Currently, the church leader or High Priestess is Oprah Winfrey. Bookstore shelves are lined with books on self-help and spirituality. These primary beliefs are in complete opposition to Christianity and blaspheme the gospel. The gurus that Oprah had on her shows redefine the following Biblical entities:

A book promoted by Oprah titled “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne states:

You are god in a physical body. You are spirit in the flesh. You are eternal life expressing itself as you. You are a cosmic being. You are all-powerful. You are all wisdom. The earth turns on its orbit for you. The oceans ebb and flow for you. The birds sing for you. The sun rises and sets for you. The stars come out for you. None of it can exist without you. No matter who you thought you were, now you know the truth of who you really are. You are the master of the universe. You are the heir of the kingdom. . And now you know the secret.

Marianne Williamson the author of “A Return to Love” also promoted by Oprah teaches the following from a book by the late Helen Schucman titled “A Course in Miracles.”

My mind is part of God. I am very holy. There is nothing that my holiness cannot do. I am the light of the world. Salvation comes from my own self. Salvation of the world depends on me. I am the holy Son of God himself.

All this is based upon the belief that we can be like God or even be God Himself. That is the same lie that the serpent told Eve in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:5 states:

For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

The New Age religion or what is better known now as spiritually is finding many followers both within Christianity and outside Christianity. This religion, besides making believers out to be god, is also about seeking a spiritual experience rather than belief in a doctrine from a theistic book like the Bible. It is difficult to believe that people actually believe this stuff, but apparently our desire to be like God combined with our desire to avoid following God’s moral law gives Satan another way to deceive us and prevent us from following the truth and the God that created us.

The New Age religion has been subtly introduced into the Christian denominational churches for over fifty years. A recently published book titled “A Wonderful Deception,” by Warren Smith lays out the history of Christian leaders that have been and are introducing the New Age spiritually into Christian churches. After reading Smith’s book, we can see how some of these New Age teachings have been introduced into churches we attend. Smith states in the introduction of his book:

I had already completed several chapters that describe how New Age sympathizers Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller inspired and helped to create the Church Growth movement—a movement that subtly and not so subtly evolved from Peale’s “Positive thinking” to Schuller’s “Possibility thinking” to Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven” thinking.

The subtlety of the New Age infiltration into Christian churches is based upon introducing only the parts of New Age that could be construed as Christian nice. Heretical concepts like sin doesn’t exist or we are gods are avoided. Another way to introduce watered down or false teachings is by making sure not to offend parishioners by making the message “seeker sensitive.” Rather than emphasizing negative things like sin emphasize positive things like self-esteem. The thought that God is in everything is subtly inserted into writings. Also, either Contemplative or Centering Prayer are introduced as methods of prayer.

Contemplative prayer is the Christian version of New Age Transcendental Meditation. I have seen this also in a church I have attended. Smith stated:

They too tout Nouwen and other mystics in their writings. Nouwen is a favorite of both Rick Warren and his wife, Kay. In Ray Yungen’s book, A Time of Departing, which exposes the contemplative prayer movement, Youngen documents the Warren’s strong admiration for Nouwen as well as Warren’s promotion of contemplative prayer teachers.

The New Age or the New Spirituality that is based upon an experience rather than a set of doctrinal beliefs has become very popular both in the secular culture and within Christendom. It denies the personal God of the Bible and makes man and everything else God. Again, New Age Spirituality is in diametric opposition to biblical Christianity.