Secret Heresy - Pt. 2 of 2

The Secret is no secret! Millions are buying it (literally). What is it's appeal? This life philosophy answers to the natural dispositions of the sin sick heart like hand to glove. If you haven't done so already, check out this series of quotes from the DVD. These statements have a familiar ring to them like something you would have heard in the Garden of Eden where the serpent's mantra was "You will be like God!"

A desire to be like God can be of two types. One is good, the other is bad. It is possible to desire to be like God as children desire to emulate their father. This is exactly the kind of appeal Paul makes in Ephesians 5:1 when he says, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children." The bad kind of desire to be like God is the desire of the upstart, the one who longs to become God's equal, His rival, or His replacement. This is what Satan was pitching and The Secret has taken a page from his play-book. I don't care how much you dress up The Secret in biblical terminology or attempt to find points of connection between it and biblical truth, you will not be able to escape this most fundamental difference: The Secret and biblical truth have as much in common as Satan does with God.

It gets worse! When the dust settles on the book of Job, God makes this statement to Job's three "friends:" "For this reason my wrath is kindled against you [Eliphaz] and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me, what is right" (Job 42:7). Do you like it when someone misrepresents you, or makes public statements about you that aren't true? God doesn't either. When we talk about God, who He is and what He is like, we better get it right! It is here that The Secret says what would kindle God's wrath. Let me pinpoint some of these misrepresentations.

1. God is omnipresent, but he is also transcendent. This means that God is everywhere, but that He also dwells OUTSIDE of time and space. The Secret doesn't get this and conceives of "God" as a synonym for the universe.
2. Second, there is a denial of the personhood of God in The Secret. God is presented not as a person, He is a force. (Haven't we heard this somewhere before, Obi-wan?) This is an important issue for the purveyors of The Secret because a force is capable of being manipulated  (like electricity) in ways that a person (who has a will) is not.
3. Third, there is a denial of the sovereignty of God embedded in The Secret. God is the controller of circumstances. He is bound by no man and chooses what He deems best to suit His perfect purposes. "Place the attention on what you want to experience" all you want. In the final analysis, God decides what will happen, not you! Yes, it is true that God can choose to fold our desires into His plan, but "thinking positive thoughts" don't have much to do with it. Praying to the God who is in charge, does.

Now, you would think that with so many strikes against it, The Secret would be something that followers of Jesus view as glaringly flawed and unsuitable for their spiritual growth. Surprise - there are saints who are like Luke Skywalker. "I see the good in The Secret." Let's figure out what's going on here, on Monday.

Comments

[Randy]

Right on Jim...not a very well kept secret...just seems like a lot more of the same old mysticism, power of positive thinking, humanistic, bla, bla, bla, the world keeps throwing at us with an ever increasing speed and intensity. Thanks for enlightening us once again!

[Bo]

OPRAH