The worldwide international corporation known as Hillsong Church has an excellent business model. In 2013, Hillsong Australia alone had nearly 86 million in total revenue, with nearly 39 million in total assets and over 19 million in net assets. Bottom line, Hillsong is banking.
So why is this company so successful financially? Because they deliver a product that their customers want. They produce ear-tickling music that allows fence sitters to pretend to be Christian while not quite giving up their love of the world. They serve drugs so powerful that you can alter your state of mind without taking a single dose of physical substance. And they deliver motivational speeches designed to have people from all walks of life leave feeling like the world revolves around them. In other words, you can live as you please, do as you please, and come to our church on Sundays, and we’ll make sure you’re “personally included and accepted in our community.” [source]
In the business world, it’s well known that in order to keep your business running successfully, you must continue to deliver a product that your customers want. And when your customer base is the world, you must seek to please the world.
This is exactly why Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly, the two sodomites from the television series, Survivor, who are active, participating members of Hillsong Church, can continue to sit in the congregation week after week without being made to feel uncomfortable in their sin. They can do as they please, and Hillsong can pretend to preach the Gospel so they can call themselves a church while refraining from offending any of their customers.
Now this may be a good practice in the business world, but this methodology disqualifies Hillsong from being a biblical church. A biblical church does not exist to serve and please its customers–a biblical church does not have customers. A biblical church consists of born again believers (Eph 1:22-23) and seeks to shepherd the flock by proclaiming the truth at all costs (Acts 20:28). Yet Brian Houston has stated, “I think with the church, the message is sacred, but the methods have to change for the church to stay relevant”–relevant to its customers.
Further, Hillsong’s on Statement of Faith regarding baptism says this,
If you have recently decided to follow Jesus, water baptism is a great next step in your faith journey. As an outward declaration of the decision you have made to surrender your heart to Jesus, it’s a significant moment that will serve as a reminder that the old is gone. God has saved you and will be faithful to continue what He has started in your life.
Yet, Hillsong NYC has taken the step to baptize Reed Kelly.
So how can this organization that claims to be a church baptize an unrepentant sinner, make them an active and participating member of their congregation, and lead them to believe that they are saved, according to their own statement of faith?
Fear.
You see, Hillsong is not a church, it’s a business, and they are in this for the money, and they’re good at it. This has already been shown. But the one thing they fear most is losing a large portion of their customers. And what would happen if Carl Lentz or Brian Houston were to tell these two sodomites that they couldn’t be baptized, and couldn’t be members of the church because they are living in unrepentant sin? Exactly! They would lose customers. Brian Houston put out a list of 30 Rules for Hillsong Australia Preaching and Teaching Team. Some of the disturbing rules put in place by Houston are “leaving people feeling better about themselves than when they came in, and having a message that easily transitions into an altar-call.”
But a real church that exists to shepherd the flock and serve Christ would not be afraid of offending people with the truth. Peter describes Jesus as being offensive to those who do not believe (1 Peter 2:8). Luke 13:3-5 makes it very clear that repentance of sin is a requirement for salvation. But that isn’t Hillsong’s message. Brian Houston, senior executive of Hillsong Corp. has explained their message quite clearly,
I do believe God’s word is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. The writings of the apostle Paul in scripture on the subject of homosexuality are also clear…So if you are gay, are you welcome at Hillsong Church? Of course! You are welcome to attend, worship with us, and participate as a congregation member with the assurance that you are personally included and accepted within our community.
This is exactly like I stated before. This is Hillsong pretending to proclaim the Word of God so that they can call themselves a church while at the same time delivering a product that their worldly customer base desires–without offending anyone. This is what is described in James 1:7-8 as a “double-minded man, unstable in all his ways,” and he” ought not to expect that he should receive anything from the Lord.” Brian Houston, Carl Lentz, and all of the leaders of this organization are double-minded man-pleasers who are unfit for the ministry of Jesus Christ. They fear the gay mafia more than they fear God and have caved to them on all levels. They are so afraid that they will lose customers that they would rather tell two hell-bound unrepentant sodomites that they are welcome and accepted into their church and lead them to believe that they are saved, than to proclaim the truth to them, that they are lost, in need of a savior, and must repent of their sin and turn to Christ, lest their “portion be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)
That’s real homophobia.
