There are two more songs that promote the Dominion/Kingdom Now theology, though not as blatantly as “Break Every Chain.” The first is “Unstoppable God.”
Heaven thundered
And the world was born
Life begins and ends
In the dust You formed
Faith commanded
And the mountains moved
Fear is losing ground
To our hope in You
Unstoppable God
Let Your glory go on and on
Impossible things
In Your name they shall be done (oh)
Freedom conquered
All our chains undone
Sin defeated
Jesus is overcome
Mercy triumphed
When the third day dawned
Darkness was denied
When the stone was gone
Nothing shall be impossible
Your kingdom reigns unstoppable
We’ll shout Your praise forevermore
Jesus our God unstoppable
The troublesome line is “Impossible things in Your name shall be done.” It says that the impossible things shall be done, not are being done, meaning that they will be done in the future. Kingdom Now theology says that this future army shall do impossible things, things that the present church has not done, things that even the apostles did not do.
The song was written by Steven Furtick, Christopher Joel Brown, and Wade Joye. These three plus Mack Brock started the worship band, Elevation Worship, in 2007. The band is the worship band for Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Furtick is the pastor. Furtick is also a seeker friendly preacher, a Word of Faith preacher who has openly endorsed Joel Osteen, and a Dominion/Kingdom Now preacher who has spoken at least twice at an annual dominionist conference held in Ohio called Dominion Camp. It seems that if there is a Christian aberration out there, Furtick has bought into it.
The second song is “What a Beautiful Name.”
You were the Word at the beginning
One With God the Lord Most High
Your hidden glory in creation
Now revealed in You our Christ
What a beautiful Name it is
What a beautiful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ my King
What a beautiful Name it is
Nothing compares to this
What a beautiful Name it is
The Name of Jesus
You didn’t want heaven without us
So Jesus, You brought heaven down
My sin was great, Your love was greater
What could separate us now
What a wonderful Name it is
What a wonderful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ my King
What a wonderful Name it is
Nothing compares to this
What a wonderful Name it is
The Name of Jesus
What a wonderful Name it is
The Name of Jesus
How sweet is your name, Lord, how good You are
Love to sing in the name of the Lord, love to sing for you all?
Death could not hold You, the veil tore before You
You silenced the boast, of sin and grave
The heavens are roaring, the praise of Your glory
For You are raised to life again
You have no rival, You have no equal
Now and forever, Our God reigns
Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the glory
Yours is the Name, above all names
What a powerful Name it is
What a powerful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ my King
What a powerful Name it is
Nothing can stand against
What a powerful Name it is
The Name of Jesus
You have no rival, You have no equal
Now and forever, Our God reigns
Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the glory
Yours is the Name, above all names
What a powerful Name it is
What a powerful Name it is
The Name of Jesus Christ my King
What a powerful Name it is
Nothing can stand against
What a powerful Name it is
The Name of Jesus
What a powerful Name it is
The Name of Jesus
What a powerful Name it is
The Name of Jesus
The song praises the name of Jesus until it says, “You didn’t want heaven without us So Jesus, You brought heaven down.” This is Johnson’s theology. Jesus did not bring heaven down. He made it possible for us to go to heaven to be with him. Heaven will not come down until the New Jerusalem descends after there is a new heaven and a new earth.
This song was written by Brooke Ligertwood and Ben Fielding, two of the worship leaders at Hillsong Music, which is a ministry of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. The pastors of Hillsong Church are Brian and Bobbie Houston. That’s right, Brian’s wife, Bobbie, is also listed as the head pastor of the church. In my research, whenever a church lets a woman be the head pastor, even if she is married to the head pastor, deception always follows. For example, Bill Johnson and his wife, Beni, are listed as the Senior Leaders of Bethel Church.
Hillsong has been criticized for not taking a clear stand on homosexuality. The Houstons’ son, Joel, is a worship leader. In a recent worship song which he wrote, he uses a swear word (“Even when it hurts like h—“, https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/hillsongunited/evenwhenithurtspraisesong.html ), which shows that the quality of the worship songs coming out of Hillsong is declining.
So how did Johnson’s theology get into one of their songs? Every year Hillsong Church hosts a conference which is held in Australia, then again in other parts of the world. Brian Johnson, Bill Johnson’s son and a worship leader at Bethel Church, was a speaker at the 2016 conference. Other Word of Faith preachers, such as Joseph Prince from Singapore, have spoken at past conferences. Rick Warren and his followers have also been speakers at it. Furtick is a speaker at this year’s conference. So, like Furtick, Houston seems to have bought into whatever Christian aberration is out there. Many of our worship songs come out of Hillsong Music. I worry about the kinds of songs we will be seeing from there in the near future.