If I opened my conversation like this title in this blog, you would run away as fast as you could. I remember hearing from a friend I knew when I was 14, 10 years later. He called and I was happy to hear from him. We met up at a “meeting”. I soon found out it was an Amway meeting. I was so pissed. I was now just a contact on his list and he had no intention of hanging out he just wanted to put me under his account and suck me into Amway.

Amway has great products though right? It’s just the people that sell it to you are so annoying and no one wants to be involved a pyramid scheme. That is what I thought but something has changed and this blog post will piss off quite a few women because guess what you are all involved in the new pyramid scheme of the internet except you just don’t know it.

Let me explain.

This blog is for husbands. Thank me lady for saving you a ton of cash and for the wives that don’t understand what they have got themselves into online. Yes, women you are joining more and more pyramid schemes then ever before and most of you don’t even know it.

Let me get into the big ones. Before you beat me up, I am not saying some of these products are not good. Remember, Amway has good products but it is still a pyramid scheme and so are these. 

Now you can google “Multi Level Marketing” and see for yourself the biggest ones out there.   For the sake of this blog, I am only going to talk about the ones my wife got sucked into before I pulled the plug on this crap. Plus one bonus one.

Essential Oils -   The two biggest ones that are the most overpriced and biggest scams - YOUNG LIVING and doTERRA oils.

My wife got sold doTerra from a friend who “will sell to her at wholesale”. Her friend doesn’t need to make money with this, just wants to sell enough of this product so she can get her products for free. This is the latest out there with women. They don’t want to be annoying sales people like the old Amway or Mary Kay ladies but they did make an investment in their starter kit and do need to post on facebook and message all their friends to by this product each month. So, my wife started with these and personally I was not a fan. These are not cheap and there is no data whatsoever that any of this stuff works. She swears by these oils now and I hear so many women talking about them. Here is the real facts ladies.

I asked my wife why do we have to buy from your friend and not on amazon?

She said “doTERRA are CPTG”. Whatever that means. 

Here is what that means.

doTERRA was claiming that their products were certified as therapeutic grade by the FDA and that they show a seal with registered trademark CPTG (Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade) as proof. In fact the CPTG trademark is one that doTERRA created and has nothing to do with the FDA at all. 

This is brilliant marketing. doTERRA just trademarked the term Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade but never filed anything with the FDA. 

You can trademark any slogan you want if it is available. I could trademark “World’s Best Cupcake Maker” that doesn’t mean there is any truth to that. doTERRA just uses that in their marketing to be able to charge an insane price on their stuff.

Don’t believe me? They got enough heat over this they posted this on their website.

Q: doTERRA’s essential oils are trademarked as “CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade™”. What does this term mean, and what evidence is there to prove the efficacy and purity of your oils?

A: doTERRA’s essential oils are trademarked and registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade™. This term means that our essential oils will always maintain the highest quality standard in therapeutic grade essential oils for purity and efficacy.

A research article here says the following:  

CERTIFIED PURE THERAPEUTIC GRADE: This is a relatively new trademark by a multi-level marketing company. It gives the appearance of being approved by some kind of higher authority and it has been said that the company states it is a FDA approved to use this label. According to Elston (2009), ‘This registered word mark has not been provided to them by the FDA as they claim and is meaningless in proving that an outside certifying body has declared or designated that DoTERRA’s essential oils are certified pure therapeutic grade. DoTERRA, LLC owns the right to exclusive use of the mark (however not the exclusive right to the actual words 'Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade’ which is revealing). This seal or word mark is nothing more than a commercial trademark that they have registered and paid a fee for.“ 

This is just a trick and one reason this company is a scam.

If something can actually help you with a condition it can be certified with the FDA. Think of Vitamin D. doTERRA has never gone through the process with the FDA because they don’t believe their products can actually live up to what they market.

If a product can help with a condition, it can be certified with the FDA just like calcium and vitamin D are for bone health.  It doesn’t look like doTERRA has gone through the process which tells me they don’t believe in their product to prove the claims.

But they sell it? How. 

They provide the ladies who sell this so much information about how great it is and then they are excited to sell it so they get it for free. Young Living is even more overpriced but both company have had letters from the FDA warning them about their marketing.

So, nothing is certified or better with their products except for their great marketing which is a scam. Sadly, this will now hurt your friendships when you call your best friend and say stop selling me this crap, I will just go buy it on amazon.

Still don’t believe me. Look here.

4 oz bottle of Lavender from amazon   $12.99 - 

15 mil of lavender from doTERRA  $23.10 - 

I showed this to my wife and she said “I don’t mind paying a little but more it helps a friend.”

Then I had to get out the calculator.

There are roughly 30 ML in an ounce. So, lavender from amazon I can get 120 ML for 12.99 vs 15 ML for 23 bucks.  That is 10 times cheaper!!!!!! and you don’t have to wait for your friend to place her order. You can get it on amazon prime or your local Whole Foods and not be in a pyramid scheme.

So, this debate is still not going to solve the question.. do these oils even work? I am still not sure. But if you have to have them at least buy them from your local grocery store not your friend on Facebook whose in pyramid scheme.

Plexus Slim and ALL Plexus Products

Wow! Thankfully, my wife didn’t get sucked into this one but many of her friends have. Here is why…

FAKE REVIEWS.

"Is [insert product] for real? We have the truth. [Insert a bunch of misleading claims about said  product.] Yes [insert product] 'works.’ Now go buy it from me here! [Or alternatively, join my system to build your BUSINESS here]”

This company promotes everything from weight loss crap to pretty much products that will change your life. Except.. the FDA has an issue with them as well -  READ BELOW

“Your Fast Relief, ProBio5 and BioCleanse are not generally recognized as safe and effective for the above referenced uses and, therefore, the products are “new drugs” under section 201(p) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 321(p)]. New drugs may not be legally introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce without prior approval from FDA, as described in section 505(a) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 355(a)]; see also section 301(d) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 331(d)]. The FDA approves a new drug on the basis of scientific data submitted by a drug sponsor to demonstrate that the drug is safe and effective.

Furthermore, your Fast Relief, ProBio5 and BioCleanse are offered for conditions that are not amenable to self-diagnosis and treatment by individuals who are not medical practitioners; therefore, adequate directions for use cannot be written so that a layperson can use these drugs safely for their intended purposes. Thus, these drugs are misbranded under section 502(f)(1) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 352(f)(1)] in that their labeling fails to bear adequate directions for use. The introduction of a misbranded drug into interstate commerce is a violation of section 301(a) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 331(a)].

The violations cited in this letter are not intended to be an all-inclusive list of violations that exist in connection with your products. You are responsible for investigating and determining the causes of the violations identified above and for preventing their recurrence or the occurrence of other violations. It is your responsibility to ensure that all products marketed by your firm comply with all requirements of federal law and FDA regulations.”

What that says is they are illegally marketing these products as drugs which they are not.

Come to find out these products unlike the oils, can cause MAJOR problems to your health.

These products have been BANNED from Amazon but your best friend on Facebook is promoting it to you. Huh.

Ladies, hit the gym stop eating crap food and you can save yourself some money buy not buying anything from this company.

Nerium and Nu Skin

I don’t know Nu Skin, but my wife had Nerium delivered every month to our house and it went unused so she would just sell it on Ebay. Then I asked her can we just please stop getting this? Why do you need to buy face cream from someone instead of going to RITE AID or Macy’s.

Now, I have no problem with affiliate deals. I love Dollar Shave Club. One of the best companies I have seen. I love it and if you sign up off a link I give you, I think I get $5 bucks. Uber, I love…same thing. Sign up for Uber with my code and I get $20 in free rides. The difference is I am not building a business this way nor did I have to buy in to become an ambassador. I just use those products and can promote it if I wish.

Nerium claims their products do wonders and their new one they are selling takes away your wrinkles instantly or in my wife case burns the underneath of your eyes. The only reason I dug into all this is because MY WIFE WENT TO THE DOCTOR AFTER USING THESE PRODUCTS FOR AN ALLERGIC REACTION. Had that not happened, not sure I would have spent the time connecting all these companies and not sure she would have listened to me.

In countless articles you can read all over the internet, there is no proof Nerium is safe and nothing to show that it is effective. There are major issues that the product can cause an allergic reaction as it did in my wife’s case.

Nerium clinical trials were on 4 people. 4 people! Ya.

Overall, Nerium is a scam. Does not use solid reputable marketing and their science is not backed up and another pyramid scheme.

So, if you like throwing money away in the trash can keep reading fake reviews, posts on facebook and buying all this crap or figure out how to spot a pyramid scheme and run away as fast as you can.

**Sorry about my typos- spent too long researching this crap to convince my wife I was right and to stop the madness so didn’t edit this just hit publish

Is Justin Bieber a Christian?

Is Selena Gomez a Christian?

Is Chance The Rapper a Christian?

Is Macklemore a Christian?

I got a chance to meet Macklemore last year as I watched him serve the people on the streets in Seattle with The Seattle Gospel Union Mission. I actually watched him take his long winter coat off his own back and give it to a guy who was sleeping underneath the freeway.

His new album is great. There are a lot of references to God in the album.

St. Ides is probably my favorite song and in that song he says.

I never believed in God but things go so f#$ked up that I had to pray.

That is just one line from an album that I can relate with and coming from a guy who talks about his struggles I listened to that and smiled. I don’t know what else is happening in his life but its great truth that he shares.

The new Chance album is ridiculous.  He talks about everything from Blessings in his lap to giving Satan a swirly.

I know pastors who have spent a ton of time with Selena and Justin and when you listen to things they have said lately you have to just believe that God is doing something in their life.

We all have ears and eyes to see this for ourself. I can listen to an album and go wow.. something is happening there and it makes me think how cool that is.

But what do most Christians do.. We then do a google search and wonder are they a Christian? Why do we care about labels?

I heard someone they they can’t be a Christian because the album is still explicit or they are too sexy or they are still getting in trouble.

Ok.. so those things all rule out if they are Christian? Don’t we all still fall short? Don’t we all still struggle. Does an album with some great songs that make you think about the Lord not count as “Christian” because other songs have explicit lyrics? Do we have to talk about God in every song in order to get buy in from Christians?

How many actors are Christians but they don’t make “Christian” films? 

Artists make art and when I see signs of God working in their life because it makes it way inside their art I think that is awesome.

Some time titles don’t work.

Sometimes Christians just need to be a little smarter and dig in for yourself to see for yourself.

My friend Donald Miller has spent more than a decade telling his story. He’s the author of a book called Blue Like Jazz and about 6 others that, together, have spent more than a year on the NYT bestsellers list.

Don has recently done something incredible, and I think you’ll love it. After spending all that time telling his story, he’s helping other people tell theirs.

If you have a business, non-profit or just a vision or idea you’ve been wanting to tell the world about, Don can help. His new company StoryBrand is using 2,000 years of best-practices in storytelling to help you engage customers and grow your company.

To be honest, I wondered whether it was a gimmick until I flew to Nashville and experienced it myself.

Wow! I’d say StoryBrand has been one of the most powerful influences on the way I communicate, hands down.  What we learned from Don at this workshop was a huge eye opener for us at XXXchurch.com

True to his passion of helping people get their stories out, Don’s offering a free e-course called 5 Minute Marketing Makeover. In it he even talks about how he helped a Presidential candidate re-shape their entire message. The guy is dead serious about helping you.

Click here for instant access.

Once you sign up, Don will likely put you on a list offering you more tips to get your story out, but you can unsubscribe at any point. It’s definitely not for everybody but it was so good I had to share it. Truly, amazing.

You don’t want to miss this. It stinks to not be heard or understood, and Don has practical tips to help.

Get the free e-course right HERE. You’re going to love it, I promise.

P.S. There really is no catch. One of my favorite parts is when Don talks about 5 simple things you should include on your website that helps people understand what you’re trying to say. It’s simple but groundbreaking. Again, you can get it all right HERE for FREE

I didn’t know much about porn in 2002, but that didn’t stop me from heading to an adult expo that year. Why? Because I’d already realized I didn’t need to know a ton in order to talk to people about porn, Jesus, and the kinds of things people are searching for.

I have said this before: I don’t love talking about porn, but because I do talk about it, I’ve had more opportunities than I can count to talk to people about God and his love for them. Opportunities that I would never have had unless I did XXXchurch.

There have been other opportunities. A friend of mine told me about his love for UFC and his love for Jesus; we worked with him for several months to help replicate what we’ve done and fightchurch.com was born.

We met another guy who loves video games. He saw what we were doing and figured if “Jesus loves porn stars” works, then “Jesus loves gamers” would work, too. He went on to launch gamechurch.com and has since exhibited across the world at gamer conventions, handing out thousands of “Jesus Loves Gamers” bibles..

We love outreach. We think that’s the message of Jesus. Churches often wait for people to come to them, which is not a bad thing! A lot of people will show up to church when they are in a tough times. People get in trouble and they get a lot more receptive to the love of Jesus.

But we also believe Jesus often went where the people were rather than waiting for them to find him (the story of Zacchaeus comes to mind).

Light brightens, and when you take the message of Jesus to a dark room, the light shines all the brighter. I love going to a place and standing out with that light. When we go to a gaming show or porn show and bring the light of Jesus, people get caught off guard, and as a result we have seen great things happen.

The unbundling of products is working online and offline. Everywhere I look, people are doing this. Why? Because we don’t want one software that does 100 things; we would rather download an app that does the one thing we want and that does it really well.

So follow me here: my ideas on outreach and sharing message of Jesus are the same way: instead of trying to reach everyone, find a niche market and focus on it: fighters, gamers, porn stars, car collectors, extreme sports… you get the idea.

I love this type of stuff.

I love taking risks.

I love trying something no one has tried before.

Since 2002, we have been to 100 adult trade shows and taken hundreds of volunteers. It works every time.

So, in Los Angeles (where I live), there is something on every corner besides hipster coffee shops: vaping. Stores that sell all the products that go along with electronic cigarettes and the culture that has sprung up around it.

I’m not a vaper. The last time I smoked was with my friend David, in my parents’ shed in our backyard, when we were in high school.

I tried my friend Katie’s grape e-cig that she accidentally left on our couch. I hate grape flavor anything, so that didn’t do it for me

I had the incredible time of walking the red carpet at the Grammys and couldn’t believe all the vape accessories I saw.

When Leonardo won his Oscar this year, all the photos I saw of him were not of eating Girl Scout cookies but vaping.

Now, I know very little about vaping.

I’m not a fan of smoking or vaping personally.

I also know a ton of people who smoke and/or vape and lot of them tell me how they would love to stop. Others tell me they know they can’t stop.

I’m not here to argue it. The backs of cigarettes and e-cigs all tell you the potential dangers of smoking or vaping, but if people want to do it, then they have every right to do it and there are plenty of resources out there to help people stop.

I’m more interested in this: that there is now major subculture of people who smoke or vape, and I’m wondering: can we start a conversation around vaping that could lead to a conversation about Jesus?

I think so.

So I’m going to try an experiment that takes me back to the days of 2002, back when I was a 26-year-old who liked to tear down any fences

We bought a domain: JesusLovesVapers.com

We made a booth.

We designed 4 t-shirts.

And I’m headed to the largest tobacco convention in Vegas.

Do I plan to build out a church website for smokers? Not at this point, but if someone is passionate about that email me.

Our plan is to just try something for the three days of this convention and see if the response and reaction are the same as we have seen in other industries. Will this prove that, if more Christians would be on the offensive and a bit more creative, I think you would see the message of Jesus really does work in just about any space imaginable.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

The other day, I posted this.

I have been hearing a lot from people in regards to this new project called My Pilgrimage.

Some great ones like I shared but some other ones from internet trolls just looking to criticize anything that is out of the norm. Here is a copy of my latest response to one of these.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write us with your thoughts about the book Feels Like Redemption. Please know that we read every single email we receive and do our best to respond to all of them, and we wanted to make sure to take the time to respond to yours with the grace, thoughtfulness, and care it deserves.

Let me first tell you how the My Pilgrimage series came to be. I received, through a mutual friend that Seth and I have, an early draft of Seth’s book, “Feels Like Redemption,” and as I read it, I was struck by how outside-the-norm it was. Yes, there was a lot in there I didn’t really dig, but the core message of it—that many people don’t actually struggle with PORN but rather USE porn as a means to cover up some deeper hurt or wound—was something I really wanted to share with others.

At XXXchurch we pride ourselves on having a lot of different resources, because the longer we’ve done this the more we’ve started to see that there’s not really a one-size-fits-all approach to finding freedom from pornography. Some things work for some people, but some of them just don’t. And that’s what Seth’s book spoke to and what I responded to. So I started talking with Seth to see if we could create a series of resources around this core message that would go both broad and deep enough to really help people get it. To help them find freedom when nothing else worked.

Seth also had an idea for a guidebook to help people work through the practices he talks about in the regular book, so we took those two things and gave them to a writer and editor I trust both with words and with theology and let him have at it .This writer and editor is someone that has worked on every book I have written and is the one person who edits all the blogs from various bloggers we have at XXXchurch.

One thing that I personally think is great about Christianity is that there are so many different streams of it, where we all agree on the basics but disagree on the details. We welcome that kind of thinking at XXXchurch. We’re not all of the same denomination and we don’t all agree on every single point of doctrine, but we all love Jesus and have a passionate desire to see people find healing in their lives, especially healing from the use or creation of porn.

So our editor went through the book and guidebook and trimmed them down to make them more practical and understandable, and he also stripped down the theology in order to help people find their way to freedom instead of getting hung up on a minor detail, really so we could lessen the amount of emails like yours! We then sent these edited versions around to our whole team to make sure we’d created something we could all stand behind. And every single one of them signed off on it.

Now a word about Seth Taylor. This is a guy I’ve come to really respect and, in a lot of ways, love. There are A TON of things we disagree on, but I can tell you without any doubt: Seth loves Jesus. Period. Now, Seth is an outspoken guy who really takes a lot of pleasure in shaking things up, so I can’t always stand behind everything he says somewhere. And I’m not going to try to censor him or make him say something he doesn’t believe.

But I can tell you that I stand behind all the resources of My Pilgrimage on MyPilgrimage.com. The video series features Seth and David, yes, but it also features more people from our team, and it is something I would proudly show at any church in America. The video series was something that I personally worked on making sure it would tie together all these resources and be something that fit the tone of the book and guidebook but also worked for our audience at XXXchurch.

I love this new approach. It’s radical, it’s real. It’s going to help a lot of people find freedom from porn AND a completely renewed walk with Christ. But it’s not for everybody.

As someone who is criticized by both ultra-conservative and ultra-liberal Christians, I know that you just can’t please everyone. And I’m okay with that! Some people get uncomfortable when you do anything that runs counter to their theology, and when that happens, we can only work to get back to the common ground we share as Christians, a love for Christ and a belief in his life, ministry, death, and resurrection. That’s where we’re all coming from when it comes to My Pilgrimage.

Thanks again for taking time to write us. We all appreciate the feedback and are praying for the best for you as you do the work to find true, lasting freedom from porn.

Craig

We get a lot of emails.

Lately, we have been sending out a lot of emails promoting this new project we have spent 2 years on called “My Pilgrimage”.

Emails like this one are why we do what we do. We got this in the inbox last week and all rejoiced over this man’s incredible story—so much so that we had to share it with you (with the author’s permission). Enjoy!

Craig,

As a former youth pastor who is now managing a store in a high stress, balls-to-the-wall environment, I have been looking at a ton of porn. My wife is hours away with the kids while I live in a sh***y, one-bedroom apartment. Alas, temptation has turned into daily habit: come home, fix a way-too-strong drink, go to my typical websites, get off, feel terrible, look over at the books I should be reading that I brought with me, rinse, repeat.

I am an avid fan of BadChristian. I absolutely love their podcast and have listened to every one of them. What shocked me was when Seth and David Taylor were on there a week or two ago talking about My Pilgrimage. I was driving home to finally spend some-well deserved time with my family, listening to the podcast while driving home: mind blown.

I paused it and went to MyPilgrimage.com right away, mid-podcast. I thought man, if this is serious, I’ll buy in. I know it isn’t just porn for me; I’ll die early (like everyone has told me since I turned 21) because of the amount of alcohol I consume on the daily.

I only have (I think) two more chapters to listen to in the book—there have been many pauses for exercises and whatnot—but that book got me to pray for only the second time since moving here six months ago. The last time I prayed I was face-down in my stand up shower (an impressive feat for such a big dude), curled into a ball, asking God, “Why am I here? Are you even real? Do you give a s*** about me at all? Am I just like my father?” etc., etc., etc.

The other night, I prayed for so long, meditating, searching my soul for these wounds I carry. Every day while I’m at work I keep thinking to myself, “What are they?” What are the wounds that I’m medicating so heavily that I can’t stop trying to kill myself with alcohol? What is on my inside that led me to actually Google “can a .22 kill a man?” (as that is the only gun I brought with me on my move, should I get the chance to hit a shooting range).

I’m not fixed, I’m not porn-free, I’m not even fully sober (I am as I write this, but you know what I mean). I will tell you though, I have only looked at porn twice since last Thursday and I’ve been drunk a considerable amount less, in quantity and quality.

For a guy who used to masturbate 4 or 5 times a day while he watched his marriage and sex life with his wife fall apart, and who drank a half a gallon of whiskey every two days, it feels like a miracle. I can’t explain everything going on in me right now, I can’t even explain my morning prayers and the thoughts I have while I sit in my truck and wait for the windshield to defrost instead of opting for a morning cigarette (an easily dropped habit for me, but nonetheless).

It is borderline insane to me that I can walk like this, feel like this. To still even be doing what I’ve been doing, but to be able to watch it slowly die? Yeah, I still desire some things, but this…..it’s….free.

Porn has turned into something I just kind of want at moments instead of a driving force that I must have and fulfill the second I walk through my apartment door.

I’m not entirely sure what is at the end of this book, or even this path that I’m on, but I have to say this may be the greatest thing I’ve ever seen step foot out of your ministry.

You should really advertise this like crazy, too. It changed and is changing my life. I can’t express my gratitude enough, I’ve tried everything. I’ve tried Every Young Man’s Battle, Every Man’s Battle, X3watch, Covenant Eyes, and nothing could stop the monster I felt I had become. I always wanted it bad enough at some point that I would start the lies, the bait and switch, the whatever, whatever, whatever to get me to my end goal.

This is truly revolutionary and I am so thankful for this, the message, and the group of you guys out there right now that aren’t living in the “under a rock” mentality and ignoring real issues that real people are having. Even if this doesn’t reach you personally, even if I’m one of a thousand people that emails you and tells you how amazing this really is, I hope whoever gets this on your behalf just tells you and Seth, “Thanks, man.” Thanks for a new outlook, thanks for at least a little less cloud and depression and confusion on the daily. I wish I could think of something better to say than just thanks, but there really aren’t words for this freedom.

–Randy

[Note: this email has been edited slightly for length and clarity.]

###

I love music. All types except country.

This month I got to see some of my favorites already.

Blindside

The Weeknd

Of Monsters and Men

Tonight…. These guys!

I have seen them twice before and been a fan ever since 5th grade after school coming home to watch the countdown on MTV. I remember when Stryper and Motley Crue were both on the countdown on the same day.

This was the 80’s and the big scare in the church was that music was bad. Music was evil and most hard rock was satanic.

Music is entertainment. Some is quality and some is not but I hated the people that thought all this music was from the devil. Funny, the guy opening for Crue is Alice Cooper who is actually a believer. At the Blindside show, I met Dave Mustaine from Megadeth who is now a believer as well.

In 8th grade if you would have told me that the lead singer of Megadeth and Alice Cooper would be followers of Jesus one day, it would have put those guys out of business that traveled around to churches and did those rock music is from the devil seminars out of business.

Listening to these guys bring back some great memories of junior high and high school. If only the original Guns and Roses would get back together, then my friend Darin would go nuts. Maybe Tesla from Sacramento could open?

I wonder when my kids are 40 will any of their favorite bands still be playing? Possibly… indian casino’s doubtful it would be Staples Center.