By now you’ve probably seen the YouTube video of Victoria Osteen promising happiness because when we worship “you’re not doing it for God, really. You’re doing it for yourself.”
Victoria Osteen is the co-pastor with her husband Joel of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, a congregation that uses a former basketball arena for worship.
Joel Osteen is widely known as a proponent of the “prosperity gospel.” The prosperity gospel or “the health and wealth gospel” promises wealth, health, and prosperity to believers.
This is really nothing new. It’s been widely taught in this country for the last 100 years and around the world in the last 50 years. This has plenty of followers–Lakewood Church has over 20,000 worshipers each Sunday.
Christian historians note that the health and wealth Gospel has made major inroads in the church in South America.
Here’s the full transcript of what she said: “I just want to encourage everyone of us to realize: When we obey God, we’re not doing it for God. I mean, that’s one way to look at it . We’re doing it for ourselves. Because God takes pleasure when we’re happy. That’s the thing that gives Him the greatest joy this morning. So I want you to know this morning, just do good for your own self. 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. Amen?”
What should we say about the statement by Victoria Osteen?
First, this non-biblical belief should point us again to the importance–the necessity–to be good Bible students. We must be people who know the teaching of Scripture and live by it. We can’t simply listen to what anyone says about who God is and what God does. The Scripture is given to make God known to us. We should do all we can to know Him as He truly is.
Simply put, we must get our understanding of God from God Himself. He will teach us who He is and what matters to Him.
Let us be people who seek to know God and who live according to His word.
Second, in spite of what others may do, let us be faithful to who God really is.
As Joshua exhorted his generation, let us be people who determine to serve God faithfully and obediently. “My family and I are going to worship and obey the Lord!” (Joshua 24:15).
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4 Responses
My desire is to live a life that is pleasing to God and making God happy with me! As a result, I am happy Victoria! Of course she won’t see this!
I love to worship our Lord because He is worthy of all praise, He is holy, He is our breath. Even the rocks cry out! Wow, what a blessing, what a privilege we enjoy, to be in His holy presence. I think if I worshiped Him for me I would be rather self centered. I don’t think He taught us about how to be self centered. The Bible teaches us to depend on Him. I depend on Him and worship Him! My Savior, my friend, my breath.
It’s God not us whom we please
This saddens me for many reasons. I don’t personally know the Osteens. Hopefully this was an attempt to encourage that went awry, but that hope is admittedly a stretch.
It is also a reminder to me to consider my thoughts, words and actions making sure they line up with God. Recently the importance of advanced research was relearned after a sharing that would not have been had the not obvious been obvious. Well intended doesn’t erase the harmfulness of misleading.