Joseph Prince was born in May of 1963 to an Indian Sikh priest and a Chinese mother. During his earlier childhood, he lived in Malaysia. In 1983, Prince helped found New Creation Church. He was born Xenonamandar Jegahusiee Singh, but in 1990 he changed his name to Joseph Prince and was appointed senior pastor. He is married to Wendy Prince and has two children with her. In 2008, people started questioning whether or not he should be living as lavishly as he is.
In his book, Destined to Reign, Prince writes,
I distinctly heard the voice of the Lord on the inside. It wasn’t a witness of the Spirit. It was a voice, and I heard God say this clearly to me: ‘Son, you are not preaching grace.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, Lord?…’Every time you preach grace, you preach it with a mixture of law. You attempt to balance grace with the law like many other preachers, and the moment you balance grace, you neutralize it. You cannot put new wine into old wineskins. You cannot put grace and law together. He went on to say, ‘Son, a lot of preachers are not preaching grace the way Apostle Paul preached grace.’
There are two different heresies contained within this quote. The first is Montanism. Montanism is the modern claim of prophecy. If modern prophecy is true, Scripture must be either incomplete or insufficient, so claiming to get direct, divine revelation is to say Scripture is to reject the complete and sufficient nature of Scripture. Furthermore, he is attributing his Antinomianism to God, lying about God, and making a blasphemous false prophecy.
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The second heresy in this quote is the heresy of Antinomianism. Antinomianism is a heresy that denies the Law of God and its necessity today. Prince does this by saying God told him that the Law and Grace cannot be balanced (Which is untrue; the Law and Grace were perfectly balanced at the cross). He rips Mark 2:22 out of context to prove this point, further proving this prophecy is not from God.
Prince continues,
“Under the new covenant, we don’t have to keep on asking the Lord… for forgiveness because He has already forgiven us.” (Designed to Reign, Page 7)
Jesus taught otherwise. While Prince says to not ask for forgiveness, Jesus told us to pray, “… forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12, ESV) To claim that we should not ask for forgiveness because we have already been forgiven is as absurd as saying that we should not apologize to our spouses if we commit adultery if they have already forgiven us. It is ridiculous and absurd.
“The law is not for you the believer, who has been made righteous in Christ! The law is not applicable to someone who is under the new covenant of grace.” (Unmerited Favor, Joseph Prince, Page 100, Emphasis in the original)
This is textbook Antinomianism, the exact same kind taught by Johannes Agricola in 1536 and Anne Hutchinson in 1636. He is even using the same language that Anne Hutchinson used (Namely, a misuse of the phrase “Covenant of Grace”) and he is teaching that the law no longer applies and that we are not obligated to keep God’s moral law. Paul addressed a form of this heresy in Romans 6:1-2 (ESV) by saying, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” The existence of sin in the Christian life presumes that there is still a moral law to be kept.
“Religion will tell you that ‘God’ wants you sick to teach you character and patience. Religion will tell you that ‘God’ wants you poor, so that you will learn humility. It sounds noble, doesn’t it? But these are LIES from the pit of hell!” (Unmerited Favor, Page 30)
This is the false gospel of the Prosperity Gospel. He is teaching that the idea that God wants you where He has you is a lie from the pit of Hell. Instead, Prince implicitly claims that God wants your physical health and financial prosperity.
“Sickness and diseases are not from God. On the cross, Jesus bore not just our sins, but also our sicknesses, diseases and infirmities, and ‘by His stripes we are healed!’”
In this case, Prince is directly stating that Jesus died for our physical health, which entirely neglects and distorts the real reason that Jesus died and preaches an entirely different gospel, which is no gospel at all, and he takes Isaiah 53:5 out of context to do so.
“I give thanks to God for my roots in the Word of Faith teachings. It is truly on the shoulders of great men of God like Brother Kenneth E. Hagin that we are able to see further into the Word of God today.” (Destined to Reign, Page 271)
Here he is admitting to being a Word of Faith heretic like Kenneth Hagin and thanking God that he is one. Word of Faith theology is a heretical system of belief that teaches that human words have a God-like power to create, and it is a lie similar to the one of the serpent in the garden, who said, “You will be like God.”
“God says to you, you have an edge, your edge is your mouth. You are righteous by faith, so speak. God’s favor is all over my business… whatever I do prospers.” (Christian Television Network, 11/18/2009)
I think Isaiah would disagree with this. He said in Isaiah 6:5 (ESV), “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”
While Joseph Prince uses John 15:7 as a proof text, we must look at the overall context to determine if that is accurate. The overall text doesn’t appear to be about “Speak[ing] God’s Word over your situation” or “Power [being] released.” Quite differently, the passage is about God being glorified through believers bearing fruit and obeying His commandments (Commandments that Joseph Prince rejects).
Montanism is named after a self-styled prophet named Montanus who lived in Asia Minor in the second century AD. Montanism, also called the Cataphrygian heresy or New Prophecy, taught that the Holy Spirit was continuing to give new revelation through Montanus and his followers and that Jesus would soon bring the New Jerusalem to a place in Phrygia.
Montanus had been a priest in an Asiatic cult called Cybele. He joined the church and claimed to have the gift of prophecy. Eusebius, a third-century church historian, wrote the following of Montanus: “In his lust for leadership, he became obsessed and would suddenly fall into frenzy and convulsions. He began to be ecstatic and speak and talk strangely, and prophesied contrary to that which was the custom from the beginning of the church. Those who heard him were convinced that he was possessed. They rebuked him and forbade him to speak, remembering the warning of the Lord Jesus to be watchful because false prophets would come” (Ecclesiastical History, 5.16.1). Montanus was joined by two women, Priscilla and Maximilla, who also prophesied in trance-like or ecstatic states.
Montanus insisted that the Holy Spirit was speaking through him in his ecstatic utterances. In fact, he claimed to be the embodiment of the Spirit of Truth sent by Jesus in fulfillment of John 14:26. Followers of Montanism also claimed inspiration for themselves, saying that their words of revelation were as authoritative as anything in Scripture. Often, they could not even be understood. They were known for speaking in tongues, prattling, and chanting nonsense.
The Montanists differentiated themselves from “ordinary” Christians in that they were “Spirit-filled,” and other Christians were not. The Montanists saw themselves as possessing a more advanced form of Christianity, having received a special baptism of the Spirit that enabled them to live a life of holiness.
Montanus and his two prophetesses, who together called themselves “the Three,” taught a strict moral code. Lengthy fasts were required. Marriage was discouraged, and second marriages were prohibited outright. Montanists refused any compromise with Roman authority, and many Montanists died as martyrs. Montanus himself urged his followers to “seek . . . to die the martyr’s death, that He may be glorified who has suffered for you” (Tertullian, De Fuga in Persecutione, 9).
Montanism taught that the Holy Spirit had come (in the form of Montanus) to purify the church in preparation for the soon return of Jesus Christ. They looked for the New Jerusalem to descend from heaven to a plain in Phrygia near Pepuza, the Montanist headquarters in Asia Minor. To better prepare for the coming kingdom, many Montanists migrated to that area.
Starting about AD 177, about twenty years after Montanus began promoting his charismatic gifts, the church rejected him and his two prophetesses. A notable exception was Tertullian, who defended the movement and became a leader of the Montanists in Carthage. Various local synods began to condemn Montanism for its divisive nature and its teaching of new revelation. The Three maintained the genuineness of their prophecies. When Maximilla was excommunicated, she said, “I am driven off from among the sheep like a wolf; I am not a wolf, but I am speech, and spirit, and power” (quoted in www.newadvent.org/cathen/10521a.htm, accessed 11/28/22).
The early church did not reject all prophecy, but it expected New Testament prophets to follow the pattern of earlier prophets of God. The prophets of the Old Testament were rational in their thinking and actions. They spoke an understandable message; they were always in control; they spoke with reason and understanding. In contrast, Montanus, Priscilla, and Maximilla were irrational when prophesying. Also, the Montanist teaching of a two-tiered Christianity (those with the Spirit and those without) was unbiblical. And troubling claims from Montanus such as “I am the Father, the Word, and the Paraclete” (ibid., accessed 11/28/22) added to the need to separate the church from Montanism.
Montanus argued that he was being persecuted just as Jesus said His true followers would be in Matthew 23:34. However, those who opposed Montanus pointed out that neither he nor his followers had ever endured any persecution or martyrdom because of the peculiarities of their doctrine. The Montanists who died as martyrs died for a biblical refusal to bend the knee to Caesar and the Roman gods.
The word antinomianism comes from two Greek words, anti, meaning “against”; and nomos, meaning “law.” Antinomianism means “against the law.” Theologically, antinomianism is the belief that there are no moral laws God expects Christians to obey. Antinomianism takes a biblical teaching to an unbiblical conclusion. The biblical teaching is that Christians are not required to observe the Old Testament Law as a means of salvation. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He fulfilled the Old Testament Law (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:23-25; Ephesians 2:15). The unbiblical conclusion is that there is no moral law God expects Christians to obey.
The apostle Paul dealt with the issue of antinomianism in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” The most frequent attack on the doctrine of salvation by grace alone is that it encourages sin. People may wonder, “If I am saved by grace and all my sins are forgiven, why not sin all I want?” That thinking is not the result of true conversion because true conversion yields a greater desire to obey, not a lesser one. God’s desire—and our desire when we are regenerated by His Spirit—is that we strive not to sin. Out of gratitude for His grace and forgiveness, we want to please Him. God has given us His infinitely gracious gift in salvation through Jesus (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). Our response is to consecrate our lives to Him out of love, worship, and gratitude for what He has done for us (Romans 12:1-2). Antinomianism is unbiblical in that it misapplies the meaning of God’s gracious favor.
A second reason that antinomianism is unbiblical is that there is a moral law God expects us to obey. First John 5:3 tells us, “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.” What is this law God expects us to obey? It is the law of Christ – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40). No, we are not under the Old Testament Law. Yes, we are under the law of Christ. The law of Christ is not an extensive list of legal codes. It is a law of love. If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will do nothing to displease Him. If we love our neighbors as ourselves, we will do nothing to harm them. Obeying the law of Christ is not a requirement to earn or maintain salvation. The law of Christ is what God expects of a Christian.
Antinomianism is contrary to everything the Bible teaches. God expects us to live a life of morality, integrity, and love. Jesus Christ freed us from the burdensome commands of the Old Testament Law, but that is not a license to sin. Rather, it is a covenant of grace. We are to strive to overcome sin and cultivate righteousness, depending on the Holy Spirit to help us. The fact that we are graciously freed from the demands of the Old Testament Law should result in our living our lives in obedience to the law of Christ. First John 2:3-6 declares, “We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, ‘I know Him,’ but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”