Comments on: A review of The Secret. By Rhonda Byrne.

By: R. renolt

R. renolt — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:11:36 +0000

Dear Mr. Muehlenberg,

Thanks for sharing the Christian point of view, which I believe is that God is the centre and we can only reach him through The Way which Jesus Christ has shown.

Any ideology or book which does not agree to this is Satan’s counterfeit to fool the gullible.

Bill your writing strengthens the believers – on the other side we have opinion leaders whose popularity is used by Satan to sway the masses with such deception.

Peace be with you brother,

R. Renolt, India

By: Scott Tibbetts

Scott Tibbetts — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:39:09 +0000

Fascinating commentary. A member of my youth group was very concerned about a friend of hers who was reading “The Secret”, and even with her limited knowledge of The Word, realized something was not right about this book, and without reading the book myself, I pretty much nailed what it was about, and almost quoted your commentary before I even read it. This is age old stuff, dices of various religions pieced together to create a new religion based on human good. In the end, it is all asceticism…the belief that you can get to “heaven” based on good works, which is all religion is. Christianity is relationship, not religion. All religion actually produces separation from God, it is based on works, and not God’s grace. That is why Jesus said, “Whom the Son sets free, he is free indeed”. Thank you for your wonderful insight into this book, and for giving me a useful tool in combating the devil’s mind games that he tries to use in our culture.
Scott Tibbetts

By: Barbara Lang

Barbara Lang — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:24:56 +0000

I had someone come into my work and tell me about this book. When I went to look at the reveiws I found this page. I must say that you are absolutely correct. Everyone looks for a way of idolizing ourselves as God. There is coming a judgement day and we shall be judged. If you want success, love, happiness and riches….When you get to heaven, you will have these things. Just Thank God you are here and trust in him. Put your life in Gods hands. He will see you through.
Barbara Lang

By: zawan

zawan — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:11:01 +0000

I finished this book yesterday and I decided to totally recommend it on my blog… but after I read your review i came back to my senses… some stuff are good, but others are WRONG.. like when the author said she discovered she didn’t need to know what’s happening around the world… that’s totally ridiculous.
Great review by the way.
Zawan Ushari

By: Bill Muehlenberg

Bill Muehlenberg — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 06:40:10 +0000

Thanks Marsha

I don’t have any stats just at hand, but I will keep my eyes open, and if I find any I will let you know.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

By: Marsha Rano

Marsha Rano — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:24:00 +0000

Thanks Bill, for exposing The Secret for what it is…just another counterfeit of God’s Truth. I am writing my dissertation how Christians are led away from The Truth of God and into New Age philosophies and other doctrines of error. I would be interested to know what percentage of Christians have purchased The Secret book or DVD. Do you happen to have any statistics on this?
Marsha Rano

By: linda ruberto

linda ruberto — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:59:21 +0000

Thanks for your commentary. I want someone to write the book “The Real Secret”. I think 1 Cor. 13:2 says it best. You can have the faith (really important) that moves mountains, but without love – of Christ and His Body (the real secret) you are nothing.
All real truths are established by God and while this “truth” is hot it could be used as an evangelistic tool to draw the unsaved to the beauty of a relationship with all the benifits, with their Maker.
Linda Ruberto

By: Raymond Maliko

Raymond Maliko — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:41:31 +0000

This was given to me by an all bubbly reader. As I started reading the book, way into the first two chapters I began to reckon something was amiss, why? It was all guiding me to I, I, I and that just did it. I do not exist for I, I exist for God!
Raymond Maliko

By: Etienne

Etienne — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:59:49 +0000

Hi there Bill,
If a non believer applies one of God’s laws to their lives they will derive a benifit… for example in they work hard they will get a positive result. But the issue here is that without Jesus Christ as the central focus it is useless and temporary. I have not fallen for this one. I think its going to appeal to people who don’t want to depend on God but rather on their own abilities. The focus is I and not God like you say, and even if there were some benifit from using the secret method, where is the purpose, peace, and joy? If you get that car you wanted, how long before you want a better one, or a better partner. No what God gives lasts for an eternity, but the things of the world are passing and temporary.
Etienne Cilliers

By: Wanyeki Mahiaini

Wanyeki Mahiaini — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 12:37:02 +0000

As a majority world Christian I appreciate a message that reminds me that my actions and thought processes can make a difference to my life and that of other third world people. Many majority world people are trapped by a world view that disregard the role of human effort in life. We tend to think ‘I’ll get by; no problem (Hakuna Matata).’ We are conditioned to think there are too many factors at play in the universe for our own puny actions to matter. We tend to think the spirit world, luck and providence determine the future more than our own actions. This leads us to serious problems – not least wooly thinking which makes us easy prey for the sort of emotive and airy fairy tosh that is The Secret. That said it does raise an important question – how do you get Majority World people to see that there is a way to improve their lot? Unfortunately The Secret does not deal with that problem – it only adds to our confusion because it suggests that we are poor becase we have attracted poverty to our shores. Only one ignorant of the history of colonialism and its modern day agencies such as IMF and WTO can blame our poverty on our negative thinking. This book like prosperity gospel before it will deceive many people and I am appaled to think how many in the majority world will swallow this sugar coated pill of opium of the masses only to wake up from their stupor to find that yet again a not very intelligent Westerner has pulled a fast one on us. My prayer is that the church in the third world will teach the Bible faithfully because whenever it is taught faithfully the Bible does the Work of God which leads to an all round Shalom and leaves no regret.
Wanyeki Mahiaini