There Are Shades of Joel Osteen in the Book of Job

PJ Media ^ | 10/11/2017 | John Ellis

[SubMareener]

Jesus said:

MAT7:01 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
MAT7:02 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

God. KING JAMES BIBLE TOUCH - KJV (Kindle Locations 37597-37599). Kindle Edition.

LUK6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 
LUK6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

God. KING JAMES BIBLE TOUCH - KJV (Kindle Locations 40237-40240). Kindle Edition.

[AppyPappy]

All these Prosperity types are lime Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) people. MLM’s don’t sell products; they sell dreams. So the Prosperity Gospel is a lot like a lottery ticket. There’s almost no chance of winning but it makes you feel good.
Prosperity Gospel put YOU in charge of God. You can bribe Him to do what you want and pay Him to get you out of trouble.

[AppyPappy]

Then He condemned people like the Pharisees.

[GreenHornet]

Mike Murdock seemed even sleazier than Osteen, but I haven’t seen him in a while. It seemed that Murdock never talked about ANYTHING but money, e.g., “Sow a seed of $40 and I’ll send you my new pamphlet called, ‘God wants you to prosper.’

I agree. I've always thought of Joel Osteen as more of a motivational speaker than a preacher. People like Mike Murdock and Rod Parsley are at the bottom of the barrel. Their basic pitch is always: "God wants to bless you, but he can't do it until you send me your $300.00 Faith Seed (and the check clears.)" Reminds me of an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati about a preacher named Little Ed who was selling John the Baptist shower curtains and Last Supper steak knives.

[SubMareener]

JOB42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: ....

I think you are missing the key part: God released Job from captivity when he prayed for friends thus showing that he forgave them. Jesus thought this was so important, He made it a part of the Lord’s Prayer.

These Osteen bashing threads are chock full of folks who just can’t forgive him for having money, a beautiful wife and a big congregation. When Simon Peter asked Jesus what was going to happen to John, Jesus told him is was none of Peter’s business. Jesus could do anything He wanted with John.

Similarly, what Jesus does with any of us is His business. We are saved by His Grace and not anything we could do. That is the one payment for working in the vineyard. However, Jesus also told us that our reward in Heaven was dependent on what we did in this world with what He gave us.

We are in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The Rev 12:1-3 signs have occurred. The “tamid”, whatever that is, was taken away on Tishri 1 thus starting the 1290 day clock to the Abomination that causes Desolation. The Sign of Jonah is complete, and America didn’t repent. So on the day after the 40 days of warning we had the “pure evil” of the largest mass shooting in recent American history in “sin city”. California is on fire. The Mississippi is so dry over the New Madrid fault that barge traffic is severely restricted. Soon is will take a day’s pay to buy a loaf of bread.

All this is going on, and these people are still coveting Joel Osteen’s things. What will it take to wake them up to the signs of the times?

[SubMareener]

It seems to me that this is more applicable to this Osteen bashers:

MAR9:38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
MAR9:39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
MAR9:40 For he that is not against us is on our part.

God. KING JAMES BIBLE TOUCH - KJV (Kindle Locations 39374-39378). Kindle Edition.

[b4me]

I see Joel as motivational speaker, maybe kindergarten Christianity, where you learn a few letters maybe even a few words, but don’t expect real sentence structure.

Joel has his purpose - He does make some people think about God and maybe even Jesus, but to those with deeper understanding already he is clearly a watered down mixture of God and other stuff.

[GBA]

I could be wrong, but as near as I can tell, Osteen's income comes from the books he writes, not Lakewood.

I don't know how many he's written nor how many of those have become best sellers, but it's a lot of books!

I've not read one, but I listen to him on XM while driving and I like his style and humor. His material is actually quite good and time tested.

I know first hand how valuable taking charge of one's thinking can be, especially if one's thoughts are then refocused on God, instead of the often negative and harshly critical thoughts about others, our lives and our selves that so often makes up much of our inner dialog.

His material works and he presents it well. I'm not surprised he's well rewarded for sharing what the Holy Spirit shares with him.

Ultimately, it's his money to do with as he pleases, of course, but I imagine that he also gives much to receive as much he has. "First giving what you want to receive to then receive what you want" is not an uncommon theme with him and I imagine he lives as he preaches.

I've been wrong before, of course, but after listening to so many of his stories while driving, to me he seems too goofy/geeky and wholesome to be anything else but that. He probably was and always has been one of those "good like a good Christian should be" kids.

Lots of gossip and fake news in our times and people love to hate on Joel Osteen and how God made him. And... I hate to admit that I used to frequently sing in that same choir, too.

Tricky fellow, that Satan character, getting me to righteously bear false witness like that, but I was wrong about Osteen and what I did was wrong.

During my trials and tribulations these last many years, his material has been very helpful for me and my thinking. I'm better for having taken it to heart.

I thank the Holy Spirit for using Osteen as He does and Osteen for being so receptive to doing what God placed in front of him to do.

[SubMareener]

Amen!

[stars & stripes forever]

From what I’ve observed, OLSTEEN’S sermons and books are based on BIBLE PROMISES.

[b4me]

You said it well.

I came to Christ thru happening to turn on Christian TV on day. At first it was all I would watch then I started into looking at the bible myself and by God :) it made sense for the first time in my life!

I find Joel a little superficial where I prefer more teaching/studying scripture so I can really understand the word of God and let Jesus change me, but I do at times still click on Christian TV and always get inspired or a good reminder of what God says and it relates to some thing I’m dealing with.

For those on FR so sure “prosperity” preachers are wrong, Jesus spoke of prosperity, saying he came to lift us up and out of all those things he read out of Isaiah passage His first time preaching in the temple. Jesus also said we have the Holy Spirit and He affords us much help in renewing our mind and staying on track to make changes toward prosperity in lots of other ways in our lives.

Sure there are some on TV and in local churches who are pure shysters, God handles them at the appropriate times.

Joel didn’t even want to lead the church when his dad died. It took him a while to answer the call of God.

I think people who watch or read his writings don’t get that God calls people to preach various levels, various portions of His word. Yes it’s best to know all portions, so thats why I learned you can’t just l listen to your weekly pastor or priest or one TV preacher. I got a friend stuck on Joseph Prince for years, I can’t listen to him but at this time in her life she is learning that portion of Grace and whatever else Joe preaches.

The key is we all keep diving into Jesus whatever way we feel lead to and God will redirect us and correct us as we need if we truly want to grow with Him. Or else He just leaves us be stuck only realizing a portion of all His goodness and bounty He had in store for us.

There’s many scriptures that speak about God wanting us to have abundance - one is like: Our God shall supply ALL our needs according to HIS RICHES and glory for those who are in Christ Jesus and are called according to HIS purposes.

Another scripture is about Jabez, I forget what book it’s in, But God blessed him abundantly.

God’s got riches to share for anyone wanting to pursue Him and let Him show and direct you in His plans and purposes.

Thanks for sharing as you did GBA. May God bless you now and always.

[SkyDancer]

Okay - so if you find out someone is a charlatan you’re not allowed to warn people? How lame is that?

[Gamecock]

What would things look like if Satan really took control of a city? Over half a century ago, Presbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse offered his own scenario in his weekly sermon that was also broadcast nationwide on CBS radio. Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over Philadelphia (the city where Barnhouse pastored), all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, “Yes, sir” and “No ma’am,” and the churches would be full every Sunday…where Christ is not preached.
—Michael Horton in Christless Christianity

[GBA]

I've not read one, but what you say is true about his sermons. What I've heard is Osteen saying exactly that.

In fact, to begin his sermons, while raising a Bible in the air, he says:

This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do."

I really like that.

[SubMareener]

So you are saying that you personally have interacted with Joel Osteen enough to determine without a doubt that he is a charlatan? Are you saying that if someone accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord at the end of an Osteen sermon that it isn’t valid? What exactly, makes Joel Osteen a sharlatan?

[SubMareener]

The Bible specifically states what it will be like when Satan is in charge, and current events is definitely headed in that way. It is nothing like Donald Grey Barnhouse described, so it appears that his “speculation” was not based on the Bible.

[GBA]

Thank you. May God bless you, too! Cool story. Thanks for sharing it.

I've had similar experiences. There are some TV preachers I cannot stand that others tell me they love and get help from, so what do I know? Not much.

However, the more I learn, the more I want to know and Osteen can be somewhat superficial sometimes, as you say.

On the other hand, sometimes superficial is about all I'm good for, so that works for me. :)

If you're interested, BBN radio has some good segments. I like the Adrian Rogers sermons they broadcast at 9:30 am and then Chuck Swindall at 10:30. Every now and then they'll broadcast one of Ravi Zacharias' sermons and he can make me think.

WTCG has a local station I can pick up most of the time. I have no idea who all they broadcast, but some are awesome.

Osteen is still my default choice while driving, though. He helps keep me sane and serene in traffic and for that I'm grateful!

[SkyDancer]

No. What I said originally was I do not like him and his smarmy goodie goodie delivery of basic nonsense on riches from God and blah blah blah. Like I got millions and so can you. And how do you really know if someone like Olsteen has accepted Yashua as Lord and Savior? Are you in his mind seeing stuff? Again, do some internet searches on televangelists and their financial background and how they use God’s money for their own selfish purposes. Have to have those million dollar private jets, etc etc etc.

[SubMareener]

Sounds like simple coveting to me.

[Hot Tabasco]

"Like many new evangelical churches, the building has no cross,

Confession: The only church I ever attempted to follow was a Baptist church back in 2007. I felt unease from the very beginning since it had no cross on either the outside or the inside behind the stage...........

I guess the church reasoning was that they don't worship a "symbol"...............

My affiliation didn't last long......