I just finished the 7 Free Lessons of the Science of Getting Rich program offered by Bob Proctor’s LifeSuccess® Productions. These lessons are a good summary of the DVD, “The Secret” and they offer additional tips for those wanting to apply the “Law of Attraction” to become prosperous (rich).

I have a problem with the idea of promoting spirituality as a means of getting rich. Now I deliberately use the term “spirituality” to apply to the teachings of “The Secret” and the Science of Getting Rich Program. Indeed, what originally led me to look into this phenomena was the ease in which I could find biblical support for some of teachings of Michael Beckwith, Jack Canfield, Bob Proctor, and others featured in the video. I will leave off Esther Hicks-Abraham for now, I will probably devote a full week on his/her/its/their teaching.

This brings me to the purpose of this post. After finishing lesson number 7, it dawned on me what the program was REALLY all about. The free lessons contained the secret, but not WHOLE the secret. Just enough to entice me into into buying into the complete SGR program.

We hope you enjoyed and gained much from these 7 free lessons. There is much more to learn but these basics alone will take you far.

If you feel you are ready to move forward in a great leap — to take a quantum jump and move yourself into the mindset of the great people of the world, we’re waiting to hold your hand and help you succeed. Lesson 7, The SGR Program.

The SGR program spiel promised to show me how to get rich by developing several streams of income. I thought I caught a whiff of the scent of Multi-level Marketing (MLM). I did a google search and after wading through several pages, I found this article at My Retirement Project. Sure enough, the multiple revenue streams the last free lesson talked about comes from:

• the money made by selling the program
• money made from programs sold by people you sell programs to
• Sales of books, videos, conducting seminars

Here is a chart I found on the My Retirement Project page I mentioned above. I can’t vouch for the numbers but it is illustrative none the less.

I can’t say for certain if this is a MLM program, but to me, in my opinion, it might be. I mean, it sure looks like MLM to me, but I could be wrong.

What is wrong with being rich? The Patriarchs were wealthy men. God doubled the wealth of an already filthy rich Job. And yes, Moses said that wealth was part of the covenant.

But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as at this day. Deuteronomy 8:18

But in the newer covenant, Jesus, Paul, and James warn about the snare of riches. Consider first the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10:17-27. Here was a man who genuinely sought after spiritual things. He was seeking the deeper life. He came to Rebbe Jesus and asked Him how he make attain eternal life. From Jesus’ questioning of the young man, we can see that he was a good boy who was sincerely trying to live right according to the law.

But Jesus knew that the young man had a spiritual stronghold keeping him from attaining the higher life he desired. Money had made his good life possible. Because of his wealth and privilege, he had never known what it was to struggle to feed, clothe or house himself. He had never experienced the hardship and testing that was part of the everyday life of most first century residents of Palestine. He had never learned to trust God. He was not ready to live the life of Jesus’ disciples. The young man’s faith was in his wealth rather than in God.

Jesus said,

… Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Aside: Now there was no such gate in Jerusalem called the eye of the needle. This is a story some wealthy, covetous, or simply uninformed clergy and laity tell to justify their wealth or desire to become wealthy. Just because this myth is repeated constantly from pulpits across America, does not make it true. Don’t believe me? Google it.

Like any Jewish teacher worth his salt, Jesus was using hyperbole to get his point across. Consider how one would go about the task of fitting a camel through the eye of a sewing needle. Could you squeeze the camel through? If you could shrink the camel then then he could walk through the needle How about crushing the camel’s bones first then shoving him through?

Jesus explained how it is done. While this thing is impossible with man, nothing is impossible with God. This hyperbole shows the lengths God went through to make salvation available to us all. God would not shrink or injure the a camel to get it to fit through the eye of a needle: God’s way is to make the eye of the needle eye large enough for the camel to walk through.

We all fall short of the glory of God and His righteousness. We all sin and are disqualified to live in fellowship with a holy and perfect God. How then can anyone be saved? God enlarged the eye of the needle by sending His Son to become sin and bear the punishment of sin for us all. Christ died that we might live. He suffered that we might rejoice in the salvation of our Father and our God.

Next post, I will share more of my objections to the Science of Getting Rich from a biblical stand point.