The Strange Mystical Beliefs Of Joel Osteen…

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Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to Fight for Truth, the channel where we bring you Christian commentary about the things that matter.

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In today's video, we're going to be talking, once again, about a sermon from Joel Osteen. This particular sermon had tons and tons of false teaching, to the point that I'll actually have to make multiple videos just to get to all of it.

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In today's video, we're going to be analyzing what Joel has to say regarding some of the more popular phrases used in the prosperity gospel and Word of Faith world.

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In a lot of ways, these arguments and tactics are really common when it comes to so -called pastors like Joel.

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They are subversive, deceptive. It's difficult to tell exactly how and why they're wrong.

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But to demonstrate why they're wrong, one needs only to compare them to the Word of God. So, without any further introduction, let's do just that.

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Watch this. I want to talk to you today about it's still going to happen. We all have things that we're believing for.

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We prayed. We've done our best, but the medical report hasn't improved. We didn't get the promotion.

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We haven't met the right person. We wanted to go back to school, but nobody supported us.

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So this is perhaps the most common phrase in the prosperity gospel Word of Faith world.

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I'm believing God for fill in the blank. Notice first that this is a unique usage of the word belief.

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It's not, I believe in God. That's how we would usually say it. It's, I'm believing

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God for. That's a little less common. These phrases sound similar, but they're not the same at all.

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So now we come to the question, is it right? Is it good? Is it biblical? For people to say, quote,

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I'm believing God for my health or I'm believing God for my new business and success thereof, or I'm believing

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God for a promotion at my job. By the way, these are actually examples that Joel himself used in the clip.

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Let me tell you why I don't think it's a good idea for Christians to speak in this way. First off, when you say

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I'm believing God for such and such a thing, you're making a particular statement. Namely, you're saying that God has promised to give you whatever the item is that you're believing him for.

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If I saw you on the street, for example, and I said, Hey, wait here. I'm going to go to my car and get a hundred dollar bill and then hand it to you right here.

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If you say I'm believing you for that $100 bill, it's because you believe that my word is good.

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You believe that I have guaranteed to give you that $100. You are believing something

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I've said, but now imagine the same thing. Only I never actually offered to give you the hundred dollars in the first place.

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We've never spoken to each other. And you walk around telling everyone that nevertheless, you're believing me for that money.

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That would be bearing false witness. You're assuming that I'm going to give you something that I never told you

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I'd give you. That is the same way that many word of faith teachers talk about God. The only problem is that God has not explicitly promised every

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Christian health, a successful new business, or a promotion at work, et cetera. And by the way, because Joel Osteen is making the statement here, the burden of proof is on him to demonstrate when and where God has promised us these things.

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Of course, he almost never even attempts to defend this claim at all, despite the fact that it is at the center of his worldview.

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In order to believe God for promotion or wealth or health or something else, you must first demonstrate that God has promised these things to every

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Christian. Anything short of that would be to make false promises on behalf of God. Philippians 4, 6 says, quote,

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Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

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So what is the solution here? Well, this is where discerning Christians must draw an important distinction, one between belief for and trust in.

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You see, believing God for assumes the outcome. Trusting in God assumes only that regardless of the outcome,

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God is still worthy of our worship and our love. Instead of saying, I'm believing God for a successful business, we ought to say,

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I am working hard for the glory of God in my business, and I pray that God will bless it. Yet I trust in God regardless of the outcome.

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But in any case, let's see what Joel Osteen's view here implies about God as we move to the next clip.

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Watch this. Tried to start our business. We had opposition, delays, people did us wrong.

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Now we think it wasn't meant to be. But we may have given up. The good news is

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God hasn't given up. So now Joel Osteen takes his misguided and frankly dangerous theology about believing

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God for things, and he applies it to God himself. He says that while you may have given up on these material things you want,

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God has not. And again, this is the same false assumption, that God has somewhere in His Word or otherwise promised to give every

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Christian health, wealth, and success in every aspect of life. The first problem is that, again, there is no good reason, no good evidence in the

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Bible or in the history of the Church that God has actually promised this. The second problem is that this suggests something very disrespectful about God.

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The implication is that if for whatever reason you do not get your promotion at work, if you do not get the schooling you want, if you do not get the healing you want, again, all examples from Joel, then it would necessarily follow that God has given up on something that He promised to do, something that He guaranteed.

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This view is absolutely false and irreverent. Numbers 23 verse 19 says, God is not man that He should lie, or a son of man that He should change

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His mind. Has He said and He will not do it? Or has He spoken and He will not fulfill it? This passage points out the issue with Joel Osteen here.

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God will always fulfill the things that He has promised, provided, of course, that He has actually promised them.

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But He has no responsibility at all to give you the things that pop into your head that He has not promised.

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And Joel's view here implies that God is a quitter of some sort if He fails to give you the promotion, healing, success, or wealth that you feel entitled to.

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In other words, He has now taken this a step further. Not only is He making false promises, but now

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He has connected those false promises to the very character of God. But with that said, let's go ahead and move on to the next clip where Joel makes an attempt to offer biblical support for his position.

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Watch this. He doesn't abort dreams.

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He's called the author and the finisher of our faith. So Joel quotes a passage here saying that God will not abort your dreams, for He is, quote, the author and finisher of our faith.

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But unsurprisingly, even a brief look at this passage demonstrates how incredibly false

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His teaching is here. Hebrews 12, 1 -2, quote, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, end quote.

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Here we can see that the passage has a particular message. It's telling us to do something. We should focus on Christ.

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We should put our sin to death. We should run the race, the Christian race, with endurance, etc.

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Nowhere does the passage say that Jesus has guaranteed that your dreams will come true. Joel is making a ridiculous and fallacious argument based in something that the passage does not say anywhere.

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Effectively, he is implying that Jesus being the author and finisher of our faith means that He is the author and finisher of your personal goals.

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But that's not the same thing. Not even close. You see, Joel is using words like faith, author, finisher, etc.

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All of these are found in the passage and in God's Word. But pay attention, because here is the sneaky trick.

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None of those words, when used by him, carry the same meaning that the text attaches to them.

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This is a sleight -of -hand trick used by prosperity gospel teachers pretty much all the time. And the fact is, this whole toxic tree has the same poisonous word -of -faith root.

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But all of this culminates in Joel's advice for what Christians ought to do practically in their everyday life as a result of this doctrine.

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Watch this. You don't have to see how it's going to happen. All you have to do is believe.

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Start declaring favor over your life. Start talking like it's going to happen. Start thanking

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God that He's working. When those negative thoughts come, telling you it's too late, just answer back, no thanks, it's still going to happen.

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Well, the medical report doesn't look good. That's one report, but I have another report.

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It says, I'm still going to get well. Well, you've had a lot of bad breaks. Looks like that sets you back.

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No thanks, I'm still going to accomplish my dreams. So basically, when bad things happen in your life, sickness, lack of success, or otherwise not getting what you believe

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God for, your response should be to say the phrase, it's still going to happen.

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And you are supposed to repeat this phrase over and over as many times as you have to so that you will believe it and give yourself a more positive outlook on life.

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This sounds an awful lot like brainwashing, because it pretty much is, and it bears a resemblance to New Age mantra repetition.

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A mantra is a phrase or a word that you repeat over and over to, quote, help alter your subconscious impulses, habits, and afflictions.

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One article says, quote, mantra is a spiritual practice that should be done on a regular basis for several months for its desired effects to take place.

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This fits with many prosperity gospel tactics hand in glove. Repeat these phrases, these faith -filled phrases to stimulate your faith and change your mindset so that you can alter your surroundings and live a more happy, healthy, and successful positive life, etc.

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Then, this kind of New Age -seeming practice is just given a slight Christian alteration so that it can be passed off as biblical.

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That's effectively what's happening. Contrast this with what the Bible says. Joshua 1 .8 famously says this, quote,

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This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, end quote.

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This is very different from mantra repetition or repeating meaningless phrases. Christian meditation is not a mindless repetition of phrases.

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No, it's a commitment to dwell on the truth of God's Word. And it is done for the purpose of paying attention to the

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Word in order to live by it and obey it and honor it. It is not done in a singular effort to obtain the success or health or wealth that you want.

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In any case, it's biblical to dwell on and repeat the truth of the Bible, but it is unbiblical and dangerous to simply repeat unfounded phrases offered by people like Joel Osteen.

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So let's recap. Joel Osteen makes false promises that every Christian will get health, promotion, schooling, business success, and all sorts of other things.

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He then irreverently, frankly unbiblically, connects these false promises to God's own character.

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And this all culminates in Joel telling you to repeat a phrase of his own creation rather than meditating on God's Word.

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And last but not least, the only so -called biblical support that Joel offers for his view is a single passage taken out of context and utterly misinterpreted.

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Thus, it is not difficult to see why Joel Osteen is a false teacher and why discerning Christians ought to lovingly avoid his teaching.

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I pray that this has been a blessing to you, and please know that this video isn't meant as a sinful attack but rather as a biblical critique.

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And let's pray for Joel, that he would stop this false teaching by God's grace and turn to the truth of God's Word.

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