Katie Couric Preaches a Sermon

interview video here [you need IE6 to view it]

Joel Osteen was interviewed by Katie Couric on Today [5/9/06] and it was very easy to see him for what he is.

When Katie Couric finds the verses [and reads them aloud on TV] that show that your message contradicts what Jesus said about money, that should be a warning sign. Here's the best part of the interview:

Katie "How do you square your wealth with the tenants of Christianity?"

Joel-O "I think that God entrusts you with things to let it flow through you, to be a steward of it. I mean, you could have $100 and be stingy. To me, it's about your lifestyle. You've never done this for money, but you can't apologize that God blesses you, and through the Bible you can see that."

Katie "You know, you could see the other thing in the Bible as well. I looked up a couple of quotes [verses] which I found interesting and I was curious how, again, you could square these things.
This is Matthew 19 verses 23 and 24, 'Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'
Um, here's another one [Luke 12:15], 'And Jesus said to them, 'Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions'
And then another one [1 Timothy 6:9-10], 'People who want to get rich fall into a temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.'
You listen to those and it makes you wonder about your claim that wealth is a positive thing."

Joel-O "Well, I don't think we just strive to get wealthy, but you know, the Bible right there, it says the love of money, what do you want to do.
My thing is that if wealth is a problem then everyone of us here in America are sinners. But you go to India, where I've spent a lot of time, and they don't have anything. So it's all relative to what's your heart issue toward it.
I mean, I can quote Scriptures too, it says, [I'm sure you could much better than I could] 'He came that we might live an abundant life,' I never even preached one sermon on money, it more about... when I say you need to prosper, it's having good relationships, having good health."

Katie quickly asked another stabbing question as to why Joel-O never takes on "political positions" such as abortion, gay marriages, etc.

My favorite part is where Joel-O really tries to differentiate between wealth in Jesus' day and wealth in America today. "If wealth is a problem then everyone of us here in America are sinners." Well, Joel-O, I think you hit the nail on the head by accident. And by the way, we are all sinners anyway, adding wealth to the mix just makes it harder to see it.

Joel Osteen is paper-thin in his understanding of Jesus, God's Kingdom, and preaching the gospel. He understands those things like I understand quantum physics. I know some buzz words and cool phrases, but I'm really out of my league. Joel, time to learn about Jesus, then preach him. K?

Oh, it was a classic interview. Six minutes long.

SIDENOTE: The quote that Katie introduced in the teaser was [something like] "Joel Osteen says if Jesus were alive today, he wouldn't be on a donkey, he'd be on a jet." So many things wrong with this sentence, it's really not even funny. Really. But I didn't want to go off on that sentence, because things like that are sometimes taken out of context.