Joel Osteen vs. John MacArthur on Larry King Live!
December 24th, 2006 at 2:56 am (Teaching)
Watch as Joel Osteen (America’s pastor) hems and haws, shucking and jiving while denying the exclusivity of Christianity. Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Jesus also said in Luke 13:5 “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPeYUXuuRUM
Notice that technically speaking Joel Osteen didn’t really say anything wrong. Once again we see that there are sins of commission and sins of omission. The caller (and Larry King) was asking about the reality that if any individual (in general) does not believe in Christ, will they die in their sin (and go to hell)? Joel Osteen sidesteps the issue and states that he is not the one to judge each individual whether a particular individual is going to hell or heaven. And that is true, we cannot know definitively whether a particular person is going to hell or not because we cannot know the heart in an absolute way. But the Scripture gives us the freedom (and responsibility) to tell others that people in general (and even a particular individual) is going to burn in hell if they don’t repent and believe in Jesus.
Joel’s answers also are very ambiguous toward the end. God’s Word is authoritative and gives us the authority to say that any true atheist is going to hell, that any person who does not repent and believe will go to hell. That is not on our own authority, that is what God has stated. To be wishy washy about that truth is to deny God’s authority, not our own. It is a false humility that comes off as gracious, but in reality is deadly.
Thankfully God has raised up some to present an accurate view of the gospel on national television.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BZ-N4pruFo
Praise the Lord that John MacArthur stands up for the truth of the gospel. Thankfully he has more fear of God than fear of man. However, notice that again, it is the idea that “Christianity is true for me, but it doesn’t have to be true for you” that prevails. Why is it so difficult to tell people that unless they repent of their sins, they will burn in damnation and hellfire? That Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. May the Lord give us the boldness and sensitivity to dying souls to proclaim to them the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Bible come in the flesh, Jesus Christ.
Some folks might think that I am bold, but I know better. Most of us would also think that the apostle Paul was one of history’s boldest Christians, yet in Ephesians 6:19-20 he says this, “Pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
It seems that even Paul had the temptation to shrink back, to let the fear of man override his fear and love for God. I also would ask for prayer like Paul did. I see the many times when I should have been bold for Christ but did not. May we all walk by the Spirit (by grace through faith) and be emboldened by His moving and by His Word to preach the message of saving grace, of grace alone, of imputed righteousness to a generation that is perishing all around us.
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