My dear readers,

Did Jesus Die to Make You Rich?

Joseph Prince believes: “That’s not all, my friend. On the cross, Jesus bore the curse of poverty! This is what the Word of God declares: ‘For you know the grace [unmerited favor] of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich’ (2 Corinthians 8:9). Read 2 Corinthians 8 for yourself. The entire chapter is about money and being a blessing financially to those who are in need. So don’t let anyone tell you that the verse is referring to ‘spiritual’ riches. Let me tell you this: It is the devil who wants you sick and poor, but the God I know has paid a heavy price to redeem you from the curse of sickness and poverty!” [ https://www.josephprince.com /meditate-devo/the-gospel-brings-health-and-provision ] These words of Joseph Prince have deceived thousands to hell. His followers have blindly followed his very appealing carnal teachings. If he is a conman deceiving others outside the church, we would not be bothered about him and let the courts of man deal with him. But he is doing so in the name of Jesus Christ. He is dragging the name of Christ down the mud and he needs to be exposed for what he really is. He is a false teacher.

Joseph Prince cites Scriptures and thus Christianises his deception. Many have been duped into thinking that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins so that they can be wealthy on earth. So when Prince’s disciples are motivated by the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes when they study or work, they do not feel that anything is wrong. In fact, they now delight in it believing that they have the command from Christ to do it. Prince’s false teachings have seared their conscience and now all of them will rush headlong into hell riding on his pernicious teachings, all this while thinking that they are heading towards heaven!

God knew of such false teachers even before they were born. God has given us advance notice of such false teachers who will come to deceive. 2 Peter 2:17-22:

Joseph Prince and those like him are “wells without water.” Wells were precious in biblical times, especially to the wilderness traveller. If they saw a well afar off, they would believe they have seen their source of life. Imagine their horror and great disappointment when they reached the well and lowered the bucket and all they found was dry dust! Prince and those like him “speak great swelling words” that promise heaven and heaven on earth, lure their listeners through the lusts of the flesh, with much wantonness, i.e. licentiousness (filthy carnal desires), making them think that they have been delivered from sin but in reality plunging them into greater bondage to sin. By his evil lies, Prince deceives them into thinking that they have been delivered from the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He entangles them back into the lusts of the flesh and now this latter end is worse than the first. Therefore God says Prince has led them to become like dogs that turn to their own vomit or sows that go back to wallowing in the mud right after they have been washed. This means that there is no change in their sinful nature. Before these sinners were deceived by Prince, they could still be saved if they heard the true gospel of Christ. But because of the deception of Prince’s lies, they think they are saved and do not need the Saviour anymore. Therefore God declares that “it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness” ! Jesus Christ came to die to deliver sinners from the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The gospel of Joseph Prince condemns sinners into a deeper lust and a numbing diabolical pride that makes them beyond salvation.

Prince’s citation of 2 Corinthians 8:9 is out of its biblical context when he applied it to temporal possessions. The context is Paul’s encouragement to the Christians in Macedonia to give generously to God’s people in other churches despite their own poverty. 2 Corinthians 8:1-2:

Then the Apostle Paul said that Christ is our example when He gave of Himself by becoming poor, i.e. when He came and took on the form of a man even that of a servant and died on the cross for sinners. Christians were sinners and bankrupt in their souls as sin was their master, but in Christ they experienced Christ’s deliverance and experienced the grace of God in their lives. They were rich in all things eternal and spiritual. It has nothing to do with anything temporal as Joseph Prince has misinterpreted to justify his own carnal and delusional health-and-wealth gospel.

John Gill commented rightly about 2 Corinthians 8:9 when he wrote that the verse is “not in temporals, but in spirituals; and by his obedience, sufferings, and death in his low estate, he has paid all their debts, wrought out a robe of righteousness, rich and adorned with jewels, with which he clothes them, and through his blood and sacrifice has made them kings and priests unto God. They are enriched by him with the graces of his Spirit; with the truths of the Gospel, comparable to gold, silver, and precious stones; with himself and all that he has; with the riches of grace here, and of glory hereafter. These are communicable from him, though unsearchable, and are solid and substantial, satisfying, lasting, and for ever. Now if this grace of Christ will not engage to liberality with cheerfulness, nothing will.”

Conclusion – 2 Corinthians 8:9: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” This verse teaches all believers to stop measuring themselves by the abundance of what they possess on earth which is vanity but measure according to the great grace and rich mercies of God’s salvific work that He has wrought in their hearts in Christ Jesus. Joseph Prince says, “don’t let anyone tell you that the verse is referring to ‘spiritual’ riches”. This should send forth red flags in the minds of all who are concerned with their souls. The Bible is not to be taught according to Joseph Prince’s private interpretation as 2 Peter 1:19-21 warns, “ We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” If God really wants to make sinners wealthy and healthy on earth, does He not have the omnipotent power to do just that without sending Jesus Christ to suffer such a most painful and shameful death on the cross of Calvary? May God be merciful and save us from the deceptions of false teachers like Joseph Prince in these last days. Amen.