“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'”
—Luke 16:19-31
What do you wanna bet that this passage is never preached by Joel Osteen, Rod Parsley, Ken Copeland, Paula White, or anyone else like them?
The entire bank. I know your heart Dan is to help people see the error in the wisdom of these teachers. It does cost us a little to be a light to those in the shadows. I almost caused a split between myself and my sister, because of her stand about the prosperity gospel. I had to repent even though I felt I was correct, because of the way I handled it. Not to say your not handling it correctly, we just have to be mindful that their followers are not bad people, they are just being mislead.
Paul,
I would challenge the notion about their followers not being “bad people.” At the heart of so much of the whole prosperity gospel mania is self-centeredness, and that’s a sin Jesus hated more than any other.
We are all “bad people,” but our hope is that we are being transformed daily into the likeness of Jesus.
Concerning Osteen, White and Parsley I would agree with your assessment. However, Copeland is in another category IMO. He has very outstanding teachings about believing for money to help the poor. He gives copious examples in his teachings on how he and others have done this. It surprised me to find out that he gives scads of money each year to scads of Christian charitable organizations that are definitely NON-Word of faith based, like organizations that take in orphans, those that help unwed mothers, prostitutes and so forth. The problem with Copeland is the problem with the extreme prosperity (non-Biblical) teaching on one hand, and this marvelous and detailed teaching on how to help the poor on the other hand. Sadly, his extreme views on one hand are negaint the good teaching ont eh other hand. Frankly, I don’t hear this kind of detailed teaching on how to help the poor by enabling them instead of regulating them the way most “do-gooder” present day Christians want to do, in moist of our churches. Copeland (and Savelle and Jesse DuPlantis) are about the only ones that are detailing this. Ir ealize this comment isn’t going to go over well. But before I get blasted here from other commenters and perhaps even the host, let me say I have followed Copeland’s teachings since 1980, dissecting each one very carefully and throwing out the bad, keeping some of the good stuff.
Dan,
Thanks for this. Like Paul Walton, my position on Osteen has the effect of division in my family. I find that so much of the prosperity teachings have slid into my family’s Christianity and I try as gently as I can, to refute such heresies. In the end, I know I have to pray and pray hard that God would pull back the scales from their eyes to see the truth.
I just did a post today on Mark 8:34-38 and I wonder how or if this is even preached at Osteen’s church: “Deny yourself and take up your cross.” Gee, that doesn’t sound much like “your best life now.” It sounds like a lot of pain and denial this side of heaven.
This weekend, at every store we went to, I couldn’t seem to get away from Osteen’s new drivel “It’s Your Time.” It angers me because he’s on the cover smiling and I can’t help but think: “Yeah, it’s going to sell another million copies, Joel and make your mammon dreams come true.” It’s not about our time, it’s about Jesus!
That’s assuming that all of the pastors actually preach through sections of Scripture! I’m thinking mainly of Osteen on this point. The several times that I’ve watched his half-hour on TV, it’s a motivational speech scattered with out of context verses from translations that have been massaged to fit what he wants to say. I remember one time he “quoted” Ephesians. I wasn’t familiar with that verse saying that, so I looked it up in several versions (ESV, NIV, NET, even the Message)…it was wildly different from all of them! I wish I could remember exactly how far off it was.
Your main point of your post is spot on, though. Well said.
Copeland was in Little Rock, AR, a few weeks back, speaking at the church that owns the local Christian broadcast channel, which of course carries his program. The statewide daily paper did a big article on him and the Grassley investigation. I read stuff like that, then compare it to “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan, which instead of telling me that I deserve a bigger house because I’m a child of the King, asks me to consider downsizing and reducing my mortgage payment so we can give more money away to advance God’s kingdom. The difference is like night and day.
Dan,
You are on the mark once again. And yes, some of us are out hear preaching this message, and all too often (as has been the case in one of the churches I pastor), we lose people because of it. There are two churches in the area that are fast becoming mouth pieces of the Osteen prattle, and they have folks coming in bunches. Meanwhile, the same churches are never present to help with the needs of the hungry through the local food banks, etc.
Sad state of affairs, however, we can be sure the Gospel will prevail.
Thanks Dan for all you do! Your vigilance in inspiring!
jim