Joel Osteen Turns the Other Cheek on Internet Hoax:
Interesting that he responded this way to the big hoax. Because when I first heard about it, I read it on the Facebook of someone who posted the article with the words "I'm not surprised." I read the comments that came after them. Some were informing others that this was in fact a hoax. One or two mentioned concern of Joel Osteen's spiritual well-being. But most ranted on and on about how what he preaches isn't actually the Gospel. Someone even said that "he can't leave the faith if he never was a part of it to begin with."
Now, I don't claim to know the mind of God. But let's think for a second what would happen if this happened while Jesus was actually on the earth. Someone who claims to be Jesus's biggest fan suddenly has a crisis of faith, even turning away from it. How would Jesus respond? Well, we don't really have to guess. Because, you see, that's exactly Peter's story. He claimed to be Jesus's biggest fan (Matthew 26:33), even though he didn't really understand completely what Jesus was here for (Matthew 16:23). But he did have a crisis of faith, to the point of turning his back on Christ (Luke 22:54-62). And Jesus, although completely justified in condemning Peter, instead chooses to restore him (John 21:15-17).
So here we have Joel Osteen, a man who claims to be one of Jesus's biggest fans, and there are quite a few things that many people believe him to be wrong on when it comes to Christ. If he did have a crisis of faith and renounce his belief in God, how should we as followers of Christ respond? Do we, like the Savior we claim to follow, try our best to restore this man to his faith in the Lord, even if we think he's confused on what Scripture teaches?
Or do we post a link on Facebook with a smug remark about how he never was really a follower to start with?
The sad thing is, for those people who were tricked by this hoax and "weren't surprised" that Osteen seemingly left the faith, his response to the whole situation modeled Christ to the world better than any of their comments did.
Not trying to start a fight. I just want to be sure that we take out the planks in our own eyes before we start noticing specks in the eyes of others.
Keep Soaring,
Branson
Joel Osteen also lies and I believe he is using a message of prosperity to increase his wealth.
ReplyDeleteEven if that is true, that doesn't make him any worse than any other preacher out there. Every preacher lies at some point, and any preacher that receives a paycheck can be said to be using the Gospel to increase his wealth.
ReplyDeleteThe point of this post was not to put Joel Osteen on a pedestal, but to remind brothers and sisters in Christ that reveling in the downfall of anyone is not Christ-like.