Phil Pringle’s protege Kong Hee is facing allegations for mishandling church funds of up to US$50 million.
And now for a good while Phil Pringle’s mentor David Yonggi Cho has been under investigation for financial misconduct. Allegations have surfaced from his elders claiming that Yonggi Cho has mishandled church funds of up to US$500 million.
You heard that right. “… elders are accusing the Chos of embezzling as much as US$500 million or more in church money.”
Please read what we have covered on this incident in these previous articles:
Before reading this article, ask yourself this question – who is Kong Hee, Phil Pringle and David Yonggi Cho accountable too?
The Hankyoreh reports,
Yoido Full Gospel Church elders make explosive allegations of massive corruption
Senior pastor David Yonggi Cho accused of siphoning off millions in church funds; his camp denies the allegations
By Cho Yeon-hyun, religion correspondent
30 elders from Yoido Full Gospel Church, the world’s largest megachurch, held a press conference at the Korea Ecumenical Building in Seoul’s Jongno district on Nov. 14 to allege that senior pastor David Yonggi Cho and his family funneled off hundreds of billions of won from church donations.
Yoido Full Gospel Church (left) and senior pastor David Yonggi Cho
The sheer scale of the amounts alleged by the elders to have been misappropriated is beyond the imagination. The elders made public a report from an investigation into three alleged improprieties by Cho made by a special investigation committee and ethics committee formed within the church last year. This time around, the allegations came from members of a group called the Prayer Meeting for Correcting the Church, including elders Kim Dae-jin and Kim Seok-kyun.
First, they claim that Cho returned only 64.3 billion won (US$60.2 million) of the 163.3 billion won (US$152.9 million) he borrowed from the church while building the CCMM Building between 1992 and 1998, when he was chairman of the church‘s Mission Society. The remaining 99 billion won (US$92.7 million), they say, was never returned.
By the elders’ account, construction payments of 28.5 billion won (US$26.7 million) and 16.6 billion won (US$15.5 million) were made at the time to Next Media Corporation and Facility Management Korea, companies managed by Cho’s eldest son Hee-jun.
It is also being claimed that Cho’s third son Seung-jae’s International Club Management Group bought three floors of the building from the church for 29.5 billion won (US$27.6 million) and sold them back three years later for 37.2 billion won (US$34.8 million) – pocketing the difference of 7.7 billion won (US$7.2 million).
In addition to allegedly appropriating 34.2 billion won (US$32 million) in Kukmin Ilbo newspaper lifetime reader memberships from 50,000 people for stock investments, Cho Hee-jun was also accused by the elders of making off with a total of 240 billion won (US$224.7 million) in assets related to the church.
They also claimed that David Cho’s wife Kim Sung-hae, president of Hansei University, has yet to account for 10.5 billion won (US$9.8 million) paid by the church as support for Bethesda Christian University, an institution she runs in the US. The elders also view US real estate purchased by the university for around US$15 million as having been bought with church money.
In total, the elders are accusing the Chos of embezzling as much as US$500 million or more in church money.
Associates of David Yonggi Cho insisted he had “no connection with any direct exchanges of money.”
Kim Sung-hae’s camp said the details of the Bethesda Christian University situation would be brought to light by prosecutors, who are currently investigating, but added that the elders’ claims were “merely allegations, not facts, and not worth responding to each one.”
The most explosive part of the allegations is the sheer amount of money supposedly received by David Yonggi Cho. The elders claim he received a severance payment of 20 billion won (US$18.7 million) when he stepped down as head pastor in 2008 – and that even that was decided without their knowledge or any voting by major church decision-making bodies. They also said no information was available on the whereabouts of 12 billion won (US$11.2 million) a year paid between 2004 and 2008 – 60 billion won in total – for “special missionary expenses.”
The elders gave a yearly total of 100 billion to 120 billion won (US$93.6-112.3 million) in donations received by the church. This would mean the annual amount taken in by the headquarters dropped by almost half from about 200 billion won a year when Cho spun off the Jisungjun center in downtown Seoul around the time he handed over senior pastor duties to Lee Young-hoon in 2008. Nevertheless, it remains the largest amount received in donations by any religious body in South Korea.
The elders also claim that Cho continued controlling the church even after his “retirement” by making decisions as “governor” – to the point where his successor Lee had difficulty exercising his authority on appointments and finances.
One of the former elders at the press conference, Ha Sang-ok, previously admitted to taking part in giving 1.5 billion won (US$1.4 million) while collecting the book “Madame Butterfly in Paris” from a female vocalist in France named Jeong who anonymously wrote the account about an affair with Cho.
“A sect leader might violate the commandments and do as he wishes, but a pastor cannot do that,” Ha said. “Over the past 14 years, I have met with Rev. Cho many times to try to persuade him to repent and return to being a great pastor, but the corruption has continued. That‘s why I had no choice but to disclose it to the outside world.”
The elders also made public a statement allegedly made by Cho saying he would give Jeong 1.5 billion won in exchange for her making no future mention of their extramarital relationship, along with copies of receipts for the two transactions totaling 3 billion won.
The church’s public relations office said the claims were “a personal matter that the church has no comment on.”
Lee Won-gun, an elder who functions as Cho’s “chief of staff,” said Cho is “unconcerned with money, to the point where I’ve never once seen him talk about giving money or not giving money to somebody.”
“There will be a response from this side after looking at the elders’ claims,” Lee added.
Cho is currently on trial for alleged causing 15.7 billion won (US$14.7 million) in damages to the church by instructing it to buy 250,000 shares of his eldest son’s stocks at a rate four times market value.
During the press conference, a physical altercation occurred when a number of Cho’s supporters attempted to rush the platform at the press conference and accused the elders of “insulting” the pastor.
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
From: By Cho Yeon-hyun, Yoido Full Gospel Church elders make explosive allegations of massive corruption, The Hankyoreh, http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/611326.html, Published 15/11/2013. (Accessed 22/12/2013.)
Phil Pringle’s protege Kong Hee, is currently under investigation by Singaporean authorities. Among others, he has been charged for the mishandling of church funds. Read the following:
It also must be noted that Phil Pringle KNEW that Kong Hee was under investigation but continually did not inform his C3 Church network, nor Christians or Churches, locally, nationally or globally. Instead Kong Hee has been elevated or portrayed as a victim in his circumstances. Specifically this year, Kong Hee encouraged people to empty their bank accounts at this years Presence Conference. Not once did Pringle or Kong Hee disclose to those at this event WHY Kong Hee was being investigated:
Yoido Full Gospel Church purges elders who blew whistle on founder
Yoido Full Gospel Church has suspended or expelled 28 elders for not withdrawing legal accusations against senior pastor David Yonggi Cho, 77.
The punishments are a form of retaliation for blowing the whistle on alleged misdeeds by Cho and his son Hee-jun, 48. This comes even as the father faces prosecution for more than US$10 million in breach of trust losses and millions of dollars in taxes evaded, while the son, a onetime Kookmin Ilbo chairman, was placed under court custody in January, which is evidence that the allegations were likely true.
Yoido Full Gospel Church has around one million members and is the biggest Pentecostal Christian congregation in the world. It was founded in 1958 by Cho and his mother Choi Ja-shil, who are both Assemblies of God pastors.
The church announced on Mar. 14 that its committee for the current term had held a meeting where it decided to expel elders Kim Dae-jin, Kim Seok-gyun, and Ha Sang-ok, who led the accusations against Cho in 2011, and suspend the other 25 who took part.
The committee was chaired by senior pastor Lee Young-hoon and made up of 46 other members including representatives of the church steering committee. It passed the disciplinary action by a vote of 36 in favor, nine against, and two abstentions. According to church bylaws, an expulsion is the second strongest disciplinary action after excommunication, stripping the person of all duties within the church for over one year. A suspension strips an individual of duties for six months or more.
After an emergency meeting on Feb. 17, the church announced that it would be taking action if the whistle blowers did not retract their accusations against David Yonggi Cho. On Feb. 28, the Assembly of God of Korea – a church affiliated with Yoido Full Gospel – and the Christian Council of Korea (chaired by Rev. Hong Jae-chul) said that anyone who did not withdraw their accusations against Cho would be dismissed according to church code.
“Obviously, the disciplinary action is wrong,” said a church elder who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The elders’ accusations were true. It is also wrong procedurally to discipline them for not following the order to withdraw their accusations when it was not an official decision by the church conference.”
One elder who was disciplined said they were planning to appeal the decision in terms of church rules and civil law.
Kim Ae-hee, secretary-general of Christian Alliance for Church Reform, said the elders felt compelled to go to prosecutors after the church did not respond when the matter was raised internally.
“What the flock wants is for the prosecutors to investigate the breach of trust charges fairly,” Kim said. “Hopefully, Rev. Cho will go along honorably with the investigation without any interference from the church.”
Source: By Kim Kyu-nam, Yoido Full Gospel Church purges elders who blew whistle on founder, The Hankyoreh, http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/578213.html, Mar.15,2013 14:20 KST. (Accessed 24/06/2013.)
“Fast forward 6 mths later, Straits Times has disproved my suspicion. I remembered being upset if that was really what he said. Mind you, the whole world was mourning with Japan then. Can you imagine how the Japanese must have felt when they hear a South Korean say they deserved the devastating earthquake?
Yet in retrospect, I can understand what possessed Dr. Cho to make such a seemingly unkind comment; my grandma also said something along the lines of the Japanese paying for their past sins (referring to the earthquake) and I don’t blame her or Dr. Cho for such prejudiced views towards the Japanese cos they had to go through what I didn’t – World War II.
Granny was only a teenager then and her family had to hide in the jungles for fear that the Japanese would capture my great grandfather who was a village head. I think what was most scary was that she had to look like a boy and dress shabbily so that the Japanese soldiers wouldn’t rape her.
She is now 84 years old while Dr. Cho is 75 and you know, that’s how the older generation talk sometimes – they cannot help themselves as they’re very set in their views. I guess the difference is that the latter is veryeducated and was/is a pastor of the world’s largest church, which made his comment that much harder to swallow.
I visited New Life Church in Taipei when I was there for vacation
in June and guess who was preaching?
Mrs. Cho! =) A.k.a Dr. Kim.
Loved their bulletin and envelop btw, so colorful and cheery! Dr. Kim’s message was about being happy and rejoicing even in trying circumstances. She shared how she had to learn to overcome really trying circumstances in her life, like when certain people in her church disagrees with certain things, no details mentioned…
Who are these 29 elders and what do they have to gain if this was a baseless accusation done only to smear Dr. Cho?
They must be super long time church members like twenty years kind if not how to become elders and hold leadership positions right? The question on my mind is why would these long time church leaders have the guts to file a civil suit against Dr. Cho if they honestly did not have any substantial evidence to believe so?They are long time church leaders but they actually have no moral integrity? Then how did they even become leaders in the first place? Hmmmmmm……..
If this happened in CHC, it’ll be like Pst Tan, Derek, Aries, etc. coming together to sue Pst Kong for misuse of funds! Unimaginable and freaking scary rite!”
If this was a baseless accusation thrown just so that Dr. Cho and his family would relinquish control of the church… WA LIAO. If I were the senior pst, I would throw them out of church once investigations results are out and let them go find another one. I mean, how could you do this to the man who slogged his entire life to make the church what it is today and betray him like that?
I dunno if that’s what Jesus would do in the same circumstance but that is what I would do lol. (I’m obviously not called to be a full-time pastor! =D)
I don’t want to speculate why Dr. Cho cannot let go mgmt of the church funds completely etc. but I imagine it must be really hard to… If like him, you’ve invested 50 yrs of your life into an organization, would u be able to bo chup when you retire? I think that requires a lot of faith, doesn’t it? =D”
NOTE: ALL SCREEN GRABS WERE TAKEN ON THE 25/07/2012.
Any complaints with the information presented? Email: c3churchwatch@hotmail.com and we will review the article and fix any errors.
Here is Yonggi Cho giving a full endorsement of Phil Pringle and Pringle’s written material:
The golden prosperity triangle consisting of Cho, Hee and Pringle are now coming under scrutiny. Phil Pringle’s protege is being investigated by Singaporean authorities. But did you know that Phil Pringle’s mentor, David Yonggi Cho, is under question by his elders? Yonggi Cho seems to have misbehaved and his elders aren’t happy about it.
If Yonggi Cho is not accountable to his elders, who is he accountable too? Who is Phil Pringle or Kong Hee accountable too?
Elders act to prevent megachurch pastor from privatizing church assets
Posted on : Jul.21,2011 14:14 KST
During Yoido Full Gospel’s leadership transfer, disputes have arisen over control of ministries, the national newspaper, and university
By Lim Ji-sun
Around 30 elders at Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul have begun a protest aimed at Emeritus Paster David Yonggi Cho and his wife, demanding that the couple refrain from making the church their own private assets.
From around noon on July 20, the elders protested outside the Main Sanctuary at “Osanri Choi Ja-sil Memorial Fasting Prayer Mountain” in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, holding a banner demanding that Kim Sung-hye, Cho’s wife, quickly return 10 billion won ($9.5 million) in construction fees that she had taken in order to build a memorial to Cho. On the day, a religious gathering for Asian believers was being held and Kim, who is also president of Hansei University, was delivering a sermon.
At around 1 p.m., the elders held up placards with slogans such as “Don’t make the church your own private possession” and “Do you like material possessions more than heaven?” toward Cho and Kim, who were coming out of the sanctuary at the end of the gathering. In the process, scuffles broke out between the elders and church officials and Hansei University professors who blocked them.
Since April this year, the elders have been curbing attempts by Cho’s family to make the church part of their private assets through resolutions passed at the council, the church’s highest decision making body. On April 17, the council resolved to make Kim concentrate solely on Hansei University and overseas missionary activity; to make Cho and Kim’s second son and president of the daily Kukmin Ilbo newspaper, Cho Min-je, concentrate only on the Kukmin Ilbo; and to make their eldest son and former Kukmin Ilbo chairman, Cho Hoe-jun, choose only one of either Elim Welfare Town or an organization related to overseas churches.
On June 26, the council passed resolutions on five further issues, including deciding to take over the office in Yeouido’s CCMM Building that Kim had been using for free, and to make Kim return the 10 billion won she had taken from the church, saying that she would build a memorial hall for Cho.
Cho and Kim rejected these resolutions, and went a step further when Kim, who had decided not to give sermons in Korea, gave a sermon at the gathering at Prayer Mountain. This was when the elders decided to act.
The elders plan to conduct a sit-in protest at Yoido Full Gospel Church on July 24 to criticize the Cho family’s private appropriation of church assets.
Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
NOTE: ALL SCREEN GRABS WERE TAKEN ON THE 25/07/2012.
ANY COMPLAINTS WITH THE INFORMATION PRESENTED? EMAIL: C3CHURCHWATCH@HOTMAIL.COM AND WE WILL REVIEW THE ARTICLE AND FIX ANY ERRORS.
To tackle the Warragamba Dam more fully, we will now be examining what Pringle said in his morning serviceon the 4th of March 2012. This commentary was made by Phil Pringle on the first Sunday after Warragamba Dam reached it’s full capacity.
Pringle says,
“On Wednesday morning, ah, we had our staff meeting (and because we were having a board meeting afterwards, Paul Macken was on our board). Ah, he ah. He was in the ah, staff meeting. And ah, he reminded me of something that ah, I had apparantly said three years ago in the middle of our seven year drought in New South Wales when Mr Flannery ah, announced that there was- the Warragambah Dam would never be full again. We could only ever hope for it to get to about 70% and so we better build a desalination plant at huge cost to the tax payer. Apparantly it’s a hundred dollars a year for everybody in New South Wales, ah, added on.
He should have come to church amen because, apparently I uh, (and I can remember this), uh standing up and I saw ah, Warragamba Dam overflowing.
Just ah, not long before that, I had been in a situation where the Lord had shown me something. And it was just very challenging to say it, because I was in a- I was in a huge auditorium of one hundred and fifty thousand people and I was about to ah, pray in that meeting. And as I stood up to pray the Lord said, “Prophesy the sun is gonna to shine”.
I said, “Give me a break God! We’ve been sitting in this freezing rain for eight hours and it’s been raining for days and it’s pouring down”. Black skies. I said, “There is no way it’s going to shine”. And he said, “Say it’s going to shine”. You know I couldn’t get rid of this conviction. So I stood up and I kinda did a mealy-mouth prayer and said, “Oh Lord! Let the sun shine! You know I’ll, you know, [fist pumps] I’ll believe God You’ll- North Korea will have revival, amen!” It was a great moment but then the- but when I opened my eyes, the whole sky had parted and it was shining. And I thought, “Awww! I should have said “Shine!” Amen”.
So. They called me the prophet of sunshine from then on up in Korea because, [word fumble] you know the guy from Australia brings the sunshine. And a- and so umm.
I made a commitment, “Lord, I’ll just say the stuff that I see and” and uh. And uh- And so that, you know, prompted me in that meeting and I said, “I can see Warragamaba Dam. It’s gonna flood over”. While I’m saying this I’m [like], “What are you saying? It’s like – we’ve been in this drought and it looked like it was never going to happen again”.
But on Friday, I think uh, Friday night, it overflowed. And uh- amen! That was- uh – got one hundred per cent full. And uh- we flowed over. Obviously if it hadn’t happened I wouldn’t be telling you this story but um… Haha. But thankfully it did.
But here’s the thing. Ok. So. Ah- You know occasionally- definitely- I see things and – it’s a gift that God gives to people, called the gift of prophecy and seeing things in the future. Ah, I find that most happens within individuals. I can see something going on in their future and whatever. But ah- with this, ah- that- the reason I tell you that is not for the sake of just telling you. You know like, “I said so”.
Because there was an addendum to that. Ah, that, ah, was quite ah, quite interesting for me. And, you know ah, in 1998 you’ll recall we had in an OZFIRE meeting, (Presence Meeting), I gave a similar thing about the two tallest buildings in the world coming to the ground and after that, a financial melt down. And ah- then streams of people would start coming into the house of God. And that actually happened in all kinds of ways.
But the point of the physical occurrence of these things was to indicate another thing that God was actually about to do. And I remember when I- when I actually announced that, that ah, “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”.
And ah, with all my heart, I believe that we’re about to enter into all kinds of new days and a fresh anointing, a fresh oil- And I’m just so thrilled with you guys. Every week we turn up – you know seeing your faithfulness, your strength, you’re – we’ve been through so many different pieces of the landscape and the terrain of God that when we get to this point, when God’s about to do something He will build on, those who’ve come through all the stuff and being faithful to Him and being true to Him – in spite of difficult circumstances and- I’m believing that there is definitely a breakthrough day coming up ahead of us. And I think you and I have got to get ready in all kinds of ways. One of the new ways that will come upon us is the use of screen technology. And God will use that in all kinds of- and we’re getting ourselves very ready for that ah, in- which I’ll explain later in a later date. More about that.
But one of the things we are doing in our college, it would be one of the few colleges in Australia, (I don’t know anybody else, who’s got courses that train students in media and graphics and ah- short films and the acting and the presenting for all of that), so it’s such a great time to get ready, to actually uh, get ready for that new day. That new move of God. You might be watching on TV right now or ah, online and ah- just consider that. Think about actually getting yourself ready for- because, because God will be looking for people who are not gonna to get ready but who are actually in position, ready to catch the ball and run with whatever He’s gonna do.
We’re excited, man! I’m excited about you! I’m excited for all the great things that are gonna happen to some of you. Cos eventually, you gotta understand, trials finish. I know some of you have been in trials that seems like, forever. But eventually trials come over and then the blessing- the day of blessing comes through, when you get your breakthrough. Eventually, God does answer prayer. And ah- eventually it does come through. You can’t keep praying and praying and praying and praying and praying and nothing ever happens. Eventually the day comes when the sun comes up! And your days of mourning are over and the turtle dove sings in the land, amen!” – Phil Pringle, Ps Phil Pringle: Heartbeat – Servanthood, 34:09-40:41,http://www2.myc3church.net/videos/ps-phil-pringle-heartbeat-servanthood, C3 Oxford Falls, Morning Service, 04/03/2012.
Above in his own words, Pringle gives us very valuable insight. Before we continue, we encourage you to watch the Warragamba Dam prophecy in Part 1 in this series of articles before reading onwards.
ISN’T THIS DISDAIN?
1. “… when Mr Flannery ah, announced that there was- the Warragambah Dam would never be full again. We could only hope for it to get to about 70% and so we better build a desalination plant at huge cost to the tax payer. Apparantly it’s a hundred dollars a year for everybody in New South Wales, ah, added on.
He should have come to church amen because, apparently I ah, (and I can remember this), ah standing up and I saw ah, Warragamba Dam overflowing.”
Pringle clearly gets cocky about his prophecy and suggests Mr Flannery “should have come to church amen because, apparently I … remember … standing up and I saw ah, Warragamba Dam overflowing”. Should this be the attitude of a ‘prophet of God’? Does the spirit behind the prophet point us to God or the prophet? We looked at this attitude of Phil Pringle in Part 2, where Pringle also had a go at Flannery again on the last day of Presence Conference.
ISN’T THIS DISOBEDIENCE?
2. “And as I stood up to pray the Lord said, “Prophesy the sun is gonna to shine”.
I said, “Give me a break God! We’ve been sitting in this freezing rain for eight hours and it’s been raining for days and it’s pouring down”. Black skies. I said, “There is no way it’s going to shine”. And he said, “Say it’s going to shine”. You know I couldn’t get rid of this conviction. So I stood up and I kinda did a mealy-mouth prayer and said, “Oh Lord! Let the sun shine! You know I’ll, you know, [fist pumps] I’ll believe God You’ll- North Korea will have revival, amen!”. It was a great moment but then the- but when I opened my eyes, the whole sky had parted and it was shining. And I thought, “Awww! I should have said “Shine!” Amen”.
So. They called me the prophet of sunshine from then on up in Korea because, [word fumble] you know the guy from Australia brings the sunshine. And a- and so umm.”
Pringle points out another prophecy he made in Korea. If Pringle WAS a genuine prophet – his attitude is abysmal towards God. He was disobedient in three ways.
His attitude. (If you read His book ‘Faith’, Pringle will teach you that your PMA faith is what connects you to God. Negativity disconnects you from God. So what is speaking to him?)
Pringle didn’t do as God said and did it his way.
When God supposedly said, “Prophesy that the sun is going to shine” – Pringle not only disobeyed that instruction, he ‘prophesied’ saying, “I’ll believe God You’ll- North Korea will have revival, amen!” This only goes to show that Pringle wants to see revival happen in spite of God NOT even saying revival will happen.
How can C3 trust their prophet if Phil Pringle adds to God’s simple instruction like this? Did this revival come to North Korea?
This insight from Pringle only reveals that Pringle is a very disobedient prophet (even if he was somehow legitimate). However, if Yonggi Cho’s church called Pringle “the prophet of sunshine from then on”, then Pringle must have portrayed himself as a ‘prophet’ to them somehow. This is probably because he prophesied revival.
What was bad with Pringle’s approach to ‘prophecy’ was his comment that “North Korea will have revival”. He seemed to associate this revival to when the sun was meant to shine again in Korea. So did that prophecy of the North Korea revival come true? We will conclude that the answer is a fat out ‘no’ based on Pringle’s personal account on revival here:
So if Pringle was somehow a legitimate prophet, would you trust Phil Pringle who is openly disobedient to God in more ways then one, in regards to prophecy? Would you believe a man who prophesies ‘revival’ on everything, even if some-how God tells him to prophesy issues that aren’t connected to revival?
ISN’T THIS DISCOMBOBULATING?
3. “I made a commitment, “Lord, I’ll just say the stuff that I see and” and uh. And uh- And so that, you know, prompted me in that meeting and I said, “I can see Warragamaba Dam. It’s gonna flood over”. While I’m saying this I’m [like], “What are you saying? It’s like – we’ve been in this drought and it looked like it was never going to happen again”.”
It is interesting to note that while Pringle said earlier that he “can remember this”, he, “saw… Warragamba Dam overflowing”. After his prophetic account in Korea he says, “Lord, I’ll just say the stuff that I see”. He then goes on to describe what he saw in the Warragamba dam prophecy.
But now we have two different stories.
In the actual video, he said, “as I was standing here tonight, God spoke to me about a really weird thing”. In the video, he was continually speaking on behalf of God and not once mentioned a vision.
Above he says, “I can see Warragamaba Dam. It’s gonna flood over”. In fact, in his above blurb – Pringle has said continually he saw a vision of the Warragamba Dam full.
For someone who remembers giving this prophetic encounter, Pringle is giving us two very different stories. Did God speak to Pringle audibly or did God give Pringle a vision to speak from?
ISN’T THIS DISHONEST?
4. “Obviously if it hadn’t happened I wouldn’t be telling you this story but um… Haha. But thankfully it did.”
While Pringle treats this as a joke, this is what happens at C3. When a supposed vision from God does not come to pass or a prophecy fails to materialise, then it is swept aside by C3. They hope people don’t notice. We have. Expect more articles on these topics down the track.
ISN’T THIS DISPROVED?
5. “Because there was an addendum to that. Ah, that, ah, was quite ah, quite interesting for me. And, you know ah, in 1998 you’ll recall we had in an OZFIRE meeting, (Presence Meeting), I gave a similar thing about the two tallest buildings in the world coming to the ground and after that, a financial melt down. And ah- then streams of people would start coming into the house of God. And that actually happened in all kinds of ways.”
There was indeed an addendum to the Warragamba Dam prophecy. In relation to the dam prophecy, Pringle brings up an old prophecy he made in 1998. He still insists that the twin towers in New York were “the two tallest buildings in the world”. They were not. We proved this prophecy to be false here.
This is clearly a false prophecy. Why would Pringle use a false prophecy to say that this Warragamba Dam prophecy is legitimate?
ISN’T THIS DISASTER?
6. “But the point of the physical occurrence of these things was to indicate another thing that God was actually about to do. And I remember when I- when I actually announced that, that ah, “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.)
Saying the above is risky on Pringle’s behalf. Phil has made this VERY clear by now stating “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”. He has NOW set a time when revival is going to come.
It’s not a few months away. It’s not next year. This revival will be immediate. If this revival does not come, this could be disastrous to peoples faith.
ISN’T THIS DISAPPOINTING?
7. “And I’m just so thrilled with you guys. Every week we turn up – you know seeing your faithfulness, your strength, you’re – we’ve been through so many different pieces of the landscape and the terrain of God that when we get to this point, when God’s about to do something He will build on, those who’ve come through all the stuff and being faithful to Him and being true to Him – in spite of difficult circumstances and- I’m believing that there is definitely a breakthrough day coming up ahead of us. And I think you and I have got to get ready in all kinds of ways. One of the One of the new ways that will come upon us is the use of screen technology. And God will use that in all kinds of- and we’re getting ourselves very ready for that ah, in- which I’ll explain later in a later date. More about that.”
In the Warragamba Dam prophecy in Part 1, Pringle says in his prophecy that the dam will overflow and revival will come with a condition on C3. We will look more at this in Part 4. However, Phil Pringle also has explained the status of this condition very clearly in the above blurb.
Pringle said, “Every week we turn up” and praised C3 for their “faithfulness” and “strength”. He talks about C3’s endurance and how “God’s about to do something He will build on, those who’ve come through all the stuff and being faithful to Him and being true to Him”. Pringle is FULLY convinced that C3 has fulfilled their ‘if’ commitment to God. And the proof of their commitment to God is the Warragamba Dam overflowing. This means if the revival doesn’t come, Pringle does not have his congregation to blame. If the revival does not come, many who came expecting and fully convinced they were faithful, will become disappointed when the promised revival does not turn up.
This is dangerous on his behalf. Why? He cannot now back out and blame C3 church for not being committed. If he didn’t say the above and revival didn’t happen, Pringle could pull an Andrew Kubala by blaming the congregation for not being faithful. This means he could escape the consequences of prophesying falsely.
He didn’t.
ISN’T THIS DISPOSABLE?
8. “I’m believing that there is definitely a breakthrough day coming up ahead of us. And I think you and I have got to get ready in all kinds of ways. One of the new ways that will come upon us is the use of screen technology. And God will use that in all kinds of- and we’re getting ourselves very ready for that ah, in- which I’ll explain later in a later date. More about that.”
Pringle makes it clear that he is convinced that revival is coming because of C3’s faithful commitment. This means they need to “to get ready in all kinds of ways”. We will be looking more into this in Part 4 & 5.
Even by analysing the content of Pringle’s Warragamba Dam message on the 4th of March, it is clear this prophecy is false. Remember that C3 showed this prophecy at their C3 Presence Conference on the 10th of April and the 13th of April. That is more than a month later after the dam overflowed. If they were still waiting for the “breakthrough day coming up ahead of us”, then they ignored Pringle’s words that the revival was to be “immediately”.
Is it not clear enough already that this is a false prophecy? Why did C3 bother to pick up something that is disposable and parade it at Presence Conference 2012 in front of thousands of Christians? If it hadn’t come, why flog it?
In closing, we wish to thank Phil Pringle for his insights. He has helped clarify his ‘prophetic office’, how we should understand the Warragamba Dam prophecy and how it should work out.
Pringle has made it clear: if the prophecy is not fulfilled it is either God who got it wrong or Phil Pringle is a false prophet. Either way, this will be a disaster to C3 if revival does not come soon. What will happen to all those expecting revival who are getting “ready in all kinds of ways”?
C3 Church Watch 