Saturday, August 23, 2014

Open Letter to Dr Bernard (From Eng Han) (Mrslightandfriends: 23rd Aug 2014)

Dear Dr Bernard,

I, a servant of God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, am writing an open letter to you to inform you that you have failed in your spiritual duties as the Advisory Chairman over the Board of City Harvest Church and as an Apostle over the church.

You will recall that on 1 Aug 2013,  I along with a CHC elder and a board member, had a conference call with you to arrange a meeting with you. On 16 Sept, we met at a hotel in Singapore, joined by that elder and board member.

I asked if I could tape our conversation for future reference but you declined, and so I didn’t. I am now describing from my handwritten notes what happened.

You first asked what was my objective in meeting you, and I said my hope was that through you, Kong and Sun and some of his leaders would come to repentance, and that you would help awaken the church to the truth as to what was really happening in the church leadership.

I subsequently described to you some of Kong’s wrongdoings, from a moral and spiritual perspective. I related how I had a four and a half hour meeting with Kong and Sun which produced no fruits. You listened patiently and at the end of the meeting assured me that you believed I came to you without malice and in truth.

You said that I had placed a heavy responsibility upon you and you would ensure that you would discharge that responsibility by having a “good talk” with them, including the board,  and that they would have to be “honest at the table.” You also said if they did not heed discipline, you may have to reconsider your relationship with them. I left the meeting assured that you would carry out your duties.

On the 21 Sept Saturday service at the church, you spoke from the pulpit against me instead. You alleged that I had used you for my personal agenda and had committed gossip and slander against and dishonored Kong and Sun.

You then got Kong on stage and made a show of ‘repentance’ by asking if he had committed silly mistakes before, and had he repented to God, to which he said “all the time.” To that, you got the congregation to endorse him with a roaring applause. There is a huge difference between “silly mistakes” and “conscious deception” and you allowed the people to believe it was the former. It would have been far better for that staged show never to have taken place.

Dr Bernard I am taking you to task in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for acting in a manner that’s unbecoming of an apostle, and for doing the very opposite of what His Word requires of a man of God that’s placed in a position of spiritual authority.

You abused the pulpit and instead of helping to wake up the people, you turned Kong into a brave and humble hero in their eyes, and with your open endorsement on stage, the people believed even more in Kong and Sun thereafter.

You also accused me of not complying with Matthew 18 because I did not confront the sinner but committed gossip and slander instead. You obviously had forgotten that I had told you about the four and a half hour meeting and how it failed to bear fruits of repentance. And how I had to try multiple times before that to speak to them and how protracted were the circumstances leading to that meeting with them.

It seems to me that subsequent to my meeting with you on 16 Sept, Kong and Sun had probably told you certain things about me which shifted your mind about my true intentions. The right thing you should have done then, according to Matthew 18,  was for you to meet me again to clarify. Instead you misused the pulpit to tear me down for not complying with the very verses that you have failed to obey. The result of your actions on stage was that evil became good and good became evil.

In our meeting you said you believed in unity based on truth, humility and repentance, and emphasis on the flock and not on the man. You claimed also that you believed in a structure that forces the man of God into accountability to avert compromise and sin. None of your words translated into the right actions and today the church is in confusion as the truth unfolds and the man whom you are responsible for correcting continues in his ways uncorrected and unrestrained.

I warned you of the consequences if the matters of Kong and Sun are not properly dealt with in the House of God first. There was no biblical discipline and instead the wrongdoer got off with a resounding applause of endorsement.

One of my specific concerns which I brought to you was the falsified attendance figures, which was claimed to be 33,000 instead of the actual twelve to thirteen thousand. After what I revealed to you, you yourself went on to TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) and told a story of how the “church in Singapore” which you had been ministering to with your Cultural Mandate message had grown from 3,000 in 1998 to 38,000 today. You further exaggerated that that particular church has influence over 1,000 churches worldwide.

Not only have you failed to correct Kong but you yourself have perpetuated the lie about CHC’s size and influence. You owe an explanation to the body of Christ. I am publishing this open letter on Mrs Light n Friends blog and Facebook so that we can have an open discussion before the whole body of Christ internationally. Whatever reply you send to me will be published on the same platform so we both have an EQUAL opportunity to be scrutinised for our words and action. This is right because Matthew 18 says :
“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, TELL IT TO THE CHURCH. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”

The church is in a state of drastic and violent shakeup and confusion. As a man of God who had been given what in your own words you termed “heavy responsibilities”, I am asking you now to account for your past words and actions which are totally unfit and unbecoming of a person who claims apostleship over the church.

In the Lord’s name
Chew Eng Han

1 comment: