Fans Have Serious Questions About Justin Bieber's Pal-Turned-Spiritual Guru As He Faces 'Cult' Accusations
'I got out of my car and was immediately surrounded by paparazzi — that's a first for me,' Smith quipped in a clip from an Instagram-posted sermon. When a 'nice lady' whipped out her camera and asked point-blank, 'So is this a cult or not?' he deadpanned, 'Oh my word, I wasn't expecting that question,' before joking, 'If we're a cult, we are the worst cult in the history of all cults. We meet once a month, guys.'
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Sure, it's a punchline — but the cult allegations circling Churchome aren't exactly new.
Founded in 1992 by Smith's parents in Seattle and later rebranded and relocated to L.A., Churchome has become a go-to for the pray and slay crowd. With its slick app, trendy branding, and celeb-heavy front rows (think Kourtney Kardashian, Ciara, Russell Wilson, and Selena Gomez), Churchome looks less like a house of worship and more like a spiritual Soho House — minus the cocktails.
At the center of it all is Smith, whose relationship with Bieber goes back to 2010. The pastor's youthful sermons and casual style helped shape Bieber's post-teen-idol spiritual identity, with Smith even telling E! News in 2013 that the two 'share Scriptures on a regular basis.' That connection was back on display in April, when Bieber posted a vulnerable message on Instagram: 'They treat me like ass out here, but I remember that I am flawed and God forgave me.' He added, 'When I'm really honest, I can be mean and hurtful too.'
But it's not just Bieber's honesty that's raising eyebrows. '1000000000% a creep. That whole church is creepy. Very sinister energy from what I can tell,' one fan commented on a video of Smith saying Bieber 'is literally like family to me.'
Even Bieber's wife, Hailey Bieber, has been cryptically commenting on religion, writing 'posters and preaches really love to just put words together with the same letter and act like it's HITTING so crazy… 'There's blessing in the brokenness,' 'there's grace in gratitude,' s*** drives me bananas,' on her Ingram stories back in March.
In 2023, whistleblower docs revealed Churchome was shelling out up to $100,000 a year in 'membership fees' to stay part of Hillsong's elite Family network — the same Hillsong plagued by scandal, cover-ups, and Carl Lentz's infamous fall from grace. Oh, and did we mention Churchome reportedly raked in $17 million in tithes in 2017 alone? That's a lot of Venmo-for-Jesus.
Churchome cut ties with Hillsong in 2022, but the similarities linger: the velvet ropes, the glossy branding, the proximity to celebrity, and yes — the accusations of being 'cult-like.' Critics say it walks and talks like a cult, just with better lighting and verified followers.
We're not saying it's a cult. But when a megachurch markets itself like a VIP experience, pays six figures to join a scandal-scarred network, and seems to prioritize fame over faith — like another ostensibly religiously affiliated organization that happens to be very big in Hollywood — fans absolutely have questions.Best of SheKnows
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