Before you read this post, I want to ask you to read two interviews with Joel Osteen and the first part of his book.
The first is at Beliefnet.com. The second is at FaithfulReader.com.
Here is the book excerpt at Amazon.
Here is a long excerpt from the first chapter of Your Best Life Now at Parable.com
Here are Osteen sermons. (Check dates. More recent ones reflect the concerns of this post.) Also, this is the closest thing we can find to a Confession of Faith.
Update 16: Here is Osteen’s recent apology for his interview on Larry King, where he did exactly what I told you he does. Included are my recations. And here is a long letter from Bob Ross at Pigrim Publications, who says Osteen is personally committed to the Gospel. I have no trouble with that. It’s his books, sermons and STATUS that are the problems.
Update 15: Here’s a commenter at the BHT defending Osteen and calling me out as too rash.
Update 14: The Detroit News Feature story. They are right on target: A New Age Gospel of Motivational Messages.
Update 13: Best Osteen post ever. Alex Arnold. Thank you, Alex.
Update 12: 2/7/05 I have decided to close the comment threads on the Osteen posts. Thanks to all who have commented, and I hope raising this issue has contributed to a better understanding of Mr. Osteen and what he represents in American Christianity.
Go directly to the “Outing Osteen” post.
UPDATE: The Faithful Reader site went down for a while. So just in case that interview may disappear, here’s the cached copy of the page.
UPDATE 2: I have made a list of all the current Osteen resources I could find in 20 pages of googling. I will add to the list.
UPDATE 3: Should I be seeking personal reconciliation with Osteen according to Matthew 18?
UPDATE 4: My response to some BHT questions, including my speculation about why Osteen won’t name books or influences in interviews.
UPDATE 5: It’s been quite a weekend. Record traffic. Biggest month in IM history, mostly off the last two days. Some wonderful blog posts have been forwarded to me. Thanks to everyone. This post on the Sacraments at Lakewood is a good one. (I am not about debating theology with Osteen. I don’t hear any theology from him. What is said at his web site or from the phone center is not what you will read in Osteen’s book.) Things are happening. Stay tuned.
UPDATE 6: My response to the objection “You should never criticize people who are winning others to Christ.” From a longer IM essay on Criticism.
UPDATE 7:Here’s another answer to a commenter: Is Osteen Ok for those who already know the Gospel, and just need a lift?
UPDATE 8: A MUST READ! Tim Challies does the grunt work of comparing the rhetoric of New Ager Marianne Williamson and motivational speaker Tony Robbins with Rick Warren. Why post that here? Do you need to ask? I said it at the BHT: There is a reason Osteen doesn’t name books and influences. Could this be why?
UPDATE 9 Osteen on MSNBC 2/1/05. He’s ok with being called a motivational speaker. Meanwhile, Michael Horton says what Osteen’s message really is: Fortune cookies.
UPDATE 10: Relevant scripture, and a story where “There really is a cliff!”
UPDATE 11: Amazon.com reviews of Osteen’s book, compiled by Byron Harvey. Also, Get Religion’s Osteen piece.
And for those who don’t care for what I am up to here, try this and this. Someone asked me if I wanted to pastor 30,000? Any church that cannot provide a meaningful interaction between pastor/elders and the entire congregation, in the homes of the members, regularly, personally, is too big. Megachurch numbers don’t represent churches, but denominations that gather in one room occasionally. I say this to everyone from Piper to whomever: Keep it small enough for shepherds to know the sheep.
UPDATE 12: Many excellent posts are out there, but few better than the BHT’s Richard. Updated: Tim Challies does a 5 star post on Osteen. Thanks, Tim. Updated again: Razorkiss has one of the best posts I’ve read. Very good information and quotes.
This is the pastor of America’s largest church. This will soon be the leading spokesperson for evangelical Christianity. This is the face and voice that will be heard speaking for the heirs of the Reformation. If you missed Jesus and the Gospel entirely, it’s because they weren’t there.
I want to know if anyone thinks we ought to try speaking up about this, at least once.
Continue reading “Outing Joel Osteen: A Challenge to the Evangelical Blogosphere”
I am getting beaten up pretty badly in the blogosphere right now, so let’s try to think about the subject of conformity. I would like to invite you to explore with me the following thesis:
I haven’t done the official totals, but it is obvious to me that “Wretched Urgency” is the IM essay that seems to describe the experiences and feelings of most of the people who say they like what I write. I even think the title may qualify as a “brand!” Time for the “Wretched Urgency” store!
Step into the office, readers. The doctor is in. Today’s problem: Getting over a common malady among serious, reformed Christians. Yes, I mean that nagging split personality between believing what is true, and experiencing what is real. Is a high view of doctrine, Word and Sacrament the enemy of genuine piety and experience? Is it the Calvinistic lecture hall versus the Charismatic “really big shoo?”
Over the past five years I have written a number of things that build a basic “iMonk” critique of evangelicalism. If you missed the basic class, there’s no reason you should be left out. Therefore, I present….reruns of some of my better work.
The Internet Monk Archives 