THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
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Monday, November 18, 2019
KANYE WEST DEFENDS JOEL OSTEEN TO STANDING OVATION DURING LAKEWOOD SERVICE: "GOD IS NOT THE NEGATIVE PART"
CELEBRITY "CHRISTIANITY"
IS BUFFOONERY, BASED ON THE CANFIELD MODEL OF FANTASY, POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS FOR ADULT CHILDREN!
BRITTANY PETTIBONE-SELLNER: THE WORLD IS BEING RUN BY CHILDREN
"In January 2019, West re-affirmed his Christian faith on Twitter. His wife Kim Kardashian described West's Christian new birth experience in September 2019: "Kanye started this to really heal himself and it was a really personal thing, and it was just friends and family...He has had an amazing evolution of being born again and being saved by Christ." In October 2019, West said with respect to his past, "When I was trying to serve multiple gods it drove me crazy" in reference to the "god of ego, god of money, god of pride, the god of fame", and that "I didn't even know what it meant to be saved" and that now "I love Jesus Christ. I love Christianity"."
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Rapper turned gospel artist Kanye West, who referred to himself as “the greatest artist that God has ever created,” spoke to the defense of motivational speaker and author Joel Osteen on Sunday, resulting in a standing ovation from many in attendance at Lakewood and Osteen joking that he had “made it” by having West’s support.
“There’s a lot of people in the Christian community that try to give Joel a hard time because when you turn on the radio, he keeps on showing you how good God is,” West said to much applause, with many standing to their feet. “God is not the enemy. God is not the negative part. God is not just the perception of fire and brimstone.”
“God is love, is the greatest, is the glory,” he continued. “God is family. God is friendship. God is prosperity. … Keep your eye on the beauty and the love and the grace of God. The grace that allows us to be here today with all of our sins. We know that when we accept Jesus as our lord and savior, we will be granted eternal life.”
Osteen nodded.
“That’s so good. I love that. When you’ve got Kanye defending you, you’ve made it, man,” he quipped.
During the 20-minute interview, the two talked about West’s journey and the messages in his new album “Jesus Is King.” West said that he wanted his previous record, “The Life of Pablo,” to be a Christian album but didn’t know how because the gospel had not been shared with him.
“I didn’t know how to totally make a gospel album and the Christians that were around me were too — I would say — beaten into submission by society to not speak up and profess the gospel to me because I was a superstar,” he stated. “But the only superstar is Jesus.”
West said that he felt the devil wanted to keep him in the dark as well.
“Even for someone who’s professing God and saying, ‘This is going to be a gospel album,’ the devil’s going to come and do everything he can to distract people from knowing how to fully be in service to the Lord,” he remarked.
The rapper, who recently started weekly “Sunday Service” gatherings across the country, said that he was brought up in the church, and now being a father, he realizes the “responsibility to be more like my mother … and father.”
“We have our own daughters and we still be rapping about how to hook up with somebody’s daughter. Like, not taking responsibility as a man,” West lamented. “That’s why I say in the song ‘Closed on Sunday’ … [about] protecting your kids from the indoctrination of the media, the thousands and thousands of images that are fed to children by the age of six and seven.”
Osteen soon played a clip from West’s song “God Is,” which says in part, “Every man, every woman, there is freedom from addiction/Jesus, you have my soul … All the idols, let ’em go/All the demons, let ’em know/This is a mission, not a show/This is my eternal soul.”
“You said more in 60 seconds than I say in my 30 minute message,” the megachurch leader remarked.
During the conversation, West acknowledged that he has been known for his pridefulness, but said that the difference now is that “[a]ll of that arrogance and confidence and cockiness that ya’ll see me use before God is now [being used] for Him. Because every time I stand up, I feel that I’m standing up and drawing a line in the sand and saying ‘I’m here in service to God and no weapon formed against me shall prosper.'”
“The greatest artist that God has ever created is now working for Him,” he later boasted, referring to himself.
However, West also outlined at one point, “Christians are not going to be Christ. We are going to follow Christ and be Christ-like and repent for our sins.”
“It’s being in constant repentance. A lot of people who don’t want to accept what the Bible says don’t want to accept that they are in the wrong or that they are basking and living and capitalizing on sin,” he said.
Explaining that he wanted the people to know what West stands for, Osteen later remarked that the Christian life is not about “turning over a new leaf,” but “about a personal relationship with Jesus, knowing He died for our sins [and] we repent of those sins and we say, ‘God, I’m going to walk with You.'”
West then closed out his time in prayer, thanking God for the “hundreds of thousands of people that Joel has brought to Christ” and for being able to be at Lakewood without judgment “next to one of the strongest voices in the Christian community.”
Osteen has been a controversial figure among evangelicals as his positive thinking, self-help messages are devoid of preaching on sin, repentance and eternal judgment. His books have included “Your Best Life Now,” “Become a Better You,” “You Can, You Will, ” “It’s Your Time” and “The Power of I Am.”
Osteen’s message on Sunday again touched on God opening doors and opportunities for His people, advising those listening to make positive confessions over themselves, such as “I am enough,” “I am strong enough” and “I am attractive enough.”
From “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to “The Late Late Show With James Corden,” West has been making the rounds after publicly declaring that he has been born again and releasing an album entitled “Jesus Is King.”
Previously known for profane rap hits such as “Homecoming,” “All Falls Down,” “Stronger,” “Jesus Walks” and the blasphemous “I Am a God,” his new record includes the gospel tunes “Follow God,” “God Is,” “Use This Gospel” and “Jesus is Lord.”
West’s weekly “Sunday Service” gathering has featured various speakers from Hillsong New York’s hipster pastor Carl Lentz to Los Angeles-area preacher Adam Tyson, a graduate of John McArthur’s Master’s Seminary. McArthur has expressed concern over Osteen’s lack of teaching on sin and holiness, presenting man-centered messages about God’s blessings and favor.
West had stated during a Sunday Service concert in Jamaica that one of his favorite Scriptures is Mark 1:15, where Jesus said, “Repent and believe the gospel.” West implied during his discussion with Osteen that he does not currently have a home church. Tyson had been reported by some as being West’s pastor, but he had only been flown in to Wyoming — where West currently lives — for Bible study.
As previously reported, West is scheduled to perform at Lakewood at the 7 p.m. young adult service with his choir. Tickets for the free event were reportedly spoken for within hours of being made available, and the 16,000-seat auditorium is expected to be packed to capacity. A report by Hip Hop Overload claiming that Osteen was paying West and his choir $300K to perform was refuted by Lakewood as being false.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Yes we know, he makes you feel good... and he's sooo nice. But let's be honest: he's not good for you.
1. He takes Bible verses completely out of context and changes the meaning of God's Word. A lot of times he only uses half a verse! This is not a mistake, girl-he's doing it on purpose! No real man of God would ever do that. Ever! Anybody can hold up a Bible and wave it around, a real pastor dedicates himself to studying it, and then carefully and faithfully explaining it in context. A phony pastor uses it like a prop and pulls stuff out of it to make it say whatever he wants.
2. He tells you all the things you wanna hear, but they aren't really true. He's appealing to your selfish "felt needs," because he doesn't care enough to tell you the hard truth that would actually help you. He's promising you all sorts of earthly comfort, prosperity and happiness, but those are empty promises-and you know it. He's leading you on!
3. He isn't giving you the really good news-the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, the message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. He should be promising you the one thing a pastor can promise you: the free gift of salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ; but instead he's puffing you up with false dreams of worldly success. You're falling for that? Once he has ignored the true Gospel, he replaces it with the crazy "God wants to bless you, but He can't-you have to do you're part" teaching. Is he talking about the sovereign God who made the whole universe out of nothing, or is this a genie in a bottle who needs us to figure out the secret password??
4. He's getting rich off of you-that's not what pastors are supposed to do! Now, it's true that he's getting rich mostly from his book sales and other income sources (he doesn't need to take a salary from his church anymore), but without the huge audience he gained from his church and it's TV program he never would have become so famous and sold so many books. He is not really helping others to be successful like he claims-unless they all go out and start mega-churches that have TV shows and big-time book publishing deals. He's at the top of the pyramid!
5. He has become so huge in popularity and influence, that people think he represents true Christianity in America. You know that's not right! He teaches a "Word of Faith" version of Christianity that doesn't come from the Bible at all-it actually comes from Kenneth Hagin, who plagiarized E. W. Kenyon, and Kenyon was getting ideas from Phineas P. Quimby-the same guy whose non-Christian metaphysical ideas influenced Christian Science. When Osteen says we can "speak things into existence" he's talking about sorcery-not Christianity!
6. You're falling for all that bling? Really?? A big fancy stadium, a TV Show, best-selling books... that doesn't mean he's telling you the truth! Are you gonna trust someone with your very soul, just because they're rich and famous? Did you know that Joel Osteen only went to college to study radio and television communications-but he never even graduated? But worse than that, he never studied the Bible or theology at any Bible school, college or seminary-ever! He's making it up as he goes! Real pastors are carefully trained in good doctrine-otherwise they end up saying things about God that aren't true, and they lead people away from the true God!
7. He's not gonna be there for you when you need him! He's not a real pastor, he's a millionaire celebrity! A real pastor sits down with you and carefully explains God's Word, week after week after week. This guy is flying around the world, hobnobbing with Oprah and who knows who. A real pastor takes care of his sheep-he doesn't just go onstage and give a little motivational speech once a week. These mega-pastors are completely isolated from the "regular" folks-just like rock stars, big politicians and movie stars.
8. He's setting a bad example of a Christian pastor, and you're setting a bad example by following him. Most unbelievers can see that this guy is kind of a joke (or worse), but way too many gullible Christians are propping him up, and we should know better. Basically, having an unqualified, Bible-twisting, multi-millionaire celebrity described as a "pastor" is a very big embarrassment to the Church. If we are going to be credible followers of Christ, we should have credible pastors; pastors who will "contend earnestly for the faith" and who will "speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine,” not a guy who scratches people's itching ears and tells them what they want to hear.
9. Admit it-you like being part of something really really BIG! It's one of the oldest tricks in the book: you're with all those like-minded people and you get to say "I'm a part of something really important and exciting!" It's like you're at the Super Bowl or something. It's no accident that these mega-churches have exciting rock bands with light shows and giant video screens-they are manipulating you until you can no longer resist. Get a grip! This guy will never even know you're name-you're just another seat filler. A real church with a real pastor is not like this. You deserve better!
10. Here's a list of shocking things you're not supposed to know; Joel Osteen will NOT mention these Bible verses because he's not a real pastor. Break up with him, and find a real pastor at a real church. You will be so glad to hear the true Gospel of Jesus Christ!
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
— 1 Corinthians 2: 1-2
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
— Galatians 6: 14
Here are a whole bunch of episodes of Fighting for the Faith where you will see for yourself that Joel Osteen's sermons and ideas are not Biblical.
Here is an extensive article that will really help you to be more discerning and less gullible: Defusing Demonic Dirty Bombs.
