The Gospel According to Oprah
GOOGLE VIDEO: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO OPRAH
It is our duty to be critical and discerning when it comes to who we listen to, what books we read, and what perspectives we adopt into our own worldview. In addition, the God-given responsibility of every man is to protect his flock. As Christ used the metaphor of shepherding (He is the chief shepherd and we are His flock), so He said that we are supposed to do likewise, caring for and protecting our loved ones. In biblical marriage, a man who loves his wife and family does his best to provide for them financially, does anything to protect them physically (i.e. he would die for them), and also strives to protect them spiritually. A godly wife and mother would also want to protect her husband and children from danger. When it comes to spirituality in our society, there is “a meteoric shower of facts” coming at us at all times, people telling us to believe certain ideas and be “converted” to their way of seeing things. As we’ve been studying in “The Biblical Man” class, there are worldviews being peddled in our culture that are completely in conflict with Christianity. In fact, some of them are so sly and crafty that they fly under the title of “Christianity.” And it takes the hard work of discernment to know what’s what.
Spiritual discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit that strengthens over time through growing in your faith, being in community with other believers, and seeking God’s wisdom in Scripture. Discernment, in its most basic form, is the ability to decide between truth and error, right and wrong. In a more narrow definition, it is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth. First Thessalonians 5:21-22 teaches that it is the responsibility of every Christian to be discerning: “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.” The apostle John issues a similar warning when he says, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). According to the New Testament, discernment is not optional for the believer-it is required.
The key to living an uncompromising life lies in one’s ability to exercise discernment in every area of his or her life. For example, failure to distinguish between truth and error leaves the Christian subject to all manner of false teaching. False teaching then leads to an unbiblical mindset, which results in unfruitful and disobedient living-a recipe for disaster. Without discernment, Christians are at risk of being “tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14).
If you believe in and love the true Jesus Christ—the second person of the Trinity, our God who became a man to give himself as a perfect sacrifice of atonement, to reconnect us to God the Father, to defeat Satan, Sin and Death, and to usher in true peace—and you believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and you understand the Gospel, then it is relatively easy to discern true Christianity from most “False Gospels.”
In our next study, we will be digging deeper into discernment and the various spiritual disciplines of a Christian life. But as this issue is pertinent for those of you struggling to engage missionally with Oprah’s disciples, I thought I’d provide a repository of information to help you get equipped. Here are some links to help you learn more about New Age Spirituality, Neo-Paganism, and “Oprahism,” so that you can shepherd your flock, be missional, and “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 1:3):
New Age Movement: New Age of Old Occult
Should Christians Watch Oprah Winfrey?
The Secret: Self-Help Gone Nutty (LA Times)
Oprah Winfrey and Her Self-Help Saviors: Making the New Age Normal
God is Jealous of Oprah? Oprah New Age Blasphemy
Oprah’s Counterfeit Christianity
Here is a blog discussion excerpt that I also found helpful:
‘Oprah and Friends’ to teach course on New Age Christ
Jesus Christ being reinvented, redefined, and blasphemed and, this false New-Age Christ teaching is about to make huge inroads into the world, with the help of the queen of television talk shows, Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah Winfrey, beginning January 1, 2008, on her daily radio program will offer a year-long course on the New Age Christ , in a lesson a day and completely cover the 365 lessons from the Course in Miracles ‘Workbook.’
Listeners will be encouraged to buy A Course in Miracles for the year-long course, and an audio version, recited by Richard (John Boy Walton) Thomas will be available on compact disc.
Those who finish the Course will have a wholly redefined spiritual mindset-a New Age worldview that include the beliefs that there is no sin, no evil, no devil. A Course in Miracles teaches its students to rethink everything they believe about God and life, and, bluntly states: ‘This is a course in mind training’ and is dedicated to ‘thought reversal.’
The Course in Miracles -in reality-is the truth of the Bible turned upside down.
Oprah told her television audience that Williamson’s book, A Course in Miracles was one of her favorite books, and that she had already bought a thousand copies and would be handing them out to everyone in her studio audience. Oprah’s endorsement skyrocketed Williamson’s book to the top of the New York Times bestseller list .
A Course in Miracles is allegedly a ‘new revelation’ from ‘Jesus’ to help humanity work through these troubled times. This ‘Jesus’-who bears no doctrinal resemblance to the Bible’s Jesus Christ-began delivering channeled teachings in 1965 to a Columbia University Professor of Medical Psychology, Helen Schucman.
One day Schucman heard an ‘inner voice’ stating, ‘This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.’ For seven years she diligently took spiritual dictation from this voice that described himself as ‘Jesus.’
Here are some quotes from the ‘Jesus’ voice of A Course in Miracles :
· ‘There is no sin . . . ‘
· A ‘slain Christ has no meaning.’
· ‘The journey to the cross should be the last ‘ useless journey.’
· ‘Do not make the pathetic error of ‘clinging to the old rugged cross.”
· ‘The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol… It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray.’
· ‘The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself.’
· ‘The Atonement is the final lesson he [man] need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation.’
Popular author Wayne Dyer told his PBS television audience that the ‘brilliant writing’ of A Course in Miracles would produce more peace in the world.
Thanks for helping to spread Oprah’s false teaching!