Evangelical leaders such as Rick Warren, Greg Laurie, and David Jeremiah have shown public support for Roma Downey and her books, movies, and other media work for a number of years now. Lighthouse Trails has attempted to alert these leaders and the church at large that while Downey may be a sincere person, she is a New Age sympathizer and has consistently supported those sympathies.
This week, a Lighthouse Trails reader sent us a link to a March 27, 2019 article from the Center for Public Integrity that disclosed that Roma Downey contributed $2600 to Marianne Williamson’s 2014 run in California for Congress. Proof of this contribution can be seen on a government website (Federal Election Commission) that shows a tax record for Marianne Williamson for the year 2013 (when the contribution by Downey was made – see page 135 of the report). Marianne Williamson is one of today’s foremost New Age leaders and is running for president in 2020. It was because of Williamson that the New Age “Bible,” A Course in Miracles (see video), became popular in mainstream America after Williamson’s book Return to Love (promoting A Course in Miracles) was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. A Course in Miracles has the quintessential New Age message that God dwells in every human being and that each person has a Christ consciousness. It is this same New Age “God” who believes that “the era of the single savior is over”(1) and that Hitler actually did the Jews a favor by killing them. Listen to the following quotes by the New Age “God”:
The real issue is whether Hitler’s actions were “wrong.” Yet I have said over and over again that there is no “right” or “wrong” in the universe. A thing is not intrinsically right or wrong. A thing simply is.2
Now your thought that Hitler was a monster is based on the fact that he ordered the killing of millions of people, correct? . . . Yet what if I told you that what you call “death” is the greatest thing that could happen to anyone—what then?3
So the first thing you have to understand—as I’ve already explained to you—is that Hitler didn’t hurt anyone. In a sense, he didn’t inflict suffering, he ended it.4
The mistakes Hitler made did no harm or damage to those whose deaths he caused. Those souls were released from their earthly bondage, like butterflies emerging from a cocoon.5
These quotes were said by the New Age “God” in Neale Donald Walsch’s highly popular book series Conversations With God (as cited in Warren B. Smith’s booklet Oprah Winfrey’s New Age “Christianity.” Such sentiments as are revealed in these quotes express the underlying truth about the New Age “God.”
Roma Downey is free to believe whatever she wants to believe. That is one of the great benefits of living in a free and democratic country. Our concern (one that is growing by the day) is with Christian leaders (men and women who name the name of Jesus Christ, who are highly influential and looked up to by millions – such as Greg Laurie and David Jeremiah) who are exhibiting very little or no discernment, such as in the situation with Roma Downey. And many are being misled because of this.
Some may say that we should not be bringing up her contribution of $2600 to Marianne Williamson during her run for Congress because that was six years ago. But as we have documented for some time (including in Greg Reid’s recent booklet Butterfly Illusions), Downey has never recanted or renounced her New Age affinities and continues promoting them. Not that long ago, she even said that Oprah Winfrey was “on fire with the holy spirit.” To say something like that about a major New Age leader shows there is something amiss. The thing is, when someone comes out of the New Age (e.g., Warren Smith, Johanna Michaelsen, Caryl Matrisciana), a natural outcome of that is to want to warn about the things he or she was once promoting. But Roma Downey has not done that.
Have any of these leaders (i.e., Greg Laurie, David Jeremiah, Rick Warren) ever sat down with Roma Downey and told her that the New Age “God” is not the God of the Bible and is actually in dire opposition of the message of the Cross? And have these men ever made a public admission that they were wrong to give credence (either directly or indirectly) to a woman whose beliefs are so contrary to biblical Christianity? In one recent article we published, we documented with two video clips where Downey was promoting the idea that God is in everyone. You can see those clips by clicking here.
Recently, we have been addressing Francis Chan, another popular evangelical leader, after he said that God would destroy (kill) those who challenge and criticize Christian leaders. Whether he realizes it or not, he is trying strongly to intimidate believers into not being discerning and not contending for the faith. Part of contending for the faith is to expose error, or as Harry Ironside so aptly put it:
Truth mixed with error is equivalent to all error, except that it is more innocent looking and, therefore, more dangerous. God hates such a mixture! Any error, or any truth-and-error mixture, calls for definite exposure and repudiation. To condone such is to be unfaithful to God and His Word and treacherous to imperiled souls for whom Christ died.6
This story today about Roma Downey and her supporting Marianne Williamson is a perfect example of why names need to be named. Serious deception must be identified—not to villainize or hurt those promoting it but to warn those who are blindly walking into a dangerous trap. It is wrong for leaders who call themselves Christian to misrepresent the Lord whom they claim to serve, and it’s long overdue for some of them to start speaking up when the Gospel is being compromised.
Endnotes
1.Neale Donald Walsch, The New Revelations: A Conversation with God (New York, NY: Atria Books, 2002), p. 157
2.Walsch, Conversations with God, an uncommon dialogue, Book 2 (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 1997 p. 36.
3.Ibid.
4.Ibid., p. 56.
5.Ibid., p. 42.
6. Harry Ironside, Three Vital Questions on Navigating: Discernment, https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=27928
T.I. Miller, false prophets/teachers/movements threaten (note the blatant rudeness of most Calvinists, even when they are not cornered) when they are cornered, and the time will come when that threat will openly contain violence. They believe they are God’s officially self-appointed heavenly brigade, and they use any verse to mean what they want it to mean (because God is ‘sovereign,’ and so they can’t be wrong, because it has been written before the Mississippi River was formed).
Or whatever.
Rom 1:32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
It is written in plain Greek that God equates the approval of ungodly deeds as bad as doing ungodly deeds.
Approving a false teacher is just as sinful as being a false teacher, in the eyes of God. Is ignorance an excuse? Is ignorance still an excuse when LTRM sends them correct information and they shrug it off?
Many are quick to attack LTRM for being deviceive rather than working for unity. Yet the real problems are the ones who are so of pride that will not listen to the truth. Further what unity can light have with darkness?
Matt. 18:15-18 is only applicable to confronting someone who has sinned against YOU personally. In Matt. 23 Jesus publicly blasted all of the spiritual leaders of His day. Nowhere do we read that He talked to them in private first. People who openly deceive in public need to be openly confronted in public. The stark warning of Ezek. 33 must also be considered. Paraphrased it warns us all that; blood guilt will be upon the hands of those who see danger and yet refuse to warn others of the danger.
Lastly the phrase, “the Lords anointed” is used almost exclusively to OT kings of Israel under the Law of Moses. Calling any pastor the Lords anointed is un-biblical utter nonsense. That phrase cannot be found in the NT.
I was shocked when I first learned David Jeremiah is a supporter of Roma Downey. I had always considered him a sound teacher. We must be constantly on guard, and in prayer for discernment, in the troublesome times.
BG; no, don’t worry, I get you. The devil is a flirter and indeed soft-spoken and a false light. Here’s a thing to remember: the stronger our foundation is in Christ, in other words, if we realize what we are in Him, then these deceivers can come-a-knocking, one after another and it will have zero negative effect.
You’re right, people buy into these things because of what they perceive (that TV series did not have one ounce of biblical truth in it, and yet people in my area sat glued to watch the emotive play on feelings.)
It’s good that you speak out. Now use that same enthusiasm and bring the simple gospel to those who are lost. Wouldn’t it be such a good feeling to know you are effectively nullifying the devil and his helpers’ work?
Jesus is the one true light; there is no other (and He has asked us to be the light too).
It is a scary thing for someone to have read the Bible and then come up with their own ideas of how things should be, or believe that God told them what to say.
Lies and changing the truth to fit ones own beliefs is a sin so great, they cannot possibly understand what they are doing.
We are truly living the scriptures that talk of these things. How long will the Lord tolerate this? God is truly long-suffering, but He will not be mocked. Whether in this life or the next, they will receive His judgment…and it won’t be merciful, because they will have brought it upon themselves.
My heart aches for the truth to come out, but their own pride would never allow them to be the brunt of people’s judgment of them; yet how much better it would be for their sins to find them out now, before they die.
We will all answer for what we have done in our lives, but I am thankful I won’t be answering at the Great White Throne Judgment. I would say God have mercy on their souls, but He only will if they repent.
Applause. From deceivers like MacArthur to the “spirit”-filled Oprah in one article; yeah, they all belong in the same deceiver’s basket, and that’s about all one needs to know to run away from them, always.
People are sucked into this stuff. Roma is very charming an she and Williamson make the world seem like a Utopia if you just follow their crazy belief system. I once was a fan of Touched by an Angel and Roma when I found out what she was really about. I threw out a series of it I had bought. These people don’t believe in the Bible nor Almighty God. I love Della Reese’s voice but it’s hard to listen to her. These people are the ruination of many and leading them to hell. Don’t get on me for saying that. Read the Bible this stuff has no place in society and is very destructive. People love soft spoken language. Just remember the devil comes in many forms.
Yes, we must warn!
Expose the false teaching, the error, the sin, and name names! That is all Biblical. Paul named names, John named names, and that of false teachers deceiving the church. We must do so as well.
And the wolves twist scripture about division and unity. Romans 16; 17-18 explains that it is the false teachers who bring in division by the false teaching, and that we must mark them and divide from them. They are the ones destroying true unity, not us. We must divide with heresy and heretics as there is no true unity with that. You can’t take a pure glass of water, drip a drop of poison in it, and drink it because it was only a little. You must separate the poison from the water to preserve the water for drinking. The water does not cleanse the poison, but rather the poison pollutes the water. That is why we must separate. We must warn for the sake of the souls in jeopardy. Discernment ministry is like the sheep dog who protects the sheep from the wolves. Don’t wait for the wolves to warn the sheep, they are the ones threatening the sheep dog for doing it!