A few days ago, Rev. Lin of CCCNY asked me to be Stephen Tong's translator, because he is coming to CCCNY to preach this Sunday, due to the Concert Tour of GRII/STEMI. I thanked her for the honor but I rejected the offer due the fact that I've already promised Stephen (of my church at Grace) to take over the sound system for this week's service.
I do wonder, if Pak Tong was the one requesting to preach or Rev. Lin was the one asking him to. The latter seems more plausible, so this entry will presuppose that. If it's the former, it still wouldn't excuse the latter, for Rev. Lin could easily persuade otherwise, if she has any sense of preparation for the Glory instead of conservation of her buried talents: "Look Lord, this church still has its name after so many decades, lo, there thou hast that is thine." (Matthew 25:25)
At his age, Stephen Tong would still not mind to preach, even though he has said that he's done and it's time for new blood and for him to focus on using other means such as music for the glory of God. So I don't think he's at his prime to preach anymore according to his last rally here. Moreover, his goal this time is the concert, not preaching. A bad true cannot bear good fruit (Matthew 7:18). Therefore, not only would Rev. Lin not produce any heir (pun intended) for the new generation of preachers over all these years, she has no shame in asking an old retired man to preach, making Stephen Tong work double shifts (preach by morning, conduct by night). This shows how little she cares actually for the Kingdom of God. I mean, who asks her visiting 85 year old grandpa to mow the lawn when she had 40 years prior to prepare for it?
Nadia and I have left the church for more than a decade now, yet no one from that church even bothered to ask why. What sort of ministerial leadership is this in a church? They would rather conclude their own slander: "They left because Nadia doesn't understand Chinese" even though she's been there fore 4 years prior. Rev. Lin couldn't even get it right as to whose the one who decided the leave: I or Nadia.
One telltale sign of such hired hands (John 10:12), in today's churches, is to see what does the minister do when a church member leaves all of a sudden. The common hired hands response would be: "They left us because they have been seduced by Satan, by the world". As if the minister's own church is truer than anywhere else. Very self-centered isn't it? This seems to be a very common American Reformed church habit. So it's not just on Laura Lin. But Tim Ferguson of Westfield OPC, Paul Murphy of NYC MERF, etc. Murphy maybe worse than Lin on this as he would justify himself: "Well, if you didn't become our official member, why should I care about you? That's not in my job description, that's not what I'm paid for." According to the logic from some of his sermons. Ferguson would at least give a "holier than thou" call: "Are you coming back to church, no? ok. Bye". Murphy (above my paygrade justification) and Lin ("Oh it must be because Nadia making you leave our church right?" - slander justification) could compete with each other to see who wins the trophy of the most convincing hired hand.
Another sign is that they have no zeal for bringing the Gospel themselves to others outside of the church. They would love to support evangelical groups. Rev. Lin is the worst kind I've seen, that doing the gospel is an "undesirable" labor that is done in obedience, and such "unpleasant" command will be rewarded one day, due to the fulfilment of such "unwanted" task. Instead of emmanuel, reward is the ultimate goal in life for people like her. Some may not support (not called to do so, allegedly) gospel ministries themselves but at least they would affirm its importance, that we must do with pleasure, this is already a very low bar, bordering unconverted ministry, so Rev. Laura Lin's even worse than this.
Of course, what people like her will always convince themselves is: "But I have given my life for the Lord, oh Lord, Lord, have I not done all these in my life, for your NAME?!" (Matthew 7:22)