Article 1: Joseph Prince’s Half-truth Teaching on Romans 2:4 Contradicted Michael Brown, Martyn Lloyd-Jones & the Lord Jesus – By Rev George Ong (Dated 17 Oct 2022)
Article 2: Joseph Prince’s Half-truth Teaching on Repentance is Demolished by Justin Peters – By Rev George Ong (Dated 17 Oct 2022)
Preface
Article 2 is probably my shortest article ever. It comprises mainly a 2-minute video on Justin Peters, a world-renowned figure in exposing heretics, and Joseph Prince.
Don’t miss the Appendix at the end of Article 2, which highlights the deadliness of the Half-truth strategy that Joseph Prince liberally employs to deceive.
The Great Irony – Joseph Prince Praising Martyn Lloyd-Jones
In a video, Joseph Prince said that Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“was a great man of God.”
In ‘Destined to Reign, Page 252, Joseph Prince wrote;
“Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones had been the pastor of the Westminster Chapel in London for some 30 years. He was well respected within both the charismatic and non-charismatic circles, and was considered by many as the Charles Spurgeon of the modern church.”
In my many articles on this website, and in this article too in the last portion, I have surfaced many of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ teachings, that go head-on against Joseph Prince’s doctrine.
They are not minor differences but fundamental differences in doctrines over law and grace, Ten Commandments, Antinomianism, etc.
Are you puzzled?
Why would Joseph Prince praise Martyn Lloyd-Jones as a well-respected preacher which many have considered ‘as the Charles Spurgeon of the modern church’ and yet Lloyd-Jones was the one who taught against many of his grace teachings?
Tell me, would anyone in his right mind, praise someone publicly in his book when what the person teaches is diametrically opposed to his own doctrines?
Well, you must be a little crazy if you did, but unbelievably, that’s what Joseph Prince did.
Joseph Prince needs to come clean and explain this irony.
If he chooses to stay silent, as he probably will, there are 2 possibilities.
It is either, he was so ignorant about Lloyd-Jones’ teachings that he didn’t even know that Lloyd-Jones teaches against the bulk of his doctrines.
Or, it is a deliberate attempt that is calculated to deceive the people that both Lloyd-Jones and he hold to the same doctrines.
Would you ever trust an ignorant preacher, or worse, someone who schemes to deceive in broad daylight?
These 2 articles, based on a sermon by Joseph Prince on 9 Oct 2022, 2 Sundays ago, were already completed and was supposed to be released last Thursday, but had to be postponed to today because I had to feature a more important article on Rev Yang Tuck Yoong, at the last minute.
Please click this link below to read the article, titled, ‘Rev Yang Tuck Yoong spoke against Hypergrace & Antinomianism in a worship service last Sunday’ if you have not done so:
Joseph Prince’s Half-truth Teaching on Romans 2:4 Contradicted Michael Brown, Martyn Lloyd-Jones & the Lord Jesus – Rev George Ong
(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 9 Oct 2022, 2 Sundays ago, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the 10-second video:
“Oh the goodness of God. The Bible says, ‘Don’t you know the goodness of God leads you to repentance.’”
In another sermon, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the one-minute video:
“Once upon a time, in the Old Testament, there are plenty of occasions to show you that you have to repent first before God blesses you. In the Old Testament, you have to repent, turn away from sin and then God blesses you. Now listen, in the New Testament, God blesses you, and it’s the goodness of God that leads you to repentance. Now, I’ve been using that verse all the time. But look up the verse, Romans 2:4, ‘Or do you despise the riches of His goodness.’
How many know God is not just good, He is plenty of good; ‘the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.’ The word lead there is like the Holy Spirit leading you. The goodness of God leads you where? – to repentance. It is not repentance, listen, it is not repentance leads you to goodness. It is goodness that leads you to repentance. A lot of believers still have this idea if I have repent, it will lead me to God’s goodness. But hey, ‘The Bible says God’s goodness that leads you to repentance.’”
In ‘Destined To Reign’, Pages 231-233, Joseph Prince wrote,
“‘But Pastor Prince, we have to preach God’s law and His judgment, or there will be no repentance from the people.’ My friend, God’s heart is never to condemn. We want judgment, but God wants mercy. The Bible says that “the goodness of God leads you to repentance.” (Rom 2:4 NKJV)
…“Nevertheless, there are still people who insist that we have to preach on repentance. Well, I disagree! I think that we should do it God’s way – preach the goodness of God and allow the goodness of God to lead people to repentance.”
… “So let’s be scriptural, my friend. It is not the preaching of wrath, fiery indignation and judgment that will cause people’s hearts to turn back to God. It is His goodness, grace and mercy.”
1. Joseph Prince’s Teaching on Romans 2:4 that it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance is a Half-truth that is calculated to deceive.
Joseph Prince said,
“Oh the goodness of God. The Bible says, ‘Don’t you know the goodness of God leads you to repentance.’”
Joseph Prince wrote:
The Bible says that “the goodness of God leads you to repentance.” (Rom 2:4 NKJV)
… “So let’s be scriptural, my friend. It is not the preaching of wrath, fiery indignation and judgment that will cause people’s hearts to turn back to God. It is His goodness, grace and mercy.”
Joseph Prince uses Romans 2:4 to teach that since it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (the half-truth that Prince accepts), we should not use God’s wrath or fiery indignation or judgement to preach the gospel and to believers (the other half-truth that Prince rejects).
According to him, all we need to do is to tell people about God’s grace and mercy and how much God loves them because it’s the goodness of God that leads people to repentance.
But the truth which Joseph Prince has hidden from you is that the phrase, “the goodness of God” (MEV, NKJV) or “the kindness of God” (NIV) in Romans 2:4 is located in a passage that is filled with God’s wrath and judgement in Romans 2:1-9 (MEV):
1 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judges, for when you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge do the same things. 2 “But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who commit such things. 3 Do you think, O man, who judges those who do such things, and who does the same thing, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Do you despise the riches of His goodness, tolerance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your hardness and impenitent heart, you are storing up treasures of wrath against yourself on the day of wrath when the righteous judgment of God will be revealed, 6 and He “will render to every man according to his deeds.” 7 To those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality will be eternal life. 8 But to those who are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, 9 will be tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile.”
Joseph Prince declared (also in his other sermons) that we should never mention God’s wrath or judgement when we preach the gospel because the Bible says, “the goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Rom 2:4).
Thus, according to him, the proper way to proclaim the gospel is to speak only of God’s grace and goodness and not about His wrath and judgement as that would supposedly not lead people to repent.
Yet, I want you to note that “the goodness of God” (MEV, NKJV) is only stated in one verse in Romans 2:4.
But God’s wrath, judgement, indignation and tribulation are reflected all over the passage in Romans 2:2,3,5,8,9.
So why does Joseph Prince cherry-pick (which he frequently does) on God’s goodness in Romans 2:4 and deliberately chooses not to highlight about God’s wrath, judgement, indignation and tribulation in Romans 2:2,3,5,8,9?
By doing that, Joseph Prince is misrepresenting Paul as Paul’s intention in Romans 2:1-9 is never to just focus on God’s goodness but also His wrath and judgement.
The context of Romans 2:1-9 and the entire passage of Romans chapter 2 indicates that the Jews had the mistaken notion that everyone was destined for judgement except themselves – the so-called privileged, circumcised and chosen people of God.
Because of this, Paul had to warn them that no one, including the Jews, is immune or exempted from the wrath and judgement of God:
Romans 2:8-9
8 But to those who are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, 9 will be tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile.”
Paul was warning them that just because God’s judgement has not yet descended on them, this doesn’t mean they are safe.
Though God’s punishment does not immediately follow sin, it is due to God’s goodness and patience.
But God is not giving them the licence to continue sinning.
He is showing them goodness by giving them the opportunity to repent and turn from their wicked ways.
And that they ought not to take the goodness or the kindness of God for granted.
But the truth is the Jews were simply taking advantage of the goodness or the kindness of God:
Romans 2:4-5 NLT
4 “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? 5 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself.”
Romans 2:4-5 GNT
4 “Or perhaps you despise his great kindness, tolerance, and patience. Surely you know that God is kind, because he is trying to lead you to repent. 5 But you have a hard and stubborn heart, and so you are making your own punishment even greater on the Day when God’s anger and righteous judgments will be revealed.”
Paul is, in effect, saying to the Jews: “Don’t assume the fact that God has not punished you yet, means He wouldn’t do it.”
God has shown His goodness and patience towards the Jews by not invoking immediate judgement on them, hoping that they would repent.
But the Jews were taking advantage of the goodness and mercy of God as an excuse to sin rather than a positive inducement to repent.
If, according to Joseph Prince’s argument that it is the goodness or the kindness of God that will lead people to repentance, it should, in the same way, have led the Jews to repentance.
But it didn’t.
Paul’s indictment against them was that they failed to appreciate God’s goodness but instead took advantage of His goodness and continued in their wayward ways.
Joseph Prince gives the false impression that the only way to get people to repent is to preach on God’s goodness.
Ironically, the Jews were the beneficiary of God’s goodness, but this didn’t lead them to repent.
Joseph Prince has deceptively taken just one phrase in Romans 2:4, “…the goodness of God leads you to repentance,” and lifted it out of the whole context of Romans 2:1-9 to teach his so-called universal principle that the way to lead people to repentance is to preach on God’s goodness and not His wrath and judgement.
But when Paul talks about the goodness of God in Romans 2:4, it is in the context God is delaying His wrath on the people who deserve it because of His goodness. God’s goodness is the very reason that we have not yet experienced His judgement.
Paul is not teaching a certain principle or universal doctrine that to get people to repent we must preach on the goodness of God and that we must not preach about His wrath and judgement.
When one reads in context, it then becomes clear, what Paul means is that it is when sinners realised how good and kind God has been to them in mercifully delaying His righteous judgement and wrath that they repent.
So biblically, it is impossible to preach on the goodness of God that leads to repentance without talking about God’s wrath and judgment against sin because the very meaning, reason and context of God’s goodness for repentance is bound up with His wrath and judgement, especially in Romans 2:1-9 (Rom 2:4).
In other words, God’s goodness and His wrath and judgement are integrally related in Romans 2:1-9 – that to talk about God’s goodness, one, inevitably, has to speak about His wrath and judgement.
The more they realised they are under God’s wrath and judgement, the more they would appreciate that it is God’s goodness that has kept them from His wrath and judgement for the time being.
This simply means that the preaching of God’s wrath and judgement is unavoidable and logically necessary, for God’s goodness, mercy and grace, to be deeply appreciated, especially in Romans 2:1-9.
When we see our sinful rebellion against God, and our hypocrisy in condemning others for committing the same sins that deserve God’s wrath (that the Jews have done, and we, too), then we can marvel at and appreciate God’s goodness in patiently withholding the judgement that we deserve even more:
Romans 2:1-4 NLT
1 You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. 2 And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. 3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? 4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
But, ironically, Joseph Prince, by preaching only on God’s goodness and failing to mention His wrath and judgement is doing a great disservice to God and His goodness.
What Joseph Prince has deceptively done is that from a principle of the goodness of God that could lead people to repentance (which I don’t deny),
Joseph Prince twisted it to
– you must only preach on the goodness of God if you want to lead people to repentance (the half-truth that Prince accepts), and that you must not preach on God’s wrath and judgement (the other half-truth that he rejects).
Many preachers have wonderfully preached on Romans 2:4. As true believers, we have all subscribed to this glorious teaching that God is indeed, good, patient, gracious, merciful and kind. These are glorious truths that believers ought to hold on to. The goodness of God indeed is meant to lead us to repentance.
But what becomes wrong is if that preacher goes on to say that just because God is good, and that God’s goodness is to lead us to repentance, we must no longer preach on God’s wrath and judgement.
If a preacher, who is known for preaching the whole counsel of God that includes God’s wrath and judgement, but is led by the Holy Spirit to focus on the goodness of God for repentance in his sermon on a particular Sunday, there is nothing wrong with that.
But, for Joseph Prince, who teaches against the preaching of God’s wrath and judgement as one of his key grace doctrines, and goes on to proclaim that every preacher must only preach on the goodness of God as that is the scriptural way to get people to repent, is grossly erroneous.
What Joseph Prince has sinfully done is to stretch the half-truth that God’s goodness will lead you to repentance to become the whole truth, while preaching against the other half of the truth about God’s wrath and judgement.
Before I move to the next point, one more issue I need to highlight is that Martyn Lloyd-Jones contradicted what Joseph Prince said in the video.
Joseph Prince said,
“Once upon a time, in the Old Testament, there are plenty of occasions to show you that you have to repent first before God blesses you. In the Old Testament, you have to repent, turn away from sin and then God blesses you. Now listen, in the New Testament, God blesses you, and it’s the goodness of God that leads you to repentance.”
“The goodness of God leads you where? – to repentance. It is not repentance, listen, it is not repentance leads you to goodness. It is goodness that leads you to repentance. A lot of believers still have this idea if I have repent, it will lead me to God’s goodness. But hey, ‘The Bible says God’s goodness that leads to repentance.’”
But in ‘Exposition of Romans Chapters 2:1-3:20 The Righteous Judgment of God’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Page 29, he said,
“And then, lastly, it leads to this: there are many people in the Christian life, I believe, who are not enjoying the full blessings of salvation simply because they have not grasped this principle.
Because they are disobedient to God, or are sinning against Him in some way, they are causing God to withhold His blessing from them. He will not bless while we disobey. While we are sinning against Him we have no right to ask blessing. There is a condition to every single promise in the Bible, and if we do not keep the conditions we have not much right to expect the blessings.”
Let me paraphrase what Joseph Prince and Martyn Lloyd-Jones are saying.
Joseph Prince is saying that New Covenant believers, as opposed to Old Covenant believers, will still be blessed by God because of His goodness and despite their sinning because it is only the goodness of God in the form of blessings that leads them to repent from their sins. This means before they repent from their sins, God still blesses them. Prince also said in his other sermons that experiencing blessings from God is the norm that every New Covenant believer can expect to receive.
But Martyn Lloyd-Jones is implying that on this particular issue, there is no difference between how God treats an Old Covenant believer or a New Covenant believer. He said that God can withhold His blessings for New Covenant believers when we are sinning against God and disobeying Him. He also said that for New Covenant believers to be blessed by God is not an automatic right but conditional.
Who do you trust to be teaching the right doctrine?
Joseph Prince or Martyn Lloyd-Jones?
2. Joseph Prince’s teaching that since it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance, we should not use God’s wrath or judgement in our preaching, contradicts that of the Lord Jesus.
In the New Covenant Church of Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7), Jesus commands them to repent and warns them that He would remove their lampstand from its place if they do not repent (Rev 2:5).
Whatever that may mean, it is definitely something that is utterly damaging and severely harmful to the church.
Jesus is categorically reprimanding the church – that the failure to heed His warning to repent would be followed by severe punishment.
What Jesus did to the church in Ephesus is totally at odds with the grace doctrine of Joseph Prince.
Jesus’ warning to judge and punish them if they don’t repent completely contradicts Joseph Prince’s half-truth teaching that we must preach on the goodness of God and not His wrath and judgement to get people to repent.
Joseph Prince needs to tell us where was the goodness of Father God or the Lord Jesus that was shown that would lead the church in Ephesus to repent.
Did Jesus tell them as Joseph Prince would,
“I’m going to show you God’s goodness or My goodness as it is God’s goodness or My goodness that will cause you to repent.
I don’t have to preach on repentance as just the mere experience of God’s goodness or My goodness will automatically cause you to repent”?
No.
Jesus said,
“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 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” (Rev 2:4-5 NIV).
Jesus was invoking His punishment and judgement to get them to repent, and not on God’s goodness nor His goodness, to cajole them to repent.
Joseph Prince would have to go and hide his face somewhere as all his credibility have gone to the dogs.
This is because Jesus Himself had contradicted what Joseph Prince has so shamelessly taught about repentance.
Just as Jesus commands the Church in Ephesus to repent or His judgment will fall, in the same way:
Jesus commands the New Covenant Church in Pergamum to repent, failing which, he warns them He would fight against them with the sword of His mouth (Rev 2:16).
Jesus commands the New Covenant Church in Thyatira to repent – unless they repent of false teachings, He was prepared to cause intense suffering on His own children and even strike them dead (Rev 2:2).
Jesus commands the New Covenant Church in Sardis to repent, and if they refused, Christ warns that He will ‘come as a thief’ which is a clear reference to His Second Coming, to surprise them (Rev 3:3).
Jesus commands the New Covenant Church in Laodicea to repent, and if they choose not to, Christ will have no qualms to spit or vomit them out of His mouth (Rev 3:16,19).
How could Joseph Prince be preaching the same Jesus of the Bible when he preaches that it is only the goodness of God that leads you to repentance?
But Jesus did the opposite by warning the 5 New Covenant churches of Revelation of severe judgements that will come upon them if they don’t repent (Rev 2-3).
Joseph Prince is indeed preaching a different Jesus from the One of the Bible.
If Prince is preaching a different Jesus, how could a Singapore Bishop and a Singapore Presbyterian Pastor say he is not a heretic (2 Cor 11:4)?
If you have missed reading this article,
Joseph Prince, who Preaches a Different Jesus, is undoubtedly, a Heretic – By Rev George Ong (Dated 9 August 2022),
kindly click below
3. Joseph Prince’s teaching that there is no place for the preaching of God’s wrath and judgement in relation to repentance contradicts that of Michael Brown.
Joseph Prince wrote,
… “So let’s be scriptural, my friend. It is not the preaching of wrath, fiery indignation and judgment that will cause people’s hearts to turn back to God. It is His goodness, grace and mercy.”
But in an article, titled, “Is It Only the Goodness of God That Leads Us to Repentance?” under CHARISMANEWS, Michael Brown wrote,
“In Romans 2:4, Paul explains that it is God’s kindness (ESV; or, in the KJV, God’s goodness) that leads us to repentance. But does that mean we are not to mention God’s wrath when we preach to the lost? Does it mean we are not to warn people of the dangers of sin? Certainly not.
Unfortunately, the idea that we are only to speak to the lost about God’s goodness has become widespread today, ultimately dishonoring the Lord and hurting those we want to help.”
“But what about Romans 2:4? Wasn’t Paul teaching there that we are only to share God’s goodness with the lost and that it is only His goodness that leads people to repentance?
Absolutely not.
Paul is speaking to a nonbeliever, someone who deserved God’s judgment but had not yet received it. He writes, “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4, ESV).
In other words, the reason God has not yet judged you and given you what you deserve is because He is giving you time to repent. His kindness – meaning, the fact that He is so long-suffering with lost sinners – is meant to bring you to repentance. So, don’t despise His goodness, as if He is giving you a license to sin or is looking the other way. No. He is being kind to you with the hope that you will turn from your sin and turn to God.
That was Paul’s point in Romans 2:4.
And while it is true that a revelation of God’s love and goodness is often the very thing that brings us to repentance, the entire New Testament is against the idea that we are only to preach about God’s goodness to the lost, never mentioning His wrath or judgment.
Just look at the preaching in Acts. In Acts 2, Peter calls on his fellow Jews to repent for crucifying the Messiah, culminating with this summary in 2:40: “He pressed his case with many other arguments and kept pleading with them, ‘Save yourselves from this perverse generation!’” (Jewish New Testament).
It’s the same thing in Acts 3, where Peter’s preaching ends with a warning and a promise (vv. 19-26), while in Acts 4:12, Peter boldly proclaims to the Jewish leadership that there is salvation in no name other than the name of Jesus. (Isn’t it interesting that he didn’t start any of his messages with “Jesus loves you”?)
In Acts 5, Peter rebukes the Jerusalem leadership for crucifying the Messiah, stating plainly that repentance and forgiveness of sins has been granted to Israel through Jesus.
And on and on it goes in Acts, with Paul preaching similar messages too, calling for repentance (Acts 17:30; 20:21; 26:20 – and notice carefully that repent means “to turn away from sin and to turn to God”), talking to Felix about “righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment” (Acts 24:25, ESV) and even bringing this warning in the synagogue: “Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about: ‘Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you’” (Acts 13:40-41).
This is how Jesus preached too, often warning about the wrath to come and always calling for repentance.
Why then do we think we know better than Jesus or Paul? And why do we think we know better than the greatest revivalists and evangelists in history – men and women who proclaimed God’s incredible goodness, mercy and love through Jesus but who also thundered warnings about the consequences of sin and the coming wrath?
And why do the New Testament writers speak so often about God’s coming judgment if we are not supposed to speak about it at all today, especially to the lost?
And why did Paul tell the believers in Rome to “consider the goodness and severity of God” (Rom. 11:22, NKJV)?
By all means, let us proclaim John 3:16-21, and let us exalt the love of God. But let’s remember that those verses contain a warning as well as a promise: Those who do not believe are condemned already and will one day perish.
Love compels us to tell them the whole truth.”
Let me surface the last point of Michael Brown:
“Love compels us to tell them the whole truth.”
Since Joseph Prince uses the half-truth in Romans 2:4 (as he frequently does in many of his teachings), to deceive people, his real motivation of preaching the gospel isn’t out of love, but out of his prideful ego to prove and vindicate his grace teachings – that all others are wrong, but he is right and the only one who has constantly received revelations from the Holy Spirit.
Michael Brown wrote,
“And why did Paul tell the believers in Rome to “consider the goodness and severity of God” (Rom. 11:22, NKJV)?
Martyn Lloyd-Jones said the same thing in ‘Exposition of Romans chapters 2:1-3:20 The Righteous Judgment of God’
“While it is very right for us to talk about the goodness of God, let us never forget that with the goodness of God there is also the severity of God; so these things must always be taken together.”
While Joseph Prince uses a half-truth to deceive, Michael Brown and Martyn Lloyd-Jones have the integrity to teach that the whole truth about God’s kindness and severity must be taught.
Who do you trust?
Michael Brown and Martyn Lloyd-Jones or Joseph Prince, the cunning deceiver?
4. Joseph Prince’s teaching that there is no place for the preaching of God’s wrath and judgement contradicts that of Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
Joseph Prince wrote,
… “So let’s be scriptural, my friend. It is not the preaching of wrath, fiery indignation and judgment that will cause people’s hearts to turn back to God. It is His goodness, grace and mercy.”
The scripture and the teachings of Martyn Lloyd-Jones (which I will unveil in just a moment) totally contradicted what Joseph Prince teaches that one shouldn’t preach on the wrath and judgement of God to bring people to repentance.
In ‘Exposition of Romans Chapter 1, The Gospel of God’, by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Pages 325-327, he said;
“My dear friends, it is not enough that you and I should be clear about the evangel; our methods of evangelism must correspond to the scriptures as much as our message does, and here is the method. He (Paul) starts with the wrath of God (Rom 1:18), not with the needs of the people as such, not with the things which were worrying them, not with that sin which gets them down, which they cannot overcome, nor with their unhappiness, and so on. Not at all! He does not mention these things. Instead, he (Paul) speaks the wrath of God.”
… “When you come to the New Testament you find John the Baptist doing exactly the same; the first thing John the Baptist said to the people who came to listen to him was not, ‘Have you come along to have a given experience?’ but, ‘Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?’ (Lk 3:7 KJV) The same thing, you see.
It is equally plain in the message and the method of our blessed Lord Himself.
Then listen to Peter preaching on the Day of Pentecost. What does he do? He expounds the Scriptures, showing men their relationship to God. And the effect of that sermon was to make them cry out, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ (Acts 2:37) They were face to face with God.
And as you read of the sermons of the Apostle Paul in Acts thirteen, fourteen, seventeen and twenty especially, you will find that it was always the same thing.”
… “Let us be scriptural in our method as well as in our message. This staggers me, as I have said. Has it staggered you, that the first thing that Paul tells us about his reasons for preaching the gospel, which is such a wonderful way of salvation, is – ‘The wrath of God has been revealed’?” (Rom 1:18)
In ‘Exposition of Romans Chapter 1, The Gospel of God’, by Martyn Lloyd-Jones’, Page 330, he said,
“Let me prove it all. Have you ever realized I wonder, that the Apostle uses this concept of the wrath of God ten times in this one epistle?
Now I want to draw our attention to it. We must not make any mistake about this, because if we are wrong at the beginning, in the first move, we shall be wrong everywhere else. If we are not right here, how can we be right afterwards?
Ten times over the Apostle brings in this concept in this one epistle; here is the first.”
(Below is George Ong’s inclusion based on what Lloyd-Jones said in his book. Here are the over 10 times in nine verses that Paul mentions about the wrath of God in Romans):
Romans 2:5 NIV
5 “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.”
Romans 2:8 NIV
8 “But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”
Romans 3:5 NIV
5 “But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)”
Romans 4:15 NIV
15 “because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.”
Romans 5:9 NIV
9 “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
Romans 9:22 NIV
22 “What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?”
Romans 12:19 NIV
19 “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”
Romans 13:4 NIV
4 “For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
Romans 13:5 ESV
5 “Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.”
In ‘Exposition of Romans Chapter 1, The Gospel of God’, by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Page 332, he said,
“And so we find that the Apostle in this one epistle repeats this word (wrath of God) 10 times over. That is why he starts with it; it is a controlling conception. He simply cannot think of the gospel except in terms of this tremendous idea of ‘the wrath of God upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men’. (Rom 1:18)
But it is not confined to the Epistle to the Romans. Go through all of Paul’s epistles and you will find that this concept is everywhere.”
In ‘Exposition of Romans Chapter 1, The Gospel of God’, by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Pages 333-334, he said,
“Go on to the Epistle to the Ephesians, and there it is again in the second chapter, the third verse:
‘Among whom we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature’ – what? – ‘the children of wrath, even as others’.
It is everywhere, my friends. This man (Paul) could not speak of the gospel without bringing it in.
Listen to him again in the fifth chapter of Ephesians, verse six, and in the parallel passage in Colossians 3:6:
‘Because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience’…
And have you ever read the first chapter of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians?’
… when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (verse 7 and 8).
And do you remember what he says to the Thessalonians in his First Epistle? He says, Everybody knows about you –
‘For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus’ – what about Jesus, what has He done? – ‘which delivered us from the wrath to come’ (1 Thess 1:9,10).
You see, it appears everywhere: this man (Paul) cannot keep away from this message, this great truth, this vital doctrine.”
In ‘Exposition of Romans Chapter 1, The Gospel of God’, by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Pages 337-338, he said,
“Why, it is even found in John 3:16: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son’.
Why?
‘That whosoever believeth in him should not perish…’ that is the first thing, you see; always that first. Not ‘have a good time’, but ‘not perish’ – that is the immediate thing – ‘but have everlasting life’.
And then we are told that if a man does not believe ‘the wrath of God abides on him’ (John 3:36).
Our Lord repeats this in John 12: He says that the word He preaches is going to judge them on that day, and, read too his constant statements about the place where ‘their worm dieth not the fire is not quenched’.
It is all just a repetition of this great message of the wrath of God. That is the biblical testimony, and if you read the accounts of the lives and the preaching of the greatest evangelists that the church has ever known, you will find they have all repeated it; it does not matter who they were.
It is not only a John Calvin and a John Knox whom you may regard as stern, legal men. Martin Luther preached it; Augustine preached it; they have all preached it. The saintly, lovable (George) Whitefield preached it; John Wesley preached it.
Have you read the sermon of Jonathan Edwards on ‘Sinners in the hands of an angry God’?
Oh, how God has used it to convert – yes, young people as well as older people! What has age to do with this? What has the passing of centuries to do with this?
God does not change, He is still the same consuming fire. And unless people come to Him because they want to know Him and to love His kind of life, there is no point in their coming. The business of the gospel is to bring people to God, and to reconcile them to God.
Not to fill churches! Not to have good statistics! But to reconcile men to God – to save them from the wrath to come.”
I say, therefore, that if our evangelising and our evangelism is to be scriptural, we must, with Apostle Paul, always and invariably start with this:
‘For the wrath of God has been revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men’. (Rom 1:18)
In ‘Exposition of Romans chapters 3:20-4:25, Atonement and Justification’ by Martyn Lloyd- Jones, Page 8, he said,
“We must start where the Apostle starts. What is the first great problem? It is the problem of ‘the wrath of God’. That is the starting point. This cannot be stated too often.
Evangelism does not start even with the Lord Jesus Christ; it starts with God. There is no meaning to evangelism apart from God, and the wrath of God. There is no sense or meaning in anything else.
We must not invite people to ‘come to Jesus’ as a friend, or as a healer of the body, or as one who gives a bit of comfort, and so on. No, He is ‘the Saviour’. He has ‘come to seek and to save that which was lost’.
But why do we need salvation? The answer is, because of the ‘the wrath of God upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men’ (Rom 1:18), and the Apostle tells us that it has been revealed already.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones has passionately and overwhelmingly proven especially from the teachings of Paul that there is every place for the preaching of God’s wrath in the gospel of grace.
Ironically, Paul is the very person whom Joseph Prince has proudly declared he had learned all his grace doctrine from.
Wait a minute, how could this be?
How could Paul be the one that Joseph Prince is learning all his grace doctrine from if Joseph Prince teaches directly against Paul on the use of God’s wrath for the preaching of the gospel?
Somebody is lying!
Who?
Joseph Prince!
Can you trust a liar?
What is reprehensible is that not only is Joseph Prince a liar, he makes God ‘and the scriptures’ liars.
Joseph Prince wrote,
“I think that we should do it God’s way – preach the goodness of God and allow the goodness of God to lead people to repentance.”
… “So let’s be scriptural, my friend. It is not the preaching of wrath, fiery indignation and judgment that will cause people’s hearts to turn back to God. It is His goodness, grace and mercy.”
By now, you should have been convinced that in the context of Romans 2:1-9, that’s not what God or the scripture is saying.
Just imagine – even God and the scriptures are not spared in Joseph Prince’s ungodly and sickening efforts to shore up his Pseudo-grace doctrine.
It should be clear to you by now that the vital place of God’s wrath in the preaching of the gospel is well established throughout the scriptures.
Our Lord Jesus, the Apostle Paul, Apostle John, Martyn-Lloyd Jones and Michael Brown – have all vouched that God’s wrath is essential for gospel preaching, and hence, they all stand against what Joseph Prince has been falsely teaching.
If that is the case, how can anyone claim that Joseph Prince is teaching the true grace doctrine of the scriptures?
How can anyone not believe that he is a false prophet who goes out of his way to deceive the church with his ‘no-wrath-all-grace’ half-truth and false gospel that is so appealing to the flesh?
Such a flesh-pleasing gospel will certainly draw in many into his church.
But are these many mainly goats who are looking for an easy but a false gospel, or are they sheep who are genuinely converted by the true gospel of grace?
Are you now convinced that just because New Creation Church is the largest in Singapore, and the fact that more and more people are being drawn in, and have so-called received the grace gospel (false gospel) of Joseph Prince (which Prince has constantly harped on to vindicate the truth of his grace gospel), may not mean anything in the end and does not prove anything at all?
Joseph Prince’s Half-truth Teaching on Repentance is Demolished by Justin Peters – By Rev George Ong
(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 9 Oct 2022, 2 Sundays ago, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the 10-second video:
“Oh the goodness of God. The Bible says, ‘Don’t you know the goodness of God leads you to repentance.’”
In Article 1, ‘Joseph Prince’s Half-truth Teaching on Romans 2:4 Contradicted Michael Brown, Martyn Lloyd-Jones & the Lord Jesus’,
I have focused on Joseph Prince’s half-truth teaching on the goodness of God.
In this article, Article 2, ‘Joseph Prince’s Half-truth Teaching on Repentance is Demolished by Justin Peters’,
my focus is on Joseph Prince’s half-truth teaching on repentance.
Joseph Prince’s teaching on repentance is a half-truth because he stresses that repentance is a change of mind which is true but only half true.
But the other half of the truth which Prince teaches against is that repentance, which is repentance from sin (Prince believes there is no sin to repent from as all sins have already been forgiven and believers must not be made to be sin-conscious) must also result in a changed life with concrete fruits of repentance to show.
I have spoken much against Joseph Prince’s erroneous teaching on repentance and many of these were featured on this website.
So this time, I will let Justin Peters, who is a well-known figure in contending against heretics, do the talking and demolish such a doctrine of Joseph Prince.
Please click here to view the 2-minute video:
Joseph Prince said,
“You know the word ‘repentance’ like Joel (Joel Osteen) said is from the Greek word, ‘Metanoia’ which literally means ‘change your mind’. And every time like Joel or me preaching the word, without using the word ‘repentance’ sometimes, but peoples’ minds are being changed all the time, from thinking this way, negatively, to thinking positively.”
Justin Peters said,
Well, Joseph Prince says that the Greek word for repentance is ‘Metanoia’. You know what? He’s right. And then he says that the word ‘Metanoia’ means to change your mind. You know what? Right again.
But then did you notice how he flashed it out? He said we may not be using the word ‘repentance’ – you know let’s not confuse anybody with theological terms that the Bible uses. So we may not be using that term but we’re teaching people to repent all of the time. When people go from thinking negatively to thinking positively.
‘Prince, that’s not repentance!’ By his definition of repentance, we can all repent simply by joining the Optimist Club. Having a sunny outlook on life. That’s not repentance.
Genuine repentance is a change in mind but it comes when God’s Holy Spirit grants repentance. He gives us a godly sorrow over our sin. And when He grants us repentance, there is evidence of that. There’s fruit of that. And that would be evident to other people around us. There will be deeds.
Paul says, ‘So, King Agrippa I kept declaring that all people should repent and turn to God performing deeds appropriate to repentance’ (Acts 26:20). John the Baptist: ‘Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance’ (Matt 3:8).
Does this mean we do good deeds in order to repent. No. But when God grants repentance, deeds, fruit will be a natural outflow of that. It is a change in mind but it’s a change in mind that results in a changed life. Live to the glory of God.”
My parting shot: if Joseph Prince is preaching a faulty concept of repentance, how can the so-called many converts who received Christ under Joseph Prince’s ministry that he kept boasting about be said to be genuine?
Rev George Ong
Appendix
The Deadliness of Half-truths
In Article 1 and 2, you would have read about how Joseph Prince uses half-truths about the goodness of God and repentance to deceive people.
The ‘half-truth strategy’ is one which Prince liberally employs in his teachings.
It is the half-truth teachings of Joseph Prince that makes him an even more dangerous wolf.
False teachers aren’t so stupid to give themselves away so easily by coming undisguised.
If you are looking for a false teacher who comes as an undisguised wolf to tell you all the outright lies, you can comb the whole world twice over, and still, you wouldn’t be able to find him or her.
The story of the Little Red Riding Hood aptly illustrates that the false teacher would never come as a devouring wolf to scare you but cleverly disguised as your most loving grandmother in the faith to destroy you.
False teachers like Joseph Prince starts with half-truths to hook you first, such as “God is love” or “Jesus is full of grace” or “Jesus is so forgiving” or “God is good” or “repentance is only a change of mind” and keeps repeating it umpteen number of times, week in and week out.
Can you fault him for doing that?
You can’t really – as he is repeating truths – even though they are half-truths.
And before you know it, you have already been bought over by the deception that the half-truth represents the whole truth – that God is only good and loving, Jesus is only gracious and forgiving, it is only God’s goodness that leads to repentance, repentance is only a change of mind as your sins have all been forgiven.
The half-truth deception which is repeatedly propagated, would, over time, be subconsciously accepted by listeners as the whole truth without them even realising it.
The half-truth deception plays on pleasing the flesh which would readily embrace the pleasant half of the truth, such as God is loving and good, but be easily put-off by the unpleasant half, such as God’s wrath and judgement.
If half the face of a man is constantly blown up (God’s love and grace), while the other half is repeatedly squashed (God’s wrath and judgement), a completely different face will emerge – it is the same with Joseph Prince’s Pseudo-grace ‘half-truth teaching’ that is nowhere near the true-grace doctrine.
Removing half the face of a man is not only giving a false picture of the real but a horrifying depiction of the original – that’s what the half-truth theology of Joseph Prince abhorrently does to God – that He is only loving and gracious but He isn’t a God of wrath and one who judges like He was under the Old Covenant.
Such a ‘God’ who is only loving and gracious and not a God who judges is a false God that the Bible never depicts.
How then could a Singapore Methodist Bishop and a Singapore Presbyterian Pastor say that one, such as Joseph Prince, who preaches a false God that the Bible never teaches, isn’t a heretic?