How bad can Joel Osteen’s watered-down, candy-coated, version of the gospel be? So bad that it’s being sold to Mormons by Mormons!
Joel Osteen’s “gospel” is so far from biblical orthodox Christianity that the Mormon distributor Deseret Books feels Become a Better You is safe enough to sell to Mormons.
Congratulations Joel: You have successfully perverted the gospel so much that it’s now palatable to Mormons.
Recently Joel Osteen on a Fox News interview was asked if a Mormon is “a true Christian.” Of course Osteen falls back on his feelings (not the foundational Word of God that never changes) and says, “Well, in my mind they are.”
All this may remind you of video I posted back in October in which Joel Osteen claims that he and Mormon Mitt Romney believe in the same Jesus. If you haven’t seen it, you can check it out here.
Here’s a treat that you are sure to enjoy. Listen to this (9:30) audio clipPaul Washer vs Joel Osteenand see if you can spot a difference in their theologies. Thanks to Way of the Master Radio (WOTM) for putting this audio together (and my wife for finding it).
Just to whet your whistle, I’ve included my own example below:
God is preparing you for greater things. He’s going to take you further than you thought possible, so don’t be surprised when He asks you to think better of yourself and to act accordingly. - Joel Osteen
I’m not troubled in my heart about your self esteem. I’m not troubled in my heart about whether or not you feel good about yourself; whether life is turning out the way you wanted it to turn out, or whether or not your checkbook is balanced. There’s only one thing that gave me a sleepless night. There’s only one thing that troubled me all throughout the morning, and that is this: Within a hundred years a great majority of people in this building will possibly be in hell. - Paul Washer
Click here for a John MacArthur vs Joel Osteen video comparison, and here for a John MacArthur, Joel Osteen, Billy Graham, and Catholic Priest video comparison.
This is a very sincere examination of the doctrine of Joel Osteen. Only ten minutes in length, (including a video clip of Osteen preaching), Pastor Mark Driscoll quickly and efficiently compares what Joel Osteen says to the examples of Jesus. This is very well done.
Here’s the website selling the official I Worship Watch Joel Osteen lapel pin. It’s just another example of our bloated excess as the Western Church lives in the comfortable lap of luxury.
I wonder how many Christians who are going without food in their stomachs or Scriptures in their hands in the poorest parts of India are going to order this as a Christmas present. I wonder how many Christians who are fleeing from Mulsims trying to kill them, or who are being tortured in a communist prison cell are itching to get their hands on this.
Can we expect WWJD (What Would Joel Do?) anytime soon?
I simply couldn’t pass this up. Check out the complete post from the October 20th entry on Steve Camp’s blog Camp On This.
“If you do not seek God because you believe Him to be supremely valuable, then you are a hypocrite. To seek God for any reason other than His own glory as Creator, Lord and Savior is to be a hypocrite. It is the reason that the health and wealth gospel is not simply a deficient view of the gospel, but actually “another gospel” and will lead people to hell.” -Pastor John Swanson, River Hills Community Church
Toward the end of this video Joel Osteen says that he’s heard that Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney “believes in Jesus as his savior just as I do.”
This is inevitable result of having absolutely no doctrinal foundation other than “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” When you place so little value on contending for the faith and understanding doctrine (the very thing that defines who the real Jesus is) and instead spend so much time trying to live your best life nowand becoming a better you, the lines between truth and error become some blurred that black and white becomes gray, and countless souls perish because of it.
These are two great clips from the recent Joel Osteen interview on 60 minutes. The interviewer asks some challenging questions that Christians should be asking!
With the release of his latest self-help manual, I’ve decided to repost this previous entry:
Joel Osteen’s back with a new book and it’s still all about YOU! Kind of reminds me of this video.
The 7 steps in Osteen’s new book are:
* Keep pressing forward.
* Be positive towards yourself.
* Develop better relationships.
* Form better habits.
* Embrace the place where you are.
* Develop your inner life.
* Stay passionate about life.
Blogger Loretta Heiden added her idea on what those seven steps should be if Osteen wasn’t just wearing sheep’s clothing:
*Die to yourself
*Pick up your cross daily
*Follow Me
*Love not the world
*Trust in the Lord
*Love one another
*Go make disciples
Imagine Joel Osteen preaching a fiery sermon on the doctrine of Hell. Well imagine no more. Thanks to modern technology now the impossible can be possible. You can now see what it would be like if Joel Osteen actually preached the Gospel according to the Bible instead of the Gospel according to Self-Help. I bet if he really preached like this there’d be less people sitting in his stadium the following week. Click here to enjoy this video.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you. Luke 6:26
You may recognize the voice in this video as that of David Wilkerson.
“I just try to teach practical principles, I may not bring the scripture until the end of my sermon and I don’t feel bad about that.”
This may not seem like a big deal to some, but consider associating Osteen’s philosophy on preaching with that of Jesus, or Peter, or Paul. Whenever you can say “aww, that doesn’t really seem that bad” I recommend that you check out how preachers of old used to preach. In fact, check out this great post by Jim over at OldTruth.com for an example of Now vs Then. I enjoy when Jim compares preachers of today to preachers of yesteryear. It really helps to put things into perspective.
Thanks to T.D. Jakes & Joel Osteen for their contribution to the downfall of Christianity in the West.
Watch for these gems in the video:
*He [TD Jakes] works as hard as any CEO and makes no apologies for living like one too.”
*The first evangelicals in the 19th century were often sales people, people who understood a customer, knew how to sell a product. There’s always been this interesting connection between marketing and evangelism. (Author Laura Nash)
*The narrator’s description of Osteen’s book as “largely secular” with a “think big message.” (Yet Christian bookstores continue to sell this book).
*And listen to Joel Osteen’s answer to the interviewer’s question: “God is a growth business?”
Since Joel Osteen has announced the upcoming release of his new book, which I posted earlier here, I thought I’d add some more posts this week in honor of him and his Lakewood Church.
The following video is of a preacher standing outside Osteen’s church doing what Osteen has failed to do inside… preach the Gospel. I know, I know, some of you are saying, “but Pilgrim, he is preaching the ‘gospel’ inside.” Oh, I’m certain he is, but the “health, wealth, prosperity, have your best life now, become a better you” gospel of Osteen is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I was struck by the droves and droves of people that just walked past the preacher in the video as they exited Osteen’s Church. It reminded me of these illustrations in the Chick Tract entitled The Long Trip. To see the whole tract click on any of the pictures.
Anyway, without further ado, I present to you the man preaching the Gospel outside Lakewood Church that isn’t being preached inside Lakewood Church.
In one of my other posts I commented on Joel Osteen’s new book (releasing in October) entitled Become a Better You. If you haven’t see it, click here. Now he’s got a short 34 second promo clip on Amazon plugging this new book. I guess his first book Your Best Life Now didn’t deliver, otherwise there’d be no need to become a better you. You can watch the video by clicking here.
Joel Osteen’s back with a new book and it’s still all about YOU!
Over at Slice of Laodicea, Ingrid highlighted the 7 steps in Osteen’s new book:
* Keep pressing forward.
* Be positive towards yourself.
* Develop better relationships.
* Form better habits.
* Embrace the place where you are.
* Develop your inner life.
* Stay passionate about life.
Blogger Loretta Heiden added her idea on what those seven steps should be if Osteen wasn’t just wearing sheep’s clothing:
*Die to yourself
*Pick up your cross daily
*Follow Me
*Love not the world
*Trust in the Lord
*Love one another
*Go make disciples
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Apostasy / Lukewarm, Joel Osteen, Mormonism | 
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Posted by Pilgrim
