Joel Osteen - The $13 Million Dollar Man

Well, it's finally happened, Joel Osteen is now officially worth more than the Bionic Man and the Bionic Woman put together.

How you may ask is it possible for old heretical Joel to do so well financially.

Well, it's from what I would like to call the power of the press, some have said that "Osteen's megadeal is one more layer of religious crossover" -- I say it is one huge payoff for a book he hasn't even written an outline for yet. Oh and by the way this deal is bigger than the deal the Pope and Hillary Clinton got.

I can wrap up old heretical Joel in one quote he gave on the NBC Today Show:

"I want to help people live a better life, the principles in the bible help people to do that”
-Joel Olsteen, March 16, 2006, NBC Today Show

I hate to break it to Joel, it isn't the principles in the bible that help people -- it is Jesus Christ. That quote shows the man-centeredness and real heart and motivation of Joel Osteen, and ultimately this book he is going to write and all the books he has written are about man and what you can get out of God. BUT, as an old preacher once said "God will never be a means to anyones ends". The itching ears will buy this book and any other just like it - and that is the sad state of American "Christians".

Here is some of the article (there are so many things said by "Christians" in this article that it is emabarrasing):

Click here for full article.

March 17, 2006, 9:30PM
'Best Life' redux
Osteen's megadeal is one more layer of religious crossover
By TARA DOOLEY AND BARBARA KARKABI
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

THE pressure's on Joel Osteen. But as he tries to deliver on his potentially lucrative book deal with Simon & Schuster, he could get help from the Christian crossover into mainstream publishing.

Osteen, responding to questions in an e-mail, says he does not feel any pressure. His goal is the same as always: "Spreading the gospel to as many people as possible."
However, publishing is always a gamble, said Jeff Gerke, fiction manager for Christian publishing company NavPress in Colorado.

"You can hedge your bets and make educated guesses based on previous performance," he said. "The New York publisher is betting that Osteen will sell well based on the performance of his first book." That book — Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential — sold 4 million copies and put Osteen on best-seller lists for months.

The question now is: Will Osteen's name still deliver in the fall of 2007, when his as-yet-unnamed book hits stores? Simon & Schuster may think so. The New York publishing giant announced this week that it had signed Osteen for his next effort with its Free Press imprint. It has been reported the deal could be worth $10 million to $13 million.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the deal would allow Osteen an advance of up to $2 million. In return, Osteen would get 50 percent of the publisher's profits on sales.
"It is an A-Rod kind of contract," said Chris Turner, of LifeWay Christian Resources, referring to Alex Rodriguez's phenomenal 10-year contract with the New York Yankees. "If you are a (sales) producer, you can write your own ticket."

Christian books have crossed over into Everyman stores such as Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble. Their increased access and visibility have increased demand, said Mark Kuyper, president and CEO of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

"The retail outlets are saying that as long as there is interest in this, and the category is hot, we are interested in making (books) available," Kuyper said.