February 6, 1999 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is excerpted from a report entitled "Oprah, Into Spiritism?" by Yvonne S. Waite (wife of Dr. Donald Waite, Bible for Today, 900 Park Ave., Collingswood, NJ 08108. YSWaite@BibleForToday.org).

In a recent Gallup Poll Oprah Winfrey was voted the second most admired women, after Hillary Rodham Clinton. She is the one who sings every day on The Oprah Winfrey Show, "I've got a new LIGHT shining inside!" And she wants her viewers to have that light glowing within them, too.

It has been made clear on her program that the name "God" does not necessarily have to be capitalized. Any "god" will do. From what I understand, her teaching is that this one BIG SPIRIT is "out there" and our human "spirit" is connected to this BIG SPIRIT. Apparently Oprah, who is reported to be worth $550,000,000, had been in a spiritual dither before she became a part of this "spirit" frenzy. She told us that she had so many problems in the past, but now she realizes that the solutions to all the puzzles and pugnacities of her life were "within" her. Get this! This "spirit" within her has all the answers to her problems. All she has to do is go deep within herself and she'll find the answer to these perplexities. We listeners are invited also to go within ourselves, into our own "spirit," and solve our own problems.

For many weeks, every day at the close of her program, Oprah had a three to five minute segment, or so, called, "REMEMBERING YOUR SPIRIT." So, we viewed people like Linda Gray of "J.R." & "Dallas" fame sitting in her own special Indian Teepee. I think this was in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or someplace like that. She told us that people have all kinds of ways of connecting with their "spirit." She sat cross-legged, lit a fire, and waved smoke all around her. That was called "saging" which meant giving or receiving wisdom, or discerning. Pictures of her family and friends surrounded her. Candles glowed, silence prevailed. She connected to the earth! Her thoughts and prayers went upwards. "I bless every cell in my body," she told us as she "tapped into herself ." She helped us by commenting, "You are who you are." THIS IS PAGANISM!

The other day in the dentist office, I was reading about Oprah in the TV Guide. I borrowed a pencil and paper from the dentist's receptionist, and copied a few questions posed to Miss Winfrey, along with her answers. When asked what her greatest spiritual teaching was, Oprah said something that I've heard her say a few times on TV. "Although I meditate every day and I pray every night and I read spiritual material, my greatest teaching is THE WIZARD OF OZ. [The good witch says to Dorothy] 'You've always had THE POWER, my dear. You've always had THE POWER!' [then Oprah says] 'THAT GOOD WITCH, SHE'S MY GIRL!'" [I capitalized for emphasis.)

Let me continue to quote Oprah: "I used to call Maya [Angelou] [one of OPRAH's spiritual advisors] all the time, whining about what the tabloids were saying about me. And she said, 'I know you think this is the business. But there's a greater business ahead for you.' I'm like 'What do you mean? I got the #1 [show].' 'There's a greater business. You'll see. You'll see.' And that's true. I do think that I am now on the greatest business. I SEE MYSELF AS AN INSTRUMENT OF A WILL GREATER THAN MY OWN, and I really try to keep myself connected to that." [capitalization mine]

Why, one guest, John Gray, Ph.D., who authored "Men are From Mars And Women Are From Venus," instructed us to raise our hands to heaven and ask God, or whomever or whatever we choose to call our "higher power," to come into our lives. We are to say this several times at one sitting and then many times a day. This is to bring calmness to our "spirits" and it will make us better people. Not one word is said about sin or the need of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior, Not one word about man as an unregenerate sinner in need of redemption by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ.

In the interview that I read, Oprah, whom I have nothing personally against, spoke of Suze Orman who teaches that if you focus on what you love, the money will come. Then there was Iyanla Vanzant. Oprah says of this writer that she gets women elevated above their own lives. Vanzant's message is that women have to save themselves. That's that "inner light" again. That "inner light" could very well be the LUCIFERIAN LIGHT of the NEW AGE! May we never forget it. The Bible says that "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light!" (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)

Some interesting statistics heard on CNN the other day startled me. Twenty years ago 2% of the population of the USA believed in reincarnation, while today 25% are believers. Twenty years ago 12% of the people believed in Spiritism. Today 52% believe.

2 Corinthians 11:3-4: "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth ANOTHER JESUS, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive ANOTHER SPIRIT, which ye have not received, or ANOTHER GOSPEL, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him."