Oprah’s New Religion
- Rev. Jerry Lepasana
- Jul 6, 2008
- Series: Celebrity Religion
OPRAH’S NEW RELIGION
John 14:6 (NIV):
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Acts 4:12 (NIV):
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
Celebrities are the fascinations of so many people today in our society. Magazines and tabloids about celebrities are selling millions of copies every week, and major television networks like NBC and CBS are spending an hour every weeknight, Monday to Friday on shows like “Access Hollywood” or Entertainment Tonight” to highlight everything that is happening about their lives. Perhaps, this reveals the tendency of people to be attracted to fame, beauty, and glamorous lifestyle.
This is the reason why the impact and influence of these celebrities are so great. They are recognized as the fashion trendsetters and brand endorsers in our society. Companies are willing to pay millions of dollars to have big celebrities endorse their products. Even politicians who are running for public offices are desperately looking for celebrity supporters. They believe that likeability or a favorable attitude towards them is created by the use of a celebrity.
Unfortunately, the influence of celebrities has been used by the Devil to lead so many people astray because of their boldness to openly declare their beliefs. Consciously or unconsciously, there are major celebrities who have become faces for some major religions today. On this basis, we are going to tackle the theme, Celebrity Religion,
for this month; but we are only covering three major celebrities and religions. First, we’ll talk about Oprah and her ‘New Age’ religion. Then, Tom Cruise and Scientology. Lastly, Madonna and her Kaballah.
This morning, I chose to begin our series with Oprah Winfrey who is no doubt one of today’s most influential celebrities. Her syndicated talk show – The Oprah Winfrey Show remains to be the number one day-time talk show in America, with viewers estimated to 46 million a week in the United States and is broadcast internationally in 134 countries.
She also publishes her own magazine, the Oprah Magazine, with a circulation of 2.3 million readers every month. Her powerful influence has recently been demonstrated with her support to senator Barack Obama. Many believe she gave senator Obama the boost he needed to win the democratic presidential candidacy.
But what is really dangerous is when her influence is extended to propagating her most basic beliefs about God, Jesus Christ, and salvation. Today, she is considered the number one endorser of the New Age religion in America. I recognized that we don’t have all the time we need to thoroughly study the New Age religion, but if we listen to Oprah verbalize what she believes, you will have the understanding of what the New Agers believe and how they contradict what the Bible teaches. Let’s first watch this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12p34fi30MM&feature=related. In order for us not to be misled, I want to highlight some of Oprah’s beliefs and respond to them according to the teachings of the Bible:
I THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO GOD:
If you have listened carefully to Oprah in the video, she has openly expressed her belief that there are many paths which lead to what people call God, and she was very critical of the idea that there is only way.
I want to help each one of us understand that this concept is one of the fundamental beliefs of the New Age Religion. M Scott Peck, a proponent of New Age and author of the bestselling book, Further Along the Road Less Travelled,
wrote:
God, unlike some organized religions, does not discriminate. As long as you reach out to Her, She will go the better part of the way to meet you. There are an infinite number of roads to reach God. People can come to God through alcoholism, they can come to God through Zen Buddhism, as I did, and they can come to God through the multiple “New Thought” Christian churches even though they are highly heretical. For all I know, they can come to God Shirley MacLaine. People are at various stages of readiness, and when they’re ready, virtually anything can speak to them.
However, the Bible is very clear that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Clearly, Jesus did not say – a way, a truth, and a
life. The definite article points to Him as the only one who can provide:
·
The Way – the access to the Father
·
The Truth – the understanding of the Father
·
The Life – the eternal fellowship with the Father
Going back to the video, you can sense from the tone of Oprah that it seems foolish to uphold this Biblical doctrine. Of course, today it is true that when you believe in this doctrine, you are perceived as intolerant, narrow-minded, and arrogant.
Now, let me address this idea first. There is no arrogance or narrow-mindedness in believing in an absolute truth. For example, when you think of Mathematics, one plus one is equals two, right? None of us would say, “Well, that’s arrogant to believe that one plus one equals two.” We don’t say, “It’s up to you what you want to believe.” No, that’s unacceptable. Whether you like it or not, there’s only one answer. The same is true in terms of going to God, there’s only one way, one truth, one life. And as the book of Acts proclaim, there is only one name given under heaven which can save men. In the context of the verse, the name is Jesus.
The question is: Does it make sense to believe this teaching of the Bible?
You be the judge. When you examine the life of Jesus, he backs up this claim with His life:
A. By His Miracles – His miracles affirms His identity as the Son of God. He demonstrated power before the skeptics for them to believe. When you scrutinize the life of Jesus, you would not see moral flaws; there are no sins that would invalidate His claims. John and Peter who were closest to Him declared: 1 John 3:5 (NIV): 1 Peter 2:22 (NIV): You will find Jesus demonstrating the same characteristics as that of God. John 16:30 (Omniscient) John 5:19 (Omnipotent)
Jesus was no ordinary man. He was not only an enlightened teacher who provided guidance on how to live our lives. He was God in the flesh able to give eternal life. John 10:28 (NIV): II THERE ARE MANY GOOD PEOPLE: First of all, the question is not valid because it is not God who sends people to hell. As for God, He desires all people to come to Him. 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV):
Perhaps the most important response to the problem is to really examine what you believe about God. Much of relationship with Him is based on how much we know His character. If God is God, then He is completely fair and just. He will treat all people with total love and total justice. This applies to everyone who has never heard the Gospel of Jesus, or those who were not able to comprehend the Gospel. The Bible is clear in telling us that God has sufficiently revealed himself to everyone: Romans 1:20 (NIV):
Based on this revelation, if a person honestly seeks the Lord, he or she will find Him. Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV): Dr. Alex McFarland, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary explains this verse in saying, “Nobody goes to hell because they couldn’t be reached; they go because they didn’t want God. The wonderful news is that anyone who wants God will find Him.” Today, He is leading people all over the world to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. III GOD IS A FEELING EXPERIENCE: Lastly, I believe the biggest error that Oprah is conveying to her listeners is that God is a feeling experience, not a believing experience. Let’s watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjWrBbDvI3M&feature=related. Tragically, Oprah wants people to base the truth about God on their feelings, rather than God’s revealed medium, which is His Word, the Bible. In reality, what Oprah or other New Agers are saying is this, “If my personalized, subjective view of God is helping me or making me a better person, then there should be no problem with that.” Jeremiah 17:5, 9 (NIV): 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Someone illustrated this truth by using a person who just had been diagnosed with cancer. Many times the reaction would be: How could this be? I feel great.”
Then, of course, the treatment begins. To fight the cancer, radiation or chemotherapy is required. During the mediation the patient would feel miserable, but in reality, he or she is actually getting better. You see, feeling is not sufficient, that is why God gave us His Living and written Word. Matthew 11:27 (NIV): 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV): However, there are serious problems with trusting our feelings alone to define our spiritual health. Why? Because our feelings are sometimes unreliable:
But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.
"He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."
Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God."
Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
This truth is perfectly illustrated in the life of Cornelius in Acts 10. Despite of being a Gentile, he was seeking after God. He tried to please God the best way he knew how. As a result, God sent Peter to Him so he could know Jesus. I believe that as God did it for Cornelius, he can still do it to anyone who sincerely seeks after Him.
This is what the Lord says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 16
As Oprah has verbalized it, the reason why there can’t be just one way is because there are so many good people in the world and it is possible that so many of them have not heard about the Lord Jesus Christ. How could a loving God send so many good non-Christians to hell?
Matthew 18:20 (Omnipresent)
John 10:37 (NIV):