Evidence at the Commission and various comments on our site have revealed fascinating insights into the dealings of serial pedophile, Frank Houston.

Recently, a commentor shared this information on our site:

I attended Hawkesbury Church (then Hawkesbury Christian Centre) in the early 2000s under its minister Ian Woods, who was then State Superintendent of the AOG and presumably also on the National Executive.

Frank Houston was parked at Hawkesbury after he was stood down and the congregation was told to treat him like royalty. Certainly there was no warning to families in the congregation that we were harbouring a pedophile. He was our National Leader’s father, and a super-apostle in our movement.

Although I do not believe there was a risk of him reoffending, still, what I recall was the total veil of silence that fell over the matter, to the extent that one Hillsong member left the Sunday service when Brian Houston was forced to say something, believing that Frank was guilty of some kind of financial mismanagement.

Brian says that his Father never preached again. I’m pretty sure that’s wrong. While he was with us, he was allowed to preach. Brian is, yet again, a liar.

Source: Truth_will_out, News reports from Royal Commission on Hillsong 08/10/2014, Hillsong Church Watch, http://hillsongchurchwatch.com/2014/10/08/news-reports-from-royal-commision-on-hillsong-08102014/#comment-10079, Submitted on 2014/10/09 at 10:12 am. 

The New Zealand Herald reports,

Child molester pastor Frank Houston was ‘still allowed to preach’ after abuse warning

Soon after accused pedophile Frank Houston was stood down by his son Brian Houston – who now runs the popular Hillsong Church in Australia – he was seen on TV preaching in Canberra, a witness has told a national inquiry.

Barbara Taylor, the evangelical pastor who told the Pentecostal movement in 1998 its honoured preacher Frank Houston was a child molester, says it took her months to get the church to take the matter seriously.

Frank Houston died in 2004 and had admitted to the sexual abuse of children in Australia and New Zealand.

She also told a hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that in June, 2000 she had written to Brian Houston about his father saying she had been told “a week after you said you were going to discipline him by standing him down he was preaching and prophetising over people in Canberra”.

Brian Houston wrote to her saying he was hurt by her letter and that Frank Houston was receiving “restoration counselling”.

He also asked her to contact him by phone in future, she said.

Pastor Taylor kept notes of her interactions with the abuse victim, known as AHA for legal reasons, and her dealings with members of the executive of the Assemblies of God (AoG) – the body to which Pentecostal churches are affiliated.

She wanted the matter settled by the church not the “secular courts”.

Hillsong Church leader Brian Houston. Photo / AAP

Brian Houston was national president of the AoG when allegations against his father surfaced.

In late 1998, 20 years after her son told her, the abuse victim’s mother informed Pastor Taylor about Frank Houston – the pastor who was treated like royalty by the devout family.

The commission on Wednesday was taken through Pastor Taylor’s notes recounting her attempts to organise a meeting between AHA and Frank Houston.

She had written to Frank Houston five months after the allegations were first raised and her many attempts to contact him failed. She said he rang and was angry “that I was pursuing” him”.

Pastor Taylor also recorded AHA was extremely distressed the matter had become known but agreed to meet Frank Houston.

AHA told the commission on Tuesday Frank Houston offered him $10,000 during a meeting and asked his forgiveness. Some months after that he received a cheque from Brian Houston.

Pastor Taylor also said she wasn’t kept informed of the actions taken by Brian Houston or the AoG but she considered: “If he (Frank Houston) confessed to Brian he would have really meant it and Brian would have brought him to a place of repentance.”

Pastor Taylor said that at a later meeting with Brian Houston he told her it was a one-off incident by his father and commented the incident was about a “little boy who walked through a room without his clothes on”.

“I took it his father had trivialised the incident to Brian”.

The hearing continues.

Source: Child molester pastor Frank Houston was ‘still allowed to preach’ after abuse warning, New Zealand Herald, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11339319%20, 08/11/2014, 4:50 PM. (Accessed 29/11/2014.)

WHY PASTORS AND CHURCHES NEED TO WARN THEIR FLOCKS AGAINST HILLSONG

This article will be examining the false claims made by Hillsong’s invited guest speaker Rick Warren, in contrast to some damning evidence put out by the Roman Catholic Church on their 2008 World Youth Day.

We ask again, what god does Hillsong worship? We say this in light of Hillsong embracing pagan religions such as Islam and Roman Catholicism. We say “embracing” because of Brian Houston’s insistence that his movement preaches an inclusive gospel and an inclusive Jesus (a gospel and a Jesus you will not find in the bible).

Recently, Pastor Jordan Hall said the following about Hillsong’s invited guest speaker Rick Warren for next year’s Hillsong Conference 2015:

“What this man [Rick Warren] is demonstrating is that he is not a Christian brother… I think he is wicked folks…”

This is the video that Pastor Jordan Hall was reviewing.

Hear Jordan Hall review Rick Warren’s Roman Catholic promotional video below. This is well worth your while.

Rick Warren Anathematizes Self (Listen)
Rick Warren Anathematizes Self (Download)

When this video was published on FaceBook by Catholic News Service, Dan Phillips from the Pyromaniacs blog commented on the above video.

“Absolutely appalling. What a wretched failure of Christian leadership… to say nothing of basic Christian fundamentals. God grant him repentance, and God spare others from being misled.”
Source: Dan Phillips, FaceBook, https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152421040155723&comment_id=10152422050505723&offset=0&total_comments=361, 28 November at 00:25.

Those that are being mislead are those that will be attending Hillsong Conference 2015 next year. What makes Hillsong conference so dangerous is that they are brazenly declare in their marketing gimmicks that Hillsong are hearing from God.

Their “SPEAK – WE’RE LISTENING” campaign is supposedly based on the prophet Samuel hearing from God in 1 Samuel 3:10. However, their choice of immoral and deceitful teachers are a clear indication that the Hillsong leadership are definitely not hearing from God and that they have no clue what a fine bible teacher looks like. One corrupt teacher they are still allowing to speak at Hillsong Conference 2015 is Rick Warren.

Houston claims Hillsong Conference are hearing from God and are bringing “the finest Bible teachers”

You know something is wrong with Driscoll when he is invited to speak at Hillsong Conference…

We remind you again that it was Tony Palmer that said to Kenneth Copeland’s Word of Faith cult that, “Brothers and sisters, Luther’s protest is over. Is yours?“

Well according to Rick Warren it is. And according to Hillsong it is. Why? Because they don’t stand for Jesus and His gospel. If they knew the Christian faith, they wouldn’t be pointing Christians to be “coming home to Rome” and worshiping their deity.

“Pillar of FIRE…” WYDSYD08 booklet

In our article on Hillsong embracing Roman Catholicism (Part 4), we went to great lengths exposing how Hillsong and the Roman Catholic church are grooming Christians and churches to embrace Rome.

Furthermore, we covered the fact that Hillsong had no issue leading thousands of Roman Catholics at World Youth Day in “worship”.

However, if you were in the city of Sydney in 2008, you could not escape the litter of small World Youth Day pamphlets titled “Pillar of FIRE, Pillar of TRUTH”.

This booklet specifically defines the difference between the Roman Catholic Church religion from Christianity, teaching what it means to be a true Roman Catholic.

The relevant pages below refute Rick Warren’s argument that Christians and Roman Catholics have “more in common”. After browsing the below booklet, Christians need to ask the question:

Do I believe Brian Houston, Rick Warren and the Pope that “Luther’s protest is over or are they trying lying to me?”

To give you an idea what is taught in the below booklet, we read,

“Some people promote an especially attractive idea: All true Christians, regardless of how they live, have an absolute assurance of salvation, once they accept Jesus into their hearts as “their personal Lord and Savior.” The problem is that this belief is contrary to the Bible and constant Christian teaching. The Bible makes it clear that Christians have a moral assurance of salvation… but the Bible does not teach that Christians have a guarantee of heaven. There can be no absolute assurance of salvation.” - Pillar of FIRE, Pillar of TRUTH, WYDSYD08, Published by Catholic Answers, Inc. 2008.

To see the content online, click the below link:

Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth

If you have a problem with this material, you have a problem with Rick Warren and Hillsong. Not Christianity.

Take note that Hillsong is STILL scheduling Rick Warren to speak at next year’s Hillsong Conference.

This man has been exposed into pressuring Christians to embrace Chrislam and the pagan Roman Catholic religion as legitimate Christian sects.

Hillsong: This is war!

Christian News reports on American Christianity’s reaction to Rick Warren’s false call to unity,

Rick Warren’s Call for Christians to Unite With Catholics, ‘Holy Father’ Raising Concerns

In a new video, megachurch leader and author Rick Warren is calling for Christians to unite with Roman Catholics and “Pope Francis,” who Warren recently referred to as the “Holy Father”—a move that is raising concerns among Christians nationwide and is resulting in calls for Warren to repent.

Warren made the comments following his visit to the Vatican last month, where he spoke at an interfaith conference on the “Complementarity of Man and Woman.”

“We have far more in common than what divides us,” he said in the two-minute video released by the Catholic News Service on Wednesday, described as being an outline for “an ecumenical vision for Catholics and Protestants to work together to defend the sanctity of life, sex and marriage.”

“They would all say, ‘We believe in the Trinity; we believe in the Bible; we believe in the resurrection; we believe in salvation through Jesus Christ,” Warren asserted, speaking of the various denominations within Christianity, of which he included Roman Catholicism. “These are the big issues.”

The author of the bestselling book “The Purpose Driven Life” then sought to defend Catholics from those who take issue with the practice of seeking the intercession of Mary and the various deceased persons that have been sainted by the Vatican.

“Sometimes protestants think that Catholics worship Mary like she’s another god, but that’s not exactly Catholic doctrine,” Warren contended. “People say, ‘What are the saints all about? Why are you praying to the saints?’ And when you understand what they mean by what they’re saying, there’s a whole lot more commonality [that we have with Roman Catholics].”

“There’s still real differences—no doubt about that,” Warren stated. “But the most important thing is, if you love Jesus, we’re on the same team.”

He closed by speaking of his belief that Christians and Catholics serve as co-laborers for the cause of defending life and family.

“When it comes to the family, we are co-workers in the field in this for the protection of the sanctity of life, the sanctity of sex and the sanctity of marriage,” Warren said. “So, there’s a great commonality and there’s no division on any of those three.”

But Warren’s comments have raised concern from Christian leaders nationwide, who are now calling the Saddleback leader to repentance. Matt Slick of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) repudiated each of Warren’s points.

“Sure, there are Catholics who love the real Christ, the one who died on the cross for our sins. That is not the problem,” he said. “The problem is the Roman Catholic Church’s false teachings concerning Mary and salvation.”

“Rick Warren says both the Catholics and the Protestants believe in the Bible. But, there is a significant difference between the Bible of the Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church, which has added seven books,” Slick wrote. “[T]here are numerous problems in the apocryphal books, such as the teaching of salvation by works [and] the offering of money for the sins of the dead.”

“Warren implies that both Protestants and Catholics have the same view of salvation,” he continued. “Though it’s technically correct to say that Catholics believe in salvation through Jesus Christ, they reject justification by faith alone in Christ alone. Instead, it teaches that good works of various kinds are necessary for salvation.”

The Christian apologist then pointed to several Roman Catholic teachings on Mary, mainly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), such as that Mary “by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation” and that “[b]y asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the ‘Mother of Mercy,’ the All-Holy One.”

“Rick Warren has not only failed to recognize the problems in these serious areas, but he has lent his credibility as a Protestant pastor in support of the Roman Catholic Church,” Slick wrote. “This should never be done by any Protestant pastor who takes the Bible seriously. I must conclude that Mr. Warren does not take the word of God seriously and/or he does not understand the damnable teachings of Roman Catholicism regarding salvation.”

“Rick Warren needs to repent,” he said.

Source: By Heather Clark, Rick Warren’s Call for Christians to Unite With Catholics, ‘Holy Father’ Raising Concerns, Christian News, http://christiannews.net/2014/12/02/rick-warrens-call-for-christians-to-unite-with-catholics-holy-father-raising-concerns/, Published 02/12//2014. (Accessed 10/12/2014.)

The Hillsong “church” movement has been an embarrassment to the face of Christianity for decades. It becomes tirseome hearing both Christians and non-Christians label the Hillsong movement a cult, claiming “the church just wants your money”. It is not uncommon to hear from ex-members or average street person the idea that Hillsong is controlling and brainwashes it’s member. They have often expressed their comments after witnessing either a family member, friend or loved one be directly effected by the Hillsong doctrine, environment or it’s charismatic leaders.

Here is just another person’s conclusion, explaining why they believe Hillsong is a cult. Once again it appears that Hillsong are failing to convince the world that they are genuine Christianity. The question is, why can’t Christians or Christian leaders see Hillsong for what it is? Why are Christian leaders tolerating this dangerous movement and allowing this movement to cause continual damage to Christians and communities worldwide?

The Hillsong Church Cult

Hillsong Service in London

While paying a friend a visit in London, I came along the so-called “Hillsong Church” to one of their regular services at the Dominion Theatre. Though I don’t believe in the supernatural, I thought it to be a good idea to please the person who invited me. However, I was not ready for what awaited me beyond the door of the big musical theatre, as it closed behind me and behind hundreds of others. To make a long story short: I think this “church” is more like a cult and may be extremely dangerous for simple-minded people.

Service, Concert or Brainwashing deluxe? – source: wikipedia

The hall was pitch black when suddenly the lights and a projector with lyrics went on and 12 people came on stage and sang for about 20 minutes. They sang songs like “Arms Open Wide“, with passages like: “My whole life is Yours, I give it all, surrendered to Your name and forever I will pray. “It was more like a concert than aservice, and everybody stood up and cheered. You get the idea if you have a look at the image above. Until this point I was shocked because of the whole topic and the message which the lyrics transported but it was OK. The real shock awaited me after that.

The Hillsong Church Cult has its own Steve Jobs

Some guy who looked a bit like a plump version of Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs entered the stage and told the thrilled audience of his visions and that everything positive that happened in their lives was the will of God. It was rhetorically impressive because he used the word “imagine” at the beginning of every sentence he spoke and a piano and an electric guitar were playing silently in the background to give his speech even more power. “Imagine we could fill the O2 arena next year. Imagine every one of us (Hillsong members) could get five more people into Hillsong. Imagine we would visit the schools and talk to the children…” At that moment I really became angry. They want to go to the schools and to teach their opinions to helpless children? I hope this is not permitted by the law and hopefully I will have the chance to send my children to a school where they only have education in ethics and philosophy rather than religion.

It was a hard time for me up this point because every time the audience was urged to stand up and pray, I sat down. This sounds easier than it actually is because if hundreds of people are standing and you are the only one in the crowd who doesn’t follow the rest of the group, it is an unpleasant feeling to say the least. Then after a prayer the collection bags were handed out. I even saw some people who gave away their credit card number and the permission for a certain amount of money to be withdrawn from the bank.

A regular weekly Hillsong Church service in Sydney – source: harmelings.com

The Hillsong Church Cult is not charity

After that, I started to take pictures and a video in order to have proof of what I had seen and experienced. After the “service”, many people asked me what I thought about the event. At first I tried to avoid unpleasant questions with answers like “It was interesting but I don’t believe in things like that.” Later we went to a pub where we were met up with some guys from the Hillsong Church and some people who only were visitors like myself.

After a few glasses of Guinness I had to ask: “Where is the difference between Hillsong, Jehovas Witnesses and Scientology and Christianity in general? Haven’t you watched movies about indoctrination? ” The answer was that “Hillsong does help the poor in the third world and that the money is used to make services like the one I saw possible and to get more and more people even closer to the love of Jesus and God”. In my opinion this is also true for the Jehovas Witnesses. They claim to support the third world with their moneyand everyone knows that they collect money from their members to make their church bigger and even more powerful in order to “save” people. In fact, there is no real difference when it comes to the concept of a sect or cult.

This Hillsong Church is a huge empire with over 21.000 members worldwide and is criticized from many different directions including the media and politicians. Their methods are similar and other groups like TEN SING are even more popular here in Germany and may be considered equally dangerous. As far as I know at least they do not try to collect money.

I am an atheist and believe in nothing but the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge which is, in my opinion, the task of science. For me, religion is the cessation of thinking. I wrote a quite complete article in german language called Forschen VS Glauben (engl. research vs. faith) and made the “steep thesis” (ger. steile These ;-) ) that everyone who visited a university should be clever enough to not believe in mystic tales like the creation myth or the concept of god. Before I went to the Hillsong service, I thought that things like that exist only in music videos like Genesis – Jesus he knows me.

What bothers me the most is that I had not founded a cult by myself. I mean, it should be easy to get some followers and to make people believe in something like the Flying Spaghetti Monster with simple answers to the complex questions of life. Everything good that is happing to my church members would be because of healthly living and everything bad comes from the Spaghetti Monster. Piece of cake. But to be honest I would be satisfied if busses like this would be driving around more often.

Last but not least I would like to thank Liron. She was so kind to help me out with grammar and spellchecking!

Source: Geschrieben von Marc Tönsing, The Hillsong Church Cult, MarcTV, http://marctv.de/blog/the-hillsong-church-cult/, 06/07/2009. (Accessed 10/12/2014.)

If you want to want to research what a cult is, you might like to read our article here:

Media and communities expressing concern that Hillsong is a cult (Part 1)

RELATED ARTICLES

Denton Interviews Levins On Hillsong: “I was detoxed from toxic Christianity”

“I was a Christless, creedless, and clueless Christian in Hillsong”: A testimony of God’s grace.

Brian Houston calls Christian pastors “intellectual pride-filled Pharisees” & “evil people”

Faith fights, snake bites and a Hillsonger’s insights

HILLSONG’S FALSE INCLUSIVE GOSPEL

Hillsong has continually downplayed and rejected the Christian gospel and the need for repentance. The work of Cameron Buettel has continually exposed Hillsong’s continual lack of preaching the gospel of repentance.

As a result of this, we have noticed how Brian Houston has vehemently been grooming his church to be ecumenical and embrace different beliefs, ideas and forms of false “Christianity”.

Three things Brian Houston has been specifically pushing in Hillsong is Chrislam, (what we call) Queerstianity and pagan Roman Catholicism. In this article we will be looking at the definitions Brian Houston has provided so we can understand what he means by “Muslim” and “homosexual”. While Brian Houston is deliberately vague, he has provided us with just enough substance for us to see how his mind sees certain groups of individuals. In fact, he has created enough imagery for his audiences so he can conjure certain stereotypes in their minds.

ACCORDING TO BRIAN: MUSLIM = “MUSLIM EXTREMIST”

Earlier this year, we exposed Brian Houston gas-lighting his audience to believe that Muslims and Christians serve/worship the same God. We pointed out the fact that Brian Houston was promoting the false liberal “inclusive” gospel and was pushing the idea that Christians can embrace Muslims as our Christian brothers and sisters (Chrislam).

Brian Houston’s Allah “clarification” exposed the fact that he has no problem deliberately misleading Christians around the world over the things he believes. Furthermore, in his statement he claims,

“If you listened to the message in its entirety, my point was that; who a Muslim extremist believes God is, determines what they believe God does, and what they believe God loves.” [Source] [Emphasis ours]

In Brian Houston’s Allah clarification he linked Muslim to “Muslim extremist”. In other words Houston appears to link Muslims to Muslim terrorists. However, in his sermon there was no such link made. In his sermon, he only referred to Muslims once. In his well though-out clarification to the media why did Brian Houston link Muslims to extremists?

What does the word “extremist” normally conjure? What was Brian Houston hoping to achieve in this?

ACCORDING TO BRIAN: HOMOSEXUAL = “CONFUSED IN THEIR SEXUALITY”

This year we also published a series of articles exposing Brian Houston grooming his church to embrace what we call Queerstianity.

The Anthony Venn-Brown, John Shelby Spong and Ben Gresham connection have effectively been pushing the same-sex agenda behind the pulpit of Hillsong. As a result, Brian Houston and Hillsong are furthering the gay agenda.

Recently Brian Houston and his church hit American headlines over Houston’s remarks over same sex issues in America. As a result of Houston’s controversial statements, it appeared that some journalists, bloggers and apologists were digging through our articles and started reviewing the Houston/Gresham connection.

Certain individuals reviewed Brian Houston’s sermon “Scandal of Grace”. In this sermon, Houston said the following:

“Well it’s the weight when a young person growing up in a church feels like they are confused in their sexuality. They feel like “maybe I’m gay” and they go to a youth leader and they are rejected.” [Source]

So according to Brian Houston, someone who thinks they are gay is “confused in their sexuality“. In other words Houston thinks a homosexual can be someone with sexual identity problems.

Don’t think that this information is not important. It is. These insights into Houston’s mind are helpful for us considering his very controversial God-given vision for Hillsong at the beginning of this year for 2014 and the way Hillsong has progressed this year.

1-2-3-4- HOUSTON STARTS THE TWITTER WAR

It’s interesting to see that people becoming more aware of Brian Houston’s social media campaign to further his ‘cult of personality’ and Hillsong. We were notified of this twitter exchange via Facebook and thought it gave an interesting insight into just how Brian Houston handles those he claims to care so much about.

Hillsong & Brian Houston Exposed

His online antics are hardly representative of pastoral behavior, to say the least. We encourage Christians, and non-Christians, to continue to challenge Brian Houston on social media and express your ongoing concerns to him.

5-6-7-8- WILL HIS TWEETS EVAPORATE?

How should Brian have responded be towards the author of the tweets?

It’s easy to see that Brian Houston was not dealing with a Christian critic but the world he claims to strive to win. Is this the appropriate way to reach out to the lost?

@hillongLA and @BrianCHouston are both horseshit for the truly deluded. RT @BreedSkool @BrianCHouston @hillsongLA @selenagomez

Source: Meghan Wilkes, Twitter, https://twitter.com/80BPMs/status/544636043228499968, 3:32 PM – 15 Dec 2014. (Accessed 17/12/2014.)

Be sure to check for yourself before ‘authentic and genuine’ Brian Houston’s response to Meghan mysteriously disappears (as is so often the case).

Recommendation: Before Brian Houston/Hillsong removes this controversial sermon from the internet; once again defames his critics for taking him out of context and uses his authority to remove/sensor his own material, please watch the full sermon at the end of this article. Then, click below to read an article that examines what Brian Houston actually said and how to realistically interpret his words.

Brian Houston’s controversial concepts on Muslims & Homosexuals

In this article, a segment of Brian Houston’s controversial “God-given Vision” for 2014 will be reviewed. We will then do a very quick overview of how Brian Houston and Hillsong have progressed toward achieving this vision throughout the course of 2014. Lastly, we will publish Chris Rosebrough’s critique as well as the transcript of the video below. We will personally review this sermon in articles to come.

DID BRIAN HOUSTON ACHIEVE HIS GOD-GIVEN VISION FOR 2014?

For people to understand how controlling Hillsong is, it is important to understand what it means when a “pastor” casts “vision” over their movement. It is important to note that Hillsong supporters see the vision Brian Houston casts is a vision supposedly given to him by God.

“Hillsong Church has a great vision that was given by God. This vision is inspiring a lot of people and churches all around the world. Thank you for this great work. I’m watching from Sao Paulo, Brazil. God bless you all. ;)”
Source: Eduardo Godoi, Vision Sunday 2014, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPnikhaDwDw&google_comment_id=z13vd1mgcsibi5y5x04cddnixpy2vjjhusg0k, Published 10 months ago. (Accessed 16/12/2014.)

This means, Brian Houston is considered a prophet of God. To question the vision of the prophet is to question God Himself. Paul Nevison (a member “of the creative team at Hillsong Church for over 14 years, first in London and now in Sydney, Australia with the Hillsong Film & Television team“), states,

“At the start of every year, we have what’s called Vision Sunday. It’s always a highlight for our church, as Brian and Bobbie cast the vision for the coming year.”
Source: By Paul Nevison, PIONEER AGAIN: Behind Our Vision Presentation, Hillsong, http://hillsong.com/blogs/collected/2014/march/pioneer-again-behind-our-vision-presentation, Published 05/03/2014. (Accessed 07/09/2014.)

This above quote is taken from a Hillsong article that promotes Houston’s controversial 2014 Vision. In this video it appears Brian Houston wants his church to accept his God-given vision/idea that unrepentant occultists, “minority groups” and terrorists should be embraced by Hillsong church.

We encourage you to carefully watch Brian Houston’s body language in this controversial video snippet. (Note: This was the video we uploaded earlier this year that caused Hillsong to launch an official complaint to YouTube which resulted in our account shut down.)

 This video is up for ‘research or study, criticism or review’ and ‘reporting of news’ under ‘Fair Dealing’ under Australian Law. This video is up for high public and international interest.

Considering this “God-given” vision was cast at the beginning of this year, it is worth quickly reviewing Brian Houston’s agenda to see if his “New Grace” vision panned out.

Occultism
Not only does Brian Houston push his occultic Word of Faith Doctrine, this year Brian Houston has promoted and encouraged Christians to embrace the gnostic, neo-pagan film, ‘Noah’ by Darren Aronofsky. There was a bit of backlash against leaders who promoted this film.

Gnostic Brian Houston (Part 1) What ‘Ps’ Brian Endorses Dr Brian shames

We will be producing further articles examining Hillsong pushing occultism in their movement.

Queerstianity
Through our Hillsong Queerstianity coverage, Brian Houston and Carl Lentz received Christian backlash in America over their remarks on same sex issues, and rightly so.

The truth is, although Hillsong is blatantly grooming Christianity to embrace Queerstianity, Brian Houston has decided to pull out his sheep skin to hide his agenda before the Christian media. He stated,

“My personal view on the subject of homosexuality would line up with most traditionally held Christian views. I believe the writings of Paul are clear on this subject.”[Source]

After watching the above vision, which Brian Houston do you believe?

Chrislam
Brian Houston earlier this year also allowed Hillsong TV to produce one of his messages where he claims that Christians and Muslims serve/worship the same God. When caught, he did not repent but deceitfully mislead his readers into believing that he was maligned by critics and that he didn’t mean what he said.

“Pull the Allah one, Brian” (Part 2)

Hillsong’s “New Grace” agenda
What makes the above footage even more disturbing is the fact that Brian Houston challenges his congregation with these unrepentant men by asking them, “How’s that for an encouraging front row in church?”

It is important to consider this challenging concept. Who sits on the front row of Hillsong Church? Do visitors? Members? Or do we usually see leaders sit in the front row of Hillsong?

If people still honestly think that Brian Houston is not pushing his own “new grace” agenda, can someone please explain his eight second innuendo in the above snippet. (*nudge-nudge, wink-wink* Is that what it looks like to you?)

What Christian minister does that? What is this? What is Brian Houston pushing?

CHRIS ROSEBROUGH’S REVIEW

Thankfully, Chris Rosebrough has weighed in to review Brian Houston’s “vision”. Listen below to Chris Rosebrough’s critique on the above controversial vision segment of Brian Houston.

DECEMBER 15, 2014

The Pioneer Spirit?

Click Here to Download this episode

Program segments:
• David Herzog Teaches How to Walk Into Your Future
• Creflo Dollar’s Dream About Miles Munroe
• Miles Munroe’s Interview With Benny Hinn
• Brian Houston on the Pioneer Spirit
• Sermon Review: A Peace of Christmas – Joseph by Paul Richardson of West Ridge Church

Source: Chris Rosebrough, The Pioneer Spirit?, Fighting for the Faith, http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2014/12/the-pioneer-spirit.html, Published 15/12/2014. (Accessed 16/12/2014.)

TRANSCRIPT

“Second thing, is a pioneer reaches the unreachable and includes the excluded. I LOVE THIS THOUGHT! Think about this: the first three individuals, when the gospel goes beyond Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria and then ultimately to the uttermost parts of the end- the first three individual con- uh converts that are mentioned. In other words, new believers.

The first one is a wizard. His name’s Simon who confounded the people with magic tricks. They were astonished with his magic. He’s a sorcerer. A wizard.

The second one, (later in Acts chapter eight), is an Ethiopian eunuch. Putting it bluntly, he was castrated. Which I guess made him a part of a minority group. [8 second pause, looking to see if people understood what he was implying].

The third one was a terrorist. [Laughter] His name was Saul in Acts chapter nine. The bible literally describes Saul as breathing threats and slaughter against Christians. And not only that, he was described as being f- in full agreement with Steven being put to death.

How’s that for an encouraging front row in church? The first three, what have you got?

You’ve got a guy who’s still got his tarot cards in one hand and his astrology charts in the other hands. You’ve got a guy with real sexual identity problems; he’s not sure who he is. He’s not sure who he is. And then you’ve got a third person who’s a terrorist! That’s pretty encouraging for the worship team when they look down. I love the fact that maybe, not terrorists, but I love the fact that still our church is church for whosoever will to the Lord may come, should never be built on superstars necessarily or people who’ve got it all together. It’s rarely reached people at all walks of life: the down and out, the up and out, everything in between. And I pray we always be that kind of church. And a pioneering spirit keeps that kind of spirit happening in the church.

Third thing about a pioneering spirit is a pioneer sings a song that is music to the uninitiated but sounding brass to the establishment, in other words stepping forward into new ground, not everyone who represents the statuesque  or the establishment gets excited about the new thing that God is doing.

In the bible you can see that the uninitiated, those who have just been literally connected to Jesus, there was great joy in the setting. Acts chapter 8, verse 7, there was great joy in the city the bible says, its verse 8 I think.

Great joy, but not everyone thought that way. Couple of chapters before in Acts chapter 6, God was doing an amazing thing, the church was multiplying. They were having quickly to keep up with all that God was doing and so there was a little bit of reorganising the way things could be done so the Apostles could keep in the Word and keep in prayer. And in the middle of that it describes Stephen, Stephen is described as being full of faith.

Listen to it, it’s in Acts chapter 6, verse 8, it says, “Stephen full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people”. And then it says there arose some from what is called, (it’s important you think about this)- they were from what? – the Synagogue of the Freed Man. Tells us where those people were from, so Alexandrians etc, who were disputing with Stephen.

In other words they were angry about the new grace, about what God was doing.

And who are they? They were the Synagogue of the Freed Man, literally former slaves who had come into new found freedom and had encountered a grace for themselves and yet were opposed to the new thing that God has done.

Often with the spirit of a pioneer you start taking new ground, you start occupying all streets- and it’s incredible how often- it’s not the people out there in the world that get upset about what Gods doing, in fact they’ve got a heart that’s open to it. It’s often people who experience grace themselves, who have known the freedom of Jesus Christ themselves and yet when grace goes into something new, God begins a new thing, it’s amazing how they are the people that are quite often the blindest and the ones that find it the most difficult to see.

Music to the ears of the uninitiated sounding brass, sometimes to the statuesque. I don’t what to be one who has encountered the grace of Jesus myself and misses out when God begins to do new things. I want to keep that pioneer again spirit, so I stay on the edge. I was pioneering when I was 25, 26, 29 years of age and I’m almost 60 and I want to keep looking forward and I want to keep the same pioneering spirit today. Because once a pioneer, always a pioneer.”

Source: Published by Hillsong Church, Brian Houston, Vision Sunday 2014, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPnikhaDwDw, Published 02/02/2014. (Accessed 05/09/2014.)

Here is the full sermon:

The above unedited January 2014 vision sermon was replayed and streamed online across the world at Hillsong Conference 2014. However, it was not not surprising that Hillsong TV edited out most of the controversial segments and published their edited sermon on their Hillsong TV YouTube channel.

His edited sermon can be seen below on YouTube.

Hillsong TV // The Spirit Of A Pioneer, Pt1 with Brian Houston

Published on Apr 13, 2014

Published: Hillsong TV

A pioneer is a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening up for occupation and development by others. In this message, Pastor Brian Houston shares the Vision for Hillsong Church, urging the Church to pioneer again.

For more information about Hillsong TV with Brian Houston follow us on Twitter, Facebook and our Website – https://twitter.com/Hillsongtv |http://www.facebook.com/hillsongtelev… | http://hillsong.com/tv

Hillsong TV // The Spirit Of A Pioneer, Pt2 with Brian Houston

Published on Apr 20, 2014

Published: Hillsong TV

A pioneer is a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening up for occupation and development by others. In this message, Pastor Brian Houston shares the Vision for Hillsong Church, urging the Church to pioneer again.

For more information about Hillsong TV with Brian Houston follow us on Twitter, Facebook and our Website – https://twitter.com/Hillsongtv |http://www.facebook.com/hillsongtv | http://hillsong.com/tv

The Australian reports,

Senior counsel calls for Hillsong founder to be referred to police

HILLSONG Church founder Brian Houston should be referred to police for investigation after he failed to report child sexual abuse carried out by his father, the royal commission’s senior counsel has found.

Simeon Beckett, counsel assisting the Royal Commission into ­Institutional ­Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, also found Brian Houston — who was national president of the Pentecostal church umbrella organisation ­Assemblies of God when he heard about the abuse — had a “conflict of interest” and never told police about his father Frank Houston’s abuse of a boy from the age of seven in 1970. He first found out about the abuse in 1999.

His submission says that Frank Houston admitted the abuse to his son and this confession could have been used to secure a conviction had Brian Houston ­informed police. “As that information may relate to contravention of a law … it is submitted it is appropriate to refer Pastor Brian Houston’s conduct to the NSW Police Commissioner,” it says.

The commission heard evidence that Frank Houston abused several children in Australia and New Zealand in the 1960s and 70s while at the Assemblies of God, ­before Hillsong existed.

The account of the boy was first made to other church pastors in 1998 and Frank Houston ­offered the victim $10,000, the commission heard. Months later, when the money did not arrive, the victim phoned Brian Houston, who was also a senior pastor at the Hills Christian Life Centre. The commission heard Brian Houston responded: “Yes, OK, I’ll get the money to you … You know, it’s your fault all this happened. You tempted my father.” Brian Houston denied the ­exchange.

Mr Beckett said in his submission to the inquiry, released yesterday, that the Assemblies of God did not follow its complaint procedure between November 1998 and December 1999. Under Brian Houston it ­abrogated this duty by “not interviewing the complainant to determine the precise nature of the allegations (and) not documenting any … steps it took”.

“In 1999 the Assemblies of God set aside its own policy for handling allegations against ministers, and ignored Pastor Brian Houston’s conflict of interest in order to permit Pastor Brian Houston to handle the allegations of child sexual abuse against his father,” the submission says. “In 1999 and 2000 (he) and the national executive of the Assemblies of God did not refer the allegations of child sexual abuse against Frank Houston to the police.”

Mr Beckett also found the ­Assemblies of God offered Frank Houston a chance to return to his ministry, despite the allegations and the fact this was against policy.

Frank Houston, who has since died, was allowed to resign and was ­offered a financial ­“retirement package”. His son was present in the boardroom of the Hillsong Church — merged with Frank Houston’s Sydney Christian Life Centre — when the resignation letter was tabled, the commission heard. In a submission on behalf of Brian Houston, Hillsong lawyer Mark Higgins said there was a “preponderance of evidence that (he) had a reasonable excuse for not reporting (the) allegation or Frank Houston’s confession to the police”. The content of the findings were not disputed, however.

Source: By Rick Morton || Dan Box, Senior counsel calls for Hillsong founder to be referred to police, The Australian, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/senior-counsel-calls-for-hillsong-founder-to-be-referred-to-police/story-fngburq5-1227162370779, Published 20/12/2014. (Accessed 12:00AM).

While families and workers grieved over their deceased in the siege in Sydney’s Martin Place, Hillsong’s Bobbie Houston promoted the latest and tasteless # fad.

Even in the wake of this week’s death and trauma, there are deliberate attempts in public debate to ignore the jihadist flag, terrorist modus operandi, video demands on behalf of Islamic State and anti-West grievances.

The ABC managed to run an online profile piece entitled “Who was Man Haron Monis, the man behind the Sydney siege?” without including the words Muslim or Islam and mentioning terrorism only in a quote from Monis’s lawyer stressing the gunman had no links to organised groups.

On Twitter, ABC host Rebecca Huntley and former ABC host Monica Attard were eschewing the terrorist descriptor and focusing on mental health issues.

Others on television were looking for legal, domestic and mental health explanations — anything but jihad.

Yet it is precisely this sort of solo attack that has been foreshadowed by security agencies and has been exhorted by terrorist groups.

Former ASIO chief David Irvine warned about the risk of homegrown “lone wolf” attacks as far back as 2012.

“That is the issue that I think keeps both me and my international colleagues awake at night,” he said.

While 17 blameless citizens endured hours of unspeakable terror that the nation hoped — en masse and in vain — would be resolved safely, a misguided social media campaign highlighted our national incomprehension of Islamist terror.

It proclaimed solidarity with Muslims who might feel uneasy travelling on public transport, through a Twitter hashtag of #Iwillridewithyou. Nice thought. Except it was an empty response to an imaginary problem.

And in the real world, at that time, innocent lives were in the balance.

This was political correctness on steroids as people distanced themselves from a possible Islamophobic backlash to an act of Islamist violence still unfolding.

We understand the lurch for an empathetic embrace but it ignored and demeaned the harsh reality.

No doubt across the nation most people would have been preoccupied with the fate of the host­ages. But while social media is self-selecting and introspective, it also plays strongly into mainstream media.

So we saw a grotesque turning away from the horrific plight of innocent people in real peril to focus on empathy for Muslims in our midst who faced no threat.

Some participants, such as ABC presenter Virginia Trioli, argue that #Iwillridewithyou was one “bright spot” on a dark day, demonstrating our shared humanity.

And what could be wrong with a little love on such a trying day?

Priorities might be a good place to start. The Martin Place siege was a callous and life-threatening episode, and focusing on possible future personal abuse on public transport seemed a trite miscalculation. There would be time enough to deal with consequences — afterwards.

And the suggestion that mainstream Australians would indulge in an Islamophobic backlash smacked of leftist self-loathing — with the awful implication that the heinous actions of a gunman were somehow linked to our ­bigotry.

Worse still, this melds into the narrative of Muslim victimhood. Islamist terrorists rely on such grievances; the woes of the Muslim world are blamed on the West and violence justified as a response to persecution (even when the ultimate aim is Islamic supremacy through a caliphate).

In this respect (and clearly not deliberately) a social media campaign aimed at harmony echoed the Muslim victimhood claims being made in Martin Place.

In a security and ideological struggle set to last many decades, such arguments matter.

When extremists target us because of our values, we ought to stand up for them rather than demean ourselves.

In this country, Muslims are not victims.

By and large, our fellow citizens are inclusive and tolerant.

And while, sadly, every society sees individuals and incidents of prejudice, few nations can match our plurality and harmony.

We saw this unfold in Melbourne yesterday when a Muslim woman was heckled on a train but, of course, was defended by her fellow Australians.

No hashtag required.

We should talk up our robust tolerance, not undermine it.

Our multicultural success should be one of our key strengths as we deal with extremism, not something to be attacked so we can display superior virtue.

We shouldn’t forget that our Muslim population of about 500,000 exists because immigrants strive to enjoy our freedom and tolerance.

Perversely, this same liberal pluralism offends the Islamist extremists and makes us their target.

So, if we are looking for a unity ticket, it is obvious.

The politically moderate Muslim community — the overwhelming majority — and Australia’s non-Muslim community have a shared enemy and are exposed to the same threat.

We need continued and intensified co-operation to combat Islamist extremism — this is our common project.

Prominent Lebanese community leader Jamal Rifi notes the absence of a Muslim victimisation this week: “There is nothing whatsoever, the community has felt no backlash.”

Importantly, as someone involved in community liaison with governments after 9/11 and the Bali bombings, Rifi says there has never been any backlash to speak of, just “isolated incidents”, as he puts it.

At Sydney’s Lakemba Mosque on Monday night, a rabbi addressed the crowd, reading from the Torah, as prayers were offered for the Martin Place hostages.

“This was unprecedented,” Rifi says.

“And the rabbi was listened to, he wasn’t heckled.”

At Martin Place, Australians of all races and creeds placed flowers yesterday.

This is the real Australia, and Islamist extremists are its enemy.

Some seem to think the terrorists will ignore us if we ignore them; but denying the problem will not make it go away.

Source: By Chris Kenny, Hashtag for an imaginary backlash, The Australian, http://m.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/hashtag-for-an-imaginary-backlash/story-fn8qlm5e-1227158594514?nk=b6b5b9093dda89c3c6e9413e7e1e11a0%3Fsv%3Dbb30706598bd5608c994cea32718a676, Published 17/12/2014, 12:00AM. (Accessed 19/12/2014.)

The ‘Poor Richard’s News’ writes,

Source: Surprise! Woman who started viral “I’ll ride with you” story admits it was a complete fake, Poor Richard’s News, http://poorrichardsnews.com/post/105612206913/surprise-woman-who-started-viral-ill-ride-with, Published 19/12/2014. (Accessed 22/12/2014.)

Hear the absurd logic of Rachael Jacobs:

“I’m also a teacher and lecturer and have a responsibility to represent my profession and institution. At a time of heightened emotions, a misplaced word or phrase could cause offence, requiring numerous explanations and reassurances.“

Jacobs states that “At a time of heightened emotions, a misplaced word or phrase could cause offence”. Nevertheless, to falsify an account to start a fad is apparently alright. (Is this the way a “teacher and lecturer” represents their “profession and institution” these days)

The “real story of inspiration”was false. That’s okay, Jacobs appears to think it is alright to mislead, “thousands to publicly and loudly stand up for a decent and humane world,” while lacking in any humane integrity to begin with.

Since when was dishonesty “humane”? The falsified account has captured people’s false ideology of producing a false utopia.

We’ve seen in history what happens when the church rides with popular culture and says nothing with this kind of dangerous thinking. We’ve seen in history what happens when the people are governed by emotion, lies and a mob mentality.

We have seen what happens when the culture is driven to obtain an idealistic utopia above all else. Our culture is changing and the undiscerning leaders of Hillsong are leading the churches of Australia into it’s depravity in the names of “relevance”. Oh- and Jesus too.

INTRODUCTION

What we have exposed again and again is that Brian Houston will happily preach any other gospel except the Christian gospel. Below is Brian Houston’s so-called “Christmas message” for 2014. While most ministers use this opportunity to actually preach a Christian message about the gospel, Brian Houston will preach his opinion on what he believes the gospel of Jesus is about.

You are not going to hear Christianity. You are not going to hear the gospel. You are not going to hear about the Christian Jesus. You will not hear what Jesus accomplished here on earth. You are going to hear a spineless, social/political message by Brian Houston that only expands the popularity of his secular franchise. This is the message of a coward and a thief who has bent the knee to a secular Caesar and not to Jesus Christ. Christians should feel robbed by this pulpit grinch, stealing Christian gospel and replacing it with a message you would expect from a beauty pageant winner.

Their are a few points in the below sermon that should cause Christians to think twice about Brian Houston’s “pastoral” credibility.

It is clear that Brian Houston is deceiving his followers in to believing that:

1. Luke 2:14 is the “simple” gospel of Jesus, when in fact it is the song of the angels.
2. His own opinion is greater that what the bible plainly teaches. 

We shall look at these claims more closely.

ANGELS JESUS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH?

Houston made the following liberal (and homosexually inclusive) claim,

“In a world where status, background, sexuality, political persuasion or what side of the tracks you are from can cause so much conflict and strife, Jesus came with a very simple message: one of peace on earth and a good will to all men.” 11:57

What do the gospels say Jesus’ “simple message” is?

“I must preach the good news [gospel] of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” Luke 4:43 

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John giving us general examples of what Jesus’ “good news” was about:

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matt 4:17

Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:14-15

Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ Luke 10:9

Is this gospel of Jesus inclusive as Brian Houston claims? Jesus declared to the Jews,

“… for unless you believe that I Am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24

Jesus’ message is simple and highly exclusive while Brian Houston deliberately deceived people into thinking this “inclusive Jesus” message was the same as the angels song. It isn’t. In fact, Jesus says something that opposes Brian Houston’s beauty pageant gospel:

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34

This was no mistake. This was a deliberate attack on the Christian gospel so Brian Houston could ride on current popularity and political trends to be noticed by the world. It is not right for Brian Houston to lie so blatantly in the name of Jesus.

AN OPINION MORE WORTHY THAN WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

At 9:16, Brian Houston states,

“We can ease so easily exclude. We can take the things of God and try to make them small which was never, (I believe), the heart of the gospel that was born that day.

The message of Jesus Christ, our Lord our Saviour- never ever was it determined to shrink or make small. Interestingly when it talks about goodwill to men- other translations, it says, “Men whom God favours”. Or in the Revised Standard Version it describes it as, “Men with whom He is pleased”. So you could easily still get the idea this is for some men. This is for some people. But I believe the gospel is for all people.”

While it is true the gospel is to be preached to “all people”, not all people will receive this exclusive message from an exclusive Jesus. Nevertheless, did you observe the deception Houston pulled in the above quote?

Brian Houston concluded from reading two different biblical translations on Luke 2:14 that, “you could easily still get the idea this is for some men. This is for some people”. But that is not good enough for Brian Houston.

Instead of accepting what the bible plainly says, Houston elevated his own opinion above God’s Word. Watch him do it again:

Or in the Revised Standard Version it describes it as, “Men with whom He is pleased”. So you could easily still get the idea this is for some men. This is for some people. But I believe the gospel is for all people.“

Nope. The bible does actually say the angels sing “Men whom God favours” or “Men with whom He is pleased”. It does not teach “Peace and good will on earth to all people”. That is a lie made up by Brian Houston. Members of Hillsong should be ashamed of this utter embarrassment of a gospel message for Christmas 2014.

PULPIT GRINCH EXPOSED

This gospel presentation was so bad, even Chris Rosebrough from Fighting for the Faith sniffed Brian Houston’s liberal agenda:

Perry Noble Drops The N-Word

Source: Chris Rosebrough, Perry Noble Drops The N-Word, Fighting for the Faith, http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2014/12/perry-noble-drops-the-n-word.html, 30/12/2014. (Accessed 03/01/2014.)

If you were robbed the gospel by a pulpit grinch like Brian Houston this Christmas, we pray you enjoy this wonderful sermon by Phil Johnson.

The Real Meaning of Christmas (Phil Johnson)
Galatians 4:4-5   |   Sunday, December 07, 2014   |   Code: 2014-12-07-PJ

Listen
Download

Source: By Phil Johnson, The Real Meaning of Christmas (Phil Johnson), The Grace Life Pulpit, http://www.thegracelifepulpit.com/Sermons.aspx?code=2014-12-07-PJ, 07/12/2014.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Brian Houston recently revealed just how badly the Good Weekend affected him with their article, ‘The lord’s profits‘. Right after the Royal Commission in October, Brian Houston stated in his sermon that Sunday that the below article was written in 1994.

Later in another sermon on the same topic, he stated it was written in 2002. He links the article being written in these times because he says that his church finally grew to a noticeable size, therefore he received media criticism.

This is not true. ‘The lord’s profits’ was published in January 2003.

Before reading the article, see his response to the article in the video (or read the transcript underneath):

“Don’t let anyone put shame on you. Way back in 2002, this building where I’m standing right now was brand new. And there’s something about us getting this stake in the ground that put Hillsong above the radar. We were known because of our worship all around the world. But in secular Australia, we were well and truly under the surface. My next door neighbour’s probably didn’t know we existed.

And then suddenly we came up above the surface. And I’ll never forget it because [shifts uncomfortably] at that time, what was apparently the largest read publication in Australia was the magazine in the middle of the newspaper. And one particular Saturday, that magazine come out and the whole front cover was a full length picture of Bobbie and I. And it said, ‘The lord’s profits’. But it wasn’t spelt P-R-O-P-H-E-T-S. They- kind of got the spelling wrong.

And uh- I remember feeling so- ashamed. So embarrassed because we were in Bondi that Saturday morning and if you know anything about Bondi, it’s the beach. There’s the cafes. Everyone’s out. Alfresco dining on the- on the pavements. And so what everyone reads the same Saturday paper. A long slow Saturday morning everyone’s reading the Saturday paper and everywhere I went I was thinking- c- I could see- see the- see I was there. I could see us there. And I could see us there.

I remember walking along feeling so humiliated, so embarrassed. The article was several pages. It was a misrepresentation. It was a nasty article. Completely misrepresented our motives and so on.

And I just remembered- I’ll never forget that feeling. And so ultimately though we went into a cafe ourselves to get breakfast. And we’ve been in there lots of times. And the waiter- I asked for an orange juice. And he comes out and he brings me this orange juice like you’ve never seen. Instead of just a normal orange juice, he had all this garnishing and decoration on the top and all the beautiful things on it. Different fruit around it and all these other things. I’ll never forget it- and he just looked at me and said, “You’re a good guy”.

And he spoke into my soul. It’s amazing what God can use. Everyone else around the place reading their papers going [Houston imitates readers pointing at Houston and examining picture in paper].

I was back in Bondi yesterday. I refused to allow shame to rule me. [Applause] I refused to allow shame to be put on me. I walked down the street, walked along the beach. I was meditating on my message today. And that’s where I love to do that so- I just walked along looking straight ahead not feeling arrogant. But refusing to allow someone else’s sin to become my shame. [Applause]

Source: Hillsong Church, Hillsong Church – 12 October 2014, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq7M0JWw9dc, 42:47-46:34, Published 11/10/2014. (Accessed 25/11/2014.)

In due time, we will look more at this message to expose the lies and manipulative techniques Brian Houston use to brainwash his congregation to shun criticism with the evidence that emerged from the Royal Commission. In the mean time, we would greatly appreciate it if people could transcribe the above message.

The SMH reports,

The lord’s Profits

Hallelujah … Prime Minister John Howard at Hillsong last year and right, the church’s senior pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston.

The music is catchy, the mood euphoric and the message perfect for a material age: believe in God and you’ll be rewarded in this life as well as the next. Greg Bearup reports.

A sexy young Christian, a walkie-talkie clipped to her hipsters, greets us on our walk from the car park. “Hiya, howya doin’?” she says, with a flick of her mane and a smile. “Welcome to God’s house – what an awesome day!” She points us in the direction of God’s pad, a massive Olympic-style stadium up on the hill, and returns to conducting traffic with a fluoro stick.

All around, beaming young folk (and they are mainly young) are decked out in their coolest threads – no Amish-skirted Christians here. Hundreds walk with us, and beneath the awnings and in the foyer of the building – all tubular steel and glass – thousands are milling excitedly. By the end of the weekend, almost 12,000 people will have made this walk. Once inside, the first thing the faithful strike is not a crucifix or stained-glass window (the building is devoid of Christian symbolism), but a vast bookshop, of sleek frosted glass and wood, where dozens wait by the till for books and tapes and CDs – or, as they like to call them here at Hillsong Church, “Christian resources” – from around the world. Most prominent, and with almost half the shop to themselves, are the titles by Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie, Hillsong’s senior pastors.

As 6pm approaches, the crowd spills into the church, a massive 3500-seat auditorium in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills. Australia’s newest, wealthiest and largest single church, it holds almost twice as many people as that city’s St Mary’s Cathedral, its closest competitor (which has total weekend attendances of fewer than 2000). They are crowds no one can afford to ignore and, the day after he returned from visiting the scene of the Bali bombings in October, Prime Minister Howard put aside his war on terror to open this house of worship.

Today a 12-piece band with five back-up singers and a choir of 50-odd youngsters literally bounce into action. Behind them, three massive screens hang from the walls – the middle one morphs through different shades of red and blue, only the message, “Glory to God”, remaining constant. The momentum builds with the tempo of the band as the packed stadium sings along to the words flashed up on the screens, swaying in a one-armed, open-palm salute to the band, to the Lord.

After 20 minutes, the warm-up pastor takes to the stage, chiming in with the band – “Come on, church, you can groove” – and then segues into his spiel. Our God, he says,

is a God who delivers miracles, a totally awesome God. He rattles off stories, true stories, from this very congregation, of cancers cured, of cripples healed, of sinners saved. Why, the Lord even saw his way to finding $4000 for one student to pay his fees at the Hillsong Bible college. The congregation hoot and clap; a young fellow beside me has his eyes closed and as each miracle is proclaimed he shouts, “Amen, man. Awesome.”

But you, too, should honour the Lord, the pastor tells his flock, and He will deliver these miracles, because the Bible says so, right here in Proverbs, chapter 3, which says that “if you honour the Lord with your possessions, and with the fruits of your increase, your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine”. He makes the point numerous times, lets it sink in, then informs the throng that credit card facilities are available, and cheques should be made out to Hillsong. “Amen,” shouts the pastor, thumping the air with his fists. “Amen, let’s pass those buckets along.”

And the faithful oblige – last year they filled the Hillsong buckets to the tune of $10 million. The church’s music arm also bought in a tidy tax-free $8 million, and one of its albums, Blessed, debuted at No4 in the pop charts, above Shakira, and stayed there for weeks. Hillsong has bought into medical centres. Its Bible college has close to 1700 full- and part-time students, some paying annual fees of more than $4000. It has a staff of almost 200, including 70 pastors. It has built a state-of-the-art conference centre-cum-church worth $25 million. No fewer than five television cameras are mounted in the auditorium; the services are recorded and then televised in more than 80 countries.

Let’s not be coy, Hillsong is not a church that is afraid of money – its spiritual leader, Brian Houston, is also the author of You Need More Money: Discovering God’s Amazing Financial Plan for Your Life. Is that what makes this the seemingly fastest-growing Christian church in Australia? The census reveals that while millions identify as Catholic, Anglican or other Protestant denominations, few of them actually go to church. There are, for example, 3.9 million Anglicans, but only 180,000 attend church. (The Anglicans are like South Sydney rugby league club supporters – plenty of guernseys, but hardly any go to the games.) The Catholics are way out in front with 875,000 attendees from their 4.7 million flock. But with almost 200,000 people attending Pentecostal services each weekend around the country, they have nudged ahead of the Anglicans. The Pentecostals have a truancy rate of almost nil. What brand of God are they selling that sees the Almighty walking off the shelves, when the traditional churches struggle to give Him away?

Brian Houston, 48, saunters over to greet me, a tall, tanned man with a deep, radio man’s drawl, and a silver and gold Breitling watch shimmering on his wrist. The pastor drives, among other vehicles, a Harley-Davidson Fatboy that a friend from overseas gave him. After emigrating from New Zealand, he and his wife, Bobbie, started this church in Baulkham Hills almost 20 years ago, preaching to a couple of dozen people in a hired school hall. Brian’s father, Frank, had already set up a similar fundamentalist Pentecostal church (which has since joined with Hillsong) in the inner-Sydney suburb of Waterloo. Brian grew up with the church, while Bobbie got saved and “met Jesus” at the Auckland Town Hall at the age of 15. The couple met at church camp when Bobbie bought Brian an ice-cream (“He was the first boy I ever kissed,” says Bobbie with a girlish giggle. “Can you believe I’m telling you this?”), were married when Bobbie was 19 and are now Hillsong’s senior pastors.

They work out regularly and look like an advertiser’s dream couple. Bobbie, 45, is blonde, busty and beautiful, and speaks in an airy, suburban earth-mother tone – part Phoebe from Friends, part Kath & Kim.

When asked to explain their roles in the church, Bobbie says pleasantly: “We are seen as one entity but obviously our roles will differ in that we kinda, we are united in this together so we are not afraid of that, yeah, so, so, we are not a kingdom divided against ourselves. So, we are yoked together in this, I mean, they are biblical words, we are yoked together, obviously his roles, I defer to him, I respect his role. Do you know what I mean?”

Brian and I leave Bobbie and go for a drive.

So why does he think the church has been so successful? “I think the biggest issue is relevance, I really do,” he says, as we tour around the bland suburbs – row upon row of enormous, identical houses – of the Hills District, which surrounds his church. “We are scratching people where they are itching.” This is the nearest thing Australia has to a Bible belt. Houston says that when he and Bobbie set out to build a church, he wanted to build one that he and his family would want to attend, with good music, good sermons and a positive message.

So, at Hillsong services, the music is modern and uplifting and the presentation theatrical. The show stopper is the communal baptism, held every few weeks. The giant stage rolls back and beneath is a baptismal pool. The faithful line up at the side to be dunked, fully clothed, while the onlookers cheer and clap.

Then, there’s the message, which is simple and alluring. It says that if you embrace this brand of God you will be rewarded financially and spiritually in this life, as well as the next. It is religion for our material age. And there, as an example of what is possible, is the handsome, charismatic pastor, his bubbly wife and their three beautiful kids (Joel, 23, the oldest, is lead singer in the Hillsong rock band). All this comes with Brian’s guarantee – from More Money – that “anyone who puts the Kingdom of God first (rich or poor) can expect bible economics to work in their life NOW”.

Many of the young people I meet at the services volunteer their stories of financial success since joining Hillsong. “I was living in a housing commission house, working in a factory job and struggling to pay my bills,” says Brian Griffiths, aged in his early twenties and still sweating from dancing in the bleachers. “Since I started coming [in 1999], great things have happened.” He got a job selling insurance over the phone, with someone he met through the church. “God made me meet him.” He is more than happy to give

10 per cent of his wage back, as most are. “Granted, many people have a life that’s going great without God, yet I think that God probably had a whole lot more in mind for them.”

“If you believe in Jesus,” Houston tells me, “He will reward you here [on earth] as well [as in Heaven].” It is this prosperity gospel teaching that puts him at odds with people like the Reverend Tim Costello, the former head of the Baptist Union of Australia.

“The quickest way to degrade the gospel,” says Costello, “is to link it with money and the pursuit of money. It is the total opposite of what Jesus preached. These people have learnt nothing from the mistakes made by the American televangelists.”

Not so, says Houston. When Jesus said it was harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, he didn’t mean rich Christians, because all you need is “God as your foremost priority. Jesus talks constantly of people’s attitude to money but he never talks against money.”

Costello, says Houston, “likes what we do generally” but has a problem with Hillsong’s success. He, like those from some of the more traditional churches, is simply jealous of it, Houston tells me. “The irony is, Tim Costello is a pretty successful guy himself. The big difference between us is that I like to teach other people to be successful and not just enjoy the success myself.”

Hillsong, he says, has moved with the times, while the old churches are stuck in the 19th century. “What good is a vow of poverty?” he asks. “A person who has more is able to help more. That’s what we are all about, giving people a handout.” The multi-million-dollar church’s charitable arm, Hillsong Emerge, according to ASIC documents, has an annual budget of just a little over $400,000.

That’s not to say that Houston’s views on some other matters aren’t conservative. He believes in speaking in tongues. He would like to see creationism taught in schools and abortion banned. Homosexuals are, of course, unwelcome, but Houston says he’s not a Fred Nile-type fanatic on these matters. Picketing outside abortion clinics achieves little; a more pro-active approach is to help teenage girls through their pregnancies. The church partly funds a hostel, Mercy Ministries, for young pregnant women and other troubled girls (there’s another for troubled boys at Bankstown) who can live there free for a year, on the proviso that they attend church. Another of the Hillsong Emerge projects, Young and Gorgeous, sees young Emerge women going into schools to teach 12- and

13-year-old girls about skin care and make-up, to help them learn, an Emerge woman told me, “that each and every one of them is unique and precious”. Houston takes me for a drive past the youth hostel, in a bush setting near his church, and then on to a medical centre the church has bought in Baulkham Hills (they own another at Blacktown). It is all part of healing people “body, mind and spirit”, he says, explaining the Hillsong approach.

The medical centres are small, but with plans for expansion. And while they may be helping the converted, they’re also causing ripples among those outside Hillsong. Local doctors are angry that they will have to compete against a business that is exempt from all the normal business taxes – such as payroll tax – just because it is a religious organisation.

It is a matter the AMA intends to scrutinise.

Max Wallace, a sociologist at the Australian National University, is writing a book,

The Purple Economy, about the tax-free godsend enjoyed by the Australian churches. He says that while the traditional churches are “immensely wealthy”, Australians had better get used to the “astronomical wealth growth”

of young, corporate churches such as Hillsong, which haven’t the burden of maintaining ageing churches and small congregations (some don’t even have the burden of charity). New churches are also moving into a host of new business ventures that have nothing

to do with religion – turf farms, fruit juice manufacturing, furniture making – often sending their competitors broke along the way.

Tim Costello wants to know how much of the Hillsong wealth is going to Brian and Bobbie. “The churches have an enormously privileged position in society – not only do they not pay tax, but they are exempt from many of the fringe benefit rules as well. As a result, they need to be open and fully accountable. Anyone can walk into my church and find out exactly how much I earn, what car I drive, whatever, including any other associated monies I might earn from being a minister. I would like to ask the same of Hillsong.”

So I do. Brian Houston’s open, good-guy demeanour disappears. No, he will not tell me what he or Bobbie earns. “All you guys [the media] want to know about is the money,”

he says. “You don’t want to know about the church.” Well, it’s a bit like walking into Rose Hancock’s house and not noticing the chandeliers – the money at Hillsong just leaps out at you.

Houston says that while he draws a wage, he donates it back to the church. “I want to make it clear that I cost this church nothing, I want that on the record.” He earns some of his money, he says, as a property developer, “being a silent partner with a couple of guys from the church in building developments”, but he gets “the vast majority” of his money from overseas speaking engagements at other charismatic churches. He and Bobbie also get the royalties from those “Christian resources” out the front of the church.

Phillip Powell, a Pentecostal preacher and a former general secretary of the Assemblies

of God (the umbrella group of which Houston is now president), says Houston’s overseas speaking engagements are at churches whose own senior pastors are “on the circuit”. Powell, who has set up a “watchdog ministry”, Christian Witness Ministries, in part to monitor Hillsong, says, “They get paid huge amounts of money to speak at each other’s churches. The money goes to Brian, but his profile comes from Hillsong.” It is a bit like the Pope charging for speaking engagements, and then keeping the cash. (Houston says Powell’s sentiments are “pitiful comments from a pitiful man who knows nothing of Hillsong or of me”.)

The Hillsong church structure is tightly controlled. The general manager, Brian Aghajanian (also an elder), says the elders are nominated “by Brian or the other elders”. No elections? “No, we feel that people might stand who don’t have a great understanding of the way the church works or have the same vision we have for the church,” Aghajanian says.

What we do know is that Houston wears a watch worth thousands of dollars, he owns an enormous house overlooking a bush valley, in a suburb of other enormous houses, at Glenhaven. He also owns a picturesque spread on the Hawkesbury River, near Windsor, just west of Sydney, gets paid handsomely to speak overseas and is a property developer – and he’s not ashamed of any of it.

“Look,” he says, “I can tell you that if I was in business, and held this sort of position, I would be earning three times as much. I don’t do it for the money.”

So, you couldn’t see Jesus running into Hillsong and overturning the cash registers,

as he famously did with the money changers in the temple? “Absolutely not,” he says. “Absolutely not. Because the spirit of those people was … the house of God wasn’t even about God any more. It was about, you know, it had become a marketplace inside the temple – it wasn’t about Christian resources, resources that are helping people. It [the books and tapes and CDs] are not just about making money, it is about putting tools in people’s hands.

[But] I have no problem if it makes a profit.”

So, what exactly is in those Christian resources? One particularly irresistible title

is Bobbie’s three-tape boxed set Kingdom Women Love Sex ($22, also available on CD). In it, Bobbie explains why it is important for Christians to be good at “it”. “We need to

be good at sex ourselves so that if the world happens to come knocking we can tell the story of God in our lives,” Bobbie says, on the tape. “Without being lurid or untruthful

- hello! – we can say [she whispers], ‘I have a great marriage and a great sex life’ – wink wink, nudge nudge. Yeah, truly.”

Bobbie also offers some practical advice.

Fat is out. Do some exercise. “If I carry weight I feel like a retard … How are you going to do anything to surprise your man when you need a hydraulic crane just to turn over in bed?” Have plastic surgery, if it makes you feel better and it is for the right reasons, and “girls, pelvic floor exercises – can you believe I am saying this? – you know, I have heard that orgasm is not as strong if you are really sloppy in that area”.

As Bobbie says, “When you are doing what is correct in God there is a protection over your life. Like – hello! – it is just there. So it is a very powerful thing. Amen. Yeah, fully.”

There have been some dramas in the House of Camelot in the past few years. Houston

had to sack one of his senior preachers and good friends, Pat Mesiti, after it was revealed he’d been visiting prostitutes. And then Brian’s father, former minister Frank Houston, confessed to being a pedophile.

Finding out his father had abused a child back in New Zealand was, Houston tells me, “like the jets flying into the twin towers of my soul”. It was, understandably, one of

the hardest issues he has ever had to deal with. “Basically I received a complaint, so

I confronted my father and he admitted it.” Houston removed his father from all roles in the church, but did not contact police in New Zealand because the victim was old enough to do that himself. He said that he was candid with his congregation, although he has been criticised for not acting quickly enough.

“I told our church what had happened [several months after he found out], but as soon as I found out I told the elders of this church and the Assemblies of God,” Houston says. “To my congregation, when I told them, I used words like predator and sexual abuse and so on – I did not try to hide it.”

It is a matter that appears unlikely to go away, and Houston tells me that, since the initial allegation was made public, other alleged victims have come forward. Good Weekend understands that another alleged male victim of his father is “extremely unhappy” with his treatment by the church and is currently considering civil action.

Bobbie says that the sexual abuse claims were the hardest thing her husband has ever had to confront. “But the leader in him rose and I think that is what endeared the congregation to us. This issue is rampant through society and you don’t have to be Blind Willy to see that – sorry, blind Freddy, I always get my sayings wrong – but as a church we are dealing with those issues.”

Phillip Powell, the watchdog, says he doesn’t believe Brian Houston has dealt adequately with a whole range of issues within his church regarding accountability, and says he will continue to monitor the work of Hillsong. “There are alarm bells and people need to ring them,” he says.

On one of the Sundays I attend a Hillsong service, Anne Luckwell, a 36-year-old administration officer with the Harvey Norman retail chain, is excitedly waiting to be baptised. She joined the church six months ago and is now ready to “dedicate my life to the Lord”. She has a child and has been through a rough time. “I lived with a man for 15 years and we were splitting up – he said he was not going to give me anything from the house [he owned] in the settlement.” She says that now, since she found Hillsong, she has come to an agreement with her former partner for a share of the house. It has as much to do with the law as it has with the Lord, but still she attributes the agreement to Hillsong. I call her up a few days later to see how she feels, post-baptism. “Not too good, actually,” she croaks. “I’ve got the flu. I think it’s because of the wet hair.” Still, she says, she’ll be back in church next Sunday, ready to hear the word of Brian – and, of course, willing to give in order to receive.

Source: By Greg Bearup, The lord’s profits, Sydney Morning Herald, http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/28/1043804401241.html, Published 30/01/2003. (Accessed 06/01/2015.)

Since the 2014 Royal Commission which was looking into Hillsong’s handling of the Frank Houston scandal, we have obtained a letter written by Brian Houston to “encourage” his church to “rise above” increasing “opposition”.

“I swear by almighty God that the evidence I shall give in this Royal Commission shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” – Brian Houston, Royal Commission.

The below letter offers a glimpse into the modus operandi of Brian Houston and Hillsong’s leadership between 1998-2004. It is interesting comparing this to the information disclosed at the Royal Commission in 2014.

Brian Houston mailed the following letter to Hillsong members back in 2003.

28 January, 2003

Dear Friends,

As you may be aware, our church has recently received further press coverage. The article contains many inaccuracies and misrepresents Bobbie and Hillsong Church.

I am writing this letter to encourage you. With the increasing profile of our church, there will always be opposition. We have to learn to rise above this and keep our focus on the reason why we are here – to build His Kingdom.

Our church has always operated on an open book policy regarding our finances. If, at any time, a member of our church has concerns and wished to discuss these, they can make an appointment with George Aghajanian, our General Manager.

Let me also remind you that the issues relating to my father, Frank Houston, happened over 30 years ago while he was a pastor in New Zealand. They are in no way related to Hillsong Church.

Bobbie and I wish to thank you for your continued support and love.

God bless,

Brian Houston
Senior Pastor

P.S Don’t forget Vision Sunday on 9 February, 2003.

Source: Read below.

Host of of the radio program Fighting for the Faith and Pastor of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church, Chris Rosebrough advertised his latest addition to his Museum of Idolatry:

This is Mr. Sparkle. Hillsong London invited him to show us what freedom in Jesus looks like.
Full video at the Museum of Idolatry.

Source: Chris Rosebrough, FaceBook, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205394615732104&set=a.1127226868122.19397.1450689005&type=1, Published 15/01/2015 at 11:21. (Accessed 15/01/2015.)

From the Museum of Idolatry,

Are You Ready For The Word?

Founding pastor Brian Houston of Hillsong Church asked his Hillsong Church London, “Are you ready for the Word?” This was the response to Brian Houston’s question:

Did you know that Galatians 5:1 means Christ has set us free to “move it, move it”? Here are some of the lyrics to the above song:

“We don’t party hardly, we just party hard
And not because we’re bored
We do it cos we’re born again”

This idolatry piece get’s even weirder at 5:30.

Source: Are You Ready For The Word?, Museum of Idolatry, http://www.alittleleaven.com/2015/01/are-you-ready-for-the-word.html, 14/01/2015. (Accessed 15/01/2015.)

We are very lucky that the Hillsong documentary from Warner Bros was pulled.

We’ve observed how Brian Houston rewrites Hillsong’s history in his books and sermons to make their movement look flawless. That is why even in articles like the one below people have difficulty getting their facts straight on Hillsong’s questionable past. We have not seen Hillsong to this date ever give people their true history.

Considering therefore how Hillsong’s leaders play loose with the truth regarding the history of their church, it would be hard for Warner Bros to present an honest portrayal of the Hillsong Church and it’s musical successes without some form of backlash.

TheMusic.com writes,

Hillsong Documentary No Longer On The Cards For Warner Bros

An impending documentary about Christian mega-church Hillsong and its ubiquitous musical arm, Hillsong United, has been dropped from the release schedule of production house Warner Bros, it has been reported.

According to Variety, the planned flick, directed by Michael John Warren and titled Hillsong: Let Hope Rise, was due for release on Wednesday, 1 April (ahead of the all-important Easter weekend), a date it has apparently had booked since July last year.

Neither the studio nor film rights-holders Alcon Entertainment have issued a statement in response to the move.

Hillsong was founded in 1983 by Brian and Bobbie Houston, and is presently led by the couple’s son, Joel. It has, in its lifetime, grown into a worldwide collective boasting 12 locations and weekly attendance rates somewhere in the vicinity of 100,000 people total.

It’s not all been miracles and unlimited fish for Hillsong of late, though — Brian Houston made headlines last year after allegedly failing to report child sex abuse committed by his late father, Frank, which consequently led royal commission senior counsel to advise that he “should be referred to police for investigation” in late December. However, it should be noted that consequently no charges have been filed, and there is no official indication the issue influenced Warner Bros’ decision or that it is in any way connected.

Source: Hillsong Documentary No Longer On The Cards For Warner Bros, http://themusic.com.au/news/all/2015/01/15/hillsong-documentary-no-longer-on-the-cards-for-warner-bros/, 15/01/2015. (Accessed 16/01/2015.)

On less serious news, people currently appear to be more obsessed with Mr Sparkle then Hillsong. At least Mr Sparkle is more memorable than a Brian Houston sermon and has at least seared Galatians 5:1 into peoples hearts and minds.

2 Peter teaches that false prophets and false teachers will, “secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.”

Peter continues describing that these false men are,”like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant”.

Now it should be every Christian’s desire to not see anyone destroyed by God but instead repent, be saved and operate with the mind of Christ. However, is the below video a reflection of Hillsong’s leadership? Isn’t this simply sensuality? Isn’t this irrational-animal-like behaviour?

How does this glorify God? How can people tell this is a church?

Source: By Hillsong SA Youth, The Monkey™, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvKGbcX2fyI, Published by HillsongCTYouth, 28/08/2013. (Accessed 15/10/2014.)

EDIT: The Museum of Idolatry (alittleleaven.com) has also published this video.

Hillsong’s Monkey Business

From the same people that brought us Mr. Sparkle, comes…The Monkey. It’s a whole new type of  “worship” experience.

We’re pretty sure we spotted a golden calf in there somewhere.

Aren’t you glad your kids are off the street at nights and are attending… well… church?

- HT: www.churchwatchcentral.com

Source: Hillsong’s Monkey Business, A Little Leaven, Museum of Idolatry, http://www.alittleleaven.com/2015/01/hillsong-s-monkey-business.html, 23/01/2015. (Accessed 25/01/2015.)

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Hillsong grooming its members to embrace Queerstianity? (Part 8)

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Before reading Brian Houston’s sermon, (printed in its entirety below), we think it wise for our readers to first read the following article.

Houston’s 2014 God-given “Vision” (Part 1): “New grace” scrutinised

The above article demonstrated that Brian Houston was deliberately and deceitfully using God and His infallibility to peddle his own pagan ideas as though they came from God’s infallible decree.

However, Brian Houston further used God through another means to control and groom people to embrace straight out wickedness. This article will try to expose the technique Brian Houston uses on his congregation. We will leave you with the full unedited sermon and the transcript. We had to transcribe this piece just in case Brian Houston and Hillsong try to hide their lies again.

HILLSONG FORCED TO DRINK A SPIRITUAL PEDOPHILIC  COCKTAIL?

The best way to think about the following sermon is to liken it to a spiritual cocktail.  The tasty and intoxicating ingredients used to make a drink may satisfy your pallet, but the potency of the cocktail can vary. Likewise, Brian Houston uses very manipulative tactics to undermine his church’s “Christian” ethics in order to portray his father, Frank Houston, in a divine light, the end result of which diminishes the glory of God.

To accomplish this task, Brian Houston “pours” Frank Houston, Hazel Houston, God, biblical characters, (including the Apostles), Hillsong members and himself into one big “Pioneer Spirits” cocktail. The problem with what Brian Houston does is that he portrays God and Frank Houston as being one and the same in spirit. This is God’s glory we are talking about. Why would God want his spirit being touted as the same spirit as a serial pedophile? Why would Hillsong members want their spirits seen as the same spirit of a child molester?

If anything, someone who has a “pioneering spirit” usually leaves their past behind them in order to search for something new. They want to start over, and probably for a very good reason. So why is Brian Houston so driven to have his church embrace the same “pioneering spirit” of his deceased pedophile father? Why go there at all?

At the 22 minute mark in the sermon video below you can see/hear Brian Houston showing/talking about Frank and Hazel Houston pioneering Hillsong/CLC church at Sherbrook Hall in Double Bay.

“they were in their mid 50s and they moved to Sydney and just in summer here in Australia… I went to the little hall in Double Bay, the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, where they pioneered…

… So look at what big things, more than what we could have imagined at this point, came out of one little decision and a tiny little hall to pioneer, big things come out of a pioneering spirit, praise God that we have that opportunity in our own lives to believe God to see new and to see big things.”

From this point in the story, you can see the tactics Brian Houston is playing on his audience. Why would he compare his serial pedophile father (who had a pioneer spirit) to Jesus’ Apostles. From a Christian worldview, this is simply wicked and evil.

The point is that this cocktail is lethal. Brian Houston is encouraging people to drink this poison by tempting them with his tasty light shows and dramatic presentations. The audience has not realized that they too have drunk the dangerous idea that they are pioneering alongside a serial pedophile. And this is the cocktail that they are forced to drink. The cyanide is Brian Houston’s claim that God has given him a vision for his church, and if the congregants don’t drink it then they believe that they are refusing to believe God.

It is important to remember, there is nothing lawful using God as a means to hide or downplay the crimes of a serial pedophile. Brian Houston should be publicly shamed by Christianity for using God in such a way where he knows his “vision sermon” cannot be questioned. (Remember – you are not questioning Houston’s vision, you are questioning God’s vision.)

When you witness the cult-like control and brainwashing methods used in Hillsong sermons like this, it explains why you get Hillsong members defending Frank Houston. Pray that Brian Houston repents for his crimes against Christ and His Church.

TRANSCRIPT: Hillsong Church – Vision Sunday 2014 

[Words on screen] il-lu-sion – something that deceives the eye by appearing to be other than it is. Something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality.

[Words of screen] “The Drum Major Instinct” – Martin Luther King Jnr 1968

[Voice of Martin Luther King Jnr] ‘That is deep down in all of us, an instinct, It’s a kind of drum major instinct. A desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first. This quest for recognition, this desire for attention, this desire for distinction, is the basic impulse, the basic drive of human life. This Drum Major instinct. Oh I see… you want to be first? You want to be great? You want to be important? You want to be significant? Well you ought to be!’

[Words on screen] There’s far more here than meets the eye…

The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. 2 Cor 4:18 (The Message)

[Voice of Martin Luther King Jnr] ‘Oh, I see you want to be first, you want to be great, you want to be important, you want to be significant, well you ought to be! Don’t give up this instinct; it’s a good instinct if you use it right. Keep feeling the need for being important. So Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness if you want to be important, wonderful, if you want to be recognized, wonderful, if you want to be great wonderful, but recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be a servant. That’s a new definition of greatness.

Keep feeling the need for being first; but I want you to be first in love. Yes you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice and say that I was a drum major for peace, I was a drum major for righteousness.

Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.

 [Words on screen] Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, And to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:43-45 NIV

[Words on screen] In 1978 a young couple left their homeland of New Zealand and settled in Australia. By 1983 they pioneered a new church in the Hills District of Sydney. Today we live in the legacy of all that God has done.

[Voice over] ‘When has so much come from so little? The least and unlikely wed, the untested and unqualified. We were pioneers, going where not many have gone.’

[Footage of Brian Houston 1984] ‘We have so much to thank the Lord for and my wife and I have been involved in pioneering churches before and God just gave us a burning vision for the Hills and for the Western suburbs and the Northern districts of Sydney and by the grace of God I’m believing to see a mighty revival in this part of the city.’

[Voice over] ‘It was never about making something for ourselves and building monuments of legacy.’

 [Brian Houston voice over] ‘When we started this church, I was having to work overtime and extra time cleaning shop front windows and I would scrap up enough for us to pay our rent, so we could go into small towns preaching and teaching. The cost seemed so small when there was the joy of serving Jesus Christ.’

[Voice over] ‘For we didn’t do this and we never could have. We merely followed the path of the original one. If our past is a shadow of our future and a whisper of those things yet to come, then it’s only once walked that you can look back and clearly see all that He has done.’

[Brian Houston voice over] ‘I love the idea of not just pioneering once, Bobbie and I pioneered a church 30 years ago. But living with the spirit of a pioneer, we are always wanting to re-invent, you’re always believing for new things, where your always wanting to look ahead’

[Voice over] ‘These are the days for the everyone, the brave and afraid, those who wonder in the mystery, unmoved in the unknown. Still we cast our nets out into the deep. For these outposts of grace, we pioneer and pioneer again. We do not go alone, for the few are joined by the many, and the many moved by one and pioneer again.’

[Words on screen] Be alert, be present I’m about to do something brand new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badland. Isaiah 43:12 MSG

[HOUSTON STARTS “PREACHING”]

Thank you Jesus! You’ve set me free.

Happy New Year, I haven’t seen most of you yet this year so big and Happy new year to everyone. 2014 a great time to pioneer again.

We’re just linking right now not just around Australia with all our campuses. [Kisses tech guy & laughs] Just a loving pastor, just a pastor’s heart, but indeed all around the world.

Right now we are linking to 102 services across the day, in 46 locations and in 16 countries. So I guess that’s come a long way from a little school hall in the North Western suburbs of Sydney.

So a big hi to all our locations globally, of course Australia, where ever you are, I know where Australia is, I meant where abouts in Australia that you are. In London, in Amsterdam, in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Kiev and Moscow, Germany, Paris, Barcelona, South Africa, Cape Town and Pretoria and the USA, New York City and in times to come, prophetically Los Angeles. Pioneering again.

So praise God for every single one of you. [Prays] Father I thank you that you build your Church and the gates of Hell will not, cannot, shall not prevail against it. Lord I thank you that where ever people are gathered today around the name of Jesus, those who are part of Hillsong Church, those who are visiting today they’re important to you. Lord you have a purpose and you have a plan for every life and Lord you have a purpose and a plan for every room of this house of God. We thank you for all you have done, we thank you for what you are doing, we thank you for what you are about to do. Lord I pray that we will always keep that raw pioneering spirit. Not looking back, but looking forward and to all that’s ahead. We thank you for that opportunity, in Jesus name, Amen.

The Bible’s full of pioneers, I want to speak for a few minutes about a pioneering spirit. The original pioneer whose name is God, who pioneered the heavens and the earth. Throughout the Old Testament, you have Noah who pioneered boating, unfortunately, Adam and Eve who pioneered sin.

I wonder what in our lives we will pioneer. You have the chance in your own family perhaps, to pioneer a new generation. There are people you will be first generations, followers of Jesus Christ, for some maybe, historically, in your lineage, in your family, maybe just long line of divorce or a long line of abuse or a long line of alcoholism or some other thing that’s bound generations and you can be a pioneer of a brand new day that changes not only your children but the generations to come.

Pioneering can be for us each individually, where we pioneer constantly in terms of the Will of God in our life and it may be in your career, your ministry, your home, your family, in your dream, whatever it is, never lose that looking forward pioneering spirit.

Bobbie and I pioneered a church 30 years ago along with a team of people, some of whom are still with us today. And I’ve got in my hand a little card that we handed out in Australia, it says on here established 83, that’s when it was, 30 years ago and I’m so excited that we have never lost that pioneering spirit and were are talking now after 30 years about the next 30 and more and we’re talking about pioneering again.

Where ever you are around the globe pioneering, you can think of people who have been innovative. Here in Australia in the early 1980’s there was a Dr, his name was Victor Chang. And Victor Chang, if you were to Google his name, it calls him a heart transplantation pioneer. He was literally amongst the world’s leading transplant pioneers. Unfortunately in 1991, through a failed extortion attempt, he was murdered, he lost his life, but he was a pioneer.

I grew up in New Zealand, New Zealand was pioneered, it was discovered by a Dutch explorer, for all our Amsterdam campus, a Dutch explorer called Able Tasman. Able Tasman, he found Moraceous, a little drop in the Indian Ocean, he found New Zealand a beautiful country but not exactly the biggest place on earth, he found Tasmania, but he missed something really big, he missed Australia mainland and he missed the biggest island in the world and in fact the only one continent, sorry one county/continent in the world, but he pioneered again. And pioneering again, he came across the North West coast of mainland Australia; he came across something really big.

If we ever lose that pioneering spirit, I wonder what big thing we would never know we missed out on this side of eternity. If you ever lose that raw edge that pioneering spirit, I wonder what big things God has for you, in Jesus name. So it’s in the DNA of Hillsong Church, we are a pioneering church. Not always by having to do new things but by finding God doing fresh things, by just doing what we’ve always been called to do, which is build his church. See people connect to Jesus, disciple people, see people grow in terms of God’s purposes for their lives, it’s amazing how that doesn’t have to get stale because within it there can be that great sense always, a moving forward and pioneering which I love.

1977, my parents, they were in their mid 50s and they moved to Sydney and just in summer here in Australia, over Christmas I went for a ride on my motor bike around the Eastern Suburbs, which I don’t get too much chance to do these days and I went to the little hall in Double Bay, the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, where they pioneered. There may be a picture we can put on your screens, there it is. That was called Eastern Suburbs Christian Life Centre. It’s interesting to me how it’s got across the doors ‘Local History Centre’, that where in many ways it all started.

There was one Sunday, in that building, if you look at it again where the care taker never turned up so there were no steel bars on the window in those days so we managed to get the window open and put a chair down their so every single person who came to church had to stand on a chair and climb through a window to get into church and then had to get back out the window and onto the chair to leave church. They were raw, rough pioneering days.

There’s something powerful about pioneering days. Eastern Suburbs Christian Life Centre became Sydney Christian Life Centre, about five and a half years later Bobbie and I, we moved out to this area where I stand right now in the North Western suburbs of Sydney and established Hills Christian Life Centre, we became Hillsong Church.

So look at what big things, more than what we could have imagined at this point, came out of one little decision and a tiny little hall to pioneer, big things come out of a pioneering spirit, praise God that we have that opportunity in our own lives to believe God to see new and to see big things.

The New Testament is just a story of a whole lot of pioneers. As the New Testament Church is established, it starts in Acts Chapter 1 verse 8, you know when you go to the movies, I don’t know what you think about the trailers but sometimes you feel like they are giving you the whole movie, and so it’s like a short, short sight of everything that’s coming. And that’s what Acts chapter 1 verse 8 is to the whole of the book of Acts, it’s called the Acts of the Apostles, it’s actually some of the acts of some of the Apostles. Because the Acts of the Apostles still is going on around the globe today.

As the Church of Jesus Christ is established, as the Will of God, the Kingdom of God is advanced, but Acts Chapter 1 verse 8 is just in one little snap shot of everything that is about to follow throughout the whole book of Acts. It says ‘you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you’ and ‘you shall be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and ultimately to the ends of the earth.

It’s like concentric circles when you through a rock into a pond, stepping out from Jerusalem further, further, further. And you read through the book of Acts and that’s what you start seeing happen. What starts in Jerusalem spreads to Judea, then Acts chapter 8 Phillip goes to the city of Samaria or a city in Samaria and preaches Christ and the whole city is impacted and the Bible says there’s great joy in that city. And by Acts chapter 10 Cornelius speaks to a Gentile, who then represented what was then known as the ends of the earth.

And really it’s never stopped. Still the work of the Lord goes forward, as hear I sand right now at the ends of the earth, if you ignore New Zealand, Tasmania and Moraceous. Preaching the Gospel, the good news of Jesus.

Pioneering spirit, God does big things with a pioneering sprit. Four things I want you to think about when it comes to pioneering. Here they are, the first thing:-

1. A pioneer takes territory previous considered uninhabitable and realises its potential.

That’s pretty awesome; the thought of what was previously uninhabitable, Phillip takes the gospel to Samaria. While the Samaritans the Samarians they, they were considered compromised Jews. Through mixed breading, Jews mixed with Gentiles. So because they were seen as compromised they were seen as outsiders.

And suddenly as Phillip goes to Samaria with the spirit of a pioneer, what was uninhabited, unreachable was suddenly reached, was the gospel of Jesus bringing great joy to an entire city. And then of course the Gentiles were not Jews at all but because the gospel reached them through the spirit of the New Testament pioneers, today you and I can be part of the kingdom of God. We can know the love of Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And still out there are big things to be done, there’s big things to be done as we live our lives collectively as a church and individually, with that raw edged pioneering spirit.

2. The second thing, a pioneer reaches the unreachable and includes the excluded.

I love this thought, think about this the first three individuals when the gospel goes beyond Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria then ultimately to the utter most parts of the end, the first three individuals, converts that are mentioned, in other words new believers.

The first one is a wizard, his name is Simon who confounded the people with magic tricks. They were astonished by his magic, he was a sorcerer, a wizard.

The second one, later in Acts chapter 8 is an Ethiopian Eunuch, putting it bluntly, he was castrated. Which I guess made him part of a minority group [8 sec pause to glare at audience to see if they get what he is referring too].

The third one was a terrorist. His name was Saul in Acts chapter 9. The Bible literally describes Saul as breathing threats and slaughter against Christians and not only that, he was described as being in full agreement with Stephen being put to death.

How’s that for an encouraging front row in church? The first three, what have you got? You’ve got a guy who still has his tarot cards in one hand and his astrology charts in the other hands. You’ve got a guy with real sexual identity problems; he’s not sure who he is. And then you’ve got a third person who’s a terrorist. That’s pretty encouraging for the worship team when they look down.

I love the fact that maybe, not terrorists, but I love the fact that still our church is church for whosoever will to the Lord may come. It’s never been built on superstars necessarily, or people who’ve got it all together, it’s rarely reached people at all walks of live the down and out, the up and out, everything in-between and I pray that we will always be that kind of church. And a pioneering spirit keeps that kind of sprit happening in the church.

3. Third thing about a pioneering spirit is a pioneer sings a song that is music to the uninitiated but sounding brassed to the establishment, in other words stepping forward into new ground, not everyone who represents the statuesque or the establishment gets excited about the new thing that God is doing.

In the bible you can see that the uninitiated, those who have just been literally connected to Jesus, there was great joy in the setting. Acts chapter 8, verse 7, there was great joy in the city the bible says, its verse 8 I think.

Great joy, but not everyone thought that way. Couple of chapters before in Acts chapter 6, God was doing an amazing thing, the church was multiplying. They were having quickly to keep up with all that God was doing and so there was a little bit of reorganising the way things could be done so the Apostles could keep in the Word and keep in prayer. And in the middle of that it describes Stephen, Stephen is described as being full of faith.

Listen to it, it’s in Acts chapter 6, verse 8, it says ‘Stephen full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. And then it says there arose some from what is called, it’s important you think about this, they were from what, the Synagogue of the freed man. Tells us where those people were from, so Alexandrians etc, who were disputing with Stephen. In other words they were angry about the new grace, about what God was doing and who are they? They were the Synagogue of the freed man, literally former slaves who had come into new found freedom and had encountered a grace for themselves and yet were opposed to the new thing that God has done.

Often with the spirit of a pioneer you start taking new ground, you start occupying all streets and it’s incredible how often the people out there in the world that get upset about what Gods doing, in fact they’ve got a heart that’s open to it. It’s often people who experience grace themselves, who have known the freedom of Jesus Christ themselves and yet when grace goes into something new, God begins a new thing, it’s amazing how they are the people that are quite often the blindest and the ones that find it the most difficult to see.

Music to the ears of the uninitiated sounding brass, sometimes to the statuesque. I don’t what to be one who has encountered the grace of Jesus myself and misses out when God begins to do new things. I want to keep that pioneer again sprit, so I stay on the edge. I was pioneering when I was 25, 26, 29 years of age and I’m almost 60 and I want to keep looking forward and I want to keep the same pioneering spirit today. Because once a pioneer, always a pioneer.

I love the fact that in New York we’ve pioneered, in New Jersey, that in London we’ve recently pioneered in East London, that in South Africa we’ve extended to Pretoria, I love the fact that in Germany we now not only have Constance but Düsseldorf as a room in the house, because we’re keeping the spirit of a pioneer. And its powerful, it’s beautiful.

4. And the fourth thing, that to me represents the spirit of the pioneer.

Is that a pioneer defies the odds and pioneers again, bringing longevity to the season. They defy the odds. A long time ago, when our church really started to see the praise and worship, not only here in Australia but around the globe have divine favour on it, most would know that 1993, in fact many may not know, 1993 a song came out of our church called ‘Shout to the Lord’, written by a lady called Darlene Zschech. And really in many ways, that was the vehicle that God used to take our influence beyond I guess what we could have already imagined.

I’ve got a pastor friend, still my great friend today, but way back then I remember him as he looked at the blessing and favour on the music and so on and conferences starting to grow, he said ‘Brian you need to understand that this is just a season’. And I’ve always believed that, that this is just a season.  However it’s turning into an extremely long season, it’s a long season where in fact the favour and blessing on our praise and worship, all of a sudden we are pioneering new ground.

That song Oceans, such a powerful song and its reaching ground that we’ve never reached before with anything we’ve ever done. And so I love the fact that it can become a long season especially if you think generationally.

You see with this pioneer again spirit we didn’t stop with just what God was doing in 1993, even as recently as ten years ago, not just a worship band but a worship movement, represented a youth movement called ‘Hillsong United’ came out from our church and breathed fresh wind into the season, brought longevity to the season.

Then in more recent times, not just a worship band called ‘Young and Free’ but a great revival youth ministry, a youth movement called ‘Young and Free’ has emanated from this place and again is taking new ground.

So through keeping the pioneer spirit, you keep fruitfulness alive in your life. I don’t want to die on the vine. I don’t want to pastor a church that dies on the vine. I want us to be people of a pioneer spirit, amen [audience applause].

I’m so excited about Los Angles and what God’s about to do in that city. But it’s not just Los Angles, it where you are, as we all sow in where God has placed us, that we can collective be part of a fruitful season , that often times has an impact back into our own families and lives. So fruitful, so wonderful, so blessed, thank God for it.

You know in the middle of all of this, what I love is Philip. He’s the guy, he’s the guy that God uses to go to Samaria, reach a whole city and then after that he goes out on a desert road because an Angle spoke to him and he hooks up with, meets up with an Ethiopian Eunuch, points the Eunuch to Jesus, that’s what the Bible says, he preached Christ to him. And through that, this ordinary guy, can I tell you something about this ordinary guy, his name is amongst some amazing names.

In Acts chapter 6 where it talks about Philip, right before him it talks about Stephen, full of faith and full of the Holy Ghost. Well Stephen, the name comes from Stefan or Stefanos. Stefanos literally describes the victor’s wreath, a winning athlete. You think back to Greek Olympic times, the wreath around the winner’s head.

Think about Caesar or Astrix, comics, the green wreath around Caesar’s head, winner, victor. And after him comes Peter. Peter means rock, he’s got Rocky on this side he’s got winner on this side and as Philip Dooley, our Cape Town pastor likes to remind us, Philip means ‘lover of horses’.

Winner, Rocky, over comer, lover of horses. It’s usually little girls that grow up wanting to pony. Phillip’s just a gentle soul, he’s an ordinary guy. And not only is he an ordinary guy that God uses, he’s an ordinary guy doing ordinary things.

The reason that I’m encouraged is because this church has always been built just on ordinary people, who God has caused to do exceedingly, abundant and above, to be overachievers, simply by a pioneering spirit that trusted God, lived by faith and tried to live by consistency. Just watch what God can do.

Ordinary guy doing ordinary things. This is a different Phillip than one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, this Phillip, the first we hear of him is in Acts chapter 6 where, well the church was growing so fast that problems started to arise.

There were people called ‘Hellenists’, they started to cause hell in the church because these Hellenists started saying ‘well, you’re neglecting widows’ so they just reconstructed things a little and they got seven people. Seven people whose job it was to keep the peace. Look after the widows, serve on tables, and distribute food.

Hillsong City Care, their job was just ordinary people, Phillip. In those days it wasn’t Phillip the Apostle, Phillip the, just Phillip. They named seven people he’s one of them. The first one Stephen full of faith, full of the Holy Ghost, Phillip – lover of horses. Ordinary guy doing ordinary things.

If you want to be a pioneer, sometimes it’s not going somewhere, doing something else; it’s just doing ordinary things, being faithful where you are. We started our Vision Sunday presentation with an incredible narrative with one of the worlds, histories great poet’s in my mind, Martin Luther King. And Martin Luther King, he talks about the spirit of a drum major in the front of a parade.

And he talks about ‘you want to be great’, ‘you want to be first’, ‘you want to be important’, ‘you want to be significant’ then he says ‘don’t lose that’ he said ‘don’t lose it, be first in love, be first in generosity’.

And then while he’s talking about it the depiction of a tower being built, the tower of Babel, people wanting to build something for themselves. And then wonderfully it all turns around when we realise by just sowing our lives together in the work of Christ, we can see the kingdom of God established. We can see the work of Jesus established and to me it’s a beautiful, it’s a powerful picture.

Matthew chapter 20 is where he was speaking from, if you want to be great, learn to be a servant. The spirit of a pioneer is not an isolated, individualistic spirit; in fact try to do things on your own and you perish alone. But when we decide that we are going to be part of something bigger than ourselves, but then not only does that greater thing flourish but our own lives can flourish as well.

Ordinary guy doing ordinary things that God used in an extraordinary way, to reach cities for Christ. To see the Gospel through an Ethiopian Eunuch for the first time, the Gospel of Jesus go toward the continent, the great continent of Africa. Amazing, beautiful.

You should be witnesses unto me first then Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, then to the ends of the earth. Sound good? Well let me tell you this part, within the context of the meaning of ‘witness’ there, that word witnesses actually means martyrs.

I remember one time hearing a guy when it came to people being giving and being generous. He’s talking about saying, “God doesn’t want much from you. He doesn’t want much from you.” Try telling Steven that. Full of faith and full of the Holy Ghost. And he was a martyr. It cost him his life.

To Bobbie and I this has never just been a job. And it will never be just a job. As a matter of fact, the day it’s just a job, that raw edge faith-filled pioneering spirit goes, that’s the day you might as well put me six foot under. It’s not just a job, it’s our life. We built our family, with that in mind today we’re blessed to see our children and our grand children serving God, now at different places but serving God, part of the house of God.

This church has not just been built on Bobbie and I seeing it as putting our life into this, in fact that’s been the spirit of our team, it’s been the spirit of so many people in this church. And I can tell you a lot has been the grace of God but also has been that pioneering spirit in people who have really put their life.

They have been sacrificial of their time, sacrificial of the giving, sacrificial in so many ways and literally put their life into this and by God’s Grace many have seen the fruit of that in their own homes, in their own families, in their careers. The greatest compliment that anyone can ever give me is when people say, they’ve got a business that may be succeeding, all we’ve done is taken the principals that we have learnt from church and applied them to our business. I love that

I’m going to tell you one story, we started 30 years ago and I’ve got to be telling you those first few weeks, as some of you have heard many times, it wasn’t going good, things were getting smaller every week and to be honest those first few weeks, no one, no one was responding giving their hearts to Jesus, no one was making decisions for Christ.

 I used to fast every Sunday, really believed God. For the first few weeks it was a little disappointing, I mean after four weeks we started to grow. Way back then I was 29 and I was preaching one Sunday night, we only had Sunday night services and right where I preached in that little school hall hung two gymnastic ropes. And I guess I got a little too excited preaching, so I grabbed one of those ropes and swung out over the congregation which wasn’t hard cause they only went back two rows, swung back again and just kept preaching.

I didn’t think anything more of it, but there was young guy their whose name was Kuta-ho-hepa?, you don’t forget names like that Kuta –ho-hepa, ‘Kuta’ went out that week and talked to a whole lot of his friends and man you guys should come to church, the Pastor swings on a rope like a monkey. True story and that week he brought nine of his friends to church and all nine of them committed to Jesus.

The second week, he went out again and he invited eleven more people to church and all eleven of them connected to Christ and in three weeks Kuta-ho-hepa lead thirty people to Christ. And at the end of that three weeks, after three weeks of that kind of fruitfulness he was riding his motorbike home from the Naval base where he worked, lost control, hit a tree, was killed. But you know the fruit of Kuta-ho-hepa’s life has never stopped from that day to this.

In my memory I can never remember one single Sunday in those last 30 years where somebody hasn’t given their lives to Jesus. Of course most weeks across our church, here in Australia alone, it’s hundreds of people who connect with Christ every single weekend.

And I don’t believe for one minute that God killed him, but I do know that the fruit of his life has never stopped. I want to live my life so the fruit of my life lives long beyond me, and for that to happen I believe, we’ve got to keep that pioneering spirit. Having a pioneering spirit, never underestimate what God can do, can you say Amen?

There in Copenhagen, Stockholm can you say Amen? Let’s stand together shall we? So much more wonderful, wonderful presentation to come, whatever you do, stay to the very end.

– we wish to acknowledge the person who transcribed this article. Thank you for giving up your time in transcribing this. Your work is greatly appreciated.

Edit (03/02/2015): Before publishing this story, we were careful about laying the charge that Hillsong pulled the below article.

However, other articles from the Hillsong website appeared to be fine. Our conclusion was that the article was pulled? Just to be sure, we waited two days before publishing the missing article. Since publishing – we have been notified that the article is back up on the Hillsong site. It would appear that Hillsong may have been aware of the attention this article received and perhaps placed it back in drafts until it was decided what should be done about it?

The attached article below was recently published by Hillsong, written by Hillsong worship leader Jonathan Douglass (JD). Not long after they published this article, someone mentioned part of its content on our site and we started analysing it.

Now we’ve discovered the article was pulled two days later after publication. Why?

Did JD inadvertently give us too much information on how Brian Houston ‘controls’ the worship arm of Hillsong? We know that Houston relies on music to influence churches as they expand/rebrand/takeover them into the Hillsong movement. Note the point that exposes Houston’s control:

2. We are about fulfilling our senior pastor’s vision (not our own)

It is so important that as amazing as our creative ideas might be, if they don’t ultimately line up with what our senior pastor and leaders want, then we happily put them aside.

The church doesn’t exist to build our worship teams… our worship teams exist to build the Church!!

This makes sense considering Brian Houston preaches his sermons from the latest Hillsong songs and pushes his Prosperity, Liberal, New Age or Christianity agendas through them. We’ve also seen Hillsong try to make their music appear more reformed in their musical flavour.

So now we ask this: is Hillsong music out to ‘deceive’ people. Why? If Brian Houston’s 2014 Vision Sunday is the standard of Hillsong’s worship integrity, honesty and faith – then God help Christians everywhere!

Houston’s 2014 God-given “Vision” (Part 1): “New grace” scrutinised

Houston’s 2014 God-given “Vision” (Part 2): The Father, Son and “Pioneer Spirit”?

Furthermore, the above quote raises an important question (and this in relation to the upcoming Hillsong movie): Considering the fact that Brian Houston is their visionary senior pastor, why is all the credit and focus on the UNITED band on Joel Houston?

Wouldn’t it be more honest to showcase Brian Houston leading the band since UNITED bends their knee to Brian’s prophetic visionary direction?

Here is the deleted article:

5 Things That Should Matter to a Worship Pastor

At the beginning of a brand new year, I always like to remind myself and ‘take stock’ of the basics, and re-focus on what really matters in every area of my life … my walk with God, family life, relationships, health, etc.  And of course, the basics in my role as one of our team’s worship pastors.

SEE ALSO: 4 WAYS TO CARE FOR YOUR WORSHIP TEAM

At the start of a new year, I re-focus myself on the things that really matter! I always find it a helpful exercise, so I thought I’d share some of them with you!

5 THINGS THAT SHOULD MATTER TO A WORSHIP PASTOR

1. Jesus is leading us

We are responsible for leading people into the presence of Jesus… to do this, we need to know how to enter His presence and be very comfortable there… I can’t get past Exodus 33:14 where Moses’ authentic cry to God was that He would lead him! And Moses would not move unless the presence of God went before him! This is how we should approach every day.

2. We are about fulfilling our senior pastor’s vision (not our own)

It is so important that as amazing as our creative ideas might be, if they don’t ultimately line up with what our senior pastor and leaders want, then we happily put them aside.

The church doesn’t exist to build our worship teams… our worship teams exist to build the Church!!

3. It’s an honour to serve

We are servants first… it’s not about what we do! So that means if we have to do things that we don’t want to do, then it’s not a big deal because the truth is that it’s not about us anyways!!

4. We need to get better

Yes, Jesus loves us and yes, we have His grace when we hit the wrong note in a song… BUT with a little old-fashioned hard work and commitment we can get better and minimise our mistakes! It’s not about being perfect but getting better!

The goal is not to play a SONGLIST perfectly, but eliminate as many distractions so that people can connect with the meaning of the songs and encounter Jesus. This is otherwise known as an expectation of excellence! (Read more about Excellence)

Mistakes are allowed but making the same mistake twice… now that should be addressed… (In love) there’s always room to improve!

5. It’s not WHAT you do but WHOSE you are that matters

What we do is very important! And doing it to the best of our ability is also important. On top of these, we must seek our value as WHOSE we are rather than what we do! And we are sons and daughters of the living God that created EVERYTHING… who knows and loves us. When we understand this, it becomes the fuel to do what we do and also means that we don’t make it about what we do, but rather the ‘what’ becomes secondary to the ‘why’!!

These definitely aren’t the only things that should matter to us as worship pastors, but they’re a great place to start!

JD

Source: By Jonathan Douglass, 5 Things That Should Matter to a Worship Pastor, Hillsong, http://hillsong.com/blogs/collected/2015/january/5-things-that-should-matter-to-a-worship-pastor, Published 28/01/2015. (Accessed 29/01/2015.)

Tanya Levin is well known in Australia for exposing the Hillsong movement as a cult in her book “People in Glass Houses” and for her controversial interview with Andrew Denton on the old TV program “Enough Rope”.

Denton Interviews Levins On Hillsong: “I was detoxed from toxic Christianity”

However, Tanya Levin is also good friends with a Hillsong member by the name of Tanya Riches. Some of the insights Tanya Riches offers are interesting. We hope to look at these in a future article.

Tanya Riches writes,

Growing up Australian and Pentecostal: Academics and Media versus Hillsong Church

Churches are called to be loving, open, honest, clear, gospel centered and biblical. Hillsong fails all these requirements on the most fundemental level.

With this in mind, churches shouldn’t:

1. Scam people financially.
2. Force people to follow the prophetic, “forward-thinking vision” of false prophets.
3. Bully or demonise people into submission or silence or mislead the general  public or other churches.
4. Lie about membership/salvation statistics.
5. Play word games and redefine biblical rules, teachings, ideas or concepts.
6. Have leaders that deliberately twist the scriptures to ‘control’ people within or outside their movement.
7. Have leaders that invite heretical and corrupt teachers.
8. Present a false gospel, a false Jesus and a different spirit or faith in the name of God.
9. Have leadership that cover up the crimes of a serial pedophile and members defending their pastors crimes.

And Hillsong members wonder why people consider Hillsong a cult?

As some have pointed out – Vision Sunday is on this week. This is a time in Hillsong where their fuhrer and visionary leader Brian Houston gets a God-given “Vision” for his church and preaches a “vision-casting” message that demands loyalty and unity above all else throughout his entire Hillsong movement and those affiliated with Hillsong.

The idea is this: to question the vision and the message is to question God Himself. Why? Because Brian Houston received this “Vision” and “Message” from God. It is claiming a prophetic status – that is, Brian Houston is presented to his entire movement as an infallible prophet. (Bobbie Houston claims this same status.) So what does it mean when God gives Brian Houston a God-given vision? What does it mean when God gives Bobbie Houston a God whisper? What does this mean for Hillsong?

Below we will let Brian Houston explain what it means when he gets his God-given vision for Hillsong in his book “For This I Was Born”. (This book is worth any theologian or scholar’s time if they want to research spiritual fascism – see “Modern Fascism: Liquidating the Judeo-Christian Worldview” by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.) Furthermore, we will be reviewing the below segment in articles to come.

Brian Houston writes,

 Chapter 4

_____________________________

United Around the Cause

THE DAY TWO PEOPLE GET MARRIED IS THE start of a powerful partnership for the cause of Christ. Sadly, over the years, Bobbie and I have been forced to watch as the once-happy marriage of some of our friends have broken down, ending in acrimonious divorces. It is tough to watch, and ultimately it is a losing situation for everyone.

Some 80 percent of divorces are granted on the basis of irreconcilable differences. These differences may be due to infidelity, a lack of communications, or a multitude of other reasons, but often the differences are grounded in the fact that the vision that each partner had for their marriage, their family, and their future diverged. The result? Vision became division, and where the there was once unity, there was now disunity.

In Matthew 12:25, when the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub (the prince of demons), he responded, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.”

Jesus here talks about a kingdom, a city, and a house. The point, as it applies to our lives today, is that just as division can bring down a nation (think coup), it can and will ultimately destroy a church, a marriage, or an individual life.

A house full of division is not a pleasant place to be. When we think of division, we tend to think of strife, anger, fighting, and people splitting away.

Division in a church is a little like division in a marriage. When the church is functioning the way God intends, it can be heaven. When it is not, it can be hell.

A house divided does not necessarily mean the people are fighting and punching each other around the communion table, or that a husband and wife are pitching plates and vases at each other. A divided house is one that is going different directions. If we are truly one, we need to be going in a single direction.

The Pharisees were often divided among themselves. John 7:43 and John 9 speak of this division. Legalism and bandage lend themselves to division. But in a house (be it a church or a home) where the people are empowered, released, and have a sense of vision and leadership that inspires, people will flourish.

A single vision united around a cause, be it in a church, a marriage, a family, or a workplace, will help guard against division.

A House Divided Has Divided Motives

When motives are pure, the house of God is awesome. There is a  huge difference between people who use their vision to build the house of God and people who use the house of God to build their vision. When people’s motives are to use the house of God in a negative way, division is inevitable.

I never want to be a controlling leader, but I do need to understand and be a discerner of people’s hearts. Failure to do so would put our church at risk and thwart our ability to serve the cause and the kingdom of God effectively.

Take, for example, a businessperson who is using his or her gifts and connections to be a blessing to the house of God. This is completely different from those who come into the house of God thinking about how people in the church can help them build their businesses.

At Hillsong’s profile has gained recognition, people have come who have tried to utilize the leverage of our church’s name by attaching it to their business or ministry. You would be astounded at how creative some people can be. We have become well versed in discerning wrong motives. It is similar to what happened growing up. I was treated differently at school and in the community when people found out that my dad was a prominent pastor in our part of the world.

When your motives are genuinely driven to serve the Lord’s purposes, God will see that his  house and your life flourish, but when motives are going in different directions, the house divides.

A House Divided Has Divided Vision

I often tell our church that we have one vision that is outworked in may different ways. Imagine how complicated and confusing, not to mention divisive, it would be if every one of our departments had a different vision.

We would experience utter chaos. There would be no cohesion, and in time, splinter groups would form and go their separate ways. Division in the case of a church will minimize that church’s impact, but division will also negatively affect the people of that church as they are pulled to and fro, unsure whose vision to follow and what cause they are contributing to.

The same can be said of a family or a business partnership in which one spouse or partner is pursuing one vision, while the other is going in a completely different direction. The children or employees in that family or business are put in a very difficult situation, and in time, irreconcilable differences will arise.

When your house, family, marriage, friendships, business, and church have a united vision and a focus anchored on a greater cause, there is a great sense of stability and security because everyone knows where he or she is heading, and people have something to follow.

A House Divided Has Divided Loyalties

 Jesus had a disloyal friend named Judas whose divided loyalty caused him to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. He is the type of friend Proverbs 18:24 describes this way: “The man of many friends [a friend of all the world] will prove himself a bad friend” (AMP, brackets in original).

Proverbs 18:24 is saying that people who try to be loyal to everyone actually are not good friends to anyone. Judas tried to be both friend to Jesus and to the Pharisees, but he failed at both and ended up hanging up himself.

I am reminded of people who come to church on Sunday and lift their hands in worship, but during the week live like hell. Sadly, in time, this kind of divided loyalty will lead to destruction.

God values loyalty, and undivided loyalty is an important characteristic for all of us. Strength comes when you know where your loyalties lie. Loyalty actually forces you to take sides.

No doubt you have heard of an “us-and-them” spirit. It is one I do not let fester in our church. I ask our leaders, “On which side of ‘us and them’ do you find yourself?” Loyalty always positions itself as one of “them”. You can build the church, a marriage, and friendship on that kind of loyalty.

There will be times when you will have to make a stand about where your loyalties lie, particularly when it comes to the house of God. It is impossible to be a friend to the house of God and a friend to the world simultaneously.

Living for the Father’s cause is about making the tough decisions in life. This includes with whom and what you are “friends.” You need to position yourself to be best friends with God’s house, guarding against division and determining in your heart that nothing will draw you away from building his kingdom.”

Source: Brian Houston, For This I Was Born: Aligning Your Vision to God’s Cause, 2008, Publisher : Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, pg. 45-50.

DID YOU KNOW THAT GOD WHISPERS TO BOBBIE?

Bobbie declared in her 2013 Women’s conference that she received a “God whisper”.

“And in that moment, God spoke to me…”

“I feel like the Lord is saying, ‘Go home and flourish.”

“It was the genius and wisdom of God! Honestly!”

Speaking with such authority that God spoke to her, she continually reinforced the idea that she was some kind of prophetess.

Towards the end of this video – you’ll notice her “god whisper” kick in as she wrestles with what she just said to her audience.

[5:26] “And you know if you’ve been around me and us that, you know, the essence [of this conference] came out of what I felt was a god whisper.

A whisper in my spirit many years ago that said, “Bobbie! Create a conference in Sydney. An environment in Sydney for young women, girded up with the older women, and tell them something. Tell them there is a god in heaven who believes in them. And not only that, a company of others.” I mean, that is the god whisper.

[Looks unsettled]

Sometimes I smile at myself and I go, “I hope when I get to heaven it was a god whisper. I hope I don’t get there and Jesus goes, “Actually we never said that but we rolled with it anyway because it was really God”. I don’t know! Hahaha!

No I feel it was a God whisper! The fruit bears witness! Hahahaha! Sometimes, do you ever doubt that? You’re going, “How embarassing if I get to heaven and they say, ‘Actually – no- but it was a good idea and we went with it anyway’.

But you know what? That was a – that was a god whisper.”

Source: Juan Marcos Lecuona, Pastor Bobbie Houston, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwqz-1PA0wE, Published 17/07/2013. (Accessed 05/02/2015.)