Joel Osteen
So I'm bouncing around the internet from blog to blog as I eat my lunch and I land here. It's an article lambasting (okay maybe that's strong but it's a word I like) Joel Olsteen. Go read it and the links...

Okay, so now that you've done that I'll chip my two cents in. I was talking to a friend last night about an organization that my buddy Bear used to belong to. I'll call it an organization because cult is a mighty strong word and I don't want to confuse anyone by calling it a church. I said something along the lines that when I would visit his organization I never heard anything really bad. And yet here he and a host of other people were swallowing some VERY bad things. All I'm sure people of at least average intelligence and people who probably read the Bible a heck of a lot more than I do. How can that be?

I'll tell you this. All that has to happen is for the leader to mix just a drop of garbage, be it a prosperity gospel message or an idea that baptism is a required work, into an otherwise okay message. Once you can no longer taste that odd additive and you move into the circle just a bit they feed you a bit more and so on. That's how that happens.

Now I'm not saying that Osteen is preaching an evil message. It doesn't seem like he's preaching a Christian one and okay that can be dangerous (and evil depending on your definition). What I am saying is that if you make the Gospel message about anything other than one of grace undeserved for sin at our core you are playing with brimstone. God holds those who teach the Gospel to a high standard.  ¶
12:07 PM