There’s no doubt that C3 Church Global ‘royalty’, NARpostles Phil and Chris Pringle, would define the year 2019 as an “annus horribilis” when it comes to the media exposé on “A Current Affair”. The extensive ACA coverage can be accessed in the following articles:
A Current Affair’ demonstrates that Phil Pringle is not ‘above reproach’ – Part 1.
‘A Current Affair’ demonstrates that Phil Pringle is not ‘above reproach’ – Part 2.
Phil Pringle – a leader without empathy.
Following ‘You the Leader’ – or following the Great Shepherd.
However coming into 2020, these C3 Church Global leaders have apparently just come back refreshed from another ‘sabbatical’! As Phil Pringle proclaims –#refuelledfor2020!
Another ‘sabbatical’, this time twelve weeks?
Weren’t they “off the grid” for weeks, during Aug/Sept 2019, having their annual yacht trip around the Mediterranean? (And it’s interesting to note that the more provocative evidence of such trips have slowly been deleted from Chris Pringle’s ‘boastful’ Instagram platform since the ACA program.)
This ‘sabbatical’ was announced by Chris Pringle via social media on November 9, 2019:
“As of today – I am off the social media grid …. sabbatical beckons ..shalom”.
The timing of course is interesting, given the exposure of their ‘ministry’ by “A Current Affair” during October 2019 (and even more in early December 2019).
A time of humble reflection or a time of self-justification?
Given this ‘second’ time-out, it’s appropriate to ask the questions:
- Was this latest ‘sabbatical’ a time of reflection after the damaging evidence clearly presented by “A Current Affair”?
- Was it a time to reach out privately to hurting sheep so damaged by Phil Pringle’s lack of empathy?
- Was it a time to draw near to God in repentance for the damage they have done for the cause of Christ with their ongoing false prophecies, false teaching and dominionist agenda?
- Or was it simply time to reboot the same vision-casting nonsense the body of Christ has been exposed to for the last 40 years, taking it into 2020 and beyond?
And dare we ask, was it also another opportunity to ‘promote product’ of another C3 follower, while declaring it a ‘last sabbatical meal’ – daring to compare the holiness of the Lord’s Supper to a plate of fruit ‘with ricotta topping’ #lastsupper?
Surrounded, pampered and promoted.
It’s seems pretty clear that their ‘sabbatical’ was one of pure self-indulgence, a ‘licking of wounds received’, surrounded, pampered and promoted by their foolish “tribe” – may God have mercy on them and bring them to true repentance.
Once again, a reminder from the Apostle Paul of the price he willingly paid for the gospel of Jesus Christ:
“I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool. Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!”
“But whatever anyone else dares to boast of – I am speaking as a fool – I also dare to boast of that.Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one – I am talking like a madman – with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?”
“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.” 2 Corinthians 11:16-33
No doubt, biblically illiterate C3 followers will jump to the defense of these cult leaders, placing apparent global success and numbers as a sign of God’s favour but as sad as this undeserved loyalty is, they have been clearly warned by God’s eternal Word:
“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day – just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. Jude 3-13
Praise God there are still faithful voices in the wilderness.
Around the world today there are faithful shepherds quietly doing the work of ministry to God’s sheep, men who labour without recognition, without social media acclaim, preaching faithfully without receiving huge “love offerings”, (forsaking annual yacht trips on the Mediterranean – if that were even possible) but instead serving their flock by bringing God’s good gifts of communion and sound biblical teaching, visiting the sick, ministering to the shut-ins, comforting the dying and weeping with those left behind.
Serving faithfully can have its own great reward, a martyr’s crown:
“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Revelation 2:10
Nigerian pastor who praised God in ransom video beheaded after refusing to deny Christ
The bible so clearly warns us of false teachers in the last days, ‘wolves in sheeps clothing’, ‘hidden reefs’, ‘waterless clouds’, ‘wandering stars’. Perhaps the question we should also be asking, how do men like Phil Pringle address the scriptures that issue these warnings.
Who do they believe the Lord is referencing in these scriptures? Are they prepared to speak out against false teachers or are they truly deceived themselves?
“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.”
“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3
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“Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Galatians 4:16
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