What will come out in the decades after Oprah’s reign on network television? I’m hesitant to speculate, but I don’t think it’s a positive thing for the people of God to welcome her as a good source for spiritual growth.
In the past Oprah made headlines by announcing on her show that she didn’t feel Christ was the only way to salvation. She later said she had a problem hearing church scriptures that referenced God as a jealous God. None of her beliefs have seemed to hurt her career, but if we really new the secrets about Oprah would that change?
It’s coming out that Oprah’s cousin Jo Baldwin was fired for speaking about Jesus all the time. Baldwin reveals that Oprah has threatened her cousin and other family members about revealing certain secrets about her. Says Baldwin, “I admit I was afraid of Oprah for 20 years. Absolutely terrified. She’s powerful and dangerous. She told me if I ever opened my mouth [about what I know] she’d sue my pants off.” Does Oprah have something to hide, or is this a routine process when it comes to hiring family that may be looking to make a buck off her? Jo Baldwin speaks to Kitty Kelly, author of the book “Oprah: A Biography.” The conversation gives us insight into Oprah’s beliefs and family.
“When I received my PhD in 1985 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Oprah asked me where I was going to work,” sa
id Jo Baldwin in the summer of 2010. “I said I would be applying for a position at Ebony magazine as a copy editor. Oprah said she did not like Linda Johnson Rice [owner of Ebony] and I should come to work for her instead. So I did.” “I was to work for her for three years, but she fired me without notice after two years… I heard from someone later that she got rid of me because she got tired of me talking about Jesus all the time… Oprah preferred the teachings of Shirley MacLaine’s books, such as Dancing in the Light and Out on a Limb, which Oprah made me read but I didn’t think much of.”
Jo Baldwin, a tenured professor at Mississippi Valley State, is also an ordained minister who preaches at two churches every Sunday. Deeply religious, the Reverend Jo, as her parishioners call her, feels her famous cousin has lost her way and is mired in godless New Age mumbo jumbo.
Baldwin’s feelings, like many in Oprah’s family, stem from resentment over the way she has been treated.
The power of Oprah’s vast wealth makes most of her relatives quake. They want to be part of the luxurious life that she offers on occasion (her lavish Christmas presents, her birthday checks, even her hand-me-downs) but they chafe at the way she has dismissed them since becoming famous and they know that she does not cherish them as family. She prefers instead her celebrity friends. Oprah holds Maya Angelou as the mother she should’ve had; she sees Sidney Poitier as her father, Quincy Jones as her uncle, and Gayle King as her beloved sister.
Jo Baldwin became estranged from her famous relative who continues to put distance between herself and her blood relations. Oprah will not give her mother, Vernita Lee, her personal phone number. If her mother needs to call Oprah, she must call the studio and talk to Oprah’s producers.
Jo Bladwin tells Kitty Kelly that the main reason she is not close to Oprah is because of the differences in their religious convictions.
“Mainly, Oprah wanted to shame me for being a follower of Jesus as if to say, ‘What is He doing for you that’s so great?’ Oprah inflicts emotional wounds that could lead to physical illness, if they aren’t healed. My faith has kept me from getting sick [over her].”
