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Tag Archives: money

Did Kong Hee copy Pringle’s ‘Leadership Giving Model’ to exploit his CHC members?

17 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by Nailed Truth in C3 & Pringles Associations

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c3, c3 church, CHC, chc scandal, City Harvest Church, Kong Hee, Leadership Giving Model, LGM, money, Phil Pringle, R&B, RaB, Rise & Build, rise and build, scandal

When Dr Paul Choo critiqued Kong Hee’s church, he exposed Phil Pringle’s Leadership Giving Model (LGM) philosophy and program which integrated in CHC’s system.

Dr Paul Choo Warns People Against Kong Hee’s Ministry: “This is NOT Christianity. This is NOT the gospel. This is a SCAM.”

Below is audio and a transcript of Phil Pringle claiming that Kong Hee copied his Leadership Giving Model (LGM), which includes the ‘Rise & Build’ program.

Apart from the LGM being entirely unbiblical and manipulative, it would seem that there are some inherent weaknesses in Phil Pringle’s LGM. Phil Pringle says that his LGM has been heavily promoted over the years and was enthusiastically embraced by various church leaders. One such ‘leader’ was Kong Hee.

Whilst we acknowledge that a person can use a business model fraudulently without it being the fault of the creator of the model, in the absence of Phil Pringle calling out Kong Hee on his ‘abuse’ of the Leadership Giving Model, are we to assume that it still has his blessing?

We would like to remind our readers what Pringle appears to think is appropriate financial conduct in Kong Hee’s church.

“I read a blog by a woman—Sanses. She was very positive towards the church. I thought she did a really good job. I thought it’s so simple, like man-on-the-street talk. She’s going like, “What am I missing here? The church [CHC] invested $25m, and now it’s got it all back with interest. Church didn’t lose any money, what am I missing? Why are these people in court?” I probably was doing a search for something when I found it. I thought well, this is good news.” [Source]

Does Pringle’s LGM system work on this philosophy: justifying the means if it all turns out fine in the end? Has Pringle’s LGM system always operated with the above philosophy or does Pringle’s LGM system work on this philosophy only in CHC?

“What I’m saying is that- that, when you step out, you will see God move. And you will see the power of God do amazing things in your life. And- And when you hear about what others have done, it- it inspires us to actually to do the same-

The second thing is the responsibility of leadership. The second reason we should bring substantial offerings to the Lord is because we have led others into this…

… And so for them to exhibit a Leadership Giving Model, inspired churches all around in the other areas. I remember in 1989 when we did start this, I became aware of other churches that came to actually see what we were doing…

… And I was aware that in 1989, around Australia, fifty seven million dollars was raised through out the country through other people taking on this program. That is the one I- I- only the ones- I knew about…

… And then Kong Hee in Singapore picked up the idea and he calls his ‘Rise and Build’ and just takes the whole thing, copies it exactly and raises sixty million US for- and he paid it debt free for his building there in- in Singapore. And now they’re planning on building another one for two hundred million- ah- US. And- and that-that’s just some of the examples that others have taken the lead from you here in this church. And you’ve been able to inspire others. And as we come into this program every year, people are er- inspired.”

Source: Phil Pringle, Eight Reasons To Give, C3 Church Oxford Falls, 23/06/2009. (Accessed 14/03/2012.) (Emphasis ours.)

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C3 Asheville Scandal – While Dean’s Playing Slick, Nick’s In The Knick (Part 7)

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by Nailed Truth in C3 & Pringles Associations, C3 Asheville Scandal

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

c3 asheville, c3 church, c3 church asheville, c3 cult, c3 pastor, c3 pastor convicted, c3 pastor jailed, c3 pastor sentenced, ccc, ccc acheville, criminal, cult, dean sweetman, Dimitris, felon, fraud, money, negligence, Nick, Nick Dimitris, pastor phil pringle, Phil Pringle, sentenced, Sweetman

If you are not familiar with the C3 Asheville scandal, please update yourself with our articles here:

C3 Asheville Scandal – C3 Pastor Facing Prison (Part 1)
C3 Asheville Scandal – C3 Pastor “Pleads Guilty In Bank Fraud Case” (Part 2)
C3 Asheville Scandal – Sweetmans Do Nothing Against Fraudulent C3 Pastor? (Part 3)

C3 Asheville Scandal – Four “People… Have Pleaded Guilty” Including “[C3] Minister… Nicholas Dimitris” (Part 4)
C3 Asheville Scandal – C3 ‘Pastor’ Nick Dimitris: The Liar (Part 5)
C3 Asheville Scandal – Massive Financial Judgment Against C3 Asheville Pastor Nick Dimitris (Part 6)

A few years ago Nick Dimitris stated,

“Emily and I want to update you on some news about our family and the circumstances that has arisen. Over two years ago we purchased property from some folks who are currently under a federal investigation in pursuit for multiple proprieties. These individuals and the bank that provided the financing were allegedly involved in illegal behaviour.

Although we had no knowledge of their misbehaviour, we’ve been required to participate with the federal government in this case since we were the buyers. This has put us in a very difficult position and cooperation was not an option in the matter. Our testimony now is a very critical part of the case against these individuals.

You may have seen information about this in the media. And if so, please realise that the media is very good at misconstruing facts, which is misleading at best. Nevertheless, it sells papers. We cannot control what the media does or how they represent the circumstance.  But let me assure you church, the facts of the matter have been given to our overseers and a team of leaders within the church.”

Moving along, the Citizen-Times reports,

ASHEVILLE — Three men were sentenced to federal prison Tuesday for their roles in an elaborate scheme to obtain more than $23 million in illegal loans to forestall failure of the bankrupt Seven Falls development.

Robert Craig Gourlay, David G. Smith and Nicholas Dimitris conspired with developer Keith Vinson in a case that Judge Martin Reidinger described at the hearing as “a scourge on this community.”

“This is a case where the concerted actions of a few people brought down two banks,” the judge said in U.S. District Court in Asheville. “Not only was it serious wrongdoing, it was very harmful wrongdoing.”

Reidinger sentenced Gourlay, chief credit officer at Pisgah Community Bank, to 15 months in prison. Smith, a loan officer with the bank, received nine months. Dimitris, a minister and real estate investor, got 12 months.

Seven Falls filed for bankruptcy in 2009. The luxury development was planned to accommodate 900 homes and an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course on 1,400 acres, potentially adding $1.25 billion to Henderson County’s tax base.

Prosecutors said Vinson had “straw borrowers” take out illegal loans to buy lots in hopes of preventing foreclosure. Vinson was unable to borrow more money because of rules designed to limit banks’ exposure to any one borrower.

Gourlay and Smith authorized loans involving millions of dollars to straw borrowers, while Dimitris served as such a borrower on loans made by the bank, receiving kickbacks in return, according to criminal complaints filed in 2011.

The three are among 10 codefendants who reached plea deals with prosecutors, leaving only Vinson to stand trial. He was convicted by a jury last month on all 13 counts he was charged with, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, misapplication of bank funds, wire fraud and money laundering.

Reidinger ordered Vinson held without bond until sentencing. He faces up to 30 years in prison, according to prosecutors.

The judge said that in sentencing of Gourlay, Smith and Dimitris, he took into account their cooperation with the government in the case against Vinson. Gourlay and Dimitris testified at the trial.

But Reidinger pointed out that Bank of Asheville and Pisgah Community Bank failed as a result of the scheme. Such crimes serve to undermine the banking system, he said.

“When citizens don’t have confidence in the banking system, the economy collapses,” the judge said.

Prosecutors said Vinson began Seven Falls with a $25 million bank loan to be repaid with money from the sale of lots. He ran out of money in 2008, when the economy tanked and sales dried up. That’s when Vinson and his fellow conspirators came up with a “lot loan scheme” involving straw borrowers.

Former Bank of Asheville President George Gordon “Buddy” Greenwood pleaded guilty to bank fraud charges and was sentenced in May 2012 to four years in federal prison. According to court records, Greenwood was involved in illegal loans to Vinson totaling nearly $6.8 million.

Vinson and six other codefendants, including former Pisgah Community Bank President Thomas “Ted” Durham Jr., await sentencing.

Source: Clarke Morrison, 3 get prison in Seven Falls case – Three men get terms for conspiring with Vinson in loan scheme, http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20131127/NEWS01/311270022/3-get-prison-Seven-Falls-case?nclick_check=1, 26/11/2013. (Accessed 27/11/2013.)

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Wolves After Leather Pack Together…

10 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by Nailed Truth in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

$1.7 million house, books, Brian Houston, c3 church, ccc, charlotte, charlotte observer, Christian City Church, Furtick, hillsong, hillsong church, house, Houston, mansion, mansions, money, Phil Pringle, Pringle, Stephen Furtick, Steven Furtick

“Steven Furtick’s financial empire was built with BLOOD MONEY — money earned twisting God’s Word, preaching false doctrine & deceiving people IN THE NAME OF JESUS.” – Chris Rosebrough, 23/10/2013.

Could the same be said of Phil Pringle of C3 Church and Brian Houston of Hillsong Church?

In the last few months, people have been hassling or giving us links to report on the lavish lifestyle of Phil and Chris Pringle, Senior Pastors and Founders of the C3 Church Movement. The Pringle’s recently purchased a $3.5 million house and had no problem flaunting their lifestyle on twitter or instagram.

My! What Big Faith You Have!

My! What Big Stories You Have!

It’s been reported in the past that Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie have property deals of up to $1.4 million and that they are tenants of waterfront properties at Bondi Beach and the Hawkesbury River that they sold to LMI. Not to mention, it was reported that Houston said his total salary was “just over $300 000″.

My! What Big Faith You Have! (From Hillsong Church Watch)

Just recently, Steven Furtick (close associate of Phil Pringle and Brian Houston), has come under scrutiny over his $1.7 million house and his CEO approach to church ministry. Before looking at some news articles, we thought it would be good to provide an article and some links from the Pajama Pages blog on this issue. After reading the Pajama Pages articles, we have media articles reporting on Furtick’s mansion. We hope these articles help you understand the nature of how mega churches like C3 and Hillsong run.

Pajama Pages reports,

The problem with businessmenpastors. A reader’s contribution

A comment in the Walt White article is impressively on point that I think it deserves to be read by people who may not have made it to the end of that article. PP reader, Josh, posted the following this afternoon:

The problem with Furtick isn’t that he’s rich, or even that he’s a rich pastor. The problem is that he’s rich because he’s a pastor. If professing Christian Steven Furtick started a successful bakery, retail store or construction company in 2006 that was incredibly successful, so much so that he could buy a $3 million home, few would criticize him for enjoying his earnings. In fact, the world and people in the church generally look favorably on successful Christian businessmen. No one questions how Truett Cathy spends his Chick-fil-a money, for example.

The problem is that Furtick and others got their money by turning the church into a business. Pastors like Furtick are obsessed with business leadership because they fashion themselves as the CEO and identify more with celebrity CEOs like Steve Jobs than with non-celebrity pastors. Decisions are made by the CEO to build the brand, to create a larger customer base, to increase the giving margin, and to expand into new opportunities. Church personnel decisions are made in the same way. Is the youth pastor growing the youth brand? Is the worship pastor stylish enough? While such decisions are constrained at some point by biblical considerations…they aren’t going to hire a guy who publicly rejects the Bible…the biblical standards of Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3 aren’t really considerations.

This creates two problems, though. One, churches aren’t businesses and aren’t supposed to be run as such. There is nothing wrong with Macy’s developing a non-fraudulent pricing and promotional strategy designed to extricate consumers with as many spending dollars as possible. Macy’s should offer products and services designed to produce high margin income. But churches aren’t businesses. The pastor shouldn’t spend time developing (or, more likely, purchasing from consultants) “offering talks,” or message series, or coaching services, or conferences with a goal of increasing the church’s income. The church shouldn’t be selling books and t-shirts and lattes and Bibles or anything else. God’s house is not a house of merchandise!

So when the Furticks of the Christian world stand up and talk about money (and they talk about money a lot!) it sounds a lot like Macy’s running television commercials for their two-day After-Thanksgiving sale. When they preach on tithing (a subject on which Bible-believing Christians can easily disagree), it sounds self-serving because it is self-serving. Is it Furtick the preacher of God’s Word talking, or Furtick the CEO of Elevation Church, Inc. talking? Nothing has changed in two thousand years. A pastor cannot serve two masters.

The second problem is the conflict of interest between the company (the church) and the CEO (the pastor.) Former GM CEO Charles Wilson reportedly once claimed that “What’s good for GM is good for the country.” (A misquote, but that’s not the point here.) Celebrity CEO pastors seem to believe that what’s good for the Lead Pastor is good for the church. That’s why they freely write and promote books on the church’s time and bring in other celebrity CEO pastors to “teach” (with undisclosed and sizable speaking fees). Does Furtick invite Craig Groeshel to teach for $____ because Groeshel brought in Furtick to teach at Lifechurhc for $_____? No one knows because it’s all a big, big secret. Is the five-week sermon series on “Sun Stand Still Prayers” for the edification of the church, or to promote the CEO’s new book, which is conveniently for sale in the church bookstore. Building the CEO’s profile will help him sell books, increase his demand as a guest speaker, and feed his ego. But does it benefit the church? None of your business.

The clear conflict of interest is exacerbated by an utter lack of accountability. Sure, if Furtick gets caught sleeping with his cute personal assistant (which has happened in at least two smaller CEO-style churches I’m aware of), he couldn’t salvage his position. But no one from inside his inner circle is going to question his business dealings, his use of church time to work on and promote his books, his purchase of his own and friends’ books by the church, his speaking fee at churches with mutual relationships, or his promotional choice of message series. Anyone from the inside who did ask such impertinent questions would suddenly find themselves on the outs, and in a personality-driven organization, loss of access to the leader is a dire sanction. Outsiders in the media or blog may ask questions, but they won’t get answers. And the rank and file members will stay on and keep giving…
…
Related Posts:

      1. Steven Furtick and the Walter White conundrum
      2. How Steven Furtick turns mediocre books into mansions
      3. In which I argue that Perry Noble and Steven Furtick are not…

Source: The problem with businessmen pastors. A reader’s contribution, Pajama Pages, http://www.pajamapages.com/the-problem-with-businessmen-pastors-a-readers-contribution/, 30/10/2013. (Accessed 01/11/2013.)

Here are some follow up articles on Steven Furtick you can read up on.

Articles from The Charlotte WCNC.com:

By STUART WATSON / NBC Charlotte:
NBC Charlotte obtains confidential Elevation report
Charlotte WCNC.com, 

http://www.wcnc.com/home/NBC-Charlotte-obtains-confidential-Elevation-Church-report-230557491.html
Posted on November 4, 2013 at 11:31 PM, Updated Tuesday, Nov 5 at 12:42 PM. (Accessed 10/11/2012.)

By STUART WATSON / NBC Charlotte:
I-Team: Pastor’s salary set by board, not congregation,
Charlotte WCNC.com
http://www.wcnc.com/news/iteam/I-Team-Pastors-salary-set-by-board-not-congregation-229010291.html
Posted on October 23, 2013 at 7:34 PM, Updated Thursday, Oct 24 at 10:21 AM. (Accessed 10/11/2012.)

Articles from The Charlotte Observer:

By Tim Funk and Maria David:
Elevation Church pastor building big home in Waxhaw,
Charlotte Observer
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/10/23/4407782/elevation-church-pastor-building.html#.Un9tVvnI2So#storylink=cpy
Posted: Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (Accessed 10/11/2012.)

By Stuart Watson:
Elevation Church pastor Steven Furtick responds to his critics
,
Charlotte Observer
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/10/27/4419474/elevation-church-pastor-steven.html#.UnH0jvnI2Sq#storylink=cpy
Posted: Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. 
(Accessed 10/11/2012.)

By Elisabeth Arriero:
Elevation Church pastor Steven Furtick: 16,000-square-foot house is gift from God
Charlotte Observer
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/10/27/4420172/elevation-church-pastor-responds.html#.Un9i9_nI2So#storylink=cpy
Posted: Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. 
(Accessed 10/11/2012.)

Any more articles that are found on this issue, we will gladly add.

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An Insightful Analysis To The CHC System (Part 1)

11 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by Nailed Truth in C3 & Pringles Associations

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analysis, CHC, Christian City Church, City Harvest Church, god or mammon, Kong Hee, mammon, money, Phil Pringle, religion and money, review

Kong Hee says about CHC, Phil Pringle and the C3 Church Movement,

“You can’t talk about City Harvest Church without talking about C3. Or Christian City Church. You know Pastor Phil has been there for me; praying with me; encouraging me; discipling me; telling me how to do the work of the ministry; taught me how to collect an offering; how to give an altar call; how to build a church; build a team. So Pastor Phil, from the depth of my heart, for Sun and myself, we wouldn’t be where we are today without you and Pastor Chris. Let’s give Pastor Phil and Pastor Chris a big clap.” – Kong Hee, Kong Hee, Session 8: (00:24), Presence Conference 2010.

The above quote is something to think about while reading the below article.

Marc Ronez, an expert in Risk Management, wrote a series of articles analysing the CHC case on his blog ‘The Risk Paradox’. His blog states that,

“Marc has an MBA from the University of Chicago GSB, an MSc in Insurance and a LLM from the University of La Sorbonne. He is also a Fellow in Applied Risk Management (FARM) from the CARM Institute.” – About Marc, http://marcronez.wordpress.com/about/, (Accessed 12/08/2013.)

Here is Ronez’s first article analysing the CHC situation:

City Harvest Case part 1: Following God or Mammon?

The start of the City Harvest Church (CHC in short) trial on the 15th of May after 2 years of investigations which saw the church senior pastor and founder, Kong Hee and 5 other leaders of the church being prosecuted for allegedly misusing church’s funds, has brought back under the spotlight the issue of the sensitive relationship between Religion and Money.

One of the ways worshippers show their love and commitment to their faith is by giving their hard earned money to support the religious causes that matter to them. As a result, temples and churches collect and manage very large amounts of money.

According the Commissioner of Charities (COC) report available on the charity portal, religious charities in Singapore received $1.6 billion out $10.7 billion for the whole charitable sector in 2011. In order to ensure that the funds are used for godly charitable purposes that will provide benefits to the society, it is in the donors’ and general public’s interests that both the way the money is raised and how it is used, have to follow certain commonly accepted moral principles and rules.

A Risk Management Perspective on the CHC Case

Exploring this issue of the management & uses of money in religious charities from a risk management’s perspective, it seems that the CHC case may have potentially exposed some serious Governance problems in this prominent mega-church. The information that have been made available in the news so far seem to point to a wide possible range of unethical and even fraudulent practices such as pervasive conflict of interests, abuse of power, weak control systems, lack of leadership accountability and little information transparency. Given the high profile of CHC and the sensitivity of the issue, this case has attracted a lot of media attention and generated heated debates on social media among both Christians and non-Christians. This has led to a lot of tensions between the parties involved and deep confusion as to what and who to believe in this case.

Being a Christian myself and having been attending regularly the services at CHC for the past few years, I have a direct interest to see this cloud of confusion being lifted. Like many other CHC members, I would like to be able to figure out what to make of the accusations that have been brought against the 6 Church leaders. This is very important as these men and women are leading the Church and are considered to be role models for all members in the Church to follow. While understanding, respect and support should naturally be provided by Church members to the prosecuted leaders who have earned their trust, this natural support should not tun into blind loyalty. Indeed, loyalty to a leader does NOT dispense the same members from keeping an open mind and actively seeking the truth whatever it may reveal – good or possibly bad things – in order to to be able to make properly grounded decisions about what to do. This should be the same in any organization as Trust must be build on solid foundations.

As a risk management professional, I have had to investigate a wide range of fraud cases over the years in the organizations I worked for and hence it would be just fitting and appropriate to apply the same principles and investigative methodologies to the CHC case to find out whether there could be any real substance (or not) in the allegations made against the CHC leaders.

Therefore, in an attempt to bring more clarity into this case, I will explore it using a Fraud Risk Management Analytical Framework to analyze systematically the facts that have been made available. The key objective is to try to understand and explain what could have gone wrong (if anything) in CHC.

In order to ensure that we all have a clear common understanding of the meaning of some of the key words used in this analysis, I will clarify the meaning of Ethics and Fraud by providing the following definitions:

Ethics refer to the moral values and norms such as honesty, integrity, accountability that explain and guide an individual’s behavior in society. Ethics form a moral code of conduct, a sort of compass that helps people in differentiating what is right or wrong, what is good or bad.

Fraud is about deception, it is acting dishonestly in order to gain or give an advantage. It usually consist of a false representation of a material fact or of a person—whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading statements, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed—that is intended to deceive another into parting with something of value or to surrendering a legal right. (it include acts of bribery, cronyism, sleaze, nepotism, corruption, favoritism, etc).

What do psychologists, criminologists and social scientists say about human behavior in relation to ethics and fraud?

You might find the answer to that question quite disheartening as most experts agree that pretty much anybody could potentially engage into unethical and even fraudulent behaviors provided that certain set of circumstances or factors are present in a given situation. Understanding what are those particular circumstances or factors would obviously help guide our exploration of the CHC case. Hence, we will use a recognized fraud risk assessment model that explicitly structure the analysis around those key circumstances or factors.

A Risk Assessment and Management Model: The Fraud Triangle

The Fraud Triangle, developed by American Criminologist Donald Cressey, is one of the models that can help us understand what are the circumstances or factors mentioned in the previous section. In short, the Fraud Triangle model postulates that unethical and fraudulent behaviors are very likely to occur if the following 3 factors are present in a given situation:

1. The first Factor is PRESSURES: The person is under very strong financial or work related pressures (needing money, achieve targets) or it is in his self-interest to break the rules (hiding mistakes, gaining something).

2. The second factor is OPPORTUNITIES: The person has by himself (or with accomplices) the authority and the means to to take whatever actions needed to make the cheating possible. The person must also believe that he can conceal his actions to avoid being caught, for example, due to a weak management control system and a permissive organizational culture.

3. The third factor is ETHICAL RATIONALIZATION: Finally, because practically nobody likes to think about himself as a fraudster, he therefore must be able to rationalize his unethical or fraudulent behavior to be somewhat congruent with commonly accepted moral principles.
The Fraud Triangle has seen countless applications in practical cases and works well to explain the WHY & HOW people can be tempted to act unethically or even to commit a fraud. It also provides a framework on how to prevent, detect and manage unethical or fraudulent behaviors in organizations (from a CEO making fraudulent statements down to a clerical staff stealing company equipments). Hence, based on the findings of a Fraud Triangle assessment, we are able to develop a pretty comprehensive and effective Ethical Compliance and Fraud Risk Management programs.

So I will now, step by step, undertake an exploration process on HOW each of these factors COULD apply in the context of the CHC case. But before I start this analysis, I would like to stress that at this point of time, the court case against the CHC leaders is still on-going and could even stretch well into 2014 as reported in The Straits Times. This is obviously a complex and difficult case with an outcome which is at this stage uncertain. So please keep in mind while reading this post that there is an important legal principle that says:

Everyone charged with a penal offence should be presumed innocent until proven guilty in accordance to the law in a public trial at which he or she has had all the guarantees necessary for a fair defense.

This presumption of innocence means that it is the responsibility of the prosecution to prove the guilt of a criminal defendant and that he (or she) also has the right to a fair defence. Therefore, the purpose of this analysis is NOT to take position on whether the accused leaders are guilty or innocent in the eyes of the Law as this will be determined by the court proceedings. The purpose is to use the Fraud Triangle model to undertake an ethical & fraud risk profile assessment of CHC to try to make sense of the information that have already been made available and assess the POSSIBILITY of “breaking the rules” behaviors taking place in CHC. My expectation is that by using an analytical approach that essentially “let the FACTS speak for themselves”, the results of this assessment will be more objective and help readers get much needed clarity about this case.

Setting the Context of the Analysis: Background Information about CHC Crossover project

When reviewing the information available, it is clear that the key question marks of this case revolve around the CHC Crossover Project. As there are conflicting perspectives about the Crossover project, in particular from CHC’s side and from the prosecution’s side, it is important to first clarify them as follows:

CHC perspective: An Evangelization Project – In 2002, City Harvest embarked on the “Crossover Project”. In essence, it was supposed to be an Evangelization project. Thus, the stated intention (as indicated on CHC Crossover website) was first to use secular pop music to reach out to “people who would never think of setting a foot in a church” and because of that would otherwise be out of reach from church more traditional activities. Second, to support & encourage “Christians in the pop industry to shine for Jesus”. It is important to understand that Evangelization is (or should be) a core mission for any churches as Jesus Christ himself, before he ascended to the heavens, instructed his disciples and followers to bring the Gospel to all the nations of the world (Matthew 28:19-20). And using pop music to reach out to the unchurched like in the CHC case is just an application of what many Christians know as the “Cultural Mandate”. The Cultural Mandate is the belief that Christians are not to stay within the 4 walls of their churches waiting for people to come in but on the contrary, they must bring God’s Word to the unchurched by engaging proactively in every area of human society, as organized by pastor Kong Hee into 7 Pillars: Family, Religion, Business, Education, Government, Arts and Media. The objective is to reach positions of influence to be “witnesses for Christ” and create the maximum opportunities for people to hear about and come to Jesus Christ.

COC & Prosecution perspective: A “cover up” for a Fraud – The prosecution claims that, whatever were the stated intentions, the CHC Crossover project ended up to be (for a large part at least) nothing more than what could be characterized as a “cover-up”! That its essential purpose was, in fact, to provide the funds necessary to finance the costs associated with the launch of Sun Ho (wife of Pastor Kong Hee) secular musical career in Hollywood. The COC and prosecution claim that at least SGD 24 millions were illegally diverted from the church building fund and channelled to support Sun Ho’s attempt to breakthrough on the Hollywood music scene. The COC and prosecution further claim that the use of a complex bonds structure and of other transfer techniques to funnel indirectly the funds to the Crossover demonstrate the deception because they were “part of a concerted effort to conceal this movement of funds from stakeholders”. The reason was to hide the fact the money used to finance Sun Ho career was actually coming from the church in contradiction to Pastor Kong repeated claims that no church money was used to finance his wife’s secular career (See links to articles about the CHC case).

Application of the Fraud triangle to CHC case: Exploring the 3 factors

So we have 2 very different and conflicting perspectives, then let’s now use the Fraud Triangle to bring some clarity into this case. Please note that a Fraud Triangle Assessment will require to question the motivations and actions of the accused CHC leaders. I can understand that some readers, especially CHC members, might feel uncomfortable that I will question the moral integrity of well-respected leaders and would feel the need to jump to their defense. So before you may be tempted to react in that way, I would like you to keep in mind that I am merely asking what should be considered as reasonable questions about this case and looking ONLY at the facts publicly available, avoiding any rumors and using a well-tested, credible Risk Management model. The objective of this analysis is only to stimulate healthy questioning and help readers to clear the cloud of confusion about this case through an open and analytical process that allow a more balanced assessment.

As this Risk Assessment analysis is quite detailed, it will be split into 7 posts that I will release gradually as and when ready. My next post on this case entitled “CHC Case – If there is a Fraud what would be the Motives?”, will focus on the first question of the the Fraud Triangle i.e. the PRESSURES Factor. We will assess from the facts what could be the possible motives of the accused leaders that could explain their behaviors in this case.

So keep looking at my blog for the developing analysis.

Source: Marc Ronez, http://marcronez.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/city-harvest-case-following-god-or-mammon/, 11/07/2013. (Accessed 07/08/2013.)

 

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Beyond Words… Pringle Sinks To New Depths At Global Presence Conference 2013

03 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by Nailed Truth in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

c3, c3 church, c3 global presence conference, c3 oxford falls, C3 Presence Conference, c3church, C3OF, cash, ccc, CCC Global Presence Conference, ccc oxford falls, ccc Presence Conference, cccof, CHC, chc scandal, city harvest, City Harvest Church, conference, critics, finances, financial offering, giving, kong, Kong Hee, kong hee scandal, money, Phil Pringle, Presence, Presence Conference, Pringle, rort, scam, scandal

At his Global Presence Conference 2013, Phil Pringle got thousands of Christians to financially support Kong Hee’s trial back in Singapore. Pringle did not inform those present what the allegations against Kong Hee and his staff were about.

Below is the video and transcript. Here are some of our observations what Pringle said:

  • Although Pringle did not want to encourage Christians to financially support Kong Hee’s defense lawyers “under any compulsion or pressure” Phil Pringle laid the pressure on people to give.
  • He manipulated people into giving by censoring the central facts of Kong Hee’s trial and parading him as an innocent and righteous blood-stained martyr in a pagan world. He did this by comparing Kong Hee’s circumstances to John Bunyan’s and the early church Apostles circumstances.
  • Using cat-fight and division-like tactics, Pringle used defamatory commentary against Christians who are questioning the integrity of Kong Hee, Sun Ho and himself. After slagging off Christians as ‘enemies’, he called for the church to be unified again around Kong Hee and Sun Ho without explaining why they were being charged. (For someone who thinks that Christians “are getting a little numb” to criticisms now, Pringle makes sure to attack them publicly.)
  • Pringle twists the Apostle Paul’s words so Christians would close their eyes, ears and minds to the truth. When Pringle said, “Don’t be moved as by as a letter as though from us”, he was referring to 2 Thessalonians 2:2. This is why there IS division. Paul wanted the church to avoid men like Pringle that would twist his words.

The above is not an exhaustive analysis of what Pringle said. We encourage readers to examine and discuss the claims we have made above. We are looking at doing a thorough analysis of Pringle’s special offering message at another time. In the mean time, here is Phil Pringle’s message:

“Oh Jesus! Your Presence™ is heaven to us.

You know I- I want to do a couple more things tonight before we finish. If I can have the lights go up a bit.

Uh- I’m hesitant to do this but I just feel we should. And I don’t want you to feel under any compulsion or pressure or anything like this. And I’ve only ever done this once before in a Presence Conference as to add another offering but I know the costs that are involved in Kong Hee making his defense. It’s not small.

It’s not even six figures. It’s seven and it’s multiples of that for the legal defense and for seven people are charged. not just Kong himself. Happily, two weeks ago, Sun was completely exonerated from all charges against her. [Crowds Applause]

You can be seated. Thank you. Just for a second. I know it’s half past time but we’re cool. It’s ANZAC day.

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.

We do not face this kind of situation. It’s hard to even imagine it or feel it. But I’ve been on the front page of newspapers. And I’ve been on the six o’clock. And I’ve been on a Current Affair when Mr Hinch was around even then. And I was there. “Shame! Shame!”

And uh- and uh- and it’s- it’s a terrible, terrible feeling. But I- you gotta know that the reason we- this- this- none of this comes cheaply. And I’m not talking cash. Nothing of worth is achieved without some opposition. And you can tell the value of a thing you’re trying to achieve by the level of opposition that you’re getting.

And so- there’s a price for the anointing. There’s a price for the growth of the kingdom of God. And when we’re called to come up with that price- whatever it is- there’s not a disciple or an apostle that didn’t go through some immense contradiction in life. To achieve the things, the scriptures that we read, are penned in blood. There are martyrs all through the centuries and persecuted people. John Bunyan was thrown in prison. I think it was eleven times before he wrote ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’. Finally he wrote it.

He figured, “This is why I’m in here”. Hehe! I’m not sure if he ever went back in there but cos he was preaching so ferociously. They just kept throwing him in.

And I think it’s an awesome thing. If one member in the body has suffered. If other members bear the pain as well, a little- and so I would like to do this right now.

One of the things that’s happened- it’s one of the brightest pieces of light in the last three years in this situation- that recently Sun was exonerated because there was insufficient evidence, they said. So there was a public outcry, “Why then in the first place was there any suspension of her office?”

And that was one of the questions asked. And uh- it continues, you know. But that is th- that is a beginning. That is a bright piece of light for- and the press- the last press release I read was uh- halfway positive- and halfway negative. But it uh- it wasn’t as nearly as DAMNING as the others had been.

Let’s pray together and ask God to help us with our giving here to bless our brother. And if you are unable to, pray. If you can, do. Go ahead and let’s uh- be a blessing to Pastor Kong and Sun and the great City Harvest Church. One of the greatest churches in the world without any shadow of a doubt. A church that is changing the ratio of Christian populations in certain countries.

Heavenly father, help us stand with this man and woman you have chosen to serve you and have given you everything. Laid down their lives in so many ways. And Lord we pray as we stand with them here tonight for the blessing of God to rest on our giving, in Jesus name. And every body said, “Amen”. [Camera shot on Kong Hee and Sun Ho praying] Thank you very much. Hallelujah!

You know uh- I knew when we saw the 2014 line-up of speakers for next year, I thought uh, “Pastor Kong is not there. He’s here every year. So I need to ask him”.

[Kong Hee nods ‘yes’, stands up and salutes Pringle to receive applause] Will you at least do one session for us next year? Please! You know. You must do one session for us. [Crowd applauses.]

And I thought, “I want to do that before the end of the night” because exactly what Son said, “Next year when we are here”. That’s one of the greatest statements of faith you’ve heard in this conference. I don’t expect you to fully understand that but because they are facing two trials. One in may and one in August. In Singapore you will see lots of negative stuff. You will read lots of blogs by Christians as well that are terrible, negative, attacking, all kinds of things and we live in that kind of age.

But I think people are getting a little numb to it now. I saw on some comments on Facebook today about this conference. I’m thinking, “Oh! PLEASE! You know! Get over it in Jesus name! Amen! Get a life! Do something! Win some people to Jesus! You know like- our worst critics and enemies are within our own deal, for goodness sake. Can’t we get it together and discover the things that unite us are far more the things that divide us in Jesus name. Amen!

We’re here to build the church, not tear it down. I’m not gonna get into cat fights with anybody. Amen! I’ll just ignore it, move on. Thank you Jesus. “Try the other cheek!” Amen!

It’s all good. Don’t go out there and be moved by these things. Paul had it all the time. Don’t be moved as by as a letter as though from us. People would fake his signature and write letters about the resurrection being over and criticising him. Ridiculous! It’s always been around.

But things like Joey Bonofacio was saying this afternoon, God allows things to shake us. To shake the things that can be shaken so that we’ll lose them and so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain and get stronger. Amen!

That’s why you get shaken. [Crowds applause] Woah!

But be immovable. Be unshakable. Don’t be shaken in mind or troubled in heart by those sort of things. Stand strong. Know what’s right and do that in Jesus name. Amen!”

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News On Kong Hee’s Court Case

15 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Nailed Truth in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

CHC, chc church, CHC cult, Chew Eng Han, City Harvest Church, cult, false, false teacher, false teachers, John Lam, kong, Kong Hee, money, ps kong hee, scam, scheme, schemed, Serina Wee, Sharon Tan, Tan Ye Peng, The Straits Times, Today Online, word of faith cult

A CALL TO PRAYER & ACTION 

We wish to urge our readers to please pray for members of City Harvest Church. Our heart does go out to the people who are heavily involved in CHC.

Below the youtube video was the following,

“About 50 staff and members of City Harvest Church have started lining up outside the Subordinate Courts before the crack of dawn on Wednesday for the first day of a highly anticipated trial against six leaders of the church charged with fraud.

Some arrived as early as 11pm on Tuesday night in the hopes of getting a seat in what is expected to be a packed courtroom.” – SPHRazorTV, Large crowds gather outside Subordinate Courts at 6.45am for CHC trial, Published on May 14, 2013. (Accessed 15/05/2013.)

There is no doubt that City Harvest Church is a Word of Faith cult. Not to mention it has been publicly condemned as a movement that is not Christian and labeled a scam.

Dr Paul Choo Warns People Against Kong Hee’s Ministry: “This is NOT Christianity. This is NOT the gospel. This is a SCAM.”

Because the world can see it and not the followers, heartless comments have been thrown against CHC members. While CHC members do need to be educated that they are involved in a Word of Faith cult, they do not need to belittled like this:

“As these group of dumb ass supporters of this evil church’s collaborators are just like Hitler’s children who were so willing to die with them after so many years of propaganda . The only difference between Hitler and Kong and Co is that one fought for war while the other schemed for money!” – lance lau, http://www.youtube.com/comment?lc=rK-FZ6XczVnqqxaJiTQFt36EwulRyejuz4iy4FzuzfM, 15/05/2013.

“Satan followers.

How dumb can human being get?” – pokemonyu, http://www.youtube.com/comment?lc=rK-FZ6XczVl2f1IqddImj3eDKQ-SGomARqC6D4ArJzY, 15/05/2013.

“yea queuing for satan” – nickachiu, http://www.youtube.com/comment?lc=rK-FZ6XczVkkMqKEh5cW_jAIgZbzE_VrgWf0WOZX1DI, 15/05/2013.

We are aware that we get over 500 hits a day from our Singaporean readers. If you are involved with a more reformed or conservative bible-believing church, can we encourage you to be involved in CHC members lives and lead them out of the CHC cult? Have a meal or bible study with them and lead them into the truth through humility and prayer. May these videos on Kong Hee make your task easier. They can easily be refuted using ther scripture:

Kong Hee: A Word Of Faith Heretic (Part 1)

To Christians everywhere. Please pray for the churches in Singapore to be effective in ministering to CHC members in this time. CHC memebrs are vulnerable and exposed to unfair attack in these times. They are not the enemy. False teachers like Phil Pringle and Kong Hee are. The world now have an excuse to hate Christianity because of these false teachers. Pray for God’s sheep.

THE NEWS

The Straits Times reports,

“Prosecutors for the City Harvest trial said they had evidence of a “deliberately planned” scheme by church leaders aimed at moving millions of dollars.

In their opening statement, prosecutors said that the offences committed by church pastor Kong Hee and five other church staff were not “isolated technical breaches or inadvertent occasional missteps”.

Rather, they were part of a “deliberately planned, meticulously coordinated, and carefully executed scheme which stretched over a prolonged period of time and involved the movement of millions of dollars”.

The prosecution said they would prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused are guilty of all charges. Kong Hee, and five senior members – Tan Ye Peng, Sharon Tan, Chew Eng Han, Serina Wee and John Lam Leng Hung – were arrested and charged last year for allegedly funnelling $24 million into sham bond investments to further the career of Kong’s wife, pop-singer Ho Yeow Sun between 2007 and 2008.

The money used was from the church’s Building Fund which was earmarked to build a new church.

Another $26.6 million is said to have been misappropriated to cover up the sham investments in a procedure known as “round-tripping”. This was supposedly done to throw the church’s auditors’ off “the scent of the bogus bonds”, said the prosecution.

These were not the genuine commercial transactions the accused persons made them out to be.

It is immaterial whether the accused thought the promotion of Ms Ho’s music career would further the broader objectives of the church. Rather, the question is whether diverting money from the Building Fund under the guise of purported bond investments to fund her career was an authorised use of the money, said the prosecution.

The six face varying counts of criminal breach of trust and falsifying accounts. The first offence is punishable with a life sentence, or up to 20 years in prison and a fine. The second carries a maximum of 10 years in jail, a fine or both.

The six accused have agreed to be jointly tried on all the charges against them.”

Source: Strait Times, Prosecution-City-Harvest-Church-Leaders-Had-Deliberately-Planned. (Credit to groupsects.wordpress.com for obtaining the article first.)

City New also reported the case,

Two Sides Of The Story

Posted on 15 May 2013
By The City News Team

Three years after investigations started, trial commences for six affected CHC leaders, with key differences in how the prosecution and defense wish to take the case forward

CN PHOTOS: Daniel Poh & Michael Chan.

RIGHT from first day of the trial for the six affected leaders of City Harvest Church, the prosecution and defense show major differences in how they view the case and seek to proceed.

The prosecution alleges that CHC’s senior pastor Kong Hee, pastor Tan Ye Peng, Serina Wee, Sharon Tan, John Lam and Chew Eng Han have misappropriated more than S$50 million of church funds and have committed criminal breach of trust. The accused have agreed to be jointly tried for all the charges brought against them.

The prosecution also said that the building fund of the church was inappropriately used for alleged “sham” investments in two companies Xtron and Firna to further the music career of Kong’s wife Sun Ho. In addition, the prosecution stated their defined parameters of the trial.

Before a gallery filled with more than 50 members of the public, mostly CHC members, the prosecution said it is immaterial whether the accused thought Ho’s music career would further the broader objectives of the church. Rather, deputy public prosecutor Mavis Chionh said, the issue lies with whether the building fund was used in an “authorized” manner or not. The prosecution also said it was inconsequential to the case whether Sun’s crossing over into the entertainment circle is “theologically legitimate” or not.

But the defense disagreed. The lawyers sought clarification from the prosecution on whether they equate the Crossover Project with Sun’s music career, and the defense also emphasized that since the case involves a church, theological legitimacy has to be considered, adding “as a matter of fact, there was no unlawful loss of monies by the church.”

The first prosecution witness to take the stand is Lai Baoting, a former accounting staff of CHC. She took the stand to answer questions about emails that were sent from her using an Xtron email account, before the court session broke for lunch.

The trial, which started this morning at nearly 10am, signifies a key development in a long-drawn case about the finances of CHC, which first unfolded when the Commissioner of Charities and Commercial Affairs Department launched investigations into its accounts in May 2010.

Senior Counsel N. Sreenivasan toldCity News that there are two key things to note: one, that the prosecution wants to maintain that the use of the building fund for the Crossover Project was unauthorized, but “as my learned friend Edwin Tong said in open court, the use was not unauthorized. But I won’t comment as it’s an issue before the court.”

The second key thing to bear in mind is fourfold: “The accused had no wrongful gain; there was no unlawful loss; the Church made good and there has been no dishonesty.”

Senior District Judge See Kee Oon hears the case. The trial continues this afternoon.

Source: The City News Team, City News, Two Sides Of The Story, 15/05/2013. (Accessed 15/05/2013.)

Today Online also published their article on the case here:

http://www.todayonline.com/city-harvest-execs-schemed-move-money-prosecution

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An Analysis Of Kong Hee’s Money-Scheming ‘Church’

10 Friday May 2013

Posted by Nailed Truth in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

analysis, c3 church, c3 global, C3i, c3iglobal, C3OF, cash, ccc global, ccci, ccciglobal, cccof, Christian City Church, Christian City Church Oxford Falls, City Harvest Church, con, cult, cults, health and wealth gospel, Kong Hee, money, Phil Pringle, prosperity gospel, rort, scam, scandal, Suntec, Suntec City, wealth, word of faith, word of faith cult, word of faith cults

When people critique Kong Hee’s Church they are also critiquing Phil Pringle and his church. We know personally that Kong Hee sees Phil Pringle in an infallible light as a personal master, mentor, pope and Prophet of God.

Kong Hee To Phil Pringle: “You created this mess! You’ve Got To Come And Help Us Fix It”

Not only is Kong Hee a disciple of Phil Pringle, he imitates Phil Pringle in many ways in teachings, conferences, service layouts, financial events and advertising, etc. As Kong Hee said,

“Many people come to City Harvest Church and they look at our church. Look at our pulpit. Our Rise and Build. And they say, “Hey! Why is it that in Australia they kinda copy after you?”

Well actually we came here and copied everything from Christian City Church. So we have our own Rise and Build and I just thought I show you this latest installment where we anounced to our church, SunTec City Convention Center.” – Kong hee, C3 Presence Conference, Session 4, Sydney, 2010.

‘Thinking Free And Fair’ offers their analysis of Kong Hee’s City Harvest Church,

An analysis into the wealth of City Harvest Church

Update: I have updated this analysis with a new article in the aftermath of the Pastor’s arrest.  

Although I am aware that City Harvest is one of the richest churches in Singapore, I am still shocked that it is rich enough to pay SGD310 million for a stake in Suntec City. Nevertheless, an entity which is able to amass such wealth is certainly worth studying. I was determined to understand the secrets to the church’s wealth.

I apologize upfront if the points raised give offense to loyal followers of City Harvest Church. Please regard this article as a business analysis of the factors that contribute to the wealth of City Harvest Church, not as an insinuation that the Church got rich through questionable means. The fact is that CHC is very rich and this makes for a fascinating academic exercise to examine its sources of wealth. Just treat it as a business case study. I have tried my best to stick to the facts. Please correct me if there are factual mistakes. However, if there are differences in opinions, please disagree with courtesy.

1. Clever packaging of Sunday services

The income of a church is dependent on the tithes collected (10% of income from church-members). Therefore, the earning power of a church is highly dependent on its ability to retain its existing church members and attract new ones. The larger the church membership, the greater its earnings.

I watched a sample of CHC weekend service on its website.  Compared to the boring Sunday classes I attended as a kid, CHC church service was most refreshing (Watch “The 10 Laws Of The Harvest”). The beginning part resembles a rock concert with good singing and enthusiastic audience. It is an entertaining way to enjoy your Sunday mornings. Going to church becomes a weekly event to look forward to rather than a chore to attend to.

With church services so well packaged for its customers, its customer retention rate and new customer acquisition figures should look good.

2. Extra revenue in the form of advertisements, sales of CDs

This church is unlike the other churches I know. It generates extra revenue through advertisements during its Sunday service(watch the videos). It sells audio CDs on its website. There is an online shopping cart for convenience to those who want to buy online.

3. Efficient collection of tithes

Church-members can pay their tithe online via credit card, eNets or even Giro!! Once members started donating using Giro, the earnings quality of the church improves. Donation collected via Giro tend to be more stable.

With a globalised economy, people travel round the world a lot and may miss Sunday services. In the past, the churches will lose income when these members fail to turn up to pay their tithe. Now, with online payment, they can continue collecting the tithe even when the church-member is working overseas for an extended period of time. With Giro, the church can continue collecting tithes for a few more months even when the member leaves the church as people have a habit of forgetting what they pay on Giro.

4. 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold returns on your church donations

This is where the genius of CHC lies and the secret to its superior earning power. In fact, I have yet to encounter any public-listed company on SGX, HKSE, NYSE, Nasdaq that demonstrates better potential.

The pastor preaches that God will give 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold returns on your tithe. But, you have to be generous in your donations first so that you will receive in harvest proportions. I guess that is the origin of the name City Harvest. Please watch the video “The 10 Laws Of The Harvest” yourself in its entirety and interpret for yourself.

It is a message that cleverly uses an astute understanding of human nature to maximize profits. If I were a CHC member, I will be tempted to increase my tithe as much as possible. Not mincing my words, I am doing it out of pure greed. I do not think I will be alone. It is perfectly fine if members of CHC strongly disagree and thinks that I am not representative for most of them. After all, I can only speak for myself.

5. Quality of customers

With the 100-fold return message, the kind of church members attracted will be most conducive to profit-making. Money-minded people will be attracted to the church. These money-minded people tend to be ambitious and have a great desire to make lots of money. Millionaire minds have a higher chance to become rich. Hence, the quality of customers that CHC attracts are of the highest quality. The richer the church-member, the higher is the church’s tithe per member.

Customer quality will be enhanced through the passage of time due to survivor bias. Suppose out of this pool of Millionaire-Mind Christians, 50% become satisfactorily rich and the remaining 50% still unsatisfactorily middle-class. The 50% who got rich will donate even more because they think their source of wealth comes from their donations. It is most unlikely they will cut back on their tithes  because they will be afraid God will punish them by cutting back the returns. If they are not afraid, the church will be there to warn them not to do so. The remaining 50% who did not get rich will be disillusioned and probably leave the church. The loss is of little significance to the church. These people are not rich and their tithes will not amount to much.

Many Christians will be disgusted with the concept of using tithes to get rich. These people will probably leave the church after attending a few Sunday services. Again, the loss is of little significance to CHC. These people will not be highly profitable to the church even if they are rich because they are not going to tithe as much as the others who believe their tithes is the way to wealth.

To the credit of the Pastor, I think he has devised a wonderful process of filtering out non-profitable customers and sucking in the lucrative ones. There is only so much physical space that a church can have to service its church-members. To maximize profits, the church has to ensure that each unit of space is used for servicing lucrative customers.

6. Kill off competition

CHC has tremendous economic moat that kills off competition. In the video “The 10 Laws of The Harvest”, the Pastor cited Law #5 “Your Seed must be planted in Good Ground” which is an effective weapon in killing off his competition – the smaller churches. Many Christians feel that they ought to donate to the needy, smaller churches rather than rich mega-churches like CHC. The Pastor’s argument is that you do not get good returns like 100-fold in the small churches. You have to donate to mega-churches to maximize returns on your tithe because they have a track record (rich church members). In other words, the seed is not planted in good ground when you donate to the small churches. In his own words, “I don’t always give to the neediest but to the ground that will give the greatest yield”. To illustrate his point, he used an analogy on weak banks and strong banks. You do not deposit your money in a weak bank because it desperately needs fresh funds to survive. You deposit your money in a strong bank which invests your money wisely and yields good returns.

The church has an iron-grip on its members who believe its message. As illustrated previously, its customer base is of the highest quality. This is its track record. Existing church-members will definitely not move to another smaller, needier church with poorer track record.

It has a very strong economic moat as it is very hard for its competitors to get its customers to switch over.

7. Providing a place where the rich can network

As the Pastor said, his church provides a good ground on which you can grow your riches. Rightly so, indeed. For property agents or insurance agents trying to hit their sales quota, City Harvest Church will be an ideal place to hunt for lucrative clients. This church concentrates several rich and money-minded people into a single location. The church offers a unique advantage to sell things. In a religious setting, people tend less to be on their guard and can be more easily persuaded to part with their money. 

Businessmen also like to network in places where there are rich and powerful people who will come in handy in future. The Pastor has done a good job in gathering such people in his church and it makes good sense to make use of this advantage by joining the church.

The rich will attract more rich and the gathering moss snowballs to provide an ever-rising pool of donation to the church. 

8. Preach what people like to hear. 

As a teenager, I was discouraged when I read Bible verses like Matthew 19:23-24 “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” and Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

It seems like if I become rich, I will be condemned to hell.

In the video “Rich God? Poor God?”, the Pastor preaches that it is absolutely ok to be rich. Some prophets of God were very rich. (Abraham, David, Solomon)

There is nothing more musical to a money-minded person than to hear that God is on your side in your pursuit of money. The church-members who are more money-minded will love this and donate even more.

9. God pays for the returns, not the church. 

The church collects the money, but God pays for the returns. The church does not need to pay a single cent for the 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold returns on the donations.

This is as good as you do the work for me, but not only do I not pay you, I shall also collect your salary. You toil and sweat, but I shall eat your bread. God must surely be a miracle worker and people will pay handsomely for his service. I cannot think of a more advantageous economic position to be in to be able to collect money rendered by a miracle worker.

10. Social pressure to conform in church settings and ease of influence

If everyone around you donates, it is hard not to. When everyone else makes sacrifice, the one who does not will look like an outcast. There is tremendous pressure to conform in such a herd setting.

11. Tremendous future earning power

Take a look at the congregation and you will notice the large number of young people. The income growth of young people is the fastest in the population. In the Pastor’s words, “You may be poor today, but you will not be poor all your life”. That is a long-term business plan in cultivating its customers.

Therefore, if CHC can be viewed as a growth stock, its prospects are very bright as its young customers will accelerate its earnings.

12. Stable earnings in times of depression

Besides being a growth stock, CHC can also be viewed as a defensive and safe stock. People pray hardest when they fall in hard times. Strangely, some people have an urge to tithe when they are in financial troubles.

In fact, in the video (The 10 Laws Of The Harvest), a couple came on stage. They talked about the dire straits they were in when they started out. Things change when God challenged them to GIVE themselves out of poverty (exact words from the speaker). Despite not having any money, they still pledged $250 to the building fund. In his own words again, “we often emptied our savings to give to the House of God knowing that this will be the answer to our financial problems”. Hence, not only will the church earnings be stable in times of depression, it may even grow.

13. Using Prosperity as a theme to appeal to customers

The Pastor preaches Prosperity Gospel which revolves around money. His business genius lies in choosing this theme for his church. Money has universal appeal. Everyone worships money regardless of race, culture, age, gender, sexual orientation. In one fell swoop, he has enlarged his market to cover the entire world. It is much easier to convert people to your belief by dangling money and promising great prosperity. After all, who does not love money?

By enlarging his potential market catchment with a greater chance of increasing membership, more donations will flow in.

14. Tax benefits as church is registered as a charity

This creates a huge, unfair advantage compared to all other businesses. This is what landed CHC in controversy. Enough has been said.

If one day the Pastor switches to become a businessman, I will definitely consider investing in the company that he heads and founds.

If City Harvest Church is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, I will certainly buy it. It will be one stock that I am confident of hitting a return of 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold returns.

PS: People tend not to question critically when it comes to religion. A charming smooth talker can easily sway minds with his interpretation of the Bible. In the final analysis, Faith is about simply believing. You cannot approach it scientifically because there is no way to test religious theories using the scientific method. We will only know the real truth when judgment day comes. 

The danger is that there is no accountability on the part of the preacher on whether his teachings are true or not. Even he himself cannot be sure that his interpretations is 100% correct. Given human nature, the interpretations will tend to be self-serving. In fact, it is not only dangerous to the students but to the teacher as well. People will believe their own lies if it yields tempting benefits. That was how Wall Street drank its own Kool-Aid.

While I respect the Pastor for his business savvy, I cannot agree with his interpretations of the Bible. I pray for good health, peace and harmony for my family. Money-minded as I am, I am not comfortable with commercializing my relationship with God by asking for money. The Christian God that I know from my own reading of the Bible is not 财神爷. Of course, if God wants to drop money from heaven on me, I will be more than happy to embrace it.

Source: By think-free-and-fair, An analysis into the wealth of City Harvest Church, http://thinking-free-and-fair.blogspot.sg/2010/03/analysis-into-wealth-of-city-harvest.html, 29/03/2010. (Accessed 09/05/2013.)

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Dr Paul Choo Warns People Against Kong Hee’s Ministry: “This is NOT Christianity. This is NOT the gospel. This is a SCAM.”

07 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by Nailed Truth in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 39 Comments

Tags

c3, c3 church, c3 church oxford falls, ccc, ccc church oxford falls, ccc oxford falls, cccof, CHC, chc church, Christian City Church, Christian City Church Oxford Falls, dr choo, dr paul choo, goducate, Kong Hee, money, Phil Pringle, Pringle, prosperity gospel, prosperity message, scam, scams, scheme, schemes, singpore, Sun Ho

Why Is This A Direct Reflection of Phil Pringle’s Mentoring?

We have Pringle recorded denying that he preaches the prosperity gospel (which we know is a flat-out deceptive claim):

“And the deal – some people accuse that – just what I said then, saying, ‘Oah! That’s prosperity gospel’ or whetever. I’ve never preached a gospel other than about Jesus my whole life. That’s the gospel: Jesus Christ. Beginning and end. You know I got no other message then that one.” – Phil Pringle, Steven Furtick ‘Stay Behind The Guide’,http://www2.myc3church.net/videos/steven-furtick-%E2%80%98stay-behind-guide, C3 Church Oxford Falls, 15/04/2012.

However, we know personally that Kong Hee sees Phil Pringle in an infallible light as a personal master and mentor, pope and Prophet of God.

Kong Hee To Phil Pringle: “You created this mess! You’ve Got To Come And Help Us Fix It”

Not only is Kong Hee a disciple of Phil Pringle, he imitates Phil Pringle in many ways in teachings, conferences, service layouts, financial events and advertising, etc.

“Many people come to City Harvest Church and they look at our church. Look at our pulpit. Our Rise and Build. And they say, “Hey! Why is it that in Australia they kinda copy after you?”

Well actually we came here and copied everything from Christian City Church. So we have our own Rise and Build and I just thought I show you this latest installment where we anounced to our church, SunTec City Convention Center. It’s a twelve thousand seater hall. And ah- it’s amazing. And already, in one month after we signed the lease, we are already starting to earn dividends from all the profits, eh! So lets just watch the video right now.” – Kong hee, C3 Presence Conference, Session 4, Sydney, 2010.

Phil Pringle needs to face the facts. He is a Word of Faith heretic that peddles the same damnable prosperity gospel that his faithful student Kong Hee peddles (Galatians 1). No matter how much Phil Pringle tries to distance himself from being a Word of Faith Heretic, Pringle’s disciple Kong Hee keeps exposing his mentor’s true colours. In fact, Kong Hee happily boasted of being a Word of Faith preacher at Pringle’s Presence Conference 2012.

Kong Hee has done his best to truly copy “everything from [Phil Pringle’s] Christian City Church”. Now keep this in the forefront of your mind: If Kong Hee’s church is critiqued, Phil Pringle’s church is critiqued.

Recently, Dr Paul Choo, (the founder of Goducate), gave a lecture titled “The Prosperity Gospel Message”. This lecture examined the pyramid scheme structure of CHC. Below the video are quotes from his lecture.

“So many people are brainwashed. Many of them.

“I go to support him [Kong Hee]! Don’t get confused! Don’t get discouraged and baffled-” because that’s how they think! Why don’t they leave the church? Why more go? You mean everybody’s brainwashed? Everybody’s like that?

Well let me tell you, many will not leave because this is the best scheme they’ve ever seen in their life.

You know you put money in a bank now, how many percentage do you get? Less then one percent right? Quarter percent I heard. Someone told me. … You put money in this scheme- prosperity gospel scheme, (backed by God you know). Not backed by bank. Not banked by US government. Not banked by Swiss government or Singapore. It’s backed by God you know. You know how powerful God is? If you can’t trust God, who can you trust?

Sometimes you buy scheme. Now you got to [inaudible] money. Just underline the highlighter the nice things to see. Then you say, “In this contract, how do I know if it’s real or not?” Let me tell you, this scheme, according to them, is backed not by God but also by the bible. “I show you. Like Malachi three verse ten. You don’t believe me? I show you!” WOAH! Alright.

So here we say, “How can they leave a scheme like this? It’s sooo attractive!” Quarter percent? This one gives you minimum three thousand percent. Thirty four. … Hundredfold? Ten thousand percent. Why do you want to take money out and put it in the bank? “Are you stupid or what? This is backed by God! Endorsed BY MEN OF GOD!”

You know something? One reason why this whole scheme has continued is because not of one man, but because this one man has been endorsed by may other people. Good men. Pastors who say, “Who are we to judge”. Pastors who keep quiet- Let me to tell you, when you keep quiet, when people ask you on a scheme like that, silence is consent. Do you know that?

“You as a Christian! What do you think of this?” [Inaudible] “Don’t want to think to much about these things.” You know what you’re saying? “It’s not bad.”

Let’s say you’re a financial guide and you know there is a scam that everybody’s using and scamming people. As a banker what must you do? You must tell people, “Hey please! Run from that! Have nothing to do with that”. But you and I as Christians most times, we keep quiet. And there are pastors of big churches that endorse this! It’s not about one man! It’s about a whole system that stinks! It’s about a whole system of men who keep quiet so that bad men can do scams. And I will not be apart of that. We must not be apart of it. We know the truth. We must speak the truth now!

I don’t like to do this. I’d rather preach the gospel. Good news is better than telling about scandals and bad things. Why should I go run down people? You think it’s a nice thing? As a Christian, we don’t like to do those things. I’d rather say, “God loves you! Jesus died for your sins! Jesus paid the price”. These are wonderful, wonderful things to talk about. Why do we talk about these things?

Because somebody has to say something. And I hope we will.”

[Condemns Sun Ho’s music video] [48:48]

“… But there will come a time when God will say, “You’ve taken my name in vain and I will not hold you guiltless. You will pay”. Til that day, our job is to warn people, “This is NOT Christianity. This is NOT the gospel. This is a SCAM. PERIOD! Using the name of God is a financial scam.” Don’t mince your words when you have to explain that. Don’t try to win popularity like all those pastors th-, “Oh! He’s not that bad! Who are we to judge others?” We’re not here to win popularity. We’re here to tell the truth. If you go to church to be popular, you’re in the wrong place. We came here because there’s truth. Truth will set us free. So I hope today that you have the truth and you will speak the truth but speak it in love.” [55:05]

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Kong Hee: A Word Of Faith Heretic (Part 1)

18 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by Nailed Truth in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

asia conference, avanzini, c3 church, cash, CHC, city harvest, City Harvest Church, John Avanzini, kong, Kong Hee, mint, money, mulah, occult, Pastor Kong Hee, pastor phil pringle, Phil Pringle, posperity pimping, Pringle, ps kong hee, ps phil pringle, riches, spirituality, visualisation, wealth, word of faith, word of faith cult, word of faith teacher

Many people are led to believe that Kong Hee is a pastor. After hearing a number of his sermons, what he does, what he confesses and what he claims to be, we beg to differ.

We have managed to collect a number of videos of Kong Hee which are no longer available online. In these clips, ask yourself some of these questions:

      1. Is Kong Hee behaving the way a pastor should behave?
      2. Is Kong Hee teaching what the bible actually says what Christians should believe?
      3. Is Kong Hee teaching how Christians should properly live out their spirituality?
      4. Is Kong Hee offering a different version of Christianity that orthodox Christianity has held steadfast too?

The second last video shows Kong Hee teaching that Jesus was rich… and died to make Christians rich with the wealth of this world. In response to Kong Hee’s sermon, we are looking at writing an article that exposes his ‘Jesus’ for what it is: a lie.

We have published on C3CW in the past that Phil Pringle spoke at the “Asia Conference 2010, a bi-annual conference organized by CHC”. The last video is an advert for Asia Conference 2010 where famous financial hucksters John Avanzini and Steve Munsey were invited to speak. This was an event that Phil Pringle helped Kong Hee organise. Therefore – it is no surprise to see and hear some disturbing things emerge from this advert.

Here are the videos…

Down the track, we will also be explaining why C3 Church Watch is examining Kong Hee. We are keen to do articles that expose Kong and Pringle’s close associations. We also wish to provide people with Kong Hee’s personal testimony in how he became a Word of Faith heretic. So stay tuned.

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C3 Continues To Endorse Money-Magnet Mesiti

14 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by Nailed Truth in C3 & Pringles Associations

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

c3, c3 oxford falls, ccc, ccc oxford falls, Christian City Church Oxford Falls, christian city oxford falls, finances, financial freedom, mesiti, money, Oxford Falls, pat mesiti, Phil Pringle, positive hits, Pringle, realmen, realmen conference, RealMens, RealMens Conference

In 2008, C3 shows Pat Mesiti speaking at their RealMen’s Conference.

Below the original video was the following blurb.

“RealMEN Life Conference PROMO

Uploaded on May 20, 2008

RealMEN is Christian City Church Oxford Falls Men’s Ministry. Life is the upcoming Men’s conference – July 2008.
Featuring Guest Speakers
– Kong Hee
– Phil Pringle
– Danny Guglielmucci
– Greg French
– Steve Janes
– Pat Mesiti
– Jason Stephens”

Source: RealMEN Life Conference PROMO, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr0uHe…, Uploaded by CCCOF, 20/05/2008. (Accessed 04/01/2013.)

poof_youtube-mesiti-23-01-2013

We don’t have any information what Pat Mesiti spoke on. However, one contributor to C3 Church Watch informed us with the following,

“He gave testimony of the effect on his relationships of his fall, and how to avoid the same pitfalls, which took a lot of courage and humility.” – 14/02/2013.

In 2009, the ‘Christian’ program ‘Positive Hits’ (who use the C3 Church grounds) had Pat Mesiti on their programs teach on ‘Financial Freedom’.

At C3 conferences, Pat Mesiti still is treated as a pastor and a Christian celebrity. We will be examining why this is concerning in our next article on Mesiti.

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