Joel Osteen

[Jesusloevsu]

YAY http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5471/loljesusqv8.jpg

 

[Kelly]

Even if it is an attempt to create bias against a guest because they are Christian, a Pastor has an obligation to get the Truth out.

I know, I was just making the additional point. Other guests have remained true to the Word.

 

[NewChildofGod]

I am a member of Lakewood Church where Joel preaches. He is an awesome preacher! I would highly recommend anyone and everyone to either visit the church when you are in Houston! Or of course watch on television or podcast. You can visit www.lakewood.cc or www.joelosteen.com. Also read his book, it is great!
I love Lakewood! You are welcomed with open arms!

 

[NewChildofGod]

I was in leadership in my last church (recently moved - need new church home). We were warned by the leaders of the church about Joel Osteen. Other leaders at the meeting had not nice things to say about his teaching.

So, I watched his broadcast (or part of it - got bored). I did not see him read from the Bible once only wave it around. I do not remember any quoting of Scripture from memory.

The main issue with him seems to be he does not teach the entire Gospel. He only focuses on the good things or blessings. He does not teach any warnings. I have heard others say he teaches from the "church of prosperity".

Of course he is popular if he only tells you about all the good things. But, that is deceptive to me. A leader needs to help their flock learn about the traps in life. How to deal with sin in their lives. About Hell and consequences.

He may be inspirational to listen to once in a while, but I would be leary of him being my main preacher. If he is not teaching the entire Bible, then to me he is a deceptive teacher.

This is just my opinion and the opinion of others I have talked too.

Sister why would you talk about another Christian like this? This is just what the enemy wants!
Even if I wasn't a member of Lakewood, which I am, it still upsets me when one Christian is talking about another.

Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Proverbs 10:18 He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.

Proverbs 10:19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.

Proverbs 11:9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.

Proverbs 12:19 The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

Luke 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven

James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

James 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

 

[NewChildofGod]

How many of you that are judging and talking about Joel Osteen have actually been to the church or to one of his events? How many of you have ever talked to the man? I do believe that we should question teachings or messages we hear, but some of you are judging matters you know nothing about. When you walk in his shoes, then tell me what you think of him and his followers. God bless all of you.
Here is what our church believes:

WE BELIEVE…the entire Bible is inspired by God, without error and the authority on which we base our faith, conduct and doctrine.
WE BELIEVE…in one God who exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to this earth as Savior of the world.
WE BELIEVE…Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. We believe Jesus rose from the dead and is coming again. We believe that eternal salvation is found only by placing our faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross.
WE BELIEVE…water baptism is a symbol of the cleansing power of the blood of Christ and an outward testimony to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
WE BELIEVE…in the regular taking of Communion as an act of remembering what the Lord Jesus did for us on the cross.
WE BELIEVE…every believer should be in a growing relationship with Jesus by obeying God’s Word, yielding to the Holy Spirit and by being conformed to the image of Christ.
WE BELIEVE…as children of God, we are overcomers and more than conquerors and God intends for each of us to experience the abundant life He has in store for us.

 

[NewChildofGod]

Yes...there are wonderful ministries on television. I for one am very happy my Pastor has a television ministry. I've really been blessed by a lot of television ministries.

Again it comes back to discernment. You know good teaching from bad teaching be it on television or the church down the street.

I know a lot of folks that go to Lakeside. Everyone says the same thing....I love his inspirational message. He only talks about the good stuff....and people really love it. The moment I try to share my concerns...they don't want to talk about it anymore.

So Lakeside to me isn't just a television ministry....it's the church down the street....misdirecting A LOT of people from the Word of God.

God bless

It is Lakewood, not Lakeside. I am a member and I would love to talk with you about your concerns.
I may not be back on here until Monday so if you do post something and I don't respond right away that is why. Talk to you soon.

 

[Kelly]

God bless all of you.
Here is what our church believes:

Awesome, I'm really glad someone from his church is here. I have a few questions:

1)Is the message seen on his weekly TV show different from what you folks get each sunday?

2) What's it like going to a church so big. How do you connect with the body? Are there lots of home or small groups?

3) Do other pastors ever teach or is it always Joel?

4) Do you have midweek services or any communal services for deeper study?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nadiine]

How many of you that are judging and talking about Joel Osteen have actually been to the church or to one of his events? How many of you have ever talked to the man? I do believe that we should question teachings or messages we hear, but some of you are judging matters you know nothing about. When you walk in his shoes, then tell me what you think of him and his followers. God bless all of you.
Here is what our church believes:

WE BELIEVE…the entire Bible is inspired by God, without error and the authority on which we base our faith, conduct and doctrine.
WE BELIEVE…in one God who exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to this earth as Savior of the world.
WE BELIEVE…Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. We believe Jesus rose from the dead and is coming again. We believe that eternal salvation is found only by placing our faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross.
WE BELIEVE…water baptism is a symbol of the cleansing power of the blood of Christ and an outward testimony to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
WE BELIEVE…in the regular taking of Communion as an act of remembering what the Lord Jesus did for us on the cross.
WE BELIEVE…every believer should be in a growing relationship with Jesus by obeying God’s Word, yielding to the Holy Spirit and by being conformed to the image of Christ.
WE BELIEVE…as children of God, we are overcomers and more than conquerors and God intends for each of us to experience the abundant life He has in store for us.

Hi

I'm not here to attack you or your church members, or your Pastor.

I am here however, to shine a bright light on the message being given... statement of beliefs are just that. Belief alone isn't salvation tho - genuine placed FAITH is.

When Larry King asked Joel these probing & important questions concerning the gospel truth, quite frankly, he failed miserably.
When a man can't even claim that Islam is WRONG... & that he doesn't know if Muslims won't enter heaven, and when an evangelist can't even claim that JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO GOD (salvation), we should all take great pause & be alarmed!
(& those weren't the only problematic answers he gave either).

If that were my pastor, I would have immediately left that church without 1 reservation... being fed a steady diet of modern psychology & positive thinking isn't the gospel we're called to bring.

Here's what else heavily bothered me.. when speaking about his new book... he talked about how yes, he DID include bible verses in it, BUT HE STUCK THE VERSES IN THE BACK OF THE BOOK.
He wanted his book to be a message of HOPE, so the verses got jammed in the BACK if they cared to look at those, they could be found in that area... AS IF HIS POSITIVE WORDS ARE MORE POWERFUL HOPE THAN SCRIPTURE TRUTH?
God's word IS the POWER that changes hearts - not man's motivational speakings.
That spoke volumes to me when I heard him say that!

THE GOSPEL IS THE HOPE. He's trying to give "hope" by telling folks "just hang in there, God will eventually bless you". "Be a GOOD person" "love". It's not about "just hang in there till the blessings get showered on you".
Most of what he offers, a NON Christian can preach & agree with!
It's basically a starvation diet. Just think good, happy thoughts till payday arrives. Be good, be happy, help others & think loving thoughts all day.

I don't need to go to your church to know his message, he's on tv daily... that's more than enough to get the message he's sending.

One other note I'd like to add, I don't watch him much at all anymore - but I do tune in periodically just to see if he's changed his message any.
What frightens me is this, I could actually preach his message at this point. I'm shocked people don't leave of boredom becuz he repeats the SAME MESSAGE nearly every service!
I almost know it verbatim. It's the same themes & messages, sprinkled with a few (very few) scriptures or stories....
How does a growing & strong Christian live off that type of spiritual food? (I PRAY people are doing their own personal bible study!) It's so shallow & superficial, it's scary!
WHERE'S THE MEAT OF THE WORD being given? It isn't meat, it's dessert.
And due to just those issues alone, I would RUN from his shepherding. People need more to grow by than pep talks & positive affirmations.

None of this is personal against you or your members, I'm only telling you that there is valid reason for the many criticisms that are being raised against his preaching since 2005.
btw, I used to watch his father regularly on tv and that man impressed me! He was teaching the true & FULL gospel.

 

[Cris413]

It is Lakewood, not Lakeside. I am a member and I would love to talk with you about your concerns.
I may not be back on here until Monday so if you do post something and I don't respond right away that is why. Talk to you soon.

I knew I made the mistake when I went to bed last night. And had full intention of correcting it this morning...

I did read your post regarding Lakewood's mission statement and my prayer has always been that not all his flock are spirit starved.

I have to agree with Nadiine's reply. Mr Osteen simply does not stand to the test. I'm not saying he's a horrible man....he's just not a good Paster-Teacher and I'm concerned....especially in these times....he does more harm than good.

Concerning the Larry King interview, I can say with most certainty that had Larry King asked that question of Billy Graham, or Chuck Smith or Chuck Missler or Bob Coy or Ed Gaines or Tony Evans (the list could go on and on) he would have never gotten "I don't know" as an answer.

I am very concerned for Mr Osteen on many levels...but the man had opportunity to speak for Jesus and did everything but outright deny Him on Larry King.

I won't go on and on...but Mr Osteen has a huge responsibility that he is not living up to. God bless you sister if you are growing in spite of what you're being fed.

Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (NKJV)

I would love Mr Osteen to do a teaching on Ephesians Chapter 5 or any teaching out of the Word for that matter. It would be awesome if this man...with the charisma and the following he has... actually taught the Word.

Thank you again for pointing out I typed Lakeside instead of Lakewood.

God bless

 

[CelineDion]

You know heres my thing...God is a God of Grace and mercy and I thank Him and praise HIm for that. He is the Lover of our soul and wonderful beyond imagination but He also has a standard of holiness that I am yet to hear pastor Joel preach on and I never ever ever form an opinion against someone unless I've read one of thier books and watched 2 or more episodes of there show...but everything is the same with him...it's all " Live your best life" ...What about living righteous and living holy and the fact that you cant live any way you want and yes he touches a bit on it but not like it should be touched on...I feel it's crucial to be specific and say " You cannot have sex outside of marriage, you cant listen to any music you want, you cant watch any movie you want, you cant hang out with anyone you want...there is a standard of holy living that needs to be upheld by the people of God." ...Christ didnt just focus on the good...that's just not how it's supposed to be done ...because it's NOT all good. Im sure he's a great person and you know what the fact that he has money and a show is AWESOME but I just think he should use it to preach the whole gospel and not just the sugary sweet part.

 

[VCViking]

We are to correct and judge brothers and sisters in the Lord without hypocrisy.

Luke 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.

This forbids hypocrisy and a condemining spirit from self righteousness.

 

[GraceLikeRainFallsDown]

Sister why would you talk about another Christian like this? This is just what the enemy wants!
Even if I wasn't a member of Lakewood, which I am, it still upsets me when one Christian is talking about another.

I am sorry I upset you with my opinion. I have nothing against the members of his church. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

I do not feel it is judging him to point out where his preaching is lacking (in my opinion). Only God has the right to judge him.

Any Chritian Pastor that will not preach the entire Truth of the Gospels (ex - Jesus is the only Way to the Father) I must be leary of since it contradicts the Bible. A Leader for God must stand firm in the Truth, even if it is not popular for the viewing TV audience.

I was glad to see you posted your Statement of Faith. I noticed that this is part of it:

WE BELIEVE…Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. We believe Jesus rose from the dead and is coming again. We believe that eternal salvation is found ONLY by placing our faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross.

If you look at the transcript of the Larry King interview. Joel may not necessarily believe that Jesus is the ONLY way to salvation. It appears from his own words that though he choses to have a relationship with Jesus, he just does not know. It scares me that he did not have the faith to say, "Yes, Larry, the Bible is very clear. Jesus is the only way of salvation."

If the Leader of the church is not willing to fully stand behind their Statement of Faith, they need to re-evaluate a few things. (just my opinion)

I do think he is a very nice person. I can see why many love him. He is a very good inspirational speaker. But, a Pastor has a huge obligation to God when leading a flock of any size. God is the one who will hold him ultimately accountable for his preaching. It really is between God and Joel.



God Bless.

 

[VCViking]

James 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Speaking evil is to slander or defame. James does not forbid confronting those in sin, which is commanded elsewhere in scripture: MATT. 18:15-17; ACTS 20:31; 1 COR. 4:14; COL. 1:28; TITUS 1:13, 2:15, 3:10.

Rather he condems careless, derogatory, critical, slanderous accusations.





KING: What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ...

KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They're wrong, aren't they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong.




Why would you follow a pastor who denied Jesus to millions, if not billions, of people on national t.v.?

Matthew 10:33
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

 

[Nadiine]

I am sorry I upset you with my opinion. I have nothing against the members of his church. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

I do not feel it is judging him to point out where his preaching is lacking (in my opinion). Only God has the right to judge him.

Any Chritian Pastor that will not preach the entire Truth of the Gospels (ex - Jesus is the only Way to the Father) I must be leary of since it contradicts the Bible. A Leader for God must stand firm in the Truth, even if it is not popular for the viewing TV audience.

I was glad to see you posted your Statement of Faith. I noticed that this is part of it:

WE BELIEVE…Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. We believe Jesus rose from the dead and is coming again. We believe that eternal salvation is found ONLY by placing our faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross.

If you look at the transcript of the Larry King interview. Joel may not necessarily believe that Jesus is the ONLY way to salvation. It appears from his own words that though he choses to have a relationship with Jesus, he just does not know. It scares me that he did not have the faith to say, "Yes, Larry, the Bible is very clear. Jesus is the only way of salvation."

If the Leader of the church is not willing to fully stand behind their Statement of Faith, they need to re-evaluate a few things. (just my opinion)

I do think he is a very nice person. I can see why many love him. He is a very good inspirational speaker. But, a Pastor has a huge obligation to God when leading a flock of any size. God is the one who will hold him ultimately accountable for his preaching. It really is between God and Joel. God Bless.

Exactly. That IS the issue directly. & there were even other problematic statements in the transcript... those 2 were huge tho.

I agree, this is nothing against the members that go there- my concern is, I HOPE they're getting spiritually fed in some other way from other teachers and/or personal devotional time (anything).

I have nothing against him personally, I don't know him. & I also agree w/ VCViking, this hasn't been slander, this is Christians using factual statements he's made that should concern them about his messages & teachings.

That's not personal attack or judging. We ARE called to judge what people teach tho. If we can't judge what we're being taught, then we're all in for some real trouble as we accept every other false teaching under the sun.

 

[Maiseyjo]

Occasionally I have watched Joel on TV. His message is not deep but I thought encouraging. Not what I would ever want a steady diet of but I didn't see much wrong with what he preached.

After what I read here, I went back and found the transcripts of what he said about Jesus not being the only way on Larry King. That dissapointed me so much. I truly think he DOES believe Jesus is the only way...but didn't want to say that on TV. While I understand the uncomfortableness of it...He still should not have wimped out. I'm sad.

 

[Nadiine]

This is for the OP & anyone that doesn't know about J Osteen's public interview w/ Larry King on CNN.
I strongly urge anyone who's supporting this man to read this & notice the STARTLING statements made (and lack of statements) that come from a "Christian evangelist".

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0506/20/lkl.01.html​

To close, I read 1 person's post about how if just ONE person is saved thru his ministry, it's good.him being in ministry.... I say this, HOW MANY ARE HARMED & LOST SO THAT ONE IS SAVED?​

& he doesn't quote much at all from the scriptures, and my brother who is a Pastor listens to his teachings & has found many of the verses he does use are taken out of their context & mistaught.​

If that's the ONLY diet people are going to be spiritually fed, I highly suggest they get a good dentist - becuz eating only sweets will end up rotting your teeth out.​

*other links: what Osteen is charging when he travels to speak: (this is true, my husband saw his ticket sales in Calif. here just a few mos. ago and they were at $100 a ticket)
- disclaimer: I haven't thoroughly searched these sites - just these pages I got from the search engine.​

http://www.apprising.org/archives/2005/10/whats_that_you.html
http://www.letusreason.org/Popteac29.htm​

 

[NewChildofGod]

Awesome, I'm really glad someone from his church is here. I have a few questions:

1)Is the message seen on his weekly TV show different from what you folks get each sunday?

2) What's it like going to a church so big. How do you connect with the body? Are there lots of home or small groups?

3) Do other pastors ever teach or is it always Joel?

4) Do you have midweek services or any communal services for deeper study?

Thanks in advance!

The message is slight different because for time purposes, they may have to edit some parts to make it fit in the time slot.
It is not hard to connect with other people because we do have home groups, plus many many resources at the church. I love it and travel about 30 minutes to get there and fight some traffic. We have Saturday and Sunday services to accommodate the amount of people that go to the church.
We do have other pastors that teach and special guests, also on Wednesday nights his brother or sister usually preaches.
I am really glad you wanted to ask questions because I LOVE this church. I would fight traffic for 5 hours to attend Lakewood. The praise and worship there is also sooo wonderful.
If you want to ask anything else, ask away.

 

[NewChildofGod]

Hi

I'm not here to attack you or your church members, or your Pastor.

I am here however, to shine a bright light on the message being given... statement of beliefs are just that. Belief alone isn't salvation tho - genuine placed FAITH is.

When Larry King asked Joel these probing & important questions concerning the gospel truth, quite frankly, he failed miserably.
When a man can't even claim that Islam is WRONG... & that he doesn't know if Muslims won't enter heaven, and when an evangelist can't even claim that JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO GOD (salvation), we should all take great pause & be alarmed!
(& those weren't the only problematic answers he gave either).

If that were my pastor, I would have immediately left that church without 1 reservation... being fed a steady diet of modern psychology & positive thinking isn't the gospel we're called to bring.

Here's what else heavily bothered me.. when speaking about his new book... he talked about how yes, he DID include bible verses in it, BUT HE STUCK THE VERSES IN THE BACK OF THE BOOK.
He wanted his book to be a message of HOPE, so the verses got jammed in the BACK if they cared to look at those, they could be found in that area... AS IF HIS POSITIVE WORDS ARE MORE POWERFUL HOPE THAN SCRIPTURE TRUTH?
God's word IS the POWER that changes hearts - not man's motivational speakings.
That spoke volumes to me when I heard him say that!

THE GOSPEL IS THE HOPE. He's trying to give "hope" by telling folks "just hang in there, God will eventually bless you". "Be a GOOD person" "love". It's not about "just hang in there till the blessings get showered on you".
Most of what he offers, a NON Christian can preach & agree with!
It's basically a starvation diet. Just think good, happy thoughts till payday arrives. Be good, be happy, help others & think loving thoughts all day.

I don't need to go to your church to know his message, he's on tv daily... that's more than enough to get the message he's sending.

One other note I'd like to add, I don't watch him much at all anymore - but I do tune in periodically just to see if he's changed his message any.
What frightens me is this, I could actually preach his message at this point. I'm shocked people don't leave of boredom becuz he repeats the SAME MESSAGE nearly every service!
I almost know it verbatim. It's the same themes & messages, sprinkled with a few (very few) scriptures or stories....
How does a growing & strong Christian live off that type of spiritual food? (I PRAY people are doing their own personal bible study!) It's so shallow & superficial, it's scary!
WHERE'S THE MEAT OF THE WORD being given? It isn't meat, it's dessert.
And due to just those issues alone, I would RUN from his shepherding. People need more to grow by than pep talks & positive affirmations.

None of this is personal against you or your members, I'm only telling you that there is valid reason for the many criticisms that are being raised against his preaching since 2005.
btw, I used to watch his father regularly on tv and that man impressed me! He was teaching the true & FULL gospel.

You have to understand that Joel is called to be an encourager...he would be the first one to say that. He does preach from the Bible at every service.
I hear so many people that are non-Christians RUN from preachers or Christians because they want to "shove" the Bible or scriptures down there throat! I have heard that soo many times, including coming from my mouth before I was saved. Joel's way of talking to others and preaching really made me want to learn more about why he was always happy and joyful. Whatever he had, I wanted it! And I found out because I started going to Lakewood. I learned that the way to get this was to have a relationship with our Father, to accept the Lord as my Savior, to read and study the Bible, and to fellowship with others. Believe me, I would have NEVER gotten the message from anyone else. I would have never stopped to listen to someone that was "shoving" the Bible down my throat. And people have tried! People tried to get my attention by telling me that I was going to hell, that how I lived was wrong, and I was wrong. All those people made me do was run the other way and RUN fast!
I am just saddened because I have heard non-Christians in the media talk about Joel and Lakewood, but when it comes from "Christians" in a harsh and judging way, it makes my heart cry.
God Bless!

 

[NewChildofGod]

I knew I made the mistake when I went to bed last night. And had full intention of correcting it this morning...

I did read your post regarding Lakewood's mission statement and my prayer has always been that not all his flock are spirit starved.

I have to agree with Nadiine's reply. Mr Osteen simply does not stand to the test. I'm not saying he's a horrible man....he's just not a good Paster-Teacher and I'm concerned....especially in these times....he does more harm than good.

Concerning the Larry King interview, I can say with most certainty that had Larry King asked that question of Billy Graham, or Chuck Smith or Chuck Missler or Bob Coy or Ed Gaines or Tony Evans (the list could go on and on) he would have never gotten "I don't know" as an answer.

I am very concerned for Mr Osteen on many levels...but the man had opportunity to speak for Jesus and did everything but outright deny Him on Larry King.

I won't go on and on...but Mr Osteen has a huge responsibility that he is not living up to. God bless you sister if you are growing in spite of what you're being fed.

Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (NKJV)

I would love Mr Osteen to do a teaching on Ephesians Chapter 5 or any teaching out of the Word for that matter. It would be awesome if this man...with the charisma and the following he has... actually taught the Word.

Thank you again for pointing out I typed Lakeside instead of Lakewood.

God bless

Hi Cris413! About Joel actually teaching the Word, he does and at every sermon.

 

[NewChildofGod]

There will always be someone that judges or criticizes every one of us, especially someone that is doing so well. Also when a church has grown like it has in 7 or 8 years, all the judges and critics come out.
I know that Lakewood and Pastor Joel is for me, may not be for you, but it is for me. And I thank any of you that are praying for us, because I also pray for the pastors and leaders of this world. It is much appreciated.