'The Secret' May Have Some Problems

There is a lot of fervor going on right now about the movie "The Secret." There are those who think that it's the greatest thing to come along in centuries and everybody should buy it. And there are those who look at it as evil incarnate and tell us that we should run away as fast as we can. And to be fair, I'm sure that most people are somewhere in between those two extremes.

As I Christian I do have one major problem with the movie. The idea that "the universe" is an all-powerful genie that will grant us our every wish clearly disagrees with the Bible. Scripture tells us that it is a loving, all-powerful God, and not some nebulous, impersonal force, who cares for us and provides all that we need.

When I consider the message of the movie from the standpoint of God's word, the problem is that it appeals to something Jesus called the "deceitfulness of riches". Which is not that we aren't supposed to have wealth, in fact it's quite the contrary. God has provides everything we will ever need or want, and Ephesians 3:20-21 tells us that He even gives us "super-abundance" above and beyond anything that we dare ask for or imagine.

The issue isn't wealth, but the false idea that it's really all up to us, that it is the power of our minds or our abilities that brings the riches to us. In Deuteronomy 8:18 says, "But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today." In the second half of John 10:10 Jesus tells us, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." The promise is there, but it is God who has given us the ability to receive wealth, and not our thoughts.

One of the other problems with "The Secret" is its marketing. And I think that there is a real advantage to saying that there is this information, a secret, that has been hidden and suppressed for centuries, and if you could just get your hands on it, your life will be nothing short of miraculous. In some ways it's great marketing, and shows that they understand their target market very well.

The problem comes from the fact that you are speaking to people who believe in scarcity and lack. If you look at it from a Law of Attraction standpoint, the marketing is attracting people who are happy to hear that the reason they are broke, sick, and married to a jerk is because wicked rich people and the evil church have conspired to hide something from them. But now, thanks to the marvels of modern communications and a few brave people who dare to expose it, the "secret" is out.

The truth is that this isn't a secret, and abundance has been available to every person on the face of this earth from the beginning of creation. The marketing creates a problem that the movie then has to try and solve, because it speaks directly to people who feel that they've been cheated and lied to.

I certainly don't want to imply that there haven't been conspiracies. But people who don't understand abundance and who, in that sense don't understand the "secret", have perpetrated those conspiracies. Because if they had understood it, they would have realized that prosperity is available to everyone and that there was no reason to hoard the wealth. Had they really known the truth, they would not have been the greedy, evil people that we often think of when we think about the rich.

The simple fact is that everything we could ever want is available to us. No one can keep us from it, and there is no hidden truth. What we do need to understand is that God is the source of everything in our lives, but He can't give us something against our will or beliefs. In order for God to pour out His blessings on us, we must first understand that they are there for us. And once we comprehend that truth with all our hearts, and give Him the praise that He is due for pouring out His grace and goodness on us, our lives will be truly miraculous.

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