Joel Osteen: God Wants Me To Be Rich
Posted on July 17th, 2008 by The Reformer into the Prosperity Doctrine categoryHere is one extremely saddening article God Wants Me to Be Rich about Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, that has an average weekend attendance of 45,000 and an annual budget of $72.6 million. Couple of highlights:
"Osteen will tell you that his success is a result of God’s favor, that his message is God’s message, and that all that he has achieved is a blessing from God. Clearly, he is more than just an inspiring pastor; he is also a master marketer and—pardon me for saying this, Joel—a damn good chief executive."
"Last year, Lakewood generated $76 million in revenue, which amounts to just over $1,600 for every member of its congregation. Its take includes $44 million donated directly by congregants, who are asked to give 10 percent of their gross income; $10 million in product sales and sermon tapes; and $13 million brought in through direct-mail solicitations. The church’s greatest expense is the TV airtime it buys: $22 million last year to broadcast the show in more than 100 markets…An additional $13 million goes to administrative costs and salaries, and $9 million a year is spent on facilities and maintenance."
And the best reader comments I found:
"It's funny Osteen is preaching this message, because the person he links the "prosperity gospel" to was homeless, did not carry money on Him and depended on strangers to facilitate His meals, shelters, and companionship. He called his apostles to drop their careers and follow Him and the early followers did not believe in earthly wealth and dispersed their resources so that no one would be left behind."
"I am not Christian, but I do find these mega-churches rather amazing. You have a silver tongued man and his pretty wife beside him coning thousands of worshipers out of millions of dollars. What an amazing business model. As the US economy falters and the masses become more uncertain of their worldly futures I am sure these self appointed silver tongued men will do quite well."
So I find it completely disgusting and repulsive that in a time when people in China, Africa, and the Middle East are being raped, tortured and killed for simply saying they are a Christian, a church like this will spend $22 million dollars on TV promotions. As the article points out, Osteen is known for being a very liberal, lukewarm, middle of the road preacher. He doesn't like to offend. I think this is the kind of church/person Jesus was talking about when he said "I will spit you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16). God be with the man come judgment day.
And for more information on America's impending destruction be sure to check out this gem of a story: Megachurches, Megabucks
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July 17th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
“because the person he links the “prosperity gospel” to was homeless, did not carry money on Him and depended on strangers to facilitate His meals, shelters, and companionship.”
Leave it to a non-Christian to hit the nail on the head.
July 17th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hmmm, 45,000 people attending
$76 million in revenue
$13 million in Salaries/benefits
CBC’s last financial report;
4500 people attending
$11 million in revenue
$5.5 million in Salaries/benefits
1/10th the size,
1/7th the revenue
nearly 1/2 the cost in salaries and benefits
July 18th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Yeah I bet you Frank gets pretty irked when he sees those kinda numbers, must be hard to live in the shadows of more prominent con men. Especially when you consider that Osteen went to Oral Roberts too, but dropped out after his freshman year. Now he gets $13 million advances on his books while Frank, who has a PHD, probably gets less then $100K.
August 6th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Come on, keep on the wrongness of prosperity teaching. Leave the personal attacks to desperate politicians and junior highers.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:01 am
August 17th, 2008 at 11:11 am
I’ve always found the “God wants me to be rich” argument to be somewhat ironic. He wanted his son to be poor, homeless, etc., but wants you to be rich? What does that say about you?
August 17th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Ok Ok. Everyone has to watch this youtube clip. It is from an Australian TV show called Chasers War on Everything. I don’t know if anyone is familiar with the show, but it is hilarious.
The clip is about Christian TV and evangelicals, like Joel Osteen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15u6fHkICxc
August 17th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
That was hilarious. I have seen Mike Murdoch in person. The creapiness level is multiplied. The Creflo Dollar clip is also very funny.
August 24th, 2008 at 9:09 am
leave joel and gloria alone, they are wonderful..very inspiring and they have a great church.thank you very much m.e.
August 24th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Inspiring? Lots of people are inspiring, but that does not legitimate their beliefs.
Joel sucks. If he is a Christian then I am not.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Thanks Maureen for further emphasizing the point. I’m completely dumbfounded that there are so many thousands, if not millions of people who by into his garbage. I could understand a few hundred, because that happens all the time. But why are the numbers for this guy so big? He preaches nothing of value. Sitting through one of his messages makes me want to fall asleep. And he doesn’t even have the showmanship of some of the other prosperity preachers to make it at least entertaining. I guess there are a lot of needy people who need their warm and fuzzy fix by being told that their OK (even though the Bible calls us filthy rags.)
August 26th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Reformer,
Yeah Joel is “amazing”. The numbers for that guy are so big, I believe, because the message is just so simple. I watched the guy for about 10 minutes again last night and I made the comment to my wife that every single one of his messages I have ever heard or seen has been blatantly man-centered. Story after story of people who have been positive in life and how it resulted for their earthly success.
All of these pretenders saying “peace, peace” when there is no peace. It is all over the place in so many different forms.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
In reviewing this, I think I was misunderstood. My point was, how come a church with 45,000 attending only spends a bit more than double($13,000,000) what a church of less than 4,500 does on salaries and benefits? In the 2007 CBC Annual report, they took in $11,382,482. Staff compensation, Benefits, and other personel costs were $5,946,338. That’s about 52% of the total! No wonder they don’t disclose what individuals make!