A Twisted Crown of Thorns ®

“I Finally Got Sent A Hillsong Video That Proves They Preach The Gospel . . . NOT!!” says Cameron Buettel a blogger who set up an interesting challenge. This is the what he found…

To his credit Troy did take up my challenge that no one else has responded to. He went looking for a solid example of someone from Hillsong church preaching the Gospel. I had burdened Troy with the responsibility of substantiating his claim that:

I can assure you that I’ve been to Hillsong quite a few times and have heard the gospel accurately preached. Yes, including the mention of sin and the cross.

Most readers will be aware that I have a long list of grievances with Hillsong Church in Australia. Unlike the many grievances based on their financial practices, I have focussed on their understanding and proclamation of the Christian Gospel. Among my many grievances has been one that I didn’t think even Hillsong defenders would argue with – the necessity to preach repentance (you know, turning away from sin). In fairness to Hillsong it is difficult to preach repentance when you never talk about sin. Why do I think that even Hillsong defenders would not argue against this particular grievance? Because they affirm the necessity of repentance on Hillsong’s own doctrine statement which says:
We believe that in order to receive forgiveness and the ‘new birth’ we must repent of our sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and submit to His will for our lives.
So let’s take a look at the video Troy chose to support his claims and alleviate my fears. Pay close attention to Joel A’Bell’s focus on repentance in this video:

Troy, I have to ask why you would use that video to argue against what I have been saying? It actually affirms almost everything I’ve said. So much missing information I don’t know where to begin. Who is this God? Why do I need His forgiveness? What cross? Why did Jesus need to die that I can get this gift? Why do I need this gift? Why don’t I deserve it? What is this gift? etc etc
On a purely logical level it creates many more questions than it answers. But once again I’ll zero in on one point because it is a part of Hillsong’s own doctrine statement. The necessity of repentance from sin in order to receive salvation. Where in this video did Joel speak of our need to repent or turn away from our sinful life. Of course it is difficult for Joel to do this when he never even defines sin.
Come on Troy, I am not being a nit picking monster, this is basic Christianity! Instead of arguing with me over this why don’t you challenge the Hillsong leadership over this. The more this gets voiced the better the chance that they might repent and start preaching Christianity – which would be a wonderful blessing to their vast audience.

Read the rest of the article here.