How Joel Osteen Got His Job…

Fight For Truth

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Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real

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Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video. So Joel Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.

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And the reason I put air quotes around the word pastor is because he's really not biblically qualified to be one.

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You see, biblically speaking, a pastor is a person who tells the biblical truth. But Joel Osteen wouldn't touch biblical truth with a ten -foot pole.

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In any case, I have a question with regard to Joel Osteen. Have you ever wondered how he got his job? Well here's a video where he explains exactly how he got it.

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Watch this. I mean, twelve years ago I was running camera at my dad's church, doing the production, things like that.

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I never thought I'd get out in front of people. I never wanted to do it. I like being behind the scenes, but you know what, when my dad died,

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I felt like down in here I was supposed to step up and pastor the church. Never ministered in public before. So here

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Joel Osteen admits that he became pastor of his father's massive church, despite the fact that he had almost no training or qualifications for the job, and he had been working as a cameraman beforehand.

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So let's talk about this using three biblical points, shall we? Number one. Joel Osteen's father, John Osteen, was the pastor of Lakewood Church for forty years, and he grew it to an immense size.

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He had a television show that was broadcast into over fifty countries worldwide. And leading a megachurch like this with thousands of people is hardly a job that anybody could be asked to do with no relevant experience, right?

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Well not if your dad happens to run the church. Then apparently your resume goes to the very top of the list. And this kind of thing is hardly surprising at all if you've ever heard

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Joel Osteen speak. In fact, Joel Osteen himself now seems to be ushering in his own son to eventually take his place.

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Go ahead and watch my video analyzing the preaching of his son, link in description. But in any case, here's the point.

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They could have asked any number of people to run their church, they could have found somebody who had experience leading a large prosperity gospel ministry, but instead they chose to go with Joel Osteen because his father was the head honcho.

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And this kind of nepotism is both foolish and unbiblical. Which brings me to point number two. Why is this kind of nepotism unbiblical and wrong in the first place?

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Well, quite simply, because the Bible actually has qualifications for those who lead churches. And again, I don't believe

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Joel Osteen's church is a real biblical church in the first place. I'm simply making the case for the sake of argument.

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Let's assume for the sake of my point that Lakewood Church is a biblical church. The Bible says that a pastor must be quote, apt to teach in 1

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Timothy chapter 3. That is to say, he must be well trained and adept in expositing the scriptures.

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Surely there are many men who meet this qualification, but a young cameraman with no experience in preaching or formal ministry certainly doesn't meet it at all.

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But of course, Joel Osteen got the job nonetheless because his dad was the head of the church, and they were using nepotism to choose their future pastor rather than biblical wisdom, and it really shows.

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Now, just to be clear, I don't think that all pastors must have a degree from a seminary, but they do need to at least have some informal education and experience before they can be trusted to lead an entire church of thousands of people.

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And this brings me to point number three. The third and final reason that choosing a pastor based on nepotism is a very bad idea is that it contradicts the

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Bible's statements about being fair and not showing partiality. Proverbs 11 1 says this, quote,

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A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight, end quote.

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The principle offered here is that you should have consistent and fair standards with regard to how you conduct business, and really, how you operate in general.

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In other words, if Joel Osteen was not the son of John Osteen, and his resume was in the pile for potential new head pastors amongst all the others, do you honestly think that Joel would have gotten that job?

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Somehow I seriously doubt that a cameraman with no experience in ministry and no relevant theological education would be first in line for the job of head pastor and teacher of a massive church, just thinking out loud here.

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But if that person happens to be the son of the head pastor who just died, well then it seems much more likely that this person will get the job.

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And that, my friends, is precisely what it looks like to have unequal weights and measures. Making a decision in this way is unbiblical unfair and unwise.

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You see, pastors in the New Testament were not picked based on who their father was, believe it or not, but rather they were picked by their righteous behavior and their ability to lead and teach well.

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But at Lakewood Church, it seems that pastors are chosen purely based on their last name. So in summary, Joel Osteen was chosen to lead a massive megachurch despite having no relevant qualifications or experience, just because his father was the former leader of that church.

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And this decision is absolutely unbiblical and totally inconsistent with the Bible. And this should tell you everything you need to know about how seriously

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Lakewood Church takes the Scriptures. That is to say, not very seriously at all. So let's pray for Joel Osteen and for his congregation that they would repent of their false teaching and nepotism and turn to the truth of God's Word.

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Thank you so much for watching. If you liked that video, please like, comment, share, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so that you never miss another one.

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If you didn't like that video for any reason, then I invite you to watch my Frequently Asked Questions video, link in description, where I deal with common objections and define the purpose and goal of my channel using

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Scripture. This channel is funded by generous donations from my amazing patrons. If you'd like to help us put out more videos just like this one, hit the link in the description or go to patreon .com

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slash Colin A. Miller. You can donate to my ministry there and earn tons of rewards just like these.

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And until next time, fight for truth, never surrender, and keep your eyes open. Thank you and God bless.