Pastor Joel Osteen breaks down in tears
as he tells congregation $100m loan to
convert NBA stadium into Texas megachurch
has been paid off after just 19 years:
'It's because of your faithfulness'
Daily Mail (UK),
by
Isabelle Stanley
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
1/18/2024 3:01:50 PM
Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen has paid off a $100 million loan for renovations at his church in just 19 years with donations thanks to his congregation's 'faithfulness'.
Osteen burst into tears as he ripped up the loan agreement on Sunday during a service at the 17,000 seat NBA stadium turned church in Houston, Texas.
He has led the non-denominational Lakewood Church, popular with celebrities including Kanye West, for over 20 years and has grown the congregation to over 50,000 people, with some 200 million viewers tuning in online each week
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
Quigley 1/18/2024 3:36:37 PM (No. 1639159)
I wonder if the State of New York can sue. After all, he said he would repay it in 30 years. Isn’t it fraud to repay it in 19?
17 people like this.
I know very little about the man, but he creeps me out.
45 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Northcross 1/18/2024 4:05:39 PM (No. 1639180)
Hezekiah 13:8 "A Fool and his money are soon parted, particularly if the Fool attends Lakewood "Church".
21 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Snow Possum 1/18/2024 4:22:25 PM (No. 1639200)
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” (Matthew 6:21) Jesus' words.
Obviously his tears revealed just how much joy material things bring him. I wonder how many tears Osteen has shed over the poverty of others and how many dollars he has given sacrificially to improve their lives.
#2... you have the gift of discernment.
22 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
stablemoney 1/18/2024 4:22:37 PM (No. 1639201)
Osteen has earned everything he has got. He has written over a dozen books. His sermons are planned and well thought out. He built that church to 50K members, and his sermons attract all those tv followers. There is a lot of jealousy of his success. Can't we wish anyone happiness in their success, and without qualifiers?
12 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
anniebc 1/18/2024 4:42:46 PM (No. 1639215)
Nobody who blinks as much as this man should ever be trusted. He's a speaker, not a preacher. There's a difference. He knows everything about nothing and nothing about things of substance.
17 people like this.
I am proud of any church that has the good sense to be debt free.
But I have always been uneasy watching him smile while he speaks, regardless of what he is saying. I can't even do that.
8 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Rubinski 1/18/2024 6:02:32 PM (No. 1639265)
I will leave it to God to be his judge.
8 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
dbdiva 1/18/2024 6:07:59 PM (No. 1639272)
Joel Osteen is really just a motivational speaker --- nothing more. Very little of what he teaches is Scriptural. He shouldn't be calling himself a pastor. Years ago I used to listen to him from time to time. Never once did he give a sermon about sin; his sermons seem to be about what God can do for you if you just "believe". He's a huckster IMO.
Unfortunately there are many pastors like him in megachurches these days so the faithful need to be discerning. Joel Osteen is pandering to people who want their ears tickled; I doubt he's interested in ensuring that anyone in his congregation finds the "narrow road". Mammon is his god.
16 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
mc squared 1/18/2024 6:19:16 PM (No. 1639291)
A church that needs that kind of money for renovations gets my hackles up. Donations? Too bad churches are exempt from taxes
8 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
chumley 1/18/2024 6:46:02 PM (No. 1639311)
I had an elderly great aunt years ago who regularly sent money she couldn't afford to one of those TV preachers. She said he was a good man doing God's work. Yeah, while living in a mansion, driving limos and hiring hookers with her social security.
Not me. I will not be conned by slick hair, a permanent smile, a $5000 suit and an uncanny ability to know exactly how much cash God wants.
15 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
watashiyo 1/18/2024 6:50:41 PM (No. 1639313)
"Greater Fools Theory" is proven through Olsteen and his ignorant so-called, "congregations".
10 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
hershey 1/18/2024 8:20:28 PM (No. 1639373)
You know, I"m not much on TV evangelists...long time ago I heard a song called 'Satellite Salvation'...and it has stuck with me...send in your money and don't worry about feeding the nations, but buy a satellite downlink and broadcast to the world and use the money...or something like that...or plant your seed for only $500 or whatever...
3 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Ketchuplover 1/18/2024 9:29:44 PM (No. 1639408)
False Prophet (and it's both sad and scary to realize how many people are falling for his deception.)
8 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
JoElla Bee 1/18/2024 10:35:08 PM (No. 1639427)
I always think about the following verses, and others similar to them, when I see gatherings of huge numbers of people at so-called mega-churches listening to prosperity doctrine speakers who take the few scattered verses they may use out of context, & ask for money for books and literature that they are selling. It’s prosperous alright - to them.
Then go online and hear actual preachers of the Gospel giving Book, Chapter, & Verse for everything taught in the messages they are preaching before small half-empty auditoriums, and admonishing their audiences - in person & watching remotely - to search the scriptures to make certain that what they are being told is true. Hearing them offering sound biblical literature free of charge, at no expense to the listener. Telling them to call at no expense, or requests for donations, if they have questions. The truth is being taught with genuine concern for saving souls - but few there be that find it. Religious beliefs matter to salvation of the soul.
Some of the falsehoods being taught are so far removed from truth that anyone with even rudimentary knowledge of scripture should be able to recognize the context as false.
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,
Matthew 7
~13-16~
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.
~21-23~
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Acts 17:10-11
Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
4 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Geoman 1/19/2024 12:39:10 AM (No. 1639475)
I smell freshly laundered money being claimed as charitable donations. Not passing judgment, just noticing the funny smell.
1 person likes this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Highlander 1/19/2024 9:08:49 AM (No. 1639653)
50k members? I go to a home Bible study once a month with five in attendance. That is sufficient for me. I don’t need to be lost in a vast crowd to be blessed.
4 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Aubreyesque 1/19/2024 12:22:07 PM (No. 1639874)
I miss seeing concerts at The Summit. City fathers saw fit to sell it to that snake oil man and we have to travel to the north of Houston in the Woodlands...to an OUTDOOR concert venue...to see anyone worthwhile. Houston sucks.
0 people like this.
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