Happy Lies

How a Movement You (Probably) Never Heard of Shaped Our Self-Obsessed World

By: Melissa Dougherty

Narrated by: Melissa Dougherty

Read by the author.

In this groundbreaking book, popular apologist Melissa Dougherty helps us understand how our society got to be so toxically subjective, why endless positivity is inherently destructive, and how we can live with faithful truth and genuine love in these self-obsessed times.

Melissa Dougherty skillfully diagnoses the issue and provides the cure: the authentic and life-giving truth of the Christian worldview. - Wesley Huff

Have you ever wondered how we ended up in a world where personal feelings could become the authority for reality? Or why so many of us are on a relentless pursuit for happiness yet somehow feel more exhausted and sadder than ever? You're not alone.

Melissa deftly traces the roots of today's social chaos back to a little-known (but very influential) 1800s philosophy known as New Thought. A former follower of its teachings, Melissa provides clarity and compassion mixed with a dash of loving snark as she exposes New Thought's deceptions and its many concerning tendrils within the church and our "self-help" culture.

You'll be shocked, grieved, and encouraged as you learn:

• How you can experience true freedom, hope, and peace instead of the world's counterfeits
• How an anti-God ideology so easily hijacked Christian-sounding ideas
• Why thinking positively is entirely different from the unbiblical and burdensome "positive thought" movement
• Why fake "authenticity" short-circuits real redemption
• How understanding the New Thought mindset can help us share our faith more effectively

Uncover a dangerous ideology that nearly everyone has met, yet few of us can name, in order to better understand our culture and joyfully live faithful to the gospel that is so much better than our world's Happy Lies.

A diagram can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Melissa Dougherty (P)2025 Zondervan

The most important read of our time

This is probably one of the most important reads of our time, Melissa uncovers how our culture has clung to a teaching that probably nobody know of called new thought. I was raised in Christian Sciece which is a form of new thought, the author does an amazing job at disentangling truth from lie and how we came to believe it. The lies are everywhere and have effected everyone, those following a religion and those not. Consider reading this book if you want to uncover how culture and religion is lying to you, identify the lies and how to apply truth in its place.

A timely book

An eye opening look at a movement that is probably in your church right now. A must read for anyone who truly wants to follow the real Jesus.

Excellent!

Very well researched and insightful. I expected to know quite a bit of the content already, but Melissa Dougherty really makes some connections I hadn't noticed and presents a lot of information that really helped me understand this topic better. Oh, and great narration!

So many Christians fall for these false teachings.

Learning how easy a follower of Christ can easily fall victim to the lies of new thought is so helpful coming from Melissa since she lived it and did come to true salvation. I have family that has fallen into this for various reasons. I now feel confident in how to reach them as the Holy Spirit leads.

All Too Familiar

I was raised in New Thought belief, although when I found the TRUTH of Jesus Christ I identified it as New Age. Thanks to Melissa I now have the history and better understanding of the New Thought belief I was once followed. Thank you Melissa for following God and bringing this truth to believers. I hope to take up the challenge you gave at the end of this book to help others see the happy lies of the deceiver.

It's all connected, but it's no conspiracy haha

What stood out to me the most was how New Thought concepts are woven throughout the greater American culture, the church, and society. Mrs. Daughtry makes an excellent case for her position using reasons that can be plainly seen, and connects them with common themes that have taken the culture by storm. It's connection to postmodernism and our anti-truth world are compelling! Although the effects of the New Thoughy ideology are influential and widespread, God has remained faithful and has brought people to the truth who can now point out these lies. Praise the Lord!
This is a personal note inspired by the book: Jesus is truth, and those who reject truth reject Him; therefore, those who assert their own truth make themselves to be their own gods by asserting their own precepts.
I greatly enjoyed this work! Mrs. Daughtry made it easy for me to follow in 3 days while dealing with a cold, so that's a win for my sick-boggled brain and a huge credit to Melissa and God's hand on her. :>🫶
I look forward to any works Mrs. Daughtry decides to make in the future, if any!! Have a lovely day, and may Jesus Christ bless you with knowledge of the truth and your relationship deepen!

This is a must read for Christian women.

Very well written and narrated. It is thought provoking and well researched. To have discernment with compassion is a rare gift that this author clearly has. I will be handing this book out like candy to my mom friends.

So important to see how dangerous New Thought is!

I loved this book! It was witty and funny, but also serious to the fact of how dangerous new thought is. She points out what New Thought is, how to spot it, and who the main people that promote it. Worth the time to listen or read this book, definitely an eye opener, highly recommended!

Extremely timely

I’m getting this for everyone I know. Incredible. I’ve been looking for this for a long time as I’ve noticed so many current spiritual, cult, and occult practices as well as feelings based Christian denominations reach the same point and share the same language once you get past the veneer.

New Thought is in the Air We Breathe and Water We Drink

I heard about Ms. Dougherty’s book on a recent interview with Alisa Childers and once I saw it was released, I knew I would be taking a look at it.

She’s done deep research into the New Thought movement and I was reminded of Walter Martin’s classic The Kingdom of the Cults for its detailed narratives outlining the origins of groups like Christian Science, Unity, and the like. With applications to questions of identity, self-help, the power within, manifesting reality, Christian-y sounding things, and the influence on the Word of Faith, Seeker Sensitive, and Progressive Christianity movements she makes a lot of really insightful points. This stuff is in the air we breathe and water we drink.

From the standpoint of an audio listener, the chapters were a good length to digest and the narrator spoke clearly and was easy to follow.

I learned a lot here, remembered stuff I had long forgotten, and put some things together that I’d heard over the years. If you’re looking inside yourself for salvation, whether in the big or small sense, you might just get what you’re looking for now but won’t find Jesus and the one outside us who had to deliver us from our sin.

There’s definitely some healthy overlap with Carl Trueman’s Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self/Strange New World and Alisa Childers’ work on Progressive Christianity. Highly recommended.

We are not divine. Thank God He is.