Of Footstools and Pedestals (Part 1)

Saturday, 10th January 2026

Yancey now, in his 70s

I was scrolling through Facebook just yesterday and came across a post shared by Dn Douglas Loh, a fellow NewCreationer, ACS alumnus and great kingdom brother of mine.

"Oh no, not another one", was my response.

In recent times, quite a number of what many would consider "spiritual giants" have fallen:  Kong Hee of City Harvest. Brian Houston of Hillsong. Ravi Zacharias the great apologist.

Dn Doug's sharing on Facebook

Just to name but a few.

And now we add Philip Yancey to that list :-(

Over the past 6 months, I have been clearing out stuff that has accumulated in my parents' house for the last 47+ years.

My dad kept a library of several hundred books and at least a dozen titles were written by Philip Yancey.  He was my dad's favourite author.

I had no idea of how he looks like because he typically does not include his photo on the cover of his books.

So I did a Google image search and what appeared was photos of a rather unattractive man, no offence.

Hmm, maybe he was much better-looking when he was younger?

So I refined my image search to "Philip Yancey younger photos".

Nope, he was quite the ugly nerd back then too.

Yancey in his 20s

Yancey in his 30s

So what exactly did that other woman see in him, one will never know.

That only goes to show that all men are ready bait and can be tempted to stray, not just the handsome ones.

Anyway, it is a very timely reminder for all of us as Christians not to "idolise" any human being, however moral or dignified they come across, be it Billy Graham, or Watchman Nee, or even Pastor Joseph Prince for that matter.  They are all mere mortal men with feet of clay.

We should instead fix our eyes solely on Jesus alone.  For He is the author and finisher of our faith.

I am therefore glad that Ps Prince has purposefully raised the next level of his pastors to share his pulpit on an increasingly regular and rotational basis, namely Ps Lawrence Lim, Ps Lim Lian Neo, Ps Gabriel Tan and Ps Mark Ng.  And I look forward to Ps Edwin Lim joining that roster of clergymen in the not too distant future.

Sure, the attendance drops whenever Ps Prince is not the one preaching. But it is wise and of great foresight how he is weaning us off him, of him taking himself off that proverbial pedestal quite a number of us may have inadvertently put him on.

Also, many out there who are envious of how New Creation Church has grown so exponentially must be wishing and hoping for Ps Prince to spectacularly fall (the way Kong Hee did).

After all, the enemy's main tactic is to smite the shepherd so that the sheep will be scattered.

So let us all continually keep Ps Prince in our fervent prayer, that God's hedge of protection constantly surrounds him like a shield.  Amen?

P.S. You will notice I have entitled this post "of Footstools and Pedestals" and will explain and reveal why so in a future post.  Stay tuned!