Pastor Brian Houston — famous former head of the Hillsong Christian megachurch in Australia — is the victim of Twitter hack!
Here are the facts:
- On February 20, 2024 at 11:41 pm, a devious hacker broke into Pastor Houston's account and posted, "Ladies and girls kissing"
- Sixteen minutes later, Houston was made aware of the breach and he posted, "I think my twitter may have been hacked"
While some uncharitable folks are saying the kindly Pastor mistakenly thought he was typing "Ladies and girls kissing" into a web browser with the safe search filter disabled, that is not the case. Here's a statement from Pastor Houston's excellent assistant, Yolanda, to set the record straight.
Hello Everyone,
Thank you for your concern, Ps Brian's assistant here! Rest assured we are working on discovering how Ps Brian was hacked. Our team has ascertained that someone logged into his account from a location within the USA. We've changed his password so here's hoping they no longer have access. Please disregard anything that seems out of the normal. For your safety remember Pastor Brian does not contact anyone privately.
Thank You!
"Please disregard anything that seems out of the normal." That is going to be my new credo.
Here's a not-so-fun fact about Pastor Houston's father and founder of Hillsong (from Wikipedia):
On 10 May 1999, Houston's father, Frank Houston, stepped down from the role of senior pastor at Sydney Christian Life Centre and Houston was appointed to the position. Brian Houston said that Frank "appeared rushed" to hand his church to him. This was before the revelations of Frank's child sexual abuse became known. Fifteen years later, in 2014, Houston spoke at hearings held by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, stating that he received an allegation in October 1999 that his father sexually abused an Australian boy. Houston's statement and the evidence submitted to the commission revealed that, in November 1999, his father confessed to child sexual abuse. Houston reportedly forced his father into retirement and did not go to the police.The royal commission censured Houston for his failure to report the sexual abuse allegations against his father and for his failure to avoid a clear conflict of interest investigating his own father while serving as national president of the Assemblies of God in Australia.
On 5 August 2021, NSW Police issued a warrant for Houston to attend the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on 5 October, alleging that he concealed child sexual abuse by his father. Houston was in the United States at the time of being charged and resigned from the church's board as a result of his arrest. He was charged with concealing a serious indictable offence. Houston stood trial at Downing Centre Local Court and pleaded not guilty. In August 2023, he was found not guilty. The magistrate determined Houston had a "reasonable excuse" for not reporting his father as Houston believed the victim did not want the allegations reported to the police.
