Houston’s Word of Faith megachurch pastor and best-selling author Joel Osteen recently spoke to the Huffington Post about the Pope and homosexuals. The full interview is below.
Host Josh Zepps quoted from Osteen’s new book, Break Out! 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life: “It doesn’t matter who likes you or who doesn’t like you, all that matters is God likes you. He accepts you, he approves of you.” Zepps then asked Joel if that statement included homosexuals to which Osteen responded:
Absolutely. I believe that God has breathed his life into every single person. We’re all on a journey. Nobody’s perfect. . . But I believe every person is made in the image of God, and you have accept them as they are, on their journey. I’m not here to be preaching hate, pushing people down. . . I’m not here telling people what they’re doing wrong.
It is true that God has breathed life into every single person and that everybody is made in the image of God, but acceptance is an entirely different issue. A person’s acceptance with God is based upon a relationship with Jesus Christ characterized by faith, love and obedience. Perhaps this is what Osteen intended to say, but unbelievers are certainly not left with that impression who watched the interview. If he did mean this, he needs to clarify. No context was offered to the quote from Osteen’s book which was quoted to an audience of unbelievers who would have been left with no other impression besides God accepts me and approves of me no matter what. But the Bible says, “It is not good to accept the person of the wicked” (Proverbs 18:5).
In love and without preaching hate or pushing people down, we can tell sinful people (not just homosexual sin), that God does not accept them because of their iniquities. In fact, it would be unloving not to do so. The Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah in love for sinful Israel and told them He did not accept them: “Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.” (Jeremiah 14:10).
This should not even be a debatable issue, yet 45,000 professing Christians are buying into Osteen’s false teaching by attending his megachurch and millions are buying his books because of the “positive message.” Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9).
Concerning the postmodern Pope Francis, Osteen said:
I think the pope is fantastic, his tone, his humility . . . We’re not trying to make this a little bitty narrow thing. We may not agree 100 percent on doctrine and theology, but the Catholic Church, our church, it’s open for everybody. I like his tone, not pushing people away but I believe God is big and his mercy is very wide.
This “narrow” thing? Jesus said, “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14) God is certainly incomprehensibly big, but His mercy is conditional upon us coming boldly before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), which those who are not accepted in fellowship with God through faith in Christ cannot do. We ought to invite homosexuals into the Kingdom of God, just as we would anybody else. But we must be clear about what sin is. This is the most loving and merciful thing to do, so that people might repent and believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins (including homosexuality)!