Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Oprah...yeah..

I got this letter from Jimmy Akin from Catholic Answers the other day. Given it's a fundraising letter but it's interesting..and if you think about it..true.

~~~~~~~
Is This Woman Leading Souls
AWAY FROM CHRIST?

Diva, Dupe, or Devil?

You decide. Please read on...

Dear Friend of Catholic Answers,

Karl Keating asked me to write you this letter to alert you to a serious spiritual threat.

My name is Jimmy Akin, and I’m the director of apologetics and evangelization for Catholic Answers. If you know my personal story, you know that I am a convert to the Catholic faith from Evangelicalism. What you may not know is that before I was an Evangelical, I was a New Ager.

That’s right. When I was young and impressionable, before my religious convictions matured, I was a follower of the New Age Movement and its bizarre beliefs regarding reincarnation, astrology, clairvoyance, psychic healing, Atlantis, “Earth changes,” automatic writing, “Christ consciousness,” and all that stuff.

But I grew out of it.

By God’s grace, I was led to embrace the Christian faith . . . and then the fullness of the Christian faith in the Catholic Church.

Unfortunately, many people are still trapped in the New Age Movement, and now it is more dangerous than ever.

Why?

Because it has a new “high priestess”—one with tens of millions of followers who hang on her every word.

It’s hard to believe that one of the most well-known, most popular, and most influential women in the world is also one of the most dangerous because of what she’s teaching to millions of unsuspecting people every single day.

She’s Oprah Winfrey. You know her as a wildly successful TV talk show host; you’ve seen her equally successful woman’s magazine, “O,” at the checkout stand in the supermarket; you may have heard her popular radio program.

But if you are like many people, you’ve assumed that she’s just been pumping out the same kind of confessional TV talk show pablum, pop psychology, and feel-good self-affirmation that you find on so many other programs.

If that’s what you think, you haven’t seen her show in years.

Oprah has totally transformed herself and her media empire. She is no longer just a microphone-toting interviewer of tearful guests and cheering audiences. Believe it or not, she has become . . . a spiritual icon.

In its article, “The Church of O,” Christianity Today reports:

Oprah Winfrey has become one of the most influential spiritual leaders in America . . .

To her audience of more than 22 million mostly female viewers, she has become a postmodern priestess—an icon of church-free spirituality.

Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the Pope.

Even if you don’t watch her TV talk show or listen to her radio show or read her magazine, you or someone you love will be affected by what she’s passing off as “spirituality” these days.

Because of her, New Age teachings are being pitched to millions of our fellow Catholics—many of whom are being taken in by the mega-popular Oprah Winfrey and her promotion of three key books in the New Age Movement: The Secret . . . A New Earth . . . and A Course in Miracles.

Again, if you haven’t heard of these books, you probably don’t subject yourself to watching the Oprah Winfrey Show. But the teachings contained in them—particularly A Course in Miracles—are very dangerous because they are the opposite of real Christianity. And yet . . .

They Claim to Come from Christ Himself!

I’m serious!

Let’s start with A Course in Miracles. It’s a foundational book of today’s New Age Movement—and it’s one that Oprah Winfrey is promoting so religiously on her show.

It’s a 1,249-page, 3-volume set that was written in the 1970’s by a woman named Helen Schucman—a psychologist from Columbia University.

She claimed (with absolutely no proof, of course) that she “heard a Voice” that she identified as Jesus. He spoke to her and dictated this entire book. He used his “inside voice”—that is, only Miss Schucman could hear him—and she merely “scribed” everything he said, in her own brand of “shorthand” code that only she could read, of course—and she later dictated that to another writer.

It took her seven years to write A Course in Miracles (Jesus speaks slowly, I suppose)—but even when she was finished with it, she curiously wanted to “re-write” the whole thing!

The bizarre (and dangerous) claim behind this book is that it is “divine revelation.” In fact, its proponents claim that it’s a “Third Testament” that should be included with the Bible.

The set has been popular for decades. When I was a New Ager, I saw it all the time on the shelves of the (then small, now huge) New Age section in the bookstores. But now the course has been carried to new heights of popularity.

Oprah Winfrey, who already had a long history of promoting New Age ideas via the guests she featured on her show, has locked onto A Course in
Miracles
and chosen to do a 365-day, non-stop “lesson a day” program that would present it to her millions of fans.

What does A Course in Miracles teach? “Revelations” from “Jesus” such as . . .

• There is no such thing as sin.
• Evil, pain, suffering, and sickness are all illusions.
• Since man never sinned, he has no need of salvation.
• A slain Christ “has no meaning” and so we should not cling “to the old, rugged cross.”
• The name of Jesus Christ is a symbol “of all the gods to which you pray.”
• To recognize God is to recognize yourself.

A well-informed Christian would never accept any of these blasphemous and heretical notions, of course. But they are at the core of A Course in Miracles. And Oprah herself isn’t afraid to make a direct assault on Christianity. Here’s what she told her audience:

“I don’t believe that Jesus came to start Christianity. What Jesus said is much deeper than . . . how the church interprets it.”

“The old way is, the hierarchy has the authority. Church authorities tell you how to worship in church and how to behave outside of church. The new spirituality is that you are your own best authority. As you work to know and love yourself, you discover how to live a more spiritual life.”

Oprah also promotes another New Age guru by the name of Eckhart Tolle, author of the best-selling book A New Earth.
He, too, denies fundamental tenets of Christianity—even though he quotes Jesus more than any other “teacher” in his books. He says . . .

“Never personalize Christ. Don’t make Christ into a form identity. Avatars, divine mothers, enlightened masters, the very few that are real, are not special as persons.”

Tolle also pushes the New Age nonsense that you are God.

“The Truth is inseparable from who you are. Yes, you are the Truth. If you look for it elsewhere, you will be deceived every time. The very Being that you are is Truth.”

“There can be no subject-object relationship here, no duality, no you-and-God.”

What did Oprah say to all this?

She calls her work with him perhaps the most important and exciting thing she has ever done.

You see, this past spring she hosted 10 Monday-night “Web seminars” with him (over the Internet). As many as one million people watched these “webinars” live, and 27 million more downloaded them afterward.

It was described as one of the largest single events in Internet history.

So, what does all of this have to do with you? It’s very simple. The bottom line (and the reason I’m writing to you about this subject) is this . . .

Oprah Winfrey and Her “New Age Gurus”
Are Deceiving Tens of Millions of People
And Leading Them Away from Christ.

And that, as you might suspect, includes our fellow Catholics—good people who don’t know their faith as they ought . . . and who were never given the benefit of a good catechesis.

Enter Catholic Answers, with our mission to defend the faith and the faithful by spreading the truth and vanquishing lies.

Now that Oprah has become such a prolific New Age/anti-Christian propagandist, we have a duty to expose her and her “guru” guests so that we can rescue Catholics from this dangerous ideology . . . and prevent further damage being done to future audiences.

That won’t be an easy task. But . . . we have a new and unique weapon with which to fight the lies that are being sold as “the new spirituality”—the lies that purport to come from Jesus himself, but which sound like they come from the serpent in the Garden of Eden!

Our new weapon is a fascinating 3-hour interview with Sharon Lee Giganti—a former New Age teacher who went through a dramatic realization that the ideas and principles of the New Age Movement are actually dangerous and can have deadly consequences in people’s lives.

Sharon Lee told her story on Catholic Answers Live, where I interviewed her about her experiences in the New Age Movement and how she got out of it.

In my years as an apologist, I’ve heard many compelling stories, but I was amazed at Sharon Lee Giganti’s.

You see, two people that Sharon Lee knew died . . . because of the very same kind of things that Oprah is promoting.

It was enough to shock Sharon Lee back into the Catholic faith and to give her the drive to spread the word about how dangerous and life-threatening these teachings are.

I can’t tell her story here. To do it justice, you really need to hear it for yourself, which you can when we send you a special 3-CD set containing the unedited interviews from the radio show.

We’ll send you this set in return for your tax-deductible gift to Catholic Answers—which will help us get this set into the hands of Catholics who urgently need to hear what Sharon Lee has to say.

Donate now to this urgent cause.

Alarmingly, the ideas behind the New Age Movement are (and have been for some time) creeping into Catholic parishes all across the country. They’re disguised in various forms—often as “meditation” or “self-awareness” workshops.

Among Catholics are many who were duped by Oprah Winfrey into purchasing the runaway bestseller The Secret by Rhonda Byrne—which, by the way, contained absolutely no secrets.

Instead, it’s chock full of the 19th century hogwash known as “The Law of Attraction”—which gratuitously claims that you can change your life merely through positive thoughts, which will then cause unexplained “vibrations” that “travel throughout the universe” and magically result in good things happening to you, any time you want. The universe is at your command!

For instance, The Secret has the audacity to claim that if you’re feeling physically ill, just ignore it! Don’t give your illness any attention. Don’t even talk about it to anyone—presumably, not even a doctor! And if anyone tells you about his illness, change the subject immediately and think happy-happy thoughts so it will all go away.

I know you must be shaking your head in disbelief. But I’m not making this up. Back when I was a New Ager, we were taught to “visualize” whatever we wanted to happen—and if we visualized hard enough then it magically would!

Unfortunately, with the incredible influence that Oprah has over her daytime-TV audience, people are believing this nonsense. By the millions!

The Secret also tells you that if you want to be unbelievably wealthy, just imagine it and it will all come true! For example, in the chapter called “The Secret to Money,” we’re told, “Visualize checks in the mail.” (I’m not kidding.)

Elsewhere, we’re told, “Like Aladdin’s Genie, the law of attraction grants our every command.”

It’s sad, but people are now believing that this is how you’re supposed to “relate” to God. “God” is actually you. You control the universe through your thoughts.

Gullible people everywhere (and they are everywhere) can be seen tossing aside their Christian beliefs and acting like they are God because of Oprah Winfrey’s non-stop promotion of the bizarre (and anti-Christian) ideas contained in the books I’ve mentioned above. She’s become the high priestess of the New Age.

I could go on for several more pages about the unbelievable nonsense that’s passing itself off as true “spirituality” thanks to the New Age Movement promoted by Oprah.

But instead, I’ll let Sharon Lee Giganti give you the scoop when you listen to her eye-opening and riveting story, which gives the crucial background on all these movements . . . who their key players are . . . what they believe in . . . what their fallacies are . . . and, most importantly, how these dangerous ideas affect people’s lives in disastrous ways.

Ideas have consequences. The worse the idea, the worse the consequences.

Believing that “you are God” is perhaps the worst idea ever sold to the masses!

Won’t you please help us get Sharon Lee Giganti’s eye-opening CD set distributed to all the people who so desperately need it?

Start by clicking here with your donation of just $35, and we’ll send you a copy of the CD set that you can listen to and share with friends and family.

If you know of people at work, at home, in your parish, or in your circle of friends who have been taken in by The Secret or A New Earth or A Course in Miracles or any of these other books that Oprah has promoted to millions of people, you owe it to them to share this CD and ask them to listen to Sharon Lee’s story.

Now that she’s come back to the Catholic faith, it’s Sharon Lee’s mission to warn others about the spiritual dangers being sold by Oprah Winfrey and her New Age gurus.

It’s our mission, too. But we need your help. So please donate now with your tax-deductible gift of $35 or more so we can send you the CD set as our “thank you.”

You’ll be fascinated by what you’ll learn from listening to this set.

You’ll learn how the New Age gurus . . .

• Deny reality
• Reject logic and reason
• Promote delusional thinking
• Encourage self-centeredness
• Push people over the edge
• Dismiss sin and evil
• Pretend to be God
• And much more


Bottom line? This New Age nonsense takes advantage of people who are emotionally vulnerable, weak, and gullible.

It’s a subversion of the Christian faith. It’s the original “you can be like God” lie sold to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And as Christians
we must fight back.

I feel strongly about this because I myself was once trapped by the lies of the New Age Movement. Millions of people still are, and it is up to us to help them. Sharon Lee Giganti's new 3-CD set is an ideal tool to help educate and inform people about the dangers of the New Age. Won't you join us in the effort to liberate souls from its deadly clutches?

Sincerely in the real Christ,

Jimmy Akin
Director of Apologetics and Evangelization

P.S. I can’t tell you how startling and information-packed our 3-CD interview with Sharon Lee Giganti is. I was amazed at what she had to say.
The set is our gift to you for your donation of $35 or more.

Keep watch. Be vigilant. The New Age ideas being pushed by Oprah cannot be easily dismissed. They’re building steam and gaining ground—even among our fellow Catholics.

They must be fought and exposed to the true light—the Light of the World.

2 comments:

henry said...

oh snap! hahaha, not to be TOO political, but the obvious link with Oprah her support for Obama? and his voting record AGAINST the partial birth abortion ban in BOTH his home state and on the federal level....hmmm makes you wonder...

BUT, wanted to comment on how the new age has snuck into the Catholic Church among us....

check this out about the Labyrinth...
"A Tool for Transformation

The labyrinth is a powerful spiritual tool whose path leads one to one’s own center" from this Catholic Parish website:
http://www.stapostle.org/index.php?area=sf&data=labyrinth

and it talks about a "Three-fold Mystical Path" but in the WHOLE webpage not a mention of "God" nor "Jesus" nor "Penance" but lots of references to "no false turns" and "no right way" "illumination" "union" "joining the Divine" "empowered" "universal understanding of meditation" which is VERY different from what we call meditation in reference to the Rosary. And what gets me is that it says when you exit, "give an acknowledgement of ending, such as 'Amen'". Ummm "amen" as an acknowledging an ending? So THAT's what it means?! (That makes me angry)


Versus this:
http://www.fisheaters.com/labyrinths.html

Too bad the former is from an OFFICIAL CATHOLIC CHURCH WEBSITE! aaaaargh!!!!!

Cindy said...

Whao. Crazy.