Houston Megachurch: We ‘Never Closed Our Doors’ To Those Displaced By Harvey

** ADVANCE FOR FRIDAY AMS, JULY 15 **Flags fly in front of the Lakewood Church June 28, 2005 in Houston. The nation's largest church is moving into the 16,000-seat former home of the Houston Rockets with the first se... ** ADVANCE FOR FRIDAY AMS, JULY 15 **Flags fly in front of the Lakewood Church June 28, 2005 in Houston. The nation's largest church is moving into the 16,000-seat former home of the Houston Rockets with the first service Saturday, July 16. The facility took 15 months and about $75 million (euros 62 million) to complete and features two waterfalls, three gargantuan television screens and a lighting system that rivals one found at a rock concert. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) MORE LESS
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The Lakewood Church in Houston, a megachurch with a 16,800-seat arena where Joel Osteen serves as pastor, on Monday denied that it closed its doors to residents displaced by massive flooding after Hurricane Harvey made landfall last week.

“We have never closed our doors. We will continue to be a distribution center for those in need,” church spokesman Donald Iloff told CNN. “We are prepared to shelter people once the cities and county shelters reach capacity.”

The church provided CNN with photographs of standing water in hallways and a parking lot.

Iloff, who is televangelist pastor Joel Osteen’s father-in-law, said the church is scheduled to open around noon and will also serve as a donation center.

The church on Sunday posted on Facebook that it was “inaccessible due to severe flooding” and included a list of “safe shelters” in Houston as well as the National Guard rescue hotline.

Osteen faced criticism Monday for not opening the church as a shelter for those displaced by Harvey.

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Notable Replies

  1. I guess lying (bearing false witness) is now a good Christian personality trait. Osteen is nothing more than a thieving con man in the first place. His job is separating people from their hard-earned money for his own personal gain. He’s just another grifter making his pile off of the ignorance of the rubes.

  2. This is one of the best justifications I’ve ever heard for living a religious life, and one of the most beautiful:

    And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

    No snark. Too many suffering.

  3. Avatar for mantan mantan says:

    Joel has always made my skin crawl…

  4. Avatar for chammy chammy says:

    And yet his coffers are wide open for donations. What a bunch of fools to give this charlatan one dime

  5. Avatar for drtv drtv says:

    “Houston Megachurch: We ‘Never Closed Our Doors’ To Those Displaced By Harvey.”

    Lie.

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