Written by The Scribbler

Note:  If you haven’t yet read the article, “8 Out of 10 Mary Kay NSDs Are Okay With Lying to Customers,” please do so now, as it will provide you with the necessary background information required to help you fully appreciate this piece.  Thank you!

After posting NSD Dacia Wiegandt’s “lie to customers” guidance on the Facebook walls of ten Mary Kay National Sales Directors, I received some interesting correspondence from an NSD whose personal testimony reads as such:  “Mary Kay has been the perfect career to allow me to expand the opportunity to minister. I know that as a National Sales Director, I will be anointed and appointed to win even more souls...”  I figured that someone claiming to be a soul-winner for Christ would have more than a few things to say against Dacia’s deception.  Boy, was I wrong.  This NSD wrote:

“…refrain from posting those types of comments on my wall.  That is a conversation you may want to have privately with Dacia for clarification or another Sales Director or National.  I am sure Dacia was taken out of context. My fan page is a place to discuss hot news…”

I replied:

“When this matter was brought up on Dacia’s FB page, she promptly deleted and blocked me.  Her actions told me more about her than anything else could, and so, in an effort to get some answers, I posted Dacia’s teaching on your wall and the walls of several other NSDs in the hopes that clarification would be provided.  The fact that you have deleted and blocked me as well does not speak well of your level of integrity, because true leaders possess the boldness to call out right and wrong, not cover up blatant sin and pretend it never existed.  Clearly you are more interested in crowing about “hot news” instead of dealing with issues that have the potential to spiritually cripple the women you lead. 

Dacia’s words are very clear:  leave something out of a customer’s product so you have an excuse to get her into a recruiting interview.  There is nothing to be “taken out of context” here.  It is what it is:  a very dishonest way to get women into a recruiting interview.” 

The NSD responded with:

“Facebook is not a place to question someone’s integrity. Biblically that is done directly to the person and their wall is not a place for that. Certainly my site is not a place to complain about another person, especially my friend. I wish you well in whatever you pursue.”

Here’s a thought.  If you were a consultant who fell under this NSD’s jurisdiction and realized that something was morally amiss with her cohort’s guidance, doesn’t it feel good to know that she would rush to defend the deception of her “friend” and brand you as the complainer, instead of taking responsibility and admitting, “You’re right.  Such teachings are unacceptable.”

I knew the “no negativity” mindset in Mary Kay was severe, but to witness a grown woman acting like the gum-chewing ringleader of a grade school clique is both shocking and sad.  Her behavior proved to me that in Mary Kay, you either shut up and unquestioningly toe the line that the so-called “big girls” have drawn in the pink sand, or you stick out your chest and stand up for yourself like your mother taught you and be denounced as a pariah.  I don’t need to tell you which choice shows character and which one sears it.

Getting back to the dialogue, I sent the following reply to the NSD:

“Since I cannot address you personally, I am addressing the integrity issue here. As a Christian, I cannot and will not turn a blind eye towards a situation where a Mary Kay leader is clearly teaching women how to lie. Wouldn’t you agree that that teaching others this behavior (and in a company where God is claimed to be first, no less) is wrong? If your child’s friend were telling them, “Hey, it’s okay to lie if it gets you what you want in life!” would you tell your child, “Cool, hang with them because they’re going places!” or would you say, “That’s not honest, hon, nor is it godly. Encourage them to choose better, but if they refuse, that’s not a wagon you’d want to hitch your star to. Unless, of course, you don’t mind seeing that star tarnished.”

If NSD Wiegandt were MY friend, I would show her exactly what she’s teaching and tell her to knock it off because it’s destroying her witness for God in the worst way. Wouldn’t you agree that one simply cannot claim that God is their business partner, sport Phil 4:13 on her website, and then be more than cool with telling women to intentionally leave product out of their customer’s orders? Wiegandt might not want to hear me, heck, she might even disown me or consider me “negative,” but true friends give their friends what the NEED, not what they WANT.  Know that one cannot straddle both sides of the fence. One either follows God and calls out deception or sides with deception and shatters their witness for God. Where will YOU choose to stand?”

Of course, I received no answer.  And it’s a shame, because I feel that this NSD “knows the good she ought to do but doesn’t do it.” (James 4:17 NIV)  This presents us with a very serious contradiction:  How can one win souls to Christ while – at the same time – approving of practices which the Bible condemns?  After all, this NSD felt that Wiegandt’s teaching was “taken out of context,” (and therefore, not in error as far as she was concerned), but the Bible begs to differ.  Proverbs 12:22 (NIV) states that “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful,” Leviticus 19:11 (NIV) says “Do not steal, do not lie, do not deceive one another,” and John 8:44 refers to the devil as the Father of Lies.

This biblical insight puts our NSD in quite the predicament.  She must either accuse the Bible of taking NSD Wiegandt’s words out of context, or admit that the Bible is right and NSD Wiegandt’s teachings are wrong.  While I can’t say what this NSD’s choice would be, I’d like to think that someone who considers themselves “anointed and appointed” to be a “soul-winner” for Jesus would side with God’s Word.  Unfortunately, this NSD’s recent track record does little to encourage the reader.

To women of all faiths and beliefs:  If you strive to live with a heart of honesty and lips bearing the words of truth, please exercise wisdom.  Steer clear of Mary Kay Cosmetics, as its spiritually-damaging culture has the potential to not only trick you into exchanging truth for a lie, but defending the lies others tell, too, as this NSD has done.  It is not a place you need to be.