republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

Earlier this year Pulpit & Pen brought you the story
of Hillsong, NYC’s youth pastor, Diego Simila, who posed as the
infamous “Naked Cowboy” at a Hillsong women’s conference. There were
also other more than questionable appearances of debauched characters at
various other Hillsong conferences during that time, including the sex
pervert, Austin Powers, who showed up at the London conference. Hillsong received quite a bit of backlash for these lewd acts of moral degeneracy including from Montanist apologist and noted Hillsong defender, Michael Brown.

As if these salacious acts weren’t enough to turn any
biblically-minded Christian away from the perversion of the Bride of
Christ that is Hillsong, Diego Simila is back–posing once again in an
obscene display of lasciviousness, as a nearly-naked Santa.

On Esther Houston’s (wife of NYC Worship Leader, Joel Houston) Instagram site (click with caution), you’ll find the following festival of flesh.

This comes as no surprise since Hillsong is known for its debauchery
and trashy performances, watered down gospel, and compromise on nearly
everything Christians stand for. Several weeks ago, Joel Houston, son of
Hillsong CEO, Brian Houston, posted on Twitter
that he found Jen Hatmaker’s affirmation of gay marriage “refreshing.”
In 2015, the same NY-based branch of Hillsong put on what many dubbed
Hillsong’s Sleazy Silent Night, where a woman was paraded on stage in a seductive manner
wearing provocative clothing. Carl Lentz, lead pastor of Hillsong NYC,
was recently interviewed on Oprah’s television show where Lentz denied that you must be a Christian to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Lentz’ church also had two openly gay members of his congregation serving in the choir–one as the choir director.

All of this anti-Christian, anti-gospel vulgarity and compromise for
the sake of pleasing man instead of God is what makes Hillsong famous.
It’s no wonder SBTS president, Al Mohler says that Hillsong is “a
prosperity movement for the millennials, in which the polyester and
middle-class associations of Oral Roberts have given way to ripped jeans
and sophisticated rock music…What has made Hillsong distinctive is a
minimization of the actual content of the Gospel and a far more diffuse
presentation of spirituality.”

Hillsong isn’t a church. Michael Brown says
that this is simply an “exaggerated picture of the church of America.”
But sadly, this is not exaggerated. This is commonplace and is quickly
becoming the mainstream. The true church in America is the minority.
It’s time the true church separate completely from the world and
Hillsong.

Hillsong’s ‘Naked Cowboy’ Appears as Half-Naked Santa at ‘Christmas Tropical Party’ 

BY HEATHER CLARK

SEE: http://christiannews.net/2016/12/24/hillsongs-naked-cowboy-appears-as-half-naked-santa-at-christmas-tropical-party/; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

 The youth leader at Hillsong NYC, who generated controversy earlier 
this year after appearing at a Christian women’s conference as a 
look-alike to the city’s famed “Naked Cowboy,” recently was photographed
 at a “Christmas tropical party” again half-naked—a photo that was later
 deleted following concerns.

Esther Houston,
the wife of Joel Houston, who serves as the leader of the popular
worship band Hillsong United and co-pastor of Hillsong NYC, posted the
photo to her Instagram this week with the caption “When the Christmas
tropical party is lit.”

The photo featured youth leader Diego Simila with his shirt
completely unbuttoned to bear his chest and short cut-off jean shorts,
while wearing a Santa hat and having a tropical drink. Adjacent to
Simila is Houston, a former Brazilian model, posing in a manner that
exposed up her thigh.

Some of the commenters under the photo found the snapshot to be humorous.

“Hahahaha @diegosimila!! I’m crying!” one wrote. “Diego, you make my life complete.”

“@diegosimila me and @strazzabeatdown are dying right now!!!” another exclaimed.

But one woman expressed concern about the example that Simila and Houston were setting as professing Christians.

“How is this glorifying to Jesus Christ?” she asked, and pointed to 1
Thessalonians 5:22, which admonishes Christians to “abstain from all
appearance of evil.”

“God will hold you accountable for your poor example to young Christians,” she opined.

One viewer shot back at the woman, stating that she was being
“ridiculous,” and contending that there was nothing sinful about the
photograph.

But blog sites also picked up on the matter, noting a pattern of concerning behavior within Hillsong.

“Still no sign of Hillsong bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.
Just a false Jesus endorsing their sinful lifestyle,” opined the site
Church Watch Central.

Houston has since deleted the photograph without explanation.

As previously reported,
Simila raised controversy in May when he appeared at Hillsong’s Colour
Conference as a “Naked Cowboy” lookalike—a popular New York City figure
who walks the streets shirtless and without pants.

“I usually don’t expect to see a near-naked cowboy gyrating from the
stage of a Christian women’s conference. … Indeed if I were of the
world, I’d expect these sights and sounds to come from a giant
bachelorette party at a strip club,” wrote Amy Spreeman of Berean
Research.

Hillsong Co-Founder Brian Houston, while expressing concern, refuted
those who referred to Simila as being the “Naked Cowboy” since he wasn’t
completely naked.

“He was wearing proper shorts, not underwear, and he had a flag
draped over him—bare-chested and perhaps inappropriate, certainly
unexpected and unauthorized; but not naked,” he said in defense, adding
that he and others were not aware of the plan.

“Some well-meaning person just made a silly decision,” Houston asserted. “It won’t happen again.”

Hillsong likewise raised controversy last year over its sold-out Christmas services in London, which included dancing elves, mini-skirt-wearing flappers, shirtless men pounding on drums, Santa Claus and more.