For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

— II Timothy 4:3-4

Every single day of the week, 22 million of Oprah Winfrey’s TV followers tune in for inspiration and enlightenment.

In other words, Winfrey has taken on the role of the spiritual and moral leader for many in our nation. Some actually call her “the Billy Graham of the new millennium.”

How, you ask? For the first time in our national history, almost half of our national population has no affiliation with a church.

Enter Winfrey. Chris Altrock, minister of Highland Street Church of Christ in Memphis, who has written several articles on the spiritual rise of Oprah, says her ascent is anchored in the lack of religion for many Americans — even though 83 percent still say they are Christians.

“Our culture is changing, as churches are in decline and the bulk of a new generation is growing up outside of religion. People who have no religion relate to her,” Nelson said.

So what’s wrong with Oprah filling that void, her followers will ask? To me, the problem is where she may be leading.

Examine these, Oprah Winfrey’s words on:

God: “What I know is that God … nature … the Spirit … the universe … whatever title you wish to give him — or her — is always trying to help each one of us to be the best and do the best we can. Because I am so connected to the bigger picture of what God is, I realize I'm just a particle in the God chain. I see God as an ocean, and I'm a cup of water from that ocean.”

Jesus: “If what we are taught in orthodox religion — I mean I was raised a Baptist — if, in fact what we are taught when you go to church and you adore Jesus and praise Jesus ... means Jesus would have been the biggest egotist that ever lived, if that was his purpose in coming to the world to have people adore him and worship him and carry on about him as people do. One of the most important books I have ever read is Eri Butterworth's ‘Discover the Power Within You.’ In it he said: ‘Jesus did not come to teach us how divine he was, but to teach us that there is divinity within us.”

Salvation: “Does God care about your heart, or just whether you called his son Jesus?”

The Bible: “As I read more of Shirley MacLaine — about the crystals — what she says … it seems to me to say what the Bible has said for years. It’s just that many of us were brought up with a more restricted, limited vision of what the Bible said and meant.”

In my opinion, anyone putting more faith in Shirley MacLaine than the prophets should be placed under the most intense scrutiny — if not in the nearest mental health facility.