I recently received several letters from friends who are wonderful people - but who are "born-again" Christians who cannot understand any other spiritual path other than their own. They are deeply offended by the popularity of what they are calling "The Church of Oprah" calling it the largest church in America. They are demanding that their friends stand up against what they consider to be the attacks of this "church" on God's church (born-again Christians) and God's work.

These people say Oprah is "misleading many" in a deliberate attempt to undermine our country, which they mistakenly believe was founded upon Christian principles.

As may be expected from anyone who "needs to be right" they are making Oprah "wrong" using all manner of untruthful remarks. The object is to create so much "noise on the channel" that well-meaning people can't hear her message for what it really is.

In that way these Christian fundamentalists are behaving no differently than Islamic fundamentalists ito brand those who won't subscribe to their "party line" as evil and enemies of the "true" god.

Of course those of you who know me know that Oprah is teaching a message through the vehicle of her show that I've taught for the last 20 years. Most of the people who have sent me this letter seem to be demanding that I take sides with them on this issue. Of course, I cannot.

I'm sure I am not unique in this regard. If you are also a person who walks a spiritual path that does not involve accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you have probably been subjected to the same kind of arrogant behavior too. That is why I feel the time has come for people who are on the path of consciousness to use this opportunity to defend Oprah and the ideas she is bringing forth into a world that is very much in need of this kind of Light.

Here is the header for the typical letter that is being forwarded around our country.

Subject: FW: Oprah Exposed - Listen Now - Our Country Depends On Your Help.

Oprah is misleading many. Please view this video and pass along to other believers so that they may be aware AND PRAY!!!! The forces of evil are trying to destroy our country.

My response to this letter is attached below. Please feel free to forward it to those you know. If they are conscious they will appreciate the information. If they are fundamentalists they need a wake-up call. It is important we support those like Oprah who have the courage to use their stature to tell the truth to a world in pain. Always remember that the Light of Reality is the only medicine for unconsciousness.

Dear Friend,

I reviewed the video you sent on the "Church of Oprah." I understand your concern and I truly respect your beliefs in this matter. However, since you chose to send me the piece I feel that it would be appropriate for me to respond as to how I feel about it. Please realize that as I share my thoughts on this subject, I do so with respect for you, and with the awareness that you did so out of your love for the people to whom you sent the piece, including us.

Perhaps you will remember that I have experienced two near-death events. These events were transformational events in my life, so much so that I left a job making the equivalent of a half a million dollars a year (in today's money) to work at delivering a message that has left my family in poverty for years.

I didn't do this lightly. It has not been easy. We have suffered greatly - in large part due to born-again Christians who feel threatened by the message I now share.

Lani and I have been scorned, excoriated, and persecuted beyond most people's ability to understand.

When we left our church a daughter we had taken into our home and were attempting to adopt through our church was stripped away from us. Up until the very day we decided to leave our church we were held up as "heroes" for being willing to take in such a child and give her all we did. After we announced we were leaving our church the so-called "Christian" social service workers couldn't get her out of our home soon enough. Nothing had changed. No abuse ever happened or was ever alleged. The only reason is that we felt we had outgrown the church and needed to walk what was for us, a higher path. After that announcement our former "Christian" friends and neighbors refused to even look at us as we passed them on the street.

I was eventually thrown in jail by another born-again Christian who was an Assistant District Attorney in Hawai'i. She also thought I was an agent of Satan because my message had attracted followers away from her church. She jailed me based on groundless allegations made by a man who was in prison on the mainland at the time for sexually abusing children. He claimed I had stolen money from him. A detective investigating the case proved conclusively that the allegations were not true. The "Christian" DA took his report and destroyed it, and proceeded to have me arrested anyway. That event consumed a year of our lives where Lani and I had to live on the porches of people and eat fruit off trees to survive. Eventually the truth came out and I was exonerated, but I never received an apology from that woman, nor from any of the other good "Christians" who helped her because they also wanted to rid the world of another "agent of Satan." Some of these "Christians" ran the local newspaper in Kailua-Kona. They printed her lies about me as if they were gospel truth. None of them ever called me to ask for my side of the story before they printed their lies. As a result, when people saw me in the local grocery store, or at a restaurant, they would yell at me across the room and ask me if who I was going to try to steal from next. They all felt completely justified in their behaviors.

Why were we willing to go through all of this? Why would any sane person subject themselves to that kind of anger, suspicion, and fear? The reason is called Integrity.

In my two "deaths" I experienced God - in all God's glory. In God's presence I was loved beyond anything I could have ever imagined. My experience of healing in God's all-loving and completely accepting embrace is beyond the ability of words to describe.

I was embraced by the "Light" and in that experience I somehow knew this "Light" would be anything I wanted it to be. If I wanted it to be Jesus it would be Jesus. If I wanted it to be Buddha it would be Buddha. So I asked it: "Who are you?" In a quiet, all embracing voice the answer was; "I am you."

I was stunned! The realization of the truth of that statement was at once overwhelming and absolutely liberating. As I was able to accept the truth of that answer I felt myself waking up into another dimension that I can only call "Home." I realized when I "woke-up" that I was OK, I have always been OK, and that I will always be OK. The only hell that exists is the one we create here out of our beliefs that keep us separated from a complete awareness of our own Divine nature. It is these beliefs that keep us separate, in fear, and in pain.

In that experience I came to a complete awareness, far beyond the need for any sort of belief system, that the only definition for the word "God" that can possibly make any sense is that God is the ALL THAT IS. All things are completely made out of God for there is nothing else out of which anything can be made. That includes you, me, Oprah, every born-again Christian, every Muslim, every Jew, and everyone else. It includes your dog, my dog, my home, the mountains, the sea, the earth and the stars. It is all an expression of the ALL THAT IS.

I came to know that none of us can ever be separated from this ALL THAT IS except by our own unconsciousness. The belief that we can somehow be "unworthy" is an illusion created by men and the religions they invent to help provide answers to people who have become lost in this dream called life.

Nevertheless, these men and their religions are also a part of the ALL THAT IS. They too have their role in this world. That is why I would never presume to make anyone else's spiritual path bad or wrong. That includes yours or, as you are asking me to do, Oprah's.

As a result of my experience I now spend my life endeavoring to spread the True Gospel, the Good News that God is ALL THAT IS and consequently all things - including you and me - are Divine. I now know beyond the shadow of a doubt that no one will wind up in some imaginary place called hell for eternity.

To postulate that anything can exist separate from God is the same as saying that God is not ALL THAT IS. I cannot do that, no matter how disappointing that may be to my brothers and sisters like yourselves who are deeply and passionately intertwined in their proprietary belief systems.

I was once where you are and I understand how it feels to be there. I was a leader in and a staunch supporter of my church. I paid a full tithing, which amounted to thousands of dollars a month - even back then. However, I can truly say that I now understand Jesus and His work better now than I ever did before my experience.

When Jesus said: "Your Father and My Father are the same Father" and "What you see Me do you can do and even more" I now know what He meant. As a result of my experience I now feel far closer to Jesus now than I ever did when I was a part of the traditional Christian movement. I also feel far more able to truly Love all my fellow men than I ever did when I identified myself as a "Christian."

If these death experiences were delusions then anything I have ever experienced in my most awake experience in this realm of existence is even more delusional. If I have been deluded by satanic lies then I know my God will forgive me, because no one could ever make any other choice after having experienced what I have experienced.

The result of how I now see the world speaks for itself. I have no fear. I live in integrity with myself and others. I am at peace. I Love my friends and I Love my enemies. I Love the DA who justified her lies to put me in jail. I Love the social workers who took a daughter we loved as our own away from my family - never to be seen again. I Love my God and my connection to God with all that I am in ways that was never even approachable when I was a part of my "church." If that means certain born again Christians need to think I will be condemned to a place of eternal punishment then so be it. That is their path, their life lessons, their choice, and their consequences. I Love them anyway.

What I know for sure is that all these people will also one day wake up home. Everyone does - sooner or later. In that place we look back at this dream and can only laugh at any thought we could get lost or condemned to a place of eternal punishment. That is why I call my family the "What a Hoot" tribe.

Oprah has apparently come to these same conclusions. She is now generating the same kind of response as I have. This movie you sent out promotes the same kind of ugly, fear-based energy that has caused Lani and I to suffer so greatly.

When people need to be "right" about their religious convictions they need to make others who don't agree with them "wrong." That is an attitude that obscures the true basis of morality - which is the Law of Love, and replaces it with a phony standard of morality, which is based on proprietary ideas of "Good/Bad" and "Right/Wrong." When this happens all kinds of hurtful behavior can be not only tolerated but justified - and perpetuated.

This is the same kind of thing that fundamentalist Muslims do. It is no different. It is based on a need to believe in some proprietary "jealous" god who demands loyalty of those who would be "worthy" in that god's eyes or be condemned to an eternity in hell.

I cannot go there because I now see God in a much different light and I can't deny what I have witnessed. For me, belief is necessary only for that which is not real. That which is Real is something I can Recognize, and in that Light of Recognition, all the beliefs in the world become nothing more than a puff of smoke in the wind. Beliefs are a poor substitute for Recognizing Reality. They are only needed when by those who need to make sense of their world when they choose to live in the shadows of the unconsciousness that results when we deny our own personal Divinity.

We are all one. We are all connected in God. God contains time, time does not contain God. That means that we all remain connected in God for all time. Nothing else is possible. Any sense of separation is only an illusion. That is my reality and a perspective that I have personally found to be far more empowering and liberating than embracing Jesus as my personal savior.

As the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient writings now reveal, the idea of needing a personal Savior was never anything Jesus himself taught in the sense it is taught now. It was an idea introduced by Paul many years after the death of Jesus. Paul was an enemy to the rest of the apostles who knew Jesus personally. This little known fact can be surmised by a careful reading of the Bible itself. He himself talks about his "enemies in Jerusalem." These "enemies" were Peter, James, and John, and all the other apostles who considered what Paul was preaching to the Romans as complete blasphemy.

The message of Jesus Himself was quite different than the Pauline message that now passes for Christianity in the modern church. It was one of recognizing our personal Sovereignty as a Divine Being. Neither the Romans nor the Jews of the time could tolerate such an idea gaining popularity. That is why Jesus was crucified.

By the way, this idea also happens to be the spiritual foundation upon which our Founding Fathers built America. One of the most common statements from the "Religious Right" is that they want this country to "return to the Christian principles on which it was founded." However, a little research into American history will show that this statement is an absolute lie. The men responsible for building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Deists who did not believe the bible was either the infallible word of God nor even an acceptable basis for moral judgments.

Here are some interesting quotes:

Thomas Jefferson:

I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth. SIX HISTORIC AMERICANS, by John E. Remsburg, letter to William Short

Jefferson again:

Christianity...(has become) the most perverted system that ever shone on man. ...Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus.

More Jefferson:

The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves...these clergy, in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ.

Here's Thomas Paine:

I would not dare to so dishonor my Creator God by attaching His name to that book (the Bible). is the duty of every true Deist to vindicate the moral justice of God against the evils of the Bible. Accustom a people to believe that priests and clergy can forgive sins...and you will have sins in abundance. The Christian church has set up a religion of pomp and revenue in pretended imitation of a person (Jesus) who lived a life of poverty.

Finally let's hear from James Madison:

What influence in fact have Christian ecclesiastical establishments had on civil society? In many instances they have been upholding the thrones of political tyranny. In no instance have they been seen as the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty have found in the clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate liberty, does not need the clergy.

Even a cursory reading of the writings of people like Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, John Adams and many others will reveal that they did not see Christianity as an appropriate foundation for our country. In fact, they saw it as a potential evil to be avoided. That is why our Declaration of Independence begins with the words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident - that all men are created equal."

Each of us comes here with sacred space because each of us are co-equal parts of God. None of us are privileged in that regard - no matter the religion with which we choose to identify.

I'm sorry my dearest friend, but my view is that Oprah is courageously doing the same priesthood work that Jesus was doing when he was here. She is motivated by the same ideas our Founding Fathers were when they created our country. She is aligned with the idea that government gets its rights from the governed, who in turn get their rights from the God of us all - the God of Nature - the ALL THAT IS of which we are all a part. Her message from that clip you sent is basically the same as theirs, and mine. Delivering that message has always been the work of the true priesthood of which I see Jesus and our Founding Fathers to be a part. The truth of those ideas is the reason I do what I do now, instead of making millions by living a life that would be a fraud.

Unfortunately, as our Founding Fathers realized so well, people don't like being told that their connection to God lies in their very existence. They would rather not take that kind of responsibility for their lives. People would rather give their to a church, a government, or some other social organization that is willing to take it in exchange for the promise that they will be taken care of by that government or religion. Such is the basis of socialism, communism, and other forms of liberal secular thought that plague our nation today.

The tendency of people to give their power away to churches and governments is the true cause of the vast majority of the pain that has ever existed in our world. Our Founding Fathers knew it and wrote about it more eloquently that I am able to. Unfortunately, no one reads their words anymore.

There is no God that prefers Christians over Muslim, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus or Pagans. There is only one God, the God out of which each of us are made and in Whom we are all connected. Not until mankind overcomes its need to promulgate its many proprietary gods will there be peace on earth. That is why I, and I suspect Oprah, continue to deliver our message with those who have ears to hear and eyes to see.

Pain is not our enemy. It is our ally. Not until Christians and Muslims get enough pain will their hearts be softened to the point where they can embrace each other as brothers and sisters in the Light of Consciousness which is the only true Light of Christ.

I Love You,

Lono Ho'ala
Executive Director - Eagle's Nest Sanctuary
Where Ancient Wisdom Heals Modern Lives
719-687-2928
P. O. Box 7261
Woodland Park, CO 80863
www.hunawisdom.com