Pollyanna Osteen and his New Handbook for Hope without Jesus
With each new publication, broadcast, and church service we have Osteen–with many more coins in the pocket and sounding more and more like the accursed old prophets.
Jer 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.
Here is Osteen on Fox and Friends this am:
He actually almost said something there.
The new book It’s Your Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase in God’s Favor is out. But it is basically recycled Osteen anchored in the current economic crisis. 
Osteen leads people away from Scripture as the sure guide, away from Christ as the sure Savior, and away from heaven as the sure hope. Instead he leads people to trust in their dreams, be their own savior, and make this heaven. Our desires are inerrant and our potential is unbinding. The amount of subjective hot air that this guy blows into each sentence is amazing.
In terms of Jesus, there is little difference between what he does and Oprah. Oprah denies Christ’s claims to be the only Savior, Sovereign, and Sufficient One. Osteen sends Jesus to the bench and then drops the subjective Osteen eclipse on him as he prances around with his flowing mullet and detached subjective platitudes that weigh in at a combined 3 ounces.
One of the most biblically indefensible and frankly, staggering issues here is that he actually subtitles the book as a manual for ‘increasing in God’s favor.’
Um…I thought that was Jesus’ job.
The Bible makes it clear that we have neither the means nor the inclination to achieve God’s favor. We all are categorized as rebels and sinners by the God of the Bible (Rom. 3.10-13; Rom. 5.10; Eph. 2.1). The BEST we could do amounts to an unmentionable sanitary rag (Is. 64.6).
Instead it was Jesus’ job to earn, provide, and keep God’s favor. It is Jesus who is the substitute who lived and died for sinners. He is the one who makes an angry God propitious or favorable (Rom. 3.25). There is no other way to experience the favor of a holy, just, righteous, good God apart from Jesus (Acts 4.12; 1 Tim. 2.5).
Osteen’s shtick is nothing more than good old legalism. Earn and keep God’s favor by what you do and think. We should all feel somewhat empowered and important, we are now our own Savior! We should also feel the weight of God’s displeasure since this creed is actually anathamitized in the Bible (Gal. 1.6, 9). Ironically this actually undermines Osteen’s book.
The title is fitting: It’s Your Time. Right now it is my time to give it a thumbs down. And Mr Osteen, It’s Your Time to go away. And take your Jesus denying, legalistic, hopeless, broken, tired, Oprah-cloning message with you.
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17 Responses to “Pollyanna Osteen and his New Handbook for Hope without Jesus”
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Great article…may want to change the spelling of his name to Osteen. Unless that’s on purpose?
Right…got that fixed. Someone else sent me a note saying:
It’s not Olsteen it’s Osteen…do you dare mock a prophet of God?
Awesome! You might not get a good parking spot now! (for mocking)
Osteen=a wolf in sheeps clothing. If only we had more than 2 thumbs to give him worse than that.
side note.. Erik awesome job on Sunday night on Corinthians
never trust a preacher with a mullet.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Chris St. John, Seth McBee, Seth McBee, Matthew Blair, Brian Senecal and others. Brian Senecal said: RT @sdmcbee: Osteen Its Ur Time 2 go away Take ur Jesus denying, legalistic, hopeless, brkn, tired, Oprah-cloning msg w u http://is.gd/4N69H [...]
You know it never ceases to amaze me how many people have come to follow the Osteen self centered gospel. It’s like the pyramid scheme of Christianity. If you work hard enough you too can reach the preacher’s status of wealth and happiness…. My heart goes out to the people under his and other similar style congregations. I’ve been there. The people I loved dearly. Their hearts were tender and passionate. But they somehow believed the erroneous teachings of their pastor and I walked…… I too tend to mock Osteen. Erik, I’m with ya on the hot air. It’s amazing isn’t it. And I honestly try to muster up something that is gospel centered when I hear him but it’s very difficult! Let’s pray for him and the millions who listen.
“If you do what you can, God will help you do what you can’t.”
“Do your best, and Jesus will do the rest.”
“God helps those, who help themselves.”
“God makes the food for the birds, but he doesn’t put it in their nest.”
And of course there’s a tad of truth in this false doctrine.
But to teach the true Gospel of Christ becoming sin and a curse for sinners, and the cursed, is far from Joel’s mind.
His is a fairly different Word of faith teaching, but not far from Hagin and others.
I will pray he sees the truth of Christ. And then he won’t care so much about the earthly things, but will store up his treasure in heaven.
Don thanks for posting those. Helpful stuff. Regrettably, you are right on re: Hagin and others. Sad.
Yes he is off. However, mocking is a type of communication that cheapens everything you have to say. The truth stands alone. there is no need to mock him as a person. Rise above the name calling. it sows discord. I believe the truth is that your heart longs for all who may be led astray by his partial gospel. If our heart aches for Jesus to truly be known, then we must display our love with kindness and meekness. Just my opinion…I don’t think it’s right to malign any man. use reason instead. It’s on our side!
Gross.
[...] false teachers like Osteen like Erik has ================================================== = Pollyanna Osteen and his New Handbook for Hope without Jesus- Irish Calvinist Pollyanna Osteen and his New Handbook for Hope without Jesus Posted by Erik in Irish Calvinist [...]
great article.
BTW:
something I found worth mentioning:
http://www.pulpit-pimps.org/?p=829
The Heresy Hillbillies (Pulpit Pimps makes song for Joel Osteen and his false teachings
http://www.pulpit-pimps.org/?p=829
Dan, Not sure what you are talking about: “Rise above the name calling. it sows discord.”
[...] Irish Calvinist: Pollyanna Osteen and his New Handbook for Hope without Jesus [...]
I love reading your posts. What I mean is that I never want to call anyone names and disrespect them in any way. We are all created in HIS image and due respect for that reason. Your message is true. His is off. But the only reason he has risen in fame/popularity is because for some reason God has allowed it. We don’t know why. Pure and simple. We can guess, but I believe God wants me to focus on my own hypocrisy and failings. I cannot live up to what HE has called me to personally. I have no room to judge this mans heart. The easy road is to mock him because his message is watered down. I just think higher of you than to mock another fellow man.
Keep writing!
Dan
Hmm…I’m enjoying this discussion and also the article precipitating it…can I add a few thoughts?
“I cannot live up to what HE has called me to personally”
So true, Dan, but so wrong! He has said, “Be perfect” and gives us Christ to achieve that, not practically but positionally.
“I can do ALL THINGS through CHRIST who strengthens me!” (Phil 4:13)
“It is GOD who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Phil 2:13) and lastly,
“Think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (Rom 12:3).
Whatever God is calling us to HE will give us in order to “live up to” it!! Can a sovereign God be disappointed in us? GOD GETS HIS WAY!! WE cannot frustrate HIS plans, even for ourselves. If he has called you to it, you are being called because you have Christ…so is it possible that Christ cannot live up to what God is calling us to? Isn’t the glorious freedom we know by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit a result of the truth that we CAN live up to what God has called us to through HIS power?
“I have no room to judge this mans heart. The easy road is to mock him because his message is watered down.”
We do have a right and an obligation to judge this man. We should not judge him by how he looks, what he wears, or what mistakes he’s made in his life..lest we overlook the log in our own eye..BUT we are called to judge his message by comparing it with the gospel. We have to do that! His message isn’t a benign watering down…anything but the gospel message is heresy. Works based faith=Heresy.
Jude 1:3b: “I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”
So maybe Osteen isn’t encouraging the same type of immorality Jude is talking about….he’s still proclaiming a false gospel and leading people astray. We must judge him against the Word and properly discern his message.
I don’t know either of you…any of you for that matter, but my desire is to proclaim Truth. You obviously have a tender heart and a desire to glorify God in your words and deeds. I appreciate your point of view and your intentions.