The Joel Osteen controversy, explained

America has a long history of religious grifters, but in terms of pure monetary gain, Joel Osteen is one of the most successful.

He’s an adherent of the “prosperity gospel,” which famously posits that those with great wealth have it because they have been blessed by God. Per the Harvard University Divinity School:

“[The Prosperity Gospel] at best is considered to offer the poor a means of imagining and reaching for better lives (at times accompanied by sound financial advice), and at worst is criticized as predatory and manipulative, particularly when churches or pastors require heavy tithing. Members of the socioeconomic elite may also be drawn to PG messages, which affirm the religious and spiritual legitimacy of wealth accumulation and reinforce a worldview in which financial success is an indicator of moral soundness.”

This phenomenon often leads to Osteen’s followers sending hard-earned cash to his administration, while they suffer from being unable to pay their bills. Because Jesus and his apostles famously swindled citizens and lived in luxury…

Of course, Osteen is by no means the first to leverage the United States’ historical obsession with Christianity to help themselves to profit. He comes from a long line that includes the demonic-looking Kenneth Copeland and alleged rapist and confirmed financial fraudster Jim Bakker. As far as we know, he hasn’t done anything as horribly illegal as Bakker, but there’s no doubt for a religious leader, Osteen is oddly focused on gaining wealth, rather than making the world a better place. He also doesn’t seem to be very charitable, which again isn’t exactly a Christian way of doing things.

Osteen is in the news currently as his megachurch, which rakes in tens of millions of dollars per year, was the location of a mass shooting attempt. While this is shocking, it is far from the first time the preacher has been embroiled in a contentious event.

If you want to learn all about Joel Osteen’s controversies, then read on!

His church took money from COVID relief funds

In 2020, while hundreds of thousands of Americans were dying, and millions more had their lives turned upside down by the Coronavirus, it was discovered that the incredibly wealthy Lakewood church took more than $4 million of taxpayer funds via the CARES act.

As per the Houston Chronicle, his church applied for and was granted $4.4 million in COVID relief funds, which considering America’s alleged separation of church and state, isn’t exactly ideal. This is especially infuriating as churches are already exempt from a lot of taxes, despite many earning their pastors millions. As America teeters on the edge of a Chriso-fascist theocracy, driven by increasingly extreme Republicans, this breach between church and state takes on a more sinister tint.

His church, Lakewood, claimed the money was to save around 370 jobs. A list of these jobs was not confirmed. Osteen, who is worth tens of millions, claims he has not received any salary from his church for two decades, but his numerous homes and private jet were paid for, somehow. And, on that note…

He owns a literal private jet (and lots of houses, and cars, etc.)

Considering how much social media is (rightly) bashes Taylor Swift and Elon Musk for their egregious privte jet use, at least they ostensibly have to head to different parts of the country or world for their jobs. Osteen, who is headquartered in Texas, also has a private jet. He claims it helps him to spread the gospel with greater ease, but in an internet age, that’s not particularly compelling as an argument.

What it does help him to do is belch out Co2 emissions and destroy the planet. He is also known to have multiple expensive homes, as well as fancy cars and a number of other trappings of extreme wealth.

Very Godly, and very much in line with that famous part of the Bible where Jesus is totally stoked about rich people hoarding wealth, and using the name of God to take money from others.

He preaches the prosperity gospel

It takes some serious mental gymnastics to think that Christianity is pro people getting incredibly rich. From Jesus’ famous line about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven, to the time the big JC literally beat up a bunch of moneylenders, in its texts the religion has always preached that holding onto extreme amounts of wealth is a bad thing. Yet Osteen is worth millions, and continues to rake in the cash from his followers.

Many other Christians haven’t just criticized Osteen for this apparent discrepancy, but said that he’s committing heresy. While we’re far from being religious scholars, it’s hard to disagree with that when you look at the facts: Osteen is clearly using religion to rake in the big bucks.

His church gives less than 1% of their money to charitable causes

As per the FT and more excellent reporting from the Houston Chronicle, less than one out of every hundred dollars raised by Osteen’s church goes to charitable causes. This is pretty grim reading, considering that some have posited Lakewood has received nearly $90 million in income in previous years.

We understand that churches, like all organizations, have administrative costs. However, the fact that its leaders (like Osteen) live so lavishly is a bit of a slap in the face, especially given how much importance Jesus attributed to helping those less fortunate.

You might argue that Osteen might want to help those in the areas local to his church rather than just giving away cash. He was actually given the opportunity in 2017, which led to the below…

He didn’t help victims of Hurricane Harvey until he was called out on social media

In 2017 Texas was devastated by Hurricane Harvey. Thousands were displaced, and many places of worship opened their doors to people experiencing homelessness as a result of the hurricane, so they could have some kind of normalcy in incredibly tough times. Osteen’s megachurch, Lakewood, with a capacity of 16,000, chose not to aid the displaced, until they were hounded about it on social media.

Representatives from Lakwood claimed the church was also suffering from damage, which explained why it hadn’t been opened. Osteen himself disputed this, stating that the church would be open when other shelters were full. On August 28., Lakewood was finally opened as a temporary shelter. Now, Osteen has fallen into line with his fellow Lakewood pastors, and claims the church was initially too damaged to house those fleeing flood damage.