Joel Osteen: This man said in an interview with Larry King when asked if Jews or Muslims needed to believe in Christ in order to go to heaven he said, “I’m very careful about saying who would and wouldn’t go to heaven. I don’t know.”
He doesn’t know? How can he lead a mega-church in Houston of over 30,000 attendees per weekend and not know the answer to that question? Jesus specifically states, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). It doesn’t get any plainer than that.
On a lighter note, while reading through the transcript on-line of Osteen’s interview on Larry King’s show, I saw that a caller had called in from Hillsboro, Wisconsin. I thought that was interesting. Sadly, here’s what Osteen had to say—
KING: Hillsboro, Wisconsin with Joel Osteen. Hello.
CALLER: Good evening. Joel, I had the privilege a year ago February of attending Lakewood and got a chance to meet you, and it was really a wonderful experience. My question is, I was just in a conversation with a friend recently, and he said he believed that Lucifer was going to be the last one to enter heaven after the rapture because he believed that god is a forgiving god, and even Lucifer will be forgiven. And that just blew me away. And I wondered what your thought would be on that.
OSTEEN: That sounds odd to me. I've never heard that. And it sounds very off-the-wall to me. So...
KING: I asked Reverend Graham if God loves the devil. Didn't -- couldn't -- he'd never been asked it before.
OSTEEN: I never thought of it either. I don't know.
KING: He loves everything. Does he love...
OSTEEN: I don't know. I'll leave that for Dr. Graham.
So here Osteen has the perfect opportunity to set the caller, and King, straight. But instead just dodges the question. Anyone who would be a leader of any sized church should know that Lucifer, Satan, whatever you call him, WILL NOT be in heaven. He’ll be thrown into the lake of fire during the final judgment according to Revelation 20:10. We see here that Joel’s eschatology is just as bad as his overall theology. Why didn’t he answer this and inform the caller of God’s truth? Does he not consider this important? Does he not want to set them straight or not have the ability?
What about his book, “Your Best Life Now”? Catchy title, but what’s inside? I’ve never read it, so can’t comment on much with exception to the fact that he preaches clearly the “prosperity gospel” in it, which is also part of his many sermons. The basic premise is that you can have heaven on earth. This breeds nothing but greediness and selfishness, which is pretty much the same gospel that Joyce Meyers preaches.
One last item for this post, on 12/23/07, Osteen was a guest of Chris Wallace’s on Fox News. Chris asks the question, “And what about Mitt Romney?... Is a Mormon a true Christian?” Osteen answers, “Well, in my mind they are. Mitt Romney has said he believes in Christ as his savior, and that’s what I believe… I am not the one to judge the little details of it. So I believe they are.”
Well, the Christ that Mitt Romney believes in, according to Mormon teaching, was the half-brother of Lucifer. That’s NOT what the Bible teaches. I don’t think that’s a “little detail,” but instead allows a false gospel to be brought in.
There’s no doubt that Osteen is a false teacher. Whether he’s aware that he’s teaching a false gospel or not I don’t know. But considering the number of people that have rebuked him, both publicly and privately, citing the proper evidence, you’d think that if he didn’t already know he’s doing something wrong, he would now. So, either he’s still oblivious to the damage he’s doing to well-intentioned people, or he knows what he’s doing. The only other alternative is he’s crazy.
“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1).
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3).
People like this are plentiful in America, and around the world.
