Responses to Michael Guglielmucci

I think the issues that arise from this go far beyond Michael. His particular issues are not really for us to speculate on. We can certainly try and quantify the damage that has been caused. I have had to counsel someone who knew him personally from within the Planetshakers setup. This particular person is devastated, naturally. However this has led to them addressing a wider range of concerns.

Worship music is now an industry. It is a multi-million dollar industry in Australia alone. Worship music is a now a genre of its own, with its own 'charts', and its own stars. We now have 'rock star worship leaders'.

[This is nothing new of course, there are generations in our churches still who have their own preferences: Moody, Sankey, Crosby etc. But they were never attended to by a multi million dollar industry and the fame that now comes from it, enabled by modern marketing and the web.]

Worship is now no longer about beholding God, it is inextricably linked to the commercial world, and to the making of fortunes, for individuals, churches and companies. The sacred and the secular are now intertwined in worship.

As far as the worship scene itself, I would argue that Michael gave people what they wanted. Modern worship 'experiences' are sensate, highly charged, and extremely emotional. What better worship 'high' can you get than the song 'Healer' being sung by a dying hero on stage with an oxygen bottle and tubes? You couldn't script a better scenario.

Whatever his motive, the carefully crafted outcome of the song video at least to my mind is consistent with a culture that demands such high's. A new edge is constantly being sought.
As for the devastation caused in particular to ACC aligned Pentecostal churches, it is in direct proportion to the pedestal on which such people are placed.

Churches outside of ACC are affected as well because there are few churches who do not use a great deal of material that is churned out by the mega-church worship industry.

Hopefully this will be a wake up call to the relatively small group of influential leaders who have the capacity to shape and steer the 'worship scene' that revolves around the centre of gravity in these churches.

I think its time to get back to the heart of what worship is and deconstruct a lot of the shallow culture that surrounds worship, and the profit factor that is the elephant in the corner.

Penning a popular worship song in Australia today is a pathway to riches and profile for individuals and churches. Its time for fame to be returned to God.

Sad thing is, the man's 'faith' as displayed on the video and the preaching tours, is not biblical faith - faith is not 'making a claim for God to meet and holding onto it until we coerce God to giving us what we want... why do we believe that this is faith? it is more aptly described as wishful thinking, projecting our thoughts or some other modern cliche' but it is not faith.

Abraham, the father of faith, was found to be full of faith BECAUSE HE TOOK GOD AT HIS WORD. The Lord has first declared to Abraham His intention, His promise - it did not come from Abraham himself, it cam from God - therefore it could be trusted because it was uttered by the One ho has no lies on His lips or in His hearts - the God who NEVER breaks His word.

I agree with Stan on the issue of 'pop-worship' but the issue goes beyond that - it goes to false teachers among us, it goes to the fake gospel of 'prosperity Jesus' - it goes to the Jesus who is there as an idol who hands out every thing we ever ask for - and sounds nothing like the God of the Bible! We need a revolution of purity, of the truth in the word, of the ACTUAL Gospel of Jesus Christ permeating our churches, and our hearts.

If this issue rocks people's faith - then GOOD - because their faith is not based on the solidarity of the account of Jesus Christ resting in both historical and biblical evidence. Faith should not be shaken by the fall of some preacher - the Word promised us this would happen! Faith should not be able to be shaken when men stumble - because our faith is not based on flesh and blood - but the resurrected person of Jesus Christ. On the truth of who He is and His claims.

I am a deeply concerned christian and completely agree with Stan.

On receieving the news about Michael, I like many others was deeply hurt as like many others and have seen the effects of what cancer sufferers have had to deal with.

Yes, it is our christian duty to forgive Michael. This I have done. However, his story about porn addiction simply does not stack up.

In a statemment made by his father, Danny - it became evident that his problem with fabricating illnesses began when Michael was very young, it became so bad at one stage that the authorities were going to place Michael in a psychiatric hospital, to which his parents opted out.

In December of 2007, Danny preached at Hillsong church and advised that as he was preaching his son, Michael was in RPA receiving chemo.

Based on the above information, I pose the following questions.

1. What would you as a parent do, knowing the above if your son came to you and said he has " cancer" ?

2. The above being the case and you believed your son initially, would you not source the best medical treatment and doctors available ?

3. Would you speak to your son's specialist's and doctor's at least once or at the very least, get their details and research their success rate in fighting the disease?

4. If you are preaching in church and your son is in hospital receiving chemo, where would be your first point of call immediately after your sermon?

5. If Michael lied about his cancer, how do we know that he is not lying about his porn addiction?

My focus is on Jesus and I love him with all my heart. It is also our christian duty to be discerning as we serve a God that will not be mocked.Alot of people that I have spoken to have been deeply hurt. Many feel unable to express themselves within church circles as their feelings are dismissed with the forgive and forget mentality and one should never cast stones as we are all sinners. This indeed is true and we should also understand that our sins have consequences.

Please go to any childrens hospital cancer ward and explain to a young child with Leukemia that we should "pray for Michael and his family" during this ordeal, as he faked what they have.

Through God's grace we are saved and that same grace is something that we must emulate in order to be Christ like. We must also ensure that we are showing grace to the real truth and not a possible fabrication. We must be aware of all the circumstances, so that we may know what exactly we are showing grace to.