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Have you ever been lied to by someone you badly wanted to trust? They lied over and over, and in your soul you knew they were lying, but you so desperately wanted to believe the lies you simply discounted your soul’s wisdom?

I have been lied too, over and over, and I knew it in my heart. So, I know how it feels to be emotionally manipulated into wanting to believe the lies someone tells. I also know how important it was for me to take an honest look at people who think it is okay to lie, myself included, so I could stand on the side of God who desires I value honesty by seeking fact rather than fall for lies that cannot stand up to evidence.

Facts are not emotional. Lies manipulate our emotions, often to the point all reason or desire for knowing what the facts are vanishes. But we are the ones with power to demand truth by choosing to seek fact – tangible evidence – upon which to determine if we are being lied to, or not.

God gave us free will! That comes with a HUGE amount of personal responsibility to be honest with ourselves and to demand honesty in all of our relationships. Because if we’re completely honest with ourselves, we know it in our soul when someone is lying to us.

But it is entirely up to us to act against dishonesty and set firm and unwavering boundaries with anyone who lies to us. It is up to us to seek fact rather than depend on someone’s word alone to determine what is actually true. This is certainly something Jesus would do. It is something we must do too.

Jesus would say there is no such thing as alternative facts. Facts do not change because someone misrepresents or construes evidence or misuses books like the Bible to support their position or views. Like those who spread conspiracy theories, people who spread pretend facts have an agenda of sowing discourse, fear, and distraction and don’t mind lying to do so.

Sowing division, chaos, and misinformation are not behaviors of great leaders, or people of integrity. Nothing positive is added to our democratic process when we reward our representatives, or their representatives, for slandering opponents. We cannot let those with biased agendas tell us what to believe and whom to support. Name calling and attack ads are cheap political tricks. Mistaking opinionated commentary for truth only results in our being uninformed to the facts. Allowing ourselves to be manipulated by salacious, tabloid-like, click-bait, facts-optional claims about candidates, or people in general, is admitting we are not interested in fact-checking the public record, and that means we are not interested in truth.

As citizens we hold much responsibility for how widespread intimidation and the vilification of those perceived to be opponents have become. Without raising a unified voice to demonize these practices within our sphere of influence, we have allowed negativity and denigration of people to seep into every part of life. The epidemic of disrespect throughout our political, social, business, religious, educational, and entertainment environments would be embarrassing to Jesus.

Jesus would ask why we believe it is acceptable to participate in, or be influenced by, or excuse maligning people as if this act were harmless, necessary, or standard operating procedure. It is not harmless to those whose reputations are ruined as a result of defamation, fact-less opinionated news, and lies. It is never Christlike to attack those we have disagreements with or who are different from us. We cannot love Jesus and sit by, ignoring the real danger our silence has to perpetuate this damaging behavior.

“Treat people as we want to be treated” clearly means we are charged by God with creating a world where we, our children, our neighbors, and our public servants are safe from being bullied, slandered, trolled, assaulted, and ridiculed. We can create the safe and respectful attitude God wants us to extend to one another by acknowledging the ego-motivation behind all trash-talk. No matter how divisive speech is delivered, or by whom, we turn this wickedness off. When there are no supporters for people who lie and vilify others, they will have no more influence in society and will cease to exist. However, this is a goal we have to work together to achieve.

God is asking each of us to actively bring about this positive change. We do so by refusing to participate. We turn them off. No matter who they are.

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As children, my sister and I had a pet rabbit named Honey Bunny, a tiny ball of soft, fluffy fur. She was cute, cuddly, and consistently calm. When I encounter a tense circumstance, or want to keep from being sucked into other people’s negativity, I repeat “fluffy bunny, fluffy bunny, fluffy bunny” over and over in my head.

It really works. I let go of any frustration or resentment and cannot stay annoyed when I concentrate on a cute little bunny rabbit.

One day I was walking back from a neighborhood shop when I witnessed a driver stopped in the middle of the intersection, talking on her phone while presumably waiting to turn left. After the light turned red, she made a U-turn. Although there were signs indicating U-turns were illegal, she chose to do it anyway. Her SUV was too large to make it on the first attempt, so she had to back up and move forward repeatedly.

Drivers at the green light laid on their horns, while many of the pedestrians who were forced to wait on the sidewalk screamed at her. The woman gestured through her windshield with a rude hand signal, continued chatting on the phone, and maneuvered into the illegal turn to take a parking space in front of a certain store.

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By Tim Moody

I was out in the Christmas crowd shopping for my grandchildren. They don’t really need a thing. They have so much. They fortunately live within the amazing care of a dad and mom who adore and cherish and abundantly provide for them. I wanted to just package up some hugs and kisses and send those as my gifts. Wouldn’t that be enough? It would, for them. They would be perfectly fine with such gifts. But I followed the rest of the holiday legion to Target and elsewhere to lend my effort to our society’s commercial Christmas mania.

There is that line in Dr. Seuss’ famous “The Grinch That Stole Christmas” that nudges me this time of year: “Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store? What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”

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By Tim Moody

I will not be

another flower,

picked for my beauty and left

to die. I will

be wild, difficult to find,

and impossible to forget.

~ Erin Van Vuren, Poet/Author

The Netflix series, “Gypsy,” which debuted in June of 2018 year stars Naomi Watts as Jean Holloway, a middle-aged Manhattan

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Emotional intelligence – my definition: the ability to put ourselves in the shoes of other people with empathy and respect – is a gift from God given to each soul. But, like any skill we must practice, practice, practice to master leading with heart, rather than being led by a judgmental and fearful mind.

Our thoughts create our behavior. Our behavior creates our life. Therefore, mastering a mind with a mind of its own is a responsible thought by thought focus. When we remain in touch with what we are thinking and why (the emotional motivation behind our thoughts – fear, anxiety, judgment, frustration, blame, control, arrogance, domination) we can change negative, limited thinking to positive and loving so we honor God for giving us the precious gift of emotional intelligence.

In order to benefit from the emotional intelligence God asks us to use, to do no harm and to create our best life, it is necessary to educate ourselves to know what is happening in the world. We cannot be insulated with our own thoughts and beliefs. We cannot rely on the group think that is generated by the thoughts and beliefs of our immediate circle of like-minded friends and family or churches. Simply because others believe as we do does not mean we are right or that our decision and actions will not harm ourselves or others.

To make good decisions we must have information that challenges our thoughts so we can discover thoughts and beliefs that do not truly align with OUR HEART! Challenging what we think and why we think it helps keep our heart open so we follow the divine’s direction of treating other people as we want to be treated.

I realize we all make mistakes and that it often takes time for us learn so we don’t make the same hurtful mistakes again. It certainly took me time to appreciate the vital importance of being responsible for each of my thoughts, words and actions. However, I learned one crucial lesson the first time my words hurt someone, which I share in painful detail in my first book – Lead with Your Heart, Creating a Life of Love, Compassion and Purpose.

Briefly the lesson I learned is that gossip, slander and character assassination are completely irresponsible and were signs of my emotional and spiritual immaturity. Now, this is a lesson each of us needs to learn if we are to move ourselves toward a peaceful world and fix what is wrong in our politics and with society in general.

Each day we hear countless people tearing others down in an attempt to build themselves up. There are also people who listen to and allow themselves to be influenced by negative trash-talk, hate speech, and slanderous attacks on someone seen as a political or social rival. Then there are people who do not question the credibility of those who spread conspiracy theories, or racist, homophobic, divisive, xenophobic, propaganda.

Does anyone actually believe Jesus would think purveyors of gossip and slander offer something worth listening to? They offer nothing  of value to our society. Their agenda is one of sowing discourse and distraction. And some get paid to spread their trash talk.

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