Tags
a current affair, ACA, Brian Houston, gorilla, Hillsong, Hillsong cult, houston, SMH, sydney morning herald
God’s Word says the following about false teachers,
“But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.” Jude 1:10
Do you want to know what Christian love looks like at Hillsong Church? Spiritual leader/CEO of Hillsong Church, Brian Houston was not impressed as to how he was represented in A Current Affair’s recent report.
Hillsong: The multi-million dollar “crazy cult”
Which “tabloid trash” do you believe?
Brian Houston in damage control… again… and again…and again.
“Tabloid trash” exposing Hillsong of lying?
It looks as though secular media are now reporting on the conduct of Hillsong’s spiritual leader.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports,
A Current Affair versus Hillsong: the coffee challenge
It was a Goliath and Goliath story. Channel Nine’s nightly current affairs program versus Australia’s best known mega-church, head to head, in the Twitter arena.
A Current Affair last week aired a 16-minute special report detailing explosive revelations that the controversial Hillsong Church made a lot of money but, like every other church in Australia, paid no tax.
Hillsong was making a concert movie set to rake in millions of dollars tax free. Parishioners regularly gave up to 10 per cent of their income in a practice known as tithing. The church was making it so easy to collect tax free dollars through tithing that it was even developing a giving app.
ACA said the church had not responded to requests for comment, a claim denied by Hillsong in a statement the next day that called the segment “tabloid trash”.
A day after that, Hillsong founder Brian Houston laid down a boldfaced challenge to ACA reporter Ben McCormack.
@benmccormack9 Hey.. How about coming to have a coffee with me one day? You got the guts to do that? Just you and me.
The proposed coffee date sounded more like the pastoral equivalent of “Do you wanna take this outside?”
McCormack wasn’t backing down.
@benmccormack9 Hey.. How about coming to have a coffee with me one day? You got the guts to do that? Just you and me.
@BrianCHouston love to meet. Why not do an interview on camera & answer some questions too? You got the guts to do that?
Houston shot back:
@BrianCHouston love to meet. Why not do an interview on camera & answer some questions too? You got the guts to do that?
@BenMcCormack9 The Q’s are not the issue. It’s your skewered editing & underhanded tactics that are the problem. So no..!
McCormack repeated his offer of an interview before Houston repeated his mano-e-mano cappuccino challenge. McCormack suggested that, like Hillsong followers, the ACA team “lived to give”.
A bitter stalemate ensued.
On Monday, not content with having had the last word only once, McCormack tweeted:
@BenMcCormack9 well my offer of a coffee with no hidden recording or cameras stands. It’s not as though ACA is known for its credibility!!
@BrianCHouston “credibility”?? Hillsong issuing false hysterical misleading press statements. It’s you with the credibility problem Brian.
Houston may be frantically trying to come up with his own put-down. But maybe he has taken another tack to win this stoush.
As he tweeted the day before it began:
Love is a very compelling argument!!
Source: By Patrick Begley, Sydney Morning Herald, A Current Affair versus Hillsong: the coffee challenge, http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/a-current-affair-versus-hillsong-the-coffee-challenge-20150427-1muarj.html, Published 27/04/2015. (Accessed 27/04/2015.)
Does Brian Houston’s response to the ACA report, represent the actions of a godly shepherd or are we seeing the responses exposing the behaviour of a false teacher.
“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” 1 Timothy 3: 1-7
Hillsong Church Watch 
wow. just wow. i cant believe im reading all this.
anger management classes for hammerhead houston would be advisable, but it sounds too late.
ben, check out krav maga classes. and good luck. read john 3:16..
unbelievable.. from a ‘Christian’ pastor no less? scary stuff.. nfg
@ NFG. This isn’t new. There was:
1. Houston’s short fuse with AHA, accusing the victim of leading his father on.
2. There was also Houston confronting one of his father’s victims at the Royal Commission.
3. There was also Houston confronting another sexually abused victim at the Royal Commission.
4. There were those nasty comments made by Houston to people who tweet to him (whether nice or not).
5. There was his outrageous outburst when people tried to correct him about ‘modalism’.
Moral of the story: don’t mess with Hillsong’s god.
and the list seems to keep getting longer & longer.. ppl better put on the full armor of God before going anywhere near hammerhead houston..
nfg
Perhaps brian just wanted to ‘lay his healing hands’ on Ben McCormack.
I’m surprised brian label Ben a Pharisee or slanderer as he has done so frequently to many others [and appears to be an increasingly strange habit].
Any interviewer has to promise “no hidden camera’s or recording equipment”? There must be a lot to hide and a lot to misquote..Oh, brian, the paranoia of it all!
Maybe brian can repeat the infamous ‘allah’ clanger-excuse: “It’s what i said, but it isn’t what i meant.”
Brian’s new book..You got the guts to buy it..Pilgrim? [apologies to John Wayne], probably as correct as the Noah movie he loved so much when he publicly declared: “You’ll enjoy it as long as you’re not too religious.”
Yes, indeed.
I find it interesting how, in your relentless pursuit of true Christianity, you’re siding with ACA and Sydney Morning Herald, two non-Christian forms of media. I noticed both of them conveniently forgot to mention that Hillsong themselves weren’t actually making or financing the movie, and that financial reports are readily available to anyone. You know. As required by law.
Also find it interesting that you’re using Ps Brian’s tweets as an example of his completely anti-Christian behaviour when several users who post as the anonymous “churchwatcher” will often post in a similarly “loving” way. But I guess no one in their right mind would ever place any of the churchwatchers in a church leadership position, so the passage from 1 Timothy that was used in the article would never need apply to them.
You seem to forget that unbelievers can be used as tools in God’s hands. Google Isaiah chapter 10, focus attention on verses 5-19
Just like King Cyrus who was used by God to bring punishment to Israel and was later punished for his OWN sins, God can use ungodly modern people/organizations to bring punishment to whoever HE chooses.
See http://www.preceptaustin.org/isaiah_10_commentary.htm
@DF: “ACA and Sydney Morning Herald, two non-Christian forms of media.”
Could you advise me as to what is..a Christian form of media?
Twitter? Facebook? Publishing? Internet? brian uses them all the time, so they must be ‘a Christian form of media’.
“You’re siding with ACA” …..Interesting quote. DF, Do you side with the Royal Commission Transcripts [ a non-Christian form of media?] or with brian?
“I find it interesting how, in your relentless pursuit of true Christianity”
DF — No one here need pursue anything. Most likely all here have been saved far longer than you ‘might’ have been.
Now for the reality slap. Brian, on the other hand, is as lost as he ever was. If you want to follow a lost man, that’s on you. But there is much creativity in the excuses used by persons with Hillsongitis to justify following a lost man. Even worse, you not only follow him, you give him money.
If you’re looking for truth of any kind at Hillsong, you’re looking to all the wrong faces, in all the wrong places. The biggest thing most persons walk away with from Hillsong is a “financial haircut.”
@ DF,
It’s very ironic for anyone to bring up “true Christianity” while discussing Brian Houston, because that is the #1 thing which Brian Houston does not tolerate.
It’s interesting seeing Brian Houston interacting with an obvious unbeliever such as Ben McCormack, (a man who identifies himself as a ‘humanist’ on his twitter header). When high profile Christian leaders like Houston are always declaring their love for the lost, how should they treat guys like Ben? As a man who needs Christ or as an adversary?
Colossians 4:5-6 “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”
1 Peter 3:9 “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”
Brian Houston needs to be reminded that the world i.e. Ben McCormack, will judge Christianity by what they see in Brian Houston. And what the world appears to be seeing is someone who loves Hillsong and its reputation more than Christ and His reputation.
Meanwhile, what do you think the world is thinking when they see this website of Christians bitching about Christians? Have you actually lead anyone to Christ as a result of this site? I can’t help thinking that the exact opposite is happening. As for people already saved and going to Hillsong, you do a great job tearing down the church’s leaders, and telling people to get out, but you don’t help anyone get into a church you’d actually approve of. Where’s the support for people you actually turn away from Hillsong?
DF, this morning i saw many, many people reading the Sydney Morning Herald. In your words: “a non-Christian form of media.” Shall i tell them that they are bad Christians? Hillsong would not approve!
As a spokesman for hillsong, does hillsong now presume to tell the world what is, and what is not ‘Christian approved media’ ?
Or should that be ‘hillsong approved media’? That sounds very cult-like.
And as for your other quote: “no one in their right mind would ever place any of the churchwatchers in a church leadership position.”
Speaking for myself….You are absolutely right, if you are talking about hillsong ‘leadership. Who would ever dare to question brian about hiding paedophile crimes, his blundering knowledge of the Bible, or why you constantly need to get [ and give hillsong ] more money? Although i could become a [gasp] ‘worship leader’ by simply whacking on a guitar and riffing out a few borrowed U2 chord progressions.
I notice you have nothing to say on your pastor’s “you got the guts?” comments.
What ‘pastor’ could possibly equate the islamic allah with the Christian God?
What ‘pastor’ would preach that the “narrow path” is “one of the devil’s great strategies” when the Bible contradicts him? I mean…he has read the Bible hasn’t he?
We all acknowledge that Christian Scripture is Inspired by the Holy Spirit.Yet brian houston in his strange “wide road” imaginings has accused the Holy Spirit of allowing a ‘strategy of the devil’ into the Holy Bible….Has God been fooled? Or is it you?
Read up on the ‘unforgiveable sin’ of blaspheming the Holy Spirit Mark 3:28-29, Luke 12:10 and Matt 12:31. Your leader may want to read that as well. God will not be mocked.
Then again, your issue is that you can’t seem to deal with anything that lets the public see the real brian houston.
By the way, that photo of brian on the book cover..do you think his cherry red lipstick is appropriate for ‘Christian Media’? Because it is scary.
“Meanwhile, what do you think the world is thinking when they see this website of Christians bitching about Christians?”
Why should you – a Christian – care so much about what the *unsaved* world thinks when it sees friction amongst Christians (on issues it is unable to understand due to spiritual blindness)? (2 Corinthians 4:4) Who are you supposed to please, the world or Jesus Christ?
Don’t try to blame Hillsong’s critics for Houston’s many problems. If Houston had in the past addressed its many issues honestly* (instead of “blowing raspberries” at Christian leaders who tried to correct him for his own sake e.g. modalism) he wouldn’t be in the mess he is now. It is terribly sad to repeatedly see via comments like yours that the world has more discernment than Hillsong supporters.
* i.e. no card tricks, no word games, no double-speak, no “I’ve suffered so much from the media [forget about the abuse victims]” distraction tactics, no “I know I said this, but I really meant that…” excuses etc. etc.
Very good point CW. DF and other hillsong people should look long and hard at brian houston and his ‘love argument’ towards an unbeliever. Very revealing.
“LIVE LOVE LEAD”
That books a joke. Ps Brian habitually __boasts__ about LOVE on one hand, showing his “love” on the other hand treating Hillsong outsiders Ben McCormack/victims/others as worthless.
JAMES 1:27 : Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress AND to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Ps Brian’s always ‘innocent’….quick to play the victim card for himself.
His cult following defends him vigorously when he publicly gets caught saying / doing anything wrong. they’re the __biggest__ part of his damage control system.
HISTORY FACT : cult worshippers were __never__ interested in TRUTH.
Interesting that brian would have the the word ‘live’ above his bald head on the book. Ever read that backwards? Weird.
As long as he doesn’t take a mirror “selfie” holding the book, he’ll be fine, thetruth. 🙂