The Secret: Dare to Dream Review

The Secret Review

I was on vacation in Colorado recently with some in-laws who decided one evening to watch a movie called The Secret: Dare to Dream. This article might be too late for some who have already watched the movie, but this is a warning about the movie and the message of false teachings surrounding it.

The movie came out in 2020 and is based on the best-selling book by Rhonda Byrne, The Secret. Let me make it clear that this book or the movie does not claim to be Christian or hold to biblical values. But it does not necessarily need to be Christian or hold to a biblical worldview to be harmful to your faith. However, when Byrne wrote The Secret, she was heavily influenced by her studies of religious and philosophical ideas. She claims to be passing down “through the ages, highly coveted, hidden, lost, stolen…secrets.

I remember when Byrne’s book came out it had this well put together motivational video/documentary that accompanied it. I was not a Christian at the time when my boss at the mortgage company I was working for showed the managers the video as part of a managers “training.” Nothing against my boss at the time. He wasn’t a Christian and we were all making a lot of money and Byrne was appealing. At the time, I found the video and book inspiring and without a Christian worldview to counter the message, I was sold on what Byrne had to offer.

The Secret is a self-help book that claims to reveal a secret of the universe that will transform your life. What The Secret suggest is that it will teach you how to tap into the “power of the law that governs all our lives to create—intentionally and effortlessly—a joyful life…money, health, relationships, happiness, and in every interaction, you have in the world. You’ll begin to understand the hidden, untapped power that’s within you, and this revelation can bring joy to every aspect of your life.”

In terms of books sales, it was a success and has sold 30 million copies worldwide. Byrne’s net worth in 2025 is over 140 million dollars. The overarching principle of this book teaches about the law of attraction, which claims that you can think into existence anything. In essence, you need to think about what you want in life and by doing so, you will attract it and make it a reality. Byrne was heavily influenced by the book ‘The Science of Getting Rich’ by Wallace D. Wattles, which often quoted scripture, but selectively and out of context. It is a philosophy that has been promoted widely by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, who marketed the book heavily on her shows over the years. Based on her success, it can be easy to believe that Byrne’s principles within the book work! However, there is danger here for the Bible believing Christian and anyone that is being discipled.

Does it Line up with Scripture?

The question is does the message of this movie and the book line up with scripture? The short answer is no, it does not! Not even close!!! That means as a Christian, our worldview should reject the message and point others away from the material. That is the purpose of this article.

There was a time in my Christian faith that I asked the question, how do books, movies, music, or even churches that teach a message like The Secret, even exist when what they teach is contrary to the message of the Bible. Yes, there are churches that base their teaching on such belief’s. How does God allow it when they use scripture to promote their messages? It’s funny how when you ask questions about the truth of what God’s word says, He tends to give you just what you asked for. Shortly after asking that question, I found myself reminded and studying 2 Timothy and this passage.

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Tim. 4:3).

We live in a world that is increasingly asking for sin. At the same time, they struggle with the reality that their conscience convicts them to turn from those desires. The result is they suppress the truth of that conviction despite that the truth has been made known to them. The reality of their increased appetite leads them into further and further depravity to the point that God gives them over to their desires. In doing this, the response is to find ways to twist scripture to fit their narrative and then find people who will preach and applaud them for the sin that they so desire (Rom. 1:18-32). 

In scripture (Romans 12:2) has much to say about the power of our thinking and the need for our minds (thoughts) to be transformed. The question then is, are we willing to allow our minds to be transformed away from the worldly desires we have and into the righteous thinking of God.

Why do we need to be transformed? Because our minds, our thoughts are flawed by sin.   We are powerless to do anything without God. The notion that we can use our flawed thinking to conjure up anything our hearts desire is absurd. The Bible tells us clearly that the desires of our hearts can’t be trusted and chasing after what this world loves is a sin. Money is not sinful, but the love of it is.

The other problem that exists is that our flesh craves what the world says is good–why the Secret is so successful. There is an ongoing conflict we experience as Christians between our sinful nature (the flesh) and the desire to live according to God's will (the Spirit). This struggle is a reality for believers who are striving to follow Christ. It highlights the tension between the old self and the new self, the old nature and the new nature, that exists within a person who has been saved.

Paul explains in Romans 12:2 that in the process of our minds being transformed, we find what God’s will for us is–faith in the person and work of Christ, who was crucified for our sins on the cross. Not faith in our ability to grab a hold of what the world loves, “lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (2 John 2:15-17).

This is an age-old problem that The Secret likes to exploit and that is something that we can go back to Genesis, the fall, and learn about ourselves. We find that the overarching issue with our humanity is self-reliance–our need to be sovereign over our own life. The Secret exploits this desire by directing the object of faith on the world rather than Christ. 

Faith in Our Own Faith, Not God

Understandably, it is not surprising that many Christians could be deceived by the message of this movie and the book, The Secret. In many ways, the central message of The Secret is not too dissimilar from the foundational premise of the Word of Faith message which plagues the church today. The Word of Faith movement teaches that faith is a principle or law that God has set in place in the universe. It is a law to which even God Himself is bound. Therefore, if we speak something in faith it is bound to happen because God is bound by the law of faith. This teaching is erroneous and wicked in so many ways that it makes God a slave to our faith and causes people to place their faith not in God, but in their own faith.

Faith is important as a Christian. In fact, it is impossible to please God without it. Faith is the central focus to the object of our faith in scripture, Christ. The Secret or the Word of Faith movement teaches doctrine that shifts the object of that faith in Christ to an individualistic need and an independence that play on the basic of all human needs, desires, fears–health and wealth. Scripture tells us to meditate on the things above and to live for the next life, not for this one. The desires for wealth, prosperity and health should not be our focus. Instead, we need to focus on the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). While imprisoned in Rome, Paul did not write that if he thought about freedom he would get it, but rather that we should rejoice regardless of circumstances (Philippians 4:4). In Hebrews, the heroes of the faith include the “destitute, persecuted and afflicted” not the wealthy. We could go on with other examples, but what you should see here is that a proper total view of scripture paints a very different picture to the message of The Secret or the Word of Faith movement spreading in churches today.

The New Age thinking of The Secret leads to a place that the emphasis is placed on individualism, where we essentially become God. Jesus told His disciples that in the days leading up to His Second Coming, “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many” (Matthew 24:11). Our culture has been inundated with false prophets. The rise of the cults, false religions, and attacks on the Christian faith is on the rise.

The message of the book and movie is one that directly opposes the gospel by imitating it. It is at best a counterfeit–another gospel intended to deprive you of the truth about God and His eternal promises. It happened in Paul’s ministry, and he warned the Elders of Ephesus before his departure in Acts 20:29-30, that "fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” This has not changed for us in our time.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul warned not to subscribe to another gospel; “even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one” that was preached to them, “let them be under God’s curse.” Paul had a stern warning for that which contradicts the true gospel of Jesus Christ. As Christians we should absolutely reject such a message like what is taught from The Secret.