Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ view: scripture, not results nor testimonies, is the test of Joseph Prince’s teachings – By Rev George Ong (Dated 20 Feb 2023)
See Appendix:
After Reading and Hearing from People who were from Joseph Prince’s congregation,
we cannot help but conclude that Joseph Prince is a Cult Leader who is Leading his Followers Astray
– By Tan Peng Yong and Elsie Tan
Preface
I purchased the whole set of 6 hardcopy volumes of commentaries on Ephesians by Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the 1980s, about 40 years ago, and they were well worth it.
I’ve read through all 6 volumes a long time ago.
What Martyn Lloyd-Jones had preached, and recorded in his 6 commentaries on Ephesians,
somewhat gives me the feeling that he had a prophetic inkling
that a heretic like Joseph Prince would later come on the scene, and provided cogent and direct refutation to his heresies.
Specifically, Joseph Prince has again resorted to using healing testimonies at the worship service yesterday
to prove the correctness of his grace doctrine.
This was refuted by Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ teachings that scripture alone is the primary and reliable test.
As most of you are aware by now, most of Joseph Prince’s doctrines are heretical,
so, no amount of healing testimonies, even though they could be genuine, could undo it.
By the way, I am still waiting for Joseph Prince to give us an explanation why,
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the man whom he respects and said that he was considered to be the Charles Spurgeon of the modern church,
has time and again refuted and debunked many of his grace teachings.
In a 15-second video, Joseph Prince said;
“So, I was browsing through and I picked up a book at random by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He did a series on Romans. It just happened that I picked up this book. And I flipped it at random as well. And my eyes fell on this: How come, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones who is an English theologian, great man of God.”
Joseph Prince had more accolades for Martyn Lloyd-Jones when he wrote in his book, ‘Destined To Reign’, Page 252,
“He (Martyn Lloyd-Jones) was well respected within both the charismatic and non-charismatic circles, and was considered by many as the Charles Spurgeon of the modern church.”
Joseph Prince has insulted poor believers by telling them time and again that they shouldn’t remain as poor as a church mouse.
But Joseph Prince himself is acting as quiet as a church mouse, about the above contradictions that I had raised.
You would reason,
“Since Joseph Prince openly and publicly quoted Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his sermon on video and in his book,
and even called him ‘a great man of God’, and a Charles Spurgeon of the modern church,
Martyn Lloyd-Jones must have endorsed Joseph Prince’s grace teachings.”
And many have been deluded into thinking that such is the case.
Well, Joseph Prince himself is crafty enough to want to leave that impression in the minds of many.
If you have read about this glowing tribute that Joseph Prince paid to Martyn Lloyd-Jones,
you would be fooled into thinking that Martyn Lloyd-Jones agrees with much of Joseph Prince’s grace theology
and is teaching the same grace doctrine as Joseph Prince does.
But as a matter of fact, the reverse is the truth.
Almost all of what I have featured about Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ teachings in this article, and many previous ones,
go head-on against Joseph Prince’s grace and law teaching.
Imagine the irony – Joseph Prince, who calls Martyn Lloyd-Jones ‘a great man of God’
– and yet this ‘great man of God’ has refuted and demolished much of Joseph Prince’s teachings.
Think with me, would any teacher of the word call a person ‘a great man of God’,
if that great man teaches against the bulk of his teachings?
No way!
Then, why did Joseph Prince call Martyn Lloyd-Jones ‘a great man of God’?
It’s all a deceptive ploy of Joseph Prince to give the people the impression
that he and Martyn Lloyd-Jones are of the same mind with regards to his grace teaching
– and that would give much credence to him as the Grace Teacher.
I’m sure Joseph Prince would ‘violently’ disagree with the views of Martyn Lloyd-Jones (see below).
If so, then Prince must denounce Martyn Lloyd-Jones publicly as someone he respected.
(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 19 Feb 2023, yesterday, the following transpired (1-minute);
“Alright, can we have real quick, some interviews. Ya, Pastor, where are you? I’m here. I see you.
Pastor, we have a brother here. He shared that his hearing is much better. Praise the Lord!
So, he could not like hear well from one ear. Partially deaf.
He cannot hear well in both ears.
So, it’s like, one ear is opening up.
No, both ears are much better.
O praise the Lord! Thank you, Jesus. Alright, if you can hear me in what I’m going to say afterwards, put up your hand, okay. Put down your hand first. Jesus, can you hear that?
Alright. I think some of you can’t hear that.
He can hear.
That was pretty soft even with the amplified sound. Okay, praise the Lord, real quick, someone else.”
So, did the brother answer the question himself,
or someone was too anxious to answer the question on his behalf that he can hear?
In a weekly Sunday sermon aired on YouTube on 19 Feb 2023, yesterday, the following transpired (1-minute);
“I just feel that there’s someone who says that ‘Don’t miss me, I must share this testimony. Who is that?’
Left knee has been worn for many years. It hurts really bad in Chinese New Year. And I’m going to Israel tomorrow. My CG has been praying for me. And just now when I start to squat down, the pain went away. Thank you, Jesus.
And brother, praise the Lord. What a gift. What timing. He makes all things beautiful in his time because Israel, there’s a lot of walking. Amen, and now you can walk. Praise the Lord.
Okay, listen, I feel the Lord telling me to tell you this.
Here and there in Israel. When you walk, the devil will try to put the pain back. Okay. Walk it off.
I feel the Lord telling me to tell you this, okay. Now you are healed but when you’re in Israel, and the temptation, you know, and the devil give you lying symptoms to tell you that you are not healed.
Okay, walk it off. Just walk it off. Amen Praise the Lord.”
What an advice from Joseph Prince!
When a person is healed, he gets the glory.
But when the pain recurs, the devil gets the blame
and the brother too for having insufficient faith, if he gives in to temptation and allows the pain to bother him.
Whichever way, Joseph Prince wins – he has postured himself that he can never be blamed for any fake healing that he ministered.
What a Kiasu Grace-Teacher!
This is the kind of man you are dealing with!
In ‘An exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13, The Christian Warfare’, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said;
“Another aspect of this selfsame point is that it is nearly always true to say of these cults
that the teaching ultimately depends upon the ‘personal testimony’ of the people who have belonged to it before you.”
“They talk about themselves and their own experiences.
They tell you about their former lives and what they once were; then they tell you of what happened to them, with the implication that if you only accept the formula, it will happen to you also.
The methodology of the cult
is entirely different from the Christian method; it is not scriptural in any respect.
It is merely the formula, plus the personal testimony of what happened to someone as the result of accepting and applying the formula in his or her own life.
If you go and do likewise, the same result will follow.”
In ‘An exposition of Ephesians 6:10-20, The Christian Soldier’, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said;
“The final argument the protagonists of this teaching generally bring at this point is,
‘Say what you like about this teaching, but it works. There was I for all those years struggling in vain, and then I met this teaching. I believed it, and immediately I got release. It works, it does it! What do you say to that?’
I (Lloyd-Jones) answer that that is precisely what all the devotees and cults say.
‘But how do you explain that?’ asks someone.
There is no difficulty at all.
All these cults and psychological teachings can produce results.
Obviously, they would not succeed for a day if they could not.
People would not rush after them and buy their books and attend their meetings if they did nothing at all.
Of course, they can produce certain results.
We are strange creatures; we can persuade ourselves of many things.
There are many ways of getting temporary relief and release.
Christian Science, for example, makes many people very happy, but that is far from proving that Christian Science is true.
You do not test a teaching by results only;
you test every teaching by the Scriptures.”
“The test is never the test of the results only.
The primary test that should always be applied to any teaching is the test that we have been applying;
it is the test of the Scriptures.
‘What saith the Word of God?’”
In ‘An exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13, The Christian Warfare’, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said;
“The ‘prayer of faith’, they say, surely guarantees that result.
Then with regard to healing the argument is that ‘it is never God’s will that any of His children should be ill’.
‘How can a loving Father allow any of His children to be ill?’
‘It is always God’s will that we should be well and healthy.’
Therefore if you are ill, obviously you just ask God to heal you; and it must happen.
The result of such teaching is that, when these things do not happen, there is disappointment.
You do not seem to be able to get your guidance, or you thought you had received your guidance but you found that things went wrong, and so you are in trouble, and are disappointed.
The healing has not taken place in spite of fervent, believing prayer, as you thought.
All this, plus the fear of taking the wrong decision, depresses the believer.
He begins to turn in upon himself and says,
‘Am I a Christian at all? If I were a true Christian, surely God would have answered me. Am I a Christian at all? If I am, then I am lacking in faith. There is something wrong with me somewhere. I do not know where it lies, but I am lacking in faith at some point.’
Thus, the devil encourages you to believe his lie; and he may use your friends in order to aggravate the condition.”
In ‘An exposition of Ephesians 1, God’s Ultimate Purpose’, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said;
“There is nothing in contemporary Christianity which is so dangerous and so unscriptural as the teaching that, with regard to each and every blessing in the Christian life, all that we have to do is ‘to take it by faith’, and not worry about feelings.
This is taught with regard to conversion, sanctification, assurance and physical healing.
Dreadful tragedies have happened in every one of these realms as the result of such teaching.
Let me give certain examples.
The late gifted Andrew Murray of South Africa at one time was a great believer in what is called faith healing; and he taught it in the manner which we are criticizing.
If a Christian were taken ill, he should read the Scriptures and believe their teaching to be that it is God’s will for a Christian to be always healthy.
He should then go to God and tell Him that he believed the Scriptures and this particular teaching, and then ask Him for healing.
But the vital point was that he should get up from his knees believing that he had already been healed.
The fact that he did not feel better made no difference; he must take his healing by faith and proceed to live his life as if he were perfectly well.
But there came a time when Andrew Murray ceased to believe after this fashion, and his biography explains how this happened.
He had a favourite nephew who was suffering from a certain chest complaint, probably tuberculosis.
Andrew Murray was due to go on a series of preaching meetings in a certain part of South Africa and the nephew was anxious to go with him; but in his ill condition he was not fit to go.
The two men believed the same teaching about healing by faith and they both went on their knees together and asked God for healing.
They rose to their feet both believing that the young man was healed.
They packed their bags and went off together.
But they had only been away for a short time when the young man died.”
In ‘An exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17, Darkness And Light’, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said;
“The whole purpose of the gospel, the object of the whole of salvation, is to bring us to this knowledge of God.
Not to give us certain experiences and feelings only!
Thank God, we get these, as it were, in passing, but if I have not got this salvation, experiences and feelings may be spurious and false;
they may be of the devil and his counterfeits;
for the cults can make people happy and give them various kinds of deliverance, even healing their bodies at times.
No, it is not that, it is to know God, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and the truth is – the holiness of God.”
In ‘An exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13, The Christian Warfare’, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said;
“Looking back over my experience as a pastor for some thirty-four years, I can testify without the slightest hesitation that the people
I have found most frequently in trouble in their spiritual experience have been those who have lacked understanding.
You cannot divorce these things.
You will go wrong in the realms of practical living and experience if you have not a true understanding.
If you drop off into some heresy, if you go wrong at some point, if you believe, for instance
– I give one example in passing
– ‘that healing is in the atonement’, that it is never God’s will that any of His children should be ill,
that it is always God’s will that all His children should be healthy, and that no Christian should ever die from a disease
… if you believe that, and then find yourself, or someone who is dear to you, dying of some incurable disease,
you will be miserable and unhappy.
Probably you will be told by certain people,
‘There is something wrong with your faith, you are failing somewhere, you are not really trusting as you should be’,
and you will be cast into the depth of despair and misery and unhappiness.
You will be depressed in your spiritual life, and you will be looking here and there for comfort.
Such a person’s condition is due to error or heresy concerning a primary central doctrine.
He or she has insinuated something into the Christian faith that does not truly belong to it.”
In ‘An exposition of Ephesians 5:18-6:9, Life In The Spirit’, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said;
“I would put this very strongly.
In the last analysis you and I have no choice in this matter of sanctification.
It is something that Christ does. He died for you, and then, having died for you, He is going to wash you, sanctify you, cleanse you – and He will do it.
Let there be no mistake about this.
If he has died for you, He will go on with the process of sanctification in you, He will finally make you perfect.
There is something alarming about this; but it is essential biblical teaching.
If you and I do not submit voluntarily to this teaching He has another way of cleansing us; and He will use it
– ‘Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth’ (Hebrews 12:6).
He will not allow you to remain where you were in your filth and vileness, saying ‘I am all right, Christ has died for me, I am forgiven, I am a Christian’.
He will not have that! He has loved you, you belong to Him; and He will make you clean.
If you will not come voluntarily, and in the right way, He will put you into that gymnasium of which we read in Hebrews.
He will get rid of the corners, He will get rid of the filth and the vileness, He will wash you.
It may come about through an illness which He will send upon you.
These ‘faith-healers’ who say that God never sends an illness are simply denying the Scriptures.
As one of His methods, He chastises.
Your circumstances may go wrong, you may lose your job, or someone dear to you may die.
Christian! because you belong to Him, because Christ has died for you, He will make you perfect.
Fight against Him as you will in your folly, He will knock you down, He will cleanse you, He will perfect you.
That is the teaching; it is something He does.
Sanctification is not something that you and I determine
– ‘He gave Himself for it, that (in order that) He might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word’.
The first principle therefore which we must grasp is that sanctification is primarily and essentially something that the Lord Jesus Christ does to us.
He has His ways of doing it.
It includes, of course, obedience on our part.
But you must not put your primary emphasis there.
The decision for sanctification is not ours; it is His.
It was taken in eternity before the foundation of the world.
It is His activity, it is His operation; and having died for you, He will do it.
Resist Him at your peril.
He will bring every son who has been called, into that final and everlasting glory.
As Hebrew 12 puts it, if He does not deal with you in this way, you are ‘a bastard’ and not a true son (Hebrews 12:5-11).”
George Ong’s comments: Though my doctrinal stand on sanctification in this section differs slightly from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, I am with him for most of his teachings.
Rev George Ong
Appendix
After Reading and Hearing from People who were from Joseph Prince’s congregation,
we cannot help but conclude that Joseph Prince is a Cult Leader who is Leading his Followers Astray
– By Tan Peng Yong and Elsie Tan
“My wife and I are Anglicans and members of St Andrew’s Cathedral for the last 50 years.
On a number of occasions, we have heard Christian Leaders preach in our 8 am Sunday Service.
These Christian Leaders were invited to share God’s Words with us because they are well grounded in the Gospel and the teachings of the Bible.
One of the speakers is Rev George Ong.
We found him a sincere and honest man
with a great sense of mission to preach the true gospel and true grace
based on the Bible and the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This brings us to the point that
there are some so called Christian leaders
who preach a different kind of gospel and a false kind of grace.
Joseph Prince is one such leader.
He is charismatic and possesses oratorical skills to convince his followers by:
1. Making them feel good all the time.
2. Promising them prosperity if they follow his teachings.
3. Encouraging them to read his books and listen to his CDs instead of reading the Bible.
4. Treating the Elements for Communion as means to an end (for blessings and healings) instead of what was commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Interpreting (actually misinterpreting) the Holy Bible to justify his brand of heretical teachings.
6. Leading them through a wide, easy and heretical path instead of the straight and narrow and difficult way.
We learned from Dr Joseph Ozawa, who preached at St Andrew’s Cathedral (when he was in Singapore working as a Consultant in the Ministry of Education)
on the difference between a cult and mainstream Christianity.
He taught us that a cult has followers who:
1. Look up to, and adore the cult leader more than God.
2. Soak in whatever the cult leader preaches without checking what the Bible says.
3. Obey the cult leader unquestionably.
4. Feel good hearing the cult leader preach his brand of heresy.
After reading and hearing from people who were from Joseph Prince’s congregation,
we cannot help but conclude that Joseph Prince is a cult leader who is leading his followers astray.
We pray that our God will change his evil ways of leading the multitudes to their eternal damnation.
We also pray that his followers will open their eyes, and move out of the hold he has on them before it is too late.”
Tan Peng Yong and Elsie Tan
Attending St Andrew’s Cathedral (Anglican), Singapore