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The Secret Things of God

DVD

Director: Jay Silverman

Producers: Jay Silverman and Mick Kleber

English, Dolby Surround 5.1

Featuring: Dr. Henry Cloud

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

www.secretthingsofgod.com

60 minutes

In I Corinthians 9:22 Paul talks about becoming ‘all things to all men,’ in order that some might be saved. In this age of the infomercial and all things ‘Oprah,’ it should be no surprise to see a Judeo-Christian response to the popular new-age phenomenon, The Secret, appear both as a book and a DVD presentation. Dr. Henry Cloud puts the ‘multi’ into multimedia by not only authoring the printed version, but also hosting the video version of The Secret Things of God. With a name like Dr. Cloud, you’d better have something of substance to say, and the good psychologist certainly does, as he de-mystifies certain Biblical principles and shows them to be consistent with basic psychological theories. Appropriately enough, the doctor’s presentation is augmented by a great cloud of witnesses, ranging from Beverly Hills Rabbi, Jonathan Aaron and syndicated radio show host, Dr. Drew Pinsky to former-model and TV personality Christina Ferrare and Extreme Interventionist (?) Warren Boyd. Each of several experts and personalities offer a broad range of scientific, religious, and personal insights into the subject of the life-principles presented here.

In contrast to Rhonda Byrne’s conception of an impersonal universal force that responds to certain ‘rules of attraction,’ Cloud emulates Saint Paul on Mars Hill and attempts to unveil this ‘unknown God’ as the Judeo-Christian God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Where The Secret offers a mystical mind-power to draw the good life to you, The Secret Things of God shows scriptural guidelines for building successful interpersonal relationships and positive life-situations. The principles are always supported by at least one key scripture verse, and several minutes of teaching and, often, a testimonial endorsement. It’s good to hear sound psychology and good scriptural teaching presented in a clear, intelligent way. The message is presented in an even tempered manner and is not ‘preachy’ or condescending; it offers an intelligent, conventionally spiritual counterpoint to the mystical vagaries of New-Age thought. This is strictly an entry-level experience for the un-churched seeker that is open to another point of view. Those who are looking for something to pick on might complain that The Secret Things of God keeps salvation through Jesus pretty much…. well – a secret. Still, this is a video seminar that encourages the skeptic and the wandering mystic to focus in on the One true, personal God – and that’s a very good start.

Stylistically, the one hour program looks identical to a typical infomercial. The key ‘teaching’ segments feature Dr. Cloud addressing a very generic small group of people who all nod, smile, shake their heads and laugh politely, just like all infomercial audiences are supposed to do, in reaction to what they’re hearing – I’m convinced that several of the reaction shots are repeated throughout the hour, unfortunately lending ammunition to the skeptics among us. The lecture is divided into segments and each segment opens with a long shot of what looks like a chalet on a lake with a view of the Swiss Alps in the background. The interior set is supposed to look like a small room where Dr. Cloud is addressing the group in front of a large balcony window with a gorgeous mountain lake vista behind him. The lighting and sound are as good as any I’ve ever seen of this type of production but I have to question the wisdom of the elaborate, but phony (sorry – I look for these things) set. When your product is truth, you’ve gotta’ keep it real – we’ve been fooled by too many infomercials to fall for the glitz.

If you can get past the artificiality of the ‘audience’ and the staginess of the set, you could certainly do worse than to consider this teaching as an alternative to current New-Age trends. Certainly, it isn’t an evenly-weighted overview of the Gospel, but it does fill in certain gaps for people with questions about God and His involvement with man.

Bert Saraco

 

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