In Singapore, the attempt by the senior counsel of the
accused church leaders of City Harvest Church for outright dismissal of
the charges against them has been thrown out.
My mind wanders back to "D-Day" of the CHC building
fund in 2010 when Pastor Kong showed the mega stadiums when he urged the
congregation to give for the building fund. Was he really honest? or was
it just a show.
However, one cannot get too far in life being honest.
The churches label gays as the worst sinners being the greatest threat
to the family, when the bible context was about pagan worship, and the
threat to the family comes from divorces and abortions! They spin half
truths all the time.
The Christian News organization City News reported
that Judge See Kee Oon was "satisfied that the evidence orchestrated by
the persecution supported some element
of each of the charges against the accused".
However, an honest reporting was given by the secular
Today Online which reported that Judge Oon ruled that
-
"Sufficient evidence has been
adduced to support every element
of the charges of criminal breach of trust and falsification of
accounts ...."
-
"there is no need for the
court to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is
guilty. If suffices that a court could resonably convict on the
evidece adduced by the persecution"
-
the evidence is "largely
documentary rather than oral"
-
".... in my view, there is
evidence to show that sham or false investments took place"
-
" .... even if one does not
use the word sham, the evidence suggests the so-called investments
were not genuine investments, but were merely disguises for
something else"
-
"... there is evidence that
the true purpose of the transactions were to generate a false
impression that the purported bond investments .... has been
redeemed".
-
" ... the crux lies in
whether the accused knew they were "not legally entitled to use
CHC's money the way they did""
-
" they may have been
dishonest even if they had intended only to temporarily deprive the
church of its funds ..."
Hence, the earlier attempt by the defence to argue for
"no case to answer" because it was "church funds for church purposes"
has been rejected outright. This was expected since the funds were
raised and earmarked for the specific building fund projects and not for
Sun Ho's Hollywood secular rock stint.
Sun Ho's Hollywood forray was spinned by the defence
to be part of the Cross Over evangelism project using church funds when
it was never previously referred or considered as such. Moreover, any
direct support by using church funds for Sun Ho in Hollywood had been
hitherto denied vigorously and publicly by CHC (way back to 2003 in the Ronald Poon
affair).
Pastor Kong's own blog entry "Wholesome Shallowness"
in Sep 2009, vigorously affirmed that Sun was not related to the
ministry of the church in anyway hence was free to do the rather lewd
China Wine music videos. Kong categorically stated it was on Sun's own
accord as an entertainer as she was not and never was a pastor, nor her
albums had anything to do with the church.
It was being succesful in the market place on her own
accord rather than any cross over evangelism. Hence, it was not for
"church purposes" in response to strong accusations from other churches
of the unsavory music videos.
On the Cross Over, the judge said that "I do not find
this argument persuasive. Even if this is indeed a case of 'church funds
for church purposes', dishonesty could be established if the evidence
shows the accused persons knew they were not legally entitled to use the
money in the way they did.".
The totality, logical threads, and obvious motives of
the evidence were too grave, and were all documented correspondences,
directives and transactions. They got caught with their hands in the
piggy bank!
When the CHC case brokeout, the "Blog Pastor" spoke
about the CHC leaders as people who "went about doing good and with good
intensions". The evidence to the fact questions this integrity, honesty
and the true intentions, to a mega sham possibly misleading 30,000
members, and over SGD 50 million in funds.
It has been 3 to 4 long years for the accused. My
heart goes out to them even though I don't have a luxury European car,
or live in Sentosa Cove, or travel first class. Yes, I don't walk in
their skin of power, control, wealth, fame, and luxury to really know
what their going through.
As a Christian, we all suffer together as a body of
Christ. I feel really sorry for them because they are suffering amidst
the clicking sounds of DSLR cameras in the court house. All they have
doesn't really matter anymore as they face a real possibility of being
convicted.
When all is lost, we are reminded to value a humble
walk and communion with Jesus Christ in the presence of the Holy Spirit,
and a fellowship with family and friends, and experiencing all their
love, fellowship and relationship. We are reminded to treasure life, to
treasure people, and to walk a simple faith of humility, love, mercy and
grace.
May God's will be done. May
there be justice, and recompense, and truth to light the darkness.
------------------------------------------------------------
Excepts from Pastor's Kong's Wholesome shallowness
blog entry in Sep 2009
"Although
Sun
is
married to me, she herself was never formally ordained as a minister. "
"......But the reality is that she is no longer a church staff or a
gospel singer. She doesn’t work for any religious organization."
".....But Sun is not a pastor. She is an entertainer. All her music videos
were not produced by the church but by her secular music label, the
company that she is working for."
"The
“China Wine” music video was never meant for a church event. Neither was
it ever intended to be an evangelism tool or a gospel video."
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