Why Hillsong Music is Dangerous For Your Church - by Jeff Maples

Found here. Reproduced here for fair use and discussion purposes. My comments in bold.

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It is difficult to pinpoint the author's complaint. He provides no documentation of his claims. He just knows for sure that Hillsongs is a cult.

It seems that the author's requirement for church music is that it must be a theological treatise. Or that it can't be emotional. Or it can't have electric guitars. Or it can't be from Hillsongs Church. Or something. He never really says.

Hillsong's songbook is extensive, with hundreds if not thousands of songs going back 20 years, attaining some fame when Darlene Zschech burst onto the scene with "Shout to the Lord." Yet the author wants to believe it's all evil because he can locate some that he has an issue with. Or actually, because the church has suspected heretical practices.

Dozens of songwriters writing on many topics. And they're all cultists writing emotional, sappy, superficial drivel? Does that even seem possible to you?

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Houston, we have a problem!

Brian Houston, that is. Arguably one of the most influential figures of today’s professing church, Houston, is currently the senior pastor of the worldwide multi-site megachurch known as Hillsong. The church, founded by Houston’s paedophile father, Frank Houston, (Actually, false. The author apparently doesn't read his own links. "He was the most senior Assemblies of God figure in NSW before was sacked by his own son after he admitted having sexually abused a boy in New Zealand more than 30 years ago." 

And from the link below: "The church he built at Waterloo merged with his son's church at Baulkham Hills to become Hillsong after he exposed himself as a pedophile." In other words, Frank Houston did not found the church. Frank's church was taken over by Brian's church after the truth came out. Brian defrocked him and combined the two churches.

This seems like a minor point, but we are only one sentence in and have already found an inaccuracy. This is a troubling characteristic of a doctrinal policeman.)

dominates the contemporary worship music scene, with their songs being played in churches of every denomination around the entire world.

Popular songs like Oceans (Full lyrics found here.) 

and Forever Reign (Full lyrics found here.) 

with lyrics like “Spirit lead me, where my faith will be made stronger,” (Let's reply with Scripture:

Ro. 8:14 "...because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." 

Ga. 5:18 "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law." 

Ga. 5:25 "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.")

and “nothing compares to your embrace”

(So. 2:6 "His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me." 

Ja. 4:8 "Come near to God and he will come near to you." 

Lk. 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"

Ps. 2:12 "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.")

fill the IMAG screens of Baptist churches, Methodist churches, Pentecostal churches, Catholic churches–churches of every kind during Sunday morning worship. From raging electric guitars, drums, and professional soloists to small choirs with nothing more than a keyboard and a few singers, the music is emotionally captivating, bringing many to tears and arms lifted high, as they sing out praises to God.

So what’s not to like?

First, Hillsong is a cult. (A serious charge. Let's see if he documents it.) 

Particularly, a cult of personality. In a blog post on Hillsong’s website entitled Five Things That Should Matter to a Worship Leader, one of Hillsong’s foremost worship leaders, Jonathan Douglass writes:

2. We are about fulfilling our Senior Pastor’s vision (not our own)

It is so important that as amazing as our creative ideas might be, if they don’t ultimately line up with what our Senior Pastor and leaders want, then we happily put them aside. The church doesn’t exist to build our worship teams… our worship teams exist to build the Church!!

Here’s the problem. Biblical churches don’t exist to fulfill a leader’s “vision,” churches exist to glorify God, preach and teach the Scriptures, and make disciples. (Error number two. Mr. Douglass did not say the church exists to fulfill a leader's vision. He says the worship team does! He is quite clear in his desire to submit to leadership and not do his own thing. This is admirable, not a sign of cultishness.

In most churches the ministries of the church follow the lead of the pastor. This is so uncontroversial that it's amazing the author objects.)

Since Brian Houston, who is currently under investigation by the Royal Commission for his involvement in covering up his father’s crimes against children, (The accusation itself is apparently sufficient proof for the author. And note this is the second reference to the sings of his father, as if this is relevant to Hillsong's music.)

is the senior pastor of Hillsong Church, Douglass has made it clear who the Hillsong worship program exists to serve. (Hint: It isn’t Jesus.) (The author regularly switches terms and concepts as it suits him. Mr. Douglass does not use the term "serve," he mentioned "fulfill." Further, when a ministry brings itself in line with the direction of the authorities in the church, it does not exclude "serving" God. The author makes this artificial distinction, as if serving one thing means you aren't serving another.)

So what exactly is the “vision” of Brian Houston that Hillsong seeks to fulfill? You can read his entire vision statement here. However, to summarize, he “sees” a large, global church centered around worldly culture and music, with the purpose of influencing the world with his watered down, substanceless version of Christianity–and he claims his “vision” is from God. (This is not in any way a summary of the vision statement. Go read it to see how dishonest the author is. 

While you're there, read their doctrinal statement. There is no way a church with this doctrinal statement can be a cult.)

Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

Watch the video below to see exactly what Brian Houston believes Christianity and the church is supposed to be. (Video link.) 

Clearly Houston has no idea what the purpose and function of the church is. While he twists a passage out of Acts 8 in a sorry attempt to prove the church is made up of wicked people, he then states how he loves the fact that his church is full of broken, unrepentant people.(Wow, pretty conventional stuff. Watch the video. In it it Brian talks about certain extreme sinners that got saved, and how these people, despite their situations, still got saved. He wants to keep his emphasis on pushing forward. No where does he characterize the church as accommodating sin or accepting the practices or errant behaviors of the newly saved.)

While it’s true that “whosoever will” come to Christ is part of the church, upon conversion, we cease to be these things, and our identity is now in Christ. Repentance is a necessary part of salvation, and you are not part of Christ’s church if you are not saved. Scripture calls us to be separate from the world. (Yes, of course. But perhaps the author might give us an example or two where Houston does not teach this.)

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:2

Yet, Houston’s church is not built on repentant believers in Christ with Christ and his Word as the chief cornerstone, it’s centered around the “whosoever wills” that submit to his “vision.” This is evidenced in the fact that one of his campuses had two unrepentant sodomites, with open plans for a homosexual marriage, as active, participating members of the church. As a matter of fact, one of them was a choir leader. Houston’s response to this was to “love them,” and “assist them on their journey,” instead of confronting them about their sin, and calling them to repentance. The Bible calls these people “adulterous” (James 4:4). (This all may be true, and if so, it is a problem. But of course, we are not privy to the details of how the church dealt with the situation or why they are doing what they are doing. Turns out they fired them.

I would say that I'd rather have gays and other sinners in church hearing the gospel and being transformed. It's better than stopping them at the door telling them they're not welcome, when we have the solution to their sin problem.)

Hillsong Church does not exist to preach the Word of God, and to draw people to Christ, bringing glory to His holy name–it exists to draw people to their music, making them money, and giving them power, and giving glory to their man-centered, man-built pseudo-spiritual empire. Brian Houston clearly preaches a false gospel. Southern Baptist leader, Albert Mohler, stated, (In the link Albert Mohler makes several accusations, yet like the author does not supply references or documentation.)

[Hillsong is] a prosperity movement for the millennials, in which the polyester and middle-class associations of Oral Roberts have given way to ripped jeans and sophisticated rock music…What has made Hillsong distinctive is a minimization of the actual content of the Gospel, and a far more diffuse presentation of spirituality.

Brian’s Word of Faith gospel teaches that God wants you to be rich and famous so that you can reach millions of people for Christ. Watch the video below for an excerpt of a sermon he gave teaching this.

(Video link. Wow. Just, wow. No where in the video does Brian mention money, prosperity, sowing seeds, or any of the other typical prosperity teaching. He states a very simple idea, that you get what you go for, which is clearly true. People focus on certain things and it defines their lives and hinders their spiritual progress. This is not a terribly controversial principle in any way.)

Further, it exists to convert existing churches, including biblical churches, into churches that conform to their ideology. Hillsong, while having similarities with charismatic and pentecostal churches, was actually founded on Latter Rain ideology, (There's a lot to deal with in this link. I'm not going to take the time, because it seems to center on taking offense with methods. Apparently what constitutes a cult is a church that does things differently than his church.)

now known as the New Apostolic Reformation, and uses aggressive and unscrupulous tactics to take over churches. (Undocumented claim.)

What happens when Hillsong plants a large church in a new area? Many of the smaller churches die, (Undocumented claim. We might also add that if a church dies, maybe it should have. We don't know any of this, but the author seems sure it's due to nefarious activities.)

because,

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. – Jude 1:4

Hillsong, through it’s (sic) attractive music, that has a form of godliness but denies His power (2 Tim 3:5), creeps it’s (sic) way into solid churches, deceptively turning people on to their ideology, drawing people to their “vision”–Brian Houston’s “vision.” A wide-ranging variety of music, some that may seem very solid theologically on the surface (even Satan masquerades as an angel of light, 2 Cor 11:14), and some that’s blatantly shallow and even unbiblical, is the effective method of takeover. It’s deceptive, and it’s evil (Mark 13:22). (Ho boy. Even the solid theological music is satanic. It's getting harder to take this guy seriously.)

The substance and theology of the music is irrelevant to Hillsong. It’s the attractive nature of the music, not the theology, that draws people to it. Hillsong’s music program funds the entire church and every time your church sings one of their praises, you are lining Brian Houston’s pockets, and carrying out his “vision.” (Attractive, biblical music is now the problem. And apparently the author knows why people attend the church, and it's for the wrong reasons. Everyone attending a Hillsong church has apparently been duped. Really.)

Listen to the words of the music. When compared to Scripture, it becomes very clear that Jonathan Douglass and Hillsong Church music industry is fully executing its mission to fulfill the senior pastor’s “vision” of a worldly, theologically shallow church that’s tolerant of sin, and conforms to the lost. The music tends to carry an almost universalist theology, in that in Christ, we’re all free, and free to do as we please without fear of God’s wrath. But in Christ, we aren’t free to continue sinning, we are freed from sin, and practice ongoing repentance. The Bible says that God is not in those who love the things of the world. (More undocumented charges. We shall summarily dismiss them, since the author offers no evidence.)

If the sappy, emotional music were removed, and only the lyrics of the songs you love were spoken, rather than sung, would you get the same warm, fuzzy feeling, the same emotional high? Would you be “moved” all the same? Would you be able to discern the truth from the “almost truth?” Or is it the music that you worship, rather than God, through his eternal Word? Examine yourself to see that you are truly in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). Are you led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14), or are you led by the lusts of the world (1 John 2:16)?

Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you… – 2 Corinthians 6:17