Recently, Chris Rosebrough from Fighting for the Faith reviewed Brian Houston’s interview on Sunrise. Click here to watch the original interview:
Houston bends knee to critics and media (Part 2): Sunrise Interview
Chris Rosebrough does a good job framing this segment and addressing the issue before leading up to his examination of the Sunrise Interview:
“The issue here is that you know, as a pastor, part of my ordination vows if you would, basically say that I am to forgive the sins of the penitent. I can’t forgive the sins of the impenitent. And Mark Driscoll is a man who wants to be forgiven, wants everybody to say, ‘There is mercy in Jesus’. But he wants to be able to skip that part about what, you know, ‘You say you have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness’.
So Mark wants the forgiveness of sins without the thorny issue of having to- you know… actually admit that he’s committed sins to be forgiven of – which is kind of weird. Which then leads us to kind of the big story over the past week. And that is is that everybody knows that Mark Driscoll was invited by Brian Houston of Hillsong to come and be one of the speakers at Hillsong Conference, which will be convening at the end of this month in Sydney Australia.
Well there was a big outcry regarding that and what happened is that the initial invitation went out before Mark and Mars Hill imploded. So the roster was announced in the summer of last year for this 2015 Hillsong Conference. And then really everything got really bad at Mars Hill and now Mars Hill has completely imploded and ceases to exist. But along the way there’s still been no penitence. So what happened is that the outcry went out, you know: ‘He’s not- he should not be one of the speakers at Hillsong’. And so they changed it up a little bit. They changed it up. And rather than him being one of the speakerss, Brian Houston was going to conduct an interview with Mark Driscoll so that they can have a little dialogue so he can talk about the things he has learned regarding his mistakes. And that is how it was literally pitched by Hillsong, which still doesn’t quite meet the biblical standards regarding repentance and the forgiveness of sins. The two really go hand in hand. And especially somebody who wants to be restored to the pastoral office, you would think that they would be a model of somebody who really exemplifies true repentance. Publicly acknowledging their sin. Asking for forgiveness.Seeking reconciliation with those whom he hurt.
But Driscoll hasn’t done that. He just wants to go right back into the ministry and just ignore and act like nothing happened. And that’s the problem.
There was a backlash when one of the news agencies out in Australia the past week, they actually ran a story basically saying what’s the deal with Hillsong inviting this disgraced pastor to come and speak at their conference. And of course they went through and dug up some of the most embarrassing quotes that they could find from Mark Driscoll. And it became quite the event.
And so as the result of it, over the weekend we’ve learned that Hillsong had a conversation with Mark Driscoll. They’ve now uninvited him, Of course they uninvited him because of all the negative PR. Not because, well, Mark Driscoll hasn’t repented; Mark Driscoll hasn’t apologised; Mark Driscoll hasn’t sought to reconcile with those whom he has abused, none of the biblical reasons. But more or less because, well, it was looking really bad for the folks there at Hillsong. [57:29]
The points Chris Rosebrough raises are damning against Mark Driscoll and Brian Houston of Hillsong Church. This segment starts around 55 minutes in.
Chris also raised an interesting scripture.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8
When you listen to the sermon review, you can clearly see the fulfillment of this scripture. Because Mark Driscoll does not see his sin and refuses to repent, look what he does to God, God’s Word and the truth itself: he perverts it to paint himself as a martyr and paints Christians and faithful ministers as satan’s servants. Don’t believe us? Listen to this sermon review.
The sermon review starts at 1:10:30.
Hillsong Cancels Driscoll
Click Here to Download this episode
Program segments:
• Pastrix “Prophet” Patricia King?
• Terri Savelle Foy Explains How to Get on the Cover of Success Magazine
• Joel Osteen and Separated for the Better
• Hillsong Cancels Driscoll
• Sermon Review: Paul the Forgiven by Mark Driscoll
Source: By Chris Rosebrough, Hillsong Cancels Driscoll, Fighting for the Faith, , http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2015/06/hillsong-cancels-driscoll.html, Published 08/06/2015. (Accessed 11/06/2015.)
NOTE: We may add Rosebrough’s views on his review on Driscoll’s sermon as well as our own observations.
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