Every time I see a pastor wearing sneakers that cost more than my rent I lose a year off my life. Every time I hear someone call church a brand I gain it back just so I can die again. At some point salvation stopped being spiritual and started being a business model. And the people running it are selling eternity like it is a skin care subscription.
I grew up with church. Not the cathedral kind. The folding chairs in a strip mall kind. The kind where someone’s uncle is screaming about fire while the other uncle plays electric guitar like he is fighting demons one solo at a time. But even then it felt real. Messy and loud but real. What I see now is marketing disguised as ministry. It is stage lighting and influencer quotes and Bible verses prepackaged like protein powder.
Televangelists and megachurches took the idea of faith and turned it into a funnel. One hand up in praise, the other out for donations. Give ten dollars and God will bless you. Buy this DVD set and unlock your purpose. Join our coaching group and get spiritual clarity. They say it is about faith but you never get to heaven unless your routing number is attached.
Joel Osteen smiles like a man who has never read the Book of Job. He sells comfort with zero accountability. His sermons are TED Talks dipped in Bible glaze. Everything is fine. God wants you rich. Just think positive and tithe harder. But that is not theology. That is branding.
It gets worse with the aesthetics. Church Instagram pages look like Coachella lineups. Fog machines, skinny jeans, LED panels the size of my depression. Everything designed to make you feel like you are not holy unless you are photogenic. It is not about spirit. It is about spectacle.
And somewhere in all that glitter is the lie. That God can be accessed like a product. That salvation is something you buy into like crypto. That if you just believe hard enough or swipe your card at the right time you will get peace. But peace does not come with a promo code. Redemption does not have a sales funnel.
This is not a rant against faith. It is a scream against the people who use it like a tool. Who package it like essential oils and sell it to desperate people who just want something real. And that makes me furious. Because people are out here trying to survive and instead of finding community they are finding performance. They are finding false prophets with million dollar smiles and empty messages.
You should not have to sign up for a newsletter to feel saved. You should not need a podcast and a thirty minute video course on divine purpose. You should not need merch to prove you believe. And you should never be told that your suffering is because you are not giving enough.
Faith should never be transactional. If it is, then what you are buying is not holy. It is hollow.