A special message from Pastor Joel
March 29, 2013  

"Thank you for visiting. As many of you may know, and may have heard in the news recently, many of my sermons have deviated from traditional Christian doctrine. I have been accused of altering the 'message' to fit my own doctrine and dogma. Others have accused me of preaching 'feel good Christianity'. I have also been accused of profiting greatly from my ministry, with my books and television deals.

Many of their criticisms are legitimate.

What they don't know is that deep down in my heart, for a number of years now, I have been questioning the faith, Christianity and whether Jesus Christ is really my, or anyone's, 'savior'. 

I am now at the point that I am comfortable enough in what I believe that I am ready to announce to the world that I am no longer a Christian. I am no longer a believer in Christ. I no longer believe the Bible is the word of God.

I believe now that the Bible is a fallible, flawed, highly inconsistent history book that has been altered hundreds of times. There is zero evidence the Bible is the holy word of God. In fact, there is zero evidence "God" even exists. I believe I am more like God than the God of the Bible, a fictional character.  

Today, I informed my closest colleagues of my decision to leave the church. Our ministry will continue in a bare-bones fashion as we liquidate our assets and fulfill various financial obligations.
 
I want to thank my wife, our parishioners and our faithful followers, the City of Houston, Lakewood, the State of Texas and my close friends, Oprah Winfrey and Larry King, for all of our support over the years

I plan to begin a new ministry to carry on my message, without the doctrine and dogma of Christianity to muddle it and bring it down.

We're also having some trouble transferring ownership of some of our web sites, so as of now, I haven't been able to update everything on all of them. I'm also dealing with some church leaders who refuse to accept my resignation."

Pastor Joel also plans to donate a percentage of his fortune to charity.