Loving Ourselves to Death: Self-Help and New Thought | Key Life

The Fundamental Flaw

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.”[i]

Reading this encouragement from a self-help book about the potential of my mind and positive thinking captivated me. It left me feeling nothing but power. It even included  Scripture references to this “power” within. So I knew it was legit. There was no denying this was God’s will for my life.

I couldn’t put the book down. I never knew that simply changing the way I thought would literally change the circumstances around me. Happiness, greatness, confidence, likability, assertiveness, wealth, romance, a fresh start, a positive perspective—there was a book or conference for that. But it wasn’t just my perspective that would change. No, my thoughts could change my reality. I was magical. There was definitely nothing suspicious about this. What a serotonin rush!

A rush that eventually crashed into this really inconvenient thing called reality.

It didn’t take long to realize that this “powerful thoughts” thing would require doing the work to be better. Eat better, think better, act better.

Just be better.

And this is how it gets you.

The inspiring quote at the beginning of this section is the first words you’ll read in Norman Vincent Peale’s tremendously popular self-help book, The Power of Positive Thinking. It’s one of the most successful self-help books ever sold in American history. It also happens to be one of the most popular New Thought books ever sold in American history.

Peale was a popular New Thought author and minister. His influence is just one of many New Thought sources that have influenced our culture’s views on positive thinking, self-reliance, following your truth, and, well, everything to do with yourself as the answer to your problems.

The theme is still the same: self. You’re the chosen hero. You’re not the problem. You’re the solution. The downsides to this message are many, including the huge barrier it builds to accepting the gospel. And tragically, those who follow the religion of self-improvement ultimately become a slave to its never-ending, works-based demands.

That’s the result of a fundamental flaw in how New Thought depicts humanity. Nearly every false idea today can be traced back to the belief that humanity is fundamentally good.[ii] This creates the illusion of rediscovering something deep within and awakening our divine potential. Some people can’t understand why they’d need a savior. I’m my own savior. I am enough!

New Thought began with healing, but it grew to promote personal prosperity and correct the “lie” that humans were inherently sinful. Humanity didn’t need to be told they were sinners. They needed to know about their goodness and inner divinity, the Christ within, and that they are already whole. They just need to realize it. Supposedly, the lies of the religious fundamentalists had been holding people back. This was nothing but fear-filled religious propaganda, keeping humans from reaching their true potential.

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[i] Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking (New York, Simon and Schuster: 2015), pg 1.

[ii] Natasha Crain, “Nearly every false idea today can be traced back to the belief that man is fundamentally good,” Facebook, April 25, 2023. https://tinyurl.com/ytc4e9wr.

Happy Lies Copyright © 2025 by Melissa Dougherty

Published in Grand Rapids, Michigan, by Zondervan. Zondervan is a registered trademark of The Zondervan Corporation, L.L.C., a wholly owned subsidiary of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Listen or Watch our interview with Melissa Dougherty on SBE here!

The post Loving Ourselves to Death: Self-Help and New Thought appeared first on Key Life.

DEI’s homos, lesbos and dumbos | WND

Progressives are a boorish lot. They are contradictions to the reality they claim to represent. Their bastardized mantra of inclusion fails to exhibit the tangible outcomes defined as even modest examples of success. They are churlish Mohocks who use their ill-gotten positions as cudgels.

The Biden-Harris-Obama administration is the picture perfect representation of all such failure. Diversity, equity and inclusion were the official mantra for what they presented as proof of concept. In truth, those “given” such positions were proof-positive representations of failure that is consistent with those whose skill sets are based upon being homos, lesbos and dumbos.

Of all the White House press secretaries, Karine Jean-Pierre has been without equal in the failed performance of the position she held. But, in her mind and in her own words, she being the press secretary made her a historic figure. In reality, she was unqualified and an unmitigated failure on every quantifiable level.

Her only redeeming qualities and indeed the only reason she was hired is because she is a lesbian with the proper complexion and presumably a woman.

California’s commitment to place homos, lesbos and dumbos in critical positions has showcased an unparalleled absence of skill, understanding of how to perform the jobs they were given, and disdain for propriety and decorum.

Karen Bass, mayor of Los Angeles, was on urgent business in Africa while Los Angeles was burning to the ground. Gavin Newsom the failure who masquerades as governor of California made his prime-time appearance. Unfortunately, his skill sets are bleached teeth and coiffed hair, neither of which have any leadership value in the midst of firenados and uncontrolled raging infernos of biblical proportions.

And, if the rumors are true, Kamala Harris will probably be the next governor of California. If she runs, she will be elected, because the political class of California gives clear relevance to the late George Kelly’s studies on “Personal Construct Theory,” which argues: Psychological disorder is any personal construction used repeatedly in spite of consistent invalidation; i.e., repeating the same thing failure after failure, is a psychological disorder.

In brief, it is a truism that progressivism, like liberalism, is a mental disorder.

But, that sums up the extent of the progressives’ combined skill sets. They are graduates of the reputed finest institutions, but going to a heretofore academically respected learning institution is nothing more than an assignation today juxtaposed to what same represented in times past.

Affirmative action and the right connections are the qualifiers for entrance into Harvard, Yale, Columbia and the so-called top schools today. The students attending same are not educated; they are inculcated with lies, hatred for America and menticide.

The caricatures that filled the Biden-Obama political landscape are disgraceful reminders of the once-great American institutes of learning.

As I said during a discussion several days ago, the California progressive ruling class will not learn from the mistakes that have led to the devastation they are now confronted with; they will double down, arguing that the disaster is the result of their progressivism not going far enough, which is exactly what they are now doing.

Nero may have fiddled as Rome burned, but the California progressives led by Newsom have amassed a $50 million war-chest to underwrite legal defenses aimed at fighting President Trump’s policy efforts.

California wants you and me to foot the bill for the irresponsible negligence of the progressives they continue to elect.

Being a homo or a lesbo does not encase a skill set to be a skilled leader. And, being a dumbo by definition diminishes the requisite management/leadership skills. Yet, those are the abominable practices the Biden-Obama camarilla applaud and promote.

Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s transportation secretary, accomplished less than nothing in his official capacity, and truth being told, he didn’t have to. He was the first homo guy in his position. That was all the skill set he needed. Just ask the people of Ohio. I’m certain they will applaud his deviancy as the quality they needed when Pete the pervert failed them following multiple train derailments. And let us not forget his failure with the airlines. But, he is a homo, and that trumps being competent.

It is the demonic perversion of the wholly amoral that has progressives and their ilk serenade songs of mythical achievements for homos, lesbos and dumbos.

Speaking of dumbos, is there any more accomplished one than Kamala Harris? The ability to read words on a screen with a minimum of blinking is not scholardom. But, don’t tell the ever-diminishing number of Rachel Maddow viewers.

It is the furthest thing from ipse dixit to argue that the Obama woman and her husband are the other version of the Clintons. They hate one another, but stay together for the sake of mutual convenience. The sick sexual practices we hear about these four Fabian progressives takes perversion to new heights.

But, their grotesque deviance is not synonymous with good leadership, even though progressives would have us confuse the two.

Source: DEI’s homos, lesbos and dumbos

December 30 | Goal Setting

scripture reading:	James 4:13–17
key verse:	Proverbs 21:5

The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty,
But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

Many people will look back over the past year with a sense of accomplishment and hope. Others may have regrets and wish they had tackled life differently. Learning to set goals for your life is an excellent way to build encouragement into your daily routine, especially when you set reasonable goals that you can achieve without fear of failure.

Always begin the goal–setting process with prayer. Ask the Lord to show you specific areas in your life that will benefit from this type of organization. Making a list of potential growth spots will help you see the overall context of your life. Ask yourself, What would I like to accomplish in this certain area during the next year?

Make a promise to yourself that you will be open to the will of God. Allow Him to alter your goals when necessary.

Remember, He is perfectly in tune with your life and knows your strengths and weaknesses. Avoid becoming overzealous in the goal–setting process. Many who do often end up discouraged when goals are unreached. Set goals that stretch your faith but are also attainable in nature.

God is a natural goal setter. Throughout Scripture, He encouraged men and women to achieve the goals He placed before them. God wants you to achieve His best in life; allow Him to guide you as you set goals for the future.

Heavenly Father, thank You for all You have accomplished in and through me during the past year. As I look ahead to the future, reveal Your goals and objectives for my life. I want to fulfill Your plan.¹

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¹  Stanley, C. F. (1998). Enter His gates: a daily devotional. Thomas Nelson Publishers.

What Is a Christian Mindset?

Jesus spoke about how our mindset is connected to who we are in His Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7). He explained, for example, how Old Testament commandments relate to who we are inside. He said that anyone who even looks at a woman with lust commits adultery in his heart (Matt. 5:28). That’s because sin is a question of our mindset—not simply of what we do externally. He summarized by saying, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (v. 48).

What is a mindset? It’s not a term we use often. The Bible describes Christians as being people who pursue transformation through the renewal of their mind (Rom. 12:2). This means that the position, orientation, or very framework of our mind has shifted—it’s been “set” by the Spirit of God. That doesn’t mean that our mind is static, but the seed of the Word has been permanently planted, and our whole life of faith springs forth from that seed (Rom. 10:17; James 1:21).

It reminds me of playing baseball when I was little. Baseball was the first sport I learned to play. Once I picked up a bat and learned how to throw a ball, I interpreted every other sport I played through the experience of playing baseball. When I played golf, I knew something of how to swing a club. When I played soccer, I knew what it meant to play offense or defense. I brought a baseball mindset to every sport that I played.

In some ways, the term worldview describes what a mindset is, but that term can be misleading. Sometimes people say, “Well, that’s just your view.” What they mean is that our views don’t need to accord with any objective truth. All that exists is power, and whoever can yell the loudest gets to impose his view of the world on others. But that’s a cynical way of viewing the world. It would mean that power is always our sole motivation, and all truth is relative. But that doesn’t make sense. People are often motivated by other things besides power. And, moreover, you can’t claim that all truth is relative, because that’s an objective truth claim. It’s contradictory.

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