On Joel Osteen and Positive Christianity

Doctors would be offended if an untrained person walked into the emergency room to help people in their trauma. Not only that it would be illegal, but worse, innocent unsuspecting people would die. They may even have confidence in the person who was appearing "doctor-like". Scaling it down a bit, nurses and paramedics are certified. Without that certification they are not professional and are mere posers.

I'm an engineer. This is possiblly one of the only professions where unqualified people are called "engineers" without the training nor experience. In fact lay "engineers" have no idea what a real engineer is because they are not one! An engineer is more than a person who plugs numbers into equations and get an answer. Engineers derive the equations posers only use. The knowledge is much more deep than the causal observer understands! Likewise, people laugh in derision when a real engineer has difficulty fixing something. I tell them that I skipped that class in "putting a wheel on a baby buggy"! Non-engineers just don't understand the complexity of true engineering. Anyone can be called an engineer. Anyone can call themselves engineers, but pronouncing the word correctly does not make an engineer! There is a difference between a smart technician and a trained engineer.

We must never put our trust in an unqualified person. Before you have surgery make sure the doctor is truly a doctor, but is qualified in the field. Before you have a bridge built make sure the engineer is one and is qualified in that field. Foremost, make sure that those who care for your most valuable asset is qualified to care for it! I'm speaking for the care of your eternal life. The care for your soul!

I'm trained in psychology. I don't use it because I have a lack of faith in what a psychologist can accomplish! Psychology self-reports that there is no evidence that anyone was ever improved with therapy who would not have improved without it! That's an honest assessment, but millions of people put trust in an occupation which doesn't trust themselves. Credentials don't necessarily accredit anyone, but it sure helps. Here's what the American Psychiatric Association (APA) warns about their own expertise:

Every psychologist knows they are obligated by the Ethics Code to practice only where they are competent. 

"The problem is that, many times, how does the psychologist know when there's something they don't know?" says Sparta. "If you don't know from the professional literature that there are certain guidelines...you may be well-intentioned, but not realize you're going beyond the boundaries of your competence."

Competence issues also come into a play in child-custody ethics, when psychologists are unfamiliar with the nuances of working with courts. Take the case of a psychologist who is asked to write a letter to a judge about the relationship of a boy in treatment to his parents. If she has little forensic training, the psychologist could land in ethical hot water if, for example, she failed to include the limitations of her opinion, such as that she's never met one of the boy's parents.

The point here is that to be something where the outcome is crucial to the well-being of others, it's necessary to know one's qualifications and limitations!  Let's apply this concept to the "doctors of the soul", our ministers.

I recently made a comment about Joel Osteen being unqualified. He certainly appears reverent, positive, loving and well-meaning and I believe he is!  However, many sincere people are sincerely wrong!  Referring to his interview with Joel Osteen I noted the following:

1. He never presented Jesus as the only way to heaven.
2. He allowed that Hindu's worship the same God we do.
3. He admitted that he never preaches against sin, but focuses on encouragement.
4. He missed the chance to witness to others by not giving God's plan of salvation.
5. He was unsure of his answers and never quoted any scripture to support his arguments.
6. He never stressed that being content is not God's plan for us, but being saved is.
7. He and his wife minimized sin, saying that they don't yield to temptation. This is crucial because only Jesus is without sin.
8. He said that he wasn't called to be a preacher.
9. He said that he's not trained to be a preacher.
10. By his lack of usage to support his answers, it's obvious that he either doesn't know scripture or is uncomfortable in it's use.
11. Positive Christianity that he preaches makes God little more than a genie to make us happy.
12. Positive Christianity is humanistic. It takes Christ out of Christianity and even sorrow, repentance and the need for salvation.
13. Positive Christianity was being developed by Nazi Germany to take Jews out of scripture and the penalty for wrong out of living.

I could go on and on about Joel Osteen and the doctrine he teaches. His written doctrine is quite doctrinaire; it's his spoken word that's the problem. This indicates that Osteen's ministry is not a cult, it's his interpretation that's misleading! He's more of a "good coach" for a winning team than he is a preacher concerned about the well-being of those losing their way to heaven! Good coaches are great for feeling good, but after the game is over, it's between the individual and God!  God doesn't want a false smile, feel-good, positive talking person, he wants meekness and servitude!

Would Osteen ever preach on this? :

James 4:8 "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."

Scripture teaches a realistic perspective of oneself and tells us where we can get help. It's not with the preacher... it's from God. When Moses took credit for providing flowing water from the rock in the wilderness, he was punished! It wasn't Moses who did good. it was God!

Humbling ourselves is having a realistic self-evaluation. We are all sinners, we deserve death, and the preacher nor ourselves can never help us; only God can!

Double-minded? What's that? It's knowing something is real, but being conveniently ignorant of it. In the case of "Positive Christianity", it's ignoring the fact that positive thinking only pacifies for a time, but to be truly improved calls for severe introspection, sorrow and repentance. We can have hope everyday, but hope isn't real without repentance! Repentance requires negative thinking. We are to admit that we indeed are sinners! That's just not positive, but that's what we must do!

Mourn and weep!  You never see a sinner crying their eyes out in a Positive Christianity Church. They may be crying because they're unhappy, but not because they are condemned in their sin. A clown can make you happy for a spell, but joy is from the Lord. Joy is not forthcoming without the Holy Ghost telling you that you're in sin and need Jesus. The Holy Ghost never says "I'm Okay... You're Okay" because he may be, but you're not!

2 Peter 2  "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. ..."

That's pretty clear. We must read the label on the medicine bottle. Your doctor must be the real McCoy and write prescriptions for medicine which truly helps! Placebos only appear to heal, but that's in your mind anyway. That's the same with positive thinking. It's a placebo and rather than getting healed the patient is content with feeling good for a spell. Hearing what we want to hear is pleasing, but not helpful:

2 Timothy 4:2 "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

Positive Christianity is a fable. It's one with Truth removed to please those who want to reinforce their own fantasy or feel good. Osteen is called to "preach the word" not just half the word. The full-gospel includes sin, penalties and damnation. To sooth the sinner Osteen can't allow the Holy Ghost to convict them. Attendance might go down! Reproving and rebuking are negative concepts. Osteen doesn't do that! He said that he doesn't!  Positive Christianity is not "sound doctrine". It's psychology... even psychobabble (pop-psychology). The hearer shall "turn away from truth" and accept fables in the place of it!
Sound familiar? That's Osteen.

Never get on a  ferris wheel designed by those who pose as engineers. I've thought about that before when I was riding. I didn't have trust in what I was doing because I didn't know who did the calculations. Were they qualified engineers or ones just called that? I experienced fear because of a lack of trust. You too should have fear if you're depending on those not called to preach, not trained in theology and ignorant to scripture. Don't trust those who pose to be what they're not!

Now for a moment of truth. I'm not called to preach, I'm not seminary trained and I have an agenda. Don't trust me! Anything I say test by the word. God never fails. God is truth. I'm merely one who tries to take the spin out of Christianity. I'm an apologist for Christ. By faith I want others to know ALL THE WORD, not just where we pick and choose. My agenda is not hidden, unlike most. I want you to believe the way that I believe because what I understand is from scripture. I admit that I often get it wrong, but try not to. I profess truth even if it makes me uncomfortable with my own life because I need to be uncomfortable where it's called for! That's certainly not from Joel Osteen's ministry!

Remember that really nice guys give kids candy for ulterior motives. Others give candy because it makes themselves feel good. Even others give candy for prestige or to profit. However, before you take the candy, ask "Is this candy good for me in the long haul?" Most candy can be poison if taken too often or from the wrong person. Make sure the candy you eat is safe to eat!