Flashback to 2019 in our basement podcast “studio.” This was before we got deplatformed on Facebook, blacklisted by Gmail, and prevented from sharing Biblical health truths on Instagram. A few years later, here we are back again, dropping posts like 7 Satanic Trends Christians Need to Stop Following and reaching millions every month — grateful for the ability to share because it could be taken away any moment…
We posted this Instagram post about seven trends we believe the enemy has been using to disciple Christians. Since then, it has reached more than a million people, and we are still getting comments about it.
It went viral on Substack, too…
If you missed the original list, start with this…
A reader named Claire left a comment that struck us for its profound simplicity: she said the whole list reminded her of a verse she found in Judges, the one about everyone doing what was right in their own eyes. Then she added, “Didn’t work out too well for them, did it.”
Mic drop…
Claire put her finger on the root. Of the seven trends, the first one is the soil the other six grow in.
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” — Judges 21:25
We called that first trend Live By Your Own Truth, and we only had room for a few paragraphs on it.
This article is the full teaching…
Need a quiet moment with God before you dive in? Start with this short prayer…
The Oldest Line in the Book
Maybe you have never said the words “my truth” out loud. Most believers we know would never put it that way.
But listen to how it shows up in ordinary Christian conversation:
“God knows my heart.”
“That’s just how I’m wired.”
“It works for me.”
“I’ve earned this.”
“I’m not hurting anybody.”
Every one of those sentences can be true in the right setting. The problem starts when one of them becomes the final word, the place where the conversation with God ends instead of begins.
You can love Jesus, read your Bible, and still be quietly ruling your own life. We call that a lordship problem, and it is the most common one we see.
“Your truth” sounds modern. It shows up on coffee mugs and graduation speeches and in the middle of almost every celebrity apology.
But it is the oldest offer in the Bible.
“But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” — Genesis 3:4-5
Notice what the serpent did not say. He never asked Eve to hate God, and he never told her to stop believing in God.
He simply invited her to decide for herself what was good.
That is the whole trend in one sentence. God had already told Adam and Eve what was good.
The serpent offered them the job of deciding it themselves, and they took it.
Every generation since has been offered the same trade in new packaging. In our grandparents’ day it sounded like “Do what feels right.”
In our day it sounds like “Live your truth.” The wording changes.
The offer underneath is identical: you sit on the throne, and God gets to advise.
We find it helpful to remember that the first lie in Scripture was not an attack on God’s existence. It was an attack on God’s authority.
That is why this trend is so hard to spot. It does not ask you to leave church.
It only asks you to keep the final vote.
What Happens When Everyone Is Their Own King
Claire’s verse closes the book of Judges, and the placement is intentional. The phrase “In those days there was no king in Israel” shows up four times in the final chapters, and twice it comes with the second half: everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25).
Those chapters are some of the darkest in the entire Bible. Homemade idols, a priest for hire, a whole town gone violent, and a nation that nearly wipes out one of its own tribes.
Nobody in those stories set out to destroy Israel.
Each person simply did what seemed right to them, and the sum of a thousand private truths was public chaos.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” — Proverbs 14:12
C.S. Lewis made a simple observation in Mere Christianity that cuts straight through this. He pointed out that a man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.
Every time someone says something is unfair or wrong, they are measuring it against a standard they did not invent.
That is the quiet contradiction inside “your truth.” Nobody lives as if all truth is personal.
We want the surgeon, the pharmacist, and the bank to operate on a truth that does not bend to their mood. We only want truth to bend when it gets close to our own choices.
“I’m grateful to be here, receiving encouragement, recipes, and whole-body transformation. Even after trying times, I trust you and Mama Z. The spiritual aspect completes the system: body, soul, and spirit.”
— Ellen D.
Truth Is a Person, Not a Preference
When Jesus stood before Pilate, He told him exactly why He had come.
“Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” — John 18:37
Pilate’s answer has echoed for two thousand years: “What is truth?” He asked it with Truth standing in front of him.
The night before, Jesus had already given His disciples the answer.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” — John 14:6
Jesus did not say He would teach the truth or point toward it. He said He is it.
The Hebrew word for truth in the Old Testament, emet, carries the idea of firmness and reliability, something you can lean your full weight on. It comes from the same root family as amen.
In Scripture, truth is a foundation that holds you up, far more than a feeling you hold onto.
This changes the question entirely. The question is no longer, “What feels true to me?”
The question is, “What has the King said?”
Tim Keller once warned that if your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshipping an idealized version of yourself. That is the test.
A Jesus who agrees with every one of our preferences is not the Jesus of the Gospels. He is a mirror with a halo.
And the heart we are tempted to trust? Scripture is honest about it.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” — Jeremiah 17:9
We are not saying your feelings are worthless. God gave you feelings, and they tell you real things about what is happening inside you.
They make wonderful messengers. They make terrible kings.
What “Your Truth” Does to Your Body
This is Bible Health, so we have to talk about where this trend lands in real life.
Think of the woman who knows the nightly wine has become a problem, but her truth says she has earned it after the week she has had.
Or the man who knows he is neglecting his family, but his truth says he is providing.
The knowing never goes away. It just gets overruled, night after night.
The gap between what you know and what you do becomes its own weight.
You carry it into bed.
You carry it into prayer.
You feel it as a low hum of tension you cannot quite name, the sense that something is out of alignment even when nothing is technically wrong.
James describes exactly this.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” — James 1:22
The word James uses there is about miscalculating, reasoning yourself into a false conclusion.
That is what “my truth” does…
It is a lifelong habit of reasoning around what God has already said.
“Thank you so much for everything you all do, and especially today for the Scriptures. I really needed those today.”
— Mary G.
How to Hear “Your Truth” in Your Own Voice
Most of us will never spot this trend by looking for the phrase. We have to listen for the posture.
Here are the quiet versions we hear most often, including from ourselves:
“God knows my heart.” True, and that is exactly why we should be careful. He knows it better than we do (Jeremiah 17:10).
“That’s just how I’m wired.” Your wiring is real. It is also redeemable (2 Corinthians 5:17).
“It works for me.” Results are not the same as righteousness. Plenty of things work for a season.
“I’ve earned this.” God commands rest as a gift. We were never meant to negotiate for it (Exodus 20:8-10).
“I’m not hurting anybody.” Scripture says sin always reaches further than we think, starting with ourselves (Galatians 6:7-8).
“My body, my choice.” Your body is a gift entrusted to you, and you were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Notice the pattern. Each phrase starts with something true and then takes one step past it.
That is exactly how the serpent worked in the garden, and it is how he still works today.
The fix is not to stop thinking for yourself. God gave you a mind, and Romans 12:2 tells you to use it.
The fix is to bring your thinking under His Word instead of over it.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” — Romans 12:2
The Freedom of Living Under a King
Here is the good news, and it is very good news. Giving up “your truth” ends an exhausting job you were never designed to do.
When you are your own king, you carry the weight of every decision alone. You have to defend every choice, justify every habit, and keep rewriting the rules to fit your mood.
That is a heavy crown.
Jesus offers a trade:
“If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” — John 8:31-32
Freedom, the way Jesus defines it, means living under the right King. A train that jumps its tracks has not found freedom.
It has found a ditch.
We pray that for you this week. Not a heavier rulebook, but a lighter crown, handed back to the One who wears it well.
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Your Bible Health Swap This Week
#023: The Truth Anchor Toolkit
This week’s Swap includes the printable 7-Day Truth Audit, the My Truth or The Truth Filter, Scripture Swap Cards, Loving Answers for “That’s Your Truth,” a Family Table Guide & a Prayer to Live Under the King!
One Swap this week. One faithful step. A transformed life.
Learn more about the Bible Health Transformation Journey and start wherever you are.
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— Wendy J.
