Those who have been in my classes (at school or church) know of my concern about the influence of Joel Osteen.
Denny Burk has written a good post interacting with Osteen’s appearance on 60 Minutes. Too few people note the serious danger inherent in Osteen’s ministry. Some see the shallowness and assume no one will really be taken in by this. Others note his popularity but say that while they may not agree with him on everything he is not saying anything really wrong. Both of these are mistaken. Pastors, we are commanded to guard the flock by warning them about false teaching (Acts 20:28-29; Titus 1:9).
I encourage you to check out
Denny’s analysis. Here are his closing words:
Listen to Joel Osteen at your own risk. He is peddling death. And he is affable enough to make you feel like it’s life. But do not be deceived. Nothing could be further from the truth.
James Grant provides helpful links on this topic
here.
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1 comment:
Ray,
What may be most interesting, or distressing, about Denny's post is the number of comments defending Osteen's ministry. The thing that bothered me the most was not that his defenders were quick to agree with him. Rather, they just seemed to find it unseemly that a Christian would "call out" another Christian for doctrinal error. It seems that the attitude was, "Well, Joel Osteen is not my cup of tea and, yeah, it seems he preaches a prosperity gospel, but who are we to judge."
Much of American evangelicalism seems to have no stomach for confronting false teachers. As long as the fella seems nice and is well intentioned then let's not be too critical.
All of this is in stark contrast to the apostle Paul who, in Philippian 1 indicates that he would prefer a scoundrel who preaches the gospel right than a nice guy who doesn't.
Keep up the good work. I enjoy your stuff!
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