RadioOnFire.com - Televangelist Joel Osteen made a round of appearances on news networks on Wednesday, August 30, to dispute claims that his mega church kept its doors closed to the public as Hurricane Harvey began to intensify earlier this week. Osteen says not only were there plans to accommodate the community in need in its time of crisis, but that the church was actually never closed to the public, even if the doors were locked.
"The church is always open. We've received people when the flood waters went down or began to recede here, but uh, you know, the convention center is four miles down the road and I think a lot of people went there," Osteen said, sticking to the defense he provided upon learning of a growing backlash on the internet. Osteen has contended that the reason his church was late in getting around to harboring survivors is that the 16,800 seat Lakewood Church was itself steeped in water. He implied that the controversy is a fabricated one that has been drummed up by social media. "Once we could get the waters down and the staff in here we were going to kick it into gear, but uh, I don't know," the popular pastor told TMZ, before pointing out that his church has always been depended on to aid in relief of disaster, as was the case during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001.
When confronted about the video posted by a social media user who walked up to the empty church and filmed its dry surroundings, as thousands scrambled for shelter, Osteen projected the failure on to staffing and logistics. "Anybody is welcome to come, and anybody should have been welcome to come. If they were turned away it was the security company or something," he said. "But, understand too, we didn't have all of the staff here, and um, you know, our people live here and work here as well so, it's kind of difficult all the way."
Source: youtube.com
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