Joel Osteen’s latest book, “I declare”, is up for review by the Word of God.
According to Joelosteen.com…
The words we speak set the course for our life. If you want to know what you’re going to be like in five years, listen to the words you are saying about yourself today.
Now you can take charge of your future with the help of Joel Osteen’s latest book-I Declare. Filled with 31 written declarations-one for each day-you can declare, in faith, God’s powerful Word over your life and watch your surroundings change in incredible ways. You will move forward to a promising future from the fruit of your words!
The question is, does the word of God support these powerful claims? Can believers in Christ use their faith in Christ to change their surroundings for their own personal benefit, and ensure, for themselves, through their spoken words, a promising future? Can believers, indeed, speak to stones, and see them turned into bread, because they are joint heirs with Christ?
No they cannot, and this sort of speech is boasting and evil:
James 4
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
This is akin to the deceptive temptation that Satan brought to Jesus:
Matthew 4
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
This sort of doctrine is evil, and from Satan himself.
Believers in Christ do not live according to their own will, nor do they use their faith in God to live according to their own will. Instead, they are commanded to live by the word of God – the gospel of Jesus Christ. The faith of Christ’s followers is for believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this faith leads to living according to the teachings of Christ, and the gospel.
John 8
30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Therefore, faith is not for living out a promising future, such as having a successful career. No. Instead, faith is for being justified before God, by believing in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection for sinners. This faith in Christ’s atonement then leads to a life of obedience to the teachings of Christ.
John 15
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.1John 5
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
Believers in Christ are to pray according to the will of Christ, and not their own will. Prayer according to Christ’s will is guaranteed to be answered. This is the will of Christ:
Matthew 6
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
No where in the Bible is the law of attraction, through positive declarations, taught has a godly lifestyle. Instead, it is clearly condemned as evil, and Satanic.
Furthermore, Osteen, and the rest of these word of faith televangelists learned the law of attraction heresy from Kenneth Hagin, who taught the teachings of the Kabbalah as though it were the gospel, when it is really witchcraft.
It teaches that men are gods, and that they can manipulate the higher power in Heaven through the power of their will.
Osteen has subtly affirmed this heresy by telling people to boast as though they have creative power, by taking the same claim for themselves that God has claimed for himself, which is “I Am”.
Exodus 3
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Isaiah 47
8 Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, “I Am”, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I Am, and none else beside me.
11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put if off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.Isaiah 42
8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.Romans 12
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
The word of faith teachers claim that we can create our own reality by the power of our own will, by speaking the right words out loud.
Christ came to into the world to be the payment for our sins, so that we can be made right with God by believing in the atoning work of his Son, and so that we could be raised from the dead to live forever with him (Romans 5:1-11 & Romans 6:1-5). That’s the gospel.
The gospel has nothing to do with men claiming to be gods, or creating their own reality. The Bible calls this heresy, of man claiming to be god, “the mystery of iniquity”, which is a heresy that will bring in the great tribulation (2Thessalonians 2:1-8). It is Satanic, and those who follow it will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).
It should be of no surprise that mankind will believe in a false god-man (2Thessalonians 2:8-12 & Revelation 13), since mankind is already claiming to be gods.
Therefore, Scripture commands us to run from people like Joel Osteen (2John 1:8-11 & Galatians 1:6-9). God’s curse is clearly upon them.
Galatians 1
6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
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