The Gospel According to Oprah Winfrey

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. Matthew 24:11

Archive for March, 2008

Oprah and Eckhart Do the New Age Shift – Part 3

Posted by susanb99 on March 31, 2008

From Herescope Blog:

by Warren Smith
 

“Now the heretics are gaining ground, doctrine is losing its authority,
and knowing is superceding belief.”
23
–Marilyn Ferguson
The Aquarian Conspiracy

“In you, as in each human being, there is a dimension of consciousness far deeper than thought. It is the very essence of who you are. We may call it presence, awareness, the unconditioned consciousness. In the ancient teachings, it is the Christ within, or your Buddha nature.”24 [bold added]
– Eckhart Tolle
Stillness Speaks

“As we flew home on Cathay Pacific Airlines I began to think to myself, “We are all like the clay Buddha covered with a shell of hardness created out of fear, and yet underneath each of us is a ‘golden Buddha,’ a ‘golden Christ’ or a ‘golden essence,’ which is our real self.”25 [bold added]
– Jack Canfield’s story “The Golden Buddha”
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Christ is your God-essence or the Self, as it is sometimes called in the East. The only difference between Christ and presence is that Christ refers to your indwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or God-essence.”26 [bold added]
– Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now

Oprah, Butterworth, Tolle and the Divinity of Man

How long has Oprah believed in this historically heretical idea that we are all one because we are all “God” and “Christ”? For sure, at least as far back as her 1987 television program on the “New Age Movement,” when she defined the New Age movement by endorsing Eric Butterworth’s book Discovering the Power Within You and reiterating his view that “Jesus did not come to teach how divine he was, but came to teach us that there is divinity within us.”27It is no wonder that Oprah came away with that point of view after reading Butterworth’s book. In Discovering the Power Within You, Butterworth uses the terminology about the divinity of man over 100 times. In this book, which Oprah described as “one of the most important books”28 that she had ever read, Butterworth writes:“We must begin to see Jesus as the great discoverer of the innate Divinity of Man, the supreme revealer of the truth about man, the pioneer and way-shower in the quest for self-realization and self-unfoldment.”29 “Jesus had a unique concept of God. To Him, God was not an object of worship but a Presence dwelling in us, a force surrounding us, and a Principle by which we live. It is not too much to say that anyone who catches the idea of Jesus’ concept will find himself caught up in a new consciousness that will change his whole life. He will never be the same again.”30“The ‘only begotten’ in spiritual man, the Christ principle, the principle of the Divinity of Man.”31

“Tradition holds that the disciples once asked Jesus, ‘When shall the Kingdom come?’ and He answered, ‘When the without shall become as the within.’ In other words – when you become in expression what you were created to be. Or, from the world view, when the race of man is elevated to the level of universal perfection.”32

Oprah, Tolle and New Age teachers are warning that our planet and our species may become extinct if we don’t have a “Great Awakening” to the reality that we are all “God” and we are all “Christ.” The real Jesus Christ warns us not to believe them. He warns that false Christs will be part of the Great Deception at the end of time. This warning definitely includes those who believe in a universal inner Christ – the “Divinity of Man.”… Read More…

Part 1
Part 2
Part 4

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Oprah and Eckhart Do the New Age Shift – Part 2

Posted by susanb99 on March 28, 2008

From Herescope Blog:

By Warren Smith

“This basic principle – the Divinity of Man – is the dynamism of Christianity that can save the world and lead mankind to a new level of ‘peace on earth, good will toward men.’”[14]

-Eric Butterworth
Discover the Power Within You

“The great sin of mankind is not to know the divinity that lies unexpressed within every individual.”[15]

-Eric Butterworth
Discover the Power Within You

“‘Namaskar!’ Behold yourself in a mirror and say, ‘Namaskar!’ (I salute the divinity in you.) And then go out and act the part.”[16]

-Eric Butterworth
Discover the Power Within You

Several million people have already downloaded Oprah and Eckhart Tolle’s webcast classes on Tolle’s new book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. Obviously this book is connecting deeply within people. Why? Because Tolle is giving very practical applications on how to be a better person and how to love your neighbor, becoming more sensitive to others and to your own life. These very practical things that he is talking about are part of the reason I was drawn into the New Age for 5 years before realizing I was being deceived. From my background, I can totally understand how people are attracted to the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. It seems so right, feels so good, and appears so wonderful. However, for all the worthy applications that Oprah and Tolle are teaching, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Gal 5:9).

Oprah and Tolle completely invalidate the interpersonal lessons they are teaching when they suddenly “shift” to the teaching of the “Divinity of Man,” which is the core New Age belief that man is “God” and that man is “Christ.” For whatever good Tolle and Oprah might be sharing with their audience, it is utterly undone when they build it on the foundation of the “Divinity of Man” teaching. The Lord Jesus Christ said if you build your house – no matter how nice – it’s going to fall if you build it on a foundation of sand (Matthew 7:26-27). No matter how beautiful your house, how good it feels, how nice it looks, if it is built on the wrong foundation it will fall. Of particular concern is the fact that Oprah and Tolle selectively pick Scriptures from the Bible for their own convenience and then omit the First Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Deuteronomy 5:7).

This is the “shift.” It is a bait and switch. It is reaching people through their “felt needs,” which are genuine and real, but then tells them that they are “God” and they are “Christ.”
Read More…

Part 1
Part 3
Part 4
 

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Oprah and Eckhart Do the New Age Shift – Part 1

Posted by susanb99 on March 26, 2008

From Herescope Blog:
By Warren Smith

“Get ready to be awakened.”[1]

– Oprah

“The twenty-first century will be the time of awakening, of meeting The Creator Within. Many beings will experience Oneness with God and with all of life. This will be the beginning of the golden age of the New Human, of which it has been written; the time of the universal human, which has been eloquently described by those with deep insight among you.

“There are many such people in the world now – teachers and messengers. Masters and visionaries – who are placing this vision before humankind and offering tools with which to create it. These messengers and visionaries are the heralds of a New Age.”[2] [bold added]

– “God”
Neale Donald Walsch
Friendship With God

“…[T]his book itself is a transformational device that has come out of the arising new consciousness. The ideas and concepts presented here may be important, but they are secondary. They are no more than signposts pointing toward an awakening. As you read a shift takes place within you.”

“This book’s main purpose is not to add new information or beliefs to your mind or to try to convince you of anything, but to bring about a shift in consciousness, that is to say, to awaken…. It will only change your state of consciousness or it will be meaningless. It can only awaken those who are ready. Not everyone is ready yet, but many are, and with each person who awakens, the momentum in the collective consciousness grows, and it becomes easier for others.”[3] [bold added]

– Eckhart Tolle
The New Earth

“Don’t get attached to any one word. You can substitute ‘Christ’ for presence, if that is more meaningful to you. Christ is your God-essence or the Self, as it is sometimes called in the East. The only difference between Christ and presence is that Christ refers to your indwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or God-essence.”[4] [bold added]

– Eckhart Tolle
The New Earth

I stared at the huge stack of books in the Barnes & Noble bookstore. The title of the book was A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life Purpose. The title sounded like a new book by Purpose-Driven pastor Rick Warren, but it was actually the latest selection in Oprah’s Book Club. A colorful orange and blue paper band around the book invited the reader to “Join Oprah and Eckhart for a worldwide web event… Every Monday night beginning March 3, 2008 for 10 weeks… Register at Oprah.com/anewearth.” A personal message from Oprah stated: “Get ready to be awakened.”

It was clear to me that Oprah was no longer content to just popularize New Age beliefs, she would now teach them. This was a bold move by a woman who was obviously willing to do everything in her power – which is considerable – to convert the world to her New Age worldview.

The Shift

With friend and New Age author Marianne Williamson simultaneously teaching A Course in Miracles daily on Oprah & Friends XM Satellite Radio, Oprah now offers two very public New Age classes. These classes are teaching millions of people that the way to save themselves and the planet is not by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but rather by accepting “the Christ within.” For someone who probably has an aversion to traditional proselytizing, Oprah is giving new meaning to the word “proselytize” as she continues to push her New Age beliefs upon the world. But, in defense of her role as a New Age proselytizer, Oprah would probably be the first to tell you – it’s all for the good of the world. She would also probably argue that what she is teaching is not New Age, but a “New Spirituality.” Curiously, that just happens to be the same term that some emerging church leaders like Brian McLaren are using as they introduce New Age ideas and language into the church.[5]

Oprah can call her New Age teachings whatever she wants, but she and her ever-growing band of New Age colleagues are still teaching that “we are all one” because we are all “God” and “Christ.” As Marianne Williamson writes, “We are all one, we are love itself. ‘Accepting the Christ’ is merely a shift in self-perception.”[6]… Read More…

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

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Oprah and Tolle Fuel New Age Revival

Posted by susanb99 on March 25, 2008

From Kjos Ministries:

This book’s main purpose is … to bring about a shift in consciousness…. Not everyone is ready yet, but many are, and with each person who awakens, the momentum in the collective consciousness grows.”[1,p.6-7]  Eckhart Tolle

Oprah is helping propel the spiritual enlightenment book [New Earth] to dizzying heights, thanks to an unprecedented online promotion that includes a 10-week interactive Webcast discussion…. Oprah: ‘I am a Christian who believes that there are certainly many more paths to God other than Christianity.'”[2]

“Jesus said… ‘No one comes to the Father except through Me.'” John 14:6


Remember the lasting symbols of the sixties? Beatle mania? “Free love”? The peace sign? Maharishi Yogi (the subject of John Lennon’s song, “Sexy Sadie”)?[3]  

The New Age revolution seemed to fade away, didn’t it? But instead it was spreading its hidden roots across America. Now its mysticism and sexual “freedom” are back in full bloom! And countless ex-hippies — who cut their hair and joined mainstream America — are reviving Eastern meditation, yogic “breathing” and other pathways to “collective consciousness.”

This “awakening” is a natural part of the postmodern rejection of truth. Neither facts, logical thinking, nor Biblical faith are relevant to the new spirituality. So it’s not surprising that Eckhart Tolle, celebrated author of A New Earth, dismisses them all as “form” or “ego“: distracting “attachments” that block awareness of human Divinity and oneness with “God.”

Tolle’s teaching is anything but new. One of his sources of inspiration was the 13th century “father of German mysticism,” Meister Eckhart, who wrote, “He who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment.”[4] It’s interesting that Tolle did “let go” of any attachment to his original first name, Ulrich. He changed it to Eckhart. To validate his message, Eckhart Tolle reinterprets history. Notice how he blends Eastern and Western mysticism — praising Zen as well as the Kabbalah:

“The greatest achievement of humanity is… the recognition of its own dysfunction, its own madness. In the distant past, this recognition already came to a few individuals. A man called Gautama Siddhartha, who lived 2,600 years ago in India, was perhaps the first who saw it with absolute clarity. Later, the title Buddha was conferred upon him. Buddha means ‘the awakened one.’”[1,p.14]

“…religions, to a large extent, became divisive rather than unifying forces. … They became ideologies, belief systems people could identify with and so use them to enhance their false sense of self. Through them, they could make themselves ‘right’ and others ‘wrong’…”[1,p.15]“…movements developed within all major religions that represented not only a rediscovery, but in some cases an intensification of the light of the original teaching. This is how Gnosticism and mysticism came into existence in early and medieval Christianity, Sufism in the Islamic religion, Hasidism and Kabbala in Judaism, Advaita Vedanta in Hinduism, Zen… in Buddhism….“Only a small minority of people had access to them. Their numbers were never large enough to have any significant impact on the deep collective unconsciousness of the majority.”[1,p.16-17]

Since the spiritual climate has changed, “enlightened” prophets expect the current awakening to reach a critical mass that will usher all of humanity (except uncompromising resisters) into the New Earth — a physical manifestation of the New Heaven (which has nothing in common with the Biblical heaven). Detached from “form,” all will know their identity as “I AM,” or universal “Consciousness.”

Of course, if you’re more comfortable with God’s Word than with occult experiences, you won’t share in this awakening. You can’t stand with one foot in each camp… Read More…

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Easter: “The New Earth” or the New Life?

Posted by susanb99 on March 22, 2008

From Herescope:

A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH“The inspiration for the title of this book came from a Bible prophecy that seems more applicable now than at any other time in human history. It occurs in both the Old and the New Testament and speaks of the collapse of the existing world order and the arising of ‘a new heaven and a new earth.’… We need to understand here that heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness. This is the esoteric meaning of the word, and this is also its meaning in the teachings of Jesus. Earth, on the other hand, is the outer manifestation in form, which is always a reflection of the inner. Collective human consciousness and life on our planet are intrinsically connected. ‘A new heaven’ is the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness and ‘a new earth’ is its reflection in the physical realm. Since human life and human consciousness are intrinsically one with the life of the planet, as the old consciousness dissolves, there are bound to be synchronistic geographic and climatic natural upheavals in many parts of the planet, some of which we are already witnessing now.”
–Eckhart Tolle, The New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Plume, 2005), p. 23 [emphasis in original]

The New Spirituality teaches a collective salvation of mankind based upon the restoration of paradise on earth. To recreate paradise mankind must first overcome his “collective insanity” (p. 15). This is precisely the point where a self-help psycho-spiritual message connects with the idea of saving the earth. If only mankind could get it right, then the earth will become right. Tolle explains it this way: “Recognize the ego for what it is: a collective dysfunction, the insanity of the human mind.” (p. 76)… Read More…

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What is Oprah Teaching About EASTER?

Posted by susanb99 on March 18, 2008

From Herescope:

“The song of Easter is the glad refrain the Son of God was never crucified.”
— “Jesus” of A Course in Miracles

During this Easter week, it is important to understand what Oprah Winfrey, Marianne Williamson and Eckhart Tolle are teaching about Jesus Christ and Easter.

This week and daily throughout this whole year, Oprah has enlisted Marianne Williamson to teach from the A Course in Miracles, on her Oprah & Friends XM Satellite Radio. A Course in Miracles is reputedly “new revelation” that was channeled from a “Jesus” through a New York psychologist by the name of Helen Schucman.

Oprah is also in the midst of a ten-week New Age Internet class that she is co-teaching with “spiritual teacher” Eckhart Tolle, which is based on his new book The New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Plume, 2006). According to Tolle, Jesus’ teaching of “salvation” means “a radical transformation of human consciousness” (p. 13) and the process of “rebirth” is “reincarnation.” (p. 252)… Read More…

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Who Does Oprah Think She Is? GOD?!

Posted by susanb99 on March 5, 2008

From the Herescope Blog:

 This question is not meant to be disrespectful. It is meant to illustrate a point. Most amazingly, Oprah Winfrey might be the first person to answer this question with a “yes.” And, if you follow Oprah closely and participate in her new endeavors you may eventually answer this question in the affirmative also.

This teaching, that we are “God,” is at the essence of the emerging global spirituality. And Oprah has just embarked upon an aggressive campaign to educate the world about it. According to a January 30th Oprah press release, she has chosen A New Earth, which is interestingly subtitled “Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle, launching what is called a “pioneering venture” and “ground-breaking project” as part of a “10-part interactive Web event” to market this book to the global masses… Read more…

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Oprah – The Queen of the New Age Gurus

Posted by susanb99 on March 2, 2008

Video from FOX News
Bill Keller on Neil Cavuto’s Our World on 29 Feb 2008

Link: Oprah – The Most Dangerous Woman in America
Queen of the New Age Gurus

(video link has been repaired)

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