So yes Pastor Joel. It is unfair to brand you solely as a prosperity preacher. You are so much more than that. You are a word faith heretic who admits to not needing Scripture or Christ when you preach. You preach a false gospel that is sugar coated to the point of being diabetic. It is a motivational, self help Gospel that is seeker friendly to its core and purpose driven in its foundation. The very things you claim to not be your giftings are the very things people need to hear in order to be saved. You use the Bible for your own ends, to accomplish the selling of many books. You insult God by then pretending your speeches had something to do with Him and inviting people to invite Jesus into their hearts when you never even introduced Him to them to begin with.
My plea to Joel Osteen is to stop. You are Tony Robbins with a Bible and I am asking you to put down the Bible. You don't really use it anyway. You are a gifted motivational speaker - stick to that. But stop lying to people. Stop telling them that they only need to say a three sentence prayer that they cannot possibly understand from your preaching, and then declaring them born again. Because Joel, I believe that you do believe in God. One day you will stand before Him and answer for all of the people you are now leading astray. It will not matter at that point how good you made them feel. It will not matter how motivated you made them. It will not matter how much more satisfied a life they led because of you. It will not matter how many of them you got to repeat your little three sentence prayer. It will not matter if they took your seven steps. It will not matter what they declared over their lives. It will not matter if they became a better person, experienced your break out and believe that today is Friday. The only thing that matters Joel is if they are found in Christ and what you did with the Gospel entrusted to you. You will answer for every last one of them. All the goats you gave false hope to and all the sheep you led astray. Stop parsing reality Joel. Put down the Bible. Or pick it up and actually read it! Either way, stop carrying it around like a prop.
The key verses today explain matters for us clearly. These things we are to teach and urge among those who believe themselves to be Christian. That if anyone, no matter how likable and sincere they may appear, teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of Jesus Christ - he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. It is clear that Joel Osteen has an unhealthy craving for teaching that godliness is a means for gain. But beloved, we brought nothing into this world and we take nothing when we leave. Prosperity preacher? No, Joel Osteen is far more dangerous than that.
Reverend Anthony Wade - June 3, 2014
