Over 12,000 people rushed into a crowded Times Union Center to hear “Pastor” Joel Osteen’s message of feel good, Broadway style contemporary worship and many came out changed according to an article in yesterday’s paper by Paul Grondahl. A star among the Christian world, Osteen claims the nation’s largest congregation in Houston, Texas with over 30,000 members.
Pastor Osteen at the Times Union Center.
Aside from being a good looking man with a deep southern accent and a warm welcoming voice that draws many in, what qualifications does this man have to be preaching to stadiums packed full of vulnerable people?
The best selling author and televangelist had only attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a two year period without receiving a degree. Now something doesn’t seem quite right about this. Why can a man with virtually no higher level training in religious matters or Bible studies waltz onto a stage in hundreds of stadiums and speak on the matter? Why does a man with no qualifications have such a great following? (Osteen receives around seven million viewers world wide through his televised sermons.) I’m not entirely sure whether or not I feel comfortable with someone preaching the word of God, if they don’t know the word of God.
Just from watching a few of his sermons on television and online, I see that Osteen makes no reference to any pages of scripture and speaks only from his memory. I have also noticed from Grondahl’s article that Osteen prefers not to speak of sin, and likes to focus rather on the goodness of God. Now, I’m not trying to rip the man apart. As a Christian myself, I try to see the good in all of God’s creations but I am simply trying to bring this forward in a manner that can hopefully help others recognize and distinguish the difference between a Christian message and a self-help, motivational one.
In an interview with Larry King ( below), Osteen speaks of what he does and what many are calling “Christless Christianity“.
True Discernment 
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