Posted on 08/10/2005 7:54:28 AM PDT by TBP
On any given Sunday, 100 million households from Australia, Europe, and across the USA will tune in to view Joel Osteen broadcasting from the 30,000-member Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Rated as the #1 inspirational television program by Nielson Media Research, Joel Osteen is preaching a message that certainly seems to be touching home with people all over America. In his much respected best selling book, Your Best Life Now-7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, Osteen outlines a seven-step process for effecting profound change in your life. He speaks in terms of the positive in everyday life. Expect God's favor, live your full potential, realize your God-given right to prosperity, including being happy, building a good marriage, and having good relationships. Accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative are really the basis of Osteen's message. His true gift is in speaking directly to the viewer, almost to the point that the viewer feels that Osteen knows him personally. He talks about everyday real-life issues, using self disclosure from his own experiences and subsequent lessons learned in order to relay a powerful message.
Osteen's story has been often told in recent years. His father was the much-loved and revered Reverend John Osteen, founder and longtime pastor of the Lakewood Church. Father John authored 45 books and was know as the "pastor's pastor," leading seminars and conferences around the country along with running a successful television ministry. Joel Osteen's first experiences were in business and media, becoming a successful producer of his father's television ministry. Upon his father's untimely death in 1999, Joel humbly stepped up to fill his father's shoes, and the rest is recent history.
The amazing phenomenon that we are witnessing with the rise of Osteen is that he has seamlessly incorporated and integrated the long-practiced prosperity principles of the century-old New Thought movement (principles derived from the teachings of Jesus and even earlier teachings) into a mainstream Christian message. A mere decade ago, most of the TV preachers and hometown pastors delivered a message that those in the flock are sinners, undeserving, dust-of-the-earth folks, who could not expect much from God other than a beautiful afterlife. The common teaching did not recognize that we are empowered with making a good life for ourselves. In fact, many would have called Osteen's teachings blasphemy. And some very vocal mainstream Christianity proponents are saying just that. The internet is littered with "outing Joel Osteen" messages, stating that he is card carrying metaphysical teacher not unlike Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer and Neale Donald Walsch. They say that he speaks the same lingo as the well known self empowerment gurus of today, adding a Christian tint and point of view.
When Osteen is asked who inspires him, he is vague in his responses. When asked which books he reads, he replies that he reads many books and has no particular favorites. When interviewed about gay marriage and other liberal ideas, he has replied that he doesn't get into that. Regardless of where the basis of his message comes from, it is powerful and fulfilling to his large audience. It is quite apparent to any knowledgeable viewer who may have studied New Thought and other metaphysical writings, that Osteen is preaching what philosopher William James called "the religion og healthy-mindedness." He is delving far beyond the power of positive thinking of the Sixties and Seventies. He discusses our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and belief systems. Some metaphysical teachers are feeling cheated, for Joel Osteen is bringing mainstream Christianity down a parallel path of teachings. But what does it really matter? If mainstream Christianity can transform its ages-old "fire and brimstone" fear-based message into one of self empowerment and practical positive living , then it is all the better for humanity. The world's Christians can now feel empowered and happy without the prerequisite guilt that was so prominent in the past.
Joel Osteen is touching a chord in the human spirit in teaching empowerment, betterment, positive thinking, optimism, and gratitude toward God. The overwhelming response is evidenced by blockbuster book sales and skyrocketing television ratings. And this very same phenomenal response is commensurate with the need of the seekers that he is reaching out to.
On a more reflective note, the melding of practical spirituality and Christianity may not be good for the long-term "brand" equity of Christianity. If you can watch presentations by Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson and Joel Osteen side by side and see little difference in the teachings other than terminology, what will be the outcome of the loyalty to one particular religion? All of these teachers are offering a similar message in different packaging. The real outcome of Osteen's rise is yet to be seen. The present conclusion is that he is greatly helping to uplift humanity by teaching self-empowerment, negating victim-hood, and relieving people of the propensity for guilt in striving for prosperity and abundance.
Joel Osteen is definitely a mover and a shaker of the highest nature. His charm and charisma packaged with a succinctly delivered message will only propel him to even greater heights. Expect his to be a household name around the world in the coming years. Whereas Billy Graham delivered a powerful sermon and saved millions of "sinners," Joel Osteen is sure to uplift and elevate the lives of many millions more.
Must you always attempt to goad others into an argument? Simple questions are much more conducive to a discussion than accusations and strawman arguments. You know that Jesus was talking about 'needs' rather than 'wants' in Matt 6.
Matthew 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Paul might have thought he 'needed' the thorn in his flesh removed. But God had other plans and Paul accepted this.
2 Corinthians 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
God's grace is sufficient.
The ABUNDANT FRUIT that Christ GUARANTEED is much along the lines of the fruit that came through his life.
Christ would not expect you to obtain/bear fruit that was different from that of his early followers and himself.
Their fruits were not material at all..
Jer. 9:24, "but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD."
Psalm 20:7 Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the LORD, our God.
1 Corinthians 1:31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."
2 Corinthians 10:17 But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD.
Galatians 6:14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Religion is supposed to be about uplifting us.
Where's you ever hear that?
"Genuine Christianity is about self-denial, not self-empowerment."
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Phillipians 4:13
If that ain't self empowerment, I don't know what is. The Word says I can do all things. G-d himself has empowered me.
Then you come to, "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."
I see nothing in there about God-given right to prosperity. Actually, your verse is a wonderful example of true Christianity. Christ becomes everything. We become nothing.
You're correct in that religion is "supposed to be about uplifting us," because it has been that way since Cain lifted up himself to kill his righteous brother, Abel.
Later, men sought to lift themselves up in arrogance to the Lord through the building of the Tower of Babel, the epitome of religion.
We are "uplifted" when God exalts us after we realize that we cannot do anything to help ourselves or lift ourselves without Christ. Any other type of "uplifting" amounts to humanism.
Self-denial is the way of anyone who wishes to follow Christ.
So, are you saying that non-charismatics do not have the "fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit?" Are non-charismatics inferior to those who view themselves as charismatics?
Wow.
What about Jesus' words?
Matthew 16:25 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Luke 17:33 " Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
John 12:25 " He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
The "abundant life" is living with the assurance of knowing that eternal life awaits you in heaven.
Read your bible and you'll see that the life of a disciple mirrors the life of his/her master, which means if Jesus came to die in order for others to live, then we should do the same.
What about the believers who were tortured and thrown to lions or hid in caves and holes in the ground, hiding from those who persecuted them? What about those who were sawn in two, and imprisoned because of their faith and refusal to deny the Christ who indwelled them?
Believers of the first few centuries, contrary to how "holy" you may think your life is, completely understood what it meant to be a disciple of Christ. They knew what it meant to "die daily." We have no understanding of those words.
So, please, compare your great "blessings" that you claim to have because "God is for you" and forget what the writer of Hebrews said about those who denied themselves to the point of death, that "the world was not worthy of them."
Can the same be said about you or I?
Read Hebrews 11:32ff and then come back and tell us how those heroes of the faith prospered materially.
"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:5-8)
I don't see Jesus in any Cadillac Club, like some here do.
He has to because his only hope is that the shrillness of his posts compensates for his utter lack of Scriptural knowledge and understanding of the character of Christ.
Oh yeah, I love that. If our Lord can humble himself, then surely we can do the same.
Jesus also said "My kingdom is not of this world". If you miss that you totally misunderstand the gospel.
When the Lord told us to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matt 6:33), that was in contradiction to seeking material gain. If we seek the kingdom, He promised that the basic things we need will be provided. If we seek material prosperity and forget the kingdom, we risk far more that loss of material benefit.
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
Amen! That's great.
No, I didn't say that. But if a group consistently teaches themselves and others that the fulness of the Holy Spirit is GONE, you do the math...
We all have tribulations, however, not everyone is going to have his body cut in half with a saw. Do you realize that? Geez, everyone that quotes those verses from Hebrews to attack fellow believers, should move to Iran and preach, and you'll get your wish...
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