Joel Osteen’s Negative Message
Everywhere you turn nowadays, there’s Joel Osteen!
He’s on the cable news channels, pontificating about the political process, Mormonism and how “God is the judge of the heart.”
He’s on the bookshelves, smiling from the covers of Your Best Life Now and Become a Better You, promising new life and hope to the downtrodden.
He’s on TV, trumpeting his feel-good gospel of positive reinforcement to a watching world.
Osteen has legions of followers, but he has garnered a large group of critics too. Where is God in his message? What about sin? What about grace? What about Jesus?
Osteen answers his critics in the following way: I focus on the positive. Sin and punishment and all that isn’t my message. I want to help people and don’t want to beat them down all the time.
By answering his critics this way, Osteen has painted his critics as a bunch of denigrating, pulpit-pounding, sin-obsessed pastors. He wants to focus on “the positive.”
But does Osteen do this? I’m afraid not. I’ve listened to Joel Osteen’s messages. I believe he sincerely wants to help people who feel beaten down by life and who feel guilty for their failures and mistakes. The “positive” message he proclaims is this: Do better. Try harder. Believe you can succeed. In other words, you can change! Just do it! God will help you, of course, but you have to make it happen.
Though Osteen claims he has positive sermons, I believe he is proclaiming the most negative, unmerciful message possible! Like telling a clinically depressed person to “just snap out of it!,” Osteen is giving people burdened by sin, guilt and despair more reason to despair.
Do we really think that more willpower will solve our problems? What is this message but the Law on steroids? There is no gospel in Osteen’s message, regardless of his rare references to Jesus Christ. Osteen’s idea of “good news” is telling self-centered people to look for salvation in more narcissism! Osteen’s preaching is like giving sugar to a diabetic, telling people that the magic medicine will help them, when in fact, it is speeding up their death.
What galls me most about Joel Osteen is that he claims the evangelical label! What have we come to? Osteen’s acceptance of Mitt Romney as a brother in Christ because “he says he has a personal relationship with Jesus” is the same logic some evangelicals apply to Osteen. Nevermind that he implicitly denies the reason for Jesus’ death, the sin we need salvation from, and the only lasting solution that will bring life transformation. Joel says he has a relationship with Jesus. So that’s good enough for us?
Don’t be fooled by the smiling man on the book cover. Joel Osteen’s message is not positive at all.
well put bro
Comment by Daniel — January 28, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IuiUOapK1w
Comment by Andrew — January 28, 2008 @ 11:51 pm
amen, i had not thought about that (i had thought of a lot of negative things about him and his ministry, but not that)
Comment by Brian — January 29, 2008 @ 9:46 am
WHO EVER IS MAKING COMMENTS ABOUT OSTEEN, NEEDS TO LOOK AT THEMSELVES FIRST. THE ONLY REASON YOU ARE SEEING THE NEGATIVES FROM OSTEEN’S PREACHING IS BECAUSE YOU ARE NOTHING BUT NEGATIVE YOUR SELF. AND YES WHEN YOU HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND GOD COMES FIRST IN YOUR LIFE. NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. MAY BE INSTEAD OF PREACHING NEGATIVE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE, MAYBE YOU NEED TO LOOK AT YOUR SELF AND READ YOUR BIBLE MORE OFTEN. IT IS NOT OUR PLACE TO JUDGE ANYONE UNLESS YOU BE JUDGED. I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE MAKING COMMENTS ABOUT OSTEEN, BUT INSTEAD OF TAKING THE NEGATIVE FROM HIS PREACHING MAYBE YOU SHOULD TAKE THE POSTIVES FROM HIS PREACHING. WHO EVER YOU ARE YOU NEED HELP AND A LOT OF PRAYERS. GOD BE WITH YOU
Comment by Katherine — January 29, 2008 @ 2:04 pm
Wow… I’m feeling very uplifted and encouraged by the previous commenter. I rest my case.
Comment by trevinwax — January 29, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
Maybe Osteen needs to read his bible more often ;-)
Yeah, it is just another form of legalism and particularly corrosive one at that. If it’s up to me just to do better, I’m a hopelessly lost cause.
Comment by Curtis — January 29, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
Is that a Fem-Bot standing next to Olsteen in the photo?
Comment by Vince — January 29, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
Oh no, Vince. Not a Fem-Bot.
A Stepford Wife.
Comment by Nick Gill — January 30, 2008 @ 8:58 am
[...] Wax dares to suggest that Joel Osteen's message is [...]
Pingback by Linkathon 1/30 | Phoenix Preacher — January 30, 2008 @ 9:10 am
Osteen - for now- is a phenom with no signs of slowing down. As one of the comments here atest- he and his message is reaching people.
I find your perspective very interesting. Never thought about him and his message in this light. I just always thought he preached an incomplete message.
Comment by dannydodd — January 30, 2008 @ 5:16 pm
You have rightly pegged this for what it is - bondage of the worst kind. Jesus forever set us free from performance based religion by asking that all we do is believe. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound…
Comment by Okie Preacher — January 30, 2008 @ 10:13 pm
Okay, that “all caps” Katherine is not I. I am not a fan of Osteen’s preaching AT ALL.
I do have a fellow in my Sunday School class who seems to have drunk from Osteen’s pitcher of diet Kool-Aid. He insists that I am chronically ill because I don’t pray hard enough.
That’s the end point of Osteen’s message, really. Anything bad happening is YOUR fault.
Comment by Katherine Coble — February 1, 2008 @ 9:52 am
Well put Trevin! I have read Joel Osteen’s book, “Your Best Life Now” and was so repulsed by the obvious LACK of Biblical truth!! Talk about Health and Wealth gospel! People who do not study biblical doctrine and theology for themselves will easily fall prey to teachers like Joel Osteen. Of course, we do not judge his motives or his salvation….but we can certainly judge his message!!
Comment by Janet — February 1, 2008 @ 10:23 am
Yes, well put, a great perspective that’s true when you think about it. Whatever Joel Osteen is, he is categorically not an evangelical.
Comment by Byron Harvey — February 14, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
Katherine (and everyone else that agrees) it’s not an issue that Joel likes to
preach positive messages, but when you refuse to preach about Hell, you may as well deny the whole Bible. Jesus preached more about Hell than Heaven. Why? Because people need to know
that there is a place where unbelievers go.
You cannot pick and choose what should be told to God’s people. All these things will pass away but God’s word is eternal.
Comment by jay — March 9, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
Katherine (in caps), why are you so angry? You’re right, we aren’t here to judge but God gave us discernment so that we are able to tell right from wrong and he also expects us to research people and not blindly follow them just because something sounds good. There are alot of fake people who have come in his name and we are warned about that.
I am currently reading Your Best Life Now. And I am having a very hard time with it. It was given to me by someone close to me who is blindly following the name it and claim it crowd. I think they wanted me to get as excited about it as they are. But I find some of his stories to be loaded with ego and one story, in particular, about a family wanting to get their son into a private school to show nothing except that the parents were bullying others in the name of Christ.
I don’t doubt that my Lord wants me to have good things and wants to give me blessings but it is also through the tough, heart aches that I learn so much and learn to lean on Him so much. That is where I grow and thank God that he doesn’t leave me there to stay.
Comment by Karen — March 31, 2008 @ 4:17 pm
Trevin,
Well put. Jesus clearly tells us time and time again to not rely on ourselves for strength but to put that hope and reliance on the Spirit. Osteen is dangerous… preying on baby Christians by steering them back into the “look within yourself for answers and strength” mentality of the world, and dumbing down mature Christians by removing the biblical foundation for their faith and never challenging them to grow.
Wes
Comment by Weston — April 22, 2008 @ 10:42 pm
I really understand the fact that so many people hate Joel Osteem, we human are by nature envious, negative and jugdmental, so see someone who is doing and thinking the other way around and making millions is enough reason to be angry. By the other hand encouraging someone who is depressed, talking about positive things and giving them an smile is something that is done by every good Doctor in the health mental care. If you read Trevinwax article you feel nothing but hopeless and depression, if you listen to Joel you feel inspiration and encouragement and of course a little bit of envy and that’s why I understand Trevinwax,s and anger. Meanwhile I hope Joel, who happen to be problably the best motivator ever keep doing his great work and smiling.
Comment by Abel — May 18, 2008 @ 11:13 am
Abel,
I don’t hate Joel Osteen at all. In fact, the sentiment of hate is far from my mind and heart. Neither am I angry or bitter or jealous of the man.
Yet telling people that salvation resides in themselves, that God exists to help them help themselves, and that willpower is the key to success is ultimately a false gospel that provides temporary comfort before turning into long-lasting despair.
I understand that there are good aspects of Joel’s message. But the cross and resurrection of Christ are not at the center of his teaching. His message is all about me, me, me. I get enough of that message from my self-centered self. What I need is a Savior who comes to rescue me from my sin, not a motivator who makes me feel good by showering me with trivial favors (good parking places, etc.)
Spend some time in a poverty-stricken country like Romania and you will see how deeply Americanized is this message of personal prosperity as the greatest of God’s blessings…
Comment by trevinwax — May 18, 2008 @ 8:45 pm
Many posters of this thread act as though they have some sort of inside track or special tie-in to Jesus that other mortals don’t have. No mortal knows the things you all so smugly proclaim to know. Only God is omnipotent. Only God can judge. Religion is a personal relationship between God and an individual - no one has a right to speak for God. Many of your personal bible interpretations are quite self-righteous.
The most significant God-given element of being a human being is that we have “will”…how we chose to exercise will power becomes the basis of our moral convictions. A world without will power would be quite hedonistic. Don’t we each have the power to heal within ourselves…be it through prayer or faith? We get all power from God, but it still is within ourselves that we need to look. The presence of God dwells within each of us, so why shouldn’t we look within ourselves?
It’s not the “prosperity” that so many have fought & died for to assure us all the freedom to prosper by in America, the greatest country in the world. It’s the liberal way of thinking that abounds on this message board that helps instill anti-American sentiments. America would have been lucky to have Mitt Romney as it’s president…and by the help of God she will in 2012!
Comment by Gina — May 20, 2008 @ 6:06 pm
Wow! Negative Message Well addressed! Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a clod of witness, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easilt beset us, and let us run with parience the race that is set before us.
If I am running a race and you don’t make me aware of what will happen if I am not prepared for the jouney, “YOU DO ME AN INJUSTICE” You can’t appreciate the positives until you understand the negatives. We need to know the WHOLE TRUTH. Some have itching ears!
(Katherin go study a little more! Not judgement of the man but of the message that the man is giving)
Comment by Pastor Preston — May 22, 2008 @ 12:08 pm
Olsteen is NOT a man of GOD at all! He is a man of means! He prays on the weak spirited that they will open their wallets and continue to support him and his wife’s swanky tax free lifestyle! I can tell easily because he takes credit and gives no credit to JESUS and GOD! Anyone following this charasmatic speaker will be decieved and parish in hell same as he will, it is easier to ride a camel through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into Heaven! These people live a very lavish lifestyle and give back very little less than one percent! IF you want to get closer to GOD you can do that without the help of man! DO not BE DECEIVED!
Comment by Terri — June 26, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
Everybodys says I dont hate Joel Olsteen. Who said that they did? Just because you say that he is a phony doesnt imply hate does it? He is a motivational speaker and is redundant and outrageously rich. I am sure Jesus would drive a Benz and shop on Rodeo Dr. too.
Comment by Brandon Donnellon — July 11, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
God loves negative people too. The problem is that negative people do not love much. Osteen is trying to help people love more and that I think is his calling. he doesn’t preach the Gospel much except for the part that God loves us and we need to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Even after listening to Joel I still feel a need for conviction in my life but I do want to love more and forgive myself and others more.
Taking up our Cross daily is both convicting (negative, humbling) and encouraging (positive, healing).
Comment by Bill — July 17, 2008 @ 12:56 pm