Many people assume that the origins of Hillsong originated from Charismaticism, Pentecostalism or the Salvation Army. This is not true.
Hillsong’s roots were founded in the Canadian New Order of the Latter Rain (NOLR) cult. Today, this is internationally recognised as the New Apostolic Reformation cult.
The New Apostolic Reformation cult preach a false Jesus, false gospel and New Age metaphysical teachings and strategies in an attempt to bring heaven to earth.
This series of articles looks at the history of the New Order of the Latter Rain (NOLR) and how it overran the AOG in NZ, the AOG in Australia and how this was done through Frank Houston, the founder of Hillsong/Christian Life Center.
PENTECOSTALISM AT WAR WITH THE NEW ORDER OF THE LATTER RAIN
The NAR/NOLR cult is openly at war with Christianity and specifically targets and converts churches into its movement. In its early days, the New Order promoted aggressive ‘divide and conquer’ tactics in local churches while pushing the idea of ‘unity in the spirit’. For instance, in its early years in Canada, the New Order attempted an unethical takeover of churches in the ‘Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada’.
Sharon Orphanage, 1948, where the ‘New Order of the Latter Rain’ revival occured.
It is important to note that Pentecostalism (the American Pentecostal AOG) was the first denomination to denounce the New Order of the Latter Rain and its ‘revival’.
On the 3rd of September in 1949, the General Council of the American Assemblies of God condemned and rejected the NOLR.
They write,
RESOLVED, That we disapprove of those extreme teachings and practices which, being unfounded Scripturally, serve only to break fellowship of like precious faith and tend to confusion and division among the members of the Body of Christ, and be it hereby known that this 23rd General Council disapproves of the so-called, ” New Order of the Latter Rain” , to wit:
1. The overemphasis relative to imparting, identifying, bestowing or confirming gifts by the laying on of hands and prophesy.
2. The erroneous teaching that the church is built upon the foundation of present day apostles and prophets.
3. The extreme teaching as advocated by the ” new order” regarding the confession of sin to man and deliverance as practiced, which claims prerogatives to human agency which belong only to Christ.
4. The erroneous teaching concerning the impartation of the gift of languages as special equipment for missionary service.
5. The extreme and unscriptural practice imparting or imposing personal leading by the means of utterance.
6. Such other wrestings and distortions of Scripture, interpretations which are in opposition to teachings and practices generally accepted among us.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we recommend following those things which make for peace among us, and those doctrines and practices whereby we may edify one another, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come unto the unity of the faith.
The motion was made and seconded that this resolution be adopted. After brief debate it was adopted with an overwhelming majority. The motion was then made, seconded and it was adopted that in order that the entire constituency may have the benefit of this decision, the resolution be printed in THE PENTECOSTAL EVANGEL. [Source] (From ‘Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center)
SALVATION ARMY
The founder of CLC/Hillsong, Frank Houston, grew up in the New Zealand Salvation Army. It was the Salvation Army who expelled the Houston’s when church members of Avondale corps in Suburban Auckland accused them of stealing church money to buy themselves a car. It appears that Frank Houston brought the musical aspect of the Salvation Army into his new model of church in Australia,, using musical outreach to draw people in to hear the gospel or to attend the church. (This is one reason why Hillsong was very influential in their early years. They used catchy praise and worship music when they did outreaches into the hippy communes of Sydney.)
The Baptists and the Salvation Army in New Zealand were very cautious in avoiding the ‘Pentecostal’ AOG in New Zealand. Hazel Houston in her book ‘Being Frank’ revealed her conservative baptist judgment of New Zealand ‘Pentecostals’. At this stage , the Pentecostal New Zealand AOG was usurped and taken over by the New Order of the Latter Rain cult. Sadly, the NZ AOG embraced the ideas of the Healing Revivals in America that promoted Latter Rain teachings. One prominent figure was William Branham.
WILLIAM BRANHAM
One of the spearheads that largely influenced the New Order of the Latter Rain ‘revival’ and the Latter Rain movement was William Branham.
William Branham heavily influenced Hillsong’s founder Frank Houston through Gordon Lindsay’s book ‘A Man Sent From God’. With Pentecostalism already condemning the Latter Rain movement and the New Zealand Salvation Army and Baptists distancing themselves from NZ AOG (which was infiltrated by Latter Rain reprobates), it is easy to see why Frank Houston rapidly climbed to the top of the NZ AOG: he was ticking all the New Order’s apostolic and prophetic boxes.
The fact is, Hillsong is a New Apostolic Reformation Church, influenced by the New Order of the Latter Rain cult. With this background in mind, Hazel Houston specifically writes about Frank Houston being influenced by Latter Rain teaching through Gordon Lindsay and William Branham in her book ‘Being Frank’.
“I was upset when Frank woke up utterly miserable with a soaring temperature, his body aching in every joint. Obviously this had to be a day in bed. Usually sickness turned him into a self-pitying invalid, bored to tears with time dragging. This turned out to be four days of revelation. One of our self-confessed Pentecostals brought him a book with the interesting title ‘A Man Sent From God’.
Gordon Lindsay had captured what to Frank were amazing insights into the prophetic ministry of William Branham at the height of his ministry. From the moment Frank opened the book, Frank forgot to grumble about being sick. ‘This man could tell people all about themselves, even to where they lived and their phone number. Isn’t that marvellous,’ he said to me.
‘Sounds like fortune telling.’ I was sceptical [sic].
‘But he also healed the sick and he gives scriptural references for what he did.’
‘Frank, don’t get carried away with such things,’ I warned.
‘You should read it for yourself.’
‘Not me. I don’t like to read stuff like that. Those things don’t happen today.’ I closed the conversation and my mind but Frank pondered the possibility of New Testament-type miracles in the 1940s. Tears touched his cheeks at the thought of the possibilities. Next Sunday’s sermons contained references to the book. Statements concerning the possibility of Jesus healing without the aid of medicine stirred up some objections from the congregation, Ernie Hall latched on to every word…
‘Captain, ten minutes ago the doctor told me I can’t live more than two months. I want you to come round tonight to anoint me with oil. I’ll get some of the believing saints to join us and we’ll have a healing meeting.’ Frank was shocked. It was one thing to believe and preach about healing but another thing to act on his preaching.
It seemed that Frank couldn’t avoid the issue. He decided he wouldn’t tell me what he had to do. He didn’t want any unbelievers there and I was an unbeliever with a mind as tightly closed as a can of bake beans.
By the time he arrived at the house, sixteen believing Salvationists gathered. After some enthusiastic chorus singing, sister Allison handed Frank a saucer containing oil. He stared at it. How on earth did you anoint someone? Should he sprinkle oil on Ernie’s head or pour it over him. [sic] He’d start by reading James 5:14. There was safety in that.
‘If any of you are sick let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil.’ Not much instruction there. He’d have to do something.
The Catholics would make the sign of the Cross. Perhaps that would do. Frank dipped his fingers in the saucer and drew two oily lines in the shape of a cross on Ernie’s forehead as he offered a prayer of faith. Without warning the power of God sent them all reeling backwards. Ernie fell on the floor with a big smile on his face. When he’d scrambled to his feet again he picked up a kitchen chair with his left hand, raising it high above his head, something he hadn’t been able to do for months.
Frank could scarcely believe his eyes. This was a spiritual dimension untapped by most Salvation Officers he knew.
[…] This forerunner of future events lent weight to the reasons some people gave for calling us Pentecostal.”
Source: By Hazel Houston, Published 1989 (UK: Scott Publications), Being Frank, pg. 54-56.
You can read the book by by Gordon Lindsay on William Branham in pdf form online for free.
Because this article on Brian Houston and Hillsong is questioning and analysing it’s history and leadership, this article is not from God but the devil. (That’s how the Hillsong philosophy goes. If it’s good, praise God! If it’s bad, it’s of the devil.)
There is so much to examine in this article which we are sure to refer to in articles to come.
It is all too common to hear Brian Houston insist that
“the methods have to change for the church to stay relevant.” [Source]
This is cult-talk because the Bible is absolutely CLEAR that the church has been given a mission with specific methods and commandments to adhere to.
Hillsong has clearly rejected biblical Christianity from its inception in Sherbrook Hall, Sydney, which is why it falls into the category of an anti-Christian cult.
For further proof of Hillsong’s anti-Christian agenda, Brian Houston recently released an article titled “30 Rules for the Hillsong Australia Preaching & Teaching Team.” As you read through this, it becomes clear that these rules disqualify even Jesus Christ and His apostles from preaching behind the Hillsong “pulpit”.
Brian Houston appears to surpass what the Bible clearly says about preaching and exalts his ideas and methods for what should be preached on the Hillsong stage. This only confirms that Houston speaks not from God’s authority but from his own “sphere of authority” (see Rule 21) This is what happens when someone like Brian Houston REJECTS the pastoral office and replaces it with his New Age “motivational speaker” office.
The Christian pulpit can preach positive messages – but this is not its number one goal. Christian teaching is NOT meant to motivate people but should be anchor people on the historical writings of the prophets, the apostles and Christ. The message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins through Christ’s death and resurrection is THE #1 goal.
What’s even more damning is that THE #1 goal does not even make it in Brian Houston’s top 30 rules. In fact, his top 30 rules oppose the Christian message which was given to us by Jesus and His Apostles.
If Hillsong was a Christian church – this would have been rule number one:
“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
Of first importance, Christ crucified is meant to be preached. This is THE message Brian Houston blatantly rejects, which explains why this does not even make it on the list. Brian Houston says in Rule 19 that preachers need to preach “from notes you’d be proud to show me“. This means that no minister in Hillsong will be tolerated if they preached the Christian gospel message since Brian Houston vehemently opposes it.
The final authority in Hillsong is Brian – not Christ. He determines what is relevant and what is not. And relevance is governed by popularity. This is why Hillsong is so dangerous to Christianity and needs to be rejected and seen for the cult that it is.
More can be said with this problematic list and its hypocrisy but what we have said should suffice for now.
Brian Houston writes,
30 Rules for the Hillsong Australia Preaching & Teaching Team
Have you ever said something you wished you hadn’t? What about in front of thousands of people? Perhaps you don’t stand on any ‘physical platforms’… well, don’t disengage, this blog is still for you!
It wasn’t long ago that I presented these key points on Hillsong’s Culture for Preaching and Teaching to our Staff, even though many of them don’t speak on our platform on a weekend or even during the week. Yet, all of us do have opportunity in one form or another to speak into the lives of others and it’s always wise to examine the way we communicate, what we communicate and the impact it has on our audience. I’ve learned some valuable lessons over 30 years of preaching and teaching in public – many through my own error.
Culture, atmosphere and DNA in a church is not accidental. Just like culture, atmosphere and DNA of your home is not. You have to be deliberate about it – especially from the ‘platform’. Leadership in this area is about making intentional and focused choices, and taking a degree of measured risk.
So wherever you have the chance to input into others – take a look at these guidelines to building a strong platform teaching culture in your church or homegroup – many of them can also be applied to your family life or worklife. There are 30 points – one for each year of experience!
Every message…
1. IS POSITIVE.
Don’t preach to an individual – using the platform to get a personal message across to an individual is cowardly and blesses no one. 2. IS IN LINE WITH OUR BELIEF.
Don’t contradict basic fundamentals and doctrine. Make sure you know what they are BEFORE you take the platform. 3. HAS A SET TIME LIMIT.
Hillsong Church typically has a 35-minute time limit on messages. Be a good steward of people’s time. Be reliable. You can do a lot of waffling in 60 minutes! You are entrusted as a steward of the platform you are on – the moment you go over time, you are outside of your authority! 4. MUST BE PROVEN IN THE BIBLE.
If you can’t prove it, don’t say it. The platform is not for your opinions, it is God’s Word that matters. Every Scripture reference must be in context and within the tenure of Scripture = credibility and respect. 5. MANY HOURS OF MEDITATION, PREPARATION & FAMILIARISATION.
All 3 are important. 1) Think things through. 2) Get the structure as polished as you can – it must impact. 3) Be familiar with your message so you get it across clearly and effectively. 6. CHECKED FOR OVERUSE OF “I”.
It is not about you. People will see through a self-focused message and it doesn’t build others. 7. FOCUSED ON HELPING, NOT IMPRESSING.
Joyce Meyer once made a comment that really helped me with this, after I had asked her if she ever gets nervous? She said: “I never think about myself, I just think about helping people.” This attitude will keep your focus on course. 8. REINFORCING – NEVER CONTRADICTING – OUR CULTURAL VALUES.
Wherever you are speaking, you must respect the cultural values of that platform. Encourage the congregation to engage with what is local and relevant. 9. FROM A NEW TESTAMENT PERSPECTIVE.
By all means use the Old Testament, but always through the lens of the New Covenant of grace – through the cross of Christ. Otherwise we are in danger of preaching law and condemnation rather than building people up. 10. A REFLECTION OF THE LIFE YOU ARE LIVING, NOT JUST THE SERMON YOU ARE PREACHING.
Be authentic. The best messages come out of our own struggles and journeys. People sense authenticity as well as a lack of it. No matter how professional or eloquent you are as a speaker, you won’t build anything into people’s lives if you lack authenticity. 11. A REFLECTION OF YOUR PERSONALITY, NOT AN IMITATION OF SOMEONE ELSE.
This was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn but one of the most important. You’ll always be your best if you are being yourself – It’s not about being perfect or about a certain ‘style’. Be your best self and don’t use this freedom as an excuse to support rebellion or negativity. 12. AFFECTS PEOPLE’S MONDAYS, NOT JUST SUNDAY.
In other words, your message needs to be applicable to people’s daily lives. The greatest compliment someone who is doing well in life can give me is to say, “All I’ve ever done is to take the principles that have been taught in church and put them into practice.” – I love hearing that sort of testimony! 13. NOT STRAYING INTO THINGS YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND.
Stay within your boundaries. Keep learning, but don’t preach outside your understanding. Stick to what you know but also continue to grow in what you know and in your knowledge of the Word. 1 Timothy 3 in The Message says of the leader, “He must know what he is talking about”. Preparation is a discipline. 14. REFLECTING WHAT WE ARE FOR, NOT AGAINST.
Remember, our lives should reflect what we are for and not just what we are against. Preaching always against things leaves people feeling downcast. 15. LEAVES PEOPLE FEELING BETTER ABOUT THEMSELVES THAN WHEN THEY CAME IN.
I intentionally approach every service by trying to create an encouraging environment. The world doesn’t input positive messages into people very much – between the newspaper and the television, people are starving for messages of hope and encouragement! 16. EASILY TRANSITIONED INTO AN ALTAR-CALL.
If people are being impacted and reached during your message, then the altar call moment will be a smoother and easier transition. (HOWEVER, you cannot let your confidence be measured by how many people get saved when you speak.) 17. NOTEWORTHY.
Are people taking notes? Make sure people understand what you are saying, that there is substance to it, and that you are not boring. Be compelling and helpful to people. 18. SEES HUMOUR AS A BONUS, NOT THE GOAL.
Humour is a tool, but it is not the goal. If you are not good at being funny, don’t try. Any use of humour should serve the message – but never build your message around a funny story or joke. 19. PREACHED FROM NOTES YOU’D BE PROUD TO SHOW ME.
You should have some content in your notes: Key statements, scriptures, examples. Content – not neatness – is the goal. Your notes should reflect the hard work you’ve put in. 20. EXALTS JESUS AND BRINGS GLORY TO GOD.
Be deliberate about this. “God” means many things to many people, so ensure you are presenting Jesus. People don’t need motivational speeches, they need the Word of God and AN EMPHASIS ON Jesus Christ. 21. REFLECTS YOUR LEVEL OF AUTHORITY.
Speak within your sphere of authority, not outside of your credibility. Unless you have the right credibility or platform to confront and challenge people, then don’t. It is always better to encourage people. 22. PROJECTS CONFIDENT HUMILITY.
Minimise “I”, “me” and “my”. Be confident, not weak or false. I know who I am and that God has entrusted me with the platform. I know I belong here, but at the same time, I recognise I didn’t earn the right and I am accountable to Him for how I handle it. It’s about bringing glory to God – keep the main thing the main thing. 23. COMBINES FAITH WITH TRANSPARENCY.
It’s not about exposing and highlighting our strengths and weaknesses, but balancing these examples to enhance the message – our weakness or strength is not the message. It’s not about being ashamed of the blessing but people benefit more from understanding the journey and challenges that you had to overcome to get there. People relate to and learn more from your struggles – don’t present yourself as perfect. Conversely, don’t be negative and down all the time – people need to be encouraged in their faith; they want to listen to an overcomer. 24. TELLING NOT JUST WHAT, BUT HOW.
It’s more challenging to tell people how to outwork the principles we teach. I remember early in my ministry a man came up to me after I preached on loving God with all your heat, soul and strength and he said, “I want to do that, but how do I do it?” It’s easy to tell people what they should do but more challenging to tell them how. 25. LEFT BEHIND ON MONDAY.
Don’t do post-mortems or beat yourself afterwards… AND be careful not to get too full of how great you think you were. Time moves on. Be good at walking away. 26. FOCUSED AS MUCH ON DELIVERY AS CONTENT.
If you aren’t good at communicating your message, then no matter how good the content is, it will get lost on people. Say it in a way that best connects with the hearts of people. 27. AWARE OF A GREATER AUDIENCE THAN THE ROOM.
The days are long gone when the possibility of being recorded in one form or another is absent – whether by individuals on phones or corporately on cameras or sound-systems. Even though you may be speaking to church family, you have to remember your message will more than likely go beyond the family – so nothing is entirely safe in that sense. Filter everything you say through this reality. 28. LISTENED TO OR WATCHED BY YOU.
Ask for a copy of your message for review and don’t worry about appearing proud by asking – it’s a necessary part of growing as a speaker. Get used to how you sound and get past the ‘cringe-factor’. By observing and listening to yourself, you will notice habits and other distractions that you can fix. Learn to love the way you sound – if you don’t, no one else will. 29. HELPING PEOPLE OVERCOME AND BELIEVE WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT THEM.
Without exception. Remind people about what God says about them – there’s a lot of opposition in the world and you have an opportunity to lift people up and speak life to them – maximise it 30. ABLE TO STAND ALONE IN A NEWSPAPER.
Every message should include points that would stand alone in the newspaper. For example, years ago I wrote a book with a controversial title. I was young at the time and thought it was a great idea to use a controversial title. But as Hillsong’s profile (and my own profile grew), I may as well have drawn a bullseye on my forehead. It became fodder for journalists wanting to criticise it’s content. Let’s assume everything you say is quotable and can be published in a newspaper – how does it stand then? Think about how would you sound without your spirit and physical presence on it – quoted in black and white?
Always take responsibility for what you say and never assume anything. It is an enormous responsibility that we have when it comes to carrying the message of Jesus Christ to this world. Ignorance is never an excuse, so decide today that you are done with excuses. Apply wisdom and understanding to the message on your life and the platform you have been given – and the potential and influence on your life will continue to grow and extend well ‘above and beyond’.
Source: By Brian Houston, 30 Rules for the Hillsong Australia Preaching & Teaching Team, http://brianchouston.com/blog/2015/08/30-rules-of-the-hillsong-preaching-platform/, 11/08/2015. (Accessed 21/09/2015.)
One reason why we started Church Watch was because we noticed popular cults starting to rewrite their history. Specifically C3 and Hillsong.
In his book, ‘Live Love Lead,’ Brian Houston of Hillsong lied about his history in how he dealt with his father’s crimes and victims (he also added new information to the story that was not disclosed at the Royal Commission). The stories he told the media also contradicted his story at the Royal Commission.
He has also been promoting the lie that he started CLC/Hillsong (switching histories to suit whatever agenda). He also insists that he founded his church at Hills in 1983. This is now being refuted as well.
The philosophy with Hillsong is this: if your history doesn’t make you look good, change it or cover it up. And Brian Houston has had lots of experience with this (as we are about to find out).
EIC – no morals, no ethics, no Christianity. Just a network to promote stuff that sounds Christian to consumers.
Recently, Brian Houston was focusing on the Evangelical Industrial Complex (EIC) in America to sell his new book ‘Live Love Lead.’ Terry Meeuwsen appeared to make Houston nervous while he promoted his material on the Christian Broadcast Network. She raised the issue of Houston’s terrible experience losing his “best friend” in 1995. His body language indicated that he clearly was not comfortable with Meeuwsen throwing this experience in his face. (Watch at 7:10 onwards.)
CBN TRANSCRIPT
Terry Meeuwsen: “… When I think of Hillsong, I think of praise and worship because those songs are sung in my own church and the churches of so many of us. And God actually used the disappointment and the surprise of a leader leaving – a key lead- THE leader of your worship team, and yet God did an amazing thing.
Brian Houston: “You mean right back in 1995?
Terry Meeuwsen: Yeah.
Brian Houston: So it’s 20 years ago? It’s true.
We were on the edge of recording with ah- Integrity Music here in America. And of course we’re Down Under, like, you know, its already amazing that, that um- people were reaching out to us.
And so, the week that it was about to happen – and ah- I still don’t even understand it. I still to this day don’t understand it. But our worship leader walked out. [Behaviour gets antsy] And literally walked out. Like literally left my life- left our lives- and he was like a best friend, so there’s huge grief involved. [Rubs loose tooth?] And uh-
But the incredible thing in it all is that the only person I could turn to was a lady called Darlene Zschech. And of course Darlene Zschech is well-known now around the globe. So I kind of, as well as I could, I gently pushed her forward. I rang Integrity Music. And incredibly they never had a woman lead one of their projects at that time. So it was quite a big thing for them. But it turned out to be an amazing story.”
[Drinks cup of water]
That worship leader and “best friend” to Brian Houston in 1995 was Geoff Bullock.
Geoff Bullock was the man that gave Christian Life Centre the name Hillsong and helped put Hillsong on the map for it’s outstanding musical events and it’s famous music. Just like many others who made Hillsong what it is today, Brian Houston simply rode on the coat-tails of his “friends” who made Hillsong what it is.
So how does Brian Houston treat his best friends? Did he really suffer memory loss on the CBN set? To answer that question, we will look at Brian Houston’s book ‘You Can Change the Future’, Tanya Levin’s book ‘People in Glass Houses’ and finally read what Geoff Bullock himself said about his experience.
Tanya Levin wrote about Geoff Bullock in her book ‘People in Glass Houses’:
“Geoff left Hillsong in late 1995. I knew that his marriage had broken down and had remarried but, not having stayed in touch with the Christian music scene, not much else. The Geoff that I shared cappuccinos with was the same man as always. Same piercing blue eyes, soft mannerisms, and a voice born for the BBC. Geoff is not, by nature, an AoG salesman. Rather he represents a large group of artists who are attracted to the Pentecostal church by the opportunity for creative expression for Jesus.
What I didn’t expect was the brokenness. Although I had worked with people from a diversity of backgrounds for years, I assumed all the old wise men of God were naturally of stronger character than me, Over the time we spoke I found it not to be so. It was Geoff’s openness and willingness to talk that prepared me for a world of people damaged for the long-term by the work of Hillsong and the AoG.
Geoff says he remembers having episodes of mania when he was a child, although he wasn’t diagnosed with symptoms of any kind until after he left Hillsong. He sees a therapist to work on his long periods of depression, which are often followed by episodes of intense creativity. The other obstacle in his life is the nightmares he suffers dating from the time with Hillsong, an off-shoot of his post-traumatic stress diagnosis.
As the Hillsong conference expanded in the late eighties, so did Geoff’s responsibilities and pressures. He and his wife, Janine, were expected to spend infinite hours away from their children to run the music department. International interest in the music grew and so did Geoff’s profile. The couple travelled extensively with the Praise and Worship team, and personally with their old friends Brian and Bobbie. Despite the bright lights and the glory, his music career at it’s peak, Geoff was finding less satisfaction and spirituality in what he was doing.
After the most successful conference yet, Hillsong ’95, Geoff went to Brian and told him he was leaving. It was time, he felt, spiritually, to pursue other interests. Nothing personal.
Geoff Bullock had left a career with ABC-TV as a production manager to become a pastor with the Hills Christian Life Centre in 1978. For nearly twenty years he was able to use those skills to produce Hillsong music, and the show that accompanied it. During that time he wrote, produced and performed countless songs, and released seven albums. Because Hillsong still uses those songs, has remixed them and re-released them, Geoff’s royalties are growing at the same rate as Hillsong.
Which is lucky for Geoff. Hillsong did everything in its power to prevent his future success. Due to speak at a bible college occasion soon after leaving, he received a phone call with a sudden apology. Hillsong had informed the bible college that any associations with Geoff Bullock meant no further association with Hillsong. Christian magazines were told the same thing. Piles of the CD Geoff was about to release were found dumped at a tip in Blacktown, not far from Hillsong headquarters.
In Bobbie’s I’ll Have What She’s Having, this period is clearly referred to (the emphases are hers):
In July 1995, we witnesses a wonderful HILLSONG Leadership Conference. It was our 9th conference and in our nation and in our context of influence, to put it delicately- ‘we put the wind up the devil!!!’ Stories would flood into our offices of churches and towns being turned upside down with a revival spirit. God is good (all the time). Brian and I took a week to tie up loose ends and then together with our friends Pat and Liz Mesiti we took a little holiday. (I think God was just being terribly kind to give us a rest, because he knew what lay around the next bend.)
We came home a week later, stepped off the plane (‘hello, hello … lovely to see you … we missed you all … had a lovely time!’) and literally all hell broke out with one of our key people. It was the first and only time that something like this had happened to us. (I must admit prior to that conference I sensed something brewing, and had called our pastors wives to prayer.)
… For the next several months it was as though demons came out of the woodwork on every front. When attacks come from every side it is a sure sign that you are doing something right (which is contrary to some people’s belief). We experienced a barrage of attack-cancer, accidents, stinking thinking, people throwing in the towel, disloyalty in our team that disappointed our heart, devil induced confusion, opposition and fine thread ‘cancerous attitude’ bent on contaminating and taking out this particular Body of Christ.
Eventually, a Hillsong board member had lunch with Geoff. ‘We tried to destroy you,’ he told him. ‘until we realised you weren’t a threat.’ Geoff continues to work and write music, though he gave up performing years ago.
The nightmares remain one of the most intrusive spillovers from the old days. Three of four times a week he dreams about Hillsong events, being humiliated by Brian’s demands, being screamed at, berated and bullied along the way. His psyche is deeply affected. He is very aware that he, too, became a bully. Years later, Geoff has tried to make amends to many people he treated ruthlessly in order to avoid punishment from above.
At the end of our first meeting at a café, Geoff is exhausted. He tells me he feels drained by the remembering. I realise I have stumbled into a much more serious affliction in people’s lives than I had anticipated.”
Source: Tanya Levin, People in Glass Houses, Published: Black Inc., Melbourne, VIC: 2007, pg. 242-4.
Brian Houston writes of his best friend this way in his book ‘You Can Change the Future’ (a book that attempted to cover up his father’s crimes as a paedophile and exalted as a role model for others to follow):
Commitment to the right vehicle
“When I was a little boy, I had a scooter. As I got older, I rode a three-wheeled trike before I got my first bicycle. One day my father took me down to the shops and as I sat impatiently waiting for him in the car, all of sudden [sic] he came around the corner with a shining green bicycle. It was my pride and joy. Of course getting my first car was an unforgettable moment in my life. It was a ’57 Austin A50. It was also green and it cost me $650.
Many people desire to make an impact on the generations but rely on old vehicles to get there. Imagine me trying to fulfil my overseas speaking engagements via my original scooter or bicycle! You need the right vehicle and the right associations to enable God to take you forward. You may have a great vision to impact the earth, but alone you cannot do as much as you could together with others. If you are in associations which are holding you back or on a vehicle that is moving too slowly, stretch yourself by stepping into the mainstream and being committed to going forward.
I have been blessed to pastor at least four world-class songwriters, and many others heading in the same direction. I cannot take credit for their anointing or their God-given gifts, but I do have a sense of satisfaction about their opportunity. The Hillsong Church is a vehicle that has taken their songs to the world. One of these writers, who severed their link to our church several years ago, told me how they were writing more songs than ever before. Interestingly, it is only the songs that were written within the local church that I have heard anybody singing. It seems as though the local church was the vehicle which God was blessing.
Currently, the most sung praise and worship songs in Australian churches have emerged from the life of our church. Obviously that association with Hillsong Church has been very fruitful for people like Darlene Zschech, Ruben Morgan and Russel Fragar. They have obvious talent, a beautiful anointing, but also the right vehicle. Talent and anointing on their own aren’t enough, but placing the right people, in the right place, at the right time, has enormous potential.”
Source: Brian Houston, You Can Change the Future: Living Beyond Today and Impacting the Generations Ahead, Published: Maximised Leadership Incorporated, Australia, 2000, pg. 131-2.
And what did Geoff Bullock had to say about his experience? This is a very insightful interview exposing what Bullock went through, discussing areas of Hillsong’s philosophy, methods and dirty tactics which lead to his swift removal.
And Houston claims he has no idea why Geoff Bullock, his best friend, walked? What other lies and smear campaigns has Brian Houston written about in his book ‘Live Love Lead’? What other media organisations and Christian groups has he publicly mislead and lied to about his past life?
Let the sledge BEGIN!
Terry Allen from the Christian Faith wrote this piece back in 2010:
Geoff Bullock opens up …
We all know his music and we each have a favourite. He is Geoff Bullock. But what do you know about the man? About Geoff as a Christian? About Geoff as a sufferer of bi-polar disorder?
Join Geoff as he discusses his life and ministry with Terry Allen.
Geoff, what have you been doing for the last decade or so?
Oh, what a question! What have I been doing for the last 10 years? I would say I have been learning grace and un-learning working to prove myself.
Now, that is not just in a spiritual situation, that is in a whole of life situation: in my relationships with my kids, with my friends, with [wife] Victoria, especially as a step-father. Learning how to be rather than to do.
Spiritually, that has huge impacts on my life. I wrote two books at the beginning of the century, which was the beginning of that journey. Jesus’ story painted in a way that I hope you could see or visualize the impact he was making on society and the lives of broken hearted people; people without hope.
In the last 10 years I suppose, I would say, combined with that, I have been battling with mental illness: bi-polar type two which has caused all manner of symptoms in my life which has been confronting. One of the main ones being high levels of anxiety, which has seen me come and go publically three times.
I am now 10 years on and I feel the illness is manageable and the greatest gift, I think, is that I have been forced to learn insight into the way I think and the way that I do. I have learnt that by reflection on my past and reflection on the times where I can see the illness in that.
Also, over the last decade, I have had a most surprising return to public profile to tie that journey in to the life of Christ and the hope we see in the cross. So, I think that’s what I’ve been doing.
Life as a Christian, especially with bi-polar disorder, must be difficult. Some Christians believe it is demonic & should be dealt exclusively by prayer. How have you managed it?
Well, the first thing I want to wade in swinging is that I wish the evangelists and those who visit churches, and they arrive one day and leave the other, who drop such dangerous bombs on people’s medical situations; I wish they would go and do some research by sitting down with a psychiatrist and realizing how dangerous their teaching is.
You wouldn’t dare say that to someone with diabetes, but this irresponsible message; all it does is heighten the symptoms twice. You know, they go off medication, they get worse and then, getting worse, they think they must be possessed by demons, so that makes them feel worse and then they are totally without an anchor. Of course the hope of medication and a good psychiatrist is taken away from them, so I get furious about that.
And it’s also totally irrelevant to the gospel. There’s no resemblance to the life of Christ whatsoever. So, those are my little swinging punches.
For me, I do a lot of thinking, prayerful thinking and I think about the life of Christ all the time. Trying to strip away all of the things we’ve said culturally and theologically: strip it away. The drama that was Jesus when he walked into somebody’s life or somebody’s social circumstances: that is of great help to me.
I have a little saying: receiving grace compels us to begin the journey towards becoming gracious. Receiving grace is free but becoming gracious will cost you everything. It will cost you every opinion you have in your life and every bias.
So that has made a huge difference in the way I react to my symptoms because often my symptoms are feelings of rejection and a lack of affirmation and a feeling of isolation.Then I will expect people to do as I want them to do which is to work to prove their love for me as I am working to prove my love for them. So meditating on the life of Christ helps me to challenge that works based expectation of myself and others.
Bi-polar disorder is often suffered by artistic and creative people and one of the symptoms is depression. Have you suffered depression?
Yes, I’ve been absolutely lost in it. It was in 2007, actually it started back in November 2006, I remember vividly when i suddenly realised that I was falling into depression, I was sitting on a sun drenched balcony overlooking the sea and feeling absolutely miserable and that lasted for just on a year.
Obviously, talking to my GP and then my psychiatrist, I began a journey of trying to balance medication and cognitive therapy. I ended up as a day patient at a psychiatric clinic in Sydney, which I think was the beginning of helping me to have insight and, strangely enough, 2008 saw the rebirth of what I’m doing now and I spent a good 18 months of it depressed, but it was wonderful having a mission.
Have you ever felt Christian condemnation over your condition?
No, I don’t think I’ve ever been in that situation, but look, I can be a little outspoken and I have thought really deeply about my condition and so I feel that I have ammunition now. If, for example someone said to me, “Oh, it’s the devil”, which did happen to me once: one of my very, very oldest friends: he is not a man with insight. He does not think deeply and so he has a book of rules that he applies. He started a conversation with me about my depression being demonic and I think my response was strong enough for him to realize that even if he thought I was wrong, he would be wise to step away.
15 years ago you left Hillsong. Why?
Well, I’ve got to say that I was always a round peg in a square hole there. From the beginning of Hillsong’s association with the Word of Faith churches in America, their prosperity doctrine and their very works-based doctrine of spiritual and physical rewards, I just could not tie the gospel together with what they were saying. Not when I looked at Jesus at the cross; I couldn’t understand how they combined the grace of Jesus found in the gospel with the laws of conditional blessings and rewards found in the Old Testament.
They teach that Jesus rewards us according to our works. That is not the work of Christ. Grace is never a reward. We receive grace as a gift according what Jesus accomplished for us.
I actually tried to leave in 1992, but got turned around. It’s important that I say I chose to stay and rededicate all that I could to continue being part of their vision and the outworking of it.
Then, in 1995, I had two major things happening: I had this sensation that I really didn’t know Jesus. I knew Paul’s Jesus, I knew the epistles’ Jesus and Hebrews and I knew my movement’s Jesus: all the preachers and teachers who came through and spoke about him, but in my own life I felt I did not have this sense of meeting him. And so I started a search.
That’s when I wrote the song Jesus, God’s righteousness revealed. Towards the middle of the year, I started to really burn out because I was trying so hard to prove myself worthy of being who I was and trying to prove myself worthy of God’s presence on a Sunday: I had this poor, misguided feeling that if I play really, really well, God will come. It might sound stupid to say it, but it was where I think lots of Church musicians still are.
But after Hillsong ’95 I just felt so broken and so failed, I thought, “Look, I could just fall over dead and no one would notice.” But then I had this profound sense, and it grew: in fact, I would say it was the strongest spiritual encounter I had with God, where he said, through a whole lot of ways, to do something: that I had to go.
And it took three months and a whole lot of conversations, but eventually I wrote a letter and handed it on by a friend. I didn’t have the courage to do it to their face, but I knew that if I didn’t do what I felt God was saying… I had a choice: either I follow God or follow the church.
In the end, I’d rather build my relationship, my spirituality, on trying to discern what God’s saying to me and that’s how I left. And it really was the great divorce. It was unnecessarily bitter and divisive and that I found very confusing.
By saying it was bitter and divisive, do you mean you were stabbed in the back?
Yes, absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt. There were letters written to other churches, there were approaches made to other churches, there was a statement made to the whole church leadership team. They just couldn’t understand what I was doing, but in the end that’s just human and it’s very painful.
One of the hardest things was when my marriage ended three months later people jumped to a conclusion which was so far from the truth. This sad piece of gossip is still believed to be the truth.
Even last weekend I had to retell my story to put events back into the order that they occurred. It would have been lovely if Hillsong helped to put things right. However I simply became the invisible and forgotten man and that hurts deeply. Very deeply. I would have thought that my work there was seen as a blessing.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that rift has ever been repaired. There is nothing to indicate that it has.
Has there been any reaction at Hillsong in recent times to your current ministry?
Well, firstly, I made contact within six months with Brian Houston who was my very best friend at the time. This is really painful stuff and I can fully understand how he felt. I tried to explain as I was slowing gaining insight into what eventually would be bi-polar. I talked about co-dependency, I talked about my spirituality and I would often find that Brian would understand and ‘get it’. I had a chance to go and see most of the elders and senior pastors at that time and try to explain that I was sorry it happened the way it happened. I could have handled it a whole lot better: I handled it very, very poorly. I suppose we both did, but I can only be accountable for myself.
I met with Brian many, many times because I didn’t like the thought that he thought ill of me and misunderstood me, but I also felt that I had wounded him in a way that I wished I hadn’t and that somehow I could take those wounds away or help heal them. So, we’ve had good contact, but as far as the church is concerned, nothing. There’s just been silence, absolute silence.
I must say, when I left and obviously it was getting rather sad, I decided not to contact any of my friends because I felt that if I did, the worst thing they could do is try to understand me because then they would misunderstand the church and I didn’t want to put my friends in the middle of something that was unnecessary but very human. So, I walked away too and that has to be understood.
Funnily enough, I could see something of my bi-polar going way back to when I was 17 and I was at a very good school in Sydney and all of a sudden I decided I had to leave and I left at the end of year 11. I’ve had almost no contact with that school ever since.
The same thing when I left the ABC and the same thing when I left Hillsong. There is a part of me: I just cut my ties and run.
In realising this I have to take responsibility for my actions and not blame others for my sense of isolation. This is a difficult lesson to admit. I must have hurt so many people. However, no matter how I set about leaving I always come back to believing that i made the right decision.
You wrote some of our generation’s favourite songs. They are ones we all sing in Church. How does that make you feel?
Weird. I’ve always been a musician and always written songs but it hadn’t really defined me all that much, so it was very weird when all of a sudden I was writing songs that were defining me. My claim to fame in the early to mid 80’s was that I was a former cameraman with the ABC. I worked on virtually all their programs for 10 years, so that was my claim to fame.
Then I wrote The Power of Your Love and The Heavens Shall Declare and off it all went. And I have really badly battled with it at times because I would feel it placed on me a responsibility to try to be someone I wasn’t. And that was hard and unnecessary, but I would still feel this pressure. People would come and tell me these stories and I wouldn’t know how to answer.
The way I relate to it now is that I just feel like I have very successful children, which I gave birth to. They’ve now gone and travelled the world, they’ve made a huge impact in their own right and I look back remembering their birth, but looking at their independence. I think that’s by and large how I relate to it now.
Many of the songs you wrote, you now sing with revised lyrics. Why?
Well, I suppose it’s because I remember who I was when I wrote the song. I remember my approach to God and I remember what was a real disfunctionality. Yes, it was the result of an undiagnosed illness, but it was also an error of theology. An error of grace or rather an error of works in grace.
When Paul says in Galatians, “You foolish Galatians.” ‘You silly things. It had to be done by the Spirit; what are you doing completing it by works?’
Well, that was me. I sort of felt like it was a one-time grace or two-time grace. You went back to God asking for forgiveness, you hung your head in shame, but then you tried to prove yourself worthy of it all. I was constantly striving and therefore constantly burning out.
I was so fierce on myself. I would just push myself and push myself and I would never receive any comfort because I would always be measuring myself and coming up short. I didn’t count myself worthy of comfort. I could never be than man of god that significant others were telling me I should be.
In the middle of this sad and broken time I became aware, ever so gently, that grace was embracing me. I started to realise that I hadn’t fallen from grace, I had fallen into it. I was no less righteous; I had simply lost my sense of self righteousness. Yes, there were consequences but I became increasingly aware that Jesus had come to give me hope and to help me to be accountable to all these consequences.
So, grace became my only anchor, sort of like lifeboat drill. When you’re a sailor and you do lifeboat drill it is usually in an Olympic swimming pool, but when you are in the middle of Bass Strait, you suddenly discover how effective this lifeboat is.
And so the phrase, “Lord, I come to you,” I was saying that in frustration. “Oh Lord I’m sorry. I should be there with you but I’m not. Here I come again. I come to you again.” And then the prayer, “Lord, hold me close” is like saying “Please hold me close because I don’t think you are holding me close at the moment. I think perhaps you turned away again because you are as frustrated with me as I am.”
The wonderful truth is that the “Lord you come to me to let my heart be changed, renewed flowing from the grace that I found in you” that the “weaknesses that I see in me are being stripped away by the power of your love.” Isn’t that so wonderful? Sometimes I wonder if we simply don’t understand what God has already done for us in Jesus.
So I changed that song to a confession of what God has done. It’s not “hold me close” but “you hold me close”. No matter how dry and disappointed I am, to be able to say to myself, “It’s okay, he’s holding you. You’re depressed, life is tough, but nothing’s changed between you and God. You’re not a disappointment.” And perhaps that also relates back to my experience with my father.
You would hope every Christian, certainly evangelicals, would be pleased that you are looking for ways to ground your songs in God’s word, because if they are not Scriptural we should not be singing them. However, in the case of The Power of Your Love, and I’m thinking in particular of that line you mentioned: “Lord I come to you,” Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me all you who are weary and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” So the idea of us coming to God is not un-Biblical, therefore there is no need to completely re-hash all of your songs is there?
No, but you see the greatest thing about Jesus saying “Come to me,” is he wasn’t calling to me from the other end of heaven waiting for me to work and struggle all the way to him. Jesus came to mankind to say “Come to me”. And that’s outrageous when you really think about that. God put on flesh to come personally. I mean, he could have sent a postcard, he could have written in the sky, but he came personally to dwell as a human being.
Jesus has come to hold us close, to draw us to his side, to comfort us, to speak healing to our wounded souls. He comes propelled by a mission of such eternal and unconditional love.
For this current generation, singing in church has become synonymous with worship. Why is that? And how would you describe the current state of Christian music?
First, I think we need to look at ‘worship’ again. And I think ‘worship’ as our response to Jesus could be a whole lot of other things before we turn it into songs. The intimacy between a husband and wife is expressed many ways before it becomes a love song and that love song will speak of a life of love rather than a love song about love itself.
And I think we’re in error here. I’m not saying don’t sing or play. I think that’s fabulous; it gets down into the soul. Many of the lyrics we sing are great theological truths, mind you, many of them aren’t, but if we could get a grip on God becoming flesh to come to us, Jesus living a life of grace, love, forgiveness, mercy with his last dying words announcing forgiveness and then living a life that responds to his life. How wonderful could that be.
For me worship is my response to the grace of Jesus. This response is my choice to become gracious, to become loving, accepting, merciful, forgiving. This journey needs grace for every step, however, this journey will start its work of transformation in me and hopefully through my life: a worship that flows from grace becoming graciousness in us. A worship that is seen in our relationships with the world around us. A worship that cries “grace” to our leaders, the media, our friends and our enemies.
Does this mean we don’t sing anymore? Not at all. It simply means that our songs are more about worship rather than being worship. Yes, of course there is time for celebration, for adoration, for a corporate time of singing songs of love thankfulness but we will be on a wonderful journey discovering that there is so much more than we have ever realised. I think our songs would be more wonderful, but I think our worship lives would be even more wondrous and I think the way the church’s interaction with our world could be far more a work of love than us simply singing songs on a Sunday morning.
So now I’m wondering what elements have to go in to make a good Christian song. Is it difficult to write a song which has both a good “hook” and good theology?
Yes it is. I must admit, these days I write from experience first, or from meditation first. Almost every song I write is about brokenness being repaired in the most extraordinary way. So I start, I suppose, with my own sense of being overwhelmed with who God is when I see him from my own brokenness.
Then I try and work that into good poetry that has flow, a little bit of repetition but especially that each line contains a picture that is bigger than the words. Then, working that into a melody that can fly; that can float, so you can close your eyes and be caught up in just a beautiful melody.
Or you can turn the melody off, just read the words and become caught up in the words: a piece of poetry. But you put it together and I suppose I hope that people go, “Oh, my goodness, that’s me. How wonderful!” That it hits their life, not just their soul.
You have been a Christian for over 30 years. You’ve had highs and lows. Looking back over that time, what can you say you have learnt about God and what advice would you give to a young Christian about how they should prioritise their life?
What I’ve learnt about God is just the overwhelming amazement that God would do the Jesus story. He didn’t have to. He just didn’t have to. He lived in this huge creation of trillions and trillions of stars and constellations and whatever. That God would make a bee line to broken people finds me simply awestruck!
It appears to me that Jesus did not come to establish Christianity, he did not come to start a movement, he came to meet one person here, and one person there. Broken people, hopeless people, people like me, like you. Jesus did not come to reward us; there’s no reward in it. He came to give hope and he came to affirm the most unlikely people.
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why he was crucified, because he put everybody’s nose out of joint, he was a disappointment to so many people who wanted a messiah in the image of their needs and theologies. Jesus was not a preacher of righteousness, he was a bringer of hope to the unrighteous, the poor in spirit. He didn’t start a campaign to overthrow the Romans, he affirmed a Roman centurion as having more faith than all of Israel.
He allowed a prostitute to anoint him with oil with her hair… Jesus was decidedly “ungodly”. This Jesus excites me because the more I look at him, the more I meditate on his life, the more grace I see.And that’s a growing thing, it continues in my life. This is the truth, it’s not just something I’ve learnt to do to get myself seminars & concerts. It is a constant source of amazement.
So I would say to a young Christian, “Look, this is different to any other relationship you’ve got. You don’t have to prove yourself worthy. You don’t have to dress up, know the right words to say or the right actions to make. You are totally free to be just who you are. You don’t have to have faith. There is no hurry. Ahead of you is a lifetime of discovery. Jesus offers his life, he holds it out to you. It’s free. It’s a gift. God comes to bring hope to the good times and the bad times, the times when we make mistakes, some truly awful mistakes. This Jesus shows us an acceptance that gives us the hope that we can walk forward with his comfort, his peace, his grace and his love. I have found that, in my life, a life that has had its considerable challenges, that I am slowly being renewed and transformed. And that’s really quite amazing.
Geoff, thank you for what you have given in service of the kingdom over the years and for enriching the lives of so many congregations who have sung your songs over and over. We pray the Lord will bless your ministry in whatever time remains. May you make the most of it.
Thank you for the opportunity of being part of what you are doing. And if you hear of anybody who wants that message, you know where I am.
Once again, Brian Houston comes across as an unstable man, ruling with an iron fist in a movement where he demands things are done his way. If Geoff Bullock was his “best friend”, why did Brian Houston and his empire destroy him? Why is everything always about Brian Houston? How come Houston is the victim… again?
Geoff Bullock repented of his sins and sought reconciliation to those he damaged. However, Brian Houston still refuses to show any sign of the Holy Spirit. No conviction of sin. No repentance. No seeking reconciliation of those he has destroyed.
Only lies, slander and cover up in his books and on national television. Lastly, if this is the way Brian Houston treats his “best friend”, you have to wonder how he treats people he doesn’t know.
The empire without a clue recently struck the rebel with a cause. Below she writes of her experience.
Tanya Levin, the woman Hillsong is set out to destroy.
Tanya Levin reports,
Getting even more banned from the place where Everyone’s Welcome
It was about midday on the 8th of September and I was just about to go out. I heard a man call out “Hello?” and I went to the door. There’s lots of construction going on in my block so there’s lots of tradespeople around.
There stood a man who was wearing a leather jacket and he had a couple of papers in his hand. He sort of looked around and said he had a letter for me. He didn’t ask who I was or for any ID. He handed me a piece of paper with a Hillsong logo on the top. Its title was Banning Notice.
He showed me the email he had been sent with his instructions. He said he’d just come from Sydney which is about an hour and a half from my house, depending on which part of Sydney you mean.
“All the way just for me?” I asked him. “Yes,” he said. The email had said he would be paid $132. It was from Hillsong legal. Tim someone.
He told me that he had nothing to do with either party and that I probably wanted to shred the paper. Hardly. “You’ve probably had lots of dealings with this guy,” he said. “No actually”, I told him. He had called himself a court processing server, but he produced no ID either. Still, he didn’t seem to really know what was going on.
We shook hands and said our goodbyes, and I came inside and started shaking. I don’t know why. Maybe because I hadn’t slept enough the night before. Maybe because I was just about to go shopping and this was out of the blue. Maybe because the document just didn’t make sense to me at all. And I wound up crying a lot. These things can affect you in different ways.
After my arrest on 1 July, this year, which is something I’ll be talking much more about soon, there’s no way I have any interest in darkening their doorsteps any time soon. As it was I had not been near any Hillsong branches in over ten years, so there seems no need to remind me.
What is puzzling me most is the similarity to the original ‘banning notice’ from 2005, which I dug up recently from an eon ago.
Who writes these things? Why have they used the same phrase ‘significant disruption’ again? What does this even mean? All it does it reinforce a tag line I can use at a later date.
But as I’ve always wanted to know, How could you cause significant disruption at Hillsong, unless maybe you were Justin Bieber. They still can’t name the deeds of which I am accused. But they seem to really like the wording. Ten years later.
Do I honestly have to go and help with their PR machine because it’s really, really bad?
The author of this letter, George Aghajanian, has been the General Manager and Brian Houston’s right hand man for a long time now. He was also a friend of my dad’s. After he signed off on the first letter above in 2005, he called my dad up and said, “So, what do you know about a book?”
These people will send your daughter a banning letter and call you up in the same breath and pretend to be your pal. Maybe that’s why I cried. Same shonkiness. Different decade.
Don’t trust them with anything, most of all writing official letters. As a dear funny friend of mine wrote on Facebook, “For people with all that money to spend on plastic surgery, you’d think they’d spend money on real lawyers.”
Weird. There wasn’t even an envelope for the paperwork.
Some people have called it intimidation and harassment. I don’t know but it felt creepy. And I’ve got a feeling this isn’t going to make sense any time soon.
Oh and yes, you are all welcome to attend Burwood Local Court on 1 October to see me on trial for trespass. #asweforgivethose 🙂
Source: Tanya Levin, Getting even more banned from the place where Everyone’s Welcome, Tany Levin, http://www.tanyalevin.com/blog/2015/9/10/getting-even-more-banned-from-the-place-where-everyones-welcome, 10/09/2015. (Accessed 17/09/2015.)
Tanya Levin just released a new letter she received from Hillsong cult elder, George Aghajanian.
Notice the false accusation made by Hillsong in this letter where they say Levin “caused significant disruption to the meetings you attended”.
“We refer to your prior attendance at Hillsong Church and associated conferences where you have caused significant disruption to the meetings you attended.
As a result of your conduct, we require that you immediately and permanently cease to enter any of our Church properties or any property that is hired or utilized for the purposes of facilitating a Church event or activity.
– Your right as a member of the public to enter into any of our private premises is unequivocally withdrawn;
– You are not permitted to enter any of our Church properties;
– If you choose to ignore this notice and enter any of our Church properties or events, we will ask you to leave and further reserve the right to pursue an action for trespass. We may immediately notify the police of your breach of this Banning Notice;
– For the purpose of clarification, Church properties include any property associated with the religious services or administration of Hillsong Church, including but not limited to buildings located at 1-5 Solent Circuit, Baulkham Hills NSW 2153.
You may be also prosecuted should you fail to comply with this Banning Notice.
Regards
George Aghajanian
General Manager
This level of integrity displayed fom Hillsong does not surprise us. In fact, we’re expecting another defaming and unChristian article from Hillsong’s propaganda “Bible” Society rag against Tanya Levin.
[Edit 28/08/2015 12:15pm: corrected the article and removed individuals name. We sincerely apologise for publishing this information and will make an effort to make sure information given to us will be scrutinized more thoroughly.]
Jordan Hall rightly calls out the bullying, the lies and disgusting slander Carl Lentz and Brian Houston pulled on Christianity in this below episode of Pulpit&Pen.
Hall played the audio of Brian Houston the previous year, exposing the fact that Houston lied in his recent media statement in regards to the Broadway Couple’s sexual status and Hillsong leadership status. Hall then reads out the Religious News Service story that only acted as a propaganda piece to further Hillsong and allow Carl Lentz to launch a disgraceful, slanderous and malicious attack on Christian churches who do not align themselves to the Hillsong way of doing church (40:00).
Carl Lentz maliciously slandering Christian churches like his leader.
Jordan Hall points out how Carl Lentz falsely accuses the Christian church for killing homosexuals. And how Carl Lentz then uses this disgraceful attack to imply that these churches are not churches at all.
In today’s episode of Pulpit & Pen, JD answers a few sincere questions and then plays audio from Albert Mohler discussing Openly Secular’s role in a football star “coming out of the closet” as an atheist – which his colleague, SEBTS President Danny Akin endorsed. Awkward. Then, JD discusses Hillsong’s “smoking gun” and attempts to sanitize Hillsong’s Downgrade.
As always, you can listen above or download and listen from SermonAudio or iTunes by clicking the links below.
“For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men.” 1Corinthians 3:19-21a
Not only did we catch Brian Houston lying again in his media statement,
Not Your Granddad’s Church: Hillsong Church Mixes Sermons With Rock Concerts
Every Sunday, thousands of people gather in New York City to get in line for a church service that is full of hand-raising, heart-thumping, hipster-style Christianity.
That is Hillsong Church. Their followers, which include celebrities like Justin Bieber and Kevin Durant, are mostly 20-somethings, many of whom grew up in church, but are drawn to Hillsong’s style and substance. In this “come as you are” congregation, tattoos and leather jackets are welcome for a 90-minute experience that’s part rock concert and part gospel.
The pastor leading Hillsong New York is 36-year-old Carl Lentz, who comes with Brad Pitt looks and Billy Graham theology, and has enough tattoos to make a rapper blush. He is even the New York Knicks’ official chaplain on the road.
“We aren’t trying to have this cool trendy packed church,” Lentz said. “The story is not the clothes people wear. It’s the lives they lead.”
In short, this is not your granddaddy’s church.
Hillsong New York was started four years ago and is now the church’s United States flagship. They host close to 8,000 people over six Sunday services in a rented New York City theater, but in years past, Hillsong has met in nightclubs.
With very few paid staff, the church relys on an army of 20-something-aged volunteers. Some members said Hillsong helped them overcome addiction or reconnect with their faith. Others said the weekday community service work and small group meetings provided both a connection and purpose.
“This generation has seen multiple wars, seen things no one expected,” Lentz said. “It seems like a pretty tumultuous time in culture, and I think the response to that has been the really shallow world of social media. A real smoke and mirrors way of living … so you come into church and there is a realness to it.”
Hillsong Church was started in Sydney, Australia, 30 years ago by Pastor Brian Houston, and has grown into a worldwide Christian phenomenon, with satellite outposts across the globe from London and Paris to Kiev and Cape Town.
“If you walked into all of them you would see a similar demographic of people,” Houston said. “You could close your eyes and think I am in any one of our Hillsong churches anywhere in the world.”
For many in their flock, the church’s Christian rock music group, Hillsong United, is a huge draw to come to services.
“Definitely the initial draw for many, many people,” Houston said. “We started singing and writing songs in our church and we were surprised when they started singing them in other churches in Australia and then suddenly for those songs to be sung all around the world like they are now… it’s something that God has given us as an arrow to a bigger message.”
Hillsong United is one of the hottest bands on Earth. With hits like “Oceans,” and “Break Free” Hillsong United has sold over 16 million albums worldwide, playing to packed venues across the globe and is now nominated for its first American Music Award this year.
Joel Houston, the son of Pastor Brian Houston, is co-lead pastor in New York but also guides Hillsong United.
“Music has the incredible ability to break down walls and to reach people’s hearts. It was given to us by God for the very purpose of worship,” he said.
But when asked how vital the money is that the music brings into the church, which is a non-profit, Brian Houston didn’t give a straight answer.
“To be honest I really genuinely can’t answer the exact amount [of annual revenue],” he said. “Of course we are a non-profit so all of the finances come into the non-profit and are used for the ministry.
Like many mega churches, Hillsong is shy about discussing their finances and how much money they bring in. At the service “Nightline” attended in New York, they asked us not to film the offertory.
“The fact that these lights are on, these chairs are here, it’s because single mom’s young couples, young people, single people, older couples, believe in the cause,” Lentz said. “So the collective sacrifice of many is what you see in our church.”
And also like many mega-churches, Hillsong has not escaped scandal. Fifteen years ago, Brian Houston discovered that his father, who was also a pastor, was being accused of sexually assaulting a child.
“We received a complaint that my father had abused children, males, and you can imagine that was the hardest day of my life to find out that my hero was a pedaphile,” Houston said.
As a leader for his denomination, Houston said he removed his father from the ministry immediately. He said he later came under attack for not alerting the police. Houston’s father died in 2004.
Brian Houston recently testified before an Australian commission investigating institutional sexual assault to try to prevent it from happening.
“It brings all of that rawness back to the surface pretty quick,” he said. “Just accepting that my father has devastated and destroyed the lives of children is just a really hard thing to accept.”
While Hillsong seems like a “hip and modern” church, some of its beliefs are quite Christian conservative. One area critics, both liberal and conservative, have seized upon is the church’s stance on social issues like homosexuality.
“We see it as a conversation,” Brian Houston said. “It’s quite clear in the New Testament the apostle Paul describes homosexuality as a sin and I can’t un-write the bible… but on the other hand we are not a church that can just make big blanket sweeping statements that dismiss people.”
When asked what the pastor would say if a gay couple walked into Hillsong, Houston said, “the short answer is I think all of us need to be changing. So that’s what serving Jesus does.”
“We would never be the kind of church who when people joined the choir asked them are you heterosexual? Are you homosexual? We will never be that kind of church,” he added. “I think it was Billy Graham who said it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict. It’s God’s job to judge and it’s our job to love.”
Another part of Hillsong’s job, as Pastor Brian sees it, is growth. His son Ben Houston just opened Hillsong Los Angeles, and already long lines are forming for Sunday services they hold in a rent theater on Sunday.
“You don’t have to sell a good party,” Lentz said.
For decades we have watched Hillsong act underhanded to Christians who question their practices and towards media who do their best to accurately report on the Hillsong movement. We are very concerned seeing similar games played by Hillsong behind the scenes to respected ministers and leaders.
Dr. James White is a respected Christian man in the field of discernment and apologetics. He sometimes weighs in on important church issues and recently decided to tackle the controversy surrounding Hillsong’s vague stance on homosexuality. We wish to highlight what James White recently said on his show titled ‘Seer Stones, Hillsong Church, and KJVOnly Deceitfulness’:
“So when someone says, “Jesus never addressed this issue,” they’re just ignorant. They just don’t know what they are talking about. And Carl says, “I know that. I agree. And it was a combination of my not speaking clearly enough and them not following up with what I said afterward where I said those things.”
So, you know. Okay I hear you. Got it. Alright.
I tried to be- if I’m going to criticise, I want to try to be fair, and I want to try to be accurate. And the fact is, there are sources amongst conservative Christians that are trusted that shouldn’t be. We re-post stuff that isn’t always overally accurate. And my concern was exactly that. My concern was exactly that. Because, these are important issues. And when we are not- when we don’t do our homework and we just go with the twelve-gate shotgun blast from the start, we may think we are doing the Elijah thing. But in reality we are only hurting ourselves. Because then people can just focus on that and not focus upon what the real issue is.”
One has to wonder what Carl Lentz disclosed in that conversation with James White.
This is because we have the impression that Dr. James White had trouble finding the source of this quote from Carl Lentz and we find it odd that Carl Lentz didn’t give him the audio/source or apologise for his sloppy witness on the CNN program.
You can find this uploaded media presentation with the relevant quote (9:18-10:08) in the Poppy Harlow interview, on the ‘Pastor Carl Lentz’ YouTube channel.
Below the video, you can read:
Carl Lentz 2015 sermons | Carl Lentz sermons.
Directed by Carl Lentz
Be Blessed As You Grow In Grace And Knowledge and share the videos with your friends so that they maybe blessed too.
Source: Pastor Carl Lentz, Carl Lentz | Tattooed Megapastor Carl Lentz The Next Joel Osteen Mar 12,2015, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOKqMonUc8, Uploaded 10/03/2015. (Accessed 10/08/2015.)
So why didn’t Carl Lentz “bless” James White?
Just in case it may be pulled by Hillsong, here is another screen grab of this video from the ‘Pastor Carl Lentz’ channel (titled ‘Carl Lentz | Tattooed Megapastor Carl Lentz The Next Joel Osteen Mar 12,2015‘):
If Carl is protesting to James White “that it was a combination of [him] not speaking clearly enough and them not following up with what [he] said afterward where [he] said those things,” then why has he supposedly uploaded this video on his own YouTube channel?
[09:18-09:20] Announcer: “Are gay men and women welcome in the church?”
[09:21-09:24] Carl Lentz: “Absolutely. We have a lot of gay men and women in the church and I pray we always do.”
[09:25-09:30] Laura Lentz: “It’s not our place to tell anyone how they should live. That’s there journey.”
[09:31-9:37] Announcer: “Every article I’ve read about you guys says, “he declined to discuss gay marriage.’”
[9:37-10:08] Carl Lentz: “Yeah, it’s a misquote because I do discuss it just not the way people want me to. When it comes to homosexuality, I refuse to let another human being or a media moment dictate how we approach it. Jesus was in the thick of an area where homosexuality, just like it is today, was wildly prevalent. And I’m still waiting for someone to show me the quote where Jesus addressed it on the record in front of people. You won’t find it because he never did.”
In Australia, Hillsong has been saying for decades that the media are great (only when they look good). However, whenever the Australian media report Hillsong peddling Word of Faith or prosperity heresy; reported on scandals; report on leadership abusing or ripping off it’s members financially, etc, Hillsong are quick to demonise, distort, defame and damn the media organisation.
When you watch the CNN media report, it is not tearing into Hillsong. This would make sense as to why Carl Lentz would record this and upload it.
Now that he is being rightly condemned as being “ignorant” or “deceitful” by using that argument in the report, both Lentz and Houston are now defaulting to their typical defamation statements against the media, that being that they were taken out of context or misrepresented.
Thus Carl Lentz’ dialogue with White appears to be disingenuous in regards to the media misrepresenting him. [edit 11/08/2015] If he thought they misrepresented him to begin with, why did he [supposedly] upload that video to his YouTube account? [/edit]
Dr. James White, if you are reading our site, please understand that we respect your work and are perturbed that Carl Lentz was not upfront and honest with you about his views regarding homosexuality. We believe that if you are given well documented evidence against Carl Lentz, you will confront him for his rejection of God’s Word.
[Edit: Carl Lentz has responded to this which we will be addressing:
Carl LentzAugust 11, 2015 at 3:49 am
Hi! I actually don’t have a YouTube channel, so that’s unfortunate here in regards to your attempt to discredit me. Hard for me to upload videos on a site I don’t actually have. Make sure you do just a little bit of homework before you build your attack, might make it a little more believable. James white is a respectable man, who actually called to check facts. What’s funny is he actually talks about people like you the podcast you posted! Hilarious. In your eagneress to tear down, don’t rush the fact checking part. God bless you!
While Hillsong are protesting too much to the world that they are a “church” and a “global movement,” media organisations are starting to call Hillsong for what it is: a New Age cult.
The fact is this: Hillsong is a dangerous New Age cult. And although the world would have difficulty understanding the difference between a church and a cult, they are starting to see that Hillsong is New Age. By doing this, media are doing Christianity a favor by isolating a counterfeit christian movement that is badly infecting Christianity.
It doesn’t take much to see other religions being integrated within the Hillsong movement. For instance.
their Word of Faith heresy is straight from the New Age and metaphysical cult movemetns (see Rondha Byrne author of The Secret);
their secret Prosperity heresy and rites stem not from Christianity but from the New Age movement, witchcraft and ancient pagan idolatry (around Abraham’s day);
their leadership and teaching model reflect gurus from Hindu sects and metaphysical cults (between the 19th and 20th century);
their god they preach is more related to the Hindu deity who is unlimited and cannot be limited; compared to the Christian God who is limited; (i.e. God cannot lie, God cannot murder, etc).
their utopian and totalitarian ideology of church growth and community reflects the philosophies of the volk and the fuhrerprinzip prior to Nazi Germany (visionary leadership);
their worship reflect the ideas of ancient Greece and their pagan festivals, believing the experiences they create are glimpses into the divine (a form of pagan mysticism/spiritism/gnosticism which Jesus clearly spoke against).
their teaching on the Holy Spirit (what they call the anointing) is more akin to the ‘Third Eye’ sense of the New Age movement, a teaching that bypasses the mind and calls thing that are not physical into being or seeing into the future.
their teaching on purpose and destiny reflects New Age and Buddhist thought on self-actualisation/enlightenment philosophies.
their general teachings reflecting not Christianity but the world’s latest ideas repackaged, twisting the Christian bible to sell the idea where Hillsong needs to go (see their Vision Sunday broadcasts).
While Christians worship Jesus, many people who claim to be Christian today worship what is coined as a ‘moralistic, therapeutic deity’. This ever-changing deity is whatever Hillsong wants this god to be at any given time. Slapping the word ‘Jesus’ on it and claiming to the world they are Christian does not make them Christian, nor a church. It is no wonder why people in their own movement cannot explain what Christianity is nor tell you what the gospel is.
It is not uncommon for people to encounter Hillsong members that cannot present their beliefs coherently. And as you will read below in one of these articles, they’re response to criticism is that you’re a hater, a poor attempt in contending for the Christian faith, “once and for all delivered to the saints.”
This article is a collection of media stories that label Hillsong as such:
The Daily Mail reports (images and captions removed),
Hillsong’s hottest couple: The tattooed pastor and his VERY glamorous wife who have become Justin Bieber’s spiritual guides – and the dark family secret plaguing the new-age Sydney church
Brazilian model Esther Lima is the wife of Hillsong church’s global director
Her husband Joel Houston is in charge of the Hillsong church’s expansion
Born in Australia, Joel is the son of the church’s founder Brian Houston
The guitar playing Aussie lives a glamorous life in New York with his wife
The couple have been seen with celebrity friends, including Justin Bieber
Hillsong church blends modern marketing with ancient religious customs
They are a glamour couple at the top of a global empire who rub shoulders with celebrities like Justin Bieber, enjoy the New York high life and have tens of thousands of followers on social media.
They are also the face of the Hillsong Church, a Christian movement that has grown in the space of fewer than 20 years from humble beginnings in the suburbs of Sydney to a multimillion dollar global phenomenon whose services attract rock concert-sized crowds every week.
Esther Lima Houston is an exotic Brazilian model who loves designer labels and sharing photos of herself wearing and holding them with her thousands of social media followers.
She’s married to Joel Houston, Hillsong Australia’s guitar-playing global creative director who is in charge of running the international expansion of the church, which was founded by his father Brian Houston and is now a global operation with millions of followers.
Hillsong is in the spotlight this week as it holds its annual conference in Sydney with celebrity guests like pop idol Justin Bieber, who is reportedly a friend of Joel and Esther Houston.
Ms Houston is a long-legged beauty who posts dozens of photographs on her social media pages of herself draped in Hermes, Chanel and her other favourite designer label clothes.
In other photos she carries the kind of coveted brand handbags that can only be bought by buying onto a waiting list, and sports what appears to be a yellow diamond the size of a quail’s egg on her ring finger
Hillsong is a charismatic Pentecost ‘megachurch’ founded in 1982 that now has eight Australian churches and has set up in London, New York, Los Angeles, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Argentina, Brazil. South Africa, Russia and France each have two Hillsong churches.
Hillsong has high profile supporters in Australia. They include several Parramatta Eels players, and former NRL turned American gridiron player Jarryd Hayne.
Esther Houston and baby Zion says on her blog that ‘giving is more satisfying than receiving’
Federal Social Services Minister Scott Morrison is a onetime parishioner, and former prime minister John Howard opened the church’s new centre in the Hills district in 2002.
Ms Houston’s father-in-law, who also favours designer clothes, such as Valentino suits, and flies around the world first class, is credited with the brilliant commercialisation of born-again Christianity.
Esther Houston’s designer image is a classy asset to the church where her mother-in-law Bobbie Houston encourages young female followers to be glamorous and have perfect hair and teeth.
As the former worship manager and the musical genius behind Hillsong’s lucrative Christian song business, Geoff Bullock told The Australian, ‘I came to think that the patron saint of Hillsong was Gianni Versace’
Mr Bullock, who is now estranged from the church said ‘Hillsong’s … got this feeling that God smiles a bit more when we’re singing our songs, and we’ve got good hairdressers, dentists, cosmetic surgeons.’
But a child sexual assault scandal hangs over the church’s first family.
Joel Houston’s grandfather, Frank Houston, was an Assemblies of God pastor who co-founded Hillsong. He continued to preach and deliver televised sermons despite being suspended by his own church for molesting a seven-year-old boy.
A complaint about Frank Houston, who died while living in a church-owned home in 2004, was made in 1998, when Brian Houston was the national president of the Assemblies of God, now known as Australian Christian Churches.
Last October, Brian Houston was called before the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which heard further claims that Frank Houston molested six young boys in New Zealand in the 1960s.
While Brian Houston told of how he cried the day he found out his father was a paedophile, he said ‘at no stage did I attempt to hide or cover up the allegations against my father’.
In the same month, The Saturday Paper reported, Hillsong Australia’s latest concert DVD sold out Madison Square Garden in New York City and the church band of Hillsong United NYC, led by Joel Houston, won five Dove Awards, the American gospel music equivalent of a Grammy.
Warner Bros made a feature film about the band, which Joel Houston promotes on his website as having sold more than 16 million albums.
He says on the site that his mission is to ‘travel the globe with Hillsong United who desire to see a generation across the earth awakened to real love, rise up with hearts as one and find value in the broken, hurting and lost’.
He says the proceeds from the albums are used for ‘feeding and educating children in the slums of India, holistic community development in Africa, rescuing and rehabilitating victims of human trafficking and sponsoring children living in poverty around the world’.
Joel and his wife, Esther have a young son named Zion – a Biblical name meaning ‘promised land’ – and live in a Manhattan apartment.
Esther Lima has enjoyed a mid-range modelling career, although nowhere nearly as successful as her fellow Brazilian and namesake, the Victoria’s Secret model, Adriana Lima.
The couple married in 2012, when Joel was more of a bare-footed guitar playing surfie from Australia who had launched the youth worship brand at Hillsong and had been working as co-pastor at Hillsong NYC since 2010.
On her Facebook, Instagram and lifestyle blog ‘eswhooisstunning’, Esther Houston describes herself as ‘stunning’.
On her page Miss Whoo.com, which she says is ‘an unfiltered lifestyle platform for the modern woman’ is a statement about her business acumen.
‘Esther Houston is a classic woman with a modern approach,’ the blog says, ‘She is an entrepreneur and business owner with an incredible creative eye, business mind and impressive network.’
The young couple is friends with a list of celebrities and high profile evangelists. The list includes former Disney star turned stage performer, Vanessa Hudgens, ‘Pretty Little Liars’ actress, Ashley Benson and the preacher who married Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Pastor Rich Wilkinson Jnr.
TMZ reported that Justin Bieber was spotted this month with Joel Houston leaving the Hyde nightclub in Hollywood together.
Joel and co-pastor Carl Lentz, who baptised Bieber at Hillsong NYC last December, are reportedly spiritual advisers to a number of celebrities.
Joel and Esther and baby Zion jet around the world from New York to Los Angeles and Sydney. Ms Houston’s says on her blog that ‘giving is more satisfying than receiving’.
She says ‘I am no feminist, I don’t believe that men and women should be equal. Simply because we aren’t. Men and women are different, physically and mentally, so that we can fulfill different roles and carry different responsibilities in life’
Ms Houston also says ‘I’m not willing to forever sacrifice passions, work and career just to fit into the mold of what the “perfect woman” should be. I’m ambitious. I’m passionate. I want to grow in all areas of my life.
But she also talks on her Facebook page about people knocking her on Instagram or others who are ‘haters’.
In one Facebook post she says, ‘While people are busy judging on Instagram I’m busy living life and having a great time with friends. YOLO.’
In another she writes ‘Good day haters’ to which a friend responds, ‘When you’re in the spotlight unfortunately that’s what happens.You attract judgment. The saddest part of all is the haters are usually from people who believe they’re doing the hating for God.’
Ms Houston also posts messages which appear to be about religious faith, along with photographs of her with her parents-in-law Bobbie and Brian Houston.
It is unclear whether she is a Catholic who converted to the Hillsong born-again style of Christianity, but affectionate posts from friends about her son Zion ‘inheriting the Hillsong empire’ suggest there will be a fourth generation of Houston men as church pastors.
The empire Joel is due to inherit, is based on the millions of dollars gathered from the church’s system of ‘tithing’ its congregation, the ancient custom of taxing worshippers a fee of ten per cent of their income.
Under every seat in its churches it places an envelope and credit card form for believers to donate their pre-tax 10 per cent salary, which Hillsong then banks as tax free money under its charity status as a religion.
Esther Lima Houston is an exotic Brazilian model who loves designer labels and sharing photos of herself wearing and holding them with her thousands of social media followers.
She’s married to Joel Houston, Hillsong Australia’s guitar-playing global creative director who is in charge of running the international expansion of the church, which was founded by his father Brian Houston and is now a global operation with millions of followers.
Hillsong is in the spotlight this week as it holds its annual conference in Sydney with celebrity guests like pop idol Justin Bieber, who is reportedly a friend of Joel and Esther Houston.
Ms Houston also says ‘I’m not willing to forever sacrifice passions, work and career just to fit into the mold of what the “perfect woman” should be. I’m ambitious. I’m passionate. I want to grow in all areas of my life.
But she also talks on her Facebook page about people knocking her on Instagram or others who are ‘haters’.
In one Facebook post she says, ‘While people are busy judging on Instagram I’m busy living life and having a great time with friends. YOLO.’
In another she writes ‘Good day haters’ to which a friend responds, ‘When you’re in the spotlight unfortunately that’s what happens.You attract judgment. The saddest part of all is the haters are usually from people who believe they’re doing the hating for God.’
Ms Houston also posts messages which appear to be about religious faith, along with photographs of her with her parents-in-law Bobbie and Brian Houston.
It is unclear whether she is a Catholic who converted to the Hillsong born-again style of Christianity, but affectionate posts from friends about her son Zion ‘inheriting the Hillsong empire’ suggest there will be a fourth generation of Houston men as church pastors.
The empire Joel is due to inherit, is based on the millions of dollars gathered from the church’s system of ‘tithing’ its congregation, the ancient custom of taxing worshippers a fee of ten per cent of their income.
Under every seat in its churches it places an envelope and credit card form for believers to donate their pre-tax 10 per cent salary, which Hillsong then banks as tax free money under its charity status as a religion.
Source: By Candice Sutton & Penelope Kilby, Hillsong’s hottest couple: The tattooed pastor and his VERY glamorous wife who have become Justin Bieber’s spiritual guides – and the dark family secret plaguing the new-age Sydney church, Daily Mail / Australia, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3143901/Hillsong-s-hottest-couple-tattooed-Australian-pastor-glamorous-wife-Justin-Bieber-s-spiritual-guides-dark-family-secret-plaguing-new-age-church.html, Published 01/07/2015, Updated 02/07/2015. (Accessed 15/07/2015.)
TMZ reports,
Justin Bieber I Play Second Banana to My Pastor!!!
Justin Bieber awesomely took second seat to the pastor of his new-age church … and it’s so fun.
The Biebs and Pastor Joel Houston were leaving Hyde nightclub in Hollywood Friday night when our photog tried jawboning with Justin. But when J.B. wanted the pastor of Hillsong Church to get some face time, our photog obliged and the convo turned to surfing.
Houston — who also fronts the band Hillsong United — along with his co-pastor, Carl Lentz, are the spiritual advisers to lots of celebs. Lentz Baptized Biebs back in December.
Source: By TMZ Staff, Justin Bieber I Play Second Banana to My Pastor!!!, TMZ, http://www.tmz.com/2015/06/27/justin-bieber-pastor-joel-houston-hillsong-church-carl-lentz-video?adid=TMZ_Search_Results, Published 27/06/2015. (Accessed 15/07/2015.)
ShowBiz411 reports,
Justin Bieber Says He’s Even Deeper in with Cult-Like Australian Church
Justin Bieber just spent 5 days in Australia with Hillsong church. He took Stephen Baldwin’s daughter Hailey with him, and sang the church’s praises. Bieber is short several cards of a full deck and not exactly a member of Mensa. Maybe he’ll join this cult in the making and be their Tom Cruise or John Travolta. It just goes on and on.
I wrote about all this last fall. Scooter Braun should pay attention. These people want Bieb’s money.
From November 11, 2014
You cannot make this up. Justin Bieber, not exactly the brightest bulb in any lamp, is a follower of a sketchy Virginia man who calls himself a pastor and runs a church every Sunday at the Manhattan Center on West 34th St. Carl Lentz portrays himself as the Punk Pastor, and says he’s Pentacostal. His latest iteration is called Hillsong NYC church. But what his American, Canadian followers– and Bieber– may not know is Hillsong NYC is a branch of Hillsong Australia. That organization is considered by many in that country to be a cult.
Hillsong’s founder, Frank Houston, had to resign in 2000 after confessing to having molesting a 7 year old boy in 1969. He was never prosecuted, and the case haunts Hillsong and the Houstons, and now Lentz to this day. Even though Frank Houston is now dead. the story isn’t over. A recent hearing in Australia revealed that Frank’s son Brian, who now runs Hillsong. trivialized the incident and let his father continue to preach as part of their church, albeit surreptitiously. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11339319 He is also accused of trying to bribe the victim.
Bieber’s pastor, Carl Lentz, only became involved with Hillsong four years ago. In the video above, he explains how he hooked up with the Houstons– that’s Frank Houston’s grandson Joel with Lentz in the video, looking like Jay from “Silent Bob and Jay.” These two are supposed to be religious leaders; they are Justin Bieber’s spiritual guides. Joel has been running Hillsong NYC with Lentz since 2010.
Before he hooked up with the Houstons, Lentz operated Cal Lentz Ministries out of Washington state. The IRS recently revoked the 501 c 3 status of that outfit after Carl Lentz Ministries failed to file tax returns for three years. Lentz runs Hillsong in New York as a straight ahead business with no tax free standing. He’s registered Hillsong out of his father’s law office in Virginia, but hasn’t filed any paperwork. There is no transparency at all.
The connection between Lentz and the Houstons, and the history of Houston’s father, finally came to a boiling point in October in New York at a Madison Square Garden conference of Hillsong followers. Not only was Frank Houston’s molestation case examined, but also multiple scandals about finances at Hillsong and the cult’s attitude toward homosexuality. Brian Houston’s sidestepping has caused a lot of controversy among the followers.
I spoke to Carl Lentz’s father, Stephen Lentz, an attorney in Virginia Beach. He couldn’t have been nicer. Mr. Lentz explained that churches don’t have to file Form 990s, so nothing is amiss. He said he knew nothing about Hillsong Australia, and very graciously invited me to the Manhattan Center. Entrance to the services, which run all day long every Sunday, he says, is free. You donate what you want. But the Manhattan Center isn’t free. They charge $17,000 a day for the Grand Ballroom where the Hillsong services take place. Someone is paying for that, most likely Hillsong Australia.
Hillsong Church Watch 