On the May 31, 2009 Battle Lines broadcast we discussed Joel Osteen and his feel-good version of the Gospel. Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Lakewood is the largest church in the U.S., drawing 43,000 people every week to services. You can check out their ministry at www.lakewood.cc. Osteen is also the most widely watched television preacher. His messages are televised nationally every week on ABC Family, USA, TBN, and several other cable channels. He also broadcasts here in Detroit every Sunday morning on local NBC. Most of us, flipping through the channels, have seen him. Is the message he preaches in keeping with historic, orthodox Christianity?

While we believe that Osteen is a sincere believer in Christ who truly loves people and believes the message he preaches, we believe that Osteen’s message is not consistent with orthodox Christianity. Osteen and Lakewood Church are part of the Word of Faith movement which believes that if you claim something (wealth, health, etc) believing that it will happen, it will happen (“name it, claim it,” or, as Don likes to say, “blab it, grab it”). Osteen also believes that it is God’s will for believers, in the here and now, to be healthy and prosperous (“health and wealth” or “prosperity gospel”). He believes that we should have full victory over poverty, sickness, and discouragement right now. While we agree with Osteen that because of the resurrection of Christ, sin, sickness, and death have been defeated, we disagree with Osteen’s assertion that that victory can be fully experienced here on earth in the immediate present. We believe that the experience of full victory will not come until the return of Christ and the resurrection of the saints. We believe that this life is still corrupted by sin – Osteen, however, minimizes sin. And we believe, while it is not God’s final word, that Christians are called to suffer for a time. We suffer as a result of our own sin, we suffer as a result of the fallenness of our world, and we suffer according to the example of Christ. Osteen is also unclear about the exclusiveness of the Gospel. He himself admits that he doesn’t know if those that reject the Gospel are wrong and will be damned. While he affirms the truth of Christ, he will not deny the truth of other religions. You can check out his comment s yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfwYU2 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFcVLs__5hw. The reason we express concern regarding Joel Osteen and his message is not that we dislike him or view him as an enemy. We believe that he is a fellow believer in Christ. But we also believe that he is ill-informed and misguided. And we believe that, for his good and for the good of those that follow him, he needs to be challenged. We offer this critique out of love. We do not agree with Christians who vilify Osteen – we respect Osteen but we are disappointed regarding the weakness of his message. And we believe that those who follow his teaching will, at best, never become more than weak Christians.