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Apostles Creed, Ben Fielding, Brian Houston, creed, Hillsong, Hillsong cult, mega-church, mega-rock, rock
Please look after your forehead. Wear a helmet when reading this article.
The Bible Society reports,
The Hillsong song that every Christian can sing
It all started on Facebook.
In January, John Dickson, co-founder of the Centre for Public Christianity and senior Anglican minister in Sydney, sparked a storm of responses when he posted on Facebook, “Can someone with real Hillsong contacts please urge their brilliant songwriters to put the Apostles’ Creed to inspiring music. They’d be doing mainstream Christianity an enormous favour.” At the same time he directly tweeted the same request to Hillsong.
His appeal reached the ears of Cassandra Langton, Hillsong’s Creative Director, who tweeted her reply to John within 24 hours, “We shall have a go!!!” This began a production process for Hillsong’s new song This I believe, sung at Hillsong campuses at the beginning of March and by over 17,000 women at Hillsong’s Colour Conference.
Here are some of the lyrics sung from the song at the conference (though these are still being finalised at time of writing before ‘official release’):
I believe in God the Father
I believe in Christ the Son
I believe in the Holy Spirit
Our God is three in one
I believe in the resurrection
That we will rise again
For I believe in the name of Jesus
Ben Fielding, one of Hillsong’s leading songwriters, also heard John’s appeal. A month later, when the team were preparing to write, he suggested looking at the Apostles’ Creed. “We pulled it up and it was such an incredible text. We thought it would be amazing to be able to put music to it and give it new life.” Ben felt that taking Hillsong’s platform and putting the words of the Creed to music to reach contemporary churches was an incredible opportunity.
“In an age where there is so much division it’s powerful to declare something we all believe is true, emphasising our core beliefs,” says Ben. “I love anything that has the power to unify the church. Song does that. And so does this Creed, and it has for close to 1700 years.”
Ben feels his responsibility as a Christian songwriter. “The words we’re writing are becoming the liturgy and creeds of today. As the songs travel, we’re putting words in the mouths of the church.” He reflects on the history of the Creed and also hymns which, for hundreds of years, have brought people back to core Christian beliefs. Songs with biblical lyrics are the best, he observes.
There is an awareness at Hillsong, Ben says, that their church is not isolated, but built off an incredible heritage of churches in Australia and the history of the Christian church. In a similar way, Ben speaks gratefully about the interaction with John Dickson in the production of This I believe, and would like to see more ecumenical interaction, to enable the church to come together.
“It’s such an enriching experience. It’s sad to think we wouldn’t be able to have that dialogue because of denominational barriers. Perhaps working on things like the Creed would be a great way forward, to open dialogue and engage on that level that we have in common.”
This I believe will be officially released and available to churches in July at the Hillsong Conference. Hillsong are also planning to release a new song for Easter, Calvary, which will be available for free download for all churches.
Source: By Karen Mudge, The Hillsong song that every Christian can sing, Eternity Newspaper, published on Bible Society, http://www.biblesociety.org.au/news/hillsong-song-every-christian-can-sing. (Accessed 20/04/2014.)
Hillsong Church Watch 
Houston, we may not “have a problem” but we can make a choice,
The usual Hillsong 7/11 version, yes that’s right – seven verses we can sing eleven times. Count them, there’s seven!
“I believe in God the Father
I believe in Christ the Son
I believe in the Holy Spirit
Our God is three in one
I believe in the resurrection
That we will rise again
For I believe in the name of Jesus”
Or in the time it takes to sing the 7/11 version, we could actually put these words below to music and hear the gospel….
“We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.”
Perhaps we should be asking the Christian band “Sons of Korah” rather than Hillsong?
They do so well with Psalm 91…
Berean I absolutely agree with you. The more they try the more they Butcher. I was thinking about this post last night. The two things I could come up with is that it is a ecumenical push (not that they would have any idea what that word means) by Hill$ong to appease and possibly pinch some devout Sydney Anglicans over to them. Second, it is a way to sell more cd’s to otherwise discerning folk who may not realize that Hillsong have butchered one of the most important Church documents in existence (aside from the bible of course). None of this bodes well. Sure they maybe fantastic and talented musicians, they may have one of the biggest budgets in the country to make and produce cd/dvd at will, they may have the resources to put on an excellent stage show each and every week; but the more they do it, the further they drift away. If the “spoiler” is anything to go by, the only thing they have done is devalue the apostles creed, changed it’s meaning. Come to think of it, that is pretty much Hillsong to a tea. Lets Change the meaning so it tickles the ears and makes us lotsa lotsa Mooooney….
Well said Chris. You nailed it.
What makes Hillsong and C3 so dangerous is that they refuse to acknowledge that they do have a huge back door. They know it’s easier to target Christians or churches to join their movements rather than focus on saving sinners. For the last few years, more and more churches are calling them for what they are: cults.
This is just another way for Hillsong to change their skin, target the youth and vulnerable in conservative denominations. They’ve done a remarkable job pushing this in the conservative Sydney Anglican churches.
We cannot stress enough how dangerous the Hillsong cult is to anyone’s church. They will target your youth. Please protect your children.
Unfortunately your comments are based on one verse. But there are three other verses.
“says Ben. “I love anything that has the power to unify the church. Song does that”. …Says Who? Where in the Bible does it say song ‘unifies’ the church?
“The words we’re writing are becoming the liturgy and creeds of today. As the songs travel, we’re putting words in the mouths of the church.”…. I’ll stick with the Holy Bible thanks Ben, not Bubblegum renditions of the Word..
“In an age where there is so much division it’s powerful to declare something we all believe is true, emphasising our core beliefs,” says Ben.
……..Would those ‘core beliefs’ be something to do with Houston and the Islam statement?
Perhaps Hillsong could do a duet with Brian Houston and Yusuf Islam [ formally known as Cat Stevens].
Dint Know about Hillsong, But Rick Warren has…
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=1366
This is what you decided to post on Ressurection Sunday? Do you have another blog where you actually talk about Jesus? Would be interested in reading that.
@Troy, I can’t speak on behalf of the people running this site, because I don’t know who they are, but let’s get this first thing straight – this site, from what I can see, critiques the practises of Hillsong. For example, where they contradict scripture or are embracing ethically suspect practises, that kind of thing. I don’t think there’s any misrepresentation that this site is run for any other purpose. If you want to talk about Jesus I’m sure there are sites for that, or you might even think about going to Church like we all probably did on Sunday! If you go to C3 Cooomera you can even hear about Jesus eating at McDonalds according to their flyer, whatever rocks your world.
But surely the laziest way to criticise the critics is to say something exactly along the lines you just did in your comment. “Hey, shouldn’t you be doing x,y,z instead of being all critical”? You completely ignore the topic that’s being discussed, and you don’t provide evidence which proves this site has their facts wrong. You provide nothing of substance. I don’t know if you’re hoping your comment results in this site transforming something else, but I don’t like your chances!
Speaking of going to church… it would be great if there was some kind of resource for finding decent churches that haven’t been corrupted by Hillsong. Personally I’ve found it difficult to find a church in my local area since leaving Hillsong 6 years ago. I totally support this site but I think if the aim is to prevent people from going to Hillsong then it would also be good to direct people to the right places.
True – even conservative Anglicans and Reformed churches are walking to the beat of the catchy Hillsong drums.
Uppercut – behind the scenes we are hoping to promote a Christian church network through out Australia, the Pacific, the UK, South Africa, America and South East Asia.
People are trying to find Christian churches that aren’t full of the New Age, WoF, NAR, Purpose Driven Druckerite or Liberal heresy. We’ve received emails from concerned Christians around the world hoping we can help them find a church. We hope we can help people find a good church that isn’t infested with Hillsongitis.
Sounds great churchwatcher. Keep us posted 🙂
@ Newtaste – can you provide the rest of the lyrics?
“I believe in God the Father
I believe in Christ the Son
I believe in the Holy Spirit
Our God is three in one
I believe in the resurrection
That we will rise again
For I believe in the name of Jesus”
Does the song become the constant refrain above? Does the song morph into that mindless, repetitious, 7/11 verses sung over and over and over until the crowd becomes almost overcome, not by the Holy Spirit but the mantra?
Geoff Bullock rewrote a song when he came to an understanding of God’s grace, realizing what he had written was all about us and not about Christ. He realized this years ago.
“The Power of Your Love” an example of Geoff’s understanding that it is about Christ and His finished work and not about us…
Original version…..
Lord I come to you,
let my heart be changed, renewed,
flowing from the grace
that I’ve found
in you.
And Lord I’ve come to know
the weaknesses I see in me,
will be stripped away
by the power of Your love.
Hold me close,
let your love surround me
bring me near
draw me to your side
And as I wait, I’ll rise up like the eagle
and I will soar with you
Your Spirit leads me on
in the power of Your love.
Lord unveil my eyes
let me see you face to face
the knowledge of your love
as you live in me
Lord renew my mind
as you will unfolds in my life
in living every day
in the power of your love.
The rewritten version…..look at the difference!!!
Lord you come to me,
And as my heart is changed, released
This miracle of grace gently sets me free
And Lord I’ve come to know,
The weaknesses I see in me,
Will be stripped away
By the power of your love.
You hold me close,
You’ve let your love surround me,
For you’ve come near
To draw me to your side.
And in your life I’m rising like the eagle
And I will soar will soar with you
As your spirit leads me on
In the power of your love
Lord unveil my eyes,
You let me see you face to face
In the knowledge of your love
As you live, in me.
You renew my mind
As your will unfolds in my life
In living every day
In the power of your love
Lord you’ve come to all
With hope that shines to light the way
As mercy soothes our souls, healing every heart.
Love that sees the tears
Overcomes our darkest fears
Grace that lifts us up
In the power of your love
“Why the new versions?”
(http://dashhouse.com/dashhouse/2005/9/26/geoff-bullock-rewrites.html)
“Geoff explains: The main reason for the rewrites is to simply take the focus from “what we do for God” to give us a sense of spiritual affirmation and placing it firmly on “what God has done and is doing for us”. I am convinced that what I think, do or say about God will always prove my inability to be anything else but grace dependent. However, what God “thinks, does and says” about me is a miracle that can never be fully grasped. It is simply too wonderful. How could we ask this of the Creator of the universe. Thinking about it just spins me out. God.. do we really understand the enormity of those three letters…God reduces himself to humanity so we can know and say:
“You have walked my path,
You have run my race
So I may never be the same again.”
I just cannot say or sing it the other way anymore. I am totally stuffed if I do the walking and running.
There’s nothing to celebrate about my actions…but, what God does…can’t stop celebrating.. just blows me away, and I have to ask myself whether we really understand it at all!!!
And again:
I have so struggled with the songs and even more with the culture of worship. It really makes me cringe, and then I realize that I am terribly responsible for this “Jesus is my Boyfriend, lover, alternative husband…” rubbish. I have seen marriages fall apart as one partner starts to have an obsessive emotional relationship with their “Heavenly Boyfriend”. It is in this awareness that I find it impossible to appreciate anything that has gone before…the songs reveal a shallow, guilt ridden experience that always needed an emotional hit in order to maintain any sense of “spirituality”. My songs are still in that culture. I am not. This is why I have rewritten the lyrics. I hope that it explains who the real Geoff Bullock is rather than his shallow stage persona. It has been a long journey, and a very strange life. I find it all so overwhelming. I am just an ordinary man that got caught up in something that I so regret…and yet the postcards from my life are still being read…mmmm, does this make sense?”
its easy to run down hillsong, the song you are talking about isnt the full song its just the chorus. i dont have the verses as the album isnt released until june/july.
lets face the facts here, if the bible society really wanted biblical songs on the apostles creed why didnt they just go to stuart townend and keith getty.
they are the guys who write all the modern contempory hymns.
for example
in christ alone
how deep the fathers love
speak o lord
o church arise
many churches from the four corners of the earth to the end of the earth sing their songs.
there must of been a reason why they asked hillsong to do it. lets face the facts we have so much worship out there today bethel music, jesus culture, passion, planetshakers.
why hillsong?
when it comes to congregation worships songs no one can match hillsong.
songs like cornerstone, mighty to save, from the inside out, and the stand. are sung in churches all around the world every week.
they could of asked matt redman, tim hughes, martin smith, chris tomlin, paul baloche, phil wickham.
there are so many worship leaders to choose from, so why did they ask hillsong. because the lord has anited hillsong with praise and worship.
are hillsong a cult, isnt a cult something that is hard to get out of once you get into it.
cult to me reminds me of mormons, jehovahs witness are hillsong like that certanly not.
hillsong has a very high turnover of people yes there is a back door, have people been excommunicated yes they have so maybe that is why they sound like a cult.
so what is hillsong, hillsong is nothing more than a music ministry thats what it really is.
hillsong wouldnt be where they are today, if it wasent for their music. they have been accused of worshipping worshipinsted of worshipping jesus.
what else is hillsong they are a worldy church, speaking a worldy gospel. they are nothing more than worldliness.
they have written good songs and bad songs, yet romans 11:29 says the gifts are without repentance and james 1:17 say every good gift comes from above.
there is no way hillsong could have done what they have done without god blessing it.
so many churches start off really good, yet when they become successful curruption enters in.
“there is no way hillsong could have done what they have done without god blessing it”.
Do you not think that Satan himself can give worldly success? To counterfeit the True Word and it’s Power? Worldly success, million Dollar Bayside homes, or ‘popularity’ does not in itself, PROVE that God has blessed it…DISCERNMENT and Biblical study is absolutely necessary.
sorry correction john dickson public christianity not the bible society.
yes i agree satan can give you world success, the point i was making was that hillsong didnt start where they are now.
like i said churches start off with good intentions, and when they get to a certain level they end up with the wrong motives.
god also gives us over to our selfish desires, if we start trying to idolise our gifts more than the giver.
that is what has happend here with hillsong, they worship worldly success romans 1:25 yes they have changed the truth of god into a lie. 2 thessalonians 2:11 and for this cause god shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.
yes the abomination of desolation has entered into the holy place. as mentioned in matthew 24:15-16 and mark 13 14. yes we must test the spirits to see if they are off god as many false prophets have gone out into the world 1 john 4:1-3.
but we must also look at ourselves as well, hillsong and c3 is not the only church in this world.
benny hinn, kenneth copeland, morris cerullo, jeseph prince, joel osteen and mike murdock are much more dangerous than brian houston and phil pringle will ever be.
I agree mr hatch…the men you have mentioned are very dangerous to believers. But..many, many biblical believers in America are voicing their concern close to their own locality/ areas, where they can make a difference. As far as i am concerned, and i speak for myself, we [ and i mean True Believers in God’s Written Word] in Australia, have a reponsibility to spread the Biblical truth, and deny false counterfeit christianity in our part of the world. Brian houston and Pringle may ‘seem’ harmless ..Now…but souls and truth are at stake..i would never want to meet our Lord Jesus Christ and have to say i never put up a good fight against error and a horrible deception.
God Bless.
yes i understand you, i just thought some of you guys were from america. because i know you have a connection with Chris Rosebrough fighting for the faith.
yes deception is rife, i did read the article about a list of australian churches who are tax free.
im based in London but all of the biggest churches in London were planted out of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and America.
@ mrhatch – Chris Rosebrough & “Fighting For The Faith” has a huge world-wide listening audience. I’m Australian and have listened to him since 2007 with his first broadcast. He’s very aware of the problems here in Australia too.
You mentioned above that you thought other men are “much more dangerous than Brian Houston and Phil Pringle will ever be.”
You will find though they all preach around the same circuits. Phil Pringle has preached at Steve Munsey’s church, he’s been on Benny Hinn’s TV program. Brian Houston has hosted Joel Osteen several times at Hillsong conferences. Morris Cerullo recently preached at C3 San Diego.
All inter-connected.
All cut from the same cloth.
its good after 10 years hillsong london is no longer my main church, yes i knew about the connection with joel osteen and hillsong conference.
i only went to hillsong conference europe 2 times 2006-2007 and it made me feel really sick what i was hearing from him.
if it wasent for their worship, i would of never gone to a church like that. because it certainly wasent their preaching i went for.
One can find the entire song on YouTube (performed at Hillsong London).
See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5yqdnKwNu0
After listening to it, I came away thinking that it was a very butchered version of the Apostles Creed (AC). I’d rather sing the AC in chant tones anyday than listen to the Hillsong equivalent.
The theology of the modern equivalent is like drinking Coke rather than something far more nourishing IMHO.
i forgot to tell you guys i emailed, the centre for public christianity.
here is their responce below.
Hello
i have a question if John Dickson wanted really biblical songs written from the Apostles Creed.
why didnt he just ask Stuart Townend and Keith Getty? why did he ask Hillsong? i hope i can get a responce to this email as i thinks its a real valid question.
Chris
Hi Christopher,
Thanks for your email. John simply put on Facebook that he would like it if the Apostle’s Creed was put to music and suggested that Hillsong should do it because they write some excellent music.
Regards,
Vaughan
The words of the entire song. http://goo.gl/Od1fv3
There’s been no response by you guys to the full lyrics. Guess that helmet, or is it a tin foil hat, is blocking your view.
Newtaste maybe the fact that comments scroll out of view on sidebar stops others from responding? I’ve asked questions yet to be answered by Jesusfreak. That’s an article from way back in April 🙂 – it seems we’ve all moved on since then.
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