re: Joel Osteens church gets burglarized over night.

I am not a fan of Mr. Osteen's brand of preaching. I think he sounds like Kane from Poltergeist ("Cross over children. All are welcome. All welcome. Go into the Light. There is peace and serenity in the light"). However, he is apparently honest about what he is doing Watch the first 3 min. I find his material possessions unnecessary, but not offensive. I don't know his heart or his true focus of worship (for him personally). I do know that he is able to reach thousands if not millions based on the financial means of his organization. Are those people who find Christ through his network any less saved because of his potentially flawed character?

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and it bothers me greatly that far too many people like Joel Osteen have used the Christian faith as a vehicle to become unbelievably wealthy.

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what bothers me is that far too many people are buying his snake oil making him unbelievably wealthy...

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what bothers me is that far too many people are buying his snake oil making him unbelievably wealthy...

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You know he makes nothing off of the Church, Church Broadcasts, etc?

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I think he's referring to preachers not people who are just christians and make $$$. They're shielded from taxes that us non-clerical plebes have to pay.

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Preachers pay taxes.

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You know he makes nothing off of the Church, Church Broadcasts, etc?

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You are absolutely right. But he makes money through his Church, on his TV show and at his events with books, merchandise and tickets. He passes the bucket (or can pay by credit card) to "give" to the ministry (which is a 501C3 - meaning it doesn't pay taxes either).

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Sure he does. Maybe not directly.

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So if he closed the church tomorrow, shut it down, locked the doors and threw away the key forever, would that soothe your heartburn?

We live in a world where Sandra Bullock is pulling in $100million for doing a single movie. JK Rowling is a Billionaire largely off of 7 books. Osteen makes people feel better. What should he make? He's written a half dozen NYT #1 Best Sellers. What should he make off of those?

I really don't get the sanctimonious BS.

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Look, I'm an atheist, but Jesus' message was all about casting off earthly wealth, giving all you had to help those who had nothing.... The poor, the sick, those in prison, children. It was also about humility.

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No it wasn't.

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I've got no problem with building wealth. I'm a capitalist, but just don't tell me you're a Christian....

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Say hello to King Solomon.

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One thing I don't get is that you need money to help all of those people. If we are just supposed to give all of our money to the poor and sick, then why earn money in the first place? Just be poor and don't work instead of working and being poor anyway because you give away your money to others.

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You shouldn't. That's NOT what Jesus preached and is being taken out of context. Like how people who do not believe in the Bible and do not read it claim to have an understanding of it as a whole.

It seems to me like some of us here are taking one extreme or another with regards to the wealth issue. Like I said before, the person who taught me the most about the Bible has been in ministry for over 40 years (I haven't known about him nearly that long....lol). He and his wife had serious financial problems for the first 10 years or so, and they probably didn't do all that well, financially speaking, for the first 20 years or so.

Today, this man is in his mid-60's, he has a television and radio ministry, still travels as an evangelist, and has a Bible school. He currently draws a salary of approximately $224K, and his wife makes about $88K. I have no problem with that. But, that's night and day different from what Joel Osteen is taking in. The fact that he lives in a $10 million dollar house should tell everybody that saving souls isn't his priority.

Speaking of saving souls, somebody mentioned all the people who have been saved because of Joel Osteen's ministry. My question is, saved to what? How many of you have ever actually watched him? He doesn't preach the Word of God! If a person was ignorant of the contents of the Bible, they could go to that church 3 times a week for a year, and they would still be ignorant concerning the Bible. Joel Osteen is all about "just feel good, be confident, and turn that frown upside down.". I'm not saying it's a bad message, but Jesus is an afterthought with him.

Also, a couple of things regarding Joel Osteen not taking a salary from the church. He used to, but I think it was some criticism of how wealthy he is that led him to take that step. But imo, here's why it really doesn't matter:

(1) How much revenue would Joel Osteen be generating from book sales if his Father had not started a church/ministry? If Joel Osteen had simply been some anonymous person without the high profile that Lakewood Church has provided for him, we probably never would've heard of him. My point is, all the revenues are generated based on the exposure his Dad's church has afforded him.

(2) So what if he doesn't take a salary from the church? A whole lot of people are, and that just means that Osteen is getting his money from other revenue which is being generated from the ministry. Don't be fooled by a technicality, or a gimmick. The revenues are there, in one form or another, and the Osteen family have been like pigs at the trough.

As a Christian who has seen many ministers and ministries do things the right way, I deplore the charlatans. All the souls they've saved? These charlatans have driven millions of people away from Jesus.

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He was in Knoxville, TN a few weeks back, speaking in the basketball arena. Tickets ranged from about $30.00 to $350.00 per ticket.

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How does that compare to charges for anyone else selling out that arena?