Michael Spencer at Internetmonk has written another piece on Joel Osteen. See “Osteen Redux.” Spencer concludes his piece by summarizing his criticisms of Osteen:
“1) As presented in his books and messages, Joel Osteen isn’t an evangelical. He’s a motivational speaker.
“2) No matter what his personal or occasional doctrinal statements, Osteen’s books and sermons are absent the Gospel message.
“3) The vast majority of Osteen’s message is simply advice for being a better person- the antithesis of the cross and the Gospel.
“4) The MSMs attention to Osteen as a successor to Billy Graham should be loudly opposed by every pastor, preacher, teacher, leader and blogger in evangelicalism.
“5) The promotion of Osteen by publishing interests is an outright detriment to the cause of Christ in the name of making money.”
Spencer’s original post on Osteen has drawn thousands of readers and was cited recently in a Time magazine article. I have pointed to that post before, and here it is again: “Outing Joel Osteen” (Jan. 29, 2005).
