Wise as serpents

In Matthew 10:16 it says, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." This verse instantly came to mind as I read about Oprah and her promotion of "A Course in Miracles" on her XM radio channel. It is a one year course in which the workbook says, "This is a course in mind training" and "thought reversal." This course came out in 1975. Psychologist Helen Schucman claims that the lessons were channeled to her by Jesus Christ.
There is one lesson for every day of the year, and one lesson encourages people to repeat the affirmation, "I am the light of the world." Another, "My salvation comes from me." Here are some quotes:
* "There is no sin. . . "
* A "slain Christ has no meaning."
* "The journey to the cross should be the last 'useless journey."
* "Do not make the pathetic error of 'clinging to the old rugged cross.'"
* "The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol... It is a symbol that
is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which
you pray."
* "God is in everything I see."
* "The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself."
* "The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your
sanity and your limitless power."
* "The Atonement is the final lesson he [man] need learn, for it teaches
him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation."
Those are some pretty scary beliefs. Satan is the ultimate deceiver, and he has obviously been successful in deceiving Oprah, which is disconcerting when one considers the influence she has over so many people. Satan is using this course because it does have some Christian terminology in it...which appeals to people who are maybe familiar with Christianity but have no real relationship with the one and only Christ.
I truly believe that there is no other time in history where it is so important to intentionally live out our faith and to intentionally teach our children about God. Actually, not to just teach them about God, but to truly do all we can to ground them securely in their faith...to teach them to examine ideas and concepts and measure them against God's Word...to teach them how to read and study the Word for themselves and not just depend on someone else's interpretation...to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves" for we truly are sending our children into a world full of wolves...wolves in the form of people, ideas, and skewed values: evolution, abortion, the idea of there are no absolutes...what might be wrong for one person may be right for another, the idea that there are many paths to heaven (or the lack of existence of heaven or hell), the idea that we can save ourselves by ourselves...that we don't need God. How God must be grieved when He sees the direction in which our nation is going...the path we are going down. The good news is that God won't give up on us...the Israelites turned their backs on God again and again...choosing to do things their way...and God taught them some difficult lessons but he never quit loving them...just as He will never quit loving us.