Posted on 03/28/2012 6:13:37 AM PDT by Cronos
Over 12,000 people rushed into a crowded Times Union Center to hear “Pastor” Joel Osteen’s message of feel good, Broadway style contemporary worship and many came out changed according to an article in yesterday’s paper by Paul Grondahl. A star among the Christian world, Osteen claims the nation’s largest congregation in Houston, Texas with over 30,000 members
Aside from being a good looking man with a deep southern accent and a warm welcoming voice that draws many in, what qualifications does this man have to be preaching to stadiums packed full of vulnerable people?
The best selling author and televangelist had only attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a two year period without receiving a degree. Now something doesn’t seem quite right about this. Why can a man with virtually no higher level training in religious matters or Bible studies waltz onto a stage in hundreds of stadiums and speak on the matter? Why does a man with no qualifications have such a great following? (Osteen receives around seven million viewers world wide through his televised sermons.) I’m not entirely sure whether or not I feel comfortable with someone preaching the word of God, if they don’t know the word of God.
Just from watching a few of his sermons on television and online, I see that Osteen makes no reference to any pages of scripture and speaks only from his memory. I have also noticed from Grondahl’s article that Osteen prefers not to speak of sin, and likes to focus rather on the goodness of God. Now, I’m not trying to rip the man apart. As a Christian myself, I try to see the good in all of God’s creations but I am simply trying to bring this forward in a manner that can hopefully help others recognize and distinguish the difference between a Christian message and a self-help, motivational one.
In an interview with Larry King ( below), Osteen speaks of what he does and what many are calling “Christless Christianity“.
Nice hairdo.
It’s called show business
for later
Those people did not prosper, did not get all the material goodies they wanted. They chose to follow God when they knew it would cost them everything in this world.
Good looking? His wife is beautiful, but this prosperity preacher is far from good looking. He doesn't blink his eyes; he closes his eyes completely in a long blink. He also needs one hell of a haircut.
Still waiting for him to condemn homosexual behavior and condemn the slaughter of 3,300 unborn American babies each day.
Or would that minimalize his audience?
He's not as bad as Todd Kootz or Mike Murdock, but he's just a couple stone's throws away.
I haven’t heard an entire Osteen sermon but flipping through the channels I have heard him say at the end of his message, that he would not finish before he asked those watching to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior of their lives. That’s it I have nothing more to add - just a comment.
I do take to task the writer's assertion that somehow educational qualifications are a prerequiste for good or reliable preaching. Being able to preach is really a gift from God that may be honed through good religious education. It is also a gift that can be destroyed through a lot of what passes for Seminary or religious education nowadays.
Mel
I can understand the author’s criticism of JO as a ‘prosperity pastor’, but her opinion that one needs to be college educated to speak the word of God smacks of elitism. As Christians we’re all to be prepared to speak the gospel to the world, not just the seminary-trained.
—The best selling author and televangelist had only attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a two year period without receiving a degree. —
I don’t really care about that. He’s more educated than the apostles, after all.
My problem is the message he preaches. It’s really that simple.
Yeah, right! No further comment or I’d get banned.
I enjoy Joel Osteen’s sermons. He quotes the Bible often and uses everday language to get his points across.
No, he is not a Hell and brimstone preacher who yells and tells you “you’re going to Hell if you don’t do what I say”.
He preaches on the love of God and how to live a Godly life. Jesus didn’t go screaming and yelling at people either. His message was one of love and faith.
I remember somewhere reading judge no that ye be not judged.
I will take Osteen’s positive message anyday over one that uses the negative approach.
When I see him, the word cult comes to mind. When a church gets that large it is no longer a church but a personality cult. I live across the street from one of the TV variety and his new house tells the tale.
Joel Osteen has stated many times during his broadcasts that he did not complete the seminary and does not have a theological degree. I see him as more of a motivational speaker than anything else. I don't find anything about his weekly messages to be negative or objectionable. Yes, he does plug his latest book at the end of his broadcasts, but he doesn't shill for contributions unlike people such as Tood Kootz, Mike Murdock, or Rod Parsley ("God wants to bless you, but he can't do it until you send me your seed check for $300., and the check clears.") As far as looks go, I always thought he could pass for Tim Allen's younger brother.
There is no catalyst in his message for one to feel and know how loathsome our behavior is in Gods eyes. How close we are to eternal damnation. The “positive reassurance” and “prosperity” gospel are poor substitutes for the real substance. The command was to “Feed my sheep”. The sheep are underfed and malnourished on the Osteen diet.
I’d often watch Joel Osteen, out of idle curiosity. He’d be holding forth for what seemed an eternity at times but I’d never hear him speak about Jesus. He’s quite prsosperous, nonetheless! How do he do dat? I reckon “it’s nice to be nice!”
BTW, I am not a member of his church nor do I watch him on a regular basis. I'm just someone who believes he serves a purpose.
“Jesus didn’t go screaming and yelling at people either.”
““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” - Matt 23
Attacks on Christianity continue. It’s always been the nature of “bible based/only” protestant preachers to give self-styled sermons, with just a few carefully selected biblical references. They are not giving a Catholic mass. So what. As a Catholic I find see the wisdon of the Holy Spirit in his sermons, and that is for each individual to decide. Why the bashing?
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