It's been making the rounds online lately, so we should talk about it 👇
Subscribe to view the full article, including all images, videos, and social media embeds.
Maybe you've seen that exact video, or maybe you've seen a similar one.
That's the thing about these kinds of online clips - it's hard to tell what's original, what's serious, and what's just acting.
Clips get trimmed, reposted, reframed. Some are genuine, some are curated for impact, and some are designed to amplify a larger trend of similar testimonies.
It's worth saying up front that we should be careful not to build our confidence in the efficacy of the Christian faith on these kinds of viral moments. They may be real and emotionally powerful, but they are contextually thin.
And yet, there's a reason these kinds of testimonies go viral. They resonate because, genuine or faked, they're pointing to something true.
As these videos testify, there is a real incompatibility between Christianity and the grab-bag spirituality of our moment. You cannot treat Jesus as one option among many, one energy among others, or one weapon to be added to a religious arsenal.
Christianity has divided people for centuries because it refuses to permit such a claim.
Jesus presents Himself as Lord of all, not a spiritual supplement.
It shouldn't surprise us when someone realizes, "I tried both the religions of man and Christianity, and realized I couldn't do both." That's not a glitch in Christianity…it's actually the point.
But it's also important to address another important reality about these kinds of videos: Christianity is not simply the place where you go to get a better feeling.
A lot of these testimonies are framed in terms of experience - peace, clarity, a sense of something "different," something "stronger," something "more real." Again, that may be genuine. God has always made it His business to disrupt what we think we understand, to draw in the unlikeliest of hearts, and to change the most improbable people. But if we pretend that's all the faith is, we unintentionally reduce Christianity to a more enhanced version of the very thing it replaces.
The shift between "this practice makes me feel centered" to "this prayer makes me feel at peace" is not big at all. Both are ultimately rooted in emotion and experience. While the Christian faith includes experience, it is grounded in revelation.
Scripture says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Not by experimentation. Not by comparing emotional outcomes. By hearing. By receiving something outside of ourselves that is true whether we feel it or not.
God, in His kindness, did not leave us to navigate His mysteries through impressions and sensations alone. He gave us His Word - clear, preserved, and objective. And as if that wasn't enough, He gave us His Church - real people, a real body, a real place where that Word is taught, embodied, corrected, and lived out together.
He did all this because He knows something we often forget:
Feelings can point us in the right direction, but they cannot sustain us.
If our faith is built on what we feel, it will rise and fall with the emotional roller coaster of this life. Eventually, that foundation simply won't hold.
So my advice is straightforward to anyone seeing these videos and feeling something inside them say, "I want that." Don't dismiss that nudge; it may very well be the knocking of God Himself on the door of your heart.
But don't be content to just pursue feelings. Open the Scriptures, read the Gospel of John, and seek truth even when it conflicts with what you've always thought.
Be less concerned with vibes, and more concerned with finding a church where the Word is taught, where the supremacy of Christ is proclaimed, and where people are actually following Him together in the ordinary, steady rhythms of life.
That's where you'll find something deeper than a viral testimony. You'll find a faith that doesn't just move you for a moment, but can actually change you from the inside out and hold you for a lifetime.
Enjoying this article? Subscribe for full access.
Subscribers see every embed, image, and video inline — plus comments and our fully-featured social platform.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
