Outcry after Joel Osteen shuts out hurricane Harvey victims

ruby orimba

August 29, 2017 1:31 PM

With a construction worth $50 million, the popular pastor is under fire for ignoring the people's cry for help

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Following the occurence of Hurricane Harvey in Texas, globally reknown Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen is under fire after he refused to open up his church for people to take shelter.

In a post on Twitter last Saturday, Joel Osteen said his wife and him were praying for the victims of the hurricane while calling out people to stand with them in prayer.

However, there was an immediate backlash from Texas residents who claimed that the pastor had refused to open the church to the victims of the hurricane at a time when they were in need of help.

In response to various requests that the church is opened to counter as a shelter during the storm, Lakewood Church stated on thier Facebook page that the church was also severely flooded hence unavailable. Instead, they directed displaced victims to nearby shelters.

Only, twitter was flooded with pictures of various places in the church that were dry when it had just been declared flooded.

After the angry critism, On Monday, Joel Osteen issued a statement stating that the church and his team were in the business of helping the victims.

With pictorial evidence, Joel refutted the claims stating that the doors have never been closed and went on to promise that Lakewood church will be active in helping the people rebuild their lives.

"We have never closed our doors. We will continue to be a distribution center for those in need... Lakewood will be a value to the community in the aftermath of this storm in helping our fellow citizens rebuild their lives."

The church, which is built to hold more than 16,000 people, has previously been active in relief efforts, including sheltering displaced victims during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

So far 6 have been declared dead because of the storms and thousands are expected to be homeless by the end of the nightmare floods.

And guess what? The church has finally been opened.

ruby orimba