Joel Osteen Deemed The 'Pablo Escobar of Christianity' After Money Found

Mega-church pastor, Joel Osteen, is being compared to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

The Christian church leader recently made headlines after a plumber exposed Lakewood Church for having envelopes full of money hidden in its walls.

On Thursday, December 2, a plumber who worked at the mega-church called into 100.3 The Bull radio station to detail what he found in the church.

He recalled doing repair work at Osteen’s mega-church when he discovered hundreds of envelopes of cash and checks hidden in a wall.

"There was a loose toilet in the wall and we removed the tile ... Went to go remove the toilet and I moved some insulation away and about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall, and I was like, 'Oh wow,'" the caller said.

He said he called the maintenance supervisor and turned the money in.

Law enforcement officers were called to the church on November 10 to investigate the discovery according to a statement from the Houston Police Department.

"Church members stated that during a renovation project, a large amount of money -- including cash, checks and money orders -- was found inside a wall," the statement said.

Police believe the hidden money is connected to a massive 2014 “theft” at the Houston church. They said the evidence from the recovered checks suggests that the envelopes are connected to a 2014 theft.

At the time of the alleged robbery, CNN reported that $600,000.00 was taken from a church safe.

The outlet reported $200k in cash and $400k in checks were stolen; however, that storyline has completely changed since the new discovery.

You know the saying, “If walls could talk,” right?

Well, they're talking alright … just through the voice box of a plumber.

The money came from contributions given on March 8 and 9 of 2014 according to CNN.

The investigation is ongoing, but Lakewood Church confirmed the discovery in a statement given to CNN.

“Recently, while repair work was being done at Lakewood Church, an undisclosed amount of cash and checks were found," the statement said. "Lakewood immediately notified the Houston Police Department and is assisting them with their investigation."

Of course, people reacted to the news on Twitter, and many weren’t surprised by the news.

One person wrote, “Joel Osteen is the absolute reason we should tax the hell out of the churches.”

Another compared the pastor to a kingpin, “Joel Osteen is the Pablo Escobar of Christianity.”

“The dumbest people in America believe Donald Trump and Joel Osteen are Christians,” another wrote.

Another begged the question, “What would Jesus think?”

“What would Jesus think of Joel Osteen’s $325,000 Ferrari, is $4.4 million in PPP loans, his $10.5 million mansion, and his bags of cash & checks stashed in the bathroom wall of his megachurch in Houston,” this researched person tweeted.

On December 2, Osteen tweeted, “If you believe the negative things people say about you, if you let circumstances name you, then you’re giving it the right to come to pass.”