LOVE, LEAD, LIE

We noted in our previous article Brian Houston retweeting Hillsong’s tweet of their ‘Hillsong Statement’ about the A Current Affairs (ACA) report. This is what the Hillsong Tweet read:

Statement by Hillsong Church on A Current Affair story: http://hil.so/qzpw
Source: Hillsong Church, https://twitter.com/hillsong/status/590754683674853376, 10:51 PM – 21 Apr 2015. (Accessed 24/04/2015.)

We have already reviewed this “Official Statement” from Hillsong:

Which “tabloid trash” do you believe?
Brian Houston in damage control… again… and again…and again.

What occurred after Hillsong issued that statement was breathtaking.

THE REPORTER AND THE RORTER

One of the issues that the A Current Affairs report highlighted was the fact that Hillsong pressures people to give money.

Hillsong have continually lied to the general public about this issue and this is a lie that we at Church Watch have exposed repeatedly.

We would like to remind our readers that Brian Houston himself pressures his members to give money so they can be right before God and be in the will of God. (This false teaching absolutely perverts the foundational teachings of Christianity and is in fact a damnable heresy.) As you can see, Houston is scamming people financially into believing that they can only prosper in God if they give money to God/Hillsong.

[Click to download soundbite]

On the 22nd of April, Tracy Grimshaw from A Current Affair tweeted ,

@FArimado we ask Hillsong constantly to talk to us about how the donations are spent. They will not. “If only” they would..
Source: Tracy Grimshaw, Twitter, https://twitter.com/tracygrimshaw/status/590997174332227584, 2:54 PM – 22 Apr 2015. (Accessed 25/04/2015.)

It was this phrase from Brian Houston that caught our attention:

“It’s not as though ACA is known for its credibility”.

Who is lying?  Who’s credibility is at stake here? Sadly, many people are tweeting that this is not a good look for a church. And as @Dan_Nolan9 observed, “Not a good look for a church – creating falsehoods in a statement accusing ACA of falsehoods”.

This because ACA responded to Hillsong’s original tweet alerting people to the Hillsong Statement. The statement claimed “the program made no attempt to contact us to get the facts – or even hear our perspective – before airing this piece of fiction”.

Ben McCormack from ACA tweeted a few times to people who accused ACA of not contacting Hillsong.

@hillsong this statement by Hillsong is false. ACA contacted the church by phone and email and we got no response.
Source: Ben McCormack, Twitter, https://twitter.com/BenMcCormack9/status/591090162039279616/photo/1, 9:04 PM – 22 Apr 2015. (Accessed 25/04/2015.)

This tweet included the following evidence to prove that Hillsong’s statement was a farce:

He also tweeted later with the same attachments,

@Markedw @tracygrimshaw @hillsong we contacted them on 4 separate occasions. Don’t fall for more Hillsong dishonesty.
Source: Ben McCormack, Twitter, https://twitter.com/BenMcCormack9/status/591105999525650432, 10:07 PM – 22 Apr 2015. (Accessed 25/04/2015.)

After the news team publicly exposed Hillsong for not being honest in their official Hillsong Statement, Brian Houston contacted Ben McCormack. Do you think Brian Houston apologised for his false allegation?

This exchange took place on the 23rd of April, 2015:

Brian Houston:
@benmccormack9 Hey.. How about coming to have a coffee with me one day? You got the guts to do that? Just you and me.

Ben McCormack:
@BrianCHouston love to meet. Why not do an interview on camera & answer some questions too? You got the guts to do that?

Brian Houston:
@BenMcCormack9 The Q’s are not the issue. It’s your skewered editing & underhanded tactics that are the problem. So no..!

Ben McCormack:
@BrianCHouston now there’s a surprise.

Ben McCormack:
@BrianCHouston our offer of an interview remains open..

Brian Houston:
@BenMcCormack9 well my offer of a coffee with no hidden recording or cameras stands. It’s not as though ACA is known for its credibility!!

Ben McCormack:
@BrianCHouston we live to give Brian.. Just like your followers.

You’d think that excellent leadership could check all their emails or even check with ACA, before publicly accusing ACA of lying. (Especially when the program was being advertised in advance.) Once again, we are seeing another unsound, unwise and poor leadership example in Hillsong Church.

So why should Bobbie and Brian Houston set themselves up as leadership mentors for other churches to follow?