In the document attached to this article, (see Court Document 1) you’ll witness another of C3 Asheville pastor, Nicholas Dimitris’ legal woes. This document is public record, easily found on the internet and seems to show that the FDIC won a case Dimitris brought against them.
Unfortunately, it seems Dimtris now has a judgment against him for around $1.1million. Now, as a felon with a massive financial judgment against him and pending sentencing for pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud next week, November 26, it seems that C3 is still fine with him being a pastor. Despite his staff and 2 boards in one year quitting C3 Asheville, oversight persists with Dimitris. Oversight primarily meaning Dean Sweetman due to the fact that 2 other New York C3 pastors both came in to evaluate the situation and recommend that Dimitris be removed. Sweetman continues to stand with Nick Dimitris when hundreds of reputable people have had no other choice other than to walk away.
C3 Asheville once seemed like a growing church of 250 people but is now a shadow of its former self struggling along with 35 people. Having tried twice now, the people nor the 2 boards that left nor the 2 C3 New York pastors had the option to remove Dimitris. Their only option was to leave the church which most have done and mostly in disbelief that Sweetman didn’t act in light of evidence presented to him. Many who left C3 report having had their character assassinated by Dimitris in a subtle and clever campaign to discredit anyone who stands against him.
Another disturbing aspect of this Asheville drama is that according to those who were close to Dimitris, some retirees have lost everything. One retiree in C3 was reportedly asked by Dimtris to take out a $30,000 home equity loan. Nick Dimitris allegedly borrowed it from the retiree with the promise to pay it back in full once he received some big tax refunds. Dimitris did receive his massive tax returns and the retiree is still waiting for his repayment 2 years later.
Another elderly couple report being $50k short in a Dimitris “deal”. Another widow lost her life savings and had to move in with her kids while another retirement aged investor lost half a million. Story after story and tragedy after tragedy are slowly coming to surface over the C3 Asheville scandal.
Perhaps oversight should ask one simple question. What is the fruit that Nick Dimitris bears? Is it a multitude of broken relationships? Is it many people that have testified to losing their retirement or savings? Is it a destroyed church? Destroyed by a man who wouldn’t let go or step down? Is it a culture of corruption? Is it a culture of lies and tearing people down? Perhaps they’re just not close enough to see the fruit.
Recently Dean Sweetman has been commenting on C3 Church Watch. He is the regional director and overseer of the C3 Churches in the Americas. Please familiarise yourself with the background of the scandal that C3 Pastor Nick Dimitris was involved in and how the C3 Church leadership reacted to him.
For a very long period of time we have seen Pringle play word games and use deceptive means to convince people that his prophetic 2020 Vision from God is being fulfilled. The reason why we are tackling this issue now is because of recent footage we managed to find online.
In our first article we established that Pringle had received a ‘God-give’ vision to PLANT 1000 churches by the year 2020.
In this article we will examine how Phil Pringle is purposely going out of his way to convince his members that his church is PLANTING churches daily to ‘fulfill’ the 2020 vision.
IS PHIL PRINGLE YOUR HABAKKUK?
In the past, we critiqued a giving sermon that had Pringle twist the definition of ‘church plant’. We were being overtly cautious at the time because we believed our critics would accuse us falsely of making up the transcript or find some minor fault with us if we accused Phil Pringle of being highly deceptive.
In our “Let Me Just Talk To You Out Of A Scripture…” article, we think it is important to reiterate the following information:
In his message Phil Pringle does not seem to know basic arithmetic:
56 people + 36 wanting to plant a church + 16 churches rebranded + 2 church plants ≠ 120 Church Plants
We are almost forced to believe that Dr. Phil Pringle doesn’t have a basic knowledge of church missions and biblical terminology. Pringle is calling ‘church planting’ a “group of pastors” to be “thirty six churches” and “a guy in Bulgaria who has sixteen churches” who possibly “wants to hook” into the C3 movement…
Pringle continues to make dishonest and unsupported claims suggesting that his organisation is responsible for one church being planted every day in Jesus’ name. Pringle says, “I know you were doubting out there but it’s okay. I have my moments too. And so you and I believing together- we’ll start to see ten churches a day being planted and growing”…
Pringle begins to mix his phrases through his address so that it becomes difficult to know what Pringle actually means…
… previously in his message to garner funding he only talked about the number of churches that were being added to his movement, not how many people “will come to Christ all around the world today”. We can rightly conclude he is still talking about the 120 churches he was talking about previously because he confirmed that these churches were coming into the C3 Movement, “right now in Jesus’ name. That’s just in four weeks time”.
Pringle continues, “That’s just in the existing churches. Now once thesenew ones are coming in. And they come into Christ, they become disciples, they become empowered and they become ministries themselves”
It is important to ask whether more accurately these alleged thousands being saved from his aforementioned C3 church ‘plants’ are not rather those people in existing churches being rebranded into the C3 fold. This is flawed thinking to confuse such people who join the C3 banner with salvation into Christ. The conclusions we come too after such dialogue is not good.
If Pringle is saying churches who join C3 “come into Christ, …become disciples,” “become empowered” and “become ministries themselves”, that would make C3 a cult. That is, if Pringle believes their movement is the only true church with the right teachings and formulas for salvation then he himself has set his movement to be a cult…
The sermon that we critiqued was given on the 24th of October, 2010. We managed to get video footage of Phil Pringle later that week repeating the same false material to his staff and C3 college students.
First we want to show a video snippet that features Pringle at the start of his sermon portraying himself as a type of Habakkuk. In this snippet, Pringle stresses that leaders shouldn’t have a vision but a ‘God Vision’. As he is the leader, Pringle attempts to establish at the beginning of this sermon that he is a ‘leader’ leading by ‘example’ with his ‘God Vision’. Pringle is the Habbakuk of C3. He is the watchman and knows the future where the movement is heading. He has the vision to go forward. (Heaven forbid you question his infallible God-given direction.)
Here is the video. Below is the transcript.
“I just want to touch on a few things here today for all of us. As students and staff. Number one, is uh- vision: the importance of it. And how much we need that if we’re gonna change this world. We won’t achieve anything without a vision. But it needs to be a God vision. Okay?
Just having a vision is really not the answer. And so in all the business manuals and coaching, training, you’ll hear about how important vision is. But that’s just a vision people are dreaming up in their own mind. We need to have a God vision inside of us.” – Phil Pringle, 00:16, C3 Church Sydney and C3 College combined staff and students meeting 27 October 2010, http://vimeo.com/16260821, October 27, 2010 6:30 PM.
“Empowering saints is giving. Is delegation. It’s getting people to do things for God. And- and uh, (hm-hm!), so we- we want to release people all the time to get stuff done. And I think it’s awesome! Every- I mean, every week, just about, we see a brand new musician up on the stage. And uh- to get people preaching in chapel. All these things. But the ultimate goal is that we will get people to plant churches and grow churches all around the world.
In the last- uh- (I haven’t- I haven’t done a really detailed study on this though). Well let me- let me explain this. And I mentioned it on Sunday but for those who didn’t hear, I’ll say it again.
In Bali, (which was what? Four weeks ago? Four weeks ago? I think it was. One month? Yeah. [Crowd laughs] Thanks! Thanks Jake! It wasn’t four weeks. It was a month ago), and ah- In Bali, we had our South- East Asia conference, okay.
So a guy comes out. He says, “I’m joining the movement with my churches”. I said, “How many churches have you got?” He said, “Forty eight 48”. In a place called Myanmar [Burma]. So I said, “Okay”. And I really wanted to clear this up. I said, “It’s not just you joining? You’re actually- all these guys are coming?”
“Yep.”
Then another guy from Indonesia, (Philippines, sorry!), he was joining with eight churches. And then we were celebrating planting two churches at that time. All up that’s fifty eight churches. Right there, okay, four weeks ago. Then, another one of our overseers, has just come back from Indonesia. And he says, uh, he’s just having, he’s got thirty six churches just on their way in as well. That’s- ah- how many’s that? Ninety- ninety- four! Ninety four churches, okay?
Then, ah, in- in Africa, East Africa, the uh, the guys over there said they got about a hundred pastors and leaders. And there were thirty churches in Tanzania, Congo, bla-bla-bla, somewhere else. I thought, “I don’t know if they’re brand new or half new or whatever”. So I thought, “Oh! Just count half of them”. So that’s like a hundred and- that’s a hundred and ten. Hundred and nine actually.
Then Simon told me that he’s talking to a guy in Bulgaria. Ah- who is a really good guy. He’s got sixteen churches. And he is also hooking up. He’s got a big church, one of the biggest in Bulgaria. It’s about six hundred. That’s a big church in that part of the world. So that’s one hundred and twenty. One hundred and twenty churches in one month. That adds up to a growth rate of around about four churches a day. Okay? You know, like- I s- I- I know! I know! So, what are you doing here?
You’re getting ready to look after these churches. You’re getting ready to grow these churches.” – Phil Pringle, 24:16, C3 Church Sydney and C3 College combined staff and students meeting 27 October 2010, http://vimeo.com/16260821, Uploaded October 27, 2010 6:30 PM.
SO WHAT? WHAT ARE WE SEEING?
Let us believe Phil Pringle for a moment. Let us establish for a second that the 2020 Vision IS from God. Pringle has emphatically stated that this 2020 ‘God Vision’ or ‘God-given vision’ is to PLANT 1000 churches. But what are we seeing? We are seeing a man trying to convince his various audiences that the 2020 Vision is being fulfilled for the glory of God.
But were 120 churches PLANTED in his movement over one month? No.
If Pringle was following the ‘God Given’ 2020 vision, he would be planting churches and not rebranding, converting or assimilating churches into his movement. If he is not planting church, isn’t Pringle opposing the ‘God Given’ 2020 Vision?
What else are we seeing? Let’s say that those 120 church joined the C3 movement. What does this mean?
It means that a third of his churches were established in ONE MONTH. If any person examined his claim in ratio to the current number of churches in his movement a few months later, they’d know that Pringle was lying to them. Where are these church ‘plants’ today?
This actually raises more questions. Is the C3 Church Movement mainly made up of church plants or rebranded churches? If the C3 Church movement fills up with redbranded churches, does this mean that the movement itself is failing God and His 2020 Vision?
We are about to discover that the C3 movement is mainly filled with rebranded churches.
ARE CHURCHES REALLY BEING PLANTED OR REBRANDED?
Whenever a C3 Church plant is about to be undertaken in the C3 Church movement, the news is often huge. For example, leading up to it’s establishment, Phil Pringle and other leaders were monotonously advertising, Facebooking and twittering the C3 Hong Kong church plant. If churches were being planted everyday, Pringle and his leadership would be plastering the news everywhere. However, they don’t.
We would like to conclude that the majority of C3 churches are not church plants but takeovers. To say that churches are being rebranded is not accurate. A takeover is more appropriate since C3 specifically targets churches and assimilates them into it’s collective.
What should be evident in the above transcripts is how C3 uses their conferences to target and market to churches to join their movement. In the name of ‘relevancy’, a C3 conference can easily make local churches feel inadequate, boring and irrelevant. Who cares about the local church and cultural sensitivity when C3 is the answer to your church’s problem! (Who could resist the enticing relevant music, the flashy lights, and the manufactured presence of God?)
Consider again what Pringle said in the above transcripts.
“In Bali, we had our South- East Asia conference, okay.
So a guy comes out. He says, “I’m joining the movement with my churches”. I said, “How many churches have you got?” He said, “Forty eight 48”. In a place called Myanmar [Burma]…
Then another guy from Indonesia, (Philippines, sorry!), he was joining with eight churches. And then we were celebrating planting two churches at that time. All up that’s fifty eight churches…”
“And then Simon came back from the European conferenceand he met a guy in Bulgaria who has sixteen churches. And he wants to hook in as well.”
May we remind you again what Pringle said how he wanted people to see his Presence Conference:
“We really want to become more cross-denominational, not parochial about just being C3… And it’s so important that we just, you know, spill the banks, go over, lower the wall, let the water run through the city and be a blessing. And not out there just to drag people into- you know- and to get people into and- many people will get involved in what we’re doing and that’s good. But I don’t want that to be the only motivation that we have. I think that if we have the motivation to be a blessing beyond us, that would be a really good- a really good idea.” – Phil Pringle, C3 Leaders Meeting With Phil Pringle – May 2011, Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgTdtB-ha0s, Uploaded by CCCOF on May 5, 2011.
So we can rule out the fact that this ‘vision’ is about ‘planting churches’. We’ve now established this to be false. While we can argue that C3 does rebrand churches, it doesn’t accurately describe the malicious scheming and marketing attempts they use to target vulnerable churches through their conferences around the world. If what is said in the transcripts is true, then one third of all C3 Churches are takeovers. However, C3 appears to inform us that they have taken over more churches than they have planted.
If people are still not convinced that the 2020 Vision is a lie, this next bit of information should convince you.
THW 20/20 VISION FAILING IN VISION
We wrote an article back in December of 2011. In it we had screen grabs and older information on the location of C3 Churches around the world .
Now the date is the 27th of October 2013. All the screengrabs you see and read below are recorded on this date.
If people visit the c3churchglobal.com website, click ‘CHURCHES’ and you will come across to this page (http://c3churchglobal.com/church):
You will be taken to this map. You will notice links at the bottom of the right hand corner: “VIEW: ALL | PLANTS”. This wasn’t available two years ago. This is recently added. If you click ‘ALL’ you will see this map:
So why does the C3 Church Global have a link to PLANTS? When you click the ‘PLANTS’ link, you will see the following map:
Going by the newer information what are we looking at? There are only seven church plants in America? Five church plants in Europe? Three church plants in Europe? Four church plants in Asia? Four in the South East Asia Pacific rim? Four in Australia? About nine in New Zealand and a few around Fiji?
With the information given, that is about fourty churches in total that C3 Church considers ‘Church Plants’. Yet the C3 movement brags of planting anywhere between 240 to 400 churches worldwide? And what are the churches in blue? Church takeovers?
If this information is true, than Phil Pringle has failed spectacularly to fulfill his 2020 Vision. If God did give Pringle the 2020 Vision, then we have the C3churchglobal website exposing Pringle for the false prophet that he is.
NOTE: We would like to ask for your help next article. If you can help us find churches that C3 has taken over, please email us links, screen grabs, testimonies or other forms of evidence. Our email is c3churchwatch@hotmail.com.
In his book ‘You The Leader’, Phil Pringle instructs readers how they can make members defend leaders like himself:
“When we’re in the trenches getting fired at, I don’t want soldiers at my side wondering why their leader is being fired upon. People like this can eventually turn their guns on their leader. They imagine the Enemy must have good reason for shooting at their leader, and so they begin firing also.
Once we’ve been in the trenches a few times, we realize who can be trusted under fire. Even if the leader does make a mistake, that is still no reason for those around him or her to attack. I want to know that my team will be loyal to me when the attacks are unjustified, and when they are justified.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 265-266.
If you do not consider this to be a form of mind control, then consider this article:
Not long ago, we learnt that Pringle again spoke at City Harvest Church. It comes to no surprise that Phil Pringle refuses to address any substance to people’s claimsabout C3 Church or City Harvest Church. His entire sermon was grooming CHC members to be soldiers and to fight for God. Here is Pringle again conditioning people to not listen to the world outside of the constructed ‘church’.
Well Pringle, Jesus Christ has this to say about your approach to ministry:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” Matthew 23:25
People have indeed seen straight through the facade. In response to Pringle’s behaviour, a commentor from CHC Confessions said,
“Phil Pringle the salesman preacher is insulting the intelligence of CHC members by asking them not to visit websites. When the light comes, darkness flees and it’s obvious the CHC leadership is interested is to keep their members in darkness and ignorance.” – Euphamist Ic, https://www.facebook.com/CHCConfessions/posts/629711277048253?comment_id=6796149&offset=0&total_comments=9, 03/07/2013. (Accessed 04/07/2013.)
Looks like Pringle doesn’t want his poor ‘critic’ with “three followers on twitter” to be heard or have him grow in popularity.
Some obvious questions needs to be asked to Phil Pringle’s involvement with City Harvest Church:
Why does CHC insist in having Phil Pringle as their Advisory Pastor?
Isn’t Phil Pringle more of a liability then an asset?
Is Phil Pringle worth the risk for CHC?
What do you think?
EDIT (04/07/2013): We thought it was appropriate to transcribe Phil Pringle:
“…..He says – take a teaspoon of concrete and harden up! Amen? Man up
Pringle – so I put the harness on and I walk into battle and you know, now,
after 30 years, I feel a little weird if there isn’t a problem.
I feel a little bored – I feel like, this isn’t very exciting. We’ve got no
big issues going on.
You’ve got to get used to the feeling that the christian life is a battle.
You get tempted here, people will criticize you there, things are going to
come at you from behind and in front.
AND by the way, don’t go clicking on all those websites, you know, with
negative stuff on them.
Click on truth, amen, click on the good guys, click on all the C3 churches,
CHC (City Harvest Church) churches – ” upgrade” their ratings, “like” this,
“like” this, “follow” him, “tweet” this, “retweet” that.
There’s such a temptation to go and read the junk, the nonsense. But every
time you “click”, you give another vote for it. You know these guys – don’t
do that! What do you want that in your head for anyway?
These are just some more of the battles, there’s just a little battle over
there.
You and I need to front the battle full on, on the inside of our heart and
say “you know, all these invisible forces that try to attack us, I’m going
to stick up the sheild of faith, it’s not going to get me.
I believe God, we’ll get through this, we’ll get through that, we’ll
overcome this, we’ll beat this thing. I’m going to get over that, this is
going to go back from me, I’m not going under, I’m going over.
As you stick up that shield of faith and start speaking the word of God, you
repel all the fiery darts of the evil one. The only way you get good at
fighting is fighting.
So, if you’re not fighting today, stand up on the inside and say “You know
what? Time for me to get into battle, time for me to join King David in the
stronghold and get in the game.” Source: Phil Pringle, CHC, http://www.chc.org.sg/citytv/videos, English Service Discipleship, 29 Jun – 30 Jun. (Accessed 04/07/2013.)
Recently, Phil Johnson wrote the following article:
NOT LAUGHING NOW …
Rodney Howard-Browne, self-styled “Holy Ghost Bartender,” has taken notice of the Strange Fire conference sponsored by Grace to You (October 16-18, 2013). He seems unnerved by the prospect that twenty-first-century charismatic phenomena are going to be examined in light of Scripture. Howard-Browne’s trademark giddiness has gone missing. Recently, he wrote this stream-of-consciousness rant on his Facebook page:
There is coming a massive attack on the Pentecostal/ Charismatic movement by a group of individuals that don’t believe in the power of the Holy Spirit today – these men do not believe in speaking in tongues or the gifts of the spirit – they think that because of excesses in the church that they have a right to write off the fastest growing sector of Christianity – over 800 million in the earth today – that would be as bad as writing Jesus off because of one of the 12 was Judas Iscariot – if these individuals just adopted Gamaliel’s advice of Acts 5:38-39 that would be fine however they have no fear of God and are in grave danger of blaspheming the Holy Ghost – they think that because the movement has had scandals that have been publicised that this gives them leeway to do what they are doing – however the only reason why it gets the attention is because these individuals are on TV – everywhere I travel I hear of scandals outside of the Pentecostal charismatic realm but these are never publicised because no one knows them – they are calling their exposé strange fire however you better have the alternative if you are going to criticise something as counterfeit you have to produce the real – or else you had better shut up! The only ones who have the right to bring correction are the ones inside the camp not outside!
All the standard charismatic arguments are summarized there: He says critics of modern charismatic claims are unspiritual people motivated only by rank unbelief. He insists the weight of sheer numbers validates the modern charismatic movement (yet the high percentage of scandalous frauds, philanderers, and false teachers spawned by the movement means nothing). He emphatically declares that those outside the movement are not entitled to criticize charismatic abuses. And of course he includes the killer argument: The critics are people who “have no fear of God and are in grave danger of blaspheming the Holy Ghost.”
In reality, those who tout false prophecies, obscene bodily gyrations, and drunken behavior as gifts of the Holy Spirit are the ones blaspheming Him. In fact, no one is more notorious for that than Rodney Howard-Browne himself. For him to decry blasphemy and pretend to know anything about the fear of God is the very height of arrogant irony.
If you think that sounds unduly harsh, watch this video of a typical Rodney Howard-Browne “ministry” binge:
In October 2013, John MacArthur will be putting on a conference called ‘Strange Fire’. This event will explore what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit and how that reflects the spirit presented within the charismatic movement.
The ‘Strange Fire’ conference page has this to say about the event,
Overview
The sons of Aaron…offered strange fire before the LORD…and fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them.
—Leviticus 10:1–2
The Lord calls His people to honor Him, to treat Him as holy. Leviticus 10 pictures the consequences of not doing so—of offering to Him strange fire.
For the last hundred years, the charismatic movement has been offering a strange fire of sorts to the third Person of the Godhead—the Holy Spirit. And evangelical churches have chosen to be silent or indifferent on the matter. This hasn’t served the church or the Spirit of the church with honor.
So what should be our response?
Strange Fire is a conference that will set forth what the Bible really says about the Holy Spirit, and how that squares with the charismatic movement. We’re going to address in a biblical, straightforward manner what many today see as a peripheral issue. On the contrary, your view of the Holy Spirit influences your relationship with God, your personal holiness, and your commitment to the church and evangelism.
We want you to join us for Strange Fire. It really is for everyone—especially if you’re working through these issues with a friend, your family, or your church. Space is limited, register today.
Strange Fire is a Truth Matters conference, sponsored by Grace to You.
In light of the issues being addressed at John Macarthur’s upcoming “Strange Fire” Conference, do churches like C3/Hillsong honor the Holy Spirit or blaspheme Him?
When key church conferences or events are weeks away, Phil Pringle executes his teachings in rather peculiar ways. To the average person it sounds like what they are hearing in a Sunday service or bible study is biblical teaching.
Unfortunately this is not the case. It is becoming more evident that C3 members are being seduced by innovative marketing ploys for Phil Pringle’s conferences and events. People need to understand that Phil Pringle can often have a rather different agenda when he is preaching. It is of our opinion that his marketing ploys are becoming more manipulative.
Consider some of these statements he has made in his book, ‘You The Leader’:
“People can become anything under the right conditions.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 267.
“I don’t approach Sundays with an attitude of, “What message shall I preach?” but rather, “What do we want to achieve in our church at this time?” That desired end result determines what and how I preach. Then, within the particular message, I ask myself, “What am I trying to achieve here? What one thing am I attempting to say? What do I want these people to have or do at the end of this time?’
Then I follow the plan.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, pg. 234.
“What we preach is what we get. We are farmers sowing seed. If we are unhappy with the harvest we’re reaping, we should sow different seed. If we want different results, we preach different messages.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 215.
It is unsettling to know that a pastor might be using his position and sermon time to manipulate people. This is what we have recorded Phil Pringle doing in the past.
You may be thinking Phil Pringle went through an unusual phase in his ministry. Not so. We have seen him behave like this for a few years now. This year we have seen Pringle misuse his power and position to market his events through his teachings. Specifically this years Presence Conference 2013 and Vision Builders 2013.
In this articles we will not give you a critique of Phil Pringle’s sermons that market people to attend Presence Conference 2013 or Vision Builders 2013. First, we invite you to look at the bizarre C3 Connect Notes study, weeks leading up to Presence Conference 2013. (Emphasis ours in underline.)
35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. John 4v35 (all references NIV)
It says: “don’t you have a saying?” We all have a saying.
– We can say one thing, but God says this: we can’t go without the presence of God.
– Moses and the people set out, but they pleaded: “Please God, don’t let us go without your presence.
The presence of God defines who you are. When people meet you they don’t just experience you, they experience God.
The church is a place of the second chance – but the church is also the house of promise.
TALK ABOUT: * Are you ready for the hour we are about to step into? Are you willing give [sic] him all of your life?
Ps Greg French moved extensively in the prophetic after this message. We would like to encourage all leaders to have a special prayer and ministry time in your connect group this week. Remember you are a sufficient minister of the Holy Spirit! ‘..Our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit..’ (2 Corin 3:5-6)
Let’s see if Phil Pringle honestly used the single verse in the ‘bible study’ in context. Did he handle the words of Jesus accurately? Does God overwrite all our sayings to correct us? Let’s see what Jesus said:
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” John 4:34-38. (Emphasis ours.)
So what has this verse got to do with God’s presence™? It doesn’t. But what is Pringle trying to say? That God will override our sayings to say something else?
Pringle used ONLY John 4:35 to explain that, “We can say one thing, but God says this: we can’t go without the presence”. This could be true BUT Jesus in his next breath says in AGREEMENT that, “the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true“. So… what is going on?
Why did Pringle exclude this? If he kept the scripture in context wouldn’t people be able to see that God can be in agreement with our sayings?
We are assuming he wants people to think like this in the bible study:
As a reader, are you ready for the hour you are about to step into: Presence™ Conference 2013?
How is it possible to give God all your life if you do not go?
Don’t you realise that God is telling you that you can’t go without the Presence™ of God?
Can’t you see that if you say “I might not go to Presence™ Conference”, God might be telling you to do the opposite?
It’s wrong for Phil Pringle to make Jesus out to be a liar. When you read the verse in its context, the entire bible study is debunked and made pointless. This seems to indicate that Pringle is misleading his entire Connect Group network with this study to try and get people to go to his Presence Conference. Quite frankly this is despicable behaviour coming from a ‘pastor’.
But it get’s worse…
WHAT IS THE C3 VISION BUILDERS DINNER & THE C3 VISION?
Before looking at the Vision Builders marketing ploys Pringle weaves in his teachings, it is important that you understand the ‘Vision Builders’ dinner.
We’ll let C3 explain what it is.
If you do not know what the ‘Vision’ of God is to Phil Pringle, it is this. (Also watch the video via below source link.)
“Our vision for C3 Church is to see 1000 Churches planted by the year 2020 with an average attendance of 500 members.” – 2020 Vision, C3 Church Global, http://c3churchglobal.com/cms/2020-vision. (Accessed 14/06/2013.)
With this in mind, it is time to look at how Phil Pringle convinces people to sign up for the ‘Vision Builders’ dinner so they can make financial pledges to C3 Church’ building initiatives.
VISION BUILDERS MARKETING GIMMICKS
Here is what you will find advertised on the myc3church website. Ask yourself this question: Who “prepares a table” for you? God or C3?
To reduce the size of this article, we will only look at C3’s Vision Builders video and C3’s latest ‘bible study’ Connect Notes.
Here is the video.
The transcript reads:
“What a humbling thing it is to realise that God, the Creator of the universe, maker of heaven and earth, has prepared a table for you. Long before you acknowledged Him, your place had been set, the invitation extended. Taste and see that the Lord is good. It was not a place you could earn or deserve. You were lost. Dead. But now, you are found alive, caught up in his great story. And so before you is a banquet. A feast of provision. That you may play a part in the midst of darkness bringing the light.”
Like other Vision Builders dinner, Pringle encouraged people to bring their wallets to the table and make pledges to the C3 building fund. (Quick reminder: The light is Jesus, not our money.)
There is something seriously wrong with the video presentation. Do you think this advert has gone one step further than worldly marketing? How do you feel when you watch this? Who is really preparing the table? God or Pringle? Who is really asking people to give cash? God or Pringle? Who is asking you to expand in your sacrificial giving? God or Pringle?
The lines were deliberately blurred to entice and pressure C3 members to give sacrificially. But would God really want people to give financially at this event?
C3 BIBLE STUDY CONNECT GROUP NOTES
If that’s not disturbing enough, look how Phil Pringle in the last two weeks planned out the C3 Church bible study connect group notes.
You can see bible passages are being twisted in these Connect Notes when Pringle wants people to ask these questions:
TALK ABOUT:
* Have you ever had a time of stretching with God?
* Are you ever tempted to “bail out” or “dig up the seed” in waiting for God to grow something in you?
* Does it encourage you when God says you shall expand or His people will inherit?
TALK ABOUT:
* What is your part of God’s grand design? Are you looking to the Bible to affirm the plan of God? * Discuss how our church leadership and vision is always exhorting us to expand and look out. * Are you involved in the width, the length, the depth or the height of his plan? Where is God calling you? [Note Pringle’s allusion to * How are you investing in the future of His magnificent house? How can we each step up rather than only attend meetings?
These questions should be properly revealed this way:
* Have you ever had a time of stretching with Phil Pringle pressuring you to give money?
* Are you ever tempted to “bail out” or “dig up the seed” because Phil Pringle keeps telling you, “God [wants] to grow something in you”?
* Does it encourage you when Phil Pringle says you shall expand or His people will inherit?
* What is your part of Phil Pringle’s grand design? Are you looking to the Bible to affirm the plan of Pringle (or testing what He says to what God says)?
* Discuss how our church leadership and vision is always exhorting us to expand and look out.
* Are you involved in the width, the length, the depth or the height of Pringle’s financial plan? What is Pringle calling you to do?
* Discuss how you are investing in the future of Phil Pringle’s ministry? How can we each step up rather than only attend meetings?
What’s the answer to the last question? “How are you investing in the future of His magnificent house? How can we each step up rather than only attend meetings?” Answer: Go to Vision Builders.
Is this biblical? Do people realise they are being financially duped by Phil Pringle? Do they know what they are hearing is not the biblical context but a deceptive marketing scheme? How should members feel if they are being manipulated like this? Is this the way Phil Pringle should run his church?
Please pray that members get wisdom and and understanding so they do not put themselves under financial stress.
If you would like to find this document on the myc3church.com website, scroll over the button at the top of the page titled ‘Community’ and click ‘Vision Builders’.
When the next page loads, scroll down the page until you hit “Download the brochure”.
It will take you to the Vision Builders pdf.
Our first article on C3 Church Watch was pointing out Phil Pringle’s Vision Builders Campaign was exploiting C3’s poorest members. Sadly, this hasn’t changed.
In our third article ever on C3 ChurchWatch we raised our concern with ‘Christians Against Poverty’ (CAP) working alongside the immoral nature of the C3 cult. We do admire the work CAP does in people’s lives. However, we would strongly suggest that CAP would distance themselves from Christian City Church Oxford Falls. Why?
In the 2013 ‘Vision Builders’ brochure, C3 writes about their achievements through CAP. They now consider CAP’s achievements as their own.
“Christians Against Poverty
Last year, 100 families struggling financially were assisted through our 2 centres. As a result, many people received Christ for the first time. In
January we launched our new City Campus CAP Centre, with Monica Olander as the Manager.Since beginning our ministry with CAP we have assisted 490 families, and have seen 130 decisions for Christ.”
So CAP has led 130 people to Christ? What’s wrong with CAP doing this? Nothing is wrong if members of the CAP are genuinely concerned leading people to Jesus Christ. However, they are leading these people into a Word of Faith cult that scams people of the little money they have. This is tragic.
We have enough evidence to say that the C3 institution preaches a different gospel and binds people to give sacrificial financial offerings so God can bless them materially. As Dr Choo said about CHC, so too are his words applicable to C3 Oxford Falls: “This is not Christianity. This is not the gospel. This is a SCAM.” Since when is it right to exploit people who are in “out-of-control” debt?
Sadly, this undoes the wonderful work of CAP. The CAP are only furthering the support of destroying people’s financial future by working with the C3 cult. The proof of this is in this Vision Builder 2013 booklet. C3 writes,
“I am in significant debt, should I pay off my debts or give to Vision Builders?
If you are in ‘out of control’ debt, after your tithe the debt should be your next priority. Reducing the debt to a manageable amount (or even clearing it completely) should be attempted as you also make a manageable gift to Vision Builders. Remember no amount is insignificant.”
So why would the CAP endorse a cult that teaches it’s members to give money they don’t have to ‘the vision’ of Phil Pringle? The idea behind giving money to Phil Pringle’s prophetic vision is that God will materially bless the giver. You will not find this ‘Christian’ teaching anyway in scripture and is nothing more than a financial con job.
This is not the first time the C3 cult has decided to financially exploit it’s poorest members. This is the fourth year the C3 cult has had this information in it’s Vision Builders campaign material. You’d think by this stage they would have removed it.
Instead we have continually recorded C3 Church exploiting their financially struggling members in their heavily marketed Vision Builders campaigns.
Why are Christians in C3 Church not concerned about this? Why is CAP supporting C3 Church? Are they not aware that the people they are taking out of poverty are bought back into poverty when they are introduced to the C3 cult? Why is Phil Pringle exploiting the poorest people in his congregation?
• Sherly Brady Performs a Narcigesis of the Story of Sarah
• Cindy Jacobs and the Leviathan Spirit?
• Pastrix Sun Ho a.k.a. “Geisha”???
• Good Sermon: The Wages of Sin by Gervase Charmley
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” – Colossians 3:1-10
There are many controversial issues that surround the City Harvest Church scandal. If you are not familiar with the charges that Kong Hee is facing, please read our articles on Kong Hee here:
In this article, we simply wish to focus on the ‘Pastoral’ conduct of Phil Pringle and Kong Hee.
Thanks to CHC’s Advisory Pastor Phil Pringle, this issue is further expanding across into other countries as ‘pastors’ lend their support and praise to Kong Hee and Sun Ho. Just recently, a video surfaced on YouTube that filmed Phil Pringle saying that he “got some pastors from around the world to bring” CHC ‘greetings’. Here is the video.
The pastors who endorse and praise Kong Hee and Sun Ho in this video are:
Jeffrey Rachmat from Jakarta Praise Community Church (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Mark Conner from City Life Church (Melbourne, Australia)
Paul Scanlon from LIFE Church (Bradford, UK)
Casey Treat from Christian Faith Center (Seattle, USA)
John Bevere from Messenger International (USA)
David Yonggi Cho from Yoido Full Gospel Church (Seoul, South Korea)
The blurb below the video says,
“These are some great leaders from mega churches around the world who know Pastor Kong personally. They are encouraging and praying for Pastor Kong and City Harvest Church during this period of trial. Dr David Yonggi Cho is the founder and Pastor of the world largest church with an overall members of about a million and he is also Pastor and mentor of Pastor Kong.” – Some Pastors From Around the World Bring You Greeting, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkXtWO63C4Q, Published on Apr 14, 2013.
In response to the above YouTube clip, a new YouTube video emerged juxtaposing the pastors endorsements against Sun Ho’s music video clip ‘China Wine’. The contrast is stunning and disturbing.
(Warning: content of video may be considered highly inappropriate for Christian viewers.)
What this video did was highlight two things. It exposed the lies and hypocrisy of Kong Hee. With one hand, Kong distanced his wife’s immoral video clips from himself and CHC, claiming she was not a pastor and yet justifying her sinful clips using the scriptures. On the other hand, he would flaunt his wife as China Wine and allow her to speak on behalf of City Harvest Church. For more information on this, read here:
The second thing this video exposes how ‘Christian Pastors’ are promoting human depravity in the name, glory and Spirit of Jesus Christ. As the parody pits the pastors against the China Wine music video, one can’t help but wonder if Phil Pringle, Kong Hee or Sun Ho have been fully honest with their fellow pastors.
For instance, would John Bevere say that God put scriptures on ‘integrity’ in his heart if he saw Sun Ho dancing erotically in her music video clip China Wine? Would Mark Conner say that his church is “inspired” by Sun Ho and Kong Hee’s “life” if he saw Sun’s music video clip ‘Kill Bill’ that has her singing about murdering her boyfriend?
Finally, we’ve been observing how Phil Pringle has been informing his audiences that when he pastors CHC this gives Kong Hee and Sun Ho the opportunity to travel to “share in churches their burden ‘n what they’re facing and keep support happening”. [Source 1] [Source 2]
Now that Phil Pringle made the video, we should be asking ourselves if the churches of Yonggi Cho, John Bevere, Mark Conner, Jeffrey Rachmat, Paul Scanlon and Casey Treat have given Kong Hee a platform to receive ‘love offerings’ to financially support his case.
This scandal needs to be a prayer issue for Christians everywhere. Please pray that Christians have their eyes opened to the immoral conduct of these pastors. Pray that no more Christians are “snookered” by their own “idolatrous notions” regarding the behaviour of Kong Hee, Sun Ho, Phil Pringle and other ‘ministers’ who endorse the moral conduct of these ministries.
Pray that Christians everywhere have their eyes opened to the whole truth about the ongoing pastoral and legal issues involved around Kong Hee AND David Yonggi Cho.
From ‘Fighting For the Faith’, Chris Rosebrough reviewed another sermon of Phil Pringle in late 2010. Tune in to the start of the review after the first hour in.
NOVEMBER 29, 2010
TWILIGHT ZONE MARATHON EPISODE
• Granger says Healthy Churches Grow But….
• Patricia King’s Chia Pet Prophecy
• Melissa Fisher says God Believes in You
• 3rd Eagle Claims WWIII Has Begun
• Sermon Review by Phil Pringle, C3 Church, Sydney Australia
You will also notice that just like Phil Pringle, Kong Hee is close friends with “Dr.” Kevin Dyson (from New Covenant International). Sound familiar? We will look into this shortly.
However CHCs City News, reported something different on the 4th of October, 2010 in regards to when Pringle became advisory pastor. So when did Phil Pringle become the advisory pastor?
As part of continuing efforts to improve on structure, governance and accountability, CHC names the chairman and advisory pastor of its advisory committee.
At its weekend service last week, senior pastor of City Harvest Church Rev. Kong Hee announced that Dr. A.R. Bernard of Christian Cultural Center and Pastor Phil Pringle of Christian City Church will serve on the church’s advisory committee, which is being set up these few weeks.
Neither are strangers to CHC; both Bernard and Pringle have been long-time friends and guest speakers at the church, preaching at least twice every year for well over a decade.
“Since the early 1990s, the church has always benefited greatly from the assistance and advice of external pastors and ministers,” Kong told the congregation at the four services, naming Elder George Ong from Church of Singapore, Rev. George Ee from Calvary Charismatic Centre, Dr. Kevin Dyson from New Covenant International and Dr. Ulf Ekman from Word Of Life among past advisors.
“However, while CHC had benefited greatly from the wisdom and experience of such pastors and paid due respect to them, there was no structure or arrangement in place to formally acknowledge them. In 2007, provision was made for this with the proposal for a board of independent advisors, but this board had not been staffed until now.
“If there is anything I’ve learned through the process of this investigation, it is the need for a greater level of accountability and governance in the operations of City Harvest Church,” explained Kong, before announcing that Bernard and Pringle, “two men whom we all respect greatly and have the heart of CHC, as well as the expertise and experience to serve in this capacity,” had agreed to formalize an advisory committee to serve CHC.
Bernard will assume the role of chairman of the advisory committee. A former Wall Street banker, Bernard oversees the 33,000-member Christian Cultural Center in New York. He is also currently the president of the Council of Churches of the City of New York. He sits on the New York City Economic Development Corporation Board, and is a member of the Debt Reduction Task Force for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee.
“Most importantly, Dr. A.R. Bernard is a great friend and a strong supporter of our vision, mission and core values of CHC,” says Kong.
Pringle will be appointed advisory pastor to CHC. He is City Harvest’s oldest friend, having supported the church “since there were 200 people in a warehouse [the size of the Expo auditorium].”
He is the senior minister of Christian City Church in Oxford Falls, Sydney, and also oversees more than 250 Christian City Churches worldwide. In the year 2000, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for extraordinary services to the community.
“As the Chairman, Dr. Bernard has agreed to come help us once every two months, while Pastor Phil will be coming once or twice a month,” announced Kong. “Both of them will be assisting our pastoral ministry in the planning, organizing, initiating, promoting, coordinating and reviewing of the worship, religious education and mission activities within the church.” The church may consider additional appointments to the committee when appropriate or when the need arises.
Kong’s announcement drew enthusiastic applause and cheers from the congregation at all four services.
“I thought that the announcement was a clear demonstration of what our leaders stand for—accountability and unity. To be able to open ourselves to ideas, opinions, checks and balances is not only the wise thing to do but the right thing to do,” commented church member Bernard Lim, 47, a financial educator. “At the same time, the demonstration of unity among the brethren, standing together in a time of need, fleshes out what we have been talking about. CHC is witnessing both leadership-by-example at work and what being a Christian truly means.”
“I am glad they are setting up the advisory committee,” said Vivienne Ho, 42, an insurance broker. “I’m very touched by Dr. Bernard and Pastor Phil’s great sacrifice for our church. This is a heavy responsibility and they have their own churches, not to mention the fact that they live overseas. For them to be here every month is a very serious commitment.”
Pringle shared with City News the reasons why he said yes to this new role. “First, when Kong asked me, I said, Let me go and pray about it. And I did. I also talked it over with [wife] Chris, and we talked with our leaders. I felt peace and they felt right about it, so I have to conclude that God has guided us.“We Place CHC As A Priority”
“Second, Kong and Sun and CHC are dear to us. We have a long history. There are some friends you would lay down your life for, and they are two of them. God gives you only a few divine connections in life. Do whatever you can to ensure these connections serve God.
“Third, this church is important to the world today. It is a great church builder and planter. It has been a leader in showing people in Asia and the world how to do church. It is holy, pursues purity, keeps the Word of God—it does not compromise on these issues. But it is contemporary and relevant in the world, not only being acceptable but leading in the marketplace.”
Bernard shares Pringle’s commitment to Kong and CHC. “I believe in the work and ministry of Pastor Kong and City Harvest,” he told City News. “And our loyalty is tested in times of crisis. Whether we will stand or abandon our important friendships … [and] I don’t believe that God ever abandons the work of His own hands.”
These new roles mean some measure of sacrifice for both ministers. Pringle shared that this commitment will take him out of church six more weekends than in a normal year. “We have a really good team in Sydney with a lot of rising leaders,” he said. “We feel confident that [the church will] be in good hands.”
As for his network of nearly 300 C3 churches throughout the world, Pringle said that he would be able to maintain constant communication with them. “The only other area that may cost is my availability for preaching and weekend events around the world,” he admitted, “but I should be able to take midweek conferences.
“We place CHC as a priority—it takes priority in our schedules and resources.”
While Pringle consults on day-to-day matters, Bernard’s role is macro, aimed at strengthening the governance and structure of the church. “I want to do everything to make sure the church is strong, and spiritually, emotionally and psychologically prepared to embrace the exciting future that God has for CHC,” explained Bernard.
He expressed his agreement with Kong that there is an urgent need to take the leadership, governance and operations of CHC to the next level. “We are considering the best way at this point to ensure longevity and perpetuity of the ministry.”
The objective behind his involvement is to “bring the church to a greater level of efficiency and effectiveness. By efficiency, I mean great accountability and focus in the financial management of the church. By effectiveness, I mean reaching the specific and agreed-upon goals and purposes of CHC.”
At service, Kong told the congregation: “By the grace of God, we have done remarkably well as a church in the past 21 years. We now look forward to building on the gifting, anointing and wisdom of these two men of God as members of our advisory committee. They have both been mentors to me and my wife Sun. They will now strengthen and add to our spiritual DNA. Through their independent perspectives, they will bring fresh and novel ideas to build up our church in the years to come.”
With support from Bernard and Pringle, CHC is bracing for a time of change that will prepare it for the next level. “The whole advisory committee is about making the congregation feel safe and assured,” Bernard added. “It is not to be perceived that we are coming over and turning it into something else.
“We are accepting responsibility for the future of the church.”
C3 Church Watch 