The Church is facing a discipleship crisis that many believers have yet to recognize. Social media algorithms increasingly determine which teachers, doctrines, controversies, and interpretations repeatedly receive our attention. When biblical literacy decreases while algorithmic influence increases, Christians can become vulnerable to theology that is emotionally compelling, highly shareable, and completely wrong. The question is no longer simply, “What am I watching?” The deeper question is, “Who, or what, is discipling me?”
There is a discipleship crisis developing within the Church, and I am not convinced we fully understand how dangerous it is becoming.
For generations, Christians have rightly warned about false teachers, deceptive doctrines, compromised pulpits, and the danger of abandoning biblical truth. Those warnings remain necessary. But we are now facing something previous generations never encountered at this scale: digital systems capable of determining which voices, ideas, controversies, interpretations, fears, and theological claims receive repeated access to our attention.
That matters because repeated exposure is formative.
An algorithm is not a pastor. It is not a theologian. It possesses no spiritual discernment, biblical conviction, or concern for truth. Yet algorithms increasingly influence what millions of believers repeatedly see and hear. When that exposure begins shaping how people understand God, Scripture, doctrine, prophecy, culture, leadership, and the Church, we are no longer dealing merely with a technology issue.
We are dealing with discipleship.
A significant portion of the Church is being discipled by algorithms.
Not because algorithms possess spiritual authority, but because they increasingly determine which voices receive our attention, and whatever consistently receives our attention will eventually influence how we think.
That should concern us.
Social Media Is Becoming a Source of Christian Theology
Consider how much theology is now consumed.
For many believers, biblical teaching is no longer encountered primarily through sustained study, careful reading, mature discipleship, and thoughtful engagement with Scripture. Theology increasingly arrives through a 60-second reel, a TikTok clip, a YouTube Short, a Facebook post, a viral graphic, a sermon excerpt removed from its larger context, or a prophetic sound bite designed to stop someone from scrolling.
Then comes the familiar formula:
- “The Bible actually says…”
- “The Hebrew word really means…”
- “The Greek reveals…”
- “What the Church has never told you is…”
Those phrases immediately create the appearance of authority. They sound scholarly. They feel revelatory. They imply that hidden truth is finally being uncovered.
Then comes the emotionally charged conclusion and the inevitable call to action:
- “Type AMEN if you agree.”
- “Share this if you believe it.”
- “Send this to someone who needs to hear it.”
Within hours, thousands of Christians can be affirming, repeating, and distributing an interpretation that many have never actually examined.
They have not read the entire passage. They have not studied the surrounding verses. They have not investigated the historical context. They have not verified the Hebrew or Greek. They have not asked whether the definition being presented is legitimate or whether the conclusion agrees with the rest of Scripture.
Yet they share it anyway.
Why?
- Because it sounded deep.
- Because it felt powerful.
- Because it confirmed something they already believed.
- Because it stirred an emotion.
And that is where the danger begins.
The Algorithm Does Not Care Whether Theology Is True
We need to understand something fundamental about these systems: The algorithm is not trying to make you biblically sound. It is trying to keep you engaged.
It does not measure theological accuracy. It measures behavior. It observes what makes you stop scrolling, what you watch repeatedly, what you comment on, what you argue about, what you share, and which personalities keep you coming back. Over time, the system learns what makes you angry, what frightens you, what confirms your suspicions, and what reinforces your existing beliefs. It recognizes which controversies capture your attention and which voices you trust.
Then it gives you more. That is where something troubling begins. Engagement can become confused with anointing.
A million views do not mean God is on it. Ten thousand shares do not make something biblical. A comment section filled with people shouting “AMEN” does not mean the Holy Spirit confirmed it. Popularity has never been the biblical measurement of truth. Something can become extraordinarily popular precisely because it tells people what they already desperately want to hear. When the Church loses the ability to distinguish between what is engaging and what is true, we have a discipleship crisis.
Your Social Media Feed Is Not the Body of Christ
Another deceptive feature of the social media culture is the illusion that what we repeatedly see represents what everyone sees. Consume enough content from one theological perspective, and eventually your feed becomes saturated with voices reinforcing it. Then something subtle happens.
You begin thinking, “Everybody knows this.” No. Everybody in your feed knows this. You think, “The whole Church is talking about this.” Maybe not. The algorithm discovered that you keep talking about it. You think, “God keeps putting this message in front of me.” Perhaps He is. But perhaps you watched the first video twice, commented on the second one, and shared the third. That distinction requires discernment.
Repetition is not confirmation. Sometimes it is simply programming.
Algorithms can create theological echo chambers so immersive that repetition begins to feel like consensus.
If you want angry Christianity, your feed can find it. If you want Christianity consumed with politics, it can find it. If you want hyper-prophetic Christianity, it can find it. If you want Christianity stripped of anything supernatural, it can find that too. Technology can continually place voices before us that reinforce whichever version of Christianity most appeals to our existing preferences. Eventually, we must confront an uncomfortable possibility: We can construct a Christianity that looks remarkably similar to ourselves and then convince ourselves that it looks like Jesus.
When Hebrew and Greek Are Used to Make Bad Theology Sound Biblical
One trend that deeply concerns me is the casual misuse of biblical languages.
There is an increasing tendency to make questionable interpretations sound authoritative simply by attaching Hebrew or Greek terminology to them. Someone says, “The Hebrew actually means…” and suddenly the interpretation appears deeper. But Hebrew does not automatically make an interpretation biblical. Neither does Greek.
A person can select a convenient definition while ignoring the meaning demanded by context. They can remove a word from its grammatical setting, appeal to an obscure possible meaning, manipulate etymology, or make an ancient term carry an idea the biblical writer never intended. And they can do all of it while sounding incredibly spiritual.
That is what makes biblical error dangerous.
False teaching does not always arrive looking foolish. Sometimes it sounds profound. Sometimes it includes Strong’s numbers. Sometimes it displays Hebrew letters. Sometimes it quotes Greek. Sometimes it comes from someone with a massive platform. Sometimes it makes you cry. Sometimes it makes you angry. Sometimes it confirms exactly what you already wanted to believe. And sometimes it gets shared 100,000 times.
None of that makes it true.
- Hebrew does not automatically mean accurate.
- Greek does not automatically mean scholarly.
The question remains: Is this actually what the biblical text says?
Christians Are Commanded to Accurately Handle Scripture
Paul’s instruction to Timothy could hardly be more relevant:
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
— 2 Timothy 2:15
Accurately handling the Word of truth is not merely a responsibility for seminary professors or academically inclined Christians. It matters whenever Scripture is taught, preached, interpreted, posted, or publicly explained.
Accuracy matters. Context matters. Grammar matters. Doctrine matters. Historical setting matters. Authorial intent matters. And sometimes careful study will destroy the point we wanted to make. Then destroy the point.
Keep the Scripture.
We do not have permission to distort the Bible because the distorted version preaches better. We do not get to redefine a word because the new definition makes a stronger post. We do not get to ignore context because context weakens the emotional impact. We do not get to manufacture revelation because it produces engagement.
James gives an especially sobering warning to teachers:
“Do not become teachers in large numbers, my brothers, since you know that we who are teachers will incur a stricter judgment.”
— James 3:1
That should produce a holy fear in anyone who regularly says, “God said,” “The Bible says,” or “The original language means.” We are handling something that does not belong to us. We are handling the Word of God.
Biblical Discernment Is Not Cynicism
Discernment is often mistaken for suspicion.
They are not the same. Suspicion approaches everything looking for something to condemn. Biblical discernment approaches what it hears, asking whether it agrees with truth.
The Bereans provide one of Scripture’s clearest examples. Acts 17:11 says they received the word with great eagerness while also “examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” Notice the balance. They were eager without being gullible. They were receptive without being undiscerning. They were teachable without surrendering their responsibility to examine what they were hearing.
And whom were they examining? Paul. Yes, The Apostle Paul.
If the Bereans could examine Paul’s preaching against Scripture, your favorite preacher, prophet, teacher, author, podcaster, influencer, or social media personality can survive biblical examination too. And that includes me. Do not believe something simply because Ryan Johnson wrote it. Open your Bible. Examine what I said. Check the context. Test the interpretation. If I misuse Scripture, reject what I said and hold onto Scripture. Because the moment any minister becomes more interested in protecting their interpretation than accurately representing God’s Word, something has gone terribly wrong.
We do not need followers who believe everything we say. We need disciples who know Him and know His Word.
Examine Everything
Paul wrote:
“but examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good”
— 1 Thessalonians 5:21
He did not tell believers to reject everything. He did not tell them to distrust everyone. He did not tell them to assume every teacher was false. He told them to examine everything and then hold firmly to what is good.
That is biblical discernment. The mature believer is neither gullible nor cynical. The mature believer tests. And that is exactly what the Church desperately needs in an age where information travels faster than examination.
Christian Content Consumption Is Not Christian Discipleship
Perhaps one of the greatest dangers of social media Christianity is that it can create the illusion of spiritual maturity without producing biblical depth.
A believer can consume Christian content for hours every day and still rarely study Scripture. Someone can listen to sermons continually and remain biblically illiterate. A person can follow dozens of prophetic voices while having little ability to test prophecy.
Christians can repost theological claims they have never investigated, repeat Greek definitions they have never verified, quote Hebrew words they cannot read, and know every controversy circulating through Christian culture while possessing only a shallow understanding of the biblical text itself.
- Consumption is not discipleship.
- Information is not transformation.
Being surrounded by Christian content does not necessarily mean someone is becoming more like Christ. This is why the real crisis is not simply that algorithms exist. The greater danger is what happens when algorithmic influence collides with biblical illiteracy.
A believer grounded in Scripture can use social media without allowing social media to define truth. But a biblically illiterate believer is extremely vulnerable to whoever speaks with the greatest confidence, emotion, charisma, or perceived authority. That should deeply concern the Church.
The Algorithm Can Find Teachers for Your Itching Ears
Paul warned Timothy:
“For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires.”
— 2 Timothy 4:3
For generations, Christians have read this passage imagining people deliberately searching for teachers who would tell them what they wanted to hear. Technology has changed the equation.
You do not even have to accumulate the teachers anymore. The algorithm can do it for you.
It learns what angers you, what frightens you, what confirms your worldview, which controversies interest you, and which theological voices you repeatedly engage. Then it continues delivering similar voices directly into your hand.
Teachers “in accordance with their own desires.” Except now technology can identify those desires and assist in building the audience around them. That should trouble us.
Emotional Reactions Are Not Biblical Discernment
Social media encourages another dangerous tendency: treating emotional reaction as evidence of spiritual truth.
- Something gives us chills, so we assume it must be God.
- Something makes us cry, so we assume it must be revelation.
- Something makes us angry, so we assume it must be righteous indignation.
- Something confirms what we have believed for years, so we assume the Holy Spirit has validated our position.
But emotions are not infallible interpreters of Scripture.
You can be deeply moved by something that is biblically wrong. You can feel very little while reading something eternally true. Truth does not require an emotional response to remain truth. Emotional agreement is not biblical discernment.
Truth with depth rarely spreads as fast as a slogan. Sound biblical interpretation cannot always be compressed into a sound bite. Context does not always produce memorable slogans. But outrage does. Fear does. Controversy does. Secret knowledge does. “This changes everything!” does.
When ministers begin consciously or unconsciously shaping their messages around what performs well online, we can begin preaching for the algorithm instead of preaching for faithfulness.
Ministers Must Fear God More Than Losing Engagement
Those of us who teach Scripture need to ask ourselves difficult questions.
- Have we begun measuring impact primarily through views rather than faithfulness?
- Have we confused reach with fruit?
- Have we mistaken engagement for anointing?
- Have we begun shaping messages according to what attracts attention rather than what Scripture actually says?
- If careful study destroys the sermon illustration, destroy the illustration.
- If context destroys the viral point, destroy the viral point.
- If the Hebrew does not mean what we hoped it meant, stop using it.
- If the Greek does not support the interpretation, abandon the interpretation.
The preacher does not stand over the text. The preacher stands under it.
We do not command Scripture to support our message. Scripture determines the message. Putting God’s name behind something God never said is not revelation. It is misrepresentation.
The Most Dangerous Deception Can Speak Christian
Perhaps the greatest danger is that deception does not need to look secular in order to deceive Christians.
It can speak fluent Christian. It knows our vocabulary. It quotes Scripture. It says “Holy Spirit.” It says “prophetic.” It says “revival.” It says “biblical.” It says “Hebrew.” It says “Greek.” It knows when to say, “God showed me.” If biblical literacy continues to decline while dependence upon algorithmically delivered Christian content increases, we create an environment where error can flourish while sounding completely spiritual.
The greatest danger is not merely that believers might encounter deception. Christians have always encountered deception. The greater danger is that Christians may lose the ability to recognize deception when deception speaks their language.
The Church Needs Bereans Again
The answer is not to abandon technology.
Technology can spread the Gospel, distribute sound biblical teaching, connect believers, and place valuable resources into the hands of people who might otherwise never receive them. The issue is not whether Christians should use technology. The issue is whether technology is shaping us more deeply than Scripture is.
We need Bereans again.
We need believers who open the Book, examine what they hear, understand context, test prophetic claims, and know the difference between discernment and suspicion. We need Christians who can hear something powerful and still ask, “Where is that in Scripture?” We need people who love truth enough to discover that something they desperately wanted to believe is wrong. And we need ministers who are not threatened by those kinds of believers.
In fact, we should be producing them. Because mature spiritual leadership does not create dependency upon the leader. It produces believers capable of discerning truth.
Before You Share It, Examine It
Before you like it, share it, repost it, preach it, or build doctrine around it, stop long enough to examine it.
- Before you say, “The Hebrew means…”
- Before you declare, “The Greek reveals…”
- Before you tell someone, “This is what the Bible really says…”
- Open the Bible.
- Read the passage.
- Read what comes before it and what comes after it.
- Study the context.
- Check the language.
- Compare Scripture with Scripture.
- Ask whether the interpretation actually comes from the text or whether someone is forcing an idea onto the text.
- We are not called to defend what excites us.
- We are called to accurately handle the Word of truth.
- Viral does not mean biblical.
- Emotional does not mean spiritual.
- Popular does not mean true.
- Repeated does not mean confirmed.
- Hebrew does not automatically mean accurate.
- Greek does not automatically mean scholarly.
- Engagement does not mean anointing.
- And a Christian algorithm does not become the Holy Spirit simply because everything appearing in your feed talks about Jesus.
The algorithm’s goal is engagement. The disciple’s goal is transformation. One studies your preferences so it can give you more of what you want. Jesus confronts your desires and calls you to become something you could never become without Him. Those are radically different forms of formation.
So perhaps the question every believer needs to seriously consider is not simply: “What am I watching?”
The deeper question is: “Who, or what, is discipling me?”
Because if your understanding of God is being shaped more by what an algorithm repeatedly places in front of you than by what Scripture reveals about Him, the problem is not merely your screen time.
The problem is that you have allowed the feed to become your teacher.
And if the Church fails to recognize how dangerous that is becoming, we may eventually discover that while we thought we were using social media to spread Christianity, social media was quietly reshaping the Christianity we were spreading.
