Article 1: Joseph Prince’s Prosperity Gospel leads you to destruction as Olivia Lum, founder of Hyflux, was charged in court, yesterday – By Rev George Ong
Article 2: Joseph Prince’s talk on financial generosity is great – but are there hidden motives to our generosity? – Rev George Ong
Joseph Prince’s Prosperity Gospel leads you to destruction as Olivia Lum, founder of Hyflux, was charged in court, yesterday – By Rev George Ong (Dated 18 Nov 2022)
I thought I could relax for a while and pay attention to my other commitments in the next 3-4 weeks, until I read about Olivia Lum, founder of Hyflux, who was charged in court, yesterday.
If you do not know, the initial success of Olivia Lum was once used as a poster boy for Joseph Prince’s Prosperity Gospel doctrine.
Are you aware that Joseph Prince said about 2 Sundays ago in his sermon,
that he was going to preach his Prosperity Gospel doctrine strongly and with a vengeance in the coming days?
The reason is Joseph Prince shared that many young people in his church have been influenced by his critics’ stand and social media against his Prosperity Gospel doctrine and have gone to the other extreme – as poor as a church mouse.
Prince further said that if many of these young people don’t hold on to his Prosperity Gospel doctrine, which he said is biblical, they would swing to the other extreme, and seek after wealth using worldly ways, and would in the end, be destroyed.
What kind of sick argument is that – when Joseph Prince’s Prosperity Gospel is itself a worldly way of seeking after wealth,
simply because there is no basis for such a teaching in the New Testament scriptures – that every New Covenant believer has the covenantal right to be very rich as Abraham was?
You could imagine the damage that Joseph Prince’s Prosperity Gospel teachings that every New Covenant believer has the covenantal right to be very rich as Abraham was, to poison the minds of believers.
Believers, who aren’t rich, would think that something is wrong with them, and they would try all ways and means to be very rich to fulfil their covenantal right.
Those who are already rich, and in their desire to be very rich, may start to invest their riches in, perhaps, ‘attractive and big returns but highly risky ventures’.
Some may even be pressured to resort to underhand and dishonest means to either get richer or maintain their riches in order to fulfil their covenantal right to be very rich as Abraham was.
This could be the start of the dangerous spiral downwards into ruin and destruction, all because of Joseph Prince’s teachings, that it is the covenantal right of every New Covenant believer to be very rich as Abraham was.
Joseph Prince has already brought one, Olivia Lum, to destruction,
and now, Prince, by his plans to preach the Prosperity Gospel message strongly and with a vengeance in the coming days, would bring more young people into the same destruction through the same Prosperity Gospel and grace doctrine.
Just imagine the evil Joseph Prince is planning to do.
You had better stay away from the Prosperity Gospel of Joseph Prince, lest you become another Olivia Lum.
(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.)
Yesterday, it was reported in the Straits Times that Olivia Lum, chief executive officer and founder of Hyflux,
and a member, or former member of Joseph Prince’s New Creation Church,
was charged in court “with violations of the Securities and Futures Act.”
The Strait Times reported:
“Lum, 61, was also charged with an offence under the Companies Act for her failure in ensuring Hyflux’s compliance with accounting standards. She is out on agency bail of $100,000.”
“The company’s liquidation likely left about 34,000 investors of perpetual securities and preference shares, who had sunk in a combined $900 million, with nothing.”
“Analysts also said that Hyflux might have taken on too many capital-intensive projects with long gestation times, borrowed beyond its means and was too optimistic with its projections.”
Kindly click on the link below for a full report by The Straits Times:
This goes to show that Joseph Prince’s claim that his grace doctrine was responsible for the success of Olivia Lum, founder of Hyflux, is proven to be a scam.
When Hyflux was in its heyday, Joseph Prince trumpeted to the world that because the founder of Hyflux followed his prescribed grace doctrine of daring to ask big things from God, she succeeded.
You can read the details in his book, ‘The Power Of Right Believing’, pages 274-282.
Because of space, I can only include two paragraphs of these pages.
In ‘The Power Of Right Believing’, Page 278, Joseph Prince wrote,
“She (Olivia Lum) shared with me (Joseph Prince) that when she walked out of the bank, she remembered a message that I had preached on being bold and asking God for big things.
She (Olivia Lum) said, “You (Joseph Prince) told us not to insult God by asking only for small things. You said, ‘Ask God for big things, compliment Him, and have a positive, confident expectation of good.’”
So she went home and before going to bed, she decided to step out in faith and ask God to do a big thing for her.”
In ‘The Power Of Right Believing’, Page 282, Joseph Prince wrote,
“How does a young girl (Olivia)… go from weaving rattan bags for a nickel to building a billion-dollar, public-listed company? My friend, that is the power of right believing.
Olivia’s story is an amazing one, which tells of the goodness, favor, grace, and power of our God. I pray that you will be encouraged to see that nothing is impossible when you believe right in the person of Jesus and in His love and goodness.
Ask God for big things. He loves you, and He has a track record of doing exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask, think, or even imagine (see Eph. 3:20).”
When Hyflux was doing well, Joseph Prince proclaimed loudly to the world that Hyflux succeeded financially because the founder, Olivia Lum, believed and practised his grace doctrine.
But when it was reported in the Newspapers at the beginning of 2019 that Hyflux became embroiled with financial difficulties and later reports indicated that the founder of Hyflux and its directors were under criminal investigation for suspected false and misleading statements and corporate governance breaches,
Joseph Prince kept absolutely quiet
as a church mouse, sorry, I mean mouse, church mouse is the term Joseph Prince used against his critics, no hard feelings, Joseph Prince, one ‘good turn’ deserves another
– so, what I meant is Joseph Prince kept absolutely quiet as a mouse.
One question that needs to be asked is – did Joseph Prince’s grace doctrine, which he claims in his book to have brought about Hyflux’s financial success, really work?
If it did, why was Hyflux laden with financial problems?
Why was it being placed under criminal investigation?
Why was it being wound up?
Why was Olivia Lum, the founder of Hyflux charged in court?
Friends, the truth is Joseph Prince trumpets only on the so-called successful cases,
while hiding from you the many other cases of people who have floundered under his ministry.
As the case of Hyflux may prove,
even the so-called successful cases, may not be a true reflection of it after all.
Joseph Prince only knows how to claim credit for someone’s success.
That’s what he did when he held up the founder of Hyflux, Olivia Lum,
as the poster girl of his so-called successful grace doctrine.
But when Olivia Lum falters,
he doesn’t want to have anything to do with her by keeping quiet as a mouse about it.
This is the kind of man you are dealing with.
When a believer tastes prosperity because he has so-called followed the hypergrace principles, Joseph Prince gets the credit.
Such success will be trumpeted loudly over the pulpit in the Sunday services.
Joseph Prince’s name will always be mentioned as the reason for the person’s accomplishment.
But when a believer does not experience wealth or is not healthy or even sickly,
the ‘blame’ is placed on that individual for not having enough faith or not having enough revelation to experience the wealth or health that he should have experienced.
Don’t be deceived by the many so-called testimonies that Joseph Prince frequently and anxiously belts out in his worship services every Sunday to prove the efficacy of his grace doctrine.
Don’t be deceived – the short-term result that Joseph Prince frequently shares about the many testimonies that he belts out, does not necessarily equal to permanent success or genuine fruit.
And Joseph Prince has capitalised on the initial and short-term success of Olivia Lum
to mislead the people about the truth and efficacy of his grace doctrine.
Instead of warning people that their desire for wealth and to be very rich and to ask for big things from God, could choke them to their spiritual death, unbelievably,
Joseph Prince encourages them to pursue the very thing that could result in their eternal ruin (1 Tim 6:8-10).
God’s true shepherds would never bring about your destruction,
but only the devil’s wolf like Joseph Prince would.
Be warned that if you blindly follow after Joseph Prince’s ‘every-believer-has-the-covenantal-right-to-be-very-rich-as-Abraham-was’ false doctrine, you are allowing covetousness to gain a foothold in your life.
And the sin of covetousness would lead, not just to your earthly ruin, but also to your eternal destruction (1 Tim 6:9-10).
The Straits Times also reported on 22 July 2021 that
“the long-suffering 34,000 retail investors … will likely end up with nothing.”
In the same report in The Straits Times, Sias president and chief executive David Gerald said,
“I am saddened by the result, but the court was very patient and accommodative. I feel sorry for the (PnP investors) who may now end up getting nothing.
They put their trust in (founder) Olivia Lum and the board entirely. These are small investors and they have lost their investments.
Those responsible for bringing down Hyflux will have to live with their conscience.”
If Joseph Prince has a conscience, he must repent from his Prosperity Gospel doctrine,
as he was the one who encouraged the founder of Hyflux
“… not to insult God by asking only for small things…” but to “… Ask God for big things…”
Let me reiterate:
When Hyflux was doing superbly well,
Prince was the first to claim credit when he wrote in his book, ‘The Power of Right Believing’
that the reason for Hyflux’s success was that the Founder of Hyflux, Olivia Lum, had embraced and practised his grace doctrine.
But when she is down and out, Joseph Prince will have nothing to do with her on the public level.
Prince’s deafening silence about the Hyflux fiasco is indeed soberly telling.
Prince didn’t even ask New Creation Church to pray for her and Hyflux,
even though the Founder of Hyflux is another of Prince’s close buddies and a member of his church.
It is the same with Brian Houston, former Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church in Sydney, who recently fell from grace.
The least Joseph Prince could have done is to mobilise his congregation to pray for Brian Houston during this difficult period of his life,
as after all, Brian is his buddy, and one whom New Creation Church is known to.
But he was totally and cowardly silent about the matter.
When I first heard of Brian Houston’s resignation, I prayed for Brian that he would truly repent and be reinstated to ministry after a period of restoration by the body of Christ (if he is willing to).
When a man is doing well and successful, Joseph Prince will claim to be his friend.
Prince will even give 200,000 dollars to Brian’s Hillsong Church (for whatever unspoken reason or real motivation that Joseph Prince has in giving that big amount of money to Hillsong Church, even though the church is super-wealthy).
But when a man such as Brian Houston is down, Prince would have nothing to do with him, publicly.
Would Prince give another big amount of money to Hillsong Church again?
You can wait till the cows come home, and I bet he won’t.
Prince now wants to have nothing to do with Brian Houston on the public level.
He didn’t even ask his congregation to pray for Brian Houston to tie through this difficult period.
So much for Brian Houston being Joseph Prince’s buddy.
Friends, this is the kind of grace preacher in Joseph Prince that you are dealing with
– the first to rush forward to claim credit at the earliest opportunity for someone’s success,
but, deplorably, also the first to abandon ship, when the one closest to him, is down and out.
Hypergrace Scam – By Dr Chris Kang
Prosperity hypergrace preachers love to market the ravenous gospel of health and wealth camouflaged by the sheepskin of faith directed to a self-concocted Christ. Not quite Christ but a perversion of Christ, an imaginary pseudo-Christ born of the preachers’ own covetous imagination.
The prospect of great wealth through a hypergrace-caricatured Jesus is massively enticing. Who amongst us do not want to get rich and have more money?
But if you observe carefully and even conduct an empirical study, we may find very few people, if any at all, actually getting rich through this hypergrace scam. Even if there are a handful, I bet it is not statistically significant compared to other money-making schemes in the world.
How many people among the 30,000, 40,000 or 100,000 devotees of prosperity hypergrace churches actually strike it rich through their blab-it-and-grab-it religion?
A cursory observation will tell you that the only people seeming to get rich, dress and adorn themselves luxuriously, drive BMWs, live in giant private houses or apartments, redo their hair every week or every few weeks, overhaul their wardrobe every so often, receive six-figure salaries in multiples are the pastors and leaders themselves.
While the material source of their money comes from the congregation, the spiritual source might be more sinister: I believe it is satan himself, not God.
These same beneficiaries of huge wealth transfers from congregation to pastorate further justify their actions and assuage the angst of their crowds by uttering something like this:
“Just as anointing from God trickles down from the head down to the lower body parts, similarly all of God’s blessings will trickle down from the church leaders to the least among the congregation. So wait your turn!”
If this is not blatant exploitation, I don’t know what is.
Sounds like neoliberal capitalist trickle-down economics if you ask me: a fantasy concocted by the same people who claim capitalism is from God! What’s the biblical evidence for such a sweeping claim?
As believers and disciples of Christ, we need to be vigilant and call out falsehoods whenever and wherever we find them.
It is time to call out the wolves in sheep’s clothing amongst us, wolves who are fleecing the flock in broad daylight by preaching a perverted gospel that is not the gospel.
A marketing ploy and religious scam is not going to save our souls. But the real Jesus, the One who bore the cross for us and calls us even now to bear our own cross in His name, surely will.
Be not deceived, my friends. The hypergrace “Jesus” is not my Jesus. Neither should it be yours.
Devil of a Genie – By Dr Chris Kang
In my view, the false God of hypergrace is a genie-like entity supposedly – but not really – subject to the command of a carnally insatiable devotee. Except that this is no God of the Bible but the god of this world – satan.
In fact, I believe the god of this world that is the god of hypergrace is a trickster. He overpromises and underdelivers. Actually no, he counter-delivers: delivering all who worship him into despair and degeneration now, and finally into the unquenchable fires of hell.
This devilish genie promoted by hypergrace teachings is extremely crafty and dangerous. We get lulled into thinking we are “heirs of this world” when in fact being such is tantamount to being heirs of wrath.
Promoters of the hypergrace scam would point to so-called positive testimonies of healing or prosperity as evidence for the efficacy of hypergrace. Yet, a little reflection would show the fallacy of this argument.
Compared to the numbers of unfulfilled hypergrace prayers, the numbers of fulfilled ones are probably in the small minority. There is little incentive for the majority to write in failed stories and even if they do, would the hypergrace movement publish them? For the minority of so-called success stories, this occurrence is not surprising.
The devil is capable of signs and wonders too, as the Bible teaches. And in his whim and fancy, he may decide to manifest healing or prosperity on select individuals he finds susceptible to deeper deception, who would subsequently provide free advertising and promotion of himself through teachers of hypergrace. No love or grace here, folks. The devil is capable of neither.
Also, God in His sovereign mercy and compassion may grant healing and provision to hypergrace devotees for His own good purpose and for the good of the oppressed and afflicted. It is not for us to fathom His purposes but we do know it is ultimately meant and effected by God for our good and his glory. What is clear is this: God is ultimately in total control even if satan is allowed to unleash himself on the world – for the time being. He will be chained up before long.
Satan the deceiver and trickster (through hypergrace ministries) is the genie-like god of hypergrace who brings nothing but pain and destruction here and now, and eternal damnation in the end.
My word of caution is this: let not temporary pleasures and seeming carnal success fool us into worshipping this demonic genie of hypergrace ideology. Much less entrench ourselves in the satanic clutches of this malevolent entity. If we are in this mess already, it is wise to get out and get saved before it is too late.
If you have missed reading Dr Chris Kang’s testimony about how he came out of New Creation Church, please click on the link below;
Joseph Prince’s talk on financial generosity is great – but are there hidden motives to our generosity? – 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 13 Nov 2022, 5 days ago, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the 25-second video:
“Let me tell you this, it seems like the Bible is saying those who are generous, those who are magnanimous, those who have prosperity with a purpose in mind, these people have, their bodies, if you are generous, that means your body is healthy.”
“Are you stingy because I am generous? Amen. So those who are full of grace are people who are generous.”
Joseph Prince said;
“… if you are generous that means your body is healthy.”
What kind of perverted Health and Wealth teaching is that?
That being generous can give you a healthy body.
As Christians who speak the Malay language would say, “Suka Suka Theology” and “Any how Hantam theology”.
In English, it is teaching in any way as Prince fancies and a theology that is totally farfetched.
But I would just leave this as that as this is not my focus of this article. My focus is what is written below.
Generosity is indeed a great virtue that is taught in the Bible and we should all work towards being generous to others.
I have met people who are full of grace (true grace, not the false grace taught by Joseph Prince), and their graciousness can be seen in their generous giving.
Yes, by all means, be generous.
But there is something which you and I ought to be wary of – our motives.
Is there a hidden motive to our generosity?
Do we give generously because we want the whole world to know about our generosity?
Are we generous because we are buying favours from others?
Do we give to others generously because we want to win more people over to our agenda?
Am I magnanimous to others because I want to lessen the opposition that they have against me?
Do I give generously because I wish the other party could do the same favour to me?
Do I give generously to others so that they can be beholden to me and support my hidden agenda?
Do I, as a Pastor, give generously to other churches which are against my doctrine, hoping that from henceforth, they would not speak against what I teach?
Whether it is me, or Pastor so and so, or Joseph Prince, we had better be searching our hearts to see if there are such self-seeking and ungodly motives that we harbour in our hearts.
This is especially crucial when our giving comes to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Why do I give so much money when the other party doesn’t really need it?
If there are hidden and ungodly motives to our giving, no matter how generous our giving is, it is an abomination to God.
Let’s suppose if I teach a certain doctrine that is not acceptable to most churches, and they even fight against my doctrines; and I give generously to many churches hoping that they would not be vocal about their opposition, and with the eventual aim that they will be beholden to me, is my generosity pure?
And if I target key people and senior leaders in the church hierarchy to give expensive gifts so as to secure support from them about my doctrine, then my giving is certainly a scandalous act to God.
So we must be careful about our call to give generously.
Be generous, by all means, but always make sure our motives are right and pure.
If you haven’t, you may wish to view these 2 articles;
Joseph Prince uses the Prosperity Gospel as an excuse to trumpet his financial giving to Singapore churches
Brian Houston, former Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church, appreciating Joseph Prince for the $200,000 gift,
by clicking on the links below;
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n8S1Av803w16vLqSgWL1RZmLgmcWxor1/view
Rev George Ong