Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen

Examining the Teachings of Television's Most Popular Televangelist

Oct 7, 2009

The most popular television preacher on the airwaves these days is Joel Osteen. In this article his first book, "Your Best Life Now," is reviewed for blblical accuracy.

In his first book, Your Best Life Now, Osteen outlined seven principles for living. He wrote “By following the principles I’m going to share with you…you can be happy and fulfilled, starting today.”

Gaining God’s Favor

Osteen's first piece of advice for better living is to obtain God’s favor. He writes that God’s favor means “’to provide with special advantages and to receive preferential treatment." In other words, God wants to make your life easier. He wants to assist you, to promote you, to give you advantages” (38). How is this special favor obtained? “Throughout the day, declare, ‘The favor of God is causing this company to want to hire me. The favor of God is causing me to stand out in the crowd’” (40).

Biblically, when Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again from the dead He bestowed His grace on that unworthy servant who neither worked for it nor deserved it. Does it mean an easier life, a life of advantages? If so, then the apostles and countless martyrs throughout history didn’t realize what Joel Osteen knows now. Jesus Christ commended those who had suffered in their lives in Rev. 2:2-3: “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance….You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.” Most would probably agree that it doesn’t sound as if He is talking to disciples who have sailed through life with countless special advantages.

A God of Increase

Osteen also emphasizes the importance of developing a healthy self-image and having a positive attitude. He uses the illustration of his late father, John Osteen, who “discovered that God was a God of increase. With that in mind, Daddy rose above the status quo of his day and broke the curse of poverty in our family.” (64)

Is poverty a curse? When the Apostle Paul was going through hardships he wrote, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:11-13)

Being Healthy Equals Being a Believer

Remaining healthy is another point of emphasis in Osteen’s teachings. He writes that “God doesn’t want you to drag through life, barely making it….It is not His preference for you to live in perpetual pain….Become a true believer, knowing that you will become what you believe.” (76)

So a person living in pain or poverty isn’t a true believer? Does salvation depend upon being pain-free? Scripture and history is replete with Christians who lived in poverty and pain through no fault of their own. God wants to teach Christians humility, obedience and total reliance in Him (Eph. 4:2; 2 John 1:6; 2 Cor. 1:9) and that can be difficult if life is going as smoothly as Joel Osteen thinks life should go.

Distorting the Birth of Isaac

Osteen relates the story of God’s promise of a child to Abraham and Sarah. According to Osteen, when God told Abraham that he would have a son in his old age, Sarah laughed in disbelief. Years passed and still they had no children, and so Sarah gave Abraham permission have a child by Hagar, resulting in the birth of Ishmael.

Years later, Sarah became pregnant. Why did it take so long? “I’m convinced that the key to the promise coming to pass was that Sarah had to conceive it in her heart before she was able to conceive it in her physical body. She had to believe she could become pregnant before she actually became with child. Nearly twenty years after God spoke the promise, little Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah” (80).

According to Scripture, Hagar gave birth to Ishmael many years before Sarah’s laughing incident. In fact, Sarah gave birth to Isaac within a year of receiving the news of her pregnancy from God. Thus, Osteen’s theory about Sarah’s unbelief delaying the pregnancy for many years is totally unfounded.

Osteen’s Gospel is No Gospel

C. F. W. Walther wrote that, “The doctrinal contents of the entire Holy Scriptures…are made up of two doctrines differing fundamentally from each other, viz., the Law and the Gospel….Without the Law the Gospel is not understood; without the Gospel the Law benefits us nothing.” Unfortunately, Joel Osteen, in both his books and television ministry, is short on Gospel and non-existent in Law.

The copyright of the article Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen in Protestantism is owned by Bob Hunter. Permission to republish Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.