I guess I can see how someone like Joel Osteen would be so confused because he believes our words hold all the power. But to spend a half hour never discussing Jesus. Never discussing sin. Never discussing repentance. Never discussing why we need a Savior. Never discussing the Lordship of Christ. And then to finish with a ridiculous three sentence prayer to proclaim someone born again - another concept never preached about - is the height of arrogance and stupidity.
The end result of this is stadiums filled with people who are clearly unsaved being told they are. People who will go through life believing they are right with God when they most certainly are not. People who will go every Sunday because Osteen makes them feel better about themselves when he is supposed to make them feel better about God. That is because the other false gospel Osteen preaches is a self help and self centered gospel. Just look at all of his book titles with his smiling face on the cover:
Every Day a Friday
Your Best Life Now (Seven Steps to Living at Your Full Potential)
It's Your Time
I Declare
Becoming a Better You
Break Out!
These books are not about God. They are about you. Christianity however is not about you. It is about Christ. The truth is that we cannot help ourselves; which is why we need a Savior. From a Daystar television sermon:
"Start calling in victory. Start calling in divine health. Start calling in abundance. You can prophesize your future." "If you wanna know where you'll be five years from now listen to what you are saying." "Our words will become a self-fulfilling prophecy." "With our words we can predict our future. We can prophesize our future"
Wow, you almost have all of his heresies on display in one snippet! The notion of calling things in is word faith. He speaks about abundance - a typical prosperity gospel promise. He clearly does not understand the Scriptures because we cannot prophesy our future. And it is all about you.
