Joseph Prince’s teachings that the contented are selfish & only the rich can give negate Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings – By Rev George Ong (Dated 18 May 2022)
(This article was 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 15 May 2022, last Sunday, 3 days ago, Joseph Prince said the following;
Please click here to view excerpts in the 20-second video:
“So wisdom gives you 5 things. Length of days, which is health, as well as longevity, riches. It’s in the Bible, people, not Pastor Prince. Okay, you look at me like, uh, are you sure or not? Yes! Don’t listen to people who tell you that something (riches) is not in the Bible, when it’s in the Bible.”
Do you remember what I said in the last update that Joseph Prince is pretty upset with his critics? Though he tries very hard to put up a cool front, he is actually annoyed at his critics on the inside.
If you have viewed the above excerpt in the 20-second video, you would have noticed that Prince even shouted in anger as he lashed out at his critics.
We begin to wonder if Prince is a grace-teacher who ought to be full of grace, patient and kind, or is he a ‘law-preacher’ who is easily given to angry outbursts.
I do hope that his colleagues would advise Joseph Prince to cool down and not get too excited with his critics. Mere shouting would never win him an argument.
Joseph Prince said:
“Don’t listen to people who tell you that something (riches) is not in the Bible, when it’s in the Bible.”
Joseph Prince is ludicrous to claim that his critics have said riches are not found in the Bible. But wait a minute – which believer, in his right mind would ever say that? Any believer who says riches are not found in the Bible must be a thoroughly ignorant and foolish person.
Do you know what is happening?
Joseph Prince is simply using the straw man argument, which he uses very frequently to attack his critics.
What is unacceptable is that Joseph Prince is lying when he said there are those who teach that riches are not found in the Bible. We must ask Prince which Bible teacher or church has he ever heard that teaches that riches are not written in the Bible?
I can bet you to my last dollar that he couldn’t even name one! The reason is simple. It is a straw man argument and a lie concocted by Prince to falsely accuse his critics. Just imagine – a grace teacher would resort to lies and false accusations to deceive his congregation and sway them against his critics.
While riches are found in the Bible which no one is disputing or can even dispute, and there is absolutely nothing wrong for a believer to be rich, for Joseph Prince to teach that every believer has the covenantal right to be very rich as Abraham was is grossly erroneous.
In the same sermon on 15 May 2022, last Sunday, Joseph Prince said the following;
Please click here to view excerpts in the 15-second video:
“We’re talking about riches, supply to the point that you have more than enough to be a blessing to others. People who are just satisfied with enough, they’re selfish. They have no vision of blessing multitudes, helping the work of God to go forward. Okay, so we need that. Riches.”
In another weekly Sunday sermon a few years ago, Joseph Prince said the following;
Please click here to view excerpts in the 45-second video:
“But you know something, you are very selfish. If what you earn every month, you say, ‘I’m satisfied with $5,000 a month.’ Depending on your background, I’m just saying, I have to cut a sum right? But different parts of the world, what is enough is different. So let’s say $5,000 US, $7,000 US a month. ‘I’m very happy, Pastor Prince. I’m very happy. $3,000. Me and my family and little Jimmy. We are very happy.’ You know, you are selfish. Why don’t you make double your money and since you don’t believe, give the rest to the poor? Give the rest to the people that need it. Give the rest to your church. Why don’t you make more money and be a blessing? Having just enough is selfish. Never thought of that right? Selfish, selfish, selfish!”
Falsely accusing one who is satisfied or content with having enough as selfish is grossly judgmental and exceedingly ungracious (I thought Prince is a super-grace teacher, who is supposed to exude grace in both his teachings and life).
Instead of complimenting them for adhering to the scriptural teachings of the Apostle Paul about contentment in 1 Timothy 6:6-8, Joseph Prince lambasted them for being contented. As a result, Prince has negated the teachings of the Apostle Paul:
1 Timothy 6:6-10 NIV
6 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” 9 “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Did Paul teach that every believer is supposed to be very rich as Joseph Prince teaches?
There is not a single trace of such teachings not only in 1 Timothy 6:6-10 but also in all of Paul’s letters.
Did Paul teach that being contented or satisfied is being selfish as Joseph Prince teaches?
Far from it!
In fact, Paul teaches that believers ought to be content (1 Tim 6:6-8) in order to guard against the evil desires of getting rich and the destructiveness of covetousness (1 Tim 6:9-10).
How did Paul define contentment?
He defines it that as long as our basic needs of food and clothing are met, we should be content or satisfied.
Paul, by stating that we should be content with food and clothing simply means that not every believer is rich.
But here comes Joseph Prince who declares that every believer has the covenantal right to be, not just rich, but very rich as Abraham was. And that if you are content or satisfied and do not have the desire to be rich, you are selfish. Imagine this sort of rubbish Joseph Prince is churning out.
Furthermore, Joseph Prince teaches that only the rich can give but the poor can’t:
“We’re talking about riches, supply to the point that you have more than enough to be a blessing to others. People who are just satisfied with enough, they’re selfish. They have no vision of blessing multitudes, helping the work of God to go forward. Okay, so we need that. Riches.”
But that’s not what the Apostle Paul teaches:
2 Corinthians 8:1-5 NIV
1 “And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.
We need to remind Joseph Prince, (just in case he isn’t aware) that the church of Macedonia, a New Covenant church, wasn’t a very wealthy church. In fact, it was not just a poor church but extremely poor (2 Cor 8:2).
If Joseph Prince were Paul, and to be true to his Prosperity Gospel Theology, he would have lectured them:
“Hey, Macedonians, you ought to be very rich as Abraham was. What happened? Obviously, you do not have enough faith. That’s why you are still living in poverty. Don’t you know that if you live in poverty, my Prosperity Gospel doctrine says you are under a curse?
Besides, being poor, how can you give to others? You must be rich so that you can give to others. You need to get out of poverty as you are a poor testimony of the Christian faith. You are a poor example to the churches as every church ought to be very rich. When people see you suffering from poverty, who would want to be a Christian?”
Did Paul say all that rubbish to the Macedonian Christians?
Absolutely not!
Paul said the opposite. He praised them for their sacrificial giving. He held them up as a model of giving for every church. Paul praised the Macedonian believers that though they were extremely poor, they were enormously generous in their giving as they gave out of extreme poverty.
Many Macedonian Christians had probably lost their jobs because they were persecuted for their faith. They had gone through a severe trial. They were extremely poor. And yet, it was out of their extreme poverty that they gave liberally.
Paul, through the excellent example of the Macedonians, has debunked Joseph Prince’s constant refrain that one has to be rich in order to give to support the preaching of the gospel and to bless the poor.
Joseph Prince constantly harped on this line in his sermons and books that if you are not blessed with riches, how can you bless others through your giving? Prince keeps pounding on this argument that if you are as poor as a church mouse, how can God use you to give to others? The tune that Joseph Prince has constantly been singing is that the richer you are, the more you can give to bless others. Joseph Prince’s teachings seem all so logical.
But you know something – the Bible never (as far as I know) uses the rich to exhort us to excel or be generous in our giving. But the Bible always uses the poor to showcase what excelling in giving and what being generous in our giving really is.
Paul didn’t use the rich but the extremely poor Macedonians to encourage the Corinthians and all of us to excel in our giving:
2 Corinthians 8:4 NIV
4 “they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.”
2 Corinthians 8:4 NLT
4 “They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem.”
Out of 59 Translations that I have checked regarding 2 Corinthians 8:4, 41 used the word ‘begged’ or ‘begging’:
AMP, AMPC, CSB, CEB, CJB, CEV, DARBY, DLNT, DRA, ERV, ESV, ESVUK, EXB, GW, GNT, HCSB, ICB, ISV, PHILLIPS, TLB, MEV, MOUNCE, NOG, NABRE, NASB, NCV, NET, NIRV, NLT, NRSV, NRSVA, NRSVACE, NTE, OJB, TPT, RSV, RSVCE, TLV, VOICE, WEB, WE.
What is astounding is that these extremely poor Macedonian Christians begged to give. The word ‘beg’, is usually used by those who receive. We call a person a beggar because he begs to receive.
Instead of begging to receive, which they could have done, Paul says the extremely poor Macedonian believers “begged” to give “again and again” (2 Cor 8:4 NLT).
Wow!
This is unheard of!
This is extraordinary Christianity!
My heart was so moved by what the Macedonian church did.
When it comes to giving, these extremely poor Macedonian Christians have indeed put all of us, rich Singaporeans, to shame.
When was the last time we, the First World Singaporean Christians begged to give again and again to a certain cause because somehow, we have been inadvertently excluded?
When the extremely poor Macedonian Christians, which is equivalent to today’s Third World begged to give, the irony is that some believers in the First World (Singapore) often have to be coaxed and persuaded to give; and despite that, they are still reluctant to give.
God, have mercy on us!
In the same way like Paul, Christ Jesus Himself used a poor widow (not the rich as Joseph Prince would have used) who gave her two coins, which is all that she had to teach us about generous giving (Mk 12:41-44):
Mark 12:41-44 NIV
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.”
The poor widow went beyond what was expected and gave all that she had. Jesus remarks that the widow gave more than all the rich people put together because she gave “all she had to live on” (Mk 12:43-44).
Like Paul, the first crucial lesson that Jesus wants us to learn is that it is not only the rich who can give, but the poor can also give as well, and their giving is better than the rich as they can give ‘much more’ (in the eyes of Jesus) than what the rich give.
The second lesson is that when it comes to the crunch, it is not how much one gives (“Many rich people threw in large amounts” and “gave out of their wealth” Mark 12:41b, 44).
Rather, it’s how much one sacrifices (“but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on” Mark 12:44).
Hence, the excellence of giving is not how much one puts in the offering bag; it is how little one keeps in his wallet in comparison to how much he has given.
The examples of both the poor widow and the extremely poor Macedonian Christians have unveiled the lie of Joseph Prince in his Prosperity Gospel Theology that one has to be rich and even better, richer, before one can give to the preaching of the gospel and His kingdom’s sake.
What’s reprehensible is that most Prosperity Gospel preachers are no more than using this as a mere convenient excuse to be rich themselves and to justify their extravagant and luxurious lifestyle.
In another incident, Jesus told His disciples to,
“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys” (Lk 12:33 NIV).
Jesus was certainly aware that His disciples were not wealthy so that they could give from their abundance.
If Joseph Prince were Jesus and going by his Prosperity Gospel doctrine, He would have to say to the disciples:
“Hey guys, I tell you what – don’t think about the ministry first. What can you, relatively poor people do to impact people’s lives and influence the world? To start with, you don’t have much money yourself. So, your first priority is to make as much money as you can. And with your new-found wealth, you could buy a big bungalow to live in, and also give some of your wealth away for the preaching of the gospel and to the poor.”
But Jesus never did what Joseph Prince would do. Jesus, knowing that they weren’t wealthy people, told them to sell their possessions and give them to the poor. This proves that giving has little to do with whether we are rich or poor.
Joseph Prince is making things worse by churning the desire to get rich by his teaching that every New Covenant believer ought to be very rich because it is our covenantal right. He teaches that since Abraham was very rich and he possessed tons of silver and gold, every believer, being the seed of Abraham, should be as rich as Abraham was.
And by today’s standards, Abraham could be considered a multi-millionaire anytime (And by the way, being a millionaire in a First World nation is pretty common nowadays).
What this means is Joseph Prince is effectively teaching that every believer should be a multi-millionaire.
Yet, in the same sermon on 15 May 2022, last Sunday, Joseph Prince said the following;
Please click here to view excerpts in the 10-second video:
“When I said riches, you all know that I don’t mean everyone become a multi-multi-millionaire.”
Obviously, Joseph Prince didn’t tell the whole truth (a half-truth is nothing but a camouflaged lie) when he said he didn’t say every believer will become a multi-millionaire.
Though Prince could claim that he didn’t say it in the letter that every believer could be a multi-millionaire, he actually means that in the spirit of his teachings.
If Joseph Prince denies that every believer can be a multi-millionaire, then he must also denounce his teaching that every believer has the covenantal right to be very rich as Abraham was – which he said it on tape. And till today, he is still teaching this doctrine.
In an audio sermon, Joseph Prince said the following,
Please click here to listen to excerpts in the 40-second audio:
“So, the Bible says of Abraham that in Genesis, chapter 13:2 (NKJV), “Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” Very clear statement that; we don’t read that he was an heir of the world in Genesis. We read that he was very rich. But we read in Romans 4 (V13-14) just now, earlier, that this was the fulfilment of being the heir of the world – which is not just to Abraham but to his seed. Hello, seed of Abraham, this is your promise. God did not just make Abraham rich; He made Abraham very rich. Very rich is your portion.”
You mustn’t miss the following 2 related articles (one of which proves that Joseph Prince blatantly lied when he claimed that he never said believers will be very wealthy) if you haven’t read them (by clicking below):
https://www.revgeorgeong.com/rev-george-ong-joseph-prince-was-caught-lying-publicly/
You can imagine the damage that Joseph Prince’s Prosperity Gospel teachings – that every believer being the seed of Abraham can 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 in order to fulfil their covenantal right – being the seed of Abraham as taught by Joseph Prince.
Those who are already rich may think that that’s not good enough as Joseph Prince teaches that they ought to be, not just rich, but very rich as Abraham was.
So they may start to invest their riches in perhaps ‘attractive returns but risky ventures’ – so they could even be richer. Some may even be pressured or tempted to resort to questionable and even dishonest means to get richer.
This could be the start of the dangerous spiral downwards into ruin and destruction, all because it starts with a desire to get rich (1 Tim 6:9-10), and the desire is accentuated by the Prosperity Gospel teachings of Joseph Prince that every New Covenant believer has the covenantal right to be very rich as Abraham was:
1 Timothy 6:9-10 NIV
9 “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
In conclusion, as I have pointed out, the examples that Jesus and Paul used to illustrate generous and sacrificial giving are not the rich but the poor – the widow who gave her all – her 2 coins, and the Macedonian Christians who gave out of their extreme poverty.
So if Joseph Prince claims to be Christ-centred and holds up Paul as his mentor, why is he not following the examples of Jesus and Paul by encouraging his followers, even though they are poor, (not just the rich) to give generously?
Why would Joseph Prince want to give people the idea that they should first get rich before they can be a generous giver; and only the rich can give while the poor can’t?
You would have to ask him for the answer. Perhaps, one probable reason is to justify his own riches. How much personal wealth Prince has gained from his many years of ‘preaching the gospel’ is what everyone is dying to know.
Rev George Ong