The Gospel According to Oprah?

Talk-show host Oprah Winfrey (whom Time and CCN called “arguably the World’s most powerful woman”) was listening to a sermon in a Baptist church on the characteristics of God.

Oprah was shocked to hear that God is “a jealous God” (Exodus 20:5, NIV). She claimed this led her to search for the truth: “God is jealous of me? And something about that didn’t feel right in my spirit because I believe that God is love… And so that’s when the search for something more than doctrine started to stir within me.” That’s when she allegedly “took God out of the box”. (Source: http://www.probe.org/)

Sadly, her quest led her to turn her back away from the Biblical faith she claimed she had since childhood. She became “an evangelist for smorgasbord spirituality.” Now, over 2 million people from 139 countries have already participated with Oprah Winfrey in a live Web-based seminar on Eckhart Tolle’s bestseller, “A New Earth Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.” (Due to space limitations, I cannot discuss the contents of the book.)

Oprah asserts that, quoting one of her favorite quotes from Eckhart, “Man made God in his own image. The eternal, the infinite, and unnamable was reduced to a mental idol that you had to believe in and worship as my God or our God.” But Oprah is guilty of doing just exactly that. She declared, “I don’t believe that Jesus came to start Christianity… Well, I am a Christian who believes that there are certainly many more paths to God other than Christianity.” She crafted her own idol because of a misunderstanding of the “jealousy” of God. I am not in any way questioning Oprah’s sincerity. Yet, she is seriously wrong. Definitely she is preaching a different gospel.

Our Lord Jesus declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Even if it doesn’t feel right, even if one does not believe it, it does not make it wrong. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) This is the true Gospel.

Brethren, let us share the Gospel of Christ, not that of Oprah.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God Knows Judas Not Pay

In the National Geographic Magazine (May 2006 issue), in its cover story, The Judas Gospel , Professor Eliane Pagels of Princeton University claimed that the so-called gospel of Judas “ changes the history of early Christianity. ” Even UP Professor Randy David took notice of the Judas Gospel: “Strictly from a sociological standpoint, I think the discovery of the Gospel of Judas makes Christianity a far more interesting religion than what centuries of metaphysical theology has made of it.” (A Gospel for the Postmodern, Phil. Daily Inquirer, April 16, 2006) That’s why I spoke in our Young Pro Fellowship a few days ago on God Knows Judas Not Pay (A Biblical Response on the Judas Gospel). I believe opportunities like this hype on the Judas Gospel or the Da Vinci Code opens a door for us to share the true Gospel. For those who did not attend last Thursday, let me share briefly why we reject the Judas gospel. I came up with the acronym J-U-D-A-S. J udas was portrayed as a traitor in the Bibl
Read more

“Ubus-ubos Biyaya, Bukas Nakatunganga”

Image
That’s what my mother always told us when we were still kids. (Translation: “You spend everything today, you will have nothing tomorrow.” ) Image source: So, What's New ? Dionie did just that. Last April 2008, he won PHP14,125,032 in the Lotto 6/42 draw. Excitedly, he “lived the life of a millionaire, something he had been longing to experience. He lived in a P4-million house in a posh subdivision, drove around in a sports utility vehicle [which he bought the very same day he claimed his prize] , and gave goodwill money, ranging P1,000 to P 850,000, to relatives and friends. He also gambled daily, womanized, and went on regular drinking sprees.” (Source: Manila Bulletin ) He estimated that he squandered a minimum of P100,000 almost every day. He also lent money even to people he did not really know. “I just gave them and told them not to pay me back.” (Ibid) His bank had to issue him a special card so he can withdraw huge amounts of money quickly from the automated teller m
Read more

“Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!”

Image
Forty years ago, this expression became known as a description of blind obedience.   Source: Los Angeles Times On November 18, 1978, members of Peoples Temple, a cult group in Guyana, drank Kool-Aid drink laced with cyanide to commit a mass suicide “at the behest of their charismatic but paranoid leader, Jim Jones”. [1] According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica , “The death toll exceeded 900, including some 300 age 17 and under, making the incident one of the largest mass deaths in American history. ”  [2]  What made those people submit to such atrocity? According to Stella Morabito, a senior contributor to The Federalist online magazine, Peoples Temple is “Exhibit A… [of]  the dangers of the cult mindset or how vulnerable all people are to cult tactics.”  [3] She pointed out that, Coercive persuasion has immense power to shape and twist the human mind.  …[Jones’] utopian preaching of a humane world in which all lived happily in harmony resonated with the
Read more