“Phinehas, recently you purchased a mobile data plan for an affordable US $30/- but you hardly use it to communicate with me! It was Zechariah Tan who is trying to update me of your mission though he doesn’t have a mobile data. I suspect you use your phone to connect more frequently with your family rather than update us on the latest developments in the assigned missions. I also perceive that your heart is not there, when our long lost brother Wisdom Sabbath Bassey is at the point of dying. You are a hypocrite esteeming your biological family more honourably than the family of God but you go around the world preaching the preciousness of the family of Christ!”
“Phinehas, if your family moves away from the community of God’s people in block 173, then I would have you relocate to Penang and I am cutting you off from mission work in the American hemisphere! You go back to Balek Pulau in Penang Island. I do not want you to linger around Singapore and Johor Baru vicinity and be a negative and ill influence to our young people and the foreigners. You could bring along the rest of your family and I would not be bothered at all!! I will only have Esther Yeoh stay with us as I have begotten her as my daughter through preaching. Be assured, I will fight tooth and nail for her. I will claim what is the Lord’s portion on behalf of Jehovah Nissi!!! The word ‘Balek Pulau’ is so appropriate. It means ‘return to the island’. You return to the island if you become lukewarm in the work of Christ!!” Pastor, Teaneck, NJ, USA; 8 August (extract from the New Jerusalem Times, 20th Aug AD 2018)
The above is a message sent by Elijah Chacko to Phinehas David Yeoh, one of the longest serving missionaries in The Westminster Tradition. I publish it because it illustrates the manner in which Elijah deals with those who displease him…
1. Elijah’s Accusation. Not communicating with him frequently enough. Being distracted in his assigned mission.
2. Elijah’s Substantiation. Simply, that Zechariah has made more effort to update him, though having less ready means. He ‘suspects’ Phinehas has been ringing his family more than him. He ‘perceives’ that Phinehas’ heart is not there.
3. Elijah’s Denunciation. Phinehas is a hypocrite who cares more for his own family than the family of God.
4. Elijah’s Threat. If Phinehas’ family don’t remain in their present apartment, Elijah will exile Phinehas to Penang, an island 750km away off the west-coast of Malaysia. He will strip Phinehas of his office and responsibilities. He will excommunicate Phinehas from spiritual fellowship in Singapore and Johor Baru. He will disown Phinehas’ wife and younger daughter (who have withdrawn from regular worship). He will ‘claim’ Esther Yeoh as his own, separating father and daughter and redirecting Esther’s filial affections and obedience to himself.
5. The Context. For many years Phinehas has served Elijah Chacko full time. He has gone where he has been sent and preached what he has been instructed to preach. HIs wife Faith has been compelled to seek outside work in order to support her husband and children. Phinehas is overseas much of the year, and when at home is at Elijah’s beck and call. His children have grown up with a working mother and an absent father. His family is splintering: his elder daughter is firmly under Elijah’s control (see her comment later), whilst his wife and younger daughter are desperately unhappy, trapped in a Singaporean high-rise apartment block (Yishun Avenue 7, Block 174), living in the midst of The Westminster Tradition community, under constant reproach (having withdrawn themselves from the ministry), despised and condemned – without any opportunity to answer their accusers. Under such circumstances, what man could not be distracted?
But this conversation has not been private. Elijah has sent his message to a number of others, expecting them to provide a commentary. Nobody dares resist ‘the anointed servant of God’ and therefore they fawn, flatter and sycophantize Elijah, backing him up and providing him with the legitimacy he needs to carry through his purposes. The judge has already passed his sentence – but he needs to get his fulmination rubber stamped. So he rigs a jury, collates their comments and publishes them in the international newsletter: to be a warning to any who might have sympathy for Phinehas’ wife; to rebuke any whose hearts are anywhere but where Elijah wants them to be; to encourage girls to pronounce judgment upon and cast off the authority of their fathers. Phinehas is wise enough not to defend himself. There’s no point answering back to the one who has ‘expressively manifested the feelings of God to him.’ Even if he did, he has no editorial control of the New Jerusalem Times, and as well as going unpublished, a remonstration would only heap more opprobrium upon himself. Better to grovel in the dirt and survive another day. After all, the Westminster Tradition mantra is: “Save your soul, not your face.”
Below are the responses of those selected to comment upon Elijah Chacko’s sentence:
- Zephaniah Soh
- Elisha Yee
- Esther Yeoh
- Esther Ng
- Zechariah Tan
- Job S
- Leah Chua
- OIive Pee
- Nehemiah Teo
- Jeremiah Ng
“Dear pastor, thank you for forwarding thy solemn address to Phinehas. The Lord God is omniscient with Whom we have to do with. The Word of God is quick, sharp and powerful. The man of God filled with the Holy Spirit and equipped with keen spiritual discernment is sharp and percolating in assessing and stating the root problem of Phinehas. Although hard to take, hope and pray our brother will take great heed and respond uprightly. I know thy ministry is not to destroy but to save the souls of men even though it takes the stern application of the law. May it yield its peaceable fruit in our brother that he may not move to the wrong end. The reproof is timely as Phinehas has been plagued with worries, anxieties and cares of his biological family throughout the whole mission itineraries thus far.” Zephaniah Soh, Denver, Colorado, USA.
“Pastor, thanks for this solemn and searching text that I too should take heed to see whether I esteem the spiritual family more than my biological family.” Elisha Yee, KL, Malaysia.
“Dear pastor, thank you for considering me a daughter though I am very unworthy. Thank you for saying this to my father as it actually grieves me so much to see this whole issue. If my parents move out of 173, this will bring damage to the work of God and it already is shown when my father’s heart is moved toward the problems going on at home. While my heart is saddened to see the state that my family is in, I know that if God does not apply His rod of correction, surely we are doomed. I pray God help my father to take heed to what you have said. May God hold back my family from falling off the edge in His gracious mercies. Thank you, pastor, for fighting for our souls. I am very indebted and comforted that you sent this text to my dad.” Esther Yeoh, Johor, Malaysia.
“Thank you, pastor, for thy strong reproof to stay the wrath of God that might come with our actions! His proximity to God’s people might just be a saving grace for him and the rest of his family. I totally agree that it would set the wrong precedent for the younger ones! I pray he takes heed to thy reproof for the sake of his soul and that of his family too!” Esther Ng, Johor, Malaysia.
“Dear pastor, truly the zeal of God’s house has consumed thee. Thank you for sparing not in applying the law for the sake of our souls. It is one thing to be plagued by the cares of this life, but another when we allow our concerns to be blown out of proportion – like you said what is the renovation of the toilet compared to the work in saving souls. Counsel has been given to Phinehas and you have expressively manifested the feelings of God to him. Pray he will take heed and respond in faith rather than be carnally-minded.” Zechariah Tan, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
“Pastor, sad to see that the problem of putting his own family above the family of God still plagues Phinehas while he is involved in the great work of God. This has been his protracted problem. Pastor has often addressed this matter with him time and again. Many of the brothers often feel disgusted with Phinehas when he incessantly texts his family members. Like what you said, the heart is always not there. Your holy anger is justifiable, especially when the days of our dear brother, Wisdom, is numbered. Phinehas should be fighting hand in hand with Zechariah in ministering to Wisdom. He should be more concerned about saving him than elevating his family to a more viable economic station at this crucial moment when Wisdom Bassey is living on borrowed time from God. I really pray that Phinehas will swallow this bitter medicine for the sake of the work of God and for his own good. Thank God for the fire of Elijah without which our wicked and adulterous heart can never see its abomination before the eyes of the omniscient and omnipresent God. Pray God have mercy upon us.” Job S., Singapore
“Regarding Phinehas, while your words are piercing, it’s true that if he moves away from our community in block 173, Faith and Kezia Yeoh, his wife and second daughter respectively, especially will end up even more removed from God’s people than they already are. And God will send even more judgments. There may be other considerations, especially financial, but as you have encouraged us time and again, we need to trust in God.” Leah Chua, Johor Baru, Malaysia.
“Thank you, pastor, for forwarding to me the above text exchanges. I concur very much with our missionary pastor, Zephaniah, that ‘thy ministry is not to destroy the souls of men even though it takes the stern application of the law’. When I was reading Jeremiah 36-38 last night, I felt so sad to see how Jeremiah the prophet was being treated by Zedekiah and the Jews when he warned them of the severe judgment of God with much burden and hope that their souls would be saved and not perish. When I thought of how Zedekiah’s sons were all destroyed, I remember you telling us that God has sent the man of God to us to deliver our souls from God’s wrath, the omniscient God will deal with each one of us how we regard thee. If we do not have any regard for thee and most of all, the Almighty God Who has sent thee to warn us out of His great mercies towards us, God’s judgment will not only come upon us but also upon our children and the whole household. I sense thy burden for Esther Yeoh and thy love and concern for her soul to fight tooth and nail for her. I will pray for our missionary pastor, Phinehas, that our Lord Yeshua Christ will grant to him His grace to fight for his own soul peradventure God may have mercy on his family.” Olive Pee, KL, Malaysia.
“‘Be not deceived; God is not mocked:’ Thank you for forwarding your stern warning to Phinehas. It is a wake-up call to me because I have the same heart as Phinehas. But it is blessed to have the man of God to dispense the bitter medicine of what manner of man we are so that we may repent and return to serve God honestly. In the light of the shocking news of the condition of Wisdom Bassey, his days being numbered, it is truly a time of preaching to a dying man. Unless we die to our own family, we can never preach like a dying man to Wis. Zechariah also has problems with his family but he quits like a man as you have described how he is always giving constant updates from his phone to you. More than this example of giving reports, he is exemplary of giving his whole heart to serve God. I thank God for the grace of God in Esther Yeoh. Thou has truly begotten her in the Gospel as seen in her objective and clear response on the side of truth.” Nehemiah Teo, Singapore.
“In Phinehas’ case, it may be hard for him, from a financial perspective, with a wife that is not sharing his vision and persuasion and still has to support him and with a younger daughter that is not coming to church. It is important for Phinehas to note that God has left for him Esther Yeoh as an evident token of His grace and mercies if he continues to exercise faith in his very challenging and difficult calling under the ministry of pastor. Pastor’s reproof is important for him and all of us that we may not be swept away by unbelief and unthankfulness towards God. Apartment block 173 is really an incubator to nurture and preserve us and our young ones in this experimental religion of the Gospel that the Spirit of God has richly blessed and is blessing us with under the ministry of our pastor. The spiritual functionality of 173 is still very much intact and still at work with the brethren labouring to churn out the daily NJTs, the special editions, and the pastoral oversight from our presiding pastor in his absence faithfully administered by the elders here. It is a blessing that cannot be undermined. The 173 apparatus has been a blessing as we try to live out lives according to the Scriptures and to fight these twin battles of Gog and Magog and Armageddon. Hence, I pray that Phinehas will not succumb in this great battle but to know that it is God Who can do all things and to continue to press on for his soul’s sake and that of his family. Pray that he will see the anxiety in pastor for his soul and that of his family that he may take the reproof. Thank God for pastor who fights for Esther’s soul. Thank you, pastor.” Jeremiah Ng, China
Afterword: Having internationally humiliated Phinehas and his family, inordinately wielding power over every aspect of Phinehas’ affairs (domestic, civil and spiritual), Elijah sums with the following words:
“The foregoing exchanges pertaining to Phinehas David Yeoh’s apparent lack of focus and enthusiasm highlight another critical problem that plagues mission work when the hearts of the missionaries are obsessed about the concerns of their own family rather than be passionate about the engagement with the work of Christ in the forefront of the battlefields.”
So that’s it? Phinehas David Yeoh had an apparent lack of focus and enthusiasm. This is not a matter for church discipline! Did Phinehas solicit his present assignment? Did he beg to be permitted to minister to Wisdom Bassey? If his heart is on the other side of the world, where his family circumstances are disintegrating in his absence, what is that to Elijah – is it not between Phinehas and his Lord Christ? ‘Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth (Rom 14:4a).’ But we miss the point. Much of this is a smoke-screen for a more important message that Elijah will have Phinehas and others of quick understanding to receive loud and clear: If you leave the Block 173 community, I will excommunicate and extradite you to your former island of Penang! What manner of tyranny is this?
The New Jerusalem Times Prefaces August 20th & 21st, AD 2018
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Dear ‘Anonymous’, I’d be very willing to publish your comment, but request that you append your name – or as second best, use a consistent pseudonym. Please do repost following these rules (which are also listed on ‘rules of posting’ under the ‘introduction’ heading). I will remove this ‘anonymous’ posting once you have done this, or after 48hrs otherwise. Many thanks for your understanding.