Train your brain, or seek the Lord?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2014/09/23/joel-osteen-interview-train-your-brain-to-be-a-public-speaking-rock-star/

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This is NOT another "bash Joel Osteen" blog/post/article
I was however, greatly disturbed by reading the above article, especially by this sentence:

"When you get up in front of people, believe that they want to hear you. Act like they like you" - Joel Osteen

My thoughts on it?  I find it tragic and sad that this man, who claims to be a Pastor, first of all, believes that the crowds come to hear him, because they like him.  And secondly, how he talked about preparing for his sermons, as if they were a meticulously rehearsed speech- which they are apparently.  Ministers of the gospel are supposed to be vessels, through which the Holy Spirit of GOD moves in order to touch lives.  They are his "mouth piece".  A preachers MESSAGE was never meant to be their message at all- it was meant to be a message from GOD, delivered to his people, through his servant.  God will not be limited to an exact time frame, nor can the word he he wants given to those particular people in that particular meeting be "learned, and rehearsed".  And if people go to church only to hear the speaker, because they like the speaker, rather than to hear a word from the LORD that will draw them closer to him, then they've missed one of the most important reasons of going to church.....or even a gathering in a stadium, if it's supposed to be a worship gathering.

Joel Osteen proves in this interview, that he is nothing more than a public motivational speaker- the words he recites to people may well be very inspiring, very helpful, very motivational......but they are NOT the gospel message of GOD.  Oh his speeches may have just enough religious catch-phrases, and even a few scriptures thrown in so that he can still string along the millions of Christian people who are wooed by his positive flesh-petting words, but they do not carry a message of sin and redemption, of conviction and repentance, of consecration, change, separation, or anything else in the word of God that might offend or cause the listener to be uncomfortable in any way. 

It has been said that God's anointing must be upon Joel Osteen, because he pastors the largest church in America.  Large crowds of followers are not an indication of the anointing of God, according to the Bible.  However, what it DOES say about the true prophets, the true proclaimers of the gospel message, was that they were stoned, they were ridiculed and hated, they were imprisoned......even tortured and crucified.  Large crowds were spoken of in the Bible though..... in Matthew 7:14, Jesus said "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it."

It's an ironic thing, that in the very next verse, he warned "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves"

While Joel Osteen might be sincere in his desire to help people, and while he may not be an evil person, he IS claiming to be a Pastor, and that if people will follow his message of positive thinking and living, it will lead them to heaven- and THAT makes him spiritually, a false prophet- a danger to one's eternal soul, because he causes them to believe a lie......and for those that have believed in his message only, they are following a wrong path that will end in eternal destruction.  The Lord is not returning for a church that is positive, successful, and happy- he is coming for a church that is looking for him, a bride who has made herself ready, has turned her back on sin, has been washed in the blood of the lamb, and forsaken the world to follow him.

Oil and water do not mix.  While the speeches that Joel Osteen gives about thinking positively and looking for happiness and success in life may not be particularly evil, they are NOT the message of a Pastor- or evangelist/minister.  He does not preach the whole truth of the gospel, and that has resulted in millions of "Christians" who remain the same spiritually after their "conversions" and who do not worship the God of the Bible, but who worship the god of self who has been lifted high upon the alter of Lakewood church