I had no idea what this term meant before. I’ve heard of New Age, but not New Thought. Recently, I have felt the prompting to look into it. So what exactly is it?
A spiritual movement that began in 19th century America, emphasizing that thoughts shape reality, divine presence is within everyone, and correct thinking leads to health, happiness, and prosperity, stemming from healer Phineas Quimby's ideas about mind over matter healing. It's a philosophy rather than a strict religion, focusing on personal spiritual development and influencing groups like Unity and Religious Science, as well as concepts like the Law of Attraction.
The core principles are that your thoughts directly influence your physical and material reality - negative thoughts create problems and positive ones bring solutions. Each person has an innate divine self or "Christ consciousness", making them part of God (the "One Mind"). Sickness and unhappiness stem from erroneous beliefs, healing comes through shifting to "correct thinking" and recognizing your inherent divinity. A belief in a universal, interconnected spiritual reality where humans can live in harmony, love, and abundance.
Phineas Quimby (1802 - 1866) is often called the father of New Thought. He was a mental healer who taught that illness was rooted in belief and was cured by changing those beliefs. Mary Baker Eddy was his student and she founded Christian Science, incorporating his ideas.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was the father of Transcendentalism (19th century American movement emphasizing individual intuition, self-reliance, and spiritual connection with nature - the goal is to "transcend" the physical world to reach higher spiritual reality through inner thought). He influenced New Thought as well.
So by now you're probably wondering, why on earth am I telling you all of this?! I'll tell you.
This New Thought has slowly permeated into our Christian churches, theology, beliefs. Not any one specific denomination, mind you, but it has slipped in here and there. So much so, that in today's western world, we have got to put on the brakes and pull it out because it is dangerous and leading people astray. Talk about a time to clean it up!
So why is it dangerous?
It's derailing Christians by teaching that it's all about you and your positive declarations, how you can shape your destiny, higher levels of consciousness, can lead to spiritual pride, making it more about you than about Jesus, distorts core biblical truths (like the nature of God, the divinity of Jesus, reality of sin, nature of salvation), it emphasizes self-effort, law of attraction & manifesting, control over life's outcomes (rather than life is subject to God's sovereign will and providence), basically a shift from a Christ centered faith to a self-centered faith.
What makes it even more dangerous is that it's so slippery! It repackages non-Christian, self-focused spirituality using biblical language, making it really difficult to identify for some believers.
Bottom line: New Thought is a dangerous deception because it presents a false gospel that uses Christian terminology to lead believers away from the authentic biblical Jesus Christ and His path to salvation.
Some examples of how New Thought ideas have influenced some Christian churches and practices:
Prosperity gospel / word of faith / "name it & claim it": believers can obtain good health and wealth through faith, positive speech, and specific prayer methods. Yes, Jesus died not only for our sins, but for our healing as well. Yes, we are more than conquerors through Christ. Yes, we can prosper and yes we can declare scripture over ourselves, the Bible says so. BUT New Thought has you focused on these declarations, positivity, and striving in your faith to manifest your desired outcomes. What about new believers or those not strong in the faith? They can declare until their lips fall off and once what they are declaring doesn't happen....then what? They are told they don't have enough faith. Or they didn't give enough money. Then comes in shame and condemnation and they can turn from the faith. Hurt comes in, feeling less than, that God must not love them as much as the people getting new cars and checks in the mail. How about we remove all of this "self" stuff and go back into the Word (the Bible) and renew our minds with scripture? To pray and spend time with Jesus daily and HE will direct your prayers and how & what to pray for.
Positive thinking & visualization: the idea that Christians should visualize the answers to their prayers or use positive affirmations to bring about desired outcomes is a direct borrowing from New Thought principles. Yes, we are not to be negative. Yes, we are to speak life for the power of life and death are in the tongue. But we need to be more focused on Jesus and less on striving. For example, instead of working ourselves up declaring and decreeing incessantly and trying not to get disappointed when things don't happen, why don't we open the Bible, read it for what it is, spend time with Jesus, pray, worship, and ask God if there's anything we need to repent for or anyone we need to forgive. Repentance and forgiveness are huge topics that seem to be sorely missing these days...
Focus on self-empowerment: there is a shift from Christ centered teaching to self-centered spirituality and self-empowerment, often emphasizing that individuals can create their own happiness and health. How about we quit thinking we are in charge and take a dose of humility and let Jesus get back on the throne? To rest in Him, regardless of the outcome. This will totally remove all the "burn out" that so many church leaders seem to be dealing with. We are doing too much that God never told us to do. It's okay to let things go, let things fall away. God can and will build it up better, as soon as we get out of the way.
Redefinition of prayer: prayer is sometimes reframed not as petitioning a sovereign God, but as a method of affirming a desired reality or using "spiritual mind treatment" to access an already present wholeness, which negates the biblical concept of praying according to God's will.
So what's the answer to remove the New Thought from our churches? It starts with us believers! Individually we need to immerse ourselves in the Bible. Daily time with Jesus in the Word, in prayer, is the key to undo all the New Thought that has crept into our beliefs, habits, how we talk, how we act. Take a pause from the podcasts, books, social media influencers, and everything you're filling your mind with. You need the straight Bible. The Word of God will purify us, renew our minds, cleanse us, set us back on the right path. Then ask God who you are to unfollow or quit listening to, which churches, ministries, classes, and teachings that aren't speaking truth. Discernment is VERY much needed going forward. For real.
As we go into 2026, how about we start the year off with prayer & fasting? To get on our face with Jesus and ask Him to remove all the fluff that has crept in over the years. Take time to repent for whatever He brings up and shows you. Forgive those who have hurt you. Wipe the slate clean. Start fresh.
It may be a painful process for some, to undo all that they thought was truth, but it is a necessary step towards freedom. And for the health of the body of Christ in general. Are you praying for revival? Let's start with cleaning up the Church first.
Jesus, I pray for every person reading this. That You will show them areas of their own beliefs, where New Thought has crept in. Reveal to them all that is not of You, Lord. Unravel and uproot! I pray for a burning desire to read the Bible again, spend that intimate time with You daily, to grow and get spiritually mature. Jesus, please remove all of the "fluff" and get them back on Your foundation. I pray that the ground under them shakes and all that is not of You, will fall off, in Jesus' name. Amen.
