Joseph Prince scorns the martyrs for shedding their blood for nothing
– By Rev George Ong (Dated 20 Oct 2024)
Announcements:
Joseph Prince preached this morning, 20 Oct 2024,
and there are a number of interesting things that he said.
Well, I will certainly help him
to publicise them this coming week.
But as for the article today, I am still covering
what he preached last Sunday on 13 Oct 2024.
Excerpt from the Article:
So, when Joseph Prince said:
“You see when you are in heaven too soon, right,
you’re no more earthly good.”
he is not only accusing Stephen,
but also 11 of the 12 disciples,
who had their lives cut short by martyrdom,
and including the Lord Jesus who died at young age of 33,
for being not of earthly good
because they went to heaven too soon.
Tell me, who would listen to such kind of guy?
Yet, there are millions of silly people
who choose to do so.
(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.)
In a sermon on 13 Oct 2024, last Sunday,
Joseph Prince said;
to view the 1-minute-30-second video:
“If you then being evil
know how to give good things to your children.
But you know how to give good things to your children.
By the way, does God give health, right.
Ask, you being evil, will you give health to your children?
Would you provide for them to have access to health facilities?
You want them well when they are sick?
How much more?
You camp on that for a few days enough already.
How much more will your father who is in heaven
give good things,
good things to them that ask Him?
Ah Pastor, I’m fearful that I will die young.
You ever ask God for long life?
But my friend say you cannot ask God for that.
Your time to go, you go.
You tell your friend, Lah,
you want to go, he go, he go alone.
But you can ask God.
You know David ask God for long life
Have you asked God before?
Is it a good thing?
Is it a good thing?
You see when you are in heaven too soon, right,
you’re no more earthly good.
And trust me God has plenty of perfection there.
You know, don’t go too early.
So, any way is it a good thing?
But why don’t God just give me?
To those who ask Him
Have you asked?
Have you asked?”
1. Joseph Prince, by saying that believers who go to heaven too early are of no earthly good and that believers should not die too early, is scorning every martyr of the Christian Faith for shedding their blood for nothing.
By what Joseph Prince said,
he is treating the martyrs like idiots,
with contempt and scorning them.
Joseph Prince said;
“You see when you are in heaven too soon right,
you’re no more earthly good.
And trust me God has plenty of perfection there.
You know, don’t go too early.”
Many of us would know that martyrdom
is the common experience of believers.
(Please don’t let our experience in Singapore blind us to what is happening to other parts of the world.)
Martyrdom started in the Book of Acts
and would end in Revelation
before Christ comes back again.
Even today, there are many Christians who are martyred.
By his teaching that believers who go to heaven too early
are of no earthly good
and that believers should not die too early,
Joseph Prince is scorning God,
who have called the hordes of martyrs,
who have sacrificed their lives for the sake of the Church.
Many died when they are still young.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran Pastor (1906–1945),
died at a young age of 39.
He went against the Nazis and eventually was killed by them.
Nevertheless, he had done much in his short life.
Jim Elliot, (1927-1956), died at a young age of 28.
This young missionary
was one of five young men killed in South America
while they were trying to preach the gospel
to the natives there.
Furthermore, Joseph Prince, by his teaching
that believers who go to heaven too early
are of no earthly good
and that believers should not die too early,
is heaping a stinging insult on every martyr
throughout the history of the Church
that they have shed their blood for nothing.
Hey Joe, may I ask you
how long did Jesus live?
A long life of 330 years of age
or a short life of only 33?
Jesus did not live to a ripe old age
as Joseph Prince would love to see,
but He died young at only 33,
and yet He obtained the salvation of millions
who believed in Him.
Joseph Prince has always claimed to be preaching Jesus.
But why is Jesus, whom Joseph Prince claimed to be preaching
not exemplified in his Grace teaching
as one who had lived a long life?
In fact, Jesus’ short life is a total contradiction
to Joseph Prince’s teaching on long life.
Hey Joe, let me also ask you
did the apostles live long lives?
No!
Their lives (11 out of 12) were cut short by martyrdom.
If living long life for New Covenant believers
is just a matter of asking,
why didn’t Jesus Himself and the Apostles,
being the first batch of New Covenant believers,
exemplify it?
You ought to know by now
that Joseph Prince is against the doctrine of martyrdom
which the scripture clearly teaches.
Do you know why?
It is because of Joseph Prince’s doctrine
that God will always protect you from early and unnatural death
and that martyrdom would cut short your life
and go against his teaching
that every believer is entitled to live long life.
If you are still unconvinced
that Joseph Prince is against martyrdom,
let’s hear from Yvonne Tan,
an Ex New Creation Church member for 20 years:
“Don’t we all know how Paul,
a New Covenant believer,
died as a martyr
and how all of Jesus’ disciples
were also martyred except for John.
Yet, Joseph Prince can bring himself to teach that we,
as New Covenant believers,
will never be martyred for the sake of Christ.
What a stark contradiction!”
2. If the long-life doctrine doesn’t even work for New Creation Church, this only proves that Joseph Prince is a fraud.
Hey Joe, can I ask how old was your mother
when she passed away recently,
Was she 110?
Of course not!
Not just his mother,
but Joseph Prince has many members in New Creation Church
who have since passed away
during the 30 odd years of his ministry.
And hey Joe, may I ask
how old were most of them?
110?
Come on, who is Joseph Prince trying to kid?
Joseph Prince is a specialist
at using the many so-called testimonies of healing,
which are read at worship services almost every Sunday
to prove that he is preaching the correct doctrine.
But why isn’t there any on long-life so far
– that because of Joseph Prince’s teaching
this member or that member lived to 110 or 120?
In fact, one testimony isn’t enough,
but we need plenty of testimonies
of New Creation Church members living beyond 110
to prove his long-life doctrine beyond any reasonable doubt.
If the principle of living a long life to one’s satisfaction
which is only taught by him in his church,
cannot even produce concrete results,
that simply means Joseph Prince is a fraud.
If it doesn’t even work in his church,
how dare Joseph Prince preach it so confidently
as a golden truth that this long-life principle
is a promise for every New Covenant believer
and that all that we need to have long life
is to ask God for it.
3. The long-life blessing is not an unconditional promise that Joseph Prince tries to deceive us but it comes with conditions.
If you read Psalm 91:16 in the context of Psalm 91:14-16,
Psalm 91:14-16 NKJV
14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation,”
you would discover that the promise of long life in verse 16
comes with the condition of us loving God in verse 14.
This means that if we don’t love God,
we cannot lay our claim on the promise of a long life.
If you read Proverbs 3:2 in the context of Proverbs 3:1-2,
Proverbs 3:1-2 NKJV
My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands; 2 For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you.
you would discover the promise of long life in verse 2,
comes with the condition
of keeping God’s laws or obeying His commandments in verse 1.
This means that if we don’t obey God’s laws or commandments,
we have no right to claim the promise of a long life.
Obviously, Joseph Prince is lying to his congregations
and giving them the false impression
that the promise of long life has no conditions,
but all that is required is just ask,
when the word of God says
that there are conditions to be met.
Even in the larger context of the entire Old Testament,
several other relevant passages
prove that the promise of long life
isn’t an unconditional promise at all.
It is only promised to those
who love the Lord, listen to His voice, cling to Him (Deut 30:19-20),
obey God, follow Him, live the way God has commanded (Deut 5:32-33),
fear and obey God (Deut 6:2),
keep God’s laws (1 Kgs 3:14),
obey the Lord (Prov 10:27),
remember His teaching (Prov 3:1-2),
honour one’s parents (Ex 20:12),
and fear Him (Prov 9:10-11):
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 EHV
19 I call the heavens and the earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, a blessing and a curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live 20 by loving the Lord your God, by listening to his voice, and by clinging to him, because that means life for you, and you will live a long life on your land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Deuteronomy 5:32-33 ERV
32 “So you people must be careful to do everything the Lord commanded you. Do not stop following God! 33 You must live the way the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will continue to live, and everything will be fine with you. You will live a long life in the land that will belong to you.
Deuteronomy 6:2 NLT
2 and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life.
1 Kings 3:14 GNT
14 And if you obey me and keep my laws and commands, as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”
Proverbs 10:27 GNT
27 Obey the Lord, and you will live longer. The wicked die before their time.
Proverbs 3:1-2 ERV
1 My son, don’t forget my teaching. Remember what I tell you to do. 2 What I teach will give you a good, long life, and all will go well for you.
Exodus 20:12 NLT
12 “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Proverbs 9:10-11 ERV
10 Wisdom begins with fear and respect for the Lord. Knowledge of the Holy One leads to understanding. 11 Wisdom will help you live longer; she will add years to your life.”
So, it is not just a matter of asking
that Joseph Prince tries to deceive us (half-truth deception),
you will have to fulfil the conditions
before long life can be granted to you.
Finally, let’s listen to what Charles Spurgeon has to say:
In ‘The Sermons of Charles Spurgeon in Four Volumes,
Volume 1: Sermons 1-200,’
Charles Spurgeon said:
“To one man God
giveth a long life and uniform health,
so that he scarcely knows
what it is to have a day’s sickness,
while another, totters through the world
and finds a grave at almost every step,
feeling a thousand deaths in fearing one.
One man, even in extreme old age, like Moses,
has his eye undimmed;
and though his hair is grey,
he stands as firmly on his feet
as when a young man in his father’s house.
Whence, again, we ask is this difference?
And the only adequate answer is,
it is the effect of Jehovah’s Sovereignty.
You find, too, that some men
are cut off in the prime of their life
— the very midst of their days
— while others live beyond their threescore years and ten.
One departs before he has reached the first stage of existence,
and another has his life lengthened out
until it becomes quite a burden,
we must, I conceive,
necessarily trace the cause of all these differences in life
to the fact of God’s Sovereignty.
He is Ruler and King,
and shall he not do as he wills with his own.”
Indeed, every true believer would agree with Charles Spurgeon
that we must recognise it is God’s sovereignty
that finally decides how long or how short
each person would live.
Life and death are not in the hands of man, but God.
But the fact that Joseph Prince could bring himself
to say these words:
“You see when you are in heaven too soon, right,
you’re no more earthly good.
And trust me God has plenty of perfection there.
You know, don’t go too early,”
especially, the last phrase
“You know, don’t go too early,”
shows that Joseph Prince wants to be God
to decide how long each person can live,
as, according to him,
all that is required is to ask God
and He would have to grant the number of days
you want to live, to you.
Joseph Prince said:
“You see when you are in heaven too soon, right,
you’re no more earthly good.”
This shows that Joseph Prince is grossly ignorant
about the accomplishment of the first martyr
of the Christian Church, Stephen.
It was because of the martyrdom of Stephen
that brought about
the fulfilled scattering of the Church of Jesus Christ
from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria to preach the gospel.
Stephen’s martyrdom was all it takes
to spark off the evangelisation of the then known world.
The death of Stephen’s death
sets off a chain of events
that resulted in the scattering of the Church
bringing the message of the gospel
to the uttermost parts of the then known world.
It sets off a rippling effect
that brought the gospel not only to the Jews
but also the Gentiles.
Hence, as opposed to what Joseph Prince has said,
it was Stephen that has indeed done much earthly good
with his early death.
Though he went to heaven early,
Stephen has accomplished much more
than one who may live long on the earth.
So, when Joseph Prince said:
“You see when you are in heaven too soon, right,
you’re no more earthly good.”
he is not only accusing Stephen,
but also 11 of the 12 disciples,
who had their lives cut short by martyrdom,
and including the Lord Jesus who died at young age of 33,
for being not of earthly good
because they went to heaven too soon.
Tell me, who would listen to such kind of guy?
Yet, there are millions of silly people
who choose to do so.
Rev George Ong