Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. - Jude 1: 11 (ESV)
Still working off of the false premise that these verses speak about those who speak against his false gospel, Prince wrongly exegetes the way of Cain, claiming it means "my efforts count." This is typical of the types of errors Prince routinely makes because he does not approach the Bible to hear from God. Instead he approaches it as a way to validate his false teachings. The Pulpit Commentary, Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible and the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary all agree that the way of Cain is envy and hatred of what is godly. Cain's anger was at God accepting Abel's offering and not his own. Cain envied the acceptance his brother received and was angry at what God accepted. The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary puts it like this:
"Cain--the murderer: the root of whose sin was hatred and envy of the godly, as it is the sin of these seducers."
Make no mistake beloved. Joseph Prince is a seducer. His gospel is designed to seduce you. It is envious of real Bible teaching. Prince actually mocks that notion in this very sermon claiming children brought up on such teaching are "messed up in the head." His gospel of grace hates what is true biblical teaching. What is acceptable by God. It is the way of Cain. Not content with mangling this however he proceeds to mangle the error of Balaam. Not so much in definition, as he actually gets this one right. Balaam's error was in the love of money. Prince actually sums it up by saying he prostituted his gift to make money for himself. No argument there but look at who is making the argument. Joseph Prince is worth five million dollars. He is in the top ten richest pastors in 2015 according to richestlifestyle.com. The very clip we are reviewing is only designed to make us go to his website and purchase the whole message! He is so blinded by his false gospel and the desire to prop it up though, that he fails to see when he is actually preaching about himself! He has taken his gifts and used them for immodest gain. Just as he walks in the ways of Cain he lives in the error of Balaam. What was interesting was Prince did not broach the subject of Korah's rebellion. Perhaps because when you read the Pulpit Commentary it is summed up as follows:
"It lies in the broader idea of a contemptuous and determined assertion of self against divinely appointed ordinances."
Hmm"contemptuous towards God? Determined assertions contrary to God? Pitting oneself against ordinances that were divinely appointed? Wow. If that is not a working definition of Joseph Prince and his false grace teachings I do not know what is. He routinely dismisses divinely appointed ordinances for his own self created gospel. He walks in the way of Cain, lives in the error of Balaam and as Jude teaches us - he will perish as in Korah's rebellion.
Beloved, there were plenty more errors in this short clip. He astonishingly claims the notion that his grace preaching denies Christ doesn't hold water, referencing the end of the key verses. The point he misses of course is that saying the name of Jesus is irrelevant if you do not preach His entire Gospel. No one ever accuses Prince of actually denouncing Christ. He would not be so sloppy. Instead his teachings denounce Christ. They do not line up with Scripture beloved and that is always our measuring rod. That is what Jude is teaching here. The perversion of grace will lead to a denial or our Lord Jesus Christ and that is exactly what Joseph Prince's teachings do. Remember the Matthew 7 verses! Not all who say "Lord" will enter! Away from me you who practice lawlessness! Prince also stated this:
"How come the Israelites didn't build a golden calf when they left Egypt? How come they didn't build it at the Red Sea? How come they had no desire to build a golden calf until they put themselves under the law?"
What? First of all, God gave them the law. They did not "put themselves under it." Herein lies the warped thinking of Joseph Prince though. Anything having to do with the law is bad. God still gave it! It still provides us with what God wants and what He does not. There is zero biblical indication that they created the golden calf because they were now under the law. In fact, the Bible does tell us why:
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." - Exodus 32: 1 (ESV)
It had nothing to do with the law but that matters not to Prince. There is no Bible verse he will not twist to prop up his failed and false gospel. Remember, this is a man who preached that the flood was not an act of God's wrath but one of His mercy. You cannot make this stuff up. I will conclude this with a quick look at the repeated theme Prince gave throughout this sermon. That the word "pervert" in the key verse actually means to remove as opposed to dwindle down. To be honest, I will leave the matters of Greek translation to those who know it better than me, although Prince has routinely not understood the languages he professes to in sermons. Instead my point is simply that it does not matter if the word means remove or dwindle down. It still applies to Prince. It is his gospel that perverts the true grace of God into license for sin. You can claim you are not saying that all you want but when you preach that God is never mad and that you can cast aside His law, that is exactly what you are doing. Dwindle down, pervert, or remove. It matters not.
Beloved, beware the honey-laced words of men like Joseph Prince. He claims that he preaches only to point people to Jesus but all of his sermons are about YOU. His bestselling book is about how YOU are destined to reign. Our key verses today from Jude are specifically warning us about men like Joseph Prince who take the grace of God and change it. Whether you want to say remove it, dwindle it, or pervert it. I do not care. It is exactly what Prince traffics in. His gospel walks in the envious way of Cain with hatred towards any real biblical exposition. He uses his false gospel in the error of Balaam, prostituting his gifts for financial gain. His ruin is to come as those in the rebellion of Korah. A contemptuous assertion of self over divine ordinances. This is a very dangerous man. Stay very far away.
Reverend Anthony Wade - May 12, 2015
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