Exodus 20:15-17 New King James Version (NKJV)

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

In the Arise and Build 2010 trailer in Apr 10, Pastor Kong of City Harvest said that "We want to build God a house, and it's not just for our members but for the Kings of Kings and the Lord of Lords. ... but that require a sacrifice .... ", and Pastor Derek Dunn followed by saying that "...God as you give us a building we will see growth in tens of thousands ...., and then the news of the purchase of Suntec!

A few months later in end May 31, 2010, came the bombshell of the investigations. It was the "day after" the CHC Asia Conference at Expo where 20,000 delegates came from around Asia, exalting City Harvest to the height of glory.

All this seems a life time ago. Three and a half years later, in the first week of the 2nd phase of the trial, the key church members gave their testimonies as persecution witness.

Their stories should tend to favor CHC, but they were hard pressed to spin the answers as not to implicate CHC. It was most torturous to see them turn and twist to answer to the persecutor.

 Morally and spiritually the entire church in Singapore is on trial, a reflection of our prosperity and law based theology leading us to be the "Anti-gay" moral defenders of Singapore.

But the truth from the trial was painfully clear... it was not the "full truth" being told, minuted, and advertised to the public and members under the guise of being audited.  Technically, all was certified by auditors to legitimize the transactions as best they could.

Indeed, they should have been given an academy award for such a brilliant business scheme that if made into a movie would have made more than the 23 million paid to launch Sun Ho into the US.

If they had spent the 23 million on the poor and the outcasts in Singapore, it would have been a different story with public sympathy instead of trying to justifying the China Wine.

In a bizarre twist, the public attention seems to be focused on Serina Wee, one of the accused. Have they chosen the wrong star for the Cross Over?

Pastor Kong taught that without the the law, there would be lawlessness. However when we emphasised the law, the result is lawlessness and judgement. It resulted for example in the inclusion of 700K for unrelated travel costs for Kong Hee to the album cost which was blatant and arrogant.

Was the money theirs to use? Was it pride, power, and control without the fear of God, or a good conscience that people had sacrificed much.

The law made us self justified in our own righteousness, but it is the Grace of God in Christ Jesus that justifies us in Christ's righteousness.

I visited CHC in Apr 2010 during 2010 Arise and Build season. It was all focused on building a physical building for God. I felt at home again visiting my previous cell group. They said that I have not changed at all, quiet and smiling as usual. 

The story line presented in the 2010 Arise and Build would have been complicated if the truth was told that a large portion of the funds had gone to Sun Ho's US endeavor. It would have implied that we couldn't make it by our own in the market place.

If the leaders had not been law minded, but instead trusting on the grace of God, people would have supported the funds for Sun Ho. There was fear because they were under a law based teaching, when they should have trusted in God's grace in Christ Jesus.

The tragedy is that it was all so unncessary for the church members loved Pastor Sun Ho and would have given millions for the album.

Instead, with the revelations from the trial, there would be a strong moral backlash against the church, because the members had sacrificed greatly and would leave the church saddened.

At the end, three of the Ten Commandments were clearly broken:-

a. Stealing from those who sacrificed (public and church members) thinking that it was to build God a physical building (and not a spiritual building!)

b. A false witness to the public and the church members - not telling the full truth so that they would sacrifice willingly and not ask questions nor come under scrunity from the authorities

c. Lusting for something that they did not have, marketplace Hollywood fame, and therefore living in a make believe world that they could spend millions for Sun Ho to become a mega super star.

Such a long drawn out trial is like dripping water on the sink, a painful echo of 4 years since 31 May 2010 of one public revelations after another.

The law produces judgement. Since, CHC preached the ten commandments and had insisted on their integrity, the full measure of judgement will come back to them.

CHC is a reflection of the mainline and mega churches in Singapore who has been so focused on the Ten Commandments in their anti-gay pursuit as the "moral defenders" of Singapore.

The full judgement will therefore be borned by CHC unless they turn away with a contrite heart. CHC will bear the losses of members leaving, and the church as a whole, a grave lost of morality, integrity and righteousness.

 When even the world is amazed by the churches' alleged sins, and the obvious spins on the truth, we will loose our right and mandate to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world.

It is ironic, that CHC got their Suntec but instead of gaining members in their tens of thousands, will be loosing members, and with their debts exposing them to the risk of losing Suntec.

It is time for CHC to come clean with a contrite heart seeking God's grace and forgiveness. It is only under grace, we receive blessings from God effortlessly because it is all not by ourselves but by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.