Chia & Lim Defended

Chia & Lim Defended

In October 2018, an open letter was sent by representatives of the ‘Church of Judah’ in Inner Mongolia, declaring their separation from the ministry of Elijah Thomas Chacko. Within the space of just five days, The Westminster Tradition had responded by publishing a collection of violently worded refutations, purported to be ‘against the allegations and cavils of the church of Judas Iscariot’. The two missionaries to China (Joel & Jeshaiah) were repeatedly and falsely denounced as being the authors of the Church of Judah’s separation letter. In truth, the separation letter had been written by Hushai Guo and Ephratah Chen in conjunction with the co-workers of the Church of Judah. That Joel and Jeshaiah were not directly responsible for the separation letter was implicitly acknowledged in the first batch of refutations by the fact that four brothers from China (Hushai, Jesher, Eliakim and Elihu) were listed on the title page. In an unprecedented move, their full three-part Chinese names were published – a deliberate disclosure which would have made it easy for the Chinese authorities to identify them. The names of their ten antagonists were given only in shortened form e.g. Haziel Qi (‘Haziel’ is his baptismal name and ‘Qi’ is a relatively common surname in China). By means of these and later publications, Joel and Jeshaiah were subject to a smear campaign which was commissioned by Elijah Chacko and sent far and wide through official Westminster Tradition channels.

In the ensuing publications, Joel and Jeshaiah were called: turncoats; ambitious; treacherous; proud; wicked; snakes (double-headed); venomous; confused; instruments of Antichrist; blasphemers against the Holy Ghost; worse than heathens; hardened; unrepentant; fools; having the marks of the children of perdition; apostate; boastful; self-righteous; evil grapes; mad dogs; low class; audacious; despicable; possessing the greed of Gehazi and Balaam; full of evil spirits; foxes; wolves; stiff-necked; uncircumcised; mockers; slanderers; ambitious; clowns; cursed like Meroz; vicious; like devils; tramplers of the Church of Christ; gangsters; the mouthpieces of the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet; following in the steps of Absalom; like unto Korah, Dathan and Abiram; like unto Cain and Saul; like unto Ahithophel; like unto Judas Iscariot; selling their souls; conspirators; preaching another gospel; presumptuous; reprobate; absurd; devilish; bastards; engaging in dirty tactics; thieves; not worthy of answering; resentful; bitter; resistant to the law; subtle; playing church politics; wanting to rule over God’s people; confederate; loving the praises of men; superficial; lacking doctrinal capability; without conviction, gratitude or substance; stubborn; hypocrites; without integrity; like unto their father, Satan; Simoniacal; egomaniacal; evil-doers; irrational; having no fear of God; caring only for their own selfish agendas; disturbers of the Chinese churches; vicious; vindictive; having an overwhelming hate…

In these publications, the accusatory name-calling goes on and on and on. Approximately fifty individuals bore testimony against Joel and Jeshaiah. The above list is far from exhaustive and was gleaned from just a fraction of the statements.

A number of those who had long known Joel and Jeshaiah extended the scope of the criticism, insisting that their behaviour was not new. Martha Tan, for example, wrote that ‘the ambitious traits and treacherous blood run in the Chia family right from the eldest to the youngest.’ Joash Lee resorted to hearsay, writing that ‘the brothers who know Joel always comment that he is vindictive.’ Phinehas David Yeoh told the author in person that were it not for presiding pastor, Jeshaiah would be a homosexual by now. He also said that for many years Jeshaiah had shown himself to be unspiritual, doctrinally lazy and always sleeping in public gatherings. Others cited the infrequency with which Joel and Jeshaiah’s responses were published in The Jerusalem Times as proof of their spiritual shallowness.

The accusations contained in these official publications are so many, so damning, so vague, so disproportionate and so violent, that they call into question their own credibility. They also raise a number of important issues:

I. Was the disciplinary action taken against Chia and Lim scriptural and fair?

II. If Chia and Lim were so utterly wicked, why were they entrusted with the most important missionary endeavour ever attempted by The Westminster Tradition and commended so highly by all within The Westminster Tradition (and above all Elijah Chacko himself)?

III. Why have the majority of the China brethren defended Chia and Lim and separated from Elijah Chacko’s ministry?