Southern Baptist Pastor Joel Osteen, as one of the guests on this morning’s “Good Morning America” news show, said something that really bugged me. While hawking his latest documentary about Jesus, he said that “Jesus is all about love, forgiveness, respect, being good to people and being selfless. His life was about lifting people up and teaching us to be a blessing to someone else.”
Not one mention of the fact that he died on our behalf and that his and only his blood redeemed us!
That's because - as Osteen said once in an interview with CBN News - he chooses to focus more "on the goodness of God and on living an obedient life rather than on sin," and that he tries "to teach Biblical principles in a simple way, emphasizing the power of love and a positive attitude."
Hmmm, I've read the Bible through many, many times, and nowhere do I see Yeshua concentrating all his efforts on the things that oozed from Osteen's lips. Yeshua was our Torah observant, tallit-wearing, Seventh Day Sabbath - and Feast - keeping Messiah who SAID he came to proclaim the Kingdom of YHWH and do everything his Father commanded him to do:
Luke 4: 43 "But he (Yeshua/Jesus) said, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."
Luke 8: 1. And it happened after these things that Y'shua was going around in the cities and in the villages and was preaching and declaring the Kingdom of Elohim.
And check this out:
Acts 28: 23 "From morning till evening the Apostle Paul explained and declared the Kingdom of God and tried to convince people about Yeshua from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets."
Acts 24: 14. But this indeed I (Paul) acknowledge, that in that same doctrine of which they speak, I do serve the Elohim of my fathers, believing all the things written in Torah and in the prophets.
So, while His death, burial, and resurrection and showing Israel how to "walk the walk" were the MOST IMPORTANT parts of the Good News, Osteen's idea of "love, forgiveness, respect, being good to people, being selfless, and lifting people up (while certainly important) are NOT the crux of Yeshua's appearance!
ADONAI isn't just in the business of "saving" people – and neither was His Messiah!. As Creator and law giver, He is in the business of teaching us how to be good subjects in His Kingdom to come - and two thousand years ago, He used Messiah Yeshua to do just that! Where did those teachings originate? In Torah - which is what Yeshua taught! He didn't come to spout off fluff....
And by the way, if "Jesus abolished Torah at the cross" as Osteen and others teach, then why was EVERY believer completely Torah observant for one hundred years after Yeshua's death, including the Apostle Paul who was "caught" being Torah observant 29 years after Yeshua's death (Acts 21:23-24)? Was Paul a hypocrite, saying one thing and doing another; or were his teachings, perhaps, misunderstood unto this day?
Grrrr! I could go on, but I’ll shut up for now, but I have to say, if Osteen’s comments don’t irk you just a little bit, then you need to re-read the entire Bible, because “watered-down Gospel" is NOT what Yeshua taught.
Hi, how do you come up with 29 years after Yeshua's death that Paul was found being Torah observant?
ReplyDeleteSee Acts 24:27. Procurator Felix was replaced ~60 CE, and the events of Acts 21 two years earlier. Assuming the death of Yeshua in ~30 CE, then the events in Act 21 were in the ~29th year after Yehsua's death.
ReplyDelete