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You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

John 8:44

You can either call it amphiboly or double entendre. They are masters of ambiguity of speech, especially from their uncertain construction of grammar rather than emphasizing the true meaning of their words.

And like innuendos, their words from the pulpit holds double meaning, subtle and soft on the surface, to make themselves appear as trustworthy pastors. But on the hindsight, their statements bear the hallmarks of an indirect intimidation about a person or thing, especially of a disparaging or a derogatory nature. These are the wolves in sheep clothing, gentle on the outside but with fangs to devour when others are not looking.

David Lee & His Duality

Yup, today we’re revisiting David Lee and the City of Praise Rawang once again. Last Sunday, in his sermon, he quoted from Isaiah 1:18, and then he strayed away to equate success to self-control, which is never found in the Bible. He jumped to 2 Timothy 1:7, saying that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and self-control. Well, he practically replaced the phrase “of sound mind” with “self-control”, in order to make the Bible fit into the shoes of his message.

Then he asked, is it okay to be angry? He said in some verses in the Bible, God is angry. So actually, anger is not wrong, David Lee said. What is anger? Anger is when something is wrong, or somebody is doing something wrong to somebody else. He said, in such situations, we will naturally feel angry, but we must have self-control. If you do not have self-control, you can bring destruction. For instance, a child does something wrong, and adults will be angry. But the anger is (suppose to) to help us to correct what is wrong. And not to destroy the child.

David Lee said further, the Bible say the rod will teach the child. But the Bible did not tell us to use the rod to torture, and beat until he (the child) falls dead. Then you have no more control over your anger, but your anger is controlling you. When you beat the child, are you beating with love, or you are allowing anger to control you? So we have to control the anger, and not the other way around, according to David Lee.

The Meaning Between His Lines

So, let’s get straight to the point. He is most unlikely preaching to his own flock about anger control, because throughout the history of his church, they never taught anyone to use the rod to discipline any child. Thus, rebellion is always rampant among the youth in his church and the younger ones of the past. His church is a church obsessed with success, winning or losing, they do not usually deliver any sound doctrines from Scripture, and therefore using the rod as taught in the Bible, is certainly a method of training in righteousness that is beyond their capability or comprehension.

And on the other side of his dual meaning, David Lee is more likely referring to those who opposed him and his church, whom in the context of his message, he details out the elements of anger, torture and lack of self-control. And because of their sins and refusal to repent, David Lee appears to be equating God’s wrath to his own self-induced perception, that others are torturing him, his family and the people in his church.

Okay, instead of penning down another essay-like post to state my point further, allow me to try something different. Let me write an open letter to David Lee, pinpoint to him again, my exact concerns, together with some pertinent questions to clear off some doubts of what he is trying to imply with his sermon. Let’s see if he can understand simple English this time.

Open Letter To David Lee In Response To His Sermon On October The 2nd, 2022

Dear David Lee,

Allow me to refer to your sermon delivered from the pulpit of City Of Praise Rawang, on October 2nd, 2022, several days ago.

Your statement appears to be directed at certain individuals, implying that it is wrong of him to beat a child out of anger, till he brings destruction. In order to avoid ambiguity, I have the following questions, and I hope you can provide some answers:-

(a) Who is the child being beaten?
(b) How was the child beaten with the rod?
(c) If there is any experience of torture, kindly provide full details, and how did anyone brought it upon the child.

As far as I know, a very serious matter had occurred from within the people in your church, and that the name of the person responsible for such offenses, have been promptly brought to your attention. However, there was nothing done by you to correct the mistakes or to make right what is wrong.

In fact, despite your inaction, no one pursued the wrongdoer, and neither have I named anyone in person via this blog or at any other social media platforms, or call his name out loud, that could potentially cause any detriment to his reputation. Thus, I find it hard to connect the dots, who this child you are referring to, and how has he been disciplined at all, with the rod.

But rather, it was after this matter came to light, that you and several other preachers from Rawang started to call out against those who brought the matter to your attention, as demons and devils. This includes your wife Grace Tsen, your wife’s good friend and preacher Victor M. Sidhu, and as well as Tam Wah Fiong, from Diakonia Christian Church. It was this uncalled commotion of name-calling that resulted and brought about much anger against you and your people.

If you have any difficulty understanding why people are angry with preachers like you and your friends, then let me walk you through one more time, how it all started. And the brouhaha begins with Tam Wah Fiong.

Contents of an email sent to Tam Wah Fiong on May 12th, 2020.

Take a brief look at my email to Tam Wah Fiong above, sent to him on May 12th, 2020.

For your information, the anger began when preachers like you and Tam Wah Fiong started name-calling others WITHOUT CAUSE. And with that, you people have set it as the prefecture of your narratives, that were then taken up by the rest of your followers, to continue attacking and demonizing others. Just because you call yourselves pastors, you believe you have the authority to name-call anyone according to your wish, without proof or reason.

After your wife told me and my son to leave your church’s chat group, the relentless onslaught began. She and several other women from your church, then went on a frenzy and social media rampage, to deliberately cause hurt and damage to our character. We were called demons, devils, snakes and even being declared as apostates. And they drag as many souls with them, to join them in their chorus of name-calling others as demons. This went on for years and no one, from your church, did anything meaningful to correct what was being obviously done wrong.

And the fracas, didn’t stop there. The name-calling and demonizing, went on and on, infiltrating several other churches in Rawang and as though the more people you get with you on your side, the more my son and I would be afraid of you.

The truth is, no one, and not even us, took up any rod to beat any of your children and followers. It is not our duty to discipline any of them. That onus is on you, not us. And when the tide turn against you, you simply blame and say things to imply that others are beating and torturing your children. But the fact is you and your followers are confronted with the truth and although you call others demons and devils, but you yourselves are the ones speaking like the demons, asking why Jesus came to torture them before the time (Matthew 8:29). You are just like these demons, claiming others are torturing you, when all along the only thing that was done to you, is confronting you with the truth. And similar like the devil, there is NO TRUTH in anyone among you.

You said it well, that beating a child should be for the purpose of discipline and serve to correct what is wrong. Likewise, you should know that calling someone a demon just because he is speaking the truth is wrong and blasphemous. Therefore have you, your preacher friends and your followers done anything to correct these wrongdoings and folly that came from your own mouths, and to bring this matter to proper closure? But instead, you invited more false prophets among you, to publicly declare that you and your people have forgiven others, as if you were the ones being offended, and as though by doing so, the wrath that you and your people are facing will go away soon. The truth is, you and your bunch of preachers are not interested in the truth, what’s more important to you is your image in public eyes, and just like the devil, you increase your own reputation at the expense of making others look really, really bad.

So how long more are you and your people going to blame others for beating and torturing you all, when no one came to anyone of you, to lift a hand or weapon against you? If your people are overrun by unprecedented illnesses, it is also not because anyone else have done anything to you. But rather, it was by the sorcery from your own mouth and your own stupidity to fall into the devil’s deception, that you have led your own people to their sufferings today.

If you still have any honor among you, I suggest you do what is right, set the records straight and correct the false public perception that you and your people have deliberately created without any good cause or reason thereto. Please stop all the lying and the deceitful implications, perpetuated by your subtle innuendos.