His philosophy is embraced by the church almost as enthusiastically as it is by the world. For this reason, we have selected him as another 'wolf in wolf's clothing'.
He is a motivational and self-help speaker whose language was at one time in secular speech, but later on adopting a pseudo-spiritual aspect that those who adhere to New Spirituality (New Age) dogma have joyfully received as their own.
Mr. Dyer has frequented PBS television with his presentations, had written dozens of books, and has been a regular guest on Oprah Winfrey; the television talk show host and personality long known for her New Spirituality proclivities.
From Wikipedia we have the following information: “Dyer worked as a high school guidance counselor in Detroit and as a professor of counselor education at St. John's University in New York City.
He pursued an academic career, published in journals and established a private therapy practice. His lectures at St. John's, which focused on positive thinking and motivational speaking techniques, attracted many students.
A literary agent persuaded Dyer to document his theories in his first book called Your Erroneous Zones.
Dyer quit his teaching job and began a publicity tour of the United States of America, doggedly pursuing bookstore appearances and media interviews ("out of the back of his station wagon", according to Michael Korda, making the best-seller lists "before book publishers even noticed what was happening), which eventually led to national television talk show appearances including Merv Griffin, The Tonight Show, and Phil Donahue.
Dyer proceeded to build on his success with lecture tours, a series of audiotapes, and regular publication of new books. Dyer's message resonated with many in the New Thought* Movement and beyond.
He often recounted anecdotes from his family life, and repeatedly used his own life experience as an example. His self-made man success story was a part of his appeal. Dyer told readers to pursue self actualization, calling reliance on the self as a guide to "religious" experience, and suggested that readers emulate Jesus Christ, whom he termed both an example of a self-actualized person, and a "preacher of self-reliance".
Dyer criticized societal focus on guilt, which he saw as an unhealthy immobilization in the present due to actions taken in the past. He advocated readers to see how parents, institutions, and even they, themselves, have imposed guilt trips upon themselves.
* “New Thought” is for all practical purposes a synonym for New Spirituality.
Although Dyer initially resisted the spiritual tag, by the 1990s he had altered his message to include more components of spirituality when he wrote the book Real Magic, and discussed higher consciousness, in the book Your Sacred Self.”
Mr. Dyer went on record as saying: "My beliefs are that the truth is a truth until you organize it, and then becomes a lie. I don't think that Jesus was teaching Christianity, Jesus was teaching kindness, love, concern, and peace. What I tell people is don't be Christian, be Christ-like. Don't be Buddhist, be Buddha-like."
"Religion is orthodoxy, rules and historical scriptures maintained by people over long periods of time. Generally people are raised to obey the customs and practices of that religion without question. These are customs and expectations from outside the person and do not fit my definition of spiritual."
Here we have an essential objection to Mr. Dyer's admonition who obviously has no understanding of what a biblical Christian truly is. A true Christian is a follower of Christ; one who studies, learns and obeys the Word of God by none other than the Spirit and the grace He affords to those who are born of the Spirit.
Basically one cannot be 'Christ-like' unless they have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, and the Bible is very specific as to how the Spirit of God comes to indwell a human being (John 3:3,5; Romans 8:11; 1 Cor. 3:16)!
Only a born again disciple, a Christian can ever be Christ-like.
ROMANS 8:9
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Another point that I take issue with Dr. Dyer about is the fact that he believes the teaching and life of Jesus is in some significant way different than how Scripture records them. That the actual Person of Jesus Christ is not accurately or fairly represented by the Holy Bible.
Yet the Scriptures themselves have been declared by the LORD, that they are a testimony of truth which teaches us all about the central theme and figure of the Word: that is, the Word Himself, God Incarnate: Jesus Christ! The LORD Himself authorized the ones He chose to record Scripture by the inspiration and anointing of the Holy Spirit, and are legitimate teaching from God, via His holy apostles and prophets (MATT. 23:34).
JOHN 5:39
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
JOHN 16:12-14
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
2 PETER 1:19-21
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (See also 2 PET.3:15-16 and here note that Peter refers to Paul's epistles as Holy Scripture, comparable to other Scripture already recognized as such).
While there is a certain amount of his statements and observations that are on a practical level, useful, one would be far better served by simply following all the counsel of God rather than 'fishing out' these tidbits from the large body of erroneous teachings.
And yet for such bold and blatant statements as these, there are professing Christians who extol the works of Wayne Dyer and count him as a viable and valuable resource of guidance and counsel!
Take this site for example, “Guilt Free Christians (Desperately Seeking Other Guilt Free Christians!)” A “guilt free Christian” is in a very real sense a misnomer, as all sin committed by the Christian is reckoned to Christ's account because of His atonement on the Cross, having shed His blood for the salvation of souls.
All guilt is then transferred to Christ and no longer laid upon the disciple of Christ. Certainly when we commit a sin, we are convicted of it, and experience a sense of guilt, but only until repentance and confession is made for such sin and fellowship is restored as Christ offers Divine forgiveness afforded by His own propitiation.
Yet it would seem that these professing Christians are following Dyer's advice when he criticized “societal focus on guilt, which he saw as an unhealthy immobilization in the present due to actions taken in the past.
He advocated readers to see how parents, institutions, and even they, themselves, have imposed guilt trips upon themselves.” Again, guilt is a result of a healthy conscience that recognizes when one had committed some wrong or more precisely, a sin which is disobedience to God's Holy will.
Such sin and its resulting guilt are done away with in Christ once repentance and surrender to His will is committed. No one in this world ever needs to live in guilt, but the solution is Christ and not any form of self-improvement, much less self-delusion via mental games to convince oneself that “in every day and in every way things are getting better and better”!
Wayne Dyer provides a wisdom that is born from his own mind and thinking; it can hardly be attributed to God as this form of wisdom is diametrically opposed to the wisdom of God as found in the Scriptures (as we shall soon see). God's wisdom and the wisdom of this world are anti-thetical to each other and by no means do they share any 'common ground':
1 COR. 2:4-7, 12-16
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
From Christian Skepticism – A Reasonable Faith web site we have the following expose on Wayne Dyer, comparing his wisdom with that of God's Holy Word:
DR. WAYNE DYER vs. CHRISTIANITY
Here are a few quotes by Dr. Dyer and responses from a Christian perspective (see more of these at the web site above).
Nature of God: Dyer - God is an energy field. God can also be equated with soul, spirit, cousciousness. God is always creating and loving and it excludes no one. It is a source that has no judgment.
Christianity - God is divine. God is personal. God judges between right and wrong, good and evil. Only those who walk in truth and righteousness may abide with him.
Nature of Man: Dyer - You are a divine, infinite creation making the choice to be on purpose and to be connected to the power of intention. It all revolves around your being harmoniously connected to your Source. who you are is a piece of God—who you are is a piece of the source.
Christianity - Man is a finite creature subject to limitations, whose purpose is derived from and directed toward his Creator, who is the source of all life, sufficiency and truth.
Humanity's Purpose and Philosophy: Dyer - Happiness. Enjoyment. Feeling good is what you should be doing every day of your life.. Enjoy the moment, because that is all you have. You never are going to arrive someplace else.
Christianity - Glorify God. Holiness. Our present choices have consequences. Our future [as born again Christians, destined for heaven] is real.
Humanity's problem: Dyer - Not being in harmony with his inner self.
Christianity - Not being in harmony with God (Creator, Ruler, Judge) [due to the sin nature].
Salvation (solving humanity's problem): Dyer - Man simply needs to go to the source of himself and get realigned
Christianity - Man needs to look outside himself to the gift of salvation that God offers based on the substitutionary atonement of Christ.
The following are more quotes (I chose three of the many found here) by Dr. Dyer on the web site www.brainyquote.com which I myself shall respond to with Scripture:
1 “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.” ~ Wayne Dyer.
Karma is a Hindu and Buddhist concept (and an ideology employed in Gnosticism as well), an integral part of that eastern religion. It's interesting that Mr. Dyer would admonish people to “not be Christian” and yet he would also tout such a word and philosophy as “karma”.
According to a site dedicated to the teachings of Buddhism, karma is defined as follows:
“. . . this inequality is due not only to heredity, environment, "nature and nurture", but also to Karma. In other words, it is the result of our own past actions and our own present doings. We ourselves are responsible for our own happiness and misery. We create our own Heaven. We create our own Hell. We are the architects of our own fate. Perplexed by the seemingly inexplicable, apparent disparity that existed among humanity, a young truth-seeker approached the Buddha and questioned him regarding this intricate problem of inequality:
"What is the cause, what is the reason, O Lord," questioned he, "that we find amongst mankind the short-lived and long-lived, the healthy and the diseased, the ugly and beautiful, those lacking influence and the powerful, the poor and the rich, the low-born and the high-born, and the ignorant and the wise?" The Buddha’s reply was: "All living beings have actions (Karma) as their own, their inheritance, their congenital cause, their kinsman, their refuge. It is Karma that differentiates beings into low and high states."
“He then explained the cause of such differences in accordance with the law of cause and effect. “Certainly we are born with hereditary characteristics. At the same time we possess certain innate abilities that science cannot adequately account for. To our parents we are indebted for the gross sperm and ovum that form the nucleus of this so-called being. They remain dormant within each parent until this potential germinal compound is vitalised by the karmic energy needed for the production of the foetus.
Karma is therefore the indispensable conceptive cause of this being.”
Eastern religions hold as a foregone conclusion that karma accumulates from our past lives and has an irrevocable effect on our present life, and how we respond to those effects in the present will determine our future condition.
Thus any who adhere to the idea of 'karma' in its strictest form must also admit to reincarnation as being a part of reality. Scripture however does not teach reincarnation, but on the contrary unequivocally states:
HEBREWS 9:27
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
There is an element of truth to this idea of karma, but only on a rudimentary level, that whatever one 'sows' in life, one will also 'reap' (GAL. 6:7); if one invests one's life with carnal and ungodly pursuits and actions (“the flesh”) one will then receive corruption as a result.
If one invests one's life with spiritual and godly pursuits such as seeking salvation through the LORD Jesus Christ by faith alone – then one will receive everlasting life. But such deeds are confined to this life alone, the only physical life we will ever have on this Earth.
For Mr. Dyer to speak in such terms, serves only to perpetuate a lie of Eastern religious deception.
2 “What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.” ~ Wayne Dyer.
While there is a grain of truth in this statement, the premise is flawed. Yes, having a good and correct attitude in life will go a long way in bringing about desired results, but this ability of the mind in no way is the absolute and singular influence for what transpires in our lives. The expression, “Life is what happens to us while we are busy making other plans” is suggestive of the truth of the matter.
The idea that our minds are capable of anything and nothing is impossible for those whose minds are determined on any particular course of action harks back to the philosophy of the Human Potential Movement (HPM). Here is a brief explanation of the HPM:
“Aldous Huxley envisioned a future world society totally controlled by an elite group of scientists. His best known fictional work explicating this dire prospect bore the title Brave New World. Years later he would “revisit” his prognostications only to conclude that he had underestimated the rate of change realizing his darkest fears.
Turning to mysticism, both in its meditative and drug-induced varieties, he prepared the way for the burgeoning Human Potential Movement which was initially formed at the Esalen* Institute, Big Sur, CA in the early 1960s.
The electrical engineering professor at Stanford University Willis W. Harman, who had gotten involved in researching the cognitive and societal effects of LSD consumption, conducted seminars at Esalen on “Human Potentialities”.
Under his directorial supervision at the Stanford Research Institute a scientific study entitled “Changing Images of Man” was carried out from 1972-74 with the purpose of changing the “conceptual premises underlying Western society”, including a radical modification of the rational worldview of western scientists.
As the president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences from 1977 to 1996, Harman advocated openly a mystical outlook on life claiming that a spiritual approach to scientific research and technological development would greatly enhance our understanding of the monistic [an “all is one” concept] unity of the universe.” ~ Erdmann, M Eur J Nanomed 2009; 2:31-38
*The official site of the Esalen Institute: http://www.esalen.org/
~ taken from the site: My Perspective – What Constance Thinks and the article, A Planned Destruction of Christianity?
What Dr. Dyer is advocating is more about Mind Science than merely positive thinking (though even the term, 'positive mental attitude' is likewise used in Mind Science disciplines) and Esalen as well as the Human Potential Movement are both Mind Science organizations.
The fundamental philosophy is primarily Hindu in nature: that the physical is maya – or illusion that masks the true self, which is spiritually one with the universe, and that by the power of mind, one can create one's own reality.
Mind Science embraces the lie of the serpent: “you shall be as gods”. It's close cousin, Christian Science mimics the same sentiment.
The Scriptures grant us the wisdom and insight to know that God is involved with every human life and what He decrees upon every soul overrides any determination or plan of our own:
PSALM 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
EZEKIEL 18:4-5, 9
4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right [and] . . .
9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.
We cannot use our minds to affect reality to such a degree as to avoid the judgment of God, nor absolve ourselves of our responsibilities to our Creator, the Judge of the whole earth (GEN. 18:25; PS. 94:2); nor can we by the power of our own minds steer the course of our lives towards any 'higher level' of being outside of God's creation, but rather by our will we may either choose eternal life or eternal death based on whether or not we receive salvation through the LORD Jesus Christ.
JOHN 3:34-36
34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
3 “Self-worth comes from one thing - thinking that you are worthy.” ~ Wayne Dyer.
Can we genuinely affect the intrinsic worthiness of ourselves merely by thinking that we are worthy? What precisely are we believing that we are worthy of? A better life? A better career? A better partner for marriage? A higher level of spiritual power and reality?
What does Scripture have to say about “self-worth”? When we read about self (“me”) in the Bible, it pulls no punches at all! Have a look:
PSALM 51:5
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
MATT. 15:10-11, 18-19
10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
ROMANS 7:17-19
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
This is sadly, but truly the deplorable state of mankind ever since the fall of Adam who succumbed to temptation and committed “the original sin” which in turn propelled all of his progeny into a life interwoven with a sin-nature. This is humbling and terribly tragic news!
HOWEVER, there is GOOD NEWS (That's what “Gospel” means!): We can find deliverance and salvation from sin and its subsequent results of misery, death and hell, (only) through faith in the LORD Jesus Christ, freely offered to all who will come to Him.
ROMANS 10:8-11
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
For more quotes by Wayne Dyer, have a look at this site (and seek out Scripture for yourselves to determine what he says is either true or false).
Suffice it to say that Dr. Wayne Dyer and other 'self-help gurus' such as Anthony Robbins* and countless others offer no real and lasting solutions for the purpose of man, his moral and spiritual condition, his destiny and any viable relationship with God our Creator.
Rather, they provide teachings that lead to spiritual deception and ultimately greater bondage into spiritual darkness.
* See the following interview (8 mins 24 secs) on Caryl Matrisciana's video, Wide Is The Gate, Vol. 1 “The Emerging New Christianity” where a former agent, Paris Alexander, of the Anthony Robbins organization is interviewed.
Christians should steer clear of such worldly wisdom and instead, fully embrace the godly wisdom provided for us (free of charge, no need to pay fees for attending seminars or purchasing books or dvds!) in the Holy Scriptures. This ends the third segment of this article and in the fourth we shall examine the statements and beliefs of Ken Blanchard.
For more information on these matters, feel free to check out the following: Overview of the Human Potential Movement By CANA ministries.
Also from CANA ministries: Wayne Dyer: The Wisdom of The New Spirituality
