Victoria Osteen and Her Joy-Robbing Brand of Cheap Christianity

There was a time earlier on in my Christian life where I was quite the zealous little theology cop. I would blast Joel Osteen and the likes of him with their biblically deficient statements about God on my blog, twitter, Facebook — any outlet I could find. I thought it was my job to stand firm and "defend God's truth," calling out every bit of erroneous teaching I came across. I'm not that person anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely think that there is a place for exposing false teaching (and to be clear, I think that most of what I've heard of Joel Osteen's teaching is false). But I think it needs to be done out of a love for Christ and a desire for people to know Him in truth, not out of a egocentric desire to just be "right."

So, before I go into Victoria Osteen's comments, I want to say that my intention is not to put her on blast or to publicly declare her a blasphemous bimbo. There's enough of that on the Internet already. My intention is to discuss the cheap view of God that fuels the kind of comments she made in that video.

There is an element of truth to her statements about God desiring us to be happy and Him taking pleasure in our happiness. The Lord does not want His people be a mopey, despairing, steel-faced, jaw-clenched, stick-up-butt bunch of folks. Throughout the entirety of the Bible you see The Lord repeatedly commanding people to take delight in The Lord. David said that at the right hand of God are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11)! Jesus said that He came and spoke truth to us that His joy may be in us and that our joy may be made full (John 15:11). When Paul wrote letters to the early Church, he did so for their progress and joy in the faith (Philippians 1:25). The concept of joy and the command to pursue it plagues the bible. You can't read it without realizing that the one true God is a happy God that desires his people to be happy as well.

So it's true — overwhelmingly true — that God wants us to be happy. But, the problem is that people like Victoria take this truth and slant it, ever so subtly, away from the God-centered-happiness that the Bible prescribes and toward a me-centered-happiness that the Bible condemns. God's greatest pleasure is not in our happiness (although He does desire that), but in His own glory. He wants His glory to be the fuel that our joy-appetites feed on. He wants His presence to be the longing of our souls. God wants us to be happy in Him.

"As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?" – Pslam 42:1-2

We were designed to be joy hungry creatures that fervently feast upon the glory of God. We were intended to be people that draw fresh life, day after day, from all the ways that God graciously manifests Himself to us. We were created to be people that are full out, head over heels obsessed with God. We were to seek Him constantly, pray to Him without ceasing, meditate on Him endlessly and do everything we do to see and experience more of His glory. And we were to enjoy living our lives this way.

But let's all be honest with ourselves, we naturally hate the idea of living our lives this way. Because sin has deformed our hearts. Before the fall, man had a heart that was outwardly directed toward God, but when sin entered in, our hearts folded inwardly and gazed upon ourselves. From the moment Adam's teeth sunk into the fruit of self-autonomy, the heart of mankind has sought happiness in and through himself, other people and everything around him. Anywhere but in God.

And I'm not just talking about meth addicts or porn addicts or prostitutes or crooked businessmen. Lots of people seek happiness apart from God but throw His name all over it. Using God for His this-side-of-glory gifts (aka the American Dream) without any real love for Him or desire to know Him doesn't count as seeking happiness in God. He takes no pleasure in that. But this is what I fear is happening in an incredibly large number of American Churches. This is what I fear is happening in the Osteen Church, based on the many things I have heard both Joel and Victoria say over the years. I won't pronounce judgment on them before the time (1 Corinthians 4:5), but I will say with certainty that taking the immutable, unstoppable and infinitely holy God of the Bible and reducing Him down to a three-wish celestial butler who is only here to make us happy — without us really having to surrender to, worship, adore or enjoy Him — is absolute heresy. There is a massive difference between enjoying God for who He is and "enjoying God" for what temporary or material blessings He can give you.

But this heresy is the 'gospel' of today's western spirituality. We refuse to worship a God who is opposed in any way to how we wish to live our lives. "God" is just this generic divine being who is here to affirm and bless whatever we feel like He should. We get to decide what we feel like is right or worthy of our worship, and then we yank the Holy One down off His throne and demand Him to bow at our feet and bless us our god-forsaken pursuits of purpose and joy.

A great example of this is this emergence of the idea that someone can be a "gay Christian"; a person who claims to worship Jesus Christ but refuses to actually worship Him by surrendering all that they are — like their fallen sexual impulses — to His authority and Lordship. But this kind of mentality goes far and beyond the same-sex attracted population. You'll find it among the dishonest business owners hustling for financial success, the twenty-something guidos pining after that GTL life, the straight guys manipulating girl after girl while trying to build up their 'I got some of that' trophy case — you'll find all walks and kinds of people living for godless pursuits, but still want a lil-bit-a Jesus on Sundays.

The cheap 'gospel' of western spirituality says that the path to happiness is accepting and loving yourself as you are, and believing that God wants to affirm you in whatever way that you choose to live out your life. But the real truth, the biblical truth, is that true joy is found not in self-acceptance, but self-denial. Not the insane, pleasure less I'm-gonna-beat-myself-with-a-stick-every-time-I-have-a-bad-thought kind self-denial, but the denial of sinful, me-centered thrills and spills for the sake of experiencing a better, pure, God-centered joy.

The reality is that if we're seeking happiness outside of God Himself, we're short changing ourselves. We're being cheap happiness chasers — living our lives for fleeting, momentary pleasures that can't satisfy our God-given capacities for God-centered joy. The void in our souls where true, God-centered joy was made to dwell is far too deep and wide for anything or anyone in this world to fill it. We will never be satisfied living our lives for ourselves. You will not be able to find contentment. We will always thirst for more. We were made to live for so much more than ourselves.

The Bible points us to a life of obsession with the beauty and glory of God because it's only when we lose ourselves in Him that we will ever actually find ourselves and, in turn, grasp true joy. Coming to God through the reconciling work of Jesus and feasting, day after day, upon all that He is for us — that will satisfy our souls. That will quench our thirst.

The call of the true gospel is not to be all that we can be and throw a little Jesus on it — it's to be reconciled to God through the work of Jesus Christ and to enjoy Him forever! God is the most valuable being in the universe. He's not boring or stiff or tame. He's outrageously interesting and the greatness of all that He is can (and will) be chased after for eternity. The best that He can give us is Himself, and that's exactly what He does in the gospel. If we want true satisfaction and lasting joy, we will not find it in going to church to "worship God for us" or in "doing good for ourselves." We won't find it in deciding for ourselves who and what we are. We will only find it in and through the Person of Jesus Christ.

True joy is wrapped up in knowing and savoring the Person of God. It can be found nowhere else.

I don't write this as someone who's got it all figured out. I love Jesus and have tasted of His goodness, but I still struggle to go to Him when my soul is dry. I still tend to so easily bend toward seeking out comfort for my heart in the cheap pleasures and pursuits of the world. But my hope is that this incredibly patient and merciful Source of all true joy will keep breathing fresh waves of mercy over my heart, re-shaping and re-creating me to be increasingly inclined to find all that I need and desire in the greatness of who He is.

Well, this is a debate and isn’t about some benign, neutral issue that some believe one way and some believe another. It is a vicious attack on a fellow Christian minister.

The Bible says “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine” (2 Tim 4:2).

Jesus did and does a lot of encouraging and so do I. But he didn’t encourage the legalistic, condemning Pharisees. He sharply rebuked them. So have I.

READ was not an argument, but a very significant word to end all of your arguments. She was pointing out to you exactly what Osteen said and didn’t say in a direct Q&A session and had you only READ it, you would know that your “messiah” refused to acknowledge Jesus as the ONLY Savior and the only way to Heaven as He said in the Bible.

Lemme see, Jesus said one thing, joel said another. Whom should I believe? (Hint: It is NOT a question.)

Go pour yourself a big ole cup of JoelAID and read what he said. Then you will realize that he contracted Jesus and therefore denied Him.

John 14:5-6New King James Version (NKJV)

5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Q&A: I have a direct question for you and the likes of you who follow osteen about the above Bible verse:

Do you agree? Yes or No. Or maybe you “don’t know?”

**HE. DENIED. JESUS. That is enough.**

Is he going to hell if he dies tonight? If you know, then maybe you can let us in on others deceased not found in the book of life.

Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins........is it from heaven or of men?

Q&A in John chapter 14......great! here’s another question:

Is the Father in Jesus Christ?

(pssst....here’s the answer below)

“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak NOT of myself: but the Father that DWELLETH IN ME, HE doeth the works.” Jn 14:10

The power is in the words of God, not the person or media conveying them. Indeed, a person could be completely wrong-headed and still serve God's purpose in saying something He wants said.

For instance, none of the following were 'after God's heart' but they still had a part to play:

Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great [are] his signs! and how mighty [are] his wonders! his kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion [is] from generation to generation. – Daniel 4:1-3

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. – Acts 17:28

And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. – John 18:13-14

And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. – Acts 5:38-39

To God be the glory, not man, never man.

Could you enlarge on this further...not sure I’m getting the point. I do believe God is not limited by who he uses for his “purposes”....but I’m not so certain I would call Olsteens more than motivational speakers who use scripture as the hook to keep the masses following them.

Thank you so much for your question, dear caww!

It occurs to me that God may use the Osteen voice for His own purpose, e.g. that someone in the audience may hear words He wants them to hear. That is not to say that everything the Osteens say or believe is right - but surely to whatever extent they quote Scriptures, they are speaking truth.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12

Concerning Osteen's beliefs, if a Christian knows that Osteen has spoken heresy it is enough to admonish him twice and, if he doesn't relent, then walk away from him:

But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. - Titus 3:9-11

God's Name is I AM.

Jesus told him, “Except a MAN be born again..”. Nicodemas was hung up on natural birth, so the Lord told him again, in detail, “..Except a MAN be born of water (no comma) and of the Spirit..”.

Jesus’ ‘flesh’ comment clarifies that he is not talking about natural birth. He doesn’t say, “That which is water is flesh”. John 1:13 makes no mention of water when describing natural birth: “..not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man..”.

If you deniers (of which I was for years) believe that water baptism is really just ‘an outward sign of an inward cleansing’, then you are admitting it to be nothing more than vanity.

John baptism was a baptism of repentance. It MEANT something spiritual. After the Lord’s resurrection, he upped it’s importance BIG TIME. Now you repent, and are baptized in his name FOR the REMISSION of sins.

And his apostles didn’t delay baptism (until grandma and grandpa could come to town next week, etc) when they saw the hungry soul was sincere, OR if the Spirit fell first, as was the case of Cornelius. They got it done pronto. And as Ananias told Paul, “And now why tarriest thou? arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord”. Acts 22:16

>>Indeed, a person could be completely wrong-headed and still serve God's purpose in saying something He wants said.<<

Well so much for "exhorting and correcting".

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

>>Now you repent, and are baptized in his name FOR the REMISSION of sins.<<

The shed blood and sacrifice of Christ is what "remits" or forgives our sins. The Greek word that has been translated "for" in no way suggests that it's baptism that does that. A better translation would be "into" the remission of sins.

Well so much for "exhorting and correcting".

I'm confident that all of those wrong-headed people used by God have been exhorted and corrected by now: Nebuchadnezzar, Greek poets, Caiaphas and Gamaliel.

The point was that no mere creature can thwart the will of God, in this case, His word going where He pleases:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. - Isaiah 55:11

Surely, the same God Who made Balaam's ass speak, and the pagan Nebuchadnezzar sing praises to Him - can also use any creature no matter how wrong-headed to say what He wants said.

To God be the glory, not man, never man.

Thank you again...I agree....

..”so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it”...

However in Olsteens case it wasn’t God’s word that went out..it was her own and conrtary to God’s word.. Which is what the outcry is about IMO.

Many who get off course with teachers and speakers eventually come away if they are sincerely seeking God and His will....as they learn His word and allow His Spirit to instruct them in it...they cannot stay. If they continue only to “hear” with itchy hears and not seek God’s word themselves...they often remain “stuck”.

If they continue only to “hear” with itchy hears and not seek God’s word themselves...they often remain “stuck”.

Precisely so, dear caww!

Only God can "unstick" a person:

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. - John 1:12-13

And again,

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. - John 10:1-5

To God be the glory, not man, never man!

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