Is Oprah Winfrey a Christian? It’s the top question and topic that you, the Christian podcast listener have been searching for but since she won’t return my calls, I’m going to have to do my best to answer it myself. I’m Joel Fieri stay tuned.
Last week we talked about the documentary American Gospel Christ Crucified and in that we talked about how the two spectrums, the two opposite ends of evangelical Christianity today were highlighted. Pastors from the more progressive millennial emergent side of things versus the more traditional conservative evangelical side of things. On the progressive emergent side of things was among the many pastors and theologians and thinkers, was Oprah Winfrey. You know anything about Oprah, you know that she’s gotten rather spiritual these days. She’s worked a lot with Rob Bell who is one of the famous emergent millennial pastors and she has a lot to say about spirituality, God and things of that nature. She was in this documentary. She had a prominent part. So when we looked at the research we did and found that the number one question people are searching for on Christian podcasts is, is Oprah a Christian, I thought, well, since I just watched that documentary, based on what she said, I’ll just give you my thoughts.
As I said, I don’t know. Of course the spiritual answer would be only God knows. Okay, podcast over. But that won’t get us clicks so I need to get into it a little myself. What I want to do in answering this question is determine where we’re coming from on the question. What are we really asking? Why are we asking it? Are we asking it out of kind of a pop culture, gossipy need to know, inquiring minds need to know basis? Are we really concerned for Oprah’s soul? Is that why we’re asking if she’s a Christian? Or because she is so outspoken on Christian matters and spiritual matters, should we be listening to her? Is she a Christian? Should I be listening to her? So those are the three approaches I’m going to take.
If it’s the first question, just kind of a gossipy pop culture, I don’t know what to tell you. I could go that direction and tell you, well, you know, she said this and she was seeing, you know, doing this. In her past she did that. Believe me, I could probably do that but I’d be out of my depth. I don’t know and you’ll have to look somewhere else for the gossipy take on Oprah’s spiritual status. If you’re concerned for Oprah’s soul if you’re a fan. She is a very thoughtful person. She’s been in the limelight for several decades now and has a loyal following. As far as I can tell, she is a very nice, good person. So if there’s a concern for her soul, based on what I’ve heard from her on spiritual matters in this documentary and otherwise, pray for Oprah. I would have my doubts. I obviously couldn’t say. It actually is in God’s hands. Only he knows. But from the evidence I’ve seen, I think she’s listening to the wrong people in her search, in her journey. So, you might want to pray for her.
Now if you’re asking this question, should I listen to Oprah? Should I take Oprah’s advice? I would say, no. Danger. Do not enter. As I said, she is listening to the wrong people. People who do not believe and by their own admission can’t believe what the Bible says about God, the way to salvation, the attributes of God, our responsibility towards God. As far as I can answer the question on Oprah, I would say, I can’t help you with the gossipy part of it. If you’re concerned for her soul, please pray because it doesn’t look like she’s listening to the people she should be and accepting the ideas that she should be towards salvation. In her past she might have been saved, but all evidence to me points to some doubt. So please pray for Oprah. And again, if you’re thinking of following her advice, if you’re thinking of listening to her and joining her in some of her philosophies and the movement that she’s helping along, helping to perpetuate, I would say, don’t go there. It doesn’t look good from this perspective.
So I hope that helps. Again, it’s a little bit of a strange question for me to tackle. I don’t usually get into these kinds of things but since again, that’s what we’re here for to answer all the questions, hopefully, that you’ve been searching for. Next week I’ll have more to say on the dichotomy and the major division within Christianity that I see that I alluded to in this podcast and my previous one on the millennial emergent philosophy that’s still around after 20 years, and traditional Christian evangelicalism. I think is a very important subject. As I always say, we need to get this right folks. So stay tuned for next week. Thanks for listening.