Posted on 12/20/2005 4:08:06 PM PST by truthandlife
A dispute that involved the wife of Houston's most famous pastor, Joel Osteen, and a Continental Airlines flight attendant ended up delaying a flight for hours Monday. And now, Victoria Osteen's actions on that flight are in the spotlight. Also on ABC13.com: Send us a news tip | RSS feeds | ABC13 E-lert | Info mentioned on air Statements from Lakewood and Continental Following the incident on Continental flight 1602 Monday, both Lakewood Church and Continental Airlines released these statements. The Osteens run the largest church in the nation, so passengers on a Continental flight were shocked Monday when Mrs. Osteen was removed from that flight after a disturbance.
Taking time off from the high profile hustle and bustle of running a mega-church, Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen and his family boarded Continental flight 1602 Monday morning at Houston's big airport. They were bound for the slopes in Colorado.
Their trip was delayed and so was the entire flight by almost two hours. Fellow passengers blame the popular Osteens, specifically Joel's wife, Victoria.
According to passenger accounts, the Osteens were sitting in first class. Soon after the plane's door was closed, the FBI says Victoria Osteen was removed following what Continental would call only a disturbance. The Osteens' spokesman confirms it involved a flight attendant, but that's all. However, one passenger tells Eyewitness News she was alerted to the front of the plane when she heard a commotion.
"She violently ran towards the cockpit, scaring everyone around her," said passenger Knicky Van Slyke. "Everyone was terrified about what was going on. And a bunch of flight attendants ran up and had to restrain her. She was banging on the door."
"Of the cockpit?" we asked.
"Yes."
Passengers say Victoria was removed first. Joel and the children followed. Meantime, everyone waited.
"They unloaded all the luggage to get their luggage and deplaned her, Joel, and the kids," said passenger Dawn Dixon.
Passenger Chad Clay said, "They kept telling us they were waiting on some passengers to find their luggage underneath in the plane, and it was going to be delayed for looking for that luggage."
According to the Transportation Security Administration, federal air marshals were never involved. Local authorities also know nothing of this event. Continental would not discuss details.
The Osteens' spokesman denies a physical altercation, denies Victoria ever banged on the cockpit door, and says she left on her own.
"The account of the event which has come to our attention is inaccurate and overblown. The misunderstanding was minor and was resolved when Victoria voluntarily removed herself from the situation," read the statement.
The FBI says it was not voluntary. Though agents are not investigating, they will review the incident as the Osteens enjoy their Colorado vacation.
The Osteens' spokesman says they took another flight to Colorado Monday.
Nobody has been charged. As for the FBI's involvement, we're told it's standard procedure for them to review all passenger removal incidents. According to Continental, this one is a closed case.
Pastor Joel Osteen preaches to an average of 40,000 people a week at Lakewood Church services. Lakewood opened in the former home of the Rockets, Compaq Center, back in July. It took $90 million and a year and a half of renovations. Osteen's ministry is taped and aired around the world.
b) the Santa-line was a slap against the "guest worker" program to allow illegals to stay in the country
Keep holding that breath
You think I didn't know that, breathless one? Go back and read. My previous posts still stands.
Keep believing in Santa for your security.
Born poor, lived poor, died poor, and buried in a borrowed grave...
He was/is the richest man that walked this earth. No one could have what HE had unless they came to Him. And no grave could hold HIM - He arose again. Something no money can buy. He Lives!
He bought a huge auditorium and it is filled whenever I watch the program--thousands of people. Perhaps the reason they were going on vacation was to give her some rest. Running a large ministry can be very stressful. People are always expecting you to be someone you aren't. Give her some grace, folks. You don't know the truth yet. It really bugs me when people jump to conclusions here without knowing the facts. They seem to love to put down and criticize Christian ministries.
I've watched his program a number of times and that place is packed. I don't doubt that there are 40,000 there. He may also have several services a week. These mega-churches often do.
My son and his wife love him. I bought them the book he wrote and now they're coming back to church. God uses all kinds of ministries, not just the ones WE like personally. People need to be careful about 'touching God's anointed ones' because there's judgement from HIM when we do.
I'll toss some rocks....I never got thrown off an airplane! Irritated my butt........
Exactly. Only Jesus was perfect. The rest of us are often very poor copies, but we keep trying.
You have several services. It's done all the time in mega-churches.
Let's not forget the television audience.
If I am in bed on Sunday mornings channel surfing, I will always stop when I see Olsteen.
He preaches a positive outlook. One Sunday, I may actually attend his church in person.
If you mean health and wealth as in God still heals today and He wants his people prosperous, than I am in that camp.
...that's OK, He only borrowed it a few days.
...just a nice Jewish boy who went into his Father's business TM
Cheers!
Maybe you hang with the wrong crowd. My experience is that whatever time of day or night, there are FReepers awake and praying for whatever requests get posted. For some, anonymous prayers have become their own ministry.
My question was to your assertion that only "Spirit-led" people go to Osteen's complex.
For you to think that people go to "churches" because they're Spirit-led is ludicrous because most, if not all, go to such complexes because they offer what Wal-Mart offers: everything to meet their perceived needs.
Americans are consumers and they pick their places of "worship" on how their selfish needs are met...just like Wal-Mart attempts to scratch every itch of its customers.
There is nothing wrong with a business catering to its customers, but when a so-called "church" spends millions in creating programs and facilities to entice people to attend, they're no different than the Fortune 500 companies. Therefore, they cease to represent the Church of the New Testament.
Why? Because in the Church of the New Testament, people come together to meet the needs of others, not to have their needs met. And so, in giving they represent the Lord Himself who came to serve and not to be served. However, you don't see that in most "churches" in America. You see nothing but selfishness, where people attend in order to be "fed," burped and pampered. There's no sacrificing on behalf of others; no open opportunity for God's people to express their gifts in building up the Body. No, it's all contrived so that people are lulled into believing that all that's needed to "serve" God is to spare an hour or so each week.
And yet we wonder why the Church has been marginalized and its influenced diluted.
If there's a cult here, it's Osteen's group, as well as many others.
A great, unheralded movie...you just reminded me...I'll rent it again tomorrow.
Bush lied, people died
We're losing the war in Iraq
Bush lives in a bubble
DeLay conspired
Cheney leaked
Plame was covert
The economy is in the tank
Voters were disenfranchised
Bush was AWOL
Katrina response was racist
Katrina victims were mostly black
Tax cuts are for the rich
GOP destroys social security
Withdrawl really means "redeploy"
etc
We can all count on YOU to believe these stories verbatim, since the AP has no agenda against Conservatives, against Christians, against Republicans, against America. None. Just a figment of our imagination.
You raise a good point. It saddens me to know that so many people will only see the televangelists. You know, years ago we were studying the passage in the Bible where Jesus gets angry at the moneychangers in the Temple. A lot of people think the reason Jesus became angry was because they were doing something that desecrated the holiness of the Temple but that is not the point at all. The moneychangers and other vendors occupied an outside courtyard area; they were not within the actual walls of the Temple. Only the Jews were allowed in the Temple but anyone could come within the walls of the courtyard. So, in fact, what was happening was that the pagans could only glimpse this area and would get the wrong idea of what the Temple was truly about - God's house and that it was to be a House of Prayer. I see today's televangelists much the same way. So many people see only them and they are sortof stuck in the courtyard, if you will, never to see what God truly is about. It's a shame and a sham! They are today's version of the moneychangers only they keep ALL the money.
Here's a sampling of AP headlines as of 2 minutes ago. Please kindly educate the rest of us naifs as to which are true and which are lies and inventions of the Communists at AP:
Thursday, Dec. 22, 2005 AP launches asap - younger audience service AP NEWS on MEDIA SITES WORLDWIDE: NYC Transit Union Moves to Return to Work Rumsfeld Hints at Cutting Forces in Iraq Saddam Trial Is Adjourned Until Jan. 24 Some Iraq Sunnis, Shiites Threaten Boycott AP NEWS in ALL FORMATS
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