It came to my attention that an anointed brother was being hindered in exercising his ministry simply because he had been leading a congregation of the saints in confession of sins, with the purpose of releasing the forgiveness, healing and deliverance of the Lord. Hallelujah for the promise of 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But some dear sisters had been misled by the teaching of Joseph Prince to believe that the confession of sins by believers is an aberration from ‘the gospel of grace’, which he understands in a very immature way, reasoning that since Jesus paid the price for all sins, past, present and future, our sins have already been forgiven, and there is no need to confess them. Much the same reasoning could be employed to demonstrate that all people are saved, whether believers or not! Instead of submitting his reason to the word of God, Prince claims that the first chapter of 1 John is written to ‘Gnostics’, and not to believers. The simplest way to refute this bizarre theory is to point out that John writes ‘If we confess..’ rather than ‘If you confess..’, including himself amongst those who have need of this wonderful provision of the grace of God.
Hallelujah also for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in convicting us of our sins and of the sin in our hearts, even as we are being transformed into the image of Christ, from glory to glory, by the Lord the Spirit. Hallelujah for His mighty grace too, which teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age. How can it be that Christians today can reduce the deep and subtle interplay of God’s initiative and our response, of free grace and human responsibility, of God’s mercy, love and kindness and His severity and rebuke, which have been expounded for many centuries by men of wisdom and learning who have meditated for many years on the truths of scripture before they have dared to add their modest contribution to the accumulated store of biblical and spiritual teaching in the body of Christ, to a simple-minded formula which denies essential doctrines and offers a life of apparent ease and success in exchange for the narrow path of holiness and sacrifice which alone leads to eternal life?
Joseph Prince’s most extraordinary aberration from sound doctrine is his relegation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s own teaching to the ‘old covenant’, to be ignored and even mocked as absurd when it challenges us to the depth of our being, and does its own work of destroying the soul that our lives may be saved on the day of judgement. How can it be that this assault on the Lord Jesus’s teaching should be being promulgated all over the world on television channels which bear His holy Name? Have we become so slow of mind that we can not see the lies and deception and the plain errors of Prince’s teaching, or is that the power of mammon has taken hold of these media to the degree that a blind eye and a deaf ear is being turned to them, and the warnings of godly men are being ignored?
Let us rise up and fight the good fight of the faith, and oppose heresy and the doctrines of demons wherever they rear their ugly head. A good shepherd protects his flock from wolves that come in to steal and devour. Let us not suppose that false teachings will die of their own accord, any more than do sinful habits or lustful tendencies or wordly ambitions. Let us put to death, as the apostle Paul wrote, our members which are upon the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. Let us put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created us. Hold fast the pattern of sound words that Paul taught, and in humility correct those who are in opposition, lest their false teaching spread like cancer, and in the hope that God may grant them repentance and set them free from the devil’s snare (2 Timothy 1:13, 2:25-26). Hallelujah, the Lord loves Joseph Prince deeply, and I pray for his correction and eternal salvation, in Jesus’ Name.
I have written a short paper, which can be found here, to expose the fact that Joseph Prince, at least in principle, rejects all the teaching of the Lord Jesus which is contained in the gospels as no longer applicable to Christian believers. Heresy is too weak a word for this departure from the faith once delivered to the saints, since it tears the very heart out of the Christian faith and life. No believer can remain in Jesus and in His love without obeying His holy and gracious and life-giving commandments, which preserve us from the sinful tendencies of our fleshly nature, and separate us from the world and its passions.
