I’d like to share a hilarious (not to mention true) article my wife stumbled upon the other day. It’s by Hans Fiene, Lutheran pastor and creator of Lutheran Satire. Mr. Fiene uses delicious irony to deliver a corrective perspective. I have the beginning below. I encourage you to read the entire article!
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“Not all celebrity preachers ride Joel Osteen’s warm fuzzy religious rainbow train.
Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, has written numerous bestsellers encouraging people to “live at [their] full potential” and offering a method of spiritual disciplines guaranteed to open the floodgates of God’s blessings. Countless believers throughout the world have employed these disciplines and reaped the benefits, living lives of abundant happiness without the burdens of sickness, poverty, sorrow, or suffering. But some celebrity preachers have bucked the Osteen trend and opted to embrace rejection and hardship now to live their best lives later. Here are a few notable examples.
St. James
While under Jesus’ tutelage, James developed a reputation for his fire and brimstone style of preaching. When his growing fame gained the attention of King Herod after the death and resurrection of Jesus, James had a great chance to flash Herod a friendly smile and tell him “God will not allow any person to keep you from your destiny.” However, James appears to have kept the focus on sin and forgiveness, causing Herod to say, “God will not allow any person to keep my sword from your belly.”
Although his reputation is forever stained by this perfectly avoidable death, James is currently gathered around the throne of God and the Lamb, forever singing the praises of the One who called him out of the darkness and into the marvelous light.”
Read the rest here: http://thefederalist.com/2014/09/05/five-celebrity-preachers-who-ignored-osteens-advice-and-lived-their-best-lives-later/
The Voice of One 