A couple of years ago, I was told to watch a certain video at work to see if would make an appropriate workshop for our family support program. The title of the video said it was about forecasting your life with a vision board. At first, I thought that the short workshop would simply be about making and visualizing your goals so that you can achieve them. But as I worked my way through it, I realized that I was greatly mistaken.

Throughout the video, the speaker described her very positive experiences using a vision board. Basically, she would get a corkboard and fill it with dozens of pictures of things that she wanted in her life. Then, she talked about how all of these things happened or fell into her lap without really having to do anything for them. Knowing that I worked with low-income families and that it was highly improbable that they could receive a luxury vehicle or European vacation by pasting a couple pictures on the wall, I swiftly advised my supervisor that we should not utilize the video.

The idea of making a vision board may sound ridiculous. You may wonder how anyone could believe that cutting out a couple pictures of nice things will lead to actually receiving them. But this kind of belief is actually more common than you might think, even in Christian circles. This belief, which has been dubbed “name it and claim it,” is quite popular in many megachurches across the country, and it is an extremely dangerous view of the Christian faith.