I want you to pay very close attention to what I have to say in this article. It is VITAL that you open your eyes and the eyes of your loved ones to the heretical teaching that is SO prevalent in the church today. I am utilizing information from an excellent video produced by Reformed Apologetics Ministries called, Joel Osteen: Satanist? His occult/witchcraft/New Age teachings.
Time to spread the gospel to those who are blind and lost is running out, therefore I’m not going to mince words. There is a group of very successful, high-profile so called ‘preachers’ who teach falsehoods and twist scripture to make it fit their teachings; people such as Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Robert Schuler (retired), T.D. Jakes, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Rick Warren and others. Quite frankly, and this is fact—NOT my opinion: they are leading millions of followers straight to hell! Is that clear enough?
Oh, I can hear the tired old attack, ‘Who are YOU to judge? The Bible says, “Judge not lest you be judged!”’ Let me explain this AGAIN for you low information people who are too lazy to read the Bible for yourselves. In this passage, found in Matthew 7: 1-6, Jesus is scolding people who accuse others of a sin that they, themselves, are practicing in secret. He was warning us not to be hypocritical by judging others when we’re committing the same sin we’re condemning them for. It’s a basic concept. Got it? Good. Then please stop misusing that quote!
Since I don’t twist scripture to fit some agenda which will make me rich and famous, as Mr. Osteen does, I am perfectly free as a believer to rebuke what he’s doing. In fact, it is my duty as a believer to warn others of the lies he teaches!
1 Corinthians 2: 12-16 states, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
Now, let me first state that there is nothing wrong in the eyes of God with Christians being wealthy. Abraham was rich, as was Job and many other Godly characters in the Bible. However, those men were careful to place their trust in God—not their money. 1 Timothy 6: 10 says, “For the LOVE of money is the root of all evil…” Wealth is a blessing to be used for God’s glory; not to be hoarded in our bank accounts.
It is NOT to be the most important aspiration in our lives. If becoming wealthy is pretty much your top priority, then you are worshipping an idol and not putting God first. ANYTHING that replaces Jesus on the throne of your heart is an idol, and God doesn’t play second fiddle to anyone or anything. You’re either with Him, or against Him.
In 2 Timothy 4: 2-4, Paul warned Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” Lord have mercy, ain’t it the truth!
That is precisely what is happening in America these days. Joel Osteen, the smarmiest man on TV, and his overenthusiastic cheerleader of a wife, Victoria, “pastor” the largest congregation in the country, Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. It is non-denominational (i.e. not accountable to a governing church body), with an average attendance of 43,500 every week. Did you get that number? Read it again. Over 43,500 souls attend services at this man’s church every week!
Well, Joel Osteen must be doing something right to be so successful, you say? Yes, he most certainly is! He’s serving his master well. Unfortunately, it’s not Christ.
Mr. Osteen and others like him are mega-rich from their follower’s offerings, best-selling book sales and teaching tapes. So why, if they are not preaching the true word of God, are they so ‘blessed?’ Because they’re selling what the people want. They are tickling ears and spewing false doctrine. The main thrust of their messages is, “God loves you and wants you to be successful and prosperous, and if you’ll just believe in God’s love, have faith and speak what you want to receive, your words are SO powerful that you’ll receive what you want.”
This is also known as: Name-it-and-claim-it-faith, prosperity gospel and word-of-faith teaching. It should be called, doggie-doo-doo-lies because that is exactly what it is! And that’s about all it’s worth too.
Here’s a sugary sweet, drippy, gooey quote Mr. Osteen declared to the blind sheep in his congregation, while flashing his overly bleached smile: “You have to know you’re a child of the Most High God! You are supposed to live a victorious life, an abundant life. You’re not supposed to live under your circumstances; you’re supposed to rise above your circumstances. You’re supposed to, as the scripture says, reign in life as a king!’ HUH? What the heck scripture is that?
Uh, I seem to remember Jesus telling us clearly in John 6: 32 that “…In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” The Greek for ‘tribulation’ is ‘thlipsis,’ which means pressure, oppression, affliction, distress, anguish, burdens and persecution. Does that sound like some hippity-skippity promise of a materially prosperous life, with all your dreams coming true?
In past interviews, Osteen has been caught with his theological pants down on more than one occasion. It’s a painful thing to watch and causes me to want to take a hammer to the TV screen. When interviewed by the queen-of-all-things, Oprah Winfrey, Osteen tap danced like a vaudeville performer when pinned on whether he thought homosexuality is a sin. He stammered and hesitated, grinned that greasy grin and wanted to disappear rather than state the Biblical truth on the subject. I’m sure you can find the clip easily enough on YouTube.
When he appeared on Larry King Live, Mr. King asked him if he thought Jesus was the only way to God; were Jews and atheists going to hell. They should have cued the music again because he went through the same, non-committal, wimp-out-answer-that-wasn’t-an-answer routine. He stated that he didn’t like to comment on that because he can’t read people’s hearts and chooses to leave that up to God. What a spiritual wuss!
He stated, “I think for years there’s been a lot of hellfire and damnation. You go to church to figure out what you’re doing wrong and you leave feeling bad, like you’re not gonna make it. We believe in focusing on the goodness of God.” Oh puke! Do you ‘believe’ in the tooth fairy too? How about focusing on the whole truth of God, Joel?
But Osteen readily admits he doesn’t preach on sin, repentance, the cross and blood of Jesus, salvation and the consequence of hell for those who reject the gospel. He tells them “You can have your best life now!” Holey schmoley, if THIS is their best life, what will eternity be?? Excuse me, but this life now is as close to hell as I ever want to get! “Best life now?” What a load!
He implies to his congregation, book readers and the millions of people who waste their time, watching his TV program that, God is in heaven on the edge of His seat, just waiting for them to tell Him all their dreams and desires so He can snap His fingers and cause those things to manifest in their life. We should seek to reap the rewards God has for each of us, while we’re on this earth.
Where does this theosophical sewage originate? From luciferian doctrine. Yep, you read that right! In the late 19th century, Helena Blavatsky founded the New Age Theosophical Society, which taught that Lucifer was the true god and messiah. She wrote, “But in antiquity and reality, Lucifer or Luciferus, is the name of the angelic entity presiding over the light of truth as over the light of day.”
“Lucifer is divine and terrestrial light, the ‘Holy Ghost’ (I can barely stand to retype her words!) and “Satan,” at one and the same time. And now it stands proven that Satan, or the Red Fiery Dragon, the “Lord of Phosphorus,” and Lucifer, or “Light Bearer,” is in us: it is our mind.” Well, she got that last part right! Lucifer is certainly in that mindset. I wonder what Ms. Blavatsky thinks about her philosophy now…
She, along with some Hindu Indian mystics, came up with “The Secret Doctrine,” also known as “The Law of Attraction.” This teaches that man is powerful enough in himself, to attract those things he thinks about or wishes for the most. Man has the power to speak into existence material gain, romance, sex, fame, success or whatever our little heart could desire. Think, speak it and it will come to pass. Osteen literally states, “Your words affect your future.” Joyce Meyer commonly tells her followers, “Words are containers for power.”
This nonsense is widely disseminated by the likes of Oprah, Deepak Chopra and was touted in the 2007 New Age movie, “The Secret” and people eat it up like flies on garbage! ‘What a wonderful way to be in touch with God and be blessed!’ The folks who sit in Osteen’s congregation every week, thinking they’re a Christian on their way to heaven, don’t have a c-l-u-e! To support his teaching, Osteen twists scripture like…like…well, a crown of thorns.
For instance, his overly pampered wife Victoria Osteen bleated “God wants to do good things for you. He wants to put you on the road to success. And if God be for you, who DARE be against you? Amen? God is for us!”(Fist pump included) Aw, how inspiring. And completely out of context. Romans 8:31 says “What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”
In this passage, Paul teaches that since we are blood bought children of God, and are righteous and innocent in HIS eyes, who has the right to accuse or condemn us? Because God justified us, no one else has the authority to lay charges against us and send us to hell. It has NOTHING to do with God giving us ‘stuff.’
Another bit of unbiblical diarrhea Osteen dribbles is, “You may have had a great life. God wants you to go further. He has great things for your future. With God, all things are possible!” Is it possible this guy will just go away? Again, he’s twisting the very words of Jesus. In Luke 18, a rich ruler came up to Jesus and asked him what he had to do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus told him to keep the commandments. When the man replied he had followed God’s laws since he was a child, Jesus then said in verse 22, “Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.” When the man heard this, he grew very sad because he wasn’t willing to part with his idol…his wealth.
Verses 24-27: “And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, ‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.’ And they that heard it said, ‘Who then can be saved?’ And he said, ‘The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.’” Again, Osteen twists this verse by implying that God is easily able and wants to make you rich, when Jesus was basically teaching the very opposite; that the love of money causes most wealthy people to miss out on salvation.
The “Law of Attraction” teaching these evangelists spew is very seductive and dangerous. It’s completely opposite to the kind of life and attitudes we as Christians are taught in the New Testament to have. It’s an utter lie! Jesus clearly warned us that following Him will cost us everything. We are to completely surrender ALL our wealth, possessions, dreams, desires, plans and future to conform to HIS will, not our own will.
When Adam and Eve sinned, we were made slaves to sin. Christ saw us standing in chains and had pity on us. He purchased our freedom with His own blood, then stepped back and gave us the choice to take our chains off, come down off the auction block and allow Him to be our master, or stay in bondage to the cruel slave master, satan. We ALL have a master, whether we like it or not, and we only find real freedom in Christ. But, it still requires that we serve Him. We are not our own. 1 Corinthians 6: 20 reminds us “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Sometimes, serving God in this life is painful. We struggle everyday against our fleshly desires and appetites. 1 Peter 4: 1-2 says “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” Whoops! There goes the ‘lust’ for material possessions, Joel.
Jesus taught that we, as His disciples, are not only to surrender our lives to His will, we’re to metaphorically crucify our fleshly desires to follow Him. He pretty much blew Osteen’s theology out the window in Luke 9: 23-25. “And he said to them all, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?’”
This isn’t talking about being martyred for being a Christian, although it would apply. Jesus was saying we would literally have to put our own will to death every, single day and give up our plans and desires to follow Him. If we did this, we would be rewarded with eternal life; if we refused to surrender our will and desire to follow Him, our dreams of fame and fortune might indeed come true on this earth, but is that worth being thrown into hell for eternity?
Although Jesus expects us to accept His plan for our lives and squash and control our fleshly desires, the pay off for our temporary pain and trouble will be much better than our limited, human imagination can dream up! I mean what a deal! A relatively short life on this miserable earth, controlling ourselves and serving our beloved Master, in exchange for an ETERNITY of bliss and beauty and joy…that, my friends, is a no-brainer.
What chaps me about Osteen and the others is this: the Father of lies is using them to lead millions upon millions of people to eternal destruction. The age of grace is just about up, and there isn’t time to waste trying to get rich here. Most people don’t understand that! And because what these ‘preachers’ say appears to be true, due to their mega-church wealth, it’s difficult to tell those lost souls that they’re going to hell unless they turn from their sins and accept the pardon Jesus bled and died to purchase for them.
After all, who wants to hear that riches on this earth are worthless in comparison to the indescribable treasures we’ll have in heaven? Who wants to hear that God will indeed save them from an eternity in hell, but He then expects them to surrender EVERYTHING to Him and follow HIS will? Who’s going to be willing to trade in their Mercedes or 401K if the Lord asks them to, when Osteen and other liars like him promise that God is our personal genie, ready to give us our every desire? How can we compete with that??
Osteen and others like him are nuts! Peter sternly warned in 2 Peter 2: 1 “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” So tell me…are these ‘preachers’ stupid or just plain evil?
Lord God in heaven, infuse your remnant with Spirit filled wisdom to explain your ways to the lost. Soften the hearts of those who are deceived by these false teachers; give them a supernatural hunger for the truth of the cross and your love for them before it’s too late. I pray for the lost sheep that are under the impression they belong to you, when they are walking in darkness. Open the eyes of those held in the thrall of these liars, so they can see the lateness of the hour. Draw them to your loving embrace and use us as your instruments of mercy and truth. In Jesus’ name above ALL names. Amen.
author: bensmomi99@gmail.com
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