Posted on 10/31/2014 7:35:33 AM PDT by Gamecock
Joel Osteen net worth (estimate)
40 million US$ (2014)
Just disgusting.
On an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. I remember Chris asking him about preaching salvation and Osteen’s reply was...” I am not about all that, I am about making people feel good about themselves.”....At another time he states..”If you do your best God is pleased with you so start feeling good about yourself.”
His comments are a mix of everything from Naploean Hill, The Proseprity Gospel,to New Age quotes and focus....and anything else which he can use to ride the edge of Christianity without the commitment to Christ...rather it’s a call to ones self and to follow his steps or buy his book so he can give you “the keys” to “look inside yourself and see your greatness”.
Here’s a bit of history on this guy...from what I’ve found Osteen’s had no formal Bible training, he dropped out of Oral Roberts University where he was studying “television” to get his fathers television ministry going...which he produced.
Joel’s father John Osteen, was a “Word Faith” preacher like that of Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Myers and the like. So after his father died he took over the pulpit preaching.
So Joel’s message is clear where it’s roots are.... Osteen said his goal is to... “give people a boost for the week.”...and thus his message is to keep people from feeling uncomfortable, bad or guilty by letting them know what is wrong. ..and so he avoids talking of sin or a need for repentance on purpose.
His preaching is always to keep people coming back for the next “fix”... a whole lot of word faith stuff...”discover your potential, tickle your ears type of sermons that make one keep coming back for more. Robert Shuller mixed with a host of other than catchy quotes.
according to Osteen young people are attracted to a church setting with “the best lighting and the best sound system,” .. “It’s not a churchy feel,” Osteen, said. “We don’t have crosses up there. We believe in all that, but I like to take ‘the barriers down’ that have kept people from coming.”
He further states.... ‘Make church relevant.’ ‘Give them something to be able to take away. I find today people are not looking for theology. There’s a place for it, [But] in your everyday life you need to know how to live” (Charisma, June 2004, pp. 44-45).
He says further...” My thing is this: the Bible says it’s the goodness of God that leads people to repentance. That’s right out of the Bible.”.... (The Bible actually says “godly sorrow works repentance…” (2 Cor. 7:10).)
“There’s ‘power’ in what you visualize,” Osteen said as well....but he fails to understand or know (along with all the other things he doesn’t know)....Visualizing is an occult technique that brings you immediately into the spirit realm that we are not to be involved with.
Here’s his full quote.....” We have to conceive it on the inside before we’re ever going to receive it on the outside. If you don’t think you can have something good, then you never will. The barrier is in ‘your mind’. It’s not God’s lack of resources or your lack of talent that prevents you from prospering. Your own wrong thinking can keep you from God’s best. ”....Nothing said about trusting God.
and here he claims...” Your words have creative power. When you go around saying, ‘I have favor, people want to be good to me and ‘supernatural doors are opening.’ When you make those declarations of faith, you are charging the atmosphere. And your own words can help to bring it to pass.”....stunningly this is New Age combined but worse the focus is on one’s own words to change things...not God’s Word.
Exerts taken from....and a very interesting read on Olsteen.
http://www.letusreason.org/popteac29.htm
As background for mine, I had been reading a lot peoples' accounts of their near death experiences and after reading Heaven is For Real I was still hungry for more. I found a similarly titled book, Heaven is Real, But So Is Hell by Vassula Ryden, and couldn't resist checking it out, especially so after the impact that My Descent Into Death: A Second Chance At Life had on me.
One book leads to another, and when I finally started reading the messages in True Life In God, I was blown away. I had no trouble believing that God had chosen a mouthpiece, so to speak, for our time, to speak to us in our modern language, given what the world was going through and how far it has degenerated.
And, despite the atheists in my life, I have no trouble accepting the supernatural, as that is obviously what the Holy Trinity, Heaven, the hierarchy of angles, etc. are all about.
None the less, the Bible had always been difficult for me to understand. I read it and, seeing it literally as I did, along with the trouble I had with King James English, it made little sense.
And as an added bonus, I had learned in a college history class that the Puritans supposedly would have said someone like me with such difficulty wasn't one of the chosen.
Oh well...too bad, so sad, sucks to be me. Besides, it wasn't like I saw a lot of Christians while growing up who were actually living what they claimed they believed in, which added to my difficulty. Being adopted by an atheist with even stronger issues with preachers and holier than thou christians, added to my cross I didn't even know I had.
The material I've been reading lately, primarily the NDEs and now the messages in TLIG, along with a parallel Bible to look up all the quotes and references in TLIG, have changed my understanding.
Like I said, I have no trouble believing she was chosen to do what she's doing. I know that there is much more to the world than most of us can see or sense and I have lived why there is a need for God's Mouthpiece at this time.
I was very excited to share TLIG with everyone and I am so naive that I was completely surprised that others didn't have the same reactions I did, the same amazement and wonder. A sign of our times, I think, but it still surprises me now within some circles.
Apologies for more info than you likely want or need, but I thought I should offer a second opinion for you or anyone else who might be curious.
Your posts on this have offered a window to a view I couldn't see very well before. Thank you for showing it to me. It's helpful.
Well, the cross is an offense.
If people are offended by it, they'll never be saved no matter how good someone makes them feel and how much the invoke God's name.
Even the demons believe and tremble.
At least they have the sense to do that much.
Human beings in their arrogance, spit in God's face.
There are lots more versions out there than the King James.
I prefer the English Standard Version. It's written in contemporary English at an adult (not 8th grade) level.
God promises us blessings for meditating on His word.
I know others who have had trouble understanding Scripture and there are parts that can be difficult to understand.
I've been memorizing Scripture for some time now and the Psalms are a great place to start.
Also, for easier reading in the NT, the gospels and the book of Acts.
Read the word. Not ABOUT the word.
Pray when you read and ask that the Holy Spirit give you insight.
Keep a notebook and pen on hand and when you read, if something stands out or jumps out at you, write it down and stop reading there and meditate on that for a while.
I can't tell you how often I've read a passage and when God wants to show me something, it jumps off the page and I wonder how I never saw it before, now that it's so obvious.
It all takes time. A lifetime is not enough to begin to glean what we can from it and there's always something new to learn.
Religious literary works have their place but there's a danger in letting them supplant the Word itself.
It's cool to read about other's experiences, but it's even cooler when God works in OUR own lives. Christianity is not a spectator sport.
I wouldn't worry about others opinions of yourself.
The Puritans were very strict and I doubt they'd approve of anyone these days.
His statement.....“We don’t have crosses up there. We believe in all that, but I like to take ‘the barriers down’ that have kept people from coming”
No but he does have a spinning World Globe as his back drop and his name in lights on wall of the church outside. Clearly it’s all about Joel Osteen.
No doubt Osteen and his followers will be snatched up by the New World Order Religion as it plays into that agenda and spring loads the followers for it....they’re also about making everybody “feel’ good about themselves.
I concur. If you look at the below chart you will see the English Standard is very close to being a "word for word" translation, yet it is very readable. I stay away from those on the right, with the NIV being as far to the right as I will go. Why? Thought for Thought leads to a lot of literary license, IMHO.
I also like the ESV Study Bible. Lots of tools to help understand what is going on throughout. Contributors come from a variety of conservative denominations and they provide a lot of background to each book.
|
NASB New American Standard Bible (1971; update 1995) AMP Amplified Bible (1965) ESV English Standard Version (2001) RSV Revised Standard Version (1952) KJV King James Version (1611; significantly revised 1769) NKJV New King James Version (1982) HCSB Holman Christian Standard Version (2004) NRSV New Revised Standard Version (1989) NAB New American Bible (Catholic, 1970, 1986 (NT), 1991 (Psalms) NJB New Jerusalem Bible (Catholic, 1986; revision of 1966 Jerusalem Bible) |
NIV New International Version (1984) TNIV Today’s New International Version (NT 2001, OT 2005) NCV New Century Version NLT1 New Living Translation (1st ed. 1996; 2nd ed. 2004) NIrV New International reader’s Version GNT Good News Translation (also Good News Bible) CEV Contemporary English Version Living Living Bible (1950). Paraphrase by Ken Taylor. Liberal treatment of ‘blood.’ Message The Message by Eugene Peterson (1991-2000s) |
That’s interesting. Thanks for posting that.
Thank you for all you've said in this helpful post. These last few years have been a tougher road than I think I would have chosen for myself, with too many losses and some major hits that I didn't get up from right away.
But I did...with help...and now I have a better idea about how He works, how hard my head is and what I put Him through to get my attitude adjusted.
I learned that when you ask God to show Himself to you, it's best to be a good student instead of a stubborn one like me. He will answer that prayer...one way or another.
And He will "take you to the desert" if that's what He has to do. Kinda cool...looking back...but not so much at the time.
I now have two versions and a parallel and it's often confusing how different they can be with the same passages.
Very helpful. Thanks!
Been there, done that.
I hear you.
I love hearing testimonies about how God has worked in people’s lives and the great things He has done for them.
It didn’t used to occur to me what they went through to get there. It’s not so much fun when it happens to me.
I know better now.
Here. This site has links that can take you to the Greek or Hebrew to help clarify the meanings of words.
It takes a little exploring to get to know your way around, but it has been a big help to me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.