My friend and fellow apologist, Ed Decker of Saints Alive Ministries, has written a classic rebuke to Pastor Joel Osteen concerning Osteen's recent reiteration that Mormonism is, indeed, "Christian." (See video clip here.)
When you read Ed's letter you'll not only understand Mormonism better but you'll get a sense of just how detrimental to the cause of Christ and offensive to ex-Mormons Osteen's statements really are.
Tragically, Osteen's insistence that Mormons are Christians is nothing new. As many of you are aware, Osteen stated the exact same thing to Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday", December 23, 2007. (transcript here) I pointed this out in my 2009 seminar DVD "Discernment or Deception: Which Will You Choose?" One would think that the pastor of the largest church in America would get his facts right before blathering like this. We wonder, where are his staff and handlers? Has no one bothered to research the facts the divide Mormonism from Christianity? Silence or "no comment" when reporters asked him the question would have been better.
After nearly four years since he first went public with the "Mormonism is Christian" statement, we are now left to believe that Osteen doesn't intend to declare anything to the contrary on this issue. One has to assume that if its not sheer ignorance that drives him to make these erroneous statements then at least the possibility exists that it is the money. A fair question would be to wonder how many people from Utah appear in the Osteen database?
- EB
Here below is Ed Decker's Letter
Dear Pastor Joel Osteen, Shame on You! I have just watched your remarks regarding Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith, recorded on video. http://www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=1465166 Shame on you! You have given the enemies of the Cross a great victory. Either through sheer ignorance of the Word or your apparent desire to never offend anyone, regardless of their sins, you have handed the Mormons a huge PR gift. You have insulted and denigrated the many former Mormons like me who have spent their lives bringing Mormons the truth and to the Real Jesus, who died for their sins on Calvary. You have defined our ministries and my life's work as worthless. You emphatically state: The Mormons are Christian. Are you completely ignorant of the fact that the Mormons have taught as a foundational doctrine that the creeds of all the Christian churches are abominations in the Mormons' god's sight? What kind of research or study did you undertake before you made this foolish and unbiblical utterance? Did you check with Pastor Jeffress, a godly, Christian pastor? Or with Mitt Romney, a man working out his own godhood? Or did you just toss this out from your own lack of knowledge or as some sort of sweet sound bite? Are you totally unaware that they have taught in their sacred temples for over a century that you and all other Christian pastors are corrupt hirelings of Satan, that you and your church are part of the great and abominable church and the whore of all the earth? Did you not know that Mormonism teaches a restorationist theology, stating that the gates of hell did prevail against the Church and teaching that all power and authority were lost until God chose Joseph Smith to be his holy prophet to restore all things and lead this last dispensation of time? Did you not know that the LDS church teaches they have the only true church, the only true prophet, the only true priesthood, and the only true scripture? That all others are false? That there is NO personal salvation outside their church? Didn't you know that the god of Mormonism is an exalted man-god who once lived on another planet in some other galaxy? That he earned his godhood through his good works and now lives on a planet near the great star Kolob with a harem of his many goddesses, making spirit babies to come to this earth to earn [their own] godhoods? You say you "heard Romney say that Jesus is the Son of God and is his Savior -- and that is one of the "core issues." You announced to the world, with a broad smile, that the Mormon Church and Romney are Christian and that the differences between Mormonism and orthodox Christianity are simply the same as the differences between Baptists and other denominations. How could you, as the pastor of one of our largest churches, say that so glibly? Don't you know that Mitt Romney is a man who is earning his own godhood and plans to people his own planet? That Romney is a Mormon High Priest in the Melchizedek priesthood? That the Mormons have usurped that holy priesthood as their own? To pronounce them Christians, do you then agree with the Mormon doctrine that the Mormon Jesus is the brother of Lucifer? That he became 'savior' by a vote of a council of gods? That He is not the Word become flesh, not God come in the flesh, but was conceived through an act of sex by the Mormon god and one of his own daughters, Mary? To have publicly accepted their Christianity, you must apparently concur that Jesus did not die as ransom for our sins on the Cross, but suffered for us in the garden, sweating great drops of blood, placing our personal salvation as conditional upon our works and our obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Mormon gospel. That Jesus' death on Calvary merely gives us all resurrection so that we may be judged for our works and obedience. Why do you think that the Mormons have over 50,000 missionaries out, primarily targeting Christians weak in the faith? If they are Christians, why do they target other Christians? It is because they have success in seducing people who have not been taught biblical truth and discernment by pastors more eager to fill pews and sell books than guard their people from the ravening wolves who circle the flocks. I am sorry, Pastor Osteen, but you have disgraced the Cross of Christ and bowed to some vile, politically correct dogma and publicly pronounced these doctrines of demons to be Christian. These are not the quaint differences you alleged in your book tour interview. These are lies from the pit of hell. There are irreconcilable differences between orthodox Christianity and these antichrist teachings and doctrines. The true Christian Church can never accept the Mormons as Christians until they confess these lies as sins and repent from them publicly. If a Mormon can attend your church and be openly accepted as a Christian brother or sister without being called to the Cross and repentance, then you are teaching a false faith and need to repent and ask forgiveness from the Church and Pastor Jeffress, the pastor you have just defamed in your foolish utterances. Ed Decker President Saints Alive in Jesus www.saintsalive.com [email protected] Notes: Mormons are Christians, says Joel Osteen, Texas Mega Church Pastor Fred Jackson - OneNewsNow - 10/25/201 Reports ...Osteen said he also disagreed with a fellow Texas pastor -- Robert Jeffress -- who recently stated that Perry's political opponent, Mitt Romney, was "not a Christian" because he is a Mormon, and that Mormonism is a "cult."
In a video posted by The Washington Times (above), Osteen states that while he did not know whether Mormonism is the "purest form of Christianity," he has heard Romney say that Jesus is the Son of God and is his Savior -- and that is one of the "core issues," the pastor concludes.
Osteen was in the nation's capital for planning meetings for a major event he is holding in Washington next spring. He was also signing copies of his new book Every Day a Friday: How to be Happier 7 Days a Week.... | 
