5 Reasons “I Declare” @JoelOsteen Deadly

Earlier today I looked at Joel Osteen’s new book “I Declare”.  I closed by saying that I would give at least 5 reasons why Osteen’s teaching isn’t just smiley ignorance but is damnable serpent talk.  That might seem strong.  Other might wonder why I’m even bothering with an article like this.  I hope you see why by the end of the article. 

1. It tarnishes an actually good practice.  This is actually the main reason that I decided to tackle this particular Osteen book.  I speak frequently about the benefit of preaching the gospel to ourselves.  Though it’s as different as night and day Osteen’s practice could easily be confused with preaching the gospel to yourself.  I don’t want people to read Osteen’s book and think, “oh, this is what Pastor Mike is talking about”.  No, it’s not.  I’m talking about preaching the bloody-Cross gospel and not the smiley-prosperity non-gospel. 
2. It leads to a wrong focus.  Go here.  Look at all of the declarations.  Now match that up with biblical ambitions.  Jesus said, “you’ll know them by their fruits”.  It looks to me that for the most part the fruit of “I Declare” is turning God into a big magical genie that grants our wish in 5 years time.  I’ve yet to determine what would be worse, if these people actually get their wish or if their hopes are dashed.  Either way I hope that each of them are thrown to the merciful feet of the Savior. 
3. It kills missions and feeds American consumerism instead of crucifying it.  Jesus talked about the dangers of barn building.  Looking at all of the “I declares” it seems to me that these people will have really nice barns but very little eternal treasure.  The big “dreams” in the Scriptures dealt with extending the glory of God to the ends of the earth and often through suffering saints.  It had little to do with spreading American prosperity and extending our feeble man-centered individualistic dreams.
4. It’s idolatry.  The idolatry is so vast in this that it’s hard to really pinpoint the idol.  Honestly, I think the “idol” might be a jacked up view of faith and the bowing down is to a Santa Claus Jesus.  Just think about what the “glory” goes to in the midst of success.  Joel’s principles?  My faith?  These declarations?  It’s disgusting and robs the Lord of His glory. 
5. It mocks the suffering.  Awhile back Joel Osteen tweeted, “Your life will always follow your thoughts. If you always think positive, you'll be positive”.  Jared Wilson aptly responded “So suck it up, AIDS orphans”.  Jared’s tongue in cheek exposes the problem with Osteen’s serpent philosophy.  This junk doesn’t work in a land ravaged by AIDS and filled with orphans.  In fact it mocks them.  If only they would put these declarations in place then they could have American prosperity.

I know that Joel Osteen can make you feel really good about yourself.  He seems like such a nice and innocent guy.  But he’s not.  He’s an idolater and a false teacher.  I’ll close with a response that I offered to someone accusing me of throwing stones at prosperity teachers. 

…my intention is not to throw stones for the sake of throwing stones. But to throw stones at a wolf that is trying to convince the sheep to drink poison.

I Declare… “This is Whack”

One of my favorite moments from the Office is when a flat broke Michael Scott learns about the option of declaring bankruptcy.  If he only declares bankruptcy then all of his bills are gone.  So he does just that:

We laugh at this because it is ludicrous to think that just because we declare something that it will somehow be spoken into existence.  I love when Michael says, “I didn’t say it, I declared it”.  It’s silly to think that you can declare something and it will inevitably happen.  Right?

According to Joel Osteen, Michael Scott is on to something.  His latest book “I Declare” is a collection of the most powerful blessings in Scriptures.  According to Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”.  Osteen wants people to speak blessings into their future rather than curses.  If you want to know who you’ll be in five years just look at the words you say about yourself today.  If you buy this book you can “take charge of your future”.  For 31 days you can declare what God says about you instead of those negative words.  Your world will be changed.

Where He Is Right

What Osteen is really encouraging people to do is to preach to themselves.  And there really is value in preaching to ourselves (provided the content is correct).  Furthermore, we really ought to be certain that our identity is founded upon God’s view of us rather than a fallen view of ourselves.  The words we say really do matter.  They don’t have the same amount of power that Osteen wants them to have—but the Bible is clear that the tongue is a powerful instrument for good and for evil.  He gets that much correct.  But then…

He Totally Shanks It

While there is benefit in proclaiming the gospel to yourself and there is a benefit in seeing yourself the way that God does, Osteen’s muddy non-gospel taints every single one of these declarations.  His theology has no room for a blood-soaked Cross or disciples following the dangerous path of the Suffering Servant.  Woodbridge and Jones summarize Osteen’s “non-gospel” well when they state:

Osteen’s gospel, then, is that Jesus died in order to save man from a less than ideal life.  Absent from his preaching is a well-defined concept of original sin, as well as a biblical explanation of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Of course, within prosperity theology these omissions make sense, for negative thoughts impact your ability to gain God’s favor; thus, sin and the cross are omitted.  (Health, Wealth & Happiness, 77)

Consider Osteen’s version of preaching the prosperity gospel to yourself.  Here he encourages us to wake up and proclaim these words to ourselves:

“Good morning, you beautiful thing.  Good morning, you handsome thing.  Good morning, you blessed, prosperous, successful, strong, talented, creative, confident, secure, disciplined, focused, highly favored child of the Most High God.”  (emphasis mine)

Now let’s see how that gels with the Apostle Paul who declared himself to be the chief of sinners:

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
(Ephesians 1:16-23 ESV, emphasis mine)

See the difference?  Osteen has us looking within ourselves and calling ourselves amazing.  Paul (and I could have pulled in a host of other verses) has us looking outward.  Looks within always are met with declarations similar to “I’m the chief of sinners” but quickly followed by a “BUT, in Christ…”  And it’s not declarations of “since I’m in Christ I’m now promised prosperity”.  No it’s quite often “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…” 

The last time I checked the only One with the power to speak things into existence is the Almighty.  Our faith in Him doesn’t somehow give us the power to then look outside of Him and “change our futures”.  No, our faith calls us to look solely to Him and to trust the work of His hands, not conjure up a world of our own making. 

Why This Matters

Inevitably somebody will respond that I am being too harsh on Joel.  After all isn’t he a nice chap that is just trying to help people?  It’s not like he’s telling people to go out and throw kittens in wood-chippers.  He’s simply telling people to think more positively about themselves and consider themselves the way that God does.  What is so wrong about that? 

Quite a bit, actually.

Later today I’ll give you at least 5 reasons why this teaching of Joel Osteen isn’t just smiley ignorance but it’s damnable serpent talk. 

Borrowed Light: Today in Blogworld 12/31

Looks like bloggers are back to work this morning; as soon as I looked at my Google Reader I noticed 28 new posts. It being New Year's Eve, I thought it wise to point you to a couple articles on the New Year. Matt Harmon points us to Jonathan Edwards Resolutions; which are always good to read this time of year. It is especially important that we remember Edwards' beginning statement: "Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him, by his grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake." I reminded our youth on Sunday that even if we make our New Year's resolution something to the effect of "determining to know nothing in 2008 but Jesus Christ and Him crucified", we will fail by January 2nd or 3rd. Therefore we must live under and preach the gospel to ourselves daily.

Many people use this time of year to reflect upon the past year, and sometimes their entire lives. John Piper considers it a yearly dress rehearsal for meeting Jesus. Therefore, this time of year can serve to awaken us to a realization of another year passed and another moment closer to meeting the Lord. Pyromaniacs use the last words of Benazir Bhutto to remind us of the frailty of life. How ironic that her last words were "Long live Bhutto". As this year draws to an end we must remember that the only way to accurately proclaim "Long live..." is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Last night Tim Challies summarized the Reality Check Conference. He concluded his blogging on sessions 6 and 7.

Timmy Brister concluded his 2007 Year in Review with post 10-6 and 5-1. One of these posts that particularly caught my interest was On Hitting Homiletical Homeruns. The conversation was also carried over at Said at Southern, here. The discussion is over plagiarism in the pulpit. The discussion began when James Merritt suggested going to his website and preaching his sermon instead of spending so much time putting together their own. This is not an uncommon thing. I frequently get fliers in the mail encouraging me to stop preparing sermons and do what really matters (and apparently what I should really want to do)--spend time with our youth. I wonder if this might be an unbiblical practice on top of another (shout out to Garrett). I wonder if we had a plurality of elders maybe a teaching pastor could spend time on sermon prep and the other elders could do some of those other things. Maybe the pastor was not meant to be the lone ranger and having to rip sermons off the internet because he spent 30 hours this week at the hospital and in counseling.

The 9 Marks newsletter has been posted online. This newsletter focuses on Corporate Prayer and will be worthy of checking out.

John Piper points us to Clyde Kilby's 10 Resolutions for Mental Health.

Lastly, the Irish Calvinist draws our attention to a video posted on James White's site. It compares Joel Osteen, The Secret, and Stuart Smalley. It would be humorous if Osteen did not boast 20,000+ deceived members. The reason I am so strongly opposed to Osteen is because he is a false prophet that deceives many. He preaches a half (maybe quarter) truth that is divorced from the bloody Cross of the Gospel. The problem is not that God doesn't want to bless us. The problem is that the blessing is not in material things it is in God Himself, and it comes through the Cross. Not only the Cross of Christ but also ours (Matthew 10:38). Here is the video: