“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” – Jesus, Matt 7:15.
Joel Osteen is speaking at this year’s Hillsong Conference 2013. Recentlly, Chris Rosebrough decided to tune into Joel Osteen’s 2013 easter sermon. Here is a snippet of what Joel Osteen said in his easter sermon.
“I am not a victim. I am not at a disadvantage. I am full of resurrection power! Well you say, “Joel, I don’t feel very powerful. I don’t feel very strong”. But you can’t go by what you feel, you gotta go by what you know. Your feelings may change every other hour.
What you’re up against may look bigger, stronger, more influential, more powerful, that’s okay. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. You have an advantage. It’s called resurrection power. Even though you may not feel powerful, you got to put your shoulders back and start acting like your powerful. Fake it til you make it.
Act like you’re strong. Act like you’re well able. Act like you’re more than a conqueror. Don’t go through life intimidated when you have the most powerful force in the universe on the inside.” - Joel Osteen, Lakewood Easter Sevice, http://0352182.netsolhost.com/F4F/F4F051013.mp3: 56:56, 2013.
According to Joel Osteen you have the most powerful force of the universe? According to Joel Osteen you have to “fake it til you make it”? And he decided to teach this in his sermon on Resurrection Sunday?
Jesus warns people about the leaven of false teachers like Joel Osteen.
“Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.” - Jesus Christ, Luke 12:1-3.
So why is Osteen teaching believers that they need to “Fake it til you make it”? Is this how Joel Osteen made it big as a ‘Pastor’ of America’s biggest church? Is Hillsong inviting a faker to speak at their conference? How can we trust Joel Osteen for what he’s worth if he’s prepared to ‘fake’? How is Brian Houston ‘championing the cause of the local church’ by inviting such a heretic to speak?
I was an active member of Garden City Christian Church (GCCC) for 9 years from March 2001 to October 2009, under the leadership of Bruce Hills, pastor.
It was a great surprise to me, and to many others, that there was about to be a take- over by Hillsong.
After his return from 3 months leave, Bruce Hills was told by the board of GCCC in November 2008, that they wanted a pastor who was more of a CEO to run the church.1
This begs the questions, “How long had the board been thinking of changing the leadership?” And who contacted whom? Did Brian Houston contact GCCC, or did the current assistant pastor Steve Dixon (SD) pick up the phone and raise the matter with Hillsong?
Brian Houston became Brisbane’s senior pastor under the guidance, leadership and affirmation of assistant pastor SD and the board of GCCC. So called “campus pastor” Steve Dixon according to a report in the Courier Mail was at the time unsure how long he would remain part of the pastoral team.3
Another question that begs an answer is, “Why did the elders and board members of GCCC unanimously endorse the “takeover” by Hillsong and Brian Houston as senior pastor without investigating Hillsong for themselves?” On the day of the members’ vote, a number of the elders stood on stage and testified that they had never ventured south to attend even one Hillsong conference in Sydney, yet they were backing this change all the way!
Members and adherents of GCCC weren’t given any opportunity to make any suggestions, nor was there any open discussion of leadership alternatives. The decision had been made. GCCC members were simply presented with one leadership appointment, and asked to vote.
There had been only one side of the story told. The information was always presented in a positive light, with little opportunity to question, or linger on doubts. Any questions raised were screened and well managed. I have since learned this is a technique used by the business world to manage change. There had been more spin over the pulpit in God’s name, during these months, than found in your average Colgate commercial.
Once the decision was made, GCCC became an instant “franchise” of Hillsong. The Church is now market driven under the guise of being – “purpose driven”.
Identity Crisis:
GCCC has totally lost its identity!
Without a moment to breathe, the leadership from Sydney suddenly arrived putting their stamp on this new way to “do church”. We were presented with a spokesman for this, and a spokesman for that. We even had a special “Money Preacher” to encourage and remind us of the need to tithe and give generously. Such coercion from a “church” viz Hillsong, which is a juggernaut financially, with a turnover of of $50 million plus a year4 is neither godly nor, in my opinion, acceptable.
We were no longer just affiliated with strong ties to Hillsong, we became Hillsong!
From day one everything had to change, and it did. For example – there was a fairly new coat of paint on the “church” walls from previous renovations, painted to a modern grey. Yet within days of the signs, and the optic fibre going in the carpark, the auditorium was repainted to the colour of the other Hillsong churches. Why spend the money?
As part of the takeover we had the celebrity gala feast; this one, and that one, from Hillsong Sydney visiting to give their counsel, and ideas. All the rich and famous were given a slot, and place of honour. For those who couldn’t get enough of their Hillsong idols they could now have them visit here in Queensland. With every guest appearance, Brian Houston became more like an Amway Diamond, than a pastor.
Hillsong is run as a Corporation not a church in its operation.
There is no New Testament precedent for this model and certainly not for its duplication.
The Church has taken its cue from Wall Street. It has been offered the kingdoms of this world, and yet instead of denying the flesh, it has embraced the path of least resistance, and in so doing, has denied the cross, and the One who bought us.
J. Edwin Orr pointed out that “seldom does God call one who ministers the Word to the ministry of money making. They are two separate callings.”5
By love for the world, we make ourselves an enemy of the cross:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him – 1 John 2:15.
Ambition and Success are the new golden calf.
Warren W. Wiersbe comments;
Few things taint our goodness like covetousness; a desire to be popular, and the ecstatic feeling that comes when we exercise power over the people who give us their idolatrous adoration. When our motives are wrong; our ministry is wrong; and the consequences are tragic for us, for those who follow us and for the whole church.6
This is now playing itself out at Hillsong Brisbane.
Seeking to be Sensitive:
The Hillsong way actually follows to the letter what is known as the Seeker Sensitive or Church Growth Movement model. This model is to help bring “unchurched” sinners into the meetings, and to make them as comfortable as possible with the experience.
Dress down in clothing and style. Jeans are the new formal wear;
Low mood lighting similar to a bar or nightclub. In Brisbane campus, it is so dimly lit it appears like night time, yet it’s 10:30 am in the morning. Quite a contrast especially in Queensland when the sun is up at 5:30 am;
Secular music is played as background music prior to the start of the service. eg The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony;
Worship – now accommodates the excitability of the young and the unchurched;
Music is now more about entertainment than the sole purpose of lifting up our God above all other gods;
The lyrics (words) of the songs have progressively become “I, me, my” focused instead of Christ Jesus focused – e.g. In Your Freedom I will live;
Worship is now limited to 20 minutes;
Big screens are not there for the glory of God. It’s not pictures of creation, but the names and faces of those on stage that are lifted up;
Hillsong relies on the quality of programmes not the power of the Holy Spirit for transformed lives;
Preaching is now a standard 20 minute sermonette;
Preaching on the whole is “relevant” and topical. It is now a people based message to “help” the hearer with their felt-needs e.g. happiness, family , finances, relationships, job, career etc;
This type of pop spirituality effectively teaches:
Every human being is divine or basically good;
God’s Word is not really the final authority, but is still useful as a moral guide;
The goal of my life is centred on me;
What I desire determines what happens in my life.
What this type of church model does, is nothing more than increase the numbers of adherents, and leaves the sinner in his sins. The church now has a flock of deceived sheep, or are they in reality misguided goats?
Massaging the Message:
Messages lack any mention of sin, repentance, prayer, obedience, death to self, holiness, sacrifice, suffering, hell, even God himself.
Preaching lacks sound doctrine. Closer analysis reveals it is more based around pop psychology, than biblical truth.
The message has little challenge or need for personal self assessment.
Yet the scripture exhorts us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith – 2 Corinthians 13:5
The preaching frequently includes different Bible versions. This includes The Message, which is a perversion and not a true translation.
Often this is quoted in church to expound or reveal a greater truth. It is normally thrown up on the big screen for everyone to read. The Message was produced by Eugene Peterson, as a simple paraphase, not as a translation from the original texts. Yet without fail, not a Sunday will go by without this Bible version being quoted.
To show the degree we have strayed, the KJV has over 700 references to “Lord” in the New Testament alone. The Message has just 23 verses which mention “Lord”. But the real concern is that “Lord” is never once associated or found linked to “Jesus” in any way in The Message.
Brian Houston frequently preaches a message that is a watered down gospel. He teaches from Bible verses that were never meant to say what he teaches. This is known as Eisegesis.
Eisegesis (from the Greek root εις, meaning into, in, among) is the process of misinterpreting a text in such a way that it introduces one’s own ideas, reading into the text. This is best understood when contrasted with Exegesis. While exegesis draws out the meaning from the text, eisegesis occurs when a reader reads his/her interpretation into the text. As a result, exegesis tends to be objective when employed effectively while eisegesis is regarded as highly subjective.
Verses are used just because they have a certain word or contain a truth that fits with his message.
Houston Heterodoxy:
Brian Houston lacks or is happy to ignore all forms of discernment;
Brian Houston’s preaching could be termed “Heterodox Humanism”
He happily accepts and promotes the following teachers most of whom have personally been at Hillsong Conferences.
You will also find these people’s books as the only books available in the Hillsong Resource Centres (bookshop), along with Brian and Bobby’s material of course!7
Joyce Meyer – Prosperity Teacher/ Preacher. cf. Paul’s instruction about women teachers – 1 Timothy 2:12.
Joel Osteen – Prosperity Preacher and denier of the true Gospel
Jerry Saville – Prosperity Preacher
T D Jakes – Prosperity Preacher and denier of the trinity (advertised as guest speaker at the 2010 Hillsong Conference).
Rick Warren – member of the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) trained under Robert H. Schuller (a la – The Hour of Power)
Bill Hybels – Pastor of Willow Creek Church – who has admitted getting it wrong with the Seeker Sensitive model. Hybels trained under Robert H. Schuller and is good friends with Rick Warren. According to Schuller — Self Esteem is the new reformation!! He defines sin as a lack of “self-esteem”.
Pearsons – Jeremy Pearsons (wife Sarah) son-in-law of Kenneth and Gloria Copeland—visited Hillsong Powerhouse in Sydney in October 2009 for Encounter ’098
Hillsong United band played for the Pope during his visit to Sydney in 2008.
Sisterhood (a term widely used by Hillsong) is a concept borrowed from the Women’s liberation movement, and the new age.
Darwin’s Day:
Finally one of the worst instances of spiritual bankruptcy I’ve experienced was the live performance of the “Hillsong Creation story”, featured at Hillsong Brisbane on 11-Oct-2009.
Aspects can only be touched on here. The play was done in humour, and obviously aimed at a child audience. However the fun and humour ends very quickly, where the creation narrative turns into a sham and a circus. Plants and animals were various members of the congregation, dressed in costumes. More and more characters appeared on stage, and we had six or more of the cast from the pastoral team. Somehow we were meant to make the mental leap, as a congregation, from the bouncing chicken and the freckle faced rat to God’s act of creating our world and the Universe out of nothing!?!
The seven days of creation were played out by various actors and God even created for us – “Superheros”, like Batman and the Incredible Hulk, both making a guest appearance. God is so “great”, that He invented superheros, can openers, and cars!
The Holy Spirit at one stage was taking too long to come –“hovering over the waters”. Towards the end Adam and Eve appeared clothed (minus the fall, sin and satan, and God’s provision). The story ends ….
Steve Dixon then expounded for about twenty minutes the creation story as found in Genesis chapters 1 and 2.
He touched on a few points expressing the view that we are not able to know the exact time frame of God’s creation, whether it was a literal seven days, or a certain period of time which God took to make earth.9
Darwin would have been proud on this 150th Anniversary of his Origin of Species, and Richard Dawkins would be more than bemused.
The Church in the West for too long has sailed along in fair seas. The Zephyr has fluttered at our sails in the height of summer, and has blown comfort upon the people. Our ship has sailed below sapphire skies, the crew sleeps, while the current of the world, and tides of apostasy have taken us off course, and we barely know it.
The worst of it is, darkening clouds beckon on the horizon, bringing a storm of ecumenism and coming persecution with barely anyone to trim the sail of this wayward vessel.
Conclusion:
Since the introduction of Hillsong to Brisbane, this once truly relevant and purposeful church has been sideswiped. A church birthed in humility and zeal by its founders, who gave all to the cause of Christ, have now become a people who have lost their way, and now dance to the flute of the musician, whose song is not the song of the Lord.
The love of fame and fortune have been Christianized, and an unsuspecting flock now give their allegiance to a captain who cares “little, if anything, for their salvation”.
It must be said that they who began well have turned aside to follow a shepherd who is no shepherd. The hireling has crept in unawares.
Paul complained in his day:
For I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s – Philippians 2: 20, 21.
The way once narrow, now abandoned, has become a broadened highway, opening up to the verdant plains leading on to the gates of a city that arises in the distance. It is that great city, clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! It is a city proud, that city upon seven hills – BABYLON.
about the author
Lance Goodall and his wife Norilyn have both served the Lord in the AOG movement for many years. They have since come out of the Church Growth Movement. They both have a concern for the knowledge of God and His glory. They carry in their heart, a love for Gods’ honour, for His Word, and for the salvation of the lost….
Footnotes
1 Part of the transcript from a sermon preached by Bruce Hills at Legana Church in Tasmania – Easter – April 2009 – DVD can be obtained by ordering from Legana Church.
2) CWM has a copy of a transcript from a tape recording of Bruce preaching in which he make this confession.
3) The meeting was held on Sunday 26th April 2009 to determine the vote from the congregation. 80% of those present agreed to have Brian & Bobbie Houston as senior pastors
5) J. Edwin Orr, Revival is like judgement Day (Atlanta: Home Mission Board, SBC 1987) p. 14
6) Warren W. Wiersbe – The integrity Crisis (Nashville; Oliver Nelson Publishers, 1988) p. 56.
7) I personally visited the store, and viewed the books all over the shelves in the resource centre (bookshop) at Brisbane Campus. I suggest you check out any Hillsong bookshop
We were notified of this article on the Parliament of NSW’s website. This was produced on the 8th ofNovember 2005. Quick note – Jesus called false prophets and teachers “Lawless ones”. Just saying…
Here is the article:
Hillsong Emerge National Community Crime Prevention Funding
About this Item
Subjects
Aborigines: New South Wales; Churches: Christian; Religions and Sects; Fraud; Government: Federal
[10.11 p.m.]: I raise some disturbing matters concerning Hillsong, the business unit of Hillsong Emerge, and the Federal Government. The first matter concerns the Chief Executive Officer of Hillsong Emerge, Mr Leigh Coleman, who recently attempted to pay off the Riverstone Aboriginal Community Association in return for its silence on Hillsong Emerge’s rip-off of taxpayer funding of just under $415,000 from the National Community Crime Prevention Program, administered by the Federal Attorney-General’s Department, for use in Blacktown and Riverstone. It appears that Mr Coleman is not only acting in a decidedly un-Christian manner but perpetuating the destructive approach of Europeans since 1788 when Aborigines were moved out of their land and had their day-to-day lives controlled by a mission manager appointed by the Government of the time.
The “mission manager” approach is alive and well in Australia today, and continues a culture of lies, deceit, welfare and dependency that has done so much damage to Aboriginal communities. It appears that Hillsong Emerge has misused the Riverstone Aboriginal community to get taxpayers’ money for its own purposes. Hillsong Emerge has deceived the local people, and when confronted by community representatives Vilma Ryan, Sandra Bell, Chris McBridge and Dean Bell, the chief executive officer has lamely tried to dole out some of the money in return for their co-option. The problem for Mr Coleman is that the application that Hillsong Emerge has called its own plagiarises proposals put forward to it by local community groups that were made in good faith as part of a joint application.
On top of that, Hillsong’s application then misrepresents the real situation in the community, stating that the local area is being overrun by Aboriginal gangs. This is simply a lie, calculated to deliver Hillsong Emerge a bucket of Federal taxpayers’ money—and it has worked. Philip Ruddock’s department rejected an application made by Hillsong Emerge in concert with local community organisations, but then approved an application made by Hillsong without the knowledge of local communities. I am concerned about the assessment of those applications and the criteria that were applied, the approval and recommendation process, what evidence was provided to satisfy decision makers that Hillsong had the capacity to deliver the project, what evidence was provided that supported the need for the projects, and what monitoring and accountability mechanisms are in place to ensure the money is properly spent.
The Riverstone Aboriginal Community Association was formed recently to empower the local community and help them take control of their lives. But it appears that Hillsong is doing the opposite, and that taxpayer funding which is needed for local disadvantaged communities is now being channelled directly into Hillsong’s bank accounts. In August this year the Prime Minister said:
The Australian Government has provided $8 million towards strengthening grassroots initiatives to assist in the prevention of crime in the region.
But Hillsong is benefiting from the theft of “grassroots initiatives” of local groups. Later the Prime Minister said:
This funding is in addition to $50 million for crime prevention projects that demonstrate strong community partnerships, target priority areas and provide ongoing benefit to the community.
It appears that Hillsong has failed the Prime Minister’s criteria of what the funding is for. The announcement came in the same month as a Hillsong Emerge function that cost $40 a head. Held on 25 August in Redfern, the function was called “Inspiring Australians” and was co-sponsored by the Australian Government. On the letterhead of Hillsong Emerge was the crest of the Australian Government, with a note at the bottom stating, “Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible.” Is it appropriate for the Australian Government to assist Hillsong Emerge’s business and fundraising ventures in this manner? Where does the money go? I am concerned about whether the arrangements adhered to the legitimate use of taxpayers’ money and resources. The joint invitation also canvassed a showcase of products and services produced by Hillsong Emerge as part of its micro enterprise development program that targets credit provision, training and mentoring at disadvantaged communities.
Hillsong Emerge is using its Government-endorsed and tax-free status to develop what Hillsong Emerge refers to on its web site as “increasingly other financial products like savings and insurance”. Its parent, Hillsong, brought in $50 million last year, about half in cash donations from people attending its services and courses. I share community concerns about the appropriateness of Hillsong receiving taxpayer funding and credibility in pushing an ideological and religious approach—especially in the provision of counselling and support, and in delivering “financial literacy” and “independence” for disadvantaged communities and individuals. There also appears to be a crossover of Hillsong Emerge and Hillsong’s business, membership and recruitment activities. Hillsong Emerge’s web site contains a section on the micro enterprise development program that refers to the personal development course.
It appears that Hillsong Emerge channels people into its religious and fundraising activities through its Government-supported programs. The welcome comments on the Hillsong web site read:
As a church, we are putting heightened emphasis on seeing souls come to Christ between now and the end of the year. We’ve always been blessed in this area, but we know we can see that increase.
Hillsong Emerge has as part of its vision statement the following:
Yes, the Church that I see is so dependent on the Holy Spirit—
[
Time expired.
]
Source: Hillsong Emerge National Community Crime Prevention Funding, http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20051108058, 08/12/2005. (Accessed 01/04/2013.)
It took one false teacher to inivite Rick Warren to speak at Hillsong Conference 2012 to undermine the Christian faith here in Australia.
It took a second false teacher, (Beth Moore), to sink to new depths to use Rick Warren’s son’s death to emotionally manipulate Christians to spread hatred against other believers who question the teachings and practices of Rick Warren.
But we were even more horrified to see the false teacher Rick Warren, further use her article about his own son’s death to support her attack on Christian believers. We are in agreement that it is wrong to be critical of Rick Warren in this time while he is grieving for his son. But this is a rather disturbing thing for a father to do in this time period.
It is possible that Rick Warren has chosen to be incredibly emotionally manipulative in this vulnerable time to spread intolerance towards Christians. Specifically through Beth Moore, it appears he targeted those who would question or criticise his ministry and malign or silence them. If Rick Warren clarifies that he posted Beth Moore’s article because he felt her support as a friend in his time of grief – we shall remove this article. If he is simply emotionally unstable at this time and posted hastily without thinking of the consequences – we shall remove this article. We are saddened for Warren and will attempt not to write articles for the next few months on him.
If you want to discuss this article – please talk respectfully. Here is a good article that covers the issue very well:
Rick Warren Uses Pastors.com to Attack Critics in Wake of Son’s Death
I had promised myself not to write anything critical of Rick Warren in the wake of his son’s tragic and untimely death. My heart goes out to him and his family during this incredibly sad time.
So, what could possibly prompt me to write anything about him in less than a week after his great personal tragedy? It was his weekly email newsletter that he sends out to Pastors.com members. In it was featured an article by Beth Moore titled “Beth Moore: Sadness and Madness”.
In her article, Moore actually uses the tragedy of Warren’s son’s death to attack Warren’s theological critics. While I thought it would be appropriate to wait at least a couple of weeks before writing anything about Warren, Moore decided to use his son’s death to silence his critics in less than a week after his death. And someone at Warren’s church, if not Warren himself*, thought it appropriate to include it in this week’s newsletter.
In her article Moore tells how she learned of Matthew Warren’s death and how she, like all of us, was stricken with sadness at the news. She goes onto relate that as the afternoon wore on, the sadder she got, the madder she got. She got mad at the “astonishing satanic force that stoops viciously and swoops in unscrupulously to attack children and to prey on their weaknesses as they grow up.”
But then she takes a bizarre turn, using the tragedy of Matthew Warren’s death to call on Christians to stop attacking Rick Warren. And by “attack”, one can only assume she means those of us who criticize Warren’s theology and teachings. Suddenly, she goes from talking about sadness and madness over Matthew’s death to talking about people she calls “bullies in the body of Christ”.
“And then, in that mixture of emotions Saturday afternoon, I got madder and madder at the bullies in the Body of Christ. I thought how much it turns out that the Warrens have been through personally and, if they are like most leaders, all the while putting out fires and putting up with a bunch of trash-talk from people who would call the same Jesus Lord.” (emphasis mine)
It is true that many secular people “talk trash” about Rick Warren. Some of the tweets I saw over the weekend were disgusting. They were saying terrible and repulsive things about him and his family in the wake of his son’s death. His harshest Christian critics wouldn’t even have such thoughts. Much less express them.
But that’s not who Moore is talking about here. She’s not talking about unbelievers. She’s talking about believers. There are many believers across the world who have serious disagreements with Warren’s positions on a wide variety of theological issues. But let’s recognize that she is talking about the most prominent Christian critics. There would be no need for her to waste her time on people no one has ever heard of.
Since the prominent ones are known, I can say that they have always in my experience, been kind and never attacked Warren personally. I’ve even seen many of them post their sincere condolences to the Warren family in the last few days. No matter what our theological differences, we all grieve when something this tragic happens to anyone. None of them have used the death of Matthew Warren to launch any kind of attacks on Rick Warren. None of Warren’s prominent Christian critics have stooped that low. But Beth Moore has, and now the Warren organization has – because they published and promoted her article - just four days after Matthew’s death.
I’ve never once seen any of these prominent Christian brothers and sisters “trash talk” Warren. They take principled, and defensible Biblical stands against his positions – which is not the same as personally attacking, name calling or insulting. It’s not an insult or an attack to disagree with someone. But these are the people Beth Moore is calling “bullies in the Body of Christ”, for simply stating publicly where and why they disagree with Warren. In fact, calling these people bullies is a worse slur and a more virulent personal attack, than Warren’s Christian critics ever use against him.
Maybe Beth Moore should take Rick Warren’s own advice when he recently said, “Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.”
Moore though goes on to insult and slander these Christian brothers and sisters who disagree with Warren on various issues with the following quotes:
“Life is hard enough without hatefulness rife in the Body of Christ. We are called to carry one another’s burdens, not pile relentlessly on top of them.”
“I’m sick of the bullying. The mud-slinging and the meanness. I’m sick of careless, idle words thrown out there in the public square and professing believers in Christ standing on the necks of their own brothers and sisters to sound smart and superior. As if it’s not enough that we are surrounded in this culture by Christian haters, we’ve got to have our own hater-Christians. It’s insane.”
“When we turn people into caricatures, everything’s game. The moment we depersonalize them, our consciences harden and we can mock and slander at will and have a blast doing it. Snide blogs and tweets and Facebook posts about various leaders can also be effective ways to jump in their spotlight. Bullies aren’t just mean. They’re self-serving. They’re platform-hunting. They have to borrow one to perform.”
“The Warrens will come forth like gold. The enemy will not win.”
It sounds like Beth Moore is guilty of making her own caricatures and depersonalizing Warren’s critics as she mocks and slanders them – at will.
Let’s break those quotes down and look at what all she has called Warren’s critics. She has called them:
Hateful
Relentless
Bullies
Mud slingers
Mean
Careless
Self seeking
Haters
Mockers
Slanderers
Snide
Self serving
Enemies
That’s a stunning number of insults for one article to contain. I would challenge anyone to find a prominent Christian critic of Warren’s who has used any of these kinds of insults against him. And I would further challenge anyone to find a prominent Christian critic who has used this many insults and slurs in a single article.
Even more stunning is that this all came from a woman who is writing an article calling on people to stop the name calling and stop the hate.
You have to wonder why the death of Matthew Warren suddenly filled Beth Moore with such rage against Warren’s critics. It seems sadness at Matthew’s death might rather have filled her thoughts.
Personally, I was repulsed by this article. I couldn’t believe that she and the Warren organization would ever, much less so quickly (in less than a week), exploit Warren’s son’s death as an excuse to call for a pity party. And as an excuse to engage in hateful and slanderous rhetoric against people of faith who have legitimate theological disagreements with Warren.
It really shows how threatened Warren and his church and supporters must feel that there are Christians in the world who dare to criticize his theological teachings. To exploit the death of his own son, just four days after his death, and to use it to make an emotional appeal to silence his critics is a desperate and despicable act.
*UPDATE: It turns out that not only did Warren know about this article published on his own website, but he wholeheartedly approved of it. I just found this twitter post he made nine hours ago where he praised her for it:
Source: Jonathan Cousar, Rick Warren Uses Pastors.com to Attack Critics in Wake of Son’s Death, 10/04/2013.
Saturday shortly after noon, I filled up the dog bowl on the back porch with water and pitched dishes in the dishwasher so that I could head out with Melissa for a bite to eat and maybe a little shoe shopping. She’d spent the night with Keith and me in the country and we’d had a lazy Saturday morning over coffee and conversation. I’d set out my purse and keys and decided to wipe down the kitchen counter before we walked out the door. Just as I sprayed the cleaner and grabbed the dishtowel, Melissa walked in staring at the screen of her phone with the oddest expression.
“Mom, I don’t know if it’s true or not but I’m seeing references on Twitter to Rick and Kay Warren losing a son.”
She was ashen. My stomach flipped and, over the next few minutes as she read to me bits and pieces of breaking news, we feared the worst. I felt a hot sickness in my throat. My relationship with the Warrens is the same as most of yours. I have simply been served and led well by them. Although I had the joy of ministering to women on the Saddleback campus some years ago, my stay was brief and our schedules were wrapped entirely around the event. I have not had the opportunity to get to know the Warrens in the way that personal friends know one another but I always knew in my heart that I’d like them so much. We’re similar ages and in similar seasons with our families. Meanwhile, I have loved them and esteemed them in Christ as faithful and mighty servants of the living Lord Jesus Christ. And quite possibly, among the mightiest to ever serve this generation.
Within an hour of Melissa walking into the kitchen with those first pieces of news, someone very close to the Warren family confirmed the tragedy on Twitter. We were heartsick and not for media personalities or even public servants. We were heartsick for a family of real people with breakable hearts. And we wept. Many of you undoubtedly did as well.
An odd mix of feelings overtook me with increasing force through the afternoon and into the early evening. The sadder I got, the madder I got. Mad at an astonishing satanic force that stoops viciously and swoops in unscrupulously to attack children and to prey on their weaknesses as they grow up, shooting so relentlessly at one spot that they can barely get to their feet between arrows. I’ve been that child and many of you have, too. Madder still that the devil in all likelihood delights in nothing more than targeting the children and dearest loved ones of true servants of God. Nothing tries our faith like the suffering of our children. At the end of the day, our faith is what the devil is after most. Without it, it’s impossible to please God. This is why Paul could say with relief nearly palpable on the page of his final letter, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”
We’ll all finally make it to our finish lines but the cliffhanger along the way will be this: will we keep our faith? That isn’t the same thing as keeping our salvation. I don’t believe my salvation is something I can give back. I received it by grace through faith from Christ Himself and my works don’t secure it no matter how my woes obscure it. His grip never loosens. Nothing can snatch us out of our Father’s hand. What’s at risk is our active belief in who God says He is, what He says He is like, and what He says He can do.
Is He good? Is He faithful?
So the enemy sets out to knock the feet of our faith out from under our walk. And there is nothing more effective toward that end than targeting the ones we love most on this planet.
I don’t say that to scare you. I say it because I believe it is the hair-raising truth. No, we are not abandoned here as victims on this damaged sod. We are not abandoned at all. Our God is with us. The Spirit of His Son is in us. We are more than conquerors through the One who loves us. We are not at the mercy of Satan. We are at the glorious, life-breathing mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, a mercy that leads, as Jude 21 says, to eternal life and will ultimately spill like a river into a sea of reality where no sufferings of our past will compare with the glory of our present. In the meantime, greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world but make no mistake. This is a vicious world we’ve been left to serve. One God still loves or we would not still be here.
And then, in that mixture of emotions Saturday afternoon, I got madder and madder at the bullies in the Body of Christ. I thought how much it turns out that the Warrens have been through personally and, if they are like most leaders, all the while putting out fires and putting up with a bunch of trash-talk from people who would call the same Jesus Lord.
God help us. In the words of James, These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters.
I don’t believe one of us here in this community thinks that leaders should be immune to questions, constructive criticism, and accountability. That’s not the kind of thing I’m talking about here. I’m talking about bullying. There are Scriptural means for going to a brother or sister to reason with them about matters we genuinely consider to be off base, misleading, or in error. You and I both know that much of what happens out there in public forums is the furthest thing from biblical.
It is slander.
I went on a walk through the woods Saturday late afternoon and did something I don’t often do. I cried angry tears. I got so mad that I could have hit somebody. I kept thinking how believers attack one another and sling stones at each other like the other can’t bruise or break. And all the while that person may be in so much personal pain that it’s nearly unbearable. I’m not transferring this to the Warrens. I do not know them personally. I’m telling you what I know to be true about most people out there. Most of us are in significant pain of some kind. That doesn’t mean defeat necessarily. It just means pain.
Life is hard enough without hatefulness rife in the Body of Christ. We are called to carry one another’s burdens, not pile relentlessly on top of them. We can still hold one another accountable. We can still ask questions. We can still disagree. But we can do it with respect.
I’m sick of the bullying. The mud-slinging and the meanness. I’m sick of careless, idle words thrown out there in the public square and professing believers in Christ standing on the necks of their own brothers and sisters to sound smart and superior. As if it’s not enough that we are surrounded in this culture by Christian haters, we’ve got to have our own hater-Christians. It’s insane.
When we turn people into caricatures, everything’s game. The moment we depersonalize them, our consciences harden and we can mock and slander at will and have a blast doing it. Snide blogs and tweets and Facebook posts about various leaders can also be effective ways to jump in their spotlight. Bullies aren’t just mean. They’re self-serving. They’re platform-hunting. They have to borrow one to perform.
No, I don’t think that saying all of this will change it much but some things still need to be said. Sometimes we need to speak up and call something wrong. There’s a bigger issue in the Body of Christ than immorality. It’s hatefulness. If the greatest priority Christ assigned to us was love, the gravest offender is hate.
Just about the time cynicism threatens to overwhelm us and turn us into the very people we can’t stand, genuine love – the real thing – erupts right here on this earth like concrete breaking open to a spring. Compassion and tremendous affection are pouring forth from the Body of Christ for the Warrens right now. It is right and it is lovely. We have been served well by them and have learned so much from them. To respond with expressions of love, comfort, and intercession is our honor and privilege. We must and we will.
But even now at the hardest moment of their lives the Warrens can teach something vital if we are willing to learn. Their heartbreak demonstrates what has always been true but has never been more profoundly overlooked: these who serve us publicly also suffer privately. They are not caricatures. They are not just personalities. They are people living on a painful planet with the rest of us.
The Warrens will come forth like gold. The enemy will not win. They will fight the good fight. They will finish the race. They will keep the faith.
I love the Body of Christ. I don’t want want to get cynical. I don’t want to sit around and hate the haters or I become one. But this morning I just want to say this. We can love each other better. Let’s do. People have enough hurt. Let’s be careful with one another.
Here is the screen grab of Rick Warren advertising her article on his ‘Pastors Tool Box’ website:
NOTE: ALL SCREENGRABS FROM C3CHURCHWATCH WERE TAKEN ON 12/04/2013.
WE BELIEVE THESE ARTICLES HELP HIGHLIGHT OUR CONCERNS OF THE UPCOMING HILLSONG CONFERENCE. PLEASE NOTE THAT THEIR ASSOCIATIONS, BELIEFS OR APPROACHES MAY NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS ON C3CHURCHWATCH.
This article will recap Pat Mesiti and his involvement with the leadership of Hillsong Church and C3 Church. It is our goal that our readers see how heavily Pat Mesiti was involved with the top leaders of the Hillsong and C3 Church movements and how they influenced him. The last part of this article will reveal the answer to the above question.
THE RECAP
We have been looking at the history of Pat Mesiti on both C3 Church Watch and Hillsong Church Watch. To recap quickly, we have recorded his involvement in Hillsong before his unfortunate fall. Phil Pringle and Brian Houston not only see themselves as pastors. In their books they see themselves as public motivational speakers. We’ve also learnt in an interview that Mesiti has been restored again as a pastor by C3 and Hillsong.
A RAISED, RESTORED & RECOGNISED LEADER OF HILLSONG & C3
So what can we say? Pat Mesiti learnt from the best of the best that Hillsong and C3 had to offer. Knowing this (and after reading the above articles), don’t you think that Brian Houston and Phil Pringle have done a good job restoring Pat Mesiti as a pastor, teacher and leader?
Under Phil Pringle and Brian Houston, don’t you think Pat Mesiti has came out of this restoration process wiser? If you want to be successful like Pat Mesiti, maybe it’s worth taking this tip from him in this speaker snapshot in 2009:
Good tip Pastor Pat! Where did you got that tip on public speaking from?
If you honestly think Hillsong Conference is a Christian movement, examine who they are inviting. Once again, Brian Houston has invited ministers that are attacking and desecrating Australian Christianity with their heretical and depraved teachings. Indeed it is a tragedy that Brian Houston has bent his knee to the Purpose Driven Chameleon, Rick Warren.
In 2006, Rick Warren spoke at Hillsong Conference.
“Brian Houston at Saddleback: Dec.29-30
I’m so excited to announce that Pastor Brian Houston of the world-famous HILLSONG Church in Sydney, Australia will be speaking at Saddleback! Brian is flying over from Australia just to speak that weekend! Many of your favorite worship songs, like Shout To The Lord, came out of HILLSONG church. I’ll see you at this incredible end-of-the-year service!” - News & Views 12/19/12, http://saddleback.com/blogs/newsandviews/news–views-121912/. (Accessed 02/04/2013).
Chris Rosebrough covered the “intentionally deceitful” sermon of Brian Houston up there at Saddleback Church:
But now Rick Warren is speaking at Hillsong Conference. And Christians have every right to be outraged by Houston’s despicable act of inviting this deceitful man to malign Australian Christianity for his own selfish and worldly purposes.
If Rick Warren is a Calvinist as he claims to be, then WHY does Warren endorse the universal cult of Roman Catholicism; peddle New Age mystical practices; support and praise the apostate and gay affirming Emergent Church Movement; peddle the fascist teachings and ideologies of Peter Drucker AND teach that Jesus and Allah are one and the same God? Serious scrutiny needs to come upon Rick Warren’s ecumeni-chameleon character and agenda.
This documentary shines light on this intriguing fellow.
If you know ANY Christian keen to go to the Hillsong Conference – warn them not to participate in Hillsong’s high-rank apostasy. We are to remain reformed to the Word of God not to the ways of the world and our own sinful desires.
“Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.” 2 John 1:9-11
If Brian Houston or Hillsong Church had any desire to worship God with their heart, they should search their heart for God’s truth. This is because Christ Himself declares to be, “The way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus teaches His ways are narrow but the road to destruction is wide. Therefore we are to hold what he teaches and remain in his word, so he may remain in us. Christians can only be the disciples of Jesus if we follow Jesus’ teaching.
But just like a ship is “guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs”, so too has Brian Houston steered Hillsong Church into apostasy, emptying Christian truth from within it’s walls. The leadership of Hillsong are deceiving Christians everywhere into elevating mystical worship experiences over the truth of Christ and His Word. It is important for Hillsong to heed the words of Jesus. Jesus condemns people who lead people to worship in spirit and error,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”” Mark 7:6-8
What good is Hillsong if the TRUE love of God is not in them? It is time that Hillsong clean up their act, contend for the Christian faith and cleanse their conferences from the diabolical teachers who oppose Christ, His work and mission here on earth. Please pray that Christian’s avoid this conference. If they attend, pray that the Holy Spirit opens their eyes to the false teaching.
Have you ever been confused as a Christian how to juggle God’s grace with God’s Law? Have you come out of Hillsong completely scrambled how to understand your Christian faith?
The below resource from Jim McClarty explains exceptionally well how Christians are free in Christ within the grace-filled New Covenant. This series also allows Christians are to distinguish the differences between the Law, works and grace, tackling many peculiar Christian doctrines on the way.
We are quite sure that Hillsong will not be big in promoting a fantastic resource like this (they need you to keep the Law so you can tithe to Hillsong, give sacrificially to Hillsong, be dedicated to the ‘House of God’ (Hillsong) and to continually go to the altar of Hillsong so God can bless you).
We pray that these resources set you free in Christ. We also pray that you pass these on to your friends in the C3 movement and encourage them to pull out their bibles and challenge what Jim McClarty teaches. Come to your own conclusions and enjoy the spiritual benefits that you have in Christ.
Law vs. Grace
Ever since Paul put pen to paper the Christian Church has been locked in a struggle between legalism and the sufficiency of God’s free and sovereign grace. In this series of 9 messages, we explore the tension between these two opposing views and show that the New Covenant is based solely and completely on the unmerited kindness of God toward His people.
While Brian Houston points you to your works, Jim McLarty points you to Christ’s finished work.
While Brian Houston perverts God’s Word and muddies the doctrines on Law and Grace, Jim McLarty clearly leads believers to understand how Christians are meant to understand God’s Law and God’s grace.
While Houston confuses believers that they are to juggle grace, works and Law with his antics, Jim McLarty logically walks believers through the scriptures allowing Christians to critically examine for themselves how to distinguish between grace, law and works.
This article will be looking at how Brian Houston likes to be seen and what he like to be known for speaking on. We would like to warn readers that we do not endorse Brian Houston’s books below. They are not Christian in their application nor are they Christian in the way Houston satanically attacks God’s Word for his own worldly agenda. If you go through our archives, you can read some of the content in ‘You Need More Money’. We will examine ‘Get A Life’ in later times.
BRIAN HOUSTON’S PROFILES
It is interesting to observe how Houston likes to parade his image. You will note Houston likes to be considered a “sought-after” speaker for “leadership conferences” and wants “to see people fulfil their God-given potential”. Is this what the role of a pastor is meant to be? Is this what the bible calls the pastor to preach? Is this the gospel?
Here are some profiles Brian Houston has about himself.
“Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie, are the founders of Hills Christian Life Centre in Sydney, Australia, the home of Hillsong Music.
As one of Australia’s leading and most sought-after speakers, Brian travels extensively, addressing leadership conferences and churches throughout the world.
His passion to see people fulfil [sic] their God-given potential in every sphere of life has made him popular with all age groups and backgrounds, with his television program, Life is for Living, broadcast in over 30 nations.” - Back Cover, You Need More Money: Discovering God’s Amazing Financial Plan For Your Life, Alken Press: Smithsfield, NSW, 1999.
In contrast to the last profile blurb, Houston omits some above details in his “Revised Business Edition” of ‘Get A Life’ (republished in the same year as ‘You Need More Money’):
“Brian Houston loves life. As one of Australia’s sought after speakers, he has a passion to see people fulfil [sic] their potential in every sphere of life.
A respected church leader, popular motivational speaker and skilled communicator, Brian travels extensively, addressing leadership conferences throughout the world.
His television program Life is for Living is broadcast in over 30 nations, and his ability to mix humour with a strong, clear message draws him to people of all age groups and backgrounds.
Together with his wife Bobbie, Brian oversees a thriving Christian ministry in Sydney that is is impacting the lives of thousands of people every day. Diverse and broadbased, it ranges from training and equipping students at the Hills Leadership College to dynamic community centres that employ professional doctors, a psychologist and financial consultant. The music and teaching resources of Hillsong Australia are distributed to every continent and the annual Hillsong Conference is one of Australia’s largest, drawing thousands of delegates from around the globe.” - Back Cover, Get A Life: Principles For Success and Enjoyment In Every Area Of Life (Revised Business Edition), Brian Houston Ministries, NSW, 199.
You would note this time he omitted ‘churches’ in the second paragraph. Since he is appealing to ‘business’ people, Brian Houston has instead chosen to show what he thinks the world might want to know about him. He specifically has in mind the business world and the area of self-help. Is this the type of person that a bible-believing pastor is called to feed? Does Brian Houston know what is in his job description laid for him in the bible?
On the opening page of ‘Get A Life (Revised Business Edition)’, Brian Houston classifies his book under the following categories:
“1. Conduct of life. 2. Life skills. 3. Christian life. 4. Self-help techniques.”
His endorsements in this particular are also revealing.
HOUSTON’S ENDORSEMENTS
As a Christian pastor, you would generally seek endorsements that give you credibility as a faithful and reliable bible teacher. Not so with Brian Houston.
In fact, what he actually publishes in his endorsements reveals he has no clue what the guidelines are for a biblical pastor. There is no endorsement in his book ‘Get A Life’ that gives his teaching biblical credibility. Instead, we get the following:
Jonathan De Jong
Founder, Fantastic Furniture Australia
“This book will change your life. Brian will challenge you to believe in yourself. You will achieve more and go beyond all you dreamed your destiny could be. Read Get A Life and it will teach you how to obtain life in all its fullness.”
Peter Irvine
Vice Chairman
DDB Needham Worldwide Advertising
“Get A Life is a must if you find it challenging to balance every area of your life, progress and actually enjoy the journey. Brian Houston challenges you to not just get by in life – but have a life that is truly successful. Brian shares single-minded and simple challenges that will help you overcome, progress and grab all of life’s opportunities. He highlights the ‘robbers’ of life, such as negativity. Brian applies what he writes and enjoys his life to the full. Get a copy and get a life.”
Alan Cadman
Federal Member
Parliamentary Secretary for Work Place and Small Business
“I have no hesitation in endorsing Get a Life. From my experience, one of the greatest dilemmas facing humanity today is their lack of personal significance.
Brian Houston’s presentations and management style are a model for anyone wanting to absorb the theory, practise and ethics of excellence, effectiveness, quality management and team potential. He is an inspiring speaker and uses real life examples which captivate his audience whether they are self employed, looking for work or CEO’s of large organisations.
Get a Life is an inspired book which encourages people to go for their highest with confidence. It also warns of the traps which can sabotage potential. I highly recommend this entertaining and persuasive answer to life’s problem.”
Nabi Saleh
Chairman: Jireh International Pty Ltd
Master Franchise – Gloria Jean’s Gourmet Coffee Australia
“Brian Houston has written a remarkable book, Get a Life, in which he outlines how to fulfil your life’s potential. Brian shares vital keys straight from his heart and experience. There are some things we need to grow into and other things we need to overcome. The result will be fulfilment of your dream and vision. He puts into practise, in his own life, all that he has written in this book.
I have no hesitation in recommending this book to all those who want to rise up and excel in all facets of life.”
Bill Bassett
Owner and Managing Director of Interclean Australia Pty Ltd
“Full of great insight and practical wisdom. This is a wonderful book that captures Brian’s spirit. It will convince you that there is more life out there to obtain Brian [sic] will challenge you to take responsibility in the basic areas of your life. He’ll inspire you to look further and run the race of life well.”
Don Cooper Williams
Director of Marketing
SAP Australia and New Zealand Pty Ltd
“This book epitmosises Brian Houston’s philosophy and beliefs. A fresh, radical view that needs to be embraced by all who desire to be leaders or aspire to a life of ‘better things’. I recommend it to today’s business person who is looking for substance in a sea of motivational mediocrity. Great stuff!”
If you think Brian Houston is a pastor, think again. He clearly has chosen to portray himself as a relevant public motivational speaker and a life coach and walk down this dangerous road away from his role as a biblically trained pastor. This is incredibly dangerous and helps provide an explanation why Brian Houston has no clue how he is to read or preach from the bible correctly.
If Brian Houston wants to merge the two – then he disqualifies himself before God as a shepherd of God’s people. This is deceptive at best and is sowing to Jesus and his universal church. If on the other hand he wishes to be seen as a pastor, he needs to put down the motivational rubbish, turn his back on the world and remain in the biblical guidelines of how a pastor must function. Please pray that he can distinguish the roles and make his decision so people do not perish in their sins.
This time Brian Houston joins his wife on her wide road and gate campaign. Chris Rosebrough reviewed a snippet of one of Brian Houston’s sermon on his Fighting For The Faith program that addressed this exact issue.
A lot of effort goes into writing out transcripts. Thanks to Craig Brown Reformed Theology for writing the transcript of Chris Rosebrough’s review.
Chris Rosebrough, “In fact one of the things we are going to be listening to is we are going to be doing a Brian Houston update and since he is one of these money grubbing televangelist types, we are going to we are going to be playing our Doctor Teeth song when we intro him.
But one of the things I have noticed about Brian Houston lately is a marked difference and I mean a negative difference in his preaching and teaching, in fact it the only way I can describe it and I hate to sound to use the word because it sounds like hyperbolae.
This is really what I think is that it is Satanic and in fact the last sermon that we reviewed here at Fighting For The Faith from Brian Houston was when he appeared at Saddleback church and it was fascinating to watch his manipulation of the biblical text, so that he would not have to actually say what the passage said regarding repentance and contrition and forgiveness and he engaged in a very interesting Bible twist where he you know switched translations to The Message to kind of skip through the part that had the part about repenting and then once he got through it you know he switched back to the other translation he was using and I mean it was an overt clear strategy on his part to not say what the biblical text says and so I was listening to his, the most recent sermon in the Hillsong podcast yesterday and I noticed that we are not going to do a full blown sermon review because actually the way that particular podcast lays out. It wouldn’t make a good full blown sermon review.
But what I noticed in this latest one is a like woah kind of moment.
You know sorry I sound like Patricia King and so yeah and you remember when Patricia King would claim she was getting down those walls she was talking or something like that or the Holy Spirit was nudging her or something and she would be speaking, all of a sudden she would go woo.
Anyway I have been doing this job a little too long, my mind has been going crazy. But anyway coming back to the Brian Houston thing, Brian Houston you all familiar with that text in The Bible where Jesus talks about, “Broad is the path that leads to destruction. Narrow is the path that leads to eternal life,” and I mean if I were to go and ask the average Christian on the street you know what is that passage talking to?
Matthew 7 v 13
“13 Broad is the road that leads to destruction. Narrow is the path that leads to life.”
People I think for the most part would say that has something to do with salvation, you know like heaven, hell, eternal life versus eternal damnation. You know something to that effect because that is really what that text is about. Well I am not going to tell you what Brian Houston does with it, but that is not what he did with it. It was so bizarre and so like I have never quite heard a Bible twist like this that I have to play it for you and do a little bit of time teaching today.
Yeah I just want to let you, kind of give you a heads up. Something is up with Brian Houston and what I mean by that is that I don’t think he is capable of teaching the Bible correctly at all anymore and like passages that are like to the average Christian are obvious as to what they are about. He is making points to not teach what those passages are about. But completely recast them in light of his false teaching and Word of Faith heresy. So it will be fascinating, it should be fascinating for you to listen to.
[Third Segment – 00:12:58 – 00:34:41]
Chris Rosebrough, “So with that we are going to dive into the programme proper and since we are doing a money grubbing televangelist update. Here is Doctor Teeth and his rendition of Money.
…
Alright that is Doctor Teeth and his rendition of money, money, money yeah we do that for the televangelists types out here and by the way Brian Houston is a huge Word of Faith prosperity preacher out there in Sydney, Australia. So I think that is very appropriate for him as well. Okay so what we are going to be listening to right now is a snippet if you would not a full blown sermon review. But a snippet from the recent Hillsong church podcast sermon podcast and the name of this the message by the way is Understand the Power Your Words Have on Your Dream. I mean just a name, the name of a sermon like that should clue you in that what you are about to hear has absolutely nothing to do with what The Bible actually teaches. Instead this is a message designed to scratch itching ears draw a large audience in and bring in lots and lots of money, money, money.
But with that I found it fascinating the particular Bible twist that Brian Houston engages in, like to the point of like totally missing the entire point of a particular Bible passage. But rather than me telling you about it, let’s let Brian Houston explain to us, so without any further or due here is Brian Houston from his sermon entitled Understand the Power of Your Words or Your Words Have on your Dream here we go.
Brian Houston, “Begin to speak this morning about destiny definers, specific things that define the path and the destiny of your life.”
Chris Rosebrough, “Things that define the path and the destiny of your life. Oh we are off to a great start aren’t we?”
Brian Houston, “The kind of things that determine whether or not you fulfil God’s potential and God’s purpose for your life or take a different path altogether and I couldn’t help but think again tonight when Sanga talked about a young guy so full of zeal and enthusiasm. You know out of what has God done in his heart at Hillsong, he has already written the sermon for the day, when he can preach it and you know Garrett spoke about a little girl who got so touched, that she already had a vision of a multitude worshipping and her leading the worship and I have got faith to believe that those young people and many more like them will fulfil the thing that God has put on their heart.
But the reality is it all comes down to specific choices they make and certain things that define our destiny and The Bible describes two gates and two paths with two very contrasting destinations. Jesus in Matthew 7 v 13-15 spoke about a wide gate that many take that leads to destruction or to death and on the other hand he talked about a narrow gate that few take that leads to life. It is a path to death and it is a path to life.
Chris Rosebrough, “Now so he is quoting the tail end of Jesus Sermon on the Mount. You know where Jesus talks about the broad road that leads to destruction and the narrow path that leads to life. So he has referenced it here. But is he talking about heaven and hell? Well let’s listen a little further.”
Brian Houston, “They go in different directions and they have very different destinations. You can see those same paths and destinations described right through the scripture. In Deuteronomy 30 v 19 the Lord says…..
Deuteronomy 30 v 19 (NKJV – New King James Version)
19 I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
Praise God. That both you and your descendants the promise for your life. If you take that gate and go down that path it is not only for you but for the generations to come, whereas if you go the other way and take the path towards the devastation of kingdom purpose.”
Chris Rosebrough, “The devastation of kingdom purpose, take the path of devastation of kingdom purpose. What is that?”
Brian Houston, “That said the descendants aren’t even mentioned. Jesus same comparison, He says……
John 10 v 10
10 The thief comes except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that you may have life, and that you might it have in abundance.
Brian Houston, “Same thing from here from Proverbs 18 v 21 says
Proverbs 18 v 21
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat it’s fruit.
Brian Houston, “Obviously in life we eat the fruit of the words we speak. Death and life same two paths towards the same destination and one of the destiny definers described here is our tongue or our words. Turn with me to Proverbs 10, if you would please and right through Proverbs 10, verse after verse describes the contrast between the road to life and the road to death. Death not always meaning, that you actually literally are physically dead not breathing going blue, decaying. You can be the living dead. Check out the person next to you is not the living dead.”
Chris Rosebrough, “Okay so you see what he is doing here. So apparently and I had no clue that this was the case Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7 is teaching that broad is the road that leads to destruction. He is not talking about hell. He is talking about well the destruction of kingdom purpose in your life. Yeah I think we are going to have to open our Bibles. In fact if you have your Bible open up to The Gospel of Matthew 7, I am going to read for a little bit and see if we can figure out from the context of Matthew 7 as to what Jesus is talking about. In fact we are going to be looking at v13-23. So if you have your Bible, we are in Matthew 7. I am going to be beginning here at v13. Here is what Jesus said in The Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 7 v 13-14 (ESV – English Standard Version)
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Now the question is, is Jesus talking about the path that leads to the destruction of your God destiny? Well let’s keep reading and see what he says because the context will tell us.
Matthew 7 v 15-20 (ESV – English Standard Version)
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Okay so notice a few things that are going on here. Jesus is talking about on that day, what would that day be? That is the Day of Judgement when Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead and so people will come up to Jesus on the Day of Judgement and foolishly point to their works.
Matthew 7 v 23 (ESV – English Standard Version)
23 Oh Lord did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name.
These are religious people okay they are out there prophesying, casting out demons. You could think of the Patricia King gang here, you know doing all these things and Jesus will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7 v 23), where are they departing? Where are they going? Answer well if this is the last day they are not getting into the kingdom of heaven. They are on their way to hell.
That is what Jesus is talking about here. But that is not what Brian Houston is doing with this text. He has made this about well you not achieving your God destiny whatever that is, I am not sure what a God destiny is. But I assure you that Matthew 7 v 13 is talking about broad is the road that leads to destruction, narrow is the path that leads to life. That is not talking about whether you achieve your God destiny or your dreams for your life. No this is talking about whether or not you are going to spend eternity in heaven or in hell. Now going back to v21
Matthew 7 v 21 (ESV – English Standard Version)
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Okay that is important stuff so okay, you don’t trust me when I tell you this. You don’t want to end up in hell. You don’t want to end up in the lake of fire. So Jesus here is telling us very clearly that just because you have done religious things in the name of Jesus doesn’t make you, doesn’t mean that you are in, okay instead you have got to do the will of the Father. So what is the will of the Father? Well luckily we don’t have to guess on this. We do not have to make this up, because scripture actually defines this very clearly. In fact if you flip over to The Gospel of John 6, I am going to point out a few verses in John 6 and back up into John 3 and we will kind of lay some of this out here. But The Gospel of John 6, I will start at v39. Here is what Jesus says. He says…..”
John 6 v 39-59 (ESV – English Standard Version)
39 And this is the will of him who sent me,
Okay this would be the Father right.
John 6 v 39-59 (ESV – English Standard Version)
39 This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6 v 28-29 (ESV – English Standard Version)
28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
John 6 v 47-51 (ESV – English Standard Version)
47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone by Christ’s work alone. Your works do not save you in the slightest. They do contribute to your salvation a bit and so you ought to be doing the will of God right so that you will be saved right. Well it is not something that you do. It is something that is given to you. Belief in Him is actually a gift and this is what Ephesians 2 says very clearly. Let me point this out to you. Ephesians 2, I will start at v1 so we get the context here.
Ephesians 2 v 1 (ESV – English Standard Version)
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 ButGod, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Let me point this out v8 says
Ephesians 2 v 8
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is the gift of God,
What is the this? When it says, “This is the gift of God.” What is it referring to? The answer is both grace and faith itself are a gift from God. You are not capable of believing the good news. God actually gives you that belief and the reason why is because you are born dead in trespasses in sins and that is why Romans 10 v 17 says…….”
Romans 10 v 17 (ESV – English Standard Version)
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Through the preaching of the gospel God regenerates you. Through the preaching of Law and Gospel you are convicted of your sins and raised to life in Christ and are born from above or born again as John 3 says so clearly. Let me back this up.
John 3 v 16-21 (ESV – English Standard Version)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Okay so the good news is that Christ saves sinners and has bled and died for sinners like me and like you and he gives us faith to believe in Him, to trust in Him. He regenerates us, raises us from the dead, causes us to be born again, to be born from above, born anew right and this is all God’s work and this is all good news and this is what Matthew 7, Jesus is referring to about being the narrow gate versus the wide gate.
The narrow gate is the one that leads to eternal life and Jesus is that gate. The broad road that leads to destruction is the one that we are all born on and Christ rescues and saves us and takes us off of that broad highway and puts us on the path, literally leads us right into His heavenly kingdom and all of this is by His mercy and His grace. It is not something that you earn or do, it is given to you as a gift. This is what the good news is, but Brian Houston in this sermon literally has changed the meaning of that passage and made it about whether or not you achieve your God given destiny here on earth and that is not what this passage is about at all. Let’s listen a little bit more.
Brian Houston, “Just double check. Look at the key indicators like were they worshipping, were their hands raised, did they say amen, are they smiling, do they have a Bible? Do they look like they love God? Check they are not the living dead. Check their vitals. You see you can be alive but dead to God’s purpose and dead to God’s plan and just those young people I talked about have an awesome future as does every human being in human kind. But the reality is it comes down to whether or not we take the path towards the death of kingdom purpose or the path that breathes life and one of the key issues is our words and here in Proverbs 10 it talks about verse after verse gives contrast and I believe there are specific destiny definers that are themes. I spoke of one of them this morning that was integrity. The scripture says,
Proverbs 10 v 9 (NKJV – NKJV – New King James Version)
9 He who walks in his integrity walks securely,
And these that theme runs through Proverbs 10 and the second one is our conversation our words, what is on our lips, what comes from our mouth. It is actually a destiny definer, death and life are in the power of the tongue and there are at least ten verses in Proverbs 10 that gives the contrast between the path to life and the path to death that comes from the way we speak.
Chris Rosebrough, “Yeah again in Proverbs 10, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” That is not saying that your words are like magic and that they create your future. That is not what it is talking about at all. It is talking about how literally like shoot yourself in the foot or how do they put it open mouth, insert foot you can literally cause destruction in your own life by your words, not because you have said things like, “Oh I am sick I have the flue,” and somebody says, “Oh no you have just cursed yourself. Don’t say that.”
That is not what it is referring to at all, instead it is destruction through gossip, lying, deceit, you know things like that – that is what this is referring to. Yeah so something is up with Brian Houston and what I mean by that you know kind of circling back and making my point. It takes some pretty crazy hermeneutical gymnastics to take Matthew 7 v 13-15 and make it about you being on the path to kingdom destiny in this life and you know achieving your kingdom purposes.
That is not what this text is about at all. In fact it is such a bad Bible twist, that I am literally left scratching my head wondering what is going on with Brian Houston because now I am beginning to see a pattern emerging every time I check in with him, it is as if he is purposely and deceitfully making sure that he does not under any circumstance preach repentance and faith and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Instead it is he is making a very concerted effort to twist and mangle God’s Word in such a way that you don’t see what those passages are really saying and again the only word that I can come up with for this type of behaviour it is Satanic.
So what do you think? I would love to get your feedback. If you would like to email regarding anything you have heard on this edition or any previous editions of Fighting For The Faith, you can do so my email address is talkback@fightingforthefaith.com or you can subscribe on Facebook – facebook.com/piratechristian or you can follow me on Twitter. My name there @piratechristian
God says through the writings of the Apostle Paul (emphasis ours),
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel [good news]— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” – Apostle Paul, Galatians 1:6-9.
It is important to stress that Paul would consider himself “accursed” (eternally damned), if he preached a different gospel. That is, he did not see himself exempt from his own judgment. Interestingly enough, Paul claimed that his gospel was given to him through “revelation of Jesus Christ”. So this should give us a good idea what the gospel should be about: Jesus Christ.
Paul often writes how he is “eager to preach the gospel” to the churches (Rom 1:15) and claims that he is “not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (vs 16). Paul would “come proclaiming… the testimony of God…” not with lofty speech but would preach the simple message of “Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:1-2). This message would be in relation to how our sins are forgiven and are made right with God through Jesus when we repent from our sins.
This is one example of Paul’s gospel defined in a nutshell:
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” - 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
With this in mind, do you think Brian Houston comes even close to preaching the biblical gospel? While Brian Houston’s gospel might change lives, does it save lives? Does his gospel focus or glorify Jesus and his work on the cross, His resurrection and ascension? Or does Houston’s gospel focus on wealth and the individual?
It is typical for Word of Faith teachers to react against red herrings within Christianity. A common one is the idea that the ‘religious church’ keeps you back from your potential, “success and prosperity”. Similarly, Brian Houston reacts against these false uderstandings, jumps to an extremely false theology. Thus we find that his gospel is founded on his personal reaction rather than the Word of God. Brian Houston tells us what his gospel is below:
“To glorify mediocrity is a tragedy. The sad fact is that far too many people make choices which flatly reject success and prosperity.
Religion has often been guilty of this, and yet the gospel is GOOD NEWS. The good news is ABUNDANT LIFE. Abundance means plentiful.
Adam was told to be fruitful and multiply.
Joshua was challenged to make his way prosperous and have good success.
Solomon’s writings are filled with promised prosperity as the fruit of wisdom.
Jeremiah believed it and prophesied “a future and a hope”.
Jesus spoke about one hundredfold return, telling many stories and parables that encouraged us to multiply our talents.
The apostle Paul reminded us that though Jesus was rich he took poverty upon Himself. Why? So that YOU through His poverty might be rich.
The apostle John wished prosperity and good health on his friend.
Never excuse mediocrity by rejecting success. It is withing our “created fibre” to succeed.” - Brian Houston, Get A Life (Revised Business Edition), 1999, pg 93.
In light of Brian Houston’s gospel, Pastor Gervase Nicholas Charmley kindly offered his view on Brian Houston’s gospel.
“I would say that this so-called ‘Gospel’ is no gospel at all. It is merely coating the rapacious and selfish pursuit of gain that has blighted Western society for the last century and then some with a veneer of religion. Quite simply it is the mantra “greed is good, greed works” dressed up in Christian-sounding words with a generous dose of misused Bible verses, usually from the KJV to disguise what the text is actually saying. Paul, on the other hand, speaks of contentment. To the poor this teaching is deadly – it either legitimises get-rich-quick schemes and a wealth at any price mentality, or, when people fail to get rich, it sinks them into deep depression.
God may not want you rich – you may not be able to handle it!” - Gervase Nicholas Charmley, 04/03/2013.
