Fact Checking is a Beautiful Thing

Joel Osteen, pastor of a megachurch in Houston, Texas, posted this on his website on March 29:

http://www.joelostenministries.com/

Or did he?

Before I continue, let me point out that this is not a defense of or attack on Osteen's ministry. I leave that up to you to decide.

First of all, check out the domain name. The misspelling of his own name seems pretty obvious to me. Second, on that same page, a link is embedded to a CNN article.

When you click on the link, it takes you to this page:

I may be a dummy, but that sure ain't no CNN article.

Third, check out his actual personal pages.

https://twitter.com/JoelOsteen @JoelOsteen vs. https://twitter.com/PastorJoelOsten @PastorJoelOsteen

First one real. Second one fake.

http://www.joelostenministries.com/ fake website vs. http://www.joelosteen.com/Pages/Home.aspx real website

http://www.facebook.com/JoelOsteen?fref=ts real Facebook page.

If you look at all the real websites, you won't find any hint of resignation, denying the Christian faith, etc. Just more of his Texas-sized smile and words of encouragement.

Articles discussing the hoax:

http://global.christianpost.com/news/joel-osteen-resigns-a-hoax-pastor-attacked-with-false-statement-93453/cpt

http://www.examiner.com/article/joel-osteen-leaving-faith-hoax-fake-website-claims-cnn-report-on-pastor

I'm not saying that everyone should go to Lakeview Baptist Church, give money to the ministry, or any of that kind of thing. All I'm saying is before jumping to crazy conclusions, do some basic fact checking. It's a beautiful thing.

-RST