Joel Osteen

A Christian Movie Review of Son of God

March 6, 2014 By ELLIOTT NESCH

“All who heard Him felt His power,” says the John the Apsotle player in Son of God the movie. What? Felt His power? You won’t hear this saying in the Bible but many postmodern relativists may use these types of phrases in their appeals to feeling the truth rather than knowing the truth and heart knowledge vs. head knowledge.

Hollywood’s goal is to make money and entertain, not to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. According to Christian Post Entertainment, the filmmakers of Son of God (2014) accomplished their goal as the film earned $26.5 million in a second place win at the box office this past weekend. Christian reviewers celebrated the success, calling it a “miracle.” I was not as impressed.

I haven’t been to a movie theater in years, but I did attend the movie last night for research purposes. Religious leaders including Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, and Bill Hybels have urged churchgoers to view the film. In fact, Christian leaders, including megachurch pastor Rick Warren, rented every screen in numerous multiplex theaters across 10 cities for the premiere on Feb. 27. Rick Warren is also offering the Son of God: The Life of Jesus in You Bible Study from LifeWay. So, I had to see what the big deal was for myself. Considering such endorsements (and commentaries from evangelicals and Roman Catholics for the film), I expected the worst.

I anticipated that the producers would use their artistic license to add and subtract from the Gospel record and I also expected Roman Catholic overtones based upon the endorsements from the Catholic community (I will elaborate on the ecumenical agenda below). Most of the additional side stories about the religious Pharisees, governing Romans, and Mary Magdalene as a more prominent figure were just fine and to be expected in a Hollywood movie about the Son of God. But sadly, these additions became the focal point while the substance of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God was almost completely gutted from the film.

Audiences don’t want to hear the teachings of Jesus. They want to be entertained with emotion, violence and nudity. And Son of God the movie offers as much of that as it can for a PG-13 rating. There were several unneeded scenes of Roman violence and oppression of the Israelites. I also could have done without seeing Pilate’s half-naked wife from shoulders up and Pilate training with a Roman male soldier wearing nothing but a loin cloth.

I’m afraid that most people who are curious about the most impacting figure of world history will walk away from the film unimpressed by Hollywood’s Jesus and uneducated about the profound and radical teachings of Christ. Hopefully, it will perk their curiosity to actually read the Gospels for themselves because those documents are really the only truth we have for the historical Jesus.

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Filed Under: Catholic Mass, Gospel, Hollywood, Joel Osteen, Kingdom of God, Postmodernity, Rick Warren, Roman Catholicism, Son of God movie, T.D. Jakes

Lukewarm No More

November 22, 2013 By ELLIOTT NESCH

In the video below: Mark Cahill preaching on the Church of Laodicea from the book of Revelation. Very convicting and challenging. Check out Mark Cahill’s ministry and get some of the great resources Mark Cahill has at his website: http://www.markcahill.org

Filed Under: Evangelism, Jesus, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren

“God Accepts Homosexuals” Says Osteen

October 9, 2013 By ELLIOTT NESCH

Houston’s Word of Faith megachurch pastor and best-selling author Joel Osteen recently spoke to the Huffington Post about the Pope and homosexuals. The full interview is below.

Host Josh Zepps quoted from Osteen’s new book, Break Out! 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life: “It doesn’t matter who likes you or who doesn’t like you, all that matters is God likes you. He accepts you, he approves of you.” Zepps then asked Joel if that statement included homosexuals to which Osteen responded:

Absolutely. I believe that God has breathed his life into every single person. We’re all on a journey. Nobody’s perfect. . . But I believe every person is made in the image of God, and you have accept them as they are, on their journey. I’m not here to be preaching hate, pushing people down. . . I’m not here telling people what they’re doing wrong.

It is true that God has breathed life into every single person and that everybody is made in the image of God, but acceptance is an entirely different issue. A person’s acceptance with God is based upon a relationship with Jesus Christ characterized by faith, love and obedience. Perhaps this is what Osteen intended to say, but unbelievers are certainly not left with that impression who watched the interview. If he did mean this, he needs to clarify. No context was offered to the quote from Osteen’s book which was quoted to an audience of unbelievers who would have been left with no other impression besides God accepts me and approves of me no matter what. But the Bible says, “It is not good to accept the person of the wicked” (Proverbs 18:5).

In love and without preaching hate or pushing people down, we can tell sinful people (not just homosexual sin), that God does not accept them because of their iniquities. In fact, it would be unloving not to do so. The Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah in love for sinful Israel and told them He did not accept them: “Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.” (Jeremiah 14:10).

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