Beware of false prophets - Joel Osteen

. . . Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves...
Matthew 7:15

The largest congregation in US, a big church which can accommodate 16000 people at a time, 3 services every Sunday 'serving' 48000 people... meet Joel Osteen the latest spiritual rock star of America.

What do I have against him? Personally... nothing! Then why should I waste my precious time to research on him and write this? I vaguely remember, years back when it was a big news when his father died and televisions around the world aired it, that time itself I was pretty sure his 'smarter' and young children are gonna cash in on the opportunity and gonna build a big 'business empire' on it. And today watching him again on Larry King Live, it came back to my mind and felt I should write on this. If at least one person "think free" and think wise reading this, I am rewarded big time. Lots of new christian ministries are springing up in different parts of the world these days. Many of these churches I know and been to are pretty shallow with a shaky foundation if you look thru the rock music and adrenalin pumping prayer experience. I believe all the religions in this world are pointers to god and unless we search for god ourselves we will never find him. The relation between god and man is a personal one and church is basically a way for people to come together and stay focused. If you expect more than bible and preaching from church, like breath taking music or energizing prayer.. perhaps you are being mislead about the whole idea of church. Anyone who has been to a rock concert knows that it is the power of the music that lifts up your spirits and shakes up the body... it is not the spirit of god! I am a catholic, and not just because I was born so. I have a hard time understanding why there is more than one christian group other than the catholic church, which is the oldest and the most disciplined and organized. Only reason I could think of is difference in opinion of people, politics, hunger for power/money etc. Once I went with a friend of mine to one of the new age non-denominational churches and the whole message part of the service was the visiting "bishop" bitching about some pastor who stood against his ideas and got casted out!! Be wise, think-free... never trust anyone blindly and watch out for treachery. Now continue reading the story...

Lakewood charismatic mega-church was originally started by John Osteen (his father), who was originally a Southern Baptist pastor but after receiving the “baptism” with the Holy Spirit he became enamored with the charismatic renewal movement in its early stage and eventually became associated with the Word of Faith (WOF) cult. At the time of his death Lakewood Church had risen to 8,000 members. After the death of his father in 1999, Joel became the leader of this empire. It is said that Joel Osteen has absolutely no biblical training or experience to be a pastor. Charismatic pulpits are filled with people who feel “called” to the pastorate and that is enough for them and those who follow them. They attempt to build congregations on the “strength” of their calling. Some charismatic leaders may go on to some unaccredited “Bible School” for a year or two, hardly any attended a legitimate seminary. Would you allow a surgeon to operate on you because he felt “called” to be a surgeon as a child, but never went on to medical school? Or would you allow someone to build your house who firmly believed God had called him to be an architect yet had never gone on to college to study architectural design? Yet millions of professing Christians are more than willing to follow a man (or woman) who says “God” has called them and has supernaturally equipped them to be ministers. These especially anointed men and women have no need to study Church history, hermeneutics, systematic theology and struggle through Greek and Hebrew as other ministers do. They hear directly from God!!! Looks like it is the blind leading the blind (read Luke 6:39) with the end result being masses of people falling into the ditch of spiritual ignorance, abuse and/or extremism.

Joel Osteen is a man without any biblical education but an admitted talent for marketing (tv shows, books). To be a success in marketing you have to know where people itch and scratch it. Or, you have to create a desire in them by creating a hunger for something they currently do not have nor formerly knew they needed. All commercials can be condensed down to one of these two truths. So to become a mega-church, a pastor has to make church relevant. He has to give the people what they want, something that soothes that spiritual itch. In order to be a “success” (i.e. large masses of people and money) pastors must preach unchallenging messages that uplift rather than convict. It is really nothing new, it is a simply fulfillment of 2Ti 4:3-4.

What is Joel’s educational background and experience? Since it is not theological, what is it? He did attend Oral Roberts University for two years, but his area of study had to do with television production and marketing. While Joel was learning the business of television… ‘Growing up, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be involved in TV production,’ he says. ‘That was just my passion.’ In 1981 he came home from Oral Roberts University (ORU) to start the Lakewood TV ministry. For seventeen (17) years Joel was behind the scenes handling all the television and marketing of his father’s ministry. The next statement from the Charisma article is very revealing: The younger Osteen’s television-marketing talents and his dad’s preaching skills resulted eventually in the church churches being aired on stations nationwide and in more than 100 countries. He lives the life of prosperity that he preaches. A 2001 Real Estate Guide valued his home at $1,265,500. A fund-raising campaign to raise the $70 million dollars for the improvements of "the Lakewood International Center" asked supporters to sponsor a seat for $2500 each.

As Byron Pitts of CBS reports (see the link below), Osteen was virtually unknown eight years ago, even in his own Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. A college drop-out, he worked behind the scenes producing his father's television ministry. When his father, Pastor John Osteen, died, he stepped out in front of the camera and started to catch on. Osteen's service is an uninhibited celebration that's part rock concert, part spectacular. There are no crosses, no religious symbols whatsoever. It's all taped and broadcast around the world. His service is seen in 100 foreign countries and is the most watched religious broadcast in America.

Now you know the truth... next time you make any decision, religious or otherwise, research, think and then act.

Joel Scott Hayley Osteen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Osteen
Lakewood International Church, Houston
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakewood_Church
CNN LARRY KING LIVE - Interview With Joel Osteen (June 20, 2005)
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0506/20/lkl.01.html
TIME - Does God Want You To Be Rich?
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1533448,00.html
Joel Osteen Answers His Critics - CBS (Byron Pitts)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/11/60minutes/main3358652.shtml

People who spent time finding the 'truth':
http://www.av1611.org/osteen.html
http://www.cultlink.com/ar/osteen.htm
http://www.forgottenword.org/osteen.html
http://www.challies.com/archives/articles/joel-osteen-and.php
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2005/10/joel_osteen_smi.html