– Advertisement –

Hillsong Founder Responds to Songwriter’s Defection From the Faith: He Wasn’t a Leader

by | Aug 13, 2019 | Blog | 0 comments

✪ Read this article ad-free and leave comments here on Substack

This past weekend, Reformation Charlotte reported on the popular Hillsong songwriter, Marty Sampson, who renounced his faith on Instagram. It quickly became national news that one of the lead artists who has written the lyrics to hundreds of Hillsong songs — practically defining what Hillsong worship is today — announced that he was leaving Christianity because of so many unanswered questions.

This prompted a follow-up article by Michael Brown — a charismatic apologist who regularly defends false teachers such as Benny Hinn and Bill Johnson — which actually came off mildly accusatory against Hillsong. Brown writes,

What is surprising is Marty seems to feel that “no one” is talking about challenges to the Christian faith. “No one” is discussing difficult intellectual issues. “No one” is engaging the apparent contradictions or interpretative problems in the Bible.

I can only ask (with sadness rather than condemnation), “Marty, what Christian world have you been living in?”

Brown tweeted this article and tagged Hillsong founder, Brian Houston, who then engaged him in conversation. Houston went on to throw Sampson under the bus — just like they did with the homosexual worship leaders a few years ago — and try to explain it away as though they weren’t “leaders” in their church. Of course, they were leaders. When you write the songs that define your organization, you are leading the organization. There are no two ways around it. Further, Houston accuses Michael brown of tagging him (and his co-pastor, Carl Lentz) of trying to “get clicks” for his article. Now, I disagree with Brown on almost everything, but one thing Michael Brown does not do is try to “get clicks.”

Their exchange is below.

Join Us and Get These Perks:

✅ No Ads in Articles
✅ Access to Comments and Discussions
✅ Community Chats
✅ Full Article and Podcast Archive
✅ The Joy of Supporting Our Work 😉



Three Ways to Support DISNTR


The Dissenter is primarily supported by its readers. The best way to support us is to subscribe to our members-only Substack site where you will receive all of our content ad-free, plus you will get member-only exclusive content.

Support us with a monthly donation on Patreon

Support us with membership to our ad-free Substack

Make one-time or monthly donation on Donorbox


👕 Or make a purchase from our online store. 👕
Make a Dogecoin Donation

- Advertisement -

Latest

This is What Happens When a Charlatan is Your Spiritual Advisor

This is What Happens When a Charlatan is Your Spiritual Advisor

Over Easter—of all times—spiritual charlatan, Paula White, stood in front of cameras and compared Donald Trump to Christ. Not subtly. Not loosely. Directly. She took the betrayal, the suffering, the cost, the language that belongs to the cross alone—and laid it at the...

That Moment When Paula “Jezebel” White Compared Trump to Christ

That Moment When Paula “Jezebel” White Compared Trump to Christ

I thought I had heard it all. I really did. Paula White has spent years building a reputation as one of the most brazen purveyors of prosperity nonsense in modern evangelicalism—name it, claim it, decree it, declare it, speak it into existence. The whole tired script....

How the Church Failed at Dismantling the Transgender Movement

How the Church Failed at Dismantling the Transgender Movement

For years now, the modern transgender movement hasn’t operated like a loose collection of ideas. It’s functioned like a system—predictable, coordinated, and disturbingly efficient. Not chaos. Not confusion. A process. A conveyor belt—the transgender conveyor belt—as...

- Advertisement -

Subscribe

Store

Follow Us

- Advertisement -

- Advertisement -

You Might Also Like…

This is What Happens When a Charlatan is Your Spiritual Advisor

This is What Happens When a Charlatan is Your Spiritual Advisor

Over Easter—of all times—spiritual charlatan, Paula White, stood in front of cameras and compared Donald Trump to Christ. Not subtly. Not loosely. Directly. She took the betrayal, the suffering, the cost, the language that belongs to the cross alone—and laid it at the...

How the Church Failed at Dismantling the Transgender Movement

How the Church Failed at Dismantling the Transgender Movement

For years now, the modern transgender movement hasn’t operated like a loose collection of ideas. It’s functioned like a system—predictable, coordinated, and disturbingly efficient. Not chaos. Not confusion. A process. A conveyor belt—the transgender conveyor belt—as...

In a World Unraveling, God Still Reigns.

In a World Unraveling, God Still Reigns.

I wake up, grab my coffee, thumb the screen—and it’s the same grim parade, again. A man guns down a pregnant woman at a red light—her husband beside her—an unborn child erased in the same breath, and the system shrugs it off under the banner of insanity. Not...

The Modern American Soft “Jesus” is an Idol

The Modern American Soft “Jesus” is an Idol

The modern American imagination is an idol factory, and it has manufactured a version of Jesus that never existed. In this version, Jesus is soft-spoken, endlessly agreeable, and almost allergic to confrontation. He floats through the Gospels like a spiritual...

- Advertisement -

Want to go ad-free with exclusive content? Subscribe today.
Already a subscriber? Click Here

This will close in 0 seconds

Three Ways to Support DISNTR



The Dissenter is primarily supported by its readers. The best way to support us is to subscribe to our members-only Substack site where you will receive all of our content ad-free, plus you will get member-only exclusive content.

 

Support us with a monthly donation on Patreon

Support us with membership to our ad-free Substack

Make one-time or monthly donation on Donorbox


👕 Or make a purchase from our online store. 👕

This will close in 0 seconds