I Have Been Challenged

The other day Andrea posted this article (Andrea is asking us to be considerate of the fledgling Christians and those not yet redeemed) about a church being built. Digital Cowboy piped in and claimed that Andrea was being judgmental and “encouraged” her to visit the church before condemning it. This devolved into an discussion over how G_d blesses us and why He does so. Cowboy claimed that those who believed that G_d prospers those he chooses to and for the purpose of spreading the gospel not accepting that often those left in a state of dependence upon Him will come to love Him more for the miraculous provision as just stuck in “religion”, and he hates “religion”. Well I have news for Cowboy everyone has some sort of “religion”. I do, he does, Serena does, Andrea does, the atheist does, and so does Joel Osteen. Religion is simply the code of beliefs that we live by. I know that Cowboy is going to say that is not what he meant, that he meant that he hates when people attempt to limit G_d. I to hate it when we attempt to place G_d in a box and say this is what He is all about. Not one man can limit G_d; we do not have that power. As a matter of fact the entire human race cannot limit Him. He will do as He wills and will bless us according to His will and plan, not by us manipulating Him and basically claiming power over Him.

In that conversation Cowboy claimed that that we were either sinners or we were saved that we could not be both. If you look at it simplistically he is right, but he is wrong. The scriptures are filled with references from those who were followers or simply those who had faith that felt they had no right to be in Yeshua’s presence. He would often bless them for their faith. Yeshua consistently berated the proud and honored those who were humble. When one of his redeemed says we are but lowly sinners saved by His grace, it is recognition of where we came from and an acknowledgement of His grace and power in our lives.

Again in that conversation Cowboy challenged me on my list of people preaching the prosperity gospel message. I still stand by my list of those preaching the prosperity gospel message. At Cowboy’s request I went and checked out Joel Osteen again. His message has not changed he preaches the same form of “name it and claim it” his father preached before him. It is a little subtler than his father’s but it is still there. He openly denies that Yeshua is the only way to reach the father. When pressed he will claim it is for G_d to judge the heart of the individual and not his place. This is a copout. I have read too much about Mr. Osteen, and read his own words to think otherwise. He preaches a gospel that denies the absolute need for Yeshua’s sacrifice, replacing it with pop psychology and ever present positive thinking masked as living in faith. I would go on to say that Mr. Osteen is one of the top preachers of the prosperity message.