While this is not endorsement of Slate or Chris Lehmann, Apprising Ministries does feel it’s important that those not mesmerized by Joel Osteen have a chance to read this pice by Lehmann. And especially so when you consider that a couple of weeks ago on Fox News Sunday Joel Osteen Blesses The Mormon Church.

Lehmann begins:

Joel Osteen’s God really wants you to dress well, stand up straight, and get a convenient parking space... Osteen is the pastor of Houston’s Lakewood Church, a Pentecostal congregation recently named the largest in the country by Outlook magazine,...

And each of [his] sermons kicks off with Osteen’s patented chant,... [which builds] to an oddly colorful climax: “I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living seed of God, and I will never be the same. Never, never, never. I will never be the same. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

The chant is about as close as Osteen’s relentlessly upbeat preaching ever comes to a theological doctrine, and it captures many of the key themes behind his runaway appeal… (Online source)

See also:

JOEL OSTEEN: ONCE UPON A TIME...

APPRISING JOEL OSTEEN'S WORD FAITH TEACHINGS

JOEL OSTEEN HELPING MORMONS BECOME A BETTER YOU