This question was recently asked to me about my thoughts on Joel Osteen. “Is he preaching God’s word, or is he just trying to get money? Is he a scam artist?”
Personally, I have both pros and cons about him. The positive is that he does give some very good inspirational and motivational messages sometimes. This does have its place in the world, and I think it can and does help people get through hard times. After all, you can do anything better with a positive attitude than you can with a negative attitude. There are a lot of people that attend his church for a reason: He is good at what he does! The only downside is that God does say that we are going to suffer. There is no such thing that life will be all peaches and cream. You will have failures, and sadly, you may die having never fulfilled all the things you wanted. Some people even die and have terrible lives. It happens!
But I admit that I often enjoy listening to his sermons, and I have also read one of his books (Your Best Life Now), and I enjoyed it as well. At the same time, of course Joel isn’t perfect, as only Jesus was perfect and sinless in God’s eyes.
The negative is that he does not really focus on the scripture much in many of his messages. He blends positivity with God (which is great), but I think people need more scripture and biblical learning in some cases. Especially since it is an actual church, and not a motivational place or something. Again, I think Joel is doing what he is best at. And if that means he is better at doing the motivation than the “Hellfire and brimstone” stuff, then let him do it. Also, I don’t know what happens in the non-televised portion of his ministry. Perhaps this is addressed then? Who knows?
Also, I am a little disheartened by the huge fancy building, and all of that. I think people should be spending that money on helping the poor, not some extravagant mortgage for a football stadium (or whatever it is). So I always feel all people in religious authority need to be good stewards of the money they are given.
But keep this in mind: Only God can judge! We don’t know Joel’s heart, only God does, and only God has the right to judge him.
But in my opinion, I think he is just like everyone else: NOT PERFECT. He has good qualities, and I am sure has his own struggles with sin and problems as well. Big deal, don’t we all?
But anyways, those are my thoughts on Joel Osteen. I think he is talented, witty, and good at what he does. He isn’t perfect, maybe he could do better, but that is up to God to decide, not me! Great question though!