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Joel Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston,Texas.
As of date, Joel Osteen has the #1 largest mega-church in America weighing in at just over 43k members. It is his growing membership that has earned him the title of ‘America’s most popular pastor’.
What is even more surprising is that he is miles ahead of the the #2 contender (Pastor Ed Young of Second Baptist Church) who’s church has a growing membership of 23k.
With such a large following, you would expect pastor Joel Osteen to be well acquainted with the word of God — considering the fact that over 43,000 people look to him for spiritual council and guidance.
Unfortunately, Osteen’s followers were smacked with a serious “Come to Jesus” moment last Monday when he dropped the following post to his Verified Facebook account that was later removed…
Now I know some of you may not immediately understand what is so erroneous about this post (clearly the 315,119 peple who Liked it did not) — But that is OKAY because you aren’t the leader of a Church with 43,000+ members.
But in this post, Osteen was attempting to quote from (Numbers 11:23) in which God was speaking directly to Moses.
The scripture reads…
(Numbers 11:23 GNB) “Is there a limit to my power?” the LORD answered. “You will soon see whether what I have said will happen or not!”
Here you can see that Osteen Kinda had it right, God did ask Moses is there any limit to his power — but after that it would appear that Osteen began free-stylin’ .
Osteen followed up GOD’s actual words with what I can only assume was an attempt to ‘enhance’ the it’s meaning or to make it even more profound. Bad Idea.
Once again, here is what Joel Osteen posted to his Verified Facebook account…
“God said in Numbers 11:23, ‘Moses, is there any limit to My power?’ He was saying, ‘Moses, you saw Me part the Red Sea, stop the sun for Joshua, keep three Hebrew teenagers safe in a fiery furnace, don’t you realize that I can bring water without rain?’ There’s no limit to God’s power.”
According to Osteen, God Said…
— but according to the BIBLE, Moses only saw 1 of these things happen.
This is the only factual thing that Osteen stated in his Facebook post.
In Exodus, God had delivered the Children of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians using many signs and wonders. Although Pharaoh had finally decided to let them go he later changed his mind and began to pursue them. It was then that God split the Red Sea and lead the Israelites through on dry ground.
Furthermore, when the armies of Egypt tried to pursue them through the Red Sea
— God allowed the waters to fall and consume them.
This is the first false statement that Osteen made in his Facebook post last Monday.
According to the Bible, Joshua asked God to cause the sun to ‘Stand Still” in The Book of Joshua
— But Moses died 1 book before that even happened in The Book of Deuteronomy.
(Deuteronomy 34:5) “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.”
I could understand how Pastor Osteen may have thought Moses was alive to see God stop the sun for Joshua — after all the books are right beside one another, anyone could easily get mixed up.
But I was at a loss of words when I read the second statement made by Joel Osteen in his Facebook post that claimed Moses saw God save the 3 Hebrew boys in The Book of Daniel.
Not only was Moses Dead by this time, but he had been dead for the better half of a THOUSAND years.
Although Osteen’s first-mistake was excusable,
I could not find any valid excuse for his second-mistake with the events being 22-books apart.
Although I usually prefer not to point out the faults of other Christians publicly,
I felt the need to write this blog post considering the fact that this is not the first time Joel has face scrutiny for his actions and statement by the Christian community.
When asked about his stance on ‘Gay rights’ and ‘Gay Marriage’ —
Osteen consents that the scriptures say that it is wrong, yet he states that he does not want to preach about it because it is too controversial.
Osteen’s Interview with Larry King:
King — “What are your views on homosexuality?”
Osteen — “The same that they’ve been. I believe that scripture says that it’s a sin but I always follow that up by saying you know what, we’re not against anybody.”
King — “How can it be if we don’t know what causes it? You don’t know why you’re a heterosexual.”
Osteen — “There’s a lot of things Larry that I don’t understand- so I just don’t want to preach on it, preach about it,”
It seems that with every passing day, American pastors are substituting self-help and ‘feel-good’ psychology for the Gospel Instead of standing on the WORD of God as it is.
The Bible tells us plainly that we should encourage the people, but sometimes we may have to rebuke them as well.
(2 Timothy 4:2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
It would appear that Osteen only wants to exhort the people, even when they are in Sin.
Could this possibly be why he is considered America’s ‘Most Popular’ pastor?
(2 Timothy 4:3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
(2 Timothy 4:4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
In today’s society, it is hard to hold on to fundamental Christian values without being persecuted or isolated for being ‘Intolerant’.
Christians are often separated and considered ‘outcasts’ to society for our beliefs, but we have a responsibility to stand on the word of God AS-IS.
Will you stand on the word, Even when persecuted?
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