The article below makes points regarding the new '"feel good sessions" that many folks now associate with church services. We have rock concerts, dancing, eating and having a good time, etc. We can get these things at any AA meeting or town hall forum or even a concert hall or cinema. Church is different, worship is different. Christ promised problems in this world, afflictions, and worse... the second law of Thermodynamics equates to a dying universe [loss of heat] So now when church attendance is down because people have lost the faith, we have yet another person who comes along and adds the latest gimmick or trick, things that we want to hear to make us feel good and come down and have social-psychological euphoria, hugs, and promises of wealth and entertainment. These things are not bad in themselves; however, the clear dichotomy between Church and entertainment or town-hall forums where people speak their minds about the latest issue should be understood. "So-called churches" today are misguided attempts to entertain us and let us vent, and miss the whole fabric of Christianity, which is that we have fallen short and the only way out of this mess is to follow, in this life now, the God-man who said for us to Come to Him, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. How was this done traditionally? We begin to see how we have fallen short, not on erratic feelings but on the will to follow what is good. We attempt to do this as a community of sacraments and one body of diversity and unity or university. To base this on entertainment, gimmicks and other such appeal to emotions is different than Holy Church. Feelings of eros, philia, and storge love are all good but the time comes when you need to love the unlovable, care for the unlovable, listen to the unlovable. This is the will and this is our struggle to do good, when we choose to do what is good regardless of our feelings about that person, place, or thing. Church is the spiritual hospital for all of us who are sick, miserable, and in despair. And all the sick are welcome; we are all sick as has been said: the saints are the only ones that are sane, and we are insane.It is a place to get well. But it is not a social hall to accept our sicknesses as normal for this is fatalism, something else. Nor is it a social-hall to get together to discuss political and personal issues during the service. First we offer up prayers and sacraments to the body and then after Liturgy these things can be discussed in the social hall, but after the Liturgy and therefore after Church.
Christ never told us to go seek suffering and despair and self-flagellation; only to be prepared when it does come. Yes, we should try our best to do well in our lives. But as to a promise of wealth in this life, a kingdom of God high on the hill… Jesus Christ was talking about Heaven and that the way to Heaven is in changing the man in the mirror as Michael Jackson once sung; Jesus was not talking about this world as if it would become Heaven… by mere intellectual power of thought... the old order of things has passed away. If we want true prosperity we need to get to the basics of good understanding. Our sins are what set us apart for both rich and poor. Rather than give promises of worldly blessing, we should keep a sharp watch on what scripture says in detail:
Christ never told us to go seek suffering and despair and self-flagellation; only to be prepared when it does come. Yes, we should try our best to do well in our lives. But as to a promise of wealth in this life, a kingdom of God high on the hill… Jesus Christ was talking about Heaven and that the way to Heaven is in changing the man in the mirror as Michael Jackson once sung; Jesus was not talking about this world as if it would become Heaven… by mere intellectual power of thought... the old order of things has passed away. If we want true prosperity we need to get to the basics of good understanding. Our sins are what set us apart for both rich and poor. Rather than give promises of worldly blessing, we should keep a sharp watch on what scripture says in detail:
(2 timothy 3:2):
“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy….”
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” – Mere Christianity, pages 40
This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 30, number 3 (2007). For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.org
This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 30, number 3 (2007). For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.org
Does Church need to change to be more "hip" more "cool", to "Get with the times" or do we need to look deeper into ourselves and see the heart of the issue? Should pastors preach then allow open microphone so members can vent about their political views, or views about the status of the culture? Or hear flowery words about how we give life to our lives by the positive words we speak? If I say something positive I then give life to something based on my words alone. Is God, after-all, a slave to us and our whims? He gives to us only if we are positive. What about Job? And the tragic end of prophets and saints? Rather than rely on magic words, we should be sober minded to understand scripture and Church tradition as laid out by the Apostles. We should aim to worship God in spirit and in truth. Rather than complain about the current status of society and our frustrations over specific issues during liturgy, which can all be confessed in private to a priest (Or to a pastor in Protestant traditions), we would be better off understanding our Christian Creeds and the needs of each member of the body of Christ. Let us assist others, focusing on our own hearts, participating in Liturgical worship, Sacraments and confession, we may yet find the inner joy that Christ promised, temporal and infinite, that no money or thing can fill... lest we become a merchandise machine for someone else or fly off on a verbal banalities during Holy services offending others in the Body of Christ and disturbing the Holy Spirit.
JOEL OSTEEN
Joel Osteen took over as pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, following the death of his father, John Osteen, in 1999. He has little theological training, having dropped out of Oral Roberts University in 1982 to run his father’s television ministry.33 Despite this lack of training, Lakewood Church has grown enormously, from a congregation of 6,000 in 1999 to one of 30,000 today,34 thanks largely to his gospel of self-esteem. His best-selling book Your Best Life Now has sold more than three million copies in hardback and has led to a multimillion-dollar contract for another book with Free Press, a division of Simon and Shuster, slated for publication in 2007.35
In addition to his gospel of self-esteem, Osteen also preaches the Word of Faith theology that his father taught. He says, for example, that words have creative power: “Our words are vital in bringing our dreams to pass. It’s not enough to simply see it by faith or in your imagination. You have to begin speaking words of faith over your life. Your words have enormous creative power. The moment you speak something out, you give birth to it.”36
Osteen, like Meyer and others, believes that every day “you should declare good things. Just look in the mirror and say ‘I am strong, I am healthy, I’m rising to new levels, I’m excited about my future.’ When you say that, it may not be true. You may not be very healthy today, or maybe you don’t have a lot of things to look forward to, but the Scripture tells us in Romans we have to call the things that are not as if they already were.”37
Osteen allots so much power to our words that they can even thwart God’s plans, as nearly happened, he claims, at the angel’s announcement of the birth of John the Baptist:
[Zechariah] was so surprised because he and his wife Elizabeth were well up there in years. He said to the angel, “Are you really sure this is going to happen? Do you see how old we are? I just don’t think this could be possible.”…The angel went on to say “But, Zechariah, because you didn’t believe, because you questioned God, you shall remain silent and not be able to speak until the baby is born.”…Well, why did God shut his mouth?…He knew Zechariah would go out and start talking to his friends. “Well, they said we’re gonna have a baby, but they must have gotten the wrong person. Man, we’re way too old!” See, God knows the power of our words. He knows we prophesy our future, and He knew Zechariah’s own negative words would stop His plan.38
Acknowledging that we may have negative thoughts, he adds, “But let me encourage you: don’t make the mistake of verbalizing those thoughts. The moment you speak something out it takes on a whole new meaning. See, one of the main ways we release our faith is through our words. That’s how we give life to our faith.”39
Osteen is giving more power to the creature—us—than to the Creator. As sons and daughters of God, we reflect the communicable attributes of God, such as love and intelligence, but we don’t reflect His incommunicable attributes, such as omnipotence. Our words don’t contain any magical power that can upset God’s plans.
Osteen promises that we can expect to receive preferential treatment in life from God:
I know when Victoria and I used to travel with my father overseas, a lot of times we would go over a few days early, and it was amazing how many times we would get upgraded to first class. When I’d go up to that counter I’d kid with Victoria and I’d say ‘Watch this! We’re going to get upgraded.’ And I’d go up there expecting to get preferential treatment. I’d go up there knowing that I have an advantage, I’ve got the favor of God….when I’d go up there I’d just smile real big and be real friendly and that whole time under my breath I’d be saying ‘Father, I thank you that I have your favor. I thank you that you’re causing me to stand out in the crowd. I thank you that your light is shining down on me.’ And Victoria will tell you time after time, for no reason at all, they’d bump us up to first class. See, that’s the favor of God….That’s God’s favor giving us preferential treatment.40
God isn’t inclined to fall for flattery, resulting in preferential treatment being given to some Christians over other people. If He were, He certainly has been falling asleep at the wheel when it comes to the persecuted Christians in the Sudan. This type of thinking is a trait of the North American church, which, for too many years, has expected God to serve it rather than expecting itself to serve God.
Lastly, Osteen holds to the popularly held Word of Faith error that Jesus did battle with Satan in hell. “For three days Jesus fought with the enemy. It was the battle of the ages, light versus darkness, good versus evil. But thank God Satan was no match for Jesus.”41
Osteen elaborates, “He grabbed Satan by the nap [sic] of his neck and He began to slowly drag him down the corridors of hell. All beat up and bruised because He wanted to make sure that every single demon saw very clearly that Jesus was indeed the undisputed Champion of all time!”42
In addition to the fact that Satan isn’t in hell, Jesus didn’t partially succeed on the cross and then finish the work in hell. He completed the work on the cross and pronounced that the debt had been paid (see, e.g., Rom. 6:10; John 19:30).
A Word of Faith Update
JAW455
33. Tara Dooley, “Spreading Its Word,” Houston Chronicle, Section A, September 26, 2004, 1.
34. Dan Weikel and William Lobdell, “Younger Schuller Plans a ‘Next Level’ for Ministry,” Los Angeles Times, Part A, January 2, 2006, 15.
35. Edward Wyatt, “Religious Broadcaster Gets Rich Contract for Next Book,” New York Times, Section C, Business/Financial Desk, March 15, 2006, 3, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/business/media/15book.html?ex=1300078800&en=7abfe15a0d87d592&ei=5090&partner= rssuserland&emc=rss. See also my review of Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential: Bob Hunter, “A Summary Critique: Promoting the Gospel of Self-Esteem,” Christian Research Journal, 28, 2 (2005): 44-46, http://www.equip.org.
36. Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, CD-Rom (New York: Hachette Audio, 2004).
37. Joel Osteen, Discover the Champion in You, TBN, June 7, 2004.
38. Ibid., May 3, 2004.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid., February 2, 2004.
41. Ibid., April 26, 2004.
42. Joel Osteen, “The Truth of Resurrection,” April 23, 2000, Lakewood Church, Sermons,
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