THE SECRET

A Necessary Critique

Dr. Jobe Martin

Biblical Discipleship Ministries
www.evolutionofacreationist.com
www.biblicaldiscipleship.org
 • The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, 2006
• (Atria Books: 1230 Avenue of the Americas NY, NY 10020/Beyond
Words Publishing, Inc. 20827 N.W. Cornell Road Suite 500,
Hillsboro, OR 97124-9808) www.beyondword.com.
Rhonda Byrne’s little book The Secret is an
unprecedented international success.

The Big Question is: Why?

 PROVERBS 14:12
• There is a way which seemeth
right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death.
 • “Something remarkable is
underway. It is moving with
almost dizzying speed, but it has
no name and eludes description.”
Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy, p.18
It’s all about
YOU!!!!
The earth turns on its orbit for You. The oceans ebb
and flow for You. The birds sing for You. The sun
rises and it sets for You. The stars come out for
You. Every beautiful thing you see, every wondrous
thing you experience, is all there, for You. Take a
look around. None of it can exist without You. No
matter who you thought you were, now you know
the Truth of Who You Really Are. You are the
master of the Universe. You are the heir to the
kingdom. You are the perfection of Life. And now
you know The Secret.
May the joy be with you!
The Secret, p. 183
• We’re really now moving into a new
era. It’s the era where the last frontier
is not space, as “Star Trek” would
say, but it’s going to be Mind.
Dr. Fred Alan Wolf, The Secret, p. 181
 • Why would a little 199 page book
achieve international attention and
skyrocketing success within a few weeks
of its entrance on the scene of books in
print?
• What does The Secret say and
teach that generates so much
excitement and vigorous approval
among its readers?
Even Oprah Winfrey has helped to spread the
secret. Oprah’s first program on The Secret
received such a huge response that eight days
later she aired an unprecedented follow-up show
called “One Week Later: The Huge reaction to
The Secret.” The book and DVD have also been
featured on a variety of network talk shows,
including CNN’s Larry King Live and The Ellen
DeGeneres Show.
James K. Walker and Bob Waldrep, The Truth Behind The Secret
(Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2007), p. 10
Many centuries ago the following
words were written:
 EZEKIEL 28:3-5
Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no
secret that they can hide from thee: With thy
wisdom and with thine understanding thou
hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold
and silver into thy treasures: By thy great
wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased
thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because
of thy riches….
We often get distracted with this thing called
our body and our physical being. That just
holds your spirit. And your spirit is so big it
fills a room. You are eternal life. You are God
manifested in human form, made to perfection.
Lisa Nichols, The Secret, p. 164 (emphasis mine)
2006
APRIL, 1984
 Susan Taylor, Editor in Chief,
Essence, April 1984
• “Get quiet, and ask the power within for ways to
change stressful conditions in your life. Then listen
to your inner intelligence….With this inner power
we are also masters of ourselves.
• You are a child of the universe, part of a divine
process. The degree to which you accept your
divinity determines how much It can work for you.
Get busy practicing the Presence within. Be still and
know that you are God. (emphasis hers)
 PSALM 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God: I
will be exalted among the heathen,
I will be exalted in the earth.
But Rhonda Byrne writes:
You are God in a physical body. You are Spirit
in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing
itself as You. You are a cosmic being. You are
all power. You are all wisdom. You are all
intelligence. You are the creator, and you are
creating the creation of You on this planet.
The Secret, p. 164.
(emphasis mine)
Twenty-two years after Essence, The Secret is
teaching the same occult deceptions.
And much of this is sounding more and more
like the faddish “Emerging and Emergent
Church.” (more on the Emergent Church
later), also go to www.lighthousetrails.com.
Rhonda Byrne says (The Secret, p. 173):
“You must focus on the presence inside of
You. Take a moment and sit still. Focus on
feeling the life presence inside you. As you
focus on the presence within, it will begin to
reveal itself to You. It is a feeling of pure love,
and bliss, and it is perfection. That presence is
the perfection of You. That presence is the
real You. (emphasis hers)
 Susan Taylor, Editor in Chief, Essence, April 1984:
• “Get quiet, and ask the power within for ways to
change stressful conditions in your life. Then listen
to your inner intelligence….With this inner power
we are also masters of ourselves.
• You are a child of the universe, part of a divine
process. The degree to which you accept your
divinity determines how much It can work for you.
Get busy practicing the Presence within. Be still
and know that you are God. (emphasis hers)
• Also sounds like Helena Blavatsky, Alice Bailey
(Djwhul Khul, Morya), Sri Chinmoy, Annie Besant,
Meister Ekhart, Donald Keyes, Maurice Strong, etc.
 What Does God Himself say?
Isaiah. 43:10f
“Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and
My servant whom I have chosen; that ye
may know and believe Me, and understand
that I am He: before Me there was no God
formed, neither shall there be after Me . I,
even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is
no Savior.”
“Divine Mind is the one and
only reality.”
Charles Fillmore, The Secret, p. 161
• All that exists is the One Universal Mind, and
there is nowhere that the One Mind is not. It
exists in everything. The One Mind is all
intelligence, all wisdom, and all perfection,
and it is everything and everywhere at the
same time. If everything is the One Universal
mind, and the whole of it exists everywhere,
then it is all in You. The Secret, p. 160.
 Colossians 1:25-27
Whereof I am made a minister, according to
the dispensation of God which is given to me
for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the
mystery which hath been hid from ages and
from generations, but now is made manifest to
his saints: To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory.
 How art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut
down to the ground, which didst weaken the
nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will
ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the
mount of the congregation, in the sides of the
north: I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou
shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of
the pit. Isaiah 14:12-15
“So your purpose is what you say it is. Your
mission is the mission you give yourself. Your
life will be what you create it as, and no one
will stand in judgment of it, now or ever.”
The Secret, p. 177
 HEBREWS 9:26b-28
But now once in the end of the world hath he
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And as it is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many; and
unto them that look for him shall he appear the
second time without sin unto salvation.
 JOHN 8:44-47
Jesus said, Ye are of your father the devil, and the
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a
lie, he speaketh of his own for he is a liar, and the
father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye
believe me not.
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the
truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God
heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not,
because ye are not of God.
 ARE YOU DECEIVED?

There is a way which seemeth right

unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death.
Proverbs 14:12
 II CORINTHIANS 11:13-15
For such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers
also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness; whose end shall be according
to their works.
WHAT IS THE HUMAN “ROOT”
OF THE SECRET?
In the early pages of The Secret Rhonda
Byrne acknowledges several people who
were inspirational to her understanding
and writing of The Secret.
FOR THEIR INSPIRATIONAL
TEACHINGS:
“…Jerry and Esther Hicks and the
teachings of Abraham,…”
The Secret, p. xv
 Esther Hicks and Abraham
• It appears that Esther Hicks is a medium or
transchanneller for an entity (demon) named Abraham.
She is the amanuensis (secretary) for Abe.
• “According to Hicks, Abraham is an entity, or more
accurately, a collection of several nonphysical entities
who have been in contact with her for over two
decades.” The Truth Behind the Secret, p. 28
• “Whereas Rhonda Byrne discovered the secret
in 2004, Esther and her husband Jerry have
been teaching the Law of Attraction for over
20 years. They currently travel the country in a
$1.4 million luxury tour bus conducting Law
of Attraction workshops in hotel ballrooms
and charge $195 for each ticket.” TTBTS, p. 28
The secret can be summarized in this simple
phrase: “Thoughts become things.” Whether
positive or negative, good or bad, whatever a
person thinks about, concentrates on, or
visualizes will eventually become reality.
The Truth Behind the Secret (TTBTS), p. 16
• “Thoughts become things” is a simple way of
describing “The Law of Attraction.”
• If you think bad thoughts, bad things will come.
• If you think good thoughts, good things will come.
• This is nothing new! Positive Mental Attitude was
taught by Andrew Carnegie to Napoleon Hill to Earl
Nightingale and Robert Schuller (Possibility
Thinking, create your own reality).
• The idea is: “Whatever the mind can conceive, man
can achieve.”
• [for more info here go to www.bereancall.org]
 “Whatever the mind can conceive,
man can achieve.”
Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches:
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye
can do nothing.” John 15:5
The Holy Bible : King James Version. Oak
Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc.,
1995, S.
 2 Corinthians 3:5
“Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think any thing as of
ourselves; but our sufficiency is of
God.”
 “Esteem Yourself, Take Control of
Your Life, Become a God!”
• “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not
in himself: it is not in man that walketh to
direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23
• “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man
that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his
arm, and whose heart departeth from the
Lord. Jeremiah 17:5
• There is a very important reason why humans
are not and cannot be little gods as The Secret
teaches.
• The Secret teaches a wrong view of man.
• Satan wants us to think that we are good and
we are gods. If we are gods we are not sinners.
If we are not sinners we do not need a Savior.
• If we do not realize our sinfulness and need for
a Savior we are on the fast track to an eternity
separated from the one true God in Hell.
 Demonic Literature Teaches: “Every Day in
Every Way You are Getting Better and Better!!”

Jesus said, “That which cometh out of the

man, that defileth the man. For from within,
out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness; All these evil things come from
within and defile the man. Mark 7:20-23
• So the Lord Jesus, The Creator (see John 1;
Colossians 1; Hebrews 1), disagrees with
Rhonda Byrne’s idea that man is good, man is
a god.
• The Creator says that man is evil
from the inside out. Out of the
heart proceeds the evil!
But the ancient writing of Ezekiel continues:
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast
set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore
I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the
nations: and they shall draw their swords against the
beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy
brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit,
and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain
in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before
him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a
man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth
thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised
by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith
the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 28:6-10
 Ezekiel 28:14-19
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I
have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain
of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst
of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways
from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was
found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise
they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and
thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as
profane out of the mountain of God: and I will
destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of
the stones of fire.
 • Thine heart was lifted up because of thy
beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by
reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the
ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they
may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy
sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities,
by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I
bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it
shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes
upon the earth in the sight of all them that
behold thee. All they that know thee among
the people shall be astonished at thee: thou
shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any
more. Ezekiel 28:14-19
 RHONDA BYRNE QUOTES
MICHAEL BERNARD BECKWITH:
• “And you can break yourself free from your
hereditary patterns, cultural codes, social
beliefs, and prove once and for all that the
power within you is greater than the power
within the world.” The Secret, p. 167
 1 JOHN 4:4-6
Ye are of God, little children, and have
overcome them: because greater is he (Lord
Jesus via His Holy Spirit) that is in you, than
he that is in the world. They are of the world:
therefore speak they of the world, and the
world heareth them. We are of God: he that
knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God
heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth, and the spirit of error.
 When asked if he and his followers are
Christian, Beckwith says:
No, and yes….No, if by Christian you mean the
acceptance of Jesus as the only savior and
Christianity as the only path to God and eternal
salvation. Yes, in the sense that New thought-
Ancient Wisdom history includes the Gnostic
teachings of the earliest Christian mystical sects, as
well as the founders of the uniquely American New
Thought Movement including Emmanuel
Swedenborg, Ernest Holmes, Howard Thurman, and
trancendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson….
 To learn more about “New Thought,”
“Ancient Wisdom,” Gnostic thought and “New
Age Thinking” please go to
www.biblicaldiscipleship.org
and read this writer’s Master’s Thesis: A
Theological Analysis of the New Age
Movement. There is nothing new in the
teachings of The Secret.
 HOW DOES THE BIBLE
DESCRIBE A CHRISTIAN?
And this is the record, that God hath given to
us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He
that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not
the Son of God hath not life. These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of
the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have
eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:11-13
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For the
scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed. Romans 10:9-11
And almost all things are by the law purged
with blood; and without shedding of blood is
no remission. Hebrews 9:22
 JOHN 1:29
The next day John seeth Jesus coming
unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the
world.
 1 PETER 1:18-21
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from
your vain conversation received by tradition from
your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up
from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith
and hope might be in God.
 REVELATION 5:12-13
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory,
and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth,
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in
them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour,
and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever
and ever.
 ROMANS 5:7-10
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet
peradventure for a good man some would even dare
to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if,
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son, much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
 THE SECRET SAYS:
• [W]ouldn’t it be a good idea to begin to use
the two most powerful words, I AM, to your
advantage? How about, “I AM receiving every
good thing. I AM happy. I AM abundant. I
AM healthy. I AM love. I AM always on time.
I AM eternal youth. I AM filled with energy
every single day.” (I AM in capitals in original)
Rhonda Byrne, p. 168
• There is only one I AM and He is the God of
the Bible! He is the Trinity, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
• I AM introduces Himself in Genesis 1:1 in the
plural (God is “Elohim”, a Hebrew plural
noun) and in the singular (the verb created is a
3rd person singular verb in the Hebrew text).
• “In the beginning God created….”
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come
unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them,
The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and
they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I
say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM
THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto
the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is
my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all
generations. Exodus 3:13-15
 I AM is Lord Jesus
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
LORD shall be saved [delivered].”
New Testament Romans 10:13
“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call

on the name of the LORD shall be delivered [saved]

Old Testament Joel 2:32.
LORD is Jehovah is Yahweh is LORD JESUS.
Call on the name of Jesus to be saved! (OT+NT)
 HEBREWS I:8
But unto the Son he saith (The Heavenly Father,
God the Father, says to God the Son, Jesus), Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of
righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou
hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity;
therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And,
Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the
foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the
works of thine hands:
 MATTHEW 4:6-7
And [Lucifer, Satan, the devil] saith unto him
[Lord Jesus], If thou be the Son of God, cast
thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his
angels charge concerning thee: and in their
hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time
thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said
unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy God.
• According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus
Christ is Messiah God, He is Jehovah God.
• Lord Jesus is Creator of all. This gives Him
and Him alone the right and the authority to be
the Savior (Redeemer) of all!
• It was the blood of Jesus, the Creator, that was
shed for the remission (forgiveness) of the sins
of His creation, the race of Adam.
 JOHN 10:33
“The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work
we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because
that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”
MATTHEW 1:23
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us.”
The Jews attempted to stone Jesus because He was
God in the flesh and they knew it.
(see 1 Corinthians 15:1-22).
• With all respect to Rhonda Byrne, we
are not God, nor are we “gods”, nor
are we I AM.
• God is God. He is the Great I AM
and there is no other.
 JEREMIAH 10:10-12
But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God,
and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall
tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide
his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The
gods that have not made the heavens and the earth,
even they shall perish from the earth, and from
under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his
power, he hath established the world by his wisdom,
and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
 REVELATION 22:3-5
And there shall be no more curse: but the
throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it;
and his servants shall serve him: And they
shall see his face; and his name shall be in
their foreheads. And there shall be no night
there; and they need no candle, neither light of
the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light:
and they shall reign for ever and ever.
 ROMANS 10:12-13
For there is no difference between the Jew and
the Greek [gentile]: for the same Lord over all
is rich unto all that call upon him. For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.
Jesus Christ of the Bible is Lord!