Last week, I received an email from an acquaintance of mine. The subject line was simply “Oprah,” and the body of the email began with the following:
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.
This piqued my interest, so I read on:
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.”
I usually take emails like this with a grain of salt, lumping them together with urban legends like poisoned soda cans and Madalyn Murray O’Hair petitioning the FCC to outlaw relgious broadcasting. Add to that the facts that the the email had been forwarded several times, was about Oprah (who had been the brunt of other hoaxes in the past), and referred to January 1, 2008 in the future tense, and my skepticism was raised a notch or two.
But the topic of “A Course in Miracles” was just too intriguing for me to dismiss outright. I was first exposed to this New Age treatise about 20 years ago, while living in California. For the uninitiated, “A Course in Miracles” was allegedly “channeled” through Helen Schucman, Ph.D., a clinical and research psychologist, between 1965 and 1972 through a process of “inner dictation.” The source of this material was said to be “Jesus.”
But in one section of the book entitled “About the Author,” the following is written:
Helpers are given you in many forms, although upon the altar they are one. Beyond each one there is a Thought of God, and this will never change. But they have names which differ for a time, for time needs symbols, being itself unreal. Their names are legion, but we will not go beyond the names the course itself employs. [Emphasis added.]
Compare this to the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 5, verses 6 – 9:
When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit!”
Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” [Emphasis added.]
This so struck me that I sat down at my old 8088 computer, prepare a half-page commentary on this, printed it out on my dot matrix printer, and placed it inside every copy of “A Course in Miracles” that I could get my hands on.
There are many other quotes from “A Course in Miracles” that are antithetical to the historical Jesus of the New Testament. For example: “There is no sin…”; A “slain Christ has no meaning”; “The journey to the cross should be the last ‘useless journey.’”; etc., etc., ad naseum.
Fast forward to 2008: After a little research, I discovered that Oprah Winfrey has in fact been presenting “A Course in Miracles on her XM radio show. Here’s a link to the web page with links to the arhived workbook pages. If you want to dig deeper, here’s a link to the searchable “Urtext” (the original version) of “A Course in Miracles.”
In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew (verses 13 – 16), Jesus asked His disciples the question of the ages:
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
”But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
When Barack Obama, exclaims, “I pray to Jesus every night,” as he did in recently in Nelsonville, Ohio, I have to take him at his word. But in the back of my mind, especially in light of the beliefs of his friend Oprah Winfrey (I won’t get into the teachings of Trinity United Church of Christ; that’s a topic for a whole other post), I can’t help but hear the voice of the Savior asking him, ”Who do you say I am?”
Before anyone jumps in my case about the fact that the U.S. Constitution expressly states that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,” let me state emphatically for the record that the religious beliefs of Barack Obama (or any other candidate, for that matter) are not, and never should be, grounds for disqualification from any office.
The whole purpose of this post is to emphasize that the name of “Jesus” has very different meanings and connotations, depending on what your belief system happens to be. Invoking the name of Jesus shouldn’t be automatically taken as embracing the beliefs of classic Christianity.
Interesting post! I’ve never heard of this, and will look fwd. to researching it especially in light of the Oprah, Obama connection.
I’m sure you are aware of the split between Henry VIII and the pope. It was in many ways the foundation of the US.
Thinking strictly in originalist thought, I’d bet the phrase “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States,” would not have applied to islam, but would have been about the various forms of Christianity.
I’ve been working on a post about Henry, the Church of England and the establishment clause.
You often seem a step ahead of me.
Would like to urge everyone here to consider a write in vote for Huckabee while the web, unlike our media and parties is still a free medium. Please go here to learn more: http://www.onlyhuckabee.com/
Very interesting topic. Oprahanity is becoming seriously dangerous. Marianne Williamson is teaching Oprah’s Course in Miracles and is also one of the movers and shakers of the Peace Alliance. A serious movement to create a cabinet level Department of Peace. Yes We Can save the world, but everyone has to cooperate. Some of us will have to set aside our icky blood soaked Jesus and exchange him for the new improved Oprah Jesus, who will be equal to maybe Gandhi. Intolerance will not be tolerated. The Pope has already declared Allah to be the same as God the Father, as soon as Rick Warren and his ilk jump on board, world religion here we come.
Link below to Williamson video:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/696/content.jsp?content_KEY=3929
believer,
Thanks for commenting again at Ivory Dome; you’re always welcome here. I hope you don’t mind if I respond to your some of your comments with which I take issue:
Regarding a write-in campaign for Mike Huckabee: I was as big a Huckabee supporter as anyone during his run for the Republican presidential nomination (he was the first political candidate I ever contributed to or worked for – and I just turned 58 today). And I was elated at how well he did; I’m quite sure that without the Lord’s help, he would never have gotten as far as he did on as meager resources that he had. But I’d like you to consider the following:
1) When was the last time a write-in candidate won a presidential election?
2) How would such an independent write-in campaign affect Mike’s chances for winning the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, especially if it costs McCain victories in key states which could ultimately throw the election to the Democrat (either Obama or Clinton)?
3) Is it worth risking a pro-abortion Democrat making Supreme Court nominations rather than a pro-life Republican, simply because that pro-life president might not be quite as pro-life as Mike?
Perhaps a more efficient use of our time and effort might be to get involved in the Republican Party to insure that the party platform is more in line with what you, Mike Huckabee and I all believe, so that when he does run again in 2012 or 2016, the party will look more like us than like John McCain. To that end, I introduced 9 pro-life and pro-family resolutions at my precinct convention on election day. I’m planning on attending my county convention on March 29 to strive that these resolutions (or similar ones) will be introduced at the state convention. If every “Huckabeeliever” made that kind of effort (or more), the national Republican platform would better reflect our beliefs.
Regarding Rick Warren “and others of his ilk”: I wonder if you’re aware that he came out in support of Mike Huckabee during the campaign:
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=658
If you read the second comment to this post, you’ll notice that James Sundquist considers Mike Huckabee to be numbered among the “others of his ilk.”
I have more than a passing acquaintence with Rick Warren and what he stands for. My wife actually attended Saddleback Church back in the early 80’s when she lived in Southern California and Rick was just starting out in the ministry. We both watched Rick’s Christmas Eve service on the Fox News Channel last year and found it to be spiritually uplifting (like Rick Warren and Mike Huckabee, my wife and I are both Bible-believing Southern Baptists).
I took the time to look up the statement of faith of Saddleback Church, where Rick Warren preaches. Here’s a link to it:
http://saddleback.com/flash/believe2.html
Comparing this to “A Course in Miracles,” I’m wondering if there’s anything you find in this statement of faith that would lead you to believe that Rick Warren would “jump on board” the World Religion bandwagon. And if you really believe he would, then perhaps Mike Huckabee wouldn’t be far behind, if we’re to believe people like James Sundquist “and others of his ilk.”