http://bizarrobassline.tumblr.com/post/25927852186/city-harvest-church
Klinsen. 20. Chinese Male. Living in the glorious motherland of
Singapore. Music, philosophy, humour; I liek.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1209942/1/.html
First and foremost allow me to say that I am deeply upset
that a religious leader has compromised the generous donations of
his followers in laundering. Religion has not been used to
its best effect in the world but this is definitely one of its more
disgusting acts.
Now that that’s over with, let me tell my story
.
I attended City Harvest Church for about half a year when I was
16.
Back then, I had backslid from Christianity for about 2
years. It seemed like a really good idea before, and when my best
friend H came to tell me about how he had found a church and group
that appealed to him, I was pleasantly surprised and of course,
happy. It was only natural that I would want to take a look at
these people who had brought my friend to Christ, say my thanks,
and maybe renew my faith again.
I was introduced to a group that had several of my
schoolmates as members. That made the transition into City Harvest
pretty smooth. I got to know them on a rather superficial level,
but enough to maintain friendly conversation every time we met. I
enjoyed the fellowship and merrymaking, but over time I began to
sense that something just wasn’t right, at least for me. I’m no
theological expert, but it only takes a bit to realize where City
Harvest as a church goes wrong.
1.
Shakalakabadahoumaigodidunnowherethisisgoing
Of course, the strong charismatic nature of the services and
prayer meetings did intimidate me a lot. I’m a naturally reserved
person and as proud as I am of being Christian, I disagree (and am
very uncomfortable) with expressing myself out the way the church
encourages its members to. A problem I had was
that I can’t speak in tongues without feeling like I’m
lying to myself. The bible says in 1 Corinthians 12 that there are
9 different gifts bestowed by the spirit of the Lord. God
gives these gifts as He sees best and not what we think they are
for. More importantly, no two believers may necessarily have the
same spiritual gifts but it is still for the common good of the
church (verses 4-7). Not even Jesus Christ himself can bestow
spiritual gifts, so who are these members of City Harvest to insist
that I invoke something I, in faith, clearly felt did not
have?
2. Tithing
I’m a little embarrassed that I needed help with this (thanks
Justin Lee). I, like City Harvest (ironically!) believe the most
sound philosophy in tithing to your church is from the following
verse:
I omitted the last phrase in the verse so I could highlight it
here. City Harvest likes to take “God loves a cheerful
giver” as a means to encourage people to donate. In my
opinion, that is meant to intentionally bring about cognitive
dissonance so that people will eventually give in to external
pressure to donate more money. Once, I stood at the end of a row of
seats, and I took $4 out of my wallet to stick in their donation
envelope while an usher looked on. Being lazy, I neglected to seal
the envelope but I put it rather firmly in her hands and shockingly
was asked this question, “Is that all?”.
I think I reserved the right to feel offended at that moment. I
was but a secondary 4 student and I was donating money I didn’t
even earn by my own hand, I believe I should be allowed the
discretion to use money the way I find wisest. So what if I don’t
donate 10%?
Let’s look at wikipedia for a moment : Traditional
Jewish law and practice has included various forms of tithing since
ancient times. Traditional Jews commonly
practice ma’aser kesafim (tithing
10% of their income to charity).
How many goers of City Harvest Church can be sure that
even 1% of their tithes was going to charity? Especially now that
you know money was being wasted on a singer who
never-ever-had-been. I have no problem if you want to donate 98% of
your income to your church, but if your HEAD PASTOR and FOUR OTHER
top dogs in your church don’t have the moral gumption to not misuse
your money, you are in no church.
3. Coercion (this part is a little
long)
One incident that jolted me was when my cell group leader
texted me one day. Earlier in the week, I knew I
was going to have a family gathering on and had informed the cell
group I was going to be busy and hence missing out on cell and a
prayer meeting of sorts. The message read :
“Klinsen can’t make it this sat. Try to meet with him
then”
I realized that it wasn’t meant for me, but rather for a
girl (let’s call her T) who was a schoolmate of mine and I had
gotten familiar with after several months of service and cell. T
was like the protege of the cell leader, very much trusted and as
good as her proxy. Later on, T texted me and asked if I was free
for lunch or dinner that Saturday, which was odd because just 2
days before, I had mentioned that I was busy. What was even more
suspicious was that T was so devout, she would never miss church
activity for no good reason. I suddenly felt like I was prey being
marked out.
Another time, some guy shared during cell about the
importance of smiling and being happy in church. I am very aware
that I appear deadpan by default. As a result, I could not help but
feel like I was being attacked for not acting the way the
church/cell wanted me to. More importantly, the guy was just
pulling bible verses out of his ass and I thought that was
absolutely terrible of him.
The final straw was when I happened to be daydreaming
during a meal with the cell group. My eyes wandered and fell upon a
sheet of paper that was sort of like a nominal roll for the group.
I saw, to my horror, my own name, as well as my friend H’s, with
our handphone numbers and some other bits of personal information
that I had never surrendered before. That, to me, was an
indication that I had been ‘captured’. Neither by my own
volition nor my consent, I had been ‘made’ a permanent member of
their group. I felt violated.
Towards my O-levels, I was starting to find that the whole
thing wasn’t working out. H and I were dropping out slowly, but not
without beginning to feel like we were being harassed. I received 4
texts from a cell group member every day asking me if I was fine. I
made it a point to respond to only one a day to prove that I was
reading them all but I was being firm about not continuing to
attend City Harvest. It didn’t work. The messages just kept coming.
It was one day where I decided to just end the whole thing, without
giving T so much as the respect of a face-to-face conversation. I
let my emotions take over and basically screamed at her via text
message until she agreed to leave me alone. It was unpleasant, but
I had to take the quickest way out.
H eventually gave up Christianity altogether. Til today
I’m still afraid to ask him about how he feels about the religion
after that episode. I was embittered because I felt that City
Harvest had just messed everything up for him. He had an
opportunity to be happy in the faith but the bad experience left
him jaded and insouciant.
I moved on to Barker Road Methodist Church, a very quaint,
more conservative place. I am proud to say that the Word preached
here is surely edifying of Christ. Over here I have options of
different kinds of services, I can be frank during cell group
sessions, and there is nothing to conform to except a love of
God.
4. Reflections
I am glad that I went through the unpleasant experience of
being in City Harvest. I might not agree completely with
charismatic Christianity, but I think it is good that it exists.
Some people might never have found Christ without their effective
outreach methods. In fact, I confessed to Christ in a relatively
charismatic setting. After several years, I finally knew what true
hunger and longing for God meant.
Kong Hee is not a good man. Several quick searches on the
internet show you excerpts of his sermons where he takes the Word
and blurs it out of its original context
http://healtheland.wordpress.com/2008/03/30/non-biblical-teachings-of-kong-hee-of-city-harvest-church/ http://signposts02.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/lustful-leadership-laws-kong-hee-style/
I never enjoyed the air about him. It always felt dishonest and
I often found myself confused at his sermons. I and several
thousand others totally saw this coming, and I make no apology that
if you are surprised, you are nothing less than a blithering
idiot.
If you are a non-Christian, I want to be very apologetic here
and ask that you do not fire all your grievances at the rest of the
church. A man has committed wrong and given the nature of his act,
clearly does not represent the God he claims to believe
in.
If you are Christian, I want to remind you that Jesus himself
got angry. Just as Jesus cleaned house at the temple, it is our
spiritual duty to be angry at the ones who desecrate our temple for
personal greed.
I borrow the words of a friend when I say this, “God is
love, but God is also justice”. It is recognising one’s
mistakes and atoning for them that makes one’s achievements worth
recognising too. In fact, a fundamental element of Christianity is
Justice. We believe that the price of sin is death, and God, being
Existence and his entirety, sacrificed his son to provide endless
forgiveness for the world. In the context of the secular world, we
should not hesitate to demand the punishments which we agree is
fair according to the laws we share with non-Christians.
Conclusion :
I hate City Harvest, I really do. If I could get away with it I
would torch that abomination of money with the oil of forced
liposuction of its pastors. As much as it was a gateway for many
for Christ, it was often simply a facade for other purposes. But
that’s not going to stop me from praying for its future. It needs
to be better. It can reform. This is but a part of their race where
they can prove themselves to be true warriors of Christ by
persevering, or drop out and resign to be the hypocrites the world
so despises.
One of my closest friends is in City harvest church. She
acknowledges the weaknesses of it and puts her own spiritual growth
in priority ahead of the demands of the Church. That is an
admirable spirit but being a Christian also means forging a strong
community of God-fearing people.
There are many others like her who are good and sincere but in
my opinion are in the wrong place. If you are a member of City
Harvest Church on fire for God, I urge you to pray and ask if City
Harvest is the home you deserve. If the answer is yes, you should
aim to avoid the sins that your head pastor has committed. Your
faith and church can be a massive force for God and good if it is
channeled the right way. Moses; David; Paul; just several names of
men who were disgraced but proved themselves worthy to the
very end.
If your answer is no, I think it is time for you to pick up your
bible and begin the search for a new spiritual home. It will
require a lot of prayer and self-analysis to find out where you
stand with the word of God, but I believe there is a better place
for you.
Testimony of a buddhist who try to proselytize to a
disenchanted christian
Not just this Klinsen guy but there are also a lot of people in
my country that dislike certain churches.
I am a staunch buddhist, so in my journey, I try to lure back
disenchanted christians back to their roots, buddhism.
I once tried to preach buddhism to this disillusion christian.
he tells me of a church that he attends. He voluntered into
the music equipment ministry. At first he and two others
volunteered into this ministry that is already dominated by people
who served there for many years, so there was little way for
recruitment. But the two other members as it turns out are cg
members of those influential members of the musical equipment
ministry. So they were given favortism.
To succeed in this ministry, all new recruits have to go thru a
two month probation and pass an exam about the music equipment. My
friend was left to fend for himself, he was placed under some
seniors who were supposed to teach him. However, they neglected to
teach him and during worship service, he was forced to stand
there like an idiot next to the senior who was manipulating the
sound mix equipment. My friend took the initiative to ask the
senior how to use it, but the senior made excuses that hw was busy.
However, his two other fellow new recruits got favorable treatment,
they were asked to operate the $100,000 lighting control board, and
the seniors promptly taught them because they were from their cell
group.
Then one day, an old uncle who was the full time staff who
oversee the musical equipment ministry came to warn my friend to
study harder because the uncle thinks my friend join
the ministry because he was just wanting to have fun, learn
how to use this equipment and have this to benefit my
friend, because there is good demand for people who knows
sound equipment in the market. My friend was so pissed with that
statement because he gives 10% of his tithes to the church, even
pay for the salary of that stinking uncle who told him off.
Why can't the church have an open heart to teach
volunteers?
Then my friend was made to stand in for rehearsals and all
the two services for 8 hours a week, learning nothing but shit.
While the two other newbies can taught and supervision on how to
use the video-cameras, video editing, lighting and sound board
equipment. And he has been instructed to come in on time.
Then on one week, it turned out to be the ramadan month, so
the roads were jammed packed and my friend came just 10 minutes
late for two occassions (for rehearsals). He was given a demerit by
one lady whom he calls Miss Bitch (because she is a full time staff
working under the uncle and is very mercilessly fierce). the lady
Miss bitch extended his probation for another month, meaning to go
there and stand like an idiot for 8 hours (one month means - 32
hours). My friend was a devout christian, works as a successful
human resource manager but willing to volunteer his spare time to
volunteer for the church. He was so pissed. Whereas the Miss Bitch
showed double standards, when the two other new recruits was late
for half an hour !, their probaitons were not extended.
Then during the probation, came this african student who
volunteered as well. This time, my friend could see the racism
coming out. During break rehearsals, the poor african volunteer was
made sit alone during tea breaks and eat by himself, because the
chinese girls from that ministry weren't so eager to eat with him,
due to his racial color. The african volunteer also wasn't taught a
single thing, was left to stand there like an idiot. In the end, my
friend failed his exam because nobody at the stupid ministry wanted
to teach him nor the african volunteer. In the end the african
volunteer also dropped out. But the two newbies passed with flying
colors !
I tried to lure him back to buddhism, but he stayed back at his
church. This time he grew smarter, when he gave his tithes, he now
gave only 6%, he put a note there, the 4% lesser because he spare
none of that money for the musical equipment minsitry. He even put
a note there saying he wanted the treasury to ensure none of that
6% goes to the salary of the uncle and miss bitch and the musical
ministry because he thinks it is a farce.
But for me, if he is smart, he should quit the church and join
buddhism. After this kong hee case, there is no telling how much
the funds would be abused.
Churches got no transparency, no proper approval standards,
likely there is abuse of money.
