In my final post on the subject of false prophets and teachers, I consider in detail some of the teachings of Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen. Here are links to the three parts to this series (HINT: if you haven't read parts 1 & 2, they are the foundation for understanding this post):
Part 1 - Understanding Biblical Truths Today: Heaven is for Real and Jesus Calling
Part 2 - Heretical Teachings: The Word of Faith Movement & "Prosperity Gospel"
Part 3 - Heretical Teachings: Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer
I often get asked about teachers and whether I would recommend them or not. It is a touchy issue, but an essential role for a pastor to guide sheep into God's truths and to protect them from Satan's lies. As I stated in my previous posts, false teachings and prophecies are on the increase and are more subtle and mainstream than most Christians are aware.
That being said, I believe Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer are not simply bad teachers, but false teachers because they fundamentally misrepresent (1) Who God is (2) What Christ's atonement, salvation, & sanctification are all about (3) What faith is & (4) What the Scriptures really say.
Why did you pick Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer as false teachers to
highlight? Joel Osteen and Joyce
Meyer are two of the more influential speakers and authors among my church
congregation and represent a spectrum of the Word of Faith movement (little
Scripture used to no Scripture used) that helps warn us about the spectrum of
heresies.
Why do you state
that Joel Osteen is a false teacher? Mr. Osteen is an entertaining and encouraging speaker but
fails to share the Gospel completely and uses Scripture out of context. Mr. Osteen makes these errors: (1) The Bible
is about me and my glory rather than God's glory (2) Minimizes and ignores sin,
thus failing to present the Gospel (3) Disregards a biblical understanding of
suffering, that sometimes such suffering is God’s will (4) Places the source and object of faith on oneself (5) Makes salvation more
about my life now than an eternity with Christ (6) Consistently uses Scripture
out of context (7) Ongoing association and endorsement of other Word of Faith
leaders (8) Misrepresents what “need” is, characterizes it being okay to want/desire more worldly treasures (9) Makes himself a "prophet" of his own future and (10) Goes to God in prayer with a "genie in the bottle" approach and (11) Many of his teachings follow the Word of Faith and
“prosperity gospel” misunderstandings of who God is and what salvation is
ultimately all about.
Here are some example quotes that evidences Mr. Osteen's false teachings...
ñ “When you say of the Lord you are healthy, you are whole,
you are free, you are blessed, you are prosperous – when you say it, God has
promised He will do it. ...If you are not sharing in His favor, you might want
to watch your words. Here's the key: If
you don't unleash your words in the right direction, if you don't call in
favor, you will not experience those blessings.
Nothing happens unless we speak. Release your faith with your words.” (It's
Your Time, 121-23.)
ñ “Our thoughts have tremendous power. Remember, we draw into
our lives that which we constantly think about.
If we're always dwelling on the negative, we will attract negative
people, experiences, and attitudes.” (Your Best Life Now, 109)
ñ “Our words have tremendous power, and whether we want to or
not, we will give life to what we're saying, either good or bad... Words are
similar to seeds, by speaking them aloud, they are planted in our subconscious
minds, and they take on a life of their own.” (Your Best Life Now, 122)
ñ “I've come to expect to be treated differently. I've learned to expect people to want to help
me. My attitude is this: I'm a child of
the Most High God. My Father created the
whole universe. He has crowned me with
favor; therefore, I can expect preferential treatment. I can expect people to go out of their way to
want to help me.” (Your Best Life Now, 38-39).
ñ “there is a miracle in your mouth. If you want to change your world, start by
changing your words...If you'll learn how to speak the right words and keep the
right attitude, God will turn that situation around.” (Your Best Life Now,
125)
ñ “Everything I put my
hands to prospers and suceeds! Friend, when you make those kinds of bold
declarations, all heaven comes to attention to back up God's Word.” (Your
Best Life Now, 130)
ñ “with our words, we can prophesy our own future” (Your
Best Life Now, 114)
ñ “God has breathed His life into you. He planned seeds of
greatness in you. You have everything you need to fulfill your God-given
destiny....It's all in you. You are full of potential. But you have to do your
part and start tapping into it...You have the seed of Almighty God on the
inside of you...We have to believe that we have what it takes.” (Becoming A
Better You, p.5)
ñ “We have to conceive it on the inside before we're ever
going to receive it on the outside. If you don't think you can have something
good, then you never will.” (Your Best Life Now, p. 3)
ñ “I can guarantee you that your difficult situation will
never improve as long as you stay in a negative frame of mind. But if you'll
develop an attitude of faith and expect events to change positively, then at
the right time, that situation will turn around.” (Your Best Life Now,
p. 16)
ñ “God wants to increase you financially, by giving you
promotions, fresh ideas, and creativity.” (Your Best Life Now, p.5)
ñ “God wants you to live an overcoming life of victory. He
doesn't want you to barely get by. He's called El Shaddai, 'the God of more than enough.' He's not 'El Cheapo,'
the God of barely enough!” (Your Best Life Now, p.33)
ñ “No, God wants to give you your own house. God has a big
dream for your life.” (Your Best Life Now, p.35)
ñ “God wants to make your life easier. He wants to assist
you, to promote you, to give you advantages.” (Your Best Life Now, p.38)
ñ “You don't have to dwell on every thought that comes to
your mind. The first thing you need to do is ascertain where that thought is
coming from. Is that thought from God, is it your own thought, or is it a
destructive thought from the enemy? How
can you tell? Easy. If it's a negative thought, it's from the enemy.” (Your
Best Life Now, p.109)
ñ “Forgive the people who did you wrong. Forgive yourself for
the mistakes you have made. You may even need to forgive God.” (Your Best
Life Now, p.144).
ñ “I am blessed; I am prosperous; I am healthy; I am
continually growing wiser.” (Become a Better You, 131)
ñ Beginning
of messages, claiming his messages are rooted in Scripture: “This is my Bible. I am what it says I am, I have what it
says I have, I can do what it says I can do. Today I’ll be taught the Word of
God. I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive, I will never be
the same, in Jesus name.” (Sermon online, December 1, 2013)
ñ Typical “Gospel presentation”: “We never like to close our
broadcast without giving you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your
life. Would you pray with me? Just say,
'Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins, come into my heart, I make you my Lord and
Savior.” (Sermon online, December 1, 2013)
Why do you state that Joyce Meyer is a false teacher? Mrs. Meyer is
an articulate speaker with a great intellectual knowledge of the Bible. My concerns with Mrs. Meyer that make me warn
others that she is a false teacher are: (1) Claims of personal revelation from
God and angels that she shares verbatim her audience (2) Years of financial
improprieties and greed within her ministry organization (3) Failing to
distance or deny her association with the Word of Faith movement and
“prosperity gospel” (4) Continued emphasis on God’s blessings through health,
wealth, and prosperity instead of presenting a biblical understanding and
balance (5) Ongoing misunderstanding on the essence of faith through the
“power” of words (6) Improper descriptions and actions towards the demonic (naming
of spirits and rebuking) (7) Ongoing active association and endorsement of other Word
of Faith leaders (8) Misrepresenting what “need” is, characterizes it being okay
to want “as much as I can handle properly” ("Power Thoughts" message, part 4) (9)
She ignores a biblical understanding of suffering, that sometimes such
suffering is God’s will (10) Goes to God in prayer with a "genie in the bottle" approach and (11) Many of her teachings follow the Word of Faith and
“prosperity gospel” misunderstandings of who God is and what salvation is
ultimately all about.
Here are some example quotes that evidences Mrs. Meyer's false teachings...
ñ “I don't want to spend my whole life talking about the
promised land without ever getting there. I want to live in it”(Joyce Meyer,
“What Does Your Future Hold” May 21, 2004)
ñ “Words are containers for power” (The Name, The Word,
The Blood, p. 37)
ñ “I prosper in everything I put my hand to. I have
prosperity in all areas of my life – spiritually, financially, mentally, and
socially. I take good care of my body. I
eat right, I look good, I feel good, and I weigh what God wants me to weigh. Pain cannot successfully come against my body
because Jesus bore all my pain. I lay
hands on the sick and they recover. I
receive speaking engagements in person, by phone, and/or by mail every day. I walk in the spirit all of the time.” (Joyce
Meyer, “List of Confessions”)
ñ “If you stay in your faith, you are going to get paid. I am now living in my reward.” (Jones and
Woodbridge, 67)
ñ “The key to partaking of the life and healing energy in the
Word is feeding on it until it penetrates your spirit where it deposits that
life and energy.” (Joyce Meyer, “Healing Scriptures”)
ñ “'I will' is the strongest assertion that can be made in
the English language. God is speaking to
me now saying 'I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.' God is
watching over this Word, performing it in me now. He is taking sickness away from the midst of
me. Good-bye, sickness! The Lord is
taking you away from the midst of me. Thank you, Father, for taking sickness
away from me. I thank You for doing what
You said...I'm abiding under the shadow of Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord that healeth
me. No plague shall come nigh my
dwelling or my body. I resist sickness
and disease. I refuse to accept it! It's not mine! I refuse to be sick in Jesus'
Name. Sickness cannot trespass in my
body. Sickness, (name it), you can't come nigh my dwelling. I refuse you! I resist you!” (Joyce Meyer,
“Healing Scriptures”)
ñ “By His stripes I was healed. Healing belongs to me. ...I've already got
healing, because by His stripes I was healed!”
(Joyce Meyer, “Healing Scriptures”)
ñ “Will help you to take inventory of what you’ve been saying
and begin speaking faith filled words that will bring to pass God's good plan
for your life” (May 14, 2000 LeSea broadcasting)
ñ “But you cannot throw out positive confession, and you
cannot throw out all the faith teachers, and you cannot throw out positive
thinking. And you cannot get rid of
those kinds of things because they're in the Bible from one end of it to the
other” (Joyce Meyer, PFO Quarterly Journal, April-June 2002, p. 6., Witchcraft
and Related Spirits, pt. 1, sides 1 and 2).
ñ “Romans 4:17 says God gives life to the dead and speaks of
the nonexistent things as if they already existed. He created the world with
faith-filled words (see Genesis 1). We are created in His image, and we can
also call things that are not as though they are. We can speak positive
thoughts about ourselves into the atmosphere and thereby ‘prophesy our
future.'” (Joyce Meyer, “Your Mouth is a Weapon,” Life in the Word March 1997,
p. 4.)
ñ “You got a storage bin, a storage locker in heaven that has
a lot of stuff in it that needs to be claimed.”(Joyce Meyer, “What Does Your
Future Hold” May 21, 2004)
ñ “Even though she had had the problem for twelve years, and
the crowds looked impossible to penetrate, she pressed through and received her
miracle. Her faith was released through her words. What a powerful example for
you and me” (Joyce Meyer, Enjoying Everday Life Magazine, “Crossing Over to the
Other Side,” May 2004).
ñ “Sowing and reaping is a spiritual law...Sow generously and
you will reap generously...We need to claim as much of that inheritance as we
possibly can...One of the things you can do right now is speak positive things
about your future right now” (Joyce Meyer, “What Does Your Future Hold” May 21,
2004).
ñ “Remember whatever you are willing to do for God, God is
willing to do for you” (week of Sept.20-26, 2005 LeSea broadcasting)
ñ “Now spirits don't have bodies, so we can't see them. Okay?
There probably is, I believe there is, and I certainly hope there is several
angels up here this morning that are preaching with me. I believe that right
before I speak some anointed statement to you, that one of them bends over and
says in my ear what I'm supposed to say to you.” Joyce Meyer (“Witchcraft &
Related Spirits” (Part 1) - 2 A-27 Audiotape)
ñ “There is no hope of anyone going to heaven unless they
believe this truth I am presenting. You cannot go to heaven unless you believe
with all your heart that Jesus took your place in hell” (Joyce Meyers, The
Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make 1991).
ñ “We laid hands on the check and prayed. I went and got all
of our checkbooks and my pocketbook and Dave got his wallet and we laid hands
on them and put the blood on them, asking God to protect our money, to cause it
to multiply and to see to it that Satan could not steal any of it from us”
(p.111 The Name, The Word, The Blood).
There are many, many, other quotes from both Mr.Osteen and Mrs.Meyers messages and writings that demonstrate their teachings represent a false understanding of God, the Gospel, and the Scriptures. If you don't understand why some of these teachings/quotes are so concerning, please see
my previous post on the Word of Faith movement and "prosperity gospel."
I still don’t believe ______________ is a false prophet/teacher, so how
does this message matter for me? What
should I do next? If you haven't
been convinced from this outline, you need to be very concerned about your
understanding of God, the Gospel, and His truths. Invest some time in reading the Scriptures,
the included links, and
Health, Wealth, and Happiness: Has the ProsperityGospel Overshadowed the Gospel of Christ? to make sure you understand the
teachings of Scripture.
Even if you haven’t become convinced that one of the
individuals mentioned is a false teacher, you need to begin to listen very
closely to what you hear and read in the future (Acts 17:11). You need to make sure that who you listen to
is trustworthy and is teaching the whole counsel of God accurately. The constraints of this handout and message
limit what I can share but I encourage you to seek out a pastor who will help you to evaluate and consider these claims in light of God's eternal truths.
My hope and prayer for those reading this series of posts that:
(1) You are a true believer, treasuring Christ above any worldly treasure & loving God more than you love yourself by calling to Him as Lord & Savior, confessing your sins (Romans 3:23), accepting Christ's free gift (Romans 6:23) by believing Jesus died on the cross and rose from grave (Romans 10:9-10).
(2) If you are a Christian, I hope that these posts have helped equip you to see, recognize, & avoid the increasing amount of false prophets and teachers. I hope that you will use and share these truths to help other Christians be rooted in "the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness." (1 Timothy 6:3)
Ephesians 4:11-14
“that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried
about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful
schemes.”
Part 1 - Understanding Biblical Truths Today: Heaven is for Real and Jesus Calling
Part 2 - Heretical Teachings: The Word of Faith Movement & "Prosperity Gospel"
Part 3 - Heretical Teachings: Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer
