When Does Church Cross The Line And Become An Occult? Is Osteen Different From Scientologists?
Posted: Tuesday, August 12, 2008
by Laura Trahan
I have read some disturbing stories in the news the last few weeks about so-called leaders of "churches" and their actions. It has been disturbing to see how far individuals will take their selfishness and belief that they are better and "deserve" better.
Victoria Osteen is in the midst of a civil trial where a flight attendant is accusing Osteen of pushing and shoving her because of the way a mess on her seat was handled. Granted the woman suing Osteen wants ten percent of her net income, which is an insane amount. After all the Osteens are God's favorites and therefore have oodles and oodles of money. Ten percent of my income would not even buy a new television, but Osteen's is a different story. Back to the point.
A second flight attendant testified that Victoria Osteen demanded special attention to clean up a half-dollar-sized spill on her armrest. Apparently at this point, the flight attendant handed her some napkins to clean up the small mess.
When Victoria Osteen didn't get her way, Johnson testified, the passenger became verbally and physically abusive to both flight attendants. She said Osteen eventually grabbed Brown by the shoulders, elbowed her in the chest and pushed her out of the way in an attempt to get into the cockpit.
But both Joel and Victoria Osteen, who were called to the witness stand by Brown's attorney, disputed Johnson's testimony.
Victoria Osteen said when she first told a flight attendant about the spill, she was handed some napkins. She said she responded, "'It's not my job.' I didn't say it in an ugly tone of voice."
Seriously, as a pastor of a church or any Christian for that matter, saying that in a nice voice would be acceptable? When did Jesus refuse to do something in the Bible? He cleaned up messes a lot worse than a half dollar spill on an armrest. Lets go farther? Where were they going? Vacationing in Vail, Colorado. Her chair being messy on the armrest gave them the right to hold up a plane of other individuals for two hours? Great witnessing, Joel and Victoria! I am sure you failed to realize other passengers or those attendants are children of God, too and deserved much better then the temper tantrums you displayed.
Yes, the Osteens are bizarre people who have gone astray from what the Bible teaches or at least they don't model that lifestyle. Read a great view on this by Jared Wilson at the Gospeldrivenchurch.
But how does that compare to the scientologists who do not even believe in Christ? How can anyone compare Osteen to a scientologist?
Here is the kicker-the groups are no different. They both think they are favored by God and therefore deserve better. They think they are entitled to money, health, good jobs, special treatment.
Unfortunately, the truth says something different. It is by grace and grace alone that we receive any of those things. But lets look at the Scientology news this week.
As many of you know, Isaac Hayes died this past week at the age of 65. Hayes was a well-known scientologist. What is disturbing about this or what it has to do with Scientology is the manner of his life before his death.
FoxNews brought up some disturbing questions surrounding his death.
"Isaac was found dead by his treadmill, but conveniently missing from the wire stories was a significant fact: in January 2006, Isaac had a significant stroke. At the time, the word went out only that he had been hospitalized for exhaustion."
Seriously, this refusal to get medical help or admit that you have problems, which need medical attention, is ridiculous. When is America going to wake up and realize Scientology is an occult? The article goes on in more detail about how Hayes had no income stream because of having to quit South Park because they made fun of Scientology. Add to that the expense of being in the crazy religion and Hayes is in trouble.
Hayes can't get the necessary treatment that his body needs to recover from the stroke because it goes against Scientology beliefs. So here we are again-an expectation of being better.
I think both groups and their beliefs are rooted in selfishness. The belief that they deserve more, deserve good health, deserve more money, deserve a "best life now", is all rooted in selfishness. Maybe now it will start to fall apart.
With this lawsuit, maybe others will see the Osteens for who they really are in life. I pray that the wool has not permanently covered the eyes of their 42,000 followers. The flight attendant is one who was offended and I am offended as well. Don't profess to be Christian and then represent Jesus Christ in the manner that you did on the plane.
As for scientologist, if you are to be better than everyone else, why are your followers suffering? Why does it cost so much money to be better? I hope light continues to shine on the corrupt selfishness of this occult.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Hi Laura, very well said. I know that many people love osteen and his feel good messages that are so inspiring, and I know God is bigger than his misleading the sheep, but it is so sad that he has strayed so far from the truth. I always have a problem when he holds up the Bible and has his congregation do the same, and then he never preaches from it. He shares biblical stories that conveniently goe along with his message of abundance....you got me started... and I believe you are right in lining his and other churches like his with Scientology. Good job, though it might upset some. whatever happened to us being sinners saved by grace? I'm with you on eyes being opened. Jesus paid too high of a price to be washed away. Thanks for push to pray again regarding this.I do pray for repentant hearts, how arrogant to say "that is not my job" So very sad., True the attendant has some repenting to do as well, trying to gain to the extreme with this incident. My first thought was, would she sue me? ha!Teresa-thanks for the heart attack. I had not thought about making a lot of people mad! Maybe I should move :0 I guess I am frustrated with that mindset. We have an amazing couple at our church that has really hit hard times lately. Does that make them less of a Christian. No. It is that teaching that really gets under my skin!! there was a time that I questioned my own Christianity because things in my life were not going well because of this type of teaching. thank God I can look back and see Christ by my side walking with me through each of those tragedies! I wouldn't trade those for anything! So how dare Osteen say that tragedies aren't part of the Christian life!I agree this woman that is doing the suing is not in the right as well. That is a lot of money to ask for and what would happen if we started suing every person we had disagreements with on the job? That would be scary! But that is one of the reasons I like searchwarp is that we are able to address these issues in an open forum. o.k. now I have gotten started :)I hope things are going well for you! I still owe you an email. . .I do have some great news!Yeah, I would be in serious trouble if struggles weren't supposed to be a part of a Christians life. _ almost lost my house 3 times, but God was faithful to provide, let's sickness, in the hospital 3 times for bad gall bladder, um,.... on and on. Finally had to sell our home, which by God's we did in this economy and for a good price that didn't bring the market down in our area. And now we are in a new place, renting and starting from scratch. And guess what? Ministry couldn't be going any better at the moment. God is growing it in his time and his grace gets us through our situation. So ya, I have issues with that kind of preaching. "Just profess it and christ died for our right to be healthy and wealthy--no last time I read he died so that I would not have to go to hell because of my sin.Yes you do owe me an email. I am looking forward to the good news!!!Thanks for listening and I agree, SW is a great place, its a family.
Hi Laura,I enjoyed your message. I don't completely agree but Osteen is definitely a lightweight. He's not much different than a Tony Robbins-style motivational speaker. I listen in once in a while to see if he's discovered the Bible yet and I usually find that his cookie-cutter sermon about positive thinking hasn't changed a bit. It's a bit like weak tea. I'm worried that seekers will stop seeking when they find there's no meat on the bone. They may decide that Christianity is either condemning or luke warm and look for meaning elsewhere.Missing Link
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