Joel Osteen Says God Is IN AWE Of You!

Psalm 139 and the Meaning of “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where we bring you Christian commentary about the things that matter. As ever, please know this video isn't a sinful attack, but rather a Biblical critique.

In today's video, we're going to be talking about Joel Osteen. Now Joel is the so-called pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, and he's quite simply a clear-cut false teacher. Instead of teaching you about the Bible, he teaches you a bunch of self-help nonsense.

How you can accomplish your dreams, feel better about yourself, and shoot for the stars. That kind of thing. Of course, there's nothing wrong with being ambitious, or happy, or a positive person. But Christianity is not fundamentally about what you can achieve in life.

It's about what Jesus Christ achieved through his life. That is fundamentally what Joel Osteen gets wrong, and boy does he get it wrong. But in the clip you're about to see, Joel takes his man-centered self-worship preaching to the very next level.

Watch this. I want to talk to you today about the true you. On the inside of every one of us is a blessed person, someone confident, valuable, talented. The scripture says you have been fearfully and wonderfully made.

The word fearful in the original language means to stand in awe, to reverence. It implies honor, respect. When God created you, he stood back in reverence. He looked at you in awe.

So Joel says that when God made you, he stood in awe of you and revered you. On the surface, virtually any discerning Christian should feel uneasy about this kind of language in general, because it just doesn't sound right.

But then shockingly, Joel Osteen quotes a passage in favor of his position, which rarely happens. Specifically, he quotes Psalm 139, verse 14, which says this, quote, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, end quote.

And once I researched this, I found that Joel is to a certain extent correct about the original meaning of these words, which is even more confusing. The word fearfully here in the Hebrew is the word yare, which does indeed carry the connotation of deep fear or reverence for something or someone to be in awe of them.

Joel says that God created you fearfully and wonderfully, and therefore the text of scripture is saying that God made you with reverence and awe towards you. He stood back and he revered you. But is this actually what the passage means?

Not by a long shot. The problem with Joel's interpretation here is that it's tainted with his man-centered view of scripture. Every passage is about me, myself, and I when it comes to Joel Osteen. Thus, he has to mangle and distort the scriptures every time he preaches to accomplish that end.

And of course, this particular example is very sneaky, because as I said, he is actually correct about the literal meaning of the word. He knows that most people, though, will not go to the trouble of researching these things in depth.

They're going to hear what he says, this encouraging message, this vague understanding of the scriptures, and just start thinking about how great they are. But this is deeply dangerous, because these people have no clue how deceitful and false Joel Osteen truly is.

Let me show you what I mean. It is helpful to read the passage once more. Psalm 139 verse 14, quote, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, end quote. Now Joel defines the word here as reverent fear towards something or someone, and that is correct.

But he is utterly incorrect, in fact, absolutely wrong, about the object of the reverence being given. Who is in fear of whom? Who is reverent towards whom in this passage? And what are the implications of it?

Joel's answer to these questions is simple. God is in reverent awe of you, because, well, you're awesome. And the takeaway from this is that He wants you to consider how great you truly are on the inside.

You're very special. But he's gotten this completely backwards. In fact, when you read the commentaries from biblical scholars on this passage, many of which will be linked in the description, you will find that virtually every single scholar comes to the exact opposite conclusion of Joel Osteen.

The one who is being viewed fearfully and reverently in this passage is actually supposed to be God, not human beings. Because of the way we were made so wonderfully, so amazingly, we look at God with admiration, with reverence, and with fearful respect.

That is what the passage is getting at. One commenter puts it this way, quote,. The word rendered fearfully means properly fearful things, things suited to produce fear or reverence. The word rendered wonderfully made means properly to distinguish, to separate.

The literal translation of this, as near as can be given, would be, I am distinguished by fearful things. That is, by things in my creation which are suited to inspire awe. I am distinguished among thy works by things which tend to exalt my ideas of God, and fill my soul with reverent and devout feelings, end quote.

And by the way, this wasn't a fringe or unpopular view. In fact, I was able to find a vast amount of Biblical commentaries who agreed with this position. Yet, I was not able to find a single commentary in all of my research that even slightly hinted at what Joel Osteen said.

So you can clearly see here that the passage does not carry the meaning that Joel Osteen attributed to it. Not even close. Joel says that God is in awe of you, but the Bible says that we are in awe of Him.

Joel says that God reveres us as His creation, but the Bible says that we revere God as Creator. In other words, the message of the Scriptures and the message of Joel Osteen are like oil and water. They simply do not mix.

Reverence, Worship, and Hebrews 12:28

Joel is encouraging people to effectively worship themselves. Now why do I say that? Well, because Hebrews 12, 28 says this, quote, End quote. You see, reverence is given to someone who is higher than you are, by definition.

And of course, God is infinitely higher than us as human beings. Therefore, in order for our worship to be even acceptable to Him in the first place, we must approach Him with utter fear and respect and awe.

So it is not a stretch at all to say that what Joel Osteen is teaching here is nothing short of worshipping yourself. Look at yourself. You're awesome. You're amazing. In fact, you're so great that God Himself stands back in awe of how glorious you are.

Honestly, folks, I can't imagine a comment that is more prideful and blasphemous and arrogant than that. And this is just one snippet of the kind of nonsense that Joel Osteen preaches every single week.

Imagine that. So please, flee from Osteen. Flee from his false teaching. Mark and avoid him as a dangerous charlatan and a wolf in sheep's clothing, as Jesus Himself says in Matthew 7, 15. I pray that this has been a blessing to you, and please know this.

I do not offer any of this correction from a high and mighty position. I am nothing but a wretched sinner saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. So let's pray for Joel Osteen, that he would stop this man-centered false worship by God's grace and turn to the truth of God's Word.

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