Why are they surprised?

It absolutely baffles me that people are surprised when I say that I can't stand certain preachers. One person was floored when I said that smarmy Osteen fellow is one of the worse things to happen to Christianity. "But he is such a great speaker and he reaches so many people, " they respond. Bah! The stench off of a week old bull carcass reaches a lot of people and it doesn't do anybody a world of good. I will admit, I haven't seen more than 15 minutes of Osteen but you will have to excuse me, since that is how long it takes before I have to run and barf out his lukewarm garbage.

A case in point while supposedly preaching on Col 3:16, Mr Osteen stated that "God gives you faith which is like a balloon that he fills up, now as you go through the day bad things happen, like bad traffic (my comment: and other insignificant stuff, why he can't just say sin I will never know) and it causes a little leak in the balloon. Pretty soon it starts to get empty, so it is up to you to fill that balloon back up and you want to know how you do it, sing a spiritual song in your heart." (not exact quote but close enough, you can check it out at Issues, Etc's podcast on Osteen) So according to Osteen the key to being renewed in the Lord is "whistling while you work." Disney ought to sue him for copyright infringement. I can't believe this man who calls himself a preacher of Christ would point people to themselves to be refreshed.

If you want to be refreshed go to God. Christ and his fulfilled promises are the greatest antidote for an ailing soul. You don't go look at yourself and sing a happy song. Trust me, that don't work. The hours I spent in confession will cure you of that fallacy. If you are hurting turn to God's promise in the Gospel, cling to his promise in baptism to raise you in new life, and receive his body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. If we were to look at some divinely inspired spiritual songs we would see how we are refreshed and renewed. David once wrote, in his most widely known psalm, that the Lord is the one who fills his cup of blessing to overflowing, not David.

Why would any self respecting Christian listen to a man who can not even go on to public record saying that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven?