August 19, 2025 • 26 mins
Navigating through a world where truth seems increasingly elusive requires both discernment and resilience. When bombarded by contradicting information, false narratives, and outright deception, how do we stay on our authentic path? More importantly, how do we recover when inevitably knocked off course?
The HALT framework offers profound insight into our vulnerability to deception. When we're Hurried, Angry, Lonely, or Tired, our discernment weakens dramatically. We see this playing out across society - people racing through life without pause for reflection, anger dominating online discourse, profound disconnection despite digital "connection," and collective exhaustion that compromises clear thinking. These conditions create perfect breeding grounds for falsehood to flourish.
My personal journey through multiple deceptive spiritual organizations taught me that getting knocked off path isn't just possible - it's practically guaranteed for truth-seekers. The most dangerous liars often believe their own deceptions, painting enthralling visions built on pride and greed. Yet there's profound hope in knowing that darkness cannot survive exposure to light. As the saying goes, "Truth always wins, but unfortunately, liars get their turn first."
What sustains me through cycles of falling and rising is the unwavering confidence that divine purpose ultimately prevails. Proverbs 19:21 reminds us: "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." This truth serves as both comfort and compass, guiding us back to our authentic path even after the most disorienting detours. The journey toward truth may be narrow and sometimes lonely, but it remains infinitely worth walking.
Ready to strengthen your discernment? Join our community of truth-seekers as we navigate these challenging times together, learning to recognize deception while cultivating authentic connection with ourselves, others, and the divine.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today.
I believe there is nothing moresubversive than helping to
midwife a new evolutionary shiftof the human species into an
era where we will no longer beentranced with socio-economic
formations and ways of being andthinking that produce
(00:24):
disconnection, domination anddevastation.
Instead, we can learn to bepresent upon the earth in ways
that bring healing, wholenessand a sense of the sacred in our
connection with one another andwith all of creation.
(00:47):
Is a quote by Fania Davis, andI thank you, fania, for that
beautiful quote, and I want towelcome you all back in to Free
to Just Be, the podcastempowering humanity to
courageously step out of oldpatterns and programs and learn
(01:10):
to embrace new ways of being andhealing and becoming as the
planet also becomes new, and Ihope this finds you in the
greatest of health, with vibrantenergy today, because you have
chosen to accept fullresponsibility for your body,
(01:31):
mind and soul.
Here on Free To Just Be, wewill try to inspire each other
to truly be who we came here tobe, and that begins with
authenticity which is like adirty word today and
transparency and total honesty,beginning with ourselves, and
(01:55):
that produces freedom andalignment with our highest
potential.
So won't you join me, teresaMarie, your ambassador of Chi,
on this transformative journeyto rewrite our narratives and
live lives of purpose andpassion.
(02:16):
I welcome you back on thisbeautiful Tuesday and want to
continue the Falling Off theCliff series today, and I want
to talk today about how tonavigate in a world of liar,
liar pants on fire people.
(02:37):
I mean, that is kind of theworld.
No, it's not kind of.
The world has become sopolluted with untruth.
So how do you navigate when youget knocked off your path?
Because, oh baby, we are goingto get knocked off our path more
(02:57):
times than we think we are, andwe need to not only prepare for
that, expect it, evenanticipate that we're going to
get knocked off and yet continueto move forward.
So how do we navigate that?
You know, getting knocked offthe path in today's economy, in
(03:21):
today's online AI world, is evenmore easy.
Oh, that didn't fly More easy.
Yeah, it's much more difficult,shall I say, to ascertain truth
in a world that is soconvoluted with lies and
(03:45):
misinformation, and that is whatwe're going to talk about today
.
I've been really diving deepinto this and found myself kind
of on HALT.
And what does HALT stand for?
The acronym HALT, you know,back in my addiction days and
(04:08):
going sitting in on AA meetingsor NA meetings.
You know they talk about HALT,and HALT stands for hurried,
angry, lonely and tired, andthat constitutes a lot of what's
happening in the world.
We all know how hurried we are.
We forget that we have plentyof time and the grind is ever
(04:33):
present.
We lay in bed at night and wethink about what has to be done
tomorrow.
We get up and oftentimes we'rebeating the clock or we're
racing the clock.
So hurried is very much part,especially of the Western world,
is it not?
Angry, oh my gosh.
(04:54):
The anger and frustrationwhirling around the blender of
what life looks like today.
We see it online all the time.
Looks like today.
We see it online all the time.
Just look at any commentsection on any platform and you
will see the anger, you will seethe disbelief, you will see the
argumentation of the armchairwarriors that are not living
(05:19):
life but they are vicariouslyliving through the comment pages
of all these online platforms.
Lonely, oh buddy.
We don't want to get in themidst of this convolution.
We don't want to get in themidst of the blender.
We would prefer to just stayout of the mix, and so we have
(05:43):
fallen prey to the darkness'sattempt to keep us disconnected.
And what does disconnectionlead to?
Obviously, loneliness.
And then we don't understandwhy we're feeling so empty and
so frustrated.
It's because communitycommunication connection has
(06:05):
been snuffed out by thisever-present online AI world.
And boy, they have done a greatjob, haven't they?
And then tired.
We are all so incrediblyexhausted.
All the time Our cortisollevels are off the chart, we're
(06:26):
bloated, we're full ofinflammation, and all of it
starts between our ears.
And so how do we navigate inthis world?
It is we have become as aculture in the 21st century.
(06:47):
We've become so used to hearingso many lies that truth doesn't
even seem real.
How do we figure out what istrue and what is a lie?
It's so incredibly difficult.
And yet what do we as believers, as Christians, as followers of
(07:10):
Christ, where do we get ouradvice?
Well, and then there's thewhole argument of well, how much
is taken out of the Word, howmuch has been added to the Word,
how much has been twisted inthe Word?
I have always gone back to theWord because I have found it to
(07:30):
be a true navigation tool.
Whenever I feel in the leastbit lost, I run to my Word and
many of you say, oh well, that'sjust a make-believe book and
you know, man wrote it and yes,that is all true.
But yet it has remained for mea constant director of getting
(07:59):
me back on path, and like todaywas no different.
Today is the 19th of August andso today I was directed to read
Psalm 19 and Proverbs 19.
And Proverbs is full of nuggetsand gems of truth, and I'm just
going to throw a couple of themout because it fits what we're
(08:21):
talking about today regardinggetting knocked off the path
which, again, I will reiterate,is so much easier today.
Because what is truth?
You not only have to navigateyour own life, right, you have
to peel back those veils ofunconsciousness.
(08:43):
Well, right, you have to peelback those veils of
unconsciousness.
Well, guess what?
A lot of times, before we evenget to our veils of
unconsciousness, we have toremove all the lives that are
put before us out in societyfirst.
So verse 20 says listen toadvice and accept instruction
and in the end you will be wise.
(09:04):
That's Proverbs 19.20.
Well, but then you think aboutthe liar, liar pants on fire
world we live in and how.
19, verse 5, says a falsewitness will not go unpunished,
and he who pours out lies willnot go free, and he who pours
out lies will not go free.
(09:24):
So, those of us that are out onthe or in the online world,
which is unfortunately that is,where a lot of commerce happens,
it's the public marketplace.
That's where people go to selltheir wares and their services,
(09:50):
to sell their wares and theirservices and, oh, buddy, talk
about an area, a market full ofthe unjust and those that are
compromising and those that areconvoluting truth in order to
make a buck.
And we have to be so cautiousabout that.
And that's really what got mecoming out of my last episode of
(10:11):
untruths.
Omg, am I spewing untruths?
Am I causing somebody stumbleon my words?
I don't want to be a stumblingblock for anybody, right?
I don't want to be one of thosefalse witnesses because I don't
want to be punished forspeaking lies.
(10:31):
So it becomes something that welook inside and we say, god, am
I doing that?
You know, we have to constantlyhold ourselves accountable to
very, very high standards ofintegrity and truth.
What else does it say inProverbs 19?
(10:52):
In verse 27, the reverse, youknow.
First, it's saying listen toadvice, right and accept
instruction.
So we have to be very cautiouson whose instruction we're
listening to.
And there are so many teachersout there, right, there are many
that claim to be teachers.
(11:13):
Now, I don't want to ever claimto be a teacher.
I want to think of myself as aexperiential storyteller.
Think of myself as aexperiential storyteller.
All I'm doing is sharing theepisodes, the chapters, the
paragraphs that are occurring inmy life, in the hopes that
(11:35):
maybe what I'm going through andI own the things that I do, I
can only speak for what isoccurring in my life.
It may not be occurring inyours, but as we share these
exchanges with each other andcommunicate with one another, we
can help each other ascertaintruth.
(11:55):
That is my belief.
But putting on the title ofteacher is a very precarious and
dangerous title these daysbecause oh, baby, you are going
to be have your feet put to thefire, and I want that.
I want God to test me and tryme and know that the things that
(12:18):
I am sharing are as true and asmuch aligned with him as
possible.
But then verse 27 says stoplistening to instruction, my son
and you will stray from thewords of knowledge.
So again I ask you what do youdo, humanityville, to avoid
(12:45):
getting knocked off your path bylies, by the convolution of
truth?
It is a tricky path that we aretraveling on, this destination
unknown journey of the ascensionpath, right?
We strive each day to becomecloser and closer and more and
(13:09):
more like the example of Jesus,and yet we are not Jesus, we are
not the living truth, we aresparks of him.
Yes, and we don't want tobecome false witnesses, right?
A false witness will not gounpunished and he who pours out
(13:33):
lies will perish.
19.9 says so.
We certainly don't want to bein that camp.
And yet the most dangerous liarsin life are those who think
they are telling the truth.
Right, and those of us on thisascension journey that are
(13:53):
trying to help others navigatethrough it are even at a higher
standard.
So this is why I think it's sovery important to have these
conversations, because we are soused to having so many lies
around us, we're steeped in them, that often the truth doesn't
(14:15):
seem real and we are strugglingon any given day to understand
what is true and what is false.
So I personally am beginning torealize that I can still feel
safe in the midst of my enemies,because truth is all-powerful
(14:43):
and will prevail.
And what is truth?
Well, the truth, the Tao, theway, it's still God Almighty,
it's still our creator, it isstill his word.
And as much as it's beentwisted and has been knocked
(15:03):
down and it has been messed with, I still believe I can feel
safe because, no matter whathappens just like what happened
with me in the last four years Idid get knocked off my path but
truth always wins.
And, as Michael Chesire quoted,truth always wins.
(15:27):
But unfortunately, liars gettheir turn first.
And we are right now living inthe midst of that very truth
that liars are getting theirturn first and one by one.
The sun, s-o-n.
Is rising up from the earth andfrom the heavens, and the light
(15:51):
is getting so bright that thoseliars who are now having their
turn are being exposed over andover and over and over again.
Because, you see, darknesscannot reside in light.
So, as the light continues toflow in us, through us and
(16:18):
throughout the planet, even thecockroaches, even those hiding
in shadows waiting to devour us,are being exposed left and
right.
We see it everywhere.
We see false prophets.
All of a sudden, theirintegrity comes to bear and we
(16:40):
see one after another, they'refalling and it really is.
I have seen it firsthand fivetimes now where the very people
who I fell prey to were soincredibly convincing.
(17:01):
And why is that?
Well, because we all have ourown constructs that we are
building around us.
We all have our own lens right,and some of the people who led
these cults that I was involvedwith became so enthralled with
(17:22):
their own lies, with their ownworld, that they painted the
picture that they designed, themodel that they began to play
out in their lives.
And every single time,unfortunately, it had to do with
two of the most insidious andprevalent deadly sins, and that
(17:49):
is pride and greed.
Pride and greed are like twinsins that run together, and
every cult that I came out ofbegan with a liar who was so
good at painting the picture oftheir construct, a picture of
(18:23):
their construct of their world,of their way of being.
They painted such anenthralling and enticing picture
of how we are going to changethe world, how we are going to
help so many people.
And each time I look, I lookback with the lens of God and I
see clearly where I was taken inbecause of my desire to help
(18:47):
others, my desire to serve Godand just one little twist can
really knock you off kilter.
One little twist can knock youoff your path.
But the thing that I want us tofocus on more than looking at
being knocked off, is knowingknowing beyond the shadow of a
(19:10):
doubt that Proverbs 19.21 tellsus that many are the plans in a
man's heart.
We all have desires to do good,we all have desires to be
abundant, we all have a desireto contribute, to help one
another or at least I hope toshout that we do.
And if your only desire is tomake money and live a
(19:33):
comfortable life, well, that isa different truth that you're
going to have to walk yourselfthrough.
But for me, my desire, since Iwas a kid, has always been to
contribute, to help, to be animpact, to not leave the world
(19:54):
in the mess that I entered it in.
Right, that's kind of the deal.
And with that type of attitude,you have to know that you're
going to get knocked downbecause the darkness is coming
for you.
The darkness is not going tostand for people who just want
to be shiny and bright and bringpeople home to God, right.
(20:14):
So we, right there, know thatwe're going to get knocked off
our path.
And the thing is, how much doyou trust God?
How much do you trust God thatif we have all these plans to do
good for him and we get knockedoff course, what is?
(20:34):
The rest of verse 21 says butit is the Lord's purpose that
prevails.
That is my safety net, because,you see, of all these times in
the last 40 years that I gotknocked off, what happened?
God has picked me up, hispurpose prevailed and he set me
(20:58):
back on the path to begin again,and that is what I feel like,
keeps me on course every day.
That is what helps me to feelsafe in the midst of my enemies,
because always, always, alwaysthe truth.
God is always all-powerful andwill always prevail.
(21:22):
He has rescued me over and overagain from paths of my own
making, from constructs of myown making, from organizations
and teachings that I allowed inmy life that were in error.
He's let me run with them for Xamount of time, milk them for
(21:43):
the good, and then said nope,remember, look, you see this one
piece, this one piece is out ofline, this one piece of this
particular teacher, of thisorganization, and then he lifts
me out.
Sometimes I get the wake up,call myself and pull myself out.
(22:05):
Sometimes he's been speaking itto me for years, like this last
time.
And what was it?
My pride, my pride kept me fromopening my eyes fully and
deciding myself to be pulled out.
It often is that he'll give ustime after time, opportunity
(22:28):
after opportunity to liftourselves out, but when we're
not willing to do that ourselves, sometimes he'll shift it
himself.
God will make it so incrediblyuncomfortable, and sometimes he
literally plucks us out of theseason and gets us back on track
, just like a good mom and dadwill do.
(22:50):
As our toddler falls for thehundredth time and they're
exhausted, what do we do asparents?
We lift them up and each of ustakes a hand and we show them
that, yes, you can get back onthe path and you can continue to
learn how to walk.
In my love, that is how I knowthat, getting off track, getting
(23:17):
knocked off the saddle, I willalways be righted because, see,
I have a God that loves me thatmuch and, even though we live in
a world that's built onpromises constructed by liars,
he will always, always set ourpath straight again, and that is
(23:37):
a truth that we can bank on.
So if you've been knocked offthe path and tomorrow I'm going
to talk about what usuallyhappens, at least in my world,
and maybe you'll be able toidentify some of the very
survival mode what would we callthem the survival mode tactics
(23:57):
that we have.
Some of them are very similarto all the rest of the world
because it's kind of like apattern that we have, a pattern
of walking the truth and thenrealizing that we have failed
and then having to brushourselves off, learn from the
(24:19):
lesson and then get back on thepath of truth.
So I want us to remembergetting knocked off our path
will, does and will foreverhappen, over and over and over
again.
But today you can rest assuredthat the truth of God, our
(24:41):
creator, will always rise backup within us and in his great
mercy and grace he will put us,not us.
God will put us back on thepath of truth until the next
time we fall.
So quit beating yourself uptoday, yeah, we fall, and then
(25:05):
we get back up and we take astep forward, and then we fall
and we get back up and rejoice.
Rejoice that today we have newopportunities to walk in the
path of truth, to walk the Taothe way, and it is very narrow
(25:36):
and it is very lonely and we doget angry and we do want to
hurry through it.
So use halt today if you haveto.
Just pause Sila, which ofcourse means pause and ponder
Ponder, where you're at Ponder,if you've been in an erroneous
situation, and ask God how toget back on track.
(25:58):
And we'll come back on a walkaway Wednesday and talk about
all the tactics that we can beaware of and we can learn to
walk away from and learn newways of being and new ways to
strengthen that belt of truth.
Have yourself a terrificTuesday, peace out.
Today.
I believe there is nothing moresubversive than helping to
midwife a new evolutionary shiftof the human species into an
era where we will no longer beentranced with socio-economic
formations and ways of being andthinking that produce
(00:24):
disconnection, domination anddevastation.
Instead, we can learn to bepresent upon the earth in ways
that bring healing, wholenessand a sense of the sacred in our
connection with one another andwith all of creation.
(00:47):
Is a quote by Fania Davis, andI thank you, fania, for that
beautiful quote, and I want towelcome you all back in to Free
to Just Be, the podcastempowering humanity to
courageously step out of oldpatterns and programs and learn
(01:10):
to embrace new ways of being andhealing and becoming as the
planet also becomes new, and Ihope this finds you in the
greatest of health, with vibrantenergy today, because you have
chosen to accept fullresponsibility for your body,
(01:31):
mind and soul.
Here on Free To Just Be, wewill try to inspire each other
to truly be who we came here tobe, and that begins with
authenticity which is like adirty word today and
transparency and total honesty,beginning with ourselves, and
(01:55):
that produces freedom andalignment with our highest
potential.
So won't you join me, teresaMarie, your ambassador of Chi,
on this transformative journeyto rewrite our narratives and
live lives of purpose andpassion.
(02:16):
I welcome you back on thisbeautiful Tuesday and want to
continue the Falling Off theCliff series today, and I want
to talk today about how tonavigate in a world of liar,
liar pants on fire people.
(02:37):
I mean, that is kind of theworld.
No, it's not kind of.
The world has become sopolluted with untruth.
So how do you navigate when youget knocked off your path?
Because, oh baby, we are goingto get knocked off our path more
(02:57):
times than we think we are, andwe need to not only prepare for
that, expect it, evenanticipate that we're going to
get knocked off and yet continueto move forward.
So how do we navigate that?
You know, getting knocked offthe path in today's economy, in
(03:21):
today's online AI world, is evenmore easy.
Oh, that didn't fly More easy.
Yeah, it's much more difficult,shall I say, to ascertain truth
in a world that is soconvoluted with lies and
(03:45):
misinformation, and that is whatwe're going to talk about today
.
I've been really diving deepinto this and found myself kind
of on HALT.
And what does HALT stand for?
The acronym HALT, you know,back in my addiction days and
(04:08):
going sitting in on AA meetingsor NA meetings.
You know they talk about HALT,and HALT stands for hurried,
angry, lonely and tired, andthat constitutes a lot of what's
happening in the world.
We all know how hurried we are.
We forget that we have plentyof time and the grind is ever
(04:33):
present.
We lay in bed at night and wethink about what has to be done
tomorrow.
We get up and oftentimes we'rebeating the clock or we're
racing the clock.
So hurried is very much part,especially of the Western world,
is it not?
Angry, oh my gosh.
(04:54):
The anger and frustrationwhirling around the blender of
what life looks like today.
We see it online all the time.
Looks like today.
We see it online all the time.
Just look at any commentsection on any platform and you
will see the anger, you will seethe disbelief, you will see the
argumentation of the armchairwarriors that are not living
(05:19):
life but they are vicariouslyliving through the comment pages
of all these online platforms.
Lonely, oh buddy.
We don't want to get in themidst of this convolution.
We don't want to get in themidst of the blender.
We would prefer to just stayout of the mix, and so we have
(05:43):
fallen prey to the darkness'sattempt to keep us disconnected.
And what does disconnectionlead to?
Obviously, loneliness.
And then we don't understandwhy we're feeling so empty and
so frustrated.
It's because communitycommunication connection has
(06:05):
been snuffed out by thisever-present online AI world.
And boy, they have done a greatjob, haven't they?
And then tired.
We are all so incrediblyexhausted.
All the time Our cortisollevels are off the chart, we're
(06:26):
bloated, we're full ofinflammation, and all of it
starts between our ears.
And so how do we navigate inthis world?
It is we have become as aculture in the 21st century.
(06:47):
We've become so used to hearingso many lies that truth doesn't
even seem real.
How do we figure out what istrue and what is a lie?
It's so incredibly difficult.
And yet what do we as believers, as Christians, as followers of
(07:10):
Christ, where do we get ouradvice?
Well, and then there's thewhole argument of well, how much
is taken out of the Word, howmuch has been added to the Word,
how much has been twisted inthe Word?
I have always gone back to theWord because I have found it to
(07:30):
be a true navigation tool.
Whenever I feel in the leastbit lost, I run to my Word and
many of you say, oh well, that'sjust a make-believe book and
you know, man wrote it and yes,that is all true.
But yet it has remained for mea constant director of getting
(07:59):
me back on path, and like todaywas no different.
Today is the 19th of August andso today I was directed to read
Psalm 19 and Proverbs 19.
And Proverbs is full of nuggetsand gems of truth, and I'm just
going to throw a couple of themout because it fits what we're
(08:21):
talking about today regardinggetting knocked off the path
which, again, I will reiterate,is so much easier today.
Because what is truth?
You not only have to navigateyour own life, right, you have
to peel back those veils ofunconsciousness.
(08:43):
Well, right, you have to peelback those veils of
unconsciousness.
Well, guess what?
A lot of times, before we evenget to our veils of
unconsciousness, we have toremove all the lives that are
put before us out in societyfirst.
So verse 20 says listen toadvice and accept instruction
and in the end you will be wise.
(09:04):
That's Proverbs 19.20.
Well, but then you think aboutthe liar, liar pants on fire
world we live in and how.
19, verse 5, says a falsewitness will not go unpunished,
and he who pours out lies willnot go free, and he who pours
out lies will not go free.
(09:24):
So, those of us that are out onthe or in the online world,
which is unfortunately that is,where a lot of commerce happens,
it's the public marketplace.
That's where people go to selltheir wares and their services,
(09:50):
to sell their wares and theirservices and, oh, buddy, talk
about an area, a market full ofthe unjust and those that are
compromising and those that areconvoluting truth in order to
make a buck.
And we have to be so cautiousabout that.
And that's really what got mecoming out of my last episode of
(10:11):
untruths.
Omg, am I spewing untruths?
Am I causing somebody stumbleon my words?
I don't want to be a stumblingblock for anybody, right?
I don't want to be one of thosefalse witnesses because I don't
want to be punished forspeaking lies.
(10:31):
So it becomes something that welook inside and we say, god, am
I doing that?
You know, we have to constantlyhold ourselves accountable to
very, very high standards ofintegrity and truth.
What else does it say inProverbs 19?
(10:52):
In verse 27, the reverse, youknow.
First, it's saying listen toadvice, right and accept
instruction.
So we have to be very cautiouson whose instruction we're
listening to.
And there are so many teachersout there, right, there are many
that claim to be teachers.
(11:13):
Now, I don't want to ever claimto be a teacher.
I want to think of myself as aexperiential storyteller.
Think of myself as aexperiential storyteller.
All I'm doing is sharing theepisodes, the chapters, the
paragraphs that are occurring inmy life, in the hopes that
(11:35):
maybe what I'm going through andI own the things that I do, I
can only speak for what isoccurring in my life.
It may not be occurring inyours, but as we share these
exchanges with each other andcommunicate with one another, we
can help each other ascertaintruth.
(11:55):
That is my belief.
But putting on the title ofteacher is a very precarious and
dangerous title these daysbecause oh, baby, you are going
to be have your feet put to thefire, and I want that.
I want God to test me and tryme and know that the things that
(12:18):
I am sharing are as true and asmuch aligned with him as
possible.
But then verse 27 says stoplistening to instruction, my son
and you will stray from thewords of knowledge.
So again I ask you what do youdo, humanityville, to avoid
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getting knocked off your path bylies, by the convolution of
truth?
It is a tricky path that we aretraveling on, this destination
unknown journey of the ascensionpath, right?
We strive each day to becomecloser and closer and more and
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more like the example of Jesus,and yet we are not Jesus, we are
not the living truth, we aresparks of him.
Yes, and we don't want tobecome false witnesses, right?
A false witness will not gounpunished and he who pours out
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lies will perish.
19.9 says so.
We certainly don't want to bein that camp.
And yet the most dangerous liarsin life are those who think
they are telling the truth.
Right, and those of us on thisascension journey that are
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trying to help others navigatethrough it are even at a higher
standard.
So this is why I think it's sovery important to have these
conversations, because we are soused to having so many lies
around us, we're steeped in them, that often the truth doesn't
(14:15):
seem real and we are strugglingon any given day to understand
what is true and what is false.
So I personally am beginning torealize that I can still feel
safe in the midst of my enemies,because truth is all-powerful
(14:43):
and will prevail.
And what is truth?
Well, the truth, the Tao, theway, it's still God Almighty,
it's still our creator, it isstill his word.
And as much as it's beentwisted and has been knocked
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down and it has been messed with, I still believe I can feel
safe because, no matter whathappens just like what happened
with me in the last four years Idid get knocked off my path but
truth always wins.
And, as Michael Chesire quoted,truth always wins.
(15:27):
But unfortunately, liars gettheir turn first.
And we are right now living inthe midst of that very truth
that liars are getting theirturn first and one by one.
The sun, s-o-n.
Is rising up from the earth andfrom the heavens, and the light
(15:51):
is getting so bright that thoseliars who are now having their
turn are being exposed over andover and over and over again.
Because, you see, darknesscannot reside in light.
So, as the light continues toflow in us, through us and
(16:18):
throughout the planet, even thecockroaches, even those hiding
in shadows waiting to devour us,are being exposed left and
right.
We see it everywhere.
We see false prophets.
All of a sudden, theirintegrity comes to bear and we
(16:40):
see one after another, they'refalling and it really is.
I have seen it firsthand fivetimes now where the very people
who I fell prey to were soincredibly convincing.
(17:01):
And why is that?
Well, because we all have ourown constructs that we are
building around us.
We all have our own lens right,and some of the people who led
these cults that I was involvedwith became so enthralled with
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their own lies, with their ownworld, that they painted the
picture that they designed, themodel that they began to play
out in their lives.
And every single time,unfortunately, it had to do with
two of the most insidious andprevalent deadly sins, and that
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is pride and greed.
Pride and greed are like twinsins that run together, and
every cult that I came out ofbegan with a liar who was so
good at painting the picture oftheir construct, a picture of
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their construct of their world,of their way of being.
They painted such anenthralling and enticing picture
of how we are going to changethe world, how we are going to
help so many people.
And each time I look, I lookback with the lens of God and I
see clearly where I was taken inbecause of my desire to help
(18:47):
others, my desire to serve Godand just one little twist can
really knock you off kilter.
One little twist can knock youoff your path.
But the thing that I want us tofocus on more than looking at
being knocked off, is knowingknowing beyond the shadow of a
(19:10):
doubt that Proverbs 19.21 tellsus that many are the plans in a
man's heart.
We all have desires to do good,we all have desires to be
abundant, we all have a desireto contribute, to help one
another or at least I hope toshout that we do.
And if your only desire is tomake money and live a
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comfortable life, well, that isa different truth that you're
going to have to walk yourselfthrough.
But for me, my desire, since Iwas a kid, has always been to
contribute, to help, to be animpact, to not leave the world
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in the mess that I entered it in.
Right, that's kind of the deal.
And with that type of attitude,you have to know that you're
going to get knocked downbecause the darkness is coming
for you.
The darkness is not going tostand for people who just want
to be shiny and bright and bringpeople home to God, right.
(20:14):
So we, right there, know thatwe're going to get knocked off
our path.
And the thing is, how much doyou trust God?
How much do you trust God thatif we have all these plans to do
good for him and we get knockedoff course, what is?
(20:34):
The rest of verse 21 says butit is the Lord's purpose that
prevails.
That is my safety net, because,you see, of all these times in
the last 40 years that I gotknocked off, what happened?
God has picked me up, hispurpose prevailed and he set me
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back on the path to begin again,and that is what I feel like,
keeps me on course every day.
That is what helps me to feelsafe in the midst of my enemies,
because always, always, alwaysthe truth.
God is always all-powerful andwill always prevail.
(21:22):
He has rescued me over and overagain from paths of my own
making, from constructs of myown making, from organizations
and teachings that I allowed inmy life that were in error.
He's let me run with them for Xamount of time, milk them for
(21:43):
the good, and then said nope,remember, look, you see this one
piece, this one piece is out ofline, this one piece of this
particular teacher, of thisorganization, and then he lifts
me out.
Sometimes I get the wake up,call myself and pull myself out.
(22:05):
Sometimes he's been speaking itto me for years, like this last
time.
And what was it?
My pride, my pride kept me fromopening my eyes fully and
deciding myself to be pulled out.
It often is that he'll give ustime after time, opportunity
(22:28):
after opportunity to liftourselves out, but when we're
not willing to do that ourselves, sometimes he'll shift it
himself.
God will make it so incrediblyuncomfortable, and sometimes he
literally plucks us out of theseason and gets us back on track
, just like a good mom and dadwill do.
(22:50):
As our toddler falls for thehundredth time and they're
exhausted, what do we do asparents?
We lift them up and each of ustakes a hand and we show them
that, yes, you can get back onthe path and you can continue to
learn how to walk.
In my love, that is how I knowthat, getting off track, getting
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knocked off the saddle, I willalways be righted because, see,
I have a God that loves me thatmuch and, even though we live in
a world that's built onpromises constructed by liars,
he will always, always set ourpath straight again, and that is
(23:37):
a truth that we can bank on.
So if you've been knocked offthe path and tomorrow I'm going
to talk about what usuallyhappens, at least in my world,
and maybe you'll be able toidentify some of the very
survival mode what would we callthem the survival mode tactics
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that we have.
Some of them are very similarto all the rest of the world
because it's kind of like apattern that we have, a pattern
of walking the truth and thenrealizing that we have failed
and then having to brushourselves off, learn from the
(24:19):
lesson and then get back on thepath of truth.
So I want us to remembergetting knocked off our path
will, does and will foreverhappen, over and over and over
again.
But today you can rest assuredthat the truth of God, our
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creator, will always rise backup within us and in his great
mercy and grace he will put us,not us.
God will put us back on thepath of truth until the next
time we fall.
So quit beating yourself uptoday, yeah, we fall, and then
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we get back up and we take astep forward, and then we fall
and we get back up and rejoice.
Rejoice that today we have newopportunities to walk in the
path of truth, to walk the Taothe way, and it is very narrow
(25:36):
and it is very lonely and we doget angry and we do want to
hurry through it.
So use halt today if you haveto.
Just pause Sila, which ofcourse means pause and ponder
Ponder, where you're at Ponder,if you've been in an erroneous
situation, and ask God how toget back on track.
(25:58):
And we'll come back on a walkaway Wednesday and talk about
all the tactics that we can beaware of and we can learn to
walk away from and learn newways of being and new ways to
strengthen that belt of truth.
Have yourself a terrificTuesday, peace out.
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