Kong Hee writes on FaceBook,
After the sentencing last Friday, I have had a week to carefully consider the sentence and have also studied the Court’s grounds of conviction together with my lawyers. Whilst I respect the Court’s decision, there are points which appear to be erroneous and warrant appeal. I will therefore be preparing to file an appeal against both my conviction and sentence. Earlier today, I was informed that the Prosecution has also filed an appeal against the sentence imposed by the Court. My lawyers will also address the Prosecution’s appeal at the appropriate time. I sincerely need your prayers during this process for a favorable outcome. The road ahead is long and arduous, but God’s grace is sufficient for me. I love and appreciate you so much. Thank you for loving me and my family.
Read the full statement here: https://goo.gl/MgSyRj
Source: Kong Hee, FaceBook, https://www.facebook.com/konghee/posts/10153079190051895, Published 27/11/2015. (Accessed 27/11/2015.)
We would like to know who helped Kong Hee write this below statement. This is not his work. It’s too theologically slick, refined and deep for him to produce without others being involved to make him look this theologically credible. (Compare this presentation with Kong Hee’s ‘9 Reasons Why Jesus Was Not Poor’ sermon.) We’re quite confident that Kong Hee wouldn’t even know who Archbishop Chrysostom is or how to access the appropriate writings on Chrysostom. We know who Pinky is, so who is the Brain?
And see if you can spot the lies in Kong Hee’s appeal:
MY APPEAL
After the sentencing last Friday, I have had a week to carefully consider the sentence and have also studied the Court’s grounds of conviction together with my lawyers. Whilst I respect the Court’s decision, there are points which appear to be erroneous and warrant appeal. I will therefore be preparing to file an appeal against both my conviction and sentence. Earlier today, I was informed that the Prosecution has also filed an appeal against the sentence imposed by the Court. My lawyers will also address the Prosecution’s appeal at the appropriate time. I sincerely need your prayers during this process for a favorable outcome. The road ahead is long and arduous, but God’s grace is sufficient for me. I love and appreciate you so much. Thank you for loving me and my family.
Can & Should Christians Appeal?
Personally, I have been studying the journeys and trials of the Apostle Paul from Acts 21 to 28. From Scripture, we know that Paul had stood trial before a Jewish court and three Roman courts. He spent a total of at least five years in prison.
In about 57 A.D., Paul arrived at Jerusalem to bring humanitarian aids to the Jews1 and to share the gospel with them.2 A week later, he was at the temple when a riot erupted, resulting in his arrest and subsequent interrogation.3 Paul had to stand trial before the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish court of judges. Twenty or so years earlier, it was this same Sanhedrin that had tried Jesus,4 and John,5 as well as Stephen.6
Being a Roman citizen, Paul was then sent to the Roman procurator Antonius Felix in Caesarea.7 As the governor of Judea, he was also the chief judge of the province.8 Five days later, Paul’s accusers, together with their lawyer, brought “many serious charges” against Paul.9 They accused him of rioting, breaking Jewish laws, and committing treason against Rome.10 If convicted, Paul could be sentenced to death.11 While Felix chose to temporize and not reach a verdict, he imprisoned Paul in a jail cell at Herod’s judgment hall for the next two years.12
In 59 A.D., 13 Porcius Festus succeeded Felix as the governor and chief judge of Judea. He reopened the trial for Paul to give his defense before his accusers. In the midst of the hearing, Paul exercised his rights as a Roman citizen, and appealed to Caesar, who presided the highest court in the empire.14 Festus granted his request.
The concept of appealing to a higher court to review the verdict of a lower court was not foreign in biblical culture. Scripture tells us that there was an appeal process already in place for the Hebrews and Jews from ancient times. The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, as well as many other Bible dictionaries, explains “appeal” in Israel’s judiciary as this:
“After the Exodus, Moses at first adjudged all cases himself, but at the suggestion of Jethro he arranged for a number of inferior judges, with evident right of appeal to himself (Exodus 18:13, 26). Later on the judges of the different towns were to bring all difficult cases that they were unable to decide before the Levitical priests and judges at the place of the sanctuary for a final decision (Deuteronomy 17:8‐11).”15
Was Paul defiant in his attitude toward the Roman rulers? Was he afraid to be punished for breaking the law? Paul had taught that every person must submit to governing authorities,16 and he was certainly not afraid to be thrown into the lion’s den.17 However, he knew it was not time for him to die yet, because in an earlier night vision, Jesus had said to him, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.”18 Wanting to fulfill the Lord’s mission for him,19 Paul availed himself of the civil privileges of a Roman citizen, which God had blessed him with, and appealed to the “supreme court” of Caesar. He was also convinced that the evidence was on his side, and that he had a fair chance of winning the appeal in Rome. A few days later, Paul’s confidence was further affirmed when King Herod Agrippa II heard his testimony in another court hearing, and felt that Paul should indeed be acquitted.20
In 60 A.D., Paul arrived in Rome. Unfortunately, it would be another two‐year wait for his day in court with Caesar, during which he was placed under house arrest.21 Rather than being incarcerated as a common criminal, Paul was permitted to live in his own rented dwelling, though bound by chains, and always in the company of a prison guard.22 During this time, to all who visited him, Paul kept preaching and teaching the gospel “with all confidence.”23 The four “prison epistles” of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon were written during this two‐year incarceration.24
At the end of 62 A.D., Paul was able to make his defense before Caesar and was acquitted of all charges.25 According to church traditions and the early fathers, like Archbishop Chrysostom, he was released from imprisonment and continued his missionary work to Western Europe, possibly as far as Spain.26
Three years later, in 65 A.D., Paul was rearrested and imprisoned again in Rome for about another year. It was during this time that he wrote his final epistle, the second letter to Timothy, to tell Timothy that he had “fought the good fight,” he had “finished the race,” and he knew that “the time of [his] departure [was] at hand.” True enough, sometime in 66 A.D., Paul was beheaded by the order of Nero Caesar.27
In God’s sovereign will, Paul was destined to be a martyr. However, before that appointed time for martyrdom, Paul exercised his legal rights within the judiciary of his day, and fought for the freedom to preach the gospel as instructed by the Lord Jesus.28 His courtroom advocacy and legal appeal gave him eight years of powerful ministry to many parts of Europe. He fulfilled the purpose of his life29 and was not disobedient to “the heavenly vision.”30
Paul appealed not because he was defiant toward the ruling authority.31 He appealed because (a) the weight of the evidence was in his favour, (b) he had a clear mission from the Lord Jesus that he still needed to fulfill, and (c) he was exercising his legal rights as a Roman citizen, a privilege that God had blessed him with.
Regarding my decision to appeal to the High Court, I sincerely need your prayers for a favorable outcome. It has been a very long and difficult journey since 31 May 2010, but I have always felt God’s loving presence and your unfailing support. I am so blessed by your friendship. Thank you for loving me and my family.
Source: Kong Hee, MY APPEAL, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYLXQWuYruRdFV6ZkVrMHRCSVU/view?pli=1, Accessed 28/11/2015.
Categories: City Harvest Church
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