Oprah Winfrey will be letting out all the stops on her XM Satellite Radio program this coming year. Beginning January 1, 2008, “Oprah & Friends” will offer a year-long course on the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles.1 A lesson a day throughout the year will completely cover the 365 lessons from the Course in Miracles “Workbook.”
For example, Lesson #29 asks you to go through your day
affirming that “God is in everything I
see.”2
Lesson #61 tells each person to repeat the affirmation
“I am the light of the world.”3
Lesson #70 teaches the student to say and believe
“My salvation comes from me.”4
By the end of the year, “Oprah &
Friends” listeners will have completed all of the lessons laid out in
the Course in Miracles Workbook.
Those who finish the Course will have a wholly redefined spiritual
mindset—a New Age worldview that includes the belief that there is no
sin, no evil, no devil, and that God is “in” everyone and everything.
A Course in Miracles teaches its
students to
rethink everything they
believe about God and life. The Course
Workbook bluntly states: “This is
a course in mind training”5
and is dedicated to “thought reversal.”6
Teaching
A Course in Miracles will be
Oprah’s longtime friend and special XM Satellite Radio reporter
Marianne Williamson—who
also happens to be one of today’s premier New Age leaders. She and
Conversations with God author
Neale Donald Walsch co-founded the American Renaissance Alliance in
1997, that later became the
Global Renaissance Alliance of New Age leaders, that changed its
name again in 2005 to the
Peace Alliance. This Peace Alliance seeks to usher in an era of
global peace founded on the principles of a New Age/New Spirituality
that they are now referring to as a “civil rights movement for the
soul.”7
They
all agree that the principles of this New Age/New Spirituality are
clearly articulated in A Course in
Miracles—which is fast becoming the New Age Bible. So what is
A Course in Miracles and what
does it teach?
A
Course in Miracles is allegedly “new revelation” from “Jesus” to
help humanity work through these troubled times. This “Jesus”—who bears
no doctrinal resemblance to the Bible’s Jesus Christ—began delivering
his channeled teachings in 1965 to a Columbia University Professor of
Medical Psychology by the name of Helen Schucman.
One day Schucman heard
an “inner voice” stating, “This is a course in miracles. Please take
notes.”8
For
seven years she diligently took spiritual dictation from this inner
voice that described himself as “Jesus.”
A Course in Miracles was quietly
published in 1975 by the Foundation for Inner Peace. For many years “the
Course” was an underground cult classic for New Age seekers who studied
“the Course” individually, with friends, or in small study groups.
As a
former New Age follower and devoted student of
A Course in Miracles, I eventually discovered that the
Course in Miracles was—in
reality—the truth of the Bible turned upside down. Not having a true
understanding of the Bible at the time of my involvement, I was led to
believe that A Course in Miracles
was “a gift from God” to help everyone understand the “real” meaning of
the Bible and to help bring peace to the world. Little did I know that
the New Age “Christ” and the New Age teachings of
A Course in Miracles were
everything the real Jesus Christ warned us to watch out for. In Matthew
24 Jesus warned about false teachers, false teachings and the false
“Christs” who would pretend to be He.
When I left the New Age “Christ” to
follow the Bible’s Jesus Christ, I had come to understand that the
“Jesus” of A Course in Miracles
was a false “Christ,” and that his
Course in Miracles was dangerously deceptive. Here are some
quotes from the “Jesus” of A Course in
Miracles:
- “There is no sin. . . " 9 [See note]
- A “slain Christ has no meaning.”10
- “The journey to the cross should be the last ‘useless journey.”11
- “Do not make the pathetic error of ‘clinging to the old rugged cross.’”12
- “The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol... It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray.”13
- “God is in everything I see.”14
- “The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself.”15
- “The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity and your limitless power.”16
- “The Atonement is the final lesson he [man] need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation.”17
Most Christians recognize that these teachings are the opposite of what the Bible teaches. In the Bible, Jesus Christ’s atoning death on the cross of Calvary was hardly a “useless journey.” His triumph on the cross provides salvation to all those who confess their sin, accept Him and follow Him as their Lord and Saviour. His victory on the cross rings throughout the New Testament. It has been gloriously sung about in beloved hymns through the ages and is at the heart of our Christian testimony.
I found the Jesus of the Bible to be wholly believable as He
taught God’s truth and warned about the spiritual deception that would
come in His name. The “Jesus” of A
Course in Miracles reveals himself to be an imposter when he
blasphemes the true Jesus Christ by saying that a “slain Christ has no
meaning” and that we are all “God” and that we are all “Christ.” It was
by reading the Bible’s true teachings of Jesus Christ that I came to
understand how deceived I had been by A
Course in Miracles and my other New Age teachings.
I was introduced to
A Course in Miracles by Dr.
Gerald Jampolsky’s book Love is Letting
Go of Fear. Jampolsky declared in his easy-to-read book how the
teachings of A Course in Miracles
had changed his life. As an ambassador for
A Course in Miracles over the
years, Jampolsky has been featured not only in New Age circles but at
least twice on Robert Schuller’s Hour
of Power. While Schuller introduced Jampolsky and his
“fabulous”18 Course in Miracles-based books
to his worldwide television audience, it was Marianne Williamson’s
appearance on a 1992 Oprah Winfrey Show
that really shook the rafters.
On that program, Oprah
enthusiastically endorsed Williamson’s book,
A Return to Love: Reflections on the
Principles of A Course in Miracles. Oprah told her television
audience that Williamson’s book about A
Course in Miracles was one of her favorite books, and that she
had already bought a thousand copies and would be handing them out to
everyone in her studio audience. Oprah’s endorsement skyrocketed
Williamson’s book about A Course in
Miracles to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.
Ironically, all of this was happening after I had left the
Course and the New Age. In fact,
I was doing the final editing on my book
The Light That Was Dark that warned about the dangers of the
New Age—and in particular A Course in
Miracles.
After being introduced to the world
on Oprah,
Marianne Williamson
has continued to grow in popularity and, as previously mentioned, has
become one of today’s foremost New Age leaders. Williamson credits
Winfrey for bringing her book about A
Course in Miracles before the world: “For that, my deepest thanks
to Oprah Winfrey. Her enthusiasm and generosity have given the book, and
me, an audience we would never otherwise have had.”19
In her 2004 book, The Gift of Change,
Williamson wrote:
“Twenty years ago, I saw the guidance of the Course as key to changing one’s personal life; today, I see its guidance as key to changing the world. More than anything else, I see how deeply the two are connected.”20
Thus the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles are about to be taught by Marianne Williamson to millions of listeners on Oprah’s XM Satellite Radio program. Listeners are encouraged to buy A Course in Miracles for the year-long course. An audio version of A Course in Miracles recited by Richard (John Boy Walton) Thomas is also available on compact disc.
Popular author Wayne Dyer told his PBS television audience that the “brilliant writing” of A Course in Miracles would produce more peace in the world.21 Williamson’s New Age colleague, Neale Donald Walsch, said his “God” stated that “the era of the Single Saviour is over”22 and that he (“God”) was responsible for authoring the teachings of A Course in Miracles.23
Meanwhile, Gerald Jampolsky’s Course in
Miracles-based book,
Forgiveness, continues to be
sold in Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral bookstore as Schuller
prepares to host a January 17-19, 2008,
“Rethink Conference” at
his Crystal Cathedral.24
At this critical time in the history
of the world, the New Gospel/New Spirituality is coming right at the
world and the church with its New Age teachings and its New Age Peace
Plan. But this New Age Peace Plan has at its deceptive core the
bottom-line teaching from A Course in
Miracles that “we are all one” because God is “in” everyone and
everything. But the Bible is clear that we are not God (Ezekiel 28:2;
Hosea 11:9). And per Galatians 3:26-28, our only oneness is in Jesus
Christ—not in ourselves as “God” and “Christ.” What Oprah and Marianne
Williamson and the world will learn one day is that humanity’s only real
and lasting peace is with the true Jesus Christ who is described and
quoted in the Holy Bible (Romans 5:1).
Oprah Winfrey’s misplaced faith in
Marianne Williamson and the New Age teachings of
A Course in Miracles is a sure
sign of the times. But an even surer sign of the times is that most
Christians are not taking heed to what is happening in the world and in
the church. We are not contending for the faith as the Bible admonishes
us to do (Jude 3).
It is time for all of our Purpose-Driven and Emerging
church pastors to address the real issue of the day. Our true Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is being reinvented, redefined, and blasphemed
right in front of our eyes and hardly anyone seems to notice or care. If
we want the world to know who Jesus Christ is, we need to also warn them
about who He is not. There is a
false New Age “Christ” making huge inroads into the world and into the
church. The Apostle Paul said that “it is a shame” we have to even talk
about these things, but talk about them we must (Ephesians 5:12-16).
If people want to follow Oprah
Winfrey and the New Age “Christ” of A
Course in Miracles they certainly have that right. But let them
be warned that the New Age “Christ” they are following is not the same
Jesus Christ who is so clearly and authoritatively presented in the
pages of the Bible.
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Note from Andy and Berit: Many of you are here because of a letter that is circulating on the Internet with a link to this article. We thank you for coming to our Christian (Biblical) website and hope it will encourage you. But we also want you to know that we didn't write the letter.
For more information on this topic, we recommend that you also read: See also Oprah and Eckhart Do the New Age Shift by Warren Smith Deceived by a counterfeit "Jesus" -- The Twisted Truths of The Shack & A Course in Miracles From God's Truth to the 'New Spirituality' and New Spirituality for an Emerging New Earth The Armor of God & The Nature and Tactics of Satan
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Warren Smith is a former New Age follower who at one time was deeply involved in the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles. He is the author of these insightful books:
Deceived on Purpose: http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/01743purpose.htm
The Light that was Dark: http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/01743light.htm
Reinventing Jesus Christ (2nd edition which is posted online): http://www.reinventingjesuschrist.com
Endnotes:
1. http://marianne.com/book/index/htm. It seeems to be broken, so try http://marianne.com instead.
2. A Course in Miracles: Combined
Volume (Glen Ellen, California: Foundation for Inner Peace,
1975), (Workbook), p. 45.
3. Ibid., p. 102.
4. Ibid., p. 119.
5. Ibid., (Text), p. 16.
6. Ibid., (Preface), p. ix.
7. Neale Donald Walsch, Tomorrow’s God:
Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge (New York: Atria Books, Simon &
Schuster, 2004), pp. 262-263.
8. Robert Skutch, Journey Without
Distance: The Story behind “A Course in Miracles” (Berkeley,
California: Celestial Arts, 1984), p. 54.
9. A Course in Miracles: Combined
Volume, (Workbook), p. 183.
10. Ibid., (Text), p. 425.
11. Ibid., p. 52.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid., (Teachers Manual), p. 58.
14. Ibid., (Workbook), p. 45.
15. Ibid., (Text), p. 147.
16. Ibid., p. 125.
17. Ibid., p. 237.
18.
http://www.hourofpower.org/interviews/interviews_detail.cfm?ArticleID=3079
19. Marianne Williamson, A Return to
Love: Reflections on the Principles A Course in Miracles (New
York: Harper Perennial, 1996), p. ix.
20. Marianne Williamson, The Gift Of
Change: Spiritual Guidance for a Radically New Life (San
Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004), p. 5.
21. Wayne Dyer, “There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem,” Public
Broadcasting System broadcast in 2001.
22. Neale Donald Walsch, The New
Revelations: A Conversation with God (New York: Atria Books,
2002), p. 157.
23. Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations
with God: an uncommon dialogue, Book 1 (New York: G.P. Putnam’s
Sons, 1996), p. 90.
24.
http://www.rethinkconference.com (See also WorldNetDaily.com
10/30/07
“What is Robert Schuller ‘rethinking’?” by Joseph Farah and
“Rethinking Robert Schuller” by Warren Smith. See also Herescope:
"Rethinking Culture" and
"Rethinking and Reinventing" (10/30/07)