03-01-2024, 11:34 AM
They make an absolute abomination of themselves by the lies they tell and how they prey upon people for massive self-gain. Sadly, many of them have an enormous following. These false teachers are to be called out and people made aware of who and what they really are.
One such (of many) is Joel Osteen. In a sermon given in 2017 John MacArthur uses Osteen's own words to show what is the truth of who and what he is. Never the less, Osteen packs out a massive arena every week. People love to have their ears tickled, sadly.
“Let me be blunt. Joel Osteen is a pagan religionist. He is a legalist, he is a quasi-pantheist, and Jesus Christ is a footnote to satisfy the critics and to give him access to Christians. He believes that men save themselves by their inherent power. He has a definitive book called Your Best Life Now. He says that anyone can create all the dreams that he desires by faith and words. You want health, you want wealth, you want happiness, success; you want a new car, a new house, a new job, a new wife, whatever, whatever; you literally can speak it into existence.
Let me give you quotes from his book Your Best Life Now. And, oh, by the way, this is only your best life if you’re going to hell. If you’re going to heaven this is not your best life. So for those people who follow him, this may be their best life.
Let me quote: “If you develop an image of success, health, abundance, joy, peace, and happiness, nothing on earth will be able to hold those things from you.” That’s the law of attraction.
Another quote: “All of us are born for earthly greatness. You were born to win. You were born to be a champion. God wants you to live in abundance. He wants to give you the desires of your heart. Before we were formed He prepared us to live abundant lives, to be happy, healthy, and whole. But when our thinking becomes contaminated it is no longer in line with God’s Word.”
Here’s another quote: “You’re thinking positive, and He will bring your desires to pass. He regards you as a strong, courageous, successful person. You are on your way to a new level of glory. God’s Word is not Scripture, God’s Word is the message you are hearing from God, and then you speak forth and you attract the reality that you speak.” Joel Osteen says, “Believe, visualize, speak out loud and your words release your power, giving life to what you want.”
Here's some more quotes: “Friend, there’s a miracle in your mouth.” Here’s another one. Listen to this prayer, Joel Osteen’s prayer: “I thank You, Father, that I have Your favor.” Ooh, that sounds like Luke 18: “I thank You, Father, that I’m not like this poor publican.”
Here’s another: “I know these principles are true, because they have worked for me and my wife.” Well, that’s a good basis to determine whether something’s true. They work for you because you’re getting rich at the expense of people who are divesting themselves of what they have on false pretenses. You’re at the top of the Ponzi scheme.
He says, “We even speak into existence a perfect parking spot at the mall.” Here’s the theology behind the thinking, quote: “God has already done everything He’s going to do; the ball is in your court.” Really? “So God’s not sovereign. I’m sovereign; the ball’s in my court.” This is hyper-Pelagianism.
At this point we recognize the real source of Joel Osteen’s religion and all the rest of these people. He is a mouthpiece for Satan. So are all the rest of them. So when I watched the inauguration and I see Paula White in the middle, just terrifying. And then I hear the new President say that she’s his favorite preacher to whom he’s been listening since 2007? Frightening.
Why are all these false teachers so successful? Because they’re in line with Satan who’s the god of this world, prince of the power of the air, who rules in the sons of disobedience. This is going to be successful because the fallen world will embrace it. This is false Christianity from hell – no biblical understanding of God, no biblical understanding of man, no biblical understanding of sin, no recognition of total depravity, man’s universal inability to do anything in the flesh that pleases God, let alone think himself to be God who can speak into existence something that he desires.
Let me tell you something: God does not give the unregenerate man what he naturally longs for. God doesn’t fulfill the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And when you say that it is God giving you what you in your natural fallen longings want, you are calling God Satan. That’s what you’re doing.
I’ll say it again: God does not give the unregenerate person what in his natural longings he desires. That’s the love of the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. God is not in the business of fulfilling evil, selfish, self-indulgent desires. What the gospel does promise is salvation for the broken and the shattered and the heartsick and the guilty and the fearful and the threatened who have come to grips with their sin and the judgment of God, and desperately want deliverance. We have to know the true God.
Just such a grief to me. I remember the psalmist said, “The reproaches that fall on you fall on me.” What does that really mean? Well, Jesus when He went into the temple and He tore into everybody and threw them out, that must have been – there are a lot of scenes in the Gospels I would want to have seen. That’d probably be the favorite.”
—Excerpt from a John MacArthur sermon from Jan. 23, 2017
"Rejecting Heresy About God the Father"
One such (of many) is Joel Osteen. In a sermon given in 2017 John MacArthur uses Osteen's own words to show what is the truth of who and what he is. Never the less, Osteen packs out a massive arena every week. People love to have their ears tickled, sadly.
“Let me be blunt. Joel Osteen is a pagan religionist. He is a legalist, he is a quasi-pantheist, and Jesus Christ is a footnote to satisfy the critics and to give him access to Christians. He believes that men save themselves by their inherent power. He has a definitive book called Your Best Life Now. He says that anyone can create all the dreams that he desires by faith and words. You want health, you want wealth, you want happiness, success; you want a new car, a new house, a new job, a new wife, whatever, whatever; you literally can speak it into existence.
Let me give you quotes from his book Your Best Life Now. And, oh, by the way, this is only your best life if you’re going to hell. If you’re going to heaven this is not your best life. So for those people who follow him, this may be their best life.
Let me quote: “If you develop an image of success, health, abundance, joy, peace, and happiness, nothing on earth will be able to hold those things from you.” That’s the law of attraction.
Another quote: “All of us are born for earthly greatness. You were born to win. You were born to be a champion. God wants you to live in abundance. He wants to give you the desires of your heart. Before we were formed He prepared us to live abundant lives, to be happy, healthy, and whole. But when our thinking becomes contaminated it is no longer in line with God’s Word.”
Here’s another quote: “You’re thinking positive, and He will bring your desires to pass. He regards you as a strong, courageous, successful person. You are on your way to a new level of glory. God’s Word is not Scripture, God’s Word is the message you are hearing from God, and then you speak forth and you attract the reality that you speak.” Joel Osteen says, “Believe, visualize, speak out loud and your words release your power, giving life to what you want.”
Here's some more quotes: “Friend, there’s a miracle in your mouth.” Here’s another one. Listen to this prayer, Joel Osteen’s prayer: “I thank You, Father, that I have Your favor.” Ooh, that sounds like Luke 18: “I thank You, Father, that I’m not like this poor publican.”
Here’s another: “I know these principles are true, because they have worked for me and my wife.” Well, that’s a good basis to determine whether something’s true. They work for you because you’re getting rich at the expense of people who are divesting themselves of what they have on false pretenses. You’re at the top of the Ponzi scheme.
He says, “We even speak into existence a perfect parking spot at the mall.” Here’s the theology behind the thinking, quote: “God has already done everything He’s going to do; the ball is in your court.” Really? “So God’s not sovereign. I’m sovereign; the ball’s in my court.” This is hyper-Pelagianism.
At this point we recognize the real source of Joel Osteen’s religion and all the rest of these people. He is a mouthpiece for Satan. So are all the rest of them. So when I watched the inauguration and I see Paula White in the middle, just terrifying. And then I hear the new President say that she’s his favorite preacher to whom he’s been listening since 2007? Frightening.
Why are all these false teachers so successful? Because they’re in line with Satan who’s the god of this world, prince of the power of the air, who rules in the sons of disobedience. This is going to be successful because the fallen world will embrace it. This is false Christianity from hell – no biblical understanding of God, no biblical understanding of man, no biblical understanding of sin, no recognition of total depravity, man’s universal inability to do anything in the flesh that pleases God, let alone think himself to be God who can speak into existence something that he desires.
Let me tell you something: God does not give the unregenerate man what he naturally longs for. God doesn’t fulfill the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And when you say that it is God giving you what you in your natural fallen longings want, you are calling God Satan. That’s what you’re doing.
I’ll say it again: God does not give the unregenerate person what in his natural longings he desires. That’s the love of the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. God is not in the business of fulfilling evil, selfish, self-indulgent desires. What the gospel does promise is salvation for the broken and the shattered and the heartsick and the guilty and the fearful and the threatened who have come to grips with their sin and the judgment of God, and desperately want deliverance. We have to know the true God.
Just such a grief to me. I remember the psalmist said, “The reproaches that fall on you fall on me.” What does that really mean? Well, Jesus when He went into the temple and He tore into everybody and threw them out, that must have been – there are a lot of scenes in the Gospels I would want to have seen. That’d probably be the favorite.”
—Excerpt from a John MacArthur sermon from Jan. 23, 2017
"Rejecting Heresy About God the Father"
