For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2)
Read: Isaiah 3:1 – 5:30, 2 Corinthians 11:1-15, Psalm 53:1-6, Proverbs 22:28-29
Relate:
Oprah is a smart woman. Strike that. She is brilliant. I don’t buy it for a second that she did not understand what that preacher was saying or, even if he misspoke or misunderstood, what scripture is talking about when it says God is a jealous God. No matter when “in her twenties” this took place, she was a rising news anchor either in Nashville, Baltimore, or Chicago. She knew how to get to the bottom of a story and if she chose, she could have done the research to know reality herself.
Personally, I don’t think she ever bothered. I think that much of the spiritual life of her twenties was spent battling whether she would use her growing fame to serve God or herself. Her backstory has been so expertly micromanaged by the Oprah machine that we will never know for sure what was really going on. Whether this incident is truth or a public excuse, Oprah has played on a misunderstanding of the phrase “jealous God” to justify her walking away from Him.
React: There are more that I could chose from, but here are ten scriptures that talk about God being a jealous God: Exodus 34:14, Deuteronomy 4:24, Deuteronomy 5:9, Deuteronomy 32:16, Joshua 24:19, Ezekiel 23:25, Joel 2:18, 1 Corinthians 10:22, 2 Corinthians 11:2, James 4:5
Through these, two things are clear: 1) God is jealous of our worship. He will not share. You cannot serve both God and ___________. No matter what your mind fits in that blank, it cannot be done. The reason for that is because 2) God is jealous for us. He wants the best for us. He doesn’t want anyone or anything to rob us of the potential greatness for which He has created us. But any time we are serving ourselves or anything other than God, we are becoming less than we could be. Our greatness is found only through surrender. Surrender was something Oprah, and all too often you and I, simply cannot do. We rob ourselves of our own potential when we do anything other than that for which we were designed. That is why God is jealous for us.
Respond:
God, I am so thankful that You are jealous for me. I am so glad that You care, You passionately care for the best of and from me. Help me to never put anything else above You. Help me to never share my worship with anything besides You. Let there never be any, “God and…” Let my eyes only be for You. Let my love only be for You. Be the first, best, most, and only in my life.
THE RIVER WALK 
Yes! Amen!!!
vanity
Many people in a position to influence others are more concerned with influencing their opinions rather than any Truth about God’s Word. When Oprah started calling God, “she” I stopped watching her show and listening to anything she said. Arrogance does much to raise a person’s view of themselves and they are not willing to share the platform. She was also known to shut people down if they dared to pull out a bible on her show. Only God will be able to bring about a change of heart in her. Thanks for sharing!
Sadly you too need to look at the Hebrew root meaning of Jealous – although it can be stretched to say that God is jealous for us, it also has the meaning that he is complete and holy therefore anything that detracts from his name or purpose causes his name to be protected jealously. So when Paul says he is jealous for the Corinthians he refers to the specific state of Christians who had separated themselves for Gods name
There are a large number of scholastic works that discuss this worth looking into the full meaning.
Might come as a surprise, but Paul wrote Corinthians in Greek. Funny thing, languages are.
He did but he was quoting from Hebrew Scriptures by training he was a Hebrew scholar versed in the law and would have used those skills in writing to the Corintians. You are right language is strange – sorry read my comment it was little irritating to say the least no offence meant and I will remember to read how I have written something before posting a comment
Hi Again just checked I am wrong Paul was not quoting from the Hebrew scriptures and the word he uses here can be translated as Godly “Zeal, ardour or passion”, in the Greek form this refers the point that he protects this relationship with his worshipers – so I extend my apology further to say that I should have check my reference point before commenting, sometimes we think we remember something and only when we check do we realise that we have confused the point.
This doesn’t take away from a good series of points – thanks for your tolerance.
No problem. I know that for me personally I have only learned enough Hebrew to get me in trouble. And my Greek is worse.
Beejai,
Oprah, I believe, like too many, seek the truth; until it requires them to change. They want a god that they can mold to suit their needs, not realizing it is they who need molding by the God who made and conserves them and us all.
-Alan
There is a huge difference between “jealous of you,” and “jealous for you.” Jealous of someone is covetousness. Jealous for someone means you want the best for them.
Amen! I have always believed that she could not believe that God was jealous of her. How ludicrous! She needs prayer and a fresh encounter with Jesus. Please pray that she receives salvation because God is a jealous God, and he commands us not to put other gods before him.
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YES OPRAH!
Pornography, combined with drug and alcohol abuse, led me down a path of self-destruction that almost ended in death by my own hand and DID end up with me spending a little over 4 years in prison, where I was blessed with an overwhelming need to know God and welcome Him into my life.
The week before I began serving my sentence (which started on 4/1/10) I was at my sister’s house and she was watching Oprah. That was the first, and last, show I ever watched as she had as her guest a porn ‘superstar’ promoting her book, “Make Love Like A Porn Star.” I was appalled that she would glorify an industry that preys on young women, many who suffer from addictions and had been victims of child sexual abuse in their earlier years. Not only did she not DIScourage people from viewing pornography, she actually ENcouraged women to view it.
Humility and fame rarely seem to go hand in hand. Far too often those whom God has blessed with an intelligence that could be used to glorify Him and serve humanity in wonderful ways use it instead to promote their own misguided, self-serving agendas and point people to the fact that THEY should be the object of worship. And worshipped they are, by many.
For anyone who envies Oprah and her wealth, keep this thought in mind: You do NOT want to be Oprah when she stands to be judged by God.
Truth and WELL said!