Joel Osteen: Three Big Thumbs Down from Land, Wallis, and Hopkins

***When Richard Land (Southern Baptist), Jim Wallis (Sojourners), and Dwight Hopkins (University of Chicago) speak with a single voice, it’s news. All three gave a big thumbs down to the health and wealth positive thinking message of Joel Osteen over the holidays on CNN. Osteen's messages would leave me buoyant and energized if he would just stay on message. The hitch in the stream of good feeling comes with Osteen's 18 second attempt to jam Christianity down the throat of an otherwise consistent quasi-evangelicalized Norman Vincent Peale spiel. The ham-handed effort to christianize the love of filthy lucre and all its promises tends to jolt Bible readers from Osteen's spell, reminding us that the apostles received a rude welcome from the world and that Jesus (once the healing and feeding miracles ground to halt for a few days) was crucified. Osteen’s appeal is good ole' stuff―it just ain't Christianity.