This is Part 3 of my series of 3 articles. Please feel free to read my previous articles below:
Hillsong Insider (Part 1): “My exit out of a mega church… Never to return again”
Hillsong Insider (Part 2): “The Hillsong Takeover of a Norwegian Charismatic Mega Church”
In this article I will be looking at how Hillsong operate in secrecy to achieve their own purposes.
CONTROLLING SECRECY
One thing that I noticed which appears to be a common trade mark of mega churches is secrecy.
They shroud their events and conferences in secrecy. They treat us lay people like little kids that can’t wait for Christmas morning to unwrap the gifts and that we are just as thrilled with the “Surprise” element as all the gifts!
The year before we joined Hillsong I was at the leadership conference. I was helping out in the cafe when the lady in charge said: “Oh! Now it’s about time for the grand opening! Let’s turn the oven off and run and check it out! I’m so excited, it’s a big surprise! No idea what they are going to do but the opening is always something to see!”
So we rushed in and remained towards the back of the audience to get a glimpse. We saw the stage was all a glow with smoke and lights. There were two guys on keyboards on opposite sides of the stage dressed in pantomime masks (Like all white faces with no color) and they were playing like trans, disco, echo, high tech effects piano cords. Then a girl with a long, white, flowing robe appeared standing on a box/platform that was very high. This made her like a giant (almost) and was singing notes with her back to us. She was not singing words but just notes, like the girls in the Pink Floyd band.
The girl slowly turns around as she is singing. It’s very dramatic and theatrical. Then the rock and roll praise band comes out with 4-6 lead singers and full band and we are off to a roaring start.
They ended the 3-4 day conference with what they called “the Holy Shuffle”. It did not say in the program what it was but everybody was excited about it! It was some sort of dance night with a DJ, a sort of social ending to the conference. I was appalled by the idea and certainly did not go.
Also for the Easter service… nobody knew a girl was going to descend from the ceiling swinging from silk scarves!!!! Seriously you have more of an idea what to expect when you go to the circus… then you do on any given Sunday at a mega church!!!!
I object STRONGLY to not knowing what is going on.
Now I go to a small church where it is always announced what is going on and what to expect.
I seriously started looking into the Bible on this and realized that God never makes a move in secret. Even when the walls of Jericho came down he told the people what to expect.
In the New Testament when the Lord sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the Lord Jesus had said that he would send His spirit as the Comforter. AND the Lord has told us that when He returns… every eye shall see Him and the trumpet shall sound. The Lord doesn’t work or move in secret. When Jesus was born the angels in heaven sang his arrival! As you can see, we can go on and on with examples.
But look at how Jesus exposes the behaviour of Satan or God’s “enemy”:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.” Matthew 13:24-26
Working in secret is a Hillsong trademark and I don’t trust it. I do not like how it is being foisted on the church and reinforced as though this is how church operates. Hillsong is EVEN invading our churches in secret.
Didn’t Jesus and His Apostles teach that the Christian’s conduct and confession be public, open and honest? Why isn’t this standard in operation in Hillsong’s leadership?
CONCLUSION
Can you imagine that these days it’s more upfront to join a political party then a church? At least a political party says what they are going to do when you ellect them. Then they end up not doing any of it and we have the democratic power to vote them out of office!
In a church they just use spiritual manipulation. You have no power.
Categories: Hillsong
Thank you for sharing your knowledge of Hillsongs, I have some of their music also Bethel and Jesus Culture, the music may be good but I do not trust the Churches. As I live in Scotland we are not as yet affected by them in a big way.
Thanks for commenting James, and it might be helpful to take an even closer look at Jesus Culture and their music.
http://www.donotbesurprised.com/2013/02/jesus-culture-of-bethel-church-to-plant.html
Sadly James we have the rapidly expanding Destiny Ministries here in Scotland.
They are trying to be a Hillsong style church. Their leader “Apostle” Andrew Owen has been involved with many corrupt pastors such as Brian Houston, Casey Treat, Mark Driscoll, Jerry Savelle, Gerald Coates, Ray Bevan and has Creflo Dollar coming over to Destiny soon.
Hi David thanks for the information I admit that I had never heard of Andrew Owen or Destiny Ministries before hearing from you. I attend a Christian fellowship in my home town which is quite good, however I only found out a few months ago that they are in fact connected to the AOG Church in the UK. I know that Hillsong’s are connect to the AOG in Australia, so I want to find out about the worldwide connection of the AOG!
My fellowship has around 150-200 people each week all age groups meeting in a council building. The fellowship is good, some singing in the Spirit but not much, I am not against the Gifts of the Spirit at the same time I see that much of it is false, it something that I am and have been looking at for sometime!
Thanks for commenting David. We prefer not to link other sites here without private dialogue with the authors of these sites.
Our email is c3churchwatch@hotmail.com.
Cheers, Team ChurchWatch.
I listened to your interview with Chris Rosebrough on Pirate Christian Radio tonight and you are right on. There is no power in these churches which is why the church is declining in the west. It is quite frightening to me. Millenials do not want hype artistry or marketing. They dont trust it to begin with! True repentance will draw people closer to God rather than filling the senses with smoke machines and music. I am afraid all these things will do is make existing Christians weaker, false convert new ones, and make the rest of the world laugh at how marketing and money based religion is, and their worst fears are confirmed, etc. This is an aesthetic age we live in, where everything is image and nothing is from the heart, which only God can truly see. Anyway thank God for your convictions and speaking your heart Praise God for you! God bless.
Reblogged this on The Narrowing Path.
We live in an entertainment world, but we can’t win souls by being worldly and by worldly tactics. I’m glad you are telling this to people. I left a church which I really liked over the issue of using Rock concerts to win lost youth. It’s using altered brain waves brought about by volume and beat, and God does not do such things. It seems to me that the secrecy of Hillsong and many others is the outcome of professional clergy, whom we have lifted up in an ungodly way. Most of our churches are full of elitism, which they would deny. The Bible told us not to give people titles and to regard them as brothers only. “Call no man teacher.” The secrecy you speak of is a divide between special people and the laity. Even the Brethren use a title “Brother” to lift a person above the others. Why didn’t we obey the Bible?
Well said!
Hellsong.