Rev Yang Tuck Yoong spoke against Hypergrace & Antinomianism in a worship service last Sunday – By Rev George Ong (Dated 13 Oct 2022)
Don’t miss another short provocative article: “Should We Pray For False Teachers?” that is in the Appendix at the end of the main article.
The following written by Yvonne Tan (Ex New Creation Church Member for 20 years), is an excerpt of her testimony that is featured on this website; she wrote;
“Finally, in the light of my painful discovery about the heretical teachings of Joseph Prince, I begin to wonder why is the spiritual leadership in Singapore so silent about publicly warning the sheep about it?
Is the fact that Joseph Prince is a heretic not obvious to them?
Were what I’ve highlighted in my testimony about the many false teachings of Joseph Prince not enough to convince them?
And what I’ve highlighted are not even exhaustive, and many more of Joseph Prince’s false teachings can be found in Rev George Ong’s website.
Are they aware of Rev George Ong’s website and have they even bothered to read a portion of his resources in the first place?
This is important because as I have shared, reading all 10 volumes in the 4,800 pages of his notes and viewing many of his videos on his website had played a big and crucial part in the removal of my spiritual blindness and in totally convincing me that Joseph Prince is a heretic.
Do the rest in NCC, and others in the many churches in Singapore who are influenced by Joseph Prince’s teachings, need to take 20 years, like me, to finally discover that Joseph Prince is a wolf in sheepskin?
I sincerely hope not.
I have not even taken into account the emotional trauma and pain that I went through to finally discover what I had sincerely believed to be true for all these 20 years, had all turned out to be false.
All my 20 years may not have been wasted if the spiritual leadership in Singapore would have made this clear about the heretical teachings of Joseph Prince at the outset.
But what if I didn’t make this discovery that Joseph Prince is a wolf in sheepskin.
I would be damned as to embrace the teachings of a false prophet such as Joseph Prince, is to end up in the same dark destiny as he would.
It’s time for the spiritual leadership of Singapore to cease its silence.
It’s time for them to take responsibility to warn every sheep in Singapore and the other nations about the heretic, Joseph Prince, as their eternal destiny hangs in the balance.”
Don’t be silent when it is high time for you, especially Bishops, Pastors and leaders in Singapore to speak up.
“Silence in the face of heretical onslaught is the refuge of the cowardly.” (George Ong)
“Silence is the symptom; the lack of moral courage is the cause.” (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 Sunday sermon aired on YouTube on 9 Oct 2022, 4 days ago, Rev Yang Tuck Yoong said;
Please click here to view the one-and-a-half-minute video:
“Number 11, and I’ll go on record to say this: ‘You’re deceived if you believe in the Hypergrace message. I’m standing here publicly to announce that. I don’t care what flak I get. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care who’s going to break fellowship with me. It doesn’t matter. I call a spade a spade. Amen. And the longer you sit under that anointing or teaching, you’re going to be brainwashed by it. You’re going to be brainwashed by it.
The theological term is Antinomianism. It’s a theology that holds the idea that under the dispensation of grace, that the moral law has got no more value. Come on, my friends, what Bible have you been reading?
When we are dealing with the law, you must make a distinction between the moral law and the ceremonial law. When Jesus came here, He abolished the ceremony, but He never abolished the moral law. In fact, he said I came to fulfil the law. Hallelujah. The law is good, the law is righteous and the law is holy; that’s what Paul says. And the Bible has never negated the place of the law in our hearts.
In the New Testament, the law is written on the tablets of our hearts. In the Old Testament, it was written on the tablets of stone. The law is good, Amen, Amen. And once in a while, you should recite the Ten Commandments and say, ‘God, am I living to the light of this word, Hallelujah.’”
For the full sermon of Rev Yang Tuck Yoong on YouTube, kindly click below
Pastors Tuck Yoong and Daphne (his wife) are the Founders and Senior Pastors of Cornerstone Community Church.
He is also the Chairman of the Alliance of Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of Singapore (APCCS), a network of churches, Christian organisations and pastors that seek “to give full expression to the pentecostal/charismatic expression of the Holy Spirit.”
As I see it, APCCS is more or less a parallel and sister organisation to NCCS (National Council of Churches of Singapore).
I got to know Daphne, Pastor Tuck Yoong’s wife, first, before I knew him, in the early 1980s when we were faculty mates in the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Pastor Tuck Yoong has been on my mailing list (whatsapp and email) for several years now.
On at least two occasions, in my regular updates through whatsapp and email, he sent a short reply to encourage me regarding my ministry against the Hypergrace doctrines of Joseph Prince.
We met for lunch once for fellowship some time ago.
Yesterday on 12 Oct 2022, Wednesday, a friend, who is a recipient of my regular whatsapp message sent me the YouTube link about what Rev Tuck Yoong had said against Hypergrace in that worship service.
I thank this friend who alerted me to this and am encouraged by the courage of Rev Tuck Yoong to speak publicly against Hypergrace and Antinomianism.
And it’s obvious who’s the leading voice in the preaching of the heretical message of Hypergrace in Singapore – he is none other than Joseph Prince, an Antinomian.
1. The Grace to Forgive the Repentant & the Fortitude to Battle against Unrepentant Heretics.
Like Pastor Tuck Yoong, I am also one who dares to speak up on an issue only if that’s what God has called me to do – contending against the heresies of Joseph Prince.
At the same time, like Pastor Tuck Yoong, I believe that if a fellow minister (or anyone for that matter) who has committed grave errors has genuinely repented, we must graciously forgive him or her and warmly welcome the person back to the fold.
To illustrate this point, let me reproduce an article (the bulk of it) which I wrote a while ago:
Kong Hee & Joseph Prince: One Repented, One Refused – By Rev George Ong (Dated 7 July 2021)
Yesterday (6 July 2021), in a one-hour video interview with a Singapore Christian Organisation, I watched Pastor Kong Hee sharing his heart out. This was a moving experience for me.
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. That’s a sure indication of a man who has truly repented.
He accepts it is God’s chastisement and his own wrongdoings that have brought about much pain and misery on himself and to others. His honesty and humility to readily admit his faults and failings were evident in the interview.
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. 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 despised and 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 which 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.
My heart was beaming with joy over the fact that there are fellow pastors in the Christian organisation who have prayed for, loved, cared for and reached out to Kong Hee.
But would I and others who have watched the video respond the same way if Kong Hee had refused to repent and continued to justify his sinful actions as Joseph Prince did?
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 like Kong Hee did, he, too, is to be loved, forgiven and restored by the Church.
The same love that we show to a brother-in-Christ, must also be extended to a repentant heretic.
But the sad thing is Joseph Prince has remained blatantly impenitent for the past 25 years.
Over these many years, many Christian leaders and believers from around the world have tried to reach out to him, but he has refused time and again to be corrected over his false teachings.
Many spiritual leaders in Singapore have also met him face-to-face and confronted him over his erroneous teachings.
Yet, he has remained defiantly unrepentant to this day, preaching his Pseudo-grace theology with reckless abandon and deceiving the multitudes to their eternal destruction.
Some of you may say, “George, are you telling me there is no place to pray for Joseph Prince? Don’t you believe in the power of prayer that God can change anyone, no matter how bad he is?”
Of course, I do, and I do pray for him.
But there is only one thing which I pray for him intermittently – that he truly repents.
I’m not saying this for the first time, but I have already stated many times publicly in my emails, website and videos over the last several years that I do pray for Joseph Prince, intermittently.
Anyone who prays for someone’s repentance to save him from eternal destruction could only be doing it out of love.
And if he truly repents like Pastor Kong Hee did, I will greatly rejoice, as his soul, which is headed for destruction, would be saved for all of eternity.
But to be frank, it will be an uphill task for him to turn from his evil ways.
For Joseph Prince to repent from one false teaching, simply means he has to repent from almost all, as most of his teachings are intertwined and interconnected, and plenty of them are patently false.
Is Joseph Prince prepared to repent and publicly apologise to the millions around the world that he has deceived them with his heresies, and see his entire ministry crash to pieces?
But if for any miraculous reason, he is willing to repent, I’m confident that God is able to rebuild his ministry from ashes to glory.
However, if he chooses to persist in his wayward ways, the battle against his heresies must also continue.
The reason is the Apostle Paul has clearly stated that the role for pastors and elders is not only to teach sound doctrine but they are also to refute false teachings and rebuke heretics (Tit 1:9-16; 2 Tim 4:2).
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.”
Let me highlight 2 paragraphs of what I wrote in the above article:
Yesterday (6 July 2021), in a one-hour video interview with a Singapore Christian Organisation, I watched Pastor Kong Hee sharing his heart out. This was a moving experience for me.
My heart was beaming with joy over the fact that there are fellow pastors in the Christian organisation who have prayed for, loved, cared for and reached out to Kong Hee.
The organisation to which I referred to is the Alliance of Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of Singapore (APCCS), of which Pastor Tuck Yoong is the Chairman.
In fact, he was the one who interviewed Pastor Kong Hee in that video.
I did not reveal the organisation nor feature the one-hour video interview with Pastor Kong Hee by Rev Tuck Yoong as I was not supposed to view the video because it was only opened to the pastors in that organisation. A fellow Pastor sent the link to me.
(I wonder if Pastor Tuck Yoong would kindly consider releasing the video for public viewing to bless a larger audience. This is only a suggestion.)
I had written the above article on 7 July 2021.
Then about 3 months later, on 22 Oct 2021, in a testimony by Yvonne Tan, (an Ex New Creation Church member), I wrote the following at the end of her testimony the following, (if you wish to read her testimony and some other crucial points that I had shared after her testimony, please click this link:
Let me speak prophetically to Joseph Prince;
“The time has come for you to repent. This is your last opportunity to avoid being eternally doomed. You have led the multitudes to their destruction. Do not continue on this wayward path anymore. Do not let pride, which is your number one problem, stand in the way of true repentance.
If you truly repent from all your heresies, God can still use you. I, for one, will covenant to pray for you that God will grant you true success. That you will preach the true gospel, and sheep, instead of goats, will fill your church.
Yes, everything in your life and ministry will crash. But fear not, after a period of restoration by the Body of Christ, the Lord will rebuild your ministry and you can truly shine for our Lord Jesus.
Come back home, Joseph, I plead with you, (now with tears flowing down my eyes uncontrollably, and I’m even weeping for you now as I write, God be my witness) come back to God. I pray that you will not spurn this last chance that God has given you. The Lord loves you enough to warn you the last time. This is the last time as after this, your heart will be so hardened as the heart of Pharaoh that you will never return to God.
I’m angry with you for leading the multitudes of souls to their destruction but I love you enough to warn you that you need to repent.
Don’t be afraid, your days are not over if you would humbly repent. And when you truly repent, I will partner with you, I will support you all the way, not to compete with you, but by praying for you, that you will be used mightily to win the multitudes of souls to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
But sometime later, after 22 October 2021 when I wrote that prophetic statement for Joseph Prince, I no longer prayed for Joseph Prince.
Kindly note that this is what I was led to do but for most of you who are still praying for Joseph Prince, please continue to do so.
While there is a place to pray for people, many may not be aware that God can command that prayers be stopped, especially for those who have chosen time and again to remain unrepentant:
Jeremiah 7:16 NIV
16 “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.”
Jeremiah 11:14 NIV
14 “Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.”
Jeremiah 14:11-12 NIV
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. 12 Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”
Three times God instructed Jeremiah not to pray for the people because He will not listen to his prayers.
If Joseph Prince chooses to remain unrepentant and continues to proclaim his Pseudo-grace doctrine with reckless abandon, there may come a time when God may impress on His people, not just me alone, not to pray for him anymore.
My point is, we must graciously forgive one who has repented, such as Pastor Kong Hee, regardless of the great sins that the person has committed.
Yet, for unrepentant heretics like Joseph Prince, there must be no let-up in our contention against him and his heresies.
In the light of Joseph Prince’s unrepentant stance for all these years, I thank Pastor Yang Tuck Yoong for boldly and publicly speaking against the deception of Hypergrace and Antinomianism.
2. May the courageous example of Rev Yang Tuck Yoong and the following Christian leaders and former NCC members embolden us to speak boldly against the heretical doctrines of Joseph Prince:
Rev Ho Chee Sin (Former Bishop of the Methodist Church, Singapore) wrote;
“The threat and influence of the Pseudo-grace (or Hypergrace) teachings by Joseph Prince… is not something which is academic, but it has already permeated many of the churches in Singapore and around the world.”
“We can do something concrete by publicly speaking up against the heresies of Joseph Prince. The sheep need to hear the voice of true shepherds, or the voice of false shepherds will influence and choke them to their destruction.”
Bishop Andrew Phang (a Bishop from Malaysia) wrote;
“As I am fully convinced that Joseph Prince’s heresy is one that could even lead our sheep to end up in hell, the shepherds of God’s flock should boldly come forward and speak publicly against the destructiveness of his teachings.”
Rev David Liew (a retired Pastor from the Methodist Church in Singapore) wrote;
“After going through all the solid evidence presented (4,800 pages of notes by Rev George Ong), I’m sure we can only come to one conclusion, that Joseph Prince is really a deadly wolf in sheepskin.”
“If we really love our flock and care for those around us, we need to speak up and warn people about it. We need to expose false teachers and their false teachings. We are our brother’s keeper whether we like it or not. For those who are spiritual leaders, we are God’s watchmen and we need to do our part. Otherwise, the blood of God’s people will, in a sense, be on our hands.”
Rev William Patrick (Senior Pastor of Abundant Life Centre, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia) wrote;
“It is time for the Body of Christ, and especially, the church leadership, to speak out against such clear false teachings of Joseph Prince…”
“Many sheep have already been poisoned by the heresies of Joseph Prince. We don’t need to lose one more before we wake up from our slumber as the eternal destiny of every sheep is precious beyond measure.”
Dr Chris Kang (Ex New Creation Church Member) wrote;
“I pray that Christian leaders of Singapore will rise up and make their voices heard on this grave danger to the church of Jesus Christ. We need to clean up our own backyard, as Rev. George Ong says.
While I’ve had my reservations about Joseph Prince for some years now, I believe it’s time to take an unequivocal stand theologically and spiritually on this issue.”
Peter Tok (Ex New Creation Church Member) wrote;
“Perhaps, if my previous church had taught and forewarned the congregation about the heresies of Joseph Prince, I might not even have attempted to listen to Joseph Prince’s sermons and attend New Creation Church in the first place.”
“Yet, the true shepherds of God must start to refute the false teachings of Joseph Prince and warn their sheep from straying into his fold.
We must never sacrifice truth for the sake of unity. Borrowing a quote from Charles Spurgeon, “To pursue union at the expense of truth is treason to the Lord Jesus.” Have we been compromising the truth for the sake of a false unity with false teachers?”
Dr Simon Chong (a Methodist from Singapore) wrote;
“In Joseph Prince, the Church is faced with a perpetrator of falsehoods and twisted doctrines, with many of the flocks drawn to it, as well as non-believers being seduced into a completely new brand of Christianity that is totally unlike what the Church preaches. For years, what has the Church done? Our response…Silence.”
“Will you continue to allow falsehood and lies to reign in your midst? Particularly as spiritual leaders, you must take responsibility and do what’s right!”
Finally, Yvonne Tan, (Ex New Creation Church Member for 20 years) wrote;
“Finally, in the light of my painful discovery about the heretical teachings of Joseph Prince, I begin to wonder why is the spiritual leadership in Singapore so silent about publicly warning the sheep about it?
Is the fact that Joseph Prince is a heretic not obvious to them?
Were what I’ve highlighted in my testimony about the many false teachings of Joseph Prince not enough to convince them?
And what I’ve highlighted are not even exhaustive, and many more of Joseph Prince’s false teachings can be found in Rev George Ong’s website.
Are they aware of Rev George Ong’s website and have they even bothered to read a portion of his resources in the first place?
This is important because as I have shared, reading all 10 volumes in the 4,800 pages of his notes and viewing many of his videos on his website had played a big and crucial part in the removal of my spiritual blindness and in totally convincing me that Joseph Prince is a heretic.
Do the rest in NCC, and others in the many churches in Singapore who are influenced by Joseph Prince’s teachings, need to take 20 years, like me, to finally discover that Joseph Prince is a wolf in sheepskin?
I sincerely hope not.
I have not even taken into account the emotional trauma and pain that I went through to finally discover what I had sincerely believed to be true for all these 20 years, had all turned out to be false.
All my 20 years may not have been wasted if the spiritual leadership in Singapore would have made this clear about the heretical teachings of Joseph Prince at the outset.
But what if I didn’t make this discovery that Joseph Prince is a wolf in sheepskin. I would be damned as to embrace the teachings of a false prophet such as Joseph Prince, is to end up in the same dark destiny as he would.
It’s time for the spiritual leadership of Singapore to cease its silence.
It’s time for them to take responsibility to warn every sheep in Singapore and the other nations about the heretic, Joseph Prince, as their eternal destiny hangs in the balance.”
3. Martyn Lloyd-Jones like Pastor Yang Tuck Yoong, teaches against Antinomianism and upholds the Ten Commandments.
In ‘Exposition of Romans Chapter 14:1-17 ‘Liberty and Conscience’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Pages 78-79, he said;
“The moral law, the Ten Commandments in particular, has been laid down for all time. But the ceremonial law was given only for the time being and applied only to the Jews in the Old Testament era.
Not only was there a special ceremonial law, but there were other laws, more general in character, that the Jews as a nation had to observe. Now the ceremonial law and the more general political law were abrogated by the coming of our Lord and His completed work.
But the moral law has never been abrogated, and is to be perpetually observed. So we must never discuss the keeping of the moral law. It is not to be discussed: it is to be kept; it is to be obeyed; it is to be observed.”
“And unlike the ceremonial law, the moral law does not only apply to the Jews but is obligatory upon the whole of humankind.
You may remember that in the second chapter of this Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle (Paul) makes the universality of the moral law very plain and clear when he says that though the Gentiles do not have the law in the external objective manner in which the Jews have it, this same law is ‘written in their hearts’ [Rom. 2:15]. When God gave the moral law through Moses, He put in an external form what is already written in the hearts of the entire human race.”
In ‘Exposition of Romans Chapter 10 ‘Saving Faith’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Pages 28-29, he said;
“But now let us look at it in a more detailed manner. The Apostle says, first of all, that ‘Christ is the end of the law for righteousness’. What does he mean? This, too, is a most important question, and we must be very careful with it.
There are those who misunderstand this verse and think that it is telling us that the law has been done away with. They say that God gave the law under the Old Testament dispensation, but that once Christ came, the law was finished; it no longer applies.
But that, again, is a very serious error. This verse does not mean that.
In Matthew 5:17-18, we have our Lord’s own word with regard to this:
‘Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.’
Now that, surely, should be enough in and of itself. The law of God which He gave to the children of Israel through Moses is a permanent expression of God’s holy character and of what God expects from men and women. The law is not temporary; it is eternal. The law is still the expression of how God would have men and women live in this world.
Back in the second chapter (Romans), the Apostle makes a great point of this and he shows that everybody has to face this law of God. He says that the Jews had the law given to them explicitly, but even the Gentiles, who had not received it in that explicit manner, have an awareness of its requirements written in their hearts:
‘For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another’ [Rom. 2:14-15].
So everybody is subject to this law, both Jews and Gentiles. The law is God’s expression of His holy character and shows what He expects from the human race.
So we must never say that the law has been abolished by the coming of our Lord and that God no longer demands that it be kept. He does. He demands it still of everybody.
There is no greater error than to set law and grace in opposition. There is a teaching which says, ‘We are no longer judged by the law; we are simply judged by whether we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or not.’
That is not true: we are still judged by the law of God. That is the eternal standard of judgment and always will be.
Indeed, we must go further and say that even though we become Christians we do not say farewell to the law, we must still keep it. It still makes its demands and shows the kind of life which we should be living. And one of the purposes of salvation is to enable us to live a life such as is demanded by the holy law of God.
It is a very dangerous teaching which says that the Christian now has a lower standard. There are many who hold that view. They say, ‘Law has gone; we are under grace now; and because we are under grace the standard is lowered, we are forgiven, it does not matter what we do.’ But that is sheer Antinomianism, which is a terrible sin.
Christ did not die in order to lower the standard. That is not what He has done at all, as I shall show you. The standard remains; the gospel has not made things easier with regard to the demands of the law. They are there, they are absolute and eternal.”
Every statement in the above by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who is a seminal figure in Bible exposition, is a contradistinction against Joseph Prince’s Antinomian doctrine.
Many contradictions in the doctrine between Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Joseph Prince have already been revealed and more are going to be raised in the days to come.
That being so, how can Joseph Prince be a true teacher of God’s word?
Rev George Ong
Appendix
Should We Pray For False Teachers?
When I started to criticise Joseph Prince and his teachings, there are some believers and even pastors who shot back,
“George, you have criticised Joseph Prince so much, but have you prayed for him?”
This seems to be a pious question – but is it?
They thought that what they gave was good spiritual advice for me.
But it only reveals the naivety and super-spirituality in them.
These people don’t even know that praying for false teachers is a remote idea in the scriptures.
I have never come across any verse in the Bible that instructs me to pray for ‘wolves’, specifically.
But I have come across many verses that instruct and even command believers to beware of wolves and false prophets (Matt 7:15) and to be alert to guard their sheep against being harmed by them.
Yes, we are called to pray for our enemies.
But those verses usually refer to those who seek to persecute us (Matt 5:44). That is not what most false teachers do at all.
Apart from the Pharisees, most false teachers, especially today, don’t persecute the church.
They are extremely friendly and nice to the church.
They have so craftily infiltrated, mingled and blended with the flock that many unsuspecting members of the church have warmly welcomed and loved them.
For those who asked me whether I have prayed for Joseph Prince – it is as if their first and only concern is for ‘wolves’, but where is their concern for the sheep?
Jesus would never ask the shepherds the question – have you prayed for the wolves?
But He would be greatly concerned that the shepherds guard their sheep against being harmed by the savaging wolves.
How wrong can believers and even pastors get?
Are you more concerned for the helpless sheep that are in danger of being attacked by the wolf, or are you more concerned for the wicked wolf?
It seems that some believers and leaders (like the Singapore Methodist Bishop and Singapore Presbyterian Pastor) are more concerned about defending the ‘wolf’ that he is not a heretic rather than guarding the sheep.
They seem to be more concerned about protecting the ‘wolf’ from criticisms and attack than protecting the sheep from being harmed by the ‘wolf’.
What is happening to the church?
What has gone wrong with her?
At no time did Christ say that we are to pray for the wolves, but He did warn us to beware of the wolves or false teachers (Matt 7:15).
Did Paul ever tell believers to pray for the wolves and fellowship with them, specifically?
No.
He warned the Ephesian elders to be on guard for themselves, and all the flock for savage wolves will come in among them, not sparing the flock (Acts 20:28-31).
I can’t find anywhere in the Bible that tells me to pray specifically for the wolves or the false teachers.
Whenever the ‘wolves’ are mentioned in the Bible, it is always in the negative (beware of them) but never in the positive (please pray for them).
The Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul not only didn’t pray for the false prophets; they even cursed and pronounced the destiny of hell on them (Gal 1:8-9; Matt 23).
If you can find a verse in the Bible that tells it is our responsibility to pray for the ‘wolves’, kindly, do let me know.
But I can find in the scriptures many verses that tell me to beware of false prophets, guard your sheep against them, and to keep away from them.
If wolves are savage and ravenous whose only aim is to devour the sheep, why in the world are we praying for them?
Pray for their success in hunting for the sheep and their welfare of getting enough sheep for their meals?
Ridiculous!
Preposterous!
If we have to pray, don’t pray for the ‘wolves’; pray against them.
Why?
Because they are committing the evil of not only devouring the sheep, but they are also leading the multitudes to hell.
It is only right that we don’t pray for them, but we pray against them for the evil that they will do to the sheep.
Some of you may say,
“George, are you telling me there is no place to pray for Joseph Prince?
Don’t you believe in the power of prayer that God can change anyone, no matter how bad he is?”
Of course, I do.
Let me boldly say that there is nothing to pray for the ‘wolf’ except for one thing – that he repents.
As I have stated several times in my articles, I do pray for Joseph Prince intermittently.
But there is only one thing I pray for him – nothing more, nothing less – that Joseph Prince repents.
Anyone who prays for the wolf’s repentance to save him from eternal destruction could only be doing it out of love.
If Joseph Prince truly repents, he would avoid the lake of fire.
But even if Joseph Prince repents, he still has to live with the punishing thought of the many precious souls that he has led to the lake of fire – those who have embraced his teachings and have passed away.
From time to time, I do pray for Joseph Prince’s repentance over his many horrendous false teachings.
If Joseph Prince truly repents, I will categorically commit to pray for him regularly that God will use him to bring many more souls not into hell but into the presence of God in heaven.
Joseph Prince is a ‘big gun’ now, but I believe if he truly repents, he can be an even ‘bigger gun’ for God not for his own glory but for the glory of the Almighty God.
As for praying for false teachers, I am merely stating the fact that the scriptures do not command such prayers or even instruct us to pray for them, specifically.
Lastly, let’s take the illustration of a pack of wolves who are about to attack a flock of sheep.
Instead of running away for their lives,
would some sheep say;
“Did you pray for the wolves so that we can shake hands with them as friends, and when we are friendly to them, we are quite sure they won’t attack us?”
would the shepherd say;
“Don’t be so judgmental that those wolves have come to attack us.
George, you are overly critical of the wolves. Who are you to judge?”
So, as the shepherd and the sheep are preoccupied with their discussion and unwary of the danger they are in, and refusing to obey the command of Jesus to beware of the wolves (Matt 7:15), the pack of wolves launched their fiercest attack on the shepherd and the sheep and slaughtered them all.