A "secret" is quickly getting out of the bag. However, the secret behind it is, well, even more secret.
Recently, Oprah Winfrey dedicated an entire episode of her show to "The Secret," a DVD that is supposed to change your life. Before you buy it, think again. The DVD, as well as the concept behind it, is full of twisted half-truth that's not worth the $50. Lucky me, someone leant it to me for FREE!
The DVD starts out with a sequence reminiscent of the Da Vinci Code, claiming the secret was buried, suppressed, hidden, etc. UNTIL NOW! (No substantiation is ever made for these claims anywhere in the DVD, but it does work to grab your interest.) Soon, it comes out with it--the secret is the Law of Attraction--that what you want is something you attract to you. And if you work it right, you can have anything you want--miracles of healing, riches, anything.
This principle does have a portion of truth. Jesus said "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Matthew 7:1-2). Ministries such as Elijah House have long noted that people who judge their parents on something and say, "I will never marry someone like my dad," end up marrying someone like their dad. Or if they determine they will never be like their mom or dad in a given sin, they grow up to embody that very thing. Whether the expectation is rejection, abuse, alcoholism, or anything else, it is manifested again. The way out is forgiveness, renouncing your judgment, and believing who God is and what He has for you--love, security, etc.
What The Secret proposes is that you take this principle of attraction and use it for any purpose you please. By default, it says the universe through its energy bestows the benefits or curses. However, the DVD adds you can interpet the secret through whatever spirituality you prefer. In the DVD Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, laments that he used to wonder what purpose God had for him. Viewers are told they shouldn't look to God to determine their purpose in life, they should determine it themselves.
Then it gets worse. Although Lisa Nichols said her life was turned around after praying to God, she doesn't recommend this for anyone else in dire straights. In fact, before the end of the DVD, she actually tells the viewer "You are God made manifest." It even promises that reversing aging is possible.
All this is a sad repeat of the serpent talking to Eve in Genesis 3. After inviting Eve to eat the fruit of the garden, the serpent adds, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it [the tree of knowledge] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Disguising the path of death as a hidden and secret path towards divinity is the oldest lie around.
Despite mumbo-jumbo arguments of how this law of attraction works (vibrations, transmutations of feelings that emanate from thoughts, etc.), Oprah and The Secret teachers have swallowed this whole, deceiving others and being deceived. Don't be a part of it. The only giver of immortality and lasting blessing is the Father of Lights, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Lee Harding is a freelance journalist in Regina, Saskatchewan. A former Mennonite Brethren pastor turned Pentecostal, he has previously worked as a television reporter with CBC, CTV, Global, and 100 Huntley Street. He has also written for Reuters and been published in the National Post. He and his wife Tanis have a daughter, Aliyah. He also writes for and maintains ReginaLink.org and eternalee.blogspot.com.
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