Is Joel Osteen a False Prophet?

I remember vividly the awkward moment that I got to meet Joel Osteen. 

“Hello, Joel.  Umm, Mr. Osteen.” 

Long awkward pause as my hands fiddle in my pockets and I look into Joel’s piercing blue eyes.

His teeth are brilliantly white behind that obnoxious smile of his. 

As Joel stands there saying nothing, just smiling, of course, I am trying desperately to figure out what I should say next.  My wife standing next to me is no help.

Just moments earlier we were standing in a long line of people staring at a blank wall like we were lined up to face a firing squad.  Why had I chosen to put myself into such a weird situation?

We had being driving with our friends for the last two days from Iowa on our way to Texas to depart for a 7 day cruise.  We had decided to stop along the way at Joel Osteen’s church. 

I decided to go along for this adventure as a curious skeptic, not a fan or follower of Joel’s. 

I had read one of Joel’s books and had mixed reactions to it.  On the one hand, I had enjoyed his positive “reach for the sky, with God’s help you can do anything” approach to life.  On the other hand, I was skeptical about the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel.     

I had seen Joel on TV a few times but wasn’t a huge fan of his style. 

I had heard a lot of the criticism towards Joel’s ministry.

“He doesn’t preach the gospel.”

“He doesn’t preach against sin.”

“He is greedy and just in it for the money.”

“He is a false prophet and only wants to draw a crowd.”

So I was interested to experience his church first hand.

As we walked from the parking garage to the massive arena, we were constantly greeted by helpful friendly faces.  When we walked into the arena on a Saturday night it was about 30% full.  An usher greeted us and asked us if it was our first time there.  We explained that we were visiting from Iowa.

The usher said, “Let’s get you a better seat.”  He then ushered us down to sit on the front row!

I happen to sit next to someone who had been attending the church for several years.  He said he preferred the non-televised Saturday night service, because Joel was a little more relaxed and off script. 

He then said something that shocked me, “Did you know that Joel doesn’t receive a salary from the church? His income is from his book sales.” 

So much for the “Joel is greedy and just in it for the money” accusation.

Then the craziest thing happened!  After the worship and as communion was being served I heard Joel give a clear presentation of the Gospel!

So much for the “He doesn’t preach the gospel” accusation.

After we left the service, I had come to the conclusion that maybe I was wrong about Joel’s ministry. 

My purpose in writing this blog is not to sell you on Joel Osteen. 

My purpose is to suggest the thought that maybe we as Christian’s are too quick to judge the character of someone that we don’t even know!

I know that Jesus said “Beware of False Prophets.” But I’m not sure this means call them out on Facebook.     

Nothing could be easier and takes less courage than to take to social media and type away judgmental accusations against everyone we disagree with.  WE CAN EVEN TYPE IN ALL CAPS. We can back it up with scripture references, add angry emoji’s and feel very smug and self-righteous! 

But what good has this accomplished for the kingdom of God?

I am not saying that we blindly and mindlessly follow any teaching that becomes popular.  Followers of Christ have the responsibility to use the brilliant minds God has given them to verify that what they are listening to lines up with what God has already said.

But Jesus dealt quite harshly with the self-appointed doctrine police and fruit inspectors of his day.

Jesus also said “You will know them by their fruit.” 

Unless I have relationship with you, it is extremely difficult for me to be qualified to speak about your spiritual fruit or lack thereof.

The longer I am in the ministry, the more reluctant I am to criticize another minister.  I understand how difficult it is and how easy it is for people at a distance to misunderstand what you are trying to accomplish. 

  

“The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Notice that Grace comes first!   

Is Mother Teresa in Hell?

     Recently, wild mindlessly skimming through my Facebook News Feed I came across a link one of my “Friends” had shared entitled “Roman Catholics: Canonizing the Damned” attached to a picture of Mother Teresa. 

     Obviously, this got my attention.  The writer begins by stating that Mother Teresa was “the damned follower of an apostate religion!”  I then began to read about all the things Mother Teresa did wrong.  But according to this article her biggest problem was theological.  The writer then proceeds to lay out all of her false beliefs and contends that because of her false beliefs she was damned to hell!

      Several years ago as I was starting out in ministry, I was given the difficult task of performing a funeral for someone whom I didn’t know while they were alive.  Almost every funeral I had every attended the minister spoke with confidence that the person whose life they were celebrating was in heaven. 

     Because of my lack of knowledge of the deceased person’s faith or lack of faith, I wasn’t sure how to approach the funeral service and so I asked my Pastor for advice.  I will never forget what he said.

“Don’t preach them into Heaven or Hell!” 

“They are where they are, and nothing you can say or do will change that fact.”

“Leave that up to God.”

It some of the best advice I have ever heard. 

     I don’t fully understand anyone (such as the above mentioned writer) who will emphatically state that another human being is in hell!  God is the Judge of the world and I feel completely inadequate to sit in that chair.   

     It also intrigued me that the writer of this article (Who writes for a website who seems to think almost every human being is going to hell!) was so against doing good things to earn a place to heaven.  Even though I agree with the writer on this issue, it seems like they were proposing that our theology must be perfect to earn a place in heaven!  

Whether we think its good works or perfect theology will get you God’s approval, we are dead wrong.

God says there is only one way for a human being to be in right relationship with him. 

“If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead you will be saved.” 

This kind of faith is all about Jesus and what he did for me.  What he is asking of me is that I trust him.

I am relieved to know that God hasn’t called me to be the world’s judge. 

I know I would be quite stingy with Grace and Mercy towards everyone else, except towards myself of course!

The Complicated Gospel

I grew up in Sunday School, and whenever the teacher asked a question it seemed like the answer was always from a short list. . . Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, Pray, Read Your Bible, and Witness.  

As I grew older, it seemed like life got a lot more complicated and so did the church’s instruction on matters of Faith. 

It didn’t matter what the issue was, God’s advice in Scripture was simple.

MARRIAGE

“Husbands love your wives.  Wives respect your husbands.”

MONEY

“The Love of Money is the root of all evil.”

RELATIONSHIPS 

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

LEADERSHIP

“If you want to become great, become a servant of all.”

MINISTRY

“Go and make disciples of all people.”

Yet Christians have written countless books on all of these subjects!  When preachers preach on these subjects we get a list of 17 action items!

How can we take something so simple and make it so complicated? 

It is this last subject of the ministry in which I have found the greatest frustration within the church.

I graduated from high school and said yes to God’s call to go into the ministry.  So naturally I set off for Bible College.  

I thought the ministry was simple!  

“Preach the Word!”  “Love God, Love People”  “Make Disciples!”

 HAHAHA. What a fool I was!

Once again I discovered that Christians had filled libraries with books on how to correctly go about doing the work of the ministry!  I had entered college confident that with God’s help I could do what he had called me to do.  I left scared that I wasn’t prepared for the ministry!

That was only the beginning.  

Once I actually got into the ministry, I discovered that it was even more complicated than I had been taught in college.  

There were so many expectations put on the performance of pastors.  I heard horror stories of small churches where the pastor and his wife worked tirelessly to do everything while the people in the congregation sat back, did nothing to help and responded with complaints that their needs weren’t being met. 

I read books from the so called “experts” in large churches who laid out their complex systems with charts and graphs on how to disciple people.  

I became so overwhelmed that I cannot tell you the number of times of I have wanted to quit the ministry because I have thought I wasn’t qualified as a leader.

I was told that church services had to be polished, seeker-friendly, organized, micro-managed and planned down to the minute.     

How have we made something so simple become so complex?

When I read the gospel accounts about Jesus’ ministry, it still seems so simple.  

He lived life with people, loved them and showed them truth.

When I read the accounts of the early church it still seems so SIMPLE!

They devoted themselves to doing life together, praying together, eating together, and listening to the apostles teaching. 

How have we made something so simple become so complex?

We see complexity trying to creep into the church very early on.  In Acts, the apostles start to get roped into a conflict about serving food to the poor.  They realize what is taking place and designate other people to take care of the problem so they can “devote themselves to the teaching of the word and to prayer.”

I wish I could tell you that we have been faithful to the apostles example and that 2,000 years later the job description of a pastor is to “devote themselves to the teaching of the word and to prayer.”  But that is far from the truth!

How have we made something so simple become so complex?

Why do we as believers rush to purchase the latest Christian book on life issues instead of studying and applying the simple truths of scripture?

I believe this happens for a couple of reasons.  

For some reason, human beings love making simple things complex.  I don’t think we have evil intentions, but I don’t think that we are aware of what we are doing either.

If by God’s grace we just simply followed the simple teachings of Scripture, God would get all of the credit, and that doesn’t sell books.  

But if to truly get breakthrough in an area of our lives requires following some experts complicated advice, then we as human beings get the credit.  

A verse that constantly rings in my ears is this from psalms “Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain!”

Let us as believers and as the church leave this complicated gospel that rests all upon our efforts to figure everything out and return to the simple GOOD NEWS!

Jesus calls to us simply, “COME FOLLOW ME!”