The Dissenter covered the saga earlier this year surrounding Hillsong and its multiple sex scandals over the last several years. After firing Hillsong NYC pastor, Carl Lentz, after admitting to a long-term affair with a Muslim woman, Brian Houston, the founder and CEO of Hillsong, found himself embroiled in his own sex scandal.

Houston, who is also caught up in a child abuse cover-up scandal involving his late father, Frank Houston, who helped him found Hillsong, appears to be very good and running at a business but very bad at being a Christian leader. Now, Houston himself is caught up in his own sex scandal.

Two incidents that were reported and under investigation by Hillsong involved Houston sending inappropriate text messages to a woman of a sexual nature and the other involved Houston disappearing into a woman’s hotel room for almost an hour one night while away that involved the use of alcohol. Houston has not publicly admitted to having sex with this woman, but it does beg the question: what was he doing in her room?

Apparently, Hillsong and Houston have found these incidents—along with his alleged involvement in covering up his father’s sex crimes—to be detrimental enough for Houston to completely step away from Hillsong altogether. Previously, Houston stepped down as CEO of Hillsong but had continued to preach and hold the title of “Global Pastor.” After Reformation Charlotte broke the story on Monday that all of Brian Houston’s teaching had been scrubbed from Hillsong’s websites, Hillsong released a statement announcing that Houston has completely resigned from the global organization and that Hillsong has accepted his resignation.

In a recent video on Instagram, a teary-eyed Brian Houston begs his followers not to label him as an alcoholic or a drug abuser and insists he didn’t step down because he did anything wrong. In fact, he says he was unfairly labeled as these things and just because he’s abused drugs and alcohol doesn’t make him an alcohol or drug abuser.

“I want to be clear,” Houston said in the Instagram video. “The media and others incorrectly say I resigned because I breached the Hillsong code of conduct, but that’s just not true. I didn’t resign because of my mistakes. I resigned because of the announcements and statements that had been made, which Bobbie and I felt made my position untenable. And I spelled out my reasons for my resignation in my resignation letter to the Hillsong Church Board.”

“I spoke about alcohol has having not proven itself to be my friend. But sadly, that has built a narrative out there that I’m an alcoholic, and the stories about my alcoholism that are the result of gossip and whispering and innuendo.”

“And then prescription medication,” Houston continued. “It was in the early 2000s, with my constant global travel and the stress I was under, I became dependent on sleeping tablets, which I’ve spoken about openly many times, including in my book, Live, Love Lead. Let me be clear. The last time I took a single sleeping tablet was over 10 years ago. And even though I’ve continued to travel widely, I haven’t taken even one sleeping tablet for a decade. It’s not an ongoing problem.”

“And the notorious night in 2019 where I mixed a double dose of anti-anxiety tablets with alcohol was a one-off occasion. It happened once. It hadn’t happened before, and it hasn’t happened since. So I don’t have an ongoing problem with anti-anxiety tablets or any other prescription medication. And I respectfully ask you to please not label me that way or blindly accept that narrative.”

As with the majority of fallen charismatic church leaders, they always ultimately come back to the grand applause of their followers bigger, stronger, and more carnal than ever before. The world loves these people, and wide is the gate that leads to destruction.