There are also people that get hope from Tony Robbins' messages...but that doesn't make him a preacher.Quote:
I could care less what or how he or anyone for that matter preaches. I'm sure there are many people that get some form of peace or hope from his message.
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Who am I, or who are we to have a problem with that.
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What is truth to you might not be truth to everyone. I'll admit I'm no poster child for a good Christian, but I believe what I believe. It is truth to me.
Only I will know if MY truth was correct or not. Nothing will change that. Only YOU will know if your truth will be correct.
I can only hope that God will forgive us all for everything, even what we believe.
I dont know why I'm replying on this thread, but I take issue with assigning the theory of 'believe anything' to Christianity. Those are opposing ideologies, but something that continues to be very prevalent these days.
For a believer, it flies in the face of Christianity to ignore the Bible, and then claim 'truth is relative'. There are very definitive truths that are not the least bit reciprocal with other beliefs. And we have scripture to specifically compare God's word, with that of a guy like Osteen. It's like saying, "The manual might say my car can't float, but I believe it can, because it's my car". Well, good luck with that, but your car doesnt float; maybe you can make/buy a boat...but it's not the car described in the manual.
If you're a believer, you're instructed to use discernment, and not accept the message from everyone who calls themselves a preacher. Otherwise, you're receiving a jumbled, inconsistent and confusing message. It muddies the actual message...which is precisely what scripture warns against. It's exactly what satan hopes to accomplish, and what the Disciples in the early church continually warned against.
The issue isn't his message, in and of itself. It's that he's a motivational speaker claiming his errant words as scriptural, when they are obviously not.
If you don't accept scripture as God's word. I understand your position. You dont believe any of it, so why would you care about a debate regarding Osteen's message, and if it's scriptural? But if you do accept God's word...the Bible is very clear about it.
2 Timothy 4:3
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions
Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
Matthew 7:15
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
2 Peter 2:3
And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Many many more verses about this....
