Turning the other cheek
Joel Osteen laughs off the Internet hoax that had him questioning God: Sees it as a blessing
Though the Christian world might have reeled at the faux news that Joel Osteen had defected from the faith, the charismatic Lakewood Church pastor found the elaborate Internet hoax "so comical."
Osteen told KHOU Ch. 11 News that he discovered the news through text messages from friends in South Africa and Australia. "I though, 'Wow, something big is going on here,' " he said.
"You honor God and God will take care of the rest."
But the joke had a silver lining for the mega church: Lakewood added double its average amount of Facebook friends and Twitter followers in the past seven days.
"You honor God and God will take care of the rest," Osteen laughed.
The prankster, meanwhile, has come forward to state that the pastor "seems like an infectiously nice and genial character."
"I would like to state unequivocally my intent was not to defame Mr. Osteen," the anonymous hoaxer wrote in an email to NPR.
He goes on to explain his aim was to "test viral media markets" and to influence the pastor to "do away with the soft 'positivity' and cliche-peppered Sunday messages and use his high visibility to address more serious social issues."
Watch KHOU's full report:
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Photo by Leonid Furmansky