Zschech, Darlene, and HillsongDarlene Zschech (pronounced check) is a prominent voice in
the Contemporary Worship movement. For 25 years she was
“worship pastor” at Hills Christian Life Centre, Sydney,
Australia, and has published many popular worship albums
under the Hillsong Music label. She is also associated with
Integrity Music and the Hosanna label. In 2010, Darlene and
her husband became the senior pastors of Hope Unlimited
Church, another Pentecostal church in Australia, but she
continues to be involved in music projects with Hillsong.
The co-pastors of Hills Christian Life Centre, under whom
Zschech ministered, are Brian Houston and his wife, Bobbie.
The church features a large rock band with five back-up
singers and a Word-Faith prosperity message. In 2002, the
church took in $10 million in tithes alone, not to speak of the
sale of music and materials. Brian Houston’s book “You
Need More Money” teaches the way to prosperity through
giving and “kingdom living.” Houston says, “If you believe
in Jesus, He will reward you here as well [as in
Heaven]” (“The Lord's Profits,” Sydney Morning Herald,
January 30, 2003). His wife and co-pastor Bobbie published
a tape set entitled “Kingdom Women Love Sex,” which
doubtless was a top seller. (When I inquired about it at the
Hills Christian Life Centre bookstore in October 2004, I
learned that the name had been changed to “Kingdom
Women Love & Value Their Sexuality.”)
When asked by a Sydney Morning Herald reporter why the
church is so successful, Brian Houston replied, “We are
scratching people where they are itching” (“The Lord's
Profits,” Sydney Morning Herald, January 30, 2003). That is
right out of 2 Timothy 4:3, which is a warning of apostasy. It
describes people who itch for a new kind of Christianity and
heaps of preachers who will scratch this illicit itch. “For the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears.”
Zschech’s song “Shout to the Lord” is used widely in
contemporary worship circles. The album by that title
remained No. 1 on “praise and worship charts” for over 30
weeks. It won Song of the Year at the Dove Awards in 1998.
It has been estimated that it is sung by 30 million Christians
around the world, and it has been sung even at fundamental
Baptist churches.
One of Zschech’s themes is the importance of ecumenical
unity. For example, she makes the following comment about
the album “You Shine”: “There is a new sound and a new
song being proclaimed across the earth. It’s the sound of a
unified church, coming together, in one voice to magnify our
magnificent Lord” (from the album cover).
She gives no warning about the fact that vast numbers of
churches are apostate and that the Bible says that unity apart
from doctrinal purity is wrong. The New Testament warns
repeatedly that the end of the church age will be
characterized by apostasy and spiritual confusion rather than
faithfulness to the truth (i.e. Mat. 24:3-4, 11, 24; 1 Tim.
4:1-5; 2 Tim. 3:13; 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 2:1; Jude 3-4). That is
precisely what we see when we look at Christianity today.
Yet, the authors of contemporary praise music typically give
no warning about apostasy.
In an interview with Christian Leader magazine, March-
April 2002, Zschech said she had a vision about the
importance of unity:
Q. What do you envision for the future of the contemporary
worship movement?
Zschech: You know, I had this vision a few years ago of how
God saw the worshippers and worship leaders, linked arm
and arm – the “musos,” the production personnel and
everybody that is involved in the worship of God. There
were no celebrities out in front. We were all together in the
line just walking together. It was how I imagined God’s heart
for what we are doing. We were all in line, and we were
slow, but we were all walking around and we weren’t leaving
anyone behind. We were taking everyone with us. But then I
saw a picture of what it is like now, and although we were
arm in arm, there was a struggle going on. People were
running forward in pride while others were shrinking back
out of insecurity. There was very little movement because of
disunity. I think that means we’ve got to become strong
people so that we can stand strong together. God says he
will bless us, and when God says “blessing” it’s an out-ofcontrol
blessing, but that only comes when we are bound
together.This is a vision of her own heart, because it is contrary to the
Scriptures. The New Testament nowhere says that God’s
blessing is out of control or that it only comes when
professing Christians are “bound together.” To the contrary,
the Bible says God’s blessing is always under control, always
orderly, never confused. “For God is not the author of
confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1
Cor. 14:33). “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1
Cor. 14:39). Paul instructed Timothy to allow “no other
doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:3). That is an extremely “narrow” and
very strict approach to doctrinal purity, but it is the Word of
God and we are to follow it until Christ returns.
This strict biblical attitude about doctrine is 180 degrees
contrary to the philosophy of the movers and shakers of the
contemporary praise movement. They teach that the Holy
Spirit cannot be “put in a box,” meaning we cannot be sure
how He will act and that He might create disorder and
confusion. They teach, in practice, that doctrine is less
important than unity. They teach that women can be leaders.
These things are in open and direct rebellion to God’s Word.
Zschech participated in Harvest ’03 in Newcastle, NSW. The
ecumenical rock concert, which featured U.S.-based
evangelist Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries, brought
together a hodgepodge of churches, including Presbyterian,
Assemblies of God, Anglican, Seventh-day Adventist,
Church of Christ, and Roman Catholic (“Hunter Harvest --
Rock Evangelism,”
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~rseaborn/rock_evangelism.html). A participating
Assemblies of God pastor stated, “THE BRIDGE
BUILDING GOING ON BETWEEN CHURCHES HAS
BEEN AWESOME.” In reality, it was spiritual confusion and
gross disobedience to the Holy Scriptures (i.e., Mat. 7:15;
Rom. 16:17; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; 2 Tim. 2:16-17; 3:5; 4:3-4; etc.).
The Word of God commands us to earnestly contend for the
faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 3), yet the
aforementioned denominations hold dozens of heretical
doctrines that are contrary to that faith, including the false
gospels of baptismal regeneration and sacramentalism, both
of which are under God’s curse in Galatians 1.
In a 2004 interview with Christianity Today, Zschech
expressed her radical ecumenical philosophy: “I’ve been in
the Catholic Church, in the United Church, the Anglican
Church, and in many other churches, and when worship is
offered in truth, this sound emerges-regardless of the style.
It’s the sound of the human heart connecting with its
Maker” (quoted by Michael Herman, “Zschech, Please,”
christianitytoday.com, June 4, 2004).
She doesn’t explain how worship can be “in truth” in the
context of an ecumenical unity among denominations that
teach doctrinal error.
Zschech and Hillsong performed for the Roman Catholic
World Youth Day in Sydney on July 18, 2008. Pope Benedict
XVI was present and conducted a papal mass on the last day
of the extravaganza. The mass is a supposed continuation of
Christ’s sacrifice. The consecrated host is said by Rome to
become Christ Himself and is worshiped as such when
placed in the monstrance and eventually in its own little
tabernacle. Hillsong, led by Darlene Zschech, performed
after the Stations of the Cross. The 14 Stations allegedly
depict Christ’s trial and crucifixion; but--beyond the fact that
this is not faith but sight and the pictures of Jesus are
fictional and are forbidden by Scripture--several of the
Stations are purely legendary. Jesus supposedly falls down
three times, meets Mary on the way to the cross, has His face
wiped by a woman named Veronica, and is taken down from
the cross and laid in Mary’s arms. None of this is supported
by Scripture. The pope promised a plenary indulgence to
anyone who participated in World Youth Day. This is the
forgiveness of the temporal penalty (referring to a penalty
owed either on earth or in purgatory) due for certain sins. It
is the same vile heresy that Martin Luther protested 500
years ago.
Phil Dooley, youth leader at Hillsong, had only positive
comments when interviewed in regard to the Catholic World
Youth Day. Dooley was interviewed by The World Today, a
news program aired daily on the Australian Broadcasting
Network, when it was announced that the pope was
scheduled to attend the event. Dooley said: “I think anything
that is encouraging young people in their spirituality, and I
suppose putting Jesus up there in our state and in our city is a
positive thing. Look, I think just generally in church life
you’ve got to be relevant to each generation, and I think any
church is understanding that if we want to … if our message
is going to be accepted by the new generation then we’ve got
to relate to them in a way that they understand” (“Catholic
Youth to Congregate in Sydney for 2008 Festival,” The
World Today, Aug. 22, 2005). It is unconscionable to have
such an opportunity and not use it to warn that the Roman
Catholic Church preaches a false gospel. John warned: “If
there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive
him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he
that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2
John 10-11). To pretend that the Roman Catholic Church’s
“spirituality” is acceptable before God and that its Jesus is
the Jesus of the Bible is to be partaker of its evil deeds.
There is also the false Pentecostal latter rain theology in
some of the Hillsong music.
“I believe the promise about the visions and the dreams/
That the Holy Spirit will be poured out/ And His power will be
seen/ Well the time is now/ The place is here/ And His
people have come in faith/ There’s a mighty sound/ And a
touch of fire/ When we’ve gathered in one place” (“I Believe
the Presence” from Shout to the Lord).The lyrics to Zschech’s “Holy Spirit Rain Down” begin:
“Holy Spirit, rain down, rain down/ Oh, Comforter and
Friend/ How we need Your touch again/ Holy Spirit, rain
down, rain down.” Where in Scripture are we instructed to
pray to the Holy Spirit? To the contrary, the Lord Jesus
Christ taught us to pray to the Father (Mat. 6:9). The
charismatic movement is not in submission to the Word of
God and does not care one way or the other that there is no
Scriptural support for this type of prayer.
In an interview with CCM.com in October 2003 (“20 Things
You Probably Don’t Know about Darlene Zschech” by
Christa Farris), Zschech said that she is “a bit of a hippie at
heart” and described herself as “hopelessly devoted” to rock
star Olivia Newton-John. She said that her favorite movie is
“anything with Julia Roberts in it.” (Roberts became a super
star by playing the role of a prostitute in “Pretty Woman.”)
Zschech said the three people she would most like to meet
are Billy Graham, Bono of the rock band U2, and Mother
Teresa. She said that her teenage daughter’s favorite music
includes the secular rock band Coldplay. The band’s song
“We Never Change” has the lyrics “Oh I don't have a soul to
save, Yes, and I sin every single day...”
In one of her books Zschech said: “I once watched Sting in
concert (he was absolutely incredible!). So much gift for one
human being! Thoughts raced through my head, ‘My
goodness, Sting, you are like king David, full of psalms,
melodies and music, and you sing as if you don’t even know
that His hand is upon you. You are so close to the heart of
God. You are a master poet, full of love, and your capabilities
are not because of your own natural abilities, you have
tapped into the source of your Creator’” (Zschech, The Kiss
of Heaven, 2003).
To liken a filthy rock singer to the “sweet Psalmist of Israel”
or to say that a rock singer has tapped into the source of his
Creator is pure nonsense. The Bible says the devil is the god
of this world and the unsaved walk not according to the God
of the Bible but “according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2).
Instead of telling her readers that she went to a String concert
and loved it and leaving them with the idea that it is fine for
a born again child of God to attend filthy rock concerts, she
should have repented and apologized for disobeying God’s
Word, which says, “And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph.
5:11). This is yet another example of what we have often
warned about, that Contemporary Christian Music is a bridge
to the world.
My friends, contemporary praise music does not exist in a
spiritual vacuum. These are days of great spiritual deception
and apostasy, and central to that apostasy is the charismatic
movement.
Its visions are false; its prophecies fail; its healings can only
on the rarest of occasions be authenticated; its doctrine is
corrupt; its practice is confusion and disorder. It is one of the
major elements of the ecumenical movement of these
apostate end times. Through mysticism and sensual music it
aligns Roman Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, and
Pentecostals in an unholy union of truth and error.
Fundamental Baptists and Bible-believing churches that use
charismatic contemporary praise music will find that this
music brings with it a philosophy that will soon change the
character of any fundamentalist church.
We need to worship the Lord God in spirit and in truth
continually, but we do not need the unscriptural
contemporary worship movement as our guide.
We do not doubt that Darlene Zschech is sincere in her work
or that she truly desires to worship God, but she and her
fellow charismatic praise leaders simply do not know what
they are doing. They are the blind leading the blind.
From the free online book:
I do recommend this bookDirectory of Contemporary Worship Musiciansby David W. Cloud
ISBN 978-1-58318-131-7. This directory contains information on influential contemporary worship musicians who are creating the music that is being used ever more frequently by fundamentalist and very conservative evangelical churches. All of them are radically ecumenical and the vast majority are charismatic in theology. To our knowledge, not one of them takes a clear stand against end-time apostasy. All are enemies of a separatist Biblicist stance. Contemporary worship music is a dangerous bridge both to the world and to the "broader church" with all of its ancient and end-time heresies, and the Directory of Contemporary Praise Musicians contains more documentation of this than has ever before been gathered into one volume, to our knowledge. The Directory documents the history of contemporary praise music from its inception in the Jesus People movement and its intimate association with the charismatic movement in general as well as with its most radical aspect, the "latter rain apostolic miracle revival." (See, for example, the following reports in the Directory: "Calvary Chapel," "Lindell Cooley," "Tim Hughes," "Integrity Music," "Kevin Prosch," "David Ruis," "Michael W. Smith," "John Talbot," and "John Wimber.") The documentation contained in the Directory proves that Contemporary Christian Music is a jungle of end-time apostasy and that it is controlled by "another spirit" (2 Cor. 11:4). The music itself feeds the charismatic-ecumenical mystical experience. The sensual pulsing, skipping, tripping, body-jerking syncopated dance rhythms, the electronic modulation, the reverb and echo and feedback, the unresolving chord sequences, the pounding drums, the sensual vocal styles, the dramatic rise and fall of the sound level, and the repetition create an atmosphere in which charismatic seekers experience an emotional high, are hypnotized to receive an unscriptural message, and are prepared for "signs and wonders" phenomena. Whatever is operating in the charismatic-ecumenical movement, it is definitely "another spirit" (2 Corinthians 11:4) when tested Scripturally, and contemporary praise music is that spirit's vehicle.
Downloads:
PDF http://www.wayoflife.org/free_ebooks/downloads/Directory_of_Contemporary_Worship_Musicians.pdf
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