Thinking extra hard about your debt today?
Better watch out, because now even more is coming your direction, according to Rhonda Byrne, author of the best-selling book “The Secret.”
The book, which has claimed top spots among the best sellers at Amazon.com for weeks, claims that “the secret” to life is that thoughts attract reality — whether good or bad. Channeling those thoughts, Byrne says, can help readers overcome obstacles and get health, wealth and happiness — all by the power of positive thinking.
“‘The Secret’ is a danger because it presents a message that is becoming increasingly popular in our culture — you can have it all through your own innate abilities,” said Bob Waldrep, vice president and Alabama state director of Watchman Fellowship.
And people are buying into it, he said, citing such statistics as:
- “The Secret,” originally released as a video, has sold more than 1.5 million copies in DVD format.
- The first printing of the book version of “The Secret” was so successful that the publisher announced a second printing of 2 million copies, the largest ever in the history of Simon & Schuster. Some 5.2 million copies total have been shipped worldwide.
- The author appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in February, and Winfrey affirmed her own belief in the book’s teachings.
“It is reminiscent of another recent best seller that started out similarly (and) was much-hyped … ‘The Da Vinci Code,’” Waldrep said.
But he added the critical difference that intensifies the danger of “The Secret” is that “The Da Vinci Code” was written as fiction while “The Secret” is marketed as nonfiction.
“‘The Da Vinci Code’ functioned to undermine traditional Christian truth claims. ‘The Secret’ goes one step further — it provides the replacement, a substitute gospel of unimaginable wealth, the cure for every disease and world peace,” Waldrep said. “In ‘The Da Vinci Code,’ we learned that Jesus Christ was not God. In ‘The Secret,’ we learn that we are god.”
In the book, Byrne and her 29 co-contributors state: “You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing itself as You. You are a cosmic being. You are all power. You are all wisdom. You are all intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence. You are the creator, and you are creating the creation of You on this planet” (p. 164).
Because of this dangerous and popular ideology, Waldrep and Watchman President James Walker wrote a book in response titled “The Truth Behind the Secret,” available from www.watchman.org July 1.
Other evangelical leaders are taking notice of the book’s danger as well, including Don Whitney, associate professor of biblical spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
“It is no exaggeration to say that this book implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) denies virtually every major doctrine in the Bible,” he said. “Books that promise health and wealth for their practitioners are published every day. But few associate such promises with Byrne’s breathtaking audacity.”
“The Secret” presents a challenge to the church to respond, Waldrep said.
“The church … needs to be able to sound warning to those members who may find appealing the hope promised by ‘The Secret,’” he said. “The author says she came to ‘The Secret’ in a time of great need when she was looking for hope. As Christians, we agree with the author of ‘The Secret’ that mankind needs hope and needs to hear a positive message of where to find that hope. We strongly disagree with her, however, as to the source that offers that solution.”
It’s important to be able to refute the book on several levels, Waldrep said, including showing that the book’s appeal to science and medicine for support is not credible and revealing that the real source of the book is spiritual or supernatural and rooted in Eastern religions and the occult.
It’s also important to help neighbors and co-workers who are buying the book in spades to know that God Himself is the “secret” to everything, he said. “God has been revealing Himself since the beginning of creation, and for thousands of years, He has freely told us everything we need to know about Him in the Bible. And He remains an unknown Secret only to those who will not look for Him there.”
In addition to Waldrep and Walker’s book, other resources include:
- “There is More to the Secret” by Tulsa, Okla., pastor Ed Gungor, published by Thomas Nelson Inc.
- “The Secret Revealed: Exposing the Truth About the ‘Law of Attraction,’” to be published July 31 by Nashville-based FaithWords. The book is being co-authored by San Diego pastor James L. Garlow, co-author of “Cracking Da Vinci’s Code,” and Rick Marschall, who served as Garlow’s editor.
For more information about these books, visit www.watchman.org or www.amazon.com. (BP contributed)
Share with others: