Tags
board, CHC, CHC board, CHC's Statement, Chew, Chew Eng Han, church statement, City Harvest Church, COC, Kong Hee, meeting, query, statement, Sun, Sun Ho
News recently broke of Chew Eng Han. He is one of six members charged for mishandling church funds of up to US$40 million. He has decided to step down from his position at City Harvest Church. You can read his farewell and CHC’s reponse in our article here:
CHC Farewells Charged Member Chew Eng Han
Things are getting interesting. Chew Eng Han has responded to CHC’s statement. He writes,
Chew Eng Han’s response to CHC’s statement
In response to CHC’s Board’s response to my Personal Statement on my departure from CHC, the following are my replies:
1. Firstly I refer to the para which states:
“While we do not understand the reasons for his current sentiments, we wish nothing but the best for Eng Han and his family, and thank him for all his contributions.”
My query to the Board is whether they have been made aware of a four and a half hour meeting between Pastor Kong, Sun, myself and my wife? Are they also aware of some of the issues which I raised and whether there were sincere corrective actions taken since that meeting 3 months ago?
2. Secondly I refer to the para which states:
“The Board knows and believes that the senior leadership has always walked in integrity, adhering to Biblical principles through the leading of the Holy Spirit. We maintain our full confidence in the leadership.”
My query is how many of the board members made a conscious effort to read the COC Inquiry Report which was made accessible to them? And if they did, was then a diligent internal inquiry held in-house, to determine if there was any wrongdoing on the part of the alleged wrongdoers? Has the board done an inquiry on the issues named by COC, and satisfied itself fully that there has been no compromise of integrity? If the board has not done so, it cannot state that it knows and believes in the integrity of the senior leadership.
3. The board is probably unaware of many other issues, especially those on the pastoral angle, in terms of the manner of conduct of some of their pastors and senior leaders. Without such information, it is not equipped to issue a board statement of confidence.
The church statement is a mere attempt to unite the church with a spiritual tone, but lacks substance in dealing with the real issues of truth and integrity.
Dated 22 June 2013
Source: Chew Eng Han, Chew Eng Han’s response to CHC’s statement, http://mrslightnfriends.com/chew-eng-hans-response-to-chcs-statement, 22/06/2013. (Accessed 24/06/2013.)
C3 Church Watch 
Look forward to hearing how Phil Pringle handles this development.
There’s a comment that needs to be noted on the pro (Kong Hee) side…..many have asked for Eng Han to be more forthcoming:
“22 Jun 2013 (JJ Lavigne) – “For now, dear members, allow Eng Han to stay silent, as there is a case going on. He made his stand and position clear. We would have all preferred that clarity about what went wrong was made between us, members, but we were deprived of that opportunity as the Board itself doesn’t seem to have a clue or care to much about establishing the truth as its top priority. Business as usual. Is it?. Yesterday a group of us were fighting to defend the integrity of the leaders. Then, we stopped. Why? Simply because we stopped believing in it. Mistakes are made but response to a mistake is often more important than the mistake itself. And we just reconcile what we hear from the pulpit and the response we saw on the ground.”
And now this (Kong Hee already had charges of plagiarism)….
“24 Jun 2013 (Boston) – “Dear CHC members , if you could recalled I think last year when Pastor Kong when on stage to preach this sermon on ‘motion sensitive God’ and he said he worked hard preparing the sermon but the fact is the sermon was taken from this preacher: Jentezen Franklin
http://www.watchyt.com/video/Motion-Sensitive-God/5NsR77lfr5o.html
June 24 2013 (This2shallpass) – “Let us be fair. This video was posted on Youtube in 2 June 2013. So it is not clear who copied from whom.
What is clear, though, is that preachers often do not practice what they preach. So they cannot really be trusted.”
Advisory pastors? Any comment?
Someone posted on CHC Confessions/facebook that actually there was evidence that Jentezen Franklin had already preached this first on TV in Oct 2010. Kong Hee followed a year later in Sept 2011 with almost all verses identically quoted. He was also reported to have said he worked hard on this sermon. So its clear who plagiarised. Another one was his acclaimed “God in Ancient China” on youtube….that there was in existence a book “Discovery of Genesis” published in 1979 by CH Kang & Ethel Nelson and Kong Hee probably used this as the chinese characters mentioned were also identical to the book but there was no acknowledgement from Kong Hee on the source.
And this from CHC Confessions:
“Except for Pastor Paul Choo, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irTMfRJlbPE no pastor in Singapore dares to stand up publicly and speak the truth in love and in righteousness. Is this the fear of men? Don’t go against the grain, don’t rock the boat and become unpopular. Where are all the senior pastors who are in a position to mentor and chastise KH and bring him back on the right track before this snowballed into such a catastrophic event for the Christian community in Singapore? Where are all our pastors? How do they answer when their sheep ask, “Pastor, what is your opinion of this case?” Many pastors choose to keep quiet or say,”Don’t prejudge. Don’t talk about it online.” Isn’t this a good time to teach the true Gospel? Isn’t this a good opportunity to correct erroneous teaching? Our pastors’ collective silence is consent and because our pastors are silent, evil is allowed to permeate. Sunday after Sunday… the weeks rolled into years and more and more people are taken advantage of, hurt and harmed eventually. This whole system of Christian leadership in Singapore has failed us, the ordinary believers sitting in the pews.
Why are we so afraid of the TRUTH? The truth may hurt but the truth will also set us free.
“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” (Matthew 10:26)
I pray for the unraveling of the truth, so that healing and restoration can take place in the body of Christ. It is a messy, painful process, but let us face the truth with courage. The Lord will help us. Something good will come out of this pain. The Lord is in control.
I pray for my brothers and sisters from City Harvest. I love you in Christ and am praying for you during this difficult time. And there are many like me who are praying for you, outside of CHC.
At the end of the day, we are one.”
No pastors dared to stand up for the TRUTH is because most of them are not sure of how to rightly divide the word of TRUTH. In 2 Tim 2:15, Apostle Paul said, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”.
Because pastors do not rightly divide the word of truth, they are now brought to shame in front of congregation, public, and the world. It is time now to follow after Paul’s messages that teaches us how to follow after Jesus Christ. Paul has be given the revelation of the Mystery by Jesus in the spirit. Paul in Eph 3:9 says .. to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery …..
Below is an article by Pastor Justin Johnson in http://www.graceambassordors.com which I found to be very true.
We all know when we have reached a controversial topic, because no one wants to talk about it. For the sake of ‘keeping the church together’ and ‘eliminating unneeded division’ self proclaimed Christians will try to squelch the teaching of dispensational right division by making it seem unimportant.
Have you ever heard it said, ‘your majoring in the minors’. Or perhaps, ‘your straining at a gnat’, is more familiar. A contemporary response goes like this: ‘In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things love.’ What does that mean, anyway? Where in the Bible does God list the essentials? Why is it loving to gloss over doctrinal division and steer away from serious discussion?
Doesn’t Paul say that we receive liberty through the gospel of Christ (Gal 2:4-5)? Is the gospel a non-essential? Where it is commonplace to be doctrinally apathetic and biblically ignorant, we are bombarded with the influence of disregarding the revelation of the mystery as trivial. Is it true? Not in the least!
More Important than Salvation
There is no more important thing a soul can do than come to a knowledge of the saving grace of God demonstrated on the cross through Christ. In this aspect, the understanding of the revelation of the mystery is the message through which souls are saved. Ignorance of dispensational right division comes at the risk of eternal damnation.
No where else in scripture do we find the gospel for today, the gospel of the grace of God, other than in the revelation of God to our dispensational pattern. Through Paul, Jesus first revealed the meaning and the purpose of his shed blood for all men. Not of our works, but by faith we are justified by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The glory of this truth ‘kept secret since the world began’ is muddled by erroneously combining it with what God has purposely divided. When teachers of scripture do not rightly divide between what is prophetic and what is the revelation of the mystery they are at risk of blurring or losing the efficacy of the power of God unto salvation.
Though many people have been saved by well meaning people who are ignorant of Paul’s apostleship, it is not because they trusted in another gospel. They are saved despite their exposure to improper biblical workmanship.
Unfortunately many others are deluded by ministers who are also blind to the truth, preaching Jesus, but not according to the revelation of the mystery (Rom 16:25). They instead preach another Jesus according to the flesh (2 Cor 5:16). As a result they are trusting in their water baptism, or their good works, or their obedience to the words of Jesus during his earthly ministry when he was a minister of the circumcision:
“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:” – Romans 15:8
Stunted Spiritual Growth
Despite the unclear gospel presentations, there are those who hear the gospel, and by faith believe it and are saved. However, continued subjection to teaching disparate of dispensational right division will stunt spiritual growth.
It is no wonder that we experience a drought of true spirituality if at the source we are not established according to the teaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.
“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, …” – Rom 16:25
Instead, members of the body of Christ are weak, frail, and useless against the ‘body of this death’ and ‘this present evil world’ (Rom 7:24, Gal 1:4). As a result, we have turned to pop psychology and motivational speakers as substitutes for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who is able to teach us from the word of God rightly divided (1 Cor 2:10-13).
By relinquishing the teaching of dispensational right division to the scrap heap of ‘petty doctrines’, we are spoiling those who would thrive in the protected soil of sound doctrine.
Essentials unity; non-essentials liberty; in all things love
Silencing the teaching of dispensational right division is the cause of unclear gospel presentations and stunted spiritual growth as well as being the single most harmful attack against those who desperately need salvation.
While it is far easier to assume that standing for dispensational right division is non-essential, the truth of God says that without this message the cross of Christ would’ve been a shameful defeat (1 Cor 2:7-8). The dispensation committed unto Paul is the manifold wisdom of God and can not be more essential to our salvation!
Paul speaks of unifying the body of Christ in Ephesians 4:3 after he explains the dispensation of God committed to him in chapter 3. He defends unity when it is not ‘contrary to that which ye have learned’ (Rom 16:17).
Christ gave us liberty through the gospel for our salvation, not as an excuse to ignore ‘non-essential’ Biblical discussion. Instead of using our liberty to be complacent towards doctrinal discussion, we are charged to ‘stand fast’ in it, and not to ‘give place by subjection, not for an hour’.
We are subject to the word of truth rightly divided, and there we stand in Christ.
“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:” – Ephesians 3:8-9
Article Index Published: May 12, 2007
Last Modified: November 25, 2010
No pastors dared to stand up for the truth is because they themselves are not sure what is the truth that Jesus revealed to Apostle Paul about the fellowship of the mystery of Christ (Eph 3:9) and rightly dividing the word of Truth, lest we as workmen will be ashamed (2Tim 2:15). It is time we take note of Paul’s messages because Paul followed after Jesus in the spirit. Below is an article from http://www.graceambassadors.com by Pastor Justin Johnson.
We all know when we have reached a controversial topic, because no one wants to talk about it. For the
sake of ‘keeping the church together’ and ‘eliminating unneeded division’ self proclaimed Christians will try to squelch the teaching of dispensational right division by making it seem unimportant.
Have you ever heard it said, ‘your majoring in the minors’. Or perhaps, ‘your straining at a gnat’, is more familiar. A contemporary response goes like this: ‘In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things love.’ What does that mean, anyway? Where in the Bible does God list the essentials? Why is it loving to gloss over doctrinal division and steer away from serious discussion?
Doesn’t Paul say that we receive liberty through the gospel of Christ (Gal 2:4-5)? Is the gospel a non-essential? Where it is commonplace to be doctrinally apathetic and biblically ignorant, we are bombarded with the influence of disregarding the revelation of the mystery as trivial. Is it true? Not in the least!
More Important than Salvation
There is no more important thing a soul can do than come to a knowledge of the saving grace of God demonstrated on the cross through Christ. In this aspect, the understanding of the revelation of the mystery is the message through which souls are saved. Ignorance of dispensational right division comes at the risk of eternal damnation.
No where else in scripture do we find the gospel for today, the gospel of the grace of God, other than in the revelation of God to our dispensational pattern. Through Paul, Jesus first revealed the meaning and the purpose of his shed blood for all men. Not of our works, but by faith we are justified by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The glory of this truth ‘kept secret since the world began’ is muddled by erroneously combining it with what God has purposely divided. When teachers of scripture do not rightly divide between what is prophetic and what is the revelation of the mystery they are at risk of blurring or losing the efficacy of the power of God unto salvation.
Though many people have been saved by well meaning people who are ignorant of Paul’s apostleship, it is not because they trusted in another gospel. They are saved despite their exposure to improper biblical workmanship.
Unfortunately many others are deluded by ministers who are also blind to the truth, preaching Jesus, but not according to the revelation of the mystery (Rom 16:25). They instead preach another Jesus according to the flesh (2 Cor 5:16). As a result they are trusting in their water baptism, or their good works, or their obedience to the words of Jesus during his earthly ministry when he was a minister of the circumcision:
“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:” – Romans 15:8
Stunted Spiritual Growth
Despite the unclear gospel presentations, there are those who hear the gospel, and by faith believe it and are saved. However, continued subjection to teaching disparate of dispensational right division will stunt spiritual growth.
It is no wonder that we experience a drought of true spirituality if at the source we are not established according to the teaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.
“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, …” – Rom 16:25
Instead, members of the body of Christ are weak, frail, and useless against the ‘body of this death’ and ‘this present evil world’ (Rom 7:24, Gal 1:4). As a result, we have turned to pop psychology and motivational speakers as substitutes for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who is able to teach us from the word of God rightly divided (1 Cor 2:10-13).
By relinquishing the teaching of dispensational right division to the scrap heap of ‘petty doctrines’, we are spoiling those who would thrive in the protected soil of sound doctrine.
Essentials unity; non-essentials liberty; in all things love
Silencing the teaching of dispensational right division is the cause of unclear gospel presentations and stunted spiritual growth as well as being the single most harmful attack against those who desperately need salvation.
While it is far easier to assume that standing for dispensational right division is non-essential, the truth of God says that without this message the cross of Christ would’ve been a shameful defeat (1 Cor 2:7-8). The dispensation committed unto Paul is the manifold wisdom of God and can not be more essential to our salvation!
Paul speaks of unifying the body of Christ in Ephesians 4:3 after he explains the dispensation of God committed to him in chapter 3. He defends unity when it is not ‘contrary to that which ye have learned’ (Rom 16:17).
Christ gave us liberty through the gospel for our salvation, not as an excuse to ignore ‘non-essential’ Biblical discussion. Instead of using our liberty to be complacent towards doctrinal discussion, we are charged to ‘stand fast’ in it, and not to ‘give place by subjection, not for an hour’.
We are subject to the word of truth rightly divided, and there we stand in Christ.
“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:” – Ephesians 3:8-9