A (Sort Of) Defense Of Joel Osteen

Mark this down because you won't see those words again. I don't feel a need to defend Joel Osteen as a brother in Christ, because he pretty clearly is not, but the attacks on him have a different motivation.

A lot of people, including me, poked at Joel Osteen because "his church" in Houston didn't open up to shelter people. My point was that Osteen was a heretic and a false teacher long before Hurricane Harvey but the reality of the story behind Lakewood church, including Twitter attacks and videos from guys who are pretty clearly homosexual and have an ulterior motive, is a little more complex.

Lakewood "Church" is just a giant auditorium. In a report that gets to the real story better than some angry ranting on Twitter, you read the following:

And considering that Houston officials had set up shelters throughout the city — including a massive location at the George R. Brown Convention Center just five miles from Lakewood — Iloff said that the church had planned to host people in the event that those locations were full or at capacity.

“We had warning with this storm, so they set up shelters around the city … that convention center is 5 or 6 times bigger [than Lakewood],” he told Faithwire. “They set that up with everything from the cots, food, triage.”

Iloff also noted that, while Lakewood was more than willing to make-do and house people, unlike the convention center, Lakewood has “no showers” and no kitchen, making the church more of an emergency shelter than anything else. Initially, the church waited to hear from city officials and planned to respond if needed.

So the city already has emergency shelters and Lakewood was willing to serve as an overflow. It isn't like there isn't historical evidence of what happens when you try to house people in mass somewhere that is not properly equipped.

This is the description of the Superdome in New Orleans in August of 2005, right after Hurricane Katrina, from a story in the New York Times, Superdome: Haven QuicklyBecomes an Ordeal.

They had flocked to the arena seeking sanctuary from the winds and waters of Hurricane Katrina. But understaffed, undersupplied and without air-conditioning or even much lighting, the domed stadium quickly became a sweltering and surreal vault, a place of overflowing toilets and no showers. Food and water, blankets and sheets, were in short supply. And the dome's reluctant residents exchanged horror stories, including reports, which could not be confirmed by the authorities, of a suicide and of rapes.

By Wednesday the stink was staggering. Heaps of rotting garbage in bulging white plastic bags baked under a blazing Louisiana sun on the main entry plaza, choking new arrivals as they made their way into the stadium after being plucked off rooftops and balconies.

The odor billowing from toilets was even fouler. Trash spilled across corridors and aisles, slippery with smelly mud and scraps of food.

Even a "church" like Lakewood is not equipped to handle even 500 displaced people. No kitchens, no showers, an staff untrained in dealing with medical issues and possible criminal behavior, it isn't really an ideal place to house people or even a suitable place except in case of emergency. Obviously when you have a building that cost tens of millions of dollars and is lavishly outfitted, you don't want hordes of people messing it up. That is a lesson for a different day, when your "church" is treated like a religious museum instead of a Kingdom outpost, that is a problem and one that is true at Lakewood, in fancy cathedrals and in many orthodox Christian churches alike.

There is an important message here. Even having a completely neutered "Gospel" is not going to insulate you from social media attacks by people with blue check marks and rainbow flags in their Twitter profile. Make no mistake, the guys tweeting and posting videos in the parking lot of Lakewood don't give a fig about the false teaching of Lakewood because they aren't there on every Sunday when heresy is being proclaimed from the stage. They simply see this as an easy way to paint "Christians" as hypocrites to provide cover for their own wanton sin and rebellion against God.

Again let me be clear. Joel Osteen is not a Christian as far as I can tell. He is a false teacher and espouses "another gospel" of the same severity as that anathematized by Paul in his letter to the Galatians. But the attacks on him by many people are aimed not at him but at genuine Christians being lumped in with him. While the church in America is mobilizing via volunteer and financial donations in a huge way, there are still those that will wag an accusing finger at Christians as well as religious non-Christians like Osteen and the Mormons and claim they are not doing their part. It is an obvious lie and one we should expect but a lie repeated often enough serves the dishonest better than the truth. By all means call out Joel Osteen for his heretical teaching but be careful about siding with unbelievers in your attack because often the real target is you.

The latest from Joel Osteen

Joel Osteen blesses Houston's new (gay) mayor Annise Parker

Annise Parker, the newly-elected happens-to-be-lesbian mayor of Houston was sworn in Monday and the opening prayer was given by ... Rev. Joel Osteen.

Well. Since he refuses to even use the "s" word (sin), why not?

(HT: Albert Mohler via Facebook)

Your best eternity someday

What has happened to the church in America? How did we get here, when we can’t even talk about the cross because we refuse to talk about sin? The White Horse Inn is continuing it's discussion of the state of the church in America "Crossless Christianity 2008", and their show last week focused on the poster boy for the "here and now, health & wealth, psychobabble gospel" peddled in churches today, Joel Osteen. I know I take shots at Osteen on a regular basis, and believe me it is not jealousy because I would not want to be in his shoes explaining his teachings standing before his Lord. I am terrified of answering for my own substantial failings, much less his! The words of James are pretty sobering for any who teach in the church: "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." (James 3:1 ESV)

The discussion on the White Horse Inn raises a number of questions. We know that what Osteen teaches is a watered down (at best) message that misses key points of Christian doctrine. What is the focus of the church? Should it be on how to live the Christian life, how to be a better father /mother /husband /wife / neighbor etc.? How to make a generally moral person even more moral? To make the people in the pews feel better about themselves and reach their potential? Perhaps worst of all, to be prosperous and wealthy thanks to a groveling God who is obligated to give you money in this life to earn your worship? As if being saved from hell is an inadequate amount of grace? What is, or what should, be the message received for both Christian and non-Christian alike when in a church? Shouldn't it be that God created man, man fell willingly into a state of sin, that man failed again and again to live up to God's standards by our own efforts so God sent His only begotten Son to live a perfect, sinless life, be unjustly condemned and crucified, only to rise on the third day and in doing so redeeming His elect sheep and that He is coming to gather those who are given to Him by the Father some day? If you aren't hearing that message from the church, where are you going to hear it?

For far too many churches and Christians, all of the attention is on the immediate, not what has God done for me and what will He do in the future. If your focus is on the here and now, your focus is in the wrong place. There is no way that you can read the Bible and get the impression that God promises or even intends to make this earthly existence trouble free. Those days are coming, but not until Christ comes for His people. The life of Christians for 2000 years has been hard, full of persecution and hate, hard times and suffering. Read the letters of Paul, do you think he was living his best life in those days?

One of the best lines was this one: "Osteen’s ministry is so void of doctrine that it is not even worthy of being labeled heresy!" You can't even go line by line and refute what he is teaching because it is so shallow. You are better off interacting with a Veggietales DVD, the doctrine is far deeper!

Another great line summarizes Osteen's ministry, his view of what the Gospel is all about: “Salvation from unhappiness by doing your best” Guess what, your best isn’t good enough! But His is. He didn't die on a cross so you can have a Mercedes, He died as a propitiation for sin for His elect, dying for them while we were still sinners to reconcile us to God and save us from Hell.

If the church is going to recover from the slide into relativism, we need to pray for God to raise up men like Spurgeon, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and John Piper, men who will stand in the pulpit and unashamedly declare "Thus sayeth the Lord". It is not always popular, it is not going to give people warm fuzzies and it may not get you invited to the most lucrative conferences to speak, but those called to teach in the church are held to a much higher standard and will in the end be called to account for the message they taught. Let's pray for men to be raised up who care more about answering to their Lord instead of answering to their human critics.

A very important Albert Mohler show...

Dr. Mohler addressed, by name, one of the most famous religious personalities in the world on today's Albert Mohler show. The personality? Joel Osteen and Dr. Mohler didn't hide his concern over what comes out of Osteen's mouth. He pretty much called him a heretic and pointed out that he teaches what amounts to "another gospel".

Dr. Mohler made two great points that really strike at the heart of what is wrong with Osteen's "ministry"...

1) Would anybody listening to Joel Osteen messages possible come to a knowledge of his or her need as a sinner for a savior and how to be saved through Jesus Christ?

2) You can’t talk about the Gospel without talking about sin.

Both of those should give pause to anyone who follows Osteen and his featherweight, prosperity gospel message and cause them to delve into His Word and see if what Osteen teaches resembles what God has said. Osteens apparent ignorance of any semblance of Christian teachings and his refusal to stand firm for the Gospel, in season and out of season, reveals his ministry to be a sham.

Osteen's book carries the title: Your best life now. Joel, this is not our best life now, or at least I hope it is not. Our best life is to come. If this is as good as it gets, you are setting your sights too low. If we have nowhere to go but down, where does that lead?

What exactly does Joel Osteen consider to be a "big detail"?


There are certainly doctrines that are not as divisive, or at least shouldn't be, compared to others. Dr. Albert Mohler ranks these under theological triage, and his advice in this area is as sound as ever. For example, third level issues are things like eschatology, that should not divide us or cause us to break fellowship.

Unfortunately, one of the best known Christian leaders in this country, in this world perhaps, has shown yet again a remarkable ignorance when dealing with mormonism and violated a number of the level one theological triage categories. Joel Osteen, on December 23rd, 2007, was interviewed on Fox News Sunday and in the course of the interview was asked about Mitt Romney and mormonism. His response is, to say the least, sad and disappointing:

WALLACE: And what about Mitt Romney? And I've got to ask you the question, because it is a question whether it should be or not in this campaign, is a Mormon a true Christian?
OSTEEN: Well, in my mind they are. Mitt Romney has said that he believes in Christ as his savior, and that's what I believe, so, you know, I'm not the one to judge the little details of it. So I believe they are. And so, you know, Mitt Romney seems like a man of character and integrity to me, and I don't think he would — anything would stop me from voting for him if that's what I felt like.
WALLACE: So, for instance, when people start talking about Joseph Smith, the founder of the church, and the golden tablets in upstate New York, and God assumes the shape of a man, do you not get hung up in those theological issues?
OSTEEN: I probably don't get hung up in them because I haven't really studied them or thought about them. And you know, I just try to let God be the judge of that. I mean, I don't know. I certainly can't say that I agree with everything that I've heard about it, but from what I've heard from Mitt, when he says that Christ is his savior, to me that's a common bond.

I have hesitated to post anything about this (which is pretty amazing if you know me that I would hesitate to offer my thoughts about anything) for a couple of reasons:

1. It is a fine line between rightly chastising a brother in Christ and attacking a brother publicly.
2. It is so obvious, so silly as to be almost below mention.

But the longer I think about it, the more irate I get. How can you, on national TV, when asked about a clear heresy, an attack on Biblical Christianity like mormonism and respond that the nature of God and the divinity of Christ are just little details that ought not be judged and get in the way? There are men of God like John MacArthur and Albert Mohler who appear on TV on a regular basis, and never fail to declare the Gospel and stand up for the truth, regardless of the derision they may receive or the lack of return invitation they may get.

A quick refresher: Mormonism holds that God the Father is a created being. That Jesus Christ is also a created being, and is the spirit brother not only of mankind but also Satan and his demons. That the Bible is unreliable and requires the priesthood authority to interpret. That temple worthy mormon men will become gods and live in polygamous relationships in eternity, propagating their own planets. Etc. Etc. Etc. These are not "little details". These are heresies of the highest order, on par with anything ever peddled throughout the ages. If Joel Osteen cannot differentiate between mormonism and orthodox Christianity, or if he cannot be bothered to inform himself of the pressing issues of the Gospel, he may need to spend less time on TV and jetting around the world hawking his latest book, and instead spend more time in the only book that really matters.