Author: Russ Wise From http://www.christianinformation.org/article.asp?artID=41

Trudy went on and said, “I’m sorry, Frank. There is a devil . . . read Ephesians!” In the days ahead Joy continued to undergo the harassing attacks. During this time of uncertainty Warren visited a bookstore and discovered a book entitled The Beautiful Side of Evil by Johanna Michaelsen. He read it through and decided it’s message of deliverance was worth a chance.


It wasn’t long before he had an opportunity to test his newly found discovery - biblical exorcism. Joy fell into a depression as she had on so many occasions and Warren seized the opportunity to act. The above discussion began a new spiritual walk for Warren and Joy as they consciously renounced their involvement in The Course.

In 1965 a Jewish atheistic psychologist from Columbia University began to channel messages from a spirit whom she believed to be Jesus. She ultimately produced, or she says Jesus revealed to her, well over a thousand pages of revelation during the next seven years.


According to her testimony Helen Schucman had a difficult relationship with her department head at the university. In an attempt to move beyond their differences they set out on a journey to find a base of common agreement. Schucman began having “highly symbolic dreams” and experiencing “strange images”. Her colleague encouraged her to transcribe the content of these phenomena so they might understand them better.


As she began to write she was surprised to see, “This is a course in miracles . . . “ appear on the paper. She went on to say that this was her introduction to the “Voice.” This voice began to give her a rapid inner dictation that she took down in shorthand.


According to dictated material the voice of The Course was Jesus. As a result of the influence Christianity has had on humanity, The Course chose Christian terminology to convey its message. A 1977 pamphlet published by the Foundation For Inner Peace states “its only purpose is to provide a way in which some people will be able to find their own Internal Teacher.” In other words their personal “Spirit Guide.”

There are several individuals who play key roles in spreading the message of The Course. Perhaps the most prominent is Marianne Williamson. A former lounge singer and now its most followed guru, she has become the course’s media star, appearing on numerous television programs. Her most-watched and persuasive appearance was on Oprah. She has been Oprah’s guest on several occasions and because of Oprah Winfrey’s interest in New Age philosophy, she purchased a thousand copies of Williamson’s book, A Return to Love, to give to her television audiences.

Another high profile individual, well-known in New Age circles, is Gerald Jampolsky, M.D. He is a psychiatrist, formerly on the faculty of the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco and founder of the Center for Attitudinal Healing in 1975. He has written several books based on what he has gleaned from The Course.


In his influential book, Good-Bye to Guilt Jampolsky describes his conversion to The Course. “I began to change my way of looking at the world in 1975. Until then I had considered myself a militant atheist, and the last thing I was consciously interested in was being on a spiritual pathway that would lead to God. In that year I was introduced to . . . A Course in Miracles . . . My resistance was immediate . . . Nevertheless, after reading just one page, I had a sudden and dramatic experience. There was an instantaneous memory of God, a feeling of oneness with everyone in the world, and the belief that my only function on earth was to serve God.”

As a result of the moral and spiritual bankruptcy of our society, namely the baby boomer generation, there is a ready made market for the feel good spirituality of The Course. Through the influence of Williamson, Jampolsky, and others, a growing number of Christians are being seduced into this whirlpool where they exchange the truth for a lie.

We have already established that The Course uses Christian terminology and is believed to be the revelation of Jesus. As a result, there have been a number of denominations within Christendom which have embraced The Course as being legitimate and have introduced it into their churches.

Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians have used  The Course in Sunday schools and special study groups within the church. Presently there are over 1,500 official study groups that have utilized The Course both inside and outside traditional Christian churches.

Marianne Williamson, author of the bestselling book A Return To Love says that we have “a natural tendency to focus on love.”

Only love is real. All that is negative is illusion. It simply does not exist. If anything negativity is in your consciousness, it is real only because you give it reality by holding it in your mind. According to The Course, sickness, hate, pain, fear, guilt, and sin are all illusions. The “Cyclopedia” In A Course In Miracles states that “illusions are investments. They will last as long as you value them.” The Cyclopedia continues: :The only was to dispel illusions is to withdraw all investment from them, and they will have no life for you because you will have put them out of your mind.”

The Course sums it up this way, “There is no life outside of Heaven. Where God created life, there life must be. In any state apart from Heaven life is illusion.” There you have it! It is perfectly clear - murder, rape, and every other form of evil do not exist because they do not come from “love.” Explain that to a mother who has lost a son or daughter as the result of an illusion.