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Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Joseph Prince -- How To Make the Lord's Supper About You - Rev. Anthony Wade

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author continues his acerbic and congerous writing style.

He will suggest we keep our Bibles open, but never quotes or references a single verse besides the verse in question. 

We should note that we don't necessarily share Joseph's Prince's belief about communion, we are simply interested in the merit of the author's biblical case against him, if he has one.
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For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. -- 1Corinthians 11:23-26 (ESV)

https://www.charismanews.com/culture/78526-joseph-prince-there-is-supernatural-healing-power-in-taking-communion-daily

I have said for some time now that Joseph Prince is perhaps the most dangerous pastor alive today. Sure, no one has done more damage to the cause of Christ then Rick Warren through his purpose driven church but Prince's preaching style is so smooth and often difficult to perceive the heresy unless you keep your bible open when listening to him. That is because so much of what he says is biblical. (It seems to us that any Bible teacher is going to be mistaken about this or that. What we would like to know is, is Prince wrong about primary doctrines or tertiary ones? Does he teach wrongly about ancillary things, or rather, are they things that imperil salvation?)

It is the slivers of leaven that will send you right to hell however. Prince traffics in an old heresy known as antinomianism, (Undocumented assertion.)

which declares that the law has no place in the life of a believer and everything is allowable because of greasy grace. Prince has preached that the word repent simply means to "consent to be loved." (Undocumented assertions.)

Aww"no. He openly preaches that God is never mad at us and thus, the flood was actually an act of God's love for man rather than His wrath. (Undocumented assertion.)

Perhaps one of the worst sermons I have reviewed was his "Benjamin Generation" sermon that claimed his followers would be the last generation before Jesus comes back and thus are entitled to five times as much stuff as everyone else. He also claims every sermon is directly given to him through divine revelation as Prince apparently has a bat-phone connected directly to the throne room of God. This week however he has weighed in briefly on the subject of the Lord's Supper, linked above. Let us reason together through the workings of the depraved mind of one of the worst false teachers alive today. ("Scorched earth discernment." You see, Prince isn't simply in error. He has a depraved mind. He's one of the worst.

There is no excuse whatsoever to characterize people this way. The author has a propensity for doing this, so much so we have bestowed upon him his own tag, Rev. Wade.)

"We need to believe for supernatural healing from God, says Pastor Joseph Prince, and one way he says he has seen that is through partaking in Communion--specifically, consuming the elements of bread and wine." -- Charisma News

Let me state up front as I always do, that God still heals. The Holy Spirit can still give the gift of healing. That is not what Joseph Prince is teaching here. He is dabbling in what is known as divine healing. This is a heresy that robs the sovereignty of God by proclaiming God always must heal us. (Undocumented assertion.)

That we can literally prophesy healing over ourselves. Many teach that you should not even pray for healing. What Prince seems to be ("Seems to be?" Can the author do anything more than tell us what seems to be happening?)

intimating here however is new to me. The notion that physical healing can be imparted through the ordinance of Communion. This is how narcissistic the NAR, Purpose Drive (sic) Church is beloved. That communion is now about us. (Communion is not about us? Granted, it is certainly centers on remembering the sacrifice of Jesus, but we also read, For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. It certainly looks to us that communion is partly about us.)

I want us to read the key verses today very carefully. What part of "do this in remembrance of me" do they not understand? (Who is "they?" What, exactly, don't "they" understand?)

Communion is about Jesus and His sacrifice for us. It is a reminder of that sacrifice that marks His work until He returns again. (Has someone denied these?)

Its has absolutely nothing to do with healing for us. (This is actually the matter up for discussion, the premise which the author has set out to prove. 

It would seem the author's purpose should be to refute this idea with biblical exposition. But all he does is make a summary denial, without references, biblical explanation, or even quoting any relevant verses which would prove his point.

Paul does make a startling statement in the quoted passage: That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. So, some who have received communion did so unworthily, and got weak, ill, or even died. This implies that others who received communion did so in a worthy manner and did not get weak, ill, or they did not die. Possible conclusion: Partaking of communion worthily will possibly help you not to become weak, ill, or dead. Ancillary conclusion: Worthy communion might possibly be healthier, or dare we say, effect healing.)

It is not about us. Prince however is part of the Seeker Friendly Industrial Complex that now makes worship about us. (Undocumented assertion.)

Sermons are also about us. (Undocumented assertion.)

It is only natural that eventually everything that is about God will be corrupted into being about us. (Undocumented assertion.)

'"A lady wrote into us talking about her husband who has been suffering from Alzheimer's for a number of years, and the doctor says, you know, conditions like this can only get worse. But ... they began to partake of the Lord's Supper every day. And she began to see a distinct improvement until the doctors themselves verified that he's free from Alzheimer's."' -- Charisma News

Ohhh I get it now. So, I am supposed to throw out what the bible actually says (Again we await the explanation about what the Bible actually says.)

in favor of your vague and unsubstantiated anecdote? (Irony alert. The author's writing is full of anecdotes and unsubstantiated assertion, yet he demands documentation from Prince.)

This is how Prince operates beloved. He insists that every sermon is directly given to him by God in order to lift his heresy up to the level of scripture. (Undocumented assertion.)

This is the same tactic the NAR uses when they promote experiential Christianity. (Undocumented assertion.)

The strategy is to reduce the objective verity of scripture in favor of what we ourselves have experienced. (Undocumented assertion.)

Even if the story Prince related is true, (It might be true? If it is, what's the problem?)

that does not mean we cast out 6000 years of scripture. (Oh. Someone being healed and attributing it to her taking communion somehow means we have to cast out 6000 years of Scripture. Why we would be required to do that is never explained.)

I hate to be a Debbie Downer here but I simply do not believe him. He concludes:

'One of the reasons we aren't seeing more health today is because we live in a fallen world and are relying on natural remedies rather than having faith in our supernatural God, Prince says on the "Charisma Connection" podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. "If we look to a natural means of receiving health, we have no answer against that which is causing diseases, which is many times caused by demons and evil spirits, and also because of the fall of man to sin."' -- Charisma News

This beloved, is exactly why Prince is such a dangerous teacher. So much of what he says here is spot on. We are not seeing better health because of the fallen state of this world. We do tend to rely more upon the solutions of the world than faith in our God. Disease can be influenced demonically and is also a result of the fall of man. This entire paragraph is essentially true -- it is just not true in relation to his premise. He offered a wildly unbiblical notion that healing can be attained through partaking of Communion. (If healing via communion is so "wildly unbiblical," surely the author is able to quote the relevant Scriptures and document his claim? Will he expound on scriptural truths, explaining key details of the Word so as to cement his case? Well, no.)

He offered no scriptural support (Irony alert.)

and only gave us a single second-hand testimony as proof. (Double irony alert.)

Then he provides a lot of generic truths regarding healing, but they have no relevance to the premise, which remains false. (Undocumented claim, ironically.)

If you want to see an example of the real dangers of Joseph Prince, let us keep reading what follows the key verses:

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. -- 1Corinthians 11:27-32 (ESV)

Gulp. Whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup in an unworthy manner is guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord! (That sounds like this passage is indeed about us, at least in part.)

They eat and drink judgment upon themselves! (Would this include bad health, or even death?)

We are talking about the penultimate sacrifice. God sacrificing His only Son for our sins! Examine yourself! This is the time to remember what the Lord has done, which is die for our sins. It is time to repent of any sins we are currently unrepentant for. (Might this result in better health or avoiding death?)

God will not commune with sin! Prince however discards all of this (Undocumented claim.)

and is teaching us that if we are sick to eat and drink judgment upon ourselves every single day because after all, it is always about us. Nothing is left holy anymore before the Lord when it comes to the NAR purpose driven mindset. This is a glaring example of why we are to test everything and do the noble work of a Berean. (We would love for the author to undertake this task, and then quote the scriptures he supposedly searched.)

This is why we mark false teachers like Prince and avoid them like the plague upon the church that they are. ("Scorched earth discernment.")

Rev. Anthony.

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