04/20/2026
We’ve been duped.
Maybe you’re one of the few who have avoided the lie, but my guess is you’ve probably fallen victim to it. How do I know? Because, me too!
While writing and publishing Chasing Jesus, my first devotional book, I was introduced to a popular book everyone raved about: Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis. At this point in my faith walk, I had never read a secular book. Can I pause for a moment to say that only reading faith-based books doesn’t make me super spiritual? It’s just my way of keeping my heart and mind filled with the things that are pure and lovely (Ph 4:8) as Scripture says. Our world is filled with junk, so I try to keep my books and my music pure! I need no help to be filled with nonsense…to my point—Girl Wash Your Face.
Many assured me that Hollis was a “Christian,” so it was all good! So I began reading, and as I read, I didn’t see it then, but it did something to my soul (Ps 24:3-4). There was a shift: my focus went from writing and marketing Chasing Jesus as worship to God to being very self-focused. If I do XYZ, then it will be successful. If I work harder, sacrifice my family time, and sacrifice time spent pouring into those around me, it will be successful. If I do more, take more writing classes, and throw in some marketing coaching, it will do well. I have the power to succeed or fail.
As mentioned before, I didn’t even realize what was happening at the time. That I was buying into an idea that you’ve probably never heard of. It’s the ideology called New Thought.
New Thought is a close cousin to the New Age Occult, with some differences in practices and beliefs. The New Age Occult is generally considered anti-Christian, extremely self-focused, and rooted in Hinduism and Buddhism. Its practices are pretty obvious to most Bible believers to be anti-Christ.
New Thought, however, is generally disguised as “Christian”. New Thought loves to take Scripture and redefine it. They replace words like 'God' with 'love'. They tolerate the very things God says are sin, they believe all people are inherently good because we are all made in God's image, therefore, we are God. And their truth is about feelings, not reality, so we can create our own and then tolerate everyone’s personal truth. New Thoughters believe Jesus was the example of goodness, the wayshower, if you will, but not the only way or the truth. On the surface, New Thought seems very loving and kind. Still, beneath the surface, it undermines the core beliefs of Christianity and places all its emphasis on self. It seems very harmless and true. Its self-focused ideology is ravaging the church in America. And while its claim is to bring us closer to God by being God, it’s deceiving us deeply and causing a great divide between The Father and us. New Thought is why Christianity seems so shallow these days. Because it’s being redefined into “my” version of truth/Christianity. It’s a false doctrine, and we are taking the bait!
Let me give you a startling statistic. This blew my mind.
Statistically, 85-90% of churchgoers in America have at least one belief that opposes Biblical truth. That’s insane. Imagine most people who walk through the door each Sunday don’t believe the entirety of Scripture.
Now, I realize some disbelief is just a lack of understanding. Or a lack of reading your word. It may not be intentional or rebellious.
Unintentional, that was me. I love my Bible. I’m disciplined in reading my Word. And I wholeheartedly believe it saved me from going all in on self-reliance during that time.
The wild thing about these statistics is that most of these anti-Bible ideologies come straight out of New Thought or New Age Occult. New Thoughters redefine Scripture to fit their own beliefs and lifestyles; anything goes because truth is within each of us. Therefore, we must love and tolerate each person's truth. New Agers don’t believe it’s an important book because it limits their self-authority. Again, you see how New Thought and New Age overlap.
Friend, when we dabble in these beliefs and practices (and there’s so much more I could say and will in time), it causes confusion and distorts the gospel—that Christ is truth, we need a savior, we cannot save ourselves, we are not God.
We are being duped. Like the serpent in the garden, it’s subtle. It’s packed away in the books we read, the music playing in our car, the bubbly gal on our social media who seems so free-spirited and loving, the podcast you’re listening to—and sadly, at times, the sermons you’re sitting under. There are complete churches dedicated to the New Thought movement—Trans men leading groups, children meditating in “kids church”, Scripture being redefined to scratch our itching ears (2 Tim 4:3)—this is real, and it’s really dangerous and deceptive.
So how do we combat these ideologies? We fight with truth and what Truth says. He’s the only thing that will keep us from believing a lie! And to clarify, Truth is not a thing; Truth is a person, the person of Jesus.
“Pilate said, “So you are a king?” Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”” —John 18:37 NLT
“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”—John 14:6 CSB
There is only one truth, there is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus! If you believe anything other than that, you’re being duped!
As we land this plane, I want to say thanks for staying with me the whole way, and second, I want to leave you one last Scripture.
“When GOD, your God, clears the ground of the nations that you are dispossessing and you take their place and settle in their land, be careful that you don’t get curious about how they do things, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I’d like to try that myself.”—Deuteronomy 12:29-30 MSG
Sweet friend, please hear me, we are created in the image of God, but we are not God! We are at His mercy, we will face His judgment, and He will return for a spotless bride, one who is pure and devoted to Him alone. He’s not interested in sharing His bride with Buddha or any other dead idol or religious practice you think will make you happy. Jesus did not die to make you happy; He died to make you holy.
So if you’ve been duped. I pray this is your wake-up call. Don’t waste your life on a lie. Seek God while he may be found ♥️
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”—Isaiah 55:6-9 ESV
