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Hi, Patrick —
Thanks for the question.
Joel Olsteen is a Pentecostal who
is also part of the Word of
Faith Movement. The Word of
Faith Movement is otherwise known
as the Prosperity, Health,
and Wealth, Name it and Claim it
Gospel.
Like all other heresies, the Word
of Faith Movement starts with a fundamental
truth and distorts it.
It is true, there is power in
our words and that the Word
of God will not return void, but
will go forth and accomplish that
which it is sent out to do. (Isaiah 55:11) Nevertheless, the Word of Faith
crowd believes that one can take
any verse in the Bible (in or out
of context) and confess it as
the promise of God for either health
or wealth.
Joel Olsteen certainly has a lot
to say which is positive. His sermons
can be inspiring however often
times his premise is wrong. Like
most Word of Faith preachers, he
does not understand the redemptive
nature suffering can have, if it
is united and offered with the suffering
of Christ.
No Protestant really understands
it because they don't understand
justification properly, but that's
a whole
different issue.
I will say that Joel's preaching
(at least what I've heard) is less
heretical than his father John's
or other Word of Faith preachers,
like Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland,
to name a few. Those guys have really
gone off the deep end by Protestant
standards, let alone Catholic standards.
I would have to say the whole group
is problematic once you really understand
what they are saying.
Most of these guys would treat faith like
a force which God Himself is subject
to, rather than our response to God.
Their Christology borders on Nestorianism,
as they, in essence, separate Jesus
the Man from Jesus as God. Of course,
they believe and preach the standard
Protestant heresies of:
- static Justification
- imputed righteousness
- Sola Scriptura, and
- Sola Fide
Throw in the problem that some of
these guys have a screwed up
understanding of the Trinity, and
you've got a recipe for a doctrinal
disaster.
All that said; they are, for the
most part, good Christian folk, who
don't have the benefit of Church
Teachings. I will occasionally listen
to them critically, just because
you can't comment on their teaching
if you don't know it.
- Can an average Catholic, strong
in their faith glean some truth
from their sermons?
Yes, but I don't recommend making
a habit of listening to them. The
heresy is often cloaked in a very
positive message and if one doesn't
have a solid understanding of Catholic
Christology and Soteriology it becomes
very easy to adopt their heretical
perspective.
John
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