By Philip L. POWELL
He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time Daniel 7:25.
Rapid change is a part of Satan's continuous battle strategy against God's people. The prophet Daniel tells us that it will be a feature of the great end-time ruler, the eleventh “king” who will arise out of the ten nation Western European Union that is already in place. We are told that three rulers will fall before that king, whom many identify as the “anti-Christ”. It appears that the stage has already been set. It simply awaits the finishing touches when as Paul, the apostle warns:
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away {the apostasy} comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God – 2 Thessalonians 2: 3, 4.
That “man of sin, the son of perdition” is undoubtedly the anti-Christ. The world awaits his “revelation”, which will foreshadow the end. Of course as God's people we do NOT look for the anti-Christ, but for the true Christ – our God and Saviour, who will appear in the rapture of the Church and thus:
transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself - Philippians 3:21.
Satan's blitzkrieg4 on the world and on the “church”, like it's famous World War II prototype, is destined to ultimately fail, though it causes great consternation and stress in the process. And this is where God's remnant people MUST be so careful not to overreact, or we will end up exerting ourselves in areas of little or no consequence and so add to the “wearing out” process and thus fall for one of the “devices” of our enemy. Both Satan and the world system have been defeated. We must encourage ourselves in the knowledge that in the face of the turmoil of the cross John tells us that our Lord promised:
Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out … (12:31) … I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me (14:30) …. of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged (16:11). These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (16:33).
Interestingly, an accurate rendition of “son of perdition” (2 Thess. 2:3) is “son of a loser”. Though the devil and his devices may appear at times to succeed, both he and they are destined to fail. Our Lord Jesus Christ has triumphed and will triumph. That does not mean that we, God's true people should just sit back and do nothing in the face of the most incredible innovations that Satan has foisted upon the “Church” of our time. We have a responsibility to God's “little ones” who believe in Christ and are being led astray and thus “offended” – cf. Matthew 18: 6, 10, 14.
We also have a responsibility to the calling of God upon our lives. I frequently tremble at the awesome responsibility that God Almighty has committed to us and the consequences of our failing to sound the alarm constantly and consistently:
Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: 'When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you shall surely die!' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul – Ezekiel 33: 1-9.
In line with the principle that Old Testament instructions “are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1Corinthains 10:11), we cannot evade personal responsibility in this matter. We are duty bound to sound the alarm.
CWM has long warned that false teaching and false teachers (Nicolaitanism) lead to immoral living (Baalamism cf. Revelation 2:14 & 15) and vice versa. A Church that condones wrong doctrine will eventually also allow evil, immoral practices. This has been amply demonstrated in so many previously cited examples that it is unnecessary to repeat them. However, what we now face is the drift of one time godly denominations into the passive endorsement of outrageous sin and wickedness in prominent leaders, whom they appoint simply because of their popularity with absolutely no reference to their character and reputation. The Bible requires that a Christian (Church) leader must be above reproach (cf. 1 Tim 3: 7; with Titus 1: 5-9).
Elim's numerically large showcase Kensington Temple (KT) in London has recently announced the appointment of Roberts Liardon (RL) as the “new head of International Bible Institute of London (IBIOL)” - See TRAINING A NEW GENERATION at - http://www.kt.org . In 2001 Liardon admitted a homosexual affair with his then youth pastor. He took three months off "to seek professional and church counselling related to a [then] recent short-term homosexual relationship." He never left the “pastorate” but “pretty much just worked overseas”
For more information on RL see - http://www.robertsliardon.org/roberts.htm
As a young boy I recall accompanying my father back in around 1949 to the highly respected Elim City Temple in Cardiff, South Wales, pastored by the godly Percy Brewster (PB). City Temple was perceived then as the largest Elim Church in the country and its pastor as one of their leading evangelists. Some forty one years later (circa 1990) I discussed the status and achievement of City Temple with the the now recently deceased (April 2009) Wynn Lewis, who denigrated both PB and the Cardiff Church in his eulogising the success of KT, London, which he was pastoring at the time. Admittedly KT has achieved numeric success. But “all that glitters is not gold” – see Colin Dye Unmasked
http://www.christian-witness.org/archives/van1999/cdyer99.html
http://www.christian-witness.org/archives/van2000/cdye00.html
Undoubtedly the measurement of spirituality and godly achievement on the basis of Church Growth is one of the “devices” of the devil used to confuse God's people. The speed at which the decline in the moral standards of ministers within one time godly denominations like Elim has occurred is part of the satanic blitzkrieg alluded to above.
For a more comprehensive assessment of Roberts Liardon's appointment see:
http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/category/news/australia
HILLSONG – Spreads its tentacles to Brisbane and entangles Garden City Christian Church – Mount Gravatt.
Brian and Bobby Houston have been appointed as senior pastors of the large GCCC in Brisbane as of April 26, 2009. Late last year (2008) the then senior pastor Bruce Hills resigned amid rumour and counter rumour. Some have conjectured that he was “pushed” on account of a lack of numeric growth. GCCC is a large church. Estimates vary, some as high as an attendance approaching 3,000.
Brian Houston (BH) had given notice much earlier that he would not stand as President of the Australian Christian Churches (ACC) which is a generic name for the umbrella group that effectively replaced Assemblies of God in Australia (AoG). The first director of ACC was Pat Mesiti (PM) who was disciplined back in the early part of the millennium (circa 2001).
See http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/28/1043804401241.html
Brian Houston was president and his friend, Pat Mesiti, director of ACC at the time.
The above news release states that PM was found to have been visiting prostitutes, which, coming hard on the heels of the sleazy revelations about paedophile Frank Houston, father of Brian, must have been too much for the AoG to cope with. Brian Houston and Assemblies of God handed the ACC over to Phil Baker a minister in Perth, who later wanted to bury the name and idea of ACC, but was prevented by AoG who maintained that it really belonged to them. Brian, who was president of AoG, reassumed the designation “President of ACC” and so kept the name and idea alive.
When BH announced that he would not be resubmitting his name for the presidency of ACC (AoG) the reason stated was that he wanted to give more attention to the local Church, presumably meaning Hillsong, Sydney. The questions, among others that beg an answer are, “Is Hillsong a local Church?” Or “Is it a brand name for a new denomination?” Some might suggest that it is neither a local Church nor yet a denomination but rather a cult, with a cult leader and a cult following. Its constitution, which I have read and a copy of which is somewhere in my files, makes it a corporation. While the attendees at HILLSONG, Sydney are numerically large (estimates vary from 11,000 to 21,000) the legal membership is very small (about a dozen), which raises questions about the ownership of Hillsong's huge assets. In effect it is a very successful franchise with branches in Sydney, London, Paris, Kiev etc and now potentially in Brisbane.
Biblically the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be a corporation, or a franchise. The New Testament presents the Church in two distinct roles –
I have always argued that in biblical terms there is nothing larger than the Local Church and nothing smaller than the Universal Church. Denominations are the ideas of men. They may serve a useful purpose for a time but every denomination has the seeds of corruption and destruction within it. Inevitably those seeds will produce fruit—the death and corruption of the entire denomination. Church history bears testimony to that fact.
Recently (April 2009) I gave a free one hour face to face interview to Channel 7 TV Brisbane and have conducted two telephone interviews with Sydney Morning Herald reporters who sought my opinion about Hillsong. Other media outlets have interviewed me on the same topic over the years. Why do the media show such a great interest in groups like Hillsong?
The answer to that question is two-fold:
Throughout history there have been men and Churches who have impacted their generation for good and have seen outward success. Growth, including Church Growth, is something to be desired providing it is not predicated upon compromise or a lowering of the Christian and biblical standard. Transfers that masquerade as “evangelism” and takeovers that pretend to be “church planting” achieve nothing except the extended notoriety of the leading promoters.
Hillsong’s growth is largely attributable to its music on the one hand and its attractively humanistic message on the other. Brian Houston and Hillsong have changed the message of the Gospel. It's all about self and what one gets in the here and now. Seldom if ever will you hear anything about the “crucified life” or about the need to repent or for that matter about the forgiveness of sin. The gospel is defined for us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15: 1-8
The whole purpose of Christ's coming into the world and the power of the Gospel relate to the SIN question. The Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel are NOT to make us healthy, wealthy and wise. They are God's answer to the SIN problem. He came to save us from our sins. That essential Footnotes message is not something that is popular and so the growth that Hillsong and others perceive as being so wonderful is in fact something that can be very dangerous. Our Lord warned:
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them – Matthew 7: 13-20.
Hillsong has widened the gate so many more are walking the broad road, when they think they are on the narrow road. Many are NOT.
Fruit in scripture is always character—never pragmatic results e.g. big or bright congregations. Examine the fruit. What is the tree producing—good fruit or bad fruit? And remember it can't produce both!
When Hillsong mounted its takeover bid for GCCC (Brisbane) a booklet was produced and distributed at GCCC entitled INFORMATION DOCUMENT and dated 5th April 2009. The front cover includes a photograph of “Pastors Brian and Bobby Houston”. The preamble which commences “Dear Friends …” is in effect a statement of intent obviously based on negotiations between the pastoral and administrative boards of both groups Hillsong and GCCC. It spells out the franchising procedure in stages and purports to be a method for building the local Church, which it's not—at least NOT in New Testament terms or precedent. The booklet is a cleverly worded “letter” of 13 points ostensibly written by Steve Dixon then designated the “Acting Senior Pastor” (April 5) who is now presumably, in terms of the franchise procedure, the so called “Brisbane-Hillsong Campus Pastor”, since the vote of acceptance on April 26, 2009.
Here's the list of 13 points some of which are innocuous apart from obvious questions that any thinking member of GCCC would want answers to:
A cursory scan of the above reveals the underlying assumption—change has occurred, that change is good and only “antediluvians” (those who are irrelevant) will question it. But wait a minute, wasn't this the same rationale that resulted in Jim Jones taking his followers into suicide? Is that a harsh and rash parallel? May be, but the signs are there. Brian and Bobby have become popular “cult leaders”. Remember Brian's book, You Need More Money, and Bobby's series of tapes Kingdom Women Love Sex! Shortly after the demise of Frank and Hazel Houston, Bobby told a group at a women’s conference that Frank and Hazel were overseeing and cheering them on as they ran the race. This is NOT biblical and it’s cultish.
Here are two of the salient points quoted verbatim from Information Document (April 5, 2009). Some pertinent words have been underlined and are commented on under each item.
The current Board of GCCC will continue to operate but we see the benefit of boosting it by adding some of the Hillsong team until the next AGM. At that AGM our new Senior Pastor will review the way forward. The goal is to eventually work under the leadership of the one Hillsong Board that at this moment oversees the whole network of churches. In time we will review our constitution, which was formulated many years ago. The campus pastor will be included on the Hillsong eldership.
At the sweep of a pen everything has changed or will potentially change for an old established AoG Church called GCCC and the points of reference will be this Information Document plus the membership vote of April 26 based on the projections of this document. The constitution of GCCC is rendered obsolete unless of course there is a grass roots reaction now or at least by April 2010.
In a nutshell, under this proposal there will be no change to the way church assets are held. These are under the ultimate control of the members of the church. There can not be, and will not be, any change to this basis without member approval within existing legal realities.
Let's crack the nut open. What do we find? The way the church assets are held is going to be changed. Gradually the “old members” who are loyal to GCCC will think they are superfluous and will withdraw. Even before that happens en masse the GCCC constitution will be changed to reflect the Hillsong constitution, which as we know provides for a small elite group—the only “membership”—to control ALL the assets. With Hillsong, membership in the generally understood sense is NON-EXISTENT.
If there is a careful search through the AoG and CLC archives it will be discovered that Frank Houston, Brian's father did a similar thing back in the 70s in establishing his “movement (CLC) within a movement (AoG)”. It's clever, devilishly clever, and of course it's totally legal—ethics and morality? Well that's another matter the consideration of which may spark a grass roots reaction to what's going on before it is too late!
The document concludes with references to Hillsong. Here's a verbatim quote which presumably summarises Hillsong's statement of purpose:
To reach and influence the world by building a large Bible-based church, changing mindsets and empowering people to lead and impact in every sphere of life….
REALLY! Is that what the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is all about? Actually it's an oxymoron. If the Church is Bible based then that will NOT be its purpose. If you set yourselves out to “influence the world” guess what will happen? The world will influence you. Our purpose is to KNOW Christ and to make HIM known. No wonder Hillsong and its many clones have imbibed so much of the world. Their rationale is worldly so their attraction will NOT and can never be anything other than “worldly”.
Some years ago I was contacted by a person involved with a political party who claimed on the telephone to represent the original “Labor” ethic. He told me that his group and many others were interested to find out where the then rising “Family First” obtained their financial clout. He decided to attend an advertised Pentecostal gathering at the large Adelaide Paradise AoG, where he was shocked at what was presented as “Church”. He recounted to me how the gathered people were kept in the foyer until the “opening” before which smoke started to filter through the cracks and under the doors. Then as the doors swung open there were trumpet blasts by a group of young men who led everyone into a darkened auditorium and then it was “all on”. He told me it was just like a rock concert. He could detect no difference and added that the psychological pressure was such that several times he felt it necessary to leave his seat to get a “gasp of fresh air.” So much for influencing the world and incidentally Family First the AoG idea to influence politics is now largely in decline. They even adopted the political ploy of trying to become all things to all men by hiding their powerbase, the source of their finance and by compromising their moral position. That's politics.
The elderly Christian statesman, John the divine, in writing to his “little children” commands:
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.
I can relate to that more now than ever. We cannot be wiser than the Bible.
———————
Before going to print this article was sent to a former journalist who keeps an eye on Hillsong and who told us that he heard a recent sermon preached by Bruce Hills, which was posted on YouTube and then deleted. You can read a transcript of the pertinent part of what Bruce said at:
The following are also worth viewing:
