Are You A Negative Thinker?

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Welcome to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call with Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon. I’m Gary Carmichael, we’re glad you could join us. Coming up in this week’s program in our Understanding the Scriptures segment, Dave and Tom will continue their in-depth study of the Book of Acts, and “How were there disciples in Tyre ?” In Religion in the News, “Toning down kids with tunes.” We’ll take a look at that story and examine the question: “What happened to Phillip?” We hope you can stay with us. Our ministry, The Berean Call, offers a wide variety of teaching materials, including books, tracts, audio and video disks, and copies of our weekly broadcast on compact disk or DVD. You may also subscribe to our monthly newsletter, which we offer free of charge. We’ll let you know how to order later in the program.

Now, this week’s Cover Article. Tom and Dave continue their series of programs addressing the popular spiritual phenomenon known as “The Secret.” This week we focus on the question, “Are you a negative thinker?” Along with Dave Hunt, here’s T. A. McMahon.

Tom:

Thanks, Gary . You’re listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a program in which we encourage everyone who desires to know God’s truth to look to God’s Word for all that is essential for salvation and living one’s life in a way that is pleasing to Him. We’re continuing our evaluation of The Secret which is a New York Times listed best selling book based on the video by the same title. The book has sold more than 6 million copies and the DVD has gone over the 2 million mark. What is the secret behind the “The Secret”? It’s a new marketing scheme playing upon some of the elements of the DaVinci Code, only the subject is how to get everything you want in life. It’s the old positive mental attitude, mind science and prosperity and healing teachings that have been around since the Garden of Eden, yet seem to have a revival every couple of decades or so. As I mentioned in our previous programs, we dealt with the content of “The Secret” some 20 years ago in our book, The Seduction of Christianity. At that time it was coming into the church through the teachings of Norman Vincent Peale and Robert Schuller, with their power of positive thinking and possibility thinking and the word faith positive confession, teachings of Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Fred Price, also Christians were being introduced to it through the motivation sales techniques of organizations like Amway and Mary Kay Cosmetics. Many in the church were also enamored by the New Age beliefs and practices that make up a great deal of what’s contained in “The Secret”. Dave, what I would like to discuss in this segment are what may be the most dangerous aspects of “The Secret”. As we noted in earlier programs, feelings rule the day in “The Secret” and that includes, not only emotional feelings, but physical feelings, especially as it relates to sickness and healing. I’m going to give you some quotes from the book, Dave, and you comment on them. “If you’re not feeling great and somebody asks you how you are feeling, speak only the words what you want.” Now, here’s another quote from another individual in “The Secret”: “When people are completely focused on what’s wrong and their symptoms, they will perpetuate it. The healing will not occur until they shift their attention from being sick to being well because that’s the law of attraction.”

Dave:

Well, Tom, you could almost say this is some kind of a joke.

Tom:

It’s a dangerous joke, Dave.

Dave:

Every one of the people that they hail, as the great leaders in this movement—remember Emerson, he’s one of their top guys.

Tom:

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Dave:

Right, the last ten years of his life he was in failing health. Nobody is going to beat this. This thing that comes upon all of us, “It’s appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment” and “The Secret” has nothing to say about that, and it is setting you up for pretty rough judgment, because it is turning you completely from trust in the God who made you.

Tom:

I’ll give you a couple of more quotes along this line, Dave. It says, “The Secret” says, “If you are feeling a little unwell”—what’s that, is that an euphemism, a little unwell? “Don’t talk about it unless you want more of it. Know that your thought was responsible, and repeat it as often as you can, I feel wonderful, I feel so good, and really feel it.” In other words, Dave, you lie to yourself. I’ll give you one more quote, and then we can really get down to that, you know, I mentioned this was dangerous. If our audience hasn’t figured it out yet, we’ll clue them in. This one individual says, “If you have a disease, and you’re focusing on it, and you’re talking to people about it, you’re going to create more diseased cells. See yourself living in a perfectly healthy body, let the doctor look after the disease.”

Dave:

Well Tom, on the one hand there is some truth in this. Solomon, in the Book of Proverbs said: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” So, there are people who are just complaining and complaining and complaining all the time. A friend of mine used to say, Well, when elderly Christians get together they have an organ recital. This organ is going and that one and so forth. So, there is some truth in this, I’m not going to put that down entirely. If you’ve got two people of equal talent on opposite sides of the tennis court, the one that is thinking, I’m gonna win, I’m gonna win, will probably win, because there is some truth in this. On the other hand, it’s not going to cure you of a real disease. It will help you to feel better, it will help your body, your body will work better when you’re thinking thoughts of hope and health. So, I’ll endorse it to that point. Don’t just harp on your pains, and so forth. On the other hand, it’s not going to be the cure, but that’s what they claim, Tom. They claim that with the power of your mind you can change organic diseases into health.

Tom:

Again, last week, and the weeks previous to that, we talked about the law of attraction. The idea here is that there is a universal mind out there that’s impersonal, it can’t think on its own, and according to “The Secret” it will give us whatever we want. So if we are thinking negatively, or we’re thinking disease, we’re going to get disease. If we’re thinking good health, we’re supposed to get good health. So, it has to do with your thinking. But Dave, let me give you a scenario. Let’s say I get the flu, I didn’t think I was thinking flu, but I get the flu, and I start feeling really sick, so what do I do? Well, if I go by the basis of the teachings of “The Secret” I have to reject that, deny that, lie to myself, tell myself, even though I’m retching over in the corner, that I’m really feeling wonderful.

Dave:

You have to lie to others, it says tell them what you want not what you don’t want.

Tom:

Now let’s say it’s a disease and it’s really getting serious, and I think, Oh, well, I have to go to the doctor. Well, that’s sort of a negative confession.

Dave:

Of course it is.

Tom:

But all the way, as I go to the doctor all the way I’m saying, I feel better, I feel better, I feel better. I get an appointment, the doctor comes in and says, Well, Tom what’s wrong with you. What am I going to do, give a negative confession, Oh, there’s nothing wrong with me. The he says, Why are you here. And I have to say, Well, it’s a secret. You know, this is absurd. Now, as funny as that is, we know when we dealt with this in The Seduction of Christianity , and dealt with positive confession that there were people who had illnesses, who would not go to see a doctor, and some died because of those illnesses. Let’s take Christian Science for example, and a practitioner, could you explain that to our audience because it’s related.

Dave:

Well, Christian Science is basically the same idea. Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of it, she wrote, Science and Health with Keys to the Scriptures . I think maybe it was, Key to the scriptures, Keys to the scriptures, I can’t remember, and that was her whole idea. She turned Jesus into a scientist, she said everything works by laws is what they are saying, this is the law of reciprocity or law of attraction, and you’re suffering from the Adam delusion. Adam—well, I don’t know, he should be still in the garden, I guess, the garden ought to be there. But this is the Adam line now, and now you’re thinking sin. There is no such thing as sin, she taught. Of course, Jesus didn’t rise from the dead because He didn’t really die, because there is no such thing as death, and he demonstrated the power of the mind over death and everything else. But she turns you away from the gospel, turns you away from the true God. It’s a cult, actually. Every Christian Science Church , First Church of Christ Scientist, or Second, or whatever, depending, they all take their lessons every Sunday from the mother church in Boston that was founded by Mary Baker Eddy, who herself died. She had all kinds of problems, she went to a hypnotist to try to get over them, she lied to herself, she lied to her followers, and they are still lying to one another.

Tom:

So Dave, let’s say if I am a member of this church, and we’ve seen this happen, and I have some physical problem, I’m not to go to a doctor, I’m supposed to call a practitioner who, what? Comes over and tries to talk me out of it basically, right?

Dave:

I don’t know that they make house calls. Back in those days my office was on the corner of Wilshire and Beverly Drive , nobody knows that but that’s the very heart of Beverly Hills , and there was a Christian Science practitioner who had an office next to mine. I never knew of any clients going in there but I never knew that she ever made any house calls either. But Tom, it’s just nonsense, but as you said, it’s worse than nonsense, it’s destructive.

Tom:

Because people die.

Dave:

And I have all kinds of true stories of ex-Christian Scientists who can tell you about people who died because they kept denying, denying, denying that they had anything because they thought it was all in their brain. Tom, when I was a little boy, I can remember this. I was introduced to Christian Science because there were Christian Scientists, my father was a preacher, and so forth, and we went a the sound fundamentalist fellowship, and I can remember coming up with a brilliant idea, as a little boy maybe about 8 or 10. Well, I know some Christian Scientists at school, and when they are not looking I’m going to come up and give them a swift kick in the rear! Well, they shouldn’t feel it because it’s not in their mind, they’re not even thinking about it.

Tom:

Yeah. Dave, you remember in the 1930’s there was actually a fad. You know, we talk about “The Secret” I mentioned earlier that seems like every couple of decades it keeps coming around and around and around again. But back in the 30’s there was a man from France, actually he was a pharmacist, but what he brought to this country was not a drug, it was an idea, and his name was Emil Coure, and his idea was that we could really heal ourselves if we would repeat this, we call it a mantra now, but if we would repeat this phrase over and over again. Do you remember the phrase?

Dave:

Sure, Every day in every way I’m feeling better and better.

Tom:

And every day in every way I’m feeling better and better, and you just kept saying that and people, especially those that had so called psychosomatic illnesses, they were feeling better, you know.

Dave:

Tom, I’m a child of the 30’s, well, actually I was born in 26, so I remember, I remember Emil Coure, I remember a lot of people. This was the mantra they adopted, every day in every way, feeling better and better. Now if you keep saying that, Tom, you’re going to pass the age of 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, just keep saying, every day in every way I’m feeling better and better. I mean I should live forever shouldn’t I?

Tom:

Well, you know, and that’s the problem with these mind science ideas, they create a euphoria, and as you said, the scripture says a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. So, it’s good to have a positive attitude, but it’s not going to cure a broken arm. It’s not going to cure somebody who’s impaled by a stake, or whatever it might be.

Dave:

Tom, the worst thing is, it turns you away from the truth, and “The Secret” of course, doesn’t even talk about death, and some of these guys died rather young and in poverty. It doesn’t tell you what’s going to happen after death. You wouldn’t even think you would die if you keep believing “The Secret.” So, it has turned—well, there’s one woman in there, she says, My God, and then, you know, some exclamation. What God is she talking about? See, we have to, Tom, of course people who have been listening to this program, they know all of this very well, but you cannot get away from God. God is the Creator of the universe. Now if there is this universal mind that you mentioned, the church of religious science out there, and as you said, it has no mind of its own, it only exists to give us what we want, who created this universal mind? Now, if this universal mind is God the Creator, how did this universal mind get the idea to create the universe and to create us? Now if it’s in control of everything, how did we get in such bad shape? There were no people around here to tell the universal mind to create the universe. It’s so absurd, Tom, and they need to do a little logical thinking. But the problem is, you remember the verse in the Bible, talking about the false prophets that we have today, like, well, many of them, Oral Roberts or Kenneth Copeland, you can name some of them, Benny Hinn, through covetousness they will make merchandise of you. Now the covetousness has two sides. You know, Oral Roberts says, Send in a seed faith offering, that will start the miracles flowing, and he goes through all kinds of things. He’s even sent out a red and a green candle, a little tiny one, of course, everybody on his mailing list, with a picture of him and his son Richard. They are lighting the red candles, now you send the red candle back in and we’ll light all the red candles while you light the green candles on Christmas eve, but when you send back your red candle you must send a seed faith offering. This was his invention, by the way, Oral Roberts, plant a seed with this ministry and you will reap a hundred fold, and so forth. Okay, so they’ve got a big poster of Oral and Richard lighting these red candles while you’re—Tom, that’s witchcraft. It has nothing to do with the Bible, but through covetousness? Why are they sending this out? They come up with all kinds of schemes, of scams, they are covetous of your money! And when Gloria Copeland says, You give to our ministry and you’ll get back a hundred fold. Now that’s really a good deal, give us ten dollars, you get a thousand.

Tom:

Dave, she says this will send the angels forth to reap all of this good stuff for you.

Dave:

Why don’t they put seeds in other ministries and reap the hundredfold?

Well anyway, Tom, let me just try to finish. I’m sorry, I take too long whatever I say. Covetousness on both sides, Oral Roberts wants your money, or Copeland or whoever it is. How do you think the Copeland’s have His and Her jets, twenty million dollars apiece, they didn’t earn that by the sweat of their brow. People sent it in, people who could hardly make a living are sending in money for these people who live luxurious life styles. But then, why do they send it, Tom? Covetousness on your part when you send that in. Oh, I want to get it, I want to get it, I want to get this money that they are promising me. I have an envelope, Tom, on the front of the envelope says, Man who received this envelope and followed directions received five thousand dollars in three days, or something like that. Oh Wow! Maybe I could get five thousand dollars. So, why is “The Secret” such a success, although it’s warmed over Hinduism, New Age, why? Because people want what it offers, and when they want it badly enough they lose all common sense and they begin to believe its lies.

Tom:

Right, and Dave, those individuals that you just mentioned, those are the ones who are reaping, just as you mentioned the Copeland’s, and so on. These individuals who are promoting this stuff, those are the ones who are reaping the money, that’s the only successful part of this. But Dave, when we’re talking about money that’s one thing, and there are some people who, again, have really, because of their greed put themselves in really bad situations. But the most serious part is the healing part. This is where innocent lives, in some cases, maybe the children of parents who were into this die. We’ve talked about Jehovah’s Witnesses and their not allowing their children to get blood transfusions, and so on. Well, this is just as bad if not worse, and you find it comes back on some of these individuals. Frederick K. Price for example, his wife had cancer, and for a while she was confessing positively that the cancer was not there, and so on, and finally it got so bad that she had to have chemotherapy. Now by the grace of God, I hope it was by the grace of God, the chemotherapy worked. But thousands out there that these individuals are influencing, they are hanging tough. No, I’m not going to see a doctor, it’s my faith. So what it does is, it destroys not only lives and spiritually it destroys true faith, and that’s a crime in itself.

Dave:

Yeah, because you become very disillusioned then. There are a lot of people who are going to have their lives shipwrecked, they are going to be very disappointed and disillusioned with “The Secret” but it will be too late. But Tom, let’s get back to this matter of dying and eternity. It’s appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment. This book does not tell you anything about that. Furthermore, it turns you from the true God, it turns you from Jesus Christ, and Tom, it’s an example of what the faith healers are about. Okay. Kenneth Copeland said, God has called me to preach the gospel of prosperity. You listen to some of these programs, it’s all about healing and prosperity. And it turns you away from the truth that we need. We need a little correction in our lives and we need to learn to love God with our whole heart instead of loving our health and success. So, you mentioned the success motivation, the positive thinking, and so forth in the business world. There are some Christians, they are even looked upon as evangelical Christians, are leader in this area on the speaking circuit.

Tom:

Right, the motivational speaking circuit. Well Dave, we’re just about out of time for this segment, but next week, the Lord willing, we’re going to talk about another very dangerous side of “The Secret” and that is, as I mentioned, and we have mentioned in these programs, all of this comes with methodologies and techniques, how to get what you want. And the most dangerous technique may well be visualization. So hopefully, we’re going to explain the differences, just as you mentioned earlier, Dave, that there’s something to being positive and to having a positive thought. Well, there’s also a visualization that’s reasonable, I mean there’s nothing wrong with it. But there are other visualization techniques you can pick up a demon. You can think you might be creating reality, but you could come into strong bondage because of this occult technique.

Dave:

It’s the major system that all the witchdoctors and shamans use it on the world to pick up their spirit guides.

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