I'm going to be very personal today...please bear with me.
The picture above is a copy of an actual calendar page (I'll risk Rhonda Bryne suing me for copyright violations). The page was removed and saved from an actual desktop calendar marketed by the publishers of the best-selling book 'The Secret.'
I work with the lady who saved this page and keeps it on her computer. Yes, I removed it and copied it...please forgive me. The lady I speak of has bought wholeheartedly into Bryne's book and the accompanying belief system based on the supposed force called the Law of Attraction. She is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet...a wife, mother and grandmother.
She's also dying from cancer...and has been for months. She continues to cling to the hope she reads each day from what you see above. The belief is deep rooted too. I've tried talking to her from a medical and spiritual perspective. As a cancer survivor myself, I've tried to connect with her. Her family talks to her about being more aggressive in treating her condition or else she die. From what I heard today, medical treatment may no longer be a viable option.
For those of you not familiar with 'The Secret,' let me catch you up.
'You shall be like God.' The original scam. The oldest known to man. The one that cast Adam and Eve right out of Eden and daily walks with our Creator. Satan started it at the beginning of mankind, and he continues today with a new twist on the same old con. Byrne's book has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 104 weeks to date, and a DVD version is also available.
Byrne is selling a seductive message that anything you want is possible... and easy to get. Just wish for it. But, this isn't just about keeping an optimistic attitude to improve your life Tony Robbins style...it goes far beyond that. Byrne says the Law of Attraction guarantees that if you think positive thoughts about what you want, you will get it. 'The Universe' will bend over backwards to hand you whatever you wish for...money, a better job, good health, anything.
But that's not the worst part. Among all the positive rhetoric are some very repulsive concepts. While you are rearranging the universe to suit your own wishes, Byrne claims you must avoid people who might inspire negative thoughts. So you should never look at overweight people or let sick people tell you about their illness.
Furthermore, it nastily suggests that victims of catastrophe are the authors of their misfortunes. Stop for just a second and think about the implications of just that claim (i.e. Holocaust, World Trade Center, Great Depression, etc.)...atrocious.
I'm not making this up. It's all in there and more. I've watched the DVD and read the book.
Unfortunately, people are really buying this stuff ... and it is dangerous. The book contains examples of people who supposedly cured themselves of cancer without treatment, and people who bought expensive things because they just knew the money was coming in eventually. Oprah's on board. Bryne's been on most of the major news magazines without serious challenge to her claims.
Byrne is spewing a moronic choral of greed and selfishness, and she is making a fortune. But, I'll give you this for free... Byrne's garbage is simply a repetition of the oldest lie known to man — 'You shall be like God.'
Again, forgive me for being blunt and foreboding. I'm hurt today...and I'm really mad...angry at the ignorant, naive, and gullible.
My title is a quote from Plato... but I wanted to use one from 'The Godfather.'
12 comments:
I have noticed that book cover several time in and out of stores however, I was not familiar with its teachings. It is amazing to me how people will take from the truth and twist it all up. If they would spend as much time and energy in reading, meditating on, and believing in the Word of God and the truths within as they do in trying to reject them...oh Ack. That would just mean they would have to accept all of it. You know the Jesus part and His blood. They want to believe and accept the blessings and power without the acknowledgement and repentance of personal sin and humility. All of that stuff a prideful mind just doesn't want to bow down to. So they mess it up, package it up, and untold numbers of people get caught up in it, suffer, and die. It's sad. Very, very sad.
Wow, that is so scary that people will buy into that thinking. I'd not heard of it's teachings either but it is so very sad...
I am with you on the anger!
And I bet this very same person, at her age, had some sort of religious upbringing-- maybe even prayer in school. What the heck is the church doing?
The reason that this stuff sells is that people want power. They want to control that which they can't seem to control. The last I read, the church was to have superior power. (Satan has power too)
My point is that the church needs to be the "power plant." Because we have gotten so much into how to fix ourselves and get through the week, that we have lost sight of the relationship with the All Powerful.
I have rarely been in a church with regular healing prayer or well managed prophetic teams. Forget even seeing the other gifts in action.
I am not suggesting that the Lord is our spiritual bellhop, but if there is power to be had for healing, He is the creator of it. I'd start at His house.
Another reason that this junk sells is because the power of positive confession is a biblical principal that will work for anyone. God is sovereign, and it may not always produce the desired result, but it will work. Tests show over and over that positive people live longer, and heal more easily.
What is sad is that Jesus is the only One that can "work all things for good." Without an eternal relationship we are simply trying to control the universe.
I had heard of the book, but had no idea what it was about. Wow...it is amazing what people will buy into. Satan is dirty and plays dirty. The sad part is, with the economy and the state of the world, more people will be looking for something like this book.
Thanks for the warning about this book.
Tony, thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving your encouraging comments. My husband and I were reading your blog regarding Israel and I asked him if this was really his...he has said the same things you have said about Israel. We stand with you and other Christians in prayer for Israel.
Sadly, I can relate. I know a lady who has bought into Osteen's positive thinking spirituality and believes this will bring her husband out of his coma (of nearly a year). People never learn to accept loss. They only learn to try to cling to what they have for as long as possible.
Tony
I'm glad you posted on this... as the others said, I'd seen the book on shelves, and the cover's catchy design made me want to purchase it, but something's always kept me from it.
Now I'm glad I didn't - I don't have money to waste on stuff like that.
keep up the good work - and thanks for visiting my blog as well!
So important, Tony...thanks for posting this.
David's right..people want POWER and they think what THEY do will give it to them. The power is in letting go and praying........As Jessie said, prideful minds don't allow total humility and this book just fans the flames of a prideful, "I CAN DO IT ALONE", mind.
Matt here mentions Osteen...he's cute and so charming! But, I'll never forget watching him on Larry King...an avowed man of the Christian Faith is asked "So, Osteen, are you telling me the only way to heaven is through belief in Jesus Christ!?" I held my breath.."Surely a PASTOr would agree.." But, I heard..
"WELL, Larrrrryyyyy..........!" WHY won't people stand up for their beliefs? Other faiths SURE DO!!
And then HE goes on to very much echo this book you feature here..NAME IT AND CLAIM IT! SEE IT IN YOUR MIND and HAVE IT!
WOW. What a lie. I grieve for your friend and her disease and the bill of goods she's buying.
I have a very close friend who buys into this stuff too, thank you Oprah. It's leading people to an area of false hope. It's self-reliance at it's worst. It's false teaching. I wish more Christians would educate themselves about this stuff so that they could explain, gently and in love, how foolish this thinking really is.
I am sorry I'm so late to this discussion. If this stuff worked, my brother-in-law would be rich and free of Parkinson's disease. He's 58 years old. It's interesting that truth is woven in and distorted by the passage you posted. Imperfection is the problem, but the solution is not found in our positive thoughts, only in the only Person who has ever achieved perfection.
Seriously...the New Age movement frightens me. I include Schuller and Osteen in this movement, too.
Haven't read The Secret. 'Cause I know the secret, and He ain't a secret.
Brilliant! This team of strategists and topics are useful to read. Just think about how ingenious Rhonda Byrne's strategy really is, all about the publishers and this kind of "secrets".
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