{"id":1955,"date":"2015-03-11T12:36:31","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T16:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?p=1955"},"modified":"2015-03-11T12:36:31","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T16:36:31","slug":"chopra-and-oprah-and-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/03\/chopra-and-oprah-and-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Chopra and Oprah and Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em><strong>&#8220;By myself I can do nothing&#8230; I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.&#8221; ~Jesus (John 5:30)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Contrast these words spoken by Jesus with new-age guru Deepak Chopra: \u00a0&#8220;Know that you are already a complete spiritual being. The path forward is just a matter of waking up to your true unlimited self.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">If Jesus admitted to being limited, dependent on an Outside Force \u2013 God Himself, who was His &#8220;Papa&#8221; (as He delighted to call Him) or Father, it would make sense that\u00a0nowhere in\u00a0Scripture\u00a0do I hear Jesus telling his followers that they have everything they need within themselves to change, that no Outside Aid is necessary. Jesus is honest.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Interestingly, gurus such as Chopra and Oprah, don&#8217;t seem to back off when it comes to helping people who are told they <em>don&#8217;t<\/em> need help. I mean, kudos, gurus, for helping people, but if they have everything within themselves \u2013 all the power they need to change and grow, then why the heck do they need self-help gurus like you, toting your books and products? Why write a self-help book when people don&#8217;t need help? Why do people spend thousands of dollars making gurus wealthy? Help me out here!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Call me weak, call me dispensable, call me reprehensible,\u00a0call me childish, squeamish, skittish and prudish; call me whatever you darn well please, but I can do nothing worthwhile or eternal or even meaningful by own strength. But! And that&#8217;s one big but! <em><strong>&#8220;I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.&#8221;<\/strong> <\/em>(Philippians 4:13)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>Father,<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>Your Word is the Absolute Authority in the universe. I cling to it, I devour it, I delight in it, and I aspire to live by it. Jesus, you needed the help of the Father to do the things you were sent to earth to do. How much more do I need you! So I ask you, in the power of your mighty name, to help me, direct me, empower me, and enable me to do the things you&#8217;ve commanded and called me to do with my life. I receive that divine help now.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>In Your Mighty Name Which is Above All Names, Amen!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;By myself I can do nothing&#8230; I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.&#8221; ~Jesus (John 5:30) Contrast these words spoken by Jesus with new-age guru Deepak Chopra: \u00a0&#8220;Know that you are already a complete spiritual being. The path forward is just a matter of waking up to your true unlimited self.&#8221;&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,24,7,4,25,3,1],"tags":[989,986,1739,1742,990,987,988,991],"class_list":["post-1955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-bible-prayer","category-current-events","category-daily-prayer","category-god","category-jesus","category-prayer","category-uncategorized","tag-christ","tag-deepak-chopra","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-new-age","tag-self-realization","tag-self-sufficiency","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chopra and Oprah and Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/03\/chopra-and-oprah-and-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chopra and Oprah and Jesus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8220;By myself I can do nothing&#8230; I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.&#8221; ~Jesus (John 5:30) Contrast these words spoken by Jesus with new-age guru Deepak Chopra: \u00a0&#8220;Know that you are already a complete spiritual being. The path forward is just a matter of waking up to your true unlimited self.&#8221;&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/03\/chopra-and-oprah-and-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prayer, Plain and Simple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-11T16:36:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark and Jill Herringshaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chopra and Oprah and Jesus","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2015\/03\/chopra-and-oprah-and-jesus.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chopra and Oprah and Jesus","og_description":"&#8220;By myself I can do nothing&#8230; I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.&#8221; ~Jesus (John 5:30) Contrast these words spoken by Jesus with new-age guru Deepak Chopra: \u00a0&#8220;Know that you are already a complete spiritual being. 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