Ok, something that has bothered me over the years is something I saw Pastor Joel Osteen say in a moving sermon about beginning again. I was moved but also wanted to see the full quote in context. Never found it, but kept it in the back of my mind. I do not want to judge Mr. Osteen, but after reading three different versions and working on my forth, I still have not found the “begin again” quote.
Today it was bothering me after watching Mr. Osteen preach the good news about how God did not want us to be poor or suffering. This may be true, but it doesn’t mean you sign on to God and everything will be sunshine and blue skies. We only need to look at Jesus and the disciples to see this is not true. They suffered, were poor and fought for Jesus. Sure in the end it may be sunshine and blue skies, but today we are in a battle.
Now after hearing this I did another look to see if I just did not remember the Osteen quote. Sure enough he is still using it, in a powerful way! This is from Joel Osteen’s blog on 11/15/13 at
http://m.blogs.christianpost.com/joel-osteen/begin-again-18826/
or
http://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/BlogItem.aspx?item=00cf4ce3-e041-4ce2-9cbb-ad8f62279e02#.U1ZkseZTY4o
One day a prophet by the name of Zachariah showed up. He said, “Zerubbabel, God sent me all this way to give you two words: begin again.” Faith shot up in his heart. He said, “You mean God can still bring it to pass? Do you realize it’s been ten years? Do you know how many people are against me? Do you really think that I can still do it?” Zachariah said, “I don’t think you can do it; I know you can do it. And God says, ‘Get started.’”
So after reading this I assumed I was wrong and either missed it or did not have the right version. Note how these words are in quotes and the only record we have is the Bible of Zachariah’s words, so I can only assume they are there. So off to Biblegateway to search ALL the English versions they had … each one … one after another did not have “begin again” being spoken by Zachariah. Not one had these word spoken and only a few had the sting mostly in Ezekiel or 1 Corinthians,
Is Mr. Osteen a false prophet? I don’t know, I do know I cannot find what is in quotes from this lecture anywhere in any version Bible. And the versions I have read are not in context. Mr Osteen is powerful and had a huge church, so he must be saying something right. I just hope all the messages are not twisted like this one.
Heck the story of Jesus is powerful enough without having to add things!!