Joseph Prince’s Double-Talk on COVID-19 – By Rev George Ong (Dated 10 Jan 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.)
Introduction
In this article, some of the issues that are covered, based on what Joseph Prince said in a sermon on 2 January 2022 which will be shown shortly (excerpts in video), include:
Joseph Prince contradicts about 113 Bible passages when he said that God has no virus to send.
Joseph Prince even dares to contradict Jesus, who is God Himself regarding his teaching on the forgiveness of sins and the judgement of New Covenant believers.
Joseph Prince says that God allowed the pandemic for the last 2 years. If God is the one who allowed it, and multitudes of believers have been infected and even died from it, then Joseph Prince’s oft-quoted and famous statement that “No virus can come near you” is a blatant lie that is concocted to deceive.
It seems that nowadays Joseph Prince is too embarrassed to parrot his frequent line, “No virus can come near you,” after COVID-19 has infected more than 300 million people and caused about 5.5 million deaths. And many of those who were affected were believers themselves.
If the untimely deaths of people are what God doesn’t want to see happen and if He can prevent that, and death is an enemy to God (which are what Joseph Prince said in his sermon shown in the video below), why would God allow 55,000 believers (rough and very conservative estimate) to die their untimely deaths? Why didn’t God prevent their untimely deaths at the outset?
In a weekly Sunday sermon aired on YouTube on 2 January 2022, 8 days ago, Joseph Prince said the following; please click here to view excerpts in the 2-minute plus video,
“So these past 2 years, there has been death. There has been a break. Amen. And it is not so much that the problem is sin is abounding. Of course, sin is evil and God hates sin. And my friend, sin will be punished, will be visited upon. But Jesus died on the cross for all our sins. Friends, and if anyone who believe that in their own lives, God will never punish them for sins anymore. Judgement is past. He that believed on Jesus Christ shall passed from death unto life. (John 5:24 KJV: …believeth on him… is passed from death unto life.) So what’s the problem?
I believe God is putting an end to all of man’s strength. In every area, these past 2 years, you find that where man boasts of his strength, it dies. Where man boasts of his own wisdom, it dies. Where man boasts of his own skill, it dies. It seems like whenever, hey it’s time for us to get out, it dies. You know, it’s like God is putting, God is humbling the pride of man.
Now God is not the one sending the pandemic. He has no virus to send. Only every good and perfect gift. But God allows it. And He can allow it if man doesn’t want Him. He can just lift one finger and we are all in a pandemic. But I am believing God that in part of this acceleration this coming year that God will preserve us, and cause us if we are sick to have a manifestation of healing. I believe, I believe that many of you, you’ve been told by the doctor, you need to go for chemo for 3 years, at least or 4 years, I believe your acceleration is going to come. And it will come quickly. Praise the name of Jesus. What takes 5 years will take a short time.”
“And the rest of you, I want to pray for you for this coming year, a prayer that I believe the Lord has instructed me to pray. And one of the prayers is also that there’s such a thing as people dying an untimely death. God doesn’t want that to happen to you, and God can prevent that. Don’t forget death to God is an enemy. But the enemy of our souls, the devil is out there. And we need to know his devices. And one of the ways is that God told us to pray that to lead us not into testings but deliver us from evil. So let’s pray right now.”
“Father I thank you in the name of Jesus. And I pray Father God that you will lead us all, lead us all throughout this year Lord, not, not into trials, not into testings, but deliver us all from the power of the evil one throughout this year.”
1. First Double-Talk: Is it Sin or Not Sin?
Joseph Prince said,
“So these past 2 years, there has been death. There has been a break. Amen. And it is not so much that the problem is sin is abounding.”
“I believe God is putting an end to all of man’s strength. In every area, these past 2 years, you find that where man boasts of his strength, it dies. Where man boasts of his own wisdom, it dies. Where man boasts of his own skill, it dies. It seems like whenever, hey it’s time for us to get out, it dies. You know, it’s like God is putting, God is humbling the pride of man.”
First, Joseph Prince states that the problem of the pandemic,
“is not so much that the problem is sin is abounding.”
He then goes on to state that the problem during the last 2 years of the pandemic is due to man’s dependence on his own strength and pride,
“I believe God is putting an end to all of man’s strength. In every area, these past 2 years… God is humbling the pride of man.”
Is Joseph Prince saying that when man (whether an unbeliever or a believer) boasts of his strength, that is not sin? Is he saying that when man is proud (whether an unbeliever or a believer) his pride is not sin? Then what is sin? You mean pride is not sin? Prince is fully aware that it was the sin of pride that resulted in the fall of Satan. He is also fully aware that the scriptures clearly teach that pride is sin:
Proverbs 16:18 NIV
18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Isaiah 13:11 NCV
11 The Lord says, “I will punish the world for its evil and wicked people for their sins. I will cause proud people to lose their pride, and I will destroy the pride of those who are cruel to others.
Isaiah 25:11 NCV
11 They will spread their arms in it like a person who is swimming. But God will bring down their pride, and all the clever things they have made will mean nothing.
Jeremiah 13:9 NCV
9 This is what the Lord said: “In the same way I will ruin the pride of the people of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
1 John 2:16 NIV
16 For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world.
So if Joseph Prince now agrees that pride is sin (and he has to, or else he would be teaching against the scriptures), and God, through the pandemic, wants to humble man because of his sin of pride, then why did he say that the problem of the pandemic,
“is not so much that the problem is sin is abounding.”
If Joseph Prince says that
“God is humbling the pride of man,”
then isn’t it true that according to his analysis, that sin, the sin of pride, is really abounding as, according to Prince, that’s the real issue of the pandemic.
So why is Joseph Prince saying that the pandemic,
“is not so much that the problem is sin is abounding.”
You begin to wonder why is Joseph Prince double-talking – which is his frequent trademark, anyway?
This is because there is something really wrong with Prince’s Grace Theology that sin is no more the problem. And that’s why Prince has to somewhat qualify and downplay sin by saying that the problem of the pandemic is not so much that sin is abounding.
Prince then contradicts himself by implying that the dependence of man on his strength, and especially his pride, which he says are the reasons why God sends the pandemic to humble him, are not sin.
However, we are well aware that sin, in all its wickedness, is the key problem that brings about God’s wrath, not just in the past or in the future but in the very present (Rom 1:18):
Romans 1:18 NIV
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
2. New Covenant Believers Can Still Be Judged & Punished if they don’t Repent of their Sins.
Joseph Prince said,
“Of course, sin is evil and God hates sin. And my friend, sin will be punished, will be visited upon. But Jesus died on the cross for all our sins. Friends, and if anyone who believe that in their own lives, God will never punish them for sins anymore. Judgement is past.”
By stating that God will never punish and judge New Covenant believers anymore, Joseph Prince is contradicting the Lord Jesus, who is God Himself. What? Joseph Prince even dares to contradict God? Yes, this is the kind of man we are dealing with! This is because Jesus confronted the sins of the believers in five of the seven churches in Revelation 2-3 and warned them to repent, failing which, He would judge and punish them:
Revelation 2:5 NIV
5 “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”
Revelation 2:16 NIV
16 “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”
Revelation 2:22 NIV
22 “So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.”
Revelation 3:3 NIV
3 “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”
Revelation 3:16,19 NIV
16 “So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” 19 “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.”
While Jesus warned the five New Covenant churches in Revelation to repent from their sins, Joseph Prince daringly teaches a different doctrine from Jesus – that New Covenant believers have no more sins to confess and repent from.
If all our sins are really forgiven, past present and future, and there is no more judgement and punishment for New Covenant believers, as Joseph Prince teaches, it makes a mockery of what Jesus had said to five of the seven churches in Revelation – when He commanded them in no uncertain terms to repent from their sins, or else the respective judgements and punishments He had warned would befall on each of the 5 churches.
Joseph Prince’s teaching that the finished work of the cross of Christ has wiped out all future sins of believers is patently false, as Jesus was speaking to five of the seven churches many years after He had died on the cross (and resurrected), and His unmistakable message to them was to repent of their sins.
While Jesus confronted the sins of the believers in these five churches and warned them to repent to avoid divine judgement and being punished for their sins, Joseph Prince falsely promised that New Covenant believers will never be punished and judged.
Who did the Old Testament prophets preach the message of repentance and judgement to? – The Old Covenant people of God.
Who did Jesus preach the same message of repentance and judgement to? – The New Covenant churches in Revelation (Rev 2:5,16; 2:21-23; 3:3,16,19).
And here comes Joseph Prince with the unholy daringness to declare that repentance from sins and judgement and punishment are no longer in force for New Covenant believers. If believers follow the teaching of Joseph Prince and refuse to repent from their sins, God’s judgement will come upon them and hell may be the place they would end up in, eventually.
If Joseph Prince’s teachings are blatantly and persistently going head-on against the teachings of Jesus, how can he ever be Christ-centred and a true teacher of God’s word? How can the Church continue to accept him as a fellow shepherd? Treating him as a heretical wolf is the only sensible, responsible and scriptural step to take.
In ‘Grace Revolution’, Page 100, Joseph Prince wrote,
“There is no more judgment, punishment, and curse for you because the full judgment, punishment, and curse for all your sins fell upon our Lord Jesus at the cross. He paid for it all!”
Joseph Prince teaches that after the cross, believers will never come under the judgement of God and be punished by Him. Joseph Prince must have forgotten to put on his contact lenses or spectacles – how could he have missed 1 Peter 4:17?
1 Peter 4:17 NIV
17 “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
You can be assured that Peter, being an Apostle, knows much more about the theology of the cross than Joseph Prince does. Yet, the Apostle Peter unequivocally teaches that believers in the Church can come under the judgement of God (1 Pet 4:17) – before or after the cross? – After the cross! What the Apostle Peter had written in 1 Peter 4:17 is not before, but after the cross.
So Joseph Prince is not only teaching against the Lord Jesus but also the Apostle Peter on crucial areas of sin and God’s judgement – both of which could result in believers ending up in hell. So what more does one need to be convinced that Joseph Prince is a heretic?
3. Not Once Saved Always Saved.
Joseph Prince said,
“But Jesus died on the cross for all our sins. Friends, and if anyone who believe that in their own lives, God will never punish them for sins anymore. Judgement is past. He that believed on Jesus Christ shall passed from death unto life. (John 5:24 KJV: …believeth on him… is passed from death unto life.) So what’s the problem?”
After Prince has stated John 5:24, he asked “What’s the problem?” This is pure arrogance on his part as he wrongly thinks that his theological opponents would be floored by this sure-to-win verse. Well, not quite!
As you should have known by now, Joseph Prince is an expert at using half-truths to deceive people. While Prince confidently belts out John 5:24, he doesn’t tell you the other half of the truth as contained in 1 John 3:14b-15 and Luke 15:24, 32.
While we rejoice that John 5:24 has given us the assurance of our salvation that we have passed from death to life, that doesn’t mean we do not have to watch how we live our lives.
Let’s compare John 5:24 and 1 John 3:14b-15:
John 5:24 ESV
24 “I am telling you the truth: those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me have eternal life. They will not be judged, but have already passed from death to life.
1 John 3:14-15 NIV
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
John 5:24 assures us that believers have passed from death to life. 1 John 3:14a also assures that believers will be passed from death to life (salvation) because of their love for each other (sanctification).
Yet, the other side of the truth which John also tells the Christian brothers in 1 John 3:14b-15, (which many may have missed), is that believers can pass from life back to death through the sin of hatred (lack of sanctification). Unrepentant hatred (lack of sanctification) can, indeed, affect believers’ salvation.
Here, John did not say that those who do not have the righteousness of God in Christ (justification) will not have eternal life, though it is still true. But John teaches that those who do not deal with the sin of hatred in their lives (sanctification) are putting their salvation at stake. John is clearly emphasising the crucial role of sanctification or the lack of it in our salvation.
1 John 3:14a and John 5:24 indicate that believers will pass from spiritual death to life. This is one side of the truth which Joseph Prince would emphasise on. Yet, the other side of the truth which Prince would try hard to hide from you is that believers can pass from life to spiritual death through the sin of hatred in 1 John 3:14b-15.
The Prodigal Son is also helpful in giving us a fuller understanding of the issue. In Luke 15:11-32, we learn that the younger of two sons desired to depart from the Father’s presence and be with the prostitutes. After he had spent all his money and was in great distress, he came to his senses (Lk 15:17).
He then turned from his sins (repented), was willing to admit that he had sinned and went back into the presence of the Father. This resulted in a feast of celebration. The Father said:
Luke 15:23-24 NIV
23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.
Luke 15:32 NIV
32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
So after he repented, he became alive again, which implies his spiritual condition went as follows: spiritually alive – then spiritually dead or lost – then spiritually alive again.
Please note that the Prodigal Son was spiritually dead and spiritually lost at the same point in time; that is when he was in sexual immorality and wild living. After he repented, he became alive again. Those words are very important. It says ‘again’.
That means he had spiritual life before he left the Father to indulge in wild living and sexual immorality. He got that same spiritual life back again when he repented and returned to the Father. In other words, he was righteous yet died spiritually through sin (became lost) and later became spiritually alive again when he turned from his wickedness to be with his Father.
Yes, Jesus taught in John 5:24 that one passes from spiritual death to spiritual life at the point of getting born again:
John 5:24 NKJV
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
Yet, the same Jesus also taught in the example of the Prodigal Son that the same person can pass back from spiritual life to spiritual death through sin.
Next, it is important to note that the word ‘believes’ in John 5:24 is the present continuous tense in the Greek:
John 5:24 NIV
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
This present continuous tense signifies a continual and current belief in Christ and not a belief in the past.
The verse did not say,
“and have believed him who sent me.”
But it said,
“and believes him who sent me.”
Therefore, the Lord Jesus is saying here that we must continuously be believing in the Father who had sent Jesus. It is not just a belief in the past but it must also be a belief that continues into the present.
Therefore, the requirement for eternal life is based on an ongoing belief, not just a belief in the past. This verse simply means that anyone who currently is still believing in the God who had sent Christ will have eternal life and “has crossed over from death to life.” (Jn 5:24b)
The passage does not say anything about the salvation of those who have stopped believing or who have once believed. Hence, the use of this verse by Joseph Prince to support his ‘once saved always saved’ is untenable.
This is because if one has stopped believing or who has once believed, the promise of eternal life and “has crossed over from death to life.” (Jn 5:24b) is not his to claim.
Jesus was promising only the one who continues to believe in Him with the assurance that he will have
“… eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (Jn 5:24 NIV)
This verse does not cover others who just believe for a while and then fall away, as the Lord also mentioned in Luke 8:13:
Luke 8:13 NIV
13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
According to Jesus in Luke 8:13, one can truly believe even with joy, but this doesn’t mean he will always continue to believe afterwards. And if one has stopped believing and forsaken Christ for the world, he will cross back from life to death.
4. Second Double-Talk: Joseph Prince Contradicts about 113 Bible Passages and that His Statement, “No virus can come near you” is a Blatant Lie.
Joseph Prince said,
“Now God is not the one sending the pandemic. He has no virus to send.”
If God is not the one sending the pandemic because He has no virus to send, we need to delete all the passages of the Bible that state He was the one who had sent pestilences or plagues.
“An Exhaustive list of Scriptures Regarding Pestilences & Plagues,”
which lists 113 passages of scriptures that God was the one who sent the pestilences and plagues.
By his totally reckless and abominable statement, Joseph Prince is contradicting about 113 passages of God’s holy word. If this is not the work of a heretic, what is?
Joseph Prince also said God allowed the pandemic for the last 2 years,
“Now God is not the one sending the pandemic. He has no virus to send. Only every good and perfect gift. But God allows it.”
If God is the one who allowed it, and multitudes of believers have been infected and even died from it, then Joseph Prince’s oft-quoted and famous statement that “No virus can come near you” is a blatant lie that is concocted to deceive.
Come to think of it, Joseph Prince has actually refrained from parroting his frequent line, “No virus can come near you,” for quite some time now in his weekly Sunday sermons. I listen to every of Prince’s weekly sermons and I haven’t heard that line repeated for quite a while now.
Why is that so? Perhaps, Prince is now too embarrassed to say it now after COVID-19 has infected more than 300 million people and caused about 5.5 million deaths. And many of those who were affected were believers themselves.
5. Third Double-Talk: Why would a God of Love and Grace Allow the Pandemic?
Joseph Prince said,
“But God allows it (pandemic).”
Why would a God of love and grace which is Joseph Prince’s core doctrine, allow the occurrence of the pandemic, knowing that it will result in tragedies, sufferings, diseases and even deaths, not only to unbelievers but also to believers?
Here we are not talking about a few who are affected, but we are talking about more than 300 million people being infected with COVID-19 and about 5.5 million deaths, and a portion of these are believers themselves.
Hence, Joseph Prince’s teaching that Christians will never be faced with tragedies, is now proven to be a scam.
Joseph Prince’s teaching that the New Covenant God only deals with us on the basis of grace because we are living in the Age of Grace and not law has also fallen flat.
6. Fourth Double-Talk: Why Didn’t God Prevent Untimely Deaths if Death to God is an Enemy?
Joseph Prince said,
“But God allows it (pandemic). And He can allow it if man doesn’t want Him. He can just lift one finger and we are all in a pandemic.”
“… there’s such a thing as people dying an untimely death. God doesn’t want that to happen to you, and God can prevent that. Don’t forget death to God is an enemy.”
How can Joseph Prince say that it was God who allows the pandemic, and, at the same time, also said that God, who doesn’t want untimely deaths to happen to believers, can prevent that, and that death to God is an enemy? Isn’t what Prince said a stark contradiction?
If the untimely death is something that God can prevent and death to God is an enemy, why did He allow the pandemic to cause about 5.5 million deaths in the first place?
What? 55,000 believers (assuming a very conservative figure of just 1 percent of the 5.5 million people who died from COVID-10 are believers) dying their untimely deaths in the past 2 years?
If the untimely deaths of people are what God doesn’t want to see happen and if He can prevent that, and death is an enemy to God, why would God allow 55,000 believers to die their untimely deaths? Why didn’t God prevent their untimely deaths at the outset?
Who causes the untimely deaths of 55,000 believers? If it is Satan, which is Joseph Prince’s view, then why didn’t God prevent their untimely deaths? If death is an enemy to God, and if untimely death is something that He can prevent, why did He allow Satan to cause 55,000 believers to die their untimely deaths?
Has God lost His sovereignty? Is Satan more powerful than God Himself that God cannot stop Satan from inflicting untimely deaths to 55,000 believers, something which He doesn’t want to see happen and something which He can stop?
7. Fifth Double-Talk: The Prayer of Joseph Prince Is Misleading and He Has No Business to Use Matthew 6:13 as a Model for His Prayer.
Joseph Prince said,
“But the enemy of our souls, the devil is out there. And we need to know his devices. And one of the ways is that God told us to pray that to lead us not into testings but deliver us from evil. So let’s pray right now.”
“Father I thank you in the name of Jesus. And I pray Father God that you will lead us all, lead us all throughout this year Lord, not, not into trials, not into testings, but deliver us all from the power of the evil one throughout this year.”
The prayer that Joseph Prince prayed is found partly in the Lord’s prayer in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:13:
Matthew 6:13 NIV
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
But the prayer of Joseph Prince to God not to lead us into trials or testings is misleading. While Prince highlights Matthew 6:13, he hides James 1:2-4 from us:
James 1:2-4 NIV
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
How should we reconcile these 2 passages in Matthew 6:13 and James 1:2-4 which Joseph Prince didn’t even attempt to? He conveniently just focusses on one half of the truth in Matthew 6:13 as it fits his doctrine that God will not send trials or sufferings (except the suffering of persecution) to believers, but he keeps James 1:2-4 away from our notice.
To resolve this seeming contradiction between Matthew 6:13 and James 1:2-4, it is wise of us to read what John Stott, a competent Bible scholar has written on Matthew 6:13 in ‘The Message of The Sermon on the Mount (The Bible Speaks Today)’, Page 150:
“The second problem concerns the fact that the Bible says temptation and trial are good for us: ‘Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials’ or ‘various temptations’ (Jas 1:2). If then they are beneficial, why should we pray not to be led into them? The probable answer is that the prayer (Matt 6:13) is more that we may overcome temptation, than that we may avoid it. Perhaps we could paraphrase the whole request as ‘Do not allow us so to be led into temptation that it overwhelms us, but rescue us from the evil one’.”
So the prayer of Joseph Prince somewhat misses the balance of how both Matthew 6:13 and James 1:2, together, ought to be interpreted.
John Stott makes sense when he wrote:
The probable answer is that the prayer is more that we may overcome temptation, than that we may avoid it.
Praying to avoid trials and testings by Joseph Prince is very much in line with his easy Christianity and cheap grace. That’s why so many goats are attracted to such feel-good teachings of Joseph Prince – that Christianity is one that is free from trials. That’s one of the key secrets why his church has grown by leaps and bounds. But don’t ever be deceived by the quantitative growth of Joseph Prince’s church.
It is here that we must listen to the insightful advice of the Lord Jesus. Jesus Himself said that the many (quantity but no quality) on the broad road will be led to their destruction, while the few (no quantity but quality) on the narrow road will be led to life eternal (Matt 7:13-14).
The prayer by Joseph Prince to avoid trials would not only weaken believers but would also cause them to be disappointed and even resentful against God, especially if those trials continue unabated for a while as God could send them to toughen the faith of believers. Also, Joseph Prince is depriving believers of experiencing the pure joy that comes with trials because trials produce perseverance:
James 1:2-3 NIV
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Next, it is strange that Joseph Prince would use the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:13 as a model for his prayer, when, at the same time, he fiercely teaches against the theology and practice of Matthew 6:14-15 in the same context and passage:
Matthew 6:13-15 NIV
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Prince cannot accept the view which is taught by Christ in Matthew 6:15 that we must forgive to be forgiven because Prince said that that is under the Old Covenant and, hence, it is no longer applicable to us.
Jesus clearly teaches that if we do not forgive others, our present sins are still not forgiven. But Joseph Prince contradicts Jesus again and falsely teaches that all our present and future sins have been completely forgiven by the finished work of Christ, 2,000 years ago.
What Joseph Prince has done is that he selectively picks and chooses what he wants from the scriptures. He cherry picks passages that would fit into his Grace Theology in Matthew 6:13, but he would do away with verses in the same passage that don’t in Matthew 6:14-15. Picking one verse and rejecting another in the same passage and context is nothing but showing utter irreverence and doing violence to the scriptures.
What is worse is that Joseph Prince has no business to even allude to Matthew 6:13, which is part of the Sermon on the Mount, as a model for his prayer. This is because Prince has lambasted the Sermon on the Mount as a sermon that is without hope and redemption for New Covenant believers:
In ‘Grace Revolution’, Page 13, Joseph Prince wrote,
“The good news is that Jesus didn’t stop there. He preached the Sermon on the Mount and then He came down. Spiritually speaking, if the King had stayed on the mountain, there would have been no redemption for us.”
Please click here to view the 5-second video of what Joseph Prince said,
“Now if Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount and He stayed up there on the Mount, there’ll be no hope for us.”
Joseph Prince categorically states that there is no redemption or salvation hope for us in the message of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. If that is the case, why did Joseph Prince use Matthew 6:13, which is part of the Sermon on the Mount that has no salvation hope for us, as a model for his prayer?
This must have been the most prominent of all his double-talks. Imagine – castigating an entire Bible passage such as the Sermon on the Mount that he disapproves because it doesn’t fit his Grace Theology, and then, Prince has the cheek to use a portion (Matthew 6:13) of the same sermon text that he lambasted to support his theology!
How on earth can millions of people still trust this guy who double-talks his way to deceive people? The only way to explain it is that Joseph Prince is empowered by the devil with so much influence and popularity that he has the power to blind the multitudes to his heresies.
Conclusion
Do you know what is the root cause of all these double-talks and contradictions of Joseph Prince?
First, it is because Joseph Prince’s doctrine that Satan is the sole person who is responsible for natural disasters such as COVID-19 is false. So the more he tries to justify and explain his position, the more he gets himself into knots of contradictions and double-talkings.
Second, it is because Prince preaches the wrong doctrine that God can and will heal believers of all their diseases every time (though God can heal every disease anytime, it doesn’t mean, for His own sovereign purpose, He will in every case) as no virus can come near them. Then came COVID-19 that really muddled up Prince’s Health and Wealth Theology. And the more Prince tries to justify his wrong doctrine, the more he gets himself into a mess.
Rev George Ong