Perry Martins
Senior Pastor of a mega Houston church, Lakewood church, Joel Osteen has been under fire by social media users for not opening up the Lakewood mega church auditorium as a shelter for the many now homeless people in Houston Texas. Word out there had it that the church was closed and was not accepting evacuees. As a results of the devastation that Hurricane Harvey has left in its wake, thousands of Texans have been left homeless and the city is having a major humanitarian crisis.
Though, Joel Osteen has been active on instagram and twitter praying for affected persons and mobilizing volunteers but people are saying, it not enough.
Our hearts are breaking as we see the images of the damage and destruction in our city and the surrounding areas from Hurricane Harvey. We are praying for everyone’s safety in Houston and Texas. As a community we can help each other get through this storm. We appreciate your prayers, both for our city and for Lakewood Church. We are working diligently with the city of Houston to mobilize our many volunteers at shelters around the city as well as various other points of need in and around the Houston area. In addition, we are working with Samaritan’s Purse on major relief efforts. In the days ahead, the needs in our city will be great and we are mobilizing even more volunteers to help those who have been devastated by this storm. While no one could have anticipated how severe this storm would be, we are thankful for the heroic efforts of our police officers, fire department, first responders, and the many volunteers across our state. We are also thankful for the City of Houston and Harris County officials who were wise enough to prepare accordingly, both in rescue preparations and in sheltering the displaced. We are honored to support them in their efforts. Victoria and I believe we will all come out stronger and filled with a greater faith than before. We love you and continue to pray for all of Houston and Texas. To join with Lakewood Church and Samaritan’s Purse in helping our community recover, please visit the link in our bio. – Joel & Victoria Osteen #PrayForHouston #PrayForTexas #LakewoodChurch
Several twitter and instagram users have been taunting and insulting him for not not coming forth on time when people really needed the shelter.
- fever1992Joel Osteen is lier . He got caught lieing that his church was flooded .and under water . While people walk there . And it was not flooded . He can open his doors to everyone and give them food for a year and shelter them . He gets paid $150 million year. He got caught lieing . That’s why he hurry up open his church in Houston
- bigshark69_The BITCH was caught lying!!!! Good luck Osteen, you’re going to need it on YOUR judgment day!!
In a twitter post, Joel Osteen has come out to say that the church was never closed and the Lakewood Church spokesman Don Iloff said the building itself had been flooded, with water getting close to spilling over the facility’s floodgate. Accepting a crowd of evacuees over the weekend would’ve been unsafe, Iloff said, although he maintained that the church’s doors have always been open.
Victoria and I care deeply about our fellow Houstonians. Lakewood’s doors are open and we are receiving anyone who needs shelter.
— Joel Osteen (@JoelOsteen) August 29, 2017
How ever media people are saying that Joel Osteen and the Lakewoord church were bullied into opening up their doors for evacuees. Though the church is saying it building has been significantly affected by the flood.
CNN has also reported this not without some comments.
#JoelOsteen opens #Houston area mega-church amid criticism ? #HurricaneHarvey
The church has how ever out out pictures showing parts of the church that was flooded.
See Joel Osteen’s new book here.
