Has anyone watched the Hillsong Megachurch Exposed?

[DawnM]

I am watching it right now.   My son looked into actually going before Covid hit.   I am glad he didn't.

[Frances]

I watched the first episode. Sadly, not surprising at all that money and influence were the driving motivations.

[Lisa]

Yes, dh and I watched all 3 episodes. I'm not surprised by it. Some churches are pulling away from the Hillsong name. Its all very sad.

[popmom]

I didn’t even know there was a documentary on this. I was aware that the teachings and general “goings on” were questionable. This is why I believe (for all the multitude of weaknesses and sins), mainline denominations are preferable. 

[DawnM]

I am almost through episode 2.   I had hoped this was a documentary on the Hillsong church as a whole, but it is really just about the NY Hillsong church pastor.

And yes, I agree that there is far more accountability in mainline denominations.   Honestly, when my son started looking at Hillsong school I didn't even know they had actual churches called Hillsong, I thought it was just a school and music name.

And I was quite familiar with Bethel as I had already delved into that after those documentaries came out (Finger of God was the first one.).  

I saw a documentary on Youtube that features Bethel, Hillsong, and Elevation.  Elevation is local to me so it caught my attention.

OY!

[Katy]

I’ll watch it next.  I watched a bunch of that ex-worship pastor vlog series on YouTube. I think the guy named his channel The Dad Challenge Podcast. 

[alisoncooks]

I’m not surprised. You give that much fame and fortune to anyone, no matter how earnestly they began, an epic fall is almost guaranteed. 

[Happy Camper]

6 hours ago, DawnM said:

I am almost through episode 2.   I had hoped this was a documentary on the Hillsong church as a whole, but it is really just about the NY Hillsong church pastor.

And yes, I agree that there is far more accountability in mainline denominations.   Honestly, when my son started looking at Hillsong school I didn't even know they had actual churches called Hillsong, I thought it was just a school and music name.

And I was quite familiar with Bethel as I had already delved into that after those documentaries came out (Finger of God was the first one.).  

I saw a documentary on Youtube that features Bethel, Hillsong, and Elevation.  Elevation is local to me so it caught my attention.

OY!

Could you please post a link to the documentary you mentioned in your last paragraph? TIA

[Grace Hopper]

2 hours ago, alisoncooks said:

I’m not surprised. You give that much fame and fortune to anyone, no matter how earnestly they began, an epic fall is almost guaranteed. 

Katelyn Beauty’s new book appears to speak to this. I look forward to reading it. 

https://www.amazon.com/Celebrities-Jesus-Personas-Platforms-Profits/dp/1587435187/ref=nodl_

As for Hillsong, it took me years to realize there was actually a church attached to the band. Both Hillsong and Bethel have made lots of money off their music. I haven’t watched this documentary expose yet but I’m sure that’s mentioned. I have watched the YouTube videos about the Bethel campus cult. 

[DawnM]

16 minutes ago, Happy Camper said:

Could you please post a link to the documentary you mentioned in your last paragraph? TIA

Not really a documentary I guess, but here is one Youtube I watched that lead me down a path of several other Youtube videos on the subject.

 

 

[J-rap]

I didn't know about the documentary, but I've been following on the julieroys.com website (the Roys Report) which has helpful information on church related issues/news like this.  (It's actually kind of depressing to read, but I think they do a good job of getting to the truth.)

[Frances]

On 4/9/2022 at 3:04 AM, DawnM said:

I am almost through episode 2.   I had hoped this was a documentary on the Hillsong church as a whole, but it is really just about the NY Hillsong church pastor.

And yes, I agree that there is far more accountability in mainline denominations.   Honestly, when my son started looking at Hillsong school I didn't even know they had actual churches called Hillsong, I thought it was just a school and music name.

And I was quite familiar with Bethel as I had already delved into that after those documentaries came out (Finger of God was the first one.).  

I saw a documentary on Youtube that features Bethel, Hillsong, and Elevation.  Elevation is local to me so it caught my attention.

OY!

I’ve only watched the first episode, but it seemed more general to me about how the church started in Australia and spread. I’d never heard of it or it’s music industry and learned quite a bit.

Edited April 10, 2022 by Frances

[Lisa]

5 hours ago, DawnM said:

Not really a documentary I guess, but here is one Youtube I watched that lead me down a path of several other Youtube videos on the subject.

 

I like listening to Allan Parr. He posted this response to the Discovery+ documentary about Hillsong. 

 

[Lisa]

5 hours ago, J-rap said:

I didn't know about the documentary, but I've been following on the julieroys.com website (the Roys Report) which has helpful information on church related issues/news like this.  (It's actually kind of depressing to read, but I think they do a good job of getting to the truth.)

I read her report too. I like reading her stuff, but it can be depressing at times to read.

[Grace Hopper]

6 hours ago, J-rap said:

I didn't know about the documentary, but I've been following on the julieroys.com website (the Roys Report) which has helpful information on church related issues/news like this.  (It's actually kind of depressing to read, but I think they do a good job of getting to the truth.)

I’ve listened to some of her podcasts and have found them helpful, in particular the ones about MacArthur’s church. 
 

However, I listened to one episode (Is Conservatism Biblical, 12/7/21) featuring guest Coleman Luck. He was introduced with credentials of being a conservative Christian in Hollywood and I found much of what he shared interesting. However, in the last 4 minutes of this 45 minute podcast, he started talking about things like moth men that left me scratching my head it seemed so suddenly out of context. So I looked for other material by him and found him associated with a podcast about all kinds of weird stuff, and show notes that tout him as a mentalist and member of the academy of magical arts, with some…interesting sounding…show topics. Anyway, it totally deflated my opinion of Roys and I’m now listening more skeptically to other podcast episodes. 

Edited April 9, 2022 by Grace Hopper

[Lisa]

This is an article by Julie Roys about the Ukrainian Hillsong Pastors mentioned in the Discovery+ documentary.

‘The Church Was Hijacked’: Former Hillsong Kyiv Pastors Say Brian Houston Forced Them Out

https://julieroys.com/former-hillsong-kyiv-pastors-say-brian-houston-forced-them-out/?fbclid=IwAR1WWQZXLDvavUk8wQKkWemP6Nl7aNEO3BNM1WxbsWJWSdZAgL65vLLuvsU

[bookbard]

Haven't seen the doco, but I think one of the many good things to come out of the Australian Royal Commission into child abuse was highlighting the abuse and coverup which occurred in the Hillsong churches by the founders.

[DawnM]

13 hours ago, Grace Hopper said:

I’ve listened to some of her podcasts and have found them helpful, in particular the ones about MacArthur’s church. 
 

However, I listened to one episode (Is Conservatism Biblical, 12/7/21) featuring guest Coleman Luck. He was introduced with credentials of being a conservative Christian in Hollywood and I found much of what he shared interesting. However, in the last 4 minutes of this 45 minute podcast, he started talking about things like moth men that left me scratching my head it seemed so suddenly out of context. So I looked for other material by him and found him associated with a podcast about all kinds of weird stuff, and show notes that tout him as a mentalist and member of the academy of magical arts, with some…interesting sounding…show topics. Anyway, it totally deflated my opinion of Roys and I’m now listening more skeptically to other podcast episodes. 

I have had very strong opinions of MacArthur in the past.   When DH and I met, he was attending that church.   I was attending another church in the valley.   When we started dating I visited MacArthur's church......I don't even have the energy to write my thoughts on that.    I told him in no uncertain terms I would NOT be attending there.   We ended up finding a church together once we got married closer to where we ended up living.

[J-rap]

17 hours ago, Grace Hopper said:

I’ve listened to some of her podcasts and have found them helpful, in particular the ones about MacArthur’s church. 
 

However, I listened to one episode (Is Conservatism Biblical, 12/7/21) featuring guest Coleman Luck. He was introduced with credentials of being a conservative Christian in Hollywood and I found much of what he shared interesting. However, in the last 4 minutes of this 45 minute podcast, he started talking about things like moth men that left me scratching my head it seemed so suddenly out of context. So I looked for other material by him and found him associated with a podcast about all kinds of weird stuff, and show notes that tout him as a mentalist and member of the academy of magical arts, with some…interesting sounding…show topics. Anyway, it totally deflated my opinion of Roys and I’m now listening more skeptically to other podcast episodes. 

That's odd.  I just found out about the Roys Report last year and it seemed pretty straight forward and grounded.  I wonder if this is a strange outlier?  I'd think about contacting their website and questioning them about it.  It would make me a little more skeptical too.  The last thing we need right now is someone else spouting weird or conspiracy-related stuff.

[J-rap]

4 hours ago, DawnM said:

I have had very strong opinions of MacArthur in the past.   When DH and I met, he was attending that church.   I was attending another church in the valley.   When we started dating I visited MacArthur's church......I don't even have the energy to write my thoughts on that.    I told him in no uncertain terms I would NOT be attending there.   We ended up finding a church together once we got married closer to where we ended up living.

It would be interesting to know what right away jumped out as uncomfortable/wrong about it.  (I'm not asking you to describe, just thinking out loud.)  I'm waaay out of the loop of most well-known conservative evangelical Christian leaders 😏, but I know how he dealt with the pandemic and know that nationalist Christian friends of mine support him, so that checked him off my list of wise theologians pretty quickly.

[Frances]

4 hours ago, DawnM said:

I have had very strong opinions of MacArthur in the past.   When DH and I met, he was attending that church.   I was attending another church in the valley.   When we started dating I visited MacArthur's church......I don't even have the energy to write my thoughts on that.    I told him in no uncertain terms I would NOT be attending there.   We ended up finding a church together once we got married closer to where we ended up living.

I’m no longer a Christian, but when some people on this board were defending MacArthur early in the pandemic and one of them challenged us to go and actually listen to what he had to say, I did so, and walked way even more appalled that any Christian would hold him up as an example of a good and godly leader. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Frances

[DawnM]

29 minutes ago, J-rap said:

It would be interesting to know what right away jumped out as uncomfortable/wrong about it.  (I'm not asking you to describe, just thinking out loud.)  I'm waaay out of the loop of most well-known conservative evangelical Christian leaders 😏, but I know how he dealt with the pandemic and know that nationalist Christian friends of mine support him, so that checked him off my list of wise theologians pretty quickly.

In a nutshell.   I went to Sunday school where they had us get in circles to thank God we could live near such a great man as John MacArthur and to pray for him.  This took over half the class.   He was a Demi-god in their eyes.   Then in service he said some nasty things about Jack Hayford, who had a church down the road from him, and added in comments about how his insight was the only real godly insight.   Then he made comments about how heretical it was to have women do much more than nursery duty at church.   And he said that any woman who divorced and married again was committing adultery (funny, he didn't mention the men at all!)

That was my first and ONLY time to his church.   There is more, but that is the condensed version.

More recently, I have found out that he told a woman who was being abused to stay in the marriage and forgive her husband because it was "biblical."   Now that man is serving over 20 years in prison for molesting their children.   

I just can't with these people.  

[DawnM]

22 minutes ago, Frances said:

I’m no longer a Christian, but when some people on this board were defending those criticizing MacArthur early in the pandemic and one of them challenged us to go and actually listen to what he had to say, I did so, and walked way even more appalled that any Christian would hold him up as an example of a good and godly leader. 

I honestly don't even know about what he said during the pandemic.   I am just so sickened by so many these days, usually mega church pastors, but then there are the "wannabes" like the pastor of a local church here where we went for a while.   He had mega-church pastor envy it seemed and talked a lot about how he wanted the church to grow like Elevation.   He has now been "defrocked" because they found out that most of his sermons were plagiarized, even though he kept saying, "The Lord laid this on my heart to speak to you about......"  🤢

 

[J-rap]

3 minutes ago, DawnM said:

In a nutshell.   I went to Sunday school where they had us get in circles to thank God we could live near such a great man as John MacArthur and to pray for him.  This took over half the class.   He was a Demi-god in their eyes.   Then in service he said some nasty things about Jack Hayford, who had a church down the road from him, and added in comments about how his insight was the only real godly insight.   Then he made comments about how heretical it was to have women do much more than nursery duty at church.   And he said that any woman who divorced and married again was committing adultery (funny, he didn't mention the men at all!)

That was my first and ONLY time to his church.   There is more, but that is the condensed version.

More recently, I have found out that he told a woman who was being abused to stay in the marriage and forgive her husband because it was "biblical."   Now that man is serving over 20 years in prison for molesting their children.   

I just can't with these people.  

Wow, me neither.  And the fact that so many people (even people I've considered my good friends) are accepting of things like this?  It is super disturbing.

[DawnM]

19 hours ago, Lisa said:

I like listening to Allan Parr. He posted this response to the Discovery+ documentary about Hillsong. 

Thanks.  

[Frances]

6 minutes ago, DawnM said:

I honestly don't even know about what he said during the pandemic.   I am just so sickened by so many these days, usually mega church pastors, but then there are the "wannabes" like the pastor of a local church here where we went for a while.   He had mega-church pastor envy it seemed and talked a lot about how he wanted the church to grow like Elevation.   He has now been "defrocked" because they found out that most of his sermons were plagiarized, even though he kept saying, "The Lord laid this on my heart to speak to you about......"  🤢

 

I went down a rabbit hole of listening to lots of his sermons and radio interviews. He definitely seems to think he has it all figured out and just about every other Christian leader is wrong, including the entire Catholic Church. In one specific interview about his churches response to covid restrictions, he spent a good chunk of the time talking about the evils of homosexuality, apropos to nothing. He actually sounded far, far more like a politician than any clergy member I’ve ever experienced. 

[kbutton]

On 4/9/2022 at 6:42 PM, Grace Hopper said:

I’ve listened to some of her podcasts and have found them helpful, in particular the ones about MacArthur’s church. 
 

However, I listened to one episode (Is Conservatism Biblical, 12/7/21) featuring guest Coleman Luck. He was introduced with credentials of being a conservative Christian in Hollywood and I found much of what he shared interesting. However, in the last 4 minutes of this 45 minute podcast, he started talking about things like moth men that left me scratching my head it seemed so suddenly out of context. So I looked for other material by him and found him associated with a podcast about all kinds of weird stuff, and show notes that tout him as a mentalist and member of the academy of magical arts, with some…interesting sounding…show topics. Anyway, it totally deflated my opinion of Roys and I’m now listening more skeptically to other podcast episodes. 

Ditto your concerns about this guest. I think it’s worth trying to give feedback to Julie Roys. She seems responsive. I hadn’t planned to say anything unless I see him interviewed/promoted again or unless she seems to have another really odd person on—even really big, reputable sources sometimes mess up. If it makes you question other things she reports, that’s a big deal. 

[Grace Hopper]

1 hour ago, kbutton said:

Ditto your concerns about this guest. I think it’s worth trying to give feedback to Julie Roys. She seems responsive. I hadn’t planned to say anything unless I see him interviewed/promoted again or unless she seems to have another really odd person on—even really big, reputable sources sometimes mess up. If it makes you question other things she reports, that’s a big deal. 

I was honestly surprised that the podcast wasn’t edited. It’s been a while and I’m not a frequent listener, but if I hear any other odd voices on future podcasts, I may contact her then.