from Lighthuse Trails Research:
Popular speaker and author for Christian conferences,Ken Blanchard, will be joining members of the New Age, occultic book/DVD project The Secret on January 19th for a one day seminar titled “Your Best Year Ever.”
The Secret focuses on the “law of attraction” and was produced by Australian-born screenwriter and producer Rhonda Byrne, who after a series of setbacks in her own life, discovered that past personalities like Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, William Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln and others had this secret knowledge, and Byrne came to believe that it “was part of every religion, including Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.”
One news source describes the film:
In the film, viewers learn to ask for what they want. And, if they believe it, they will receive it.
It sounds simple enough, but here’s the catch: If you’re cynical, sad, depressed and resigned that nothing will change, nothing will. Thoughts are so powerful, the teachers insist, that you attract what you think about, even if you don’t want it. Get it?1
It’s these “teachers,” both ones from the past and present day ones, that The Secret uses to reveal this hidden knowledge. Present day teachers include Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul), John Gray (Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus), and an assortment of philosophers, writers, and visionaries who share their insights on The Secret:
“We have a magnificent inner calling, vision, mission, power inside us that we are not honoring and harnessing,” says philosopher and “Secret” teacher John Demartini in a recent telephone interview. “This movie brings it to the forefront that we can [harness that power].”2
Larry King calls the DVD the “most profound information he has run across in 40 years.”
While most people may view the new DVD promoted heavily by Oprah as a safe and effective method to reach their goals and aspirations, what they do not know may hurt them spiritually. Rhonda Byrne, the author of The Secret, is a disciple of a couple named Jerry and Esther Hicks. In the Acknowledgements of The Secret, Byrne thanks the Hicks and “the teachings of Abraham.” Abraham is a group of spirit guides that Esther Hicks channels for guidance on spiritual issues. On their website, they state:
Abraham, a group of obviously evolved teachers, speak their broader Non-physical perspective through the physical body of Esther [Hicks]. Speaking to our level of comprehension, from their present moment to our now, through a series of loving, allowing, brilliant yet comprehensively simple, recordings in print, in video, and in sound – they guide us to a clear connection with our Inner Being–they guide us to self-upliftment from our total self [god-self].
Take a look at the book that influenced The Secret, The Law of Attraction by Jerry and Esther Hicks. The foreword is written by New Age guru Neale Donald Walsch.
The Secret is the basis for the upcoming “Best Year of Your Life” conference, and unfortunately two popular leaders in Christian circles will be joining The Secret team as speakers at the event – New Age sympathizer Ken Blanchard and pastor and speaker Miles McPherson. Blanchard has a long history of promoting the New Age and eastern style meditation for over twenty years. And yet, Christian leaders like David Jeremiah, Max Lucado, and Rick Warren have considered Blanchard someone they can promote.
For Blanchard to team up with The Secret teachers for this seminar is quite disturbing and can potentially lead many Christians into thinking that there is nothing harmful about The Secret. This conclusion could be detrimental. Quotes at the end of the book (The Secret) reveal a spirituality that Lighthouse Trails has frequently warned about. Listen and decide for yourself:
We are the creators not only of our own destiny but also of the Universe … We are all connected, and we are all One(p. 175).
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( p. 183).
You are God in a physical body … You are all power … You are all intelligence … You are the creator( p. 164).
The Secret is the latest and by far the worst example of a HIGHLY profitable trend where self-help gurus with fabricated new age titles and little relevant education, credentials or legitimate expertise brainwash us into believing that they know what is best for us, our marriages and our families.
Often their only contribution to society is introducing some exotic sounding, new age philosophy. However, they often cleverly form an incestuous group of like-minded “experts” who cross-promote each other by swearing their success is due to following the beliefs of another member of their “cult!” All the while, they ply the airwaves jockeying for an ever-larger audience by appearing in the national media to garner third-party endorsements.
The Self-Help Movement has become the Self-Destruct Movement by diminishing or destroying our critical thinking skills to choose on our own. We have given up the freedom to build healthy lives, marriages and families based on our unique history and life experience. Instead many victims, blinded to the value of their own life experiences, are attracted to the latest secret in self-help, in an attempt to find out what they should think, feel and how they should act… this is the definition of a cult.
The solution is a return to our (common) senses! The best way out of this learned “self-helplessness” is to go cold turkey. Stop following ALL self-help gurus now. Begin, instead, to reclaim your natural, God-given ability to think for yourself. The common sense that was once readily available to all of us is still there free of charge and waiting to be applied to just about any challenge we might face in life… all you have to do is use it.
Please, let’s all work together to stop the flock of “sheepeople” who blindly move from one UNPROVEN concept to the next, looking for the answers to life’s challenges that you already possess and that is the OBVIOUS!