Joseph Prince who said he loves & blesses his critics, then mocks them, is a shameless hypocrite – By Rev George Ong (Dated 13 Nov 2022)
Joseph Prince uses Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Church Mouse to mock his critics. This is getting interesting. Joseph Prince must remember; mocking goes both ways.
If you are wondering why I am that harsh and sarcastic with Joseph Prince – I am only following the example of Prophet Elijah, the Apostle Paul, the Lord Jesus & Father God.
They were unapologetically tough and sarcastic with heretics.
Prophet Elijah, in particular mocked and ridiculed false prophets and practised prophetic sarcasm on them.
Don’t miss the details of the above which are found in the 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.)
In a weekly Sunday sermon aired on YouTube on 16 Oct 2022, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the 15-second video:
“And to all my critics out there, I love you, and all that, I love you, I really do. In fact, sometimes I take communion for you.”
Wah, so touching ah, so sentimental ah – Joseph Prince said he loves his critics twice, some more, you know (Singlish).
Chin Ah Keh Eh (hokkien)?
True or not (Singlish)?
Well, let’s see if he is sincere.
In the same sermon on 16 Oct 2022, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the 30-second video:
“Listen, God still has a special covenant that He will fulfil in the days to come, especially when we are raptured, God’s whole prophetic programme will go back to the Jews. Amen. Amen.
And, we will be watching down. Say ‘I don’t believe in the Pre-trib rapture.’ You can stay. We’ll be watching you from above, Amen.”
Bo Iea Bo Chea; Keh Eh Lah (Hokkien).
What Prince said that he loves his critics isn’t true at all; it’s all a bluff.
How can Joseph Prince say he loves his critics, then in the same sermon,
mocks them by saying that just because they don’t believe in his Pre-trib rapture, he would look down on them
– meaning as Prince would be enjoying himself in heaven, and looking down from heaven, his critics would be suffering on earth during the great tribulation.
Let’s give Joseph Prince another chance to redeem himself.
In a weekly Sunday sermon aired on YouTube on 6 Nov 2022, last Sunday, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the 30-second video:
“Because it will invite a lot of criticism, it will invite a lot of people, who are people who are just out to get me. Anyway, there are always around one lah.
You know God bless them. Amen, I take communion for them also sometimes. Right and ah, but I bless them. I bless them.”
Wah, Joseph Prince said in his sermon on 6 Nov 2022, last Sunday, that he blesses his critics, twice some more, you know (Singlish).
Wah, Wah Chin Kum Tong Leh (Hokkien).
Wow, I’m so touched by what Joseph Prince said.
But Oo Iea Bo Iea? Chin Ah Keh Eh (Hokkien)?
But true or not (Singlish)?
Let’s see whether he means what he says.
In the same sermon on 6 Nov 2022, last Sunday, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the one-and-half-minute video:
“And this is the problem, ‘for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.’ (Gen 26:14)
There will be people who will be jealous of you. There will be people who looking at the church and try to find ‘uh this church, manipulate the people for money must be one.’ They look at a big house of a celebrity; they don’t say anything, alright, or big house of businessman, don’t say anything. If they see a house, even average size lah ha, alright, he must be doing something wrong.
That’s the mentality, or a church must be small and poor. As the saying says, ‘as poor as a (church mouse).’ How can you say that? Why is the church mouse different from other mouse? Oh, there is a difference. Compare church mouse with Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse is prosperous. No one says that Mickey Mouse believes in the health and wealth doctrine. Nobody says that. But I tell you, I tell you, you need to cancel someone, you must cancel Mickey Mouse.
No, of course not. Don’t blame Mickey, don’t blame Minnie. Don’t blame Donald (Duck). It is the flesh. The flesh doesn’t like God’s people to prosper. They can prosper but you cannot.”
Joseph Prince, Li Kong Si Mi Kwee (Hokkien)?
What is Joseph Prince really saying?
One moment, Joseph Prince says he blesses his critics, then, the next moment,
Church mouse, Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck, Long Chong Chow Chook Lai (Hokkien).
Church mouse, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, all came to be mentioned by Joseph Prince.
How can Joseph Prince say he blesses his critics in his sermon on 6 Nov 2022, then, in the same sermon,
makes fun of them with Church Mouse lah, Mickey Mouse lah, Donald Duck lah?
How can Joseph Prince say that he blesses his critics, then go on to say that his critics are jealous of him?
Joseph Prince is so vindictive that he sure knows how to rub salt into his critics’ wounds
by getting his whole congregation to participate in the mocking and fun-making exercise
– through their scornful and gleeful laughter and cheering their chief fun-maker, Joseph Prince on, with their enthusiastic hand-clapping.
Friends, this is the real Joseph Prince that I’m unveiling for you. This is the kind of guy you are dealing with.
Love here, love there. Bless here, bless there – all spoken by Joseph Prince, the Toa Sian Tao (big deceiver).
So confirmed Liao Lah; Keh Eh Lah, Pian Lan Eh Lah (Hokkien).
So, it is confirmed that what Joseph Prince said that he blesses his critics, is all a bluff.
In both his sermons on 16 Oct and 6 Nov 2022, Joseph Prince said;
“And to all my critics out there, I love you, and all that, I love you, I really do. In fact, sometimes I take communion for you.”
“You know God bless them. Amen, I take communion for them also sometimes. Right and ah, but I bless them. I bless them.”
What?
Joseph Prince said that he takes communion for his critics!
Is Joseph Prince okay or not (Singlish)?
Doesn’t he know that partaking in the Holy Communion isn’t to remember his critics who are alive, but to remember the death of Jesus for our sins and be grateful for what He has done for us.
This is the first time I have ever heard someone taking communion for people – his critics.
Chi Pai, double confirmed Liao Lah, Pian Lan Eh Lah (Hokkien).
Now, it is doubly confirmed that Joseph Prince, who is a bluff and a fake, is the deceiver.
Prince must now realise that in making fun of his critics, he is only making fun of himself because of his hypocrisy, insincerity and playacting.
Joseph Prince said;
“And this is the problem, ‘for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.’ (Gen 26:14)
There will be people who will be jealous of you.”
First, in making fun of his critics, Joseph Prince can’t even get the context right.
He has always been saying time and again that we must interpret a passage by context and the joke is, he has again not treated Genesis 26:14 in context.
The context is, the Philistines are pagans, and not Old Covenant believers.
So Joseph Prince ought to apply the Philistines who were jealous to unbelievers, instead of to his critics, whom he considers as New Covenant believers.
If he is aware of that, then why didn’t he qualify that first, but he went straight to make the wrong connection between the Philistines, who were pagans, and his critics, who are New Covenant believers.
Who are the Philistines?
They were Israel’s (Old Covenantal people) enemies. So, now I get the idea – that Joseph Prince is treating his critics as enemies, and not as fellow brothers and sisters.
Second, Joseph Prince said his critics were jealous; and of course, by that, he means they are jealous of him and those who embraced his Health and Wealth doctrine.
But what did 1 Corinthians 13:4 tell us?
1 Corinthians 13:4 NASB
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.
How can someone who claims to love others and not be jealous, be accusing others that he loves for being jealous of him?
Joseph Prince said;
“That’s the mentality, or a church must be small and poor. As the saying says, ‘as poor as a (church mouse).”
Joseph Prince has slandered his critics by implying that they value poverty over prosperity.
That just because they opposed his Health and Wealth gospel, they are opposing the prosperity of every believer.
Dr Chris Kang, an Ex New Creation Church member wrote:
Straw-man fallacy
“… There are other hypergrace teachers besides Prince, of course. One cynical statement I’ve heard prosperity pseudo-gospel preachers make goes something like this:
“Oh, you religious-minded people, if you don’t like praying for more money, you can always pray for poverty! And I can have your money if you don’t want it!”
I’ve heard Prince speak in the same vein.
This is absolute garbage, an intellectually dishonest straw-man argument that simultaneously mocks and slanders those who critique the obsession with wealth on the part of prosperity pseudo-gospel devotees.
Not hankering after more money, not praying covetously for wealth does not equate with desiring to be poor!
Just as I not wanting to eat satay sticks does not automatically mean I want to eat celery sticks. (Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with either satay or celery.)
Well, perhaps logic is just not one of these preachers’ spiritual gifts.”
Joseph Prince said:
“The flesh doesn’t like God’s people to prosper. They can prosper but you cannot.”
Again, Joseph Prince has slandered his critics with his baseless accusation that they don’t like believers prospering.
Just because we are against Joseph Prince’s Prosperity Gospel doctrine, doesn’t mean we are also against the prosperity of believers.
We are not against the prosperity or wealth of believers or unbelievers per se, as long as their riches aren’t obtained through questionable means,
but what we are against is Joseph Prince’s erroneous teaching of the Prosperity Gospel that every New Covenant believer can be very rich as Abraham was.
But Joseph Prince is such an evil man
that he deliberately and falsely equates our stand against his Prosperity Gospel doctrine as the same as opposing the prosperity of every believer.
A. Prophet Elijah, the Apostle Paul, the Lord Jesus & Father God were unapologetically tough & sarcastic with heretics.
1. If you are wondering why I am that harsh and sarcastic with Joseph Prince – I am only following the example of Prophet Elijah who mocked and ridiculed false prophets and practised prophetic sarcasm on them:
1 Kings 18:27 ESV
27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”
1 Kings 18:27 JUB
27 And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is a god; peradventure he is talking or he had to go to the latrine, or he is on a journey, or he sleeps and will awake.
1 Kings 18:27 TLV
27 Now when it was about noon, Elijah mocked them and said, “Shout louder! After all, he is a god! Maybe he’s deep in thought, or he’s relieving himself, or he’s off on a journey, or perhaps he’s asleep and must wake up!”
1 Kings 18:27 CEV
27 At noon, Elijah began making fun of them. “Pray louder!” he said. “Baal must be a god. Maybe he’s day-dreaming or using the toilet or traveling somewhere. Or maybe he’s asleep, and you have to wake him up.”
1 Kings 18:27 CJB (Complete Jewish Bible)
27 Around noon Eliyahu began ridiculing them: “Shout louder! After all, he’s a god, isn’t he? Maybe he’s daydreaming, or he’s on the potty, or he’s away on a trip. Maybe he’s asleep, and you have to wake him up.”
1 Kings 18:27 NOG
27 At noon Elijah started to make fun of them. “Shout louder, since he is a god. Maybe he’s thinking, relieving himself, or traveling! Maybe he’s sleeping, and you have to wake him!”
1 Kings 18:27 NIRV
27 At noon Elijah began to tease them. “Shout louder!” he said. “I’m sure Baal is a god! Perhaps he has too much to think about. Or maybe he has gone to the toilet. Or perhaps he’s away on a trip. Maybe he’s sleeping. You might have to wake him up.”
1 Kings 18:27 ISV
27 Starting about noon, Elijah began to tease them: “Shout louder! “He’s a god, so maybe he’s busy. “Maybe he’s relieving himself. “Maybe he’s busy someplace. “Maybe he’s taking a nap and somebody needs to wake him up.”
If a modern Prophet Elijah were to ‘make fun’ of false teachers over the pulpit by remarking that they are uselessly relieving themselves in the toilet in today’s church, don’t be surprised that he may be ushered down the pulpit and prevented from any further preaching (1 Kgs 18:27).
2. If you are wondering why I am that harsh and sarcastic with Joseph Prince, I am only following the example of the Apostle Paul:
Galatians 5:12 MEV
12 “I wish that those who are troubling you would castrate themselves!”
Galatians 5:12 NIRV
12 “So then, what about troublemakers who try to get others to be circumcised? I wish they would go the whole way! I wish they would cut off everything that marks them as men!”
Just as Paul was downright uncouth and sarcastic with false teachers for preaching a false gospel plus circumcision, Joseph Prince, who preaches a false gospel minus sanctification, has placed himself to be treated in the same manner too (Gal 5:12).
Who of the modern prophets or preachers of today would dare to say over the pulpit with the same daringness that Apostle Paul did – that false teachers should castrate themselves (Gal 5:12)?
How would the modern church respond if a preacher would dare say the same thing as Paul did that false teachers should castrate themselves?
The likelihood is that he would never be invited again for uttering words that are offensive to the modern audience.
3. If you are wondering why I am that harsh and sarcastic with Joseph Prince, I am only following the example of Jesus:
Matthew 23:33 NIV
33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”
Luke 13:31-32 NIV
31 “At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” 32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.”
John 8:42-44 NIV
42 “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Christ uses prophetic sarcasm Himself to make the point biting and piercing to hearts that are close to becoming irreversibly hardened (Matt 23:33; Jn 9:39-41; Lk 33:31-32; Jn 8:42-46).
By placing their untouchable traditions above the commandments of God, the Pharisees have deviated from the truth.
As such, they have become false teachers themselves, who are teaching their traditions rather than the word of God (Matt 15:1-6; Matt 23:23; Mk 7:8-9).
“If one could only appreciate the amicableness of Christ but is repulsed by His cutting sarcasm against the Pharisees – then obviously, he is not ready to follow the real Jesus.” (Matt 23:33; Jn 9:39-41; Lk 33:31-32; Jn 8:42-46) (George Ong)
“‘Sarcasm is sprouted from a bitter man, such as George Ong’ as some may naively generalised – and if so, then Christ and Paul who used biting sarcasm in their ministry must have been the bitterest of all men.” (George Ong)
“The empathetic Christ who cares is also the same eccentric Christ who violently overturned the tables in the holy temple.” (Matt 21:12; Lk 19:45) (George Ong)
4. If you are wondering why I am that harsh and sarcastic with Joseph Prince, I am only following the example of God, the Father:
Amos 4:4-5 NIV
4 “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. 5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings—boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign Lord.
Amos 4:4-5 GNT
4 “The Sovereign Lord says, “People of Israel, go to the holy place in Bethel and sin, if you must! Go to Gilgal and sin with all your might! Go ahead and bring animals to be sacrificed morning after morning, and bring your tithes every third day. 5 Go on and offer your bread in thanksgiving to God, and brag about the extra offerings you bring! This is the kind of thing you love to do.”
Prophetic sarcasm was resorted to even by the holy God Himself to jolt His unholy people who have grown callous and unresponsive to his voice (Am 4:4-5).
B. The Neglected Crucial Prophetic Role.
1. The Eccentricity Of Prophets.
Prophets are often counter-establishment people not because they want to but because establishments have a way of becoming frequently wayward and need to be confronted and overhauled.
Prophets are often commanded by God to perform eccentric prophetic acts to grab the attention of His people who have become callously unresponsive.
Ezekiel was made to lie down for more than 14 months to prophesy (Ezek 4:4-8).
Isaiah was asked to go naked (whether it is half-naked or totally naked, I’m not sure. I tend to think it is half-naked. But even if it is half-naked, it is eccentric enough) for three years to prophesy (Isa 20:1-4).
Hosea was instructed to do the most eccentric of all acts – to marry a prostitute to drive home the message that God is extremely hurt and grieved over Israel’s unfaithfulness (Hos 2:1).
Sadly, the eccentricity of prophets is often mistaken for plain madness and is thoughtlessly rejected by the people at their own peril.
If the people of God were to reject prophets based on eccentricity, then they would have to reject the eccentric Prophet Jesus who forcibly drove the people and animals out of the temple courts with a whip and did the violent table-overturning act in the holy temple (Matt 21:12; Lk 19:45; Mk 11:15; Jn 2:15).
If there is a contemporary Prophet Isaiah who preaches with a half-naked body, or an Ezekiel who tells the church that he is not supposed to mourn for his deceased wife, or a John the Baptist who is dressed in a beggarly way without a tie, the modern church without waiting a second, will stigmatize them as eccentrics to be totally avoided.
Only those with prophetic acumen will be able to discern between an eloquence that is of the devil and an eccentricity that is of the Lord.
2. Priestly & Prophetic Leaders.
“Priestly leaders who comfort will always be appreciated; prophetic leaders, who confront will always be resented.” (George Ong)
“While many will crowd around the priestly who has come to heal their wounds, few will mingle with the prophetic who has come to prick the hardened.” (George Ong)
If there is an imbalance in today’s church, any sensible person will have to admit that there is clear over-emphasis on priestly leadership and an under-emphasis on prophetic leadership.
The imbalance of priestly over prophetic leadership has resulted in a weak and compromised church and one that will be wiped out during a time of persecution.
While the main role of the priestly in the army of God is to heal the wounds, the role of the prophetic is to rally the troops to battle and to brave the storms of persecution.
The current situation of a largely priestly-led church will not be able to weather the storms of the Great Tribulation that will be sweeping through the earth before Christ’s glorious coming.
In dealing with heretics, the priestly cannot be depended upon to lead the charge, as they are too polite to rebuke and too nice to be combative.
Even when a gun is being pointed at their head, a fair bit of coaxing is still required before a single word of scorn is uttered against the heretics.
In dealing with heretics, the Apostle Paul is clearly acting in the role of a prophet when he commanded the church to rebuke sharply and to silence them, and he was even prepared to curse them to hell (Tit 1:10-14, Gal 1:6-10).
When one begins to realise how much of the other half of the truth in the entire Bible, like the prophetic, is being neglected, one will start to realise that we are only babes in our understanding of the word.
3. The Tough Road Of The Prophetic.
“Anyone who has the raw courage of Prophet Nathan to tell the King ‘he has no clothes on’ at the risk of having his head chopped off, is a true prophet in the making.” (2 Sam 12:1-15)
(George Ong)
“Those who are called to move in the prophetic must be prepared to hold his funeral any time – from the track record of the scriptures – while false prophets are warmly embraced, true prophets are coldly murdered.” (George Ong)
Matthew 23:29-31 NIV
29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!
“The prophetic, for their own sanity, must always take the long and eternal view – for with the cruel stones the people throw at the prophets to kill them, will be the same stones they will use to build a grave to honour them.” (Matt 23:29-31) (George Ong)
“The prophet must, out of necessity, learn to move alone, not because he wants to, but just the mere exercise of his prophetic call will simply drive the masses away.” (George Ong)
“This maxim has a sober ring of truth: ‘If you want to be appreciated, be a priest; if you want to be rejected, be a prophet.’” (Lk 4:24, Mk 6:4) (George Ong)
“If there is an imbalance in the contemporary church, it is the imbalance of priestly and political correctness over prophetic eccentricity.” (George Ong)
“The contemporary church can’t even speak of an imbalance – the real picture is that of an overpowering presence of priestly and political correctness over the near-total absence of the voice of the prophetic.” (George Ong)
“The overbearing passion for political correctness in the church has stifled and even silenced the eccentric voice of the God-sent prophet.” (George Ong)
“The stinging words of Prophets, which are delivered to demolish heretic wolves and penetrate callous sheep, are often being falsely accused of wounding the hearts of the faithful.”
(George Ong)
“Old Testament prophets were killed by the sharpness of the sword; New Testament prophets are killed by the tongues of fire.” (George Ong)
“While the many who are too afraid to tell the bare truth will escape trouble, the few who bravely do will be castigated and persecuted.” (George Ong)
“The fact that not even one of the 850 false prophets were left alive by Elijah, simply means that the ‘take no prisoner’ policy must be ruthlessly applied in our fight against the devouring false prophets of today.” (1 Kgs 18:19,40; 19:1) (George Ong)
1 Kings 18:16-18
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.
“When the true prophet of God acts on his prophetic calling, he will always be accused not by the false prophets, but by his covenantal people for whom he is prepared to die for, for being a trouble-maker.” (1 Kgs 18:16-18) (George Ong)
“True prophets were not killed by the false prophets, but by their covenantal people to whom they were divinely sent to speak to prophetically.” (George Ong)
1 Kings 18:18-19 NIV
18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
“The fact that it was the True Prophet Elijah who initiated the battle against the false prophets serves as a severe reprimand to the laid-back church who is doing nothing to contend against the false prophets of today.” (1 Kgs 18:18-19) (George Ong)
“If Prophet Elijah had actively taken the initiative and set the terms in his battle against the false prophets, why are today’s Elijahs who try to do the same, opposed and stifled as misplaced zealots by the church?” (1 Kgs 18:19-40) (George Ong)
4. Self-Denial Needed To Fight Heretics & Heresies.
“When a man has already died to himself, no one can ever succeed in killing him.” (George Ong)
“No threats will work on and no harm can scare a man who has already conducted his funeral in his heart.” (George Ong)
“No one who has ever died to himself will ever die for Christ.” (George Ong)
“Unless we first die to the Lord, we can never truly live for Him.” (George Ong)
“Christ is the perfect leadership model – of a failure in time but a success for eternity.” (George Ong)
“The Christ who died alone as a ‘dismal failure’ is the same Christ who succeeded in creating a whole Movement of the Faith after he dies.” (George Ong)
“If diplomacy and social elegance is the art of leadership, then the straight-talking and table-overturning Jesus must have failed terribly as a leader.” (Jn 8:44; Matt 12:34; 21:12) (George Ong)
“If you are put off by confrontation, denunciation and provocation which Jesus exemplifies, perhaps you are following the wrong Jesus.” (George Ong)
5. Can’t You See That I Am Moving Prophetically Against Joseph Prince?
If you are still wondering why I am so fierce with Joseph Prince, you are probably quite ignorant about the prophetic.
And no wonder that when one starts to move in the prophetic, many believers think he is an alien from outer space.
The time for ‘sweet talk’ with Joseph Prince is over.
The time has come to deal with him prophetically.
Diplomatic silence and nonchalant inaction by the church will only further embolden him.
The local and universal church is purely led and monopolised by the priestly – and no wonder she is weak, especially when it comes to battling with false teachers.
We need both the priestly and the prophetic in the Church of Christ.
The prophetic is needed even more in the end-time Church.
We need the pure guts of Prophet Nathan to confront King David, “You are the man” (2 Sam 12:7).
We need the politically incorrect Prophet John the Baptist to castigate the Pharisees, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath” (Matt 3:7 NIV)?
We need the eccentricity of Prophet Elijah to mock and defy the 850 false prophets and ‘slaughter’ them all (1 Kgs 18:27,40; 1 Kgs 19:1).
We need the Holy boldness of Prophet Jesus, who pronounced seven woes on the Pharisees, the false teachers of His day, and denounced them as children of the devil (Matt 23; Jn 8:44).
“If Jesus comes disguised and exercises His prophetic ministry in the contemporary church today, I can assure you He will never be invited back again.” (George Ong)
D. God Calling People Names Of Animals – An Unusual & Unpleasant Prophetic Aspect of God You Haven’t Discovered.
In case you aren’t aware, let me surface a discomforting fact – that God could call people with offensive animal names: cows, beasts, dogs, horses, monsters, lions, wolves (Amos 4:1; Isa 56:9-11; Jer 5:8; Ezek 32:2; Zeph 3:3):
Amos 4:1 NIV
1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”
Isaiah 56:9-11 NIV
9 “Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest! 10 Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. 11 They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, they seek their own gain.”
Jeremiah 5:8 NASB
8 “They were well-fed lusty horses, Each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife.”
Ezekiel 32:2 NIV
2 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: “‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas thrashing about in your streams, churning the water with your feet and muddying the streams.”
Zephaniah 3:3 TLB
3 “Her leaders are like roaring lions hunting for their victims—out for everything that they can get. Her judges are like ravenous wolves at evening time, who by dawn have left no trace of their prey.”
If God the Father calls people names, what about Jesus?
The same gentle Jesus did the same thing too by calling people with unsavoury names: dogs, swine (pigs), wolves, snakes, vipers and foxes (Matt 7:6,15; 23:33; Lk 13:32; Rev 22:15):
Matthew 7:6 NIV
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
Matthew 7:15 NIV
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”
Matthew 23:33 NIV
33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”
Luke 13:32 NIV
32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’”
Revelation 22:15 NIV
15 “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
Just like Father God, the Lord Jesus, too, can be brutally frank in His remarks about people, and prophetic in the way he deals with them, and He is not always so gracious and priestly.
I am not stretching the application about what we can learn from Father God and the Lord Jesus to an extreme – that we can now start calling people names.
Neither am I veering to the other extreme by saying that it is impossible for anyone to be led to do the same today prophetically as Father God and the Lord Jesus did.
Rather, let your picture of Jesus be informed by scripture, the Spirit rather than your sentiment.
You will be surprised to discover that the real Jesus is more prophetic, forthright, more disapproving and more censorious than what you thought Him to be.
The Jesus of today has been presented so differently by the modern church, especially by Joseph Prince, from the Jesus of the Bible.
Joseph Prince is presenting a false Jesus as a Mr Nice Guy, not a stern fellow who can get angry with you.
The real Jesus can be a hard-hitting fellow, a ‘tell-it-like-it-is’ speaker, and a prophetic preacher who minces no words and even calls people by the names of animals.
I doubt the hell-fire preacher Jesus, the eccentric prophet Elijah and the politically incorrect John the Baptist would be welcomed and sought after by today’s respectable and ‘don’t-rock-the-boat’ church.
Churches that hunger after the prophetic, true-revival and holiness-type preachers are getting fewer and fewer.
Churches that yearn for the ‘priestly’ ‘pat-me-on-my-shoulder’ and the ‘tell-me-everything-is-alright’ message have become more alarmingly prevalent.
Prophetic preachers who preach on and confront sin are seen by the modern church, as Mr Killjoy and for being too intrusive into her personal life.
But if you have not realised that the Compassionate Christ is also the Prophetic Preacher, Sarcastic Saviour and the Condemning Judge, then you have not gotten to know the real Jesus (Matt 23).
The gentle Jesus has no qualms of resorting to prophetic and condemning language to fight an entrenched establishment that is dead-set against changes to conform to His agenda (Matt 23).
Rev George Ong