In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. - Judges 21: 25 (ESV)

For a gift of only $36 you too can enjoy a two part sermon series telling you how special you are from the master of greasy grace; Joseph Prince. Another sermon series about how much God wants to do for you and how little you have to do yourself. In fact, here is the advertisement from his own website for the "Benjamin Generation" series:

The Lord revealed to Joseph Prince that the end-time generation is the Benjamin Generation--a generation marked by Jesus' abundant grace and supernatural favor. Join Joseph as he shares two fresh and original messages that locate the calling, identity and destiny of this last and final generation before the rapture. The revolutionary insights gained from this DVD album will help you to embrace and experience the great grace that is upon this most favored generation of all--the Benjamin Generation!

As always, Prince starts off by claiming direct revelation from God himself. In part to lend weight to the credibility of the false message for the naive and in part to inoculate himself from criticism. I mean, who can argue with him if he is claiming it came from God? I can because when you stand up his teaching to the light of Scripture we see it for the lie filled heresy that it is. God does not contradict His Word beloved. I understand that he is a smooth talker. I understand that he scratches our itching ears right where we like it. Just look at the promises Prince makes in his advertisement! You can be a part of a generation marked by abundant grace and supernatural favor! But wait! Just like a 2 AM infomercial - there's more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5vpLiTSoRo

This is the promo video Prince made for YouTube to sell this sermon series. In here he promises that you will be marked by underserved favor and five times more blessings! Five times more stuff? Where do i sign up? Wait a minute, five times more than who? Your brothers and sisters who disagree with this false doctrine of course! The video assures you that if you join this generation there will be no more wrath of God! Hallelujah - pass the arrogance! Then again, can you be anymore arrogant and unfearful of God then to declare He is no longer one of His attributes? Can you be anymore arrogant than to offer a false gospel, claim it is directly from the Lord, and then claim that the people who follow it will be the last generation before the rapture? Really? Does Joseph Prince even read his bible, except to cherry pick any verse that contains the word "grace?"

"But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. - Matthew 24: 36 (ESV)

Jesus Himself didn't know but Prince claims he knows this Benjamin Generation will be the last before the rapture. If that is not enough to send you screaming for the exit...let's examine the doctrine contained within the preaching of the Benjamin Generation. Please keep in mind that we only have access to the nine minute snippet Prince allows to be on YouTube. I have no intention of paying him $36 for the privilege of hearing the rest of his heresy because there was more than enough in the nine minutes. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HuH_3xua9c

The snippet opens up with an amazed Prince looking at Genesis 43:29:

And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!" - Genesis 43: 29 (ESV)

Prince gleefully highlights the word gracious and declares that Jesus is yearning for a grace generation! That "grace locates that generation." A Benjamin Generation! Because Joseph used the word gracious here! I kid you not. How absolutely ridiculous is this assertion? This is the cornerstone of the hyper-grace heresy. It searches for any reference to grace or derivative thereof and creates whole doctrine out of thin air. Jacob uses the word gracious twice in Genesis 33, that doesn't mean there is a "Jacob Generation" coming anytime soon. Sometimes the text is what the text is. Joseph greeted his brother with a familial and heartfelt greeting. There was no hidden meaning in it denoting insight into the final generation before the rapture. Prince then turns his attention to a few verses later:

Portions were taken to them from Joseph's table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him. - Genesis 43: 34 (ESV)

A jubilant Prince now concludes that "God will serve you five times as much" food in the natural and spiritual realm if you are part of this Benjamin Generation. Did you catch that? God will serve you. If that does not highlight the heart of the hyper-grace deception I do not know what else will. That God is now somehow subservient to us. That He no longer is allowed to be angry with us or be wrathful towards us. That He no longer will care about His law regarding us. Lies straight from the pit of hell. Look how ridiculous this doctrinal assertion is beloved! Because Joseph gave Benjamin five times as much over 4000 years ago, Joseph Prince has now determined God secretly orchestrated this, fooling every major theologian in history, to single out the last generation before the rapture so He could serve them five times as much as everyone else. But wait! There's more!

To each and all of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. - Genesis 45: 22 (ESV)

Prince skips two chapters and gets right to the next big giveaway! Look! Benjamin was given three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes! You know what that means don't you? Prince declares you will have plenty to eat and plenty to wear! More blessings upon blessings for the last generation before the rapture. As if this verse has anything to do with how God plans to bless people 4000 years after the events took place. Not satisfied with this ridiculous heresy, Prince dives off the theological cliff he has been hanging on to. He declares that in the spirit realm, these five changes of clothes represent five separate anointings we can slip in and out of like a comfy sweater. One second you can be a successful business man and the next a successful pastor! Hallelujah! While the rest of Christianity muddles around trying to walk in one anointing, you of the Benjamin Generation get five different ones you can meander in and out of as easy as putting on an old pair of fuzzy bunny slippers. Wow Pastor Prince this almost sounds too good to be true...and of course it is. Because here is the problem facing Prince and this asinine conglomeration of doctrinal morass - it is not supported in the biblical text. Do you want to know why Joseph gave Benjamin five times as much and silver and special treatment? Because he loved him. Because of all the sons of Jacob, Benjamin was his only full brother, meaning they shared the same mother. Because of all the sons of Jacob, Benjamin was the only one that had nothing to do with almost killing him and eventually selling him into slavery. Beloved, the text gives it away back in verse 29 when it says, "And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son..." There is no great revelatory secret here. Joseph loved Benjamin. 

Prince however is not done yet spinning his yarn. Remember the silver! Joseph gave Benjamin 300 pieces of silver! Silver of course is representative of redemption and while we have no argument there, Prince tries to read meaning into the number 300. He declares that 300 is the number for victory! Where he gets this from I cannot tell because most sources seem to agree that in the realm of numerical significance, 300 means the Spirit of God, not victory. To prove his own doctrinal statement here however Prince provides three supporting examples. One of which makes sense and the other two continue this pattern within hyper-grace of finding a word (in this case number) anywhere in Scripture and pretending it means what you want it to mean regardless of context or in this case common sense. The example that could signify victory is the example of Gideon; when God whittled his army down to 300 to defeat his enemies which totaled over 120,000. Of course that victory is God's not ours, but at least it has something to do with the general concept of victory. Prince should have stopped there but when you are fabricating whole doctrine, does it really matter how far you are willing to push it? He claims then that the other two examples of 300 representing victory are because Enoch walked with God 300 years and that when the alabaster jar of ointment was used on Jesus the complaint was that it could have been sold for 300 pence. What in the world is he talking about? It's like he did a search for anywhere the number 300 appeared in the Bible and used it to declare victory himself! Did Enoch walk with God for 300 years? Yes but what does that have to do with victory? Did Judas say that the ointment could have been sold for 300 pence? Yes but what does that have to do with victory? Absolutely nothing. Not to mention that entire premise is suspect as it is difficult to tell what book of numerology Prince was using when he determined that 300 represents victory to begin with! 

Finally we come to the silver cup. Forget all the rich theology involved with why Joseph planted the cup and how Judah bargained for Benjamin. No need to go there because it doesn't sell. Instead Prince asks this question - do you know why the silver cup was empty? Hmm...let's examine this for a second. Do we know why the silver cup that was placed into Benjamin's sack, was empty? Of course we know why. Because it was a sack full of grain and a silver cup. What were they going to do? Fill it with wine first? The question borders on the idiotic. Prince then declares that because silver means redemption, it must mean that the cup is empty because Jesus drank the cup of filth, sin and abomination for us so that there is no more judgment, no more wrath, and no more punishment. Ahh, there is nothing like watching the master at work. Prince always has to bring everything back to his hyper-grace premise. That God wants to give us unlimited blessings, that He never can get angry with us, and that we can do whatever we want without fear of reprisal or recourse. So to Prince, the silver cup must represent something that is clearly not supported in the biblical text. Do you want to know how ridiculous this assertion is? The cup is never even referred to as empty. The prince of hyper-grace has no shame though as the sermon snippet concludes with one more silly observation-turned doctrine. 

Then he commanded the steward of his house, "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his sack, and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain." And he did as Joseph told him. - Genesis 44: 1-2 (ESV)

Do you know why Joseph instructed that the cup be placed in the mouth of the sack? Can you guess why he would place a cup he wanted his men to easily find, in the mouth of a sack filled with grain? The answer is not that difficult. Because he wanted his men to find it easily! To Prince however, this means that God is instructing the Benjamin generation to proclaim the grace that is within their earthly frame, or sack, with their mouths. Are you serious? Where else did Prince think the cup would be? Buried at the bottom of the sack of grain? Somewhere in the middle so it can be like a game of hide and go seek? Once again, he seizes on the usage of a word, "mouth", to create whole doctrine out of thin air. Just to prop up his false theology. When it comes to correctly handling the Word of God we must realize, especially with historical accounts such as this, that things mean what they say they mean. That the cup was placed in the mouth because that is where it made sense to place it - not that it is a secret symbol of proclaiming a false gospel. That five sets of clothing are five sets of clothing, not five "anointings" for anyone who buys into this nonsense. That Joseph gave Benjamin five times as much food because he favored him, not because now God intends to give you five times as much provision and favor. That the silver cup was simply used as part of Joseph's overall scheme, not to represent the cup of abomination Jesus would have to drink for securing our salvation. Joseph himself is a type of Christ. His cup however, was a cup. 

As poor as the theology, hermeneutics, and basic logic is of Prince in this nine minute snippet, let us not lose sight of what his goal is. Besides trying to get you to fork over $36 that is. Joseph Prince has a different gospel, which he readily admits to. He claims God gave it to him by direct revelation, something he seems to routinely claim. This gospel sounds so nice. It scratches our itching ears just right. We don't have to worry about sin and the law anymore despite these verses:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' - Matthew 7: 21-23 (ESV)

How can those who clearly counted themselves as followers of Jesus Christ be turned away for lawlessness if the law does not matter to believers anymore? This greasy easy grace is simply not supported biblically. But Prince wants followers. So he crafts these nicely marketed messages promising that God will serve you. That He wants to give you five times more blessings, five changes of anointings, and some silver on the side. But you have to join his generation. He claimed in this video that "mother grace" birthed this generation; yet another unbiblical damnable heresy. Beloved, you need to run from this man as fast as possible and any like teachings. The Bible is always our final arbiter. I have dealt with many of the grace converts into this false "Benjamin Generation." They are nearly impossible to sway even when presented with biblical fact. When a lie takes root and grows within you it is difficult for the truth to penetrate the darkness. Do you want to know how you can be sure this is pure heresy? Because it is all about you.  

God always provides the truth to combat the deception. Perhaps Prince did not realize that the true legacy of his so called "Benjamin Generation" lies in Judges 19-21. Here the tribe of Benjamin takes up an offense against the other 11 tribes resulting in a civil war.  Benjamin is nearly annihilated by the other tribes. The infamous verse proclaiming that everyone did as they saw fit in their own eyes, our key verse for today, resides within these pages. How fitting because Joseph Prince simply does what he thinks is right in his own eyes - Scripture be damned. The clear implication of this false teaching however inevitably leads to civil war. By his own description, Prince teaches that those who chose to be sons of mother grace will be blessed beyond measure while everyone else can only stand by and watch helplessly. The sad truth however is that the true division will be felt on the last day when people will stand before the Jesus and say - "Lord Lord, did we not serve in the Benjamin Generation in Your name?" The Lord will answer them - away from me you who practice lawlessness. Be very careful who you follow. Be very careful. 

Reverend Anthony Wade - May 12, 2014