Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Joel Osteen and the Seminary

On July 16th Lakewood Church in Houston, TX celebrated it's move to the Compaq Center. At the opening there were two interesting comments made by Joel's family. The first by his mother Dodie:

"I’m so proud of Joel. He’s just done such a tremendous job. He loves people. He hasn’t been to seminary. Thank God for that! I’m glad he hasn’t. He’s not a theologian and he’ll be the first one to tell you that. But you know what – he preaches out of his heart and he preaches messages that people need because he gives them hope. Hallelujah. We don’t beat people down. We don’t beat them down and tell them they’re going to hell because of their sins. We love them and teach them the Word of God so they will know the way to heaven."

The second comment was from his brother, Dr. Paul Osteen:

"We’ve never been ashamed of the full Gospel, God’s power to save, to heal and to deliver, that no one is beyond the reach of Jesus. This Bible (pointing to John Osteen’s Bible) was used to encourage and lift and strengthen us and never used to condemn us or to be (unintelligible). We remember that Lakewood Church has always been an oasis of love in a troubled world, a place where we don’t judge or we don’t condemn. We just open our arms and we embrace."


  • Without proper biblical training how can Osteen feed the people he has in his charge? What little training he has came from listening to his father who was, himself, misled. In fact, prominent Word-Faith teacher R. W. Schambach was, at one time, on Lakewood's Board of Directors.
  • Without the Law there is no Gospel, and since Lakewood doesn't proclaim the Law they don't proclaim the full Gospel, but a half-Gospel.
  • If John Osteen's Bible was only used to encourage people, then it was misused, because Scripture doesn't hesitate to point out our sinful nature and the necessity for a Savior.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Freedom From Religion

The website "Freedom From Religion," an organization that attempts to remove all references to Christianity in our society, has a "Bible Quiz" on its website that tests people's knowledge of the Scriptures. Ironically, all it accomplishes is to demonstrate their lack of knowledge of the Scriptures.

Questions such as "What is the penalty for working on the Sabbath?", "How should parents treat a stubborn and rebellious son?" and "Which of these foods does the bible expressly permit you to eat? (The others are abominations)" fail to inform the reader that these are Old Testament laws for a people ruled directly by God, not for those under the New Covenant. They move on to take the saying of Jesus Christ out of context as well.

Be sure to let them know how deceptive they are being!

Friday, November 04, 2005

Justice Catching Up With Earl Paulk

http://www.charismanow.com/11-04-05/