Jesus said:
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:32).
So what is the truth?
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Jn 14:6).
Only Jesus is the truth, NOT “The Secret.”
The Truth of God’s Word is free, openly available to anyone who desires it’s truths, and it won’t cost you a penny.
“The Secret” won’t help you and if you follow the words Wattles, Byrne, Oprah, Mary Baker Eddie or anyone like them then you know you destination and it’s not a pretty one.
Now if you believe in Jesus Christ but also follow the above people your destination is the still the same.
“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils” (1 Cor 10:21).
The above article points out that we live in a very greedy and selfish world and no one can deny that, and I have no doubt that it is going to get worse.
Yet, Jesus Christ does not change. So no matter what happens in this world we know that He will always be there to take care of us:
“Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).
She is not alone, below are just a couple mentioned (due space) and tomorrow, talk about a sad joke, we’ll look at…
Corinthians 4
An Honest and Tried Ministry
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
“We faint not” – when God through His mercy calls and commissions His servant, He also supplies the strength necessary for them to persevere in the face of hardships.
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
“Have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty” – Paul is referring to the false teachers.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
“God of this world” – the devil, the unseen power behind all unbelief and ungodliness. Those who follow him have in effect made him their god.
“Image of God” – Christ, who is both the incarnate Son and the Second Person of the Trinity, authentically displays God to us, for He is the very radiance of divine glory (Heb 1:3).
He is the image of God in which man was originally created and into which redeemed mankind is being gloriously transformed (3:18), until at last, when Christ comes again at the end of this age, we who believe will be like Him (1 Jn 3:2).
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
“We preach not ourselves” – as false teachers do, puffed up with self-importance. Rick Warren is probably the best example of this today.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
“Commanded the light to shine out of the darkness” – God commanded this at the creation (Gen 1:2-4) and He says it again in the new creation or new birth (5:17; Jn 3:3, 7; 1 Pet 1:3) as the darkness of sin is dispelled by the light of the gospel.
“The light of the knowledge of the glory of God” – the light that now shines in Paul’s heart (qualifying him to be a proclaimer of Christ) is the knowledge of the glory of God as it was displayed in the face of Christ – who has come, not just from an earthly tabernacle, but from the glorious presence of God in heaven itself.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
“This treasure” – the Gospel.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
“We having the same spirit of faith” – the same spirit of faith that Jesus had, just not as great as His because our human heart is filled of sin and must battle against the Spirit at all times (Rom 7:15-25), while Jesus was without sin. But as long as we are with Christ we will prevail (Rom 8:1).
14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
“Things which are seen…things which are not seen” – the experiences and circumstances of this present life, often painful and perplexing, are visible to the Christian; but these are merely phenomena in the passing parade of our fallen age and are therefore temporary and fleeing.
To fix our eyes on these visible things would cause us to lose heart. By contrast the unseen realities, which are no less real for being invisible (Heb 11:1, 7, 26-27), are eternal and imperishable.
Accordingly, we look up and away from the impermanent appearances of this present world scene (see Phil 3:20; Heb 12:2).
“The Secret,” by Rhonda Byrne
This book is of the Devil, taking people away from Jesus. It is available in audio book or DVD format. Byrne’s “The Secret,” was recently featured on the Oprah Winfrey show…
It’s making headlines around the world—and buzz just keeps building. Some say it’s The Secret to creating the life you truly want—losing weight, making money, finding love. See why people everywhere are talking about The Secret.
Oprah is without a doubt the biggest promoter of New Age authors and philosophy than anyone else in the world today.
The Secret is just another New Age deception, being marketed to the public as a miracle solution for all of one’s problems.
Here is what the official website for The Secret advertises…
Towards the end of 2004, and following a string of traumatic events in her personal and professional life, Rhonda Byrne discovered a great secret – The Secret laws and principles of the universe.
Rhonda’s daughter had given her a copy of The Science of Getting Rich, a book written in 1910 by Wallace D. Wattles. Of that moment, Rhonda says,
Something inside of me had me turn the pages one by one, and I can still remember my tears hitting the pages as I was reading it. It gave me a glimpse of The Secret and it was like a flame inside of my heart…
Rhonda Byrne states that she cried, and her tears fell upon the pages, as she read a 98-year old book titled, “The Science of Getting Rich.”
The author of the book is Wallace D. Wattles. As you will learn, Mr. Wattles was a heathen man, who taught damnable heresies, and was a contributing pioneer of today’s Satanic New Age Movement.
Since Miss Byrne has based her entire work largely upon Wattles’ book, and claims that she discovered “The Secret” within its pages – It is critically important that we take a closer look at the book upon which she places so much emphasis.
Wattles Taught that God Wants Everyone to Be Financially Wealthy
Throughout the book, Mr. Wattles perverts the Scriptures to teach that God intended for all of us to be filthy rich. In chapter 5, Increasing Life, Wattles foolishly states:
It is the desire of God that you should get rich. He wants you to get rich because he can express himself better through you if you have plenty of things to use in giving him expression.
He can live more in you if you have unlimited command of the means of life… The universe desires you to have everything you want to have.
You want to get rich in order that you may eat, drink, and be merry when it is time to do these things; in order that you may surround yourself with beautiful things, see distant lands, feed your mind, and develop your intellect.
In sharp contrast, the Bible condemns the greedy desire to be rich.
“And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness” (1 Tim 6:8-11).
In fact, the Bible teaches that more poor people will enter into Heaven than rich people.
“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not GOd chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of teh kingdom which he hath promised to them tha tlove him?” (Jas 2:5).
Wattles fails to speak of the reality of hellfire in his book, and the fact that all Christ-rejecters will burn there forever (2 Thess 1:8-9; Rev 20:11-15).
Jesus said:
“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt 16:26)
In view of such overwhelming Biblical evidence, only a fool would dare claim that God wants everyone to be rich. Riches are a road to Hellfire:
“And again i say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matt 19:24).
This does not mean that God despises those that are wealthy, but it is through Him and only through Him, not ourselves, that we become wealthy:
“But thou shalt remember the LORD Thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day” (Deut 8:18).
Wattles Taught Not to Sacrifice for Others
Wattles selfishly goes on to state:
Get rid of the idea that God wants you to sacrifice yourself for others, and that you can secure his favor by doing so; God requires nothing of the kind.
The Bibles says quite the opposite:
“Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1st Jn 3:16).
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal6:2).
We ought to “lay down our lives” for fellow Christians. All but John was martyred for preaching the Gospel. The Christian life is all about sacrificing for others.
Wattles’ Demonic New Age Philosophy
In the concluding chapter, titled, Summary of the “Science of Getting Rich,” Mr. Wattles again foolishly states:
There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe…A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought…Man can form things in his thought, and by impressing his thought upon formless substance can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.
The man who wishes to get rich must spend his leisure hours in contemplating his vision, and in earnest thanksgiving that the reality is being given to him…The created energy works through the established channels of natural growth, and of the industrial and social order. All that is included in his mental image will surely be brought to the man who follows the instructions given above…
Mr. Wattles is a New Ager. The idea of “thinking stuff from which all things are made” is 100% New Age doctrine.
In chapter 6, How Riches Come To You, Mr. Wattles evidences his New Age philosophies:
God, the One Substance, is trying to live and do and enjoy things through humanity…
God, the One Substance”? What kind of weird idea is that? God is not a substance! God is a Person. Jesus came to earth, in the flesh, as the manifestation of the Godhead:
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14).
“For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col 2:9).
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Tim 3:16).
Wattles Taught that the World is Becoming Wonderful and is Not of the Devil
If that’s not bad enough, listen to what the fruitcake has to say in chapter 10, Further use Of The Will…
Do not read religious books which tell you that the world is soon coming to an end; and do not read the writing of muckrakers and pessimistic philosophers who tell you that it is going to the devil.
The world is not going to the devil; it is going to God. It is wonderful becoming.
In sharp contrast:
“And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 Jn 5:19).
Second Timothy says:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Tim 3:1, 13).
Oprah Winfrey, New Thought, “The Secret” and the “New Alchemy”
Though the demonism of the Middle Ages seems to have slowed a bit, there is abundant evidence that in many forms of modern thought – especially the so-called “prosperity” psychology, “willpower-building” metaphysics, and systems of “high-pressure” salesmanship – black magic has merely passed through a metamorphosis, and although its name be changed its nature remains the same.
The foregoing quote reads like an excerpt from a review of the movie, The Secret. This is not the case, however.
Manly P. Hall wrote those words in the late 1920s when New Thought metaphysics was in full swing, and the original self-help gurus combined the burgeoning science of applied psychology with that of Bernays-like manipulative advertising.
An eager public was caught unaware and would consume mass market “willpower-building” manuals, by the millions.
Each successive generation has had its own purveyors, and the Oprah-inspired phenomenon that is The Secret, as we shall see, stems from the same fount.
Self-Help Popular Religion and the New Thought Movement
“Pray! In other words, get an urgent, insistent desire. The first principle of success is Desire – knowing what you want.” Desire is the planting of your seed.
There is no limit, you know, to Mind. Visualize this thing that you want. See it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue-print, and begin to build!
The creative power of thought is now receiving increasing acceptance in the West, which is in some cases taking over, and in others, discovering anew, for itself, what was thought by the ancients in India.
Because they have discovered it anew, they call it “New Thought”; but its fundamental principle is as old as the Upanishads which said, “what you think that you become”.
All recognize this principle in the limited form that a man who thinks good becomes good, and he who is ever harboring bad thought becomes bad. But the Indian and “New Thought” doctrine is more profound than this.
In Vedantic India, thought has been ever held creative. The world is a creation of the thought (Cit Shakti associated with Maya Shakti) of the Lord (Ishvara and Ishvari). Her and His thought is the aggregate, with almighty powers of all thought.
But each man is Shiva and can attain his powers to the degree of his ability to consciously realize himself as such.
Thought now works in man’s small magic just as it first worked in the grand magical display of the World-Creator. Each man is in various degrees a creator. Thought is as real as any form of gross matter.
Wattles Sinfully Places His Book Over the Word of God
Wattles further states:
Read this book every day; keep it with you; commit it to memory, and do not think about other “systems” and theories.
Mr. Wattles elevates his own personal writings above the Scriptures.
Proverbs says:
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart: and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Prov 3:5).
And Jesus commanded us to:
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (Jn 5:39).
But, Wallace Wattles tells us instead to read, memorize, keep, and look only to his book —“The Science of Getting Rich.” Mr. Wattles is of the devil, as are his demonic teachings, and we all know he’s going to hell because:
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev 22:18-19).
A born-again believer only needs one book and that is the Bible, God’s Word.
Wattle’s False Gospel
Wattles states in chapter 15, The Advancing Man:
In the field of religion, the world cried out for the clergyman who can teach his hearers the true science of abundant life. He who masters the details of the science of getting rich, together will the allied sciences of being well, of being great, and of winning love, and who teaches these details from the pulpit, will never lack for a congregation.
This is the gospel that the world needs; it will give increase of life, and men will hear it gladly, and will give it liberal support to the man who brings it to them. [emphasis added]
Second Timothy warns of false teachers like Wallace Wattles:
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Tim 4:3-4).
Mr. Wallace teaches that preachers ought to water-down the truth — never speaking of a sinful world, or of the end of times, or of a hell that burns with fire and brimstone for all unbelievers.
He also says that preachers ought to teach about getting rich, pursuing well-being, and exploiting others with influential love.
Yeah, it’s called a Health, Wealth, and Prosperity gospel, and it’s taught all over the place today in apostate churches.
We are living in a selfish generation of religious-seeking heathens — who desire health, wealth, and prosperity; but refuse to accept the reality of the Word of God.
These people reject the saving power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom 1:16; 2 Tim 3:5).
Such apostate churchgoers have no problem with homosexuality, no anger over abortion, no qualms about false doctrines taught in the church, et cetera.
The world is filled today with falsely professed Christians, who have never been born-again, and are woefully ignorant of the truth of God’s Word; yet, they write books, appear on the Oprah Winfrey show, and lead multitudes into hell.
Mr. Wattles mentions the name of “Jesus” numerous times in his book; yet, he speaks of his god as “One Substance” and talks of men “creating energy” from within themselves to be channeled to achieve success.
Wattle’s gospel is a financially abundant life achieved through increased self-awareness and meditation. This is 100% New Age doctrine.
Wattles and the New Thought Movement
Wattles was associated with the Chicago-based school of New Thought that centered around the teachings of Emma Curtis Hopkins. According to Wikipedia:
The New Thought Movement or New Thought is a loosely allied group of organizations, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of metaphysical beliefs concerning healing, life force, Creative Visualization, and personal power.
The New Thought Movement developed in the United States during the mid to late 19th century and continues to the present time.
It promotes the ideas that God is all powerful and ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human self-hood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, most sickness originates in the mind, and ‘right thinking’ has a healing effect.
Interestingly, Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, was a disciple and patient of New Thought pioneer Phineas Quimby.
Here’s a list of New Thought organizations.
New Thought is demonic, because it denies Jesus Christ as the Savior.
There’s not a dime’s difference between New Thought and New Age. Like New Age, New Thought rejects any attempt to compel humanity to worship God in any particular or prescribed manner.
Thus, the Biblical proclamation in Acts that there is no salvation apart from the name of Jesus Christ is totally rejected in New Thought and New Age teaching. New Thought and New Age are of the Devil.
“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12).
Conclusion
I took much time to expose the author, Wallace D. Wattles, because his book, “The Science of Getting Rich,” is the basis upon which Rhonda Byrne concocted “The Secret.”
I could not help but laugh at the idea of Rhonda Byrne crying over the content of Mr. Wattles’ book. Certainly there is nothing to cry over, except that it is such a terrible piece of work.
Wattles was a New Ager, who believed that true human selfhood is divine.
Wattles adamantly rejected the Biblical teaching that salvation can only be obtained through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Secret is nothing more than New Age mumbo-jumbo, based upon New Thought, which teaches that a person can solve all their life’s troubles through New Age techniques.
Whereas the Bible teaches that we can be “complete” in Christ Jesus (Col 2:10); Wattles taught that only through his book could a person be helped. Mr. Wattle’s is a liar and a fool.
Again, Oprah’s website states:
It’s making headlines around the world—and buzz just keeps building. Some say it’s The Secret to creating the life you truly want—losing weight, making money, finding love. See why people everywhere are talking about The Secret.
Money, money, money — There’s a sucker born every minute. It seems that everyone is looking for an easy way out these days.
It is sad that millions of people are buying garbage like, “The Secret,” that is produced by unsaved heathens who love not the Lord Jesus Christ, and only want your money.
…God Help Us – Marianne Williamson.