The Double Life of Christian Influencers: Beware of hypocrisy
By Elizabeth Prata
Social media, man. What are you gonna do? It is a blessing, a curse, a minefield, reality, unreality. It is a window into the world that allows the Gospel to propagate, and it offers the sinful multiple ways to be hypocrites.
We’ve seen the rise and hopefully fall of the “trad wife” phenomenon, the microbakery revelation controversy, and tons of influencers who turn out to be totally fake just out to get your money. They weren’t living the life they said they were living, they weren’t experts in the thing they claimed to be experts in, or their entire persona was AI generated with an account full of bot farming and paid commenters in order to inflate numbers. There is a LOT of money to be made! You have no idea how much.
From the article, How influencer cartels manipulate social media: Fraudulent behaviour hidden in plain sight
Influencer marketing has become a key part of modern advertising. In 2023, spending on influencer marketing reached $31 billion, already rivalling the entirety of print newspaper advertising. Influencer marketing allows advertisers fine targeting based on consumer interests by choosing a good product-influencer-consumer match.
Phew. Glad you’re a Christian where at least the online persona you’re following is safer. Right? RIGHT?!
Nope.
The hypocrites, the fake information, the unrevealed truth, the sly manipulation, their curation of only what they want you to see, the lack of authenticity, is also rife within the Christian community.
There are many false teachers, something we are not surprised at because God’s word repeatedly informs us of the danger. We must be wise but innocent, trusting but verifying, testing all through the purity of God’s word.
The ladies listed below claim to be focused moms and wives, some saying they are stay-at-home mom, but all have busy careers, small children at one time while they were in the throes of their careers, and teach errant doctrine in one form or another. They’re all hypocrites. They put one face on social media but are actually living a different life than the one they curate to the world.
To write exactly why they are hypocrites here and give the examples and proofs would make this blog novel length. I’ve included links of each woman if you care to see the examples of why they SAY they are a submitted wife and mother but really are not. Each one is violating one or more tenets of the Bible by their life and their doctrine.
Raechel Myers (founder of She Reads Truth).
Diana Stone (formerly writer for She Reads Truth, conference speaker, magazine founder, writer for newspapers and periodicals, world traveler).
Joanna Gaines (HGTV star of Fixer Upper, author, CEO of myriad corporations all named Magnolia Something).
Priscilla Shirer (author, speaker, preacher, actress).
Beth Moore (author, novelist, speaker, preacher, celebrity panelist)
These women by now after decades of teaching false doctrine and living an unbiblical life are the grandmothers of ‘ministry’ – AKA career. They were the trailblazers, showing the young women coming up how to do it. How to curate an image. What to say to keep the conservative segments of the faith off your back (pssst, say you’re ‘speaking‘ at a church, not preaching!) Actually, they have been at it so long that an entire generation of women have grown up seeing their lifestyle and hearing their doctrine and have internalized and normalized it.
They showed us how to carefully curate an image, they proved it was possible to live a double life, they walked the line between authentic and inauthentic.
Ladies, I have two points here. First, test everything, not only doctrine, but life too. If a woman claims to love Jesus and be a family mom, but is CEO of a dozen corporations, is on TV, authors books, goes on book tours, does interviews, sells real estate…is she living the Titus 2 motherly life in Waco that she claims? It does NOT stand to reason. Ladies, think. What they say and what the do must match up. Test their life.
Secondly, social media is only a tool. As with any tool, it is neutral. It can be used for good like a hammer pounding in a nail to hang beautiful art. It can be used for ill as a tool that murders someone. It’s the same with ALL social media. It can be used to edify with scripture or comfort, or it can be used for slander or propagating false doctrine. It can be used to present a false picture of someone’s life.
Be wary about what you see from a Christian leader on social media. We think the best of people but also accept that deception comes in many forms.
Hosea 14:9, Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, And the righteous will walk in them, But wrongdoers will stumble in them.
