Following the release of a Vanity Fair documentary that chronicles the fall of Hillsong and its former lead pastor of the NYC campus, Carl Lentz, former Hillsong CEO, Brian Houston took to social media to defend the church and discount the accusations against the world-wide corporate conglomerate that calls itself a “church.”

In all fairness, as I’ve only watched the first episode thus far, quite a few of the accusations that have been leveled against the organization are from a far-left progressive perspective, accusing the organization of being “anti-gay” and other such nonsense. Of course, Hillsong really isn’t anti-gay, it’s actually quite friendly to homosexuals to an unbiblical extreme, however, to the progressives complaining about it, it isn’t “gay friendly” enough.

Hillsong was founded by Brian Houston and his late father, Frank, who has been accused of grave sexual abuse involving children. Brian has been accused of covering up the crimes to save the global organization’s reputation. Yet, the company has been plagued by endless scandals. Sex scandals are at the top of the list involving not only Brian’s father, but Brian himself, who resigned over a brewing sex scandal two years ago, and Carl Lentz, the NYC pastor who was fired by Houston after admitting to an extensive affair with a Muslim woman.

Earlier this year, Australian Parliament member Andrew Wilkie levied serious allegations against Brian Houston and the current CEO of Hillsong who has taken over for Houston, Phil Dooley, accusing them of fraudulent activities including money laundering and tax evasion. Backed by financial records and board papers, Wilkie asserts that the church used funds for personal luxuries like private jets, lavish retreats, and considerable honorariums for US televangelists such as Joyce Meyer and T.D. Jakes.

Additionally, Hillsong is suspected of making “curious payments” to pastors such as Chris Hodges, who was involved in a 2019 investigation of Houston’s alleged sexual misconduct. Furthermore, Wilkie contends that Hillsong Church’s reported annual income is $80 million less than indicated by financial records and that Hillsong’s Community Venues company improperly funded the purchase of Festival Hall in Melbourne with a $15.7 million loan, which he says is unlikely to be repaid.

Despite these accusations and the extensive scandals—whether it be sex scandals, financial scandals, or its many, many doctrinal scandals—Houston asserted in a now-removed Instagram video that he wouldn’t change anything and that he has no regrets about how the business was run.

“So many churches, great churches, have leaned into Hillsong over many, many years,” Houston said, “And that’s an honor that people would do that. And when I think about some of those documents and people’s responses and people’s reactions, and it really often is a reflection of what’s happening in us.”

“It’s the same when I think about these documentaries. The scripture says, to the pure, all things are pure, but to the unbelieving nothing is pure. So they’re going to look for something bad or something nasty in absolutely everything.”

“Sadly, that’s the way the. World works. But can I just say this? Our church is built on principles, biblical principles like generosity and honor. And I have no regrets whatsoever about the fact we are a generous church and we’re a church that loved to honor, to be able to take business meetings,” Houston said, admitting that his church is a “business” in what sounded like a Freudian slip. “I’ll say business meetings but we know it’s church with very key people on my team and go somewhere nearby, one of the venues to have lunch to talk about church-related matters or college-related matters.”