Joel Osteen, who is known for his effervescent personality and sunny disposition in nearly all matters, says he is not cheating people by not preaching about hell. “You know, it’s not hellfire and brimstone. But I say most people are beaten down enough by life,” Osteen said in a special Easter edition of CBS Sunday Morning. “They already feel guilty enough. They’re not doing what they should, raising their kids—we can all find reasons. So I want them to come to Lakewood or our meetings and be lifted up, to say, ‘You know what? I may not be perfect, but I’m moving forward. I’m doing better.’ And I think that motivates you to do better.”
Other pastors, however, believe fire and brimstone preaching may be what the church needs again. “To the shame of much of today’s church, there has been a firm and steadfast rejection of any truth that doesn’t result in people feeling happy affection for God,” writes Pastor John Burton. “While a core message of mine has to do with enjoyable and permeating intimacy with Jesus, I understand that it is not a mutually exclusive one. That teaching when it stands alone, apart from the full counsel of God’s Word, produces a people who don’t understand the fear of the Lord, the severity of their lifestyle decisions or the intensity and nearness of eternity.” READ MORE
You need to preach about both. .Heaven and Hell
That’s the truth
You want your church to be pleasant and easy to get along with by not teaching the nitty gritty about salvation. An ‘easy’ church is often liked by a lot of people. It makes them comfortable with the thought that the are worthy of salvation by ‘just being a member and giving tithes’. The idea of hell is not difficult to swallow. But it is the laws of God that gets into conflict with ones daily life like stealing, fornication, drunkenness, lying, laziness, greed, and apathy are some of the ‘difficult’ laws.
As I was reading this scripture verse, and asked how is this possible:
Hebrews 8:11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
Then immediately two gentle whispers came in to my heart THE LAW OF LOVE AND FORGIVENESS.
THE LAW OF LOVE
Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
THIS IS THE TOUGHEST DEAL TO SIMPLY UNDERSTAND SCRIPTURE IN IT’S ENTIRETY AS SIMPLE AS IT MAY SOUND.
My personal trainer and I watch your show every morning and when we meet at the gym we talk about your sermons. He brought you up in our group workout one day and the others jumped down his throat (so to speak). They said things like people having itching ears and like the up beat kind of things you preach about. I must admit I got mad at them. I don’t need someone beating me down all the time like most preachers do. I need the uplifting.
Lately your sermons have been directed at both my trainer and myself about things we are going through and it is refreshing to listen to you.
I will continue to watch your program every morning and not listen to the negative thoughts of others.
Thank you for being a blessing!
If you don’t teach it, people won’t know about it……sorry Satan who ????
Motivating people to do better is not what gets you to Heaven. It’s the Blood of Jesus. Salvation is found in Jesus alone. Jesus mentioned hell in the New Testament more than He mentioned Heaven. Does Mr. Osteen believe himself to be better than Jesus? He is not a pastor. He is a motivational speaker.