I have no words. But I'll try anyway. if there was one word that I had to choose to describe how I felt while reading 'The Prayer of Protection' it would be astonished. This book has very much blown my mind like no other book I've come across. I have never read a book which manages to insult so many different people in so many different generations, as this reading will prove offensive to anyone who suffers, anyone with diseases like AIDS, anyone with an addiction, and anyone who takes the New Testament (NT) in historical account seriously. But Joseph Prince has succeeded in doing just that.
Prince spits on the grave of the apostle Paul and the early church martyrs by saying that they did not have to die but chose to do so in order to be with God faster. But they could have lived long and full lives, having fruitfulness (his word) even in old age. He says that although Job suffered, this is totally abnormal for those in Christ and shouldn't happen.
In all my past reviews I have engaged a book with an open mind, looking for the good even when it's hard to find. That said, there is no good in this book. I hate to give very bad reviews but this book is not just bad in theology but is also bad in writing style, choice of words, and terrible for its self-promotion. 25 pages that I counted are devoted to testimonials of people saying how great his ministry has been for their lives! 25 pages-that's a lot of pages! That the editors didn't point this out to him is beyond me-maybe they didn't care? But these testimonials were not excerpts but full pages which occurred in every chapter. Prince evidently needed to fill up his pages; why 'not' be self-indulgent and insert self-promoting testimonials in which people thank God for him and his preaching of the "true gospel?"
Prince tells us that we can "activate" angels for protection (a whole chapter is dedicated to this) and that we can control these angels like Jesus apparently was able to do. He informs us that every Christian has the choice to choose when they die and mocks Christians who think that death just happens to some and we can't control it.
Laziness is also evident in the writing style, as in many parts of the book it feels as if Prince is trying to teach a very small child big grown up things. The tone of the book switches back and forth from a type of over-polished mechanical tone to a very joyous pep-talk that reminds me of someone simply trying to hype up a crowd. These phrases like "Hallelujah! Isn't God great!" in every section are not only repetitive but also seem to indicate that Prince is just trying to insert more words in each chapter.
Jospeh Prince evidently has forgotten which side of heaven he lives on. According to the reading we are not (as Christians) to experience any discmomfort and no amount of suffering.
Uncountable exegetical fallacies: there are simply too many to count (I plan on having a few posts dedicated to the individual texts themselves which are it seems on every page. Hyper-triumphalism can be found on every page. The book is highly offensive as Prince (as noted at the start) insults many different people. Anyone who is going through hardship is doing so (according to this book) because of lack of faith, or because they haven't learned to activate God's angels. In one chapter he makes absurd claims that we have authority over death in that we (not God) control and determine when we will die. He states that "Jesus died a young death so that we can live a long life" and that "All of us have a free choice to use our faith to believe God for a long life. How long a life? That depends on you--according to your faith and satisfaction be it unto you" (p. 150).
This is insulting to any Christian who has lost a Christian family member or friend prematurely, as it pretty much says they did not activate some special authority and were not in the special realm Prince apparently is in (in which he controls when he will die).
The amount of people he insults is inexcusable and unforgivable (Prince evidently does not know what it means to be pastoral, though he, in fact, is a pastor).
For anyone who experiences danger, they simply haven't activated the Protector's protection. If this is true, Christians in China need Prince's book and theology! They simply haven't activated God's angels; or perhaps the Christians who give their lives in martydom don't pray Prince's pray of protection and don't live in the realm he is in (in which one can decide when one dies!). This goes beyond the triumhalism that I've encountered in Pentecostal/charismatic circles and from motivational speakers; Prince is on a whole different level of triumphalism. The NT shows us we are to live between the tension between glory and suffering and informs us of the expectedness of Christians to suffer. The Western church seems to nt want to hear that, while Joseph Prince in his book would blantantly deny this! On p. 201 he notes it's something we must "receive" and in that chapter also contests that God's protection is purchased for Christians by Christ's blood; or hasn't activated his/her control of God's angels (yes, that's what he says); ch. 12 insults the loved ones of anyone who has died prematurely (or hasn't lived a long life) as it states a promise to every Christian is not only a long life but a long and healthy one, as well as "fruitfulness" in old age. Here he writes a most peculiar statement: that "Our Lord Jesus died young so we may live long" (p. 194). That sounds really great, but to anyone half-serious about exegesis this is an obvious and flat-out imposition to Scripture.
Because you have made the Lord your refuge, no plague will come near your dwelling. Protection from strains of viruses that science does not yet have a cure for--Ebola, Zika, or AIDS--is God's promise to you and your household (p. 100).
On p. 100 Prince states that this is God's promise for our families, stressing that this is God's guarantee. This is an insult to any Christian suffering from a disease listed above, as it implies your lack of faith (and not God's sovereignty) or something you're doing stands in the way of you being healed. Here Prince is giving false hope to those who are suffering.
There is safety and protection when we draw near to Him and dwell in His sweet presence, His Word, and His house (p. 101). It's important to note that Prince is not talking about a kind of spiritual protection but a very literal one.
On p. 103 he notes that protection is guaranteed to all believers of all times just as forgiveness is. (He has equated God's forgiveness with God's healing.) He, throughout the whole book, notes that he believes Christians should never have to suffer-they only allow themselves to suffer. From p. 104-105 he "exegetes" (can that word even be used?) the Parable of the Lost Sheep, explaining that it's about a Shepherd who protects his sheep. Strange: I always thought it was about God finding the nonredeemable (the sinner) and bringing him or her back to his flock. I guess generations of church history got it all wrong.
After reading the book at hand I don't think it's speculative to say Prince has a fear of suffering and a fear of not being protected.
Prince has a very strange and scary preoccupation with being protected from any type of suffering and an evident (to me) fear of suffering. As someone passionate about the gospel and about faith in Jesus, I find Prince's notions to be threatening to the foundations of historical Christianity. His newest release promotes an idea which is utterly contra-Christ and his cross, the idea being "Jesus died for you to not suffer and for you to be comfortable." I know of nothing which is more anti-Jesus (anti-Christ?) than that. It is evident that Prince does not take half-serious the concept of studying Scripture as he has on every page plunders Bible verses to make them captive to his own pre-determined individualistic theology. He constantly comes up with "unique" interpretations to Bible verses when Bible interpretation 101 states that if you have a "unique" interpretation of a passage, it's probably wrong and could be more rooted in pride than in an actual revelation from God's Spirit.
I write this review as a continuist who believes God still operates in the "spectacular." That said, I do not identify with the type of Christian who does not see the cross and its implications (namely that it's normative for Christians to suffer) as central (which is what Prince does without apology throughout this grotesque and terrible excuse for a book). As a student of the Bible I must say that Prince does preach another gospel, a gospel of "think-positive-thoughts" rather than the gospel of "follow me to be crucified" (a pretty negative notion). It does not take a Bible scholar to figure out that Prince is way off in his exegesis.
I received my copy from Hachette Book Group for an honest evaluation.