Valuable?

I saw a post on Facebook a few weeks ago that made me stop and scratch my head. Perhaps it's just me and my way of looking at things but in my mind I questioned what the text in the picture was saying. It was a nice, warm picture with some writing about God on it. So it has to be good, right? Right?

The text read, "We don't shine because of what people say and do. We shine because God sees us as valuable."

Is that true? Do we shine because God sees us as valuable? The answer to that question is . . . no. We shine because we are redeemed sinners, grateful to be given the gift of salvation through our belief in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for OUR sins. So where did this picture come from if it is untrue?

If we look a little closer at the image we can see a name in the lower right hand corner - Victoria Osteen. Hmm, Osteen . . . where have I heard THAT name before. Have you ever heard of JOEL Osteen? He is the pastor of America's biggest church. Victoria Osteen is his wife. It appears that Joel's "feel good" Christianity is rubbing off on his spouse. That is NOT a good thing.

I have written about Mr. Osteen before. He is what's known as a FALSE TEACHER. He only tells PART of the story when it comes to Christianity.That whole sin and repentance thing? Yeah, he doesn't say too much about that. He definitely is encouraging though! He's encouraging his followers straight to hell! Well, that wasn't fair. I should have said he preaches a false gospel. I don't KNOW if his followers believe him or not. I DO know that the apostle Paul feels that false teachers should be accursed by God.

"6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -  7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed." - Galatians 1:6-9

Along with her picture, Victoria Osteen had some other things to say. Here they are, along with some comments by yours truly. She writes . . .

"God chose you before the foundation of the world . . ."

That's true. Ephesians 1:4

". . . because you are valuable to Him."

No, God chose us because He has plans for us (Jeremiah 29:1). She makes it sound like God NEEDS us. That's not true.

He chose you because He knows your worth, and He’s not willing to let you perish!

Wrong. The actual verse is from 2 Peter 3:9 and it says that God WISHES that none of us would perish. He is perfectly willing to let us die. That is what sin is all about! He was willing to let Jesus die . Are we more special than Jesus? No!

There were many other Biblically-questionable statements made by Victoria but I'm getting a little nauseous, knowing that there are many who follow these false teachers and are not hearing the TRUE Gospel. Isn't the Bible sufficient for us anymore? Some people feel we need to take out the bad parts, the condemning parts, because we want everyone to be happy and feel good about themselves. The fact is we are all sinners, deserving of death on judgment day, but through the grace and mercy and sacrifice of Jesus, we can be saved from all that.

I commented back on Victoria's Facebook picture. I'm guessing she probably doesn't read the comments. Too busy feeling good about herself. This was my reply:

"If we shine, it is because we are reflecting the grace and love of Jesus Christ in our lives, not because God sees us as valuable. Read your Bible. God sees us as sinners. It is only through our belief in His Son that we appear righteous in God's eyes. God does not NEED us. We need HIM!"

We must pray for Victoria and her husband Joel, that they might preach the TRUE Gospel. In only bring forth part of the Gospel their followers are only learning about an edited, customized God . . . a different god. And that is breaking the very first commandment. Please, say a prayer for them today and all those who worship false gods.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." - Exodus 20:2-6

Pastor Steve Lawson on Joel Osteen's Larry King appearance