Earlier this week, I wrote about positive influential people in my life. Man, am I thankful those! But what troubles are those who influence us negatively. Those who are so subtle that we can't even recognize their influence until our belief system comes into question. Then we some how begin to question our belief system and its roots, questioning our beliefs because of the influence this person is in our life.
I am going to speak frankly today. What you watching? At 4:00pm women all over my local viewing area tune into the ABC affiliate, WSOC, to watch Oprah. I will confess that I have watched Oprah's show many times over the years. I love her "favorite things" show. I tuned into to watch the Osmond Family reunion and have enjoyed good medical information from Dr. Oz. But...I will not watch Oprah again, as long as I have a choice in the matter.
I believe she is an incredible humanitarian. She has used her power and influence to better the lives of many children in third world countries. She has many Americas reading again. Hundreds of child predators are behind bars because of her campaign. Young people have received college educations that would otherwise not have had the opportunity to attend college at all. I could go on and on but I won't.
For all the good she has done, I believe she is equally doing a terrible injustice to today's woman sitting at home habitually watching her program. Her influence, power, good deeds, and generosity has caused women to trust her. This trust has influenced women to question their beliefs system and stray from the roots of what once was a solid foundation for their life. Some women, who do not have a belief system at all have been totally brainwashed to her "we are god" philosophy.
Girls, we have to WAKE UP and turn the television OFF. We need to get on our faces and PRAY for the TRUTH, THE WAY, and THE LIFE to over power this woman's influence on the homes in our world. Today, I saw clip where Oprah said that there could not possibly be only one way to God. Well Oprah, I disagree. The ancient words of my Bible record the words of Jesus, God's only son. He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No One comes to the Father except through me." (Emphasis mine- John 14:6)
I am not going to use my blog to promote YouTube clips or sound bites. I am going to use my blog and my voice to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has the power to counteract the backward teaching this woman is promoting. He invites us to be the light to the world, His light ladies, not our own light. (Unlike something you may have heard through her teaching) His light through us will cast out the darkness of these teachings and their influence.
Will you join me in turning off your television? Will you deprogram (Is that a word?) your DVR to remove her show from your recording line-up? Will you stop buying her magazines? Will you pray instead of watching? Will you read your Bible and become familiar with it so you can ground yourself in the TRUTH?
I don't have a DVR. I don't understand how they work. But I am commiting to be the voice for the cause of Christ. I am committing to read my Bible and understanding it so that I will not fall prey to the prowling lion who is lurking around in sheep's clothing trying to distract me and my friends from a belief system that was working well until her belief system came along.
OK. I am off the soapbox.
For His Great Renown
For all the good she has done, I believe she is equally doing a terrible injustice to today's woman sitting at home habitually watching her program. Her influence, power, good deeds, and generosity has caused women to trust her. This trust has influenced women to question their beliefs system and stray from the roots of what once was a solid foundation for their life. Some women, who do not have a belief system at all have been totally brainwashed to her "we are god" philosophy.
Girls, we have to WAKE UP and turn the television OFF. We need to get on our faces and PRAY for the TRUTH, THE WAY, and THE LIFE to over power this woman's influence on the homes in our world. Today, I saw clip where Oprah said that there could not possibly be only one way to God. Well Oprah, I disagree. The ancient words of my Bible record the words of Jesus, God's only son. He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No One comes to the Father except through me." (Emphasis mine- John 14:6)
I am not going to use my blog to promote YouTube clips or sound bites. I am going to use my blog and my voice to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has the power to counteract the backward teaching this woman is promoting. He invites us to be the light to the world, His light ladies, not our own light. (Unlike something you may have heard through her teaching) His light through us will cast out the darkness of these teachings and their influence.
Will you join me in turning off your television? Will you deprogram (Is that a word?) your DVR to remove her show from your recording line-up? Will you stop buying her magazines? Will you pray instead of watching? Will you read your Bible and become familiar with it so you can ground yourself in the TRUTH?
I don't have a DVR. I don't understand how they work. But I am commiting to be the voice for the cause of Christ. I am committing to read my Bible and understanding it so that I will not fall prey to the prowling lion who is lurking around in sheep's clothing trying to distract me and my friends from a belief system that was working well until her belief system came along.
OK. I am off the soapbox.
For His Great Renown
15 Comments:
I praise the LORD for how He is working through you and your blog to speak the TRUTH! I have been emailing friends and family about the book that Oprah has been touting for several weeks now. I don't know the author(s) of the new age book, I'm trying to remember the title...something along the line of a new earth. Then there's another book about miracles. She references more than one book (it appears). I sent you another email that I received several weeks ago.
You are so right, this is not the time to stick our heads in the sand! This is just the time to be on our faces before our Father and beg for courage and boldness to stick our necks out and boldly speak the Truth in love.
I love you! Dawn
I don't know that I have ever watched Oprah. At 4 PM Adventures in Odyssey comes on the radio so we all are usually listening to that. :)
I do agree with what you said. From the responses I have been getting concerning the ten struggles that Christian women face I realize that we need to step out in faith and go against the tide of popular culture. We were called to be set apart.
Blessings,
Pearls
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Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! My thoughts exactly!!! I won't even watch her Big Give show either. She is misleading so many people; I hate it for the people listening, and I hate it for her. I agree, we must not watch her, read what she has to say, or participate in her online studies; instead, we must pray.
Thanks for speaking the TRUTH! So many people think I'm crazy for not liking her, but we have biblical reasons for not liking her. And I'm not ashamed of that!
Blessings and Prayers!
Rebecca
Wendy,girl...
I started shutting off my tv about 3 years ago. In regards to Oprah, I shut her off a long, and I do mean loooooong time ago. I will confess that my curiousity has been peeked by her recent interaction with Eckhart Tolle. I have several of my fellow Bible study gals tuning in and reading the book.
So when one of them offered it a voice on Tuesday night at Bible study, as their leader and as a believer in the Truth of scripture, I felt I had to address the issue.
In essence, I told them that any philosophy, any self-help book, any retreat/seminar, etc., that promises to help me "discover my life's purpose" but excludes the cross of Christ as the sole authority in the matter was a personal waste of my time.
I can't give Satan an inch...and what is happening with this book far exceeds a inch. It's a mile long load of untruth, littered with just enough references to Christianity to hook believers. I'll have no part of it, and I'm not afraid to voice my thoughts.
I hope I did it with grace. So often, my mouth moves before the Spirit leads. But in this case, the Spirit led, and I have smoothed over my roughness with follow up conversations.
We must know how to defend our faith...we must be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we have. Otherwise, our minds sit idle and can easily be bushwhacked by the latest "trend" to better ourselves...find ourselves...discover ourselves.
I found myself when I came to the end of myself and I prostrated myself beneath the cleansing blood of the cross that was intended to eliminate myself.
Praise his name! Hallelujah! Who I am is rooted in Christ alone, and I am making a commitment to you and to my sisters in Christ, to pray for an awakening of all of our minds and spirits to the Truth.
Thank you, thank you, friend for such a powerful witness to our Savior! You've defended him well this day.
peace~elaine
(sorry this is so long...ok...not really).
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You said it wonderfully! Oprah does do a lot of "good" but for every good thing she has done she is doing so many harmful things to our world. I pray that every Christian watching the show realizes the influence that she has and turns the TV off and prays instead for the His Truth and Love to shine.
Love, Christie
Preach it sister!!!!
I must confess,I was right there with millions other American women watching Oprah but not anymore.
It's sad to see a person with so much influence to be leading so many people astray!
But God reminded me once when I asked Him "How come someone like her has so much in worldly riches?" He then said to me "She's receiving her glory here on earth."
So for me,my prayer is that I will never take my eyes off from Jesus. That I will be found faithful with what gifts He has given me , not for my own glory but for His!
Wendy: Wow, Girl....thank you for that post! Thank you for your heart's desire to know Him, to know His Word and to keep it pure. Thank you for honoring Him with your blog. He is the only way, the only truth and the only life. He is all we need...as I heard someone said recently, we don't need to improve upon Jesus in any way. He is perfect savior and king! He is I AM!
Love you, dear sister! :)
Wendy,
I thought I'd share an email I sent out to some of my friends earlier this week.
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"Hi! Today I received a prayer request from a very confused Christian woman. She has always watched Oprah and is confused over Oprah's teachings. (the weekly class online she's teaching, The New Earth book that was the book club reading, the seminars that have been held across the country, etc.) In case you don't know, the numbers of people who are attending these seminars and taking Oprah's views as Truth, are astounding.
The woman who sent the request, sent me a link. Please take the time to watch the whole thing. It's about 8-9 minutes. Worth the watch. http://youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA
She is not the only woman who we've heard from recently. This is just the first one with a link to go with her concerns and fears.
Please pray for us (all of us...Proverbs 31 Ministries, me, you) as we seek the words and Scripture to combat the parts of O's teachings which are lies. If you believe in Jesus Christ, I think you will take this seriously.
You know I'm not the type to jump on the latest bandwagon, but I feel God stirring something inside of me and it breaks my heart that so many well meaning, good, and vulnerable Christians are falling prey to this and allowing their faith to be completely watered down. I'm taking a stand. And I'm also praying for the Lord to move Oprah. Move her to Truth so that she can influence eternity, not just good works while on earth. I'm not suggesting your boycott watching Oprah. I am suggesting that you know enough to be able to combat the lies with the Truth so you can defend your faith. That's all.
Much love to you all,
Melissa"
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I don't hate Oprah. I've never been a regular viewer only because the time of day is just not when we watch TV. I will tune in if something interests me, just like with any other tv show.
A good friend of mine responded to my letter with a different perspective. She said she was so thankful that Oprah was finally speaking more bold and less subtle and people are talking about it. At least she's finally made it clear how she feels. Up til now many were unsure because her works are so good.
I am actually planning on reading The New Earth book. Not because I'm interested in aligning with it's teachings, but because it seems to be getting a lot of attention and I want to be able to 100% know what I'm talking about when I take a stand.
I love that you posted about this. That takes guts!
Love you girlie!
Melissa
I am so thankful I found your blog. I miss seeing you. I think of you often and really miss talking to you while at the pool. I don't even get to ask your BF (Christie) about you everyday like I used to.
I had to comment on this. You are so right! I confess I have always enjoyed watching the many good things that Oprah does for others, but not anymore. My eyes have been opened. I will no longer support her by watching her show or reading her magazine. I will pray for her!
I Love you and miss you!
Kelly
Hi Wendy,
I am not into Oprah's show like millions of women. I do not dislike her but all of this is very alarming because she has a massive platform to speak from. Proverbs 31 also has a platform. I have no idea the size of Proverbs 31's outreach but I have no doubt that God wants P31 to help open women's eyes. Maybe Lysa should take this on in the P31 ministry since God has connected her with Oprah. Maybe He set this up for P31. I say 'take this on' meaning in a loving spirit. Oprah is not the enemy but she has been taken captive to do his will. Here is an idea...make a video for the website answering these false claims; write a prayer on your website for people doing this study and Oprah. MAYBE P31 WAS CALLED FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!!!! God is looking for someone on this(2Chron. 16:9.) Your hand is raised and mine...how many others? We all need to pray and fast on this. There is much at stake. This reminds me of a principle in the story of David and Goliath...it takes great courage to stand up to a giant but amazing things happen when we do. I care for Oprah. My pray is that she would fall...on her knees before Jesus and know that He is the way, the truth and the life.
Wendy, thanks for speaking up. See you at She Speaks!
Barbara K.
Destin Conference
Amen, girl! I'm on the soapbox with you, and I need to be more vocal, too. Thanks for taking a stand.
Amy
Wendy- Bless you sweet sister for your courage and clarity! I have not watched Oprah in over ten years (Now to be honest, at first it was mainly because we moved and no longer have cable tv, only good old fashioned bunny ears thus we can't get it in on any of the whopping 5 stations we can tune into. I had to have a friend tape the Oprah show for me that Lysa was on last year!) However, even thought at first I missed it, over the years I came to fill my time with better things and now watch very little tv. I am with you. Let's be up on what is going on with women--that is important--but let's also be clear-minded with the mind of Christ.Thanks for helping us to do just that.
Blessings, Karen
Strong and powerful words. It amazes me that such a strong, intelligent and influential woman as Oprah can question and change her spiritual beliefs because of a book other than the Bible. But then again, maybe she never professed herself to be a Christian? I don't know.
It makes me sad that so many women, scratch that, so many people can look to a person such as Oprah for guidance and advice and possibly be led so far astray from the truth of our Father.
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