Years ago in Austria, I met my first Jezebel woman. We volunteered to do service to assist in collecting, sorting and packing clothes for refugees in Tibet. At the time I didn’t even know where Tibet was, but we were happy to be of service, at least until we discovered the truth of the grift. The woman behind the project was bringing the clothing to Tibet, coming down out of the sky in an airplane, distributing the clothing, and then CLAIMING IT WAS FROM HER. She ascribed no credit to the Austrians who donated clothing; she did this to set herself up as a God to the people of Tibet who worshipped her as a god who came down from the heavens and gave them food, clothing, water, and other sundries. Upon discovering this, we refused from that time forth to assist in idol worship. Imagine how much more expansive her work might be today with the help of social media scams!
We know the story of Jezebel from the bible, usually because of the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal who ate at Jezebel’s table. At its heart, the story of Jezebel is a story of idol worship. She even managed to manipulate King Ahab into doing her will and joining her. She was manipulative, and that’s what idols almost always create- a circumstance wherein people are manipulated into obedience and malfeasance. Today, we don’t see many people worship Baal, but we do see a lot of idol worship, and it is spread, by the spirit of Jezebel, through the influence of influencers and social media. We have false Gods, and now we carry around their portals in our hands and call them forth by logging in and checking our feed. Whether it’s false fame, false esteem, or false validation, all of these are false gods who can never save us, but will quickly drag us down to hell in the end. Social media is the cathedral of our modern idol worship in which people come together to fashion their own golden calf or to be fashioned a god themselves.
Social media has propped up false fame.
Most social media ranks users based on their interaction with the community. People get likes or subscriptions or comments, and the algorithms use these measurements of appeal to decide what it shows to users. People will do nearly anything for their “15 minutes” and some of them have done so for a lot longer. Whether we’re talking about Logan Paul, who filmed an incredibly inappropriate and irreverent clip in the Japanese forest where people kill themselves or SSSniperwolf who stole another user’s identity AND content and monetized it, these people have become popular because people watch them. It has nothing to do with the quality of the content but with instead its popularity and how much money the algorithm can generate by showing advertisements to users who try to keep up with the trends. The successful content creators change content to keep up with trends and keep making money, and so people have a bloviated sense of importance based on how many people like their posts, pictures, and content and now how many people send them money to make it. It’s now no longer based on the algorithm. You can pay your tithes directly to these false prophets of fame.
Social media has established a false currency of value and esteem.
In order to get any money on social media, you have to meet certain thresholds. My content, for example, despite the fact that advertisements are shown when you watch my channel, earns me nothing at all because I don’t have subscribers or views sufficient for youtube to share profits with me. Instead, it feeds profits to its own prophets, whose content engages and includes sufficient people who like, comment and subscribe. Some people will delete content that is not monetarily valuable and then create content, not because they believe in it, but because they can make money talking about it. There are many charlatans of content, who make videos on topics, not because they care, but because they know YOU do. RomaArmy for example is a “men’s rights advocate” who donates no money to champion men’s rights but who does include links in her comments and videos to her “spicy content” where people can pay her tithes directly to don skimpy outfits (or so I assume; I have not subscribed). Popular channels are the channels that pay the social media company the highest return, and so people who enrich the false prophets of information receive more time at the bully pulpit and are considered more valuable. The community esteems them and roasts, downvotes, and even reports content creators who claim the counterpoint. Some channels, despite having few followers and subscribers (like mine) get hate mail and censorship despite the fact that we have no reach. Silenced, we earn no money. Some like BetterBachelor leave for other platforms where they can make money; others simply disappear and post no more and remain unknown to new generations of users who do not esteem or value them because they never see their shadowbanned content and because nothing new appears in the feed to challenge the prevailing prophecy the idols espouse.
Social media has enriched many who conclude that because they are popular they must be correct.
Since the algorithm suggests creators and channels based on engagement and not on the veracity of the content, people who publish falsehoods must conclude they are correct. Several of my videos have been taken down by youtube because I am “not a verified subject matter expert on the matter”. Yet, Greta Thunberg, who is a high school dropout from Sweden, is permitted to preach whatever she likes because she is POPULAR. Her videos and posts persist (unless she deletes them herself) despite a lack of demand that she prove her credentials. Even Jordan Peterson, a credentialed psychologist from Canada, is being censored because his views counter the narrative favored by those who prefer validation over information, because Peterson does not preach in conjunction with “the message”. People are paid for content, whether they believe it or not, whether it’s reliable or not, whether it’s true or not, and as they find financial success, they continue to do so and may even begin to believe in the false doctrine they spread from their own pulpits. The platforms do not value a post's value or worry about verification; they care only how much the post can enrich whatever platform hosts it. Popularity equals profit.
What is the allure of idols? Idols please people, because people face no consequences from worshipping a false deity. A fake God will not punish the people. He may not reward them, but there is no cost either, particularly if you stop sacrificing or if you glean of the sacrifice of others to slake your own lusts. Idol worship typically includes ideas that are pleasing to the carnal mind, that teach “eat, drink and be merry, for God will save all people”. And idol worship more importantly often comes with financial rewards for the false priests of possibility and promise. Through all time, people have turned to “wizards that peep and mutter” to tell their fortunes and promise them their hopes, and because people like to hear what pleases them, they continue to enrich the sayers of sooth and the salesmen of salaciousness. We all know that people prefer comforting lies to discomfiting truths, and people like to be told there is hope and joy. Truly God promises that too, but not in exchange for specie or numismata. He asks for a broken spirit, a contrite heart, and selfless service to the unfortunate, particularly those who do not yet know Him. A widow’s mite suffices as tribute if your heart is true to a God who is also.
You see, God does not rely on social media to spread His message. He relies on people to minister to each other one on one, in our homes and in our synagogues, one of a family and two of a city, wherever there are those who are willing to take up their cross and help others lift theirs. God’s message is usually unpopular. It is not monetized. Christ chose mostly men of little means to follow Him because the wealthy usually worship their possessions and refuse to be parted from them to draw closer to God. If an organization’s leaders are enriched and made wealthy by the donations of the practitioners, those practitioners, however zealous their belief, are actually worshipping or enabling their leaders to worship idols. Jesus was born in a stable. He does not require opulent surrounds in order to enlighten and uplift the soul. Those who do worship false Gods in the spirit of Jezebel and are trying to manipulate you. Beware when politicians, pundits, and even priests talk in sweeping terms about righteousness and virtue. They often do so, not because they subscribe to those notions, but because they know you do. True followers will sacrifice for Christ and give to others as Christ gave to us, and that is true religion. To be carnally minded is death, which is what the spirit of Jezebel promises. Spiritually minded work is life eternal, and that is usually done by those without purse or scrip who only care to get enough money so that they can render to Caesar while they devote their time, talents and everything with which God blessed them to build His kingdom rather than their own.
