The essence of Osteen.
Posted on 06/07/2014 10:10:30 AM PDT by Gamecock
....Joel Osteen, the pastor of Houston's Lakewood Church, was meeting Thursday with Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Osteen said Friday it was a great honor to represent the pastors of America in the meeting with the pontiff, whom he described as warm, personable and full of joy.
"I like the fact that this pope is trying to make the church larger, not smaller," Osteen said. "He's not pushing people out but making the church more inclusive. That resonated with me."
"We had very little time with him," Osteen said. "We were going to have more time, but a cardinal died that morning."
As part of a visit to promote interfaith understanding and ecumenical prayer, the meeting with Pope Francis was arranged by The International Foundation, a private nonprofit organization, Lee told the Deseret News.
More than 50,000 charismatic Roman Catholics also attended the convocation, during which the pope knelt on the ground to pray...
The day before the meeting with Pope Francis, Osteen said, he attended Mass in St. Peter's Square with 100,000 people.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
LOL
But for heaven's sake, why not? Poverty is highly overrated. I don't believe God made me to be poor -- that would mean I wasn't using my God-given abilities, such as they are. A few uplifting words can truly help when you're working hard to achieve the Great American Dream. It gets harder and harder. God help us all.
He died that our sins may be forgiven.
Not to pad my bank account.
Yup I get that. I didn't realize being rich or asking for prosperity are sins.
Greed, glutony...sure...but basic prosperity?
You can’t be saved unless you become like Jesus. You can’t be like Jesus unless you accept the Cross. To be baptized into his resurrection, you must be baptized into his crucifixion.
My >personal< belief is that God wants us to be happy and prosperous. It is similar to what I hear from Olsteen. That prevents me from being Christian? If so, I am lost.
Our Lord has already advised us what to ask for. Prosperity isn’t on the list.
My belief also is that God wants us to be happy — but that we usually don’t know what’s best for us. Ultimately, happiness is nothing less than holiness. Ask for that.
Something really weird about people claiming to worship a crucified God, who complain when they find themselves nailed to a Cross.
No . . . I don't see anything wrong with a so-called Christian preacher not showing a Cross or even holding a Bible . . . Oprah would love that.
This so-called preacher is a "prosperity good-time feel-good purveyor of babble."
Nothing like a 10.5 million dollar home to feel good in. I find him creepy looking especially when he closes his eyes whenever he turns his head from side to side.
Give me someone who not only holds a Bible in his hands, but actually reads from it . . . and actually stands in front of a Cross.
The essence of Osteen.
Lateen is jealous of all the Vatican wealth.
And what happens when your life falls apart? When you have to face disease or bankruptcy? Where will your god be then?
-— He has a globe and not a cross. Does that really mean anything? -—
Yes. Jesus said, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he
must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
This flatly contradicts the prosperity gospel.
>What is wrong with Osteen?
The lost sheep who end up thinking like him!
I wonder if Pope Francis knelt and asked for Osteen’s blessing. He seems to do a lot of that wherever he goes.
Or maybe he just kissed Joel’s hand.
“Well I am pretty sure he didn’t die intending us to be poor and suffering.”
Don’t tell the Apostles about your Gospel.
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” - Rom 5
“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.” - Philippians 1
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace...” - 2 Tim 1
“Resist [Satan], firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” - 1 Peter 5
“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.” - James 5
” Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” - 1 Peter 2
And Jesus:
“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” - John 15
“Pick up your cross and follow me.” were his instructions. That sounds like poor and suffering to me.
And won’t he be surprised when he can’t take it with him when he dies? LOL!
For example..@ Salvation,St_Thomas_Aquinas and others.
“Pick up your cross and follow me.” were his instructions. That sounds like poor and suffering to me.
Do YOU live in poverty? Perhaps you do. I have and am close to it now but comfortable and happy. BUT I have Faith. I ask God to show me the way to prosperity. However I submit to His plan.
@laweeks
Oprah would love that....and,... Nothing like a 10.5 million dollar home to feel good in.
What does Oprah have to do with this discussion? As to living in a nice, expensive home...
Class envy? My family and I have been happy to live in a hovel. Heated with wood and kerosene. No electric, gas or at times water. I asked God for a better place and he answered.
Don't get me wrong. As a family we worked to make things better. We prayed and asked God for his Guidance and Blessing. He answered.
We COULD go back to the old place though. Would that make you happy and me more of a Christian?
@Romulus
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
Kinda sounds like prosperity to me.
We are all Blessed. We are Thankful for that and all of His Grace.
I am at work but I will leave you with one of my personal observations that may or may not be pertinent.
The Measure of a Man.
The measure of a Man isn't how he looks, or speaks, or his wealth or standing in his community.
The Measure of a Man is how he applies his God given Strengths to:
Provide for his family
Help his neighbors
And take care of himself.
When he does these things to the best of his ability he is a Man in God's eyes.
Wonder who washed who’s feet.
I grew up on a farm living in a two bedroom house which along the way got added onto. Outside plumbing at first too.
During the depression I remember eating lots of eggs potatoes and chicken. We were all very happy and all pitched in to help in the garden, the fields, etc.
I am not poor now. My condo is paid for and just got remodeled — thanks to a lot of elbow grease from my five children.
However, I live on a lot less than most people, and to me it doesn’t matter.
While living on the farm we would drive eight miles to church through snow and other kinds of weather. I now volunteer at my church every day of the week. God is good.
As to health — I was injured as a baby in an auto accident and suffered through a childhood having seizures from the head trauma in that accident. My seizures were controlled after the births of three children, and I had two more children.
My husband died 30 years ago from lung cancer. That was probably the hardest time of my life. For in the next 10 years I also had four other family members die, one (my father in law) whom I had to ID since he committed suicide.
I thank God for all my troubles — crosses — and my life today, even though it is difficult at times.
May God bless you. Truly I understand that picking up one’s cross to follow Jesus and experiencing suffering is a gift from Christ himself.
BTW — My children are all grown now, a real estate agent, a nurse, a teacher, an electrician and an attorney.
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