Osteen’s Desecration of True Christianity
For those who may have stumbled upon yesterday’s post and are wondering just who Joel Osteen REALLY is, this post is for you.
According to Wikipedia, Joel Osteen is the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, he is married, was born in 1963 so that makes him only fourty-four years old as of this writing.
“He was featured as one of Barbara Walters’ “10 Most Fascinating People of 2006″ and was named “Most Influential Christian in America” in 2006 by The Church Report. His second book, Become a Better You, was released in October 2007 with a first printing of three million copies.”
Sounds like a really impressive guy, huh? But wait till you watch this:
The real Ephesians 1:4 says, and I quote: “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love (5) he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…” The thing is, if you read the whole context of the Book of Ephesians 1, it is actually talking about SPIRITUAL BLESSING. Not MATERIAL BLESSING as what this obviously unChristian man is saying. Boy, I could not be anymore scandalized after Joel Osteen!
And then of course, here are the video clips of that famous Larry King Live interview where Joel Osteen shamelessly blasphemed and showed off his compromising nature:
Well, first, Mr. Osteen, the Scripture is clear, salvation is by grace, not good works, for no amount of good work can cleanse us from our sins before the Lord God. By GRACE, man… Just by GRACE. Let’s not flip pages further to avoid confusing you here Mr. Osteen, just look at the next chapter on Ephesians, chapter 2 verse 5which says, and again, I quote: “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved-…” and to read a little further more, the Scripture says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast… (Eph 2:8-9). Read that, Osteen boy. And please, for once, stop misconstruing what is plain and simple enough to understand. I wonder just how many times will this man distort The Word.
He makes me sick to my stomach when I hear him speak before a congregation of 30,000 misled people — pity their souls. If the three videos are not yet enough to disclaim the genuineness of Osteen and to prove his unchristian faith, or whatever you call it, I don’t know what else the people need to see to wake up from their deep slumber.
Tim said that Osteen is a businessman and that the “church” happens to be his business… Boy oh boy, would you rather wait for Jesus Christ himself to turn down all those tables and chairs you have in your gigantic “church” and tell everyone how wrathful He is for you have all turned The Father’s house into a “marketplace”? Oh, yeah, well, maybe that isn’t The Father’s house anyways, huh? Oh, here’s another clip which really shocks me beyond belief:
God never promised “marked moments” nor being financially secure and living a rich, healthy, secured life. Nowhere in the Scriptures will anyone find these claims by Joel Osteen. It is sad to think that there are people who are so hungry for the Word that they just take in whatever is thrown at them unthinkingly, even if it is so blatantly obvious that they are already being fed with crap. Which also brings to mind one question: Are we really this desperate and gullible to fall so easily with just a few shouts, a few dance steps and a few smiles thrown our way?
Evangelism is far from motivational speeches… It isn’t anywhere near it, for true evangelism speaks of God’s wrath for man’s sinful nature, it deals with sin without beating around the bush to ruffle a few feathers here and there. It speaks of death being the punishment for sin. It doesn’t make empty promises, it does not depict a life of comfort and perfection. Sadly, in my personal point of view, people who attend Lakewood and watch Osteen talk nonsense are wasting precious time and letting the chance to be found by the True and Living God pass them by because they let the opportunity to listen to the True Word fly by…
You see, Christianity is hard work, it is the confrontation of sin, a vicious cycle of persecution and a continuing struggle between the human flesh and the spirit. It is the constant beating of the breast and not being able to look above because of too much shame, it is a lifetime of repentance and tearing away from worldly pleasures – such as possessions, money, health, properties, sex, cars… – in order to gain the ultimate condition – Christ-likeness.
Christianity isn’t all what this young man from Texas perceives it to be… Or convinces people to gain from, because the truth is, no one gains anything else from TRUE CHRISTIANITY except SALVATION…
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Tags: Bible, blasphemy, Christ, Christianity, false teachings, God, houston, Jesus Christ, joel osteen, Lakewood, Larry King, preach, Scripture, texas, Word
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Culture, Faith, False Preaching, Testimonies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Everyone needs to get a life related to Joel Osteen. If you dont like him – tune him out. If you just dont like the fact that someone finally is telling the world that God is good and has a good plan for those who love him… then tune him out.
As for the Larry King interview… give the guy a break. He should have been more outspoken. He even came back and said he should have been. Isnt the Christian faith based upon GRACE and FORGIVENESS. Maybe you should practice what you preach.
Is Joel developing the next generations of theologians? Probably not, but I am sure that there will be a lot of people in heaven because of the positive message of hope in Jesus that he is preaching.
Joel… keep it up. The rest of you… give it up and go share your faith with someone.
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
the Bible stands true…
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3
Our part is to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort, with complete PATIENCE and TEACHING.” (v. 2)
may the Lord enable us to fulfill such mission!
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
to Ikd…
faith is not something about what you like or don’t like, nobody gets to say ‘i like this so this must be right’ because faith is not relative. the Bible teaches the absolutes about faith… and only Jesus, who is the author of faith (Hebrews12:2) has the authority to define its terms. no one else.
but what you’re saying comes right at 2 Tim. 4:3, when people will CHOOSE to hear teachers to suit their own passions- hear what their itching ears want to hear and turn away from the offensive truth that the Bible is teaching. who wants to be offended and confronted anyway? The Bible says, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light. lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:19-20).
but that’s what it takes… a person must come into realization of his depravity, his sinful state against the Holy God and for that, deserving of death. only a sinner needs forgiveness, only a person bound to hell for his sins needs a Savior. if you don’t see yourself as that, you won’t need forgiveness, you won’t need a Savior. and only an undeserving person who was granted absolute pardon from his sins will understand ‘grace’ for what it really means…
it’s quite unacceptable to hear that heaven’s not all positive that’s why it is so easy to brush off the offensive reality if hell. the truth that all men are sinners and fell short of God’s glory and that our sins will bring us to hell isn’t so nice to hear so we’d rather choose to listen to the ‘positives’. Yes, Jesus brings the message of hope for our misery… in fact He’s the only hope we’ve got. He is the only Savior and He defines the terms for salvation. Heaven, life everlasting and truly abundant is in Him. If Joel preaches the true Jesus of the Bible, he will preach on man’s true estate before a Holy God and ask them to repent to have life, just as Jesus preached.
yes, truth hurts… but its still truth and will remain to be true even if its brushed off or set aside…
April 4th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Osteen’s Desecration of True Christianity : PinoyBlogoSphere.com (PBS) says:[...] (Watch and read more here…) [...]
April 7th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
All of the video presented above are, in my PERSONAL opinion are fine. There are different ‘flavors’ (if you will) of how God teaches His Message.
HOWEVER, I can’t help but noticed too many “my message”, “my way”, “I”, “me”, and “I don’t knows”. That doesn’t sound right. Everything is in the Bible, even the Dinosaurs existence are written, so for a Pastor, he shouldn’t have said too many “I don’t knows”.
Then for a Pastor, it is not about “my message” but “God/Jesus’ Message”. It is not “my way” but “God/Jesus’ Way”. It is not about “me” or “I”, but it is about “God”, about “Jesus”. “I Am the Way, the Truth, and Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (Jesus).”
I also noticed that most of “his message” is about “life here on Earth”, which is in a way contradicting to the Bible. Once we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour, and baptized in Water and the Holy Spirit, we are a New Creation. We are NOT citizens of this world, but Citizens of Heaven.
Thus, our eyes should always be set to Jesus, not this world. Teaching people all the positive things they can achieve is again, in MY OPINION, way excessive already. YES, Jesus/God said He will prosper us, that we should live our life to the fullest, but if all these blessings are taking our eyes AWAY from Jesus, then it is bad already… the question now becomes, “Is the blessing from God or from Satan?”
There is also nothing wrong with keeping it simple, I agree, make it easy “chew” and “swallow” for all those young in the Faith. BUT, Christians need to grow. When we grow, we dont eat “baby’s food” anymore, we eat REAL MEAT. Teachings must be like that as well.
I am a living testimony, and to tell you the truth, I love REAL MEAT Preaching. Sermons that strikes really hard, like a double-edged sword (well the Word of God is really like a double-edged sword), that pierces into my soul and spirit. That kind of teaching helps me grow. That type of sermons keeps me “full” and wanting more of Jesus.
It is not about getting rich for me, it is not about having a life of being comfortable in this world. I am content with where I am. My Faith is in Jesus, for He promised that He will never forsake me. He promised that He will provide.
I’d rather have a life full of trials and tribulations, hardships, problems, than live a life free from all those and forget Jesus. Because of these problems, I always remember Jesus, and I stay close to Jesus. Remove these problems, give me “freedom” from these problems, I highly doubt I will still be breathing in this world.
BUT regardless, let us not go all-out and fight each other. Jesus said it Himself, that anyone teaching the Word of God should be given respect for they are helping in the spread of the Gospel. Let God be the judged on them, not us.
It is fine to share our opinions and expose the wrong things, but there are explanations that really are subject to our own interpretations, just for example, I don’t see something wrong with “his way” of teaching the “Promises of God” (yes he is avoiding sin), it’s just that, he uses too much “me”, “my”, and “I’s”.
God Bless to all.
April 8th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
To Gigi
I’ll have to disagree with you. The nature of faith IS relative. You are obscuring the fact that there are existing religions out there with a large number of believers as well. You make the choices up to what extent of the prescribed objective teachings of the religion you want to follow. Perhaps that is what you meant. Because with faith, it’s all about your experience with whatever it is you claim to be your faith. Here’s an example, Moses and the burning bush as opposed to any other person’s practices in his/her faith. They both believe in God. Their experiences of faith are relative to themselves.
What you meant I guess is how some people can be Cafeteria Catholics and willfully pick and choose doctrines to follow.
But there are also some people who have a strong faith in God but do not believe in certain doctrines because they find them fallible and erroneous. Does this make their faith less valuable?
Peace.
Ozy’s last blog post..i.ph
April 8th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Hi Ozy,
Faith is absolute.
let me explain from a logical point of view.
for example, wether you believe it or not, the world is round.
though you haven’t seen by your physical eyes
but we are certain that the world is round
now heres the question
if you believe the world is not round…lets say you believe it to be in rectangular form…will the world be in rectangular form because you believe it to be so?
…even if all your life youve been told by your parents the world is rectangular?
…even if youve written millions of books justifying it?
…even if you’d shed your life for that belief?
…i dont think so
if you do think so…then i dont think you should read on
i suggest you stop wasting your time on this site…for your sake
but if your with me, pls continue on
- – -
as you can see…our belief on something doesnt make it more real.
whether you believe or not…the world will always be round.
even if you sacrificed your life for that belief…God forbid
- – -
now apply that logic on God…whether you believe or not…
does it make God more real or less?
does it make the Bible more truthful or less?
does it make the reality of man’s fallenness more real or less?
….even if all your life your parents taught you that God doesnt exist?
…even if you’ve written millions of books justifying your belief?
…even if you’ve shed your life for that belief?
i wouldnt think so
- – -
now…theres a reality here
the truth must exist
well it does exist…whether your belief is “relative” or not
- – -
you are speaking from experience
from opinion that is generated for many years
but we are speaking from the Bible
the very words of God
which is the truth…
….whether your belief is “relative” or not
- – -
thanks for dropping by my wife’s blog
Warren’s last blog post..Vanishing Conscience
April 9th, 2008 at 11:26 am
It is so refreshing to “meet” another blogger who has their eyes opened to Osteen. This is a fabulous post!
Rebecca’s last blog post..Words Matter
April 9th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Hello Rebecca,
Thanks for the kind words.
John Sese Cuneta,
Please look at Warren’s reply, it pretty much sums up everything.
Gigi,
Wonderful words from a sister! Thanks for the rescue…
Lkd,
I hope Gigi’s words enlightened you on this issue… Again, it isn’t positivism and words of encouragement that we need to be saved. We also need to be fed with The Word, the TRUE WORD, not some word thrown in and mixed up with the words from the Scripture.
Warren, as always… You are loved…
April 9th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Wonderful post and wonderful blog.
Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. [NIV]
This reminds me of so many eye opening passages:
1 John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Matthew 24: v 4-5
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. [2 Timothy 4:3-4]
Twinkle Mom’s last blog post..Word-Filled Wednesday-1 John 1:7
April 10th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Hello there Twinkle Mom,
Thanks for the hop… I hope you come by often
. I just checked your blog, I love your Word-filled Wednesday. 
April 11th, 2008 at 3:28 am
I dropped by your site because someone happened to come to my site from here. I notice that my site (my pointless) is listed as one of your entertainments.
thanks! glad you like it.
I find this post on Osteen interesting. I find it sadly amusing when “health and wealth” gospel preachers seem to ignore that Jesus did not have wealth while here on earth. If God’s program is for us to be like Christ… what makes them think that riches must be part of that??
Osteen, as you said, misses the point. God’s priority in my life is not to make me healthy, happy, or wealthy. God’s desire is to save me from my sin… then develop in me the character of Christ (Romans 8). That will be, at times, a happy and an uncomfortable process!
It is a shame when preachers make people think that God’s love for us always involves giving us what makes us “happy.”
I’ll be back.
friendinme’s last blog post..you want half? I’ll give you half.
April 11th, 2008 at 7:42 am
joel osteen says:[...] in Bonita Springs.http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080407/BUSINESS/804070306Osteen’s Desecration of True ChristianityReligious article. Aims to expose the flaws in joel Osteen’s preaching style, conviction, beliefs [...]
April 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am
² Should you listen to Mr. Osteen to believe that he is God sent?
#Premise 1 — “Living in Total Victory”
□ He said, “I wanna talk to you today about ‘Living in Total Victory.’”
□ After saying that, I was expectant that I would be hearing a teaching about what it takes to have a life in TOTAL victory.
□ There could be a false presumption that it will be complete or absolute, no other option, victory, that I can and must have.
#Premise 2 — not just breathing… but living an abundant life
□ Joel quoted Jesus, “because I live, you shall live also.”
> Was Joel quoting Jesus correctly? By that I mean, was he drawing out (exegesis) what Jesus meant by what He was saying? Better read the whole context of John 14:1-31, where the exact statement of Jesus appears.
> Jesus had begun His valedictory address to the remaining 11. The world of the disciples was about to be shattered; they would be bewildered, confused, and ridden with anxiety because of the events that would soon transpire. Anticipating their devastation, Jesus spoke to comfort their hearts.
> This whole chapter centers in the promise that Christ is the One who gives the believer comfort, not only in His future return but also in the present with the ministry of the Holy Spirit (v. 26). [MacArthur, J. J. (1997, c1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Jn 14:1). Nashville: Word Pub.]
> While Mr. Osteen may literally be quoting Jesus, but he didn’t quote Him exactly as He would have meant it. Here lies the danger of misquoting the very words of Scriptures: 1) miss the point of the passage; 2) misunderstand its true meaning; 3) misapplying the derived “false” meaning to gullible hearers.
□ Next he adds to what Jesus was really saying, “He wasn’t talking about just breathing. He was talking about having an abundant life.”
> Jesus really said, “… I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10, ESV). Could this be the text Joel was referring to? Reading from verses 1 through 20, you can easily understand the context.
> Jesus was not promising “abundant life” in the sense that Joel was trying to claim Jesus was saying. The Lord Jesus was comparing Himself for being the Good Shepherd as against thieves and robbers, strangers, and hired hands.
> Jesus was clearly confronting the religious leaders about their selfish desires instead of caring for the needs of their flock. But instead they steal (thieves), kill and destroy (robbers), they have no relationship with the sheep (strangers), and they just don’t care about them (hired hands).
> No wonder the Jewish religious leaders reacted this way, “There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” (vv. 19-20, ESV).
□ Mr. Osteen must have intentionally added “abundant life” in Jesus’ statement “you shall live also” to mean something else.
> Of course, if he really studied these texts, he might be surprised that Jesus was promising an abundant life in the context of warning the flock to avoid false spiritual leaders whose only desire is to rob, kill, and destroy because they were not willing to establish and maintain a relationship with them to even care about their needs.
> What do you really mean Joel?
# Premise 3 — “…because of the price He paid, we have a right to total victory.”
□ Sounds good? Wait till you hear the rest…
> “… not partial victory, to where we have a good family, good health, but we constantly struggle in our finances…; … if God did it for ya in one area, He can do it for ya in another area…”
> Listening intently to what Mr. Osteen was presenting will strike your mind —
x that God did not intend for you to be sick, you are a healthy person getting rid of sickness… ;
x That God did not intend for you to be poor, you are a wealthy person getting rid of poverty… ;
x And so on it goes… all of what he says does not agree with Scripture in whole or in part.
# Meditation : When sufficient evidence of false teaching has been clearly observed against a preacher as he begins his presentations, there is no more need to hear the rest of the garbage.
# Conclusion :
□ Test every spirit (1 John 4:1) — done!
□ Do not believe (ibid) — to do !
□ This is a wide gate and the easy way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13), many enter by it — do not enter !
□ The true gate is narrow and the way is hard but it leads to life eternal (Matthew 7:14), few find it — strive to find and enter by it !
April 29th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Tom says:Tom…
I think you are absolutely on track here!…
May 13th, 2008 at 6:11 am
joel osteen says:[...] joel Osteen’s preaching style, conviction, beliefs and most of all, his Christian "faith".http://balutpress.com/zhey/2008/04/02/osteens-desecration-of-true-christianity/Joel Osteen Books and MinistryInformation on joel Osteen, Lakewood Church, joel osteen Books and [...]