Last year Brian Houston, the founder of Hillsong Church, commended Israel Folau’s bravery for his stance on Same-Sex Marriage. Well, it seems now the rugby star may have fallen out of favour with the mega-church pastor after a series of Instagram posts criticising prosperity preachers.
Houston, author of ‘You Need More Money,’ took offense to at least four of Folau’s recent posts. The first stated, “The mega church preaches happiness not holiness. Without holiness no one shall see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14).”
In the comments section, Houston replied, “The message [is] not holiness or happiness. The message is JESUS. And its our focus on him that brings holiness.. And happiness. Sad post.”
The next post Houston objected to criticising pastors who soften the gospel message by removing difficult topics like sin and hell. The post reads: “There’s a name for pastors who never speak of sin, repentance or hell – they’re called false teachers.”
Houston responded, “ROMANS 2:4 (NKJV.) ‘[4] Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that THE GOODNESS OF GOD LEADS YOU TO REPENTANCE?’ > NB: The context is judging the sin in someone else while ignoring your own sinfulness.”
Next, Folau posted a message that warned, “Too many preachers today preach prosperity but not repentance, blessing but not obedience, abundance but not self-denial. Buyers beware!” To which Houston responded by simply directing Folau to Titus 3:9 which says, “Avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.”
Finally, Folau shared an image of a quote by evangelist Leonard Ravenhill which said, “If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today he would never have been crucified.” Surrounding the quote was images of well-known prosperity preachers such as, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, and Paula White, all of whom have been endorsed by Hillsong Church.
Houston again responded by citing Titus 3:9, including verses 10 and 11. Houston then added, “Ha Izzy. You are even including a man in your pics who is dead. What are you doing?” Houston was referring to Eddie Long, a prosperity preacher who died of cancer early last year.
Yesterday Folau responded to Houston’s comments in the caption of a post that reads, “False teaching: Come to Jesus to get health/wealth/prosperity. NO. Come to Jesus to get Jesus.”
Folau said: “Brian Houston head pastor of Hillsong church responded to my last few posts with Titus 3:9-11, which isn’t relevant and out of context to what I posted. Verses 9-11 are talking about people who are arguing about the LAW. Those who cause divisions in disagreement we need to reject, after they are warned once and twice. Read these scriptures EVERYONE and do not be deceived by these false pastors/preachers. Be very sober and spiritually discerned in who you listen to and watch out for such people…”
Folau then cited: Micah 3:8-11; 1 Timothy 6:5-6; Matthew 10:6-11; 1 Corinthians 9:18; Ezekiel 33:8
For those unsure about the “prosperity gospel” we suggest you take three minutes to listen to John Piper obliterate it in the video below.
Watch: