April 5, 2023
“Brian Houston was “blackout drunk” when he was pulled over by police in California, court documents reveal.
The founder of Hillsong church was alleged to have recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.23 – almost five times Australia’s legal limit.
Mr Houston, 69, was more than three times California’s legal limit of 0.08.”
Daily Telegraph
I had an uncle Jim Essex, my father’s sister’s husband, who really knew how to hit the booze. By the age of about forty he was gone as an alcoholic.
My father, a Protestant clergy unlike Brian, never drank alcohol. My mother had a glass of red wine on very rare occasions. Only one glass. My father never smoked like Brian and Phil Pringle do. They like big fat cigars.
I don’t know how Brian can claim to be anything now. I can’t even be bothered with him any more. He’s a total loser. I’m not going to waste my time and money travelling 6 hours each way to Sydney and staying a couple of nights to watch the last part of Brian’s demise in person. In court in Sydney for two days in mid-June.
Brian has become an albatross around his own family’s neck, Hillsong’s neck and arguably Christianity. It’s hard for “the world”, the unchurched, to distinguish between various types of Christians. The world tends to toss all Christians in the same basket.
The dearth of real, genuine Spirit-filled Christians is currently so low that’s its hard to find any. Please don’t look at Hillsong and the Houstons, you certainly wont find genuine Spirit-filled Christians there.
Brian Houston was “blackout drunk” when he was pulled over by police in California, court documents reveal.
The founder of Hillsong church was alleged to have recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.23 – almost five times Australia’s legal limit.
Mr Houston, 69, was more than three times California’s legal limit of 0.08.
Documents filed in Orange County’s Superior Court by District Attorney Todd Spitzer detail Mr Houston’s alleged drink driving.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. Picture: Supplied
“BRIAN HOUSTON had a blood alcohol concentration of .20 per cent or more, by weight,” the document states.
It lists the BAC, or Blood Alcohol Content, at “. 230”.
Mr Houston was also charged with not having any number plates on the car he was driving.
“BRIAN HOUSTON did unlawfully fail to attach both of the two license plates issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles to defendant’s vehicle, one in the front and the other in the rear of the vehicle,” the document states.
The world-famous pastor’s case was due to be heard in court on Wednesday Australian time for an “arraignment” but it was unclear if he would attend in person.
Mr Houston would need to have consumed more than 10 alcoholic drinks in an hour, according to a US insurance company calculator, to reach 0.23.
Tree House Recovery, an addiction clinic, describes the level of intoxication at 0.20 as “blackout drunk” stage.
Former Hillsong pastor Brian Houston. Picture: NewsWire/Monique Harmer
“When an individual reaches this stage of intoxication, they are completely disconnected from themselves in mind and body,” its website states.
“Disorientation sets in along with the inability to move properly. Nausea often turns into vomiting at this stage. Dangerously, this is a stage of intoxication where an individual is at risk for choking on their own vomit.”
Mr Houston last week posted about the drink driving charge after his defence lawyer Scott Thomas was contacted by the Faith on Trial podcast, produced by this newspaper.
LISTEN TO THE FAITH ON TRIAL PODCAST
Faith on Trial: Hillsong
Episode 8 – The Verdict
00:00
37:17
Faith on Trial: Hillsong
Episode 7 – Submit
00:00
39:24
Faith on Trial: Hillsong
Episode 6 – The Missing 40 Minutes
00:00
31:25
Faith on Trial: Hillsong
Episode 5 – The Affairs
00:00
27:25
Faith on Trial: Hillsong
Episode 4 – Miracles tonight
00:00
27:36
Faith on Trial: Hillsong
Episode 3 – First fruits
00:00
27:02
Faith on Trial: Hillsong
Episode 2 – Slave Labour-ish
00:00
25:25
Faith on Trial: Hillsong
Episode 1 – The Big Eagle
00:00
27:58
Mr Houston confirmed in an Instagram post he had been charged with drink driving after he “made the foolish decision to drive just two or three hundred metres to park the car”.
He said at the time of the incident, just a month before he quit the church in March last year, “all hell had broken loose within Hillsong Church and I was under immense pressure”.
Mr Houston has previously spoken about his relationship with alcohol.
“That has built a narrative out there that I’m an alcoholic and two stories about my alcoholism that are the result of gossip and whispering and innuendo,” he said in an online video.
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Hillsong founder’s mega pay day‘Hell had broken loose’: Hillsong’s Brian Houston on DUI charge
“The narrative that I’m an alcoholic is false. In fact, I’ve been told by an expert therapist that I do not display the behaviours that are typical of an alcoholic.”
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