I appreciate Scott’s recent reviews of Joel Osteen’s new book. I have read several reviews from others that seemed to be missing the point about Osteen’s teachings. I believe the truth is Joel Osteen does not preach true Christianity. It is not just fluff, it is false. Osteen preaches a false gospel that is the very opposite of Jesus’ life, that misses the point and purpose of the Cross, and calls upon people to have a faith in something that is not biblical. Mark Driscoll explains further what I mean… just watch this short clip from Mars Hill.
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Jason Robertson is a husband and a father and a pastor. He is dedicated to leading and equipping his the Church with God’s word and biblical theology for life ministry, using a combination of pastoral, church planting and evangelism experience. He holds a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is experienced in church planting, evangelism, missions, and the training of pastors and Bible teachers.
Jason has been preaching the gospel since 1985, serving the first ten years of ministry as a Southern Baptist itinerant evangelist out of Milldale Baptist Church in Zachary, LA which ordained him in 1993. He has preached in hundreds of churches in over 30 States and 4 countries. He planted churches in Siberia, Russia in the summers of 1993 and 1994. He founded Murrieta Valley Church in California, which he planted in cooperation with the SBC NAMB in 2001. He also teaches ministry students at California Baptist University.
You can hear his sermons and read his manuscripts on sermonaudio.com. Just follow the link to "sermons" at the top of this page.
Driscoll hits this guru right over the head. I’m afraid I’m not as charitable as many when it comes to Osteen . Perhaps its the fact my wife is battling cancer and a little over 3 months ago I was dismissed from the job. If I was or had bought into this new age delusion , where would I be , in a pit of despair. But Although I know God in his providence and sovereignty has brought these trials into my families life ,Jesus has been a sweet sustainer and as we have read the word with a deeper sense of urgency , the Holy Spirit has uprooted and deepened our faith. Yes we have had days of deep despair and tears but as David lamented many a time in the psalter, we trust in the God who gave the Son on the cross to keep us from falling and to that we cling . What Osteen preaches in my view is another gospel that lacks the a true understanding of the cross!!
Reg Schofield
I believe that what Osteen is offering people is not a Christless Christianity, but a crossless Christianity. What Joel is teaching is not the gospel, but a faulty view of sanctification once you know the Lord. It is profoundly damaging.
I agree with Mark here (I was at that service in Seattle a few weeks ago when he preached it), that he believes Joel is our brother in the Lord (I do too); but what he is promising people who know Christ is a skewed errant view of victory in our daily walk.
Joel is equating a better life, job, home, relationship, pay, etc. as the evidence that God is blessing you. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We only need to read 2 Cor. 11 or 2 Cor. 6:1-12 to see the difference.
Might i encourage us to pray for this man that the Lord would convict his heart of this kind of belief and that the Lord would also bring faithful men of God in his life to disciple him in the Word of God.
Good video clip… Sad, but good.
Steve
2 Cor. 4:5-7
that clip is exactly what people need to hear about, especially up here in Seattle where I am at, being we have a pastor who preaches the same crap Osteen does. Casey Treat.
It is brutal and I am just glad that when I am on the street in Seattle, no matter I can always tell them to go to Mars Hill, even though I do not attend there. Good to finally have a large strong church like Mars Hill that you can recommend.
As one of those who say Osteen brings “fluff” Christianity, let me qualify what I mean right quick.
By “fluff” I mean any number of statements to the effect of “Jesus wants you to (insert life principle here)! Look, here in (insert Bible verse here) we see a (command, exhortation, principle, etc.) that makes it obvious! You see, Jesus really does want you to (insert catchphrase here)!”
That’s not to negate your assessment (which is true, of course), merely to make a bit more clear what I meant by that. Or are other people using “fluff” in a different manner than I am?
Steve I would almost agree with you in saying Joel is messed up in his teaching on sanctification. However, a teaching on sanctification requires presupposing salvation. Up to this point, and I would love to be proven wrong, I can’t find a legitimate Gospel in his message. I can speak with some authority about his new book. There is no Gospel in it at all. Not even a bad Arminian Gospel. In fact he speaks as if everyone is saved by default.
I would say, “surely he doesn’t believe that” but when questioned about the exclusivity of the message on many, many interviews, he always avoids the question like the plague, and says things like, “that’s not what I’m about. I just want to help people”. Well if the gospel is not what you are about, then I cannot with a good conscience call him a brother.
Again I would love to be proven wrong on this point.
Mr Camp I pray that you are correct about Joel. I pray that he will repent of his shallow teaching. I pray that he will follow the direction of mature men of God and be corrected of his cotton candy gospel.
Irish Calvinist said on his visit to another prominent church that the congregation sits on a merry go round suspended over the flames of hell. My concern is that so many listen in that same position – comfortably listening to Joel from their seats at Lakewood and from their recliners at home.
How is it that someone so prominent can remain so isolated in their ignorance?
I have heard Joel’s teaching on the atonement and I find that it is exactly the heresy that other WofFers teach. Jesus descended into hell and engaged Satan in battle to pay for our sin. At what point should we say he no longer represents orthodox Christianity?
I admire Mark’s plain speaking and his willingness to tell his congregation that they ought to stay away from Joel’s teaching!
Ok, I agree with you all and Mark Driscoll that Joel Osteen’s gospel is at best severely distorted and deficient. However, having moved a lot in Charismatic circles I would like to see Mark do a better job of engaging their argument. When they hear him talking about Jesus being poor and persecuted, they say, “Precisely! He went through all that misery so that we don’t have to.” Then they would pull out 2 Cor 8:9 as their proof text.
Mark Driscoll is as arrogant and smug as Joel Osteen is fluffy. Driscoll getting a laugh at somebody he calls his brother is the fruit of a mean spirit. Both are doing what they feel the Lord had led them to.