Recently Brian Houston, Carl Lentz and Hillsong have received some backlash in American media around their silence on the gay issue.
In writing this, we want to assure you that no matter what Hillsong will say on this matter, they can’t claim to be honest and orthodox about getting their views from the biblical text. In this article we will give people a quick overview of some key articles to understand the dilemma Hillsong now is facing with the media in America. We will end with a recent article from the New York Times.
As you know, we have been reporting how Brian Houston appears to be grooming his congregation to accept Roman Catholicism as a legitimate Christian faith and to embrace what we call queerstianity.
Hillsong grooming members to embrace Queerstianity? (Part 1)
Hillsong grooming members to embrace Queerstianity? (Part 2)
Hillsong grooming members to embrace Queerstianity? (Part 3)
Hillsong grooming members to embrace Queerstianity? (Part 4)
Hillsong grooming members to embrace Queerstianity? (Part 5)
Hillsong grooming members to embrace Queerstianity? (Part 6)
Hillsong grooming members to embrace Queerstianity? (Part 7)
In Part 2 of the above series, we cover an article Ben Gresham published in relation to a meeting he had with Brian Houston. Gresham left the meeting believing and stated that his blog “entry shares Brian’s thoughts on homosexuality, gays in church, the future of the church and dealing with the whole ‘gay issue’. In connection with Brian Houston’s recent comments in American media, we can see the lasting impacts of this meeting.
In the below article by the New York Times, they report Brian Houston saying the following:
“The world we live in, whether we like it or not, is changing around and about us,” he said. “The world’s changing, and we want to stay relevant as a church, so that’s a vexing thing.”
Mr. Houston, as he has done in sermons, ruefully noted the experience of gay children growing up in Christian churches, saying that some feel rejected by their youth pastors or even their parents, and that as a result, some young people “literally are depressed, maybe even suicidal, and, sadly, oftentimes grow up to hate the church because they feel that the church rejected them.”
In Part 7 in our above queerstianity series, we covered Anthony Venn-Brown (AVB), (ex-leader of Hillsong Church), pointing out how Brian Houston indeed appears to be grooming his church to embrace his false doctrine of queerstianity (in the name of relevance). Not only did AVB validly point out the dangers of the road of relevance, he offered his readers a short excerpt from one of Brian Houston’s sermons. You will note when you watch the snippet of Brian Houston how he nearly repeats his ideas to the media in the United States (Read Part 7 to view transcript).
The New York Times also pointed out the following observation of the heretical Matthew Vines (you can see Matthew Vines’ entire theology refuted in Part 1 above by Dr James White):
“Mr. Houston’s comments were welcomed by Matthew Vines, a young gay evangelical who is trying to persuade the evangelical world that faith in the Bible is not at odds with openness to gays and lesbians.
“Is Hillsong influential primarily for doctrine and theology? No, it’s not, but its music is as evangelical as you’re going to get, in terms of reach and impact, and that’s very significant,” Mr. Vines said.”
And this is why Hillsong is so dangerous. They use their music to smuggle in this false theology and this is something that Matthew Vines has picked up on.
Now Hillsong’s musicians may not have this gay liberal agenda but Brian Houston does. For instance, the above audio snippet is taken from his sermon titled ‘Scandal of Grace’.
You can watch Hillsong introduce the song ‘Scandal of Grace’ at the beginning of Brian Houston’s sermon ‘Scandal of Grace’. In this sermon you can watch Brian Houston explain the theology behind the song.
(Quick reminder: Hillsong often heavily edit their sermons before putting them online. Instead of seeing the complete sermons of Brian Houston, these edited sermons will appear to be less controversial for Christian consumption. So keep in mind – you are not getting the full sermon in Hillsong’s below presentation.)
Venn-Brown’s snippet was taken towards the end of this sermon (in part 2). Notice how he twists the scriptures and uses behavioural methodologies to undermine people’s intellect to manipulate people?
So what is the point of writing this article? Well – it seems that Brian Houston and Hillsong have no regard for the truth and will basically justify their views with very little integrity. They’ll claim to be orthodox and traditional (even though their identity is built on just the opposite), just to confuse and silence people who are concerned where Hillsong is headed.
A good example of this was when Brian Houston was ‘caught’ teaching that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. He was very misleading in his statement and in his sermon. It was only after he was ‘exposed’ that he addressed the concerns of many by saying he was misinterpreted. And even in his official statement, we exposed his lies to the church and the general public.
A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies.
Proverbs 14:5
He’s either going to show Christians that Hillsong is no longer traditional or claim he is traditional although pushing everything other than traditional.
So Brian – what now?
Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
Proverbs 30:6
The New York Times reports,
Megachurch Pastor Signals Shift in Tone on Gay Marriage
The pastor of one of the more influential global megachurches has declared that his church is in “an ongoing conversation” about same-sex marriage — saying that it is appropriate to consider the words of the Bible alongside the changing culture and the experience of people in the pews.
The comments by Brian Houston, the senior pastor of Hillsong, immediately attracted concern from the right and applause from the left, coming as many Christian denominations and congregations are struggling with how to respond to rapid expansion of gay rights and legalization of same-sex marriage.
Mr. Houston’s church, which is based in Australia, is known largely as a musical powerhouse because of the popularity of its recordings of contemporary Christian worship music, but its youthful congregation is vast — about 100,000 weekly worshipers at campuses in a dozen major cities, including New York and Los Angeles — and its cultural reach broad.
“The world we live in, whether we like it or not, is changing around and about us,” he said. “The world’s changing, and we want to stay relevant as a church, so that’s a vexing thing.”
Mr. Houston, as he has done in sermons, ruefully noted the experience of gay children growing up in Christian churches, saying that some feel rejected by their youth pastors or even their parents, and that as a result, some young people “literally are depressed, maybe even suicidal, and, sadly, oftentimes grow up to hate the church because they feel that the church rejected them.”
He said he lived by “what the Bible says,” and his spokesman said on Friday that the pastor personally agreed with traditional Christian teaching on sexuality. But Mr. Houston said he did not think it would be constructive to delineate a public position on same-sex marriage.
“It’s very easy to reduce what you think about homosexuality to just a public statement, and that would keep a lot of people happy,” he said, “but we feel at this point, that it is an ongoing conversation, that the real issues in people’s lives are too important for us just to reduce it down to a yes or no answer in a media outlet. So we’re on the journey with it.”
Some of Hillsong’s churches appear to be open to gays and lesbians. Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly, a gay couple featured on the current season of “Survivor;” worship and sing in the choir at Hillsong New York; Mr. Canfield is a volunteer choir director at the church.
Mr. Houston’s comments were welcomed by Matthew Vines, a young gay evangelical who is trying to persuade the evangelical world that faith in the Bible is not at odds with openness to gays and lesbians.
But Andrew Walker, the director of policy studies for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, expressed concern about Mr. Houston’s remarks, blogging for the journal “First Things,” “let’s be clear that this is not the route of faithfulness,” and calling Hillsong “a church exchanging compassion for cowardliness before culture’s consistory.”
Mr. Houston’s remarks on same-sex marriage were one of several instances this week in which he and his church differentiated themselves from some other segments of the evangelical world.
His wife, Bobbie Houston, who is also a senior pastor of Hillsong, responded to a question about women’s roles in evangelical churches by saying, “Really, the church needs to come of age sometimes, and just grow up.” Hillsong allows women to preach and teach; many evangelical churches do not.
And in an era when many religious leaders are defensive about the issue of clergy sexual abuse, Mr. Houston offered several searing, and at times self-critical, descriptions of how he handled the realization 15 years ago that his own father, also a Pentecostal pastor, was a pedophile. The episode has returned to the public eye because last week Mr. Houston testified about it before a royal commission investigating institutional response to child sexual abuse in Australia; in New York he talked with the press about the subject on Thursday and then with 5,500 people attending a Hillsong conference on Friday at Madison Square Garden.
He said he believed he did the right thing by removing his father from ministry as soon as he became aware of an abuse allegation. However, he said, in hindsight he should have informed the police at the time, even though the victim had asked him not to.
“There’s a difference between being pitiful and being transparent,” he said Friday, explaining why he chose to speak about the issue. “Authenticity always works, in every situation.”
Source: By Michael Paulson, Megachurch Pastor Signals Shift in Tone on Gay Marriage, New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/us/megachurch-pastor-signals-shift-in-tone-on-gay-marriage.html?_r=1, Published 17/10/2014. (Accessed 19/10/2014.)
Hillsong Church Watch 
Houston’s statement RE recent media comments: http://hillsong.com/media/statement-re-recent-media-comments-on-homosexuality
So to the “world” Hill$ong attempts to appear welcoming, inclusive and steers away from saying anything that may be interpreted as “anti-gay”.
However on Twitter to appease the group most likely to still agree with the Bible’s stance on homosexuality i.e. bible-believing Christians Houston says “My personal view on the subject of homosexuality would line up with most traditionally held Christian views.”
The ex-Premier of Queensland (Australia) Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen allegedly said “My word, if you have one foot on one side of a barbed wire fence and the other foot on the other side, it will get very uncomfortable in the middle.”
Which one is it Brian Houston? Your pants are at risk of showing…. you have to choose one side of the fence eventually. One side will inevitably condemn you so man up and make your position clear for once in your life.
Luke 9:26 [Jesus said] “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.”
Ah Sir Joh, he lives on !
He is also famous for this quote ” Lets get the road on the show ! ”
I never heard of the barbed wire fence though. What a beauty !
Brian , btw is good at putting on a show to entertain the goats, but experiences learning difficulties when it comes to preaching the Gospel and interpreting scripture in proper context .
His doctrinal position on same sex issues is now flimsy.
Jesus said , ” You are either for me or against me. ”
Romans 1 is a emphatic declaration that the wrath of God is on those who do same sex and those who support it.
The church has always welcomed sinners , but you can only go so far if sin has dominion over you !
A little bit of poison in your coffee will kill you !
But Brian just does it his way !
Sin always has to be judged somewhere , sometime !
The darkest place in hell is reserved for false teachers.
Brian , we love you enough to tell you that , to save you !
Brian you are swimming outside the flags !
“And this is why Hillsong is so dangerous.”
Yet you ignore outright frauds like the so-called ‘John of God’ who is charging $300+ per day next month in Sydney for people to be ‘healed’. Walk past the guy, meditate, drink some magical vegetable soup and get healed! But hand over the money first. http://johnofgod-sydney.com.au/event-information-1.html
You are totally pathetic with your petty website.
“Yet you ignore outright frauds like the so-called ‘John of God’”
If you want, you can start up a website exposing the so-called ‘John of God’. However, it does not make much to see that man is a fraud.
We are dealing with a more dangerous frauds on our sites like Brian Houston. He is that kind of fraud that says he submits to the bible but gets his theology from it once he puts it in a paper shredder; claims he preaches the gospel but preaches anything else but the gospel; professes he loves God but continually blasphemes his name and twists his Word for financial popular gain; insists he loves people but instead robs them blind, showing no heart towards his victims; demands unity in the church but demonises and condemns any Christian for challenging him.
He is so dangerous in fact that you defend him because you have fallen for his lies and gimmicks and do not bind yourself to Christ and his Word. He is so dangerous that he relies on people like you to defend his lies.
Read your bible and get your spiritual priorities straight. Uphold the name of your God and contend for the faith, not the name of charlatans and their lies.
@Newtaste – let’s see, “walk past the guy, meditate (on the Hillsong mantra) drink some “murky doctrinal soup” and then ‘tithe'” – well, I’d have to say, Newtaste, that there’s not that much difference between ‘Brian of God’ and ‘John’ now, is there…?
Surely even you can see that Brian Houston is more like ‘John of God’ than he is your traditional church pastor, who takes little and gives his all? When was the last time Brian ‘gave his all’ for the congregation Newtaste? Never?
Austin – check out the latest post on C3CW – no doubt this particular ‘celebrity life coach’ will be doing the rounds at Hillsong in the near future.
http://c3churchwatch.com/2014/10/26/c3-womens-conference-a-leaf-out-of-whose-book/
SOME SIGNS OF A CULT:
1 – If someone “cannot leave one of these movements”, that is one sign it is a cult. Their faith has become built on that movement and relationships within that movement, instead of being based on Jesus and the Bible. Even the mere thought of leaving is devastating to them. A true Christian can fellowship basically anywhere: Independent Baptist, Reformed Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Non-denominational, etc. But not these people, they need HILLSONG for their faith to ‘survive.’
2 – Another sign is when they are torn apart over someone saying anything negative about their movement leader. They can’t stand it. To most of us, if someone said something negative about our pastor, we wouldn’t let it bother us. We could take it in stride. People disagree. But not these people, you disagree with their head honcho, and I’ve seen them emotionally fall to pieces over it. I have seen them ready to get into a fistfight over the smallest comment. Here’s the reason why: in reality these people are insecure about what they believe. Their beliefs are based on what their head oracle speaks. To disagree with head honcho drives a wedge deep into their ‘faith.’
3 – Another sign: they “sanitize all outgoing information to the public.” Can’t let the public and our critics know the real truth come out about what is being said here and going on in here. Their worries: Membership loss, Financial loss & Bad press.
Three big red flags… One is bad, three is terrible, all say “CULT.”
And by the way, by “Pentacostal”, I don’t mean extreme fantasy worlds like HILLSONG nor ONENESS PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES either. These have “cult” written all over them.
You obviously have never stepped foot into a hillsong church or have been involved..
We were for a while & I will easily disprove all of your points.
The main point of me writing this is so you will hopefully stop writing slander against other Christians.
Is Hillsong for everybody, no. But it is for people who want to meet Jesus in a real way & don’t have to act a certain way or dress a certain way or know any Biblilcal lingo. I know plenty of people who have been volunteering for a long time & at some point felt it to leave. U know what the leadership did (of course you don’t because you have never been, silly question), they helped them find another church, prayed for them, wished them the best & said you are always welcomed back. And I know for a fact they are doing better than barely surviving without Hillsong.
That should take care of your first reason.
Secondly, you & whoever else can say what you want about Hillsong, it honestly doesn’t bother me what you say about the church or its leadership. What actually bothers me is that these things are said without relationship. Even Jesus before he would rebuke the religious leaders or speak firmly about the topic of preaching falsely, had a face to face type relationship… Most people who are slandering Christians don’t even have an email relationship. It’s just a free-for-all. I don’t think it’s okay that we spend so much time feuding. Of course I don’t have stats on this, but we know that there are thousands of people for whatever reason writing against Hillsong, but how many of those same are the actual hands and feet of Jesus. I sincerely hope that most of these keyboard warriors have context in their lives and that their hearts are after God & his people. Because if you know the same God I do, God will always be God, which means that if Brian Houston and/or Hillsong are what you say they are, HE WILL STILL WORK IT OUT FOR GOOD. So what are you actually worried about?
Thirdly, never once in the all the meetings I was ever in did I EVER hear us talk about membership loss & the other crap you are talking about. They firmly believe that they are ordinary people doing the best they can with what God has given them, keeping the main thing the main thing & that’s pointing people to Jesus, loving God & loving people. And the “chips” so to speak, will fall where they may. And actually, often times we would sit in meetings shaking our heads at what God is doing & how humble we are just to play a part.
I know this will probably fall on deaf ears, but I sincerely hope that whoever is reading this will at some point, visit a Hillsong church that you so adamantly hate & see the people there, speak to a leader & see that everything that you might be saying, COULD BE wrong.
And some of the conclusions you come up with may or may not seem valid.
To me what is actually ludacris is writing a “review” about a restaurant you’ve never been to..
Why would you do the same, especially ESPECIALLY about something so important as a church..?
I agree with his statement that the world is changing. But God does not change. Whether the world like it of not.
Does God love homosexuals. YES definately. Should we be there for them if they come out. YES should they feel able to sit in the church pews, drink coffee at coffee time etc. YES. should they be taking leadership or directors roles. Well if they are struggling but trying to live in obedience to Gods word despite their feelings then I reckon they make fantastic leaders and great examples of what it means to die to self. YES They should be able to lead. But are they unashamedly in a relationship. No for they have deliberately chosen a life style that dishonour God. We all sin but more often not when I sin then I do not feel worthy to lead until God reminds me that he is gracious. But my feeling of unworthiness shows that I acknowledge that what I have done, said or thought is wrong. I am agreeing with God not trying to justify my sin. By Hillsong allowing an openly Gay couple to lead worship they are speaking a lie through their actions.
We definitely need to be a shoulder to cry on or give a hug when needed but accepting a person does not mean accepting a lifestyle choice. If it did then We would have to accept drug addicts, liars whoever into our pulpits or on our platforms. Not a wise move at all.