According to the New York Times for October 17, 2014, a homosexual couple, Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly, sing in choirs at Hillsong New York City, and Canfield is a volunteer choir leader. Canfield and Kelly were billed as the “Broadway Boyfriends” on the reality show Survivor: San Juan del Sur.” In a December 16, 2014, interview with Playbill, Canfield described how that he “came out of the closet” at Hillsong. He also speaks of his “engagement” to Kelly. He said, “I became truthful with my church. I’m a part of Hillsong NYC. I’m one of their choir directors. I also sing on their Worship team. They’ve been amazing as well. Nothing has changed there now that I'm completely out and with Reed. He sings in the choir as well.” After this was recently re-reported by a blog operated by Geoffrey Grider, Brian Houston of Hillsong Sydney issued a statement that marriage is only for “heterosexual couples.” But in truth Hillsong is trying to face both ways on this issue, as so many others are. Last year the senior pastor of Hillsong NYC, Canfield and Kelly’s pastor, told CNN, “We have a lot of gay men and women in our church and I pray we always do” (“Hillsong New York Pastor Carl Lentz,” Christian Today, June 6, 2014). In the same interview, Laura Lentz, Carl’s wife and Hillsong NYC co-pastor, said, “It’s not our place to tell anyone how they should live, it’s--that’s their journey.” There’s where Hillsong really stands on moral issues, and Laura is brave enough to say so plainly. Carl Lentz said, “I am still waiting for someone to show me the quote where Jesus addressed it on the record in front of people.” Perhaps I can help him out here. What Jesus did say in regard to homosexuality was three things. First, Jesus exalted the law of Moses as God’s holy law. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19). The law of Moses that Jesus exalted as God’s holy law says, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). Second, Jesus limited marriage to one man and one woman as in the beginning of creation (Matthew 19:3-9). This completely destroys the biblical legitimacy of “same-sex marriage.” Third, Jesus said that His Spirit would lead the apostles into all truth (John 16:13). We find this canon of Spirit-taught truth in the New Testament Scriptures, where we find the strongest statement against homosexuality in the entire Bible in Romans 1:24-28. To separate the authority of the Gospels from the authority of the Apostolic Epistles is rank heresy, for we are told that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Obviously Jesus left no room for homosexual Christianity and “same sex marriage,” and His teaching on this was very public, Mr. Lentz. The Hillsong churches are so “culturally relevant” that they are traitors to the truth of God’s Word, yet their music is influencing large numbers of Baptists and fundamentalists. When asked by a reporter why Hillsong is so successful, Brian Houston of Hillsong Sydney replied, “We are scratching people where they are itching” (“The Lord’s Profits,” Sydney Morning Herald, January 30, 2003). That is right out of 2 Timothy 4:3, which is a warning of apostasy. It describes people who itch for a new kind of Christianity, and it describes heaps of preachers who will scratch this illicit itch. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” That describes Hillsong to a “T.” (Friday Church News Notes, August 7, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) Comments are closed.
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