"Give us some men that know the truth. And will declare the truth. And will stand with Athanasius and Polycarp and Calvin and Luther and Whitfield and Edwards. Who will declare from the housetops that the Gospel is the power of God and of salvation."
Does indeed speak for itself. The likes of Joel Osteen need to be taken on. I remember Osteen saying stupid things during the run up to the presidential election of 2008 in defence of Mitt Romney as a supposed Christian when it's clear that the doctrinal differences between the LDS and biblical christianity are so vast that even if Romney as a Mormon says that Christ is his saviour he isn't talking about the same Jesus Christ as Osteen talks about – the Mormon Christ is false – the biblical Christ is the true and living God incarnate. Romney believes Christ is his saviour but what his saviour has done is not enough – that he can earn his salvation. It's worrying that someone as powerful as Osteen can't tell the difference. His apparent denial on Larry King Live that Jesus is the only way is more worrying.
I struggle with all televangelists to be honest because I personally doubt that if Jesus ministry was now he would be in the places that tv, radio and the interent cannot reach speaking to the abandoned and the neglected. I also struggle with both the characters specifically featured above; the main guy whoever he is seems too quick to be mocking and sneering which doesn't strike me as a particularly Christian characteristic. The object of his derision seems like the particularly dangerous type of person who cloaks himself in a veneer of faith but has precious little substance. There was also a disturbing lack of direct quoting from the Bible, so here is a reference that could have been used John 14:6.
I am NO fan of Joel Osteen or of his self-help, prosperity approach to the Bible. As the clips show, his thinking is quite muddled. HOWEVER, I fully agree with James that this guy's attitude is quite unChristian in its tone. Even some of his audience seem to realise this in their response to his remark about Osteen's wife being a better preacher. 2 Timothy 2:23-26 comes to mind.
I really disliked this bit: "…the Jews and Muslims love God? They HATE God!" How does he know? Who is he to judge? And EVEN if it were true, what about the role and witness of the Christian church in this? Crusades, pogroms, organised persecution, violence (including anti-Semitic and antin-Muslim preaching) and hatred have been a poor witness to the love and grace of God found and offered in Jesus Christ, and instead have made his name an occasion of fear. Why the anger, why the derision in this preaching? This guy seems only interested in telling his audience what it wants to hear.
"Give us some men that know the truth. And will declare the truth. And will stand with Athanasius and Polycarp and Calvin and Luther and Whitfield and Edwards. Who will declare from the housetops that the Gospel is the power of God and of salvation."
Amen!
Does indeed speak for itself. The likes of Joel Osteen need to be taken on. I remember Osteen saying stupid things during the run up to the presidential election of 2008 in defence of Mitt Romney as a supposed Christian when it's clear that the doctrinal differences between the LDS and biblical christianity are so vast that even if Romney as a Mormon says that Christ is his saviour he isn't talking about the same Jesus Christ as Osteen talks about – the Mormon Christ is false – the biblical Christ is the true and living God incarnate. Romney believes Christ is his saviour but what his saviour has done is not enough – that he can earn his salvation. It's worrying that someone as powerful as Osteen can't tell the difference. His apparent denial on Larry King Live that Jesus is the only way is more worrying.
I struggle with all televangelists to be honest because I personally doubt that if Jesus ministry was now he would be in the places that tv, radio and the interent cannot reach speaking to the abandoned and the neglected. I also struggle with both the characters specifically featured above; the main guy whoever he is seems too quick to be mocking and sneering which doesn't strike me as a particularly Christian characteristic. The object of his derision seems like the particularly dangerous type of person who cloaks himself in a veneer of faith but has precious little substance. There was also a disturbing lack of direct quoting from the Bible, so here is a reference that could have been used John 14:6.
I am NO fan of Joel Osteen or of his self-help, prosperity approach to the Bible. As the clips show, his thinking is quite muddled. HOWEVER, I fully agree with James that this guy's attitude is quite unChristian in its tone. Even some of his audience seem to realise this in their response to his remark about Osteen's wife being a better preacher. 2 Timothy 2:23-26 comes to mind.
I really disliked this bit: "…the Jews and Muslims love God? They HATE God!" How does he know? Who is he to judge? And EVEN if it were true, what about the role and witness of the Christian church in this? Crusades, pogroms, organised persecution, violence (including anti-Semitic and antin-Muslim preaching) and hatred have been a poor witness to the love and grace of God found and offered in Jesus Christ, and instead have made his name an occasion of fear. Why the anger, why the derision in this preaching? This guy seems only interested in telling his audience what it wants to hear.