How Joel Osteen Rips Bible Verses Out of Context to Teach the Prosperity Gospel

Hello. In this video, we're going to be covering a clip from a Joel Osteen sermon. I often talk about people who take the Bible out of context, and this is really the perfect example of that. So we're going to look at this clip.

Deuteronomy 1:11 and the Prosperity Gospel Misuse

And what Joel Osteen is doing is really amazing. He takes Deuteronomy 1 .11 out of context, and he basically says that what God is promising here, God is promising to give you essentially millions and millions of dollars.

Yeah, that's right. Could someone possibly take Deuteronomy 1 .11 and turn it into a verse? First of all, it has nothing to do with Christians in the 21st century, but could someone actually take that and turn it into a verse about God turning you into a millionaire?

Well, Joel Osteen did it. So yeah, like I said, this is really the perfect example of a verse being twisted out of context. Joel Osteen is preaching the prosperity gospel, and even worse than that, this is really a form of New Age mysticism, and I'll explain that in a moment.

But let's listen to the first clip.

What God has for you is going to boggle your mind. The favor you're going to step into, the dreams you're going to accomplish, the giants you're going to defeat. Moses said in Deuteronomy 1, May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more than you are.

God has a thousand times more blessing for you, a thousand times more joy, a thousand times more influence, a thousand times more resources. That means you have plenty not only to pay off your.

House, but to pay off your family members' houses. Okay, so here Joel Osteen quotes this verse from Deuteronomy. He says that God says that He's going to make you a thousand times more than you are. Now, is that actually what God is saying?

Did God say, I'll make you? No, He's talking to the children of Israel. So let's look at the context. And you said, well, where does the million, you said millions of dollars. Well, if you can have enough money to pay off your own mortgage and the mortgages of all your family members, and then still have plenty of money to live on.

I mean, that would require millions of dollars. So it's not a stretch, but let's look at Deuteronomy 1. We'll read verses nine through 13 for the context. This is Moses appointing leaders for all of the 12 tribes of Israel.

Why? Because the children of Israel have grown from a family of about 70 people to where now they number in the millions. So this is really about the population, not God increasing your bank account. So isn't it funny how Joel Osteen makes everything about money, but here's what Moses actually says, Deuteronomy 1 verse nine.

And I spoke to you at that time saying, I alone am not able to bear you. And again, this is Moses speaking to the children of Israel, not Christians in the 21st century. It says in verse 10, the Lord, your God has multiplied you.

And here you are today as the stars of heaven in multitude. So again, it's about the size of the nation, the population. Okay. Verse 11, may the Lord God of your fathers. And this is what Osteen quotes.

May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are and bless you as he has promised you. How can I bear you or bear your problems and your burdens and all of your complaints, choose wise understanding and knowledgeable men from among your tribes and I will make them heads over you.

Okay. So hopefully you're starting to see why Joel Osteen took this out of context, why he's not telling the truth. Osteen ignores the fact that this is a specific word given to the children of Israel, not Christians in the 21st century.

And it's about the nation's population, that God has made them a thousand times more numerous. Osteen leaves out the word numerous. And he turns this into a promise that God will make you a thousand times more.

And then he explains what that means. You will have so much money. You will have so many resources. You'll be so rich. You'll be able to pay off your mortgage and the mortgage of your family members. Now, if I had money to pay off my own mortgage and the mortgage of all my family, I mean, millions, that would take millions of dollars.

So what's Joel Osteen doing? Twisting the word of God, tickling people's ears, making false promises. Let me just ask you, is that really what Deuteronomy 1, 11 is about? No, it's not. God never made such a promise.

So essentially Joel Osteen is lying. This is, what is this? This is the prosperity gospel. And not just that, it's called name it and claim it. Like you have to get this idea in your mind. I want to be successful.

I want to be rich. And here in this video, Joel Osteen is going to explain, you know,.

The key. Watch. Now, the whole key is you have to receive this thousand times blessing. You have to let it take root in your spirit because in your mind, it'll say, there's no way this will never happen for me, Joel.

I don't have the talent. I don't come from the right family. I've reached my limits. Tune all that out and get in agreement with God. One touch of his favor can make you a thousand times more. One idea, one contract, one divine connection can catapult you further than.

You've ever dreamed. So again, this is charismatic, name it and claim it theology. It's all part of the prosperity gospel. You just have to be positive, you know, believe it and it will happen. There's plenty of videos on YouTube of Joel Osteen teaching this.

He went on the Oprah Winfrey program. Oprah is one of the biggest new age teachers out there. Joel Osteen, basically, if you want to learn how to get this blessing, if you want to get all this money, the thousand times more, so you can pay off your mortgage and the mortgage of your family members, if you want all this money, does the Bible teach you how to do that?

Does the Bible say, be positive, receive the blessing, receive the money? No, the Bible doesn't teach this. We just established Osteen is taking this out of context. So in order for you to learn this, you have to go to the prosperity preacher.

You have to learn this from him. You have to get it from the anointed man of God who is going to teach you all of these things. And here's another clip of Osteen claiming that the anointing, which is actually from the Holy Spirit, he claims that the anointing will cause you to get a promotion at work.

The word anoint means he marked you. He set you apart. How did he do it? By putting this blessing on you. You're a marked man, a marked woman, not marked for defeat, negativity, failure. You are marked for favor, where people would be good to you and they don't even know why.

Where doors will open that weren't supposed to open, where you'll be promoted when you weren't the next in line. Well, opportunity will come looking for you. Okay. So in the Bible,.

The Anointing of the Holy Spirit Versus Prosperity Teaching

The actual anointing of the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with getting more money because you got a promotion at work. You ever notice how Joel Osteen, it's always about money. It's always about promotion, getting more.

And it's because he's rich. He's the lover of money. So he twists the gospel and the Bible and makes everything about money. But the actual anointing that comes from the Holy Spirit, it's about giving Christians first, the desire to live a godly life gives us the power to live a godly life.

And it also opens our understanding to better know God's word, illuminating God's word. And Joel Osteen clearly does not know the word of God and he's lying to people. So does Joel Osteen really have this anointing?

Well, what's all this building up to? Let's bring this to a conclusion. Why is Joel Osteen teaching all of this? He's tickling people's ears, promising them money, taking Deuteronomy totally out of context to make it about you getting money to pay off your mortgage.

Well, that and then some. What's all this building up to? Here's what it's building up to. At a certain point after the sermon or a key point during the sermon, they cut to a clip like this where Joel Osteen just flat out tells you, hey, now it's time to send your money to me.

Watch. Thanks for being at Lakewood today. It's going.

To be a great summer for you and your family and we're blessed to have you in person and online. Well, we'll take a moment to receive our tithes and our offerings. We always want to thank you for your donations, keeping the ministry going.

You're not really giving to people, you're giving to the Lord. I love that scripture. It says, when you help those in need, you are lending to the Lord and he will repay you. I love that scripture. It says, when you help those in need, you are lending to the Lord and he will repay you.

That's what you do each week or every time you give. You are lending to God and I know you've seen in your own life, God knows how to repay you.

Nobody can pay you like God can pay you. Yeah, nobody can pay you like God can pay you. So, this is what it's all about. This is what people do and it's sad. Sick people, poor people, the desperate, they send in their money to Joel Osteen because Joel Osteen is making these promises supposedly from God that if you just send in your, sow your seed of faith, hey, no one can pay you back like God can.

So, the idea is if you just give Joel Osteen a hundred dollars, God will give you back a thousand or even more than that. And of course, this doesn't actually work but when a person starts doubting, Osteen has taught them, well, now you're, it's like doubting the faith.

So, if you doubt this, it's like doubting Christianity. So, people are afraid. They keep on doing it because the problem can't be with God and it can't be with the anointed man of God. Joel Osteen is filthy rich.

So, the problem has to be you. So, if it's not working, you must not have enough faith. That's the sick system that the prosperity gospel blames you when you don't receive your money, when you don't receive your healing, it's your fault because you don't have enough faith.

And then, of course, people eventually, many people do stop sending in their money but it's like they say, there's a sucker born every minute. Why do you think people send emails claiming that a Nigerian prince will give you his fortune, you know, his inheritance, if you just give your bank account to this person who emailed you, you'll get millions of dollars.

I mean, you know that's a scam but why do you think people send those emails out? Because there's always someone who falls for it. It's like the spam calls. You know it's a con but people fall for it.

So, when you see this, Joel Osteen or Benny Hinn or Joyce Meyer or Catherine Crick, to me, I know this is a con. These are religious con men. The Bible calls them false prophets. They lie and they make false promises, false prophecies.

They say this is a word from God when God never said this. They do it to obtain money and influence. So, I can see this a million miles away. You can probably see it miles away but unfortunately, there's a lot of people who are deceived.

This is the only form of Christianity they know because they get their idea of from what they see on TV. So, there's always thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people all around the world who fall for this and they send their money in to Joel Osteen and Benny Hinn and whatever other prosperity preacher is asking for their money because hey, if you just send your money to me, you heard Joel Osteen.

It's time to send in your money and hey, no one can pay you back like God can pay you back. My friends, this is a scam. So many people have been deceived. The Bible says in Romans 16, 17, and 18, people like Joel Osteen, people who do this are to be marked and avoided.

Paul says they are able to deceive the hearts of the simple. Why? Because they have smooth words. Joel Osteen is a smooth operator, no question about it. His con is working wonders. He lives in a mansion as a private jet.

These people fly around in private jets. They have more money. It's just obscene how much money they make off the backs of the poor, the sick, and the desperate. So, through their smooth words and flattering speech, they tell people what they want to hear.

That's how they're able to deceive. That's what Paul says in Romans 16, 17 through 18. He says mark and avoid them. So, in conclusion, pray for people who are deceived. Share this video with them. Pray for them.

And whatever you do, do not get your teachings from Joel Osteen. And one last thing, I think it has to be said, people who donate to his ministry according to the principle found in the book of 2 John, by receiving Joel Osteen's teaching, and actually supporting him, and giving him aid, and comfort, and sending him money, you actually become a partaker of his evil deeds.

This is very serious. Again, pray for everyone involved. Thanks for watching. Until next time, may the Lord be with you. Have a great day.