The new age belief is that we need to discover the innate power that we all have (within), it can be called spiritual intuition, the higher self, the divine mind, divinity, etc. and psycho spiritual techniques and methods, along with spirit guides can be useful in connecting to this power. There is a multiplicity of descriptions, and their terminology depends on which teaching or group they are associated with.

When Marriane Williamson was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show she received more pro viewer mail than any other show for 1992, that is, up until now- her show on “The Secret” has exceeded this. Marriane Williamson who promotes the Course in Miracles (a book dictated by a spirit guide) is the pastor of one of the largest Unity School of Christianity churches in the United States (Warren, Michigan). The Unity School was founded by Myrtle and Charles Fillmore. Through them we discover another secret - that it is connected to the popular secret everyone is embracing-- “In the course in Miracles” she writes “The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself” (p.147). Once we understand that this same message is found in all the authors,  books and practices, we will gain the perspective of what this is all about, where it is going and what it will do to the individual that pursues its ways.

We have all heard everyone loves a secret and this one is the Ultimate secret. If you want to know what has made Oprah successful- this is what she has been promoting from the beginning of her show. As we will see, the Secret that Oprah is promoting is the very same ideas and concepts that many have espoused before her. And they are right out of Religious Science and Metaphysics.

The ideas and concepts in the Secret are spreading around the world In Europe, Canada, S. Africa. The Secret is an 80 minute DVD that is the top-selling DVD on Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com. The Book “the Secret” is a top New York Times bestseller, on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. 6 million copies of the book have been sold; 3 million of the DVD.

Many have accepted it as the newest success technique when it is really a potpourri of occult and metaphysical ideas. It is the basic message of the New age Movement- HUMAN POTENTIAL.

Oprah's motivation is to inspire people to take control of their lives. This message can be beneficial if it is kept in the practical realm. But when it is enforced by metaphysics it becomes a very different message. “You can choose what happens” is the New Age philosophy. Oprah states, “You are responsible for your life-the power of God is within you, above you and through you. You control your life.” A number of years ago on the Oprah program with guest Sister Breige McKenna (the healing nun), while they were discussing hearing god and healing Rita Klaus gives a testimony of the rosary and being healed. Oprah then says “I’d like to go back to the voice. Because I believe that voice works with all of us, that everyone has it.”

To Oprah everyone already has God and hears from God, but it is her interpretation of God that makes this all the more hazardous. Oprah explains “I center myself each morning by trying to touch the God light I believe is in all of us. Some people call it prayer, and some call it meditation. I call it centering up. I get boundless energy from that . . . . It is because of this God-centeredness that I am where I am” (Virginia Smith, “Oprah Winfrey reveals secret of her incredible success,” in Examiner July 14, 1 987, p. 29- quoted in occult invasion by Dave Hunt).

Oprah Winfrey on her Feb.16, 07 program stated: “for years on the show this is what I’ve been trying to do. To create the life you really want. Make more money, lose weight fall in love land your dream job”

In her search for meaning she has discovered and promoted the love of self to the American culture as something spiritual. You might ask-- what’s wrong with desiring these type of things. This will be answered from the Bibles perspective, but after we listen to how they define it.

Oprah- “they say you can have it, in fact you already hold the power to make that happen”

This becomes self -serving spirituality- putting you in control of everything, all that happens is because of you.

Oprah says, “I realized I always lived by the Secret when I watched the Secret and did not know it was a Secret”

Rhonda Byrne describes “The Secret” as the law of attraction. “The law of attraction is the most powerful law”

Byrne says: “The law of attraction says like attracts like. ... The law of attraction is giving you what you are thinking about. It is working all the time. “What we do is we attract into our lives the things we want, and that is based on what we’re thinking and feeling,”

“we create our own circumstances by the choices we make in life. And the choices we make are fueled by our thoughts—which means our thoughts are the most powerful things we have here on earth.”(Oprah Show)

She is convincing people that Miracles take place when you know how to apply this law.

We are told that we can unlock the secrets of the universe by focusing the human mind which will unleash powerful, spiritual energies;” sounds like Rosicrucianism to me.

Within the book we have numerous concepts and statements repeated over and over convincing the reader that this is how life operates. The Secret (book) tells us: “Whatever is going on in your mind is what you are attracting” “We are like magnets - like attract like. You become AND attract what you think”“ Every thought has a frequency. Thoughts send out a magnetic energy” “What you focus on with your thought and feeling is what you attract into your experience” “People think about what they don’t want and attract more of the same” “You attract your dominant thoughts” “You will attract everything you require - money, people, connections.. PAY ATTENTION to what’s being set in front of you” “ What you think and what you feel and what actually manifests is ALWAYS a match - no exception”

You are a living, breathing magnet. As you read this article.... Things ... Conditions ... Circumstances and People you know and even some you don't know are marching to you like obedient soldiers to aid in the manifestation of your images. Wouldn't you prefer those soldiers be helping you with your positive images?”

The law of attraction is the foundation for this spiritual belief system. We are told that it works by our thoughts and images in the mind. “You create your own reality with your mind.” The book says that “You are the only one that creates your reality.”

Was not reality existent before you came into this world? And who created us- are we to believe we created ourselves?

There is a logical problem with this view, and it stares them in the face. What about when bad things happen to us. According to “the Secret “we attract both good and bad by our thinking.

Lets take the example of one of the worst evils we have seen in modern times. Were the victims of the Holocaust just as responsible for their own destruction as Hitler was? Did they collectively create it and attract it with their minds. One needs to think this through. This means Hitler was obedient to the universe, and the universe was obedient to those who brought this to be by their own thoughts. The  how can he be guilty? This is a cruel worldview. Let me ask a rational question. How many people have attracted floods, earthquakes or tornadoes? The Tornadoes seem to strike often in the same locations. It would appear that everyone who is negative lives in the same vicinity to bring this on themselves. This is a guilt and accusatory system of the worst kind.

In the book we read: “We are the creators of our universe” The “Universe will re-arrange itself accordingly.” “You don’t need to know HOW the universe is going to rearrange itself” “No rules according to the universe... you provide the feelings of having it now and the universe will respond” “The Hows are the domain of the universe. It always knows the quickest, fastest, most harmonious way between you and your dream”
“The universe will manifest it.”

The universe which is an “it” knows exactly what you and nearly 6 billion other people are thinking and is in flux all the time to meet your desires. Yet we have no need to understand how this takes place. The universe is under the control of our minds whether we like it or not. We are told “This law listens to everything we think and act” The law is an “it” but it has ears. It has a mind but none of its own, but obeys us. P.46 of “The Secret” states “you are the master of the Universe the law obeys you.”

So we are all masters (like the new age teaching that everyone is Christ). You are the master but you actually become the slave to a law you know nothing about. Considering that they find Bible verses to validate their teaching and practice; yet Jesus said “You cannot serve two masters,” either you are master and the universe obeys you or God is your master and you obey him.

These “Master Minds” of our age are under the impression that they do have this control. Yet they should consider the one who will be the ultimate master- the one that has the greatest power. Past secret teacher Ernest Holmes tells us why they are able to exert this power. Because: “All men are spiritually evolving until . . . each will fully express his divinity . . .” (Ernest Holmes What Religious Science Teaches p.21).

Joe Vitale, another promoter and teacher of the Secret, quoted in the book and DVD. On Larry King Live a caller asked him, “I'm just curious, where does God come into “the Secret”? Vitale responded, “God is all of us. God is the secret and everything about it. This is a law from God” (Larry King Live, March 8, 2007).

Lisa Nichols states- “The law of attraction means that everything that happens to you—good or bad—you attract to yourself. Lisa describes it as if you’re placing an order. “If you were at a restaurant and you ordered something, you fully expect it to come served that way. That’s how the universe is. You’re putting out orders—consciously and unconsciously,”

Too bad this is not how the real world works. Ever have you dinner served late at a restaurant, or it was not made well, or a mistake was made? Ever order something by a catalogue and not get the right item sent. Who follows order perfectly- according to the secret teachers- the universe does.

James Arthur Ray says “Everything happens by principles and laws in our universe. And so consequently, we have an absolutely unlimited power within us.”

Jack Canfeild says everything you focus on can have an effect on your life—it’s all thoughts. “All of that affects how we feel, and the feelings actually send out a wave into the universe, and anything that’s vibrating in a similar level gets attracted into our life” (Oprah show)

Some who teach the secret want success, others wealth, others power to control and manipulate their life. The Secret is a secular health and wealth teaching that draws out mans desire to have everything he wants in life. It all can be summarized into having control of your circumstances and life. You can get everything from this force, or as they call it- the universe (which is amoral), which they substitute for a personal God. Since the Universe is an “it,” it cannot say no to you.

Those who use this idea, abandon there being a personal God who created the universe, a God who made the laws that man must obey. Instead the law[s] of the universe obey us. The universe was not created by man it was here before man, yet we create what we want to exist in it with our minds. This means the atoms are obeying our minds. That should stretch the credulity of any logical thinker.

Repeated over and over are the same phrase and principles: “There isn't a single thing that you cannot do with this knowledge...the Secret can give you whatever you want...if you see it in your mind, you're going to hold it in your hand...you create your life with your thoughts...your thoughts are seeds, and the harvest you reap will depend on the seeds you plant...your life is in your hands...what you think about you bring about....You will attract everything that you require. If it's money you need you will attract it...like Aladdin's Genie, the law of attraction grants our every command... the moment you begin to ‘think properly'...this power within you that's greater than the world...will take over your life...feed...clothe...guide...protect...direct you, sustain your very existence. If you let it. Now that is what I know, for sure....”

So who wants to die? No one, so why are there not among us any of the great people who discovered this secret in the past? Because it doesn’t work like they teach. Buyer beware needs to be posted across each book and DVD.

The god they are presenting to people is self, this is the occult secret that has been handed down by initiatives for centuries. That everything is under OUR control.

Robert Collier wrote: The law of the universe is the law of supply… the world belongs to you” (Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier, 27th edition 1979 p.103)

“In the realm of mind, the realm in which is all practical power, you can possess what you want at once. You have but to claim it, visualize it, believe in it, to bring it into actuality. It is yours for the taking. For the Genie-of-your­ Mind can give you power over circumstances, health, hap­piness and prosperity.”

“Being a part of Universal Mind, shar­ing that Universal Mind's all-power, it has only to put the Creative Force all about it into the mold of your thought and bring the object into being” (p.62 Secret of the Ages).

The Genie-of-your­ Mind seems to sum it up well, except you do not need a lamp or three wishes, it appears to be never ending, and instead of rubbing to summon the genie you visualize what you want.

But in the back of Robert Collier book is found letters from readers who write to him:

… I doubt if any man ever lived other than our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who can be credited, like you, with bringing their fellow being to a real practical understanding of religion and the law of nature such as you have so completely accomplished through the various publications you have written. Sincerely yours _____Like Aladdin's Lamp”

Another writes:

“Dear Mr. Collier: Aladdin and his lamp couldn't have done more for me than your book. …”

On the “The Secret DVD, we see that Robert Collier's works are one of the references. A collage is flashed on the screen where a page from Collier's The Secret of the Ages is displayed (http://robertcollier.wwwhubs.com/tsota.htm). He is also listed on their website as a past secret teacher.

The theme of the Genie of the lamp is certainly a fixed cliché in the teachings. Secret teacher James Ray, who speaks on wealth, success and our human potential: “If you think about Aladdin and his lamp, Aladdin picks up the lamp, dusts it off and out pops the Genie. The Genie always says one thing: `Your wish is my command” (Excerpt by James Ray, pp.  45-46)

“He then says that the Genie is the universe; traditions have called the universe many things, “and you choose the one that works best for you, but every tradition has told us there's something bigger than us”’ http://www.rickross.com/reference/general/general933.html)

One sight advertised the Secret as “The universe is like a magic genie who will give you the desires of your heart. You need only ask, believe, and receive - and it's not just Oprah behind this force!”

“The universe is like a magic genie who says, “Your wish is my command.” It's as simple as figuring out what you want, visualizing your goal, and then accepting it when it arrives.” http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_secret_movie)

The laws of the Universe under the control of the mind is what Mind Sciences are all about. Charles Fillmore of the Unity School of Christianity wrote:

“We are now in a fuller degree of enlightenment concerning the spiritual laws that govern man and the universe (p.37 Christian Healing, Charles Fillmore Unity School of Christianity). Here is how Fillmore of Unity church explains the law works. “We must learn the law of expression from the abstract to the concrete--from the formless to the formed. Every idea makes a structure after its own image and likeness, and all such ideas and structures are grouped and associated according to their offices.”

“The harmony referred to is self-adjustment to the law of Being, to the law of divine nature, to the law of God. …-the important thing is to understand it, and to put yourself in harmony with it.” (p.41). “The Divine Mind creates under law; that is, mental law” (p.61). “The wise metaphysician resolves into ideas each mental picture, each form and shape seen in visions, dreams, and the like. The idea is the foundation, the real; when understood and molded by the power of the word, it creates or recreates the form at the direction of the individual I AM. By working with this simple law, man may become an adept or master” (p.101).

There is a consistency with all these authors. As we will see, the same names and the same teachings seem to surface with nearly all the people involved in the Secret from the past and they are as about as dangerous as a child with a loaded gun.

The Secret (book) is filled with techniques that may be called metaphysical, but they are straight out of the Occult.

“It’s OK that thoughts don’t manifest into reality immediately (if we saw a picture of an elephant and it instantly appeared, that would be too soon).”

“Create a Vision Board ... pictures of what you want to attract ... every day look at it and get into the feeling state of already having acquired these wants”
“Play the picture in your mind - focus on the end result”

Here is how it is done-”Close your eyes and visualize having what you already want - and the feeling of having it already.” “VISUALIZE!!! Rehearse your future” “VISUALIZE!!! See it, feel it! This is where action begins.”

One can be of any religion or no religion at all (an atheist) and use these methods. Called mental or guided imagery, or imaging, in the occult arts the “law of manifestation,” is set in motion by thoughts or pictures held firmly in the mind, visualized (or spoken aloud,) this will “manifest” them in the physical world. It leads one to believe that their mind is connected to and in control of a greater force, in this case the Universe, which will cause to occur in the physical world what they visualized in their mind. For centuries this technique has been used by witch doctors, shamans and occultists all over the world. And this law was taught to Napoleon Hill by the so-called Ascended Masters and it is taught to all searchers who become open recipients to metaphysical spiritual practices. What they do not realize is what they are attracting and cultivating are spirit guides. This is exactly what the ascended Masters (spirit guides) said through occultist Alice Bailey over fifty years ago, a: “newer type of meditation emphasizing visualization and the use of creative imagination.” (The Tibetan Master's Work -New York: The Arcane School, World Goodwill, booklet, pp. 3-4.)

Oprah has consistently promoted those who teach mind science ideas and visualization. She endorsed and recommended heartily, the book Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain. In the very beginning of her book she answers the question- What is Creative Visualization?

“Creative visualization is the technique of using your imagination to create what you want in your life. There is nothing at all new, strange, or unusual about creative visualization. You are already using it every day, every minute in fact. It is your natural power of imagination, the basic creative energy of the universe which you use constantly, whether or not you are aware of it.”

In her book she also writes: “. . . ask your higher self whether this is really the best thing for you or whether you truly desire it. The universe may be trying to show you something better that you haven't even considered” (p. 44 Creative Visualization). We should be open to “accept the goodness of the universe. … to receiving the blessings of this abundant universe” (pp.51-52). She gives a meditation “you can do to improve your self-esteem and increase your capacity to handle the love and energy that the universe is ready and eager to flow in your direction” Think of other ways to outflow your energy into the universe for the good of yourself and others” ( p.57). “Picture myself as a clear channel for healing energy, the spiritual energy of the universe, to flow through me and to the person who needs it” p.64).

The Universe, energy, guided imagery- same words, same concepts we read in the Secret.

The universe becomes a substitute for God in New Age metaphysics. It is a created thing that is unable to think on its own but is at the whims and fantasies of the power of man’s thoughts. The universe is an “it,” that has intelligence which they believe they tap into for whatever they need in life. How intelligent is this all powerful force that will do whatever we think, both gone is convinced of its power and believe it works for everyone as the advertisers of the Secret claim,  the next step is to abandon all reason and begin a consistent practice.  From this the danger can escalate, eventually they find they were not manipulating the universe but they themselves were manipulated.  These practices change their worldview to open them up to a spiritual realm that man is not equipped to enter.