More of the "Prosperity" Message's Problems!

Joel Osteen--Popular prosperity preacher--reveals his shallowness and his error in his Tweets. Here's just two recent ones:

"When you face the greatest pressure, remember that you are close to your victory."

What an encouraging sentiment right? The problem is, it isn't biblical; it isn't true. There are centuries of Christians--faithful, spirit filled Christians the writer of Hebrews calls "The great cloud of witnesses" who faced tremendous pressures and they ended in pain, sorrow, torture, and utter disarray. the biblical truth is that we live on a broken planet that is currently Satan's domain and bad things happen to good people all the time. It is isn't a new situation; read Asaph's complaints about it all in Psalm 73! So while Joel is out there filling people with hope, it is false hope and paints a very wrong picture of life and of God.

Again Joel Tweets:
"When God hears you speak His promises, He sets the miracle into motion. He changes and moves things on your behalf."

Seriously? Joel is a purveyor of what some call the "Name it, Claim it" brand of Christianity. It also is a counterfeit. All you need do is look around you and think of all the faithful, wonderful people of God who have been treated unjustly, even criminally, and never have received any semblance of justice. No miracles there. The problem is that Joel confuses the promises of the new heaven and new earth promised to every believer--in eternity!

So he sets people up for failure for when their miracle doesn't happen, they are left with only one answer; THEY are the problem. So the prosperity message sounds good, feels good, brings people in, but in the end is nothing more than a vapor that blows away when tried.

Many more answers to this heinous counterfeit in my book The Proper Pursuit of Prosperity!

Pedro's god and Pastor Joel...

Joel's tweet today is as follows: God has all kinds of ways to bring your dreams to pass. He has ways you've never even thought of. Your job is to believe and lean on Him.”

Maybe you remember Pedro from the low budget, but very funny film, "Napolean Dynamite." Pedro decides to run for school president of his class and his campaign slogan is, "Vote fo rme and all your wildest dreams will come true."

Joel's god is pretty much the same; like a broken record Joel pushes a god who exists to bring about all your dreams and ambitions! It's a nice thought except the god Osteen preaches doesn't exist accept in his imagination and in his best selling books. The only dreams coming true are his with the millions he is making off of sincere people looking for real hope.

"The Proper Pursuit of Prosperity" brings clarity to the God of true hope and the God of the Bible with real promises, not pipe dreams. I highly recommend the book! Available October 4th at most major on line bookstores!

Hurricane Irene Aimed At Our East Coast!

It would be the fool who sat in his rocking chair on his porch in his home on the Outer Banks of North Carolina enjoying a crossword puzzle as the storm approached. "Mabel what's a five letter word for a person who ignores obvious danger? It begins with I D blank O T?"

I believe that perhaps the biggest reason for all the mystery and lack of specificity in the book of Revelation is precisely so that we don't know that the END is 7 years away, or 20 years away, or will not be in out lifetimes! Because God wants us living on the edge of urgency so that HIS purposes for mankind will be accomplished.

I say it without apology--that one statement is the wrecking ball of the growing sky scraper called the prosperity gospel! WE EXIST FOR GOD AND HIS PLANS FOR US, HE DOES NOT EXIST FOR US TO BRING ABOUT OUR PLANS! Joel Osteen and so many others just don't get that!

Inaugural Book Signing

Tonight at my church I will be having my first book signing. I expect it to be rather awkward. The whole idea seems to be a bit egotistical and/or self-serving and yet it is what many have been asking for. I delight in their excitement on my behalf but it still feels a bit weird, like, "Whew hoo! Look at me, look what I did!" The truth is, if people knew where I came from so to speak, it is nothing but evidence of the wonder working power of God to use a chipped and cracked vessel for His honor. Thank you Lord; I am nearly undone when I think about it all.

And then of course there are the obligatory joy stealers to borrow a phrase from Max Lucado. There was some flap after the first Sunday we allowed people to pick up their books. A scant handful of people were annoyed about "selling" MY book in the church. What is interesting and again typical, is that I personally had told the staff when asked before all this went down that we would not be selling my book on Sunday morning. I didn't want a circus environment distracting from what we do. But after the books came in people wanted to know why they couldn't just get their books when they came to church. Some people come quite a ways and having it available on Sunday when they are there anyway would be convenient. So with the blessing of the leadership we decided to make it easy for people; it just made sense and besides while we do restrict such activities we have also made exceptions in the past. Let's see, what's the adage? Damned if you do, damned if you don't?

My first reaction was to forget the whole Book thing and collapse to the vocal, and usually, invisible minority. But as I pondered it and sought counsel about it, I thought, you know, that would be no different than mimicking the high school that tells the Valedictorian that she cannot pray at her graduation or mention God in her speech because "someone" protested saying they would be offended.

Why do we always buckle to the 2 or 3 voices that have one opinion when there are thousands more that have no problem? Personally, I think it past time to stop catering to the minority hang ups while trampling on the desires of the majority.

Never-the-less, instead of pure joy, now there's awkwardness. Sigh... Maranatha!

The Proper Pursuit of Prosperity Pre-release offer!

Too many preachers today are avoiding the whole counsel of God's word proclaiming only the pleasant and positive. With their half truth declarations, many people are being conned into worshipping a god of the preachers own creation. Jesus is being stripped of His glory and turned into a vending machine.

This is a seriously important book as the Prosperity Gospel is truly infiltrating ALL denominations. While it is a serious book, I have used many real life examples of the particular essence of each chapter so that it doesn’t get tedious.

If you are interested in a pre-release copy, soft cover books are available through me for $12 and $16 for hard cover. Shipping will be only the actual charge to you for shipping.

Contact me at pb@fefchurch.org

"Prosperity Gospel" and "Settling" Joel vs. the Bible

Joel Tweets--"Decide today that you are not going to settle but instead you're going to believe God to pour out His goodness and favor on every part of you."

Paul writes--
"Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:11-13

Some want more and more and see God as the instrument to that end. It is not biblical but utterly self-absorbed. Sometimes--often times?--Jesus wants us to "give up" not "gain more."

Paul writes more--
"More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ..." Philippians 3:8

Jesus said--
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Matthew 16:24-25

"The PROPER Pursuit of Prosperity" is in the printing phase! It can't be long now!

We have what it takes? I don't think so...

Pastor Joel's Tweet recently stated--
"Faith is all about stretching. Your obstacles may seem intimidating, but God already knows that you have what it takes."

Once again we have to ask--Is this true? While it sounds nice, the Bible teaches just the opposite. Even our praying is so feeble that we need help with that!

"In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27

No, the clear teaching of God's word is that in and of our own abilities we are hopelessly lost. WE DON'T have what it takes! But thanks be to God that because of Jesus, and what HE is willing to do with us and in us if we allow Him to have HIS way with us, we can accomplish some good things. But even then, only as GOD determines is right and proper. Hopeful or wishing thinking, and even fervently praying in faith does not manipulate our heavenly Father to do what He knows is perfect! The "prosperity gospel" gets close to truth at times, but when it comes to eternity, close is hardly good enough.