I did not find myself in any faith communities that exposed me to the “word of faith” teachers such as Joseph Prince (author of Destined to Reign), as I spent the last 30 years in the Reformed (predestination) tradition of faith. They were usually portrayed as shallow thinkers with a simplistic and even dangerous message. But as I have come to realize that the Body of Christ is indeed His Body I have opened up my heart and mind to learn from the Church as a whole. That is when I decided to listen to a Joseph Prince sermon a friend sent me.
Prince comes across more polished than I am comfortable with but I had to admit that once I started listening to what he was saying I couldn’t turn him off. I was surprised to find his passionate grace message actually no different from what I have heard coming from his Calvinist counterparts in the radical grace message (minus the “prosperity” emphasis). I even heard him quote Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones! (a dearly cherished voice in Reformed circles). From Tullian Tchividjian’s Jesus+Nothing=Everything to Jefferson Bethke’s viral Youtube video, “I hate religion but love Jesus,” the proclamation of the grace message from among the Reformed camp is nearing a tipping point. At the same time it is interesting to discover it emerging substantially and forcefully from the more Arminian (free-will) teachers. (See Paul Ellis, Bob George, Steve McVey) Will they find a convergence?
As diametrically opposed the Joseph Prince’s of the Body of Christ appear to be next to the theological heavyweights, such as those from The Gospel Coalition, they have revealed a common ground and proclaim a single and common battle cry: The Gospel needs to be administered without additives, it cannot be a mixture of law and grace or it cannot be considered good news.
As the teaching attempts to assure people that God does not require any works in order to be saved the question arises then “how much faith do I need to have?” The answer is clearly that the faith is a gift as well, otherwise I will depend on my own holding power to sustain me. But in order for Joseph Prince to reassure people that it is not their faith that saves them he must dip into a theological camp that is opposed to his own, which is Calvinism – that belief system which says that salvation, in order for it to be all of grace, must have God as the author of even our faith! That of course brings up how it is that any are saved and the Calvinist’s answer is that they are “elected” and chosen from among mankind – an answer wanting and begging questions from all sides!
Thus it is once again illustrated how each tradition or camp cannot exist without borrowing from their opposing camps! We are indeed the ONE body of Christ and demonstrating it even while being unaware of it! We appear to be destined to it!
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