{"id":354,"date":"2008-02-15T21:39:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-15T21:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/oprahs-new-age-jesus-xm-religion-course.html"},"modified":"2008-02-15T21:39:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-15T21:39:00","slug":"oprahs-new-age-jesus-xm-religion-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/02\/oprahs-new-age-jesus-xm-religion-course.html","title":{"rendered":"Oprah’s New Age Jesus XM Religion Course"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Foster sent me this article written by a man named Warren Smith (not to be confused with my friend Dr. Warren Smith who teaches Patristics at Duke Divinity School), who was a previous devotee of Williamson’s ‘Course in Miracles’ sponsored and supported by Oprah. This summary is quite revealing, and what it reveals is a pantheistic religion offering self-salvation by following this course and repudiating what the Bible teaches. Note I have simply copied the following article, and I do not know why there are lines through some of the main unBiblical tenets listed towards the end of the article. See what you think about the article and its links<\/p>\n

BW3
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Oprah and Friends” to teach course on New Age Christ<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
By Warren Smith<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
November 2007<\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n
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O<\/span><\/span>prah Winfrey will be letting out all the stops on her XM Satellite Radio program this coming year. Beginning January 1, 2008, <\/span>“Oprah & Friends”<\/a> <\/span>will offer a year-long course on the New Age teachings of <\/span>A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i>.<\/a><\/span><\/span> 1<\/span><\/span> <\/span>A lesson a day throughout the year will completely cover the 365 lessons from the Course in Miracles <\/span><\/span><\/i>“Workbook.” <\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span>For example, Lesson #29 asks you to go through your day affirming that <\/span> “God is in everything I see.”<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>2<\/span><\/span> <\/span>Lesson #61 tells each person to repeat the affirmation <\/span>“I am the light of the world.” <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>3<\/span><\/span> <\/span>Lesson #70 teaches the student to say and believe <\/span>“My salvation comes from me.”<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span> 4 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Teaching <\/span>A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i> <\/span>will be Oprah’s longtime friend and special XM Satellite Radio reporter <\/span> Marianne Williamson<\/a>\u2014who also happens to be one of today’s premier New Age leaders. She and <\/span>Conversations with God <\/span><\/span><\/i>author <\/span> Neale Donald Walsch<\/a> <\/span>co-founded the American Renaissance Alliance in 1997, that later became the <\/span> Global Renaissance Alliance<\/a> <\/span>of New Age leaders, that changed its name again in 2005 to the <\/span> Peace Alliance<\/a>. 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.” <\/span><\/span>7<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span>They all agree that the principles of this New Age\/New Spirituality are clearly articulated in <\/span>A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i>\u2014which is fast becoming the New Age Bible. So what is <\/span>A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i> <\/span>and what does it teach?<\/p>\n

A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i> <\/span>is allegedly “new revelation” from “Jesus” to help humanity work through these troubled times. This “Jesus”\u2014who bears no doctrinal resemblance to the Bible’s Jesus Christ\u2014began delivering his channeled teachings in 1965 to a Columbia University Professor of Medical Psychology by the name of Helen Schucman. <\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span>One day Schucman heard an “inner voice” stating, “This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.”<\/span><\/span> 8<\/span><\/span> <\/span>For seven years she diligently took spiritual dictation from this inner voice that described himself as “Jesus.” <\/span>A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i> <\/span>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 frie nds, or in small study groups.<\/p>\n

As a <\/span>former New Age follower<\/a> <\/span>and devoted student of <\/span>A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i>, I eventually discovered that the <\/span>Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i> <\/span>was\u2014in reality\u2014the 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 <\/span>A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i> <\/span>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 <\/span>A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i> <\/span>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 Him. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I left the New Age “Christ” to follow the Bible’s Jesus Christ, I had come to understand that the “Jesus” of <\/span>A Course in Miracles <\/span><\/i> <\/span>was a false “Christ,” and that his <\/span>Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i> <\/span>was dangerously deceptive. Here are some quotes from the “Jesus” of <\/span> A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i>:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

By the end of the year, “Oprah & Friends” listeners will have completed all of the lessons laid out in the <\/span>Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i> <\/span>Workbook. Those who finish the Course will have a wholly redefined spiritual mindset\u2014a New Age worldview that includes the belief that there is no sin, no evil, no devil, and that God is “in” everyone and everything. <\/span>A Course in Miracles<\/span><\/i> <\/span>teaches its students to <\/span> rethink<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/span>everything they believe about God and life. The <\/span>Course <\/span><\/span><\/i>Workbook bluntly states: <\/span>“This is a course in mind training”<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span> 5<\/span><\/span> <\/span>and is dedicated to <\/span>“thought reversal.” <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>6<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n