Phil Pringle and co in Washington Times over Kong Hee

02 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by churchwatcher in C3 & Pringles Associations

Tags

A. R. Bernard, AR Bernard, Bernard, c3 church, Casey Treat, CHC, City Harvest Church, Hudson, Keith & Mary Hudson Ministries, Mary Hudson, Paul Scanlon, Phil Pringle, Pringle, Treat

On the plus side, at least Phil Pringle and C3 church are making headlines.

Kong Hee copies Phil Pringle

At the bottom of this article, we would also like to show you the absurdity of the defensive claims made by pastors that defend the integrity of Kong Hee and Sun Ho.

The Washington Times reports,

Singapore megachurch founder Kong Hee on trial in religious freedom test case

A.R. Bernard among supporters of City Harvest Church pastor facing corruption charges

Religious freedom? Or misuse of church funds? Those are the questions surrounding the ongoing corruption trial of a megachurch founder in Singapore who has won support from international religious leaders such as Pastor A.R. Bernard.

“Change is taking place in the nation [of Singapore] that is part of a bigger picture,” Mr. Bernard, founder of the 30,000 member-plus Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, said of Singapore’s charges against Pastor Kong Hee.

“We don’t pick and choose history. History happens when social, political, economic and even spiritual forces come together and effect change,” said Mr. Bernard, a staunch supporter of Mr. Kong.

A charismatic evangelist, Mr. Kong founded the City Harvest Church in Singapore in 1989 with his wife, Sun Ho.

In 2012 Mr. Kong and five other church members were accused of financial misdeeds, and the high-profile criminal trial has kept the 20,000-member megachurch under a cloud.

Last week a former church member who acted as an investment manager testified about an estimated $19 million in church-building funds that were used to buy investment bonds for two church-related companies that promoted the music career of Ms. Ho, the church’s music pastor, and another $21 million that was used to show that the bonds had been redeemed.

Prosecutors, who started investigating the church around 2009, say the investment companies and bonds were “shams,” and church elders are guilty of a conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust with the building funds.

The church says the investment bonds were legitimate and returned to the church in full with interest, and no money was lost in the transactions.

Initial charges against Ms. Ho have been dropped. The six accused elders face up to 20 years imprisonment.

Prosecutors with the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force and the Office of the Commissioner of Charities are conducting the trial before Presiding Judge of the State Court of Singapore See Kee Oon. The judge ruled in May that a “prima facie” case of misappropriation had been made.

Mr. Kong’s international supporters include Pentecostal Pastor Mary Hudson, co-founder of the Keith & Mary Hudson Ministries in Santa Barbara, California, and mother of pop star Katy Perry; Paul Scanlon, founder of LIFE Church, a large charismatic-based congregation in Bradford, England; and evangelist Phil Pringle, senior pastor of C3 Church in Sydney, Australia, and an advisory pastor of Mr. Kong’s City Harvest Church. Each of them has traveled to Singapore to uplift the spirits of Mr. Kong’s congregation.

Pastor Casey Treat, who leads the Christian Faith Center in Washington with his wife, Wendy, said Monday that “Pastor Kong has been a great leader of the church in Singapore and an influence throughout the world.”

“I have never seen a compromise or unbiblical behavior. He and his family have been a blessing to our church in Seattle,” Mr. Treat said in an email to The Washington Times.

Mr. Bernard, who spoke to the Singapore church last week before returning home early due to an untimely death in his family, said: “I talked to them about looking at the big picture — that essentially we are part of something much greater than ourselves.”

The bigger picture, he said, is that Singapore’s religious freedoms are not identical to those in the U.S. Accepted practices here, such as churches and charities using their own films and “crossover artists” who perform religious and secular music for evangelism, are “strange” in Singapore, he said.

So when the Singapore church leaders chose to use Ms. Ho’s music for evangelism — she performed especially well in Chinese markets — and took steps to promote her, those actions were misinterpreted, Mr. Bernard said.

Mr. Kong has “made a few mistakes in judgment,” Mr. Bernard said without elaborating, but he “never did anything illegal, never did anything to the inurement of his own pockets or that of his wife.”

“His case is really setting precedent. It’s a test case” about government controls, Mr. Bernard said, noting that recent news articles have discussed the emerging influence of Christian churches in Singapore — where a third of the people are Buddhist — and have called for the government to restructure itself to be “sensitive” to special interest groups.

Singapore’s blogosphere has followed the trial with keen interest, remarking on everything from Ms. Ho’s up-and-down music career to the ethics of “mixing” secular and religious practices.

The prosecution’s opening statement in May 2013 “ridiculed” the church leaders’ contention that “pop music was a tool of evangelism that would help spread God’s message,” according to The Associated Press.

The “reason you were trying to sweep the transactions with [artist management company] Xtron under the carpet is because that’s what you do if your house is dirty and a visitor might be turning up unexpectedly,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong said to Mr. Kong when he took the stand in September, according to The Christian Post.

The 50-year-old pastor replied that after certain bloggers developed “misconceptions” about what they were doing with their popular Crossover Project, which featured his wife, the church members took steps to clarify the ties between the church and Xtron.

At least one defendant — former member Chew Eng Han — has distanced himself from Mr. Kong’s statements, saying he did not overrule the pastor in financial decisions, and the goal was to promote Ms. Ho.

A final ruling in the trial could come this summer.

Source: By Cheryl Wetzstein, Singapore megachurch founder Kong Hee on trial in religious freedom test case, The Washington Times, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/8/kong-hee-singapore-megachurch-founder-on-trial-in-/; http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/8/kong-hee-singapore-megachurch-founder-on-trial-in-/?page=2, Published 08/03/2015. (Accessed 09/03/2015.)

C3 Church Mt Annan being less than truthful to their congregation? (Update)

24 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by churchwatcher in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

A. R. Bernard, AR Bernard, c3 church, c3 church mount annan, c3 church mt annan, C3 Mount Annan, Casey Treat, chc scandal, Christian City Church, City Harvest Church, David Yonggi Cho, John Bevere, Kong Hee, lie, lies, lying, Phil Pringle, Pringle, scandal

One of the most disturbing things about the CHC/Kong Hee scandal, is how C3 leadership are refusing to educate their movement on the revelations emerging in Singaporean court proceedings. Instead of waiting to invite Kong Hee to speak at their churches after the trial proceedings (and Kong Hee has been vindicated), C3 instead are inviting Kong Hee to speak at their churches and being less than truthful about Kong Hee to their congregations.

In the screen shot below, advertising Kong Hee speaking at C3 Mt Annan, the leadership are guilty of:

1. Lying about Kong Hee’s status (“hosting one of our generations greatest leaders”).

There is nothing ‘great’ about this man if you look at the hard evidence revealed in court and admire his greatness as a serious fraud. The scheming that he has been involved in since 2002 has left the Singaporean public ashamed of this man.

2. Lying about Kong Hee’s influence (“is a highly sought after speaker worldwide”).

The only possible reason why Kong Hee could be “highly sought” is because:

a) His mentors, Phil Pringle, Casey Treat, AR Bernard, John Bevere and Yonggi Cho deliberately mislead their congregations about the circumstances of Kong Hee’s trial and continue to invite him to speak the way C3 Church Mt Annan has.

b) Church leaders are simply ignorant of this man’s schemes at CHC.

Thanks to Christian radio, blogs, websites, forums and media, many Christian churches are beginning to ask the right questions and are not willing to be associated with Kong Hee and his church.

3. Lying about church attendance figures of CHC, (Kong has grown City Harvest Church Singapore to more than 32,000 attendees in 20 years).

The word games on this do not make the grade. This ‘propaganda’ has been promoted for years. Phil Pringle has no problem misleading his C3 Church movement over this issue. Back in 2012 and 2013, C3 advertised that Kong Hee had “grown his congregation to over 28,000 members through passionate prayer and discipleship”.

And now we are lead to believe that the church has grown to 32,000 attendees/members?

Kong Hee & Phil Pringle: It Is Not About The Numbers… Right?

Why are C3 leaders and members allowing this misinformation(propaganda) to continue being promoted by their C3 church leadership? Why are not more Christians trying to contact Phil Pringle and ask him to be honest about Kong Hee? Why is it so important for Phil Pringle to keep lying about the Kong Hee?

4. Lying about Kong Hee’s church reputation, (“his Church is viewed as one of the largest, most vibrant and influential congregations in Asia today).

This is one of the biggest scandals to hit Singapore and its citizens are not happy with how long the trial is going. The reputation of Kong Hee and CHC is so bad that Phil Pringle and the C3 movement have to publicly lie to their movement to keep members from leaving.

Members of C3 should be terribly ashamed of the conduct, not only of Kong Hee but also Phil Pringle and the C3 leadership. When people are lied to so brazenly, they feel insulted, they feel betrayed and their faith in God can be terribly shaken. If you are a member of C3 Church reading this, we pray that the Holy Spirit will convict you to be a voice in the C3 movement about the conduct of the C3 leadership surrounding the Kong Hee scandal.

C3 MOUNT ANNAN ADVERT

C3 Church Mt Annan write,

On Friday 13th Feb at 8pm we have the incredible privilege of hosting one of our generations greatest leaders, Pastor Kong Hee.

Ps. Kong is a highly sought after speaker worldwide. Ps. Kong has grown City Harvest Church Singapore to more than 32,000 attendees in 20 years and his Church is viewed as one of the largest, most vibrant and influential congregations in Asia today.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to listen to an incredible speaker here in our very own church!

Source: February 2015, C3 Church Mount Annan, http://www.c3churchma.com/events/february-2015/, Accessed 25/02/2015.)

EDIT 25/02/2015: Furthermore, Chew Eng Han made this accusation to AR Bernard in an open letter for exaggerating CHC church figures on television:

“One of my specific concerns which I brought to you was the falsified attendance figures, which was claimed to be 33,000 instead of the actual twelve to thirteen thousand.” [Source]

It only goes to show how flippant with the truth these leaders are.

Chew Eng Han’s open letter to AR Bernard asking “[…] to account for your past words and actions”

23 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by churchwatcher in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

AR Bernard, CHC, chc scandal, Chew Eng Han, City Harvest Church, court, DR Bernard, open letter, Phil Pringle, TBN

WHO IS A.R. BERNARD?

AR Bernard says on his website:

AdvisA. R. Bernard (born, 10 August 1953) is the Founder, Senior Pastor and CEO of Christian Cultural Center (CCC) located in Brooklyn, New York, United States. CCC is a ministry and not-for-profit 501c(3) organization, that currently has over 33,000+ members and sits on an 11.5-acre (45,000 m2) campus. He is also the President of the Council of Churches of the City of New York representing 1.5 million Protestants, Anglicans and Orthodox Christians. He sits on the NYC Economic Development Corporation Board, served on NYC School Chancellor’s Advisory Cabinet and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2001 Transition Team.
Source: http://www.arbernard.com/#main (Accessed 23/08/2014.)

We have in the past exposed A. R. Bernard’s immoral behaviour as a pastor.

Don’t Mess With CHC’s Advisory Pastor A.R. Bernard – He’ll “Honestly” Deal With You Too

Chew Eng Han mentioned an event that we may have covered on C3 Church Watch. Read here:

At Least The Guilty King Saul Repented ‘Apostle’ Bernard…

And now Chew Eng Han recently wrote the following public letter to AR Bernard,

Open Letter to Dr Bernard (From Eng Han)

Dear Dr Bernard,

I, a servant of God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, am writing an open letter to you to inform you that you have failed in your spiritual duties as the Advisory Chairman over the Board of City Harvest Church and as an Apostle over the church.

You will recall that on 1 Aug 2013, I along with a CHC elder and a board member, had a conference call with you to arrange a meeting with you. On 16 Sept, we met at a hotel in Singapore, joined by that elder and board member.

I asked if I could tape our conversation for future reference but you declined, and so I didn’t. I am now describing from my handwritten notes what happened.

You first asked what was my objective in meeting you, and I said my hope was that through you, Kong and Sun and some of his leaders would come to repentance, and that you would help awaken the church to the truth as to what was really happening in the church leadership.

I subsequently described to you some of Kong’s wrongdoings, from a moral and spiritual perspective. I related how I had a four and a half hour meeting with Kong and Sun which produced no fruits. You listened patiently and at the end of the meeting assured me that you believed I came to you without malice and in truth.

You said that I had placed a heavy responsibility upon you and you would ensure that you would discharge that responsibility by having a “good talk” with them, including the board, and that they would have to be “honest at the table.” You also said if they did not heed discipline, you may have to reconsider your relationship with them. I left the meeting assured that you would carry out your duties.

On the 21 Sept Saturday service at the church, you spoke from the pulpit against me instead. You alleged that I had used you for my personal agenda and had committed gossip and slander against and dishonored Kong and Sun.

You then got Kong on stage and made a show of ‘repentance’ by asking if he had committed silly mistakes before, and had he repented to God, to which he said “all the time.” To that, you got the congregation to endorse him with a roaring applause. There is a huge difference between “silly mistakes” and “conscious deception” and you allowed the people to believe it was the former. It would have been far better for that staged show never to have taken place.

Dr Bernard I am taking you to task in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for acting in a manner that’s unbecoming of an apostle, and for doing the very opposite of what His Word requires of a man of God that’s placed in a position of spiritual authority.

You abused the pulpit and instead of helping to wake up the people, you turned Kong into a brave and humble hero in their eyes, and with your open endorsement on stage, the people believed even more in Kong and Sun thereafter.

You also accused me of not complying with Matthew 18 because I did not confront the sinner but committed gossip and slander instead. You obviously had forgotten that I had told you about the four and a half hour meeting and how it failed to bear fruits of repentance. And how I had to try multiple times before that to speak to them and how protracted were the circumstances leading to that meeting with them.

It seems to me that subsequent to my meeting with you on 16 Sept, Kong and Sun had probably told you certain things about me which shifted your mind about my true intentions. The right thing you should have done then, according to Matthew 18, was for you to meet me again to clarify. Instead you misused the pulpit to tear me down for not complying with the very verses that you have failed to obey. The result of your actions on stage was that evil became good and good became evil.

In our meeting you said you believed in unity based on truth, humility and repentance, and emphasis on the flock and not on the man. You claimed also that you believed in a structure that forces the man of God into accountability to avert compromise and sin. None of your words translated into the right actions and today the church is in confusion as the truth unfolds and the man whom you are responsible for correcting continues in his ways uncorrected and unrestrained.

I warned you of the consequences if the matters of Kong and Sun are not properly dealt with in the House of God first. There was no biblical discipline and instead the wrongdoer got off with a resounding applause of endorsement.

One of my specific concerns which I brought to you was the falsified attendance figures, which was claimed to be 33,000 instead of the actual twelve to thirteen thousand. After what I revealed to you, you yourself went on to TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) and told a story of how the “church in Singapore” which you had been ministering to with your Cultural Mandate message had grown from 3,000 in 1998 to 38,000 today. You further exaggerated that that particular church has influence over 1,000 churches worldwide.

Not only have you failed to correct Kong but you yourself have perpetuated the lie about CHC’s size and influence. You owe an explanation to the body of Christ. I am publishing this open letter on Mrs Light n Friends blog and Facebook so that we can have an open discussion before the whole body of Christ internationally. Whatever reply you send to me will be published on the same platform so we both have an EQUAL opportunity to be scrutinised for our words and action. This is right because Matthew 18 says :

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, TELL IT TO THE CHURCH. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”

The church is in a state of drastic and violent shakeup and confusion. As a man of God who had been given what in your own words you termed “heavy responsibilities”, I am asking you now to account for your past words and actions which are totally unfit and unbecoming of a person who claims apostleship over the church.

In the Lord’s name
Chew Eng Han

Source: Chew Eng Han, Open Letter to Dr Bernard (From Eng Han), Mrs Light and Friends, http://mrslightnfriends.com/open-letter-to-dr-bernard-from-eng-han, Published 23/08/2014. (Accessed 23/08/2014.)

David Yonggi Cho Scandal Paralleled To The Kong Hee Scandal

24 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by churchwatcher in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

A. R. Bernard, AR Bernard, Bernard, blame, c3 church, ccc, charged, CHC, Cho, CityNews, convicted, cult, David Yonggi Cho, Dr Cho, kong, Kong Hee, munsey, Phil Pringle, Pringle, steve munsey, WoF, word of faith, word of faith cult

It is of our opinion that one can probably parallel these scandals to some of the scandals in the C3 movement.

The blog ‘Not Under The Table’ writes,

UPDATED 23/2/14: Lessons From the Sentencing of 2 Cho’s – How Christian Leaders Justify Responsibilities

The news broke today in a shocking manner with the following headlines:

1) “David Yonggi Cho, Founder of World’s Largest Church, Found Guilty of Breach of Trust, Corruption” (The Gospel Herald) and

2) “Yoido Full Gospel church leaders found guilty of tax evasion” (The Hankyoreh)

3) “Pastor gets suspended prison term for massive embezzlement” (The Yonhap News Agency)

Dr Yonggi Cho, whom Pastor Kong Hee address to be his “Spiritual Father” and “Senior Pastor” is sentenced to 3-years in jail with 5-year suspension. This means that the jail term is deferred by 5-years and he will go to jail to serve sentence if is found to further misbehave during this 5-year term. It is still a jail sentence.

The court ruled that Dr Cho is guility of the following charges: (1) Tax evasion and (2) causing approximately 13 billion won (US$12 million) worth of losses to Yoido Full Gospel Church by instructing his church officials to buy stocks privately owned by his eldest son priced at 4x higher than market value in 2002.

“The criminal activity would have been impossible without the approval of Pastor Cho, who had ultimate decision-making authority,” the court ruled. “By condoning the documents that were being written while he was the head of the church, he was largely responsible for these crimes.” – The Hankyoreh

Earlier, in a Straits Times coverage of the news when investigations first began into the Korean Mega-pastor, Dr Cho had denied any wrong-doing, and dismissed the allegations as “a smear campaign by a very small group of people in his church” and that “those who filed the complaint will have to take responsibility accordingly” (ST, 22 Sep 2011)

When this article was first published, City Harvest Church also issued a statement regarding this matter (http://www.chc.org.sg/_eng/church/church_statementReYonggiCho.php):

It is not the intention of this blog to judge a great man like Dr Yonggi Cho, who over the past decades had contributed greatly to the growth of Christianity and helped many people. We have our imperfections and do make mistakes, and do eventually pay the price for it.

However, the patterns of denial adopted up to the point of conviction finds close resemblances to what was seen in the “CHC Trial”:

1) Blame Shifting

“While delivering the three-year prison term for the former newspaper chairman, the judge rebuked the younger Cho for attempting to shift the responsibility for his unethical business practices onto his father and other senior church members.” (source)

Church Growth International Korea, the ministry founded by Dr Cho (independent and separate entity from Yoido Full Gospel Church) issued a statement to their Board Members claiming that the Korean judge, Hon. Yongtun Cho said that:

“The court considered that even though Pastor Cho had the final say in the church, he never took the lead in any of the crimes including tax evasion committed on the suggestion of the accounting firm.” (source)

“During the investigation, prosecutors also acquired evidence of tax evasion by David Cho. In 2004, when the Seoul regional tax office judged that this stock sale was a gift and ordered that 10.3 billion won (US$9.48 million) of taxes be paid, David Cho enlisted the aid of an accountant and submitted falsified documents to the tax office to disguise the transaction as a normal stock trade, not as a gift, prosecutors confirmed. He is suspected of using this means to only pay 4 billion won (US$3.68 million) in taxes, evading 6 billion won.” (source)

While he may not be the mastermind, he was unfortunately convicted because he allowed it to happen anyway – apparently rubber stamped whatever his son handed him. The key here is that as a leader, you cannot just claim ignorance and hope to get away. Tax evasion charges aside, he unfortunately gave instruction to siphon the money and ordered the stock purchase – resulting in the inevitable CBT charge which is even more damning and inexcusable – impossible to blame shift this.

Is it true that as long as the fault can be pushed away to another party, it would be “all clear” for the accused? Will it change the mindset of logical thinking adults? Or is it done in an attempt to continue to mislead the unknowing members? Throughout the CHC Trial, we have seen the blame pushed to the auditors, the CAD Investigating Officer and other parties including the media (accused to be bias) – me thinks it’s definitely not true, considering the coverage they gave Serina Wee. News is a business to sell more after all.

The CityNews Article (http://www.citynews.sg/2014/02/chc-trial-defense-establishes-that-evidence-cad-failed-to-seize-was-clearly-relevant-to-case/) was plastered on top of the City Harvest Church website (above the “Special Notices” tab). For the blame on the other parties, just refer to the CityNewsSG articles on their website, and my earlier blog articles. We need to be mindful that such articles coming from a church whose leaders are embroiled in a criminal charge do stir emotions and sentiments among the membership as well as members of the public, depending on where you look at it.

2) Threat and Warning

Such uses were probably aimed to threaten people who speak up with defamation lawsuits? Will this work? Considering the first line of defense against any form of defamation is the reporting of verifiable facts/truth, the threat would also fall on deaf grounds, no?

“those who filed the complaint will have to take responsibility accordingly” (ST, 22 Sep 2011)

Didn’t work for you this time Dr Cho. Your 29 elders have the evidence and spoke boldly without fear of your threat.

CHC have used this to their full advantage over a decade ago in silencing businessman Roland Poon who asserted that church funds were used to fund Sun Ho’s Crossover Project. Roland Poon had to issue a public apology. Glad that he is now vindicated for the court has heard that church funds were indeed used to fund Sun Ho’s singing career from as early as 2001, and definitely in 2003.

Similarly, according to online media, Bobby Chaw, a pastor of CHC, also issued a warning about the media “pre-judging” in relation to the suspension of 9 key CHC staff. This was done through the official statement made by the church on 28 June 2012. It should be noted that as a leader, anything said in public has an influence on its followers. The result of such statements (personally, I view it as a threat, so do some other online media), made in a highly sensitive and emotional context resulted in a witch-hunt and name-calling for the COC by members of CHC. Not too nice to plaster more screenshots, but some are found in earlier posts. Me thinks that COC had been too nice; they should just make public it’s findings there and then – and once and for all put an end to all the name calling on the COC.

3) “Did not make any personal gain”

In an updated statement issued on 22 Feb 2014 regarding the sentencing of Dr Cho, the Management Board of CHC cited “very reliable sources that Dr Cho had no personal gain from any of the investments” (source)

One need not look far to find contradicting reports from the 29 elders who lodged the commission’s against Dr Cho. In fact, they have out forward some very serious allegations in their writing, besides those already charged:

“Ha Sang-ok , who was part of the group for nearly two decades, admits to being involved in some fraud : ” In the last 14 years I have seen and done bad things. I tried to convince the pastor to stop, but he paid no attention. His behavior is not that of a Christian, but like that of a guru of a sect“. (source)

“First, they claim that Cho returned only 64.3 billion won (US$60.2 million) of the 163.3 billion won (US$152.9 million) he borrowed from the church while building the CCMM Building between 1992 and 1998, when he was chairman of the church‘s Mission Society. The remaining 99 billion won (US$92.7 million), they say, was never returned.

It is also being claimed that Cho’s third son Seung-jae’s International Club Management Group bought three floors of the building from the church for 29.5 billion won (US$27.6 million) and sold them back three years later for 37.2 billion won (US$34.8 million) – pocketing the difference of 7.7 billion won (US$7.2 million).

They also claimed that David Cho’s wife Kim Sung-hae, president of Hansei University, has yet to account for 10.5 billion won (US$9.8 million) paid by the church as support for Bethesda Christian University, an institution she runs in the US. The elders also view US real estate purchased by the university for around US$15 million as having been bought with church money.” (Source)

In the corporate statement dated 28 June 2012, Pastor Aries Zulkarnain also states that “no profit was gained by the individuals concerned” (source)

Just highlighting the similarities and at the same time wonder how this has got anything to do with the deeds already done. After all, how would these “reliable sources” know, and can we believe a statement based on unnamed “reliable sources”?

4) Complain is only made by the minority

According to the statement made by the CHC Management Board in 2011, the complain was made by 29 of over 800 elders, hence the implied treatment is that to ignore the minority’s view. If this is not a leading symptom of groupthink, I really don’t know what to call it.

Me thinks that when the minority’s alternate opinion is faced with the majority’s, in a highly charged environment with a charismatic leader, there’s no guessing whose opinion – no matter how truthful or factual will be dismissed. Just think Roland Poon.

Monkey See, Monkey Try to Outdo? Or Flocking Together Birds of Same Feather?

If we examine the associations Pastor Kong Hee has with his group of “spiritual fathers” and good friends (let’s not talk about the advisory pastor pair of Phil Pringle and AR Bernard now – will examine them in due time), it is surprising what we can find:

1) Steve Munsey: Regular weekend service and conference speaker in CHC from 2008 to 2011

– Over-indulgence in personal benefits, while failing to make mortgage repayments, resulting in foreclosure order

List of sources:

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/munster/local-megachurch-navigates-precarious-path/article_2f3b628a-0f42-5355-a8a0-230b1cb1aab8.html

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/05/indiana_mega_church_faces_foreclosure_partner/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/indianas-largest-megachurch-faces-new-foreclosure-proceedings-90769/

2) Abraham Alex Taneseputra: Considered to be another “Spiritual Father” to Pastor Kong

– accused of embezzling approximately USD500million (4.7T INR)

Sources (google-translated from Bahasa Indonesia, so the language syntax might be off – best read from original source language):

http://www.indoboom.com/2013/stories/church-pastor-embezzles-4-7-trillion-from-church-offerings.html

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=126527234050583&story_fbid=340150022763459 (contains separate articles)

Kong Hee – The Successor to Abraham Alex and Yonggi Cho

In the May 2010 Asia Conference, Dr Cho have laid hands on Pastor Kong and handed the baton to him. It seems that he is the designated successor to Dr Cho, who prophesied that he will outdo his accomplishments.

In another meeting in Indonesia, Alex Abraham also named Pastor Kong to be his successor and prophesied over him that he will have “full vindication” from the Lord. (video recording of service available upon request – link private after being removed)

What is the outcome of such laying on of hands is still to be seen in the coming months, but if there’s any potential of impartation, then whatever is on the hands of the imparter will certainly go to the impartee – might not be a good thing after all.

Bottom line in the Dr Cho case, is that, in the own words of the Management Board, he is “innocent until proven guilty” and all have waited until “due process of the law is complete”. And sorry to note, their “reliable sources” who claimed that this was a “civil suit” have failed them again – it’s a criminal proceeding.

If past history is a good gauge of future occurrences, then everything that was ever said by them just fell to the ground. This is certainly not a happy day for Christianity in Singapore and the world. They can always blame their sources for misleading them, anyway.

Source: UPDATED 23/2/14: Lessons From the Sentencing of 2 Cho’s – How Christian Leaders Justify Responsibilities, Not Under The Table, http://notunderthetable.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/lessons-from-sentencing-of-2-chos-how.html, Friday, 21 February 2014. (Accessed 24/02/2014.)

To C3 Church Readers: A Summary Of The CHC Saga

20 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by churchwatcher in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

AR Bernard, c3 church, ccc, CHC, Christian City Church, City Harvest Church, courts, Ekman, Kong Hee, Not Under The Table, Phil Pringle, roland poon, Sun Ho, Ulf Ekman, Under The Table

It is concerning that Phil Pringle is keeping his C3 Oxford Falls leaders and congregation and his entire network of C3 churches in his movement in the dark.

This article from the blog ‘Not Under The Table’ gives a great overview and catch up for those not yet up to date with the whole Kong Hee saga. If you are involved in a C3 Church, feel free to pass this article onto other C3 members so they can understand CHC’s situation.

The blog ‘Not Under The Table’ writes,

Why It Is NOT Unacceptable That the CHC Trial is Taking So Long…

Recently read about a blog article ranting about why the CHC trial is taking so long. I would like to offer my personal opinion why it is reasonable the trial is taking so long.

The author wrote:

“This whole trial that is already well known as the CHC saga, is amazingly soon entering into its 4th year of prosecutorial indictment, yet up to this point there is no clear sight of where this is going.”

I disagree – so far the DPP’s flow has been rather consistent – first to establish the conflicting relationship between Xtron and CHC in the first 2 tranches, and then to establish if the auditors were dealt with a sleight of hand to pass the audit without awareness of the underlying issues. Maybe we can consider that majority of the prosecution witnesses are loyal supporters of Kong Hee and CHC which they attend, and be surprised at their apparent amnesia. The DPP is indeed having a difficult task ahead.

It has so far been established in the first 2 tranches that:

1) church funds were used without member’s consent/knowledge to fund Sun Ho’s Hollywood project – it was a well established fact even before Asia Conference 2008 that Sun Ho’s singing career is funded out of “her own success” in album sale, not from the church. The leadership of CHC have reiterated this point many times, until the u-turn when they were charged.

2) church parties such as the senior pastor and the then management board have lied about the use of church funds via the media (papers/Roland Poon apology/numerous AGM/EOGM/etc)

The author wrote:

“For a nation known for its efficiency in civil service administration, it is unbelievable that this trial has taken unreasonably long to conclude. As it is today from the news we read, it is nowhere near a conclusive verdict, as it is reported that this famous church trial would stretch to as far as September 2014 at least. Friends and colleagues of mine interested in the case and with whom I chatted over the usual coffee or lunch, commented that no one knows for sure if this trial that is known to almost all of Singapore would even conclude by September 2014. Now this is of even greater concern for me.”

Again, if we understand what is happening, the delay is understandable, and here’s why:

1) The nation is indeed known for its efficiency in civil service administration. But we need to consider that there are 6 individuals under trial now (more may possibly be included as the trial progresses). Aligning the PTC dates to the schedule of the Judge, DPP and the defense lawyers is already a major challenge – the trail only started almost ONE YEAR after they were charged, with no less than 3 PTCs passing by. Do not be surprised this trial goes into 2015 (if we factor in the date for verdict and possible sentencing), and 2016 (for appeals and others)

2) As a reminder, refer to the details of the offenses given in the joint statement (https://www.charities.gov.sg/Documents/COC_Press_Statement_on_CHC__26_June_2012.pdf)

The document outlines deeds that were not even heard in court yet, such as:

a) Misrepresentation on the Use of the Charity’s Funds
b) Use of the Charity’s Funds to Fund the Project
c) Schemes to Avoid Disclosure on Related Party Transactions
d) Governance and Control Issues

The court is still scratching on the surface of the charges to lay a foundation to the saga with issues relating to Xtron Pte Ltd.

The author wrote:

“As a Christian & a keen observer of this trial that has great implications to the religious society of Singapore, I am worried that this long protracted trial that is apparently going to go on for even longer, has now given rise to more questions than the initial outrage over the news of the alleged fraud of these City Harvests Church leaders. I am pretty sure I would not be the only one with these questions in mind, as people from the professional marketplace have resonated with my observations as well. ”

It has indeed given rise to more questions, as more things get revealed in court, just to name a few:

1) why did the senior pastor and its management board lie to its own members who contributed the funds if they had agreed to the strategy to be “covert” in their evangelistic outreach?

2) why did the senior pastor kong hee write a letter to the American producers to bad-mouth his good friend and a well-known Pnw leader Darlene Zschech, claiming that the gospel singer to be a threat to Sun Ho who sang songs like “China Wine” and “You Stupid”

3) Why does the leadership have to hide from it’s EMs the identity of the American record company that managed Sun Ho? (Tonos Entertainment which was defunct in 2003)

4) As revealed in the second tranche, why did 2 of the accused (John Lam and Tan Ye Peng) “take advantage” of auditor Foong Daw Chin by asking him to “pray together” with them but used the meeting to discuss matters related to the case and then recording his conversation? I mean, what do they have to fear if God is with them and they have done no wrong?

5) why the u-turn about the funding of Sun Ho’s Hollywood career? All along she was portrayed as the mascot and role model of the cultural mandate – being a “successful” pop star and funding her own businesses (e.g skin) and pop career out of her own successful earnings, not taking a single cent from the church. Now the entire story changed and suddenly her personal pop career became a project funded by the church.

The author wrote:

“First, the obvious, why is this trial taking so long? The uneasy part about this is that this first question actually leads to more questions following. For a start, I mean, if the criminal offences and charges against the CHC accused leaders were clear and well substantiated, why does it take so long to prove? Surely it does not take more than 3 years to prove if someone has stolen or pocketed money?

One of the longest court trials in the history of Singapore was the well-known insider trading criminal case trial of ex-Deputy Chairman of UOB Mr Allan Ng back in 1989 that was handled by then Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Knight. That trial took a total of 77 days and it was then a record and still is.”

So I say, why do you think the trial will be quick? The content of the charges and the trial relates to to events which took place up to 2010 and not beyond. Based on that summarized annex alone, it should be up to the leaders to prove their innocent and have been above reproach in the things they do as religious leaders of the largest church in Singapore. Surely their claims of innocence contradicts the lies they openly told with the lack of accountability? Duh!

Mr Allan Ng’s case involves only ONE person – not 6 individuals each with the representation of a SC (with the exception of Kong Hee). If you look at it, 77 x 6 = ??

Don’t even try to imply that the wrongful prosecution of Alan Ng by then DPP Glen Knight is comparable to this case – they are miles apart to draw a parallel.

The author wrote:

City Harvest Church leaders’ trial is already seen today as one of the longest running trials in Singapore history, and it might just be the record breaker of all time.

Isn’t that what the leadership would wish for? To be top of everything? They have certainly took the world by storm and outdone their initial goals to take Asia by storm!

The author wrote:

The average Singaporean would question – why are we taking so much time with this and using up far more of our taxpayers’ money to administer and solve a case that is supposed to be solved maybe even a year or two ago? Honestly, if every criminal case that warrants judicial prosecution and court trial takes 4-5 years to close, would we be showing any efficiency in our civil service administration? Would it not reflect an inefficient (- a variant of wasted) use of taxpayers’ money by taking excessively long to solve a legal case?

Honestly, if they were innocent, and they were doing something good and honorable to their God, and have never misused a single cent, why bother to even engage SCs, and have to burden the members to provide for legal fund out of their pocket? IS not their financial burden heavy enough?

On the contrary, the government has the responsibility to ensure justice and order is maintained for the good of Singapore and her citizens, AT ALL COST. And it is precisely the government’s goal to provide a fair trial that they are now given their time and chance to defend – let’s hope the defense make it snappy by providing somesubstantial evidence to explain their deeds and innocence, rather than resort to theatrics and off-the-note recording of prosecution witness conversations as a means of defense. To that note, no taxpayer’s monies will be wasted in providing every Singaporean a fair trial. So please encourage them to save taxpayer’s money.

The author wrote:

Now all these beg even more questions for an average news reader. Observers now are asking a little more seriously, does the Prosecution now even have a case or not? Based on media reports, it is starting to show that the Prosecution witnesses were not providing any strong evidences against the accused, with the witnesses often ended up contradicting themselves and some of the Prosecution’s own witnesses in fact turned out to be witnesses to testify that there could be no legal wrong or criminal breach of trust in the way the church’s funds were used.

I think this is subjective – many observers not from CHC knows that the 6 have no case based on common sense – a religious leader and his management board had to lie to fund his wife’s singing career in the pretext of evangelism, using the monies on extravagance. Again, if we look into who these prosecution witnesses are, we may understand their contradiction and selective amnesia. But anyway, like I have opined earlier, the DPP is still building their case, which looks strong compared to the defense who could only prove that the auditors were aware about the Xtron bonds. The defense at best are arguing on technicalities – honestly – does a work of God really need that?

The author wrote:

Then there is this huge unanswered question that stood out starkly – why are freewill church goers of CHC not allowed to raise their own freewill family church money to support their own pastors? With the hefty legal fees needed to engage such experienced Senior Counsels, it was told that many church members are willing to support their spiritual leaders financially because their church pastors and leaders are still dear to them, but even members of the public are asking why is there even such an arbitrary restriction by the Government (through the Commissioner of Charities) on a Church’s own members’ personal freedom to raise their own money and give out of their own pocket? As a Christian believer & Singapore citizen, I see in two angles, through the eyes of my Christian faith and the eyes of my citizenship rights under the Constitution of Singapore. And I must say I am deeply concerned and worried about this particular restriction on a Christian Church whose members are as much a human and a citizen as would any other Singaporean. To me it is already unconstitutional to put such an unlawful restriction on personal freedom to raise and donate money.

You may wish to refer to the Comissioner of Charity’s role to answer this question. They have a duty to protect the members of the public (church goers included). The DPM is very clear that this case do not involve City Harvest Church but only individuals who were charged for various offenses. I believe that the prohibition has to do with protecting the member’s money – refer to how the MPA were collected, thereby reducing the monies given to the church general and building fund for operations and building related purposes. Personal opinion to CHC members – do not give anything to the funds first – save it and give it as a lump sum until the verdict is given. Your stewardship of your money will find better use.

The author wrote:

As this CHC trial protracts further, I am especially worried about Singapore’s legal efficiencies and credibility of its legal applications.

It is understandable for someone involved with the 6 individuals and the church to be emotionally charged, but Singapore remains one of the legally efficient and credible countries in the world.

The author wrote:

I seriously hope to see an immediate change to the length at which this CHC trial takes to end, as it has become unacceptable to have the case taking that long to conclude, for reasons I have covered earlier. I also wish to see a clear demonstration that natural justice and moral justice are not put in jeopardy as the case unfolds in court. If the Prosecution truly does not have a case convincing enough to prove criminal wrongdoing, the judiciary should just not delay further the already protracted case but render a just verdict as it becomes due. Members of the City Harvest Church should also be allowed to raise money of their own as a sign of their own love and affection for their friends and leaders in need. For the Christians, the Church is a family. You don’t put a law to stop a family from loving each other and giving alms to support those in need. And that is just basic human right. And more than that, a family right.

The undergoing trial now is a demonstration of natural justice in place. As for moral justice, a good place to start will be for the leaders to address the lies and contradicting statements made to the members – every single one of it.

The country do not put a law to stop a family from loving each other and giving alms to support those in need; instead, the country legislates to protect a family loving each other and generous in their giving to those in need from individuals seeking to exploit their trust and generosity, wolves dressed up in sheep clothing.

Perhaps the witnesses called upon can help shorten the trial by remembering key information than transpired.

An overview about “Crossover Project”

For many CHC members who joined the church from 2004 onward, they may not be aware of some developments. Much of the corporate communication found in the internet today regarding “Crossover Project” were backdated or new info designed to provide consistency with the “stories” today. New info taken from past records will be released to address them as the trial progresses.

Generally, the Crossover comprises of two phases – Phase one began in 2002 and is primarily targeting Asian countries (Taiwan/HK/Malaysia/Singapore) with Sun With Love (2002) up to 2005. It was largely a success with many souls saved in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and resulted in a shift in the overall Christian population in those countries. Xtron at that point acts as Sun Ho’s agent, as well as master to the Expo lease (2005-2011). It was maintained that the funding for the project/humanitarian works came from the proceeds of Sun Ho’s mandarin album sales as well as sponsorship by Wahyu Hanafi. But now we know the sponsorship involves Xtron and Firna Glassware bonds.

Crossover phaase 2 comprises the foray into Hollywood and projects to the above-mentioned countries halted when Sun Ho changed her objective to penetrate the Hollywood market, supposedly “talent spotted” by an American Production company for USD5m contract (we know who the company is now, and who funded the shell company). Results of this come in the form of singles like China Wine, Fancy Free, You Stupid, etc. The ultimate objective is to penetrate China through her success in USA, which was deemed to be the strategic key China would open its door. Interestingly, many Taiwanese and Hong Kong artistes need not take that route to become big names in China. It is in this second phase that the much talked about Xtron bonds and relationship with CHC were the subject. Again, it was maintained that no church funds were ever used – that pop culture is strictly Sun’s personal project – you may cross reference to Kong Hee’s blog post titled “whole shallowness” as well as various public announcements he made.

Collectively, Crossover phase one and two were known as a part of the “Cultural Mandate” period which started in 2001/early 2002 by Pastor Kong Hee under the influence of Dr AR Bernard’s teaching on “Kristos Kai Kosmos”, and other notable preachers such as Phil Pringle and Ulf Ekman. The key thrust of Cultural Mandate is to influence society through being culturally relevant Christians in 7 key pillars of society: Religion, Family, Business, Education, Government, Arts and Entertainment and Media.

It is rather disappointing to learn that Cultural Mandate overlooked core basic Christian foundations such as honesty, faithfulness and accountability, choosing to use deception, misrepresentation, bullying (e.g. Roland Poon) and legalites as its key thrusts.

Group-Think at Work?

I’m trying to understand why people can act in such a way in the face of clearly established key facts, and I could only suspect group-think. It could also be the hold on religion – the fear of testifying against “God’s anointed”. But the bible clearly instructs all men to be a truthful and to judge those in the house. My opinion is that the judge and DPP will certainly need to understand the hold of the dynamics of religion and the culture within CHC to cut right through the cloud of fluff.

Source: By notunderthetable, Not Under The Table, Why It Is NOT Unacceptable That the CHC Trial is Taking So Long…, http://notunderthetable.blogspot.sg/2014/01/why-it-is-unacceptable-that-chc-trial.html, 19/01/2014. (Accessed 20/01/2014.)

Don’t Mess With CHC’s Advisory Pastor A.R. Bernard – He’ll “Honestly” Deal With You Too

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by churchwatcher in C3 & Pringles Associations, Uncategorized

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

A. R. Bernard, advisory pastor, AR Bernard, Bernard, Brian Houston, c3 church, ccc, CHC, Christian City Church, hillsong, hillsong church, Houston, kong, Kong Hee, mafia, mafia don, Phil Pringle, Pringle

THE INTEGRITY OF ADVISORY PASTOR A.R. BERNARD

C3 Church Watch has gathered a vast load of information that reveals why cult leader Phil Pringle is not fit to be an Advisory Pastor for CHC. However, now we wish to turn your attention to CHC’s Advisory Pastor AR Bernard. He too has close associations with Phil Pringle and C3 Church (and also Hillsong).

We strongly advise C3 Church, Hillsong and City Harvest Church to have nothing to do with A.R. Bernard. We do not know when or where this was recorded. However, ministers should think twice about their own integrity if they choose to associate with A.R. Bernard.

Any God-fearing Christian should be disgusted that AR Bernard calls deceitful scheming men that achieve his selfish purposes “God’s favour”. To use the story of Rahab the prostitute in Joshua 6 to justify his behaviour is not the way a Christian pastor should behave. Nor should he be promoting such immoral behaviour to his audience.

Pray that AR Bernard repents.

[Edit: Transcipt now added (20/04/2013)]

“Here’s a question that comes up – “Can you be totally honest and be
successful in the marketplace? Can you be totally honest and yet be
successful in the marketplace?”

Now of course people who don’t subscribe to the Lord, who don’t subscribe to
our value system will say “No you can’t! You have to be involved in bribes, you have to be corrupt and involved in corruption. You have to pay “under the table”, (laughs). You have to be a crook in order to be successful in the marketplace.”

Now many can honestly say that this has, you have, you have experienced a
question like this, an issue like this, since you’ve been in the marketplace. Oh! It would only happen in America? Oh, man! [Laughs]

Where’s there’s a conflict of values and you’re put in a situation where you
have an opportunity for a deal, alright? But somewhere in the midst, they
want you to lie.

Now this is a dilemma that I had to think about and I came across a story
because my value is, that not that honesty is the best policy, honesty is the
only policy! Because if you say it’s the best, it means you have a other
choice. But when you say it’s the only policy, you don’t have a choice.
You’re going to be honest all the time, alright? And because you value
integrity, no matter what the price is, you’re going to be honest.

Now let me give you some real practical stuff that goes on in the marketplace.
Let me give you a story.

There was a women named Rahab in the bible. You’ve heard of her? Alright,
she was a prostitute and uh- she lived on the wall in Jericho. And God had
promised that Israel, under the leadership of Joshua, would ultimately take
Jericho. Jericho was nervous because they heard about the God of Israel
and the incredible things He had done and His power and all that. So the
king of Jericho was terrified. The people of Jericho were terrified. This
prostitute heard about it.

So ah- Joshua sends two spies. Goes to the city to check out the condition of
things and these two spies come to this house of this woman, (who was a
prostitute), named Rahab. And- the presence of the spies immediately indicates that Israel is about to make a move on Jericho. And Rahab is concerned about her own safety so she looks to make a deal because she believes what she’s heard about this God of Israel- of the Israleites.

So she says, “Look, I’ve heard about what your God did to certain kings, how
He crushed their kingdoms. Word has gotten around and I’m going to tell you,
everybody is terrified.” So she makes a deal for her own safety. She says, “Look I want to make a deal with you. If I help you, will you look out for me when the assault takes place?” And they basically said, “Yeah, we’ll help you.”

So here’s what happens, interesting scenario, alright?

Word gets out that these two spies aaare there, so she takes them up to the
roof and she hides them and then the men of Jericho, the military of
Jericho, comes to her house and say “Look we heard that two men came to you and we want to know where they are.”

Now here’s the dilemma. Here’s the moral dilemma when I talk about integrity
and honesty, alright?

Rahab says “Um, actually I don’t know where they are. In fact I- they
came and then they went off in a certain direction”. And the military, the
guys from Jericho said “Oh-” they believe her, alright OK? And they turn and went off looking for these two spies. But the whole time she had them hidden on her roof! Now here’s the problem! She lied! How do we reconcile a person
lying and yet serving the efforts of God? That’s the dilemma.

I remember one principle that I heard and um- it- the principle was, ah- that no lie ever serves the kingdom of God. And I had to think that through and say
“Well, wait a minute! That’s not true! There’s been quite a few lies through the bible”.

And then I started associating names. Mmmm- Abraham (laughs) the father of faith, who lied. So you know, listen, we’ve got to be honest as Christians, and when we read something in the bible, we can’t try to gloss it over and rearrange it. It is what it is, it says what it says. So here’s this woman in the service of God, she lies! Boldly lies! How do I reconcile that?

Well I had to reason this through and said, “Okay”.

Number one, the men, the spies as it appears okay, the spies maintain their integrity. And the person who lied okay, was a person on the outside who heard about this God YAHWEH but was not in relationship with this God YAHWEH. So she had certain values that were not the same as these individuals’ values that they got from Yahweh. And I thought about that and I realised that there are times, (and I’ve experienced this, and you will too), where in business transactions God actually used people who had different values and lower standards, to get His work done. Now let me say, whoa wait a minute! [Laughter] Come on!. Come on! Let’s be honest here, alright? I’ll give you two illustrations, OK?”

When we were bidding on this housing development and we bid again below a billion dollars, but our bid was accepted, everyone had their part to play.
So we had a team, we had equity partners, we had development partners, we
had the government and the community, with my responsibility to use my
influence with government and community in order to make this deal go
through.

So I remember when the equity partners were about to leave and they said to
me, they said, “Reverend, we don’t think you should be in on this meeting”. [laughter] They said, “Because we’ve got to roll up our sleeves and go to work in order to get the underwriting that we’re gonna need for this project”. I said,
“Well, what do you mean, I don’t need to be there?” They said, “You really don’t need to be there REVEREND (emphasis)” [More laughter]

So the lights went on, and I said “Ohhhhhhhhh, OK! I won’t be there!”
[Laughter] So whatever went on in that meeting, I didn’t want to know about
it, I didn’t want to be a part of it, BUT I KNEW THAT THERE WOULD BE THINGS
GOING ON IN THAT MEETING THAT WERE INCONSISTENT WITH MY INTEGRITY AND MY STANDARDS [More laughter]. SO I ALLOWED MY PARTNERS TO PROTECT ME FROM WHAT THEY WERE ABOUT to engage in.

Now, what did they do? I don’t know. But when they came out of that meeting, we had the financing we needed. And I said “Hallelujah!” [More laughter]

Let me give you another illustration: when we were building- [Laughs] We were building our 11-1/2 acre campus. Now in New York City, concrete and steel construction, ah, has been for decades owned by one family (and I don’t say the Trump family). it was a family that spells its name like this [Laughter] You know a family I’m talking about? [More laughter].

They ownsteel, they own concrete, they own rubbish removal. Listen, across the board, nothing gets built without their involvement, OK?

So we were building in the late 90’s. There were also coalitions, and the
coalitions and unions get involved in order to push work for their union
members. So any project that’s going on, coalition leaders will come down
and take a look at the project and ask, “Do you have any union labor here?
Because if not, we’re going to shut this place down!” And they could.

Now what we did, instead of hiring a separate development company, we were the GC (General Contractor) on the project. So if anybody was gonna get upset, they were gonna to get upset with the church. And you just don’t attack the church. That’s number one!

So what we did was outsource it, to bring it in. So when we went to purchase
steel, (in order to do the steelwork, alright), we had to deal with the company that happened to be a part of this family. So in sitting down and talking
[Laughs], with the head of the company. He said, “Well, you know, our family
does concrete. Our family does, you know, ah, fencing”. And they told me all the services provided by their family. I said, “But look, in order for me to do
this project fairly, I have to bid it out.” They said, “Don’t worry. We will
always come in with the best bid. So get anyone else that you want to bid on
the project and I guarantee you, we’ll beat their bid”. [Laughter]

So [Laughs] we had two other bids and we had their bids and sure enough, for some reason, the other bidders said we can’t compete with that bid
[Laughter].

I don’t know if they couldn’t compete with the bid or the family! [Laughter]
So they disappeared and we only had this particular company to deal with. So
they started the project and I found out that word spread about this
particular company was handling our construction project. And as a result,
for some reason, we had no union problems, we had no coalition problems, no
community problems, no government problems. The project went pretty smooth! Uh!

So, on the land next to – we have 11-1/2 acres, we were developing 6-1/2
acres. And on the other side, there was, ah, a- like a backhoe, big construction
machine left on the property. So I saw that and I noticed it, and I noticed it- you know- it was there. And I think, “OK. They were using it so they parked it there because they need it”.

But they never used that machine! It just sat there! So I said, “OK, maybe they’re going to use it for something after”. But throughout the whole project, that machine just sat on the property next door to the property we were developing. So finally I asked the question. I said, “You know, you
guys have had that machine there for the past two years throughout the
development of this project and ummm, you know, you never used it. I don’t
understand.”

“Reverend, don’t worry about it, we just left it there”.

Well, I found out that that machine was a “marker” and that machine sitting there “marker” told everybody who would drive by, “don’t touch this project!”
[Crowd: “Woooah!” Applause]

So the project was under the protection and development of this particular
family. [Laughet] Got it?

So there are times as we engage with the marketplace, God brings people to us who are not of the same values and integrity, who end up accomplishing things on our behalf, without us having to compromise our own integrity. It doesn’t mean you go out looking for corrupt people to do your work [Laughter]. Don’t think that that’s what I’m saying [Laughter]. There’s a difference when God gives you favour and sends someone, as opposed to you calling up, “Oh, OK. Let me give you the most corrupt individual you can find” [Laughter] . No, because then you become an accessory to the fact, alright?

But you’ll find, and I’ve found, (as it’s the only way I can explain this),
that there have been times when God has just given me favour and given me
people to do for me what I could not do for myself, nor did I need to know
[Laughs] how it was being done because God knows that I want to maintain my level of integrity and my service. Come on! Give God a good hand clap offering!

[Applause]

Now, Joseph experienced false accusation. Let me just say something to you
about false accusations. Number one, sometimes what appears to be a demotion is actually a promotion. Sometimes what appears to be a demotion is actually a promotion. Sometimes God humbles us in order to exalt us!

And as I said to you, there is no biblical record that shows where Joseph
was vindicated against this false accusation. But let me give you some
principles that I’ve learned over the years because I’ve gone through false
accusations about things and the Lord has told me, in one very critical
situation, “Just hold your peace, just be quiet and I’ll take care if this”.

And I held my peace, my wife wanted to talk because my wife said, “Well, He
told you that but He didn’t tell me that”. She wanted to talk but I said “No,
no, no, no, no, you’re under my covering!” [Laughter]

Let me give you a principle that I’ve observed over thirty one years, OK? False
accusation is the last stage before supernatural promotion.

Falseaccusation is the last stage before supernatural promotion. Now, which means that if the devil cannot attack your quality of service, if he cannot attack your integrity, then he’s got to make up a lie about you! And when he’s got to go that far, that is the last stage before promotion. So you shouldn’t get angry and upset. You should do exactly like Joseph. What do you do? Continue the quality of service and continue to walk in integrity.

Your name is attacked before you’re promoted. Your reputation is attacked
before you’re promoted. And if you can stand the attack on your reputation
because you’ve built the character that you need, then you’ll experience the
next level of promotion.

“Well, that’s not fair! Why do I have to be attacked? [Laughs] Why do I have
to go through false accusation to be promoted?” Because rememeber: we live
life on levels, we arrive on stages, right? And as you move from one level
of life to another, the INTIMACY of your relationships must change. So quite
often, false accusations that come against you, purge your relationships
because you discover who you real friends are.

And believe me, when you’re promoted, you’ll want to take your real friends with you, not the ones who pretend to be your friends. You really find out who your friends are.

Earlier I said to you that relationship is a network for life – relationship
is a network for life. [Asks where he is on time schedule, takes time for
break] – A.R. Bernard

Pringle’s Prophecy Gave Kong Hee & Sun Ho “Confirmation To Resume The Crossover Project”

05 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by churchwatcher in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

allegations, AR Bernard, CHC, City Harvest Church, cross over, cross over project, crossover, crossover project, cult, cult-like, god-idea, Hee, investigations, Kong Hee, New Life Church, Phil Pringle, prophecy, revival, Sun Ho, Ulk Ekman

Sun of Kong Vs The Son of God

Before engaging the CN article, ask yourself these questions:

Why is Phil Pringle not being scrutinised by the Australian media or authorities for his involvement in these serious allegations in Singapore?

Is the Crossover Project really about God or Sun Ho?

Did God really initiate the Crossover Project and later confirm Sun and Kong to resume it?

Is God the one at fault here for failing his plan and not guiding Sun and Kong?

This City Harvest News article below recaps CHC’s Cross Over project. It is interesting to note how Kong Hee and Sun Ho were stimulated and directed by Pringle’s false prophecies. God (through Pringle) supposedly spoke to Kong why he should resume the crossover project.

“Finally, it was a word given by Phil Pringle to Sun privately in May 2005 that gave them clarity to their path. “He said, ‘Five more years, because God is going to open a big door for CHC in China to be a blessing to the people.’ That word gave us the courage, faith and confirmation to resume the Crossover Project,” said Kong.”

An impression is left that Kong Hee and Phil Pringle’s god screwed up on Kong’s behalf. After all, God did apologise to Kong Hee. Clearly Pringle was not in the wrong in his prophetic direction to Kong.

Also note how ‘revival’ came to Sun Hee’s events. It was not through preaching. The young people did not come to,

“listen to the preaching but to watch Sun leading praise and worship. They loved her colored hair, her pop culture look, and they loved the pop songs she sang in between the worship songs.”

Is this not worldliness being disguised as Christianity? Why is God speaking through secularism and telling this duo to use secularism to bring revival? Do you really think this is about revival and Jesus or really a business opportunity for Sun Ho’s music career? The article below may help you come to your own conclusions.

Finally, if anyone has an issue with Sun and Kong using the world to reach the world or if anyone questions their mission, are they not questioning God Himself?

If Kong got “confirmation from God that what was beginning to take form in his mind was a God-idea”, then what does that make those that question the Cross Over project? Enemies of God? Dogs?

This is cult-like behaviour. In fact, God’s Word says,

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” James 4:13-16

God’s Word also says,

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:15-17

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” James 4:4

Is this not what Kong Hee and Sun Ho have done?

“But to their surprise, many young people, most of them un-churched, came to the church night after night, not to listen to the preaching but to watch Sun leading praise and worship. They loved her colored hair, her pop culture look, and they loved the pop songs she sang in between the worship songs.“

This was So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Keep this in mind as you read this article.

City News reports:

City Harvest Church: 10 Years Of The Crossover Project

Posted on 09 May 2012

Looking back on a decade of God’s faithfulness as City Harvest Church carries the message of the Cultural Mandate across continents through Sun Ho’s pop music career.

By Yong Yung Shin

The weekend of Apr. 28 to 29 held special meaning for City Harvest Church, as it held a 10th year anniversary celebration of the Crossover Project. The Crossover Project was an extension of CHC’s mandate to build a church without walls—to bring the Gospel to the unchurched across society, and this included the world of entertainment.

HOW IT ALL BEGUN

In 1999, Kong Hee was invited to speak in Taiwan for the first time. There, he found out that in the youth ministry in local churches was almost non-existent. It was during this trip that the Holy Spirit dropped a word into his heart and said, “Kong, I want you to bring a revival to Taiwan, and I will use this revival to touch the entire Chinese-speaking world.”

Kong kept what the Holy Spirit had said to him at the back of his mind. The following year, he went back to Taiwan to minister at the Bread Of Life Church in Taipei. This time, he brought along his wife, Sun, who led worship in CHC. Over the next few days, a powerful typhoon swept the city. But to their surprise, many young people, most of them un-churched, came to the church night after night, not to listen to the preaching but to watch Sun leading praise and worship. They loved her colored hair, her pop culture look, and they loved the pop songs she sang in between the worship songs.

It was then that they realized that pop music could be a powerful bridge to communicate the love of God to the youth. What if they could repackage the message of faith, hope and love of Jesus Christ and bring it into the schools, the boardrooms and the bedrooms of the unchurched? At that time, it was unheard of for those in the Christian world to share the Gospel through the secular entertainment platform.

Apprehensive and more than a little doubtful, Kong needed confirmation from God that what was beginning to take form in his mind was a God-idea. God gave him not one confirmation, but four.

On Sep. 11, 2001, the day of the tragic 9/11 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York City, Kong and Sun were in the city to minister to a friend on the verge of suicide. As the tragedy took place, God spoke to Kong: “From today, the world has changed. I brought you here to watch history unfolding. Go back to Asia and bring the Gospel to your generation—the young people and the urban professionals.” That was the first confirmation.

In obedience to that word, the couple went to Hong Kong soon after to participate in a prayer walk. As they were walking along the busy streets of Kowloon, they passed by an electronics shop that had a display of television sets near the entrance. On the screens of the televisions, thousands of young people were dancing to the beat of a secular pop-rock group from mainland China. There and then, the presence of God fell on them. Kong recalled, “God spoke very, very clearly to our hearts. ‘Sun, you will do better than this. I will send you to sing before millions of people and you will lead them to Jesus Christ.’” That was the second confirmation.

One night, Sun was leading worship at church, when a visitor, touched by her singing, approached her after the meeting and offered her a full professional contract. He was the managing director of Decca Music, an international recording label. This was confirmation number three.

It was all good, but Kong needed a Scriptural confirmation. When his respected mentors Ulk Ekman, AR Bernard and Phil Pringle gave the same verse from Mark 4:35, “Let us cross over to the other side,” Kong knew there was no more space for hesitation, and the Crossover Project was born.

SETTING SAIL

In 2002, Sun recorded her first Chinese pop album, Sun With Love. She held her first pop concert in the biggest indoor arena in downtown Taipei, the National Taipei Sports Complex. The team worked with a small Taipei church, New Life Church, which had about 200 members then. “Nobody was sure if anybody was even going to turn up,” said Kong. On the first night, the 4,200-seater stadium was jam-packed, with thousands more watching on big screen projectors outside. It was estimated that 80 percent of the audience had never been to church.

After Sun finished singing, she gave her testimony about the abuse she endured in her childhood and how Jesus saved her from her years of depression and brokenness. “The love and presence of God hit the entire arena; practically everybody was crying.” Kong then gave a simple altar call, and thousands upon thousands responded. “We didn’t expect that at all. When we went back to our rooms, we were wondering what exactly happened. We were in a daze.” Over the next two days, a total of 21,500 people attended the concerts, and 8,000 decision slips for Christ were collected.

Sun performed in various other cities, including Taoyuan, Hualien and Tainan—it was here that one of CHC’s affiliate churches, Rhema Harvest Church was birthed. In Kaohsiung, on the eve of a concert, a typhoon was raging, but 700 people still came, and 560 responded to the altar call. In the small town of Jia Yi, Sun performed at a high school to about 1,100 students. One of the students, a teenage girl named Christina Yu, testified of the miraculous work of deliverance from depression God did in her heart as she listened to Sun sing.

Today, Yu pastors 400 members at New Life Church, among whom are three pop stars who flew in for a special performance during the service— Chen Weiquan, Wing Luo and Huang Mei Zhen. It was a pleasant surprise for the congregation, as they listened to the trio cover some of Sun’s songs in addition to their own hits.

As for that little church, New Life Church, which helped put together the very first concert, it experienced a great revival too. From 30 people, the congregation grew to 1,250 in three years, and today, counts Universal music producer Chen Ailing, Liu Geng Hong, and Faye Chan and Real Huang from F.I.R among its members. Each is a testament to the seeds of the Cultural Mandate Ho’s concerts had planted. To date, Taiwan’s Christian population has more than doubled, from a mere three percent to 10 percent in 10 years.

From Taiwan, Sun flew to Hong Kong and performed at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium to 10,500 people over three nights, and yet again, thousands gave their hearts to Jesus. One of the most dramatic salvation stories belongs to Teddy, the notorious leader of a gang and owner one of the largest nightclubs in the city. He also had dealings in illegal gambling, drug trafficking and prostitution. Kong recalled that Teddy’s parang-wielding henchmen were all waiting outside, ready to pounce in to protect their boss. But at the end, Teddy came forward and gave his heart to Jesus Christ.

It was not until two months ago that Kong met Teddy again while preaching at a service in Jakarta. It was a joyful, tearful reunion for the two men, as Kong prayed over Teddy, now a businessman travelling all over Asia to share his testimony.

Sun also performed in Malaysia, including Sibu and Kuching. Out of her performances there, Kuching Harvest Church was born. In Kuala Lumpur, her concerts in 2003 sparked a revival in City Harvest Church Kuala Lumpur. Today, CHCKL is one of the fastest-growing and most vibrant churches in Malaysia.

In Indonesia, in the cities of Jakarta, Makasar, Medan, the response was equally tremendous—people actually broke down the doors and pushed their way into the concerts. Even the security guards who were sent to protect the team responded to the altar call themselves.

Back in Singapore, Sun performed 14 times over one weekend at the church’s premises at Jurong West. Over two days, 30,700 people came, and 10,140 salvation decisions were recorded. It was the second highest salvation decision in Singapore church history, the highest being a rally at the National Stadium in 1978 when evangelist Billy Graham gave an altar call.

One person irrevocably changed by Sun’s concert was Cynthia Chua, who came from an unhappy family where arguments and violence were the norm. She gradually slipped into depression and even entertained thoughts of suicide, but it was at Ho’s concert that the love and presence of God touched her heart and she found the strength to get out of her depression. Chua is now a full-time church staff, and a cell group leader.

Another life that was changed was that of Sun’s choreographer, Ryan Tan, a well-known and highly respected Singaporean choreographer who responded to the altar call, after performing with her in about 70 concerts. Together with Kenny Low, then also a dancer in Sun’s entourage, they started O School in 2006.

More than a performing arts center teaching dance, O School is a social enterprise that seeks to provide stable employment opportunities for youth who are gifted in dance, to celebrate their potential and talents, and to generate funds for low income Singapore youths to complete their secondary school education at City College, also founded by Low. “We believe there’s a place for artists—when they’re placed on the right platform, who knows how God can use them?” said Low, who was named Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007. With a current membership of 11,000, there are 100 dancers on staff, and every year, S$40,000 goes toward the education fund.

“We find that as young people come together to work with us, the same anointing that flowed in the Crossover Project flows in O School. The young people find acceptance here, and when they dance, they feel a release from their depression,” said Low. But it gets better—these youth are using their talents to reach out to their counterparts. When the 2011 tsunami hit Japan, they organized a Dance For Japan fundraising event and rallied 2,000 youth to the cause.

THE BIG LEAP

Twenty-five months after the Crossover Project was launched, Sun had performed more than 100 concerts to about half a million people, and out of that, almost 140,000 gave their hearts to Christ. The Crossover Project sought to achieve two purposes: reach out to the unchurched—those who would never step into a church, those who grew up on a musical diet of Beyonce, Gwen Stefani, Pink and Lady Gaga. Secondly, it aimed to encourage Christians who are already in the entertainment industry to step out with their faith.

But it was no walk in the park. With this calling also came many challenges. In every country Sun and her team traveled to, they faced demonic attacks, near-death encounters and media backlash against Sun’s contradictory image as the pop star wife of a pastor.

Over the next few years, Sun released four more Chinese albums. Ironically, it was the most criticized song on the Sun*day album, “Miss Catastrophe”, that caught the attention of the former general manager of MTV in the US. This paved the way for Sun to enter the American market. In 2003, she became the first Asian pop icon to be invited to sing at the Hollywood Film Festival. Subsequently, she was also the first Chinese singer to be invited to the 46th Annual Grammy Awards in 2004 as well as the MTV Europe Awards in 2007.

Her debut American single, “Where Did Love Go”, produced by David Foster and Peter Rafelson, was the number one breakout hit on the Christmas week in 2003—“God’s Christmas gift for us,” said Kong. After her first Billboard dance chart number one hit “One With You”, Sun went on to score another four number ones on the Billboard dance chart, the last of which was 2009’s “Fancy Free”.

“With success in both the USA and the Far East, we crossed over to China, which was our greatest desire,” explained Kong. Sun and her team went to Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Szechuan and other cities. Her humanitarian team was part of the 2005 Tsunami Disaster Relief Operations, and with her royalties from album sales and the contribution of friends, she built schools and medical clinics in Indonesia and China as well as orphanages in Sri Lanka.

In 2002, Sun was presented The Outstanding Young Person Award by the Junior Chamber of Singapore for her humanitarian works. She was also awarded the “Outstanding Young Person of the World Award” in 2003. That same year, she became the first celebrity outside of China to be honored with a First-Day Cover Stamp series in light of her humanitarian contributions to China. “Her success is our success because this is our project,” declared Kong.

In May 2004, on the last night of her concert in Australia, Sun discovered she was pregnant. After a difficult nine months, a son, Dayan, was born. Sun, along with her family and the church, had reached a crossroad—should they continue with the Crossover Project now that she is a mother?

After all, it had brought tremendous growth to the church. In four years, CHC had grown from a congregational size of 10,300 to more than 18,000; it now had 24 affiliate churches. For six months, the couple prayed and discussed with the pastors and senior staff and consulted with spiritual mentors from around the world.

Finally, it was a word given by Phil Pringle to Sun privately in May 2005 that gave them clarity to their path. “He said, ‘Five more years, because God is going to open a big door for CHC in China to be a blessing to the people.’ That word gave us the courage, faith and confirmation to resume the Crossover Project,” said Kong. (True enough, it was in May 2010—five years later—that Sun broke her US contract and flew home when the investigations into CHC began.)

The year 2007 was when CHC’s vision for China really took off. Sun was named the Charity Ambassador of Love for Asia’s first Special Olympic World Summer Games. The following year, she was selected to be the Music Ambassador for the 2008 Beijing Olympics Songfest. “These assignments were to open a huge door for us to do humanitarian works on a global level,” said Kong.

Presently, CHC has 96 humanitarian projects under its belt, from water sanitation projects to medical centers, children’s hospitals, schools, orphanages and women’s shelters—many of which are in China.

In closing, Kong read from Mark 4:34-36 and posed three questions to those who want to “cross over”. First of all, what will we forsake? Are we willing to leave our comfort zone? “Spiritual greatness will cost you something. Often, it will cost you everything,” said Kong.

Next, what will we take? Will we take Jesus as He is with us? “Sometimes, Jesus sleeps so that we have to awaken our faith to keep walking and trusting,” Kong explained. Finally, what impact will we make? Would we rather play safe and cruise through life, or give our all to walk in the fullness of God’s plans for our lives and those He wants to touch through us?

The three-hour-long service presented the full story of the Crossover Project to many in the congregation, many of whom had not previously understood its scale, scope and perhaps even its legitimacy as God’s assignment, but had chosen to trust in the leadership of the church.

Looking back at the hundreds of thousands of people who have been ushered into the saving grace of Jesus Christ through this project, it is clear that it has all been worthwhile. Kong was joined on stage by Sun and various others who had played a key role in the success of the Crossover Project such as executive pastor Tan Ye Peng. The journey turned out to be much more difficult than they had imagined, but there were no regrets over the no-holds-barred obedience Kong and Sun had chosen and the fruit their efforts had borne.” – Yong Yung Shin, http://www.citynews.sg/2012/05/city-harvest-church-10-years-of-the-crossover-project/, City Harvest Church: 10 Years Of The Crossover Project, 09/05/2012. (Accessed 27/09/2012.)

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