The False Teaching of Joseph Prince - GodWords (2024)

I’m often asked to assess what others teach. I do not do this lightly, but it is necessary. Before reading this page, or any of the pages about specific people, I recommend that you read What is a False Teacher?, which explains what the Bible says about false teachers, and why I would bother to research who they are and what they say. You may also want to check out a list of Bible Teachers I Can Recommend.

I’ve spent a lot of time listening to Joseph Prince. I like the guy. He says a LOT of things that I think Christians and non-Christians need to hear. Unfortunately, those good things are mixed in with some very bad, unbiblical, dangerous teachings. I feel the need to caution believers to avoid listening to Joseph Prince, who is a “Word of Faith” teacher.

The Word of Faith movement is made up of false teachings about God, about what it means to be human, and how the universe works. Here are some of the main beliefs held by Word of Faith teachers:

1. Faith is a FORCE.
2. Words are the containers of that force. Words, when spoken in faith, unleash their power.
3. God used that power to create the universe: He spoke faith-filled words and the universe responded by doing what He said.
4. You and I have that same power available to us, if we just do what God did… speak faith-filled words. We control reality itself.

The problem, of course, is that that’s totally bunk. It’s also entirely unbiblical. According to this way of thinking, it’sthe universethat has the power, and God (like you and I) only tap into that power. Many, if not most of the Word of Faith teachers also teach that you and I are essentially gods… we aren’t just made in God’s image, but we are exact duplicates of God and have the same abilities as God. That too is nonsense.

In case there’s any question about whether Prince is in the Word of Faith camp:

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.

It’s not for me to say whether Joseph Prince is a Christian. I’m hesitant to even call anyone a false teacher. It’s better, to me, to simply point out the false things that are being taught. Here are a few quotes from Joseph Prince:

“You are destined to reign in life. You are called by the Lord to be a success, to enjoy wealth, to enjoy health, and to enjoy a life of victory. It is not the Lord’s desire that you live a life of defeat, poverty, and failure.”

If that’s true, then Jesus – and all of His disciples except John – were terrible failures, since they were killed for their faith. They weren’t successful, wealthy, healthy, or victorious in the way Joseph Prince means.

“Faith is bringing out of the spirit realm what is already there, what is already true of you.”

This kind of mumbo-jumbo isn’t found in the Bible anywhere. What he means is that “you confess that you are rich because you are already rich” and “you confess that you are righteous because you are already righteous.”

What we find in the Bible is MORE THAN enough for every believer… we don’t need people making up stuff to make Christianity sound better, which is what Word of Faith teachers do. They teach that most Christians, for most of Christian history, have totally misunderstood Christianity. They then go on to teach things that Jesus would never say, and that contradict what He did say.

“You will never find an example of God punishing a believer for his sins in the new covenant.”

When we take a look at Hebrews 12:1-13, we see that Joseph Prince’s words directly contradict God’s Word. Reading 1 Corinthians 11:27-34 shows believers who got sick, and even died, from drinking judgment on themselves during communion.

When criticized for his false teaching, Prince has done what so many others have done. Rather than defend what he teaches with a clear interpretation of Scripture, he says that his teachings are the truth, and that those who criticize him are afraid of the truth, and that they have been duped by the devil.

If you are battling a condition in your body, the way to receive health is through the partaking of the holy Communion often, and with a revelation of what the elements represent.

This isn’t found anywhere in the Bible. What do we find in the Bible? James 5:15 says that the prayer of faith will make a person well. In 3 John 1:2 John says, I pray that you may enjoy good health. If taking communion is “the way,” as Prince claims, wouldn’t John say that instead?

He also contradicts the clear Scriptures regarding confession:

In that very instance when you prayed the prayer of salvationallthe sins that you would commit for your entire life were forgiven once and for all….Let me say this plainly: You do not need to confess your sins again and again to be forgiven.

This contradicts Jesus’ instructions about how to pray in Luke 11:4, where we ask God to forgive our sins. It also contradicts James 5:16, which tells believers to confess our sins to one another.

Holy money?

One way to distinguish between reliable and unreliable teachers is whether they take a truth and stretch it to mean something else. For example, Prince erroneously teaches that Christians should tithe. Not a huge deal. He mentions a Bible verse. All Christians should agree that what the Bible says is true… but Prince takes the passage out of context and interprets it to mean something not sustained by the text. Then he goes further, making a claim not found in Scripture. Finally, he draws an unbiblical conclusion at the end.

We have been redeemed from the curse. Now,YOU have been redeemed from the curse, the money that comes into your hand is not.Do you understand that?How do you make the money clean?The Bible says in New Testament, New Testament, Romans, the apostle Paul by the Spirit says ‘If the first fruit is holy, say holy.If the first fruit is holy,holy,the rest is holy.And what is holy,the devil cannot touch. Hey! What is holy, the devil cannot touch.Now, your money is no more unrighteous.It’s no more filthylucre, it is now holy money.

The verse about firstfruits is Romans 11:16:

If the part of the dough offered as firstfruitsis holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Notice: Paul uses a batch of dough and a tree as examples. This makes sense. Prince spoke as if money is the same kind of thing, which isn’t the case at all. If 90% of the money in your bank account was stolen, you don’t make it holy by giving to God the 10% that wasn’t. The “firstfruits” would (in a manner of speaking) be holy, but the rest would not.

This is a part of a larger lesson Prince taught about tithing. Here’s more… and we can see that the error grows and grows:

10% is a part of the whole. For God,the 10% is everything. It’s part of the whole. When the 10% is holy, the rest is holy. You understand? Like it says in1 Corinthians 15that Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruit… that’s the tithe of those who have fallen asleep.

Here we can see, in action, Prince’s errors:

• Firstfruits and tithes are very different: one is about quality, the other about quantity. Firstfruits is giving the best part of something before doing anything else. A tithe is giving any 10% of something, at any time, without regard to its quality.
• A tithe is a tenth. Jesus isn’t a tenth of anything, let alone a tenth of those who have died. Prince uses 10% in an entirely symbolic sense here, and so can make any point he wants to without being concerned about sticking closely to what the Bible says. The idea that Jesus is a tithe is foreign to Scripture.
• Jesus IS the firstfruit of all who have fallen asleep… but, in the passage Prince mentions, it’s clear that Paul is only talking about the resurrection of the dead. Jesus rose, and those who follow Him will rise, and – in the end, everyone will rise from the dead to face judgment.

Everybody makes mistakes. False teachers – and those who are sincere but ignorant and reckless – make mistakes and compound the problem by creating new theological claims that are based on their mistakes. Examples like this show that Prince, at best, is an unreliable teacher of Scripture. At worst, he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing that teaches error for his own benefit. Neither you nor I know Prince’s heart, so we should not try to claim whether he’s sincere, let alone whether he’s saved or not. We should pray for Joseph Prince: that God would lead him to the truth, that He would show Prince the damage that he’s doing, and that Prince would become the kind of teacher who faithfully passes on the one true gospel.

I’m still gathering details about what Joseph Prince teaches. Like I said, I really like him. I think he and I could be friends. If he sat down with me, I would challenge him to examine what he teaches in light of Scripture… one bit at a time.That’s what you and I should do, too:we should make sure that what we believe matches what God has already said.

Please join me in praying for Joseph Prince.

Join me on Substack!