May 3, 2015 6:52 AM

Joel Osteen: Proof that modern Christianity is as corrupt as is it greedy

Joel Osteen recently reported the theft of $600,000 from the safe in his church, but the theft wasn’t the only information of interest revealed. After finding out that this large chunk of money was from just one weekend of Osteen’s collected church donations, jaws dropped around the nation. According to News Max on March 18, it didn’t take long for folks on the outside to do the math. Based on Osteen’s reported amount of money in this theft, it appears his Lakewood Church takes in an estimated $32 million a year[.]

It says in the Bible that’s it’s easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into Heaven. Realistically, though, how difficult is it for a rich man to get into Heaven? If you listen to Rev. Joel Osteen, not so very difficult after all. That’s because collecting $600,000 in offering money is what’s known as “Prosperity Theology.” When I lived in Houston, I worked in an office tower next to what used to be the Summit, former home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets. When the Rockets decamped from southwest Houston for a new state of the art arena downtown, Osteen’s Lakewood Church purchased the Summit, and remodeled it into a state-of-the-art palace of worship. It became the place where thousands of well-scrubbed White folks go to feel better about themselves every Sunday morning.

Assuming the weekend in question was an average one, it could be safely assumed that Lakewood Church rakes in around $32 million a year in donations from parishioners. NONE of that money is taxed, and when you get right down to it, Joel Osteen is more CEO than preacher. He lives in a $10.5 million home in Houston’s upper-class River Oaks neighborhood, and his lifestyle is closer to that of a captain of industry than a servant of God. Not that Osteen should live like a pauper because he’s a man of God, but one has to wonder why and how being a preacher can (or should) be so financially rewarding. And how much of that $32 million does Osteen actually put back into the community? I don’t know the answer to that, but the defining quality of Prosperity Theology isn’t altruism. Thirty-two million dollars in untaxed income; there are criminal enterprises that would kill for an arrangement like that. At least criminals get busted for not paying taxes.

The problem with Osteen’s “Prosperity Theology” is that it’s overtly acquisitive, the idea being that God gives to those who love him- “He who loves Jesus best gets the most toys.” Unfortunately, Osteen teaches a version of the Gospel that is barely recognizable as Christianity. Osteen teaches

a twisted form of Christianity that teaches obedience, giving and faith as a way to get things from God. They are both products of what is known as the Prosperity Gospel and The Word of Faith Movement, or the Seed Faith Movement.

The idea that a preacher could have a net worth of approximately $40 million boggles the mind. His materialistic, acquistive Christianity is as heretical as it is misguided…and profitable. At the very least, Lakewood Church should be paying taxes on its windfall, but Osteen’s certainly figured out how to milk the cow.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on May 3, 2015 6:52 AM.

Going into business with Jesus means the Lord loans at reasonable rates was the previous entry in this blog.

Christians...meet Lions (and their homosexual, gay-marrying overlords) is the next entry in this blog.

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