“We live in a society where people are often more offended by those who point out child abuse than by the abuse itself. In other words, society does not view abuse as the problem; the problem is you pointing it out. Society’s basic mindset is that “If we don’t talk about abuse, then it’s not happening.” Similarly, children are attacked when they point out the dysfunction around them.” ― Darius Cikanavicius
This post is not meant to be a political commentary. Please-no debates om political matters Let’s stick to the issue surrounding Hillsong and abuse. If the politics get carried away, GBTC will shut down the comment section. I don’t want that to happen since this is a fascinating story.
The Guardian posted Gossip’: Morrison sidesteps claim Hillsong pastor snubbed by White House
Here are some of the points.
Scott Morrison has sidestepped questions about whether he wanted the Hillsong Church pastor Brian Houston to be a guest at Friday night’s glittering black-tie state dinner hosted by Donald Trump, characterising the reports as “gossip”.
Asked whether it was true that he had lobbied to have Houston attend the dinner and been knocked back by the White House, the Australian prime minister told travelling reporters: “I don’t comment on gossip. It’s all gossip.”
…The Wall Street Journal revealed Morrison had wanted the Hillsong Churchpastor to be a guest at the state dinner at the Rose Garden in the White House,
But according to the Journal, the White House declined Morrison’s request.
Houston, the founder of the evangelical Hillsong Church, failed to alert the police about allegations his father, Frank, had sexually assaulted children, and had a conflict of interest when he assumed responsibility for dealing with the accusation
Another post Hillsong leader’s father ‘still preached after suspension for sex abuse’
A pentecostal pastor who abused up to nine children decades before he made a confession was still preaching one week after he was supposedly suspended, it has been alleged at the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
Frank Houston, who died in 2004, confessed in 2000 to sexually abusing a boy in New Zealand more than 30 years earlier, referred to in this week’s hearing as AHA. He was sacked by his son, Brian Houston, the high-profile head of Hillsong Church, who was then national president of the Assemblies of God, a worldwide grouping of pentecostal churches.
It appears that the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, is BFFs with Brian Houston. However, Brian Houston is getting pushback in Australia for his reportedly dismal response to his father’s abuse of young boys.
The following 4 1/2 minute video is well worth your time.
It appears that a number of celebrities in the US are quite supportive of Houston. For example, Beth Moore often appears on the Hillsong Channel. This is odd considering the fact that she is currently starring in ERLC’s Caring Well conference.
Frankly, I’m glad he wasn’t toasting and dining on my dime.
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1 BAM
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Numero Uno
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It’s got to be pretty bad when even a politician doesn’t want anything to do with you! The church (as a whole) really needs to do some soul-searching.
Third?
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Quad and thank you Whitehouse.
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Another example of the “church” finally getting around to the sins of their leaders … but preferring to refer to them as moral failure rather than sexual abuse. “Failure” puts a more gentle face to the sin, while “abuse” bears the possibility of criminal accountability. We have let too many preachers off on “affairs”, “moral failures”, “adultery”, etc. rather than calling it what it is when the pulpit takes advantage of the pew .. ABUSE!
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Channeling Chesterton’s “Ballad of the Battle of Gibeon”:
“These CELEBRITIES said one to another:
‘CELEBRITY unto CELEBRITY o’er the world is Brother!'”
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I would be a lot more favorable to “what happened on the floor of the Australian Parliament” if those benches were full. As it was, the MP was reading into the public record instead of to his fellow MPs in session.
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All I’m going to say is that someone at the US Department of State used their Google-Fu for good. Brian Houston should be given no honors because of his cover up and continuing obfuscation.
This is still a big deal in Australia.
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Does the AoG have an independent church setup, but cooperates through associations, like the SBC?
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Hillsong Channel has most of the same personalities that you find on Daystar or TBN (Osteen, Jakes, Robert Morris, and even a few non-charismatics such as Jack Graham). The only unique stuff is their broadcasts from the church or its conferences.
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It’s a hybrid. Churches are independent (like SBC, I don’t know about associations or state conventions), but ministers get licensed and ordained through the national organization (Swaggart was ordained AofG and lost his credentials from them).
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I doubt there’s any moral reasoning behind the decision. It’s a White House dinner. It’s all about power and money. There were probably more influential people that could attend and that’s who they wanted.
Having said that, I don’t think American Christian leaders should be supporting Houston, but they still support other American leaders who support convicted child abusers, like John Macarthur (who supports David Gray).
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BINGO
I could prattle on like Raymond Reddington,….and…. but it would only earn me a time-out in customs.
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Every time I hear “moral failure” in Christianese, it means “They Got Caught (with a live boy or a dead woman)”.
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There would be no Hillsong mega-mania if it weren’t for their excellent praise & worship singers/band. Brian Houston is really not that good of a preacher. Darlene Zschech (singer-songwriter) brought Hillsong to international prominence years ago, not Houston.
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Max,
And the Gospel is all about the music…
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ishy,
I tried Googling J. Gray. The only brief information I could find was John MacArthur passed J. Gray, a pedophile, off onto the L.A. Public School system. And, excommunicated J. Gray’s wife, who had reported him J.M.’s organization.
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Brian,
That’s David Gray. He’s been convicted, but Macarthur tells people that it was wrongfully, just because David Gray says so.
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Take away the music and there would be no mega. The Great God of Entertainment sits on the throne in much of the American church.
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Sure AoG churches are independent…until they’re not.
Besides the ministerial credentials thing, looks like a small minority of a church’s members, or just the pastor, or the deacons, may thwart the will of the majority of church members via denominational intervention:
General Council of the Assemblies of God (Assemblies of God USA)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assemblies_of_God_USA
“At the request of the pastor, deacon board, or 20 percent of voting members, district officials may intervene in the internal affairs of a General Council affiliated church. If district leaders conclude that district supervision is warranted, the church will lose its status as a self-governing church”
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Why would the pastor ask the higher authorities to take over his church? To stem a rebellion?
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This is worrisome:
Amy Smith has just posted a notice on Facebook copied from The Village Church about an adults-only meeting of youth ministry parents. It pretty much demands parents attend, even if they have to tele-conference in.
https://www.facebook.com/amysmithwatchkeep/photos/a.1170078696452635/2307346022725891/?type=3&theater
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Max–amen re the music god. One thing I love about my church is that the musicians and singers are unnamed and hidden from view. (Love that we prefer the hymnal, but that is a different issue.) Once the “applause of man” went away so did a lot of the performers–at least, those that left I figure were performers.
Those serving Christ stayed and this makes for a totally different Sunday morning service than “concert church” of whatever genre of music.
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St Boniface has a traditional mezzanine “choir loft” above and behind the congregation for the musicians and singers. You hear them but you don’t see them.
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Tithing units getting UPPITY…
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Worrisome indeed, or alternately they got shamed for not doing it before properly? I guess we will see. TVC seems to be a mess.
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HUG: St Boniface has a traditional mezzanine “choir loft” above and behind the congregation for the musicians and singers. You hear them but you don’t see them.
My church has the exact same thing, for this exact reason (although sometimes the choir walks around the church when service starts, but robes serve a similar purpose of making it not about a specific person). Sometimes traditions have a lot of thought behind them and you shouldn’t just chuck them out for no reasons.
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It got more concerning when they blocked the conference calling, because news got out that they were having a “private” meeting. So only people that attended heard the information.
I have a feeling this is something new or previously unknown…
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I mean, if they expected it to be private, a conference call was always a bad idea. If they are going to share in church anyways, though, what difference does it make? You’re probably right then that it’s a new thing.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g2FgAu1NYw Brett and Justice