As we learned last week, Kanye West’s religious delusions and political conservatism have attracted the attention of many preachers, pastors and con men. If anything, Kanye is stealing their con, but they don’t seem to mind because they can just work with Kanye to fleece even more people. Joel Osteen is the prosperity-gospel-wielding pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston. Osteen invited Kanye to speak at Lakewood this weekend, and Kanye did it. It was a success in that a lot of people came out. I guess it was a success in that Kanye calmly said some truly bonkers f–king bullsh-t too.
Kanye West is opening up about his faith. The Jesus Is King rapper, 42, stopped by pastor Joel Osteen‘s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, on Sunday, where he spoke a little about his spiritual journey.
“I know that God’s been calling me for a long time and the devil’s been distracting me for a long time,” he said while standing with the pastor in Osteen’s megachurch. “When I was in my lowest points, God was there with me and sending me visions and inspiring me, and I remember sitting in the hospital at UCLA after having a mental breakdown and there’s documentation of me drawing a church and [wanting to] start a church in the middle of Calabasas,” he added, referring to his 2016 hospitalization during his Saint Pablo tour.
West, who has spoken at length in recent months about his faith, went on to share despite “all of that arrogance and cockiness that y’all have seen from me” in the past, “God is now using him.”
“Because every time I stand up, I feel that I’m standing up and drawing a line in the sand and saying, ‘I’m here in service to God and no weapon formed against me shall prosper,’ ” he said. “Jesus has won the victory. I told you about my arrogance and cockiness already. Now the greatest artist that God has ever created is now working for him,” he added, with a smile on his face. Towards the end of his time onstage, Osteen encouraged the crowd to welcome the rapper’s wife Kim Kardashian West as well as their daughter North, both of whom were sitting in the front row.
When do we say enough is enough? Like, it’s easy for me to simply shake my head and shrug at this point, because it’s not my church and not my money and I canceled Kanye years ago. I’m sure many people are like “well, it’s harmless.” But when does it get truly disturbing? When he starts baptizing people in Yeezus water? When he gets his own Yeezus religious channel? “Now the greatest artist that God has ever created is now working for him.” BEYONCE HAS ALWAYS BEEN WORKING FOR GOD, YOU MONSTER.
What a monumental moment with our pastor, @JoelOsteen, and @KanyeWest!
We are getting ready for tonight and expecting big things! Who are you watching Sunday Service with tonight?#SundayServiceAtLakewood#LakewoodChurch pic.twitter.com/wEq6gRvc5s
— Lakewood Church (@lakewoodchurch) November 17, 2019
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
The number of people who are encouraging his behavior is astounding and sad.
Isn’t it? And from people who should know better–people who can tell his “religious awakening” is the delusion of an unwell man. Shows you how blind people can be when there is an incentive to turn their eyes away! Joel Osteen has *always* given me the creeps (like, seriously, I feel like the man has captives in his basement), so I am in no way surprised that he is happy to take whatever he can get in terms of endorsements.
The scary thing about this was that Kanye looked lucid while up there.
He sounded scared and petrified. He was definitely lucid. As in sober.
It was all enough for me a long time ago.
Is this the Joel Osteen, “the greatest artist that God has ever created,” the same man who didn’t open his church for shelter from Hurricane Harvey cause “nobody asked him”? Okay, sir.
Ah yes, definitely the words of someone who isn’t an ego maniac with an untreated mental disorder. My friend and I have been saying he’s running a cult since he started his own church service and it’s just becoming more and more clear to me that that is what he’s doing lol
I have a question. Do the people that go to Kanye’s “Sunday Service” donate money during the service? Or is he just making money off selling the Sunday Service Merch?
I think both of these things are happening because as a former church girl, I know anyone who comes to the church to ‘minister’ gets a cut of the offering, and people have alluded to it online but I don’t have proof yet. I highly doubt he’s making a living of selling merch tho.
I think he is too. There are so many red flags here.
Another thing irks me as well. In the black community (black woman here), the stigma around mental illness is huge. They will go to church and fall out on the altar, but no one is going to a psychiatrist and actually take the meds to address a mental illness. The fact that Kanye is running around, not taking his meds and has started a cult I think is damaging on many many many levels.
@HK9 I absolutely agree with you 100%. Instead of having to address his mental illness, going to therapy and take his meds. Then I will believe that Kanye West has changed.
Also, I am a black woman and also a former Church going christian.
@hk9 and Kiki, I’m mixed and have seen how awful the stigma is around black people (and specifically men in my family’s case) getting mental health treatment. Kanye proudly saying he’s off of his meds and that he’s better at what he does because of it and now this are so damaging. I used to love Kanye, now I can’t even listen to his old albums without feeling disappointed and angry
Couldn’t agree more! Kanye’s choices are definitely in keeping with a very problematic cultural narrative.
So you’re telling me this hasn’t humbled him 🤭 in God’s kingdom, the greatest are least and the first are last. I want to hear him preach that
I did some consulting work for Olsteen’s ministry in Canada a few years. Let me just say his business is super shady, they prey on the weak and elderly and cuts corners and rips off suppliers every chance possible.
It seems Kanye has channeled his mental illness into religion, full on delusions of being god incarnate and the greatest artist of all time. He’s mediocre at best, always has been. I hope he’s taking his meds.
I think he’s going to take this much further and full on launch his own ministry, a la Olsteen. Makes me ill.
This might make people mad but I truly believe most religious institutions and religious leaders are just in it to make money from whomever and however. Religion is a BIG business. People can’t pay their bills but won’t hesitate to donate to their Church/Place of worship. If you truly believe in a higher power, you should realize that higher power is EVERYWHERE, not just within the four walls of a Church, etc. I know so many people who are unethical but go to worship every Sunday and judge those that don’t. You think God doesn’t see what you do outside of Church? The people who act the most religious are usually the biggest hypocrites…at least that’s my take on things. I mean, if you get some sort of comfort in going to Church, that’s great. But please don’t judge those that don’t go. Not going to Church or a place of worship doesn’t make you a bad person. It doesn’t mean you aren’t grateful.
I totally agree. I saw the other side of things when I did some consulting for several different ministries in BC. Olsteen’s was the worst I’d seen because he pretended to have a church in Canada nur it Actually Just a shell company who managed his mail donations. The way they pressured people do more money via the mail was disturbing.
I also know a lot of people who go to church on Sundays, are extremely judgemental, yet don’t act like Christians the rest of the week. It’s sad.
It really is sad. Glad to see I’m not alone in how I view things !
@ME You are not wrong. I will go a step further. Although religion is not a business, these “Preachers” use religion for business purposes to feed into the hope of the meek and feeble people who are looking for a place of hope and safety under the faith of God, Jesus and the holy spirit. It’s a real shame and totally disgusting,
@ Kiki
Yes of course. That’s the main issue. The people “in charge” at places of worship are the one’s making it a business. They go after the easiest targets which is usually those who are hopeless and searching for comfort through God or whomever they worship. These people then become brainwashed and taken advantage of. It is disgusting, I agree.
Mega. MAGA. Mob.
Kanye’s only interest in religion/god is due to Kanye’s delusional admiration of himself.
God must be great, because god made Kanye.
I don’t think it goes any deeper than that.
Of course, I also believe Kanye’s maga/trump obsession goes back to the original taylor swift thing- where he interrupted her onstage- and President Obama, when asked, called him a jackass. If no one had asked Obama about that incident, Kanye would have channeled his crazy in a different scary direction.
Thus we have the birth of a tax-free money laundering cult.
Religion should be outlawed.
No. Preachers who use religion as a business purpose should be outlawed
tomato, tomahto
You know, Kanye has bought himself a great choir, and is being legitimized by the biggest churches in the US. He’s cultivating a following and people are going to make major life decisions on the shit that comes out of his mouth. This is beyond an album launch, and I don’t have a good feeling about any of it.
Beethoven, Mozart, and a bunch of others are forming a line to talk to Kanye when the time comes.
I’m Catholic and though I do believe in God and an afterlife it’s been difficult to attend mass regularly as how hypocritical I know many who do attend are. I have faith in God but I’m losing faith in those who supposedly believe in him and the Christian way of life. They preach about life being sacred yet are silent about children in cages, or being murdered in school because ppl value their guns more than life and even though I try everyday to be a good person if I don’t give money it means nothing & no if you rape murder or beat someone, I don’t believe you deserve forgiveness just because you asked for it. Ugh sorry I went to church yesterday to pray in the chapel and I was just so angry because God does exist but the world is the way it is because of us/man and ppl use his name as an excuse to hurt others and it’s just so hard sometimes….
I can’t take credit for this but my favorite quote from someone’s Twitter regarding this disaster was “Joel Osteen opened his doors for Kanye a hell of a lot quicker than he did for hurricane Harvey victims”. Damn! (I wish I could link the tweet but I can’t). They are both charlatans.
I saw a clip where he was railing against suggestive images children see and against materialism. Uh, yeah. Does he know who he married? And good ole Joel is a prosperity gospel guy.
For someone who supposedly this religious…you would think he would realize that Pride is a deadly sin right?
This!!!
He is off his meds, isn’t he?
I literally only liked 2 or 3 of his songs. He was never that great to me..I don’t get it..