Church of Wells Heckles Joel Osteen

[mirele]

Quote

 

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Six people were escorted out of Lakewood Church in southwest Houston Sunday morning for heckling senior pastor Joel Osteen.

 

A video on Twitter shows the people being escorted out of the former sports arena amid cheers. Osteen is seen at the pulpit saying, "Thank you all for your patience and we'll just continue to receive what God has for us. It's a good day to be alive."

 

Twitter user Anwar Richardson posted on social media, "Crazy scene. Sixth person ejected from Lakewood Church by police and security."

 

*snip*

 

Lakewood Church spokesman Donald Iloff Jr. tells Eyewitness News the hecklers were all with The Church of Wells. They were asked to leave, but refused and that's when they were escorted out.

 

According to HPD, all six were charged with criminal trespass.

 

 

 

People in attendance were unnerved by the presence of the Wells hecklers, given the recent shooting at Emanuel Church in Charleston.

 

http://abc13.com/religion/video-heckler ... ch/812485/

 

I haven't checked any of the Church of Wells webpages or Facebook to see if they're doing any self-righteous persecution crowing.

[apple1]

I saw that this had happened.

They are so arrogant. They will use being arrested as "evidence" that they are being "persecuted". Gah.

[Sparkle]

Isn't there a member of FJ who has family in that church? The one concerned about her granddaughter?

When I saw the CoW involved, my first thought was, "wait, aren't they the 'pray over the baby instead of hospital' people?!?" and yes they are.

[mirele]

The Houston Press has an article about Sunday's heckling. It's worth clicking over if only to see the picture of Jacob Gardner, one of the leaders of the Church of Wells. He's barely hiding a smirk.

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/church ... on-7549490 (link not broken)

There's a website (Church of Wells dot org) which keeps track of the group. They posted a link to a phone call made by one of the arrested men (Richard Trudeau) to the mother of his child in an unrelated incident.

http://www.thechurchofwells.org/threate ... ds-mother/ (link not broken, I think they'd like people to know that Richard Trudeau is threatening the life of the mother of his trial child)

[mrs]

Isn't there a member of FJ who has family in that church? The one concerned about her granddaughter?

When I saw the CoW involved, my first thought was, "wait, aren't they the 'pray over the baby instead of hospital' people?!?" and yes they are.

Yes I believe her screen name is "byHisgrace58".

This group is ominously scary. I can't help thinking of Jonestown or Waco every time the COW is in the news. I pray for everyone involved.

[SPHASH]

Kinda mixed on this one. No fan of Joel Osteen at all but even he doesn't deserve to have his service disrupted by a bunch of wierdos.

[salex]

Kinda mixed on this one. No fan of Joel Osteen at all but even he doesn't deserve to have his service disrupted by a bunch of wierdos.

I agree. Most people in the US and probably most of the west tend to reach a point where no matter how much you disagree with the other church, you let them make their own choices and let God take care of it in the end.

The cases where people intrude on others during their worship service is always really iffy to me. A couple of times in what.. the 80s? a few gay activists tossed condoms around in RC churchs. I figured at the time it was bad form and bad PR, and that little trend didn't last long.

Fred Phelps used to protest in front of even very conservative churches with his standard signs. And of course, the man who murdered Dr. George Tiller first stalked him at his church then later shot him there. It seems a very extreme action, to me, to break up other people's chrch services. I am guessing they care less about his theology than they do the PR that comes with it. Had they made the same kinds of comments as a small methodist church, far fewer people would have clicked to read about it.

[DGayle]

I have a friend in which church. Well, more of an acquaintance at this point. Because of the prosperity teachings (the better of a Christian, the more prosperity), she feels depressed a lot since nobody's giving her money to help her not be poor, while she send 10% of her earnings to that scammer.

[Howl]

There's a website (Church of Wells dot org) which keeps track of the group. They posted a link to a phone call made by one of the arrested men (Richard Trudeau) to the mother of his child in an unrelated incident.

http://www.thechurchofwells.org/threate ... ds-mother/ (link not broken, I think they'd like people to know that Richard Trudeau is threatening the life of the mother of his trial child)

That is an utterly terrifying phone call, absolutely chilling.

Trudeau is insane.

Also, re: Joel Osteen

That is the group's second disruptive visit to his church. Sounds like they are escalating the crazy.

[apple1]

Like Osteen or not (and I am not particularly an Osteen fan) -

- There is common courtesy.

- Kids that were present were probably terrified.

- There is such a thing as illegally trespassing (which apparently is what the CoW guys have been legally charged with).

- There is the fact that some attendees feared for their lives, particularly in view of the recent killings in the SC church.

- There is the fact that these guys would NEVER tolerate someone coming into their own worship service (they call it "solemn assembly") and being disruptive. They won't even allow guests in their services at all.

- Like I said before, these guys just want an excuse to yell persecution.

[heagleca]

I live in Houston and saw this on our local news the night it happened, but didn't realize what/who it was until today when I saw a news item that the first of the hecklers made a court appearance and I clicked on it wondering why in the world the hecklers are in court. Then I saw it was Jacob Gardener and realized it was CofW and it made sense. These people scare me and I do feel for the people who were at Lakewood at the time this happened as that would definitely be scary as hell on the heels of the recent church shooting. Just looking at their mug shots gave me chills. All of them are smiling/smirking.

Eta: I think Richard Trudeau is scariest. Any time I see that man's face, I see evil.

[Trynn]

I'm no Olteen fan, but this is out of line.

[Eater of Worlds]

I cannot read the name Church of Wells without adding catfish to the end of it.

[mirele]

Eta: I think Richard Trudeau is scariest. Any time I see that man's face, I see evil.

He is scary. He called up the mother of his child (who has custody) and kept repeating how she needed to turn over their son to him. She was having none of it.

http://www.thechurchofwells.org/threate ... ds-mother/

(link not busted because I think the website owners want people to know about Richard Trudeau's behavior.)

The asshat shows up in the comments...

ETA the following:

Six members of the Church of Wells have been given a no-contact order from a Harris County Judge following their arrests at Lakewood Church this past Sunday.

According to a court clerk for Judge Bill Harmon, an order was handed out to the members that states the group is not allowed within 200 feet of Lakewood Church and are not allowed to make contact with Joel or Victoria Osteen while the case is pending.

http://www.kltv.com/story/29463795/cour ... ls-members