Here is an excellent article by professor at Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, California regarding Joel Osteen. I know I've been posting quite a bit of material on Osteen as of late, but when I think of the numbers of viewers going to his church and watching him on TV, I feel as though I need to do this.
Here is the closing paragraph of Horton's article on Osteen:
This gospel of “submission,” “commitment,” “decision,” and “having a personal relationship with God” fails to realize, first of all, that everyone
has a personal relationship with God already: either as a condemned criminal
standing before a righteous judge or as a justified co-heir with Christ and
adopted child of the Father. “How can I be right with God?” is no longer a
question when my happiness rather than God’s holiness is the main issue. My
concern is that Joel Osteen is simply the latest in a long line of self-help
evangelists who appeal to the native American obsession with pulling ourselves
up by our own bootstraps. Salvation is not a matter of divine rescue from the
judgment that is coming on the world, but a matter of self-improvement in order
to have your best life now.
Blessings to you. Let's stand on the truth of the biblical Gospel with the Word of God as our sure and secure foundation.
