Friday, September 24, 2010

My Online "Discussion" With Hillsong's Executive Pastor (Part 2)

Continued from my previous post . . .

Joel A'Bell, to his credit, published my critique and then responded to the objections I raised concerning Hillsong's attempts at Gospel proclamation:

Hi Cameron, everything you stated in your post comment is what we believe, although you didn't mention resurrection from the dead or eternal judgement, but we believe those too.
I'm sorry that certain sentences were left off some of the creative liners of that album. I can assure you it was not intentional as it is very obvious what we believe.

You mentioned Gal 1:8-9, the Apostle Paul and making sure we don't preach a different gospel but you didn't add the gospel presentation he was referring to??? Was it in the next verse?
You are making serious accusations here so you need to give me the acceptable salvation prayer you are talking about... Where is it?


Joel's closing comments here set off a big red flashing warning sign in my mind. He is after the "acceptable salvation prayer" formula - is this what he thinks saves people? I responded as follows:

Dear Joel, you asked for an acceptable salvation prayer. This is part of the problem - it is Christ Who saves, not the prayer you pray. And every Christian has responsibility to present the Gospel rightly. At the fundamental level, any Gospel presentation should include these five elements:
1. An explanation of The Holiness of God - His character and nature.
2. An explanation of man's depravity - define and explain sin.
3. The necessity of judgment - heaven and hell are real places where real people go - that God is bound by His character and nature to punish sin.
4. Christ's atoning work and resurrection - that Christ fulfilled the law that sinners break, and took God's wrath on the cross in the place of sinners and that the resurrection verifies God's satisfaction with Christ's payment.
5. The call on all men everywhere to repent of their sin and believe the Gospel.
I back this up biblically here (read from the bottom up)
http://onceuponacross.blogspot.com/search/label/Anatomy%20Of%20The%20Gospel

Yes I am levelling serious charges against the gospel according to Hillsong. Why shouldn't I if it is clearly not the Gospel of Scripture - the one Paul preached! That is one debate. But even your own doctrine statement pronounces heresy on the gospel presentation found in the "Mighty to Save" CD. And to edit a Bible verse as was done with 2 Chronicles 7:14 is outrageous. The subject of repentance was avoided in the gospel presentation (even though your faith statement says it is necessary to be saved) - why shouldn't I believe that the line "turn from their wicked ways" being deleted from 2 Chronicles 7:14 was for the exact same reason. Joel, I don't blame you for this, but it's quite shocking that you are downplaying it as something less than outrageous.

I have a five part youtube series presenting the Gospel in a biblically faithful way and I welcome your feedback. It can be viewed here (just scroll down):
http://onceuponacross.blogspot.com/2010/04/due-to-requests-today-i-am-posting...

I'm giving you plenty of information here and I am sure you are a very busy man. But I urge you to engage this matter because the Gospel is a matter of first importance - especially when the material you transmit and market finds its way into a lot of homes around the world.

Sincerely
Cameron


More to come . . .

Go On To Part 3
Go Back To Part 1

7 comments:

Marsha Fisher said...

Praise be to God for your courageous commitment to truth. I pray that Mr Bell will take the time and have the humility to examine the message he is putting forth. It is merciful that you point out the error of distorting the gospel...2 Peter 2:1
Soli Deo Gloria

Randy said...

Cameron,
This is great work on your part. God bless you to challenge those who assault the True Gospel. Repentance is just not a popular thing. I did a video presentation in our local juvenile detention center last night and in the discussion time, we got to repentance. These young men, many who have been in church for years, didn't understand what it meant! I laid it out plainly for them and how it involved making a spiritual U-turn in their lives. One of them said, "Man...nobody ever told me that. I have been totally messing up!" How awesome and sad at the same time. Two young men made commitments to repent and follow Christ. Praise God for his awesome work!

Pastor Jason said...

Cameron
Love reading your blog brother. You are dead on with Hillsong. It amazes me continually how people are so willing to defend the Hillsongs, Rob Bells, etc... yet those same folks are unwilling to defend the Gospel and its purity... Ashamedly I must admit that there was a day when I was as they are and I am thankful daily that God awakened me to the truth of His Word.

Thank you for fighting the good fight of faith brother. I'm praying for you, your continued resolve, and your ministry. If you're ever in Texas, holler at me, I would be honored to have you come and preach at my church.

Soli deo Gloria
j

Cameron Buettel said...

Jason, as Providence would have it, I will be in Texas from about the 20-27 October visiting both Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth. Please send me an e-mail talkingdonkeys@hotmail.com

Cameron

Anonymous said...

US Baptist Pastor Jim West believes that the gifts of the Holy Spirit ended at the end of the 1st Century, including it seems healing. He doesn't like any Pentecostal churches and puts them all together. What is your opinion?

A quote from his former now deleted blog: thechurchofjesuschrist.us/2009/02/speaking-in-tongues-who-is-right/

McMurdo said...

Just to echo the above comments.

I deeply appreciate what you are doing here and I am praying that you will be effective.

Blessings

McM

Cameron Buettel said...

Newtaste, I will give my views on tongues in the coming weeks. Keep a look out for it!
Cam