Caesar Oprah!

Spirituality Column #76
April 22, 2008
Current in Carmel (IN) newspaper

Caesar Oprah!
By Bob Walters

Has it ever really sunk in how completely un-famous Jesus Christ was when He was alive on earth?

He was the Son of God, yet very few knew Him. His resurrection didn’t make the public records, only private letters.

His job wasn’t to tell us He was God. Jesus’ job was to tell us we have eternal life with God if we believe in Him as the Christ. Jesus did not have to bluntly say, “I am God.” There is no doubt that He was, and is.

He knew we’d figure it out … and believe. We have.

Subsequently, Jesus has been very, very famous for a long time.

During Jesus’ life on earth, the Caesars were immensely famous and powerful; people thought they were gods. They are all dead now. Jesus died and now lives – so we can live – and scripture breathes that truth.

This brings me to the errant theology of Oprah Winfrey.

Bright-eyed and savvy, Oprah, like the Caesars, is immensely famous and powerful.

There are plenty of preachers around who think they are entertainers. Oprah has become an entertainer who thinks she is a preacher.

Have you been following her Christ-stifling foray into spiritual enlightenment?

Oprah says there are a million ways to salvation. Her guru imagines there is nothing after death. She has completely botched the concept of God’s jealousy for us (God's jealousy is a good thing, folks; not bad). She is preaching about feelings and breathing. She infers that belief is a sucker’s gambit: to wit, God just “is,” therefore we should not believe. Huh?

I wonder what the meaning of “is” is, here.

Oprah is telling us that Jesus was mistaken when He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” That’s John 14:6. It’s fairly famous. Jesus is famous because lines like that have endured for nearly 2,000 years in a famous place, the Bible.

If you want to see a list of Oprah’s scriptural incursions and misinformation, go to www.seriousfaith.com (Brent Riggs’ blog) and search “Pastor Oprah.”

My point is this: scriptural canon has survived intact for 1,600 years. I have a hunch it is going to survive Oprah.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) figures Oprah will fool very few Christians, but her New Age nonsense is sure to screw up some very sincere seekers. It’s a shame. Pray for her return to Christ.