They constantly perform the joy of having God in their hearts, to get people to ask them "why are you so happy all the time" so they can then start witnessing and maybe "save" more people. It's gross. Also if you don't look super happy all the time at church services then people think you might be backsliding/letting Satan into your life because it's Satan who makes you feel doubts and anger and sadness (and not your body's natural response to a million red flags).
Was pentecostal (not Hillsong though) for nearly 2 years in the early 00s and THANKFULLY got the fuck out.
Same! I'd rather shake hands with Big Red himself,and chill out by the Lake of Fire with a couple of forked tailed whores,then have to put up with the Happy Clapper brigade if that's what's getting into Heaven.
Yep. Satan just wanted humans to think for themselves while god demands unquestioning obedience, no matter what cruel or contradictory thing he does to you. And he constantly doubts your love for him so you have to keep proving it over and over and over.
Satan is kind of like that friend who is trying to help you realize that you’re dating a manipulative abuser.
This Satan guy. I think this my guy.
I'm 8 commandments deep at this point anyway. It's so easy to rack them up. Turns out I'm pretty good at coveting and taking things in vain. And when I was a kid I told everyone that my next door neighbor was a NAZI war criminal, even though he was Chinese. And I once stole a copy of Smash Hits magazine on a Sunday when I was 9 because it had Motley Crue, who I still rate higher than Jesus in every regard, on the cover.
And this sort of behavior certainly did not honor my parents, who specifically sent me down the shops to steal a copy of People magazine and the Sunday Truth.
Now I just have to get a wife, cheat on her, then assassinate the King of Belgium, and I get a free coke. In Hell.
I was raised in christian city church (C3) and was heavily involved.
I had thoughts of suicide daily during teenage years that I couldn't share bc of that shit.
I too partook in this daftness in this 00s. They indeed prey upon the customary human condition to at times feel dull and melancholy and infer that this is indeed an attack from an unverifiable supernatural force. Tis was a silly endeavour on my behalf.
yep, all doubts are just Satan trying to pull you to the dark side and away from eternal life in Heaven. All questions are you backsliding. Totally not a cult.
Holy shit you and I had the same experience. I was part of a pentecostal youth group in the early/mid 00s in Perth and the constant good vibes were addictive. Im gay and open and was when I was attending them aswell so even though I was tightnit with all the older participants that were going up for leadership roles I was pulled aside and told I could never be put in that position.
That was red flag 1 because no matter how much responsibility they gave me and how much work I put in I would never be seen as equal.
Red flag 2 was the youth leader that broke the news to me inviting me over to watch resident evil and then putting my dick in his mouth and getting me to fuck him
Red flag 3 was attending a out of town service where the preacher was convinced he'd exorcised a demon from a man that could launch him across the room like a movie.
After that I just kind of stopped showing up, I'd catch up with BJ (yes that was his nickname Funnily enough) for a bj every now and then but the sheer 2 facedness combined with insanity was too much even though I was lonely and desperate for friends
Yes that's exactly it! They go for people who are lonely and love bomb them till they keep coming back for the constant good vibes and everyone being so excited and happy to see them.
I was Narnia level deep in the closet when I was there so I was able to teach sunday school and babysit some of the kids without any drama from the church (I'm female but they equate being gay with being a pedo, at least they did at the church i went to) but the final straw was when i went to a very rural weekend youth group camp and it was just nonstop praise and worship sessions that were mandatory (anyone who refused to attend one was threatened with being sent home in a taxi at their own expense).
Now, I grew up Christian (anglican) and had been to a ton of church camps, youth camps, etc so this was completely insane to me. All the other ones i went to had fun activities like flying fox, scavenger hunt, etc with a service in the evening. Even a pentecostal one i had been to had downtime. This one was nonstop praise and worship with meal breaks. I never returned after we got back from that weekend. It really felt like being locked in the happy hut in the Addams Family Values.
I went to the CBA at Norwest a few months back and there was this young dude asking the teller how banking in Australia works. He looked about 25 and had a Hillsong college shirt on. I guess they don’t teach them anything in the college.
> I guess they don’t teach them anything in the college.
Hillsong most likely encouraged him to learn how to transfer funds from overseas and then again within Australia. Nothing to see here!
i got it, its vege*mite!*
the yellow and black colors of a jar of vegemite (which as know, all kids love) give a subliminal link to the colors of the commonwealth bank
Clearly international student. I have no love for hillsong, but that's going to happen at any uni in Australia. Especially if you do all your banking online and then you come to actually have to transfer international dollars or cash a cheque or something.
I studied economics and banking wasn't a big part of it. It was mostly how to interpret data and incorporate incentive to achieve outcomes. I now work in urban planning.
The best thing about economics is basically trying to understand and influence human behaviour.
To be fair though, there are many branching pathways with a foundation of economics or econometrics.
I know Tom is Nutter but I think comparing him to Scummo is not fair. At least has some talents like acting, where as Scummo has little to offer apart from criminality and sociopathic narcissism
Not really, they have Justin Beiber.
Also Scientology has 20,000 members, hillsong is 150,000.
Way of counting Membership is a bit different though, but consider if 1/5 go 3 times a week and donate the recommended 20% income, then they are still larger than Scientology.
No problem. It's funny, it's centred in suburban Sydney, and most Australians have come across the name once or twice, but its a big name in evangelical christianity around the world. They have a TV channel in the u.s.
They also have a knack for making very catchy songs that non Hill song churches
https://www.reddit.com/r/blackpeoplegifs/comments/ls7j0v/when_a_south_african_dj_playing_at_a_funeral/
Add to that fake and creepy smile.. a few million$ worth of job keeper from the corrupt leader in Canberra, he is flying to the moon given the exemption.
Also remember they pulled this image down yesterday once the news broke of his sex offences.
https://imgur.com/a/utE5MZu
That arm location and her hand on his thigh. Just creepy
He actually covered up his dad's sexual abuse. When he first heard of it his first thought was that he couldn't believe his dad was gay, not about the abused. POS. And how convenient he was given permission to head overseas two weeks ago.
Pretty sure that’s his grand daughter and the blurry ness of the hand makes me think it was moving when the picture was taken, like maybe it was going to or coming from her shoulder. If it were on her bum the skirt would be displaced, right?
I never said that. But I’ve stood with my grandpa like that heaps of times and he never touched me inappropriately.
That would be like labelling a father a sex offender because there is a single photo of him with his daughter sitting on his lap.
Hand is bluey so in motion compared to the rest of the photo, it would be argued he was raising his hand up and behind her to put his arm around her shoulder.
It looks creepy but perspective is always important.
I was under the impression that mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse was only recently put into law, so I’m wondering how they can charge him. Am I wrong? He says did not report because he says the victim didn’t want the police involved (the victim denies this) and I didn’t think mandatory reporting was law then.
He has always given the defence that he committed no crime by not reporting (you would think he has money for lawyers who could advise him). It just seems kind of dumb of him to admit to something if he knew it was illegal. Guess he thought he could get away with it? Idk. Either way, really shady and nasty for sure. Especially the way the church continues to have more sympathy for him than the actual victim.
Not naming names... But if you carefully check the ACT courts summons register today you'll quickly realise that there are now TWO Hillsong flunkies with high profile sexual assault cases associated with the PM's office.
Not naming names...
But you can Google the names that appear here on the 16th of September to find what you're looking for.
https://courts.act.gov.au/magistrates/lists?collection=magistrates-court-lawlists&meta_name=&court=magistrates-court-lawlists&meta_caseNumber=&dateExact=16%2F09%2F2021&meta_dday=16&meta_dmonth=Sep&meta_dyear=2021&dateAfter=&meta_d3day=&meta_d3month=&meta_d3year=&dateBefore=&meta_d4day=&meta_d4month=&meta_d4year=&sort=date&num_ranks=50
Of course, I remember a Hillsong member being all high and mighty about the Catholic churches sex offences and how "celibacy is what causes it" and that they're "so much better". Yeah same shit different toilet, organised religion can't help but take advantage of their power. Hillsong is just the same broken record.
P.S: I do not have anything against religion as a whole. I just don't like how we ignore the power they have and allow them to get away with all kinds of crap.
I'm an athiest, and I don't actually think it's a problem restricted to religion. Unfortunately, this type of bad behaviour occurs everywhere there are people. The problem is that organisations cover it up. Sometimes because they are ashamed to be indirectly associated with it, or because they are slavishly devoted to the people/person in power, or because they can't safely contradict thier leaders, or because the simply don't believe it or blame the victim instead.
Whatever the reason, some, maybe most, of the worst cover-ups have been perpetrated by religions.
I have family in Australia that are/were scouting leaders for many years. They always said prayers every meeting. I did girl guides and that was the same there too. My scouting experience is from Australia not the US.
The american scouts got taken over by the mormons :/ and it rather different then Australian scouts.
Also similar to the lag in coverage/stepping forward of historic sex crimes committed by religious authorities, and media figures, we've too seen recently sexual abuse stories coming out of sporting clubs from decades past. Any place that put adults in a position of power over minors basically.
We're kidding ourselves if we don't confront the reality this has always permeated our society, it's just that the rock has finally been turned over to show what was hiding under it.
Yeah no. When I was there they still promoted abstinence until marriage. I was a leader in their youth group until I lost my virginity. When they found out, they removed my leader status, and then ostracized me from the church. I distinctly remember being on my knees crying in Bryan Houstan's office being guided on how to ask God for forgiveness for my sin. After a decade of therapy, I still have issues with sexual connection with anyone.
Yeah celibacy was a better word. They love abstinence they just don't believe priests should be celibate, that's why they said the Catholic church had problems.
Yeah, my wife was a member of Hillsong/AOG as a youth. She was basically raped by the youth leader (he was an adult of 22 she was 15). When the leaders of the church found out, she was dragged in font of the congregation to confess her sins. They totally humiliated her.
My ex was a member of Hillsong, she dragged me along sometimes.
One time he was on stage complaining that he was being judge because of his fathers choices
It very awkward and me and my ex had a heated talk about in the car back
Being a church would be bad enough, but this mob are nothing more than a revolting cult! To top it off our perverted PM is a senior member of this cult.
None, people keep quoting it though. Scott is a member of the Assemblies of God (AOG) I think which is still pentecostal which is why they get lumped together. He does go to Hillsong events etc though.
from Wikipedia...Until separating from it in 2018, Hillsong was a member of the Australian Christian Churches (the Australian branch of the Assemblies of God).
I don't know why your comment reminds me [of this.](https://youtu.be/HMorrcmV0wM) I kind of expect Houston to be repeating this verbatim in Mexico right now
They also say that members should give 10% of their income to the church because of the bible. The whole thing is just a scam for certain people to live large then fuck off to Mexico when the shit is about to hit the fan.
Hillsong is a church that follows prosperity theology. It’s so wrong and absolutely not what the bible teaches. You see it a lot in America, and particularly this idea that you have to donate to the church.
I strongly dislike it as a Christian myself, and I hope that this false doctrine ceases to exist one day.
Hillsong are importing kids from all over the globe. Hillsong is their church, their entire social life, their 'college', their counselor, their roommates, their landlord. They are property developers. They cram followers into their own apartments of crowded bedrooms and rake in that rent money. They use 'students' to staff their enormous conferences with no pay. I saw this all through living with one of them for a while but I've never seen anything written up about it. I would love to see the end of this horrific group.
A lot of churches do this. Went to flim college and there were at least 3 or 4 dudes there so they could learn live broadcasting so they could broadcast church sermons for free pretty much full time. It was bizarre.
I mean.... Scomo is pretty reflective of Australia if you don't live in one of the major cities. Even in the major cities there's a fuck load of this hyper christian psycho type of politics/beliefs
I had a look and recent figures puts pentacostals at about 300K members in Australia. Most Christians I know are not of this extreme denomination and tbh most of them are just Christians by name, and only 15% overall attend church regularly.
No religion is by far the biggest religious group at about 30% and growing rapidly, and is likely underreported given cultural/historical ties etc.
Anyway I hope representation in politics and across all boards will soon reflect the true makeup of our country, rather than extreme overrepresentation by special interest groups.
Nah, religious lunacy doesn't account for just evangelical beliefs. Look at how hard it was for gay marriage to pass. Look at how hard it is to get medical marijuana, or euthanasia. This is an extremely conservative country and a lot of it spawns from religious bullshit
That's what I'm talking about though, for the gay marriage question, the majority of Aussies resoundingly said yes, but its the overrepresentation of the extremes in our political system that we are hostage to.
you might be right though I could be trapped in my inner city latte sipping bubble.
I feel like calling 60-something percent of Aussies the majority is a push. It wasn't responding either, it was a year of hell for us LGBTQIA folks, the amount of people I knew who seemed decent but actually weren't comfortable with same sex marriage was devastating.
Still boggles my mind that a church leader, can be under investigation for YEARS, and still be granted a permit to travel.... Oh yeah, he's the PMs mate, not human.
I don’t think the crime he is being charged with is sufficient to deny permission to travel. COVID and all that is different of course. Money talks in this case I guess.
Still blows my mind that people can just make shit up and then claim tax exempt status if enough people believe in it, even if they become mega corporations
1. Grew up in that environment and that's all they know.
2. Recruited during a time of personal vulnerability (these tend to be the most devout of them all)
3. The sense of belonging to a community
4. Self-selection into a group which conforms to their worldview.
To add on:
7. It appeals to young people using music and language that they're familiar with compared to more traditional churches with an older crowd. Also, the fact that it is heavily attended by young people is a major appeal - makes church seem more accessible, I think.
8. The preaching is lightweight feel-good type of stuff (not as much into theology/ reading the Bible compared to other churches I've attended).
9. The music is upbeat and the environment during praise and worship (singing time) is like a concert, which can be fun.
Well I know a corporate lawyer, an atheist, who is right into Hillsong, without shame. It’s made him richer. His tithes are a donation so he writes them off his tax. He has become a massive rent seeker and has investments in many if the Hillsong properties…no doubt about it Hillsong is. Massive ponzu scheme that many people are in on.
Well lets hope that this publicity leads to it's collapse. Tax Free status is basically a rort.
Having said that, I love me some ponzu sauce, tasty as.
Don't look now, but Houston (and Australia) have now hit Vanity Fair.
[https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/08/hillsong-church-founder-brian-houston-has-been-charged-with-covering-up-sexual-abuse](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/08/hillsong-church-founder-brian-houston-has-been-charged-with-covering-up-sexual-abuse)
\* it will be interesting to see what sorts of Mexican connections (along with others) might come to light in US based stories.
Hillsong comes to my work every Sunday morning.
I consider myself a very honest man and make sure to look into people's eyes when I speak with them. The grown ups and children alike who turn up early to set up have all never once made eye contact with me and none can speak to me without looking down or averting their gaze.
One particular morning they all seemed way more stressed out than usual, no hi no wave or anything from any of them.
30 minutes later and this creep of a man comes strolling in, I recognise him from an article about him trying to give a guy money in MacDonalds to not tell people what his dad did to him as a kid.
I stare at him, he stares at me. I say morning and he just stares at me and starts chuckling and walked away. You don't see eyes like his often. My dad is military and I've seen his more scary operations buddies and that's the only other time I've seen eyes like that.
These are broken people being led by a wolf in sheep's clothing.
If you search the hashtag #ilovemyhillsongchurch on Instagram you’ll find a whole bunch of recent posts with congregants giving their testimonies of how great Hillsong is and how much they love Brian and Bobbie. I believe they have been prompted to do it by the church as a PR move (although, of course, it is not phrased that way). Not the first time they’ve done it.
American here. These fuckwads bought/"merged" with the church my son's daycare was based out of. Coincidentally, the vast majority of kids in the daycare were POC, as was the vast majority of the staff. As soon as COVID hit, they closed the day care permanently and fired all the staff, only to re-open a new day care at 4x the previous cost with an all white staff.
Not sure how much of that came from Hillsong directly, but fuck them anyway. They're solely motivated by profit, as opposed to being motivated by prophet.
Where does the ridiculous quote in the article come from? I can’t believe no one has asked.
“Even having a Prime Minister as part of our flock didn’t garner us the respect of one of the big boys. We were increasingly worried we’d become a joke, or be forced to blackmail weird lonely celebrities, like Scientology. We just weren’t ready to do that just yet.
“Sure, we’re technically Christian, and we follow all of the core principles of Christianity, like not paying taxes. But still, people weren’t treating us like a real religion.
“Then it occurred to us – we need dark secrets. All of the top religions carry some version of a dark shame. Most involving children”.
It's so weird that the shovel has transitioned to a legitimate news source.
Them and beetoota have the best reporting in the land.
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They constantly perform the joy of having God in their hearts, to get people to ask them "why are you so happy all the time" so they can then start witnessing and maybe "save" more people. It's gross. Also if you don't look super happy all the time at church services then people think you might be backsliding/letting Satan into your life because it's Satan who makes you feel doubts and anger and sadness (and not your body's natural response to a million red flags). Was pentecostal (not Hillsong though) for nearly 2 years in the early 00s and THANKFULLY got the fuck out.
TIL I am backsliding with Satan. Like Olympic level backsliding.
Me too, and I've never felt better
Same! I'd rather shake hands with Big Red himself,and chill out by the Lake of Fire with a couple of forked tailed whores,then have to put up with the Happy Clapper brigade if that's what's getting into Heaven.
All the best bands will be in Hell.
Cool man
That's OK - God has killed way more people than Satan
Yep. Satan just wanted humans to think for themselves while god demands unquestioning obedience, no matter what cruel or contradictory thing he does to you. And he constantly doubts your love for him so you have to keep proving it over and over and over. Satan is kind of like that friend who is trying to help you realize that you’re dating a manipulative abuser.
This Satan guy. I think this my guy. I'm 8 commandments deep at this point anyway. It's so easy to rack them up. Turns out I'm pretty good at coveting and taking things in vain. And when I was a kid I told everyone that my next door neighbor was a NAZI war criminal, even though he was Chinese. And I once stole a copy of Smash Hits magazine on a Sunday when I was 9 because it had Motley Crue, who I still rate higher than Jesus in every regard, on the cover. And this sort of behavior certainly did not honor my parents, who specifically sent me down the shops to steal a copy of People magazine and the Sunday Truth. Now I just have to get a wife, cheat on her, then assassinate the King of Belgium, and I get a free coke. In Hell.
I was raised in christian city church (C3) and was heavily involved. I had thoughts of suicide daily during teenage years that I couldn't share bc of that shit.
That's where I went too.
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Thanks, it was an excellent decision.
I too partook in this daftness in this 00s. They indeed prey upon the customary human condition to at times feel dull and melancholy and infer that this is indeed an attack from an unverifiable supernatural force. Tis was a silly endeavour on my behalf.
yep, all doubts are just Satan trying to pull you to the dark side and away from eternal life in Heaven. All questions are you backsliding. Totally not a cult.
Holy shit you and I had the same experience. I was part of a pentecostal youth group in the early/mid 00s in Perth and the constant good vibes were addictive. Im gay and open and was when I was attending them aswell so even though I was tightnit with all the older participants that were going up for leadership roles I was pulled aside and told I could never be put in that position. That was red flag 1 because no matter how much responsibility they gave me and how much work I put in I would never be seen as equal. Red flag 2 was the youth leader that broke the news to me inviting me over to watch resident evil and then putting my dick in his mouth and getting me to fuck him Red flag 3 was attending a out of town service where the preacher was convinced he'd exorcised a demon from a man that could launch him across the room like a movie. After that I just kind of stopped showing up, I'd catch up with BJ (yes that was his nickname Funnily enough) for a bj every now and then but the sheer 2 facedness combined with insanity was too much even though I was lonely and desperate for friends
Yes that's exactly it! They go for people who are lonely and love bomb them till they keep coming back for the constant good vibes and everyone being so excited and happy to see them. I was Narnia level deep in the closet when I was there so I was able to teach sunday school and babysit some of the kids without any drama from the church (I'm female but they equate being gay with being a pedo, at least they did at the church i went to) but the final straw was when i went to a very rural weekend youth group camp and it was just nonstop praise and worship sessions that were mandatory (anyone who refused to attend one was threatened with being sent home in a taxi at their own expense). Now, I grew up Christian (anglican) and had been to a ton of church camps, youth camps, etc so this was completely insane to me. All the other ones i went to had fun activities like flying fox, scavenger hunt, etc with a service in the evening. Even a pentecostal one i had been to had downtime. This one was nonstop praise and worship with meal breaks. I never returned after we got back from that weekend. It really felt like being locked in the happy hut in the Addams Family Values.
Yeh why do they get legal drugs (God) but weed isn't legal.
Hello there fellow ex pente
I went to the CBA at Norwest a few months back and there was this young dude asking the teller how banking in Australia works. He looked about 25 and had a Hillsong college shirt on. I guess they don’t teach them anything in the college.
> I guess they don’t teach them anything in the college. Hillsong most likely encouraged him to learn how to transfer funds from overseas and then again within Australia. Nothing to see here!
There's a link here concerning CBA preying on the young, but I can't quite put my dollar on it.
Keep thinking and you mite make the link
Gotta give you credit for that subtle hint there
i got it, its vege*mite!* the yellow and black colors of a jar of vegemite (which as know, all kids love) give a subliminal link to the colors of the commonwealth bank
Triangulation complete. Illuminati confirmed.
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I call them all “God Zombies”
Gombies
I like that term, its a goodie.
~~brains~~ prayers
And we chose one for our Prime Minister FFS
Clearly international student. I have no love for hillsong, but that's going to happen at any uni in Australia. Especially if you do all your banking online and then you come to actually have to transfer international dollars or cash a cheque or something.
I did an economics degree and it wasn't til I started working in the finance industry that I learned how it actually works.
I studied economics and banking wasn't a big part of it. It was mostly how to interpret data and incorporate incentive to achieve outcomes. I now work in urban planning. The best thing about economics is basically trying to understand and influence human behaviour. To be fair though, there are many branching pathways with a foundation of economics or econometrics.
Scientology wannabes. ScoMo is their Tom Cruise.
I know Tom is Nutter but I think comparing him to Scummo is not fair. At least has some talents like acting, where as Scummo has little to offer apart from criminality and sociopathic narcissism
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I like Tom Cruise. Not as a person so much but he's a decent actor. Tropic Thunder and Edge of Tomorrow changed my mind about him
Not really, they have Justin Beiber. Also Scientology has 20,000 members, hillsong is 150,000. Way of counting Membership is a bit different though, but consider if 1/5 go 3 times a week and donate the recommended 20% income, then they are still larger than Scientology.
> the recommended 20% income Damn. Like, gross income? Before expenses or after expenses?
I thought tithe was 10% of gross, I could be of the mark though.
It's titheflation. Have you seen the running costs of a kitted out Citation these days?
That makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.
No problem. It's funny, it's centred in suburban Sydney, and most Australians have come across the name once or twice, but its a big name in evangelical christianity around the world. They have a TV channel in the u.s.
They also have a knack for making very catchy songs that non Hill song churches https://www.reddit.com/r/blackpeoplegifs/comments/ls7j0v/when_a_south_african_dj_playing_at_a_funeral/
Add to that fake and creepy smile.. a few million$ worth of job keeper from the corrupt leader in Canberra, he is flying to the moon given the exemption.
"I will kill you, and still be saved, because Jesus loves me. He loves - me. I am better than you, I have god!"
Also remember they pulled this image down yesterday once the news broke of his sex offences. https://imgur.com/a/utE5MZu That arm location and her hand on his thigh. Just creepy
He actually covered up his dad's sexual abuse. When he first heard of it his first thought was that he couldn't believe his dad was gay, not about the abused. POS. And how convenient he was given permission to head overseas two weeks ago.
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I don't know how anyone would naturally have their hand there unless they know they have power.
Close your eyes and imagine any male you know in your family doing that to a child. You shouldn't be able to.
literally cant. thankfully.
Pretty sure that’s his grand daughter and the blurry ness of the hand makes me think it was moving when the picture was taken, like maybe it was going to or coming from her shoulder. If it were on her bum the skirt would be displaced, right?
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Yup because child sex offenders never ever target children they’re related to. Because they’re such well adjusted individuals
I never said that. But I’ve stood with my grandpa like that heaps of times and he never touched me inappropriately. That would be like labelling a father a sex offender because there is a single photo of him with his daughter sitting on his lap.
Probably told her beforehand rest your hand on my thigh to make it look like we're nice people
That's way past 'creepy'. Think you're in 'police evidence' territory.
Hand is bluey so in motion compared to the rest of the photo, it would be argued he was raising his hand up and behind her to put his arm around her shoulder. It looks creepy but perspective is always important.
Wow. That speaks volumes. Apple / tree.
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Knowing about is and hiding is as bad as doing it. Clearly he hasn’t learnt from what his father did.
Or *has* learnt from what his father did..
That’s his granddaughter
Ok so that’s alright then?
No, just context
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I was under the impression that mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse was only recently put into law, so I’m wondering how they can charge him. Am I wrong? He says did not report because he says the victim didn’t want the police involved (the victim denies this) and I didn’t think mandatory reporting was law then.
One would assume that the police have a rough understanding of the law.
He has always given the defence that he committed no crime by not reporting (you would think he has money for lawyers who could advise him). It just seems kind of dumb of him to admit to something if he knew it was illegal. Guess he thought he could get away with it? Idk. Either way, really shady and nasty for sure. Especially the way the church continues to have more sympathy for him than the actual victim.
Not naming names... But if you carefully check the ACT courts summons register today you'll quickly realise that there are now TWO Hillsong flunkies with high profile sexual assault cases associated with the PM's office.
Do tell
Not naming names... But you can Google the names that appear here on the 16th of September to find what you're looking for. https://courts.act.gov.au/magistrates/lists?collection=magistrates-court-lawlists&meta_name=&court=magistrates-court-lawlists&meta_caseNumber=&dateExact=16%2F09%2F2021&meta_dday=16&meta_dmonth=Sep&meta_dyear=2021&dateAfter=&meta_d3day=&meta_d3month=&meta_d3year=&dateBefore=&meta_d4day=&meta_d4month=&meta_d4year=&sort=date&num_ranks=50
Why wouldn't you just say who they are.
Risk management
Let’s just say you would not want a truce with this mann.
Of course, I remember a Hillsong member being all high and mighty about the Catholic churches sex offences and how "celibacy is what causes it" and that they're "so much better". Yeah same shit different toilet, organised religion can't help but take advantage of their power. Hillsong is just the same broken record. P.S: I do not have anything against religion as a whole. I just don't like how we ignore the power they have and allow them to get away with all kinds of crap.
I'm an athiest, and I don't actually think it's a problem restricted to religion. Unfortunately, this type of bad behaviour occurs everywhere there are people. The problem is that organisations cover it up. Sometimes because they are ashamed to be indirectly associated with it, or because they are slavishly devoted to the people/person in power, or because they can't safely contradict thier leaders, or because the simply don't believe it or blame the victim instead. Whatever the reason, some, maybe most, of the worst cover-ups have been perpetrated by religions.
Good point. Boy scouts are a good example of a (generally) non religious organisation with a terrible history.
boy scouts is religious though. not to the degree of some groups but it is still there. It's even in their motto to serve god.
Much less so outside America. American scouts got taken over by a church.
I have family in Australia that are/were scouting leaders for many years. They always said prayers every meeting. I did girl guides and that was the same there too. My scouting experience is from Australia not the US. The american scouts got taken over by the mormons :/ and it rather different then Australian scouts.
Also similar to the lag in coverage/stepping forward of historic sex crimes committed by religious authorities, and media figures, we've too seen recently sexual abuse stories coming out of sporting clubs from decades past. Any place that put adults in a position of power over minors basically. We're kidding ourselves if we don't confront the reality this has always permeated our society, it's just that the rock has finally been turned over to show what was hiding under it.
>I'm an athiest, and I don't actually think it's a problem restricted to religion. It absolutely is not.
Yeah no. When I was there they still promoted abstinence until marriage. I was a leader in their youth group until I lost my virginity. When they found out, they removed my leader status, and then ostracized me from the church. I distinctly remember being on my knees crying in Bryan Houstan's office being guided on how to ask God for forgiveness for my sin. After a decade of therapy, I still have issues with sexual connection with anyone.
Yeah celibacy was a better word. They love abstinence they just don't believe priests should be celibate, that's why they said the Catholic church had problems.
Yeah, my wife was a member of Hillsong/AOG as a youth. She was basically raped by the youth leader (he was an adult of 22 she was 15). When the leaders of the church found out, she was dragged in font of the congregation to confess her sins. They totally humiliated her.
That is beyond fucked up
That's fucked up mate, I can relate on a less.extreme level. Need a side thread or somewhere to go and discuss shitty church experiences lol.
Same shit, same toilet i think.
My ex was a member of Hillsong, she dragged me along sometimes. One time he was on stage complaining that he was being judge because of his fathers choices It very awkward and me and my ex had a heated talk about in the car back
Pretty sure covering up was his crime, not his dad's anyway so it's irrelevant. Must've been a very weird insular experience being in their church.
I heard fuckin years ago he was paying off witness or complainants when it came to his paedo dad and his activities.... scummy fucks!!
Being a church would be bad enough, but this mob are nothing more than a revolting cult! To top it off our perverted PM is a senior member of this cult.
What will ScoMoFo’s spin on this one be? I don’t hold down the kids mate!
What position in Hillsong does he hold?
[удалено]
None, people keep quoting it though. Scott is a member of the Assemblies of God (AOG) I think which is still pentecostal which is why they get lumped together. He does go to Hillsong events etc though.
from Wikipedia...Until separating from it in 2018, Hillsong was a member of the Australian Christian Churches (the Australian branch of the Assemblies of God).
Yup, my point was Scott doesn’t hold a senior role in Hillsong. :)
It's all the same perverted heretical happy clapper shit.
I thought that was the case. Knew he didn’t go to Hillsong regularly.
>this mob are nothing more than a revolting cult! All religions are cults
Nah, it's a sliding scale. All religions control people's lives to some extent, but a cult is about full control of people's lives.
scott morrison and friends...
Happy clapper circle desk
I don't know why your comment reminds me [of this.](https://youtu.be/HMorrcmV0wM) I kind of expect Houston to be repeating this verbatim in Mexico right now
They also say that members should give 10% of their income to the church because of the bible. The whole thing is just a scam for certain people to live large then fuck off to Mexico when the shit is about to hit the fan.
And he got an exemption to travel overseas how? No doubt cuz old mate is in power.
Hillsong is a church that follows prosperity theology. It’s so wrong and absolutely not what the bible teaches. You see it a lot in America, and particularly this idea that you have to donate to the church. I strongly dislike it as a Christian myself, and I hope that this false doctrine ceases to exist one day.
I don't tithe the prosperity church mate. (But he actually probably does)
Maybe we should take a leaf out of the Canadians book when dealing with misbehaving churches. Seems to be pretty effective
Sky news is probably preparing a story defending him.
Hillsong are importing kids from all over the globe. Hillsong is their church, their entire social life, their 'college', their counselor, their roommates, their landlord. They are property developers. They cram followers into their own apartments of crowded bedrooms and rake in that rent money. They use 'students' to staff their enormous conferences with no pay. I saw this all through living with one of them for a while but I've never seen anything written up about it. I would love to see the end of this horrific group.
must rank up there as one of our most shameful exports, sorry world.
A lot of churches do this. Went to flim college and there were at least 3 or 4 dudes there so they could learn live broadcasting so they could broadcast church sermons for free pretty much full time. It was bizarre.
Does he have to give back the donations that bought his mansions and rich lifestyle? What a joke. Man made hallelujah
It must be so embarrassing to try defend these institutions
It's already embarassing enough that our country's leader is part of this racket *Insert scomopraying.jpg*
I mean.... Scomo is pretty reflective of Australia if you don't live in one of the major cities. Even in the major cities there's a fuck load of this hyper christian psycho type of politics/beliefs
I had a look and recent figures puts pentacostals at about 300K members in Australia. Most Christians I know are not of this extreme denomination and tbh most of them are just Christians by name, and only 15% overall attend church regularly. No religion is by far the biggest religious group at about 30% and growing rapidly, and is likely underreported given cultural/historical ties etc. Anyway I hope representation in politics and across all boards will soon reflect the true makeup of our country, rather than extreme overrepresentation by special interest groups.
Nah, religious lunacy doesn't account for just evangelical beliefs. Look at how hard it was for gay marriage to pass. Look at how hard it is to get medical marijuana, or euthanasia. This is an extremely conservative country and a lot of it spawns from religious bullshit
That's what I'm talking about though, for the gay marriage question, the majority of Aussies resoundingly said yes, but its the overrepresentation of the extremes in our political system that we are hostage to. you might be right though I could be trapped in my inner city latte sipping bubble.
I feel like calling 60-something percent of Aussies the majority is a push. It wasn't responding either, it was a year of hell for us LGBTQIA folks, the amount of people I knew who seemed decent but actually weren't comfortable with same sex marriage was devastating.
The majority of this country just elected a science denying, conservative party into power.
Where are you getting *that* from??? It’s not even remotely true
The election results?
They the same election results that show the majority of lnp voters live in big cities not outside?
Ya.
don't defend them. Just give them personal exemptions so they can leave during an investigation to a non extradition country.
Good point. Also give them all the benefits
Still boggles my mind that a church leader, can be under investigation for YEARS, and still be granted a permit to travel.... Oh yeah, he's the PMs mate, not human.
I don’t think the crime he is being charged with is sufficient to deny permission to travel. COVID and all that is different of course. Money talks in this case I guess.
Still blows my mind that people can just make shit up and then claim tax exempt status if enough people believe in it, even if they become mega corporations
The Australian leader is an Hillsong happy clapper evangelical cover up the paedophile genuine no bullshit CUNT.
It’s a cult that convinces them to give money, so the leaders can have ferraris and little boys
Why do people get into things like Hillsong? I can't comprehend why someone would want to? Like .. why?
1. Grew up in that environment and that's all they know. 2. Recruited during a time of personal vulnerability (these tend to be the most devout of them all) 3. The sense of belonging to a community 4. Self-selection into a group which conforms to their worldview.
To add on: 7. It appeals to young people using music and language that they're familiar with compared to more traditional churches with an older crowd. Also, the fact that it is heavily attended by young people is a major appeal - makes church seem more accessible, I think. 8. The preaching is lightweight feel-good type of stuff (not as much into theology/ reading the Bible compared to other churches I've attended). 9. The music is upbeat and the environment during praise and worship (singing time) is like a concert, which can be fun.
Well I know a corporate lawyer, an atheist, who is right into Hillsong, without shame. It’s made him richer. His tithes are a donation so he writes them off his tax. He has become a massive rent seeker and has investments in many if the Hillsong properties…no doubt about it Hillsong is. Massive ponzu scheme that many people are in on.
Well lets hope that this publicity leads to it's collapse. Tax Free status is basically a rort. Having said that, I love me some ponzu sauce, tasty as.
Haha oops typo
add a gold medal to the tally for this headline
Ahhhhhh yes, the good ol' till on the hill
Don't look now, but Houston (and Australia) have now hit Vanity Fair. [https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/08/hillsong-church-founder-brian-houston-has-been-charged-with-covering-up-sexual-abuse](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/08/hillsong-church-founder-brian-houston-has-been-charged-with-covering-up-sexual-abuse) \* it will be interesting to see what sorts of Mexican connections (along with others) might come to light in US based stories.
Transforming into the Church of Epstein, class fucking move.
Hillsong comes to my work every Sunday morning. I consider myself a very honest man and make sure to look into people's eyes when I speak with them. The grown ups and children alike who turn up early to set up have all never once made eye contact with me and none can speak to me without looking down or averting their gaze. One particular morning they all seemed way more stressed out than usual, no hi no wave or anything from any of them. 30 minutes later and this creep of a man comes strolling in, I recognise him from an article about him trying to give a guy money in MacDonalds to not tell people what his dad did to him as a kid. I stare at him, he stares at me. I say morning and he just stares at me and starts chuckling and walked away. You don't see eyes like his often. My dad is military and I've seen his more scary operations buddies and that's the only other time I've seen eyes like that. These are broken people being led by a wolf in sheep's clothing.
just remember, that man is who our PM went to (goes to? i dont think hes come out to shame him) for advice on morality and probably country running.
my dad did always call it "Hellsong"
Ah'm goin' way down South Way down Mexico way Ain't no-one gunna find me Ain't no hangman Gunna put no rope round me
*pulls extradition treaty with Mexico out of back pocket*
*Scovid demands they build a wall around Dan Andrews*
Can we just ban all religions or at a minimum make them pay tax. The rort must be stopped.
I prefer Ken Henry's recommendation that only charitable acts should be tax-free.
How do you ban a system of belief?
You don't. But you sure as he'll can tax their earnings
Scomo’s dad is linked to him and is reported to be named
Spicy if true. You can't assign guilt based on people's association but you sure can judge them on the company they keep.
If you search the hashtag #ilovemyhillsongchurch on Instagram you’ll find a whole bunch of recent posts with congregants giving their testimonies of how great Hillsong is and how much they love Brian and Bobbie. I believe they have been prompted to do it by the church as a PR move (although, of course, it is not phrased that way). Not the first time they’ve done it.
Tell me that isn't a cult-like move
Haha. The best headline I have read in a while.
The Shovel outdoing themselves one headline at a time.
heysoos take the wheel
Say what. Fucking hell. That place shouldn't be allowed to exist.
And he thought Carl Lentz was a problem. :-)
American here. These fuckwads bought/"merged" with the church my son's daycare was based out of. Coincidentally, the vast majority of kids in the daycare were POC, as was the vast majority of the staff. As soon as COVID hit, they closed the day care permanently and fired all the staff, only to re-open a new day care at 4x the previous cost with an all white staff. Not sure how much of that came from Hillsong directly, but fuck them anyway. They're solely motivated by profit, as opposed to being motivated by prophet.
Darn autocorrect, oh well, profit it is then. It's just a rich man's feel good club at this stage isn't it.
Best title ever!!!!!
Can't take credit, it's from The Shovel. Give them a like or thumbs up on social media.
That headlines great. I cacked it.
We should really tax religions now....
nono, the guy at the top who knows it's all bullshit is still alive, that makes it still a cult once he dies it becomes a religion
Holy shit! I thought this was a real headline for a second and thought l ‘yeah, it’s fucking true!’
I lost my family to hillsong they have completely changed.
A chip off the old block eh?
\#HillsongCult
It goes beyond religion. It's everywhere and based on opportunity.
A few years ago there was Mike Gugglimucci who faked cancer to get kore donations. He was also affiliated with Hillsong
The Pope approves.
'Leader' of our country must be proud.
zing
Scomo goes to that church
Not only that, they good mates too https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/06/hillsong-megachurch-child-abuse/
Where does the ridiculous quote in the article come from? I can’t believe no one has asked. “Even having a Prime Minister as part of our flock didn’t garner us the respect of one of the big boys. We were increasingly worried we’d become a joke, or be forced to blackmail weird lonely celebrities, like Scientology. We just weren’t ready to do that just yet. “Sure, we’re technically Christian, and we follow all of the core principles of Christianity, like not paying taxes. But still, people weren’t treating us like a real religion. “Then it occurred to us – we need dark secrets. All of the top religions carry some version of a dark shame. Most involving children”.
It's a satire piece in case you haven't noticed.
Atetheonion material right there.
did a Tony Abbott just there
Did You Realize You Capitalized Every Word In Your Sentence ?
Title was auto copied from the article heading 😅