Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

– II Timothy 3:1-7

Have you heard about "The Secret"?

It's the No. 1 best-selling book in the world.

It's also a movie.

And it is being promoted by Oprah Winfrey, who has already made an untold fortune by creeping into houses, capturing silly women laden with sins and leading them into diverse lusts.

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Her new "secret" isn't very new at all. In fact, it's the oldest lie in the history of the world. It is that you and you alone are master of your own universe – a kind of "god," if you will. Whatever you want in life will be yours if only you visualize it and claim it earnestly in your heart.

Oprah is peddling this lie to millions on her TV show.

I was once ambivalent about Oprah Winfrey – not really quite sure to what to make of her. Today, I can honestly say that she is leading people into spiritual darkness.

The book she is touting, by an Australian talk-show producer named Rhonda Byrne, makes some extraordinary claims.

"Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Jesus were not only prosperity teachers, but also millionaires themselves, with more affluent lifestyles than many present-day millionaires could conceive of," she writes.

Now let's put aside the dangling preposition for a moment and deal with the substance of this outrageous claim. Jesus was a millionaire? What did Jesus tell the rich young man who asked him how to inherit eternal life? He told him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor.

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

– Matthew 19:23-26

That's not the gospel Oprah is peddling today.

The false and dangerous gospel she is promoting contends: "The energy you put into the world – both good and bad – is exactly what comes back to you. This means you create the circumstances of your life with the choices you make every day."

Here's another ugly aspect of this prosperity gospel: "The only reason any person does not have enough money is because they are blocking money from coming to them with their thoughts."

Why should we ever help the destitute, the orphans, the widows, the victims of tragedy and illness? After all, according to Oprah and Byrne, they've brought these problems on themselves.

If you think I'm exaggerating the dangerous, deceiving claims of "The Secret," here's another, specifically dealing with those who contract diseases: "You cannot 'catch' anything unless you think you can, and thinking you can is inviting it to you with your thought."

I guess it's a sign of the times as we're told in II Timothy. Oprah is just doing what she's always done, I suppose: "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

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