Beware of New Thought "Christianity"

Avoid the Gospel According to Oprah…

Millions of people, including many who identify as Christians, think of Oprah Winfrey as some sort of spiritual guru. She quotes scripture, talks about God’s love, and says she believes in Jesus and the Gospel. But what she advocates is very much at odds with Biblical Christianity.

According to Oprah, “I thought Jesus came, died on the cross, that Jesus’ being here was about His death and dying on the cross. But it really was about him coming to show us how to do it, how to be.”

That is so wrong…

Oprah went on to say, “Jesus came to show us our divine potential… the inner divine spark within us all. To her, Jesus is the divine Son of God, but we can be just as much the Christ, the I AM, as Jesus was…”

Terribly wrong again…

Oprah is a proclaimer of what is known as New Thought. It is not to be confused with New Age, a belief system that promotes the idea that an individual’s thoughts and experiences are the primary source of spiritual authority, not God. New Thought is much more deceptive than the New Age because it looks and sounds just like “Christianity”.

Sadly, her influence has led millions to buy into the lie…

There is nothing “new” about the New Thought movement. Originating in the 19th Century, it is based on the teachings of Phineas Quimby. Quimby was a self-proclaimed faith healer who was highly influenced by the hypnotist Mesmer (mesmerize). He wrongly believed that all illnesses stem from the mind and can be cured simply by correcting wrong thinking.

Quimby and others, like his student Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, also drew upon the ancient wisdom of man… (Hindu, Buddhist, Greek,

Roman, Egyptian, and Chinese) to claim that the power of thoughts and beliefs could improve one’s life. New Thought claims to help people live better lives without the “rules” of religious doctrine.

New Thought pretends that you have divinity within you. There is nothing new about this either… Satan tempted Eve by enticing her to eat of the knowledge of good and evil (forbidden by God), promising that “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). Satan appealed to her based on man’s desire to attain divinity and control his or her own destiny.

In the years since, the New Thought movement has expanded its promise from health to both health and wealth. New Thought is nothing more than the prosperity Gospel of old wrapped up in a shiny new TV-ready package. The Prosperity Gospel typically teaches that with enough “faith”, one can gain health and material wealth by simply speaking or thinking things into existence. It’s the same old false gospel of “name it and claim it.”

In 1925, advertising executive Bruce Barton authored a book entitled “The Man Nobody Knows.” In the book, he portrayed Jesus as a successful entrepreneur who “Picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organization that conquered the world.”

Neither Quimby nor Barton ever mentioned the need to confess one’s sins and the necessity of having saving faith in Christ. New Thought is directly opposed to true biblical teaching. We cannot create our own reality by “positive thinking” or become healthy by declaring ourselves to be so. Whatever troubles we have in our lives, God’s promise of redemption through Jesus Christ is our only hope…

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)

New Thought is a deceptive mixture of self-empowerment, fake inner divinity, and the idea that one’s thoughts can create a desired reality that is embellished with a heaping helping of Christian jargon. Its source is the wisdom of man… not that of God. It has absolutely nothing to do with Biblical Christianity. It leads one to falsely believe we are already right with God. It promotes Satan’s lie that you are good enough as you are and don’t need a Savior.

The true Gospel humbles us before a holy God… New Thought exalts man instead of God… offering nothing but a deception as old as mankind.

Pray that Oprah and others see the error in this and turn from it…