Hillsong church in Australia is one of the largest, if not the largest, distributor of "worship music" in the world and have multiple "worship conferences" each year with tens of thousands in attendance. Pastored by Brian Houston, their message is far reaching. And as I found by reading their message - it is no cause for celebration. In my previous post, I discussed the content of the "CD liner notes" found in a Hillsong CD. As an Australian, I am sorry for the scale and scope of the gospel according to Hillsong - for it is a gospel with no saving power.
I have attempted to engage in a private dialogue with the "powers that be" in Hillsong church but to no avail. One of their main preachers did write back to me (you will hear more about that on Wednesday), but suffice to say that his e-mails were full of diplomacy and lacking in theology.
This post is not about grinding an axe or discussing the scandals of moral failures. Nor is it a discussion on the financial activities of Hillsong church, though there are those who contend that the economics are a by-product of a false gospel. What follows is my inititial correspondence with Hillsong in the attempt and hope that maybe we could engage in a productive discussion on the purity of the Gospel. So please read on with a heart for those who are lost and deceived, and a desire for the Gospel to thunder once more in pulpits around Australia.
To whom it may concern at Hillsong church,
I recently read through the CD liner notes of your "Hillsong Live - Mighty To Save" CD. In it I found an explanation on how to become a Christian.
Here is what it said:
Our prayer is that you would discover the Author of Love . . . Jesus. His life and death represent the greatest gift of love the world will ever see . . . a gift for you. All you need to do is accept it . . . a brand new start to a life lived in relationship with God. Meeting God is as simple as praying a prayer . . . asking Jesus to meet you right where you are. If you are not sure that you know God, and that you are going to heaven, then make this your prayer today . . .
Dear Lord Jesus
I need You . . . I need Your grace to forgive me and I need your love to change me. Thank You for your amazing love. Thank You for giving me life and eternity. But above all, thank you for dying on the cross for me.
I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Now I'm a Christian, which means You live in me.
I belong to You. I will live my life for You and I will love You forever . . . Amen.
Now I am concerned about several things lacking in this presentation including Who God is, defining what sin is, that we must all be judged, and why Christ needed to die on the cross. These all give me great cause for concern with the gospel you are proclaiming. But I want to zero in on one particular issue. On your website you have a statement of "what we believe" which says this:
We believe that in order to receive forgiveness and the 'new birth' we must repent of our sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and submit to His will for our lives. (http://myhillsong.com/what-we-believe)
Can you please explain to me why repentance is never mentioned in the gospel presentation in the CDs you sell but your website says that "in order to receive forgiveness and the 'new birth' we must repent of our sins"? Can you tell me which one version is the correct one?
Adding to this I noticed on the back cover of the CD liner notes a quotation of 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says:
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
By checking in my Bible I found this verse to be incomplete and is missing the words in bold print:
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Can you explain to me why you deleted the line from that verse that speaks specifically about repentance? I hope you agree that it is very serious indeed to add to or delete information from sacred Scripture.
I am very concerned about this. I'm sure you would agree that the stakes are high and it is imperative that we get the Gospel right. Eternal destinies hang in the balance. The Apostle Paul said:
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9).
I would appreciate your response as to where Hillsong church actually stands on repentance, and that you would promptly ammend your website or the CD liner notes that you publish. I am writing to you first to give you opportunity to clarify your position before I discuss this publicly on my blog.
Sincerely
Cameron Buettel
They did write back, and so did I, and you'll hear all about that on Wednesday in Part 2.
Go On To Part 2
17 comments:
Cameron, must we wait until Wesnesday? That's a kind of "cliff-hanger" effect. What happens next? :-)
I must say, this really is good stuff.
To those of us, that have long voiced concerns over Hillsongs passive gospel message and yet aggressive ways and means leadership style, this comes as confirmation to our suspicion.
Even here in Finland, Hillsong's influence has been and is still felt and seen.
In 2003 they tried to "start" a church plant here by encouraging a number of leaders within a local State church to break away and join them.
Many prophetic promises were made assuring success and a great future. With the pointing out of those who were called to be Prophets and Apostles from amongst them.
They did break away and it all collasped around them, within weeks in-house fighting and power struggles, coupled with the teaching of errors and over emphasize of spiritual gifts tore them apart.
It was a very public and very messy.
One of my closest friends was one of the core leader group.
Looking back, he has said it was like a maddness took over them, like a runaway train, that could have only ended one way, as it did.
When everything was a success the Hillsong people where all over them. Yet, at the first sign collaspe they were gone. Many involved have not recovered from it.
Is this the real face of Hillsong?
I love the Title Cam.
With cliff-hangers like that you could write for "lost". I know you use to love that show.
Thanks for the extra input Kyle that is good information to know.
Hi Cameron,
it's a sign of the times, I'm afraid!
The old gospel that caused offence to man has been replaced with the feel-good inoffensive one that saves no-one.
See my British website which addresses this in detail:
http://www.whatisthegospel.org.uk
I'm not a bit surprised at this. A lot of their songs are man-centered and emotional. And don't forget to throw in their prosperity teachings!
You have to express more your opinion to attract more readers, because just a video or plain text without any personal approach is not that valuable. But it is just form my point of view
I would appreciate more visual materials, to make your blog more attractive, but your writing style really compensates it. But there is always place for improvement
ummm, have any of yous ever been to Hillsong church in Sydney?!?
I am from Australia and have recently moved to Finland. I am rather concerned about all of the churches that I have attended here...
For those us who have sensory issues and cannot stand a lot of visual input I think your blogg is great and there is not a lot of stuff on it to distract or overwhelm me. Please do not add much visual material. And thank you for keep the colors nice and not bright.
Keep exposing the false teachers and proclaiming the Truth.
I used to go to a church in Glasgow, Scotland named C7 Church - which has 2 campuses: Glasgow and Edinburgh. Its Senior Pastors are Jason and Jodi Cask from Hillsong Sydney. It is connected to the Hillsong Network of churches. I'll admit that I was in awe at first but then little things started eating away at me. They became more evident when I volunteered on a ministry team there and the cracks got bigger and wider. I'd be more than happy to discuss all this with you at length, via email, keep proclaiming the Truth of God's Word! Blessings
Anonymous from Scotland. I would love to get in touch with you. On my website (www.onceuponacross.com) you can find out more about me and also my e-mail address (just click on the "Cameron Info" tab).
I asked a friend who had the Mighty to Save CD to verify the verse issue you rasie for me. He said:
'They have on the insert "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face then will I hear from heaven... forgive their sin and heal their land."'
So there is an ellipses on my friends copy, but the ellipses is in the wrong place(!).
Ummm...I just wanted to state these verses...Acts 2:38; John 3:5, Mark 16:16, 1 Peter 3:20-21, Acts 22:16...From what I have read neither parties have said a word about Baptism....All of these verses say that you must be baptized...1 peter 3:20-21 actually says "Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ"--I'll have you notice BATISM DOTH NOW ALSO SAVE US...in order to receive salvation we must die out to self and be buried with Jesus (Baptism) and then also be ressurected just like Jesus (Receieving the gift of the Holy Ghost)...Repentence is just 1 part of salvation, you must Repent, Be baptized (in the name of Jesus {Acts 4:11-12}), Receive the Holy Ghost, and persevere to the end (AKA Sanctification)...I just wanted to make this known
Anonymous, salvation is by grace through faith, it is the gift of God, NOT OF WORKS, so that no man can boast (Eph 2:8). And when I say faith alone I am talking about biblical faith that is repentant - turning away from sin in order to turn to Christ - it is all a work of God - Ezekiel 36:25-32
When forming doctrine an idea must harmonize with ALL of Scripture. Your idea simply doesn't do that - that baptism is NECESSARY for salvation runs counter to the entire weight of Scripture. Should we be baptized? Yes - upon conversion in obedience to the command - as an outward sign of the inner saving work.
Have a look at Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology Chapter 49 where he rebuts your argument more extensively. We cannot add anything to the finished work of Christ or we end up in heresy land. Please have a read of that chapter as it should clear up the matter for you.
Cameron,
So, if I understand correctly you would rather have Hillsong sing more about sin and hell?
Jesus talked about the Kingdom. Not hell. The only time he talked about sin was to forgive it. (A byproduct of love.)
Now, I'm not trying to do any form of teaching--as if I could even do that personally. Rather, I'm simply clarifying that you want the brunt force of today's message (which is going out to a 3% church attendance in today's generation) to be more about sin, hell, and how bad the person is rather than God's love?
I think if it were possible to comprehend an immeasurable fraction of the potential of God's love that I would not be focused on anything else other than the eclipsing love over-shadowing the all the other wrong. It is indeed the goodness of God that leads to repentance. Not the singing of sin and hell that leads to repentance. I applaud hill song for being a living example rather than selling out to an orthodox old and dying paradigm of belief surrounding and revolving around the central idea of sin, hell, fear, and death being the epitome. The whole "woe is me," "sinner saved by grace," "Worthless wretch," does NOT change a single thing.
The Kingdom is taken by the aggressive children of God who have a confident understanding of their identity. That identity is only enforced and reinforced by God's voice.
Hillsong is impacting more for Christ in a good way than we are doing typing and discussing why they are the potential "Antichrist spirit" and blah dee dah. The mindset of end time and the Earth is passing is getting old.
Let's quit pointing fingers and sowing discourse. Let's be the optimistic people we are, and agree that hill song is a God sent in today's rapidly changing society and culture. We need more people that hear God the way they do.
The beautiful thing about it all is--the lyrics they write touch millions for God, the words we write about their influence touch hundreds, may be thousands.
God is bigger than all of our disagreements. And ultimately His love makes everything else irrelevant in relation to His love. So let's stop arguing and nitpicking the already small things.
Anonymous, can you please tell me which of these verses is where Jesus never talks about hell?
Matthew 5:22, 5:29, 5:30, 10:28, 16:18, 18:9, 23:15, 23:33, Mark 9:43, 9:45, 9:47, Luke 12:5. I can give you more if you like?
May I suggest that you need to spend a lot less time talking and a lot more reading your New Testament. Get back to me after you've done that.
Thank you Cameron for your insightful essay. Please keep writing and expose the false teachers, especially that of Hillsong / Hillsong United. Did you know that they have now expanded their plantation in the USA? Please keep going at this. I appreciate your work. God bless you.
The faith that was once & for all delivered unto the Saints & to this the faith is called as the Apostolic faith, meaning come through the Apostles & anything that Contradicts the words of the Apostles,is not of the Christian Faith, including additions or Subtractions, Like Joshua of old said "Add nor Subtract, neither Left nor Right to another Gospel to another Christ.
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