Posted on 12/19/2009 6:37:28 PM PST by marshmallow
Houston, Texas (CNN) -- Joel Osteen strides into the former Compaq Center. Some 20,000 people are standing and singing. Purple lights softly pulse across the ceiling, and mist floats around two giant screens flashing words to the songs.
It's not a pulpit but a podium. It's not an altar but a stage. There is no cross. Instead a huge globe spins, and two massive bubbling creeks flank the stage. A lighting system softens distant corners of the massive arena and spreads colored light and smoke in strategic spots. Somehow, the space that will hold 40,000-plus on Sunday morning doesn't feel like a sports arena.
In the control room, producers watch multiple camera angles and feeds.
Smiling broadly, Osteen bounds up the few stairs to the stage, closes his eyes, lifts his hands and leads a prayer.
"God, I'm going to start this week off in faith. Expecting your goodness. Expecting to have a blessed and a prosperous week. Amen. Well, God bless you. Give him your very best today."
Welcome to Sunday morning at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. It's reportedly the nation's largest congregation and probably one of the most diverse places in America. One third of these churchgoers are Hispanic, one-third African-American and a quarter white. There are dozens of nationalities.
Osteen will give this sermon twice. He later said he knows immediately which segments to edit together into a sermon that will air on television to millions three weeks later.
Between services, he is signing his most recent book in the lobby, just past the bookstore that is one of the highest-grossing Christian bookstores in America.
His wife, Victoria, is co-pastor of the church and a best-selling author in her own right. In fact, the Osteens are not paid to be pastors at Lakewood, according to .............
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
ROTFLOL!!!!
I don't have a complaint.
I'm just wondering what Joel would say if he suddenly found himself in front of an audience of hungry Iraqi Christian refugees in the middle of the desert instead of a group of Americans luxuriating in purple lighting and fake smoke.
"I see prosperity in your future, brothers.........LOL"
Noticed your tagline. Did you see this thread?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411440/posts
Hmmmm ..?? Ordeal huh??
Then how come the Bible says, “Beloved, I wish above ALL THINGS that thou mayest prosper and be in good health”.
That doesn’t sound like an “ordeal” to me ..??
What ..?? You’d rather hear about HELL instead of heaven ..??
And .. those who have made Jesus their Savior, are no longer interested in HELL, because they are not going there!
But .. of course, if people don’t know Jesus as their Savior, then I suspect they might be very curious about HELL.
As Christians, we wish that for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And it may happen, through God's loving providence that we do indeed prosper and enjoy good health.
On the other hand, we might find ourselves in a prison cell like St. Paul or persecuted like the Christians who lived in communist Russia.
The Gospel is not a guarantee of earthly comfort.
“I’m reminded of a passage from the Book of Wisdom;”
The ‘Book of Wisdom’???? What the heck is that? Whatever it is, it doesn’t have the authority of scripture.
Tony Robbins is a cultist!
Good luck with that!
Catholics still have it and you can read it HERE.
To be informed: Just type in “Joel Osteen Fraud” in Google and see what you get!
I got my tagline from Rush.
He said it one day on his radio program - and it just stuck with me.
The liberals want to make “wants” as “rights”.
Good for the Judge .. he’s becoming more and more conservative every day!!
Almost all of the current crop of life coaches go back to Napoleon Hill.
His word says And now abides faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.1 Corinthians 13:13 The circumstance in Iraq doesn't change that. Some things are hard to understand, but that's where we go to God, not condemn a fellow believer who God is using to encourage his sheep based on biblical truth.
They’re real Christians and real Christians know life is one difficult road. Read about St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein). There was no “prosperity” when she died for the Faith in Auschwitz. Being a Christian doesn’t mean life is a cake walk.
Osteen=snakeoil. At least his wife hasn’t caused another scene on a airliner in first class this Christmas-time. yet.
Sorry, it isn’t a “wish” .. IT’S A PROMISE FROM GOD.
The Gospel is everything GOD guaranteed it would be.
There are thousands of PROMISES that GOD gave to the church .. but sadly a lot of churches preach that those promises are not for YOU, or not for TODAY. But .. they would both be wrong.
It’s really sad that you don’t believe that God loves you and He wants you to prosper and be in health. The way you do that is that you remind God of his Word (which He commanded you to do). Then, you say back to God - thank you Father that you have prospered me and I’m in good health; even if I can’t see it manifesting yet.
I dare you!
Before I became born again I was involved in the new age beliefs for almost 30 years.
IMO any church that doesn't have a cross smacks of new ageism.
The “Joel Osteen Fraud” is itself a fraud. I investigated it and these Pharisees come up with nothing substantial.
Amen to all of that but if you're preaching prosperity as an integral part of God's promise, what do you actually say to people who are anything but prosperous and are in fact in the depths of human misery?
"Your Best Life Now" is completely and utterly hollow for those on the front lines of Christianity, such as the beleaguered Christians in the Middle East or Pakistan. This is a living martyrdom and way of life which is entirely foreign to Osteen.
He's a pitchman to the American middle class. He has zero relevance to the Church Militant.
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