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?
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.
The bible symbolised sexual immorality, delusion, wickedness, blasphemy, abomination, impurity and hatred of Christ and his church through the image of a prostitute:
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. Revelations 17:1-6
Today we have the apostate church marvelling at the holiness and righteousness of Kong Hee and his wife Sun Ho who have financially bled Christians dry through dishonest means to support their lucrative ministries.
In her music video clip below, Sun Ho is playing a prostitute in her song ‘China Wine’.
Sun Ho said about her China Wine album:
“I’m really excited about this album, because I feel like it really represents me even though it’s in English.”
“I want to work with the choreographer to come up with “China Wine” dance steps and stuff.”
“And I was dancing during “China Wine” in the studio, and he started dancing too. I’m really looking forward to how it will actually affect the audience[…]” [Source]
Kong Hee even defended his wife’s role as a prostitute in the Sun’s China Wine video clip. Not only does he defend her, Kong flaunted her his ‘China Wine’.
Still the men standing with Kong Hee and the six accused are not addressing the allegations of Kong Hee who is accused of mishandling church funds of up to US$20 million. Furthermore, these ‘pastors’ are not informing their congregations that the six accused also used another US$20 million to cover up the original US$20 million spent to finance Sun Ho’s music career.
These ‘pastors’ who are standing with Kong Hee include:
Brian Houston of the Hillsong Church Movement
Phil Pringle of the C3 Church movement
Convicted criminal David Yonggi CHo of Yoido Full Gospel Church
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)
Ed Young Jr, of C3 Church (US)
Margaret Court of Victory Life Centre
At this year’s Presence Conference, Kong Hee did not preach about God. Instead Kong preached about his life and all his accomplishments. Not once did he inform anyone present the details of the investigations and the allegations made agasint him. After preaching a selfie, Phil Pringle deliberately went out of his way to conceal the facts of the investigations and Kong Hee’s court proceedings and encouraged people to give money for Kong’s lawyers.
Not only did they mislead the tens of thousands tuning in, it appears they also deceived Israel Houghton.
Is Lakewood now standing with Kong Hee in his trial?
The Grammy Award-winning Christian singer Israel Houghton has been the worship leader at Osteen’s Lakewood Church for the past thirteen years.
Recently, Houghton stood up at Phil Pringle’s C3 Presence conference and claimed that “they” were standing with Kong Hee and CHC as they face the trial.
“I know we’re not supposed to have favourites but those three people up there with their lights shining, they’re my favourite people right now. If you’ve got something that lights up just pull it out, c’mon. Let’s just do this. Lighting up the kingdom that cannot be shaken. We’re standing with Pastor Kong tonight and we’re standing with Singapore. We’re standing for City Harvest. We’re standing with everybody who’s fighting life through right now. And this is going to be a reminder that God is fighting for us. And He is pushing back the darkness. And He is lighting up the kingdom that cannot be shaken.”
Really Houghton? Would you light up the kingdom of God with Kong Hee’s wife at your next musical event?
We hope that Lakewood will investigate the serious nature of the CHC scandal and consider where they stand with Kong Hee and CHC. Do they know the charges that Kong Hee is facing? Is this the type of “Christianity” they wish to have associated with their name? Does Israel and Lakewood really want to stand with Kong Hee and CHC?
Does Lakewood want to lie in the same harlot-stained bed of CHC?
HOW KONG HEE IS GAINING FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR HIS LEGAL DEFENSE
We find the City Harvest Church scandal perplexing. Why are Singaporean authorities allowing Kong Hee to leave Singapore to resume ‘pastoral’ duties? This article will be examining how both Kong Hee and his Advisory Pastor Phil Pringle have been using churches outside Singapore to financially support Kong Hee’s legal battles.
We have been analysing Phil Pringle’s Presence Conferences and what Phil Pringle has been teaching us about Kong Hee’s circumstances.
Thanks to Phil Pringle, we have learnt how Kong Hee is gaining financial support for his legal battles. Earlier this year, Phil Pringle said the following:
“I was in Singapore last week ah- folks with our good friends Kong and Sun Hee, although they are very rarely there when I am speaking because it gives them a chance to get out amongst the Asian community or various parts around the world and share in churches their burden ‘n what they’re facing and keep support happening and maintain a healthier relationship and communion with the wider body. And so that’s part of the reason why I am able to go there and uh- and they’ve just had ah- one really interesting breakthrough in this last week where the Commission of Charities (that’s the organisation overseeing charities in Singapore) has exonerated Sun from all ah- all charges against her so-“
Why is Kong Hee leaving CHC to “share in churches their burden”? Why does he go to other churches to “keep support happening”? Why is Kong Hee heavily involved with Phil Pringle’s Presence Conferences? The answer is very simple.
Back in his 2011 Presence Conference, Phil Pringle prophesied over Kong Hee and then encouraged all the churches gathered to financially support Kong Hee. Not once was it explained to those who attended why he was under investigation. While encouraging people to give, take note what Pringle says,
“Then, I think it was even more for him. I can’t remember the figures. But I know that for- they had to raise seven million dollars for members of staff and others to travel. That’s just that area. If you’ve ever been to Singapore, you know how expensive this place is. To fight the case he has had to employ a legal firm. And I know what the bills are. They are nearly a million dollars each time they come. Between half a million and a million dollars each time those bills come. His church is not allowed to pay one cent of his personal cost that he is incurring in this battle. He has to find it himself.
He’s sold his house. He has scratched together everything he can. One of the things that I’m doing is going there. I’ve made a commitment to be there once every two weeks. Normally it ends up being once every three weeks because of a variety of commitments that I’ve already got and doing things. But when I’m gone, he’s able to travel. And when I’m there, he’s able to travel and preach and find support amongst Asia and other churches.
Uh- I know that he was finding it hard to put some money together to get a cup of Starbucks at one stage. And uh- it’s a challenge. There’s been new legislation passed on the use of commercial spaces in Singapore since this case has come. So the religio- the restriction on his church is severe, ah, in that area [inaudible] after their purchase, go into co-ownership with ah, SunTec. And we’re in there. I will be speaking there in a couple days time. I will be on Friday to speak there happily.” – Phil Pringle, http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=uwNignarJCg, Presence Conference 2011.
If it costs Kong Hee and his team “nearly a million dollars each time they come” to speak at Presence Conference, can you imagine how much Kong Hee is receiving in love offerings? Remember that when Pringle preaches at CHC it allows Kong Hee “to travel and preach and find support amongst Asia and other churches”. So why does Kong Hee travel if it is so expensive? Why go speak at a church event like Phil Pringle’s conferences? What does Kong gain? Pringle answers this above when he says,
“There’s been new legislation passed on the use of commercial spaces in Singapore since this case has come. So the religio- the restriction on his church is severe, ah, in that area [inaudible] after their purchase, go into co-ownership with ah, SunTec.”
What is this new legislation? We can’t find any specific information on this. However Phil Pringle stated,
“His church is not allowed to pay one cent of his personal cost that he is incurring in this battle. He has to find it himself.”
Does it make sense now? If new Singaporean legislation has established that City Harvest Church cannot support Kong Hee’s legal battles, it explains why Phil Pringle is speaking in Singapore so often. It allows Kong Hee to gain financial support from different churches around the world. It explains why Kong Hee is invited back to speak at Phil Pringle’s Presence Conference.
And guess what? Kong can say whatever he wants to whoever he wants… and get away with it. How would Singapore know what his agenda is in other countries? Who would bother keeping him accountable to what he says around the world?
Well we have all the audio we need to prove that Phil Pringle has been allowing Kong Hee to use his C3 Presence Conference to financially support Kong Hee’s financial battles. To confirm that Kong Hee is in fact receiving financial support from Phil Pringle’s C3 Movement, Kong Hee prayed the following at Presence Conference 2012 on the first night (not the opening night):
“Father I just pray even right now from the front to the back, from the left to the right, that tonight you move in a great way. Lord you know that it’s been a tiring time for the last twenty three months. For every step of the way, you’ve been with me, you’ve been with us. And Lord for all that C3 has poured into City Harvest Church, I pray that you multiply back to them, every church –every leader, thirty fold, sixty fold, a hundred fold for your glory we pray. Amen.” – Kong Hee, Presence Conference 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeIYljvQ0G0: 18:11, Day 1.
In this prayer, Kong Hee acknowledges that “C3 has poured into City Harvest Church”. By ‘poured’ he means ‘financially poured’. If you are not familiar with the term “thirty fold, sixty fold, a hundred fold”, it is Word of Faith jargon that means financial multiplication. The idea is that if you give financially, god will multiply your returns supernaturally. The weird thing about this prayer is that Kong Hee said C3 poured money into City Harvest Church. Why does CHC need the cash? Doesn’t Kong need the cash?
While it is debatable if the money above went to CHC or to Kong Hee, the prayer above informs us that Kong Hee IS getting money out of C3 conferences for possibly his benefit. It could be debatable that the money above went to CHC or to himself.
Because Phil Pringle asked people to give money specifically to Kong Hee’s legal battles back in 2011, it is of our opinion that Kong Hee here in 2012 was acknowledging that he received this financial support, using his church as a safeguard rather than saying he received the financial support personally.
Furthermore, in this same sermon we also hear a very one-sided and propaganda-like presentation of Kong Hee’s situation. So we are seeing what Pringle has said about Kong Hee to be true. Phil Pringle’s Presence Conference was a place Kong Hee felt safe enough to “share… their burden ‘n what they’re facing and keep support happening”.
This sermon not only had the above prayer. This sermon is the very sermon that has caused controversy in Singapore where Kong Hee claimed that God apologised to him. This is why we believe some people are outraged with the latest snippet – they know Kong Hee is distorting the severity of the case for his personal and financial gain. Read again what Kong Hee said on the first night of Presence Conference 2012:
“And [God the Father] said, ‘My son, I’m so sorry that you need to go through this alone. But you need to die and you need to go through this to be the Saviour of the world!’ And God the Father had broken and He wept as He turned His face, when His son took the sin of the whole world.
I was saying all this and I’m hearing myself behind the pulpit- and I froze. I could not utter another word. And I sobbed and I shook. Because those were my exact sentiments.
“Father, Father! Why? My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me and thrown me to the dogs?”
And for the first time in eight months, I heard the voice. It is not the voice of a strict angry judge that only want me to perform and build a big church and nothing I do is ever good enough for him. No. It’s not a voice of angry judge. It’s not the voice of a slave driver. That just wants to take and take and wring me dry. But it was a voice of a tender, loving, broken-hearted Father.
For the first time in eight months, God – I heard Him crying. And He said, “My son, Kong, thank you! Thank you for going through this. I need you to go through this alone so that you and City Harvest Church can be the man and the ministry I call it to be. I’m so sorry. But you need to go through with this by yourself, to bring a change to your generation”.
Oh come on! Give the Lord a big hand tonight!
I hear God saying for the first time in eight months, “I love you! I love you! I love you!” Waves upon waves of God’s love- the love of the Father, just, saturated me. All I could say was, “Abba! Abba!! AABBAAAA!!! Daddy! ABBA!!!” And I knew, everything was going to be, alright.
The absolute negligence of Pringle inviting Kong Hee to speak at Presence Conference from 2010 to 2012 was scandalous. He gave Kong Hee the floor to present his propaganda-like stories diguised as sermons. Furthermore, Kong encouraged people in the 2012 Presence Conference to empty their bank accounts so God can financially bless Christians. Not once did Phil Pringle or Kong Hee give an accurate account as to why he was under investigations or why he was facing charges. Why Kong Hee and Phil Pringle are not under severe scrutiny by government watchdogs in Australia, we do not know. Why are they not being scrutinised for misleading thousands of people at these events? Would they be giving Kong Hee financial support or emptying their bank accounts at Kong Hee’s command if they knew the severity of the investigations?
The negligence continued when Phil Pringle allowed Kong Hee to speak at Presence Conference 2013. Recently Pringle asked ignorant Christians attending to once again give sacrificially to financially support Kong Hee’s legal case.
Here Phil Pringle said,
“I would like you just to take a card, an envelope if you’ve got one nearby. And if you’d like to participate in this, I’d like you to consider doing that. Whatever you can do it would be helpful, I know, to them. This will all go completely to Pastor Kong to help with his- costs. He has to pay this week $680,000 I think it is, for his legal fees. He’s covering his whole team’s fees. They have to mount a vigorous defense over three years. Those numbers weigh heavily on- on a person and they have prohibited him from asking his own congregation for any help.
He can not use any of his own church funds. They’ve sold there- they sold the unit they were in. Others have moved to help them in other countries and I would like to think that we can be friends to these people in one of their darkest hours.” – Phil Pringle, http://www.youtube.com/watch? &v=2g-BB9BF7xk , Presence Conference 2013.
The picture again presented is that new Singapore legislation will not allow Kong Hee to use “any of his own church funds”. Instead, just like what was occurring in Phil Pringle’s C3 Presence Conferences, it appears that other churches “have moved to help them [Kong Hee and Sun Ho] in other countries”.
Since Phil Pringle made a video where a number of pastors decided to support Kong Hee, we are starting to see that deeper controversies are growing in this scandal and expanding across the globe. We also observed that Kong Hee spoke at Ed Young’s church in 2011.
Kong also spoke recently at Ed Young’es C3 2013 Conference.
Did Kong Hee get love offerings from these churches after spreading more propaganda about his plight against the Singaporean government? Why are pastors like John Bevere, Mark Conner, Casey Treat, David Yonggi Cho and many more supporting an alleged crook? Are these the churches that Pringle was alluding to when he said that “Others have moved to help them in other countries”?
Men like John Bevere, Yonggi Cho, Casey Treat and Ed Young have already been exposed as false Christian teachers. Is it any wonder they would support someone like Kong Hee? Are we seeing a banding of false teachers being only accountable to their pack rather than the greater body of Christ?
This scandal needs to be addressed by the universal body of Christ. How far must men like Phil Pringle and Kong Hee go before the church starts dealing with these impostors in the church?
__________
Update 08/08/2013: Provided links and sources to Ed Young’s 2011 Conference. NOTE: ALL SCREEN GRABS TAKEN ON 08/08/2013.
• 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.
Credit goes to C3CW for getting me access to the footage from Presence Conference 2012. Cheers.
[I apologise in advance for the occasional skipping. Its a little bit of a rough edit, but everything’s there.]
Here is my next review on the C3 Church movement. The theme of this review is ‘the price of a human soul’. I review Andrew Kubala’s statements at Presence Conference 2012, namely, that we can sow a financial ‘seed’ offering for the salvation of our loved ones. I point out that no amount of money can buy salvation, and that the redemptive price of a human soul is the blood of Jesus Christ ALONE shed on the cross. It is ONLY by Christ’s sacrifice that sinners are saved; this one offering accomplished salvation once for all and is never to be repeated.
Please share this video with anyone you know who attends a C3 Church affiliated with Phil Pringle or Andrew Kubala, especially if they attended this year’s Presence Conference 2012 (April 10-13, Darling Harbour Convention Centre, Sydney)
[Email c3churchwatch@hotmail.com for access to the original audio/video of Kong Hee played in this review.]
I received some positive feedback from my last video review and so I decided to record another. This particular review focuses on Phil Pringle’s negligence in allowing Kong Hee of City Harvest Church Singapore to collect the opening offering on opening night at Presence Conference 2012, all the while being under investigation for misuse of church funds, about which Phil Pringle was completely aware and yet failed to mention any of the relevant details concerning the investigations to those attending the conference and watching online via live webcast. I critique Kong’s offering talk wherein he twists God’s word to fleece the audience.
Instead of getting the facts, the audience was fed a one sided propaganda piece, painting Kong as the victim and Phil Pringle as the hero who swooped in to save the day. As you watch this review, ask yourself: would the audience have been so willing to hand over their money at the conference if they knew that the man encouraging them to ‘give’ was currently under investigation for misuse of church funds? I don’t think so. This review will focus on Phil Pringle’s NEGLIGENCE in allowing all this to happen.
Please share this video with anyone you know who attends a C3 Church affiliated with Phil Pringle, especially if they attended this year’s Presence Conference 2012 (April 10-13, Darling Harbour Convention Centre, Sydney)
Below you will find links to the news articles I play in this review.
City Harvest’s founder Kong Hee, four others arrested – 26Jun2012
[Disclaimer: I agree with the statement made by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean in this video that the law should be allowed to take its course and speculation or pre-judgments should be avoided. Therefore, I do not endorse Joanne Chan’s explanation concerning how CHC’s funds may have been misused over the years (see video at 2:20), as this could be considered by some as speculation and pre-judgement.]
City Harvest’s founder Kong Hee, four others charged – 27Jun2012
“Immediately afterwards when that happens, when Warragamba Dam does spill over, that’s the time that the Lord will bring a fresh new move of the Holy Spirit all around Australia. And we’ll see a move of God like we have not seen before”. (Emphasis mine)
In Part 1, we encourage you to watch Pringle prophesy at the C3 Church at Oxford Falls, how revival was going to hit the building. In Part 4 we analysed the prophecy itself. In this final article, we will be looking to see if the prophecy was fulfilled at C3 Church Oxford Falls.
In looking at the above quote, when Warragamba Dam was reported full, was revival immediate? On the 4th of March 2012, Pringle preached a message titled Heartbeat – Servanthood. Their uploaded video showed us… There was no revival at the C3 Service. There is a LOT of seats behind Pringle.
In that night time service on the 4th of March 2012, Mark Kelsey preached a message titled Heartbeat – Servanthood. C3’s uploaded video showed us… There was no revival. Drat!
The following Sunday morning (11/03/2012), Pringle preached a sermon titled the The Engine Room. Was their a revival? Were there queues outside wanting to come into the house of God?
What about that night service on the same day (11/03/2012)? Pringle preached a similar sermon with the same name: The Engine Room.
For Philip Day’s Saturday night session ‘Let there be light‘ (17/04/2012), it looked as though C3 disabled the camera that gave us the shots we needed to see the audience. But the next day on the 18th, while Peter Paauwe preached Breakthrough Part1, we saw… No revival. Empty seats lay scattered around the room. (Note them in the foreground and at the back of the room.)
By now, this prophecy is already looking ridiculous. But just in case someone justifies from C3, “God’s ways are not our ways’, we must continue. Maybe, God was going to move that night? Nope.
By this stage you may be thinking this is tedious. But we have to do this. Either God is going to bring a national revival through C3 or Phil Pringle is a false prophet. The following week on the Sunday morning, 25th of March, Pringle preached a sermon titled ‘The Engine Room: Connect’.
C3 didn’t upload a sermon that night. But we figured if their was a revival in that meeting, they would have definitely filmed it to prove to every other church that their church was the one with God’s blessing. The following week on Sunday morning 1st of April 2012, the joke was on C3 as Pringle preached ‘The Engine Room: Revive’. There was still NO revival.
That night while Pringle preached another sermon, seats were still empty (see them in the background).
A month has passed and Presence Conference is about to hit C3… Was God going to show up at C3 Church so Presence could experience revival? It seems logical that if God was going to move, it would be before the before Presence Conference. Why? So the international audience can bring back ‘God’ to their country God.
This would fulfill the prophecy of Pringle because God told him when the Warragamba Dam floods, it wasn’t just C3 church and all of Australia that were to experience revival. It was going to be a global revival. So when John Bevere spoke on Resurrection Sunday morning… was… there… revival? (Look at all the empty seats behind Pringle.)
That is a LOT of people short of a revival. Cross your fingers for Pringle, tonight God must show up or else…
So there is no prophecy fufillment. None.
… A PROPHECY FAILS…
But maybe God DID move after Presence Conference? If you’ve seen footage from the Presence Conference scattered around C3 Church Watch, you know revival did not turn up. If revival broke out at C3 Presence Conference in Darling Harbour – then God would contradict himself in the prophecy as mentioned in Part 4.
So was there going to be revival AFTER the Presence Conference? Steven Furtick preached that Sunday morning (15/04/2012), a message titled ‘Stay Behind The Guide’. You can see empty seats straight at the back of the auditorium.
No. While the room is dark and smokey, if you look to the seat at back of the room, they are empty. More seats remained empty the following Sunday in Mark Kelsey’s sermon on the 29th of April. There was no revival.
When Mark Kelsey got up the following week to speak Sunday morning on the 20/05/2012, there was no revival.
However, he had this to say to the congregation in the giving message. Was he saying this because people were feeling cheated from Pringle’s false prophecy?
“I don’t know about you but I get frustrated sometimes. We have got one of the greatest churches in the world, one of the greatest worship teams. We’ve definitely got the greatest pastor in the world. We’ve got the greatest pastoral team. The greatest connect leaders, what have you. We’ve been given Christ. We have the bible. We have the New Testament. We have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And yet people sit there and go, “Yeah well. It’s not quite enough is it? You know we gotta…”.” – Mark Kelsey, Justin Richards, 35:47-36:19, http://www2.myc3church.net/videos/justin-richards, Night Service, 20/05/2012. (Accessed 11/06/2012.)
Of course it’s not enough Mark Kelsey. Didn’t you hear what the “greatest pastor in the world” prophesied? Didn’t you hear yourself say “I get frustrated sometimes”? Why is Mark Kelsey chastising the sheep in his congregation when it is his prophet that prophesied falsely that revival was going to come?
The following week (27th of May 2012), a speaker by the name of Jamie Haith, spoke at C3’s morning service… Where revival was still a no-show.
Jamie Haith spoke that night where revival still refused to turn up.
Then on the 3rd of June, Pringle gave his morning money fleecing sermon, where revival still remained absent. Ironic that Josh Kelsey made the claim of Phil Pringle “We have the best leader in the world” (23:25), when this was the video camera shot that followed:
In the continuation of Pringle’s groom-a-thon that night, the storm of revival did not turn up.
CONCLUSION
C3 said the dam overflowed on the 3rd of March. We have recorded the ‘spiritual’ status of each Sunday service to the 3rd of June. This is a three month period.
It is safe to say that:
God DID NOT say, ““Immediately afterwards when that happens, when Warragamba Dam does spill over, that’s the time that the Lord will bring a fresh new move of the Holy Spirit all around Australia”
God DID NOT say, “Watch me. That thing is going to overflow. And as it overflows, a revival is going to come through the nation.”
God DID NOT say, “the power of God is gonna touch this city with revival”.
God DID NOT say, “the Spirit of God is gonna fall on this nation”.
God DID NOT say, “the power of God is gonna pour down out of heaven”.
God DID NOT say, “If you will build my house, if you will commit yourselves and not give yourselves comfort but will build the house, I will fill this place with my glory”.
God DID NOT say, “these [c3 church] seats will be full!”
God DID NOT say, “Every service you come, you will queue in line to be in the house of God”.
This prophecy is a lie. A scam. We have thoroughly examined in all five articles that Phil Pringle prophesied falsely. There is no escape room for Pringle.
Not only did he mislead his entire church, he mislead thousands of Christians around Sydney. Not only did he also mislead thousands of Christians around Sydney but also across Australia. Not only did he deceive thousands of Christians across Australia, he also mislead thousands of Christians across the world who attended his Presence Conference 2012 and watched him falsely prophesy online.
To recap all that we’ve explored in this series of articles, in:
Part 1 – we looked at how C3 purposely distorted information at their Sydney Presence Conference, taking snippets and screen grabs fromNews Articles and blogs to portray the world as wrong and Phil Pringle as some Godly prophet.
Part 2 – we looked at how C3 and Pringle mislead people to believe that God used Pringle against media and ‘false prophets’ to prophesy that the Warragamba Dam would be full again. We examined how C3 and Pringle used this prophecy twice to advertise and elevate their movement to Christians and churches locally and globally. We explored that it was highly likely that Pringle prophesied out of reaction against those he dislikes and pride.
Part 3 – we looked at Pringle’s further insight to his Warragamba Dam prophecy to help us understand the actual prophecy itself and what he thought this meant. He informed us that C3 met the conditions God said through him so C3 can experience revival.
Part 4 – we analysed the Warragamba Dam prophecy and proved it to be false.
Part 5 – we examined every service for three months to see if revival would break out “immediately”. This was from the time Warragamba Dam overflowed (03/03/2012) to June (03/06/2012). We have proven that the prophecy has not come to pass with it’s promise of a revival.
The right thing for Pringle to do is to humble himself, apologize and step down, admitting he has done Christianity a massive disservice. How many Christians will have their faith shaken or shipwrecked because C3 convinced them to put their faith and hope in the words of a false prophecy?
We would like to know if any information in our articles is wrong. If you find any information that is misleading in our investigation of Phil Pringle’s false Warragambe Dam prophecy, please Contact us at c3churchwatch@hotmail.com.
“Do you know a transaction takes place the moment you receive spiritual life, one half of it comes into you, one half of the transaction is that truth coming into you, and to activate that truth, I have no doubt about this, that we actually have got to return the same kind of honour, the same kind of impact its had back on us, back to that servant of God. Paul says if I have ministered to you spiritual things its a small matter that you would minister to me in in natural things carnal things like money, he says its a comparison though, the comparison is is is very hard to make he says between a spiritual quality and a natural thing, but he says the reason that that transaction has to happen is for it to trigger the impact of grace in your life, to trigger the impact of this message in your life, ’cause we can hear it and go away with information, or else we can go out of this place with a revelation that’s deep in our spirit, and one of the ways we make that happen is by blessing the vessel that its come to us through.” – Phil Pringle, C3 Oxford Falls, (1:05), 08/04/2012.
Pringle says we should give money to a leader to “trigger the impact of grace” in our lives. How is that grace? Isn’t this buying ‘grace’? In response to Pringle’s love offering sermon, Pastor Gervase Charmley gave this response:
I am tempted to imitate Martyn Lloyd-Jones at this point and reply with the word “rubbish!” *I am quite certain that is what he would have said reading this. What we have here is an example of a false conclusion, or rather a text dragged in and misapplied to give apparent support to that which is unsupported. The ‘transaction’ Pringle is teaching is no-where found in the Scriptures, it is an invention of man. It is not even based on an actual Bible text, but a mis-quotation of Romans 15:27, which is in fact talking about helping poor Christians in Jerusalem. These poor Christians belonged to the Jewish Church which first sent out the Gospel to the Gentiles, and therefore made those Gentiles “partakers of their spiritual things”. Now that those Christians were suffering poverty and need, it was only right that the Gentiles should “minister to them in material things.” The text is not even saying what Pringle says it does!
Now, in 1 Corinthians 9:11 (which Pringle seems to have conflated with the Romans passage in his mind), Paul does say, “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?” This is part of an extended section in which Paul is talking about is the undoubted responsibility of the Church to support the ministry of the word (in a reasonable and proportionate way; no man ever got rich by being a Baptist Pastor, as I have often said, and that is how it should be, says he who is a Baptist pastor). It is notable that there he does not talk about missed blessings, or anything in any way corresponding to the idea that we have to so give “to trigger the impact of grace.” Indeed, for Paul to say that we have to do such a thing would be utterly repugnant. Grace is God’s initiative, it not something we have to ‘trigger’ in its impact or anything else. You will look in vain for such an idea in 1 Corinthians 9, which is merely an exhortation for the Church to support the ministry of the word.
The majority of what is being said is, I am afraid, best described by Shakespeare, “Like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” It is merely a way to try to get people to give more money, by promising that if they do they will receive a special revelation. To return to the Doctor, “Rubbish!”
Jesus said “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matt 6:33) and NOT, “seek first 30, 000 easter eggs.” C3 Church came up with an ‘innovative’ way to market and celebrate Christmas this year at their church. Their website advertised an ‘Easter Egg Chopper Drop’.
The C3 Church had attached to the central picture a link to this pdf.
This only goes to show that Phil Pringle and the C3 Movement have converted to Furtickism. This Easter Egg Chopper Drop is not innovative at all. This concept was originally Steven Furtick’s idea. Furtick writes,
“They laughed at us.
Almost everybody did.
The ones who didn’t laugh in our face must have been laughing behind our backs.
And with good reason, mind you.
We were laughing too.
It was a dumb idea, and it shouldn’t have worked.
But it did work.
Last Easter, with a fledgling 2 month old congregation of about 200, we pulled off an Easter event that made headlines.
It involved 50,000 Easter Eggs falling from the sky and thousands of dollars in prizes.
2,500 people showed up.
No one went to the hospital.
No drunk moms pulled each other’s hair out fighting over the prize winning eggs.
And we made a statement to our community:
We’re here to play ball. Happy Easter Charlotte.
We’re going to do it again this year.
The 2nd Annual Elevation Egg Drop.
Bigger and better than before.
You wait and see.
BONUS: This year, we’ve already heard of at least a dozen other churches who are going to do the event in their own cities.
We’ve been able to help many of them.
That makes me thankful.
Thankful that our stupidity is contagious and is going to help lots of other churches reach their communities with their unique (and hopefully better) versions of this Easter Egg Hunt on steroids.
I remember more than one pastor telling me what an unwise move it was.
It had never been done before, and it could flop.
True, but it could also not flop. It could be a monster success, and possibly even catch on all over the country.
Don’t you think every mammoth concept was downright laughable until it was a reality?
Inherent in any vision that has the possibility of really taking off is the possibility of really tanking, right?
Do you even think that maybe if people aren’t laughing at your ideas, you aren’t dreaming big enough?
Abraham and Sarah laughed at God’s idea.
Not a good move, guys.
But understandable.
When you think you have a good idea, and the people you trust are behind it, and you believe the best you can that God is the author of it…
Let people laugh.
Laugh along with ‘em.
And go for it.
The more the idea makes you laugh, the better the chance it’s from God.
If it fails, laugh even harder and learn something from it.
(By the way, the more expensive the failure, the more you’d better learn.)
If it succeeds, laugh at that too.
Because you know that without the blessing of God you would truly be a laughingstock.
“Come and watch as 30,000 chocolate eggs shower down from a helicopter and then hunt them down yourself!”
How much do 30,000 easter eggs cost? And how much would hiring a helicopter be? While people are celebrating this expensive ‘easter event’, remember who is paying for it: the vulnerable, poor and desperate through Pringle’s false teaching. We know he teaches that God wants to bless people financially if they give sacrificially or give money to him to unlock their financial miracle. (See archives)
So why is C3 Church doing this then? This is simply another form of advertising for Phil Pringle’s Presence Conference.
In relation to this advert, another add pops up on the myc3church.net. A massive advert for John bevere attending the C3 Oxford Falls easter services.
They also mention him in their chopper drop flyer,
“Join us for our 10am EASTER SUNDAY service, with guest speaker John Bevere.”
C3 is giving platform to a gnostic teacher who preaches a different gospel. They are rebelling against God’s Word where God says,
“Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.” 2 John 1:9-11
Read about this dangerous teacher in these articles below:
Again, we must ask why C3 is continually promoting these delusional cult-like speakers through their manipulative marketing techniques. Why do they want to be associated with these cult-like messiahs and ‘anointed ones’ who preach false messages and gospels?
C3 Church Watch 