Note to Joel Osteen: When you get called out for not preaching the gospel by Benny Hinn—yes, Benny Hinn—it might be time to consider a new profession.
Benny sounds a bit like Mark Driscoll in this video (and that’s a good thing).
(Via: Rae Whitlock)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 11:04 AM
March 17th, 2010 | 11:30 am | #1
Benny Hinn to Joel Osteen: You’re a Demon-Possessed Coward
That’s just awful.
Someone needs to report Benny Hinn to the Christian Correctness police.
March 17th, 2010 | 12:04 pm | #2
Christopher –
That was the first thing I noticed when I saw this video: the organ gassing up his major points — and that woman back there who is playing the organ.
As I watched this piece (which is dated 16 Feb 2010 on YouTube), I was wondering: when exactly did Joely O get another chance recently to flub the Gospel on Larry King? The last time this happened was 2006!
I’m stumped.
March 17th, 2010 | 12:16 pm | #3
I wonder which one of the nine persons of God Benny thinks Jesus is. Is he the second, or the 7th?
Matt
March 17th, 2010 | 12:20 pm | #4
Cool! This is like the DC and Marvel universes colliding, or the theological equivalent of a trade war between Amway and Fuller Brush.
March 17th, 2010 | 12:20 pm | #5
What scares me about this video is how many people enjoy listening to Benny Hinn; there are a lot of people in that audience. And I have friends whose family members enjoy listening to him. I honestly don’t get it.
March 17th, 2010 | 1:10 pm | #6
If Benny Hinn is going to go after Joel Osteen, Would he also take issue with Dr. Dallas Willard too?
Dallas Willard wrote:
“I am not going to stand in the way of anyone whom God wants to save. I am not going to say “he can’t save them.” I am happy for God to save anyone he wants in any way he can. It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved.”
What’s the substantive difference between Joel Osteen and Dallas Willard on this particular issue?
March 17th, 2010 | 1:15 pm | #7
Benny Hinn has some nerve to go after Osteen. Just compare hair.
March 17th, 2010 | 1:36 pm | #8
Dallas Willard wrote:
“I am not going to stand in the way of anyone whom God wants to save. I am not going to say “he can’t save them.” I am happy for God to save anyone he wants in any way he can. It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved.”
What’s the substantive difference between Joel Osteen and Dallas Willard on this particular issue?
I wonder if there is a distinction made between someone who has heard the Gospel? If Willard affirms this for someone who has heard the Gospel and rejected it, that would be deeply troubling.
March 17th, 2010 | 2:13 pm | #9
Though this is a serious topic, I could not fight the desire to have my own mobile organist…
Not for preaching, mind you, just for everyday stuff. It would never fly in during a sermon with my people. :-)
March 17th, 2010 | 3:30 pm | #10
Dear George Steinbrenner,
You’re a terrible owner.
Signed,
Al Davis
March 17th, 2010 | 3:54 pm | #11
Paul says:
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?”-1 Cor 5:12
Salvific epistemology is God’s work. As Christians we can say whether or not someone’s BELIEFS are Christian, but we cannot say whether or not a person is going to Hell. Let’s give our Lord some credit for being good, wise, just, and incredibly merciful. Despite what many Christians seem to think, God does not regard us as pieces of crap who are lucky to even have a chance to be saved. He says instead, “Take my robe, wear my signet ring, and come join the party.” Do all join the party? No. Does God want sinners to join Him? Yes. It’s the Devil who hates us. It is humans who hate humans. It is often we who hate ourselves, BUT GOD (don’t you love that phrase?!!!) LOVES US. That’s good news.
The Lord who wants to save is not limited to our understanding.
March 17th, 2010 | 3:54 pm | #12
What Paul is clearly saying is that if anyone is worthy of being saved, they will be saved. At that point many Christians get very anxious, saying that absolutely no one is worthy of being saved. The implication of that is that a person can be almost totally good, but miss the message about Jesus, and be sent to hell. What kind of a God would do that? I am not going to stand in the way of anyone whom God wants to save. I am not going to say “he can’t save them.” I am happy for God to save anyone he wants in any way he can. It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved. But anyone who is going to be saved is going to be saved by Jesus: “There is no other name given under heaven by which men can be saved.”
March 17th, 2010 | 3:55 pm | #13
above post is a slightly more full version of the DW qoute – adds a little more context than the slice of hate selectaqoute
March 17th, 2010 | 4:07 pm | #14
Joel Osteen and Dallas Willard are likely saying the same thing:
“It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved. But anyone who is going to be saved is going to be saved by Jesus: “There is no other name given under heaven by which men can be saved.”
If Joel Osteen is identified and targeted for bad teaching on this particular issue, then Dallas Willard isn’t exempt either.
March 17th, 2010 | 4:39 pm | #15
Uh…I have to go get my creds checked now. I enjoyed that immensely.
March 17th, 2010 | 5:21 pm | #16
Moses was saved and he didn’t know Jesus as we do. How could he have known? Nevertheless, Hebrews 11 says Moses
“…regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt…”
Acts 10 says of Cornelius the Centurion (who was not a Christian):
“He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.”
If God says someone is Godly, yet that person is not a Christian, I’m not going to argue with God.
I’m not a liberal by any stretch. What I am saying is that while Christ is the means of ANY salvation (I’m not dispensational, so I believe “any” means any), that does not mean that explicit faith in the FACTS of Christ’s life are necessary for salvation. I think babies can be saved without knowing the facts. I believe the same is true for head injured people, mentally impaired people, and people who are epistemically B.C.
I believe what one believes and how one lives actually matters. I’m not of the determinist camp, believing the one sola of the Calvinist reformation: Ye are saved by election alone.
March 17th, 2010 | 6:19 pm | #17
Benny Hinn, in the first minute or two of this video clip, recounts Joel Osteen’s answer to the interviewer’s question.
Interviewer: “Is Jesus the only way to Heaven?”
Joel Osteen: “That’s up to God.”
And then for giving that response Benny Hinn goes off on a tirade against Joel Osteen.
And all Joel Osteen is saying is the same thing that Dallas Willard is saying: “It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved.”
Joel Osteen’s answer was actually better than Dallas Willard’s. He simply says that it’s up to God. And Joel Osteen would probably agree with Dallas Willard when Dallas writes: “But anyone who is going to be saved is going to be saved by Jesus: “There is no other name given under heaven by which men can be saved.”
“But anyone who is going to be saved is going to be saved by Jesus” is semantically equivalent to “That’s up to God”.
So if anyone is going to go off on Joel Osteen for his answer, then logically they should also go off on Dallas Willard for his answer too.
March 17th, 2010 | 8:33 pm | #18
OK, an honest question: Did the OT saints know Jesus? I’ve heard they were looking forward to God’s salvation that was eventually revealed in Jesus, but it seems like they didn’t know Jesus in a strict sense. Could this be what Willard refers to – people who have faith in the true God, but have not heard the name of Jesus.
March 18th, 2010 | 12:53 am | #19
Dave: “Could this be what Willard refers to – people who have faith in the true God, but have not heard the name of Jesus.”
Could be what Joel Osteen was referring to too when he answered “That’s up to God” when asked whether Jesus was the only way to Heaven.
March 18th, 2010 | 7:49 am | #20
Dear Dave (response to post 19): Yes, to the question in your last sentence.
Dear TUAD: I’m changing my online name to “My Opinion on Impossible-to-Know-for-Sure Topics Unites…and Divides.”
People may now call me MOOITKFSTUAD.
March 18th, 2010 | 2:47 pm | #21
Sadly, Billy Graham once gave a similar answer to Larry King.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx29MRL4L6c
March 18th, 2010 | 2:51 pm | #22
Luke 9:26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Jesus words were “I am the way” And the apostles “His is the ONLY name by which men may be saved.” Osteen said, “It’s up to God.” That isn’t saying no but it is a cowardly omission by a man that just wants to sell his self help books and not offend people. Jesus said, “I am a stumbling block.” “IF you do not fall on me and be broken I will fall on you and crush you.” “wide is the path to destruction and many find there way there in, but narrow is the path to life and few that find it.”
Osteen did not deny that Jesus is the only way but he did take the yellow way out of the question.
March 18th, 2010 | 3:17 pm | #23
“Osteen did not deny that Jesus is the only way”
Would you say that Dallas Willard didn’t either when he wrote:
“It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved. But anyone who is going to be saved is going to be saved by Jesus: “There is no other name given under heaven by which men can be saved.”
March 18th, 2010 | 3:25 pm | #24
Jeff Brown: “Sadly, Billy Graham once gave a similar answer to Larry King.”
Larry King: “Jews, Mormons, Muslims. What about them?” (Rough Paraphrase)
Billy Graham: “That’s in God’s hands. I can’t judge them.”
Joel Osteen is in “good company” with Dallas Willard and Billy Graham.
March 18th, 2010 | 6:17 pm | #25
[Would you say that Dallas Willard didn’t either when he wrote:
“It is possible for someone who does not know Jesus to be saved. But anyone who is going to be saved is going to be saved by Jesus: “There is no other name given under heaven by which men can be saved.”]
Precisely. He didn’t, either.
Thank you for asking before asking before making any sort of accusations.
Signed, MOOITKFSTUAD
March 18th, 2010 | 6:23 pm | #26
I think my employer, Redeemer University College, should outfit each classroom with an organ and an organist to help to underscore the significant points in the professor’s lecture. Then when students ask us what will be on the exam, we simply reply that they should focus on everything accompanied by organ music. Think how this would enhance paedagogy!
Christopher Benson asks: “Also, what is the deal with his Star Trek attire – or should I say eschatological fashion?” Well, Hinn is wearing a clerical collar of sorts, no? Actually he looks to be wearing one of those Nehru jackets that were popular in the mid-1960s.
March 18th, 2010 | 8:08 pm | #27
Osteen is problemtic on mny fronts… this is hardly the biggest one. It is not what he says on Larry King, it is what he says every Sunday that is the problem.
March 19th, 2010 | 4:18 pm | #28
[...] I laughed out loud when I saw this video of Benny Hinn that was posted over at the First Things blog… [...]
March 19th, 2010 | 4:25 pm | #29
We ought to pray for Osteen. He has a huge following.
March 20th, 2010 | 10:12 am | #30
Comment #110 from the Anchoress’s blog supports Joel Osteen’s answer:
“All I can say is – if and when we get into the next life, we won’t have to worry about meeting Nancy P there.”
No matter how sacreligious, insulting, distasteful, disgusting (take your pick of adjectives) Pelosi’s statement may be, or how abhorrent her willful twisting of Catholic teaching to serve her own political ends may be… it is also Catholic teaching that one must NEVER, ever, presume anyone to be damned.
A person may certainly be in serious danger of going to hell — and it is our duty to warn them if that is the case — but in the end, only God knows for certain who, if anyone, ever actually went to hell or who will end up there.
The Church does formally declare certain people to be in heaven (saints), but has never formally declared any individual to be damned — not even Judas Iscariot, Nero, Hitler, or Stalin. If they don’t make the cut, Nancy Pelosi probably hasn’t made the cut yet either.
You all have every right to be ticked off at her, and to be disgusted by her actions and comments, and I can understand completely if you have a hard time even saying a prayer for her right now. However — and this can be one of Christ’s hard teachings at times — we must continue to hope and pray for her salvation and to desire it as long as she lives.
[I second that. No one knows the state of another's soul, or what happens between a soul and Christ in those infinitismal moments before death. I don't like anyone saying someone will not be in heaven...that's Christ's decision. No one else's. -admin]
So if Benny Hinn or anyone else wants to tear into Joel Osteen for his answer to Larry King, then to be consistent they also need to tear into Dallas Willard, Billy Graham, and Catholic Church teaching.
March 22nd, 2010 | 4:18 am | #31
We need to be sober and wait for facts concerning this issue.Only Jesus is perfect.
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