Joel Olsteen Shares God's Message, For a Price.

Victoria and Joel Olsteen leave Houston court Aug, 6, 2008.

Joel Olsteen and his Flight Attendant beating wife Victoria bring their brand of religion to the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. They will be here Jan 7^th for the “A Night of Hope” concert or whatever they call it. But you better be prepared for a day or two of work because the tickets are available, as of now, on TicketMaster for $22.70. However if you have the promo code you can save the $7.50 fee and pay just $15.00 to get in to hear the words of this man of God. With the Center configured as a stage it can seat about 22,000 ticket holders. With the tickets ranging from $22.70 to $15.00 each person the Olsteen look to rake in from $330,000 to $499,400 alone from ticket sales. When I called the Olsteen Ministry today the woman I spoke to in the media office told me that it is typical for an admission to be charged to the events. I am sure for the Olsteen events that is true. But there are plenty of examples for this not being the case.

Floor plan from TicketMaster showing the form to buy tickets.

This stands in sharp contrast to other religious live events such a a Billy Graham Crusade, One Day Crusade, Campus Crusade, Dave Roever Crusades, Harvest Crusades and lists of many of the crusades or outreaches that travel around the country. It seems Today the use of the gospel that is in the Bible is now so exclusive that one must pay for it ahead of time.

But with the requirement of payment ahead of time there is no fear of having those that might disagree with the message. In the past when I was a Christian I would go to many crusades and events. If they were to be an outreach to the public they were always free. Honestly who is going to go to one of these things if they don't already agree with them if you have to pay for it?

Drop down menu shows the price of Olsteen's event.

To me this show little faith in the God that Olsteen seems to promote. If this God is so powerful why doesn't he have him pay for the event by supporters or donations. It shows a lack of faith on Olsteen's part. Plus how much can it cost to rent that place? I have not been able to find out but I can't see it costing $300,000 for one night.

I will concede that if the event is like a Christian band or a seminar that it is typical to pay. I agree that Joyce Meyers annual Woman's conference is an event that people go to for the event itself. Though I do think that is really a borderline issue too. But at least I understand that. Olsteen's deal is suppose to be a way to “share” hope with, I would guess, for everyone that needs hope. I guess if you can't afford the price of admission that all hope is lost.

Well my HOPE is that the lovely Olsteen's get exposed for the shysters, hypocrites and frauds that they are. This is nothing than a pure use of religion for self promotion and self gratification. I know the couple Olsteen will be able to dismiss and discount this in their own views but if they do have any ounce of integrity, which I am not counting on, they may actually reach into their financial resources and open this event to the public like their faith says they should do with the gospel they believe in.

But with the outrageous idea of charging for an event that should by all reason should be free there is of course the sales of material that the Olsteen's get when they descend onto the venue. Just from what the joel olsteen website shows there are 28 books, 26 series [whatever that is], scores of messages [sermons], and 15 music CDs for sale. I was surprised that there was no videos for sale. With all this material for sale the Olsteen are sure to have a big haul from the St. Louis concert show they are doing January 7^th.

I almost forgot this part too. Olsteen gets all this money tax free because his job is more important than anyone else but American soldier's in a war zone.