Influence in the Hands of Satan

As a teenager I was a fan of Oprah. Her shows were an interesting mixture of girl things and deeper subjects. I loved that she was so generous and was often moved to tears and noticeably affected by the stories of her guests or plights of others. As a pessimistic teen, Oprah's shows on the importance of gratitude and reaching your full potential etcetera had great allure. I often heard great motivational snippets and they moved me along my attempt at personal self-development/self-help. I remember being disturbed by her new age themes when she began to promote Gary Zukav and his books. I wouldn't watch those episodes but I continued to watch.

A few years later when my surrender to God became complete, I was no longer as attracted to this show. I remember being increasingly distrubed, even praying for her and one night I even had a dream which had a very clear message about the new age content the show disseminated. I stopped watching, stopped following the website, stopped participating in the online community. At times, I would view snippets of whatever was being discussed if I happened upon it on tv, but not for long as I was often disappointed.

What I'd like to point out is that, many times we think that a false teacher, a false prophet, a cult leader and the like is going to be overtly and evidently, 'weird', 'harsh', 'evil,' 'foul-mouthed' etc. And it is often why we fail to stay alert when faced with a new pleasant person who comes on the scene. We fall for certain emotions, presentation, image all wrapped up in a 'good person.' We become sympathetic to their views because they are a 'good person' and there we begin to plough the (heart) soil for seeds of deception to be planted. Yet often times we only think that we're smart enough to successfully extract only the 'good' from the 'questionable.'

The scriptures clearly teach that we are to have nothing to do with false doctrines, except to stand firm against them. Did you notice the audience member in the video who spoke out in the boldness of the Holy Spirit? Sure, many would say that she was 'narrow-minded' or that she should keep her views to herself, as long as she believes what she believes. How foolish! I am so glad that the Apostles Paul and the others would address the errors that were creeping into the church even in their day.

I will be posting more on the last days' spate of deception which keeps reminding me that the King of kings is coming! We who serve Him, serve the only living God, and will have no cause to be ashamed or afraid or shocked on that great Day...but just you wait and see what the look on some people's faces will be...

I first saw the above video on Latoya's blog. Please visit to check out her interesting posts!