Prosperity Preaching Is Not Christian (Osteen)

DFW Catholic ^ | 11.5.2014 | Vincent Ryan Ruggiero

[Gamecock]

Pastor Joel Osteen’s TV ad announcing his new show on Sirius Radio begins with the promise, “We can have victory every single day.” Next come scenes of his pastoral team on stage during a church service, followed by a long shot of the congregation that looks as if it was filmed in the Super Bowl with every seat filled. (He reportedly has the largest congregation in the United States.)

Finally, he comes back on screen and declares to the audience, “There is a power in you greater than any power that comes against you.”

After seeing the ad for about the 200th time, I sent the following email message to some friends:

I’ve seen the Osteen ad many, many times and my reaction has been the same each time—I have felt a powerful urge to convert . . . . . . to Buddhism!

What made me descend to such curmudgeonly pique? Was it because Osteen’s face appears locked in a smile that shouts “insincere” (at least to me) or because he and his wife call to mind the 1970s and 80s preaching duo of unhappy memory, Jim and Tammy Bakker? Was it because Osteen’s trademark black hair is beautifully coiffed and boasts innumerable curls in the back? Might I be jealous of that?

The honest answer to all three questions is “yes.” But there is another, more substantive reason for my negative reaction. It is that Osteen’s message is presumptuous and misleading, not to mention smarmy and glib. (I know, I know, smarminess and glibness are not serious flaws, so let’s put them aside.)

First, presumptuous. The line “you have power in you greater than any power that can come against you” obviously refers to more than simple talent and potential and probably to more than being created in the image and likeness of God. The most likely intended meaning is the gift of the Holy Spirit that Christians call grace.

The problem, however, is his notion that this “power” (grace) is automatically in us by virtue of our being alive. In contrast, Christianity teaches that grace is a gift that God gives us but does not force upon us. We either accept it or reject it, and that choice determines whether we experience its power. This crucial fact Osteen seems to ignore when he presumes that everyone possesses grace automatically.

Now let’s consider misleading. At the heart of Osteen’s message is the promise of daily success in life: “We can have victory every single day.” Surely he is not referring to the victory of being received into paradise, which comes only once (if we are lucky), after death. What then does he mean? I consulted Osteen’s website for the answer and found this:

You have been blessed for unprecedented success. God has healing with your name on it, new dreams with your name on it [sic], promotions with your name on it [sic]. You are a child of Almighty God. He has already gone before you and lined up promotion, victory, and favor in your life.

With the exception of healing, these things come under the heading “worldly success,” so that is what Osteen must mean by “victory.” Oddly, however, he denies that this is his meaning. For example, he has said, “If prosperity means God wants us to be blessed and healthy and have good relationships then yes, I’m a prosperity teacher. But if it’s about money, no, I never preach about money . . .”

Osteen is being disingenuous. His themes may technically not be about money, but they are about “promotion,” “favor,” “abundance,” etc., so they might as well be about money. Consider a more specific example from Osteen’s Message # 619, “It’s Already Yours”:

Psalm 8:5 says, “You have crowned him with favor and honor.” What does this mean for you today? It means right now, there are blessings with your name on them—healing, promotion, good breaks, houses, businesses, contracts—that already belong to you. The question is, when are you going to go get what’s already yours? [Bold added]

The word “money” doesn’t appear in this passage, but the words in bold certainly stand for financial success and that spells financial prosperity, also known as money.

At this point readers who embrace Osteen’s “prosperity gospel” would no doubt respond “What’s wrong with saying God rewards those who love him with prosperity?” My first impulse is to respond, “If there is nothing wrong with the prosperity gospel, why is Osteen so determined not to be associated with it?” But here is a more meaningful response:

What is wrong with prosperity preaching is that it grossly distorts the Christian message.

To begin with, Isaiah didn’t prophesy a prosperous Christ but a suffering servant who would be “despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” (Isaiah 53: 3)

Then, too, Jesus was born in a stable and lived a modest life with Mary and Joseph, so it is a reasonable assumption that neither Joseph nor Jesus was the sort of carpenter whose work brought that age’s equivalent of Ethan Allen or Thomasville prices.

In the most famous of all sermons, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, not a single one of the blessings mentioned suggests daily victory of any kind, let alone financial victory. They speak instead of daily spiritual stress, mourning, hunger, and persecution. The fact that Jesus called those who suffer these burdens “blessed” is best understood as a promise of eventual consolation or reward beyond this vale of tears.

The only place in Scripture where Jesus and prosperity are mentioned together is when Satan offers it to Him—“The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’” (Matthew 4: 8-9) In rejecting Satan’s offer Jesus did not condemn prosperity, to be sure, but He certainly didn’t laud it either.

Jesus did, of course, tell his disciples that they could achieve anything if they had sufficient faith. For example, he said that they could move a mountain. (Matthew 21: 21-22) But in the next breath He added that the way to do so is to “ask in prayer, believing,” underscoring that the power obviously resides in God rather than in us.

Jesus often reminded his disciples that the way to follow him was to deny themselves and take up their crosses every day. (Matthew 10:38 and 16:24, Luke 9:23, Luke 14: 27 and 18:18-22) The references to crosses obviously did not concern daily victories but, on the contrary, disappointments and sufferings. In our time those would include unemployment, accidents, the wounds of war, deadly diseases, emotional disorders, and the infirmities of old age.

Jesus provided the supreme example of suffering courageously as He prayed, sweating blood, in the Garden of Gethsemane, was mercilessly scourged at the pillar and humiliated by the Roman soldiers, crowned with thorns, and nailed to a cross. Moreover, in the final throes of suffocation and exsanguination, He felt forsaken by God.

Down through the centuries, the message that has framed the Christian perspective on living has been Jesus’ words, “take up your cross and follow me.” His disciples were the first to do so, and every one of them suffered a violent death. The early Christians were required to practice their faith in secret or face imprisonment and death. And Christian martyrdom continues in our time. In 2013 alone, 2,123 Christians were murdered for practicing their faith.

Promising daily victory and worldly success insults all those who maintain their faith in Jesus despite suffering and disappointment. Rather than raising their spirits and giving them hope, it tempts them to think, “If I am not prospering, maybe God doesn’t love me.” Worse, it tempts the wealthy and successful to believe that they really are more virtuous and deserving than the poor and thus to adopt the attitude of the Pharisee: “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” (Luke: 18:11)

Whenever I hear Osteen or others preach the prosperity gospel, I am reminded of Jesus’ advice to the young man who lived honorably and wondered what more he could do to achieve an even better spiritual state. Jesus did not tell him to claim and enjoy the first century equivalent of “promotion[s], good breaks, houses, businesses, contracts.” Instead, he advised him to “go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Mark 10: 21-22)

The prosperity gospel is understandably appealing in this self-absorbed age, but because it replaces the cross with a dollar sign, it bears no resemblance to the Gospel of Jesus.

[metmom]

What’s that got to do with the inerrancy of Scripture?

If you choose to believe that the Bible has error in it, then you have absolutely NOTHING on which to base any faith.

Satan’s best ploy is to cast doubt on God’s word, just like He did in the garden with Eve.

*Did God REALLY say.....?*

[metmom]

EVERYONE dies.

What of it?

If you think you’re making a point, you need to try harder.

[BykrBayb]

The Holy Bible is the Word of God. It’s not one of Clymer’s bibles of motorcycle mechanics, collectively known as Clymer’s Manuals. Notice the proper nouns are capialized. We capitalize Bible because when referring to the book titled Holy Bible, Bible is a proper noun. Titles of books are proper nouns. There is no exception for The Holy Bible, even when you shorten the title to simply Bible. It’s still a proper noun.

[Poison Pill]

If you choose to believe that the Bible has error in it, then you have absolutely NOTHING on which to base any faith.

I don't think that's true. C.S. Lewis accepted errors. Catholics deal with error and contradiction through teachings and traditions. Jews have midrash and rabbinic commentary. Their faith has a basis.

[Campion]

Notice how practically nobody is addressing the issues raised in the article, but only slamming the author’s religion? (Which is either an ad hominem or an attempt to change the topic, or both.)

[BykrBayb]

"only?" You seem to have missed a few posts.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I just returned from the funeral of a dear student of mine, Sam, who died suddenly just one week short of his 50th birthday. I’m not going to be able to answer for much on FR today.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I just returned from the funeral of a dear student of mine, Sam, who died suddenly just one week short of his 50th birthday. I’m not going to be able to answer for much on FR today.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The whole conversation got diverted mighty quick away from Osteen, didn’t it? :o}

[Gamecock]

Seems so.

[Springfield Reformer]

Your question was "how did Judas die," was it not? Your question assumes he is already dead. Do you not believe that?

As for "multiple versions," I never said that. I recited multiple theories of interpretation. There is no error in Scripture, but as long as there are any two people on earth, there can always be two or more theories about meaning.  Some theories are better than others. Weak theories fail to account for the totality of the facts. Good theories cover all the bases, and appeal to our conscience as a just handling of the text, i.e., we haven't left out things that seem at first to conflict with our most treasured assumptions, but rather we give due consideration to every relevant fact.

But our own ability to see different possibilities in a text does not reflect on the presence or absence of error in the text. You start with a principle, a belief about God, that He does exist as perfect in holiness and in every other way, and therefore if He is perfect His self-revelation to us will reflect that perfection. Eve went off the rails when she rejected that principle.  She did not infer the perfection of the Father's nature as being applicable to His words also, which she should have trusted implicitly.  But instead she allowed the evil one to insinuate a discrepancy, a defect in God, by which she lost her faith in His words.

But we have so much more than Eve had. We have direct apostolic testimony that He does not fail in reaching us with what we absolutely must know:

2 Timothy 3:15-17  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.  (16)  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  (17)  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

So while it may be entertaining (in a certain morbid way) to speculate about the exact biological sequence of Judas' self-inflicted death, it's clear from every relevant passage that it did occur, it wasn't pretty, and it occurred in accordance with divine prophecy, as part of the plan God used to provide us redemption in Jesus.  I would ask then in what way the exact physical nature of Judas' death is in any way relevant to the primary facts we must know for our salvation, that Jesus, who died as a result of that betrayal, has by His death provided us with a means of being forgiven and restored to eternal life, through our debt of sin being canceled by payment in His holy blood, if we put our faith in Him, and in Hs totally reliable word.

Peace,

SR  

[FourtySeven]

I will remember him in prayer.

[Iscool]

Based on Biblical history and a Biblical insight into the divine nature and character, I find it's dubious to assume that the Our Lord would let 100% of His Church go disastrously astray for, say, 1500-2000 years.

Because your religion has existed for a long time and because it has the wisdom to have a Biblical insight that it is the 'real' church...

Thru out your religion's history it has claimed superior wisdom and ability to reason based on its knowledge of human intellectual philosophy...And this somehow gives you the insight into the divine nature and character of God...

But the God whom you claim to have an abundance of understanding about seems to disagree with you...

1Co 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

When the anti Christ shows up he is going to attract a lot of people...It won't be Satanists who follow the anti Christ...It will be religious people...

The anti Christ will be an imposter...A counterfeit...People will think he is the real Savior...The anti-Christ has a church...This church has a prophet and has ministers of light...

2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

These Satanic ministers are going to look extremely religious...Very Pius...Their church will look the part of holiness...A counterfeit so good it will deceive millions of people...And it will teach a false gospel...

2Co 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The church of the anti Christ will teach that salvation comes by water baptism...He will teach that no one can know if they are a saved child of God until they are face to face with Jesus...

Co 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Satan's church will claim that the bible is impossible for a Christian to understand...

2Co 3:12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:

Satan's church is built on the Law of the Old Testament...It has copied the aspects of the Jewish priesthood and temple where a veil stands between God and the people, accessible only thru the priesthood...It has imitated the garb of the O.T. priesthood...This church teaches its members are still under the Law...It will reek of holiness...

2Co 3:13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
2Co 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Co 3:15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
2Co 3:16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

Satan's church has been around since Pentecost...Satan's church relies not on scripture but human reasoning to exist and function...

Gen_3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

[Springfield Reformer]

Yet at one point the faithful in all the world numbered only eight. These were hid from judgment in the ark as the world drowned. Yes, Revelations shows an enormous number of the redeemed praising God, but there has never been so many alive in all of history as there are right now. God will find His numbers. That’s really not our problem. We are called to be faithful, even if, like Noah, our numbers are weak for a time. The Lord knows those who are His.

Peace,

SR

[daniel1212]

The scenario would have played out like this: Judas finds a tree near a cliff, throws a rope over a branch, secures it, then ties the other end around his neck, and jumps off. This is an amateur job, and so any number of outcomes are possible. Did the rope hold? Maybe the knot slipped and he fell onto some sharp rocks below. Or possibly the rope and the knot held, and he hanged there dead for days, dangling in the sun, during which time his body would have swollen, his skin integrity lessened until he finally came apart and hit the ground, bursting open like an easily ruptured water balloon.

Indeed, that is very likely, and the "how did Judas Iscariot die?" objection is a common and refuted one. There certainly are some ones - maybe about .025% of Scripture - that are challenging, but nothing that would establish that the original mss had them.

But the problems with various translations is a big issue.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"Jesus has always preserved His church - and always will - even against the powerful assaults of Catholicism."

Actually, Lear's Fool, you are more correct about that than you know. You just have to change a few words:

"Jesus has always preserved His church - and always will - even against the powerful assaults of both apostates without, and foolish or wicked popes within."

"Infallibility" is essential precisely in order to protect the Church from the errors of popes. This puckish little cartoon is actually, no joke, how it works (sure to raise a smile and surely worth two minutes of your time):

How to Explain Papal Infallibility in Two Minutes (YouTube Link)

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thank you for the charty of your prayer.

[daniel1212]

I just returned from the funeral of a dear student of mine, Sam, who died suddenly just one week short of his 50th birthday. I’m not going to be able to answer for much on FR today.

Sorry, and that is better than your "I stopped reading" recourse of last time, but of you are going to put your two cents in for Rome then you need to deal with the ramifications.

[daniel1212]

Catholics deal with error and contradiction through teachings and traditions. Jews have midrash and rabbinic commentary. Their faith has a basis.

So if one teaches that Scripture has unrestricted inerrancy, that each and every one of its parts is free from every error, then this is a Prot error and is not to be followed, but popes and Rome are?

And that holding Scripture as supreme and sufficient (formal and material) as Reformers held, means only the Bible can be used, and that historical commentary should have no place?

[daniel1212]

The typical generic response to the prosperity preachers when riches or healing doesn't come it is the believers fault due to lack of faith. That is very wrong. It's no ones fault.

I could be a lack of faith in some cases, or sin that needs repentance, but God does not say it is always His will to heal us now, and the prosperity preachers use lack of faith to excuse their specious theology.

Meanwhile it is them who are always engaging in such fund raising that it testifies to them lacking faith. George Mueller they are not.