Another victim of the Apostate Church has left the faith, denouncing Jesus as he leaves.

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But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. -- 2Corinthians 11:3-4 (ESV)

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rolltodisbelieve/2019/08/10/hillsong-songwriter-marty-sampson-has-left-the-jesus-building/

It seems as if this story sounds familiar. Someone high up in churchianity decides not only to call it quits but to trash Jesus on the way out. In the Middle East Christians will choose losing their heads before renouncing Jesus yet these high-profile "Christians" have no problem offering Him up to any who will listen. Michael and Lisa Gungor had Dove Awards, hit songs and even co-wrote Friend of God before going atheist. Andy Mineo and Jahaziel, Christian rappers, both took their wares into the world domain, leaving the church behind. Last month the Christian world screeched to a halting stop when Joshua Harris denounced Christ and announced he was leaving his wife. This Christian celebrity only wrote the books on modern Christian relationships, selling millions. Now this week we hear of one of Hillsong's songwriters, Marty Sampson, is also calling it quits and denouncing Christ along the way. Marty Sampson is just the latest victim of purpose driven churchianity. Just like Harris, Gungor and Mineo before him. The key verses sees Paul admonishing how quickly the Corinthian believers were falling for false gospels, false spirits and false christs. I use these as the key verses to remind us that there are in fact these false gospels, spirits and christs out there and they are exponentially growing today. The apostate church has embraced the false gospels of prosperity, the NAR and false signs and lying wonders, just to name a few. The purpose driven church model of growth is a scam and the average time a congregant stays in such a church is just less than three years. Realize it is much harder for the Gungors and Sampsons of the world to leave because they derive their fame and fortune from the Seeker Friendly Industrial Complex. Yet at some point they too must realize the scam they are playing an active role in and eventually they hate what they once professed to love. This is why they do not merely bow out but insist on deconstructing the false christ, false spirit and false gospel they had been a part in promulgating. The link above is to a recent article about Sampson but the author appears to be atheist or anti-Christian at best. I chose this to review because it is important that we see how the world is looking at us. The same world that we are supposed to bring the real Gospel to. Let us reason once more but note it is a very long article. I will try to present the most salient parts.

"Marty Sampson himself has been associated with Hillsong for quite some time. He's done some solo work and collaborated with other Christian musicians, but his discography contains mostly Hillsong stuff. But it sounds like he's been struggling for a long time with doubts. Yesterday, he decided to publicly announce that he's finished with that struggle--and that reality won over faith. I'm not going to second-guess or speak for him. Still, I don't think anybody here will wonder why he struggled. I sure don't wonder. None of Christianity lines up with reality. The miracle claims don't look like actual miracles to anybody but those primed to see them that way. Prayer doesn't actually do anything in the real world for anybody--which is why Christians must tell people they're doing it. Supposedly-divine rescues from disease, injury, or natural disasters only raise more (and more disturbing) questions than they settle." -- Captain Cassidy

None of Christianity lines up with reality. How sad but the examples she gives are pretty accurate for us to notice. The apostate church brags to no end about miracles but remains way short on proof. Now it is true that a sign is not required but we go to the opposite extreme. We show Todd White in movies pretending the grow the length of a shorter leg in a scam so obvious it has its own debunking channel on YouTube. Other miracle wannabes are found at places like Bethel where they teach the youth to ask to pray for people in the vaguest of terms for the most malleable of conditions. If Bill Johnson truly believes in mandatory healing why isn't he in the Emergency Room every single day? Or at the very least cast aside his corrective eyeglasses. Why does he send kids out instead to pray for someone's "pain"; which the power of suggestion alone may make someone feel relief from. Cassidy is also right about the loud public nature of prayer within the false church. This is opposite of how Jesus said we should pray. We must realize that when you are trying to prove the existence of a false NAR God, you inevitably become like the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Divine rescues are used by those in the apostate church because their false gospel cannot save anyone and thus people need to be convinced to come back. You actually have charlatans like Gloria Copeland claiming she prevented hurricanes by rebuking them. Do we think the world is not watching? Here is the actual statement from Sampson, announcing he is leaving Christianity:

"Time for some real talk" I'm genuinely losing my faith.. and it doesn't bother me" like, what bothers me now is nothing" I am so happy now, so at peace with the world.. it's crazy / this is a soapbox moment so here I go xx how many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen. Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send 4 billion people to a place, all coz they don't believe? No one talks about it. Christians can be the most judgemental people on the planet -- they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people" but it's not for me. I am not in any more." -- Marty Sampson

Beloved, one would expect that he has found peace with the world if he clearly has no peace with Christ. Let us deal with his complaints separately. Many preachers do fall, every single day. He is right that no one in churchianity talks about it much because the first duty is to protect the brand. The apostate church is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise and they are not going to let one preacher take it down or ten. I remember when Ted Haggard fell. He was the head of the National Evangelical Association and he used to rail against homosexuality every week to his 15,000 + congregation in Colorado. Then he had to admit to a decades long affair with a male prostitute who he used to do crystal meth with while having sex. That Sunday, my very well intended pastor told us -- don't judge. Huh? Despite the fact that the don't judge verses are about hypocrisy, not judgment, how can that be the message this morning? Did we think the world was not watching? We should be open and transparent, realizing the sheep and those watching the church are more important than the fallen preacher. He should be offered love and forgiveness as he seeks to restore only his walk. When Todd Bentley fell after admitting to an affair with his secretary we should not have heard anything from him again. Instead, Bill Johnson oversaw his nonsense restoration where he was encouraged to divorce his wife and marry his secretary and then Johnson declared he was restored? Do we not think the world is watching? Next, not many miracles do happen if we were to be truly honest. This is not the fault of God but of a church system that has abandoned God and the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. If no one gets saved without the true Gospel what makes you think there will be abounding miracles? Part of the problem here is also the dumbing down of miracles. In the days of Jesus, a miracle included healing, a supernatural multiplication of food, or someone being raised from the dead. Today places like Bethel and IHOP marvel at absurdities and claim they are miracles. Like gold dust, gem stones, angel feathers and glory clouds. In the Holy Ghost movie, they claimed the growing leg trick as a miracle, as previously mentioned. Then on the other side you have absurd claims with no proof. The Bethel "Dead Raising Team" claims 15 resurrections to their credit without offering one shred of proof. Do we honestly think the world is not watching? Then comes the reveal. Then comes the proof that Marty Sampson was in all likelihood, never saved. The first two examples were spot on but now he starts wandering off into the myths the world believes. Things that are easily refuted by someone with the indwelt Holy Spirit. It is similar to when Andy Stanley realized his youth headed off to college and came back atheists. His answer was to abandon the bible when he should have started preaching the Gospel. If someone is persuaded by the big bang theory, they do not have the spirit of God inside of them leading them into all truth. Despite what Sampson believes, the bible is not full of contradictions and there are an abundance of solid apologetics workers who speak the truth to the lies the world sells. As for why people choose to not place their faith in Jesus Christ after the plethora of evidence in creation and the Gospel being preached to them -- the only answer is the draw of sin. He is right that Christians can be both staggeringly judgmental and unbelievably loving and it should not be. This level of hypocrisy is spoken against directly by Jesus, over and over. That said, when you leave the Master because some who claim to follow Him are judgmental, I conclude that He never was your Master. This is why people like Sampson are victims. They were sold a false bill of goods. A false christ and spirit through a false gospel. They were able to carve out a niche within the apostasy but once the money has been made all you are left with is the falseness and your role in it. No wonder they walk away at peace with the world and angry with Christ. This is not real talk beloved. It is real sad talk.

"Sounds like he, like so many of us, wanted the truth so much that he chased it right out of Christianity: I want genuine truth. Not the "I just believe it" kind of truth. Science keeps piercing the truth of every religion. Lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of God. Got so much more to say, but for me, I keeping it real. Unfollow if you want, I've never been about living my life for others. All I know is what's true to me right now, and Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point" I could go on, but I won't. Love and forgive absolutely. Be kind absolutely. Be generous and do good to others absolutely. Some things are good no matter what you believe. Let the rain fall, the sun will come up tomorrow." -- Captain Cassidy

Here we see the emptiness of carnal knowledge on full display. Captain Cassidy is also a victim of false Christianity. She even married a pastor. Now she spends her days writing semi-snarky articles about how much there isn't a real God. Science does not pierce any truths of the bible. Any micro-scientific issues are in agreement with the bible and any macro ones are merely theories from men who do not want there to be a God. Perhaps the saddest statement is "lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of God." To Cassidy and probably Sampson, Christianity was about "changing your life." They believe this because they were taught this in the purpose driven paradigm. This is what happens when you change the name of the unsaved to the unchurched. It has a real lasting damage. If I want to change my life I can get a hundred self-help books but there is only one Savior and Captain Cassidy and Marty Sampson never met Him. That beloved is a tragedy. All she is left with is salad bar theology. She likes the love and forgiveness but not so much the rules.

"In a way, he's quite right. Christians rarely talk about all the ways that their religion fails to live up to its various claims and promises (and yes, threats). I mean, they talk. Really, all they do is freakin' talk, at least when they're not trying to rip people's rights and liberties away. They just don't talk about anything real or useful to folks with big questions. Such folks won't settle for words, words, words. A long time ago, I noticed Christians' affection for a weird sort of defanged, neutralized, tamed form of doubt. Most of today's apologetics dreck runs along these lines. These works bash valid questions around with the crude tools available in the Christian toolbox, smear any people who don't buy into the excuses on offer, copiously threaten their consumers with Hell, and then declare victory. Christian leaders offer workshops, sermons, and Bible studies claiming to dispel their warped version of defanged doubt. Then, they announce they've defeated doubt with it. Why, any Christian who needs to resolve their doubts can check out these resolutions for doubt, and then they won't doubt anymore! And if Christians ever run into someone expressing doubt, all they must do shove a book or video at the doubter, and presto! They'll be convinced! Hooray Team Jesus!" -- Captain Cassidy

The first point speaks to the hyper-involvement in this world by the false church through the NAR seven mountain mandate. You can turn a blind eye to what Cassidy is saying here but this is how the church is viewed by those int the world. That they are just trying to take away people's rights and liberties. Save your pre-canned talking points because they do not line up with scripture and the role of the church. The second area touched on here is the sense of competition the church promulgates with the world. I remember watching Ray Comfort once challenge and atheist to a debate saying he would not use the bible and once they got into it, the scriptures came out. The Christian side looked very untrustworthy and petty. First of all, saying the bible is our defense is perfectly acceptable but if you are going to claim to not use it then don't use it! Cassidy is right that churchianity has boiled all problems down to a new video series. I remember the first men's group I ever attended. The series we were starting that week was on holiness, taught to us by a 70-year-old man. That is just tone deaf.

"I am becoming more and more convinced that the only way for someone to remain Christian is to avoid caring what reality has to say about it. And millions upon millions of decent-hearted Christians do exactly that. They don't douse themselves in olive oil and pray for magical healing; instead, they go to the doctor. Nor do they avoid purchasing insurance rather than trusting angels to keep them out of car accidents--or for their god to Rapture them away before death. They marry for love and compatibility rather than asking imaginary friends in the sky for advice. They wouldn't dream of entrusting their children's upbringing to authoritarian asshats with child-abuse fetishes. Even if they believe that the Bible has anything authoritative to say about anything, they live solidly in the real world. These Christians don't care what the Bible says about stoning people to death, slavery, genocide, and all that. The version of Jesus they carry around in their heads doesn't look like the Bible's version, but perhaps they love him all the more because of it." -- Captain Cassidy

About half-way through this piece Captain Cassidy seemed to have forgotten she was writing about Marty Sampson. Her pain came to the forefront and it is just as important as Marty's. We are supposed to be salt and light to a dying world. How sad is it that folks who spend any prolonged time within our walls can come out so jaded. To not understand that God provided doctors and medical knowledge. To openly mock God as an imaginary friend. She does however point out the rank hypocrisy found in the apostate church today. That the people inside the walls live solidly in the real world regardless of what the bible says. Cassidy paints a brutal picture of how the church is viewed from the world's perspective and imagine if she is just 10% correct. How badly we have missed the mark beloved because surely it is far more than 10%. Cassidy and Harris and Sampson all left Christianity and thought nothing about taking a swipe at Jesus on the way out. I have seen the reaction of the complex as these matters have taken their course. The Larry Tomczak and Michael Brown's of the world do not understand that Sampson is nothing more than the latest victim. As was Harris and Gungor. A victim of the apostate church they lead.

Let us not lose sight of the fact that Marty Sampson called Hillsong home. Hillsong is one of the vilest false teaching centers on the planet. Is it any wonder there are not Marty Sampsons leaving there every day feeling just as poorly? The bible says that narrow is the way to life and few are those who find it. It says that heaven rejoices when only one sinner repents. It says many will stand before Christ on the Day of Judgment and say, "Lord Lord, did we not perform mighty miracles in your name?" And perhaps bringing a smile to the visages of Captain Cassidy and Marty Sampson, Jesus will say away from me, for I never knew you. Those smiles will quickly fade when they realize they too must stand before Him to give account. Utterly betrayed by those who claimed they were the church and those who were seemingly too powerless to stop it.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- August 13, 2019

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.