Matthew 19:23-24 states, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.'”
But it appears Joel Osteen didn’t get the memo.
In an article series titled “The Preacher’s Son,” the Houston Chronicle revealed that Osteen’s megachurch, Lakewood Church, has an obscene $90 million annual budget. However, series writer Katherine Blunt went a step further and wrote a separate article outlining exactly how that money is spent. Here’s a rough breakdown of how the funds are allocated:
- Weekly services and programs: $31.7 million
- Night of Hope events: $6.7 million
- TV ministry: $25.1 million
- General and administrative: $11.5 million
- Fundraising: $11.9 million
- Mission and outreach: $1.2 million
As you can see, the vast majority of the money goes toward furthering Osteen’s own brand. Meanwhile, just over 1 percent is actually spent on evangelizing. That’s truly sad, and not at all the way of God.
Throughout the Bible, Jesus preaches the importance of spreading the word of God. He tells the apostles in Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
However, Osteen is not concerned with bringing people to salvation in Jesus Christ. Instead, he preaches a false prosperity gospel that preys on vulnerable people, with the selfish end goal of building his own empire.
Somewhere along the way, Osteen lost sight of the fact that having faith in God does not mean hoping for prosperity in the here and now; it means believing in the promise of the kingdom to come in spite of life’s trials and tribulations.
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