|
About Jesus Steve Sweetman Shipwrecked
Faith The
crowd of thousands whistle, scream, and cheer.
They go crazy with enthusiasm.
A superstar and her actor friend is in their midst.
It looks and feels like a rock concert, but it's not.
Above the ecstatic roar of adoration, a voice is heard over the
high-priced sound system. "Yea
Oprah … glad to have you ... awesome to have you, we love you, we pray
for you … so honoured to have you both here … we pray for you guys
and what God is doing in your lives".
This testimony to Oprah Winfrey's popularity is seen around the
world on TV and repeated countless times on the internet.
From the pulpit of a Sunday morning service that most call
church, Oprah is both esteemed and adored by Joel Osteen and those in
his congregation. Without any fans
cheering, the apostle Paul, from a dark, damp, rat infested prison, pens
a letter to his fellow servant in Christ.
He writes "the time will come when men will not put up with
sound doctrine. Instead, to
suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of
teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn to
myths". (2 Timothy 4:3 and 4) In another letter Paul
warns Timothy, and us as well, that "the Spirit clearly says that
in the later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving
spirits and things taught by demons". (1 Timothy 4:1)
Joel Osteen has
publically stated that God is actively working through Oprah Winfrey.
He proclaimed her presence as being "awesome", a word
that I think should only be attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Can
one call Oprah "awesome" and then turn around and call Jesus
"awesome"? Can one
acknowledge the presence of Oprah and then turn around and hope for the
presence of the Holy Spirit? Make no mistake.
Oprah Winfrey is not a Christian.
She does not believe in the God of the Bible, who is, the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. She
does not believe in the Deity of Christ.
Jesus is not the only begotten Son of God in her theology.
To her, Jesus was just a man who exhibited some kind of mystical
and spiritual quality that she calls a "Christ consciousness".
She says that Jesus' existence on earth had nothing to do with
his death on the cross. His
life was all about exhibiting this "Christ consciousness" that
she claims abides in all of us. She
also believes that "God is a feeling experience, not a believing
experience". If God is
still about believing for you, she then says you're not believing in the
true God. In fact, in her
"belief system", we are all little gods.
Ironically, she allows herself to have a "belief
system" but denies the same for the follower of Jesus.
Listen to the first part of the Understanding The Times radio
show to hear her exact words. November
12, 2011 - Hour 1 Just in case you think
it's not right for me to specifically mention Oprah Winfrey and Joel
Osteen by name, read what Paul says. "Some
have rejected these (faith and good conscience) and so have shipwrecked
their faith. Among them are
Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to satan to be taught
not to blaspheme". (1 Timothy 1:19 and 20)
These two men are now forever known as false teachers who have
shipwrecked their faith. Paul
had no problem publically mentioning false teachers by name.
There's no doubt that
from a Biblical standpoint, Oprah Winfrey is a false teacher.
Joel Osteen, a so-called Christian pastor, has embraced Oprah and
her false teaching in a public format.
What does that make him? In
light of the above Scriptures, I think it's clear.
He's a false teacher.
Osteen's followers have "itching ears", as Paul
says. They adhere to later
day "doctrines of demons" that gratify what I call their
"religion of self. Joel Osteen, and others
like him, are leading thousands of "Biblically illiterate"
Christians into a "shipwrecked faith".
These men appear to be gracious men, but as we know, satan
himself appears as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14)
Graciousness doesn't determine if someone is a true teacher of
the Word of God. What they
teach determines that. This
is one example of the direction in which much of 21st
Christianity and the post-modern church is heading in.
No wonder western civilization is on the decline.
The salt of our civilization has lost its saltiness.
|