Joel Osteen's prosperity gospel

domer76 said:
The gullible will always be targets of grifters. Christians just seem to be more gullible than most groups. Of course, MAGAts are in fierce competition with them.
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I don't know enough about Swaggart to say he was a swindler. I never heard anything really derogatory about him except for the prostitutes.

Now, there is no question that people like Joel Osteen, Jim Baker, Benny Hinn are swindlers and con men.
 
Cypress said:
I don't know enough about Swaggart to say he was a swindler. I never heard anything really derogatory about him except for the prostitutes.

Now, there is no question that people like Joel Osteen, Jim Baker, Benny Hinn are swindlers and con men.
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They all prey on the gullible.
 
domer76 said:
The gullible will always be targets of grifters. Christians just seem to be more gullible than most groups. Of course, MAGAts are in fierce competition with them.
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Not just Christians. It's always going to be easy to leverage beliefs that are held without evidence to get people to act a certain way.
 
Cypress said:

Joel Osteen’s net worth: The megachurch leader's wealth & income​

Head preacher at America’s largest church and modern face of the controversial “prosperity gospel” movement, Joel Osteen has made a fortune from his religious self-help books.

In the Bible, a passage in Proverbs 11.28 reads, “He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf,” while another in Mark 6.24 reads, “You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Osteen is the head preacher at Lakewood megachurch in Texas, America’s largest Christian church.

Osteen has drawn widespread criticism from Christians and non-Christians alike, both for his visibly lavish lifestyle and for preaching the controversial prosperity gospel, which teaches that faithful Christians are more likely to be rewarded with material wealth.

Overall, the Bible tends not to equate wealth with righteousness, but that hasn’t stopped charismatic prosperity gospel preachers like Joel Osteen from crafting their own unique brand of financially focused Christian wisdom—and banking some serious wealth in the process.

Most sources estimate Osteen’s wealth to be north of $100 million as of mid-2025.



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Like MAGAts and other mammon-worshipers, Joel is evil.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
We have a gold-digger faux Xtian relative who LOVES him. She even went to that megachurch while on vacation, and posted a photo of herself standing next to him and his wife! Like him, she's obsessed with wealth and appearing to be rich even though she's not. I'm sure more than one of her bucks has found its way into his bank account.
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My wife was a big fan for a few years until she attended one of his revivals. The flagrant money-grubbing caused her to leave early and never look back. It broke her heart to see it.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
My wife was a big fan for a few years until she attended one of his revivals. The flagrant money-grubbing caused her to leave early and never look back. It broke her heart to see it.
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That's sad. I feel bad for her. The same thing happened with my Mom. She used to love and support that Oral Roberts charlatan until she learned the truth about his grifting.

Pre-Internet funny story: She used to donate to Roberts' ministry and ask him to pray for this person and that, me included. She must have given them my name/address because I would get brochures from them in plain envelopes with no return address begging for $$ in exchange for prayers. I'd just open, look, toss in trash. One day I got another one. Opened it, gawked in horror at full color photos of couples fucking -- with the obligatory close-ups of genitals, and tore that mess right up before the kids saw it. Turns out their dad had sent away for something advertised in one of his nasty porno mags, Penthouse or something. I never told him. lol
 
Cypress said:

Joel Osteen’s net worth: The megachurch leader's wealth & income​

Head preacher at America’s largest church and modern face of the controversial “prosperity gospel” movement, Joel Osteen has made a fortune from his religious self-help books.

In the Bible, a passage in Proverbs 11.28 reads, “He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf,” while another in Mark 6.24 reads, “You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Osteen is the head preacher at Lakewood megachurch in Texas, America’s largest Christian church.

Osteen has drawn widespread criticism from Christians and non-Christians alike, both for his visibly lavish lifestyle and for preaching the controversial prosperity gospel, which teaches that faithful Christians are more likely to be rewarded with material wealth.

Overall, the Bible tends not to equate wealth with righteousness, but that hasn’t stopped charismatic prosperity gospel preachers like Joel Osteen from crafting their own unique brand of financially focused Christian wisdom—and banking some serious wealth in the process.

Most sources estimate Osteen’s wealth to be north of $100 million as of mid-2025.



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If I wouldn’t have been accepted to professional school I probably would’ve been a Pentecostal preacherman.
That’s where the real money is! (y)
 
Cypress said:
That is indefensible.

I have never been to any church that demanded money for prayers.

Prayers for $$$ is incomprehensible grifting
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I agree. I never said anything to her about that but evidently my dad did because she quit supporting him and went back to good old Billy Graham. She also liked that less-cringy TV preacher Robert Schuler, but I don't know if she sent him $$ or not.

I felt sorry for her in her last years as she was very ill and mostly lived in bed. She couldn't attend her beloved church and Sunday school anymore, so the TV preachers were her only solace. At least she agreed with me that Ernest Angsley (sp?) was a fruitcake. lol
 
One of my favorites was Robert Tilton. That fucker didn’t even try to conceal his intentions. He literally promised YOUR material wealth if you sent HIM money. He even broke into spontaneous tongues on camera. Priceless!
 
domer76 said:
The Reformation began as a revolt against churches squeezing bucks out of the fearful and gullible. Even that never stopped the practice.

PT Barnum was correct.
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Like with the American grifter preachers, the Church was also taking the faithful's pennies to buy their way into Heaven.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
That's sad. I feel bad for her. The same thing happened with my Mom. She used to love and support that Oral Roberts charlatan until she learned the truth about his grifting.

Pre-Internet funny story: She used to donate to Roberts' ministry and ask him to pray for this person and that, me included. She must have given them my name/address because I would get brochures from them in plain envelopes with no return address begging for $$ in exchange for prayers. I'd just open, look, toss in trash. One day I got another one. Opened it, gawked in horror at full color photos of couples fucking -- with the obligatory close-ups of genitals, and tore that mess right up before the kids saw it. Turns out their dad had sent away for something advertised in one of his nasty porno mags, Penthouse or something. I never told him. lol
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I recall Roberts publicly begging so hard for money that he claimed the Lord would call him home if he didn’t get enough.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
I felt sorry for her in her last years as she was very ill and mostly lived in bed. She couldn't attend her beloved church and Sunday school anymore, so the TV preachers were her only solace. At least she agreed with me that Ernest Angsley (sp?) was a fruitcake. lol
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The bad old days, lol
With Zoom a lot of people who can't leave the house can still participate in Church service and fellowship
 
anonymoose said:
If I wouldn’t have been accepted to professional school I probably would’ve been a Pentecostal preacherman.
That’s where the real money is! (y)
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Except for a miniscule minority who have the talent and street smarts to leverage their ministry into a media empire, I doubt your average Pentecostal pastor makes a lot of money.
 
Cypress said:
Except for a miniscule minority who have the talent and street smarts to leverage their ministry into a media empire, I doubt your average Pentecostal pastor makes a lot of money.
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I bet those guys that run mega churches do pretty well even without the media.
I think we have two in Anchorage.
 
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