General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJoel Osteen is a con man (my thoughts)
I just got in and turned on my TV and saw Joel Osteen ..... the man
is very good, very slick, and a total con man .... send me your money
and when you die God has an extra comfy couch for you in heaven.
I wonder if he even believes the stuff he is selling?
Skittles
(152,965 posts)no, he does not believe what he is selling; he is simply a master at making idiots believe he believes
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)... and I said: That guy and and wife are crooks in it for the money!
And now I see your post here, what a coincidence
rrneck
(17,671 posts)Here's a good book.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
It's a free ebook. It's very enlightening.
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)His dad would snarl on commercials saying, "Come to the Oasis of Love!"
I'm more qualified to be a Christian minister than he is. Which is not saying a whole lot.
I don't think he donates any money to charity, or has established any charities. I know he takes in a LOT of money in donations every day. And lives in a $2 million house.
Warpy
(110,913 posts)It's as much a business to him as it is to Pat Robertson and the rest of the televagelist pompadour squad.
I don't give any of them the benefit of a doubt. Sincere people don't make millions off poor folks trying to buy their way out of hell.
For future reference:
Wwagsthedog
(1,533 posts)Heather MC
(8,084 posts)There may have been some Sincerity back in the 1st CENTURY. But once money got involved, God became a prop, All Religions uses, for suckers to fill the collection plates.
At least Gene Scott counted the money on camera
Live Well, Think Free
Berlum
(7,044 posts)"God's Angry Man" is a 1981 documentary film about Gene Scott, directed by Werner Herzog. The film was produced for television.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God%27s_Angry_Man
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)Warpy
(110,913 posts)Awwwwww....
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)Warpy
(110,913 posts)but he's been out and farting away for some time.
He's just gotten better at dancing at the edge of illegality while he swims in the swamp of utterly unethical behavior.
longship
(40,416 posts)Gotta love the glossolalia, always a good sign of a fraud who knows they're deceiving.
Another of my favorites fraudsters is Bennie Hinn, who has to be aware of his scam of defrauding people by pretending to heal them.
Pious fraud! As if religion itself wasn't bad enough.
Journeyman
(15,001 posts)Zoeisright
(8,339 posts)Complete snake oil con men.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)eShirl
(18,466 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)Bible-god seems to have a burn-rate of cash that exceeds anything mere mortals could achieve.
Julie
Dr. Strange
(25,898 posts)Gidney N Cloyd
(19,781 posts)Brickbat
(19,339 posts)The perfect storm of magical thinking for profit.
spanone
(135,636 posts)fools & their money
Taverner
(55,476 posts)Called the Prosperity Gospel
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)At about the same time The Secret was hitting the mainstream. Although that prosperity thing has been around for decades, they seem to be cut from the same cloth.
meow2u3
(24,745 posts)Of course, he gets rich by conning unsuspecting followers out of their hard-earned money by making outrageous claims that the more money they give him, the closer to God they get. We all know it's one of the oldest scams in the book.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)He preaches a prosperity Gospel and I find that completely different what Jesus Christ is about.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,129 posts)Too bad their flock does, though.
CanonRay
(14,038 posts)Religious cons have a long history in this country, see Gantry, Elmer ca 1920's
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)Because I can't imagine him preaching a "send me your money and when you die God has an extra comfy couch ..."
I don't think he spends much time talking about heaven.
He's more on the order of "follow your dreams, don't let other people discourage you, God has a wonderful plan for your life".
I have watched a number of his shows. For a while there when I channel surfed I would stop and watch when I saw his show. At first I didn't like him. He seemed like a smug preppy rich guy and said something about it being bad to "criticize President Bush". But then I sorta liked his positive message when I listened to it some more. Nothing wrong with encouraging people.
But after a while I got tired of it. The problem is that Osteen preaches that "God has something great in store for you". As if we ALL are going to be President of the University or do big important things. I am not saying that people shouldn't necessarily have big dreams but the fact of the matter is that not everybody is gonna be President of a University or of a Bank or start their own publishing company or write the next Harry Potter series. In fact, MOST people are not gonna attain those heights.
Yet Osteen seems to preach that unless you do reach those heights, then you are a failure. You haven't done anything GREAT. But Martin Luther King preached, as Jesus preached that everybody CAN be great, but not by the traditional definition of greatness - doing an important, high status job. No, the Christian path to greatness is through service. Thus the University President's gardener,for example, can be great if that person serves society. He doesn't have to get an important high status job to be great, he can be great right where he is.
Zen Democrat
(5,901 posts)Oral Roberts - his slimy son
Jerry Falwell - his 2 sons
Billy Graham - Freaky Franklin
John Osteen - Joel
Just to mention a few.