No real secret to The Secret
I don’t stay up-to-date much with what goes through popular daytime talk tv, so when I first heard about “The Secret” during my church small group when one of our smallgroup members (–a proclaimed Christian–), I was somewhat shocked by what she heard on Oprah and at the same time, not surprised one bit at the theology she preaches to masses of unknowing housewives.
Thus, I must say something about The Secret. I have not heard anything from my church’s pulpit condemning this God-dishonoring way of life, so let us beaware: The Secret is the heretic religion of paganism in new clothes. As Christians we cannot and should not accept it, nor tolerate it seeping into our churches / fellowships / smallgruops / parachurch organizations. Any theology that is not founded on Scripture alone and on the Divine accomplishment of God through Christ’s substitutionary atonement is in and of itself not from God, and subsequently, will only lead to life’s destruction and not eternal life nor fullness of life on earth.
“There is no real secret to The Secret. It is just the same old self-worship packaged for a new generation.” Southern Seminary president Albert Mohler writes,
False teachings emerge anew in every generation it seems, but inventing a new heresy is quite a challenge. After all, once every doctrine vital to Christianity has been denied, all that remains is a change in packaging.
That is what we see in the case of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, the nation’s best-selling book. Millions of Americans are buying, reading, or talking about a book that repackages ancient paganism in the guise of positive thinking and mental energy. There is nothing here that is genuinely new (Byrne openly admits finding the “Law of Attraction” in a nineteenth century book). But, as the sales of The Secret now prove, a heresy does not have to be new to be attractive.
Read Dr. Mohler’s articles here:
Dr. Don Whitney, Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality at Southern Seminary has this analysis:
In the final analysis, The Secret is nothing more than Name It-Claim It, Positive-Confession, Prosperity Theology (without God and the Bible), built on a foundation of New Age self-deification. In other words, the book is just another version of what some TV preachers have taught for decades, namely, if you will sustain the right thoughts, words, and feelings, you will receive whatever you want. But The Secret adds this important twist: your thoughts can bring anything into your life because you are god.
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There’s no mention of sin in The Secret. The cause of all the problems in the world and in our individual lives is merely bad thinking, specifically the failure to recognize and appropriately use the law of attraction. Therefore the solution to everything lies within us. And that, of course, eliminates the need for a Savior, a Substitute, or a Sacrifice. The cross and resurrection of Jesus become irrelevant.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22)
