Marty Sampson has become a mirror of his god for all on Instagram to observe: blind, groping, and dumb.
The songwriter for the “Christian” band Hillsong, recently announced his hardened disbelief on Instagram. Sampson’s song lyrics have been broadcasting his rejection of the true and living God found in the Bible for years, but gullible Evangelicals have shut their eyes and swayed to the music. Now Sampson speaks his apostasy clearly enough for even the most starry-eyed among us to get it.
No Shock Here
We have been warning P&P readers about Hillsong for years. This Charismatic, multi-site megachurch, founded by a pedophile, dominates the contemporary worship movement. Their songs are ubiquitous on the screens of trendy churches throughout the world. Tragically, even churches who claim a high commitment to Biblical inerrancy in their preaching have succumbed to singing the vaguely-spiritual Hillsong mantras for their worship.
We warned that Hillsong operates as a cult. The worship team forthrightly confess their allegiance to their Senior Pastor’s agenda above all, even to the point of covering his father’s sexual abuses.
We exposed Hillsong’s vision to redefine the church as a vast movement of “broken” (hint: when you read this word, think unrepentantly sinful) souls Jesus loves even more for their worldliness. In Hillsong ditties, Christ conforms to the lost who are merely victims of their circumstances: “broken, trapped, wounded, let-down, hurting…”
Little wonder, the Antinomian Hillsong leaders are on record as both gay affirming and abortion affirming. We warned that Hillsong preaches an ecumenical prosperity gospel, promising riches and happiness to all those who speak the right phrases.
Idolators Gonna Idol
So what exactly was Hillsong’s Marty Sampson’s admission on Instagram? It rambles, and one can read it here, but the essence of Sampson’s statement is:
- His exceeding happiness to have genuinely lost his faith;
- The church is full of hypocrites;
- The Bible is full of unscientific contradictions (he mentions these as if they are already understood and proven);
- And Sampson is going with what is “true to me right now.”
Notice how Marty Sampson’s instagram statement of unbelief imports the exact “true to me right now” sentiments Hillsong’s music has taught our churches to sing about what they believe for years. Their music style mimics the spirit of the age: truth is subjective, the message is vague and malleable, and feelings are the alpha and omega.
Witness, for example, the chorus from the extremely popular song “Oceans”:
“And I will call upon your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise, my soul will rest in your embrace
For I am yours and you are mine.”
What believer from any other era of Church history would recognize those words as Christian? For all the talk of God’s name, God’s name is actually never invoked by… name. And yet these songs are sung as calls to worship in so-called conservative Bible churches every Sunday.
Watch the video below, recorded in 2007, to catch a more succinct statement of Sampson’s idolatry and realize he was never among those who worship the true and living God.
If the slovenly, grinning Sampson’s brains have not been permanently fried through heavy substance abuse, he does an excellent job of imitating that malady. For Sampson, “Love keeps evolving—your faith keeps evolving.” He states:
“If you just keep Jesus Christ as the center, it doesn’t matter what you do, if you keep Christ as the center you will do awesome. You will do really good in this life.”
What a great summary of idolatry Sampson provides. It is the same idolatry woven through every Hillsong chorus:
- God is reconfigured in my image. Christ is all about my success.
- Focus on the things I do for this God—not his eternal attributes, commands, redemptive work in history.
- Expect paybacks.
- Rinse, repeat, multiple mind-numbing choruses over.
Try shutting your eyes. Hands up and sway. This God is moved by loud noises and plaintive wails. The electric guitars can be useful that way. You don’t have to rend your garments for him to rend the skies, if your worship leader is wearing ripped jeans.
The eternal God has made the world so that humans always become like what they worship. In Marty Sampson’s case, the idol was vague, confused, dumb.
“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak; they have eyes but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is their any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them” (Psalm 136:15-18).
[Editor’s note: the article has been updated (1/14/20) to correct a typographical omission: the worship team’s pastor covered for his father’s sexual abuses.]
