Credentials of City Harvest Church's Kong Hee and Phil Pringle

Phil Pringle and Kong Hee (source)

Left: CHC executive pastor Aries Zulkarnain. Right: Sydney-based Reverend Phil Pringle has always felt a great affinity with City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee and his wife, Ms Ho Yeow Sun.

"Dr" Phil Pringle and "Dr" Kong Hee?


[Who is Phil Pringle? We might ask in our ignorance. "I’m one of the few people that has changed history or is changing history", said Pringle. He is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Australians ever, according to Kong Hee. See the end of this post for the fulsome adulation and love that Kong Hee has for Pringle.]


Kong Hee's credential as a lecturer in the City Harvest School of Theology (SOT) is as follows  (source):


Rev. Dr. Kong Hee

Rev. Kong Hee is known throughout Singapore and Asia as a dynamic teacher on faith, preaching an uncompromising message on godly character and holiness. As a young man, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the National University of Singapore, and thereafter went on to obtain his Master of Divinity in 1991 and Doctor of Theology in 1995. Pastor Kong sits on the executive committee of the National Council of Churches of Singapore.

We should place absolutely no value on doctorates and other academic degrees from independent (not affiliated with any mainline Christian denomination) theological schools and bible colleges, especially those in the USA, unless evidence to the contrary is provided.


Rev "Dr" Phil Pringle (newly appointed senior pastor of City Harvest Church, PhD in Biblical Philosophy, New Covenant International University (NCIU) 1999) and Rev "Dr" Kong Hee (Master of Divinity, New Covenant International Theological Seminary (NCITS, same outfit as NCIU) 1989-91; Doctor of Theology, New Covenant (NCIU) 1993-95 [see below]) both have their master's and doctorates from the grandly named New Covenant International University and Theological Seminary (NCIU) (or New Covenant University, or New Covenant International University, or some such name), in Lake Worth, Florida.

"Dr" Kong Hee (source)

Phil Pringle's PhD from NCIU (source: pdf)

Is New Covenant International University and Theological Seminary (NCIU) a bona fide university/seminary or a diploma mill? The issue is discussed in blog posts here, here and here, and a forum (here). Unsurprisingly overwhelming doubt about its genuineness remains.

"New Covenant International University and Theological Seminary [NCIU] is a distance-learning university and theological seminary that seeks to meet some of the educational needs of today’s diverse, global body of believers." (source)  

NCIU has no campus, no curriculum, no facilities, no office. It uses Trinity Church International (TCI) as its mailing address (7255 South Military Trail, Lake Worth, Florida 33463, USA). 

"Dr" Tom C Peters (Doctor of Ministry, NCIU),  senior pastor of TCI (here), is a vice president of NCIU (here).  NCIU therefore appears to be Tom Peter's or TCI's fraudulent money-making scheme.
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[ ps. It appears that Kong Hee, Pringle, and the founder/President of NCIU, Kevin Dyson, are close friends. 


Kevin Dyson's own doctorates are also from either diploma mills or fictitious entities. 


Furthermore, Dyson has practiced fraud and deception, by using bogus academic credentials, on Tung Ling Seminary, Malaysia, where he is an adjunct lecturer (unless Tung Ling colluded with Dyson in perpetrating the deception on the public).


Dyson's dishonesty further strengthens my belief that NCIU which Dyson founded is a fraud and a diploma mill, from which Kong Hee and Phil Pringle, close friends of Dyson's, obtained bogus doctorates.  (For details, see here.) ]

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Update.  General Trends in New Zealand society: Protest and Polarisation (2003), by Dr Brett Knowles, a historian of Christianity, then (2003) at University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, confirms that Kevin Dyson "granted degrees to pastors on the basis of the pastor's own studies and sermon materials." "Although the standards have since risen somewhat, it was possible to gain a doctorate from this (Kevin Dyson's) institution after seven years of pastoral experience, as evidenced by the pastor's collected sermon materials, and the submission of a 3000-word essay."  (Details available here)

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My strong impression is that NCIU is a diploma mill, with doctorates and master's degrees for sale, where any incoherent, fatuous, and plagiarized essay qualifies as a doctoral thesis or dissertation.

New Covenant International Theological Seminary (with a mailing address in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1993) is listed in Steve Levicoff's "Name It and Frame It?", an investigation into "Christian" degree mills, as a suspected degree mill.

"Christian" degree mills investigated

If NCIU is indeed a bogus school, then Kong Hee has never taken any courses (not even by mail) normally expected of a pastor in a mainline Christian denomination.

Did Kong Hee's probably bogus master's degree help him in getting ordained in 1991?

What does it say about the honesty and integrity of Kong Hee and Pringle that they would seek to impress their flocks with probably bogus "doctorates" from an outfit such as NCIU?

Kong Hee's NCIU credentials date as far back as 1989, when he was 25 and starting City Harvest Church. This fact casts a very long shadow on his integrity. I had thought that he succumbed to the temptation of wealth and fame much later on in his career.  However the seed of corruption seems to have been sown  a long way back.


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"Dr" Kong Hee, Th.D.; M.Div.; B.A. (B.Th.); B.Sc. serves on NCIU's International Board of Reference, and is a non-resident faculty member of NCIU. This means that he is fully qualified to instruct and graduate any of NCIU's doctoral students, including Pringle in 1999.


This shows the appallingly low quality of the NCIU "faculty" (if one really exists), and the bogus nature of NCIU degrees.

Kong Hee on NCIU's faculty (source)

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Kong Hee's plagiarism

In March 2010, a blogger identified plagiarism in Kong Hee's 'Daily Devotionals' as they were similar to writings in another publication, "The Leadership Bible", which was published 10 years earlier. The plagiarized text were published in two books, "Renewing Your Spiritual Energy in 90 Days" without accreditation to the original authors. Apart from "The Leadership Bible", the blogger also alleged other works that have been plagiarized, include content by well-known Christian authors Derek Prince, Neil Anderson, Professor Sid Buzzell and Dr Kenneth Boa. Prof Buzzell, a dean of the school of theology at Colorado Christian University, had warned that continued plagiarism may force them to seek legal advice.

Kong Hee posted a note on his website and explained that the devotion was "originally meant only for internal circulation among the members of my church. As such, there was an oversight in not quoting the sources of some portions that borrow from the writings of other Christian authors." There was also an apology for the oversight. (source)


Kong Hee's plagiarism is yet another sign of his lack of honesty and integrity, and possibly his incompetence in sensibly interpreting the Bible (thus needing to rely on, and copy, others).

Kong Hee’s plagiarism (source):

The blog that discovered it: http://cheatgrace.blogspot.sg/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=26

http://www.transitioning.org/2010/06/12/pastor-kong-hees-publisher-explains-its-oversight/

http://thelogicalchristian.blogspot.com/2010/06/pastor-kong-hees-publisher-explains-its.html

http://www.transitioning.org/2010/06/12/city-harvest-founder-now-accused-of-plagiarism/

http://churchwarnings.blogspot.com/2010/06/kong-hee-plagiarism-links.html 

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On City Harvest School of Theology and other Charismatic Bible schools

source: Sparrows and Sandcastles (here)

It is detrimental to the church when the preachers and teachers are poorly informed about church history, philosophy, church traditions other than their own, and most importantly, how to handle the christian bible accurately and properly.

Although there are some institutions which are popular haunts of independent charismatics, like the Tung Ling Bible School, Rhema Bible Training Centre Singapore and even City Harvest Bible Training Centre (the former name of City Harvest School of Theology); such institutions are very poor academic choices for biblical scholarship.

They are but bastions of anti-intellectualism and parochial indoctrination. Many graduate from these places with no knowledge of the original languages, no knowledge of biblical criticism, no knowledge of inter-faith engagement, etc. Alas they even pride themselves as being more “on fire” for God, as though zeal can make up for any lack of intellectual rigour.

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City Harvest School of Theology (CHSOT) is a glorified Sunday school of CHC with a faculty of six (in 2012, excuding Derek Dunn), offering a six-month Advanced Certificate program each year, and no degree program. At least five of the six faculty members are part timers, as they are either pastors of CHC, or conduct other ministries in the church. (CHSOT faculty members: source1, source2)

The academic standard of City Harvest School of Theology (CHSOT) can be gauged by the following facts:

• Kong Hee's theological qualifications are from New Covenant International Theological Seminary (NCIU), a diploma mill.
• Choong Tsih-Ming, a former CHC Management Board member who stepped down, together with its former chairman Kong Hee, in April 2011 (source), is also a lecturer in the City Harvest School of Theology. His credential includes a BA in Theology from New Covenant International Theological Seminary (New Zealand) (source). (NCIU claims to have started in Auckland, New Zealand in 1978, and moved to the US in 1990.)
• The only full time colleges (New Life Bible College and Spirit Life Bible College) that Derek Dunn, the former executive pastor of CHC and a former CHSOT Lecturer, graduated (at age 20 and 22) from are Bible colleges that are personal empires, founded by and centering on a Charismatic/Pentecostal preacher. These colleges were little more than glorified church Sunday schools or extended Bible retreats. Spirit Life Bible College (SLBC) was founded by a 26-year-old Charismatic/Pentecostal faith healer/preacher Roberts Liardon, and closed as a consequence of the discovery of his homosexual relationship. (For details on Derek Dunn and SLBC, see this.)

• Lecturers Tan Ye Peng (Deputy Senior Pastor, CHC; charged in court) and Aries Zulkarnain (Executive Pastor, CHC) hold Diploma of Theology as their highest theological qualification. It is unclear who awarded their diplomas, but City Harvest Bible Training Centre (predecessor of CHSOT) is the most likely outfit.  If so, their diplomas are worthless in establishing the quality of CHSOT.
• Mike Connell, a practitioner of the Benny Hinn (unscrupulous scoundrel and swindler) style of anointing ("I wave, shout, or push, and you fall back"), and senior pastor of Bay City Outreach Centre, New Zealand, provides no theological credential online.
• The only lecturer with decent theological training is Bobby Chaw Ngin, mission director of CHC, who only very recently (May 2011) earned a Master of Divinity (first theological degree, identical to Bachelor of Divinity, in TTC) from the well regarded Trinity Theological College (TTC) in Singapore (source1, source2). 
• Chaw holds a Diploma in Theological Studies from Oral Roberts University (founded by another master charlatan, Oral Roberts) via the former City Harvest Bible Training Center (source). I would dismiss any Oral Roberts University diploma as a death certificate of the holder's critical faculty.
• Chaw's theological education is at best equivalent to that of a typical mainline Protestant (Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran) pastor/minister.

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To get a sense of the credentials of the academic faculty in well respected Christian theological colleges in Singapore, see Trinity Theological College (where commendably some CHC leaders and members have studied and earned genuine degrees [here]) and Singapore Bible College.

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A well publicized case of bogus academic credential is that of Kent Hovind, an advocate of young earth creationism, who sought to bolster his academic credibility with a PhD from Patriot Bible University (PBU) in Colorado. 

The "university" is in fact a diploma mill with an academic faculty of one, Lonnie Skinner, a Baptist pastor. He single-handedly manages three colleges/schools of the university (College of Ministerial Studies, College of Christian Education, and Patriot School of the Bible), 400 active distance learning students, and issues approximately 50 to 100 Christian religious degrees (Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorates) per year (so he claimed). 

Given the adverse publicity, any degree from PBU must now be worse than worthless (being damaging and embarrassing). Nevertheless, PBU is still active, offering a Doctor of Ministry for US$2200, and a Master's degree for $1550 (here).  More details on PBU can be found in Wikipedia.

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Coincidentally, the  less grandiose, but similar, sounding New Covenant International (NCI) Bible College of Columbia, South Carolina is blatantly and indubitably a "long distance" diploma mill, currently offering a combination bachelor/master/doctoral degrees for US$2250 (50% reduction from the usual $4500, installment plan available) and any of the following doctoral degrees for $1500.

• Doctor of Apologetics (D.Apol.)
• Doctor of Bibilical Studies (D.B.S.)
• Doctor of Christian Counseling (D.C.C.)
• Doctor of Christian Education (D.C.E.)
• Doctor of Christian Administration (D.C.A.)
• Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.)
• Doctor of Pastoral Counseling (D.P.C.)
• Doctor of Religious Literature (D.R.L.)
• Doctor Sacred Music (D.S.M.)
• Doctor of Theology (Th.D.)

The best bargain that  I found is any honorary doctorate of your choice, from a collection of eleven, from NCI Bible College for a very affordable $35. (screenshots below)

A genuine college or university with minimal academic standard would never offer a combination bachelor/master/doctoral program. A student might fail his/her bachelor's program, and be ineligible to proceed further to a master's or doctoral program.

Diploma mill in action: New Covenant International Bible College (source)

Diploma mill in action: New Covenant International Bible College 

Any honorary doctorate of your choice from NCI Bible College for $35

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Kong Hee (source1, source2)

Kong Hee (c. 1989)

Kong Hee and  Sun Ho (June 2012)

Born : 23 August 1964

Accepted Christ : 1975

Qualifications:

• Raffles Institution: 1977-1980
• Raffles Junior College: 1981-1982
• Graduated from National University of Singapore,
  Bachelor of Science (Computer & Information Sciences): 1985-1988
• Hansei University [a Pentecostal University in South Korea], Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration: 2008

Theological Qualifications:

• New Covenant International Theological Seminary* (USA):
  Master of Divinity (distance learning): 1989-1991
• New Covenant International Theological Seminary* (USA):
  Doctor of Theology (distance learning): 1993-1995

* New Covenant International Theological Seminary (NCIU), a "long-distance" school, is most probably a diploma mill, with academic degrees for sale. 

Ordained:

• Bethany Christian Centre (Singapore): 6 Jan 1991

Founded:

• City Harvest Church: 1989
• City Harvest Bible Training Center: 1994
• Harvest Times (quarterly magazine): 1999
• City Harvest Education Centre: 2002

Co-Founded with Rev. George Ong:

• Harvest School of Ministry: 2001
  Malaysian Harvest Christian Fellowship: 2003

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Before he was Reverend Kong Hee …
Former schoolmates recall an easygoing student who enjoyed swimming and life

Today, Jun 05, 2010 (source)

At a Raffles Institution (RI) Class of 1980 reunion five years ago, he was on the receiving end of friendly jibes. “Never knew you could do this, man,” former schoolmates kidded Reverend Kong Hee, who by then had established City Harvest Church as a rapidly growing entity.

“Most of us were very happy for him, and he extended an invitation for every one of us to go to his church to listen to him. All we needed to do was call his secretary, and he would arrange the seats for us,” said an ex-schoolmate who attended RI and Raffles Junior College with Rev Kong from 1977 to 1982.

Before he became the face of one of Singapore’s megachurches, Rev Kong was just one of the boys in a top school. But it was not as a bookworm that buddies remembered him.

According to two former schoolmates, he was easygoing, playful and enjoyed sports and life. He was in RI’s swimming and water polo team, and sported chlorine-bleached hair.

“He fell into the tall, dark and chlorinated-hair category,” one schoolmate quipped, a stark contrast with Rev Kong’s description of himself during a 2005 media interview as having been short, fat and ugly in secondary school (ed. a white lie).

After graduating in 1988 with a degree in computer science from the National University of Singapore, the young man who planned to be a missionary in the Philippines, worked for a short stint at a local Anglican church, according to the biography on his website.

But then he started City Harvest with 20 people in 1989 and was ordained at Bethany Christian Centre two years later. It was as a Christian youth leader working with students, that Rev Kong met his future wife Ho Yeow Sun, then a student at Anglican High. They married in 1992 and now have a son, Dayan, five.

She went on to become a pop singer in the media limelight, crossing over from church music director to chart-topper in the Chinese and American markets, while her sexy outfits set tongues wagging……….

………Over the years, church members came to regard him as “visionary” and “passionate”. Himself a businessman – in 2005, he took himself off the City Harvest payroll when he and his wife set up Skin Couture, and later added two more boutiques – he connected with followers like Elim Chew…………

………..”He’s a perfectionist. Working with him is not at all easy. You have to work even harder because he’s so sharp. A slight mistake and he’ll be upset, and that’s how he moulds most of us to be sharper.”

There was the church’s anniversary celebration at the Singapore Indoor Stadium a few years ago, when the sound crew could not get things right and the backup vocalists could not hit the right tone. The crew had to rehearse “again and again”, with the session ending close to midnight.

……….The spotlight on both the church and its founder has been intensifying in recent months – for example, when he announced in March its indirect purchase of a stake in Suntec Singapore’s convention centre. Then came murmurs from netizens accusing him of plagiarising other authors’ words in his daily devotionals.

………Then came news on Monday of the investigation into individuals and companies linked to City Harvest for alleged misuse of funds. Seventeen individuals, including Rev Kong, were questioned by the Commercial Affairs Department……….

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Déjà vu

Ren Ci chief in new controversy over PhD

Mannin Uni doctorate not recognised; Ren Ci spokesman says monk didn't check if school's degrees were okay

Straits Times, Nov 19, 2007 (source)

THE Buddhist monk mired in controversy over irregularities in the books of the Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre is now facing another set of questions - over his doctorate.  

Venerable Ming Yi's resume says he holds a PhD in philosophy from a 'Mannin University' in Ireland, but checks by The Straits Times with the British Council, the Irish Embassy here and the Irish education authorities showed that neither the university nor its qualifications were recognised there.

Through a spokesman, Venerable Ming Yi said at the weekend that he did his doctorate through distance learning, but never checked if the university awarding the degree was recognised.

Readers have been writing in to ask about his PhD after The Sunday Times ran a profile on the Ren Ci chief on Nov 11, 2007.

Netizens have also started questioning the credibility of his degree.

Like other readers, education consultant Larry Lim said he had never heard of Mannin University.

He said he had tried checking, but could not even find a website for it.

'It is highly questionable when a university does not even have a website. Does the university even exist?' he asked.

When The Straits Times asked the Irish Embassy here whether the university in question was real, the embassy said that the Irish Department of Education and Science did not recognise Mannin University or its qualifications.

Ireland's Higher Education Authority, the statutory body for higher education and research there, said there were seven official universities in Ireland, and Mannin was not one of them.

Press officers for both the department and the University College Dublin, one of the seven recognised Irish universities, said they had never heard of Mannin University.

 Recognised institutions aside, the Irish Department of Education and Science said that 'it cannot give advice on other organisations purporting to offer higher education programmes or comment on the quality of courses offered by such institutions'.

While Venerable Ming Yi's PhD qualifications are highlighted on several websites such as Wikipedia and Buddhist resource site Singapore Dharma Net, online searches for the university itself drew a blank.


But The Straits Times found on the Web two individuals who claimed to have graduated from Mannin University. One is the head of a group promoting human rights in the Maldives, and the other a man who runs a chain of gyms in Thailand.


Neither could be reached for comment.


Venerable Ming Yi broke an earlier silence on the subject on Saturday after repeated queries by The Straits Times.


Through a Ren Ci spokesman, he said that someone introduced him to the PhD programme at Mannin University while he was doing his master's in health-care management at the University of Wales, an accredited institution.


The spokesman said Venerable Ming Yi, a former student of Raffles Institution, did a distance learning course with Mannin University, but had never visited its campus.


He would not give any more details on how the monk obtained the PhD.


'Venerable Ming Yi did the PhD as he wanted to learn more, but he did not check if the university or its degrees are recognised,' he said. 

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Phil Pringle under watch by Christian group

by Koh Hui Theng
Asia One, July 2, 2012 (source)


NEW people have come on board City Harvest Church (CHC) after several of its leaders were suspended from their posts by the Commissioner of Charities (COC) on 26 June, 2012.


On the same day that founder Kong Hee and four others were charged with misusing over $50 million of church funds, CHC appointed Reverend Phil Pringle and Rev A.R. Bernard as advisory senior pastors to continue providing spiritual leadership.

"Pastor Kong is still our senior pastor," executive pastor Aries Zulkarnain said on Thursday in a statement.

Rev Pringle is the founder and senior minister of Christian City Church (C3) in Sydney, Australia.

Now in Singapore to support CHC, Rev Pringle is himself the target of a self-appointed Christian watchdog group, C3 Church Watch.

The group's blog said it was "designed to watch and monitor C3 Church and its pastors, specifically Phil Pringle."

It has raised questions about the New Zealand-born pastor's religious credentials [my note: see "Dr" Phil Pringle and "Dr" Kong Hee? above] and teachings [non-biblical prosperity gospel].

Rev Pringle moved to Australia in 1980 with his wife, Chris, to start Christian City Church in Sydney.

The movement has over 300 congregations globally, a far cry from the 13 people in the first service.

His Facebook biography said: "Our 2020 Vision is to plant and grow 1,000 churches and we're on target to meet this."

Singapore news reports first mentioned Rev Pringle in 2010, when Kong, 47, was called to help the police who were investigating the alleged misuse of church funds then. He had met the Kongs during their honeymoon.

"From the start, I always felt a great affinity with Kong and Sun (Ms Ho Yeow Sun)," he told CHC's online portal, City News last year.

"There are some relationships that God joins together, and you've got to recognise, respect and nurture those relationships, no matter what."

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Phil Pringle is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Australians ever, said Kong Hee

I am one of the few people that has changed, or is changing history, said Phil Pringle

In the following adoring (and embarrassing, to me) praise of "Dr" Phil Pringle, Pringle's bogus doctorate from NCIU was shamelessly exploited to impress the clueless. 

(source: Kong Hee said what?, where Kong Hee's blatant distortion of biblical teaching is documented)

“All I can say is we are 20 years as a church right now and, and without Pastor Phil Pringle we wouldn’t be where we are today. You have an awesome apostle of God. He said, now listen just a while, he said that, you know that I’m, I’m one of the few people that, that has changed history or is changing history. I think you have in your midst one of the greatest men ever lived out of Australia if not the greatest *. Let’s give pastor Phil Pringle a big hand (loud applause), woo, Dr Phil, the real Dr Phil, he, he, you know I live in America right now, we have Dr Phil everyday but this is the real deal, this is the real Dr Phil.

Over the years I have bought practically every single audio CD that Pastor Phil Pringle have preached over the years, every single one they’re all in my ipod.

So I’ve been listening to his teaching and and I tell you that some days, where I feel like a Phil Pringle inside of me, you know I, I, when I’m stuck in a situation I don’t know what to do and I hear a voice, I want to say a voice behind the voice of the Holy Spirit, he, he, anyway I hear a voice ‘hey Kong’ (ha, ha) ‘its all good’ ha, ha, I’m not going to do an impersonation of pastor Phil over here.”

– Kong Hee, CCC Oxford Falls, Sunday 22nd February 2009 6pm 22/02/2009.

* For lists of lesser Australians than Pringle, see List of Australian of the Year Award recipients and List of Australians.

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“I want to become more and more like Jesus my Lord, my Saviour. And the way we do that is through discipleship. So I get myself discipled by great men like Doctor Phil Pringle, constantly speaking into my life.” 

– Kong Hee, Pastor Kong Hee @ C3 College Opening Feb 2009 Part 5,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYncQHuZnqA: (01:32), C3 Oxford Falls, C3 College Lecture, 19/01/09.