Maya Angelou - New Age Prophetess?

Dr. Maya Angelou (d. 2014) was a powerful creative and poet who stood strong for hope and human potential.  You can read my interview with her from 1980 here.  According to IMDB:

Maya Angelou was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist.  She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years.  She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. ... [she was a] journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. ...  In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. ...  Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.

One might think that she is a fairly traditional believer from this report for the LA Times:

The one-hour documentary follows Angelou’s visit inside San Francisco’s rough Tenderloin district, where she goes inside Glide Memorial Church, which has an ethnically and economically diverse Methodist congregation.  She also briefly attends Mount Zion Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., which is steeped in a tradition of African-American belief and faith.

Maya had been a member of Glide for around 20 years.  She spoke of her journey:

I have studied everything.  I spent some time with Zen Buddhism and Judaism and I spent some time with Islam.  I am a religious person.  It is my spirit, but I found that I really want to be a Christian.  ... I really believe that Christ made a sacrifice and for those reasons I want to be a Christian. But what kind, I don’t know.

One wonders if this statement of Maya's was a typo? “It’s a wonderful thing to know that there is something to know there is something greater than I am, and that is God itself.”  The true God who made the universe is personal and a Trinity (Mt. 28:19).

In an interview with Oprah, Maya spoke of how she became an adherent to the Unity School of Christianity (Unity) while she was in her 20's.  Unity denies that God is personal; thus, they deny the Trinity.  They reject the substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross.  Unity accepts reincarnation and based on Mt. 22:42, claims that Jesus was the reincarnation of David. [1]  The teaching that souls return into new bodies flatly contradicts Hebrews 9:27,28:

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Eric Barger (Take a Stand Ministries) had this to say about Maya:

So she [Hillary Clinton] has Jean Houston and Marianne Williamson [fmr. presidential candidate] and Maya Angelou pushing New Age spirituality and [Rabbi Michael] Lerner pushing Marxism to her at the same time and mixing these things together.

Let us know what you think:  ned_oa_1657@yahoo.com

Note:

1) The Kingdom of the Cults by Water Martin (Bethany House, Minneapolis, 1985, rev. ed.), pp.  284-286.

Bart Ehrman – FORGED! (Part 2) - Atonement in Luke

Bart Ehrman claims that we cannot find substitutionary atonement in the book of Luke. [1]  Ehrman seems to assume that all doctrines are in each book – can we say this of the book of Ecclesiastes?

When Zacharias mouth was opened he spoke of the redemption of God’s people (Lk 1:68).  Anna, “…spoke of Him [Jesus] to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Lk 2:38).  Isaiah 44:22 states, “I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, And like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”  Christ has paid the price for our sin when he suffered on the cross in our place.  Redemption involves paying a price:

Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches,

none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him for the redemption of their souls is costly, and it shall cease forever - that he should continue to live eternally, And not see the Pit (Ps 49:6-9).

If your rich uncle pays your mortgage payment next month, you don’t have to.  Zacharias went on to say about John the Baptist’s ministry of preparation, “To give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God …” (Lk 1:76, 78).  Salvation is by God’s mercy – we don’t work for it.  This is clearly shown by the scapegoat: 

Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. … But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness. … Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man.  The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness (Lev 16:8,10,21,22).

Atonement involves a substitute who bears our sins – the Lord Jesus Christ!

When Simeon held the baby Jesus in his arms he said, “With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation” (Lk 2:30).  That is, Jesus IS salvation, not the one who points the way to enlightenment.  Jesus died on cross – Christ himself in his own person took the penalty for our hateful deeds.  Jesus is Lord (Lk 2:11), so he is perfect and thus did not die for his own sins – he must have died for the sins of others.

Luke quotes Isaiah 40:3-5 in Lk. 3:4-6 and in the same context we read:

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for … Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" (Is. 40:2,9).

Jesus, the God-Man, paid for our sin on Good Friday.  He was our Sinless Substitute.  At Jesus’ baptism, the Father spoke, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased" (Lk 3:22).  This is again an indication of Christ’s perfection – he did not die for his own sin, but that of those he loved (cf. Lk 22:41,47).  Christ, by forgiving sins, demonstrated that he is divine (Lk 5:20-24, 7:48).  Since Jesus is God, he did no evil, so there is no reason that he should die unless he took the penalty that others deserved (Lk 24:52).

Luke 7:22 refers to Isaiah 35:5,6 and in the same context we read:

… but the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Is. 35:9,10).

Redemption involves paying a price.  Jesus paid the penalty for sin and so we can have eternal life with him in heaven.

Luke 8:10 quotes Isaiah 6:9 and in this passage the angel says to the prophet, “… Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out” (Is. 6:7 Msg).  God is just and he must punish sin (Pr 11:21, Nahum 1:3).  So how can Isaiah get his sins wiped out?  He was looking for the coming Messiah who would suffer in his place for his unclean lips and other wrongs.

Christ predicted his death and resurrection – another proof of his deity.  Christ is divine and so did not die for his own sins (Lk 9:22; 18:18,19,32,33; 20:14,15).

The donkey in the Triumphal Entry was prophesied in Zechariah (Lk 19:30, Zech. 9:9).  In the same context we find:

… He [Christ] shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.’  As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit (Zech. 9:10,11).

How can we gain peace with God?  Only through the blood of the New Covenant shed by Jesus on the cross for us.

On the road to Emmaus what Old Testament examples did Christ explain (Lk 24:25-27, cf. Lk 24:44)?  Surely Genesis 3:15, where we are told that the Messiah’s head will be wounded – this occurred at the cross.  Apparently an animal had to die to clothe Adam and Eve (Ge 3:21) – a substitute suffered to cover their shame!  Certainly Jesus expounded Isaiah 53 which clearly teaches substitutionary atonement (vv. 4-6).

In Luke 24:46,47, the cross and forgiveness are connected.  Only through the vicarious death of Christ is forgiveness possible.  Mike Horton has written a helpful article on the atonement.

Part 1 of this series on Bart Ehrman responded to his low view of the reliability of the New Testament.

 

Note:

1) Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman (HarperCollins, NYC, 2005), pp. 166,7.