Famed televangelist Joel Osteen faced criticism last week after not opening the doors of his Houston-based mega church, Lakewood Church, to victims of Hurricane Harvey.
After an outpouring of backlash, Osteen eventually opened up the church and former Houston Rockets' stadium to people affected by the hurricane.
Osteen addressed his negative media attention during a sermon at Lakewood on Sunday saying, “We are not going to understand everything that happens, but, you know, having a 'poor old me' mentality or 'look what I lost' or 'why did this happen,' that's just going to pull you down.”
Reverends Emmett Price and Irene Monroe discussed Osteen and his actions during Hurricane Harvey with Boston Public Radio Monday on their weekly segment, All Revved Up.
“It is important to say that he has a stadium sized [church],” Monroe said about the space Osteen could have offered to those in need. “Some of his parishioners are victims of the flood.”
Price and Monroe called Osteen’s actions hypocritical for a person who supposedly spends his life preaching the teachings of the Bible. They further critiqued Osteen’s brand of prosperity gospel that encourages their patrons to pay large amounts of their income to the church, which in turn will manifest in blessings from God.
“People believe in him, and they would think in that one moment of need, you come to your pastor and the doors of his church were not open,” Monroe said.
Click above for our interview with Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett Price.