A Sad Disagreement

I have sat on this for a couple of days to ensure that I did not post something in haste that I would regret later. Cowboy has gone and made what was a lively but largely civil discussion on Andrea’s and my blog personal.

On a previous post I did mention my concern for Cowboy to Arielle when she posted her concern for him in my comments as well. Cowboy, if you took offence at that then I truly apologize and seek your forgiveness. I will endeavor to not get personal here on my blog, but if you wish to have an honest rational debate on whether or not the gospel is a message of temporal prosperity I will be happy to engage you in it.

For now I would like to address the personal attack:

“And y’all better be careful with your criticism. You’re not God and He said not once, but twice, “Touch not mine anointed.”

Do ya think you’re qualified to decide? I’m sure I’m not. It’s especially amusing to me that a self-proclaimed prophet is attacking people by name.

(Here’s a hint: That’s not what prophets do. Maybe that’s why Joel’s pastoring a church of about 20,000 and you’re blogging about him. Who’s doing more for the gospel?) “

First off no man is above criticism that includes myself. As to the comment about a “self-proclaimed” prophet you are so off the mark it is not even funny. I spent 10 years running from my calling (I know that is my fault but it is the truth), as a matter of fact if G_d would simply release me from His call on my life, I would be quite happy to go back to living in blissful ignorance. Life would be a lot easier. But seeing as how G_d knows better than me, He has not released His call on my life. So, Cowboy, if you take the “touch not my anointed” to mean that we are not to criticize then you are treading on dangerous ground yourself.

As to the subject of attacking people by name, I have made a point of not naming names;(I should have just kept to that policy) I did not name any until you, Cowboy, challenged someone to name people who were preaching the “Prosperity Gospel”. I did so over at Andrea’s. You, my friend, did not like my answer and challenged me again on Mr. Osteen. I checked things out again and stood by my original statement. I do not like naming names because it is the message that I am concerned about. I do not care if the guy’s name is Joe Bob Smith, it does not matter to me, but if he is preaching a message that denies or even waters down the gospel, I will not be afraid to speak up; but if we are going to make snide remarks about Mr. Osteen and myself well I will address them. Mr. Osteen preaches to a crowd of 20,000 because he tells them what they want to hear and it tickles their ears, I am not afraid to tell people the truth even if they don’t like it, therefore I do not have many people beating my door down to hear what I have to say.

Cowboy, I want you to know I love you like a brother. If you truly understood what that means to me you might even be touched. I do not always agree with you (I don’t always agree with my real brothers either), but I had come to respect you if for no other reason than you stick by your guns and will not back down from what you think is right. That is why what you said hurts a lot. I do not take my status as a modern prophet lightly. It is not something I asked for, and is a cup I wish could pass, but like I said He would not pass this cup to another.

As for the rest of Cowboy’s post.

At first I thought the best way to argue my case was to counter DC’s points one by one, but I realize that will do no good and DC would not see my counterpoints for what they are. I guess I am a little angry with myself for being baited into this in the first place over at Andrea’s. Whether or not DC wishes to admit it he does use the classic arguments of those involved in teaching the “Prosperity Gospel”.

I am going to be clear, I have not said or even implied that G_d wants us to be poor. What I have said is that we need to be sure of where are treasures are. There was a time I would have liked to have great financial wealth, but I have come to realize over the years that wealth is not about money it is about what you value. My riches are not in gold, silver, dollars, or whatever monetary value I could gain. Would it be nice if I had enough money to not concern myself with the bills? Yes it would but that is not my focus and should not be your focus. My riches are in my family and the ones I love they are more precious to me than anything in this world. The Word says that our heart will be where our treasure is, so are we looking to build a temporal treasure here that we cannot take with us and will fade away to nothing or will we lay up our treasures in Heaven where they cannot be corrupted?

One last point on Mr. Osteen, my problem is not with him, but his message. (Again I want to make it clear I did not bring up any names until I was challenged to name them. My preference is to teach the truth of Yeshua’s Gospel in all of its glory and brutality. When we know the truth we can see the counterfeit for what it is.) He cannot even agree on the most basic tenant of the Christian faith. That tenant is that Yeshua (Jesus Christ) is the only way to the Father period. In an interview with Larry King Mr. Osteen claimed that there is more than one path to heaven, basically opening up things for other religions like Islam, Buddhism, and many others. When he was pressed on the issue to make a definitive statement he waffled and said it was not up to him to decide, that was G_d’s area. (If I have to I will look up the specific transcripts but it is late now and I need to go to bed) He denies the truth of the gospel, so I cannot take anything else he says as truth. That is not furthering the gospel that is deceiving people out of a true relationship with the creator of the universe. How many will lose their souls because the gate has been opened to believe whatever you want to believe as long as you support his church.