Oprah: Televangelist Of The New Age Deception

Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the Pope. (Vanity Fair 1994)


Even if you don't watch her TV talk show or listen to her radio show or read her magazine, you or someone you love will be affected by what she's passing off as "spirituality" these days.

Now that Oprah has become a New Age propagandist, we have a duty to expose her and her "guru" guests so that we can rescue Catholics and other Christians from this dangerous ideology. . . .

Keep watch. Be vigilant. The New Age ideas being pushed by Oprah cannot be easily dismissed. They're building steam and gaining ground-even among our fellow Catholics.

Sharon Lee Giganti is a great source of  information on this subject. She is a former New Age teacher, now a Certified Catholic Catechist. I have linked to her website (click on her name). She has shared how she went through a dramatic realization that the ideas and principles of the New Age Movement are actually dangerous and can have deadly consequences in people's lives. Link to Sharon's CD set.

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 Here is Jimmy Akin's review and endorsement of Sharon Lee Giganti's CD/story. I have reformatted and edited slightly.

Dear Friend of Catholic Answers,

Karl Keating asked me to write you this letter to alert you to a serious spiritual threat.

My name is Jimmy Akin, and I'm the director of apologetics and evangelization for Catholic Answers.

If you know my personal story, you know that I am a convert to the Catholic faith from Evangelicalism.

What you may not know is that before I was an Evangelical, I was a New Ager. That's right. When I was young and impressionable, before my religious convictions matured, I was a follower of the New Age Movement and its bizarre beliefs regarding reincarnation, astrology, clairvoyance, psychic healing, Atlantis, "Earth changes," automatic writing, " Christ consciousness," and all that stuff.

But I grew out of it.

By God's grace, I was led to embrace the Christian faith . . .  and then the fullness of the Christian faith in the Catholic Church.

Unfortunately, many people are still trapped in the New Age Movement, and now it is more dangerous than ever.
New Age gurus . . . .  

• Deny reality   
• Reject logic and reason   
• Promote delusional thinking   
• Encourage self-centeredness   
• Push people over the edge   
• Dismiss sin and evil   
• Pretend to be God   
• And much more

It's hard to believe that one of the most well-known, most popular, and most influential women in the world is also one of the most dangerous because of what she's teaching to millions of unsuspecting people every single day.

She's Oprah Winfrey. You know her as a wildly successful TV talk show host; you've seen her equally successful woman's magazine, "O," at the checkout stand in the supermarket; you may have heard her popular radio program.

But if you are like many people, you've assumed that she's just been pumping out the same kind of confessional TV talk show pablum, pop psychology, and feel-good self-affirmation that you find on so many other programs.

If that's what you think, you haven't seen her show in years.

Oprah has totally transformed herself and her media empire. Believe it or not, she has become . . . . a spiritual icon.

In its article, "The Church of O," Christianity Today reports:

"Oprah Winfrey has become one of the most influential spiritual leaders in America . . . . To her audience of more than 22 million mostly female viewers, she has become a postmodern priestess -- an icon of church-free spirituality."

Because of her, New Age teachings are being pitched to millions of our fellow Catholics-many of whom are being taken in by the mega-popular Oprah Winfrey and her promotion of three key books in the New Age Movement: 

1. A Course in Miracles 
2. The Secret 
3. A New Earth 

A quick look at each book:

1. A COURSE IN MIRACLES: Again, if you haven't heard of these books, you probably don't subject yourself to watching the Oprah Winfrey Show. But the teachings contained in them -particularly A Course in Miracles- are very dangerous.

Here is the background on A Course in Miracles. It's a foundational book of today's New Age Movement - and it's one that Oprah Winfrey is promoting so religiously on her show.

It's a 1,249-page, 3-volume set that was written in the 1970's by a woman named Helen Schucman -a psychologist from Columbia University.

She claimed that she "heard a Voice" that she identified as Jesus. He spoke to her and dictated this entire book. She merely "scribed" everything he said, and she later dictated that to another writer.

It took her seven years to write A Course in Miracles (Jesus speaks slowly, I suppose)-but even when she was finished with it, she curiously wanted to "re-write" the whole thing!

The bizarre (and dangerous) claim behind this book is that it is "divine revelation." In fact, its proponents claim that it's a "Third Testament" that should be included with the Bible.

The set has been popular for decades. When I was a New Ager, I saw it all the time on the shelves of the (then small, now huge) New Age section in the bookstores. But now the course has been carried to new heights of popularity.

Oprah Winfrey, who already had a long history of promoting New Age ideas via the guests she featured on her show, has locked onto A Course in Miracles and chosen to do a 365-day, non-stop "lesson a day" program that would present it to her millions of fans.

What does A Course in Miracles teach? "Revelations" from "Jesus" such as . . . .

--There is no such thing as sin.

--Evil, pain, suffering, sickness are all illusions.

--Since man never sinned, he has no need of salvation.

--A slain Christ "has no meaning" and so we should not cling "to the old, rugged cross."

--The name of Jesus Christ is a symbol "of all the gods to which you pray."

--To recognize God is to recognize yourself.

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2. THE SECRET: Many were duped by Oprah Winfrey into purchasing the runaway bestseller The Secret by Rhonda Byrne-which, by the way, contained absolutely no secrets.

Instead, it's chock full of the 19th century hogwash known as "The Law of Attraction"-which gratuitously claims that you can change your life merely through positive thoughts, which will then cause unexplained "vibrations" that "travel throughout the universe" and magically result in good things happening to you, any time you want. The universe is at your command!

For instance, The Secret teaches that if you're feeling physically ill, just ignore it! Don't give your illness any attention. Don't even talk about it to anyone-presumably, not even a doctor! And if anyone tells you about his illness, change the subject immediately and think happy-happy thoughts so it will all go away.

I know you must be shaking your head in disbelief. But I'm not making this up. Back when I was a New Ager, we were taught to "visualize" whatever we wanted to happen-and if we visualized hard enough then it magically would!

It's sad, but people are now believing that this is how you're supposed to "relate" to God. "God" is actually you. You control the universe through your thoughts.

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3. A NEW EARTH:   Oprah also promotes another New Age guru . . . .

His name is Eckhart Tolle, author of the best-selling book A New Earth. He, too, denies fundamental tenets of Christianity-even though he quotes Jesus more than any other "teacher" in his books. He says,

"Never personalize Christ. Don't make Christ into a form identity. Avatars, divine mothers, enlightened masters, the very few that are real, are not special as persons."

Tolle also pushes the New Age nonsense that you are God.

"The Truth is inseparable from who you are. Yes, you are the Truth. If you look for it elsewhere, you will be deceived every time. The very Being that you are is Truth.

There can be no subject-object relationship here, no duality, no you-and-God."

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What did Oprah say to all this?

She calls her work with him perhaps the most important and exciting thing she has ever done.

How big is Oprah's influence?  
This past spring she hosted 10 Monday-night "Web seminars" with him (over the Internet). As many as one million people watched these "webinars" live, and 27 million more downloaded them afterward. It was described as one of the largest single events in Internet history.

So, what does all of this have to do with you? It's very simple. The bottom line (and the reason I'm writing to you about this subject) is this ...

Oprah Winfrey and Her "New Age Gurus" Are Deceiving Tens of Millions of People And Leading Them Away from Christ.

Alarmingly, the ideas behind the New Age Movement are (and have been for some time) creeping into Catholic parishes all across the country. They're disguised in various forms-often as "meditation" or "self-awareness" workshops.

People everywhere can be seen tossing aside their Christian beliefs and acting like they are God because of Oprah Winfrey's non-stop promotion of the anti-Christian ideas contained in these books I've mentioned above.

She's become the high priestess of the New Age.

I could go on for several more pages about the unbelievable nonsense that's passing itself off as true "spirituality" thanks to the New Age Movement.

But instead, I'll let Sharon Lee Giganti give you the scoop when you listen to her eye-opening and riveting story, which gives the crucial background on all these movements 
... who their key players are 
... what they believe in 
... what their fallacies are 
... and, most importantly, how these dangerous ideas affect people's lives in disastrous ways.

 

Ideas have consequences. The worse the idea, the worse the consequences.

Believing that "you are God" is perhaps the worst idea ever sold to the masses!

Keep watch. Be vigilant. The New Age ideas being pushed by Oprah cannot be easily dismissed. They're building steam and gaining ground-even among our fellow Catholics.

I feel strongly about this because I myself was once trapped by the lies of the New Age Movement. Millions of people still are, and it is up to us to help them.

Sharon Lee Giganti's new 3-CD set is an ideal tool to help educate and inform people about the dangers of the New Age.

Sincerely in the real Christ,

Jimmy Akin, Director of Apologetics and Evangelization

 " . . . . . In my years as an apologist, I've heard many compelling stories, but I was amazed at Sharon Lee Giganti's" --Jimmy Akin, Director of Apologetics and Evangelization, Catholic Answers

 

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Resources!!
Oprah's Gospel - Christian Examiner 
The Church of O - Christian Examiner
Debate with Bill Keller - You Tube 
Note - she needed to read the CCC or the Navarre Bible commentary on "jealous God." Exodus 20:4,5 
Bill Keller (Protestant) misses the point, too.
Jealous: the zealous for the exclusiveness and purity of our love and devotion. God wants what is His: the exclusive devotion of His people. It is only right and good that He should. (Not envy)
Church of Oprah Exposed - You Tube