Is Phil Pringle compromising with the World on the Sun Ho Crossover Project Issue?

Kong Hee is the pastor of the Singaporean mega church "City Harvest" with I understand membership around 30,000 people. Many years ago I heard that his wife decided to start a secular pop career. It sounded pretty dodgy to me, but it wasn't my business and I thought no more of it.

There is this thought out there that we would do really well to become esteemed people in Hollywood and fit right into their culture in order to somehow reach people for Jesus. It is all part of the "influence at any price" pragmatic philosophy which has more in common with Scientology than with the Word of God. I say Scientology because L. Ron Hubbard deliberately targeted Hollywood celebrities in order to attract people to his religious system/money making venture,. We see this tendency in some churches here in Australia, where the love of the world is thinly veiled by a desire to be influential for Christ, whatever that may mean.

And now, there has recently been a scandal relating to the City Harvest church pastored by Kong Hee, in which criminal charges have apparently been made against the Kong Hee and 4 of his other pastors regarding the use of charity money to finance Kong Hee's wife's secular music career in Hollywood.  Apparently millions of dollars have been moved around in ways the Singaporean authorities do not like. While it is not yet certain if these allegations are true, what concerns me more is the idea that this sort of secular music thing is actually in some sense "Christian ministry". I guess it is in their minds, which could explain how they justify sending lots of church money to fund the kind of lifestyle and activities consistent with a secualar pop diva.

But just take a look at these videos below and ask yourself in what sense these videos could be glorifying of God and not the devil.

According to http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120629-356140/3.html we have the following:

Dr [Phil] Pringle says he, along with CHC's Advisory Chairman Dr A R Bernard, who is the senior pastor of Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York, fully believe in and endorse the church'sCrossover Project as a mission to reach the world.

See http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120629-356140/3.html

Have a look at this video below – another item from the Crossover project.

Once again according to the above article:

Dr Pringle says, "The Gospel is the Good News and Christians are meant to share it. CHC has done this through the Crossover Project, which lies at the very heart of our religious beliefs."

I think while evangelism is at the very heart of our religious beliefs, if we must use that kind of language, this does not mean that anything done in the name of evangelism is part of Christianity.

The Medieval Crusades (religious wars to take Jerusalem from the Moslems) were done in the name of the Kingdom of God and fully endorsed by the highest leader of the church – the pope. But this did not make it right, and neither does the goal of evangelism make imitating the spirit and methodology of someone like, say, Lady Gaga, make it right.

What is the Good News that is being shared through the Crossover Project? All this sensuality and HEAVEN TOO! Just do a search for Sun Ho on the internet and you will be able to see the kind of immoral filth that esteemed Christian leaders are defending here in the name of evangelism.

Who is Winning Who?

If we as Christian leaders expose masses of Christians to very questionable and sensual material deliberately, and stand by these actions, we are sending a VERY STRONG message concerning what is and what is not acceptable to God. Instead of teaching Christians to purify themselves from every filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for Christ (as the Scripture says) we are teaching them to "love the world and the things of the world", that "the end justifies the means", that separation from the world is for fools, and that repentance is not required for salvation. We are teaching people that they can serve God and their flesh at the same time. In short, we are defiling the temple of God and instead of reaching the world with the truth, we are receiving another spirit, and ultimately worshiping "another Jesus" – one who apparently isn't interested in a people who are purified from every lawless deed.

If you agree with what I am saying, I encourage you to speak up. Few do, perhaps it is the fear of men, perhaps it is a preference for sin and the world in their own lives – God knows. Read the New Testament from start to finish sometime, and form your own views based on that concerning what God wants. Don't take only predigested groovy sermons that gloss over the issue at hand. Do not trust men so much that you risk being eternally cursed by a Holy God.