Joseph Prince’s Heresies Are ‘Prophesied’ In Deuteronomy 13:3-4 – By Rev George Ong (Dated 2 Feb 2021)
“Have you ever asked the profound question which may never have crossed your mind – why would God allow the existence of false teachers?
Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NIV
1 “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death… That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.”
Well, false teachers are allowed by God to test our allegiance to Him:
“The Lord your God is testing you.” (Deut 13:3 NIV)
“It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere… serve him and hold fast to him.” (Deut 13:4)
First, “The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut 13:3 NIV)
Second and third, it is to test whether we would be committed to “Keep his commands and obey him.” (Deut 13:4 NIV)
It is exactly on these three issues that the false prophet, Joseph Prince, is bent on leading the church astray from true doctrine, and worshipping the true God.
First, Joseph Prince is loudly teaching that the Old Covenant is about our love for God, but the New Covenant is not about our love for God; it is about God’s love for us. And with that, Joseph Prince by his own human authority has sacrilegiously cancelled out the greatest Commandment with which believers are clearly commanded to obey – to love God with all our heart, soul and mind (Matt 22:36-38).
Second, Joseph Prince is openly declaring that all the moral commandments of God in the Ten Commandments have become obsolete, and any attempt to return to these moral laws by keeping them would condemn us and invoke a double-curse from God. This is despite the clear teachings of Jesus that the moral law has not been abrogated (Matt 5:17-20).
Third, Joseph Prince is constantly proclaiming that Christianity is all about Christ’s obedience for us and not about our obedience to Him. What is revolting is Joseph Prince has denigrated our obedience that is needed as evidence for salvation that the scripture clearly teaches in Hebrews 5:9, as legalism and a form of self-preoccupation.
So, for these three areas that God may use false prophets to test our allegiance to Him – in loving Him, keeping His commandments, and obeying Him, are the same ones that Joseph Prince is leading the church astray with. He obliterates the first two as no longer binding for New Covenant believers and denigrates the third as legalism and self-effort to earn favour from God.
Just imagine how contemptible Joseph Prince is for daring to go against these three key agendas of God.
Keeping our allegiance to God by continuing to follow and revere Him, to serve and hold fast to Him (Deut 13:4) is particularly challenging, given the fact that the false prophet could actually perform a sign and wonder (Deut 13:1-2). It is even more challenging when a particular sign and wonder that was announced or prophesied by the false prophet actually takes place (Deut 13:1-2).
The same goes for Joseph Prince’s false teachings. Isn’t it particularly challenging to keep our allegiance to the true God and not be deceived to worship Joseph Prince’s god of false grace,
when things seem to be going in his favour,
when his supposed prophecies about the healings of people seem to be true,
when his church keeps growing,
when the reach of his grace teaching to the world keeps on extending,
when the testimonies about the supposed impact of his grace teaching keep on increasing, and
when more and more people are being bought over by his teachings?
But that’s where we must keep our allegiance to God and not be led astray (Deut 13:3-4).”
Rev George Ong