“Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God…” – 1 John 4:1
Welcome back, friends. As I stated in my previous entry, the purpose of this blog series isn’t to bash Hillsong Church, Brian Houston, or Carl Lentz. I am merely sharing my concerns about statements made by Hillsong NYC Pastor Carl Lentz on a CNN interview because I believe that, according to Scripture, he is in error. What you do with this knowledge, however, is entirely between you and God. I am sharing this because we live in a time of great deceit. And, because of this, we should heed the warning of the Apostle Paul to, “test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil. (1 Thes. 5:21-22)”
Here is the interview in its entirety. Please watch the video and join us after the jump.
Christianity-Lite?
Reporter: Some might say this is Christianity-Lite. That fair?
Lentz: I don’t even know what they mean by that. They try to say everything from shallow teaching to emotional music. I don’t buy any of it.
I was curious who “they” were, and I found out he was not referring to the world; the “they” he is speaking of are Christians! I found this out by doing a bit of a Google search. What I found were A LOT of Christian blogs accusing Hillsong of shallow teaching and using music to illicit an emotional response from the crowd (among other things). I tried to read through some of it, but I felt that much of it was mean-spirited or a matter of taste–though some sites, like Chris Rosebrough’s Video Blog, certainly has some thought-provoking things to say about Hillsong and its pastors. Honestly, though, I have never listened to any of Lentz’ sermons (or Houston’s, for that matter). And, based on what he says in this interview in his apartment (house?) where he feels comfortable and can be himself, far from the lights and stage, I have no desire to. I will say, however, that if Lentz’ and Hillsong Church are not teaching repentance, turning from sin, self-sacrifice, obedience to Christ’s commands, study of God’s Word, and holy living, it’s not “Christianity-Lite,” it’s not Christianity at all. There is no such thing as Christianity-Lite. There is only Biblical Christianity and “a form of godliness. (2 Timothy 3:5)”
In the past, I have read where critics accused Hillsong of using emotional music to illicit a response from the crowd. Maybe they’re right, maybe they’re wrong. I know that I have personally enjoyed worshiping God to their music. For me, I sing worship music directly to God–either corporately in church or in personal time with the Lord–and I do tend to get emotional in His presence. Music is an emotional thing, period. And I have always believed that it was the lyrics that were most important anyway. What do I base this on? We have an entire Book of song lyrics in the Bible (Psalms)–but not a single musical notation is included. Yes, modern choruses are repetitive. I will give you that. But isn’t it, after all, made to be sung by a congregation of people? And the more basic the lyrics, the more the congregation can focus on singing to God, and the less they have to focus on reading the lyrics. Remember singing the old hymns from a hymnal? I adore the old hymns, don’t get me wrong, but it is difficult to read along and truly worship at the same time… though it can be done. This, ultimately, is a matter of personal preference, but I do not have a problem with hymns or most modern worship songs.
I’ve included this bit so I can refer back to it in the next section, so please bear with me.
All About The Experience?
Lentz: I’ve heard the other critical bent of like, well, if you have a lot of people coming, then you must be doing something wrong. And… which is… the weird… the weirdest concept in history. But wherever Jesus went, there were absolute throngs of people trying to get to Him.
“If you have a lot of people coming, then you must be doing something wrong.” I don’t believe this is a fair criticism. Many of the great preachers drew crowds, from Charles Spurgeon, to John Wesley, George Whitfield, Johnathan Edwards, to Dwight L. Moody, etc., etc. I don’t believe the size of the crowd means we’re “doing something wrong” any more than it means we’re doing something right. Someone who thinks numbers have to do with truth needs to reexamine his or her methods of determining truth. There are mega-churches where the truth is being preached just as there are small churches where the truth is being preached. The same can be said of churches that are preaching a false gospel.
The second part of this statement is what I take issue to. Yes, Jesus drew multitudes, but most followed for the experience. Remember Lentz’ earlier comment about “shallow teaching” and “emotional music?” If you watch the video, you’ll see that Hillsong NYC’s services are much like a nightclub show, complete with an energetic and spellbinding MC. What Lentz seems to miss is that most of the “throngs” (interesting choice of words–especially to one who’s studied etymology) who followed Jesus were there to see the amazing miracles. And, after Jesus fed the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-15), many hung around simply to get their bellies full. Hey, that was entertainment in ancient Israel. Even today, in some parts of the world, if you produce a single soccer ball, you may be surrounded by a multitude of people in minutes. But here’s the thing…when healing and exorcism time (the experience) was over and Jesus began sharing hard truths about what it truly meant to follow Him, what happened to the crowds? They were gone! In fact, it got so bad that Jesus turned and asked His 12 disciples, “Are you also going to leave? (John 6:67)”
So you see, just as the criticism is unfounded, so is Lentz’ defense. To quote Mr. Spock from Star Trek, “It’s highly illogical.” You don’t use a fallacy to defend against another fallacy. We simply cannot judge truth by numbers.
[TO BE CONTINUED]
True love in Christ,
Dwight
The Parson
