|
Author
|
Topic: Positively Dangerous
|
Gramajo320
Advanced Member
Member # 4667
|
posted
Texas Grandma,
Your posting is very true. I say amen to it and also God bless you and yours!
--------------------
Gramajo320
Posts: 2385 | From: WA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged | 
|
|
TEXASGRANDMA
Advanced Member
Member # 847
|
posted
GramaJo,
I pray for all of us to be able to see for ourselves, who is Preaching the truth. To pull out our Bible and test the message with it.
We all need to pray for one another. Everyone of us faces attacks from the devil every day. Hopefully, we can become once again a group joined as the body of Christ in love and in prayer. May we reach out to each other in love.
betty
--------------------
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
http://www.indieheaven.com/artists/mm (son-in-law)http://www.myspace.com/mireles
Posts: 4985 | From: Washington State | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Gramajo320
Advanced Member
Member # 4667
|
posted
Texas Grandma,
Then I pray for God to show the ones who are in error to correct their error and prepare their people for the spiritual battle that lies ahead so they can put on the full armor of God and be ready for the battle.
The closer we get to God the more satan hates it and the more satan tries to find ways to destroy us and our faith. We have to constantly be on guard against satan's wiles and satan's deceitful ways for satan tries anything and everything to win. Satan shall not win.
--------------------
Gramajo320
Posts: 2385 | From: WA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
|
|
TEXASGRANDMA
Advanced Member
Member # 847
|
posted
True GramaJo, but sadly today's at many Churches people are not being taught how to arm themselves for spiritual battles. When a preacher just preaches only feel good sermons, then he leaves his people vulnerable. A good sheperd prepares his people for battle. This takes hearing the full truth of God's Word. There are some preachers that have failed their flock but more important they have failed God.
betty
--------------------
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
http://www.indieheaven.com/artists/mm (son-in-law)http://www.myspace.com/mireles
Posts: 4985 | From: Washington State | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Gramajo320
Advanced Member
Member # 4667
|
posted
Being born again believers in Jesus Christ we are not to fear those who may kill our body but fear those who can kill our soul. We have to put on the full armor of God and stand up for Jesus Christ even though we know it would mean our death.
--------------------
Gramajo320
Posts: 2385 | From: WA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
|
|
helpforhomeschoolers
Advanced Member
Member # 15
|
posted
I agree Betty, but even more, what happens when someone ties them to a post and says deny Christ or burn? or stands in front of them with a machine gun and says deny Christ or die? What happens when someone points a machine gun at your child and says deny Christ or she dies?
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged |
|
|
TEXASGRANDMA
Advanced Member
Member # 847
|
posted
Linda,
We have a prayer request on today of what happens when someone becomes convinced that Jesus is like Santa Claus. You put your request in and you get the answer you want, right away. Yes, it is wonderful to only listen to positive messages about how you can think great things in your mind and see results. But, what happens to the faith of these when God takes them through the valley.
What happens to the believer's faith when they lose their home due to lay-off at work? What happens to these poor folks when there is a death in their family? If you are not fed the meat of God's Word then when troubles come, you might find yourself turning your back on God for good.
betty
--------------------
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
http://www.indieheaven.com/artists/mm (son-in-law)http://www.myspace.com/mireles
Posts: 4985 | From: Washington State | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged |
|
|
helpforhomeschoolers
Advanced Member
Member # 15
|
posted
Positively Dangerous
Joel Osteen may mean well, but when he preaches the power-ofpositive- thinking at the Charlotte Coliseum in March, tens of thousands could be led astray
By: Jamie Dean
CHARLOTTE – No one can accuse Joel Osteen of pessimism. In fact, the power-ofpositive-
thinking is the bedrock of the message he preaches each week to more than 30,000 people in the largest church in America. It’s the same message he’ll likely preach next month to tens of thousands of people at the Charlotte Coliseum.
Osteen’s perpetual optimism and populist appeal have made him one of the rising stars of
both the charismatic movement and the church growth movement.
But critics like Robert Liichow, the founder of Discernment Ministry International, a Detroit-based apologetics ministry that examines and critiques ministries like Osteen’s, say the same optimism and appeal that draw hundreds of thousands of people to Osteen’s church and preaching events each year may also draw many of the same people away from the whole truth of the Bible.
By preaching nearly exclusively about the “potential of man” and the goodness of God,
critics like Liichow say Osteen presents a deficient gospel, devoid of its most essential
components: the sinfulness of man and the redemption offered in Christ.
All that glitters
If one could measure Osteen’s success numerically, it would appear that everything he
touches turns to gold. The 41-year-old Texan is pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston –
a church that under his leadership has grown into the largest and fastest-growing congregation in the country, according to Church Growth Today.
More than 30,000 people pack into four Lakewood services each weekend.
With Osteen at the helm, the church has negotiated a deal with the city of Houston to
lease and renovate the Compaq Center, a 16,000-seat arena and former home of the
Houston Rockets.
The church is investing $92 million in renovations and $12.3 million for a 30-year lease for its new home.
For those who can’t or don’t want to join the crowds on Sundays, Lakewood broadcasts
its services in dozens of television markets, reaching 95 percent of American households
with cable, as well as tens of thousands more viewers in 150 countries. Last year, the
program gained the number one spot in Nielsen’s ratings of inspirational television
shows.
Osteen takes the show on the road more than a dozen times a year, selling out the largest
arenas in major U.S. cities. Last year, he sold out New York City’s Madison Square Garden twice.
This month he sold out the 17,000-plus American Airlines Center inDallas. Ticket sales for the Charlotte event at the 24,000-seat Coliseum are running strong.
Osteen has also found colossal success in the publishing business, distilling his self-help,
positive-thinking philosophy into his first book – “Your Best Life Now: Seven Steps for
Living at Your Full Potential.” In a matter of weeks, the book sold more than 1.5 million
copies and topped the New York Times bestseller list.
But numerical success isn’t necessarily a sign of spiritual success, according to Discernment Ministry International’s Liichow. “I think Joel views the fact that Lakewood is the largest church in America as a sign of God’s favor,” says Liichow.
“But Mormonism is one of the fastest-growing religious groups in America, and Islam is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world. We certainly can’t say that’s a sign of God’s favor.”
Instead of numbers, Liichow says Christians should examine content. And it’s Osteen’s
content that troubles critics like Liichow.
It’s all about me Osteen’s book is the best place to get an overview of his core philosophy. Osteen recently told FaithfulReader.com that his book is “the basic message I’ve been speaking about for the last two or three years.”
The basic message of “Your Best Life Now” is how to achieve happiness by getting what you want and developing “your full potential.” Again and again, Osteen defines happiness and success in terms of earthly blessings: a better job, a better house, a stronger marriage, better health, even a good parking spot at a crowded mall.
The reader begins to ask: How can I get all these things? Osteen provides an answer: positive thinking.
“To experience this immeasurable favor,” Osteen writes, “you must rid yourself of that
small-minded thinking and start expecting God’s blessings…you must make room for increase in your own thinking, then God will bring those things to pass.”
Osteen calls this method “declaring God’s favor,” and says that it will work even in the
most mundane circumstances. For example, if you find yourself in a crowded restaurant
and you’re in a hurry, Osteen suggests saying: “Father, I thank You that I have favor with this hostess and she’s going to seat me soon.”
Osteen’s focus on personal prosperity overshadows any talk of personal piety in a biblical context.
In fact, the average bookstore browser who picks up Osteen’s work won’t likely
realize he is looking at a “Christian” book at first glance.
Osteen acknowledges that the book’s title and subtitle are devoid of Christian language,
and says there’s a good reason. “I don’t want to just preach to the church, and I just feel
like I have a broader message,” Osteen told Beliefnet.com. “I’d like to think I can help
everyday people who don’t necessarily go to church.”
Dallas. Ticket sales for the Charlotte event at the 24,000-seat Coliseum are running
strong.
Osteen has also found colossal success in the publishing business, distilling his self-help,
positive-thinking philosophy into his first book – “Your Best Life Now: Seven Steps for
Living at Your Full Potential.” In a matter of weeks, the book sold more than 1.5 million
copies and topped the New York Times bestseller list.
But numerical success isn’t necessarily a sign of spiritual success, according to Discernment Ministry International’s Liichow. “I think Joel views the fact that Lakewood is the largest church in America as a sign of God’s favor,” says Liichow. “But Mormonism is one of the fastest-growing religious groups in America, and Islam is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world. We certainly can’t say that’s a sign of God’s
favor.”
Instead of numbers, Liichow says Christians should examine content. And it’s Osteen’s
content that troubles critics like Liichow.
It’s all about me Osteen’s book is the best place to get an overview of his core philosophy. Osteen recently told FaithfulReader.com that his book is “the basic message I’ve been speaking about for the last two or three years.”
The basic message of “Your Best Life Now” is how to achieve happiness by getting what you want and developing “your full potential.”
Again and again, Osteen defines happiness and success in terms of earthly blessings: a better job, a better house, a stronger marriage, better health, even a good parking spot at a crowded mall. The reader begins to ask: How can I get all these things? Osteen provides an answer: positive thinking.
“To experience this immeasurable favor,” Osteen writes, “you must rid yourself of that
small-minded thinking and start expecting God’s blessings…you must make room for increase in your own thinking, then God will bring those things to pass.”
Osteen calls this method “declaring God’s favor,” and says that it will work even in the
most mundane circumstances. For example, if you find yourself in a crowded restaurant
and you’re in a hurry, Osteen suggests saying: “Father, I thank You that I have favor with this hostess and she’s going to seat me soon.”
Osteen’s focus on personal prosperity overshadows any talk of personal piety in a biblical context. In fact, the average bookstore browser who picks up Osteen’s work won’t likely
realize he is looking at a “Christian” book at first glance.
Osteen acknowledges that the book’s title and subtitle are devoid of Christian language,
and says there’s a good reason. “I don’t want to just preach to the church, and I just feel
like I have a broader message,” Osteen told Beliefnet.com. “I’d like to think I can help
everyday people who don’t necessarily go to church.”
“The danger for unbelievers is that they will never come to a genuine saving faith
because they are never going to hear the full gospel – that they are totally depraved
people without any hope in this world apart from Christ,” says Liichow. “I don’t hear
Joel preaching that.”
“He’s basically telling people: ‘You’re okay, but you could do so much better with
Jesus,’” Liichow continues. “But that’s not the truth. People are not okay. They are
sinners in need of redemption.”
Osteen’s critics say there is nothing wrong with temporal prosperity, but that the Bible
emphasizes spiritual joys over earthly ones.
“The only thing we can look to in order to know whether or not we are truly prospering is
Christ,” says Horton. “The abundant life Jesus said he came to give is Himself.”
Liichow agrees. “It’s true that God wants us to live an abundant life,” he says. “We’re
called to have an abundant spiritual relationship with the Lord and to store up treasures in
heaven.”
That’s not the message Osteen’s followers hear, Liichow says. “I’m not saying that God
couldn’t use Osteen’s preaching to convert someone because conversion is a work of the
Holy Spirit,” he says. “The Bible says God does use the foolishness of preaching. But I
just don’t know how much He uses foolish preaching. And there is a difference.”
© The Charlotte World, 2005.
Posts: 4684 | From: Southern Black Hills of South Dakota | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged |
|
|
|
Printer-friendly view of this topic
