With Protestant churches like those found across the US, especially the Evangelical political institution and its Megachurch billionaire empires preying on credulous ignorant Americans, it is, I think, time to cancel the whole 16th-century Reformation movement. Even the Catholic Church appears to be a tad more Christian!
AI says, "Joel Osteen's net worth is estimated to be between $40 million and $100 million. He is known for his role as a televangelist and the senior pastor of Lakewood Church, which generates significant revenue through donations and book sales."
Yet, his church refused to give baby formula to a woman asking for it.
But, I thought "He" said, ""Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you." Unless the whole thing is just plain and simple Bronze Age Jewish drivel one finds in the garbage so-called scriptures, which are basically desert hallucinations of smelly, old, sheep-herding desert nomads with beards.
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A woman called Lakewood Church asking for baby formula. Now, she's shaming them.
Gwen Howerton
Tue, November 11, 2025
The church was the target of a TikTok experiment. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
The Bible is full of parables about feeding the needy and caring for the poor. Thousands of years after the Bible was written, a Kentucky woman has gone viral for asking a Houston megachurch if it will hold up that bargain.
A TikTok user from Kentucky by the name of Nikalie Monroe has racked up millions of views running an experiment: Posing as a desperate mother with a newborn baby, Monroe calls megachurches around the country asking if they would provide her with baby formula. After videos of her calling local churches in Kentucky made waves, Monroe began taking suggestions and has called dozens of churches around the nation, seeking formula for her nonexistent baby and keeping track of who offers to help.
At one user's suggestion, Monroe called one of the biggest churches in the nation, Houston's Lakewood Church, to see what their response would be. To add dramatic effect, Monroe played the sound of a crying baby during her call to Lakewood Church.
"That is not real, it is just to make it seem more realistic," Monroe says with a laugh. "We're gonna try and see if it changes the way they might want to help. I keep making this baby worse and still, nobody wants to help."
When Monroe got on the phone with the church, she went through her spiel.
"I was calling to see if y'all could help with formula at all, I have a 2-month-old baby, and we ran out last night, so she's been going all day long without food. Is there any way y'all could help with formula?" Monroe asked.
At that point, a person on the phone from Lakewood Church tells Monroe that the church has a "benevolence ministry," and that she can take down Monroe's information for an application. When Monroe asks how long the request for assistance could take to be fulfilled, the Lakewood clerk says "a few days or weeks," and only if a request for help is approved.
Monroe was flabbergasted, saying a church of Lakewood's size and wealth should be able to provide for a mother in need. Per a Fox Business report from 2019, Lakewood Church had $59 million in assets.
"This church is huge," Monroe says in the video, exasperated. "I already knew, don't get me wrong, but when it's like in your face and you're seeing it and hearing it, it's like, this is reality right now."
Monroe's post racked up nearly 2,000 comments, many of which slammed Lakewood Church and recalled the church's much-maligned response to Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Initially, Lakewood did not make its massive church, which formerly housed the Houston Rockets, a shelter for those displaced by the storm, saying the building was "inaccessible due to severe flooding." After local and national outcry, Lakewood pastor Joel Osteen opened the church.
Some TikTokers claimed that Osteen has an estimated net worth of $50 million, and that Lakewood regularly brings in millions on Sundays. Osteen's true net worth is unclear, with numbers as low as $40 million and as high as $100 million floating around online, though the Osteens are obviously wealthy. Last year, Osteen personally thanked Lakewood's congregation, one of the wealthiest in the nation, for paying off a $100 million loan he took out to renovate the building.
"Joel Osteen would NEVER," one user wrote. "He didn't get a mega mansion & multiple high end sports cars by doing the Lord's work!"
Others compared Osteen to Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale, who opened his Gallery Furniture store to Houstonians in need of shelter during both Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and Tropical Storm Imelda in 2019.
"Girl, if you call Mattress Mack in Houston, he'd probably have a warehouse pallet of formula dropped off," a user replied to Monroe with a crying laughing emoji.
Chron reached out to Lakewood Church to ask if the church had seen the video and what aid programs the church offers. Lakewood Church didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
A brief look at Lakewood Church's website shows the church offers various marriage classes, support groups for mothers dealing with postpartum depression, and various faith-based childcare programs. And the church, possibly in order to soothe tensions with Houstonians after Hurricane Harvey, has run blood drives and given out water after various natural disasters since, including after Hurricane Beryl in 2024.
Monroe also called First Baptist Church in Dallas, which told her no programs to help her existed and hung up on her when she revealed that she was doing an experiment. Another pastor in Baton Rouge called Monroe "low" and "evil." Thankfully for her nonexistent baby, Monroe was able to find a few churches that offered to help, as well as one Mosque.
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