Not your Pappy's evangelism

While Donald Trump might seem a strange choice for conservative evangelicals to embrace, anyone who's ever watched read or listened to Joel Osteen could interpret Joel's message as indicating the GOP presidential candidate embodies what God's grace can do when we step out of our way & onto His. (God's, not Trump's.)  In Donald Trump's improbable rise, believing evangelicals could righteously see the rewards of following the Prosperity Gospel, the belief that we should never put limits on how much God can bring us worldly as well as spiritual riches. 

Much of what Joel, who comes across like a trusted son or older brother, a friend & trusting supporter, says CAN make a major difference in how people see themselves.  He's had a positive influence on me, assuring when I needed to hear it, "You are an amazing, wonderful masterpiece," reminding us that "Amazing comes chasing you down.  Awesome starts heading in your direction.  You won’t have that weak, defeated ‘I’m just average’ mentality. You’ll carry yourself like a king, like a queen . . . with the knowledge that you’ve been handpicked by the Creator of the universe and you have something amazing to offer this world.”

And I've experienced that very thing in my life, am in the midst of it right now. 

Part of me says, "Amen, brother!" when Joel shares that his father, founder of Lakewood Church, set aside his meek mindset & let God raise him out of the "the rut of defeat & mediocrity. He refused to limit God. He believed that God had more in store for him. And because he stayed focused on that dream & was willing to step out in faith, because he was willing to go beyond the barriers of the past, he broke the curse of poverty for our family.”

BUT while I believe there is a  Mighty Power at work, it's not in the same sense of Joel's "partner with God & grow rich" gospel.  It feels like Joel would consider anyone following the old tenet of the meek inheriting the earth js trying to stiff God of the prosperity He wishes to bestow on us all, if only we allow him.

Where Joel lost me - but hooks millions of others - js when he points to his own stunning success as the direct blessing of God for his faith. To him, every good turn is further proof of receiving cosmic grace.  When I get a string of green lights or nab a great parking space, I thank the Universe - Joel would see those same things as a direct, approving nod from God.  I say, "The Universe & I have a mutual admiration society";  Joel, on the other hand apparently enjoys favored human partnership with the Almighty.

As uplifting & truly inspiring as I've found Joel, his preaching style is heavy on uplift & paltry when it comes to good old-fashioned gospel. He is a genuinely inspired preacher, having no theological experience.  He originally resisted his father's pleas to join him in ministry, finally agreed to give a sermon to the senior Osteen's popular church, then almost immediately took over when John Osteen died within two weeks of a sudden heart attack.  (Can easily understand why the son sees God's hand in his life's work.)  He's less about the Ten Commandments & more about doing whatever you want by believing it's possible. 

See what He's done for Joel - his congregation fills the current 16,000-seat Lakewood Church, the largest regularly used place of worship in the USA.  Each week, Joel & his wife deliver the Prosperity Gospel message to 38,000 congregants.  He is the #1 inspirational speaker in the country & his weekly sermon broadcasts are viewed by 7,000,000 Americans, more than 20,000,000 worldwide in almost 100 nations.  Whew!

It doesn't matter to those viewers listeners readers whether or not Joel Osteen provides detail for how to make the Prosperity Gospel work - that's between you & God.  He is #1 for what he promises - proof is found in his own prosperous life which gets even more prosperous the more he instills in people a belief in their own prosperity partnership with God.  And if you are not anywhere near as prosperous as Joel?  Well, you clearly lack his faith in God's abundance.

Just as Donald Trump gives a pass to discussing picky points of foreign policy or any sort of policy, Joel gives a pass to the old way of teaching God's gospel - talking about turning away from evil & to good, being of use, repentance.  I know that God told Saul not to number the people, but come on - Joel has the #s to back up his claims of being literally in God's good graces.  All without all that icky sorrow & suffering.  Small wonder he has such a mega following.

The Federalist puts it better than I:

Granted, both Trump and Osteen have been remarkably successful in other ways. What Trump has lacked in business acumen, and what Osteen has lacked as a theologian, both men have compensated for in relentless self-promotion.

When the job of both a president and a pastor is to serve those entrusted to their care, perhaps the reason so many Americans have selected two experts in self-aggrandizement to lead us is because our nation has forgotten that lowering yourself for the sake of your neighbor is the highest duty of a citizen and the second half of God's Great Commandment.
  

Perhaps the reason so many Americans would rather take one of 36,000 seats at a Trump rally or an Osteen service than have a one-on-one meeting with a state representative or a parish pastor is because we don’t want someone who actually knows and cares about us to wake us up from the fantasy that everything will be fixed when the dummies and doubters get out of the way. Perhaps we prefer the megalomania and the megachurch because it’s easier to keep dreaming when the noise-machine of the crowd roars around us.

It's not likely Joel Osteen will officially endorse Donald Trump.  He doesn't have to.  Sheez - the Prosperity Gospel would reasonably peg the mega mogul as having found favor in God's sight. 

Of course, past praise - between both men - is endorsement enough for those who seek that reassurance & placates those might howl if the preacher gave an official blessing.  But the popularity of the two, their similar life stories, the ways they could be brothers from another mother - it helps explain why Donald Trump, with his colorful past, is a magnet for today's evangelical support.