"You are not a god." or "Where Did “The Secret” or the “Law of Attraction” Come From?"

Where Did “The Secret” or the “Law of Attraction” Come From?



The secret of the book (or dvd) by the same name is basically the idea of the "Law of Attraction" taken to extremes. The idea came from the "New Thought" movement of the 19th century ( hardly ancient). Teachers like Phineas Parkhurst Quimby believed that the mind emitted unseen energies that could produce healing and prosperity.  Wallace Wattle carried this idea through in his 1910 book `The Science of Getting Rich" ( doesn't sound very spiritual...) from which Rhonda Byrne ( author of The Secret) borrowed the term "the law of attraction". 

Of course, positive thinking is a good thing. Thoughts are indeed important ( see Philippians 4:8 below).. but they are not supernatural and all-powerful. Only God is that. The problem with these ideologies is that they all teach you, eventually,   that you are a god or God.


Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 



I have watched "The Secret" dvd and this is what the ultimate conclusion always is - you do not need God - you are God, you simply need to find 'God" within your self and your universe.

Eze 28:9 "Will you still say before him who slays you, 'I am a god'? But you shall be a man, and not a god, In the hand of him who slays you. "

 As per the actual Bible , God created you, sustains you each day, and has offered you redemption through His Son , Jesus Christ ( who is equally God, also as per the Bible). This is not "my version" of the Bible, this is the teaching you get by taking a logical  approach to the interpretation of Scripture ( called Hermenuetics) . This is what you get by taking things in context - not out of context as these folks consistently do. 

New Age / Thought teachers like Eckhart Tolle, Michael Beckworth and Deepak Chopra consistently misuse singular  Bible verses ,coming up with, quite frankly,  ludicrous interpretations given the context. They even speak of the `Spirit of Christ` , yet what they describe is nothing of the Christ described in the Gospels or the rest of the New Testament. I encourage you to read the Bible in context of itself and not just believe whatever comes out of the mouth of pop spirituality leaders.

The idea that we humans can become God or god-like is actually a very old lie.  

Gen 3:5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 

Satan speaking of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. 

We are not gods nor are we animals; we are something else altogether - imagebearers of the Creator God.

Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

Gen 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Gen 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

(Side note: Although we are to subdue the earth, this speaks nothing of "anti-environmentalism" or wastefulness as some love to blame Christians for. God later claims that Adam is to tend and keep His creation and we are commanded to be good stewards of all the resources we have.)

Later on, King  David, amazed at God`s grace and mercy cries out : " What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?"  Psalm 8:4

And Peter reminds us that, ...

"People are like grass that dies away; their beauty fades as quickly as the beauty of wildflowers. The grass withers, and the flowers fall away. But the word of the Lord will last forever."  And that word is the Good News (the Gospel) that was preached to you."

1 Peter 1:24-25

John also declares that

 ".. he who does the will of God abides forever." (1 John 2:7)   

 Not "he who finds his inner god" but he who does the will of the one true God.


All of this type of New Age/ Thought teaching is eerily similar to what is described in Romans:

"Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.... They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen."

Romans 1:22,25

Not to mention Ezekiel 28....

Eze 28:1 The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,
Eze 28:2 "Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Because your heart is lifted up, And you say, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, In the midst of the seas,' Yet you are a man, and not a god, Though you set your heart as the heart of a god 
Eze 28:3 (Behold, you are wiser than Daniel! There is no secret that can be hidden from you!
Eze 28:4 With your wisdom and your understanding You have gained riches for yourself, And gathered gold and silver into your treasuries;
Eze 28:5 By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your riches, And your heart is lifted up because of your riches),"
Eze 28:6 'Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god,
Eze 28:7 Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you, The most terrible of the nations; And they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, And defile your splendor.
Eze 28:8 They shall throw you down into the Pit, And you shall die the death of the slain In the midst of the seas.
Eze 28:9 "Will you still say before him who slays you, 'I am a god'? But you shall be a man, and not a god, In the hand of him who slays you.