Joel Osteen

[Creeper]

Hello rangers

Please tell me what y'all think of Joel

Thanks

[Elizabeth_S]

He must be becoming really popular, this is the 3rd thread I have seen on him a jsut over a week.

I like him, but his sermons tend to be "happy" sermons. I haven't heard him say anything wrong, but, his sermons tend to seem ummm......surface type.

But he is starting to catch my hubby (unsaved) ears, so I am watching Joel closely. He does love jokes and can laugh at himself. Really seems to be a well centered guy as far as attitude.

He seems a little "off" to me, but that may be because his sermons aren't really deep. But I haven't watched him in a while.

[cameron222]

We need some happy sermons in this day and age. Some of the fastest growing churches are those who deal with everyday real life issues. I like Joel!

Its fun to talk about the rapture, but what aboult guilt, depression, doubt, anger, dysfunction, family problems? Christians need as much help in these areas as the unsaved.

Satan is also constantly trying to steal our joy, often by using the items I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Christians need to lighten up and laugh a little and enjoy the blessings God has given us. Not all is hopeless. What a great time to be alive!!

[barb43]

When i first discovered Joel preaching on late night Sun. tv, i thought he was really good . . . watched him for awhile. Discovered him participating in a tbn telethon, however, and was totally turned off! Later, i tried watching him again one Sun. night and he was preaching about how "God helps those who help themselves." That put the period at the end of the sentence for me . . . I no longer watch him and couldn't recommend him w/a clear conscience.

barb

[Faith77]

I watch Joel every week. Yes, his sermons are just "happy" sermons, not too deep, but I need that a lot. I get the deeper sermons at my church.

[comicnurse]

What if all preachers preached the exact same message? There would be a lot of unsaved people out there if they did. God is guiding Joel to preach the "Happy Sermons" for a reason.

Think of some old man who has been bitter towards the christian faith most of his life. He is at home, sitting in his old delapitated chair, channel surfing. He catches a glimpse of Joel and decides to set the remote down for just a second. Joel is talking about overcoming obstacles that seem impossible to overcome. But, with God's help and guidance, you can achieve your goals.
This old man can relate to this message. He has been unemployed for a long time, life has not been good for him. He does not turn the channel, Joel has impacted him.

Now, if this same old man sees a preacher on there preaching the "You're gonna go to you know where unless you repent" message, he will likely keep ahold of that remote and turn the channel.

So what if Joel preaches the "Happy Sermons." Some people need to hear those now!! He is teaching from the Bible.
I like Joel! My husband likes him too!

Kendra

[SeattlePhog]

Barb, I started a few replies to your posts only to delete them because I felt they were attack posts and that is not who I am. Instead I went for a walk and prayed to God about this whole matter.

What I came away from these prayers is this.

We are all at different stages of our faith. Not everyone is going to be where you are in their walk with Christ. Some people need to hear that there IS indeed HOPE.

There seems to be a lot of people on RR that are attacking TV ministers. IE Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers... I understand a lot of people are turned off because these ministers are on a certain television network. I am not saying I agree with everything being said by these people, but with all the other garbage being shown on tv... These ministers seem awfully good to me. AT LEAST they are talking about Jesus. They are presenting truths. Heck I know Joel prays the prayer of salvation at the end of all his sermons. Is this evil????

In these times, Christianity is being attacked more and more. We as Christians need to disassociate ourselves from such activities.

On a closing note... Amen Kendra!!! Your words mirror what came to mind on my walk.

YBIC,

dan :)

[Jiggy37]

I only watched him once, when he was talking about how we're all in God's favor and that people will tend to naturally treat us better "not because of who we are, but because of whose we are." I didn't realize it at the time, but after so much has pointed out about him here these past few days, it is true that there really wasn't much of a scriptural basis for it even if it succeeded in being a "feel-good" sermon...
I'm not going to pass judgment based on one show, though; that'd be better left to the others here.

[Elizabeth_S]

I guess I'll clarify my previous post.

I have not heard a "bad" sermon from Joel. I like his happy sermons. but they aren't much for depth, which I tend to like myself.

However, I did mention that my unsaved hubby likes him, and as long as Joel does not go of into the WOF or all God wants is for us to be blessed and happy (not scriptural, we are told things could and would be tough) or there is something wrong with us, I really have no serious problem with Him.

Yes, a happy sermon can sure pick you up on a depressing or bad day. Nothing wrong with that. And Joel may be called to be a "happy" preacher. It's not like he's Benny Hinn or Rod Parsley


I like his jokes and the way he can laugh at himself.
_________________________

I just wanted to add: that there are enough "bad" ministers out there, we don't have to go looking for problems, if they are there, the problems will present themselves. Right in our faces.

So I guess, I have no real problem with Joel.

[Peace2u]

I like him..........., very much

Let's get some perspective here. Everyone has their own style and that's true for Joel as well.

My criteria for whether or not I'll even listen to a TV preacher is determined by 1) do they preach the word of God. After that, I allow for all our God given differences.

I love the idea of seeing and listening to his family as well. God's message after all if a simple one. It seems to me that Joel [and family] provide us with basic tools for living.

I often need that "refresher course". I always come away uplifted after one of his sermons. For the deeper stuff, I do my own studying or come here.

YSIC...,
Peace2u

[RJs here]

I personally like him {I mean it's difficult to NOT like him!


And yet, like Elizabeth has mentioned ~ I do keep an eye on him. Cuz I know after all ~ he does have WOF roots!

{speak yourself rich..... type of stuff.....}



Anyway -- for anyone interested in seeing a very controversial write up about him -- there is one at www.DeceptionintheChurch.com that will leave you going


But as long as he truly stays with Scripture, then I have no problem.


I will say this though -- his church seems to focus an AWFUL LOT on "what God can do FOR US"!! ~ rather than the other way around!!

I mean -- for pete's sake, their church SLOGAN is "Discover the Champion in You"!!


Way off base, IMO ~ says nada about a relationship w/Jesus, now does it??

[cameron222]

RJ I watched a sermon by Joel Osteen last week and at the end he did mention Jesus Christ.......

I have been critical of preachers on here at one time or another but I have yet to see where he is off base Bibically.

Some people like condemnation preaching and others want help with how to solve their problems. I believe Mr. Osteen falls into the latter camp.

My personal favorite after Adrian Rogers is Gerald Mann. He is so honest and tells of his own struggles and does not heap condemnation on people. I like to hear a preacher who admits to being in the valley or having been there. The best therapy is always from someone who has already experienced what you are going through.

[RJs here]

yeah, I KNOW he always mentions Jesus -- and giving your heart to him -- at the end of his sermon, cameron.

So IMO ~ he is not a false teacher.


*HOWEVER* I would like to know the REAL REASON behind their slogan of "Discover the Champion in you!"

Sounds to me like the "tickle your ears ~ feel good" POSITIVE THINKING type of stuff that ppl eat up.



So with you there on Adrian Rogers!!

Gerald Mann ~ I honestly cannot say one way or another, have only heard him a couple of times.


No doubt -- different "styles" for different "tastes" ~ and all of us should have no problem with that -- as LONG AS THE BIBLE IS BEING FOLLOWED!!!

That's basically all we can base the truth on!!

[barb43]

http://cultlink.com/ar/osteen.htm RJ, is this the article you were referring to? I have always respected Jackie Alnor's work . . .

Dan, i wasn't trying to be offensive, just stating my opinion. I really liked Joel until he was preaching with Ben Franklin's words . . . far too many people believe that line is in scripture, but it's not -- those words belong to Ben Franklin.

I agree w/you Adrian Rogers' admirers -- he's probably my favorite!

barb

[cameron222]

I scanned that article. Any church that 18,000 people walk the aisles and give their heart to Jesus in ONE YEAR must be doing something right.

Perhaps there is a little jealousy of some over a person with such a big vision.

I have never heard him begging for money or bragging about his airplane or waving his hand and having several people fall over backwards as the background music plays away like a stuck record.

And doesn't the word say that we are more than conqueors in Christ? Thus it seems that we are champions if we would but stop flogging ourselves and thinking that doing so builds some kind of righteousness within us.

I am still neutral....but I have not yet seen anything about him that turns me off.

[Mommy]

I have just recently started listening to him but so far I really like his teachings. Everything I have heard is in aligment with the Bible. His sermons are a little on the light side, but that is what I believe is necessary to win people to Christ sometimes. It is a refresher as someone said earlier for those who are Christians. I get the meat from Church and the life application from Osteen.

I have come to realize that everyone is not going to agree on different pastors. My thoughts are that if they have airtime and spend it teaching His word rather than begging for money, then they are doing something right.

[RJs here]

yep, barb43 ~ that was it -- SCARY article, huh!?


as far as the wof "roots" I was referring to, this is taken from the article:


INCREASING IN FAVOR

"See the Bible says that we can grow in favor," said Osteen in his sermon "Increasing in Favor" (available in RealAudio at http://www.lakewood.cc/a_v_library.htm). "I believe one of the main ways that we grow in favor is by declaring it. It’s not enough to just read it it’s not enough to just believe it. You’ve got to speak it out. Your words have creative power. And one of the primary ways we release our faith is through our words. And there is a divine connection between you declaring God’s favor and you seeing God’s favor manifest in your life…You’ve got to give life to your faith by speaking it out."

In keeping with the erroneous idea of using some positive thinking to get what you want in life, Osteen preaches the Kenneth Hagin/Charles Capps idea that we can get what we want from God by our faith-filled words. This entire sermon was on how as a child of God we should be receiving "preferential treatment" by everyone. He testified about how he had been pulled over a couple of times for speeding but when the officer saw his last name was Osteen, no ticket was issued. He said the same can happen for every Christian who wakes up declaring they have God’s favor. By following this method Osteen says he has been able to get the best parking spot in a crowded parking lot, a first class seat on a crowded airplane with no boarding pass, and priority seating at restaurants.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


{pers. note: "I" always get "priority seating", don't you guys!??



hmmm...... "hmmm" is about all I can say!!

[Jiggy37]

That whole "favor-minded" sermon was the one I saw. On some level I could agree with him when he pointed out that Jesus grew in favor with God and so we should all be able to also, but does favor with God necessarily equal favor with other people, even despite the fact that he preached, "It's not who you are, it's whose you are"?

[RJs here]

Originally posted by Jiggy37
That whole "favor-minded" sermon was the one I saw. On some level I could agree with him when he pointed out that Jesus grew in favor with God and so we should all be able to also, but does favor with God necessarily equal favor with other people, even despite the fact that he preached, "It's not who you are, it's whose you are"?

~ yep, good question Jiggy.....


but how does one compare this "favor with God"

to what Scripture say ..... that if the world hated Jesus, it will surely hate us, too ~ ??




Just asking an honest, fair question here....


can it really work both ways??

or does one trump the other??

[lookinupval]

cameron, you make some good points (Joel doesn't brag about private jets, etc.)

To me, Joel is "christianity light," and I'm certain he provides the Lord's message to thousands of people. My last church was something like that...BarbT and I called it a "starter church."

but then we needed more meat, so we found a new church.

Joel leans towards WoF, but he doesn't spend every last stinking minute on it like the others, so he's okay in my book.


but people...


the voice...


sounds like a 12-year-old boy! ACK ACK ACK.

Personal opinion here...

He bugs me, big time! Lord forgive me, but I have so much fun doing my Joel Olsteen impersonation (I'm a female, but I can make my voice sound almost just like his).

Oh, I'm having to show great restraint here. Must go now.

[barb43]

Originally posted by lookinupval

He bugs me, big time! Lord forgive me, but I have so much fun doing my Joel Olsteen impersonation (I'm a female, but I can make my voice sound almost just like his).

Oh, val! You're a hoot-'n-a-half, sister! Lord bless you for making me laugh!

Joel looks just like a guy i used to work w/and who was a best friend for years. I nearly fell out of bed in surprise the first time i ever saw him (it was late evening on a Sun. and i was flipping through the channels before turning out the light).

Joel's "okay" . . . but not my favorite.

barb

[CamelPower]

Joel's father, JOHN Osteen hasn't been dead all that long, and was WOF all the way. I've met folks from Lakewood Church who "pronounce" blessing on meals and "speak" healing toward us.

WOF lite.

[lookinupval]

"Pronounce" blessings???!!!

So instead of asking the Lord to please bless the meal, they...what...how would they pronounce it?

What is the terminology used? I'm interested because it would be good for people to know what terminology to look out for. I can't even IMAGINE how you would do such a thing.

[CamelPower]

lookingupval wonders:

"Pronounce" blessings???!!!

It would be more like: "Lord Jesus we speak blessing on this food, etc., etc., and speak healing to all, especially speaking healing on Leo, etc., etc." The net effect was most uncomfortable on all of the hearers.

Robert Tilton was also one who did this. Joel Osteen seems to be a much more palatable version of the WOF teacher. His father did not budge an inch on the usual WOF teaching.

[maryr_32]

By the way, what is wrong with saying that God helps those who help themselves???

I believe that wholeheartedly!! I also like what an old pastor of mine said. You need to put legs on your prayers. (DOn't just sit there and expect God to just heal you for example in lieu of seeking medical attention!!)