HOW IS KONG HEE GAINING FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR HIS LEGAL DEFENSE?
Through the audio we have collected, Pringle has clearly demonstrated how Kong Hee has worked around new Singaporean legislation to solicit financial support for his lawyers and travelling expenses. Please note that the audios, videos or transcripts below may be copied and freely distributed.
PRINGLE MISLEADING THE GENERAL PUBLIC OVER KONG HEE
Since the investigations started back in 2010, it appears Phil Pringle has neglected to inform his church why Kong Hee is under investigation and why Kong Hee is currently in the courts. We are aware that some C3 church leaders do not know why Kong is being investigated, or why he is in court. We have found that if you ask C3 leaders or members what they know about Kong Hee’s case, they will often say that Phil Pringle is defending Kong Hee. However, they often also insist that they know nothing about Kong Hee’s situation, and that they do not feel the need to investigate the ‘pastor’ their leader is defending.
We have recordings of Phil Pringle ostensibly suppressing the serious nature of this scandal to his congregation in his church meetings. In one particular update, Pringle associated the persecutions of Kong Hee to the persecutions of the Apostle Paul. However, the issues could not be more opposite.
It appears to be convenient for Pringle that his church and his leaders do not know what actually transpired in relation to Kong Hee and the City Harvest Church scandal. Why does it seem so necessary for Pringle to try and suppress the details of the case to the thousands of Christians around the world who attend or tune in online to his Conferences?
In 2013, Phil Pringle asked uninformed Christians attending his Global C3 Presence Conference to give sacrificially to financially support Kong Hee’s legal case. Not once was it explained to those who attended why Kong Hee was under investigation.
Here is what Phil Pringle said:
“I would like you just to take a card, an envelope if you’ve got one nearby. And if you’d like to participate in this, I’d like you to consider doing that. Whatever you can do it would be helpful, I know, to them. This will all go completely to Pastor Kong to help with his- costs. He has to pay this week $680,000 I think it is, for his legal fees. He’s covering his whole team’s fees. They have to mount a vigorous defense over three years. Those numbers weigh heavily on- on a person and they have prohibited him from asking his own congregation for any help.
He cannot use any of his own church funds. They’ve sold their – they sold the unit they were in. Others have moved to help them in other countries and I would like to think that we can be friends to these people in one of their darkest hours.” - Phil Pringle, http://www.youtube.com/watch? &v=2g-BB9BF7xk , Presence Conference 2013.
This is not the first time Pringle has failed to inform thousands of Christians about the details of ongoing investigations of Kong Hee and his associates from City Harvest Church. At the Presence Conference 2011, Phil Pringle prophesied over Kong Hee and then encouraged all the churches gathered to financially support Kong Hee. While encouraging people to give, take note of what Pringle says:
“Then, I think it was even more for him. I can’t remember the figures. But I know that for- they had to raise seven million dollars for members of staff and others to travel. That’s just that area. If you’ve ever been to Singapore, you know how expensive this place is. To fight the case he has had to employ a legal firm. And I know what the bills are. They are nearly a million dollars each time they come. Between half a million and a million dollars each time those bills come. His church is not allowed to pay one cent of his personal cost that he is incurring in this battle. He has to find it himself.
He’s sold his house. He has scratched together everything he can. One of the things that I’m doing is going there. I’ve made a commitment to be there once every two weeks. Normally it ends up being once every three weeks because of a variety of commitments that I’ve already got and doing things. But when I’m gone, he’s able to travel. And when I’m there, he’s able to travel and preach and find support amongst Asia and other churches.
Uh- I know that he was finding it hard to put some money together to get a cup of Starbucks at one stage. And uh- it’s a challenge. There’s been new legislation passed on the use of commercial spaces in Singapore since this case has come. So the religio- the restriction on his church is severe, ah, in that area [inaudible] after their purchase, go into co-ownership with ah, SunTec. And we’re in there. I will be speaking there in a couple days time. I will be on Friday to speak there happily.” - Phil Pringle, http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=uwNignarJCg, Presence Conference 2011.
From the above quotes, what can we ascertain from Pringle’s own words?
1. CHC has to “raise seven million dollars for members of staff and others to travel”. Why?
2. Pringle knows that for Kong Hee “To fight the case he has had to employ a legal firm” that cost “nearly a million dollars each time they come”.
3. Pringle acknowledges that “There’s been new legislation passed on the use of commercial spaces in Singapore since this case has come. So the… restriction on his church is severe “.
4. Pringle concludes that the financial issues Kong Hee faces, ” have prohibited him from asking his own congregation for any help” and that he “cannot use any of his own church funds”.
5. Pringle notes that, “Others have moved to help them in other countries” and that he would like people at the Presence Conference to financially “be friends to these people in one of their darkest hours”.
What “moved others” from “other countries” to support Kong Hee? According to Pringle, it is because:
1. He has “made a commitment to be [at CHC] once every two weeks”. And when Pringle is at CHC, he says Kong Hee is “able to travel and preach and find support amongst Asia and other churches”.
Last year Pringle also stated:
“I was in Singapore last week ah- folks with our good friends Kong and Sun Hee, although they are very rarely there when I am speaking because it gives them a chance to get out amongst the Asian community or various parts around the world and share in churches their burden ‘n what they’re facing and keep support happening and maintain a healthier relationship and communion with the wider body. And so that’s part of the reason why I am able to go there and uh- and they’ve just had ah- one really interesting breakthrough in this last week where the Commission of Charities (that’s the organisation overseeing charities in Singapore) has exonerated Sun from all ah- all charges against her so-”
Source: Phil Pringle, “Awakening — Part 1″ – Phil Pringle, http://www2.myc3church.net/videos/awakening-%E2%80%93-part-1-phil-pringle, Sunday 14th April 2013. (Accessed 15/04/2013.)
Once again Pringle reinforces that:
1. When he is over at Kong Hee’s church it “gives them a chance to get out amongst the Asian community or various parts around the world and share in churches their burden ‘n what they’re facing and keep support happening and maintain a healthier relationship and communion with the wider body”.
The audio provided here clearly demonstrates that Phil Pringle has been allowing Kong Hee to use his C3 Presence Conference to solicit support in bearing his financial “burden” through by giving their “support”.
AN EXAMPLE OF KONG SHARING HIS “BURDEN” AND GETTING “SUPPORT”
To confirm that Kong Hee is gaining “support” from churches outside of Singapore, we can examine him “sharing his burden” and gaining “support” from those who attended Phil Pringle’s Presence Conferences.
In 2012, Kong Hee prayed the following on the first night at Presence Conference 2012 (not the opening night):
“Father I just pray even right now from the front to the back, from the left to the right, that tonight you move in a great way. Lord you know that it’s been a tiring time for the last twenty three months. For every step of the way, you’ve been with me, you’ve been with us. And Lord for all that C3 has poured into City Harvest Church, I pray that you multiply back to them, every church –every leader, thirty fold, sixty fold, a hundred fold for your glory we pray. Amen.” - Kong Hee, Presence Conference 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeIYljvQ0G0: 18:11, Day 1.
In this prayer, Kong Hee acknowledges that “C3 has poured into City Harvest Church”. By ‘poured’ he means ‘financially poured’. If you are not familiar with the term “thirty fold, sixty fold, a hundred fold”, it is Word of Faith terminology that usually means financial multiplication. The idea is that if you give financially, God will multiply your returns supernaturally. The unusual thing about this prayer is that Kong Hee said C3 poured money into City Harvest Church. But it was Pringle in 2011 that asked everyone at his Conference to give cash directly to Kong Hee and Sun Ho:
“Alrighty. Can I ask you to find your seats again? Is that alright? If you can just return to your seats. I want to let you know about a couple of things.
I’m wondering if- thank you Kari. I’m wondering if i can do something that ah- we don’t do here normally. (And I’ve only got about five minutes because the buses are leaving at ten o’clock.)
I’m wondering, as I was sitting there just wrestling with a thought, because I really ah, appreciate everybody here and their sacrifice in getting here. But I’m feeling like I just would like us to show love in a very real and a practical way for Kong and Sun.
So I’m just going to ask this question. If you would like to help them financially then we’re going to pass the container one more time here. I don’t want you to feel that you have to. I don’t want you to feel that there’s any great drive for this on you at all.
But I just feel that maybe some of you who would like to do this. We normally don’t receive offerings for preachers because it’s a very big conference and it’s a- and we build it into our overall thinking and budget to look after our speakers. But right now, if you need a card and you want to help these guys, just raise your hand.
You need to understand that they- I’m- I’m not quite sure I can say this, are they- are they- they’re gone? Okay. Umm…” - Presence Conference 2011.
Something is amiss with the content of Kong Hee’s prayer. Wasn’t Kong Hee supposed to receive the support directly? In 2011, Phil Pringle specifically asked people to give money directly to fund Kong Hee’s legal battles. It would appear that in 2012 Kong Hee’s prayer was acknowledging that he indeed received this personal financial support, while using his church as a safeguard to hide this fact.
It was at this same conference we also see Kong Hee share his “burden” in more detail.
This sermon not only had the above prayer, but is also is the very sermon that has caused controversy in Singapore where Kong Hee claimed that God apologised to him. This is why we believe some people are outraged with the latest information – they perceive that Kong Hee is distorting the severity of the case for his personal and financial gain. Here again is what Kong Hee said on the first night of Presence Conference 2012:
“And [God the Father] said, ‘My son, I’m so sorry that you need to go through this alone. But you need to die and you need to go through this to be the Saviour of the world!’ And God the Father had broken and He wept as He turned His face, when His son took the sin of the whole world.
I was saying all this and I’m hearing myself behind the pulpit- and I froze. I could not utter another word. And I sobbed and I shook. Because those were my exact sentiments.
“Father, Father! Why? My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me and thrown me to the dogs?”
And for the first time in eight months, I heard the voice. It is not the voice of a strict angry judge that only want me to perform and build a big church and nothing I do is ever good enough for him. No. It’s not a voice of angry judge. It’s not the voice of a slave driver. That just wants to take and take and wring me dry. But it was a voice of a tender, loving, broken-hearted Father.
For the first time in eight months, God – I heard Him crying. And He said, “My son, Kong, thank you! Thank you for going through this. I need you to go through this alone so that you and City Harvest Church can be the man and the ministry I call it to be. I’m so sorry. But you need to go through with this by yourself, to bring a change to your generation”.
Oh come on! Give the Lord a big hand tonight!
I hear God saying for the first time in eight months, “I love you! I love you! I love you!” Waves upon waves of God’s love- the love of the Father, just, saturated me. All I could say was, “Abba! Abba!! AABBAAAA!!! Daddy! ABBA!!!” And I knew, everything was going to be, alright.
Everything was going to be alright.” – Kong Hee, http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=FKVSXfjhB14, Presence Conference 2012, Night Service, 11/04/2012.
As you can see, you are hearing a very one-sided and propaganda-like presentation of Kong Hee’s situation.
So we are seeing that what Pringle has said about Kong Hee appears be true. Phil Pringle’s Presence Conference was a place Kong Hee felt safe enough to “share… their burden ‘n what they’re facing and keep support happening”. And guess what? Kong can say whatever he wants to whoever he wants… and get away with it. How would Singapore know what his agenda is when he speaks at churches in other countries? Who can keep him accountable for what he says around the world, away from the Singaporean judicial system?
THE FRAUDULENT BEHAVIOUR CONTINUES
In light of the legal investigations underway at the times and the court case, it is scandalous of Pringle to invite Kong Hee to speak at Presence Conference from 2010 to 2013, . Pringle persisted in giving Kong Hee the floor to present his propaganda-like stories, designed to raise financial support for his legal expenses, yet disguised as sermons. Not once did Phil Pringle or Kong Hee give an accurate account as to why Kong Hee was under investigation or why Kong Hee is currently in court. Why is the media failing to expose Phil Pringle and Kong Hee’s fraudulent behaviour in financially misleading thousands of people at these events?
Last year at City Harvest Church, Phil Pringle made a video showing a number of pastors who chose to lend their support to Kong Hee. Kong Hee spoke at Ed Young’s church in 2011.
We’ve also covered Kong Hee speaking recently at Victory Life Centre, providing a very one-sided story of his case back in Singapore:
The Kong job continues (What is Victory Life Centre trying to hide?)
Kong also spoke recently at Ed Young’s C3 2013 Conference:
Kong Hee, Singapore Megachurch Pastor Arrested for Fraud, Visits Ed Young’s C3 2013
Did Kong Hee get love offerings from these churches after spreading more propaganda about his plight against the Singaporean government? Why are pastors like John Bevere, Mark Conner, Casey Treat, David Yonggi Cho and many more allowing Kong Hee to mislead their churches about his case? Were they misled and groomed to financially support Kong Hee’s lawyers as we saw at Presence Conference? Are these the churches that Pringle was alluding to when he said that “others have moved to help them in other countries”?
Leaders like John Bevere, Yonggi Cho, Casey Treat and Ed Young have already been exposed as false Christian teachers. Is it any wonder they would support someone like Kong Hee? Are we seeing a banding of false teachers, each being only accountable to their inner circle rather than the body of Christ?
This scandal needs to be addressed by the universal body of Christ. How far are men like Phil Pringle and Kong Hee allowed to go with this ungodly, manipulative behaviour before the true church starts dealing with such wolves?
