Christians Respond To Victoria Osteen's Claim:
'When We
Obey God….
We're
Doing It For Ourself'
By
Antonia Blumberg 09/04/2014
2 Timothy 4: 3 -4
3 For the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their
own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Lakewood Church co-pastor Victoria Osteen received backlash
from the Christian community after video footage of an August sermon surfaced
showing Osteen encouraging congregants to "do good for your own
self."
The pastor, who is married to televangelist Joel Osteen,
told the congregation that the key to making God happy is first making oneself
happy. Osteen said:
“When we obey God, we're not doing it for
God...we're doing it for ourself. Because God takes pleasure when we're happy.
Do good 'cause God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you
worship Him, you're not doing it for God, really. You're doing it for yourself
because that's what makes God happy.”
Once the video began making rounds on social media, many in
the Christian community took to Twitter and personal blogs to express their dismay
at Osteen's comments.
Steve Camp, pastor of The Cross Church in Palm City,
Florida, told Christian News Network that Osteen's remarks went directly
against scripture:
Camp also satated to Christian News Network that
he viewed the video on Wednesday, and while saddened, he was not surprised at
her remarks. He stated that Osteen’s statements were humanistic in nature and
antithetical to Scripture.
“It’s the age old sin of idolatry—that it’s not about God,
it’s about us,”
he explained.
“True worship for the humanist is about how we
feel at the end of the day and what gives us meaning, as opposed to what gives
God glory.”
“When we come to see men happy rather than God
glorified, it’s not worship, it’s idolatry,”
Camp stated, reading from Psalm 115:1, which states,
“Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for
thy truth’s sake.”
He said that Osteen’s words were essentially blasphemous
because they disregard God’s holiness and the way that He is to be
worshiped.
“She honestly believes that God exists to make us happy
rather than holy,” Camp lamented. “She honestly believes that worship is about
our fulfillment rather than His glory. That’s the bottom issue here.”
But he outlined that Scripture commands man to be
selflessly abandon themselves to Christ and to not worry about their own lives.
“1 Corinthians so clearly says that whether we eat or
drink, do it all to the glory of God. It’s not just self,” Camp stated. “Jesus
said … in Matthew 16, ‘Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me.’”
Camp also pointed to Acts 20:24, which reads,
“[N]either
count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy,
and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the
gospel of the grace of God.”
“The Osteens have just inverted that. They think it’s not
the denial of self, but the exaltation of self,” Camp lamented.
“They’re not trying to pursue a cross; they’re trying to pursue prosperity.
And they’re certainly not following the biblical Jesus; they’re
following whatever brings happiness and contentment.”
When asked about the dangers of “me-centered”
church, Camp outlined numerous concerns.
He explained that besides such congregations not being a
real church to begin with, “me-centered” churches are based on pragmatism
over Scripture, the pleasure of men over the glory of God, and are more
concerned with being liked than being truthful. In doing so, such assemblies
thrust the Lord of the Church outside of the Church as in Laodicea, as
Christ declared,
“[T]hou
sayest, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,’ and
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked.”
“The gospel is always counter-cultural. It always
runs against that with which man wants to be satisfied and pleased with,” Camp
explained. “The me-centered church is about what’s temporal rather
than eternal. … The end of worship in a me-centered church has to be
money, has to be fame, has to be the pragmatics of temporal culture. Therefore,
it won’t do anything to offend a culture.”
“What’s the chief end of man? To bring glory to God and
enjoy him forever,” he stated, quoting from Thomas Watson. “I think that’s the
thing that’s been lost in our culture.”
Camp, who has spoken with Joel Osteen in the past, and has
urged him to speak boldly about Christ instead of worrying about public
opinion, said that if he were to encourage Victoria—whom he noted should not be
serving as “co-pastor” in the first place—he would call upon her to repent.
“Repent of
this self-oriented, feel good gospel you’ve embraced, and don’t let your life
be of any value to you or precious to yourself,”
he said.
“The chief
concern in this life is not us. The chief concern is that we bring glory to
God, that we further His gospel, and that we testify of His grace. We’re here
to do his bidding.”
On the other hand, college chaplain, Morgan Guyton, critiqued Osteen's wording but commended her effort to
push back against what Guyton called an "unhealthy attitude about worship
in the middle-class American church."
He argues, "The benefit that we gain from pretending
that we don’t benefit is the sense of moral superiority to other people... I
would revise Victoria Osteen’s words to point out that the way we gain true
happiness is to forget ourselves because of our delight in God."
Huffington Post reached out to Osteen about the criticism
but did not receive a response.
Have You Ever Heard This Concept Anywhere Else That
Osteen Is Presenting
Maybe Satanist Aleister Crowley’s
saying From The Pits Of Hell
"Do
what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." --AL. I. 40
"the law of the strong:
this is our law and the joy of the world." AL. II. 2
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." --AL. I. 40
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." --AL. I. 40
"thou hast no right but
to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay." --AL. I. 42-3
"Every man and every woman is a star." --AL. I. 3
There is no god but man.
1. Man has the right to live by his own law-- to live in the way that he wills to do:
to work as he will
to play as he will
to rest as he will
to die when and how he will
"Every man and every woman is a star." --AL. I. 3
There is no god but man.
1. Man has the right to live by his own law-- to live in the way that he wills to do:
to work as he will
to play as he will
to rest as he will
to die when and how he will
2. Man has the right
to eat what he will
to drink what he will
to dwell where he will
to move as he will on the face of the earth
to drink what he will
to dwell where he will
to move as he will on the face of the earth
3. Man has the right
to think what he will
to speak what he will
to write what he will
to draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build as he will
to dress as he will
to speak what he will
to write what he will
to draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build as he will
to dress as he will
4. Man has the right to love as he will:
"take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where, and with whom ye will."
-AL. I. 51
5. Man has the right to kill those who would thwart these rights.
"the slaves shall serve." --AL. II. 58
"Love is the law, love under will." --AL. I. 57
Source:
Aleister Crowley - Liber Oz - The Thelemic declaration of
the rights of man.
http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/libers/l...
http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/libers/l...
Oh my friends, I cannot express it enough. Read God's word
every day for yourself, pray in the Spirit continually, then these false prophets can’t fool you.
Messiah
himself hated “Religion” and warned us about the teachers of the law,
hypocrites, brood of vipers that teach tradition instead of the word of God.
There are too many wolves in sheep’s clothing (organized
religions) out there leading many earnest and sincere people straight to the
gates of hell.
“COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE”
( her = church = building=organized religion )
Please, my dear friends read the scriptures and see for
yourselves what it says. Don't trust anyone to tell you what scripture says.
Rely only on God’s Holy Spirit to lead and guide you and ask for his
discernment.
Even satan and his demons knows the scriptures, in fact,
very well. My friends, I encourage you to Fully Surrender receive and walk in
the Word and fullness of our Father, The Most High living God. Too many people
are lacking spirit, liveliness, or no interest at all about being a Believer in
Messiah.
My friends, We are at this present moment living out and
fulfilling end time prophecy. We are no longer waiting on the end spoken of in
Daniel & Revelation….IT IS HERE !
Pray for Wisdom, Knowledge, understanding, and discernment about God's Word and
that you will immediately identify and expose these “False Prophets and
Teachers.”
I know that many know what the Bible says but they twist it
to say what they want and typically, it is to justify humanistic views.
