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Mar 02
2008
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Oprah the HereticPosted by Bryan in pop-culture   |
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Ok, I've felt this way for a long time, but now I've had it. Oprah has gone too far.
It used to be fairly bland: "there are many ways to heaven" she might say. But now with her endorsement and propogation of the "Course in Miracles" by Marianne Williamson on her website, Oprah crossed the line. For example, I read this today from one of the lessons...
You are indeed the light of the world with such a function. The Son of God looks to you for his redemption. It is yours to give him, for it belongs to you. Accept no trivial purpose or meaningless desire in its place, or you will forget your function and leave the Son of God in hell. This is no idle request that is being asked of you. You are being asked to accept salvation that it may be yours to give.
What!? The Son of God looks to ME for redemption!? This isn't just heresy, it is blasphemy. And this is no isolated instance. Oh how I wish it was. And as I read through the lessons from the beginning, it just gets worse and worse the deeper you go. Here are some examples...
Take this quote from lesson 17: "God is merely the love within us, so returning to Him is a return to ourselves. "
Or this from lesson 39: "Your holiness is the answer to every question that was ever asked, is being asked now, or will be asked in the future. Your holiness means the end of guilt, and therefore the end of hell. Your holiness is the salvation of the world, and your own."
Or this from lesson 40: " If only a brief period is available, merely telling yourself that you are blessed as a Son of God will do."
Or this from lsson 41 which flies straight in the face of the passages we'll be looking at in Romans in the coming week: "It is quite possible to reach God. In fact it is very easy, because it is the most natural thing in the world. You might even say it is the only natural thing in the world."
Or this from lesson 45: "You think with the Mind of God. Therefore you share your thoughts with Him, as He shares His with you. They are the same thoughts, because they are thought by the same Mind."
Or this one from lesson 46: "God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions. Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself."
Or this from Lesson 54: "I am alone in nothing. Everything I think or say or do teaches all the universe. A Son of God cannot think or speak or act in vain. He cannot be alone in anything. It is therefore in my power to change every mind along with mine, for mine is the power of God." [Note that SON OF GOD does not refer to Jesus, but to YOU!]
Or this from lesson 58: "My holiness is unlimited in its power to heal, because it is unlimited in its power to save. What is there to be saved from except illusions? And what are all illusions except false ideas about myself? My holiness undoes them all by asserting the truth about me. In the presence of my holiness, which I share with God Himself, all idols vanish."
Or this from lesson 60: " God does not forgive because He has never condemned. The blameless cannot blame..." [Isn't His blamelessness the very reason he CAN blame?]
Or this under the heading "I am the Light of the World" in lesson 61: "Who is the light of the world except God's Son? This, then, is merely a statement of the truth about yourself. It is the opposite of a statement of pride, of arrogance, or of self-deception. It does not describe the self-concept you have made. It does not refer to any of the characteristics with which you have endowed your idols. It refers to you as you were created by God. It simply states the truth."
I could go on but it would make me vomit. She uses the term "God" and "Holy Spirit" and "Son of God" but never ONCE mentions the name JESUS. Beware of this false teaching. It is quite cunning. Subtle twists of truth and scripture here and there mixed with plenty of self-exaltation and you have a recipe for a mass deception via mass communication media.
written by Tammy Wold , March 04, 2008
I'm not sure that the problem is so much being a bunch of anemic Christ followers as it is that hundreds of thousands of people are being lured by the same old New Age theology ('cuz that's all Oprah is really re-packaging here)that was so prevalent in the late '80's and early '90's. I see Oprah as simply the Shirley MacLaine of the 21st century. I know that God is more than big enough to handle her but I'm deeply concerned about the 500-700,000 people who have jumped, or rather logged-on to this bandwagon. New Age theology is very subtle in its approaches which makes it so appealing to so many. We need to stand in the gap for these and be willing to get on our knees and in our Bibles and out in our communities to rightly answer the question, "What am I here for?".
written by danny wiebe , March 04, 2008
While I do agree with you, Byron, that the hypocrisy of Christianity is embarassing when it comes to entertainment, I have to disagree with your assessment of Oprah. She drops Christian phrases like she knows enough to be dangerous & she's called herself a "Christian". She's basically done enough to prove herself to be someone to listen to by millions of households by having "exceptional compassion and character". And that's the problem. The American church listens to anyone, we love to sit down and have our beliefs given to us by our pastors, TV "preachers", and by Oprah. Rather than work out OUR salvation with fear and trembling, we resort to the fast food line and the couch. Her viewers spend more time under her teaching than they do in their bibles or in a congregation. You're in the EXTREME minority of Oprah's audience if you are biblically literate. And so, when she, a christian in name only (along with most of America), tells her audience what to believe about Jesus, it's worthy of criticism.
The easy thing to do is to tell everyone to hate Oprah, but the bigger problem is equipping the church to ... well... be the church (as I'm sure you know). We've become such a pathetic bunch of anemic christ followers, that we actually have to point out that what Oprah is saying is wrong.
Wow... not sure if any of this made sense...
written by Bryan Hansen , March 04, 2008
I agree that we Christians can be quick to judge (that is, condemn) those who are not believers. But I also feel the need to, when the situation seems to warrant it, to call the sheep to pay attention to the fact that there is a wolf around. I am derelict in my calling as a pastor to not protect the sheep that God has called me to shepherd. I had received so many "have you seen this--is it true?" emails in the last two days regarding this that I felt compelled to address it.
written by Tammy Wold , March 03, 2008
Wise words, Byron. I'm continually intrigued at how we as Christians hold which public figures to what standards and what that says about us.
written by Kim Welton , March 03, 2008
I love your comments Bryan and Byron. I can't agree more. Thank you for your time on this! It's easy to see what's going on here. It's not too far of a stretch for those of us with the Holy Spirit
. I see this as the work of the enemy and he knows better anyone that the easiest form of manipulation is to speak as close to the truth as possible but miss the mark to draw question and doubt close only to lead many astray and to be left lost and empty or even worse, with a sense of self-fulfillment (emphasis on self). I pity Oprah...and her millions of "sheep". MAN if only she'd use that platform for JESUS. The woman is misled and misleading. We all know that there is only One way to heaven and that is "That if you confess with your mouth, JESUS IS LORD and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." ~Rom 10:9 So there ya have it. Period. Oprah is very compassionate, giver beyond belief, does so much good in this world, much more then most. Unfortunately good people go to hell every day riding on their own "good works". One word....Wow.
written by Bryan Hansen , March 03, 2008
Point well taken Byron. The problems you mentioned do exist and are equally, if not more dangerous in their subtlety. I suppose what gets my irk up is that Oprah has said before that she holds to Christian beliefs (whatever that vaguery means) and more troubling to me: that what she promotes is doctrine strictly speaking. Using terms like Holy Spirit, God the Father, Son of God, put her (or, in this case, those she promotes) more in line with what Christians believe. It was crazy to me in reading this how close it was to truth while all the while pointing the readers away from Jesus and toward self as the source of salvation and relief and life.
written by byron waggoner , March 03, 2008
I was at first intrigued to see the quote in it's context, thinking it might be an application of Jesus' own words in Mt 25 when He said, "I was thirsty...", in this context the application might have been something like, "I was heading to hell...", but clearly, from many of the other quotes (you did quite a thorough study Bryan!) it is way off-base. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
I am surprised, however, at how many believers so passionately despise Oprah and all that she is. I have never viewed her as a believer (not that I am the judge, but her own words give a pretty clear indicaiton), and as a non believer I consider her to have exceptional compassion and character. I do not hold her accountable to the standards of scripture because to my knowledge she has not embraced them as her own. My great confusion comes as those same believers who have such disdain for Oprah have seemingly little problem with a very talented musician or comedian or actor or professor or author who unabashadly screams out a myriad of messages that are diametrically opposed to the Gospel and a lifestyle that follows in suit. Many of us not only tolerate them, we laugh at their stuff, we download their "sermons" and smile at the mention of their names. We pay $9 to see their movies and pride ourselves on how relevant and open-minded we are compared to the stereotyped "head-in-the-sand" believer as we discuss the deep theology espoused by the artist's [removed]even if unintended) and how God is supposedly going to use it to reveal Himself to the world.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Oprah's, and I recognise the power she has and the murky waters she wades in with regard to spirituality, but so many others are far more dangerous that we seem to embrace...I don't get it. 2 Tim 3:1-7
For what it's worth, Byron
