I have no love for creepy Lakewood megachurch pastor Joel Osteen. On a personal level, he gives me the creeps. Everything I’ve read about him screams “CHARLATAN!” – from that freaky fake smile, to his gargantuan $10.5 million home and his other, smaller nearly $3 million house, to his weird prosperity gospel preaching.

Look, I have no problem with prosperity. If you’ve earned it, you have the right to it. If the value of your labor to others has made you stinking rich, more power to you! What I don’t like is people who use religion, charity, and goodness to bully the naive and desperate for spiritual enlightenment, and enrich themselves in the process, while doing little to actually help others. I despise those who beg for money on behalf of God, as if giving your earnings to their idea of a deity (using them as a conduit, of course, and allowing them to keep a portion of those contributions like a typical money launderer) is somehow a benevolence and a ticket to heaven.

That money helped Osteen to build this ginormous facility with strobe lights and lots of production value. It helped him sell books and DVDs. It helped him live in a massive mansion and drive expensive cars.

But there’s certainly debate about just how much Osteen and his “church” have helped those in need.