Oprah gives up talk show, will produce S&M kink-fest

And so it continues. Today Oprah announced she is producing an erotic series for HBO involving a married mom who chucks her husband and family to explore kink and perversity in the seamy underbelly of LA. Oprah's descent into the abyss is tragic but classic. How did she go from believing Baptist to kink producer? Watching this brilliant and compassionate woman slowly descend from heights of glory to the cesspool of the kinky abyss is almost too hard to watch. But watch we must because her tale is one that we are warned in the bible could happen to anyone. Did you read that? Anyone.

Oprah Winfrey was raised in a Baptist church. But just because someone goes to church does not mean they are safe. By no means! The opposite is true, actually. Satan's greatest attacks are hurled against good people and Christians, not the drunkards, liars, thieves, adulteresses, and murderers. He already controls them. Both Jesus and Paul were so aware of satan's influence that their teaching is filled with warnings and dangers for those who try to live godly lives (Matthew 24:24; II Corinthians 11:13-15; II Thessalonians 2:7-11; Galatians 1:8). The bible tells us that in the last days there will be a falling away from the faith. It is possible to know Jesus and reject Him, and for those, it goes worse for them on the Day of Judgment. (I believe in 'Once Saved/Always Saved', so the ones who fall away were not really saved to begin with). Easier yet to control is a Christian who thinks she is saved, but isn't.

Born in heart-wrenching poverty and abused as a girl, yet brilliant (skipping a grade) Oprah graduated high school at 17 and immediately began working as a journalist. By age 19 she anchored a newscast and ten years after that she was hosting her talk show. Along the way, she met her boyfriend Stedman and  began living with him in 1986. Uh-oh.

The bible tells us in James 4:7 - “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” One way we do this is to take every thought captive. “We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). The thought to move in with Stedman should have been taken captive and given to God, because co-habitation and sexual immorality is not His best for us. He would help her through the temptation. If we do not take wrong thoughts captive, then satan has a toehold. And today's thoughts are tomorrow's actions.

Her introduction to Hollywood in "The Color Purple" was work that earned her an Oscar in 1986. However, the backsliding believer and Hollywood are not a good combination and so she began to question what she had believed all these years.

On her show, when she introduced the New Age teachings of Eckerd Tolle, she said, "Oprah told a personal story from her Baptist upbringing during which she was in church (around the age of 27 or 28 years of age) and was caught up in the rapture of the moment until she heard her Pastor say, "The Lord thy God is a jealous God."  Oprah's immediate inward response was, "God is jealous of me?"  She thought a "jealous God" meant an "insecure God" but that is not so. Here, when she was wondering about a statement in the bible, prayer and further study would have been the answer. Take every thought captive, pray, resist, and stand firm. But the ground was already shaking under Oprah's feet and the devil was laughing.

Once the devilish thoughts are allowed to roam and grow, the backsliding continues, until the uncaptive thoughts are spoken and are finally turned into actions. As a young woman Oprah is now co-habitating, Hollywood visiting, God-questioning, and at this point she began failing to attend church, one place that God commands us to go. Oprah revealed to a caller on her show how she herself let go of the guilt when she didn't make it to church. Oprah said: "God cannot be contained in a church and doesn't just want to be served in a church."

This is not true, for we are commanded, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:25)  Church is for worship and encouragement, as stated here "... so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." (Romans 12:5). We should go to church to hear proper doctrine, to worship in relationship with Christ, and to build each other up. Yet the devil is persistent in instilling the belief that church is dusty-crusty and unnecessary (something The Shack does too). "God is bigger than church!" the devil says. "You don't need to waste your time there when you could be in the world, doing good things!"

When a believer starts believing that lie, that church is unnecessary, the devil has been tactically successful at divide and conquer. A three strand cord is stronger than one thread, and a praying, worshiping, encouraging church is mighty strong. Split the congregants off and isolate them to dwell in their incorrect and uncorrected thoughts and you have a successful backslide.

Removed from church, dwelling in sin, and worship out the window, the adult Oprah introduced The Church of Oprah to the world through her "Course in Miracles." The course is described as "a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy contained in three books. It is not a religion, but rather a psychological mind-training base on universal spiritual themes." She went from, as a child, 'Jesus saves,' to as an adult, "psychological mind-training". And lost on her is the irony that she believes church is too "mentally constricting" yet now embraces mind-training at the psychological level. Yet this pleases the devil because as long as one stays away from thoughts of God and dwells on the self, he wins. At the root of all sin is removal of God and choosing the self in His place.

It is written, "in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." (Eph 2:2-3) The self. "I want to live with Stedman." Self. "But I don't want to get married. Self. "I don't want a God who's jealous of me." Self. "I don't want to go to church." Self. "I want to go on my own path to God, whom I call the FORCE." Self.

Recently on her show, Oprah announced that "..that one of the biggest mistakes humans make is to believe that there is only one way. Actually, there are many diverse paths leading to what you call God." It was a devastating statement for any Christian to hear, because we know that there is only one way and when someone strays from the one true path, they are truly lost. "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6. Why pursue God on the narrow way when we can all BE gods? As Oprah said,

"I took God out of the box. Because I grew up in the Baptist church and there were rules and beliefs and doctrine..." Where would be be without rules? Beliefs? Doctrines? We have the "Rule of Law"... the belief "That these truths are self-evident"... the "Doctrine of Fair Use." Only when applied to Christ does the rebellious child chafe under rules, beliefs, doctrines. And if the Baptist beliefs she grew up with are no good, how to know which beliefs are good? Is there nothing immutable in the world? No, not under the Doctrine of Self-Deification. When you are your own god, anything goes.

The men at The Berean Call said, "Furthermore, from a biblical perspective, the criterion for being a god is rather simple. Everyone who has not submitted to Jesus Christ and has not been reconciled to God through faith in Christ's finished sacrifice as payment for his sins qualifies as a god--that is, an autonomous, or self-governing, being who has elevated self over his Creator. As Dave Hunt has noted, "The basic cause of the many problems in the world today is not that man fails to recognize his godhood but rather that there are about seven billion gods on this planet, each one doing his or her own thing." And all are on one of the "many paths."

Tragically, Oprah is a good person, She is altruistic, she champions causes, fights for justice, and gives to the poor. She is sincere and has helped millions deal with adversity with grace, humor, and persistence. She has been a top rated talk show host for over twenty five years and this daily invitation into our living rooms has allowed the hearts of millions to be warmed. So it is worse for her. "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Good works and charming personality are not the spingboards to heaven. Simple belief in the One whom God has sent is the basis, sin forgiven and acceptance of Jesus as the sacrifice for it. He is the only way, and all other ways lead to eternal darkness. Oprah's light is dim, flickering, and her story is tragic. From the glowing, believing child she once was, she now has created a character named Georgia, who "will embrace darkness with a joyful spirit." Just like Oprah has.