VOL. 27, NO. 4 OCTOBER-DECEMBER2007 EDITOR: … You Want to Know The Secret.pdf · · 2018-02-20learn that it was The Science of Getting Rich, ... ‘‘read dozens of books,

Inside this Issue:Tampa Newspaper Spotlights Whites’ Excesses ................ Page 3TheNewMystic Youth: No Longer Just Pulp Fiction .. Page 4What is the Still, Small Voice? .................................... Page 5

VOL. 27, NO. 4 OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2007 EDITOR: KEITH A. MORSE

by J. Greg SherylIt has been the subject of articles inNewsweek1 and People2 magazines;newspaper articles in USA Today,3 TheChristian Science Monitor;4 and televi-sion shows, such as The Oprah WinfreyShow,5 Larry King Live,6 and Nightline.7‘‘It’’ is a book8 and DVD9 called TheSecret — the work of 55-year-old Aus-tralian TV producer Rhonda Byrne,who now lives in California.

Seminary professor andauthor Donald S. Whitney, inan online review of The Secret,wrote:

‘‘In March of 2006 it wasreleased on the Internet,but soon went to DVD. Bylate autumn, the phenom-enal success of the videoplaced it on two episodesof Larry King Live. Shortlyafter, two of the teachersfeatured on The Secret wereguests on Ellen Degeneres’daily TV show. BeforeChristmas, The Secret DVDhad spun off a book by the sametitle which Oprah Winfrey cata-pulted to the top of the charts inFebruary of 2007.’’10

The Secret promises just abouteverything a person might want:

The message of The Secret is anattractively packaged form of monis-tic, pantheistic11 Hinduism presentedas New Thought and New Ageconcepts.

The terms ‘‘New Thought’’ and‘‘New Age’’ are difficult to define,and there is some overlap between

the two movements. The 19th-cen-tury New Thought movement

preceded the 20th-centuryNew Age movement. Bothmovements are eclectic, withdeep roots in Hinduism. Theworldview of New Thoughtcan also be seen in the ‘‘mindscience’’ religions, such asChristian Science, Unity, andReligious Science.

Calling it The Secret is clever.Valerie Reiss, Belief.net spiritu-ality editor said of it, ‘‘every-body wants to know a se-cret.’’12 A second hint about its

health, wealth, happiness, success,fulfilling relationships, and peace ofmind. And it has been well-received,judging from book and DVD salesand media coverage.

(continues on page 11)

October-December 2007 The Quarterly Journal · 11

The same principle can be appliedto teenagers. They need to be exer-cised spiritually. Their energy can beharnessed and used for the good ofthe body.

Endnotes:1. The term ‘‘teenager’’ is of recent origin,only having appeared around the mid-20th century.2. See Madison Trammel, ‘‘Axis Denied,’’Christianity Today, October 2006.3. Youth Specialties claims to serve morethan 100,000 youth workers worldwideevery year through their training seminarsand conventions, resources, and web site.4. For a more complete understanding ofthe resurgence of classic mysticism, see G.Richard Fisher, ‘‘What a Marriage! WhyDid Evangelicalism Marry Catholicism’sStepchild?,’’ The Quarterly Journal, April-June 2005, pp. 1, 13-19, and Gary E. Gilley,‘‘The Lure of Mysticism - A Path toSpiritual Growth or Road to Deception?,’’The Quarterly Journal, October-December2005, pp. 1, 13-23.5. Mark Yaconelli, Contemplative YouthMinistry. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zonder-van, 2006, pp. 26-27.6. Ibid., pg. 23.

7. Ibid., pg. 24.8. Ibid., pg. 45.9. Mike King, Presence-Centered Youth Min-istry. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsityPress, 2006, pg. 25.10. Contemplative Youth Ministry, op. cit.,pg. 82.11. Ibid., pg. 56.12. Presence-Centered Youth Ministry, op.cit., pg. 87.13. Contemplative Youth Ministry, op. cit.,pg. 81.14. Presence-Centered Youth Ministry, op.cit., pg. 87.15. Ibid.16. Ibid., pg. 95.17. Ibid., pg. 97.18. Ibid., pp. 132-134.19. Ibid., pp. 121-123.20. Ibid., pp. 121-122.21. Ibid., pg. 123-124.22. Ibid., pp. 129-132.23. Ibid., pp. 134-136.24. Ibid., pg. 147.25. Ibid., pg. 170.26. Ibid., pg. 171.27. Contemplative Youth Ministry, op. cit.,pg. 85.28. Kenneth Boa, The Trinity: A Journal.Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 2001,pp. 12-23.

29. Ibid., pp. 14, 15, italics in original.30. Ibid., pp. 16, 17.31. Ibid., pg. 19, italic in original.32. Ibid., pg. 20.33. Contemplative Youth Ministry, op. cit.,pg. 86.34. Ibid.35. The Trinity: A Journal, op. cit., pg. 21.36. Ibid.37. Ibid.38. Contemplative Youth Ministry, op. cit.,pg. 88.39. Ibid., pp. 88-89, italics in original.40. Presence-Centered Youth Ministry, op.cit., pg. 122.41. Ibid.42. The Trinity: A Journal, op. cit., pg. 21.43. Contemplative Youth Ministry, op. cit.,pg. 87.44. The Trinity: A Journal, op. cit., pp. 20-21.45. Contemplative Youth Ministry, op. cit.,pg. 89.46. Kim Butts, ‘‘How Divine!,’’ PrayKids!.Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 2005,“Contemplative Prayer” issue, pg. 3,ellipsis in original.47. Ibid., no author given, ‘‘Welcome,God,’’ PrayKids!, “Contemplative Prayer”issue, pg. 2.48. Contemplative Youth Ministry, op. cit.,pg. 240.

THE SECRET(continued from page 1)

author’s ‘‘street smarts’’ is that neitherthe book nor the DVD ever uses thephrase ‘‘New Age’’ (although thephrase ‘‘New Thought,’’ is correctlyused to describe some of its promul-gators).

THE STORYBEHIND THE SECRET

Byrne briefly describes her discov-ery of what she calls “The Secret” inthe Foreword to her book:

‘‘A year ago [October 200413], mylife had collapsed around me. I’dworked myself into exhaustion,my father died suddenly, and myrelationships with my work col-leagues and loved ones were inturmoil. Little did I know at thetime, out of my greatest despairwas to come the greatest gift. I’dbeen given a glimpse of a GreatSecret — The Secret to life. Theglimpse came in a hundred-year-old book, given to me by mydaughter Hayley.’’14

THE SCIENCEOF GETTING RICH

This book goes unnamed by Byrneuntil page 76 of The Secret, where welearn that it was The Science of GettingRich, written by Wallace Wattles in1910.15

In a chapter she wrote for adifferent book, Byrne says that whenher daughter gave her Wattles’ book:

‘‘I began reading. With eachsentence I read, my eyes wid-ened. I had never read anythinglike this before. The book, as itturns out, is about getting rich —not only in terms of money, butin every possible way, includingrelationships and health. As Iread, it became clear to me thatwhat Wattles was presenting wasactually the science of life. ... Iwas barely breathing as I turnedthe pages. Deep within, I knewthat every single thing he saidwas true: This was the Truth,with a capital T. ... I began doingresearch on Wallace Wattles. Iread about his life and every

single thing he had ever written.Then I wanted to find out whohis mentor was. My research ledme back through history, centuryafter century, reading book afterbook after book.’’16

In The Secret, Byrne writes:

‘‘I began tracing The Secret backthrough history. I couldn’t be-lieve all the people who knewthis. They were the greatestpeople in history: Plato, Shakes-p e a r e , N e w t o n , H u g o ,Beethoven, Lincoln, Emerson,Edison, Einstein.’’17

During this time, Byrne says she‘‘read dozens of books,’’18 and ‘‘In afew short weeks I had traced TheSecret back through the centuries, andI had discovered the modern-daypractitioners of the Secret.’’19 She re-veals further:

‘‘What I discovered in my searchwas the secret to having every-thing I wanted in life: money,health, love, success. When Iapplied this knowledge that Inow call ‘The Secret’ to every

12 · The Quarterly Journal October-December 2007

single aspect of my life, my lifewas completely transformed.’’20

Byrne continues:

‘‘Incredulous, I asked, ‘Whydoesn’t everyone know this?’ Aburning desire to share The Se-cret with the world consumedme, and I began searching forpeople alive today who knewThe Secret. One by one theybegan to emerge. I became amagnet: as I began to search, onegreat living master after anotherwas drawn to me. When I dis-covered one teacher, that onewould link to the next, in aperfect chain. If I was on thewrong track, something elsewould catch my attention, andthrough the diversion the nextgreat teacher would appear. ...The vision of taking The Secret tothe world in a film had becomefixed in my mind.’’21

Byrne next explains:

‘‘We [Byrne and her televisionproduction crew] did not have asingle teacher secured to film,but we knew The Secret, and sowith utter faith I flew fromAustralia to the United Stateswhere the majority of the teach-ers were based. Seven weekslater The Secret team had filmedfifty-five of the greatest teachersacross the United States, withover 120 hours of film. Withevery step, with every breath, weused The Secret to create TheSecret. We literally magnetizedeverything and everyone to us.Eight months later The Secret[DVD] was released.’’22

Byrne also states:

‘‘Today, my whole life is somagnificent. The happiness I feltbefore has been multiplied manytimes over: I am surrounded bypeople I love, I have more thanenough money, and my work isfascinating and fulfilling. The joyI have in just being alive andbeing able to be on this marvel-ous planet one day after anotheris incredible. Feeling this way —

and knowing how simple it is tocreate the life you want — howcould I not share ‘The Secret’with everyone?’’23

Similarly, in The Secret, Byrnewrites, ‘‘My intention in creating TheSecret was — and still is — that it willbring joy to billions around theworld.’’24 Likewise, Byrne’s mother,Irene Izon, offered this assessment toNewsweek:

‘‘The thing is that Rhonda justwants to bring happiness toeverybody. That’s the reason itall began. She just wants every-body to be happy.’’25

TEACHING OF THE SECRET INTHE WORDS OF ITS TEACHER

The book and the DVD presentidentical material in different fash-ions. The DVD consists of sometimesdramatized audio and video snippetsof 24 contemporary American ‘‘teach-ers of The Secret,’’ including ChickenSoup for the Soul book series co-creator Jack Canfield; author DenisWaitley; John Gray, author of Men AreFrom Mars, Women Are From Venus;and lesser-known attractive and char-ismatic speakers, both men andwomen, including two quantumphysicists, metaphysicians, a FengShui expert, and so on. Interspersedare quotations from various figuresfrom the past who, it is presumed, arebeing quoted because they suppos-edly knew ‘‘The Secret.’’ The book isessentially an edited transcript of theDVD with additional commentary onthe concepts supplied by Byrne.

THE ESSENCE OF THE SECRET

The Secret revealed is a NewThought concept called ‘‘the law ofattraction.’’ According to this teach-ing, our thoughts are powerful forcesthat create corresponding realities.Those who think about somethingwith intent and desire cause that verything to come into being. ‘‘Thoughtsbecome things,’’ teacher Mike Dooleysays.26 Byrne explains:

‘‘You are the most powerfulmagnet in the Universe! Youcontain a magnetic power within

you that is more powerful thananything in this world, and thisunfathomable magnetic power ise m i t t e d t h r o u g h y o u rthoughts.’’27

The Secret teacher John Assarafwrites, ‘‘You become what you thinkabout most, but you also attract what youthink about most.’’28 And Byrne prom-ises, ‘‘If you can think about what youwant in your mind, and make thatyour dominant thought, you willbring it into your life.’’29

Byrne then sums up:

‘‘Thoughts are magnetic, andthoughts have a frequency. Asyou think, those thoughts aresent out into the Universe, andthey magnetically attract all likethings that are on the samefrequency. Everything sent outreturns to the source. And thatsource is You.’’30

After stating that our thoughts aremagnetic, Byrne says:

‘‘You are a human transmissiontower, and you are more power-ful than any television towercreated on earth. You are themost powerful transmissiontower in the Universe. Yourtransmission creates your lifeand it creates the world. Thefrequency you transmit reachesbeyond cities, beyond countries,beyond the world. It reverberatesthroughout the entire Universe.And you are transmitting thatfrequency with your thoughts!’’31

IF IT FEELS GOOD...

Marci Shimoff, another of The Secretteachers, explains how one controlswhat one thinks:

‘‘It’s impossible to monitor everythought we have. Researchers tell usthat we have about sixty thousandthoughts a day. Can you imaginehow exhausted you’d feel trying tocontrol all sixty thousand of thosethoughts? Fortunately there’s aneasier way, and it’s our feelings.Our feelings let us know what we’rethinking.’’32


Byrne writes, ‘‘The importance offeelings cannot be overstated. Yourfeelings are your greatest tool to helpyou create your life.’’33 A little furtherin the book, she writes:

‘‘When you are feeling goodfeelings, it is communicationback from the Universe saying,‘ Y o u a r e t h i n k i n g g o o dthoughts.’ Likewise, when youare feeling bad, you are receivingcommunication back from theUniverse saying, ‘You are think-ing bad thoughts.’’’34

So important is this aspect of ‘‘TheSecret’’ that, at the end of the book,Byrne writes, ‘‘The only thing you needto do is feel good now.’’35 And again,she writes:

‘‘Be happy now. Feel good now.That’s the only thing you have todo. If that’s the only thing youget from reading this book, thenyou have received the greatestpart of The Secret.’’36

Similarly, Byrne confides:

‘‘I want to let you in on a secretto The Secret. The shortcut toanything you want in your life isto BE and FEEL happy now! It isthe fastest way to bring moneyand anything else you want intoyour life. Focus on radiating outinto the Universe those feelingsof joy and happiness. When youdo that, you will attract back toyou all things that bring you joyand happiness, which will notonly include an abundance ofmoney, but everything else youare wanting. You must radiateout the signal to bring back whatyou want.’’37

In fact, the last scene on the DVDpresentation of The Secret is that of awoman — presumably Byrne — writ-ing the words ‘‘FEEL GOOD’’ in thesand on a beach with a stick, and thenhurling the stick into the air.

Jack Canfield, co-creator of theChicken Soup series of books and ateacher of The Secret, similarly states:

‘‘When I really understood that myprimary aim was to feel and experi-

ence joy, then I began to do onlythose things which brought me joy. Ihave a saying: ‘If it ain’t fun, don’tdo it!’ ... I want to constantly putmyself in that state, and when I do,then all I have to do is have theintention of what I want, and what Iwant manifests.’’38

Perhaps someone with Canfield’smoney can afford to live this way.However, it’s unrealistic for the vastmajority of humanity.

If thoughts alter or create reality, asThe Secret teaches, and good thoughtsare more desirable as they createbetter things for the thinker, the nextstep is to learn how to think goodthoughts. The Secret teaches a formulafor getting what you want whichsounds biblical enough: ‘‘Ask,’’‘‘Believe,’’ and ‘‘Receive.’’39 Byrneexplains:

‘‘The Creative Process used inThe Secret, which was takenfrom the New Testament in theBible, is an easy guideline foryou to create what you want inthree simple steps [Ask, Believe,and Receive].’’40

However, as biblical as these threesteps sound, the exposition of the‘‘Ask’’ step shows it to be unbiblical.Teacher Lisa Nichols explains: ‘‘Thefirst step is to ask. Make a command tothe Universe. Let the Universe know whatyou want. The Universe responds to yourthoughts.’’41 Byrne echoes: ‘‘Step Oneis simply your step to get clear aboutwhat you want. As you get clear inyour mind, you have asked.’’42

Some of what The Secret teachesabout believing appears to have merit.However in describing Step 3, ‘‘Re-ceive,’’ Byrne writes, ‘‘Ask once, be-lieve you have received, and all youhave to do to receive is feel good.’’43

She adds:

‘‘When you are feeling good, youare on the frequency of receiving.You are on the frequency of allgood things coming to you, andyou will receive what you haveasked for. You wouldn’t ask foranything unless it was going tomake you feel good in the receiv-

ing of it, would you? So getyourself on the feel-good fre-quency, and you will receive.’’44

In reading what Byrne says above,the reader might think that she isusing the word ‘‘frequency’’ in ametaphorical sense. However, Byrneand the other The Secret teacherspropound that everything in the uni-verse is energy, including us.45 Assupport for the claims of The Secret,appeals are made to ‘‘science,’’ espe-cially to the branch of science knownas quantum physics.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDINGTO THE SECRET

No part of The Secret is moreopposed to the Gospel than the lasttwo chapters of the book: ‘‘The Secretto You,’’ and ‘‘The Secret to Life.’’Here the core of The Secret philosophyis unveiled:

• ‘‘We are One. We are allconnected, and we are all part ofthe One Energy Field, or the OneSupreme Mind, or the One Con-sciousness, or the One CreativeSource. Call it whatever youwant, but we are all One. If youthink about the law of attractionnow, in terms of us all beingOne, you will see its absoluteperfection ... We are One!’’46

• ‘‘We often get distracted with thisthing called our body and ourphysical being. That just holds yourspirit. And your spirit is so big itfills a room. You are eternal life.You are God manifested in humanform, made to perfection.’’47

• ‘‘You are God in a physicalbody. You are Spirit in the flesh.You are Eternal Life expressingitself as You. You are a cosmicbeing. You are all power. You areall wisdom. You are all intelli-gence. You are perfection. Youare magnificence. You are thecreator, and you are creating thecreation of You on this planet.’’48

• ‘‘Well, now you know you arethe Supreme Mind and that youcan draw anything you wantfrom that One Supreme Mind.


Any invention, any inspiration,any answer, anything. You cando anything you want. You are agenius beyond description, sostart telling yourself that andbecome aware of who you reallyare.’’49

• ‘‘Are there any limits to this?Absolutely not. We are unlimitedbeings. We have no ceiling. Thecapabilities and the talents and thegifts and the power that is withinevery single individual that is on theplanet, is unlimited.’’50

• ‘‘Whether you want to regainperfect eyesight, dissolve diseaseand restore well-being, turn pov-erty into abundance, reverse ag-ing and degeneration, or eradi-cate any negativity, focus on andlove the presence within you andperfection will manifest.’’51

• ‘‘The Universe emerges fromthought. We are the creators notonly of our own destiny but also ofthe Universe.’’52

• ‘‘An unlimited supply of ideas isavailable to you. All knowledge,discoveries, and inventions are inthe Universal Mind as possibilities,waiting for the human mind to drawthem forth. You hold everything inyour consciousness.’’53

• ‘‘The Secret is within you. Themore you use the power withinyou, the more you will draw it toyou. You will reach a pointwhere you won’t need to practiceanymore, because you will Be thepower, you will be the perfec-tion, you will Be the wisdom,you will Be the intelligence, youwill Be the love, you will Be thejoy.’’54

• ‘‘The earth turns on its orbitfor You. The oceans ebb and flowfor You. The birds sing for You.The sun rises and it sets for You.The stars come out for You.Every beautiful thing you see,every wondrous thing you expe-rience, is all there, for You. Takea look around. None of it canexist, without You. No matterwho you thought you were, now

you know the Truth of Who YouReally Are. You are the master ofthe Universe. You are the heir tothe kingdom. You are the perfec-tion of Life. And now you knowThe Secret.’’55

AN EVALUATIONAND CRITIQUE

Because it is not possible in anarticle of this length to thoroughlycritique The Secret, we will take a fewaspects of its teachings and examinethem.

The appeal of The Secret is obvious,in that everyone wants to achieve thedesires of their heart, and we can bevulnerable to something that promisesto give these things to us. In addition,we all like to feel important —although The Secret takes this to anextreme. What D.R. McConnell wrotein A Different Gospel regarding theappeal of the teachings of the Word-Faith movement56 also applies to TheSecret:

‘‘Seldom if ever, has there been agospel that has promised somuch, and demanded so little. ...In an age in America character-ized by complexity, the Faithgospel gives simple, if not revela-tional, answers. In an economyfueled by materialism and firedby the ambitions of the ‘up-wardly mobile,’ the Faith gospelpreaches wealth and prosperity.The Faith gospel promises healthand long life to a world in whichdeath can come a myriad ofdifferent ways. Finally, in aninternational environment char-acterized by anarchy, in whichterrorists strike at will andnuclear holocaust can comescreaming from the sky at anymoment, the Faith gospel confersan authority with which the be-liever can supposedly exercisecomplete control over his or herown environment.’’57

The Secret makes sweeping asser-tions without supporting them:

‘‘The greatest teachers who haveever lived have told us that thelaw of attraction is the most

powerful law in the Universe.Poets such as William Shakes-peare, Robert Browning, andWilliam Blake delivered it intheir poetry. Musicians such asLudwig van Beethoven ex-pressed it through their music.Artists such as Leonardo daVinci depicted it in their paint-ings. Great thinkers includingSocrates, Plato, Ralph Waldo Em-erson, Pythagoras, Sir Francis Ba-con, Sir Isaac Newton, JohannWolfgang von Goethe, and Vic-tor Hugo shared it in their writ-ings and teachings. Their nameshave been immortalized, andtheir legendary existence has sur-vived centuries. Religions, suchas Hinduism, Hermetic tradi-tions,58 Buddhism, Judaism,Christianity, and Islam, and civi-lizations, such as the ancientBabylonians and Egyptians, de-livered it through their writingsand stories. Recorded throughoutthe ages in all its forms, the lawcan be found in ancient writingsthrough all the centuries. It wasrecorded in stone in 3000 BC.Even though some coveted thisknowledge, and indeed they did,it has always been there foranyone to discover. The law be-gan at the beginning of time. Ithas always been and will alwaysbe.’’59

The following are typical examplesof the book’s extravagant, unsup-ported claims:

• ‘‘The leaders in the past who hadThe Secret wanted to keep the powerand not share the power. They keptpeople ignorant of The Secret. Peoplewent to work, they did their job,they came home. They were on atreadmill with no power, becauseThe Secret was kept in the few.’’60

• ‘‘There isn’t a single thing thatyou cannot do with this knowl-edge. It doesn’t matter who youare or where you are, The Secretcan give you whatever youwant.’’61

• ‘‘People who have drawnwealth into their lives used TheSecret, whether consciously or


unconsciously. ... Whether theyare aware of it or not, theirpredominant thoughts of wealthare what brought wealth to them.It is the law of attraction inaction.’’62

And recall that Bryne has told us:

• ‘‘You are the most powerfulmagnet in the Universe! Youcontain a magnetic power withinyou that is more powerful thananything in this world, and thisunfathomable magnetic power ise m i t t e d t h r o u g h y o u rthoughts.’’63

At one point in the book, The Secretteacher Neale Donald Walsch contra-dicts basic scriptural teaching aboutevery man standing before God forjudgment (e.g., Genesis 18:25; Acts10:42; 17:30-31; 24:15-16, 25; Romans2:16; 3:6). Walsch asserts:

‘‘So your purpose is what you say itis. Your mission is the mission yougive yourself. Your life will be whatyou create it as, and no one willstand in judgment of it, now orever.’’64

THE SECRET GETS SPOOKY

Byrne recommends a technique thatamounts to divination, which is con-demned by God in Scripture (Deuter-onomy 18:9-14):

‘‘As you become aware of thepower of The Secret, and beginto use it, all of your questionswill be answered. As you beginto have a deeper understandingof the law of attraction you canstart to make asking questions ahabit, and as you do, you willreceive the answer to each one.You can begin by using this bookfor that very purpose. If you areseeking an answer or guidanceon something in your life, ask thequestion, believe you will re-ceive, and then open this bookrandomly. At the exact placewhere the pages fall open will bethe guidance and answer you areseeking.’’65

Bryne’s method is not as unbeliev-able as one may think. Regretfully,

there are Christians who employ justsuch a practice using not The Secret,but rather their Bibles.

RHONDA BYRNE’SDRAMATICWRITING STYLE

Minor, but noteworthy, featuresabout Byrne’s book include that thebook version of The Secret is intro-duced with a piece of pseudo-esotericdrivel, a quotation from The EmeraldTablet (c. 3000 B.C.):

‘‘As above, so below. As within,so without.’’66

Presumably, we are supposed to beimpressed with a quotation, whichhas no meaning apart from thegreater context — if any — in whichthe words occur.

Byrne’s writing is overly dramatic,even within her Acknowledgements.There she speaks of people who‘‘illuminated me through their pres-ence.’’67 Some of these people are‘‘magnificent human beings.’’68 She‘‘pay[s] homage’’ to some for ‘‘gener-ously sharing their wisdom, love, anddivinity.’’69 She further acknowledgesher ‘‘amazing family,’’70 including hertwo daughters who ‘‘illuminate everybreath I take through their very exist-ence.’’71

She also gives artificial-soundingtitles of importance to some of the 24teachers featured in both the bookand DVD versions of The Secret. Morethan one receives the title of ‘‘philoso-pher.’’72 Another receives the epithetof ‘‘moneymaking expert.’’73 One ofthe teachers is a ‘‘personal transfor-mation specialist’’74 and another re-ceives the title of ‘‘visionary.’’75 Stillothers receive the honorifics ‘‘law ofattraction specialist,’’76 ‘‘personal em-powerment advocate,’’77 and ‘‘spiri-tual messenger.’’78 Some of The Secretteachers are described as ‘‘a non-aligned, transreligious progressive,’’79

‘‘a ‘life adventurer,’’’80 and ‘‘a trans-formational leader.’’81

One curious feature in the book, TheSecret, occurs when Byrne is teachingabout gratitude. She states, ‘‘In thebook that changed my life, The Scienceof Getting Rich, written by Wallace

Wattles in 1910, gratitude is its long-est chapter.’’82 Likewise, in a chaptershe wrote for another book, she alsocites Wattles’ book, and mentions thatgratitude is that book’s longest chap-ter.83 Yet a glance at that book’s Tableof Contents reveals that the chapteron gratitude is one of the book’sshortest chapters.

THE SECRET’S ROOTS INANCIENT HINDUISM

The worldview of The Secret derivesfrom Hinduism through the NewThought and New Age movements.Among the Hindu doctrines evidentin The Secret are its belief in animpersonal Higher Power, as opposedto the personal God of Scripture; itsmonism, the belief that everything inthe universe is one; and its pantheism,the belief that everything that is, isGod. You are God, I am God, the treeis God, etc., and we are all one. ‘‘Allthere is is one, and all there is isGod,’’ would be another way ofexpressing it.

The impersonality of the “god” ofThe Secret is evident in the frequentreferences in the book to ‘‘the Uni-verse,’’ where the ‘‘U’’ in universe isalways capitalized. The “Universe” islikened to the Genie of Aladdin’slamp, who always and only says to us,‘‘Your wish is my command.’’84 Thisbrings up another critical differencebetween the ‘‘god’’ of The Secret andthe God of the Bible: The ‘‘god’’ ofThe Secret is the servant of man andhis desires. The Secret’s concept ofGod is too small: The Secret’s “god” isone ‘‘who must dance to men’s at-tempts to manipulate the spirituallaws of the universe.’’85 In contrast,the God of the Bible cannot and willnot be manipulated by man.

Jesus is never mentioned by namein The Secret DVD, and His name ismentioned but once in the book — asthe final name in a list of biblicalpersonalities, such as Abraham, Isaac,Jacob, and Moses, who ‘‘were notonly prosperity teachers, but alsomillionaires themselves, with moreaffluent lifestyles than many present-day millionaires could conceive of.’’86


What a surprise! Who could haveguessed that the Son of Man, Whohad ‘‘nowhere to lay His head’’ (Mat-thew 8:20) and Who ‘‘though He wasrich, yet for your sakes He becamepoor’’ (2 Corinthians 8:9), was actuallya prosperity teacher and a millionaire!

THE NEW THOUGHTMOVEMENT

As mentioned earlier, the terms‘‘New Thought’’ and ‘‘New Age’’ aresomewhat difficult to define, andthere is some overlap in the twomovements. The New Thought move-ment preceded the New Age move-ment. Both are eclectic, but have rootsin Hinduism. The worldview of NewThought can also be seen in the‘‘mind science’’ religions, such asChristian Science, Unity, and Reli-gious Science.

A contemporary book on the subjectof the New Thought movement states:

‘‘New Thought has evolved as amovement that has no specificdogma to which the memberreligious movements must ad-here. ... Although opinions re-garding who actually foundedNew Thought vary, since theessence of the movement isrooted in the interpretations ofthe teachings of [19th-centurymetaphysical healer] PhineasParkhurst Quimby (known as‘Park’), he is credited as theoverall intellectual father of NewThought.’’87

Glenn Mosley also notes that fore-runners of the New Thought move-ment included ‘‘Franz Anton Mesmer,Emanuel Swedenborg, [and] RalphWaldo Emerson.’’88 Regarding Emer-son, Mosley says that, ‘‘He was influ-enced by such schools of thought asEnglish Romanticism, Neoplatonism,and Hindu philosophy.’’89

As just noted, one reason NewThought is hard to define is its lack ofspecific doctrines or theologicalcreeds which the religious movementsembrace. Researchers John Ankerbergand John Weldon give another reasonthat a precise definition of the move-ment is not easy:

‘‘New Thought is an umbrelladesignation covering hundreds,possibly thousands, of indepen-dent churches around the world.Broadly speaking, Religious Sci-ence (Science of Mind), DivineScience, Unity School of Chris-tianity and scores of smaller in-dependent organizations consti-tute New Thought.’’90

Two prominent 20th-century NewThought promulgators were authorand New Thought minister EmmetFox, as well as author and pastorNorman Vincent Peale.91 Peale waspastor of a Christian church.92 DellaReese, of the former television seriesTouched By An Angel, is a contempo-rary New Thought minister.93 Addi-tionally, Dr. Michael Beckwith, promi-nently featured in both The Secretbook and DVD, is another contempo-rary New Thought leader.94

THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT

Philip H. Lochhaas, a Lutheran min-ister and expert on the New Age,defined it this way:

‘‘The New Age may be definedas a network of otherwise dis-similar people intent on replac-ing the reality of a personal Godwith the idea that humanity isthe center of all things. Indeed, itis claimed that each person isGod, one with a universal en-ergy, and only needs to developthe potential of divinity to thefullest. ... The New Age Move-ment appears to be a confusingand contradictory mix — untilone understands that there aretwo distinct expressions of themovement: the occult and thehumanistic. The occult expressioninvolves such ideas and practicesas reincarnation, crystal power,channeling spirit guides, UFOphenomenon, and the worship ofself. The humanistic expressionfocuses on developing unlimitedhuman potential and an ethicalsystem centered in responsibilityonly to one’s self.’’95

Lochhaas gives and expounds onthe following six defining concepts ofthe New Age movement:

‘‘1. All is one; therefore all is God.This principle expresses the twinconcepts of monism and panthe-ism, ... 2. Humanity, like all cre-ation, is divine and has unlimitedpotential. ... 3. Humanity’s basicflaw is its ignorance of divinity andoneness with all things. ... 4. Hu-manity’s only need, therefore, istransformation — the awareness ofdivinity. ... 5. Transformation can beproduced by a wide variety of tech-niques. ... 6. Personal transforma-tion is the springboard to globaltransformation.’’96

Concerning the origins of the NewAge movement, Dr. Walter Martinwrote:

‘‘For all practical purposes, theNew Age Cult can be equatedwith the transplantation ofHindu philosophy through theTheosophical Society founded byHelena Blavatsky in the latterpart of the nineteenth century inthe United States. Madame Blav-atsky, as she was known, pro-moted spiritism, seances, and ba-sic Hindu philosophy whilemanifesting a distinct antago-nism to biblical Christianity.’’97

Lochhaas adds:

‘‘[Helena Blavatsky’s] prize pu-pil, Alice Bailey, developed Blav-atsky’s teachings into an organ-ized system and coined the termNew Age. Bailey taught that hu-manity must achieve enlighten-ment by realizing its divinity. ...Another block in the New Agefoundation is the New ThoughtMovement. Its origins generallyare traced to the mental healingpractice of Phineas ParkhurstQuimby in the mid-19th century.The Church of Christ, Scientist,founded by Mary Baker Eddy, isone of the better known develop-ments of New Thought teach-ings.’’98

While there are also differencesbetween Hinduism and the New Agemovement, ‘‘Hindus and New Agershold quite similar views about God,t h e w o r l d , h u m a n i t y , a n dsalvation.’’99


That The Secret relies on a Hinduworldview is made clear in the bookthat inspired it: Wattles’ The Science ofGetting Rich. In that book’s Preface,Wattles wrote:

‘‘For the benefit, however, ofthose who wish to investigatephilosophical theories and so se-cure a logical basis for faith, Iwill here cite certain authorities.The monistic theory of the uni-verse — the theory that One isAll, and that All is One; that oneSubstance manifests itself as theseeming many elements of thematerial world — is of Hinduorigin, and has been graduallywinning its way into the thoughtof the western world for twohundred years. It is the founda-tion of all the Oriental philoso-phies, and of those of Descartes,Spinoza, Leibnitz, Schopenhauer,Hegel, and Emerson. The readerwho would dig to the philo-sophical foundations of this isadvised to read Hegel and Emer-son for himself.’’100

The source that inspired Byrne’sbook and DVD himself wrote that itsphilosophical underpinnings are thatof Hinduism. As well, in The Secretbook, the unusual term ‘‘avatar’’ isused several times.101

The edition of The Science of GettingRich from which the quotation aboveis taken, is published by Jeremy P.Tarcher, ‘‘a New Age book pub-lisher,’’ according to Christian re-searcher Ron Rhodes.102 Additionally,Wattles was a New Thought au-thor,103 and an article on The Secret inNewsweek noted that Beyond WordsPublishing, the arm of Simon &Schuster which published Byrne’sbook, is a ‘‘New Age-oriented pub-lishing house.’’104 Thus, we clearly seethe Hindu, New Thought, and NewAge connections of The Secret.

As well, Rhodes notes that ‘‘the lawof attraction,’’ around which Byrne’steachings revolve, is a New Thoughtconcept. Rhodes explains:

‘‘New Thought proponents sub-scribe to the ‘law of attraction.’This law says that just as like

attracts like, so our thoughts canattract the things they want orexpect. Negative thoughts attractdismal circumstances; positivethoughts attract more desirablecircumstances. Our thoughts canbe either creative or destructive.New Thought sets out to teachpeople how to use their thoughtscreatively.’’105

In his book on the New Age move-ment, Martin wrote:

‘‘The great English apologist andwriter C.S. Lewis saw the battlelines clearly drawn. He notedthat in the final conflict betweenreligions, Hinduism and Chris-tianity would offer the only vi-able options because Hinduismabsorbs all religious systems, andChristianity excludes all others,maintaining the supremacy ofthe claims of Jesus Christ.’’106

Thus, Hinduism, as expressedthrough both New Thought and theNew Age movements, is the founda-tion for the teachings of The Secret.

BLAMING THE VICTIMSOF TRAGEDY

When someone has suffered a genu-ine misfortune, there is probablynothing as insensitive or so cruel astelling such a person, ‘‘This is yourown fault,’’ even if such a charge istrue. Job’s friends sought to comforthim with just such ‘‘wisdom.’’ Andthere is the blind man in John 9, ofwhom Jesus’ disciples asked, ‘‘Rabbi,who sinned, this man or his parents,that he was born blind?’’ (John 9:2).

While Rabbi Harold S. Kushner failsto grasp a biblical understanding ofpain and suffering, he nonethelessgraphically illustrates the insensitivityand cruelty of blaming victims oftragedy when he writes:

‘‘I once read of an Iranian folkproverb, ‘If you see a blind man,kick him; why should you bekinder than God?’ In otherwords, if you see someone whois suffering, you must believethat he deserves his fate and thatGod wants him to suffer. There-

fore, put yourself on God’s sideby shunning him or humiliatinghim further. If you try to helphim, you will be going againstGod’s justice.’’107

Yet The Secret, with its ‘‘you-are-the-creator-of-your-own-life’’ teach-ing, does blame victims of tragedy fortheir own plight, even though inmedia settings, some of The Secretteachers have sought to distancethemselves from this aspect of theteaching.108 Yet, to be logically consis-tent, someone who believes in Byrne’steachings would have to believe thatthey bring misfortune and tragedyupon themselves. After all, if yourthoughts are what create your life —as The Secret teaches — then how elsewould tragedy ever befall you, unlessyou created it for yourself by persis-tently thinking about it? And that isexactly what The Secret teaches. JoeVitale, a metaphysician and The Secretteacher says:

‘‘Everything that surrounds youright now in your life, including thethings you’re complaining about,you’ve attracted. Now I know thatat first blush that’s going to besomething that you hate to hear.You’re going to immediately say, ‘Ididn’t attract the car accident. Ididn’t attract this particular clientwho gives me a hard time. I didn’tparticularly attract the debt.’ AndI’m here to be a little bit in your faceand to say, yes you did attract it.This is one of the hardest concepts toget, but once you’ve accepted it, it’slife transforming.’’109

Byrne amplifies Vitale’s words:

‘‘Often when people first hearthis part of the Secret they recallevents in history where massesof lives were lost, and they findit incomprehensible that so manypeople could have attractedthemselves to the event. By thelaw of attraction, they had to beon the same frequency as theevent. It doesn’t necessarily meanthey thought of that exact event,but the frequency of theirthoughts matched the frequencyof the event. ... Nothing can


come into your experience unlessyou summon it through persis-tent thoughts.’’110

Here we see a ‘‘dark side’’ to TheSecret. At least Vitale and Byrnedemonstrate consistency in stating theclear implications of their teaching.Indeed, these implications were notlost on former occultist andprofessional astrologer MarciaMontenegro, who, in response to thispart of the teaching of The Secret,wrote:

‘‘This has hideous implications ifyou apply this theory to horrificevents like the Holocaust and9/11. But I can tell you that thisis how people who believe youcreate your own reality reallythink. People who have sufferedmust have attracted it into theirlives. This is the kind of callousthinking that inevitably resultsfrom the belief in the ‘law ofattraction.’ So if you get cancer,break an arm, are raped, arerobbed, etc., then you havebrought this on yourself.’’111

THE SECRET’S‘‘SCIENTIFIC’’ CLAIMS

The Secret uses scientific jargon andmakes scientific claims, but withoutany documentation. Assertions aremade and the public is asked toaccept them as fact:

• ‘‘The law [of attraction] beganat the beginning of time. It hasalways been and will always be.It is the law that determines thecomplete order in the Universe,every moment of your life, andevery single thing you experiencein your life.’’112

• ‘‘What most people don’t under-stand is that a thought has afrequency. We can measure athought.’’113

• ‘‘Thoughts are magnetic, andthoughts have a frequency. Asyou think, those thoughts aresent out into the Universe, andthey magnetically attract all likethings that are on the samefrequency. Everything sent out

returns to the source. And thatsource is You.’’114

• ‘‘The law of attraction is thelaw of creation. Quantumphysicists tell us that the entireUniverse emerged from thought!You create your life throughyour thoughts and the law ofattraction, and every singleperson does the same.’’115

• ‘‘The amazing work anddiscoveries of the quantumphysicists over the last eightyyears has brought us to a greaterunderstanding of the unfathom-able power of the human mindto create. Their work parallelsthe words of the world’s greatminds, including Carnegie,Emerson, Shakespeare, Bacon,Krishnamurti, and Buddha.’’116

• ’’... it has been scientificallyproven that an affirmative thought ishundreds of times more powerfulthan a negative thought.’’117

• ‘‘The study of quantumphysics helped me to have adeeper understanding of TheSecret, on an energetic level. Formany people, their belief isstrengthened when they see theperfect correlation between theknowledge of The Secret andthe theories of new science. Letme explain how you are themost powerful transmissiontower in the Universe. Insimple terms, all energy vibratesat a frequency. Being energy,you also vibrate at a frequency,and what determines your fre-quency at any time is whateveryou are thinking and feeling. Allthe things you want are made ofenergy, and they are vibratingtoo. Everything is energy. Hereis the ‘wow’ factor. When youthink about what you want, andyou emit that frequency, youcause the energy of what youwant to vibrate at that fre-quency and you bring it to You!As you focus on what you want,you are changing the vibrationof the atoms of that thing, and

you are causing it to vibrate toYou.’’118

• ‘‘You are an energy magnet, soyou electrically energize every-thing to you and electrically en-ergize yourself to everything youwant. Human beings managetheir own magnetizing energy,because no one outside of themcan think or feel for them, and itis thoughts and feelings thatcreate our frequencies.’’119

• ‘‘I don’t care what city you’reliving in, you’ve got enough powerin your body, potential power, toilluminate the whole city for nearlya week.’’120

Before we attempt to look at the‘‘science’’ of The Secret, we shouldremember Paul’s admonition:

‘‘Beware lest anyone cheat youthrough philosophy and emptydeceit, according to the traditionof men, according to the basicprinciples of the world, and notaccording to Christ. For in Himdwells all the fullness of theGodhead bodily; and you arecomplete in Him, who is thehead of all principality andpower’’ (Colossians 2:8-10).

We would suggest that these wordsof Scripture are relevant to the teach-ings of The Secret in relation to sci-ence. Jerry Adler, writing for News-week, says:

‘‘On a scientific level, the law ofattraction is preposterous. Two ofthe ‘teachers’ in the film areidentified as quantum physicists,which they are, although on thefringes of mainstream science.One, Fred Alan Wolf, is mostlyan author of science books with aquasi-mystical bent, and theother, John Hagelin (who has runfor president on the Natural Lawticket), is affiliated with Mahar-ishi University of Management,in Fairfield, Iowa, which doesresearch on TranscendentalMeditation.121 Both of them, con-tacted by Newsweek, distancedthemselves from the idea of aphysical law that attracts neck-


laces to people who wish forthem. ‘I don’t think it works thatway,’ says Wolf dryly. ‘It hasn’tworked that way in my life.’Hagelin acknowledges the largerpoint, that ‘the coherence andeffectiveness of our thinking iscrucial to our success in life.’ But,he adds, ‘this is not, principally,the result of magic.’ Wolf said heused his time in front of thecamera to talk about the relation-ship between quantum mechan-ics and consciousness, but allthat evidently wound up on thecutting-room floor. What hemight have said is something likethis: modern physics says thatatomic particles influence oneanother in ways that violate ourordinary understanding of spaceand time, a phenomenon called‘quantum entanglement.’ Thequestion is whether quantum sig-nals can be perceived on thescale of something like a neuron,a brain or a human being. Over-whelmingly, physicists dismissthis idea. A minority, very muchout of the mainstream, think it’sworth investigating, and a fewclaim to have experimental evi-dence that thoughts can influencephysical objects, such as the cir-cuitry in a random-number gen-erator. But the effects are tiny, onthe order of a few hundredths of1 percent. And there’s no evi-dence you can use it to move aBMW into your driveway.’’122

Likewise, on a Nightline broadcastexamining some of the claims of TheSecret, Dr. Brian Greene, a leadingphysicist at Columbia University, in-terviewed by the show’s anchor Cyn-thia McFadden, denied that ourthoughts produced any significantgravitational or electro-magnetic‘‘pull’’ that directly drew things tous.123 The moral of this story is: Don’ttake science lessons from The Secret!

HEALTH, WEALTH,AND MORE

Cathy Goodman, featured in boththe book and the DVD of The Secret,gives the following testimonial:

‘‘I was diagnosed with breast cancer.I truly believed in my heart, withmy strong faith, that I was alreadyhealed. ... I believed in my heart Iwas healed. I saw myself as if cancerwas never in my body. ... From thetime I was diagnosed to the time Iwas healed was approximately threemonths. And that’s without anyradiation or chemotherapy.’’124

To include this in The Secret, as ifthis were the way to proceed indealing with sickness and disease, isdangerous and irresponsible. Cancerssometimes go into partial or completeremission. In a complete remission,the person has no symptoms. Suchremissions can last for years, but maynot indicate permanent healing;125

although, for her sake, it is hoped thatshe is permanently healed. If she ishealed, however, it is only due to Godhaving had mercy on her, and notbecause of her healing herself, as shebelieves (Philippians 2:27).

Byrne also directs:

‘‘Think thoughts of perfection.Illness cannot exist in a body thathas harmonious thoughts. Knowthere is only perfection, and asyou observe perfection you mustsummon that to you. Imperfectthoughts are the cause of allhumanity’s ills, including dis-ease, poverty, and unhappiness.When we think negativethoughts we are cutting our-selves off from our rightful heri-tage. Declare and intend, ‘I thinkperfect thoughts. I see only per-fection. I am perfection.’’’126

As for wealth, on the Nightlineprogram that examined some of TheSecret’s claims, Cynthia McFadden in-terviewed former Secretary of Com-merce Pete Peterson, co-founder ofThe Blackstone Group, which man-ages billions of dollars, concerningThe Secret’s teaching that one can havewealth by thinking about it withintent. In part, Peterson responded bysaying, ‘‘It’s psychotic, really, to be-lieve that people are going to giveyou money simply because you wishit.’’127

The sad, but logically consistent,results of believing The Secret’s teach-ings about money may be seen in astory in a recent People magazinearticle devoted to The Secret. There itwas reported that one of the believersin the teachings of The Secret ‘‘recentlysigned a contract to pay $15,000 tohave her house painted this summer.‘I have no idea where the money isgoing to come from, but there is noquestion in my mind it will work out,’she says. ‘I know it like I know myname.’’’128

MORE ABSURDITIES

Time and space don’t permit acomplete listing of absurd thoughtsand statements in The Secret. Butbelow are a few examples:

• ’’... the condition of beingoverweight was created throughyour thought to it. To put it inthe most basic terms, if someoneis overweight, it came fromthinking ‘fat thoughts,’ whetherthat person was aware of it ornot. A person cannot think ‘thinthoughts’ and be fat. It com-pletely defies the law of attrac-tion.’’129

• ‘‘The most common thoughtthat people hold, and I held ittoo, is that food was responsiblefor my weight gain. ... Food isnot responsible for putting onweight. It is your thought thatfood is responsible for putting onweight that actually has food puton weight. Remember, thoughtsare [the] primary cause ofeverything, and the rest is effectsfrom those thoughts. Think per-fect thoughts and the result mustbe perfect weight. Let go of allthose limiting thoughts. Foodcannot cause you to put onweight, unless you think itcan.’’130

• ‘‘So now you start to havedifferent beliefs, like, ‘There is morethan enough in the Universe.’ Oryou have the belief that, ‘I’m notgetting older, I’m getting younger.’We can create it the way we want it,by using the law of attraction.’’131


We might add, ‘‘Yes, and there arepeople in asylums who really believethat they are George Washington orthe Queen of England!’’ Contrary tothe teaching of The Secret, thinkingthings are so doesn’t make them so,unless they really are so. In fact,there is a phrase that pretty well sumsup the teaching of The Secret: ‘‘wishfulthinking.’’

Christian apologist and authorRobert Bowman wrote somethingabout the Word-Faith movement thatcan easily be applied with equal easeto the teachings of The Secret:

‘‘Perhaps the most serious dan-ger of the Word-Faith position isthat, since it is unbiblical andunrealistic, those who believe itare in for serious disappoint-ment. The result can be — andoften has been — disillusion-ment. ... The Word-Faith teachersset people up for a fall whenthey tell them that God promisesthem that they can have whatthey say.’’132

Basically, the same things as weresaid above for the Word-Faithposition and the Word-Faith teacherscould be said for The Secret and itsteachers: The Secret teachers setpeople up for a fall when they tellthem that they can have whateverthey desire and think about withintent. The results of believing in suchwishful thinking can be disastrous.

Donald Whitney concludes hisinsightful review of The Secret withthese words:

‘‘‘The Secret to everything’ (touse Byrne’s term) is GodHimself. And God, the ‘GreatSecret,’ has been revealed inJesus Christ, ‘in whom arehidden all the treasures ofwisdom and knowledge’ (Coloss-ians 2:3). God has freely told usin the Bible everything we needto know about discovering theunlimited ‘treasures of wisdomand knowledge’ found in Christ.And He remains an unknownSecret only to those who will notlook for Him there.’’133

The most tragic effect of all concern-ing The Secret is that it turns peopleaway from the Savior as their sourceof hope and eternal salvation, andplaces the focus on themselves assavior. The words of Jesus areapropos:

‘‘For what will it profit a man ifhe gains the whole world, andloses his own soul? Or what willa man give in exchange for hissoul?’’ (Mark 8:36-37; see alsoLuke 12:15-21).

Endnotes:1. Jerry Adler, ‘‘Decoding ‘The Secret,’’’Newsweek, March 5, 2007, pp. 52-55, 57-58.2. Maria Eftimiades, ‘‘The Secret: Salvationor Hype?,’’ People, March 19, 2007, pp.125-126.3. Carol Memmott, ‘‘‘Secret’ attracts plentyof attention,’’ USA Today, Feb. 15, 2007,pg. 1D; and Marco R. della Cava, ‘‘Secrethistory of ‘The Secret’: An old-time self-help religion gets new face,’’ USA Today,March 29, 2007, pg. 1D.4. Peter Jones, ‘‘This ‘Secret’ isn’t worthkeeping,’’ The Christian Science Monitor,April 10, 2007.5. The Oprah Winfrey Show, Feb. 8, 2007,and Feb. 16, 2007.6. Larry King Live, March 8, 2007.7. Nightline, March 23, 2007.8. Rhonda Byrne, The Secret. New York:Atria Books, 2006.9. The Secret, Extended edition DVD, TSProduction LLC, 2006.10. Donald S. Whitney, ‘‘A Review of TheSecret by Rhonda Byrne.’’ Review postedon Whitney’s Biblical Spirituality ministryweb site (www.biblicalspirituality.org).11. ‘‘Pantheism’’ is the belief that ‘‘every-thing is God.’’ The implications of thesetwo beliefs are a worldview that is dia-metrically opposed to the Christian world-view.12. Nightline, op. cit.13. The October 2004 date is derived fromBryne’s chapter in Jack Canfield and GayHendricks with Carol Kline, You’ve Got ToRead This Book!: 55 People Tell the Story ofthe Book That Changed Their Life. NewYork: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006, pg.95.14. The Secret, op. cit., pg. ix.15. Ibid., pg. 76. See also the shortbiographical information that Byrne giveson Wallace Wattles on pg. 197. This bookby Wattles was published in 1910. Wattlesdied the following year.16. You’ve Got To Read This Book!, op. cit.,pg. 96, italics in original.17. The Secret, op. cit., pg. ix.

18. You’ve Got To Read This Book!, op. cit.,pg. 96.19. The Secret, op. cit., pg. x.20. You’ve Got To Read This Book!, op. cit.,pg. 96.21. The Secret, op. cit., pp. ix-x, italic inoriginal. On the DVD, Byrne mentionsthat she knew that she wanted to create atelevision show; but says nothing aboutmaking a film.22. Ibid., pg. x.23. You’ve Got To Read This Book!, op. cit.,pg. 99.24. The Secret, op. cit., pg. xi.25. ‘‘Decoding ‘The Secret,’’’ op. cit., pg.58.26. The Secret, op. cit., pg. 9.27. Ibid., pg. 7.28. Ibid., pg. 8, italics in original.29. Ibid., pg. 9, italic in original.30. Ibid., pg. 10, italic in original.31. Ibid., pg. 11, italics in original.32. Ibid., pp. 29-30, italics in original.33. Ibid., pg. 30.34. Ibid., pg. 33.35. Ibid., pg. 184, italics in original.36. Ibid., pg. 179, italics in original.37. Ibid., pg. 100, capitalization in original.38. Ibid., pg. 178, italics in original.39. Ibid., pp. 47-54, which both lists anddiscusses these three steps.40. Ibid., pg. 47.41. Ibid., italics in original.42. Ibid., pg. 48.43. Ibid., pg. 53.44. Ibid.45. Ibid., pp. 155-159, 162, 175.46. Ibid., pg. 162.47. Ibid., pg. 164, italics in original. Statedby The Secret teacher Lisa Nichols. Thisquote is also on the DVD.48. Ibid.49. Ibid., pp. 169-170.50. Ibid., pg. 170, italics in original. Statedby The Secret teacher and contemporaryNew Thought personality Michael Ber-nard Beckwith.51. Ibid., pg. 173.52. Ibid., pg. 175, italics in original.53. Ibid., italics in original.54. Ibid., pg. 182.55. Ibid., pg. 183.56. In saying that the two share certainsimilarities, I certainly do not mean thatthe teachings of the Word-Faithmovement and The Secret are identical. Farfrom it! For one thing, the God of theWord-Faith movement is the personalGod of the Bible, in contrast to thepantheistic, impersonal ‘‘god’’ of TheSecret. Additionally, there are sincere,born-again Christians who embrace theteachings of the Word-Faith movement.By contrast, to embrace The Secret is to


depart from biblical Christianity and theChristian worldview altogether. This is so,because the foundation of The Secret isanti-Christian at its very core.57. D.R. McConnell, A Different Gospel.Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers,Inc., 1995, pg. xix.58. ‘‘Traditions deriving from an [ancient]Egyptian ... mystical philosophical text, ithonours the Egyptian God Thoth who isidentified with the Greek Hermes underthe name of Trismegistus (Thrice-Great-est).’’ Rosemary Goring, editor, Dictionaryof Beliefs and Religions. Ware, Hereford-shire: Wordsworth Editions, Ltd., 1995,pg. 215, s.v., ‘‘Hermetica, Hermetism.’’(Originally published as Chambers Dic-tionary of Beliefs and Religions. Edinburgh:W&R Chambers, Ltd., 1992.)59. The Secret, op. cit., pp. 4-5.60. Ibid., pg. 2, italics in original. Theseassertions stated by The Secret teacherDenis Waitley.61. Ibid., pg. xi.62. Ibid., pg. 6.63. Ibid., pg. 7.64. Ibid., pg. 177, italics in original.65. Ibid., pp. 171-172.66. Ibid., pg. v.67. Ibid., pg. xiii.68. Ibid.69. Ibid., emphasis added.70. Ibid., pg. xv.71. Ibid.72. Ibid., pp. 1-2. On pg. 1, used of TheSecret teacher Bob Proctor. On pg. 2, usedof The Secret teacher Dr. John DeMartini.73. Ibid., pg. 1, used of The Secret teacherJohn Assaraf.74. Ibid., pg. 2, used of The Secret teacherDr. John DeMartini.75. Ibid., used of The Secret teacherMichael Bernard Beckwith.76. Ibid., pg. 7, used of The Secret teacherBob Doyle.77. Ibid., pg. 13, used of The Secret teacherLisa Nichols.78. Ibid., pg. 177, used of The Secretteacher Neale Donald Walsch.79. Ibid., pg. 185, used of The Secretteacher Michael Bernard Beckwith.80. Ibid., pg. 189, used of The Secretteacher Mike Dooley.81. Ibid., pg. 195, used of The Secretteacher Marci Shimoff.82. Ibid., pg. 76.83. You’ve Got To Read This Book!, op. cit.,pg. 96.84. The Secret, op. cit., e.g., pp. 45, 46, 59,89, 102, 168. Although, at one point,Byrne states, ‘‘The Genie is the law ofattraction’’ (pg. 46), it appears that, incertain places, ‘‘the Genie’’ refers to ‘‘theUniverse’’ or The Secret’s ‘‘god’’ (e.g., seepp. 59, 89).

85. A Different Gospel, op. cit., pg. 185.McConnell was using this phrase todescribe the God of the Word-Faith move-ment. Whether or not such a descriptionaccurately describes the conception of Godheld by that movement, it is definitely anaccurate description of the impersonal“god” of The Secret.86. The Secret, op. cit., pg. 109.87. Glenn R. Mosley, New Thought, AncientWisdom: The History and Future of the NewThought Movement. Philadelphia: Temple-ton Foundation Press, 2006, pg. 44.88. Ibid.89. Ibid., pg. 45.90. John Ankerberg and John Weldon,Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions.Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House Publishers,1999, pg. 342.91. New Thought, Ancient Wisdom, op. cit.,pp. 70-71, 136.92. For more regrettable inconsistencies inPeale, see G. Richard Fisher, ‘‘The Fatherof Positive Thinking: Negative Reflectionson Norman Vincent Peale,’’ The QuarterlyJournal, October-December 1992, pp. 4-6;and M. Kurt Goedelman, ‘‘Peale ChargedWith Occultic Plagiarisms,’’ The QuarterlyJournal, January-March 1996, pp. 3, 17.93. Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions,op. cit., pg. 343.94. New Thought, Ancient Wisdom, op. cit.,pp. 54-61.95. Philip H. Lochhaas, How To Respond:The New Age Movement. St. Louis: Concor-dia Publishing House, 1995, pg. 8, italicsin original.96. Ibid., pp. 10-13, italics in original.97. Walter Martin, The New Age Cult.Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers,1989, pg. 15.98. How To Respond: The New AgeMovement, op. cit., pg. 16, italics inoriginal.99. Ron Rhodes, New Age Movement.Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publish-ing House, 1995, pg. 28.100. Wallace D. Wattles, The Science ofGetting Rich. New York: Jeremy P.Tarcher/Penguin, 2007, pg. viii. On thepage containing the book’s publicationinformation, it is noted that ‘‘The Scienceof Getting Rich [was] first published in1910.’’101. The Secret, op. cit., pp. xiv, 76, 81, 160,181. The American Heritage CollegeDictionary, 3rd edition, defines ‘‘avatar’’ as‘‘The descent to earth of a Hindu deity,esp. Vishnu, in human or animal form.’’ Itis true that ‘‘avatar’’ need not be used in aHindu sense; however, given the Hinduroots of The Secret, a Hindu use of thisword in the book seems probable.102. New Age Movement, op. cit., pg. 8.103. The Secret, op. cit., pg. 197.

104. ‘‘Decoding ‘The Secret,’’’ op. cit., pg.58.105. Ron Rhodes, Find It Quick Handbookon Cults and New Religions. Eugene, Ore.:Harvest House Publishers, 2005, pg. 134.106. The New Age Cult, op. cit., pg. 13.107. Harold S. Kushner, When Bad ThingsHappen to Good People. New York: AvonBooks, 1981, pg. 87.108. For instance, on the Larry King Live,March 8, 2007, program, The Secret teach-ers John Assaraf and Lisa Nichols soughtto distance themselves from this aspect ofThe Secret teaching. The Secret teacher BobProctor did the same in the Nightline,March 23, 2007, broadcast.109. The Secret, op. cit., pp. 27-28, italics inoriginal.110. Ibid., pg. 28. Byrne repeats the finalsentence of the paragraph above in herchapter summary on pg. 43.111. Marcia Montenegro, ‘‘The Secret: ACosmic Dream Machine.’’ Article postedon Montenegro’s Christian Answers forthe New Age ministry web site (http://cana.userworld.com/cana).112. The Secret, op. cit., pg. 5.113. Ibid., pg. 9, italics in original. Statedby The Secret teacher John Assaraf.114. Ibid., pg. 10, italic in original.115. Ibid., pg. 15.116. Ibid., pg. 21.117. Ibid., pg. 22, italics in original. Statedby contemporary New Thought leaderMichael Bernard Beckwith.118. Ibid., pp. 156-157, italics in original.119. Ibid., pg. 157.120. Ibid., pg. 158, italics in original.Stated by The Secret teacher Bob Proctor.121. Transcendental meditation is a formof Hindu practice; so, here again, we seeevidence of The Secret’s deep roots inHinduism.122. ‘‘Decoding ‘The Secret,’’’ op. cit., pg.57.123. Nightline, op. cit.124. The Secret, op. cit., pp. 128, 129, italicsin original.125. See The American Cancer Society’sarticle on remission posted on its web site(www.cancer.org).126. The Secret, op. cit., pg. 130.127. Nightline, op. cit.128. ‘‘The Secret: Salvation or Hype?,’’ op.cit., pg. 126.129. The Secret, op. cit., pg. 58.130. Ibid., pg. 59, italics in original.131. Ibid., pg. 167, italics in original.Stated by The Secret teacher Joe Vitale.132. Robert M. Bowman, Jr., The Word-Faith Controversy: Understanding the Healthand Wealth Gospel. Grand Rapids, Mich:Baker Books, 2001, pg. 203.133. ‘‘A Review of The Secret by RhondaByrne,’’ op. cit.

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VOL. 27, NO. 4 OCTOBER-DECEMBER2007 EDITOR: … You Want to Know The Secret.pdf · · 2018-02-20learn that it was The Science of Getting Rich, ... ‘‘read dozens of books,