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Churchome founder and Justin Bieber's longtime pastor, Judah Smith, defended himself and his church amid accusations that he was running a "cult" and that his organization had targeted the pop superstar. Media speculations only heightened when the Grammy-winning singer's friend and the co-founder of his Drew House fashion brand, Ryan Good, aired his belief that the singer is in a cult.
In an April 22, 2025, article by Page Six, the outlet cited Good's interview with TMZ, where he had allegedly said that he hasn't talked to the Yummy singer for over a year over his concerns that Smith is running a cult via his Churchome Christian church in Beverly Hills. However, Judah Smith quashed the allegations in a Friday, May 2, 2025, video shared on his Instagram. He said:
"If we're a cult, we are the worst cult in the history of cults. We meet once a month, guys! I stopped doing this every Wednesday. We got to get better at this."
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The video appeared to be taken during one of his sermons, where he addressed an audience and regaled them about the "first time" the paparazzi confronted him in public, asking him if he was running a cult. He recalled:
"I got out of my car and was immediately surrounded by paparazzi. That's a first one for me ... All of a sudden, this nice lady with her camera turned to me and said: 'So, is this a cult or not?' I was like: 'Oh my word, I wasn't expecting that question.'"
Justin Bieber recently spoke about the "gossip" and "lies" about him
Justin Bieber has recently been the subject of rumors as the media continues to speculate about his mental health following a video of him dancing and smoking at this year's Coachella circulated on the internet. With rumors about his well-being becoming rampant, the Baby singer took to his Instagram on April 24, 2025, to address the "gossip" and "lies" that have been circulating.
He talked about his faith and his relationship with God as well as his own shortcomings:
"They treat me like an a** out here, but I remember that I am flawed and God forgave me. It helps me to stop feeling better than those who are mean and hurtful because when I'm really honest, I can be mean and hurtful too."
He further said:
"My instinct is to be like, 'Damn I wouldn't gossip and spread lies about someone on the internet,' but there's other sh*t I do I'm not proud of."
While he didn't straight up quash rumors about his alleged divorce from Hailey Bieber, Justin Bieber said that if he put himself in other people's shoes, "it would be hard not to be jealous" seeing him and Hailey "going so brazzzzyy." He concluded the post by saying that he couldn't blame people for their actions.
In a subsequent post on his Instagram story, Justin Bieber addressed his followers with a short sentence, "Ur bible can't save you."
Justin Bieber was formerly a member of the controversial Hillsong Church, which was hit by scandals following one of its pastors Carl Lentz's infidelity breaking the internet in 2020.
