Exact details surrounding the recent mass shooting attempt at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood church have yet to be released. The shooter, Genesse Ivonne Moreno, was shot dead at the scene, her motives are still a mystery, but according to police reports her rifle had ‘Palestine’ written on it. She was also known to be antisemitic which has made many wonder what made her decide to target Osteen’s church.
Does Joel Osteen have Jewish heritage?
Osteen and the Lakewood church are a devout Christian community. Osteen preaches the teachings of Jesus along with the idea that prosperity comes with faith, although many have accused him of being a hypocrite because he is one of the richest pastors in the world. You have to wonder what Jesus would do with all that money.
Anyways, the controversial pastor and his church exclusively preach Christian teachings which would make you think that Osteen doesn’t have any sort of connection to the Jewish community, but you’d be wrong. He does have links to Judaism through his mother who’s of Dutch Jewish descent, though is herself a Christian. His father’s side of the family on the other hand were Christians. Therefore he has some link to Judaism via his mother, though he identifies as a non-denomination Christian.
Osteen hasn’t spoken much on his Jewish heritage, although he was criticized for not doing anything sooner, he did open his church doors to Jews whose Synagogue was flooded during Hurricane Harvey, better late than never I guess. Aside from that he hasn’t had much interaction with the Jewish community as far as we can tell.
