And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. - Mark 8: 34 (ESV)
They had a week to parse out the best response to the latest controversy regarding their view of Christianity. For a week they had been silent as the vast majority of Christians denounced the absurdly heretical and self absorbed comments from Victoria Osteen, while husband Joel nodded in agreement; smiling as only he can. These gaffes are nothing new for Team Osteen who has had to apologize in the past for denying Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. Joel himself routinely admits that doctrine is not his "gifting" even though the eternal destination of his listeners hangs in the balance:
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. - 1Timothy 4: 16 (NIV)
Unfortunately, based upon his books and messages, Pastor Osteens are far more concerned about the temporal comfort of their listeners than saving them. Oh sure, there is a ridiculously micro-waved attempt at the "sinner's prayer" at the end of each show but all that does is convince the unsaved that they actually are in Christ when they probably are not. Just for a moment consider this lunacy. Osteen has said on record that he will not apologize for not even using Scripture or maybe bringing it in at the end of his messages. His illustrations are nearly always life stories, not biblical accounts. He rarely mentions the name Jesus and makes shadow references to God. A survey was recently conducted of all the Osteen tweets in the previous year and of the 806 tweets Jesus was mentioned once. The name Christ was mentioned twice. So after hearing a half hour sermon about how great you are with barely any mention of Jesus, this is the closing gambit for Joel Osteen on his show:
"We never want to close our broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. Amen. If you prayed that simple prayer we believe you got born again.
Do you realize how utterly cruel this is? To proclaim to someone they are saved so arrogantly? He did not preach on Jesus. He did not preach about repentance. I am positive he did not mention sin. Yet to declare salvation over someone for repeating seventeen words is borderline criminal. This is the heart of the carnality that is Lakewood Church. Last week Victoria Osteen was entering into a quick prayer and accidentally revealed what they truly believe this is all about:
"I just want to encourage us to realize when we obey God, we are not doing it for God. I mean that is one way to look at it. We are doing it for ourselves. Because God takes pleasure when we are happy. That's the thing that gives Him the greatest joy this morning. So I want you to know this morning - just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church. When you worship. You're not doing that for God really. You're doing it for yourself. Because that's what makes God happy. Amen?"
The Osteen defenders tried valiantly to claim things were taken out of context or that somehow she was right but there was just too much offered here to deny reality. Not only that but these remarks merely confirm what we already knew about the beliefs of Joel and Victoria Osteen. That they are wolves of the highest order devouring the sheep of God with feel good messages that save no one. Their gospel is a false gospel. It is a narcissistic gospel. It is a gospel of me. Just look at this statement. In it, Osteen claims:
* We do not obey God for Him but rather for ourselves
* The greatest joy God has is when we are happy
* When we seek to do good we should do so for ourselves
* We do not worship for God - we worship for ourselves
If you can look at these statements, which are her own words, and not see the problem then I am not sure you understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not about us - it is about Him! We obey because we trust God. His greatest joy is when we are holy, not happy. Some may bristle at that because they have been so indoctrinated by American Christianity and ask if I think God wants us to be miserable. My answer is YES, if that is what it will take for you to be saved:
Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. - Matthew 19: 21-22 (ESV)
The rich young ruler loved his money more than God. Giving it up would have made him miserable yet that is exactly what Jesus tells him to do. He tells us the same thing today. Not to give away all our money but to sacrifice anything that is getting in the way of Him being the most important thing in our lives. We seek to do good because God is a God who loves justice, not for some selfish benefit. We worship God because He is worthy, not so we can get something out of it. Osteen's statements were a pathetic example of everything that is wrong with Christianity in this country today. It is completely self absorbed, narcissistic and apparently, unapologetically so. Here is the response from Victoria Osteen regarding her comments:
"While I admit that I could have been more articulate in my remarks, I stand by my point that when we worship God and are obedient to Him we will be better for it," "I did not mean to imply that we don't worship God; that's ridiculous, and only the critics and cynics are interpreting my remarks that way."Every Lakewood member knows what I was talking about because they have experienced firsthand the joy and victory of a Lakewood Church worship service, and the honor, reverence and gratitude we show God,"
This is what is known as an untruth. If Victoria Osteen had said last week that when we worship God and are obedient to Him we will be better for it, no one would have batted an eye lash because that would have been a correct statement. We are always better when we are focused on God and when we do what He says. That is not what she said however and it is not just cynics and critics feeling this way. It is anyone with a fundamental understanding of the English language. While we are at it, no one said she implied that we do not worship God. People correctly stated that SHE said we worship God for ourselves. I will be honest. If she had come out and simply said she misspoke and meant to say that we are better off when we worship God and obey Him, this would be the end of it for me. Her pride however will not allow her to do so. The real deep-seeded reason beloved - is that this is what she really believes. This is what Joel really believes. This is their gospel preached week in and week out. This is why he gets 45,000 people to come every weekend and collects over $500,000 in tithes and offerings per weekend. The Osteens give America exactly what they are asking for; an ear scratching gospel. A gospel that assures the listener that God is just there to shower them with blessings. That they can control their own realities merely by the power of their own voice. Everything they preach is directly in line with the statements originally made by Victoria Osteen. They preach about worshipping themselves, not God. I do not doubt that every Lakewood Church member understands the Kool-Aid they drink every week.
I seriously doubt they have ever heard our key verse for today. Not a verse about their comfort but rather about their cross. They will never hear a sermon about denying themselves because the gospel according to Joel and Victoria denies them nothing. It costs them nothing. It saves them from nothing. I do not doubt that they firmly believe that God's greatest joy is when they are content and happy. I do not doubt that when they consider things like why we worship, why we seek to do good, and why we obey God they are burdened with that one question that sums up the gospel of Osteen so well...
What's in it for me?
Rev. Anthony.
