables of accountability and I’m going to stand before God and give an account, I don’t have to worry about it because that makes me feel uncomfortable. That makes me feel condemned.
Rev George Ong