This Pastor Lawrence Khong is increasingly a menace. He along with his compatriots at City Harvest have contributed mightily to sully the reputation of Christianity here. He lives in his own narrow world completely oblivious to the negative public perception of him. How do you bring a deeper understanding of one another using the courts? Beyond the fact that the church is rich enough to buy legal advice, I have a simpler and more obvious reason why he is doing this: to repair his pride and nurse his big ego badly thrashed by the public. There is no chance on earth he will prevail because we are a secular state. Our aim is to widen the space between the different religions and races, i.e., it means nobody gets to assert itself at the expense of others. Today it is the Christians, tomorrow it would be some other religion, but of course I just forgot that to him his version of Christianity is the one true religion, all others are false but he might wiggle out of that with semantics if you invite him for tea at the ISD offices. Fortunately he has no guts to go to jail over this because at the end of the day he is success seeker not a conviction preacher and believer. Martin Luther King isn't his role model.
Pastor Khong keep pushing and you will surely get to have tea with the ISD eventually. We do not need you to defend Christianity and we are just so fortunate that the Roman Catholics have produced a Pope Francis. He is very different from you in the sense that he is more like Jesus Christ.
Update: October 3, 12:45pm
See, hear, understand and learn Lawrence Khong. This is what President Obama said about Pope Francis. Unlike the Pope you are one divisive creature. You are so unlike Jesus Christ. What do you have for your flock to learn from you? Perhaps all the wrong things.
The same goes for so many pastors out there. Hijacking the the name of Christ, misappropriating scripture and cheapening God's grace for your career ambitions.
Update: October 3, 3:30pm
I was interested to read his church members' response. Such people always have a sizable number of supporters. We had also seen that at City Harvest at elsewhere.
Looks like the adverse publicity the church is getting, may be Lawrence Khong can forget about trying to proselytize using magic shows. Perhaps he can forget about growing his large membership hereon. He should be worried about members leaving instead as was the case with CHC.
I have known Lawrence Khong since I was 15 but I don't think he remembers me anymore. I never expected he would turn out this way then. But over the next ten years or so as I mature and could judge better, I found so many protestant pastors more keen to succeed with bigger congregations, big buildings, more money and success than anything else.....to cut a long story short, I eventually left my church after my pastor blackmailed me. He told me to go find another pastor to officiate my marriage just because I made the mistake of not informing him that I have registered the marriage at ROM. We did that to secure our HDB flat. At the end of the day it is all about power over you isn't it? And with that power as that influence grows bigger they could get you to cough up money to finance their ambitions but all dressed up as doing for God. This is no God in all these. They were making use of Him for their own selfish purposes. It is examples like George Mueller, Sadhu Sundar Singh, CS Lewis, Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa etc., and now Pope Francis that inform me what the people of God are like and not quite a few of the pastors we have here today. And I thank God for Francine Rivers too. She wrote many of the Christian novels which allow my kids to learn the difference between God's grace and the fakes in our churches.
Not all pastors are bad but far too many are and also very good at pretending. So many that I am having a hard time thinking of exceptions during those years I was in church. All too hungry for worldly success and boy they sure knew how to sell it like it is all so God glorifying and holy but they forgot what Abraham Lincoln said about conning people all the time.
I think his Church needs to be investigated. He seems to be extremely rich, owning horses and all. I think becomeing a priest is a better career option.
ReplyDelete...and four ponies.
DeleteIt becomes quite scary when the real motive behind a move like this is to impose one's religious tenets on others. When someone gets to the point to claim his is the true religion, all respect for him must go out of the window. As if he is God, wow!!
ReplyDeleteFor Christianity, is it not something for the staff concerned to personally confess to God and Jesus would have pardoned her without any conditions attached and without doubt, case would be closed.
ReplyDeleteNow this pastor seems to be telling us other rules apply ? By the way according to his standards, then how can his daughter continue to be a pastor if she bears a child out of wedlock ? Is it not hypocritical for the pastor to behave like that ?
Let us focus on the issue without getting personal.
ReplyDeleteWhat is wrong for him to pursue secular channels to clarify a simple case of dismissal of a staff with cause, an alleged misconduct as per employment contract. Who is to say that the minister et al may have erred, and should be bold enough to say so?
Not sure if you are aware but Pastor Lawrence Khong recently called for a big meeting of his Christian supporters in order to come up with a strong response against the Ministry of Manpower.
ReplyDeletePastor Khong said that he would be "addressing the issue of 'secular space versus religious space' in response to Ministry of Manpower's statement that workplaces and labour laws are secular".
Pastor Khong also stated that "MOM's statement affects every local church and calls for a serious response from us. Taking the long view, I want to share how we can respond as a body of Christ in this present context and climate, so that we may together act prudently for our collective future".
It is dangerous that Pastor Khong is now taking such bold steps to assert his religious stance (prayerfully, it represents the whole of Christendom!) in a community that has long respected different religious values. He may be a dedicated shepherd of his flock but I hope he will remember that self-righteousness will get everyone astray in the end. May God be with him
ReplyDeleteJesus Himself had said false prophets would come in His Name - and these are the pretentious leaders that will cast division among God's children. So if Pastor Khong thinks if his employee will confess and repent only will he treat the person with diginity again. I don't think this is even the way of God to treat a "sinner", Perhaps pastor Khong is greater than God after all
ReplyDeleteJohn 8
ReplyDeleteNew International Version (NIV)
8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group
4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
I have come across many people throwing this at them but think about it, how would they or for that matter anyone knows how to put this into action. My suggestion I blogged before is they could start by thinking of the welfare of the then unborn child. She is innocent, didn't asked to be born out of wedlock. But the pastor and church were more eager with how they appear to the public, which the harder they try to look good the worse they come out. This is sanitized Christianity exactly opposite of the utter shame of the the one who endured dying on a cross for us all.
DeleteSo they call themselves a church but I think people should learn to look elsewhere. Many people know some stories from the Gospels. Just compare Christians to those Jesus stories and continue looking for the real thing if you are interested.
Amen!
ReplyDeleteHow some self-righteous pastors are so far from the Master Himself!! :(