Posted: 07/01/08

Oprah Continues to Push New Age and Occult Spirituality

Cultural Agenda is Set by Oprah – Not Religious Leaders

By Eric Barger

www.ericbarger.com

Some may wonder why I have bothered to discuss Oprah again our ministry email updates and newsletter. After all, for Christians isn't the issue obvious? Isn't it a done deal that Believers see what Oprah is up to and thus stay away?

I only wish it were that simple. It would appear that spotting Oprah's goofy and dangerous spiritual ideas isn't a sure bet since so many alleged "Christians" seem to have a bigger problem called Universalism.

A headline in the June 24, 2008 USA Today read: "Cultural Agenda is Set by Oprah - Not Religious Leaders." The article included many facts and poll results. Perhaps the most shocking was that of the 35,000 Americans surveyed by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey 70% believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life" while only 24% state that their particular religion is the one true way.

Though he doesn't nail it as "New Age," Rice University sociologist Michael Lindsay says "The impact of Oprah is seen throughout this survey. She uses the language of Bible and Christian traditions and yet includes other traditions to create a hodgepodge personalized faith."

My question is this: how blatant and relentless does Winfrey have to get before preachers and lay people wake up? It is our responsibility to warn the world when we see people running headlong into disaster. The saddest part is that in this case many who claim to be Christians are running towards peril following Oprah's leading and not their Bible.

On Tuesday, August 24 Oprah aired a program focusing on the New Age idea of Past Life Regression. Her guests included Dr. Brian Weiss who is a noted psychotherapist and New Age author who claims to have cured the fears and nightmares of thousands of people through PLR. His books include, Many Live, Many Masters, Through Time Into Healing, Only Love is Real (a book about a couple who were in love in a past life and are now reunited in the present), Messages From the Masters (about how to harness the power of love according to the "Masters"...the ascended spiritual Masters, and Mirrors of Time: Using Regression for Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Healing which is advertised as allowing the reader to enter the "next step in regression."

PLR emphasizes reincarnation through what Bible believers understand is demonic communications and into a maze of occultic spiritualism. As perilous as this activity may be, unsuspecting people are brought into a false reliance on the idea that they need not be concerned with sin or a Savior let alone death as they erroneously believe that they will get a chance at another life... or two or three, etc.

On Friday, August 27 Winfrey aired a program titled "The Law of Attraction: Real Life Stories" which featured a panel of New Age gals including Louise L. Hay, publisher (Hay House) for New Age teachers Dr.'s Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer. Hay is a follower of Ernest Holmes and is a practitioner in the Church of Religious Science. She was profoundly influenced by the metaphysical works of author Florence Scovel Shinn and also studied Transcendental Meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at his university in Fairfield, Iowa. Writer Mark Oppenheimer called her "The Queen of the New Age" in the New York Times magazine, May 4, 2008. She is best known for the pamphlet Heal Your Body and the book You Can Heal Your Life.

The program also included video role-ins of Esther Hicks, author of the book The Law of Attraction. Oprah has featured Hicks on her XM satellite radio channel. Hicks is an ex-Mormon turned trace-channeler known best for her claims to vocally translate blocks of thought for a group of non-physical beings who call themselves "Abraham." She was also involved in the now famous project known as "The Secret" which was based on The Law of Attraction and which Winfrey heavily publicized.

Also on the August 27 program was O Magazine columnist Martha Beck another ex-Mormon (is this a pattern?) who after a failed 21 year marriage says she is now a homosexual and Hay House author, life coach Cheryl Richardson.

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Copyright 2008, Eric Barger

By Eric Barger Click here for bio and archived articles