“I’m a Christian who believes that there are certainly many more paths to God other than Christianity. I’m a free-thinking Christian who believes in my way, but I don’t believe that it’s the only way. What I believe is that Jesus came to show us Christ consciousness.”
Oprah Winfrey
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
Stark contrast, isn’t it?
I hope you didn’t think I was thinking of rejecting Jesus Christ since reading only the title/headline and quick snippet can easily deceive people (if you follow current events – perfect example: the teenager in Kentucky with the MAGA hat).
Jesus’ criteria for being a true follower is if the person holds to His teachings. It is evident Oprah’s statement is a clear denial of what Jesus taught (John 8:31).
God’s Word is the final authority. For some, this is hard to accept. A prolific author/academic (Oprah is prolific, but I am talking about someone else here) confidently boasts about making a case for morality detached from the authority of Scripture (maybe to avoid the common objection of “Circular reasoning” from intellectuals) while claiming to be Christian. Doing so can be likened to separating Jesus from Scripture, which is nonsensical because Scriptures is everything about who Jesus is. The same can be said of morality. How can one possibly dare separate it from the origin?
Separating Jesus from Scripture produces a different Jesus, the one that Oprah promotes who is not the only way, another of the Qur’an, Mormons and that of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Muslims and Mormons share and invoke the same argument about the Bible being corrupted since the Bible exposes and explicitly warns about them in Galatians 1:8. Both came about by way of angelic revelation (more of a demonic revelation really) and employ the same modus operandi by calling the reliabity of Scriptures into question.
Naming names is unavoidable. How else can one possibly avoid a false teacher without knowing who they are? Doing so isn’t unloving. It is biblical. Mainstream promoters of Christianity (like Catholicism) belong in this list as well, but Oprah’s reach is specific to women in the household who raise children (2 Timothy 3:6).
“Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.”
2 Timothy 2:17-18
All throughout the ages there are those who erroneously teach about the Trinity (like the Oneness Pentecostals who deny God existing as 3 persons yet being one God), the deity of Christ, the crucifixion-(Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Islam), the bodily resurrection of Jesus and the Second Coming. These do not fall in the ‘minor differences’ category. These are basic teachings that each and every Christian should all adhere to. Should anyone get this wrong, everything else will be wrong. Getting a wrong foundation can guarantee one thing. Your faith is destined to fail and you will apostatize because you are trusting on a Jesus who is alien to Scripture (Matthew 7:24-27 ->). This addresses why people are leaving the church.
You can choose to accept or reject the complete revelation of who God is in Scripture as Oprah clearly does. She can claim to be Christian all she wants, but the sad part about the whole thing is that her platform reaches millions of souls worldwide (potentially being deceived). Oprah is free to choose indeed and so are you. Someone or something might influence the way you think, but in the end, you get to pick what you believe.
God desires for ALL to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4) and yet, we see His omniscience at work when Scripture reveals only a few will find the way (Matthew 7:14) and this few, coming from the body count of every single human who has ever walked on this planet. Mind-blowing isn’t it?
Will you choose to walk The Way?
“If we accept human testimony, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that he has given about his Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son.”
1 John 5:9-10
Amen!!!