A Course in Miracles

I received an email today that I thought might be a typical forward, one blowing things out of proportion and stirring up drama, with only some truth behind it. My father has taught me the trick of testing these things out on snopes, which is a great site to debunk urban legends, or the runaway forward.

So, I had a warning email concerning Oprah's backing of Marianne Williamson's book and radio program, A Course in Miracles promoting a "new age Jesus." It claimed that:

Jesus Christ is being reinvented, redefined, and blasphemed and, this false New- Age Christ teaching is about to make huge inroads into the world, with the help of the queen of television talk shows, Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah Winfrey, beginning January 1, 2008 , on her daily radio program will offer a year-long course on the New Age Christ , in a lesson a day and completely cover the 365 lessons from the Course in Miracles "Workbook."

Listeners will be encouraged to buy A Course in Miracles for the year-long course, and an audio version, recited by Richard (John Boy Walton) Thomas will be available on compact disc.

Those who finish the Course will have a wholly redefined spiritual mindset-a New Age worldview that include the beliefs that there is no sin, no evil, no devil. A Course in Miracles teaches its students to rethink everything they believe about God and life, and, bluntly states: "This is a course in mind training" and is dedicated to "thought reversal." The Course in Miracles in reality is the truth of the Bible turned upside down.

Oprah told her television audience that Marianne Williamson's book, 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 to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

Well, to check out these claims, I went to the source - Oprah.com. Under Oprah and friend's radio is the daily lesson from Williamson that went out over XM radio that day. So, today's lesson, #58, teaches that:

There is nothing my holiness cannot do.
My holiness is unlimited in its power to heal, because it is unlimited in its power to save. What is there to be saved from except illusions? And what are all illusions except false ideas about myself? My holiness undoes them all by asserting the truth about me. In the presence of my holiness, which I share with God Himself, all idols vanish.

My holiness is my salvation.
Since my holiness saves me from all guilt, recognizing my holiness is recognizing my salvation. It is also recognizing the salvation of the world. Once I have accepted my holiness, nothing can make me afraid. And because I am unafraid, everyone must share in my understanding, which is the gift of God to me and to the world.

This is scary stuff. You save yourself? You give yourself salvation? The worst part is that this is being done in Jesus' name. They say it is merely a redefinition of what Christianity got wrong. I knew Oprah was new-agey, but it seems she has completely left behind the simple tenet of Jesus' ministry; that He was the Son of God, the only way we have salvation and that He laid down His life for each of us. It is sad to me how many will be mislead by this and eager to embrace it because Oprah has.

Here are a few things to leave you with that are some quotes from the “Jesus” of A Course in Miracles:

“There is no sin. . . "
A “slain Christ has no meaning.”
“The journey to the cross should be the last ‘useless journey.”
“Do not make the pathetic error of ‘clinging to the old rugged cross.’”
“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.”
“God is in everything I see.”
“The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself.”
“The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity and your limitless power.”
“The Atonement is the final lesson he [man] need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation.”

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/007/smith-oprah.htm