Breaking news, Joel Osteen deals with sin

Over the Christmas holiday my family was blessed by an extended visit with my mother. Despite canceled flight after canceled flight because of the weather, she eventually made her way to Minneapolis and stayed for about two weeks which is unheard of. The reason being is because my mother is a 71-year old retiree who has become lazy about traveling since her retirement years. Plus, my mother is one of the pillars in her small church, and she wouldn’t dare miss two Wednesdays and two Sundays in a row. True to form, she flew back to Chicago on a Sunday morning and was able to make it to church service that day.

It was very important for me to have my mother to visit because I wanted her to have a chance to spend time with her grandchildren… love that leverage. My mother is not new to the grandparenting game, she has nine grandchildren, but my children live out of state and therefore the onus is on me to cultivate a relationship with my side of the family. (Message! Fathers)

Moving forward, my mother and I are notorious for getting into arguments no matter how long we interact with one another. Matter of fact, when asked how long she was going to be in Minnesota, she said “Until Ryan gets tired of me and sends me back home.” My mother seems to believe I talk too much, I know everything and I always have something to say…. I guess it’s true what they say about apples and trees. A lot of times we kid, but a good portion of the time we are serious. The argument we got into this time around was a recurring one regarding her “son,” Joel Osteen. My mother has many surrogate sons, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Joel Osteen and President Obama just to name a few.

My issue with Osteen continues to be about him not dealing with sin. To be clear, I think he is an admirable person and it is great to teach that the Lord loves you and that you are precious in his sight; but it is disingenuous to not also teach that there are sinful ways that are displeasing to the Lord. The messages I’ve heard from Osteen do not convict people, but it teaches them to be comfortable in their sins. My mother’s argument is, “Perhaps that is the ministry God has given him. His ministry is about uplifting people and giving them words of encouragement. He preaches to people who are already saved and he inspires them.” My response to that is “Then he should just call himself an inspirational speaker, because if he is a minister called by God, his job is to save souls and he is not fully doing his job.”

2 Timothy 3:16 states “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” It is a minister’s job to not only give hope and encouragement, but to also admonish parishioners. As a parent, if I only gave my children cake and ice cream and then also validated every wrong they committed like it was cute, I would be doing them a disservice because the world is not going to coddle them the same way. The same goes in the church. If the preacher only gave worshipers rainbows and butterflies, he/she is doing the congregants a disservice because God is the only one who sets the rules for Heaven or Hell. And since that is the case, we each are held accountable to His Word, not to man’s social gospel.

Fast forward to the present, as fate would have it, Joel Osteen appeared on CNN Wednesday night and he explicitly discussed sin. I set my DVR to record and cannot wait to hear what he has to say. It matters not to me that they showed him dealing with homosexuality in the promo; I’m just pleasantly surprised to hear him say the word sin. In the brief snippet, he admits that he has grown in ministry. I commend Osteen for acknowledging the need for growth… something we can all use, and I pray that it continues. Osteen is now treading some controversial waters, so it will be interesting to see if there is any recanting of statements or if he will continue to deal with other sins. I’m curious to see if he is more concerned about maintaining the status quo of his mega ministry or winning souls. Stay tuned.