I would like to inform you firsthand of a situation you may have heard by way of media that has caused us great concern. That is that of the “Church of Zion” and the teachings of its leader, Leung Yat-wah. He briefly attended our church eleven years ago and actually began his church with a bible study in our church in which former members of the “Truth Church”, the church he originally came from who were then in Revival Church, met with him on a regular basis. Eventually through misuse of prophecy and revelation, he was able to get several of our key young people to join his group. When we found out what he was doing, we took a stand against it, and he left to start his own work in the New Territories.
Ten years ago after listening to his teachings and ascertaining his practices, we came to the conclusion that he was then a “false prophet” without any knowledge of sound doctrine and his whole motivation was to take people from other churches. He then had a vision that his would be the largest and best church in Hong Kong. We notified our people of this and since then have had no relationship with them, nor have we lost any more from our ministry.
However he gathers all kinds of spectacular and strange teachings from all over the world, mostly from America, and every week has some “new revelation” nobody in Hong Kong has heard before. He records his teaching (he is a proficient speaker and very persuasive), and shares his “revelation” with other Christians. They do this by entering the young people’s group, etc. and pass out the tapes. Eventually when some are interested they take them to their meetings and turn them against their pastor. Thus they have grown according to him to 1,400 people, but most of these are taken from other churches. Thus before the latest incident, he was disliked by almost all pastors and churches here, for his ungodly methods, more than his crazy doctrine. Even so, in 1986 we determined that he was teaching “heresy”, and many other churches have said the same and taken an open stand against Zion Church. They virtually have had no fellowship with any other church, but overseas, especially in Malaysia, some who do not know the situation, have had fellowship with them. I understand they have all regretted this, for it also has resulted in people leaving their churches and turning against their pastors.
Around the first part of May or the last of April, before the Rodney Howard-Browne meetings, he began to teach his people to drink large amounts of hydrogen peroxide (in Hong Kong it is classified as Class 7 poison, and even is not to be taken even in minutely small portions). Thus many people had adverse physical reactions, such as vomiting, diarrhea, skin rash, fevers, etc. About 10 complained to a “Short Term Training Centre” which is actually operated by a pastor associated with the “Peace Church”, an anti-Charismatic church in Hong Kong. People in this church perhaps have been looking for something to come against the Charismatic movement that has been accepted by many evangelicals, but could find nothing in the way of doctrine or practices until this came up.
Thus they took it to the news media. It was reported and had wide spread coverage. Leung gave a press conference. Instead of using the conference to do something to diffuse the situation, he tried to convince the reporters he was right about hydrogen peroxide and refused to answer their questions. Thus they walked out in mass. But a “doctor” came to the conference to substantiate his claims. He has since then been arrested for falsely claiming to be a doctor (he was really a “new age doctor” never formally trained). Eventually it became a major news event in Hong Kong, after Leung publicly proclaimed the value of this for everyone and preaching his doctrine of hate for the medical profession, government and teaching his “world wide conspiracy” theory (below).
The medical department and social welfare department of the HK government has warned the people against taking hydrogen peroxide, saying it is very dangerous and foolish, and warning that if anyone gives it to children they will be prosecuted. The whole case has been given to the “serious crimes” department of the Hong Kong Police investigations are still going on. It is suspected that there may be charges and arrests in the near future, but nobody is sure if the laws in Hong Kong will allow them to prosecute the church. But without a doubt, the government wants to take action against them.
After this Leung and a large amount of his people attended the Rodney Howard-Brown meetings, and tried to get people attending for their own church (this is sheep-stealing). They began to pass out tapes, which was stopped by the organizers. They changed their name tags to be those of counselors (they were not invited to participate in any ministry in the meetings, for all churches in Hong Kong are adamantly against them), and went into the counseling rooms to get the addresses of those who responded. The organizers also confiscated 50 hand held phones they were using to communicate in the meeting place, in spite of specific instructions not to use such devices.
Due to this treatment, the following week Leung attacked the other churches claiming his is the best and largest church. He still is distributing this tape which is sickening. He claims without mentioning the name, that Hang Fook Camp is under the control of the criminal triads, and unmarried men and women live together (a few years ago he accused Jackie Pullinger of fornication and her present husband John of being a triad leader who was controlling their church). Anyone listening to that tape will come to the conclusion that he is a “madman”. While acknowledging the “anointing” on Rodney Howard Browne, he attacks him on many issues, and says for that reason “he did not invite him to speak in Zion Church.” He claims “laughing in the Spirit” is good for you for it causes oxygen to get into the body, much as hydrogen peroxide does. But he says few of his people “Laughed”, for they are well beyond that and don’t need it.
Myself and two other pastors met with him for several hours of discussion on August 15. I had two requests, (1) that he stop urging people to take hydrogen peroxide and openly affirm his support of the position of the HK government and (2) he come under some recognized spiritual covering in Hong Kong that can begin to deal with some of his errors in doctrine and practice. He of course would not consider any request, and just tried to convince me he was right about hydrogen peroxide.
Before that the leaders representing many of the 1,100 churches in Hong Kong gather together and declared that Zion Church is teaching heresy and is a cult. Several other church associations throughout the Territories have made the same declarations. He is virtually solidly condemned by the whole Body of Christ in Hong Kong. The news has had a major impact on people here. Many parents are forbidding their children to go to any church. Many are totally resistant to the Gospel. Non-Charismatic churches now are afraid of anything “Charismatic”. It is harder to preach to people than at any time. It probably has set back the work of the Gospel by decades, for everyone puts this cult in the same category as the poison gas cult in Japan.
In the meanwhile, I have listened to the 30 some tapes he gave me several times, and found them all full of serious error. He also gave me a video, “Ozone and the Politics of Medicine” that he claims supports his position, which it does not do. He says he got much of this information on the Internet. We went to the Internet and found many articles by AIDS patients and those supporting them. The articles are well documented and very balance. They state there is no proof to the claim that hydrogen peroxide or ozone can heal AIDS or any other disease, in fact it is a conspiracy of those with a financial interest (ozone machine manufacturers) to disregard solid medical evidence. Reading the articles on the Internet of those who claim this treatment works, one quickly realizes it is like a “medical cult”. They make fantastic statements without the least bit of proof. But in America several have already died ingesting this substance, and there are many articles on an antidote to hydrogen peroxide poisoning.
Leung told me that they would continue to take this daily like a food, and not stop for anything or anyone. Two weeks ago the reporters went to his meeting (they have now entered the church as believers and joined the cell groups to disguise themselves, for he allows no reporters or outsiders access to his meeting now held in a rented sports hall in Kowloon). They say only 700 were there, meaning many have already left his church. He said he would sue to newspapers and magazines and raised $1 million HK for the lawyer fees. But Hugo Chan (of Praise Assembly) told me a few days ago, no lawyer would dare to take on the case, for they are violating specific government instructions, and anyone supporting them will be liable to legal action against them.
Many doctors tell me that these people (there were according to him 840 of his people taking H2O2 when I saw him August 15) are poisoning themselves, and if they don’t die of the direct results of HP poisoning soon, they will probably develop cancer and be dead in a few years. The body cannot possibly absorb a constant bombardment of this poison. The Sunday SCMP reported that Christian Bernard, the famous heart-transplant surgeon, took H2O2 several years ago in a desperate attempt to heal his arthritis. It did severe damage to his stomach and intestinal linings and he had to have substantive medical treatment to recover. He, with many others is totally against what they are doing.
The reason I am so concerned about this, is that some of his main leaders are people from my church. It has set back the work of the Charismatic movement by years, but good can still come out of it. I have drafted a statement saying that we “Charismatic and Pentecostals” have put more emphasis on gifts, power, miracles and anointing that the solid teachings of the Word, and thus we are partially responsible for what has happened. We affirm our belief in the work of the Holy Spirit, but realize a need to work with our evangelical brethren to ascertain that all of us are teaching sound doctrine and respect other churches. We will affirm that Zion Church is teaching heresy and dangerous, and urge the people to leave if no change comes. I hope that many such churches will sign this.
As far as our and other churches are concerned, we are getting back to solid and systematic training and biblical teaching. The response has been amazing. Everyone is afraid of false doctrine and heresy now, and they respond when we give them good teaching and preaching. If handled right it may result in a real revival.
As far as Zion Church is concerned, many of us are convinced that while the people there are good people, they have been deceived. Leung Yat-wah is without a doubt seriously mentally ill, though he is a genius. He should be locked up, but whether that will happen remains to be seen. No normal person would make the statements he makes and believe them, and in my conversation with him I am convinced he believes this so much, he will die for it. In his church, they hardly ever open the Bible, or preach the Gospel. It seems it is a constantly teaching about hydrogen peroxide, selling ozone machines, attacks on other churches and preachers, and many strange and diverse doctrines.
It gets worse and worse and people meeting with him the last few days report no change whatever. My advice would be for the main leaders to arrange for him to go overseas for “Biblical Training” for a few years, and try to get the church back on a right track. We don’t know if he has absolute authority over them, as most cult leaders have. But this week we are meeting with some of these his “right hand men”, who were previously in our church, and will make such a proposal to them. If they agree, and Leung somehow by some miracle steps aside, it may take several years before the church gets back on track and will be accepted by others. But there is hope that can be done if they come under some other ministry.
I have been blamed by many pastors here whose churches were totally destroyed by Leung for not warning the whole “Body of Christ” ten years ago. At that time our condemnation of Leung’s teachings was just an internal document and others outside our church did not know our position. I don’t want to make the same mistake the second time. I have nothing against them and don’t want to get involved in any fight with them, for we have enough to do. But I have seen for years the errors that have come in our movement by an over emphasis on results and numbers more than solid doctrine and character. We need it all. But now is a good time to stand together.
Thus I am sending you some tapes in Cantonese and some articles from the newspapers. There is also a copy of a video of a documentary on Hong Kong television that I hope you get soon. What you hear and read is “just the tip of the iceberg” as one of the reporter states. There is serious error throughout the whole movement, both in Biblical interpretation, prophetic teaching and Christian practices. Inasmuch Leung admires David Koresh and others who have stood up to the government, there is a good chance you will see a mass suicide sometime down the line, or something violent will happen that will be world news.
Rev. Ma Gwok-dong, who first exposed this matter, has written a book on the Zion Church and will soon be giving seminars all throughout Hong Kong on the problems. I am fearful through these seminars he will also come against all Spirit filled groups, stating that they came out from us. That is why it is important that us Spirit filled churches have one stand on this and not compromise on matters of principle and doctrine.
I write this to you, for as I said, people very possibly are dying and the issue will become a major tragedy in Christianity. Remember, in spite of being approached many times by many people, there is not the slightest sign that Leung would even consider that his teaching or position is wrong. He is certain he is being persecuted for truth, and will die for it. That is his business, but what right has the take the others with him?
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or advice on an appropriate course of action.
In Him,
Dennis Balcombe
Below is some of the main teachings of Leung Yat-wah:
There is a world wide conspiracy to control the world under a one world government. The force behind this anti-Christ system is the “Freemasons” society with the Rockerfeller family at its head. But in this ungodly alliance is also the American Government, the United Nations and the European Community.
The ultimate aim of this conspiracy is to first of all to eliminate most of the people in Africa, Asia and of course the Jews. They aim to make a superior race of people from the Europeans, as Hitler wanted to do. In fact the Nazi’s were just a branch of the freemasons.
All doctors, hospitals, medicines and medical treatments (except Chinese medicine), is actually part of the occult, and never really heals us, but just causes us to have chronic diseases that will kill us some day. But in the meantime the anti-Christ is making countless amounts of money off these doctors and medicines that are the primary source of income to enable this world government to be set up. But without a doubt today’s doctors are like the witch doctors of old, and all of the medical profession is of the devil. Proof of this is the development of vaccines and Antibiotics, which never heal any disease, but actually put more chronic diseases in our body.
Thus the American Government, with a loan from the United Nations, developed the AIDS disease from the organs of primates in Africa, and they are now deliberately killing the people there through vaccinations which give them AIDS. The virus is the ultimate of methods to carry out mass genocide by the US and Rockerfeller, for it can stay in a person’s body for year while he travels the world spreading it everywhere. Shaking a hand with a person with HIV virus, kissing him or being in a room where he coughs will spread the virus and you will soon be an AIDS patient. The same is true if he enters a swimming pool, then the whole pool will be full of the HIV virus.
Thus through the use of AIDS and other medical practices and medicines, Rockefeller will successfully eliminate 3 billion of the 5 billion people alive today by the year 2000. This is repeated by Leung over and over in many tapes, so he really believes that 3 billion will die in the next three years. However as they want to make a superior race of the Europeans, the only element that can prevent this, hydrogen oxygen and ozone treatment, is freely available to the Europeans.
The use of hydrogen peroxide as a natural healing substance was developed over a hundred years ago and it is proven to heal 90% of all medical problems (broken bones, etc. being the only exception). It is because when it is ingested orally, it becomes ozone throughout the body. Ozone will immediately attack all contamination in the body including all germs, diseases, AIDS and cancer. A treatment of a few weeks is sufficient to totally heal a patient. However it has no bad effect on the body, and should be taken regularly every day in doses of 75 to 80 drops per day. They take ?food grade? hydrogen peroxide, which is 30% and quite dangerous, but they dilute it with a small amount of distilled water or certain fruit juices.
This ozone and hydrogen peroxide is really God’s gift to mankind, in fact God likens himself to hydrogen peroxide and it is “living waters” (John 4). As a part of this conspiracy, any doctor promoting its use in America will be killed, locked up in an insane asylum, his house burned down, etc. Thus countless of numbers of doctors have been killed and anyone reporting this will meet the same fate. But nobody would have thought that God would have raised up Zion Church, and Leung Yat-wah, the pastor of the most successful and largest church in Hong Kong. He told his people before all the media publicity that there would be world wide news about this, he would be rejected by his brethren and the medical profession in Hong Kong, but that the government of China will eventually realize the truth. The government has sent a group of experts to Shenzhen to investigate his claims, and soon will announce hydrogen peroxide as the best treatment for all disease throughout China. Thus he hopes to ruin the anti-Christ’s plan to destroy the Chinese and the Asians and hopefully when the whole world starts taking hydrogen peroxide, mankind will be saved. But it should not matter, for according to Leung, Christ will return in the year 2000.
Leung is against anyone borrowing money for a bank for any reason, and for that position alone has made many enemies. But his widespread blanket condemnation of the medical profession and the government makes his message a hate filled message producing great fear. He states David Koresh and the people killed in the “Branch Davidian” cult tragedy in Waco a couple years ago, were good Christians who were killed by the government. He certainly has great admiration for them for standing up to the government.
So it is no longer a matter of doctrine or church practices, though these are very serious. People will soon be dying or some other major tragedy will occur. One of the greatest dangers might be from families who have “lost a son, daughter, husband or wife” to what they consider a “dangerous cult”. They can get gangsters to take vengeance on Leung and his leaders, and it is hard to say what might happen. When you stir up that much hatred and strife not only against other Christians, but the government, medical profession, reporters and everyone else, something is about to happen sooner or later. That is why Paul teaches us, “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient.”
2 Timothy 2:22September 1996