Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, recently made the following critique of mega-pastor Joel Osteen. I haven’t seen a preacher yet who has done a better job of providing a biblical critique of Osteen’s ministry.
Thoughts?
good for Mark! its about time somebody takes a shot at him. Joel is destroying Christianity. not even Jesus lived up to the “prosperous life” that these preachers talk about. check out the video on my blog “supply-side Jesus”, i think you will like it. grace and peace.
http://www.heartofflesh.wordpress.com
Mark Driscoll is a theological/Gospel-centered machine. May God continue to bless him.
Forgive my weakness, if that is how you would choose to interpret this, but I have almost come around to the point of feeling entirely sorry for Brother Osteen. Driscoll’s showing a clip & then criticizing it just has a middle-school bullying feel to it & I think it is less than charitable. My thought is, if you know what is important, teach about it & do so with passion & persuasion. I don’t think ministry is ideally oriented against things- it set’s forth something good & beautiful. Whatecer we could pick out that Osteen has said at one point or another, the guy does believe in the Gospel & does teach it. For however many times you think he may have neglected opportunites to do so, I can say unequivocally that he has done it many times. Is there a place for challenging false teachers- yes. However, I think the treatment of Osteen is unfair and often less than Christian. Posted with nothing but love for you & Wallace- Ben Hames.
I actually thought Driscoll was extremely charitable towards Osteen personally. Driscoll didn’t call Osteen a heretic or anything explosive; he simply critiqued his message. I thin k the kicker for Driscoll was his comment, “I can’t just critique spirituality and other religions, I also have to critique Christianity…”
I admit that I have not watched Osteen regularly, but my limited exposure leads me to share many of the same concerns as Driscoll about our Joel Osteen, our well-intentioned yet incorrect Christian brother.
CAJ
“Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the Gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice.” (Phil. 1:15-18)
Ben, your comments are well warranted. The part about Osteen that grieves me is how he is giving people a false hope in themselves, and I think that is what Driscoll is trying to let his people know.