Kong Hee & Professor Doug Peterson spoke against the erroneous teachings on the Lord’s Supper and these are also taught by Joseph Prince – By Rev George Ong (Dated 14 Oct 2023)
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For those who wish to browse through
the 76 write-ups of Bishops/Pastors/Believers
who have written that Joseph Prince is a false teacher,
Please click on the link below:
For those who have missed the previous article that was released yesterday titled,
False understanding of ‘tares & wheat,’ & ‘where two or three’ regarding Joseph Prince’s heresies can lead to harmful outcomes
Please click on the link below:
(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 teaching session, Kong Hee and Professor Doug Peterson said;
Please click here to view the 2-and-a-half-minute video:
Kong Hee said:
“The Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, is now used as a means to receive healing and blessing for the individual.
Many Charismatic Christians in Asia, many in Singapore, in Malaysia, in Indonesia, and I understand also in the US.
They are teaching that one must take the Lord’s supper, many times a day, by himself, by herself,
to ensure healing and health, protection from evil spirits and curses.
I even hear that they are taking it as an elixir for youth and longevity.
There are some who are teaching that the more you partake of the Lord’s supper, the younger you will look.
So, it’s now common these days to see Christians carrying little pegs of wafer and little plastic cups of wine or grape juice in their bags, in their handbags
everywhere they go, to ensure that many times a day, at least 3 times a day;
they can partake of it by themselves and live under constant blessing and grace,
Prof, your opinion.”
Prof Doug Peterson said:
“Ya, I think we can’t just mix stuff up.
It’s in the scripture.
We have to have some foundation.
And the Passover was we are one people, I am one God.
You do it together, leave no one out.
We see it, what, 3 times in the gospel of John.
It’s a collective.
We see it with Jesus.
That’s the point of the Passover.
We celebrate as a community.
And is celebrate what God has done for us.
But if there’s not foundation; you make it up,
and it can become heretical pretty quickly.
I don’t have to study it to know it’s a collective experience.
And we celebrate the Lord’s death, resurrection and soon return. I know that.
I have no idea where some of these stuffs come from.
And especially doing it on your own,
there’s not one shred of scripture about serve yourself.
It’s community, which could be where 2 or 3 are gathered, may be small,
but not yourself.
Never about yourself.”
I thank God and rejoice from the bottom of my heart that Kong Hee had repented from his past sins.
What touched me most was that Pastor Kong Hee had acknowledged his sins and took full responsibility for what had happened to his life and ministry over the last ten years in a video that I had the privilege to watch.
I wish to thank Rev Yang Tuck Yoong for taking the initiative to interview Kong Hee in the video and his love for a fellow brother-Christ who had fallen.
Kong Hee accepts it as God’s chastisement because it was his own wrongdoings that have brought about much pain and misery on himself and others.
His honesty and humility to readily admit his faults and failings were evident in the video.
I thank God for preserving his faith through this most difficult time in prison, where he has drawn closer to God and found joy in His word.
I was close to tears as I listened to what he went through in prison.
He now longs to be more Christlike, and he wants to take time to enjoy God and live a simpler life.
He also shared that while in prison, he was led to use the Ten Commandments (which Joseph Prince preached against) not in a legalistic way but as a spiritual x-ray to check his inner motives.
God used that to reveal the ugliness in his soul, life and thoughts in order to change him.
For those who have been hurt by the way he had managed the church and the ugly turn of events that came about, may I appeal to you to forgive him.
It is the true grace of God (not the false grace of Joseph Prince) that empowers us to forgive.
While Kong Hee is a fellow brother-in-Christ who has fallen and repented,
Joseph Prince is a wolf in sheepskin who has remained unrepentant till this day.
But no heretic who truly repents should be shunted.
If Joseph Prince truly repents as Kong Hee did, he, too, is to be loved, forgiven and restored by the Church.
The same love we show to a brother-in-Christ must also be extended to a repentant heretic.
The sad thing is Joseph Prince has remained blatantly impenitent for the past 25-30 years.
But if he truly repents as Kong Hee did, I will greatly rejoice, as his soul, headed for destruction, will be saved for all of eternity.
However, if he chooses to persist in his wayward ways, the battle against his heresies must also continue.
This is more so because Joseph Prince, who is influencing the world with his heresies, hails from our own backyard of Singapore.
So, this is the least we can and must do.
I am glad that Kong Hee is now speaking up against the erroneous doctrines taught in the Holy Communion.
All these false teachings that Kong Hee mentioned in the video were also taught by Joseph Prince.
In 3 different sermons, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the 1-and-half-minute video:
“Thank you Lord, all my sins are remitted, Amen. Praise the Lord.
And if you have partaken,
believe that you’re getting stronger, healthier and even younger.
I believe the Lord’s supper
is the fountain of youth that men are looking for.”
“… and they took communion like medicine, every day.
You know, like they take medicine 3 times a day, they’ll take communion 3 times a day.”
If you need to take it (Holy Communion) by medicine, take it.
Take it as often as you can, Amen.
And if you discern the Lord’s body,
instead of weak, you become strong.
Instead of sick, you become healthier.
Instead of dying prematurely, you’ll live long.
And I notice about people who take communion in that way,
they get younger and younger and younger, Amen.
They belie their age.
They are under the blessing of Abraham.”
“The Bible says when he (Naaman) came out,
his skin was like a little child (2 Kgs 5:14 NKJV).
And I’m telling you, it’s truth okay.
When I take communion, almost every day, right, I claim this.
Now, don’t look at me.
The manifestation is still happening. Okay.
But I tell you I claim it. Why not?
If God can do it for Naaman, Amen,
God can do it for me, Amen.
All the promises of God is yes and amen.
Imagine, how old is he?
To be a commander, usually he’s probably in his 50s.
He command other people to do the leg work.
He’s probably in his 50s and all that,
and yet his skin became like a little child.
So, I can believe God for that, Amen, Amen.”
In ‘Eat Your Way To Life And Health,’
Joseph Prince wrote:
“WE HAVE THE REAL FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
Let me tell you why I preach so strongly about the holy Communion,
and why I partake of it every single day.
Let me tell you why the holy Communion is ingrained as part of the DNA of our church
and why I believe it is more powerful than any medicine, any medical procedure, any antibiotic, and any chemotherapy used to heal our bodies.
Let me tell you why I believe the holy Communion
is the proverbial “fountain of youth”
mankind has been in search of for generations
and why I believe every time we partake of it,
we are causing our youth to be renewed like the eagle’s (Ps. 103:5).
EVERY TIME WE PARTAKE OF THE COMMUNION,
OUR YOUTH IS BEING RENEWED LIKE THE EAGLE’S.”
In Joseph Prince’s sermons and books,
he teaches that healing is a core purpose and benefit of the Holy Communion.
He states that we should partake the Holy Communion as frequently as we can on a personal basis,
even as often as every day and as frequently as we take our regular medicine, 3 times a day.
To encourage believers to pray for healing while partaking the Holy Communion is one thing,
but for Joseph Prince to posture healing as a core benefit and reason for partaking it,
and asking believers to take it as many times as they are taking medicine every day,
just for the sake of healing, to live longer and stay youthful,
is quite another.
While healing is taught in the Bible,
healing, as a core purpose and benefit through the Holy Communion, isn’t.
Joseph Prince has also unbiblically transformed the partaking of the Holy Communion from a corporate setting
to an individual affair – that of praying for personal healing and staying youthful.
If Joseph Prince’s teaching about claiming healing through the Holy Communion as a key doctrine is true,
why wasn’t that taught and practised in the early church?
Did Apostle Paul or Peter or any of the early church apostles or leaders say:
“The healing of God takes place when you partake the Holy Communion.
So, take the Holy Communion as many times as you take medicine in a day.”
The Apostles certainly believed in healing, and they were used to heal many, but that’s not what they told the church.
They healed the people as God gave them the power,
without the need of ever resorting to partaking the Holy Communion.
As opposed to what Joseph Prince is posturing, the core purpose of the Holy Communion
is to remember Christ’ death, and not to pray for personal healing, health, longevity, and youthfulness.
We must ask Joseph Prince, why he is partaking the Holy Communion every day?
Is it to remember Christ and what He has done for him and fall in love with Him over and over again daily
so that his relationship with Christ is set on a firmer footing?
Or is it so he can experience personal healing and look as young as the eagle?
It looks like Joseph Prince’s Grace Theology is more self-centred – about his healing and youthful looks,
than Christ-centred – about remembering what Christ had done by His death to save him from his sins.
Partaking the Holy Communion to look youthful has no biblical basis at all when Joseph Prince wrote:
“Let me tell you why I believe the holy Communion is the proverbial “fountain of youth” mankind has been in search of for generations and why I believe every time we partake of it, we are causing our youth to be renewed like the eagle’s (Ps. 103:5).”
Psalm 103:5, which Joseph Prince quotes in his book may have something to do with youthfulness,
but it has absolutely nothing to do with the Holy Communion:
Psalm 103:5 NIV
5 “who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Friends, don’t be deceived, as I cannot find anywhere in the scriptures
that links the Holy Communion with youthfulness.
Joseph Prince has not only strayed from his primary purpose of the Holy Communion
from one of remembering Jesus’ death to claiming for his personal healing,
but he has also gone one wrong step further
to give the unsubstantiated promise of youthfulness through the partaking of it.
Joseph Prince also wrote that the Holy Communion is more powerful than any medicine to heal our bodies:
“… is more powerful than any medicine, any medical procedure, any antibiotic, and any chemotherapy used to heal our bodies.”
Wait a minute – is Joseph Prince trusting more in the Lord Jesus, who is our ultimate healer
or the Holy Communion, which Christ instituted
not as a means for healing as its core purpose
but for remembering His death?
What is the Holy Communion about?
At its core, it is not about healing,
though there is nothing wrong at all to pray for healing
during the partaking of the Holy Communion.
But by pitting healing aggressively as a core purpose and benefit of the Holy Communion,
Joseph Prince has made
what is major – remembering Christ’s death – to become a minor issue,
and what is minor – our healing – to become the major priority.
Primarily, the Holy Communion is not about our healing
but remembering Christ’s death:
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NIV
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Paul instructs believers to observe the Holy Communion and to “do this in remembrance of me.”
On the contrary, Joseph Prince teaches believers to observe the Holy Communion and to “do this…to obtain healing from Jesus.”
If healing is such a big deal in the Holy Communion,
why wasn’t this mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 explicitly, the text in question?
The Holy Communion, which is supposed to be about Christ – remembering Him and His death,
has been twisted by Joseph Prince to be about us
– receiving healing from Him and the vanity of appearing youthful.
In the partaking of the Holy Communion, while Paul asks us to remember Christ and His death,
Joseph Prince asks us to remember our needs and what we can get out of Christ’s death
– our healing, health and youthfulness.
While Paul focusses on Christ-glorification,
Joseph Prince focusses on self-gratification.
Joseph Prince is, indeed, teaching a self-centred approach of what we can get out of Christ’s death,
not a Christ-centred approach of remembering Him and His death in the Holy Communion.
Next, many healings took place in the Book of Acts,
but none occurred through the Holy Communion.
In ‘Eat Your Way To Life And Health,’
Joseph Prince wrote:
“The book of Acts tells us that the disciples “came together to break bread” on “the first day of the week” (Acts 20:7).
Shouldn’t we emphasize what our Lord Jesus put emphasis on?”
While the disciples “came together to break bread” on “the first day of the week” in Acts 20:7, as related by Joseph Prince,
were there many reports that healing took place because of their partaking of the Holy Communion?
No!
There isn’t a single mention that healing took place among believers
because of their partaking of the Holy Communion in the entire Book of Acts.
If healing is to be chiefly obtained through the Holy Communion as Joseph Prince teaches,
why didn’t the apostles say so explicitly?
If the healing of our bodies is chiefly through the Holy Communion,
why is the Book of Acts completely silent about it?
There were many records of people being healed in Acts,
but none was due to the Holy Communion.
The early Church partook the Holy Communion weekly to remember Jesus’ death
and not to use and ‘abuse’ it for the healing of their bodies, as Joseph Prince is falsely teaching.
The partaking of the Holy Communion always occurs in a corporate setting,
and not in an individual setting.
In ‘Eat Your Way To Life And Health,’
Joseph Prince wrote:
“If you are being attacked by symptoms throughout the day,
I want to encourage you to partake of the Communion throughout the day.
If the enemy is attacking you day and night,
then lift up the bread and cup day and night and partake of His finished work day and night.”
There isn’t a single scripture that teaches that if you are being attacked by the enemy,
to partake of the Holy Communion throughout the day and day and night.
I thought the scriptures had already given us the right way of handling the attack of the enemy.
Didn’t James say in James 4:7,
James 4:7 NIV
7 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Why doesn’t Joseph Prince teach that which is straightforward as it is revealed in the scriptures
instead of trying to deceive with convoluted truths?
Joseph Prince has unbiblically transformed the partaking of the Holy Communion
from a corporate setting to remember Christ’s death to an individual affair
to claim personal healing and to ward off the enemy.
It seems clear that Joseph Prince doesn’t even understand the basic theology of the Holy Communion,
and more specifically, the meaning of the word ‘Communion’.
The word ‘Communion’ or ‘koinōnia’ in Greek means fellowship, sharing, community, or togetherness.
The Holy Communion is only meaningful
if it is taken in a corporate setting and among members of the same body.
It is totally out of place if we take it individually,
only to claim personal healing, deal with the enemy, live longer and stay youthful.
Can’t we just pray to the Lord Jesus for healing, as after all, He is the source of our healing, and not the Holy Communion?
Can’t we just obey the scriptures by submitting to God and resisting the devil, and he will flee from us?
We need to remember that the Holy Communion
is not purely to have our personal needs met, such as healing, health, longevity and youthfulness.
It is not even purely to have personal and individual communion with God per se
as the Holy Communion is to be taken corporately in the context of community.
When we come to partake the communion, we come not only to have communion with Christ,
but, more importantly, to have communion with fellow believers in the body of Christ.
The crucial element is that the Holy Communion ought to take place in the context of community.
Let’s be reminded that the focus of the Holy Communion is to remember what Christ has done for us by His death:
1 Corinthians 11:24b-25 NIV
24 … “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Although there is nothing wrong for believers to pray for healing when they partake the Holy Communion,
the focus or the core reason is not for the healing of our bodies.
The focus is not on us and our needs, as Joseph Prince has made it out to be.
But the focus is on Christ – to remember with a deep sense of appreciation and be forever grateful
about Christ’s sacrificial death for us on the cross.
Let me sound a word of caution of embracing Joseph Prince’s erroneous Holy Communion teachings
by alluding to what Daniel Tay and Melissa Thangavellum had written.
Daniel Tay, a former member of New Creation Church wrote:
“Another of his (Joseph Prince) ridiculous teachings is that taking Holy Communion
can make you healthy and young.
The more you take the Holy Communion, the better.
My wife has a weakness for beauty.
She always wants to be beautiful.
She spends a lot of her time beautifying herself.
So, once she heard that (from Joseph Prince), she actually bought a big bag of biscuits, communion cups and Ribena and kept eating them every day.
I ‘caught her’ eating very often.
Then, my son also followed suit.
He also bought one big bag of biscuits and cups.
He, too kept eating the biscuits.
So, I (after I came to my senses and left New Creation Church) said to them,
“Are you crazy?
How can you take communion so lightly?
How can you keep eating the bread and drinking the cup?”
Their reply was that it was Joseph Prince who told them to eat them as often as they can.
The more they eat, the healthier and younger they would become.
Then I noticed after my wife and son had eaten the Holy Communion for a period of time,
my son got into very serious throat bleeding.
He was hospitalised and had to go for surgery.
I then told them they cannot go on eating so frivolously.
They must respect God and do it biblically because if they have unconfessed and unrepentant sin
and partake the Holy Communion disrespectfully over long periods,
something ‘bad’ could happen to them.
After my wife had eaten so often,
she suffered from bad joint pain.
She visited doctors secretly as she wanted to keep this from me.
So, I warned them because they have taken the Holy Communion disrespectfully,
they have become sick.
I reminded them that I don’t partake the Holy Communion in the way Joseph Prince teaches
and I had not become sick and I am always in very good health.”
Melissa Thangavellum, whose testimony is featured on this website, soberly shared about one of her family members:
“To make matters worse, in her unrepentant sinful condition,
she went on taking the Holy Communion claiming the blessings of God, health, wealth and prosperity.
She went on to take the Holy Communion, still clinging to her bitterness, unforgiveness and various other emotional baggage.
Instead of receiving healing and life, all she received was a greater deterioration in her health.
One day, whilst in prayer, I explicitly heard the Holy Spirit tell me to tell her not to take the Holy Communion because she was unwilling to deal with so much of her sinful baggage.
I was trembling because to tell someone not to take the Holy Communion is a serious matter, and I had to really wait on the Lord to reaffirm whether I should be telling her so.
Finally, after being certain, I told her.
She turned around and accused me of being the devil’s advocate.
She really believed that it was the devil working through me to stop her from taking the Holy Communion.
I shared with her 1 Corinthians 11:27-32.
She refused to believe verse 28, that everyone ought to examine himself before partaking the Holy Communion and that you could bring judgement on yourself.
In 1 Corinthians 11:30, it states
“That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.”
Even though verse 32 states that we can be judged by the Lord,
she simply was too brainwashed by Joseph Prince’s teachings to receive any light of the truth.
She had been taught by Joseph Prince that to examine herself is engaging in sin-consciousness
and she believed the lie of Joseph Prince that the Lord will not judge her.
Sadly, as she turned a deaf ear to the prompting of the Holy Spirit
and went ahead in taking the Holy Communion, her health took a turn for the worse.
One day, she held my hand and admitted that she noticed that every time she took the Holy Communion,
her health became worse.
She confided in my relative (also from New Creation Church) who encouraged her to take the Holy Communion and not to listen to me.
I came to know that she started to take the Holy Communion behind my back through our maid.
Finally, her health came to the point of no return, and she passed away.”
For the full testimony of Melissa Thangavellum,
Please click on the link below:
https://www.revgeorgeong.com/the-sober-testimony-of-melissa-thangavellu/
Dr Roland Chia, an accomplished scholar, also wrote against Joseph Prince’s teaching on the Holy Communion and Healing.
Please click on the link below to view:
https://www.revgeorgeong.com/dr-roland-chia-holy-communion-and-healing/
Finally, if one exercises common sense, one will never be bought over by Joseph Prince’s quick-fix formula,
that the regular partaking of the Holy Communion,
will enable us to be healthier, live longer, become younger and having one’s skin to be like that of a little child.
Obviously, those who fall for such trickery are people who lack common sense.
That’s why Joseph Prince can deceive them because Prince’s congregation is filled with people without common sense.
I believe the whole truth is although they had common sense,
they have allowed the devil through Joseph Prince
to corrupt it to a state that they cannot no longer think rationally and biblically.
Rev George Ong