Justin Bieber Has Reportedly Been Absent From His Church For 3 Months As Pastor Hints At 'Drama' In Sermon

Yahoo

18 hours ago

Justin Bieber has not attended Churchome services in three months amid accusations that the church is a "cult-like" organization.
Bieber's pastor, Judah Smith, narrated a recent experience where several people reached out to him to ask if he was "okay," following the recent press he got about an alleged misunderstanding with the singer's former pal, Ryan Good.
Meanwhile, Justin Bieber continues to fuel fan concerns about his well-being with his cryptic posts amid rumors that his marriage to Hailey Bieber is in trouble.
According to The U.S. Sun, Bieber has not attended church for the past three months amid drama with his long-time pastor.
The "Sorry" singer has been going to Churchome since at least 2010, when he was 16 years old, and has grown close to his pastor Judah Smith over the years.
Bieber and Smith came under intense scrutiny after the singer's former best friend, Ryan Good, stopped going to the church due to its supposed "cult-like culture."
Since then, Bieber has not spoken to Good, who served as his best man during his wedding to Hailey and helped co-found his former streetwear brand Drew House.
On Wednesday evening, Smith, who officiated Bieber's wedding to Hailey in 2018, delivered an emotional sermon in which he narrated how the headlines have seemingly heightened interest in his welfare from friends.
"Recently, I've had a lot of people ask me if I'm okay," Smith said. "Which, [at] face value, that is a wonderful thing to do, right? A text, 'Hey, you good?' 'Hey, you okay?'"
However, he stated that "the problem is when they add up," he's then forced to admit "maybe this has happened to you," and really check if everything is okay with him.
"So Jason and I went to Miami this past weekend. It was a great time. And I ran into so many old friends I hadn't seen in a while," he continued, name-dropping former E! News host Jason Kennedy, who was sitting in the audience.
"And I was kind of taken aback because one person said, 'Hey, are you good? You okay?' And I was like, 'Yeah, yeah, no, I'm good.' I'm kind of like, what have you heard?" he said.
The 46-year-old clergy rambled on in his sermon, asking his audience if they'd ever been "asked so many times if you're okay, that you started to wonder if you're okay?"
"And I'll admit in Miami recently seeing old friends, I started to say, 'no, I'm great'. And then I could hear through my own tone that my response was me also telling them, but also telling me that I'm great," he continued.
However, after about an hour, Smith's speech took an emotional turn as he started tearing up and said, "It's [life] always been about people, but we made it about popularity and we made it about appearances."
It comes after Bieber sparked concerns after he seemingly cut ties with many of his inner circle members amid accusations his church had a "cult-like culture."
However, Smith denied the claims in a recent sermon, saying if they were one, they "are the worst cult in the history of all cults."
"We meet once a month, guys. I stopped doing this every Wednesday. We've got to get better at this," he continued, per The U.S. Sun.
According to the news outlet, one churchgoer admitted after service on Wednesday that the church has its issues, but isn't a cult.
"I've been coming to this church for five years. I've grown so much lot spiritually," the source said. "Things aren't always perfect, but I know pastor Judah comes from a good place. He has a good heart, he's the real deal."
Speaking more about Churchome, the insider, who also claims to be a member of the church, admitted that the organization has its issues, but that its leader, Judah, has good intentions.
"Haters are gonna hate, but I think he has the right intentions," the insider said. "At the end of the day, pastors are also human; they do make mistakes, but it's up to us to help pray for them and uplift them."
They also mentioned that they'd not "had negative experiences with Judah," but had fallen out with the prayer group in the church; however, that didn't "discourage" them from coming.
"Every church has its issues, there's mental illness with the people that go there. No church is perfect," the source added.
Bieber's spiritual life isn't the only area that seems to be encountering troubles, but also his marital life.
The "Peaches" singer's marriage to Hailey has allegedly hit a rocky patch following a series of bizarre social media posts.
He has tried to dispel the rumors and recently shared a slew of photos of them and their son, Jack Blues, to his Instagram account, which he just changed from @justinbieber to @lilbieber.
"Justin's been a hard person to deal with recently because of what he's going through," a source told Us Weekly earlier this week. "It's been really hard on her."
The insider added, "Family issues have clouded her success."