Alisa Childers - Live Your Truth and Other Lies: Exposing Popular Deceptions That Make Us Anxious, Exhausted, and Self-Obsessed

In a social media world where memes are more influential than mentors, its sometimes difficult to resist the lies of culture. Words matter and ideas have consequences. Let Alisa Childers help you differentiate between current thinking and correct theology. Live Your Truth and Other Lies will change the way you think about the claims of culture and their impact on your life.

J. WARNER WALLACE , Dateline -featured cold-case detective, senior fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and author of Cold-Case Christianity and Person of Interest

This book is a kind but firm corrective to the nice-sounding lies so often peddled today. We are told to find our own truth, to put ourselves first, to trust ourselves. Alisa Childers charts a better way through her story, cultural examples, humor, and most importantly, biblical truth.

DOUGLAS GROOTHUIS , professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary and author of Christian Apologetics , second edition

Relatable, funny, and enlightening! Through personal stories, research, and practical application, Alisa offers insight into how lies have affected our day-to-day lives without our even knowing it. Best of all, she provides simple truth from the Bible to combat this self-obsessed stressful culture.

JOHN L. COOPER , lead singer of Skillet, author of Awake and Alive to Truth , and host of the Cooper Stuff Podcast

In her own relational style, Alisa gives us a window into the lies of our culture by showing how easily we are deceived when we follow our own opinions rather than the Bibles description of our need and its remedy. Through personal experience and the lens of Scripture, she helps us see how we need to return to the Owners Manual, the God who created us and instructs us for our own good and for his own glory. This book is immensely readable but also immensely helpful in pointing us to the source of truth. Read this book and give it to someone who is being swayed by the believable but deceptive lies that we confront daily in this information age.

DR. ERWIN W. LUTZER , pastor emeritus of Moody Church, Chicago

Alisa Childers is a gift to this generation. She teaches the gospel with wisdom and clarity while confronting cultural lies with the unchanging truth of Gods Word. Live Your Truth and Other Lies will compel you to know what you believe and why you believe it, challenging you to live counterculturally for Christ.

GRETCHEN SAFFLES , bestselling author of The Well-Watered Woman and founder of Well-Watered Women

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Tyndale , Tyndales quill logo, Tyndale Momentum , and the Tyndale Momentum logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Ministries. Tyndale Momentum is a nonfiction imprint of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois.

Live Your Truth and Other Lies: Exposing Popular Deceptions That Make Us Anxious, Exhausted, and Self-Obsessed

Copyright 2022 by Alisa Childers. All rights reserved.

Cover photograph of abstract painting copyright oxygen/Getty Images. All rights reserved.

Cover designed by Faceout Studio, Jeff Miller

Published in association with the literary agency of William K. Jensen Literary Agency, 119 Bampton Court, Eugene, OR 97404.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Tyndale House Publishers at , or call 1-855-277-9400.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-1-4964-5566-6

Build: 2022-09-13 09:22:42 EPUB 3.0

For my husband, Mike,
who has never wavered from Truth

Trust Me... Even Though Ive Never Done This Before

No caress is sweeter than your charity and no love is more rewarding than the love of your truth, which shines in beauty above all else.

Saint Augustine, Confessions

My finger was literally on the button. Everything in me wanted to click Like and Share. Why am I not doing it? I thought. The author of the meme was a Christian, the quote sounded positive and life-affirming, and it would surely encourage and uplift my social media friends. I still cant do it. But why? With my index finger lightly tapping the top of the computer mouse, I sat pondering my hesitation. Then, in a sudden burst of clarity, the Holy Spirit was all like, Snap out of it! Oh yeah. I was hesitating because although this quote sounded nice, it was not biblical . It was actually a lie... a happy little lie.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar spot? I cant tell you how many times Ive checked social media only to see a message like Follow your heart. And Im thinking, Awww. Thats nice . I hit Like before I have a chance to remember, Oh, wait. The last time I followed my heart it got smashed to bits and took me years of counseling to recover. Trust your instincts. They never lie. That one landed me in traffic court.

What if those little slogans that sound positive and life-affirming are really just lies that will unhinge us from truth, reality, and hope? Relying on popular wisdom can cause unnecessary pain and confusion. In other cases, it leads to absolute bondage to whatever virtue signal of the day is dominating the internet. Are you tired of feeling like you have to check social media to find out what youre supposed to think? Are you weary of the latest self-help book that promises to set you free but only imprisons you with a laundry list of studies to consider, positive affirmations to recite, Facebook groups to join, causes to advocate for, and other books to read? (It seems as if it were really self-help, I shouldnt need all this outside support!)

In that moment of hesitation over a meme, I realized that there are endless ways truth can be spun, manipulated, covered up, and even used to promote deception. Often, the lie is christened with religious language, so the temptation to share it without thinking is real. As A. W. Tozer said, Too much of contemporary Christianity is borrowed from the philosophies of the world and even other religionsphrases and mottos that on the surface look great but are not rooted in Scripture or that mostly bolster ones self-image.

These happy little lies are pithy assertions that sound good, safe, optimistic, and constructive. They look great stitched on a pillow, digitized into a meme, or turned into a slogan. They are usually stated in a positive form, like Believe in yourself and You are perfect just as you are. You see, the best lies are the ones that sound the most beautiful. They are made up of at least 50 percent truth. Sometimes they are almost totally true. But that small bit that spins the entire outcome? That is the important part.

Our culture is brimming with slogans that promise peace, fulfillment, freedom, empowerment, and hope. These messages have become such an integral component of our American consciousness that many people dont even think to question them. They sound nice and carry an illusion of truth. Often these messages are popularized by social media celebrities who claim to be Christians, promote their materials as being in agreement with Christian principles, and publish on Christian platforms and venues.