There are wolves in our midst. They're on TV, in the bookstores, and on the radio. They are pretty, and well admired. They claim to be shepherds of the people.
But are they good shepherds?
Sure, they make you feel good. Focus on the positive! Turn that frown upside down! And while that's fine if you're a motivational speaker, it's not fine if you're a Bible teacher or a pastor.
Pastors are supposed to feed the flock, feed them real food, not Fruit Loops. Joel here doesn't tell people that their sin separates them from God, feeling that most folk already feel beat up. So he skirts the whole issue and instead wants to make you feel good. That's okay for a self-help guru, but not if you're a pastor!
I think Joel's problem is he's too nice. He can't say what needs to be said. Is that a carefully coordinated plan? A plan to make a big happy church and get rich from selling millions of books? Or is he really just a nice guy who doesn't want to ruffle any fathers?
Be careful, Mr. Osteen. God knows why you do the things you do!
Now here's a wolf! The beloved Joyce Meyer. Looking like an angry Joker these days, she is a Bible teacher and conference speaker. Why anyone would bother to listen to her after she spent $23,000 on a toilet is beyond me. You go to her conference, pay good money to learn about the Bible and it's life application, and she buys a gold toilet with the money.
Something wrong there.
Anyway, aside from her spending habits, she tells people this:
"There is no hope of anyone going to Heaven unless they believe this truth I am presenting. You cannot go to Heaven unless you believe with all your heart that Jesus took your place in Hell."
Say what? Where's that in the Bible? She just altered the gospel, folks. She changed Jesus. She's presenting a subtly different Christ to her listeners.
In other words, she's a wolf. A false teacher. You can't change the fundamental work of Christ without becoming a heretic! Jesus died on the cross and made atonement for our sins there. He did not suffer in Hell! Joyce made it up. When Jesus said 'It is finished', that meant His sacrifice was accomplished. Joyce teaches that He then went to Hell and was tormented by demons there, until God said 'that's enough'. And she teaches that you have to believe that in order to go to Heaven.
But Jesus said to believe in Him. He's the answer, not Joyce's fiction.
So much for being a Bible teacher...
People love Joel and Joyce for their practical help. And like I said, that's great if they were motivational speakers. But they are not. Anything that changes what Jesus did or who He was is heresy. It says Jesus lied. Jesus is the Son of God, He died on the cross to remove the eternal penalty for our sin, and He rose again. That's it. And if you believe and follow Him, you will be saved.
T.D. Jakes used to teach a heretical doctrine called "modalism", which says that God was the Father, then became the Son, then became The Holy Spirit. One person, three manifestations. The gospels, however, say the opposite. When Jesus was baptized, the Father spoke from heaven and the Spirit descended on Jesus.
That ends the modalism discussion as far as I'm concerned. And apparently it was good enough for Jakes, who has a more Trinitarian belief now.
As far as his other teachings, that's another story...
These days, people want their ears tickled. They want "Christian" teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. They don't want to be told how to live or what to believe. So they go to the nice guys, and the prosperity teachers. Thus, they have huge churches and a wide reach.
And the lies continue, leading to a false Jesus and a lot of doomed souls.
"Therefore we must give all the more careful attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away."
Watch out for the wolves.
But are they good shepherds?
Sure, they make you feel good. Focus on the positive! Turn that frown upside down! And while that's fine if you're a motivational speaker, it's not fine if you're a Bible teacher or a pastor.
Pastors are supposed to feed the flock, feed them real food, not Fruit Loops. Joel here doesn't tell people that their sin separates them from God, feeling that most folk already feel beat up. So he skirts the whole issue and instead wants to make you feel good. That's okay for a self-help guru, but not if you're a pastor!
I think Joel's problem is he's too nice. He can't say what needs to be said. Is that a carefully coordinated plan? A plan to make a big happy church and get rich from selling millions of books? Or is he really just a nice guy who doesn't want to ruffle any fathers?
Be careful, Mr. Osteen. God knows why you do the things you do!
Now here's a wolf! The beloved Joyce Meyer. Looking like an angry Joker these days, she is a Bible teacher and conference speaker. Why anyone would bother to listen to her after she spent $23,000 on a toilet is beyond me. You go to her conference, pay good money to learn about the Bible and it's life application, and she buys a gold toilet with the money.
Something wrong there.
Anyway, aside from her spending habits, she tells people this:
"There is no hope of anyone going to Heaven unless they believe this truth I am presenting. You cannot go to Heaven unless you believe with all your heart that Jesus took your place in Hell."
Say what? Where's that in the Bible? She just altered the gospel, folks. She changed Jesus. She's presenting a subtly different Christ to her listeners.
In other words, she's a wolf. A false teacher. You can't change the fundamental work of Christ without becoming a heretic! Jesus died on the cross and made atonement for our sins there. He did not suffer in Hell! Joyce made it up. When Jesus said 'It is finished', that meant His sacrifice was accomplished. Joyce teaches that He then went to Hell and was tormented by demons there, until God said 'that's enough'. And she teaches that you have to believe that in order to go to Heaven.
But Jesus said to believe in Him. He's the answer, not Joyce's fiction.
So much for being a Bible teacher...
People love Joel and Joyce for their practical help. And like I said, that's great if they were motivational speakers. But they are not. Anything that changes what Jesus did or who He was is heresy. It says Jesus lied. Jesus is the Son of God, He died on the cross to remove the eternal penalty for our sin, and He rose again. That's it. And if you believe and follow Him, you will be saved.
T.D. Jakes used to teach a heretical doctrine called "modalism", which says that God was the Father, then became the Son, then became The Holy Spirit. One person, three manifestations. The gospels, however, say the opposite. When Jesus was baptized, the Father spoke from heaven and the Spirit descended on Jesus.
That ends the modalism discussion as far as I'm concerned. And apparently it was good enough for Jakes, who has a more Trinitarian belief now.
As far as his other teachings, that's another story...
These days, people want their ears tickled. They want "Christian" teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. They don't want to be told how to live or what to believe. So they go to the nice guys, and the prosperity teachers. Thus, they have huge churches and a wide reach.
And the lies continue, leading to a false Jesus and a lot of doomed souls.
"Therefore we must give all the more careful attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away."
Watch out for the wolves.
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