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 ...
“It’s only jealously”
Yep. That’s about the size of it.
How can someone tell you how to prosper if they aren’t prospering themselves?
He has accepted a (relatively) small salary for the level of financial responsibility he has. He also donated a bunch of the money from one of his books to a charity.
As you said, it’s just jealousy.
I was curious about Tony Robbins too .. but then I discovered that when you have completed to a certain level (whatever that is), you are invited to a private weekend and there you are compelled to walk barefoot across a bed of hot coals; I saw the videos on TV years ago.
That’s when I was sure he was a cultist.
Where do you think you got that Bible you carry to your church every Sunday? Mars? It was collated by the Catholic Church. You guys took out the parts that offended you, but it was collated long before Martin Luther ever took his first breath.
“Catholics still have it and you can read it HERE”
I don’t care to read it.
I read all the other books myself and I made my own conclusions about the Priesthood of the Believer.
Hmmmm ..?? You might want to try “Google fraud” and see what you get!
He preaches God’s Word and you condemn him, like the Pharisees did Jesus. You have produced no scriptural grounds for your condemnation. The burden of proof, my friend is not on the accused, but on the accuser. So far, your accusations look hasty, unjust and close to being in league with the Accuser of the Brethren.
The promises are real. I have prosperity and an inheitance that is beyond riches. My bank account is bone dry.
Ask the Apostle Paul how his finances were as he finished his life in prison
Yet he claimed riches that are unbelievable as well.
Just not monetary.
Dietrich Bonhoefer ... died in a NAZI prison camp.
Prosperity gospel is for the snake oil salesmen and their followers. They KNOW who they are.
"Don't believe that God loves me"??......LOL........that's a bit of a stretch, isn't it?
So why did Jesus prophesy to Peter that he would die a martyr's death?
That's not very healthy and prosperous, is it?
What about the book of Revelation? It sounds like there's big trouble in store at some stage for Christians.
You sure we're reading the same Scriptures?
Amen brother. May God give us grace to see Him through the din of man’s confusion.
I read one of his books. There was some good stuff about controlling your thought process, but then he started talking about the collective consciousness. That was when I knew he was off the deep end.
He preaches a gospel which is aimed specifically at Americans.
Large portions of the Christian Church would have no idea what he is talking about. All they want is their next meal......."give us this day our daily bread"..........prosperity???.............pfffffffffffffff!!
You have produced no scriptural grounds for your condemnation. The burden of proof, my friend is not on the accused, but on the accuser. So far, your accusations look hasty, unjust and close to being in league with the Accuser of the Brethren.
Actually I have.
You've disputed them but that's another story.
The Pharasees, who have always been confused about God's Word, have always hated it - not enough (of man's) religion for them.
Tell us Joel Osteen’s “Prosperity Gospel” is not an outright fraud. Here is Joel O in his own words and where another fraudster Rick Warren takes him on. Have fun.
For Osteen, Prosperity Gospel isn’t a pejorative term:
“Does God want us to be rich?” he asks. “When I hear that word rich, I think people say, ‘Well, he’s preaching that everybody’s going to be a millionaire.’ I don’t think that’s it.” Rather, he explains, “I preach that anybody can improve their lives. I think God wants us to be prosperous. I think he wants us to be happy. To me, you need to have money to pay your bills. I think God wants us to send our kids to college. I think he wants us to be a blessing to other people. But I don’t think I’d say God wants us to be rich. It’s all relative, isn’t it?”
On the other side is the guy whose church rounds out the “largest four” list:
“This idea that God wants everybody to be wealthy?”, [Rick] Warren snorts. “There is a word for that: baloney. It’s creating a false idol. You don’t measure your self-worth by your net worth. I can show you millions of faithful followers of Christ who live in poverty. Why isn’t everyone in the church a millionaire?”
Is he telling the congregation what it yearns to hear? I tried to listen to him once, but my mind started wandering off in a hurry.
No, you’ve only offered something from something called the Book of Wisdom, whatever that is. Your arguments, as the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, have not been scripturally based.
Only Jesus can be all things to all people.
I’m glad there is a Joel . . . This world has plenty of fire and brimstone spokespersons if one cares to look.
And, I’m thankful for fire and brimstone preachers. They taught me very starkly clearly some hint of what it means to fall into the hands of an angry God unprepared to meet Him.
Joel DOES get to things like taking each thought captive etc. He preaches from the whole counsel of Scripture while emphasizing an extremely positive focus.
Scripture itself insists that we are to think on
whatsoever things are lovely, of good report etc.
Perhaps Joel carries that much further than most would carry it. God is his paymaster and boss. Am quite willing to leave his disciplines, if necessary, to God.
CNN....oh please give me a break...
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