Posted on 12/06/2019 6:29:49 AM PST by Gamecock
[T]here will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” 2 Peter 2:1–3
I’m surprised when I hear people say that we shouldn’t judge preachers. “That’s not loving” or “The Bible says not to judge” are often responses.
My gut reaction is, “Have you ever read the New Testament?”
The New Testament is FILLED with warnings to beware of false teachers who come as wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15) disguised as servants of righteousness (2 Corinthians 11:13–15) and lead many away from the truth (Matthew 24:24). Our call as Christians is to follow the example of the Bereans in Acts 17 and search the Scriptures to see if what we hear aligns with God’s Holy Word.
I share this because of reports that Kanye West, an apparent recent convert I’ve mentioned here before, will take the stage at the church of someone I consider a false teacher—Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston. (I hope Kanye shares a clear gospel presentation.)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Osteen without a smile. I am not anti-smile, but I am anti-false teaching because it feeds sugar-coated poison to lost and hungry souls. Preaching the Bible is more than just holding a Bible while you preach and occasionally quoting it to support your ideas—you might be mangling the Bible’s message like Satan did when he tempted Jesus in Matthew 4!
Below is an excerpt from Osteen’s book, Daily Readings from Become a Better You: 90 Readings to Improve Your Life Every Day, that shows the danger of his teaching. In this excerpt, he refers to Genesis 3, a foundational chapter in the Bible that establishes the sinfulness of humanity and our need for a Savior:
“Back in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they hid. In the cool of the day, God came to them and said, ‘Adam, Eve, where are you?’ They said, ‘God, we were hiding because we were naked.’
I love the way God answered them. He said, ‘Adam, who told you that you were naked?’ In other words, who told you that something was wrong with you? God immediately knew that the enemy had been talking to them.
God is saying to you today, Who told you that you don’t have what it takes to succeed? Who told you the best grades you could make in school were Cs rather than As? Who told you that you’re not attractive enough? Who told you that your marriage is not going to last?
Who told you something was wrong with you?
Those are lies from the Enemy. You need to reject those ideas and discover what God says about you.
“Well, I don’t think I could ever get this promotion, Joel.”
Who told you that? God said, “No good thing will I withhold when you walk uprightly.”
“Well, I don’t think I’ll ever get married, Joel. I haven’t had a date in so long I don’t think I’ll ever find someone who would love me for who I am and with whom I would be compatible.”
Who told you that? God said, “When you delight yourself in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart.”“Well, I don’t think I could ever be in management. I don’t think I could be a leader.”
Who told you that? God says, “You can do all things through Christ.” The potential is inside you. It doesn’t change just because you don’t believe it or just because you’ve been through some negative experiences in the past. It has been deposited in you permanently by the Creator of the universe.
No, Joel, God didn’t ask Adam and Eve, “Who told you something was wrong with you?” Scripture is clear that something was wrong with them: they had sinned against God who commanded them to not eat the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:16–17). God was confronting them for their sin, not comforting them in it. Instead of explaining the origins of sin in our world and how Jesus is the Savior promised in Genesis 3:15, Osteen thinks God merely wanted Adam and Eve to feel better about themselves.
I can only think that such teaching would make Satan smile.
While Osteen’s narcissistic words sound good to itching ears, they have more in common with the words of Satan than the Word of God. When Satan tempted the man and woman in Genesis 3:5, he said, “You shall be like God.” Osteen communicates the same idea with different words when he puts the fleshly desires of man at the center of the conversation.
Osteen’s words here are anti-gospel. The gospel says deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ (Mark 8:34). It says “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35). The god of Osteen and prosperity theology is nothing more than a butler who serves people what they want—health, wealth, and happiness. The human is at the center and God is our servant.
Osteen’s false “message of positivity” from Genesis 3 offers no comfort for the laid off man or the unmarried woman longing for a husband. If anything, it makes them feel worse about themselves and their “lack of faith.” When teaching neglects to expose sin and show our need for a Savior, it will distract listeners from what they truly need: salvation in Jesus.
The gospel doesn’t give us our best life now as Osteen promises, but it does give us hope through suffering. We are promised our best life later if we trust in Jesus and repent of our sins. The gospel teaches that God Himself is the greatest treasure imaginable, better than any amount of success or fleeting pleasure we could ever attain in this life.
When I think of the prosperity gospel, I can’t help but think of my friend Cesar. He and his family attended a prosperity gospel church for many years that preached Osteen-esque messages. They thought they were good Christians on God’s path. But then God stepped in and opened Cesar’s eyes to the truth as he searched the Scriptures. Now, Cesar often shares with tears in his eyes how thankful He is for God rescuing him from the clutches of false teaching.
My hope for this post is that God would turn many more people like Cesar from false teaching and to His life-giving gospel. The true gospel is so much better because, as Albert Mohler frequently says, “…the biggest problem with prosperity theology is not that it promises too much, but that it promises far too little.”
Michael Horton shared this graphic in the PDF I linked to above:
John Piper: “Prosperity cannot be a proof of God’s favor, since it is what the Devil promises to those who worship him. (Matt. 4:9)Link
Great point!
That guy looks like he could sell a used car to a used car salesman.
I tend to refer to his theology as “God wants you to have a nice day”
I’ve never liked Osteen. His God is the almighty dollar. He teaches money will bring you happiness.
I still remember being a teenager in summer bible school. The Minister telling us when you meet Satan, he’ll be good looking, nice smile, firm handshake, and say all the words you want to hear. Listen to what’s behind the words.
BINGO!
Joel Osteen and his “Prosperity” Gospel ignore the reality of:
1 Peter 4:
16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it 50 or 60 times, Joel Osteen is not a preacher he is a motivational speaker.
A few years ago I was helping my sister on her Tennessee farm and she is not really a religious person but she did watch Joel Osteen every Sunday morning.
She asked me what I thought after viewing Joel Osteen for a few Sundays in a row and I told her “he’s not a preacher but he’s a pretty good motivational speaker.”
Keeping it within that context I think that the Joel Osteen does have a certain sociatiel value but people and organizations need to stop calling him a preacher or a pastor when he is just another in a long line of motivational speakers. Joel’s daddy might have been a preacher I don’t know, but Joel certainly is not.
Paraphrasing the bible... Matthew 7:22-23
Joel Osteen will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did I not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell him plainly, I never knew you, Joel. Away from me, you evildoer!
Somebody cover me! I'm going in! Okay. Nobody wants to cover me? I'm going in, anyway.
God, The Father, created everything through Jesus FOR Jesus. When a father builds his son a bicycle, doesn't he do it so the son can enjoy it?
Jesus is IN us and we are in Him. (Acts 17:28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’)
Obviously, The Father wants His Son to be healthy, wealthy and happy or He wouldn't have created the ability to be healthy, wealthy and happy to begin with.
Just because a person desires those things doesn't make him a Satan worshipper.
Saying so puts a car thief on the same plane as a guy who pays for a car.
I am neither an Osteen-bot nor a Never-Osteener, but it seems like every time I have heard him he has been very careful to give thanks to God for being the source of health, wealth and happiness.
If you think Satan is the source of health, wealth and happiness, what does that make you?
Mr. Halloran ever hear ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged’?
I think he addressed that. Did you read the article?
Just saying, the Gospel is simply this” Jesus Saves”
Certainly we must take up our cross of self denial, but it is was and always will be that the saving is done by Faith in Jesus finished work of paying our debt of sin to the Father. Anything else is dead works.
Now, James and Paul write that faith alone, and works is evidence, not competition.
Osteen, is a complete phony. He denied shelter to his church to victims of a major hurricane a couple of years ago. Probably didn’t want to get the rugs dirty.
I saw a copy of his book *Your Best Life Now* laying around somewhere and since I had some time to kill and would never in a million years waste money on it, I picked it up to just peruse it.
It’s TERRIBLE!!!
What an awful book.
The few Scriptures he did add were so badly mangled that they didn’t even come close to saying what he claimed.
And boring to boot. Just page after page of motivational speaker nonsense.
The prosperity gospel panders to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
It feeds man’s inherent greed and selfishness and sucks people in that way.
It gets your eyes off Jesus and onto yourself and your circumstances.
Demonic the whole way.
He preaches another gospel, which Paul said those who preach any other gospel are accursed.
This verse is almost always taken out of context. Yes, we should never judge self righteously, but judging? Yes.
1 John 2:15 - "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
According to the anti prosperity crowd, I guess John and Paul were slick prosperity teaching salesmen too?
3 John 1:2 -
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth”
Philippians 4:19 -
“19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6 -
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
I don’t really follow Osteen either, but anyone stating that God doesn’t want his children to be prosperous is in disagreement with his will and written word, denying clear scripture. That being said, first and foremost should be establishing a strong relationship with God, prosperity then becomes a byproduct of that strong relationship. It’s not about snapping our fingers and commanding God to make material things appear instantaneously, it’s about a relationship and following the path he’s established for us.
I can see where Halloran is coming from but it’s been my experience preaching the Doom-and-Gloom Gospel is just as lucrative a career path as preaching the Prosperity Gospel.
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