Televangelists. Do they serve God or Money?

[kaon]

I don't mean to finger point, (I guess I am), but as an example how about Joel Osteen? Here is a man who lives in a $15 million dollar mansion with a private jet (s), multiple cars and is purported to be worth about $80 million dollars. Aside from making himself wealthy, has he done any good deeds with his vast wealth?

I watched several of his videos and listened to his preaching, but I can't help but to be turned off by his sermons and his seeming lack of adherence to the bible and scriptures and seems more like a false prophet to me.

Granted, he seems to be a great motivator, but in his quest to please everyone, he lacks the hard preaching that seems to steer me away from him.
Perhaps it is more my own personal preference, but I would like to hear some opinions from my fellow Avalonians and it doesn't have to be only about Mr Osteen.

[the_real_dave-id]

I think you can rest assured knowing that Mr. Osteen is on the side of money. Personally I wouldn't use any time filling my ears with any of his "sermons," but that's just one man's opinion. They say you can't judge a book by the cover, but so many books I've read are exactly what the cover suggested. Much like the MSM anyone in the big money Main Stream Preaching category can probably be overlooked entirely without missing a thing. Although it's always interesting to check in once in a while and see what the current thing spewing from their mouths are. Again, just my opinion. One man's trash is another man's gold.

[Orph]

The antidote for those that watch tele-showmethemoney-evangelists, ............ George Carlin.

[Citizen No2]

I can see why a true omnipotent God would, through his chosen Earthly representative, ask you to send all your cash to him.

They're good like that, aren't they, those 'Gods'.


(Sarcasm off)

Those poor people. Desperate for something to cling to, something to hold on to, for love and acceptance. If only they knew.

They need only look inside.




Regards.

[Blue Mobius]

excellent thread. ok here is my run down on not just the televangelist but all the mega church culture. I dont know which mind control program is worse MK Ultra or sunday mass at a mega church. im being sincere when i say there are good hearted charitable christians among them, however, i have attended these sermons and have noticed that they all operate in the same manner. here is what i found to be undeniable to me personally. they operate under selective suggestion of the bible. they can take any verse and mix and match them to send their desired message. they use the good book as a codex of power to gather and hold good people seeking meaning in their lives. in a way its predatory in a spiritual way. its not that different from being a cult. let me be clear and say that there are good christian preachers out there with good intentions but are they to under a spell so to speak? when i attended a baptist mass as an observer i noticed at the end of all the preaching they ask all observes to raise their hand to accept jesus as their personal lord and savior. not by coincidence at the same time someone starts playing sad piano music to deliberately stir inner emotions. being somewhat awake and aware i immediately knew that there was a specific methodology in operation here. no thanks ill kindly pass on being inducted into your cult was the thought at hand. I love Jesus but not interested in followers who dont even understand his true teaching. are there good people among them? yes there are. are they under a form of mind control? yes they are. is it better than being alone with no spiritual guidance? perhaps. but i can confirm once one has taken a few steps towards waking up into knowing true self the message of Christ becomes very clear and you will not find it in a mega church or even most churches . you will find it within as Christ said in the book of Thomas which was not inducted into the bible during the council of niacia along with other important biblical books. The kingdom of God is withing you said Christ. perhaps this is what disqualified it from being in the bible.

[Snoweagle]

They serve only (genocide) economics.

They promote fear and offer absolution where none is needed.

The American Ying Yang, Evangelism and Wrestling. Fool fodder.

And now they are killing each other openly with Washingtons blessing. Go figure.

Not forgetting making "rectum masturbation" as a lawful congenital bond. roflmao

If thats not all, it does get better, the front candidate for the next presidency is know as "Tampon Trump", and the crowds love it.

I am of the strongest personal opinion that anybody that sits in front of a television is "retarded". I tell everybody I meet and when I visit family I am intolerant to it's use whilst I am there. This forces everybody to talk about things they know and they are horrified that they are unable to participate in truthful debate as they invariably know "naff-all". Dumb as door stops.

Televangelists, IMO, are criminals practising fraudulent claims.

[WhiteLove]

It might be that the messages of some parts of the Bible has been altered and that ethical priciples of different times have been mixed and that this has in turn created some degree of mystery to it and made it a bit difficult to extract the underlying truths from it. I personally understand the underlying message as something incredibly positive and incredibly loving. Preachers like Osteen are to me trying to extract the absolute truths from it and absolute truth is positive, which is what I find Osteen to be remarkably good at preaching. The fact that he has become so rich is to me something I choose to place in the neutral zone, I find it is good that a guy that serves others with ideas for a great life quality gets so much money.

[Pam]

The antidote for those that watch tele-showmethemoney-evangelists, ............ George Carlin.



I find it interesting and entertaining that George Carlin projects more true spirituality and understanding than a boat load of Joels. The fact that these types find it necessary to live extravagant lifestyles is indicative that they don't understand what they are professing. Not that there is anything wrong with having material objects, it's just that if you have some spiritual understanding that kind of preoccupation with excessive stuff just wouldn't happen. One wouldn't put that much attention towards getting more and more.

[Selkie]

Mammon is a god, too, isn't it? So, yeah, they serve "god". They just don't tell you which god they serve...and then they laugh all the way to the bank.

[Wind]

"Be aware also that there are many false prophets and guides operating in your world. They will suck your energy from you – the energy you call money and will put it to evil ends and give you worthless dross in return.

Your inner divine self will protect you from this. You must learn to be sensitive to the voice within that can tell you what is truth, and what is confusion, chaos and untruth. Learn to listen to the voice of truth which is within you and you will lead yourselves onto the path of evolution."

Humans have been in confusion for so long due to the fact that they are not listening to the whispering of their hearts and intuition instead of their minds, which can easily be deceived.

[Cardillac]

just as an aside but it's a true story: when I went to graduate school in Cincinnati (1972-75) one of my co-student friends, once he discovered he couldn't make a living at his chosen profession, then turned to interior decorating; as an interior decorator he seemed to be divinely inspired- word about his genius in this respect traveled like wild fire including to a local S. Ohio Televangelist in the Cinci area who hired him, gave him the key to his lavish home (did you catch the word 'lavish'?) and told Mark to do his "thing" in the week the TE would be gone; as it was an older home with higher than normal ceilings Mark decided to start ripping down wallpaper in the kitchen; once Mark climbed a ladder to start ripping wallpaper below the ceiling he discovered on top of the wall cabinets STACK upon STACK of U.S. dollar bills in all denominations gathering dust (!)-

Mark told me he pussy-footed with wallpaper ripping/renewal around the upper kitchen cabinets as to not disturb the stacks of bills (did I yet state the word "lavish"?) and subsequently left a note on top of the money where he wrote: "Praise the Lord for Honest Interior Decorators"-

this is a true story-

Larry

[ghostrider]

know them by their fruits...