I just received an email from the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego inviting me to purchase tickets for “A Night of Hope” with Pastors Joel and Victoria Osteen.
“A Night of Hope” with Joel and Victoria Osteen is an outreach of Joel Osteen Ministries and is an exciting time of praise and worship where attendees will hear an inspirational message from Joel and Victoria along with the electrifying music of Dove Award winning Cindy Cruse Ratcliff, Steve Crawford, Da’dra Greathouse, and the Lakewood Bandand Ensemble.
Joel and Victoria Osteen are pastors for a new generation. Referred to by many as a voice of hope, they reach one of the largest audiences in the U.S. and across the globe. . . .”
Tempting as it may be, I think I’ll pass driving the 13 hours to San Diego to catch Joel and Victoria share their inspirational message of hope. And, hope is what they are selling. Literally. It will cost you $15 to experience all that the Osteens have to offer. While that doesn’t sound like much (the price or the offer), Joel and Victoria have found a way to sell hope to a “new generation.”
It’s easy for these “pastors” to sell hope to a “new generation,” particularly when those who are members of this generation are largely Biblically illiterate. Not that the Osteens are Bible scholars by any stretch of the imagination (just watch any of the painful interviews that the Osteens have given to Larry King), but they certainly know how to twist Scripture in such a way as give the illusion that the hope that they are selling is the real deal.
However, what the Osteens are selling is not real hope (Hope is, after all, a person — Jesus Christ). And, the inspirational messages of hope that Joel and Victoria continue to peddle will not change the lives of those whose ears continue to be tickled. The Apostle Paul would not be amused.
I do have to give credit to Mr. Osteen for his remarkable ability to communicate in such a way that most people who listen (in person and on television) to him speak do not have any idea of just how horribly he butchers God’s Word.
I do not make it a habit to watch Joel Osteen, but I do occasionally linger on his show when I am channel surfing. Every now and then, I like to watch for a few minutes — that is all I can really stomach — to see and hear how he has managed to rip Scripture out of context. Such was the case earlier this week when I heard Joel so mangle the inerrant, inspired Word of God that he turned King Ahab into a man of faith!
Anyone with a passing knowledge of the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures (which Joel or someone on his research staff should have) would quickly recognize that King Ahab was Israel’s most evil king:
“And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. . . . And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” 1 Kings 16:30, 33 (ESV)
Ahab was a faithless king who worshipped the false god Baal. With his blessing, Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, killed the LORD’s prophets. No where in Scripture can you find a positive word concerning Ahab or Jezebel. Well, that is until now. Leave it to Joel Osteen to find an inspirational message about Ahab.
My wife and I could not believe what we heard come out of Mr. Osteen’s mouth. Now granted, I have heard some pretty amazing (and non-Biblical) things spew forth from this man, but this was truly unbelievable. I recorded the end of Joel’s message so that I would not misquote what he said about King Ahab.
Concluding his feel-good message, Mr. Osteen used the first part of 1 Kings 18:42 (“So Ahab went up to eat and to drink”) as his proof-text for arguing that Ahab was a man of faith, celebrating what God was about to do in his life. In Joel’s mind, Ahab went out and “prepared a great feast.” Why did he prepare this great feast? Because he had faith in the word that the prophet Elijah had given to him, namely that it would begin to rain. Given that Israel was in the midst of a 3 1/2 year drought, this was significant.
However, the context within which Elijah’s “word” came to Ahab was following the confrontation of Elijah with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel and slaughter of those prophets. Elijah was mocking King Ahab, telling him to go get something to eat and drink before it started raining and the king got all wet.
No where in Scripture does it say that Ahab prepared a feast because he believed the word of Elijah that is was going to rain. However, Joel Osteen so twists the Word of God to suit his own shallow purposes that he has turned Ahab into some sort of man of deep faith and conviction. I wish I was making this up, but here are Joel’s own words:
“That took a lot of nerve to prepare a feast in the midst of the drought. Other people complaining, negative, depressed, bitter. Here’s Ahab over here celebrating. This is what faith is all about. You can’t wait to see it, then you’re going to believe. You have to believe and then you’ll see it. I’m asking you to do like Ahab. Get your hopes up. Start celebrating what God is about to do.”
I truly have never heard a supposedly Christian pastor exhort someone to “do like Ahab.” What hope did Ahab have? What celebration was there for this evil, wicked king? Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, were opponents of the one true God — Yahweh — and they continued to oppose God’s prophet, Elijah. How any of this was a cause of hope and celebration for Ahab is beyond my comprehension.
But, apparently not beyond Joel Osteen’s comprehension. That neither Mr. Osteen nor anyone on his staff, including “Pastor” Victoria, could comprehend that using King Ahab as a positive example of faith is not only wrong, but spiritually deluded. The reason for this delusion may just be that the Osteens are already following Joel’s advice to “do like Ahab (and Jezebel). But, I don’t think that’s anything to celebrate!
I won’t watch one of their “services” but I did catch a few quotes from the Larry King Show. But it does make sense to me that, in the last days, men would be led astray by strong delusions.
Perhaps is it, that Osteen himself is bad news, but his presence among us is quite the opposite.
Bob,
I hear what you’re saying. That folks like Osteen are out there should not surprise us. As you say, the end times will see these delusions increase. I just think that we need to call these so-called “Christian pastors” out when they spout such nonsense. Not much that Osteen says or does surprises me, but using King Ahab as a positive example of faith really takes the cake. Thanks for stopping by. God bless,
Howell
Unbelievable!
You can moderate this comment into oblivion, but if this post by some miracle appeared on the SBC Voices site as a “pending review” post on Monday or Tuesday, I would be thrilled.
A friend of mine forwarded this to me and I read it and thought, “wow, this is really good.” I wondered who wrote it. I wanted to post it at Voices so I looked to find out who wrote it.
Lo and behold I found the name and thought – I know that guy!
Dave,
Consider yourself “thrilled.” I just got back from our church’s Valentine’s Banquet. I will try to post this at Voices for your review by the end of tonight. You can run with it whenever you see fit. It really is a small world that this got back to you via another friend. Hope you have a great Sunday! God bless,
Howell
Lord, how we need more preachers like Spurgeon in this pablum-driven generation.
Olsteen is a dangerous heretic. There can be no more doubt.
Jinx,
Thanks for reading and commenting. I’m not sure I really had any doubt about Osteen before I saw his “message” on Ahab. When he so twisted Scripture to make Ahab look like a man of faith who was celebrating what God was about to do (even as Elijah had just slaughtered the prophets of Baal), any such doubt should have been removed from every Bible-believing, Christ-centered Christian. The Apostle Paul had a word about those who replaced the true Gospel with a false Gospel — and the word was not nice. Thanks again and God bless,
Howell
You “christains” are a very smug self-rightious cult aren’t you. Congrats on finding the one true magical scientific formula to salvation. Go kiss yourselves in the mirror. Joel is going to stay on and apparently continue to be a threat to those you are desperately attempting to brainwash into a cold reptile type doctrine where there is no room for human error or whatever.
S,
Not sure exactly what you are talking about, but thanks for reading and commenting. Salvation is not a magical scientific forumla, but it does come through the truth of Jesus Christ and His great love that was demonstrated for all sinners on the Cross. I can’t brainwash anyone into believing anything, much less believing that the Bible is God’s Word and that it shows us the way we can be forgiven and come into a right relationship with the Creator of the Universe. If you would like to stop the name calling and dialogue further, I would be more than happy to try to answer any questions you might have. Thanks and God bless,
Howell
Love him, Jole, or hate him!
Like it or not!
Believe it or not!
Joel Osteen’s a miracle!
Joel changes peoples lives daily all over the world!
How many lives have you, skeptics, changed, impacted, or won over to Christ?
Stop whining and give credit where it’s due!
Finally, there’s gotcha be reason(s) why he leads the largest church in US; you skeptics – of Joel – ought to find that out & let us know?
I know this is a year old, but could I get a source for the Osteen quote?
Tory,
The source is from Joel Osteen’s television program where he preached on this topic. It came directly from him. I don’t know if the Osteen’s website allows access to sermons that are almost a year old, but you might want to check there to see if you can download that particular message. Thanks for reading and for the question. God bless,
Howell
I Kings18:41 And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” 42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.43 “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
“There is nothing there,” he said.
Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
44 The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
The scripture says clearly that Elijah told Ahab to go eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain. That was a faith statement for at that point there was no sound at all. Yet, Ahab obeyed Elijah’s instruction. As Ahab was celebrating as Elijah instructed, Elijah was praying and God sent the sign of a cloud as small as a man’s hand. It was enough for Elijah to tell Ahab to flee.
God used Samson when he turned in obedience after being blinded for disobedience. God continues to use HIS WORD written by King David in obedience to the Spirit’s prompting, while at many junctures of David’s life he was disobedient.
Everyone is disobedient at times and obedient at times. What’s wrong with using the example of God’s blessing on a king who was many times evil – when he chose to be obedient?
I believe that From Grace to Law has incorrectly twisted this scripture to try to discredit Joel. Ahab had enough faith to do what Elijah told him. All Joel did was quote the story as written.
All the people had just declared, The Lord, He is God. Elijah had just slaughtered all the prophets of Baal. His next statement is to go eat and drink for it’s going to rain. I’m thinkin’ that Ahab was a believer at that point. Did it last? No. Once he got back to Jezebel, the seed that was planted was supplanted.
However, at that point, Ahab most likely believed. Even Saul prophesied under the Spirit during the same period of time he was intent on David’s murder. Joel is not saying to live your life after Ahab’s as an example, he is saying that we should follow Ahab’s example of obedience in this instance.
This article is a hateful diatribe that reflects a spirit of self-righteousness that I believe Jesus would repudiate if he were here in person today. People are being saved daily under the ministry headed by Joel Osteen. They clearly pray to have their sins forgiven and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord. I hear the prayers every week.
Repent, From Grace to Law, or you will be judged by the same measure that you judge Joel. By Law and not by Grace.
Roger,
Thanks for taking the time to read and to share your thoughts on Joel’s sermon on Ahab. You are certainly free to believe that I “incorrectly twisted this Scripture to try to discredit Joel.” I would simply beg to differ. I watched and rewatched the particular sermon in question to make sure that I was not misunderstanding how and why Joel was using one of the most wicked kings in Israel’s history as an example of a man of faith. To this day, I cannot fathom how any Christian pastor could so use Ahab. With this, we will have to disagree. Lastly, if people are being saved under any ministry — be it Joel’s or anyone else’s — then we could certainly agree that God, and God alone, would receive the honor and the glory for those salvations! Thanks again for stopping by. God bless,
Howell
You should be celebrating the many lives that are finding Jesus as Savior, for this gospel shall be preached throught the earth AND then shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Jesus return is growing more imminent. REJOICE!
I find it interesting that so many people seem unaware that it is possible to have false conversion based on a false gospel. Many self help gurus change lives with their positive messages and good advice about how to change your mindset to succeed in business and personal relationshps. Does that mean its the gospel or that these people have been truly saved? Hardly. The bible even speaks of lying signs and wonders that lead people astray. Just because something seems postive and inspirational, doesn’t mean that its of God. If by changed lives you mean becomng happy, healhty and wealthy, well that’s positive yes, but those are surface outward changes with no eternal value. If you’re getting “saved” to a gospel that says God wants to “quarterback” your life and make you successful, you may indeed see changes but that’s not the true gospel of classic biblical christianity. You may be blessed materially but that’s not God’s focus. His focus is that we are conformred into the image of his Son. Didn’t Jesus say that many in that day would say to him Lord, Lord, only to have him say, depart from me, I never knew you? These are folks who sincerely thought they were christians, who prophesied and did good deeds! Preferring to believe what one wants to believe while ignoring clear scriptural teaching is the road to deception and demise.
What could possibly be false about a conversion based on Romans 10:9-10? No man can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit. If John 3:17 says that God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. How then can you condemn those who have confessed with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believed in their hearts that God has raised Him from the dead? It wasn’t Jesus job to condemn. How then could it be yours? And please show me the chapter and verse for this false salvation basis. If we lead people to a saving knowledge of Christ using Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9-10, and Ephesians 2: 8-9 – how can you discredit the validity of that born again experience? It’s not us who birth them, it is the Holy Spirit. The Lord knows those that are His. He’s not willing that any perish and would love it if all came to repentance.
Thanks for the catch. I Googled this site when another 15 minute “sermon” by Jezebel…er I mean Victoria… was ripped off on the internet in their Sunday morning service. She makes my flesh crawl. I am wondering if she is a “Nordic” type of alien as the deep researchers are talking about… a construct human being type manufactured by Satan using his factory of “greys” and humanoids… but that’s a much different subject.
Her talk was pure manipulation and a warning to all church members that any criticism of them or their ministry would be seen as out of order and something to be sloughed off as snakes shed their skins. You are dead on right about their being no Biblical foundations for the sermons, and the Word is weekly butchered to Kingdom come by the errand boy of John Osteen.
Some of the commenters above say how much “good” they are doing for the world. Do you not know that their feel good, I am OK and You are OK message is straight out of the Wiccan religion, beliefs, teachings, etc? Not offending anyone and not making waves… doing no harm to other’s pet beliefs… WICCAN!
I have heard time after time statements from his sermons that made my flesh crawl… because there was no scriptural basis at all for his outlandish claims. OK one of them for instance…”If you could not handle what life is dishing out to you, God would not have put you here on this earth at this time in the place he put you!” Sounds good, huh? There are plenty of people on this planet that CANNOT handle what life dishes out to them… they commit suicide, self medicate, and abuse drugs. They go crazy, develop mental instabilities…etc. So just objective observation by empirical evidence does not even need the Bible to debunk this comforting junk food message from a pulpit… of Satan? Still not sure if he can in any way be working for God.
Definitely, a defense by Joel of Ahab fits about right. He is defending himself. For he sits, dominated… obviously… by his own Jezebel… (Victoria Osteen) who walks with a scepter and attempts to kill any prophets who would talk against her and her indulgent Christianity. (Anyone can be rich and have a big mansion like they have… obviously God is taking everyone in that direction… Joel would have you believe.) Tell that message to the people of Mexico making 1 dollar a day… ONE dollar a day average for the Aztec Indians in South Mexico where the drug cartels and wars are… see David Hogan and his missionary work in Mexico to learn MUCH more about poverty, the Holy Spirit, the will of God, and Jesus’ personal view of the church in the United States of America.
Rant over for now. I could go on for pages. Thanks. God bless us one and all. Still waiting for my personal jet from God.