Joel Scott Osteen (1963-present)
“Ministry” website: Joelosteen.com
Approximate net worth: $40 million
Notable achievements: Successfully paraded “prosperity” and self-help positive thinking as Christianity; Indoctrinated millions of goats into the ancient heresy of pelagianism.
Core message: Have faith in faith; believe in yourself; everything’s gonna be alright.
At peace with Rome: YES
With such an enormous selection of charlatans, Scripture-twisters, charismaniacs and other assorted proclaimers of another gospel to choose from, it was a difficult task to settle on the first inductee into our heretics “hall of shame.” There are many good candidates suitable for our first winner of the Heretic of the Month Club, but when the bogus baptism bonanza that took place at Lakewood Church was reported on by Pulpit and Pen on the last day of January, my selection of Smilin’ Joel Osteen was solidified.
When it comes to chicanery, Smilin’ Joel never lets us down. With every passing year the joke-telling prosperity preacher consistently “preaches” the same “sermon” and publishes the same book (with a different title and cover) over and over again, ever adding to both his own personal “prosperity” and own personal condemnation. One might have thought that by now Joel’s popularity might have waned. After all, he’s been in the huckster business for some time and has some serious competition in the marketplace. But Joel continues to press on, not being one to ever lose faith (in himself). Joelosteen.com boasts that over 100 million homes in the US watch his Sunday circus and that his podcast “is consistently one of the top five in the world.”
So we see that the Word-of-Faith, prosperity preaching pelagianism of Joel Osteen continues to thrive, despite the rise of many newly devoted wolves in sheeps’ clothing cropping up all over “evangelicalism”. Of course, denying the exclusivity of Christ is always helpful in expanding your outreach and growing your flock (more accurately, expanding your customer base and growing your bottom line).
Naturally, Osteen is at peace with Rome and has personally met with Antichrist. Ecumenicalism and an anti-Protestant profession of faith (in this case, faith in faith instead of faith in God) is essential to the success of any committed pelagian prosperity preacher.
Without further ado, we not-so-proudly present Smilin’ Joel Osteen as our first Heretic of the Month. We credit him with an innate ability to satisfy the itching ears of fallen humanity by telling it precisely what it wants to hear and his consistent pouring of gasoline on the fire of self-esteem already raging out of control.*
-Nick Sabato
Joel Osteen tracts available here
Recommended Resources:
Information regarding Joel Osteen’s credentials and rightful entitlement to the position of January 2017 Heretic of the Month and additional information may be found at:
Robert M. Bowman, Jr., “Joel Osteen”, Watchman Fellowship Profile, 2007. http://www.watchman.org/
Joe Schimmel, The Word Faith Heresy (mp3 CD), https://www.goodfight.org/product/the-word-faith-heresy/
Justin Peters, Clouds Without Water [formerly “A Call for Discernment”] (DVD), http://justinpeters.org/store/
http://apprising.org/?s=joel+osteen&submit=go
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/search/transcript/joel%20osteen (available to Situation Room members).
* To borrow a phrase from the late Dave Hunt concerning self-esteem.