By Robert Wise
Is bigger better? According to Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston Texas it is. He claims that the increase in attendance at his church speaks for itself about the message coming from him to the congregation.
Osteen truly believes that if the congregation continues to grow then that is a sign from God that everything is ok there at his church.
Osteen admits that he preaches about everyday living and life and not about sin, wrongful living, death, repentance or salvation.
Of course his church will continue to grow. Unless you haven't seen the new building, it is the old Houston Rockets National Basketball Association home. It has been completely remodeled for a mere $90,000,000.00, and guess what?
The church doesn't even own the building. It rents it from the city of Houston. If I remember right, the lease was for somewhere around $14,000,000.00 for 30 years. To me this sounds like a huge amount of money to spend for something you do not own.
The thing that stands out the most about this new building is that there is not one cross in the sanctuary to be seen.
Osteen claims that he does not want a cross in the building because he says it was better to remove any and all stumbling blocks from the building so that the unsaved would be more comfortable coming to the services.
BLASPHEMY
That is the same thing as saying: "The Cross of Christ is a stumbling block to someone!" How Blasphemous can one person be before the Mighty Lord God decides to strike him down. This is amazing to me that someone would even think something like that and still claim to be a Christian.
I can tell you the problem as it actually is! Joel Osteen is not a Christian, he is a Religious person. The world unfortunately is full of Religious people.
Take the Mormons for example. The Mormons are definitely religious, but I would not classify them as Christian by any means. I know this all sounds harsh and judgmental, but according to 1Corinthians 10:15, "I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say." The Lord is telling us right here to judge what someone says and to judge it against His Word.
Joel Osteen is a fine man as far as that he seems to be a really nice guy, a good father and husband in a earthly sense, but as for being a Preacher? I don't think he should have stepped into the pulpit unless he heard the call from GOD, not his father John Osteen.
That is what the problem with preachers today is, a huge majority of them are called by everything under the sun, except the SON. Unless a man is called by God to preach His Gospel, then he shouldn't be in the pulpit. Today it is too much of just being in a job situation rather than Preaching The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Joel Osteen made the comment that his dad ask him to fill in for him on a Sunday when John was dying in the hospital and Joel at first said no but later repented and said ok. Here is Joel's remarks concerning this.
I just got up there and told stories. I was so glad when it was over, I said, ‘I’ll never do this again in my life.’
That was the beginning of his public ministry; he just got up and told “stories.” Compare this to what the Lord said in the Bible in 2 Timothy 4:3, 4
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
Ring any bells. Fables, stories, well there you have it. Osteen should be ashamed of himself and ask repentance from the Lord for his story telling scheme and calling it preaching. but, he's still at it today, telling stories that tickle the ears of the pew sitters instead of preaching the uncompromising Word of God like he should be.
So bigger is not always better.
Blessings,
Robert Wise
http://www.forgottenword.org/lakewood.html
My comments: The Cross is the Essence of the Christian Faith. Without the Cross we have NOTHING! Without the Cross no one is Saved. Without the Cross--without the shedding of blood, there is no Forgiveness [Hebrews 9:22]. And only the precious blood of Chrsit Jesus--is sufficient to bring Forgiveness of Sin. What was the first word of Christ Jesus' ministry: REPENT! [Matthew 4:17] Repent of what? The Sin we commit and the Sin we were born into. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
Furthermore, to be a Christian, we must be Crucified with Chrsit to this Wicked World, ruled by Satan [Galatians 2:20]. To belong to Christ's Kingdom we must forsake the kingdom of this World, which is Satan's kingdom [1 John 5:19; Matt. 4:9]. The Cross of Chrsit is the symbol of all this.
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