Joseph Prince Lied about Job, the Scriptures & God – By Rev George Ong (Dated 14 Dec 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.)
In a weekly sermon aired on YouTube on 8 December 2021 last Wednesday, 6 days ago, (this sermon was preached on 26 Oct 2014. Note that besides Joseph Prince’s Sunday sermons, he also has his previous sermons uploaded during mid-week on every Wednesday), Joseph Prince said the following; please click here to view excerpts in the one-minute video,
“But He’s (God) not the type that gives and then takes. ‘Well, Pastor Prince the Bible says, ‘The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ Hey, friend, God didn’t say that. It’s in the Bible. You know lies are in the Bible. What the devil said is also in the Bible. The entire Bible is God-breathed but God records faithfully; even lies, words that are lies are also in the Bible. So you know who said, ‘The Lord gives and the Lord takes?’ Job! Job was suffering at that time. And Job says. ‘The Lord gives, the Lord takes.’ But we read chapter 1 of Job, it was Satan who came and took. But we read the last chapter of Job, the Lord restored, even what He didn’t take. So God is a good God. So whatever your joy, your blessing, your health, whatever the devil is trying to take, it’s not God.”
The Book of Job poses one of the biggest challenges to Joseph Prince’s Grace Theology. Job went through four tragedies, one after another (Job 1:13-19) before losing his health (Job 2:7-8). What Job had gone through has really messed up the Grace Doctrine of Joseph Prince.
First, Joseph Prince teaches that God wants believers to enjoy health, wealth and prosperity, and He will never ruin, destroy, or take away all these three blessings from them. He also teaches that God, as the giver of life, will never take away believers’ lives.
But the kind of suffering that Job went through by losing his wealth and health, including his 10 children, is totally out of sync with and against Prince’s Grace Doctrine. So, Prince has to produce a twisted interpretation of the life of Job to get himself out of the mess, and also prevent his Grace Doctrine from being exposed to be false.
That being the case, Prince came up with a fabricated explanation that it was not God, but Satan alone, who caused the loss of Job’s wealth, health and the death of Job’s 10 children. Prince has to twist the word of God to angle all the blame of Job’s ordeal on Satan.
Prince needs to ‘bail God’ out of Job’s suffering, as God cannot be seen to be taking away Job’s health, when Job was afflicted with boils all over his body, and when Job lost all his cattle and most of his servants, and his 10 children.
More than ‘bailing God out’, Prince’s primary motivation and plot is to protect his Grace Theology and prevent its falsity from being exposed. If Joseph Prince doesn’t pin all the blame of Job’s troubles on Satan, his Prosperity Gospel in his Pseudo-grace doctrine would be demolished.
As I shall show you throughout this article, there isn’t any evidence in the Book of Job to support such the view as postulated by Joseph Prince – that Satan alone was responsible for all of Job’s sufferings and that God wasn’t involved at all in this whole episode. In fact, what transpired in the Book of Job alone, coupled with other passages of the scriptures, only point to the contrary.
If, according to Prince’s conception that God is a good God who won’t allow ‘bad’ things to happen to His people, then why did He not stop Satan from doing such terrible things to Job in the first place?
Joseph Prince, in propounding the view that Satan was the sole cause of all of Job’s troubles is also saying that God is powerless and weak that He could not stop Satan from mounting all his attacks on Job.
Prince has indeed committed a serious doctrinal error as he is obviously saying that God is not all-powerful as He could not prevent Satan from causing all the afflictions on Job. If God is not all-powerful, then He is not God at all.
Joseph Prince said,
“But He’s (God) not the type that gives and then takes. ‘Well, Pastor Prince the Bible says, ‘The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ Hey, friend, God didn’t say that.”
“So you know who said, ‘The Lord gives and the Lord takes?’ Job!”
Joseph Prince is making a silly argument as he seems to be implying that everything in the Bible must be quoted directly from God, or else, it cannot be accepted as true. Doesn’t he know that there are chunks of teachings in the New Testament which are not directly quoted from God but said by Paul himself?
Going by Prince’s argument that it wasn’t God who said, ‘The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh’, but Job, we would have to conclude that the many writings in the New Testament cannot be accepted as true as God didn’t say them Himself but Paul did.
Joseph Prince said,
“But He’s (God) not the type that gives and then takes.”
“You know lies are in the Bible. What the devil said is also in the Bible. The entire Bible is God-breathed but God records faithfully; even lies, words that are lies are also in the Bible. So you know who said, ‘The Lord gives and the Lord takes?’ Job! Job was suffering at that time.”
So Joseph Prince is clearly implying that Job was telling a lie or he wasn’t speaking the whole truth, when he said, ‘the Lord takes’.
But what kind of a man was Job? Someone who tells lies as the devil does? One, who engages in half-truths as Joseph Prince is frequently guilty of? Come on! Engaging in falsehood or lies is furthest from his mind as the scriptures categorically portrayed Job three times that he was a blameless and upright man:
Job 1:1 NIV
1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
Job 1:8 NIV
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
Job 2:3 NIV
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
If God Himself had borne witness twice in the scriptures in Job 1:8 and 2:3 that Job is a blameless and upright man, who fears Him and shuns evil, how dare Joseph Prince contradicts God’s opinion of Job by implying that Job is lying or that he is not telling the whole truth? This fact alone is proof that Joseph Prince is not only lying about Job, but most abhorrently, about the scriptures and God Himself!
So what if Job was suffering? Is Joseph Prince implying that someone who is suffering would speak things which are untrue or blame God for what He isn’t responsible for?
Then, perhaps, the Apostle Paul too, who had suffered so much for his faith, cannot be trusted for what he wrote in the many books of the New Testament as what he had written may also contain untruths. What sort of argument is that?
Joseph Prince said,
“But He’s (God) not the type that gives and then takes.”
“But we read chapter 1 of Job, it was Satan who came and took. But we read the last chapter of Job, the Lord restored, even what He didn’t take.”
By now, you would have known that Joseph Prince is a specialist at using half-truths to deceive. A half-truth is tantamount to a camouflaged lie. While it is true that Satan was the one who took away Job’s possessions and children, it isn’t the whole truth.
The other more crucial half of the truth, which Prince has hidden from you, is that God was the one who was behind the entire episode, and that He was the one who had orchestrated the whole thing.
It is not entirely wrong to blame Satan for our trials. But it is certainly wrong to leave God out of the picture, especially in the case of Job, as Satan could only do to Job what God had permitted him to.
Although Satan seems to be the one who was directly responsible for Job’s adversities, the writer of the Book of Job wrote that Job says,
21… The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 Despite all this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God. (Job 1:21b-22 NASB)
Note, the writer had wanted to bring across the point that even though Satan had taken away both Job’s wealth and family, it was ultimately God Himself who took them away. Finally, it was God who was responsible for Job’s troubles.
In one sense, it was an act of Satan who took away… but from another more significant perspective, it was an act of God, who allowed Satan to take them away. Satan was doing God’s work. God was using Satan to achieve His purpose of maturing Job. Satan ‘was helping’ God to do what He wanted to accomplish in Job’s life.
In the same way, when the devil afflicted Job with boils, and caused him to be physically sick, and his wife asked him to curse God, the writer wrote what Job says,
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. (Job 2:10 NIV)
Again, the writer wanted to make the point that just as Job’s possessions and children were taken away by God, Job’s sickness was also attributed to God.
Joseph Prince would be the first to object violently. He will fight against anyone who holds the view that the sickness of a believer and the death of a believer’s children could be attributed to God – as an act of God.
As a general principle, God wants to heal us of our sicknesses. But this does not mean, as the Sovereign God, He cannot use sickness to afflict His children to bring about His own purposes. This isn’t just an Old Testament principle, but it is true in the New Testament as well (1 Cor 11:29-30).
Job recognised it was God who took away his cattle and children and afflicted him with sickness. So, ultimately, the troubles that happened to Job was primarily an act of God, and only secondarily an act of Satan. Satan may have been the immediate cause, but the primary cause was God Himself.
Even though Satan can cause intense damage to our lives, he doesn’t have the power to do it on his own, unless God permits him. God is the governor of our lives and the universe. Satan is never a co-equal with God. He is subordinated to God and under His control. One must never forget that it was God who handed Job over to Satan’s power to be afflicted.
As I have already shown, although it was Satan who had directly caused the loss of Job’s animals, servants and the death of His children, it was God who had permitted it. If God did not permit Satan, he would never have the power or authority to cause the loss of Job’s possessions and the death of Job’s servants and children. Job recognised that God, being sovereign, has the right to do anything He deems fit for His own purposes and glory.
Conversely, Joseph Prince is promoting a God who is not totally sovereign – a God who has the sovereign right only to give, but He does not have the sovereign right to take away. Prince is promoting a self-centred faith – God can only give me, but He cannot take away from me because life is primarily all about me.
He is preaching a Santa Claus god, who only comes to give. That’s why I have often said that Joseph Prince is preaching a self-centred grace doctrine, but cleverly masqueraded as a Christ-centred faith.
Job’s recognition that God does not only give life but, He too, can also take away life (the life of his 10 children), dovetails with four other passages in the scriptures:
1 Samuel 2:6-7 ESV
6 “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. 7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.”
1 Samuel 2:6-7 NCV
6 “The Lord sends death, and he brings to life. He sends people to the grave, and he raises them to life again. 7 The Lord makes some people poor, and others he makes rich. He makes some people humble, and others he makes great.”
Deuteronomy 32:39 ESV
39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”
Deuteronomy 32:39 NCV
39 “Now you will see that I am the one God! There is no god but me. I send life and death; I can hurt, and I can heal. No one can escape from me.”
Romans 14:7-8 NIV
7 “For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
Philippians 1:20-21 NIV
20 “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Joseph Prince, by his teaching that God can never take away possessions and, especially life from you, has not only contradicted Job 1:21, but also four other passages of scriptures – two from the Old Testament in 1 Samuel 2:6-7 and Deuteronomy 32:39, and two from the New Testament in Romans 14:7-8 and Philippians 1:20-21.
What is worse, Joseph Prince blatantly contradicts what the Lord Jesus came to preach about the cost of discipleship, which applies to every New Covenant believer:
Luke 14:25-27, 33 NIV
25 “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even their own life – such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” 33 “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”
Yes, Christ came to give us abundant and eternal life, but He can also take away our possessions, family, and even our life, if He sovereignly wants to, to serve His own purposes.
While not every disciple (which refers to every New Covenant believer), will be required to give up his everything and his life literally, he or she must be prepared to do so if called upon by Christ.
Joseph Prince is totally wrong when he taught in his other sermon videos that what had happened to Job could never happen to us, New Covenant believers. On the contrary, not only what had happened to Job could happen to us, but even worse things than what had happened to Job could happen to us.
Job was rewarded for his suffering by being blessed with twice the number of his possessions and the same number of children, and for having lived a full life (Job 42:10-17). Job, though he suffered much by being afflicted physically, did not pay with his dear life.
But many New Covenant believers, throughout the centuries of Christianity, had not only suffered much, but they had paid with their own lives in order to remain loyal to Christ. This was what 11 of the 12 disciples of the Lord Jesus did. This was what the early Christians in the first three hundred years of Christianity did when multitudes of believers were martyred for Christ. This was what Christians in Syria and Iraq did when they had their heads chopped off by the ISIS terrorists about 7 years ago.
Throughout the history of the Christian Church, many have allowed themselves and their own children to be slaughtered by their persecutors because they were unwilling to deny the name of Christ. This is the road that Jesus expects New Covenant believers to take.
Didn’t Jesus say to the Church of Smyrna, a New Covenant Church,
“Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you; the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown” (Rev 2:10 NIV)?
Joseph Prince, in his formulation of his Grace Doctrine that New Covenant believers will never go through the suffering that Job went through, and that they will never die as martyrs, I am dying to know – is Revelation 2:10 missing from his Bible? Is Joseph Prince really teaching from the same Bible? Prince had better check whether the Bible he is using is the same as ours.
In the light of the ‘brutal’ facts that I have just revealed about what had happened and could happen to New Covenant believers, Prince’s teaching that we will never go through the suffering that Job went through is sheer rubbish!
So just as His Father God could, the Lord Jesus too, as God the Son, could give and take away our possessions and even our life at the same time.
What’s more, when the writer took pains to prove that what Job said – that it was the Lord who gives and takes, was backed up by God Himself when God chimed in to support Job (Job 42:7-9):
Job 42:7-9 NIV
7 After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
God Himself vindicated Job when He said, “You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has” (Job 42:7-8 NIV).
God did not just say the exact same words about Job, “You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has” once, but twice in Job 42:7-8.
When God has to say it twice within a short span of 2 verses, this shows the special attention He has given to this fact, and this indicates the importance of what He wants us to take particular note of – that Job was speaking the truth about Him; and this must have also included what Job said about God in Job 1:21b,
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Given what God had said that Job had spoken the truth about Him twice, how daring of Joseph Prince to strongly imply that Job wasn’t speaking the truth, when he said ‘the Lord has taken away’? How daring of Joseph Prince to openly contradict and even lie against God?
What is the root cause or core reason for Job’s sufferings or problems? It is that God wanted to prove Satan wrong that Job feared Him only because he was blessed by Him, but that it would be a different story if Job were made to go through the adversities of life, and have the blessings of God removed from him (Job 1:6-12, 2:1-8). Hence, in order to prove that Job would stay true to God whether in good or adverse circumstance, God permitted Satan to afflict Job.
What transpired in Job 1:6-12 and Job 2:1-8 is so clear for all to see – that only one interpretation is possible – that God is one who not only gives but He too can take away what we possess.
Job 1:6-12 NIV
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Job 1:13-19 then records all the calamities that befell on Job’s cattle and servants, including the loss of his 10 children.
Job 2:1-8 NIV
1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” 4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
When Satan came into the presence of God, it was God who initiated the focus on Job (Job 1:8; 2:3). Satan didn’t bring in Job in his conversation with God but it was God who brought up Job to Satan. It was God who directed Satan’s attention to Job. It was God who set in motion what was about to happen to Job when He put into the mind of Satan to challenge him about Job’s faithfulness.
And when Satan posed the challenge to afflict Job, it was God who took it up. It was God who gave Satan permission to unleash his attacks on Job’s possessions, children and even himself, except for Job’s life. So, God wasn’t the ‘innocent’ or ‘uninvolved’ party. God had a hand in all of Job’s suffering.
From what God said to Satan in Job 2:3, it is crystal clear that He was involved in Job’s adversity:
“…though you (Satan) incited me (God) against him (Job) to ruin him (Job) without any reason” (Job 2:3 NIV).
God was the main player in Job’s suffering, as, without His permission, Satan would never have been able to play havoc in Job’s life, and the whole thing about Job’s suffering wouldn’t have started in the first place. The uncomfortable but stark truth is, the root cause or core reason for Job’s suffering is God Himself, and not Satan as Joseph Prince has falsely postulated.
So, Job did not suffer primarily and only because of Satan as Joseph Prince falsely claims. He suffered primarily because of God. It was God who gave Satan permission to afflict Job. If God hadn’t permitted Satan, Job would never have suffered.
At the end of the Book of Job, we are left with no doubt who is ultimately responsible for Job’s great trials – not Satan, but God Himself (Job 42:11). If anyone is still in doubt, or Joseph Prince still stubbornly refuses to accept the truth that transpired, Job 42:11 conclusively settles it once and for all:
Job 42:10-11 NIV
10 “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.
11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.”
“…They sympathized with him and comforted him concerning all the adversity the Lord had brought on him…” (Job 42:11 CSB).
“… They comforted and consoled him concerning all the disaster the Lord had brought on him…” (Job 42:11 CEB).
“… And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him…” (Job 42:11 NLT).
The scriptures didn’t say it was Satan but God, who had brought all these troubles or adversity or disaster or trials on Job. It didn’t say Satan unleashed those sufferings on Job, and God only passively or reluctantly or grudgingly allowed him to. Or that God could not help it as He is not in full control of the world that Satan is in control of – that Joseph Prince falsely teaches.
Job 42:11 clearly states that every of Job’s pain and suffering came from the hand of God. Satan was only a secondary player. God, as the primary cause of Job’s suffering, was using the devil as a tool to fulfil His purposes both in Job’s life and for His own glory.
Satan struck Job with adversities to ruin him, but God did the same thing to Job to mature and toughen him. Although God took away Job’s possessions and his children, He finally gave them back to Job, with twice the amount of his possessions and the same number of 10 children (Job 42:10, 12, 13). In the trials that God sends into our lives, He will never short-change us, and He will more than amply reward us, either in this life or the next (Matt 5:10-12).
So, from the authority of the scriptures, we can resoundingly conclude that ultimately, God was the one who brought those difficult trials into Job’s life. Satan was only an evil vessel used by God to accomplish His own sovereign purposes.
This unmistakably proves that Job was speaking the truth and the scripture accurately records, when he said,
… The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away… (Job 1:21b NASB)
Hence, Joseph Prince’s view that Satan was the single one responsible for Job’s suffering and taking his cattle and even his children away by death, and that God had absolutely no part to play in the entire episode, is exposed to be one big lie!
But what is appalling is that Joseph Prince has not only lied about Job but more seriously, he has also lied about the scriptures and even God Himself.
Rev George Ong
Joseph Prince, Too Embarrassed to Face His Audience? – By Rev George Ong
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, NCCS office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
On 12 December 2021, last Sunday, 2 days ago, astonishingly, Joseph Prince, instead of preaching live, he again uploaded another of his previous sermon.
Prince’s decision not to preach live last Sunday, is even more surprising, given the fact that for this coming Sunday, he also would not be preaching as another of his Pastor is slated to preach in his stead. So for two straight Sundays, he would be ‘out of action’.
I believe it is no coincidence why Joseph Prince had decided to upload a previous sermon instead of preaching live last Sunday.
This may be due to the fact that (I may be wrong) he may be rather embarrassed to face the audience last Sunday after a series of damaging articles that appeared against him on my website, one after another. There were, especially, two articles, which had to do with the fact that Prince lied, and up till today, he still hadn’t disputed my accusations that he lied.
He was probably hoping that with the coming festive Christmas and New Year season, things will quieten down and people would soon forget what have been written against him.
Again, the response in terms of the number of clicks to this previous sermon that was uploaded last Sunday dipped. His congregation must have again been disappointed and even upset, and rightly so, that he, instead of serving fresh bread, which he often boasts about, had again, chosen the easy way out by serving stale bread with the uploading of a previous sermon.
Unfortunately for Joseph Prince, in my latest article, “Joseph Prince Lied about Job, Scriptures & God” (see above) you have just read, I have again caught him lying. This is getting serious. How can someone who lies persistently, ever be known as the world’s best preacher on the Grace doctrine? Ridiculous!
Lastly, against the backdrop of the serious and meticulous inquiry into a Member of Parliament (and her political leaders) who lied in the Singapore Parliament, the complete and nonchalant silence to the lies of Joseph Prince, who lied on the pulpit, not once but many times, by the National Council of Churches of Singapore (to which Joseph Prince through his church is affiliated) and New Creation Church (to which Prince belongs) is unacceptable!
Rev George Ong