A Course in Miracles andOprah’s New Age Christ(Part 2) |
Warren B. Smith
Excerpted from False Christ Coming: Does Anybody Care?
Note: The following is an excerpt from my book The Light That Was Dark: From the New Age to Amazing Grace. It recounts how my wife and I came to understand that A Course in Miracles is not from God.
Several days later, Joy finally put into words what she had been feeling for weeks. Gently, but in no uncertain terms, she told me that she didn’t think A Course in Miracles was from God or that the Jesus of the Course was the real Jesus. As far as she was concerned, all of our metaphysical spirituality was straight out of Johanna Michaelsen’s [book] The Beautiful Side of Evil. Her words rang with conviction. Although I wanted to protest and say, “No way!” another part of me wondered, Could it be true?
I was at a loss for words as I considered the staggering implications of what she was suggesting. Was the same thing happening to us that had happened to Johanna? Was the Jesus of A Course in Miracles like her spirit guide—a false Jesus? Was the Jesus who delivered the Course a deceptive spirit that was only pretending to be Jesus? Was it all a part of some elaborate spiritual trap? Was what I had always thought to be a benign and divine supernatural set-up not so benign or divine after all? Was the seemingly out-front “Aquarian conspiracy” a real conspiracy? Had what Bonnie described as “the other side” been just that—the other side? Had we been led away from God in the name of God? Was the deception deeper and darker than we had ever imagined?
It was almost too much to even begin to comprehend. Everything within me fought against the idea. Yet I had read enough of the Bible in the last five months to know that the scenario Joy was suggesting was a real possibility. Had we been able to see the deception in Johanna’s life but not in our own? There had been so much coming at us in the last few months—had we failed to put two and two together?
I told Joy that as much as I wanted to tell her she was way off base, I couldn’t. Maybe the Course and the Jesus of the Course were part of the deception that Johanna and the Bible talked about. But I told her that no matter what she thought might be going on, I wasn’t going to be convinced of anything until I could see it all laid out in front of me in black and white, and the only way for me to resolve the question was to sit down with the Course and the Bible and to study it out.
For the better part of a week, I holed up in my study with the Course and the Bible. I studied A Course in Miracles carefully and spent hours poring over the Scriptures. By the end of the week, my old roll-top desk was covered with notes, file cards, charts, and diagrams. I had dissected the Course and the Bible with a fine tooth comb. And I had found my answers.
My conclusions were inescapable and shocking. A Course in Miracles and the Bible were two completely different thought systems that were mutually exclusive and diametrically opposed in every degree! To my utter amazement, A Course in Miracles was the Holy Bible turned upside down. The Course had not updated or reinterpreted the Bible—it had completely rewritten it.
I could see that the Course and the Bible were not even remotely related. They were two different gospels. To believe in one was necessarily to disbelieve the other. It was a case of either/or but not both/and. Because the Course and the New Testament were opposite teachings, they were by definition opposed to each other. Although the Course and our other metaphysical teachings had gone to great lengths to make it look as if they were compatible with the Christ of the Bible, they were not. To be opposite and contrary is to be against. Jesus had made it clear:
I was at a loss for words as I considered the staggering implications of what she was suggesting. Was the same thing happening to us that had happened to Johanna? Was the Jesus of A Course in Miracles like her spirit guide—a false Jesus? Was the Jesus who delivered the Course a deceptive spirit that was only pretending to be Jesus? Was it all a part of some elaborate spiritual trap? Was what I had always thought to be a benign and divine supernatural set-up not so benign or divine after all? Was the seemingly out-front “Aquarian conspiracy” a real conspiracy? Had what Bonnie described as “the other side” been just that—the other side? Had we been led away from God in the name of God? Was the deception deeper and darker than we had ever imagined?
It was almost too much to even begin to comprehend. Everything within me fought against the idea. Yet I had read enough of the Bible in the last five months to know that the scenario Joy was suggesting was a real possibility. Had we been able to see the deception in Johanna’s life but not in our own? There had been so much coming at us in the last few months—had we failed to put two and two together?
I told Joy that as much as I wanted to tell her she was way off base, I couldn’t. Maybe the Course and the Jesus of the Course were part of the deception that Johanna and the Bible talked about. But I told her that no matter what she thought might be going on, I wasn’t going to be convinced of anything until I could see it all laid out in front of me in black and white, and the only way for me to resolve the question was to sit down with the Course and the Bible and to study it out.
For the better part of a week, I holed up in my study with the Course and the Bible. I studied A Course in Miracles carefully and spent hours poring over the Scriptures. By the end of the week, my old roll-top desk was covered with notes, file cards, charts, and diagrams. I had dissected the Course and the Bible with a fine tooth comb. And I had found my answers.
My conclusions were inescapable and shocking. A Course in Miracles and the Bible were two completely different thought systems that were mutually exclusive and diametrically opposed in every degree! To my utter amazement, A Course in Miracles was the Holy Bible turned upside down. The Course had not updated or reinterpreted the Bible—it had completely rewritten it.
I could see that the Course and the Bible were not even remotely related. They were two different gospels. To believe in one was necessarily to disbelieve the other. It was a case of either/or but not both/and. Because the Course and the New Testament were opposite teachings, they were by definition opposed to each other. Although the Course and our other metaphysical teachings had gone to great lengths to make it look as if they were compatible with the Christ of the Bible, they were not. To be opposite and contrary is to be against. Jesus had made it clear:
He that is not with me is against me... (Matthew 12:30)
I no longer had any doubt that the Course and our other metaphysical teachings were not with the Bible’s Jesus or the Bible’s gospel at all. Their oppositional teachings actually went against everything the Bible’s Jesus taught.
If the gospel of the Bible was the real gospel—and I believed it was—then the metaphysical gospel of the Course and the New Age was anti-gospel. If the Christ of the Bible was the real Christ—and I believed He was—then the metaphysical Christ of the Course and the New Age was anti-Christ.
Joy was right. A Course in Miracles was not from God. And the Jesus of the Course was not the real Jesus. Who would have ever guessed that the metaphysical/New Age gospel that came in the name of Christ would actually end up denying Christ? As I sat there thinking about how much I had trusted the Course, I felt as if I had just been stabbed in the back by one of my closest friends.
During my week of study, the more I compared the differences between the two gospels, the more concerned I became. I could now see that things I had once thought to be minor differences between the Course and the Bible were actually huge differences. And other things that I had accepted as truth in the Course, even six months ago, I now passionately disbelieved. It was during my study that I came to understand just how much the events of recent months had changed my perspective. As I studied the Course, I realized that I no longer believed it at all. Its teachings suddenly seemed hollow, empty, and false.
For some time now, my spiritual teachings had convinced me that I was a sinless, guiltless, perfect Son of God and that I was every bit as much a part of the universal Christ as Jesus or Buddha or anyone else. I had been taught that I was a holy part of God, inherently equal to Christ and that I didn’t need to be saved, redeemed, or born again. Because evil was only an illusion, there was no evil to be saved from. I had believed that I was responsible for myself and my world and I was the creator of my own reality.
But as I looked at those “truths” now, I could see that they were not truths at all. What was being taught—no matter how cleverly expressed—stood in stark opposition to the actual teachings of the Bible. Couched in spiritual platitudes, the Course and the New Age, although pretending to be friends of Jesus and the Bible, were really no friends at all. Like Judas, they betrayed Christ in the name of love and with a deceptive kiss.
Jesus warned about false prophets who would come in sheep’s clothing—even in His name. His words were concise and clear:
If the gospel of the Bible was the real gospel—and I believed it was—then the metaphysical gospel of the Course and the New Age was anti-gospel. If the Christ of the Bible was the real Christ—and I believed He was—then the metaphysical Christ of the Course and the New Age was anti-Christ.
Joy was right. A Course in Miracles was not from God. And the Jesus of the Course was not the real Jesus. Who would have ever guessed that the metaphysical/New Age gospel that came in the name of Christ would actually end up denying Christ? As I sat there thinking about how much I had trusted the Course, I felt as if I had just been stabbed in the back by one of my closest friends.
During my week of study, the more I compared the differences between the two gospels, the more concerned I became. I could now see that things I had once thought to be minor differences between the Course and the Bible were actually huge differences. And other things that I had accepted as truth in the Course, even six months ago, I now passionately disbelieved. It was during my study that I came to understand just how much the events of recent months had changed my perspective. As I studied the Course, I realized that I no longer believed it at all. Its teachings suddenly seemed hollow, empty, and false.
For some time now, my spiritual teachings had convinced me that I was a sinless, guiltless, perfect Son of God and that I was every bit as much a part of the universal Christ as Jesus or Buddha or anyone else. I had been taught that I was a holy part of God, inherently equal to Christ and that I didn’t need to be saved, redeemed, or born again. Because evil was only an illusion, there was no evil to be saved from. I had believed that I was responsible for myself and my world and I was the creator of my own reality.
But as I looked at those “truths” now, I could see that they were not truths at all. What was being taught—no matter how cleverly expressed—stood in stark opposition to the actual teachings of the Bible. Couched in spiritual platitudes, the Course and the New Age, although pretending to be friends of Jesus and the Bible, were really no friends at all. Like Judas, they betrayed Christ in the name of love and with a deceptive kiss.
Jesus warned about false prophets who would come in sheep’s clothing—even in His name. His words were concise and clear:
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matthew 7:15)
They would look not like an enemy but like someone you could trust, and I was now thoroughly convinced that the Course was a channeled wolf in sheep’s clothing that came not to praise the Bible’s Jesus but to bury His teachings forever, if that were possible.
In the midst of my study, I started to understand that for a number of years I had been letting my spiritual teachers—most especially the Course—tell me who Jesus “really” was and what His teachings “really” meant. I could see that through my own laziness in never reading or studying the Bible for myself, I had swallowed a false gospel—hook, line, and sinker.
I realized now that, although I was made in the image of God, I was not God or a part of God in any way. God was God, and I was me. I wasn’t Christ or a part of Christ, and neither was Buddha or anyone else. Jesus was the Christ, and there was no other. And, in spite of what anyone else tried to say, He had won an amazing victory on the cross of Calvary—one that Joy and I had learned to call on time after time. It was a victory that was fully described in the Scriptures and that so many of the old hymns proclaimed.
Something very mysterious had happened on that “old rugged cross” that a whole New Age was doing hand-over-head flips to completely avoid. It was the “victory in Jesus” that A Course in Miracles was desperately trying to redefine and explain away. It was the “amazing grace” that had saved the likes of Joy and me.
Finally, after all we had been through, I was starting to see that the heart of the gospel is not so much that God helps those who help themselves but, rather, that God helps those who can’t help themselves. It was not in affirming our strength but in recognizing our weakness that we had finally learned to ask the Lord for help. It was His grace, not our own self-sufficiency that had saved the day.
Yet even though we had recognized our need to be saved from the evil that was coming at us, we had stubbornly refused to acknowledge Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour. Clinging tenaciously to our metaphysical identities, we hadn’t understood that our faith ultimately had to be in Jesus, not in ourselves, and that Jesus meant it when He said:
In the midst of my study, I started to understand that for a number of years I had been letting my spiritual teachers—most especially the Course—tell me who Jesus “really” was and what His teachings “really” meant. I could see that through my own laziness in never reading or studying the Bible for myself, I had swallowed a false gospel—hook, line, and sinker.
I realized now that, although I was made in the image of God, I was not God or a part of God in any way. God was God, and I was me. I wasn’t Christ or a part of Christ, and neither was Buddha or anyone else. Jesus was the Christ, and there was no other. And, in spite of what anyone else tried to say, He had won an amazing victory on the cross of Calvary—one that Joy and I had learned to call on time after time. It was a victory that was fully described in the Scriptures and that so many of the old hymns proclaimed.
Something very mysterious had happened on that “old rugged cross” that a whole New Age was doing hand-over-head flips to completely avoid. It was the “victory in Jesus” that A Course in Miracles was desperately trying to redefine and explain away. It was the “amazing grace” that had saved the likes of Joy and me.
Finally, after all we had been through, I was starting to see that the heart of the gospel is not so much that God helps those who help themselves but, rather, that God helps those who can’t help themselves. It was not in affirming our strength but in recognizing our weakness that we had finally learned to ask the Lord for help. It was His grace, not our own self-sufficiency that had saved the day.
Yet even though we had recognized our need to be saved from the evil that was coming at us, we had stubbornly refused to acknowledge Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour. Clinging tenaciously to our metaphysical identities, we hadn’t understood that our faith ultimately had to be in Jesus, not in ourselves, and that Jesus meant it when He said:
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
We had put our faith in ourselves as God and not in God as God; by going within we had gone without. We had grossly underestimated our ability to not be deceived, and we had grossly overestimated the wisdom of our metaphysical teachers.
But thank God for Johanna Michaelsen and her book in the bookstore. It had taken us a while to put everything together, but we were finally starting to see the bigger picture.
I put my notes and papers away and went to tell Joy she had been right once again. After telling her all that I had learned, we talked late into the night about the deception, false teachings, false gospel, and most especially the false Christ of A Course in Miracles and the New Age.
Extremely sobered by how different the world looked through the microscopic lens of the Bible instead of the rose-colored glasses of the Course and the New Age, Joy and I were thankful for all that we were being shown.
Note: Soon after coming to this sober realization that we had been deceived by the New Age Movement and by the false Christ of A Course in Miracles, my wife Joy and I committed ourselves to the teachings of Biblical Christianity. But most importantly, we committed our lives to the true Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.
The following chart demonstrates how A Course in Miracles, in every respect, completely contradicts the teachings of the Holy Bible:
But thank God for Johanna Michaelsen and her book in the bookstore. It had taken us a while to put everything together, but we were finally starting to see the bigger picture.
I put my notes and papers away and went to tell Joy she had been right once again. After telling her all that I had learned, we talked late into the night about the deception, false teachings, false gospel, and most especially the false Christ of A Course in Miracles and the New Age.
Extremely sobered by how different the world looked through the microscopic lens of the Bible instead of the rose-colored glasses of the Course and the New Age, Joy and I were thankful for all that we were being shown.
Note: Soon after coming to this sober realization that we had been deceived by the New Age Movement and by the false Christ of A Course in Miracles, my wife Joy and I committed ourselves to the teachings of Biblical Christianity. But most importantly, we committed our lives to the true Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.
The following chart demonstrates how A Course in Miracles, in every respect, completely contradicts the teachings of the Holy Bible:
A COURSE IN MIRACLES AND THE BIBLE
Comparative chart excerpted from False Christ Coming: Does Anybody Care?, pp. 141-14
Direct Quotes from
the False "Jesus" of the Course God There is no separation of God and His creation. (Text. p. 147) When God created you He made you part of Him. (Text, p. 100) Man The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself. (Text, p. 147) Jesus Is he [Jesus] the Christ? O yes, along with you. (Manual, p. 87) Name of Jesus The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol. . . . It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray. (Manual, p. 58) Cross/Crucifixion A slain Christ has no meaning. (Text, p. 425) Do not make the pathetic error of “clinging to the old rugged cross.” (Text, p. 52) The journey to the cross should be the last “useless journey.” (Text, p. 52) Sin There is no sin; it has no consequence. (Workbook, p. 183) Evil Innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of evil, and evil does not exist. (Text, p. 38) Devil The “devil” is a frightening concept because he seems to be extremely powerful and extremely active. . . . This makes absolutely no sense. (Text, pp. 49-50) The Bible Words will mean little now. We use them but as guides on which we do not now depend. For now we seek direct experience of truth alone. (Workbook, p. 298) |
Direct Quotes
from the Bible God Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped the served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. (Romans 1:25) Man I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee (Hosea 11:9) Jesus Take heed than no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (Matthew 24:4-5) Name of Jesus Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. (Philippians 2:9) Cross/Crucifixion And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. (Ephesians 2:16) For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18) Sin If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8) Evil Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. (Romans 12:9) Devil Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8) The Bible All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16) |