The Burr in the Burgh

Joel Osteen is pastor of the fast-growing Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. He promotes a prosperity gospel which is no gospel at all. His is the gospel of self-esteem. The Christian Research Journal published a helpful article, which you can find here, about his latest book. To sum it up, Osteen is a false prophet who fails to preach Christ crucified.

The letters in the above picture lapel pin stand for "I Watch Joel Osteen." To be fair, it should be stated that this pin is not being sold by Pastor Osteen or his church, but by a misguided devotee.

The fish symbol has been used since ancient times by Christians to identify themselves to one another. This is how it works. The Greek word for fish is ichthus. Ancient believers used each letter of the Greek word for fish as the beginning of another word spelling out this early confession of faith: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.










The makers of the Joel Osteen fish pin claim that they are trying to help people share their faith. Supposedly if someone asks you about the IWJO, you get to tell them about Joel Osteen and then they'll watch him too and get saved. But honestly, if the goal is to share one's faith, why not stick with the original so that instead of telling your friend about Osteen, you'll be talking about the Savior Himself?

It is offensive and possibly blasphemous for someone to take a universally recognized Christian symbol and remove the name of Jesus, replacing it with the name of a mere man. Now this would be bad enough, but it adds injury to insult (intended) when the man whose name you substitute doesn't even preach the correct message.

Hat Tip: Orthodixie

Go here for the new Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest trailer. It appears that Captain Jack is back.


Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet.