Oprah Winfrey identifies herself as a Christian. But she says that, when she was a young woman, she was disturbed by a pastor's declaration that the God of the Bible is a jealous God. "And something about that didn't feel right in my spirit because I believe that God is love and that God is in all things," she told her television audience. "And, so, that's when the, the, the search for something more than doctrine started to stir within me."
 
Warren Smith, author of Reinventing Jesus Christ: The New Gospel, is a Christian who was saved from the new age movement. He says Oprah's search led her to Marianne Williamson and the new age teachings of A Course in Miracles.
 
"Marianne Williamson was on Oprah back in 1992 with her book about the Course in Miracles," Smith recalled, "and back then, Oprah said, 'I believe that the principles of A Course in Miracles can change the world' -- and she's saying the same thing today."
 
Williamson is now promoting A Course in Miracles through daily classes on Oprah's XM satellite radio channel. "I will be on Oprah & Friends every single day talking about the ideas in A Course in Miracles," Williamson said during a promotional announcement for the program. "We can have miracles. We can have greater inner peace. We can shift from an experience of fear to an experience of greater love."
 
Oprah told her audience that she has no problem reconciling the differences between the new age religion she is now promoting and the Christian faith she claims. "I reconciled it because I was able to open my mind about the, um, the absolute, indescribable hugeness of that which we call 'God,'" Oprah said. "I took God out of the box."
 
But Smith, appearing on the March 11 edition of the AFA Report, said the false teachings of A Course in Miracles should be obvious to any Christian. "Here are some of the lessons: Lesson 29, 'God is in everything I see.' Lesson 186, 'The salvation of the world depends on me.' 253, 'My self is the ruler of the universe.'  337, 'My sinless-ness protects me from all harm,'" Smith said, quoting from the lessons. "This is the Bible upside-down."
 
Smith also criticized Oprah for the selection of Eckhart Tolle's new age book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose as her book of the month.
 
"It reminds me of Jeremiah 5 where he says, 'A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land, the prophets prophesy falsely and my people love to have it so,'" Smith explained. "What is more wonderful these days than Oprah? A wonderful and horrible thing is happening in the land, the prophets prophesy falsely. Oprah -- by now teaching this class with Eckhart Tolle -- is no longer a pointer to deception. She is a false prophet and part of it herself."
 
Christians have an obligation, Smith concluded, to point out the error of Oprah's new age "christianity," even if doing so means risking public ridicule.
 
"Unfortunately, Oprah does so many things that are really good [that] people make the mistake of thinking that she's on to something with this whole spiritual deal," Smith argued. "What she's doing is, she's creating a new worldview. They're calling it a 'shift' that will prepare people for when the next shoe drops.
 
"And this will be the way that world peace would be achieved," he said, explaining the new age philosophy behind A Course in Miracles, "by everybody adopting this view that 'we're all one because we're all god, we need to come together, we need to be in unity.'
 
"And the only people who are going to hinder that are the people who are saying, 'No, we're not God. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.'
 
Internet evangelist Bill Keller, appearing on Fox News Channel's Cavuto Report, echoed Smith's warnings, calling Oprah the queen of the new age gurus. "These new age teachings are really sucking in millions of people to these false philosophies, these false theologies, and they're literally leading people to Hell," Keller said. "Oprah, whether she knows it or not, is really being a conduit to lead people to Hell."