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Brian Houston’s Gospel

04 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by in Brian Houston's Beliefs

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God says through the writings of the Apostle Paul (emphasis ours),

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel [good news]— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” – Apostle Paul, Galatians 1:6-9.

It is important to stress that Paul would consider himself “accursed” (eternally damned), if he preached a different gospel. That is, he did not see himself exempt from his own judgment. Interestingly enough, Paul claimed that his gospel was given to him through “revelation of Jesus Christ”. So this should give us a good idea what the gospel should be about: Jesus Christ.

Paul often writes how he is “eager to preach the gospel” to the churches (Rom 1:15) and claims that he is “not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (vs 16). Paul would “come proclaiming… the testimony of God…” not with lofty speech but would preach the simple message of “Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:1-2). This message would be in relation to how our sins are forgiven and are made right with God through Jesus when we repent from our sins.

This is one example of Paul’s gospel defined in a nutshell:

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.

With this in mind, do you think Brian Houston comes even close to preaching the biblical gospel? While Brian Houston’s gospel might change lives, does it save lives? Does his gospel focus or glorify Jesus and his work on the cross, His resurrection and ascension? Or does Houston’s gospel focus on wealth and the individual?

It is typical for Word of Faith teachers to react against red herrings within Christianity. A common one is the idea that the ‘religious church’ keeps you back from your potential, “success and prosperity”. Similarly, Brian Houston reacts against these false uderstandings, jumps to an extremely false theology. Thus  we find that his gospel is founded on his personal reaction rather than the Word of God. Brian Houston tells us what his gospel is below:

“To glorify mediocrity is a tragedy. The sad fact is that far too many people make choices which flatly reject success and prosperity.

Religion has often been guilty of this, and yet the gospel is GOOD NEWS. The good news is ABUNDANT LIFE. Abundance means plentiful.

  • Adam was told to be fruitful and multiply.
  • Joshua was challenged to make his way prosperous and have good success.
  • Solomon’s writings are filled with promised prosperity as the fruit of wisdom.
  • Jeremiah believed it and prophesied “a future and a hope”.
  • Jesus spoke about one hundredfold return, telling many stories and parables that encouraged us to multiply our talents.
  • The apostle Paul reminded us that though Jesus was rich he took poverty upon Himself. Why? So that YOU through His poverty might be rich.
  • The apostle John wished prosperity and good health on his friend.

Never excuse mediocrity by rejecting success. It is withing our “created fibre” to succeed.” – Brian Houston, Get A Life (Revised Business Edition), 1999, pg 93.

In light of Brian Houston’s gospel, Pastor Gervase Nicholas Charmley kindly offered his view on Brian Houston’s gospel.

“I would say that this so-called ‘Gospel’ is no gospel at all. It is merely coating the rapacious and selfish pursuit of gain that has blighted Western society for the last century and then some with a veneer of religion. Quite simply it is the mantra “greed is good, greed works” dressed up in Christian-sounding words with a generous dose of misused Bible verses, usually from the KJV to disguise what the text is actually saying. Paul, on the other hand, speaks of contentment. To the poor this teaching is deadly – it either legitimises get-rich-quick schemes and a wealth at any price mentality, or, when people fail to get rich, it sinks them into deep depression.

God may not want you rich – you may not be able to handle it!” – Gervase Nicholas Charmley, 04/03/2013.

Brian Houston Is A Pastor How?

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by in Books

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What you are about to read from Brian Houston is not theological, historical or logical. This is what it means when Peter said, “In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up”, (2 Peter 2:3). Below is an excerpt from Houston’s book, ‘You Need More Money’.

“WHAT IS THE TITHE?

Tithing was a principle that was established in the book of Genesis. We’ll probably need to go into a bit of Bible history here, but literally a tithe means “one tenth”.

The principle of first fruits

Going back to the book of Genesis, you discover the principle of first fruits. It was established in the Garden when one of the first principles given to mankind was that God kept something for Himself. Initially it was a tree in the middle of the Garden. Everything else was free for Adam and Eve to enjoy.

While Adam and Eve disregarded God’s portion and subsequently reaped the consequences, their sons Cain and Abel, made offerings to the Lord from their work.

“And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering.” (Genesis 4:3-4)

One brother gave the first of his increase, while the other waited to the end of  his harvest and gave of his left-overs. God honoured the offering that put Him first place, not the after thought. The eternal principle of first-fruits was established here.” – Brian Houston, You Need More Money, Smithfield, NSW: Alken Press, 1999, pg. 68-69.

HOUSTON EXPOSED

It only took Satan to reinterpret what the tree meant to Eve so she could eat of it. It only took Brian Houston to reinterpret what the tree meant so people could eat his false Christianity.

God said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Gen 2:16-17). It is at the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that Satan made Eve doubt God’s Word, “Did God really say?” (Gen 3:1), and eat the fruit.

It is clear that Brian Houston is lying to the reader. No where does it say in the bible that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is the tithe or “God’s portion”. He simply made it up. The Apostle Paul correctly writes about the Genesis account and writes against people like Brian Houston (emphasis ours):

“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. But I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” 2 Corinthians 11:2-5

Brian Houston than dared to quote Genesis 4:3-5, in an attempt to teach something that contradicts scripture. In fact, Brian Houston once again lied about what the text says. The text Genesis 4:3-5 does not teach us that, “The eternal principle of first-fruits was established here”. Instead Hebrews teaches us something that opposes Brian Houstons false teaching. (Emphasis ours.)

“By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.” Hebrews 11:4

It wasn’t by the “eternal principle of first fruits” that Abel offered a better sacrifice to God. That would make Abel a pantheist. Abel didn’t bow to the eternal principles of nature to see God respect his offering. This wouldn’t be faith. This would be sin. Houston is teaching believers a pagan belief.

God did not honour “the offering that put Him first place.” If it did, that would be righteousness by works (a false gospel). Instead the scriptures say against Houston, “By faith [Abel] was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings.” This is righteousness by faith and not by works, (Ephesians 2:8-9)

To further demonstrate the logical bankruptcy of Houston, one has to consider what he meant here:

“The eternal principle of first-fruits was established here.”

What does this mean? If an eternal principle was “established here” in an historical moment (recorded in Genesis 4:3-4), then this principle is DEFINITELY not eternal. It is temporal. We must remember that Brian Houston is linking the “eternal principle of first-fruits” with the tithe “in the book of Genesis”. Therefore Houston simply defeated his own argument that the tithe/firstfruit principle is eternal or played a significant role in the early Genesis narrative. Not only that, the tithe no longer meant his definition of “one tenth”. There weren’t only ten trees in the Garden of Eden. The bible does not inform us how many animals Abel has. Houston simply redefined his meaning along the way to support his argument for the tithe.

Following this logic through, one has to ask these questions: Who taught Abel this “eternal principle”? HOW could Abel learn this “eternal principle” if his latter actions established this “eternal principle”? Maybe Abel should have asked Brian Houston how to access these eternal principles so God could respond in favour to Abel. Maybe both Cain, Abel could have bought Brian Houston’s book ‘You Need More Money’ to access these supernatural principles… You get the point.

To justify his unbiblical stance in regards to his false doctrine, Brian Houston created fables. Since when is a pastor ever qualified to treat God’s Word like this?

In his statement of beliefs, Hillsong says the bible is, “accurate, authoritative and applicable to our everyday lives”.

After examining Houston’s handling of the bible, everyone should be asking the question to Brian Houston or the congregation of Hillsong: “How?”

Why You Need More Money – Introduction

11 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by in Books

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Brian Houston wrote a provocative book called ‘You Need More Money’ in the year 2000. While he has pulled this book off the shelf, there has been no public notification that he has repented of his false beliefs. While he may show embarrassment that he wrote it – this is not an indicator that he has changed his views. Therefore, we believe it is in our best interest to disclose the information within it’s pages.

Below is the introduction to his book, ‘You Need More Money’:

INTRODUCTION 

“I’m going to get straight to the point: YOU NEED MORE MONEY!

 You may think this provocative, presumptuous, or prophetic coming from a pastor but the fact is that it is true. Whoever you are, you need more money.

 I know that money is a highly sensitive subject for anyone, but in this book I am going to tell you WHY you need more money and secondly HOW you can get more money (even if you won’t admit it, I bet you are interested in the latter). I don’t believe that we should be uncomfortable talking about something that plays such an enormous role in our day-to-day lives.

People love to quote the Bible when it comes to money, wealth and riches (and will sometimes do so out of context), but there is a fascinating verse in the book of Ecclesiastes that says it all:

A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes merry; but money answers everything.

(Ecclesiastes 10:19)

If that’s a shock to see a statement like that in the Bible—check it out for yourself. That is exactly what it says: MONEY ANSWERS EVERYTHING!

Now I believe the Bible has all the answers to life. It contains the wisdom of the ages, eternal principles and practical counsel for any situation. In fact, the more you read the Bible, the more truths you keep discovering. It is a book that I have been reading continually over four decades now … and there is always something fresh and relevant to find every day.

MONEY ANSWERS EVERYTHING

It is really interesting that Solomon, in his renowned wisdom, makes a statement like that. Think about it for a moment. Money certainly provides solutions and has tremendous power to change situations, making a big difference in people’s lives. It’s true – money is inevitably the bottom line of everything.

  • What is the answer to hunger? Money! But you may say “what about food?” But you need money to buy it.
  • What is the short-term solution to poverty? Money!
  • What is the answer to powerlessness in your life? Money! It enables you to be influential.

While money provides many positive solutions, money also has just as many negative responses.

  • How do you feed a heroin addiction? Money!
  • What is listed as one of the greatest causes for marriage failure? Money!

We live in a world where almost everything relates to money, yet money in itself isn’t bad. This book deals with the real issue – people’s attitude and thinking towards money.

If you and I can change our thinking and develop a healthy attitude towards money, I believe we can all walk in the blessing and prosperity that God intends for us. We will never have a problem with money again.