The Voices
Derek Prince
Peter Derek Vaughan Prince (August 14, 1915 – September 24, 2003) was a British Bible teacher and one of the most influential charismatic figures of the 20th century.
Short bio
Peter Derek Vaughan Prince (August 14, 1915 – September 24, 2003) was a British Bible teacher and one of the most influential charismatic figures of the 20th century. Educated at Eton and King's College Cambridge in classical languages and philosophy (M.A.; Fellow of King's College, 1940), Prince served as a hospital orderly in the British Army during WWII, where he was converted in 1941 in a Pentecostal-influenced Baptist setting. He served as a missionary educator in Kenya in the 1950s, pastored briefly in London, and from the early 1960s built an international Bible-teaching ministry based first in Florida and later in Jerusalem. He was an early figure in the Charismatic Renewal of the 1960s–1970s and became briefly associated with the "Shepherding Movement" under Bob Mumford, Charles Simpson, Don Basham, and Ern Baxter — an association he later publicly repented of (1986). His final years were spent in Israel; he is buried in Jerusalem. His teaching catalog includes 50+ books and over 600 audio teaching series translated into 100+ languages; Derek Prince Ministries continues his legacy.
What they believed
- Fear of the Lord Emphasis — Fear of the Lord is foundational to all Christian life; reverence joined to obedience is the believer's right disposition. Prince treats it as a covenantal posture, not merely an emotion.
- Intercession as Co Laboring — Prayer and fasting — particularly corporate, Spirit-directed intercession — shape historical events. The believer's prayer is not a request for divine intervention but a participation in the divine government. *Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting* (1973) is the foundational pre-Sheets articulation.
- Rapture Timing — Pre-millennial. Prince held a rapture-timing position (most commonly described as pre-tribulation in his teaching, though he held it less polemically than Lindsey/Hagee), with strong emphasis on the church's preparation through holiness and intercession.
- Cessation — Strong continuationist. The full apostolic/prophetic offices and the gifts of the Spirit are operative today; their suspension is unbelief, not dispensational design. Prince is one of the standard articulators of the continuationist case from the Pentecostal-Charismatic side.
- Healing in Atonement — Divine healing is provided in the atonement (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24); the believer can appropriate healing through faith joined to obedience. Prince held this with strong covenantal framing without the prosperity-gospel excesses of some Word-of-Faith voices.
- Believer Can Be Demonized — Born-again believers can be oppressed, occupied, or bound in specific areas of soul or body by demonic powers — not in their regenerated spirit, but in unsurrendered or wounded areas. Deliverance is a normal part of pastoral ministry, not a fringe practice.
Notable works
8 listed
| Title | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Blessing or Curse: You Can Choose | 1990 | The standard articulation of Prince's covenant-curse-blessing framework; the anchor text for demonology.generational-curses in the MannaFest taxonomy. |
| They Shall Expel Demons | 1998 | Prince's mature teaching on deliverance ministry, distilled from decades of practice. The standard charismatic-deliverance handbook in the post-1980s era. |
| Foundations of Christian Doctrine / Foundation Series | 1960 | Prince's catechetical-systematic teaching on the foundational doctrines (repentance, faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, eternal judgment — Hebrews 6:1–2 framework). |
| The Spirit-Filled Believer's Handbook | 1993 | Prince's mature pneumatology in handbook form. |
| Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting | 1973 | Prince's signature work on intercessory prayer at the national/historical level. Influential precursor to the Sheets / Eckhardt / Cindy Jacobs intercession movement. |
| Prophetic Guide to the End Times | 2008 | Prince's eschatology in compact form — pre-millennial, pro-Israel, with caution about precise rapture-timing. |
| The Marriage Covenant | 1978 | Prince's covenantal articulation applied to marriage; the standard charismatic-evangelical text on the topic in the late 20th c. |
| Faith to Live By | 1977 | Prince's mature articulation of faith and Christian life; the kind of foundational discipleship text that bridges his Cambridge formation and his charismatic ministry. |