As you would expect from watching the video, Christians were outraged over this Satanic fleshly corruption of a perfectly fine Christian song. Here are just some of the (outraged) statements made over this song:
“[Sarcastic:] Because after all, it’s just not a proper celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ without Roaring 20’s flappers, rock bands, hoochie coochie dancers, laser light shows and lots and lots of leg in a nightclub setting. Happy Birthday, Jesus, hope you like it.” ~ Geoffrey Grider
“Hillsong leads the way when it comes to “churches” featuring worldly, gigantic and expensive spectacles to attract a large audience. They are laughing all the way to the bank, too, as this global empire continues to gobble up followers around the world.” ~ Steven Kozar
“[Sarcastic:] They do Christian Christmas carrols better than the world. Look how relevant Hillsong is – not even the world has taken this song to this… level.” ~ Church Watch Central
“It was so disgusting, I couldn’t even listen to it...I mean it was so vile, so filthy...It was bad...I would say anybody going there [to Hillsong Church] is lost.” ~ Bryan Denlinger
After a few days, however, many articles started to actually defend Hillsong Church against all the above “stone casters”. One such article by the well known Michael Brown was just published on CharismaNews. Most people who read such articles are prone to accept the “explanation” without question. But I (as the proverbial stone caster) will examine this explanation from an objective and biblical basis. Michael’s comments are in italics below:
This explanation is completely false and absurd on many levels. First off, if you know anything of the Christmas story, you know that the only people King Herod wanted to impress were the wise men from the East, “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.” (Matthew 2:1-8 KJB).
As you can see, King Herod was interested in only impressing the wise men that he was a worshiper of Jesus. In contrast, Herod “demanded” with threats the priests and scribes to explain to him where Jesus was to be born. So, it only makes sense that King Herod in the Hillsong play should present this “hypocritical” song to the wise men, right? Except he doesn’t. Instead, Herod actually cues in the music before the wise men come on the scene. And apparently, the song is not designed to impress anyone in the storyline - it is only designed as a general cue for the next song in the play (which means the song has nothing to do with the storyline). See for yourself with the same Hillsong play with different performers in another location (start on minute 15:15):
But even with this toned down version, Hillsong still managed to make it worldly by adding a rhythm and beat to make it more exciting to the lost. Not to mention there is no indication that this song is even supposed to be an opposite of “Herod’s” version of the song.
“Jesus taught that we should “not judge according to appearance, but practice righteous judgment” (John 7:24).”Well, first off, I can see that Michael is not quoting from the King James Bible (KJB), “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” (John 7:24 KJB).
“Along with many others who saw the video on YouTube, I was absolutely appalled by Hillsong’s super-slick, cabaret rendition of Silent Night.”Good! You should be appalled by it!
“Obviously, I didn’t have all the facts, but what possible explanation could there be? The whole cabaret arrangement was atrocious, inexcusable, irreverent, mocking ... The list goes on and on. Still, I did not want to speak or act without more information or a clear leading from the Lord, and while I was giving the whole matter prayerful consideration, a Twitter follower shared with me a comment made by one of the pastors at Hillsong in Australia. He explained that this despicable version of Silent Night was designed to be cringeworthy in every way—in other words, it was intended to elicit the kinds of responses that it drew—and it was written and produced to portray Herod’s alleged desire to worship the newborn King. This, then, was meant to be the world’s version of Silent Night, which was anything but holy.”So that’s the “explanation” - this wicked song is supposed to be wicked and worldly and make people “cringe” at it. Why? Because it’s supposed to represent King Herod’s hypocritical worship of Jesus simply to impress others.
This explanation is completely false and absurd on many levels. First off, if you know anything of the Christmas story, you know that the only people King Herod wanted to impress were the wise men from the East, “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.” (Matthew 2:1-8 KJB).
As you can see, King Herod was interested in only impressing the wise men that he was a worshiper of Jesus. In contrast, Herod “demanded” with threats the priests and scribes to explain to him where Jesus was to be born. So, it only makes sense that King Herod in the Hillsong play should present this “hypocritical” song to the wise men, right? Except he doesn’t. Instead, Herod actually cues in the music before the wise men come on the scene. And apparently, the song is not designed to impress anyone in the storyline - it is only designed as a general cue for the next song in the play (which means the song has nothing to do with the storyline). See for yourself with the same Hillsong play with different performers in another location (start on minute 15:15):
Plus, there is another serious flaw to this “explanation” promoted by Michael: if this song is supposed to make you cringe, why did everybody in the audience applaud this song when it was over (watch both of the above videos again to see what I’m talking about)? If this song is supposed to make you cringe, Hillsong did a very poor job at it by having the audience give the exact opposite reaction. But what’s more important is not how the audience reacted, but how Hillsong reacted to the audience’s reaction (hint: with willing acceptance of the praise from the audience).
This is very important because we actually have a biblical account for a similar situation with another King Herod, “And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.” (Acts 12:21-23 KJB). Notice that the audience gave Herod undue praise, and when Herod reacted with acceptance of this praise, God killed Him. This is because when the author (Herod) accepts the praise of the audience (“the voice of a god”), it shows that the author agrees with the audience. That’s not just my opinion, that’s how God sees it.
Likewise, when Hillsong’s audience gave tremendous praise and applause to the song, and since Hillsong accepted it with smiles on the performers’ faces, it proves by God’s own standard that Hillsong was agreeing with their praise. Hillsong was agreeing with the audience that this was a wonderful song for Christians and not a “cringeworthy” song. What Hillsong should have done to prove that they intended this song to be hypocritical would be to have the performers sorrowfully tell the audience immediately that this song was not supposed to be good! Instead, Hillsong Church accepted and thus agreed with the audience’s praise that this Satanic fleshly rendition of Silent Night is a good song!
Even if the song was originally intended to be cringeworthy (which I seriously doubt), it became (through Hillsong’s acceptance of praise) intended to be a good Christian song. And since Hillsong was apparently okay with accepting praise for this evil performance, I’m okay with condemning it as an example of a wicked song intended to be Christian.
“The pastor also explained that later in the Christmas play, in adoration of Jesus, Silent Night was sung again, this time the right way, in stark contrast with Herod’s version.”Michael is referring to this song performed by the same Hillsong Church:
But even with this toned down version, Hillsong still managed to make it worldly by adding a rhythm and beat to make it more exciting to the lost. Not to mention there is no indication that this song is even supposed to be an opposite of “Herod’s” version of the song.
“But for those who completely threw them under the bus because of their cabaret version of Silent Night, this should be a cautionary lesson. It’s a lesson we should all learn well, since we will be judged in the same way that we judge others.”By that, I know I’ll be judged by God scripturally and justly :-). How can Michael (or anyone else for that matter) claim that this evil rendition of Silent Night by Hillsong could be justified when the evidence is clearly against them? This is simply a poor excuse to dismiss the evils of Hillsong Church at any cost. We as Christians need to continue to protest this evil fleshly song and Hillsong Church for their (not Herod’s) hypocrisy.
Cool song from Hillsong Worship more effort sir
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