The Agenda Behind The Secrets of Hillsong 

"Religious entertainment businesses" is a term that sums up most evangelical churches in America at the moment. Thank you for the gift of this useful phrase!

I had the same impression. This Lentz guy stood on stage, told some nice stories and every now and then put in the word God or Jesus. But I didn't see a lot of Christian things about the sermons. Probably it might have been edited that way on purpose, who knows. Still seemed like a entertainment show and not much more.

I'm a member of a local Assembly of God here in the Philippines and in fact my grandfather is a pastor of the church. I have become well aware of the damaging practices of big churches out there, especially when they point out about the "Prosperity Gospel" and we do condemn it. We do not like the idea of a religious gathering turned into business, it violates the true Gospel. Aye, we're Pentecostals but as conservative ones we tend to focus more on getting the Gospel of Christ preached to people. Of course on some ocassions we also talk about the benefits of blessings, especially financial blessing, it is not however the central message of the Gospel. Christ died for us that we be saved from our sins by His precious blood which He shed upon the Cross to reconcile us to the Heavenly Father. Thank you for your patience and God bless you.

great video! Thanks for letting me employ it here, and so sorry for if the audio got warped -- I didn't notice that, my bad. Keep up the great work.

@@TruthUnites Many thanks!

I thought so too but was astonished to see a really interesting documentary about the holy sepulcher on Disney+ (of all places). Really recommend that one.

100%

it's probably because Christianity has historically been both very big and very bad

if he's an atheist then evil to him is just his opinion as atheists have no objective standard to differentiate good from evil.

He wasn't looking for truth, he was looking to prove his Atheism.

I see no reason as to why you expect a response, you were asked a question and you gave an answer. The atheist was under no obligation to tell you what he thought about your answer. As an atheist all I can say is that I am a total loss as to how your answer explains why an all loving all powerful god should grant the gift of virtual immunity from cancer to the babies of the naked mole rat whilst simultaneously standing idly by watching human babies die in agony from cancer.

That's one of the reasons for my Christian faith, that God gives us hope in the midst of evil and the strength to withstand it. For that reason, I don't know how atheists cope.

@@downenout8705 Well damn, I wish I could fly and see ultraviolet light, but God didn't give that to humans. Besides, most Cancer is the result of Man playing God by creating toxic forever chemicals and microplastics.

They even managed to throw in Trump for good measure from what I read. As much guilt by association as possible.

@@TheEngineerd yeah, a little bit. There was a lot of interesting stuff in there. But something tells me that they wanted there to be a huge bombshell and they just couldn’t find one. So they had to insinuate a lot of other crap.

So true, I was just about to comment this exact thing in reference to the shiny happy people documentary. It honestly just felt like an anti-christian documentary then anything more scandalous, HULU is extremely predictable at the moment....smh 🤦‍♂️

I thought the same thing. And I say this as someone who doesn't tend to identify strongly with either the "Christian Right" or the secular Left. The insuination that programatic indoctrination for political ends is nefarious... _when done by_ conservative Christians and homeschooling. Just the sheer lack of self-awareness is breathtaking. Huh, a major media outlet with blatant political biases feer-mongering homeschooling so as to endorse a government-run education system _also_ with obvious political agendas... But no, you see, it's those wacky homeschoolers that are dangerous for brainwashing their kids (as opposed to someone else's?)

It's totally fine showing the religious causes of political activism.

I'm German and basically on every Christmas or sometimes Easter, some secular newspaper magazines in Germany run stories like, "was Jesus even real?" or nonsense like that. Might be an attack. I never read it. And if I ever did, I laughed. Best to avoid newspapers and magazines altogether in my opinion. Simply as an act of mental hygiene.

That's helpful. I was never sure what "deconstruction" even means. Only leaving a certain denomination or losing one's faith?

I wish mine would have been deconstruction, but sadly it was destruction for me. Until recently when I returned to Jesus.

Cuz most are

What’d you expect from atheists? Fairness?

It’s a hatchet job on a horrible church, that they went easy on. Wake up

Early Christianity was very Catholic - all about the Mass. That’s why Protestants ignore it.

Why were you angry all that time in your life? Or are you still?

What is suspicious deism?

@@fantasia55 wrong

@@Stigma-ba115 Once Saved Always Saved was invented in the 16th century by John Calvin.

Former IBLP. But I hate the word disentangle. There was nothing in IBLP that was true Christianity. Many like my parents were true Christians and got lost in some lies. But for is kids raised in it, we had to deconstruct to find Jesus. It also for me personally feels like the pain and struggle I went through to find Jesus is not valued by Christians.

Yes, I find some of these deconstruction stories very bizarre. The whole church could go off into sin or hurt me , but I know God is real and He has been speaking to me for years . I could not doubt His existence if I wanted to. Well… I could kind of if I wanted to go back to sin and self government by choosing to an evil heart of unbelief and turning back. I tend to think with some people they can’t be saved and are just identifying as Christian and lean that way intellectually. Others may be saved but we very immature in their faith and don’t know God well enough yet. Others it’s just an excuse to go back to the world , I’ve seen it happen when a pastor falls morally or a church splits, but sadly their faith and security was misplaced in a pastor or a community.

You can’t be serious

@@mrbillinsf his insights, not the shows. His conclusion, not the shows, to be clear lol. Otherwise we are having a very different conversation

@thekingofthings2002 Don't you think Gavin has the right to answer the question if he wants to and not you. If you would understand why I'm asking this question, you would offer guidance than a smart allec response.

The eastern churches didn't go into schism until the 11th century, so their beliefs and practices for the first 1000 years of Christianity are virtually the same as the rest of the Church. I think the earliest archaeological evidence for calling on the intercession of the saints is from the markings in the catacombs during the early persecutions. But the strongest evidence is the mass, both in the west and east, where the saints are mentioned in the liturgy from the earliest times of the Church. The "why" is because the Church is the body of Christ and the new commandment the Lord gave us is to "love one another as I have loved you." Part of that love is praying and ministering to others in the body. Traditionally, the Church has understood herself as living in three worlds: The Church Triumphant consists of those who are now glorified with Christ in Heaven; the Church Suffering are those who are being purified in Purgatory on their way to Heaven; and the Church Militant are those of us on earth still engaged in battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil. As the body of Christ, united to each other in Him, we can not only love and help one another on earth but there is also a spiritual commerce between those of us still here and those who have passed on. The saints in Heaven can intercede for us before God as we see John depict in Revelation, and the living can offer prayer and sacrifice for the dead (in Purgatory) as we see in Maccabees.

The New Testament explicitly commands pointing out and avoiding false teachers and prophets, in almost every single book.

@@ludwigamadeushaydn706 That is true but we are discussing churches here not individuals. Within each and every church there are many individuals who are false teachers and prophets. Does that mean we must avoid each and every church? Of course not. Being in fellowship with other believers is a good thing and in fact we are commanded by Jesus to do so. However, one must focus on the Word of God and not the words of man, which all churches struggle with, some more than others.

What is good about Hillsong NYC?

@@mrbillinsf I didn't say it was good necessarily. I was alluding to the fact that all churches have their faults - none are perfect. Those who promote their own church above all others are simply being deluded and only ever cause division even with others in the same church who accept the fact there is no perfect church here on earth run by man. We are commanded to love each other regardless of which church we attend, if any.

You speak the truth

6:40

I have not watched the documentary, but have experience of a cult, with funnily enough Australian roots. RCA/RCI later changed to CAI. The hard realisation after many years in it and finally "escaping the web of lies" as someone put it, is that it was never Christian to begin with...all good works they did were for show and at the expense of "members" on many destructive levels. Satan can appear as a angel of light. Cults are nothing new. It is strong encouragement to know your Bible and not be deceived by "love bombing", gaining praise and then being "rebuked" for trivial things. Control methods that trap you. I read Alice Chrnaloger's Twisted Scriptures. Documentaries pretty much sensationalise per automatic. Even the one on our cult to some degree, but truthfully not much. The object being to shut them down, fullstop. The victims are real and often drawn in young. It needs exposed as you say. I educate my kids of cult like behaviour. I know His grace now and we are the lucky ones.

Jesus said: “many will come in my name............”