Hillsong informed Chris Rosebrough last year that Carl Lentz was counselling the #BroadwayFiances, Reed Kelly and Josh Canfield.
“Now when I covered the story earlier last week, I made it clear that I had heard through channels that Carl Lentz had said that they had addressed this and that the pastors of Hillsong were “privately counseling” the couple.” [Source]
Clearly Hillsong think they have done a “fantabulous” job with their private counselling sessions (whatever that means). And it’s great to know that Hillsong senior pastor Brian Houston claims to be a traditional church and does not accept same-sex marriage…
Unless he’s lying again.
Now the #BroadwayFiances have some news to share with the world:
Brian Houston Inc. (aka Hillsong) Are The Real Homophobes
The worldwide international corporation known as Hillsong Church has an excellent business model. In 2013, Hillsong Australia alone had nearly 86 million in total revenue, with nearly 39 million in total assets and over 19 million in net assets. Bottom line, Hillsong is banking.
So why is this company so successful financially? Because they deliver a product that their customers want. They produce ear-tickling music that allows fence sitters to pretend to be Christian while not quite giving up their love of the world. They serve drugs so powerful that you can alter your state of mind without taking a single dose of physical substance. And they deliver motivational speeches designed to have people from all walks of life leave feeling like the world revolves around them. In other words, you can live as you please, do as you please, and come to our church on Sundays, and we’ll make sure you’re “personally included and accepted in our community.” [source]
In the business world, it’s well known that in order to keep your business running successfully, you must continue to deliver a product that your customers want. And when your customer base is the world, you must seek to please the world.
This is exactly why Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly, the two sodomites from the television series, Survivor, who are active, participating members of Hillsong Church, can continue to sit in the congregation week after week without being made to feel uncomfortable in their sin. They can do as they please, and Hillsong can pretend to preach the Gospel so they can call themselves a church while refraining from offending any of their customers.
Now this may be a good practice in the business world, but this methodology disqualifies Hillsong from being a biblical church. A biblical church does not exist to serve and please its customers–a biblical church does not have customers. A biblical church consists of born again believers (Eph 1:22-23) and seeks to shepherd the flock by proclaiming the truth at all costs (Acts 20:28). Yet Brian Houston has stated, “I think with the church, the message is sacred, but the methods have to change for the church to stay relevant”–relevant to its customers.
Further, Hillsong’s on Statement of Faith regarding baptism says this,
If you have recently decided to follow Jesus, water baptism is a great next step in your faith journey. As an outward declaration of the decision you have made to surrender your heart to Jesus, it’s a significant moment that will serve as a reminder that the old is gone. God has saved you and will be faithful to continue what He has started in your life.
Yet, Hillsong NYC has taken the step to baptize Reed Kelly.
So how can this organization that claims to be a church baptize an unrepentant sinner, make them an active and participating member of their congregation, and lead them to believe that they are saved, according to their own statement of faith?
Fear.
You see, Hillsong is not a church, it’s a business, and they are in this for the money, and they’re good at it. This has already been shown. But the one thing they fear most is losing a large portion of their customers. And what would happen if Carl Lentz or Brian Houston were to tell these two sodomites that they couldn’t be baptized, and couldn’t be members of the church because they are living in unrepentant sin? Exactly! They would lose customers. Brian Houston put out a list of 30 Rules for Hillsong Australia Preaching and Teaching Team. Some of the disturbing rules put in place by Houston are “leaving people feeling better about themselves than when they came in, and having a message that easily transitions into an altar-call.”
But a real church that exists to shepherd the flock and serve Christ would not be afraid of offending people with the truth. Peter describes Jesus as being offensive to those who do not believe (1 Peter 2:8).Luke 13:3-5 makes it very clear that repentance of sin is a requirement for salvation. But that isn’t Hillsong’s message. Brian Houston, senior executive of Hillsong Corp. has explained their message quite clearly,
I do believe God’s word is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. The writings of the apostle Paul in scripture on the subject of homosexuality are also clear…So if you are gay, are you welcome at Hillsong Church? Of course! You are welcome to attend, worship with us, and participate as a congregation member with the assurance that you are personally included and accepted within our community.
This is exactly like I stated before. This is Hillsong pretending to proclaim the Word of God so that they can call themselves a church while at the same time delivering a product that their worldly customer base desires–without offending anyone. This is what is described in James 1:7-8 as a “double-minded man, unstable in all his ways,” and he” ought not to expect that he should receive anything from the Lord.” Brian Houston, Carl Lentz, and all of the leaders of this organization are double-minded man-pleasers who are unfit for the ministry of Jesus Christ. They fear the gay mafia more than they fear God and have caved to them on all levels. They are so afraid that they will lose customers that they would rather tell two hell-bound unrepentant sodomites that they are welcome and accepted into their church and lead them to believe that they are saved, than to proclaim the truth to them, that they are lost, in need of a savior, and must repent of their sin and turn to Christ, lest their “portion be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)
That’s real homophobia.
Source: Jeff Maples, Brian Houston Inc. (aka Hillsong) Are The Real Homophobes, Pulpit & Pen, http://pulpitandpen.org/2015/10/20/brian-houston-inc-aka-hillsong-are-the-real-homophobes/, Published 20/10/2015. (Accessed 20/10/2015.)
[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.
Recently we posted an article explaining how we are concerned that Carl Lentz had made misleading statements to Dr. James White about Hillsong’s position on the acceptance of gay people within the Hillsong Community. Our unease stemmed from a recent episode of The Dividing Line in which Dr. White discusses some email interaction he had with Carl Lentz, and his concerns about a recent statement made by Brian Houston about the inclusion of unrepentant homosexuals as congregation members of Hillsong Church.
In this episode, Dr. White demonstrates that both Brian Houston and Carl Lentz have made contradictory statements about Hillsong’s position (e.g. that gay people are not allowed to be in positions of leadership, yet current news reports show that they are in fact in leadership positions). The transcript of Dr. White’s program is at the end of this piece.
Carl responded to our article with the following comment at ChurchWatch Central:
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 we make every attempt to be accurate in our articles, we are more than willing to take on board Dr. White’s exhortation to research carefully and check facts. Therefore we accept Carl Lentz’ assurance that he does not have a YouTube channel. [Doing further homework we found that Carl Lentz responded to another person back in June saying he doesn’t have a YouTube account.]
That’s Funny @arielscomedy I don’t have a YouTube channel, a podcast or anything! But I’m glad you were encouraged by it, God bless!
The YouTube channel in question does bear Carl Lentz’ name, and clearly has fooled a number of people who have left comments and even tweeted to Carl how much they appreciated his sermons. Due to this confusion we would like answers from Carl Lentz to the following questions:
1. Since you claim not to own a youtube channel, why are you discrediting Church Watch rather than going after the person (or persons) posting videos under your name?
2. On 25/06/2015 you posted on Twitter “That’s Funny @arielscomedy I don’t have a YouTube channel, a podcast or anything! But I’m glad you were encouraged by it, God bless!” There is someone posting videos in your name and falsely representing you. It is currently the month of August. Why have you not fixed this problem yet?
3. It’s not uncommon for a pastor to give the job of creating a youtube channel and uploading the Pastor’s sermons to someone else. Our homework has always taught us to parse your words. Is it not reasonable to conclude that although you do not have a personal youtube account, someone else you know runs it?
4. Our most important question to you is this: When will you speak or write about your Biblical stance on homosexuality in a clear, unambiguous way that is backed up by Scripture thus proving you believe it by not having unrepentant homosexuals in positions of leadership or in any position within any and all Hillsong churches?
5. We would encourage you to start doing your own homework. Have you investigated what has emerged in the Royal Commission involving Brian Houston and his father’s crimes? Click here for homework.
We apologize for any error made in regards to this matter.
However, what is gravely concerning is that Carl Lentz chose to focus on this error rather than address his own grievous sin in allowing unrepentant homosexuals membership and leadership positions at Hillsong NYC. We are also amazed that he would raise such a minor error, rather than address what came to light in Dr White’s program. That is the blatantly contradictory and deceptive statements currently being made by both Carl and Brian Houston in relation to the context in which unrepentant homosexuals are allowed to participate in the Hillsong Church community, worship and leadership. Hillsong claims to be part of the body of Christ, and claims to hold to the biblical position on marriage and homosexuality. But their practices clearly show that this is not at all true.
This is the real issue: If Hillsong pastors such as Carl and Brian allow homosexual people to be church members, without calling them to repentance, then they are leading people to hell for eternity.
It is grievous to us here at Church Watch Central, and to the body of Christ at large, that Carl and Brian would allow people to remain dead in their trespasses and sins, believing themselves to be reconciled to God when they are not. That is why we are raising these issues and exposing the deception that continues to abound in the Hillsong empire. We care deeply about the souls of these people who are being deceived by Hillsong and its “pastors”.
If at times we err in our zeal to warn others, then we are truly sorry and take to heart Dr. White’s rebuke. But sadly, Carl Lentz has chosen to ignore these issues and instead has just created a distraction from matters far more egregious and soul destroying than whether he does or doesn’t have a YouTube Channel.
Because we cite all of our sources we fail to fall into Dr. James White’s category. However, we would encourage you to start doing your own homework.
We look forward to Carl Lentz’ response.
God Bless.
TRANSCRIPT – Dr James White: Alpha and Omega Ministries || 5 Aug 2015.
Dr James White: “Popped in the channel and there was a discussion about what was going on in Twitter. And what was going on in Twitter was a discussion of Carl Lentz and the Hillsong Church in New York. And of course there’s the stuff of Brian Houston, who is the big Hillsong leader out of Australia. And basically the two sides were talking past each other unfortunately.
Um, what I was concerned about the whole thing was the accuracy of the articles that have been distributed. I started seeing them a few days ago and they came up every once in a while but there was a new spate of them in regards to Carl Lentz and comments about homosexuality.
Now I’m a Reformed Baptist. My ecclesiology is significantly more developed shall we say, and traditional, and historical than Hillsong ecclesiologies, as we are going to see here in a moment.
I am obviously not a fan of ‘seeker sensitivity’ or anything like that at all. The church is the Body of Christ, it is where God is worshiped in Holiness. There is to be church discipline. There is to be a call for Holy living. The church is not to look like the world, act like the world. The world should be very uncomfortable as Paul said, an unbeliever comes in should be convicted by whats going on.
So what really bugged me about the Twitter debate that was going on, was one side was saying, ‘look you need to check the sources. You need to be accurate in the facts that your using. You may be right in your conclusions, you may say you know these folks, they’ve got some serious problems here and we need to be careful about what’s going on here and this seems to be symptomatic of that. That’s one thing, but you have to do so accurately, you’ve got to make sure of your facts, you can’t be making, ‘well it looks like I think they went to a Conference one, this person was there and therefore…’ And-‘ you’ve got all these connections being made.
No one should be surprised that I’ve got a problem with inaccuracy and use of information because, am I not the guy who sits here for half an hour talking about being careful in talking about Muhammad and Niesha, or the history of the Koran or etc, etc, etc?
Yeh. That’s- that’s me. The same guy.
So I would think you would need to be just as careful in talking about these issues – (And what had happened was, I almost talked about this on Monday but we did we did the Radio Fee Geneva, so I couldn’t fit it in) – but I had seen a quote attributed to Carl Lentz, in one of the articles going around saying, ‘ah see Hillsong’s collapsing on homosexuality and here’s how it’s happening’ and so on and so forth and when I read it, it was the standard ‘Jesus never said anything about homosexuality stuff.’ And I’m like, I have decimated that argument so many times on this program and I’ve told people, I’ve said to people that if you hear anybody saying, ‘Jesus never addressed homosexuality’, that person is either deceptive or ignorant or both, but it can’t be neither.
And. So. I don’t always do this, I don’t have a big black book of contacts and email. But some of you will remember that September of last year I think, almost a year ago, Carl Lentz contacted us. I made some comments about something I had seen, it was actually a video as I recall at that point. I played the video and I said, ‘I’ve got a problem with this and here’s why.’ Well somebody sent it to Carl Lentz and he wrote through the contact page.
And so I had an email. We had actually exchanged some emails back and forth. And so I, you know, did the standard search thing and pulled up an email and I said, ‘Yeah! I’m going to ask him,’ because there was no attribution in the article.
He didn’t say where it was from.
It had a ‘he said’ at the end.
Well okay, I don’t trust it. Especially the sources, you know if it’s like Huff Post, CNN and whatever else, ‘he said’ means nothing. They may have strung those words together from three hours worth of conversation, but anyway.
Other host: “That Contact by the way, came through on October 28 2014”.
Dr James White: “Okay. October, so last year.
And so I wrote. And I said- I gave the quote and said, ‘Is this accurate?’
And he wrote back fairly quickly and said, ‘Who is this?’
And I wrote back and said, ‘Well you contacted us last year. Alpha Omega Ministries. We saw this quotation. It’s unattributed. Before I comment on it, I would like to know if you actually said this’.
And he was very appreciative of that and said, ‘I’m taking my girls to their dance lessons [or whatever it was], I’ll get back to you,’ and said, ‘I’ll get back to you faster than that’. And so he did. And we’ve gone back and forth.
And in fact I have here- this is from yesterday- you know- I- we went back and forth and I said, ‘Can I quote you as saying- ‘quote’ (and this is a quote from him):
‘What Jesus often did explicitly outline as you well know, is marriage between a man and a woman. I made that point clearly in an interview and that was edited out. Our church has never wavered, ever on our clear stance on what is Biblical marriage or Biblical sexuality for that matter.’
Alright? Now we’ve continued [inaudible] going back and forth cause I found some more quotes.
And he said, ‘Look I would not say it the way that I said it. You know this was CNN.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah! I know CNN now! Been there done that! Got the t-shirt. And man, you’ve got a- you’ve got to go straight for the heart, if your on CNN. You can not try to make yourself look nice to these folks, it’s not possible. You’ve got to go straight to it and press it.
And- so we’ve gone back and forth.
I basically said, ‘look Jesus did address this issue when He used the term porneia. There is no-one that I have ever found anywhere- I don’t care if it’s Boswell, [inaudible names], it doesn’t matter who it is, Vines, I’ve never found anyone who’s even started to make a meaningful argument- that in the context of second temple Judaism, in the context of the Gospel writers, that porneia would not have included homosexuality. I’ve never seen anyone even try to argue it because anybody who knows anything about that time period, knows that porneia when it was written by Paul, when it was written by Matthew, was written by Mark, included homosexuality. There’s no question about it! None!
So when someone says, ‘Jesus never addressed this issue’, they’re just ignorant, they just don’t know what they’re talking about.
And Carl says, ‘I know that. I agree. It was a combination of my not speaking clearly enough and them not following up with what I said afterwards 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.”
Now I’m not saying that even when you focus upon the real issue that people are necessary, sadly going to listen to what you have to say but it’s worth the shot.
But then in the middle of all of this, Brian Houston who speaks more for Hillsong than Carl Lentz does, puts out- I think yesterday- […] an article called ‘Do I love gay people?’.
[Quoting Brian Houston’s statement] ‘Because I also live by my own convictions, hold to traditional Christian thought on lifestyles and gay marriage…’. Now could I just say, if we, if we have a passionate love for God’s truth, if we really believe that it is divine truth, (that God has made us in a certain way, that we have the owner’s manual, that the Creator has specific purposes and therefore our lives would be experienced, there’s basics here, you know if you don’t get the basic’s right there’s not going to be anything up the road), if we really believe that, it’s going to influence how we speak.
And it seems to me, that we need to really be putting some thought into how we can speak with more clarity about these subjects. It sounds like, well yeh I’ve got my convictions, I do the traditional Christian you know. It’s like we’ve already been beaten into the ‘I’m sorry don’t through things at me’, rather than ‘I believe in actual marriage and I believe that this is divine truth and this is vitally important and this is exciting and it’s worth living for’. There’s a big difference between those two, big difference. But anyways.
‘…The writings of the apostle Paul in scripture on the subject of homosexuality are also clear…’ Good to hear! Lot’s of folks are telling us the opposite of that. Just the opposite of that.
‘…as I have mentioned in previous public statements. Hillsong Church welcomes ALL people but does not affirm all lifestyles. Put clearly, we do not affirm a gay lifestyle and because of this we do not knowingly have actively gay people-‘ (now here’s where I’m confused), ‘we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership, either paid or unpaid.’
Foul, blow the whistle, what?!
See here’s where ecclesiology comes into view. Here’s where your doctrines of church comes into view.
Because later on, here’s what it says later on, ‘… so if your a gay are you welcome at Hillsong Church? Of course! You are welcome to attend, worship with us, and participate as a congregation member with the assurance that you are personally included and accepted within our community. But (this is where it gets vexing), can you take an active leadership role? No. This won’t make everyone happy and to some, this stance may even be seen as hypocritical. We are a gay welcoming church but we are not a church that affirms a gay lifestyle…’
Excuse me! Time out! The poor little Reformed Baptist is confused. [laughs]
Yeh, um, so do you have a church membership role? Do you have a Statement of faith? How can you be a member of the congregation, a part of the community, while living a lifestyle that the church says is sinful and just won’t allow into leadership, but will allow in the church? Is that what I’m reading?
If it is, here’s where ecclesiology comes into it, because you see, there are some people who view church incrementally. You bring people in. We’re inclusive. Open. We’re loving. You bring people in. And then over time you sort of hope that they are going to start seeing that selling those drugs is a bad thing, the gang-banging is a bad thing. You might loose a few members in the process. You know before they really get that idea, but hey you know. It’s this inclusive, incremental thing slowly get them, you know.
The church is called holy!
It’s made up of Saints!
I mean again, 1 Corinthians verse 5: “you have a man who’s had his own father’s wife.” It’s incest. You should have known better. It’s right there in Leviticus 18. CAST HIM OUT! Right?
So do you bring people into the congregation in incestuous relationships? Hey your part of the community, have some Lord’s supper, hey you know. But you can’t be in leadership until you stop that incestuous stuff. What??
Ok maybe this is just a really, really badly written thing and I’m completely missing. But it seems to me that um we have a really fundamental problem here in um- ‘worship with us.’
Well I thought we were to worship in holiness and that there was to be repentance. Doesn’t the church gather, repentance, proclamation of God’d truth, brings repentance and holiness so that we can worship in spirit and in truth? Do we want people who are unrepentant? Isn’t the constant prayer, ‘may your words shine into our hearts to show us what we need to repent of?’
So if you don’t tell people what you stand for then how can there be any meaningful unity in worship? I’m completely lost at this point. I really am. I don’t get it.
So, ‘worship with us and participate as a congregation member’, what does that mean? Sing? partake of the Lord’s supper? Are unrepentant, practicing homosexuals allowed to partake of the Lord’s supper in Hillsong Church? Baahhh but you can’t be a leader! So what? Who cares?
I think leadership is drawn out of the congregation anyways. I mean if you start making up rules like this to where- have we not seen this in so many of the mainline denominations?You know whats the big thing-? You know, all these half way measures where, ‘Well, you know as long as your a celibate homosexual, then you can be a Bishop.’ And how long did that last? You know before, ‘well we can’t do that, they have to be able to express their love and blah blah blah blah’.
You’re creating a Clergy Laity distinction that New Testament knows nothing about here in [glitch] moral standard here.
No, the standard for membership in the church is called regeneration, ah isn’t it? Repentance, baptism you know that stuff. So are these folks baptized? Will you baptize unrepentant practicing homosexuals? How else do you become a member of the church? Or is there no membership role at all? I mean that wouldn’t surprise me because that’s the Calvary Chapel model. The Calvary Chapel model’s no membership, that’s why you have no church discipline. I’m not sure how your suppose to shepherd the sheep that you don’t know who are in your flock, but there you go. Umm… wow.
This is what happens when you don’t have a Statement of faith, when you don’t have a sound ecclesiology. It’s um- it’s a mess.
So I don’t get it. I don’t get how you can say on the one side one thing and then on the other side you turn around and your saying, ‘Hey! You know, you’re welcome to come to Hillsong church, participate as a congregation member with the assurance that you are personally included and accepted within our community, only thing you can’t do is be a leader.’
Would that count for shacking up with your girlfriend or girlfriends, boyfriends, girlfriends whatever? So the only difference between the people of the church and leaders is that leaders actually have to be repentant, people of the church don’t? I don’t get it, I don’t get it, but there you go. There you go. Great confusion. […]
Host voice: ‘The next step in being a member as I understand it is, you have a say in calling of leadership’.
Dr James White: ‘Maybe’.
Other host: ‘Would they be allowed to vote for leadership and calling of a Pastor’?
Dr James White: ‘I don’t know. I do not know, I do not know. But there you go’.
So what I’m calling for. Katie Hall said to me, ‘I don’t understand why all these reformed people are defending Hillsong.’ Katie, it’s not a matter of defending Hillsong. It’s a matter of saying you need to be accurate in your criticisms for them to be lasting and meaningful criticism, that’s the point.
We can see the problem but isn’t it interesting that on both this and the prior situation, who got to actual heart of the matter by being careful about the criticism [raises hands]. That’s my point. That’s my point. Got to be careful. You’ve got to do your homework. That’s my point.’
“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.
Does Dr. Brown really want to defend Hillsong cult leaders?
Hillsong, Homosexuality, Internet Rumors and Spiritual Clarity
Brian Houston’s answer about gay members at Hillsong was a little fuzzy. (BrianHouston.com)
There’s a lot we can learn from this week’s viral internet accusation that Carl Lentz, pastor of Hillsong NYC, allowed an openly homosexual couple to participate in and help lead a church choir.
The report was posted on Saturday, and by the next day, everywhere I turned, people were asking, “Is this true?” (My ministry team then reached out to Hillsong NYC for clarification.)
Others, not waiting for verification, believed the worst and went on the attack, not just blasting Hillsong in New York City but also across the globe.
On Wednesday, Brian Houston, leader of Hillsong and Carl Lentz’s pastor, issued two statements.
In the first statement, he affirmed that Hillsong held to the clear scriptural teaching on the subject of homosexuality and that marriage was the union of a man and woman, also stating that while gays were loved and welcomed in his church, practicing homosexuals could not participate in any leadership or ministry role.
In the second statement, he categorically denied the Internet rumors, saying that the church was completely surprised when they learned about this couple being in a homosexual relationship and that to his knowledge, they had not since been involved in any ministry or leadership role in the church. He then reaffirmed his love for them and stated that they, like the rest of us, were on a journey.
Pastor Lentz affirmed both of these statements on Twitter, and I immediately posted them as widely as I could, with appreciation to Pastor Houston for addressing these issues publicly.
But there are two obvious lessons from this week’s events.
First, as Christians, we are often all too quick to believe and then repeat a rumor rather than hoping for the best and waiting until the evidence is in. Why are we so quick to attack and accuse, especially when we don’t even know if the stories are true? Is this a demonstration of love?
How would we feel if the same was done to us—to our families, to our congregations, to our reputations—and people we didn’t even know helped spread lies about us, lies that can color people’s thinking for years to come?
With the speed with which things fly around the world today via the Internet, and with the difficulty of undoing something once it’s been done, we had better be sure that we have our facts in order and our attitudes right before making a public declaration or sharing our opinion (if there’s even a need for us to do either).
I have often been burdened to address issues in writing or on radio, and I always do my best to get all the facts in order, also trying to reach out privately whenever possible before addressing things publicly.
But earlier this year I had to apologize publicly to a national leader for relying on an article that grouped his quotes together as if they came from the same message, giving a misleading impression (even though the quotes were accurate and of real concern).
So what I write here, I write for myself as well as for others. Let’s be sure we have our facts in order before coming to any conclusions.
The second lesson is that it’s essential that Christian leaders speak clearly on the controversial doctrinal and moral issues of the day. It is possible (and essential) to have both compassion and clarity.
To use Paul’s words (from a very different context), “Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air” (1 Cor. 14:7-9).
I recently listened to a five-minute interview with one of America’s most famous pastors in which he was gently pressed for clarity on his views on homosexuality and the church, and his answers could hardly have been more fuzzy.
And that’s part of the problem with the accusation against Hillsong NYC: Pastor Lentz had failed to speak clearly to the issue at least twice last year, both on network TV and on the Huffington Post online.
In fact, as I watched the Huffington Postinterview, trying to put the best construction on it and rooting for Pastor Lentz, I said to myself, “If I was this interviewer, I would absolutely believe that homosexual couples would be welcomed without restriction into the life and ministry of his church.”
That’s why I reached out to Pastor Lentz last year as well, offering help not condemnation, believing that God is using him to reach NYers with the Good News of the gospel.
The question is: Why can’t we be clear from the start? Why say things that avoid direct answers and instead lead to confusion?
I fully understand the need not to get trapped by the secular media—I’ve been in the hot seat enough times to know the drill—and I commend Christian leaders who will say what they feel is important rather than play along with the agenda of a hostile interviewer. (For Pastor Houston addressing this when it comes to “gay marriage,” go here.)
Yet there’s such a thing as speaking the truth with wisdom and in love, and throughout Scripture, honest, open rebuke is seen as a sign of love.
Unfortunately, fair questions are now being asked concerning Pastor Houston’s first statement issued on Wednesday, where he said, “So if you are gay, are you welcome at Hillsong Church? Of course! You are welcome to attend, worship with us, and participate as a congregation member with the assurance that you are personally included and accepted within our community. But (this is where it gets vexing), can you take an active leadership role? No.”
What exactly does this mean? Is he speaking about someone who is same-sex attracted but rejects those attractions and is living a holy life before the Lord? Or is he speaking about a practicing homosexual? If so, on what basis can he or she “participate as a congregation member with the assurance that you are personally included and accepted within our community”?
Would Pastor Houston say the same thing about a couple living together out of wedlock? Would he say the same thing about a non-repentant alcoholic? If so, what of Paul’s clear teaching in 1 Corinthians 5 about how to deal with professing Christians who will not repent?
I am cheering on Pastor Houston and Pastor Lentz, praying that they will make Jesus known even more in Australia and New York City and the nations, and like millions of others, I have been personally blessed by Hillsong’s many wonderful worship songs.
That’s why I urge my brothers and colleagues to speak with a clear, unambiguous and scripturally sound voice, not just in church settings but before the secular media as well.
If we are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world—or, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “the moral conscience” of the society—we cannot lose our saltiness and we must shine brightly and without shame, in deed and in word.
The same world that hates us is actually depending on us.
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!
We can see why Carl Lentz said nothing about this growing controversial in his own church but why Brian Houston on the other side of the planet did.
Because Hillsong have deliberately mislead Christians on their position on homosexuality in their media statements, many people have suffered. And sadly, both Christians and closeted homosexuals within Hillsong will suffer.
Christ’s name has been bought in to disrepute, Christians will feel betrayed with Hillsong’s lies and cover-ups. And people like Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly will suffer backlash because of Hillsong’s forever-changing social popularity contests because members will see their latest publication as an attack against Brian Houston and Carl Lentz’s spiritual authority.
Brian Houston and Carl Lentz: don’t you DARE condemn Christian’s for your spinelessness. You are the spineless cowards who have rejected the bible, hidden behind word games and created this apostate mess. And don’t you dare insight your Hillsong members to demonise, sledge and bully this poor gay couple for sharing their experiences publicly.
What is disclosed in these below insights has only confirmed that Brian Houston over the decade has been duplicitous behind the scenes to groom Hillsong church to be a gay-affirming church (See links at end of article). We will be reviewing the serious implications of what was said in another article in light of what we know of Hillsong.) For now, in light of the statement,
“This only confirms to us that personal relationships are transformative. This isn’t difficult to accept after one looks at this through the lens of personal relationship being a foundational tenet of the Christian faith,”
please understand that we created the below graphic for a soon to-be-released article. We think it is an appropriate graphic to release so you can see the dynamics at work in Canfield’s below response:
Josh Canfield writes,
To our friends…
We’re writing this post in response to so many of you who have kindly reached out. You’ve been wondering why we have been getting so many hateful comments on all of our social media in the past week, in which some of you have been tagged or engaged.
The drama that is unfolding at the moment all revolves around the fact that we have been heavily involved in our church, Hillsong NYC. Josh has been with Hillsong for eight years in a variety of ways: choir director, vocal director, and worship team. I’ve been there since the beginning of our relationship, over three years ago, and eventually began singing in the choir and opening my apartment as the gathering place for a connect group for Hillsong members in the Broadway and theatrical communities.
We have been open and forthright about our relationship from the get-go.
Due to our openness and very public appearance together on CBC’s “Survivor”, we have been in conversation with Hillsong NYC’s lead pastors regarding the church’s non-LGBT affirming stance. Hillsong has many campuses around the world, many in places where gay marriage is now legal, so this has been an ongoing dialogue trying to figure out how and where we, as part of the LGBT community, fit in. As a church family, we have been wading through these uncharted waters of shifting culture and social change.
Several days ago some faceless, end-of-days blogger decided to attack us and our church for allowing us to serve when we are “unrepentantly embracing [our] sin” as homosexuals. Sadly, yet unsurprisingly, most super-conservative news sources picked it up and ran with it — giving this man’s voice worldwide amplification it never should have had. Not to mention it worked up Christian communities around the world, as many look to our church as a model of modern Christianity to be emulated. (We’ve never been harassed in so many foreign languages before … and we live in NYC!)
This has now forced our church to globally reaffirm their hard stance as a non-LGBT-affirming institution and disallow any gays from being in a position of leadership within the church. It’s been frustrating and a bit crushing that one crazy person could interfere so easily with the healthy and steady dialogue we’ve been having, but in a new world of social media and instant exposure, we are left unsurprised. Thankfully we are led by pastors who are grace-filled and committed to continuing to try to discern God’s will on this matter.
All this being said, many of you ask: “why are you staying somewhere that doesn’t fully accept you?” This leaves us with a tough decision. If we, as gays, pack up and leave every church we feel less than welcomed in or where we feel spiritual resistance, how will there ever be growth? The flip side of this is: why would we, as part of the gay community who have been primarily outcast for all our lives, willingly subject ourselves to more marginalization? It’s been a lot to personally work though.
Many try to discredit biblical scholars and laymen alike who have shifted their stance from non-affirming to LGBT-affirming by saying “the only reason they have changed their mind is because they know a gay person”. This only confirms to us that personal relationships are transformative. This isn’t difficult to accept after one looks at this through the lens of personal relationship being a foundational tenet of the Christian faith.
After we inadvertently and unintentionally became public representatives for gay Christianity, we feel like we have been called and have a responsibility to continue to stand authentically in our truth — especially within the church family that we call home, Hillsong NYC — we are seeking the Lord, we are Christian, we are gay, and this is our journey.
We thank you for your concern, your prayers, and your support.
To be honest, we don’t like focusing on the celebrity world.
Sadly, because Hillsong makes a big deal of it, some people have contacted us privately and want us to start looking at the issues emerging with Hillsong and their desperate attempts to drag celebrities into their New Age movement. Many people have observed that Hillsong are leeching off the credibility of the celebrity to bolster their street cred in both the secular and Christian worlds.
Our apologies if this is not your type of article.
CARL LENTZ’ UNCHRISTIAN FOCUS ON BEIBER
The sin of Hillsong is made more apparent when you see they lack any form of Christian understanding of the Holy Spirit and biblical authority when dealing with celebrities that want to live their own way. While we hope people like Justin Beiber can find faithful churches that don’t flaunt their celebrity status and encourage them to live upright and normal lives, it is in the interest of our readers to see how Hillsong is failing in this duty. We can observe Hillsong’s floundering in being Christian leaders when we examine what their celebrities behave like.
The below article reveals how poor Hillsong’s “Christianity” is to people like Beiber. After making “spectacular mistakes”, Carl Lentz has been reported saying that Beiber had come halfway around the world to make sure “his heart is right” to attend the annual Hillsong Mecca conference.
So according to Lentz, Beiber is going to Hillsong Conference to make sure “his heart is right?”
Lentz is out of line
First of all, Lentz is out of line from Hillsong’s standards in judging the heart. According to Hillsong’s idea of God only judging the heart, Lentz is now playing God.
Hillsong continually reinforces the idea that no one can judge another person because only God can judge the heart. Once again, Hillsong has exposed themselves of this double standard where only the leaders are a type of “God,” judging the hearts of their followers. This time, it was Carl Lentz publicly announcing his judgment on Justin Beiber’s heart. This is a form of spiritual abuse that can manipulate members to do what the pastor wants. In this case Lentz is using Beiber’s heart to manipulate him to come to Hillsong Conference Australia. Our opinion is that he is using him to sell Hillsong Conference Australia (which worked).
The reason why we say this is because Hillsong Conference is also in America. Why couldn’t Beiber have simply attended that Conference and not the Sydney Conference?
Secondly, Lentz is out of line for disclosing personal information as Beiber’s pastor. His comment does not respect the privacy of Justin Beiber’s “spiritual walk.” It only makes Lentz look as though he enjoys this tabloid journalism experience.
RIghteousness taught by Christianity
The above is a very revealing comment considering Christians go to church to learn how God has made us right before Him through Christ and His finished work (the gospel). Christians rely on Christ’s work not just to make their hearts right before God but their entire lives. This is called sanctification and this means our spirit, mind, heart, soul and our lives are transformed for the glory of God.
Righteousness taught by Hillsong
Carl Lentz is promoting not the gospel but legalism which is the antithesis of the Christian message (salvation by works). We can’t make our hearts right before God on our own. Beiber flying to his spiritual Mecca to make his heart right before God is a useless ritual that can send him to hell and will still make him live a life of unrepentance. Lentz spouted nothing but neo-pagan mysticism, a worldly teaching which Hillsong is guilty of promoting for decades through their “worship experiences”. And thankfully, some seculiar media outlets are now seeing that Beiber is involved in a New Age movement.
As you can see, holiness and repentance of sins was NOT preached at Hillsong Conference and Beiber clearly made “his heart right” on his own terms. Tell us, can you see God working in his life after his Mecca experience?
One has to ask how on earth Carl Lentz is pastoring this poor soul.
The Daily Telegraph reports,
Justin Bieber just ‘wants to make his heart right’ says Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz
JUSTIN Bieber revealed his renewed religious fervour yesterday, declaring at Sydney’s Hillsong conference: “I was blind but now I see.”
The pop megastar came to Australia to be part of the congregation and not to preach but, as well as quoting the lines from John 9:25, Bieber spoke to #hillsong-backstage, telling its online audience: “I love you guys. Jesus loves you.”
The man behind Bieber’s surprise visit, New York’s Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz, said, after making “spectacular mistakes”, the 21-year-old had come halfway round the world to make sure “his heart is right”.
Speaking at the Hillsong Sydney Conference the pastor, who counts stars like Bono, Vanessa Hudgens and Stephen Baldwin among his church members, described his relationship with Bieber as like “regular friends who talk all the time”.
The ‘rock star’ Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz. Picture: Instagram
Justin Bieber at Hillsong in Sydney. Picture: Instagram
The former college dropout who found God in Sydney and went on to be named as one of 37 people under the age of 35 reshaping the world by Esquire magazine, spoke candidly about his relationship with Bieber, who was brought up a Christian.
“We met when Justin was 14 after his mum reached out and we’ve become close from that day. He’s a part of our lives and has lived with us for weeks on end,” Lentz, 36, said.
Attendees gather outside Acer Arena where the Hillsong Church is holding a week long convention.
Lentz, whose met his Australian wife in Sydney, said it was amazing Bieber was so “kind and normal”.
“I can’t even explain the suffocating nature of the kind of fame that he has. If he’s going through something horrible, we’ll talk about it. If he makes a decision where I think he could have done something wiser, we’ll talk about it,” he said.
Lentz was adamant his 21-year-old pal was on the right path: “He flew halfway round the world at the busiest time of the year for him just for a church conference. It shows you what matters to him.”
Justin Bieber yesterday told #hillsongbackstage that Lentz had changed his life. Picture: Instagram
Justin Bieber and Carl Lentz have known each other since Justin was 14. Picture: Instagram/Judah Smith
Sydney Olympic Park is not known as a rock star hangout but Bieber has made the five-star Pullman hotel at Homebush his low-key base for his low-key visit, next to the Allphones Arena where the conference has attracted delegates from around the world at $350 each.
Hillsong founder Brian Houston told the congregation that it left a $1.3 million shortfall in the cost and prayed for people to be generous and donate. The church he set up in Sydney 30 years ago is now bigger in the US than Australia.
Bieber yesterday told #hillsongbackstage that Lentz had changed his life and, while this was his first Hillsong conference, it would not be his last: “I’m having a great time. It’s pretty awesome.
“The music is incredible. What they are doing is incredible, I support it 100 per cent.”
The Bible is not about you, it’s about Jesus. The Church is not about you, it’s about Jesus. So why is Hillsong making the Church about Justin Beiber?
Even if Justin Beiber is a controversial celebrity, no one deserves Hillsong. If anyone sees this young man, please give him the opportunity to hear the gospel and lead him to a Christian church, not a dangerous new age cult. If you don’t know what the Gospel, it’s this:
“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, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
As you can see in the above video, Justin Beiber deserves to be in a normal church where he can be treated like a normal human being for his well being and for his salvation.
Hillsong Church Watch 