While the Church sleeps...(City Harvest saga).

Kong Hee may not get his prayers answered for a full acquittal as he is currently serving a sentence of 3.6 years. But he may just get his prayers answered for a successful criminal reference on s.409. 

The Court of Appeal (CA) has reserved judgment on the City Harvest case, and it has been a very busy two days for the CA and Deputy AG.

First, it was Tan Cheng Bock's constitutional challenge on Monday whereby the Deputy AG was arguing that the Court shouldn't intervene with parliamentary sovereignty as she has the final say as to which president the counting for the reserved election should start with. 

Yesterday, on Tuesday, the same Deputy AG is arguing for the Court to intervene and interpret s.409 purposively, for why wait for Parliament or the legislature when the Court can right the wrong now?

I guess it's all in a day's work of public service in the AG's Chambers - different contexts, different strokes. 

Whatever the outcome, I think Kong Hee will serve his time and leave in one piece. 

When he entered the court yesterday, he was smiling and he said "hi." At break time, a crowd of his supporters were "seen gesturing and waving excitedly, before they were told to quieten down by police officers."

It was at this time that Kong Hee's face lit up as he waved to them and said, "It's OK."

Kong Hee may languish in prison, looking haggard and older in purple prison jumpsuit, but if the criminal reference turns out to be in his favour, he will be out of prison in, say, 2.5 years from today. 

Short of quashing the conviction, which is highly unlikely, he will miss just two Christmases before he gets his freedom back in full. 

So, after his release, he will return to his megachurch. He will return to a crowd of witnesses who love him dearly, whose devotion has only grown deeper as absence makes the heart go fonder. 

As it is, many cried when they saw their leaders, in particular, Hong Kee, in the dock yesterday. They missed him leading them in the glorious past, and they looked forward to him leading them into the even glorious future after incarceration. 

Sure enough, Kong Hee will take over the spiritual mantle from his wife. She would just be holding the fort for him in his absence. 

I therefore won't be surprised if he returns to preaching, travelling and evangelising - anything but managing a charity without COC permission.

And he would be leading tens of thousands again, as surely as the phoenix will rise from the ashes of an exhausting 7-year legal saga, costing millions in legal fees and dragging the name of Christ with him.

Lesson? It's a sad lesson for me, and it has nothing to do with Kong Hee. 

Now, before that, let me preface this by saying that Kong Hee has apologised just before he went in, this time he got it right - that is, after two "applauded" attempts at apology, which was about deflecting blame and responsibility (I guess for some leaders up there apology takes practice). 

I trust that Kong Hee has come, or is coming, to terms with what he had done, and he is currently dealing with himself in his own ways.

Whether he is on his road to repentance or not is something only time will tell after he leaves prison. 

But as believers, as a body, whether we love or hate him, we are compelled to do the right thing, eventually, and that is, to allow a fellow brother time to learn from his mistakes, make amends, wish him well and move on. 

Our faith is not based on sensationalism in order to feed our own self-righteousness. Neither is our faith based on wishing for a bitter end to our enemies just because he or she has done what seems like irretrievable damage to the faith. 

We risk becoming hate by embracing hatred, or becoming bitter by embracing bitterness, or becoming impenitent by embracing impenitence. For it is said, if you seek revenge, dig two graves. 

However, my sad lesson is a sad reflection of the state of the megachurches today.

The papers reported a "united front with people still regularly attending services and praying fervently while waiting for the pastor (Kong Hee) to come back."

Now, there's nothing wrong with a united people of and for Christ, but discernment would have at least compelled one to ask this, "What are we uniting for or against?"

No doubt, if you ask any member of CHC, they would say that they are united for Kong Hee to return to lead them again. I believe they would also say that their allegiance was never shaken and their faith in his leadership never in doubt. 

Alas, after all that have transpired, the charges and conviction, the admission, the cover up, the mindless self-enrichment and the refusal to own up, their faith in the leadership is still unshaken, not even a crumple?

This can't be right, right? At some point, does the followership become just as guilty as the leadership?

Here's the irony...

It is often said that godly discipline comes from God, that is, from the church herself. 

But the CHC saga is anything but from the church. It was from the secular governmental bodies that brought the leadership to account for their failings. 

Because if it were up to the church, we will not be surprised to see the tens of thousands in CHC standing, swaying and clapping to the hypnotic beat of China wine and its seedy video by now. 

There was even a time when many would readily endorse China wine and the spirit of it as the definitive will of God...go figure. 

And the gamble of $50m would have escalated astronomically with impunity, and Sun Ho may just end up a superstar for her religion after all. 

Alas, evangelism, yes, but at what cost? 

Friends, unfortunately, this is the endgame of a megachurch gone rogue, that is, the culmination of all adoration, praise and enrichment to the ones at the top, the human leadership. 

You see, the police, the CAD, the Attorney General, the Courts, the Appeal judges and even COC (all secular bodies) have worked together with greater discernment and caution to bring CHC leadership to account. 

Yet, not one censuring or disciplinary voice was heard from within the church. 

Not one Nathan, Daniel or Jeremiah (modern equivalent) from the church came forward with moral courage and godly wisdom to stand up for what is right, and to risk losing his job or reputation to tell the leadership off.

Correction, there was actually one (Ronald Poon), but he was made a sacrificial lamb, ostracised, and stigmatized. He was made to pay for his disloyalty. 

Yet, no one from the church leadership apologised to him in person, no one did the right thing, except Pastor Tan Ye Peng. 

If this is how the megachurch works, if this is what loving and saving the world is in a megachurch context, then I will have no part of it. 

Alas, the megachurch may be flourishing in numbers, activities, festivities and charities, consolidating wealth, influence and power at her center, but what's the point in all that busyness if her soul (or humanity) is left behind because one does not have the time for its nurturance. 

It is said in Matthew, what good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 

Ironically, for me, the spirit of the crossover project led by the pastoral couple reminded me of that scripture. 

If they had succeeded (because the secular bodies were too busy with other things), spending millions flagrantly to elevate one, they would have gain the whole world, its attention, its allegiance, its funds, its adoration, its loyalty, but I can't say what would become of their soul. 

I guess if the history of fallen church leaders have taught us anything, it is that when you turn your eyes away from the world and towards the Cross, you gain everything. 

But when you do otherwise, using His name just to gain the world, you may eventually gain the world but risk losing your soul. Cheerz.