Once again, David Yonggi Cho is under investigation for financial mismanagement.
David Yonggi Cho under investigation, suspected of embezzling US$67 million of funds
David Yonngi Cho is recognised in the New Apostolic Reformation cult as an International “Apostle”. He is Phil Pringle and Kong Hee’s personal mentor and recently spoke last month at Phil Pringle’s C3 Church in Sydney, Australia.
The National Tax Service (NTS) is set to audit the Yoido Full Gospel Church, targeting pastor David Yonggi Cho who is suspected of embezzling 80 billion won ($67 million) of funds, said officials of the church on Monday.
They said that the church’s pastor Lee Young-hoon told elders Sunday to prepare a room on the 11th floor of the Kookmin Ilbo’s main office in Yeouido, Seoul because the NTS will soon begin a tax audit against the world’s largest church. Kookmin is a daily newspaper run by the church.
“We will face the tax audit soon. That is the fact,” said an official of the church, asking not to be named.
The official admitted that the problem in the church is well-known to the public.
The NTS refused to comment on the issue, referring to privacy concerns for taxpayers. This is the first time that the tax authorities will have conducted an audit of the megachurch.
The announcement came while the prosecutors’ office is investigating Cho’s aides over allegedly embezzling church funds. He allegedly took 60 billion won of funds intended for overseas mission projects as well as an additional 20 billion won as severance pay without approval from the church.
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced the 80-year-old pastor to two and half years in jail with four years of suspension for inflicting 13.1 billion won of losses to the church and tax evasion worth 3.5 billion won by ordering church officials to buy stocks in his son’s company with church funds at a rate more expensive than the market price. His son Hee-joon was arrested after being sentenced to three years in prison.
Critics say that the collapse of Pastor Cho illustrates how deeply corrupt Korea’s megachurches are, after a rapid growth during the last few decades. A few years ago, SaRang Community Church, a Presbyterian church, drew criticism for establishing a luxury 14-story church building in the lucrative southern Seoul district of Seocho, spending 300 billion won.
The church’s pastor Oh Jung-hyun was also suspended from his job for six months in 2012 for plagiarizing his Ph.D thesis from the Potchefstroom University in South Africa. He was also accused of embezzling church funds during the construction of the new building. The church’s congregation has been split since then by those supporting Oh and those opposing him.
David Yonggi Cho has recently spoken at C3 Church Oxford Falls. What makes his invitation so scandalous is how C3 leadership are deliberately lying to their congregation in their attempt to cover up the fact that Yonggi Cho is a convicted criminal.
“Cho was charged with causing around 13.1 billion won in damages to his church and evading approximately 3.5 billion won in taxes in the process (embezzlement as defined in the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes). In addition, Pastor Cho’s oldest son Cho Hee-jun, 49, former chairman of the Yeongsan Christian Culture Center, was given a three-year prison sentence and taken into custody.” [Source]
Because of this, he is disqualified to pastor at all, ever again because of his criminal record, his unruly son, his public reputation and his love for money (Read 1&2 Timothy). We also consider Yoido Full Gospel Church a cult, considering “International Apostle” Cho is accountable to no one – not even his elders who tried to blow the whistle on his crimes:
“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.” [Source] [Emphasis ours]
Yonggi’s disciple, Phil Pringle, has no allowing this cult leader, criminal and illegal pastor to speak at his church. Instead, Pringle recently stated on Instagram that Yonggi Cho has “Faced many challenges and has remained true”.
True to what Pringle?
C3 LEADERS WORSHIPING PRINGLE’S CRIMINAL MENTOR
Christian McCudden wrote on Instagram,
Amazing night in Sydney with Ps @philpringle and Dr Youngi Cho, amazing download of wisdom, faith and inspiration. #gratefulforourleaders
Source: Christian McCudden, Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/p/BCKgWA7LWxN6Yd42p8Gdsgiyw19JAWtg9AmMro0/, Published 24/02/2016. (Accessed 25/02/2016.)
Pringle put this out on Instagram,
Loved #Leaderstablesessions yesterday with Dr David Yonggi Cho from Seoul, who has led an 800,000 people congregation for many years. Faced many challenges and has remained true. 80th birthday. Thanks@john_pearce for hosting#superpastorsday@C3OF#powerofdreamsandvision Dr Cho speaks again tonight 7pm C3 Oxford Falls. All welcome. #seeyouinchurch
Source: Phil Pringle, Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/p/BCL-srgNP16/, Published 25/02/2016. (Accessed 25/02/2016.)
[More C3 hero worship will be posted here as they surface.]
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Acts 20:28-30
We here at ChurchWatch have followed, and documented the scandal Dr Yonggi Cho was involved in. It was not long ago that this man was found guilty of serious charges. On 20 February 2014, Cho was found guilty of tax evasion, sentenced to three years imprisonment, suspended for five years, and fined the equivalent of almost $5 million. His oldest son Cho Hee-jun was sentenced to three years imprisonment. The charges arose from Cho’s church purchasing shares from his son’s church at above market value and fraudulently claiming tax relief.
To this day, Phil Pringle continues to lie by omission, praising Yonggi Cho but neglecting to tell his church of Cho’s crimes.
“Cho was charged with causing around 13.1 billion won in damages to his church and evading approximately 3.5 billion won in taxes in the process (embezzlement as defined in the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes). In addition, Pastor Cho’s oldest son Cho Hee-jun, 49, former chairman of the Yeongsan Christian Culture Center, was given a three-year prison sentence and taken into custody.”
It comes to our attention that Phil Pringle has invited this false prophet to speak at C3 Church this Thursday February 25. We leave it up to our readers to decide on the appropriateness of this invitation for Yonggi Cho to speak as a church “leader” rather than as a convicted felon, (a person convicted in a court of law of a felony crime).
David Yonggi Cho is not only a false (which disqualifies him from Christianity), he also has disqualified himself as a Christian pastor. These are the requirements of a pastor:
“An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity.” 1 Timothy 3:3 (Emphasis ours.)
The things we highlighted in bold are areas he failed in relation to the financial scandal he was involved in and how he ruthlessly treated his elders. And because Cho is a swindler, why is Pringle inviting David Yonggi Cho to speak as though he is a figure of high integrity? Pringle is directly opposing Christ, His Word and His Church with this clear command in scripture:
“But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler– not even to eat with such a one.” 1 Corinthians 5:11
And yet C3 hypocritically state “we love Jesus and people”?
People have started asking the question: “Is Pat Mesiti is still a pastor at either Hillsong or C3?” (Due to his recent arrest after beating his wife.) Even though Pat Mesiti was exposed in a scandal that expelled him from his position at Hillsong, evidence shows he is STILL considered a pastor in the Hillsong and C3 movements.
The proof of this is the fact he is still able to travel between Hillsong & C3 churches AND apparently speak in a pastoral context from their pulpits, (remember, the official role of a church pastor is to teach/preach from the pulpit). AND we are yet to hear an official statement denying that Pat Mesiti is a Hillsong or C3 pastor.
We also know that Senior Pastor Joel A’Bell from Hillsong , as early as 2010, defended “Pastor” Pat Mesiti from critics.
On the 13th of October 2010, Joel A’Bell posted this tweet, which came through on his FaceBook wall,
A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. Matt 7:16 MSG.
In reality, the Message is NOT a valid translation of the bible. It’s a paraphrase that is filled with pagan and new age references. Nevertheless, Eugene Peterson did capture the nature of today’s false teachers rather well – they DO “exploit the wallet”. This particular scripture attracted Hillsong critic Steve West and others to protest the fact that Hillsong pastor Pat Mesiti DOES exploit Hillsong member’s emotions and their “pocketbook”.
Steve West was the first to respond,
And thus will likely not have offerings at every meeting, conference, cell group and college chapel service.
This led into questions as to why Hillsong’s disgraced pastor Pat Mesiti was acknowledged as a pastor at Hillsong London on Joel A’Bell’s wall. Many people, including Hillsong attendees, were surprised he was reinstated at all and protested other sins of Mesiti to Joel. By this stage, Mesiti was rapidly earning the reputation, world-wide, as an international con-artist from 2009 onwards, with his ongoing endorsement of men renowned for their dubious integrity.
The fact that Mesiti endorsed notorious con-artist “AussieRob” did not help strengthen his reputation as a con-artist. Read more here:
This did not stop Joel A’Bell from defending AND endorsing the apparently restored Hillsong “Pastor” Pat Mesiti from speaking at Hillsong London.
So why was Hillsong allowing Pat Mesiti to speak at Hillsong London – in spite of critics pointing out how Mesiti fulfilled the scripture that Joel A’Bell put up on his FaceBook wall? In fact, this snippet of Pat Mesiti in 2009 was put up in the conversation on Joel Abell’s wall back in 2010:
Source: By speakercoach, Pat Mesiti Millionaire Mindset reveals the best tips on public speaking and presentation skills, YouTube, https://youtu.be/fldjYzfLUxw, Uploaded 16/04/2009. (Accessed 18/01/2016.)
In spite of the evidence put up by these critics, Senior Hillsong pastor, Joel A’Bell, defended Pat Mesiti speaking at Hillsong London in 2010 in his comment section:
“I knew Pat before, during and after his moral failure. Those who don’t know him should keep their comments in closer circles or to themselves. I find these public comments about Pat to be unloving. He is well on track in his restoration…”
“I said to keep it close (or) to your self. They could put their unrelated issues on their own wall. I wouldn’t use your wall to push my pet topics. Would make more sense if I had of posted something about Pat but this just screems of immaturity…”
Throughout this entire conversation, Joel A’Bell did NOT refute the assumption that Pat Mesiti was a Hillsong pastor. His continual defense of Pat Mesiti speaking at Hillsong London only confirmed the fact that Pat Mesiti was still a Hillsong Pastor (or affiliated with Hillsong’s leadership). Furthermore, he defended Pat Mesiti as one of their own.
It is clear that Hillsong, as an organization, was NOT acting in ignorance but validating and treating Pat Mesiti as a RESTORED pastor in their movement. Otherwise, why have him speak as a pastor at Hillsong London?
We note in 2014, Mesiti’s “loyal friend,” Brian Houston said:
“Literally, it didn’t only cost him his ministry, it cost him his marriage, it cost him his home, he lost his home, it cost him everything. The only thing he had was loyal friends and perhaps that’s the greatest thing we can have anyway, is loyal friends.
And there were people who stuck with him, people who I know here in our congregation who stuck with him. I was talking with him yesterday on the phone, actually text messages, same thing these days, and ahhh he was telling me that after years of rebuilding his life, just constantly rebuilding his life that the house he lost that his sin, his shame had cost him, he is on the edge of perhaps buying back.” [Source]
Brian has made it clear. Mesiti is still alive and well as a “restored” Hillsong pastor, he still has close relations with Brian Houston. In fact, Brian Houston used Pat Mesiti an example in this sermon of how one can be restored. Restored into what?
C3 “PASTOR” PAT MESITI:
We’ve also covered how C3 “Pastor” Mesiti spoke at C3 RealMen’s Conference and had no problem speaking on C3’s Positive Hits:
But our main focus is to draw your attention to Pat Mesiti preaching at C3 Church in 2013:
Source: By c3churchtv, C3 Online – 20/10/2013 | Pat Mesiti – The Joseph Generation, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdgdrEMoAK0, Uploaded 21/10/2013. (Accessed 11/08/2014.)
In this specific sermon, not only is what Pat Mesiti saying blasphemous, he also refers to his involvement with Hillsong.
In the sermon above, Mesiti says,
“I said that at Hillsong London at the Freddie Mercury theatre.”
So something tells us Mesiti has not been broadcasting his other Hillsong “pastoral” engagements. Furthermore he states (present tense),
“I have a preacher on every single day… This year I’ve invited Bob Harrison and Pastor Phil Pringle to be our chaplains. This is where we raise the million dollars for missions… On here is Brian Houston. On here are my spiritual and business mentors.”
What is interesting about the sermon above, as Chris Rosebrough reviews it on his program ‘Fighting for the Faith‘, he clearly exposes the prosperity cult theology (and predatory nature) that Mesiti appears to have fine-tuned from his association with long term “pastoral” friends and mentors, Phil Pringle and Brian Houston.
It’s well worth listening to the sermon review to prove that this man is STILL used as an example to follow by Brian Houston. And because his life is a “success story”, one can assume that’s what qualifies people like Pat Mesiti to be pastors in the C3 and Hillsong prosperity cults.
• Ed Young’s Hee Haw Sermon
• Bishop Tudor Bismark’s The Big Fish Anointing
• Jim Bakker’s Prophecy Fear Mongering For Dollars
• Sermon Review: The Joseph Generation by Pat Mesiti
Source: Chris Rosebrough, Hee Haw, Fighting for the Faith, http://www.piratechristian.com/fightingforthefaith/2015/5/hee-haw, Published 01/05/2015. (Accessed 06/01/2015.)
Clearly there is NOTHING regenerate or “restored” in Pat Mesiti’s life. The signs were there even before he was charged with assaulting his wife. So why on earth would Hillsong/C3 hold onto him? Why would Hillsong and C3 have him (unbiblically) re-instated as a pastor when there are so many others who could easily replace him?
Chris Rosebrough from “Fighting for the Faith” recently reviewed Phil Pringle’s sermon, “Parable of the Dog.”
Phil Pringle bases this message not on Scripture, but rather, on his own life experiences. This means the title is misleading since Phil Pringle isn’t teaching a parable (it’s an anoalogy).
Furthermore, Pringle pushes a works based righteousness whereby you’re saved by your good works rather than trusting in the assurance of the Gospel that Christ died for your sins and all who trust in Him are forgiven.
Rosebrough used this sermon to expose the problems with the false “Lordship” doctrine. This doctrine is designed by cult leaders to control people using reward and fear-like tactics. Considering the work of Ivan Pavlov’s “Respondent conditioning” (aka Pavlov’s Response) using dogs, it is interesting that Pringle parallels the behaviour of the “dog” with the behaviour of the Christian. This school of psychological thought is called Behaviorism and was very popular last century.
One could argue that Lorship doctrine is a spiritualized version of “respondent conditioning.” And when you hear the review, you will be hearing Pringle pit God’s salvation against God’s Lordship, which is blasphemous. This is why he was insinuating towards the end one can lose their salvation if they do not tithe.
Here is the sermon review:
Joel & Victoria Osteen Start 2016 by Twisting God’s Word
Program Segments:
00:06:30 – Joel & Victoria Osteen Start 2016 by Twisting God’s Word
00:40:16 – Ken Copeland’s “Word of the Lord” for 2016
00:56:49 – Steve Kozar Museum of Idolatry Update
01:07:37 – Sermon Review: Parable of the Dog by Phil Pringle
Source: By Chris Rosebrough, Joel and Victoria Osteen Start 2016 by Twisting God’s Word, Fighting for the Faith, http://www.piratechristian.com/fightingforthefaith/2016/1/joel-victoria-osteen-start-2016-by-twisting-gods-word, Published 07/01/2016. (Accessed 08/01/2016.)
Despite C3 Church being involved in various scandals and cover-ups over the years, the Premier of New South Wales, Mike Baird and the Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force, Andrew Scipione continue to share a platform with Phil Pringle.
To this day, Phil Pringle still:
likes to be endorsed by his convicted mentor David Yonggi Cho,
continues to endorse his convicted protege, Kong Hee,
continues to lie about the Singaporean authorities to his church as to why Kong Hee actually went to jail,
continues to cover up a pedophile scandal he was personally involved in,
while taking advantage of the credibility of Andrew Scipione and Mike Baird.
Source: Phil Pringle, Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/p/-hlBZFNP8D/, Accessed 26/11/2015.
Since its inception, the C3 movement has been heavily involved in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) cult and has heavily pushed its agenda around Australian churches. Very similar to a Masonic society, a trait of the NAR is their “organic” networks, one aspect being the Seven Mountain Mandate (7MM). (Kong Hee calls this the seven pillars of society and the cultural mandate.)
The 7MM is all about infiltrating what they call the “market place.” To infiltrate society (to take the city for God), the NAR and C3 teaches that Christians need to conquer the seven mountains of society: Art/Entertainment, Business, Church/Religion, Dissemination/News, Education, Family/Health, Government/Law.
This explains Elise Boggs comment below on Phil Pringle’s instagram:
We speculate that the reason why Phil Pringle had both Baird and Scipione speaking was to demonstrate to his movement that C3 are making “Christian” inroads into the Government/Law mountain in their “marketplace ministry.”
While PathFinders will not specifically teach the 7MM to those who attend, C3 appears to be moulding its members to conform to the philosophies and pagan teachings of the NAR, specifically through its Bible (The Church mountain) and Arts colleges (Arts/Entertainment mountain).
The Seven Mountain Mandate cannot be supported by scripture as it’s an unbiblical system developed by Bill Bright and Loren Cunningham back in 1975. They both claim that God spoke to them.
There is a good chance that Andrew Scipione and Mike Baird may have been accidentally indoctrinated by Hillsong or C3 who have been pushing this anti-Christian, totalitarian doctrine for decades.
It is our hope and prayer that Scipione and Baird are not hoodwinked by these cults and instead start investigating them.
The judge has sentenced Kong Hee eight years jail in prison.
This is the latest update:
City Harvest trial live updates: Leaders sentenced to jail
SINGAPORE: The six City Harvest leaders who were found guilty of criminal breach of trust and falsifying church accounts were on Friday (Nov 20) received jail terms of between 21 months and eight years.
3.00pm: The six leaders have been sentenced to between 21 months’ and eight years’ jail, with senior pastor Kong Hee receiving the heaviest sentence of eight years behind bars. Judge See Kee Oon said Kong Hee, the church’s founder, was found to be the most culpable among the convicted church leaders.
The bail for all six of them was extended, and the start of their jail terms have been deferred to Jan 11, 2016.
1.57pm: “For us ex-members we’ll leave it to the judge. We have to respect the Honour’s decision. As what the prosecutor says, we need to do it right now because it will have a great repercussion on other mega churches on what and what cannot be done,” said a man who identified himself as a former City Harvest member.
1.32pm: Judge says he will pass the sentence at 3pm.
1.28pm: Prosecution: “In pursuing the Crossover Project, the accused have clearly crossed so far over the line that a substantial sentence is certainly called for.”
1.04pm: Prosecution: “This Court has found that loans were sought from a number of individuals in order for Xtron to return the ARLA (Advance Rental Licence Agreement) to CHC… Tan Ye Peng sold his house to pay back. Well, the alternative was to come to court and admit what he has done.”
12.55pm: Prosecution: “We submit that nothing in their circumstances will render the “clang of the prison gates” so thunderous as to justify a short term of imprisonment.”
12.48pm: Prosecution: “Where an offence involves a breach of trust, this is generally treated as an aggravating factor. Its powerful influence is shown by the degree to which it
outweighs factors which would normally go in mitigation. Indeed, there is the paradox that some of the strongest factors in mitigation (unblemished career, model citizen, good employment record) are often present in these cases and yet do not tell greatly in the offender’s favour.”
“The reason is that positions of trust are not normally given to individuals unless they have unblemished references, and so the offence may be seen as a betrayal of those very basis of trust, and one of the burdens of a position of trust is an undertaking of incorruptibility.”
12.39pm: Prosecution: “As this Court has observed, each of the accused persons played their respective roles in a conspiracy with intent to cause wrongful loss to CHC and to defraud the auditors.”
“They did not merely wait passively for Kong Hee to instruct them to carry out each specific act and deception needed to drive the conspiracy forward. They took their own initiative to deceive and mislead the trusting members of CHC where necessary, and cannot escape responsibility for those acts.”
12.34pm: Prosecution: “Kong Hee intentionally fostered an organisational culture of
unquestioning trust in relation to the Crossover Project. He did so by capitalising on CHC’s collective fear of external attack in the wake of the Roland Poon incident, convincing members that they ought to simply trust CHC’s leaders to manage the Project without questioning their motives or reasons.”
12.27pm: Prosecution: “The criminal breach of trust offences which the accused persons committed involve the largest amount of charity funds ever misappropriated in Singapore’s legal history.”
“This long-running case involving criminal breach of trust by the most senior managers of a charity has clearly attracted public disquiet, and inevitably affects public confidence that funds donated for charitable purposes, especially to large and well-resourced charities, are managed honestly and properly safeguarded.”
12.11pm: Lawyer Andre Maniam said: “Serina Wee was not a parish priest commanding respect. Until she was charged, most of Singapore did not know who she was.”
“The accused believed it (the usage of the funds) was for an evangelistic purpose that was positively mandated by the vision and mission of CHC.”
11.55am: Serina Wee’s lawyer Andre Maniam said: “This is an unprecedented case. Neither the prosecution nor the defence has been able to turn up a precedent when Criminal Breach of Trust was committed by using a charity’s funds for its own purposes. We are in uncharted waters.”
11.17am: Lawyer N Sreenivasan: “Insofar as personal relationships are concerned, Tan Ye Peng’s former close relationship with Chew Eng Han has been affected. He feels sorry for what happened to Sharon and Serina.”
“He is not, he is not a participant in the heist of the century or other emotional words the prosecution has used.”
[…]
Source: By Vanessa Paige Chelvan, Justin Ong, Wendy Wong, Kimberly Spykerman, City Harvest trial live updates: Leaders sentenced to jail, News 5 and Ngau Kai Yan, Channel News Asia, http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/city-harvest-trial-live/2277418.html, Published 20/11/2015 07:48, UPDATED: 20/11/2015 15:50. (Accessed 20/11/2015.)
Chris Rosebrough from Fighting for the Faith recently interviewed Kerri Ferguson on his radio program. If you are not familiar with who Kerri Ferguson is we encourage viewers to read what we have covered on the C3 Penrith scandal so far:
This is footage we have had for a number of years, exposing the cover up of pedophilia in the Australian Christian City Church movement. To this day, NONE of the “pastors” Kerri Ferguson went to for help have EVER bothered checking up on her or apologized for how they refused to help her in her time of need. These “pastors” are Phil Pringle, Brian Houston, Ian Treacy, and Gary Dench.
In Australia, some people consider paedophilia to be worse than murder. Don’t forget these “Pastors” faces that allowed these crimes to continue in the name of “Jesus.”
If they can get away with covering up paedophilia… then nothing can stop them. These men are before the Royal Commission. Yet Brian Houston and Phil Pringle are influencing our political leaders.
“For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.” – Luke 8:17
This scripture is very applicable to the charges against Kong Hee and cohorts.
Targeted: Phil Pringle and his immoral involvement with the Kong Hee scandal. To this date, he has not told his congregation why Kong Hee was in trial and to this day, parades Kong Hee’s innocence.
Before the “Sermon review”, Chris Rosebrough decided to play audio segments of Phil Pringle. He has this to say about Phil Pringle before reviewing him, in light of the verdict.
“Now what we’re going to be listening to are two bits of audio from videos put out by, well Phil Pringle, who I think has a LOT to do- a LOT to do behind the scenes regarding Kong Hee and Sun Ho’s Crossover project- and was one of the men who was directly coaching and, um – leading, (you know, casting vision for Kong Hee).
And that is Phil Pringle of C3. And so these two have a tight friendship. And like I said, a few years back at the Presence Conference, one of the things that Kong Hee said was that it was Phil Pringle who got him into this mess. And I don’t think that was a slip. I think that was absolutely the truth.” 24:25
Last year we published a two part series from a C3 Church insider on Phil Pringle’s involvement with Kong Hee, Luke 8:17 being the scripture reference for the heading.
You might want to read those articles before listening to Chris Rosebrough’s review. His [Good] “Sermon Review” is by Dr. Paul Choo, who has proven to be a faithful shepherd in Singapore, exposing the prosperity wolf pack consisting of David Yonngi Cho, Kong Hee, Joseph Prince and so on.
This is another very important episode to tune into:
00:00:00 The Verdict on Kong Hee
00:44:47 Sermon Review: Prosperity Gospel by Dr. Paul Choo
Source: Chris Rosebrough, The Verdict On Kong Hee, Fighting for the Faith, http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2015/10/the-verdict-on-kong-hee.html, Published 23/10/2015. (Accessed 24/10/2015.)
Recent media reporting on Phil Pringle’s secrecy and culture of insecurity at C3 Church Kong Hee’s secrecy and culture of insecurity at City Harvest Church.
Today Online writes,
CHC slammed for ‘secrecy, culture of insecurity’
SINGAPORE — Criticising what he called the culture of insecurity that six City Harvest Church leaders convicted on Wednesday operated under, Presiding Judge of the State Courts See Kee Oon saved some of his strongest words for church founder Kong Hee in his 270-page written judgment released to the media yesterday.
The six leaders — Kong, his deputy Tan Ye Peng, former church accountant Serina Wee, former church investment manager Chew Eng Han, former finance manager Sharon Tan and former church board member John Lam — were found guilty on all of counts of criminal breach of trust and/or falsification of accounts.
Judge See had delivered his oral judgment, a condensed version of the written grounds, on Wednesday. He found that they had acted dishonestly and in breach of the trust reposed in them to cause wrongful loss of S$50 million to the church and to defraud auditors.
In his judgment grounds, the judge wrote that Kong capitalised on the church climate of paranoia and fear in 2003 to galvanise support for the Crossover Project — using his wife Ho Yeow Sun’s secular pop music to reach out to non-Christians. The collective fear arose after then-church member Roland Poon publicly commented that church funds had been used to promote Ms Ho’s music career.
Kong’s response to the incident revealed “both his personal dominance and deep insecurity”, said JC See. The pastor rallied the church “around the big idea that they (i.e. CHC’s leaders and by extension the entire church) were being maligned and under attack, and hence had to be discreet,” he added.
“He convinced them that if CHC’s leaders believed they had to be discreet in order for the Crossover to succeed, then they ought to simply trust them and not question their motives or reasons.”
The effort to keep the church’s financing of the Crossover discreet led to the set-up of Xtron Productions to manage Ms Ho’s career. The criminal charges in this case relate in part to sham bonds worth millions of dollars that the church bought from Xtron to channel church funds to the Crossover.
All six leaders’ committed zeal for the Crossover vision may have clouded their objectivity and judgment and obscured the need to safeguard money which was not theirs to use as they wished, said judge See. They chose to create cover stories and clever round-trips concealing their unlawful conduct, he added.
“The allure of power that can be exercised in secrecy is difficult to resist. When shrouded under a cloak of invisibility, much like the mythical ring of Gyges, persons in such positions of power have no fear of accountability and tend to become their own worst enemies,” he wrote.
The ring of Gyges is a mythical artefact that grants its owner the power to become invisible at will, mentioned in Greek philosopher Plato’s The Republic.
Judge See wrote: “It has thus been wisely said that the real tragedy is when men are afraid of the light, and if they choose not to come into the light they do so for fear that their deeds will be exposed, as they surely will in time.”
Kong would not have been able to act alone and could not orchestrate every move, and the five other leaders were both trusted and trusting, he added. They wanted to ensure their conduct and choices lived up to Kong’s expectations.
Noting that none of the six was aware of all the details, the judge said it could be because there were far too many moving parts in the plan for the Crossover to the United States, which grew more ambitious over time.
The US foray involved Ms Ho’s debut English album, which had hip-hop star Wyclef Jean roped in at one point. It led to the church’s sham bond investments worth S$24 million in Xtron and another company, and four of the leaders then misused another S$26.6 million of church funds to try to cover up the first amount.
“But this may have also been the inevitable consequence of CHC’s election to carry out its affairs and operations relating to the funding of the Crossover in a discreet fashion. This was merely a euphemism for a culture of insecurity mired in secrecy and opaqueness where asking difficult or awkward questions was taboo,” the judge wrote.
There was no way that Kong – who the judge found to have controlled Xtron – could fail to realise that once CHC had bought Xtron bonds that the bond proceeds would be “entirely within his control”.
Judge See also noted that Kong had sought to mislead a different set of auditors, Ernst & Young (since renamed EY), who were conducting a governance review of CHC on behalf of the Government towards the end of 2007. Kong helped prepare replies to questions that the auditors might ask, and the church would have told auditors that Xtron’s directors were separate and independent of the church board – which he knew was untrue, said judge See.
He also said Kong exploited Chew’s forceful personality and his determination and drive to achieve objectives, although Chew also glossed over the fact that he himself had bought Ms Ho’s Mandarin albums when he blamed Kong for deceiving him about the true measure of her success.
Separately, Kong broke his silence on the verdict yesterday, posting on Facebook his belief that God would use the outcome of the case for good. The pastor also thanked his supporters and said: “The days and steps ahead are challenging, but with God’s grace and love, I have no fear.”
The six will be back in court on Nov 20, where they could be sentenced.
Source: By Neo Chai Chin, CHC slammed for ‘secrecy, culture of insecurity’, Today Online, http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/chc-slammed-secrecy-culture-insecurity?singlepage=true, Published 11:33 PM, 22/10/2015, Updated 10:10 AM, 23/102015. (Accessed 25/10/2015.)