Theologian Owen Strachan said during a segment on American Family Radio (AFR)’s “Jenna Ellis in the Morning” program that our hyper-connected society is breeding a quiet epidemic of anxiety and instability.
“We're in an unstable age, instability being a close cousin to anxiety. We're in an age when things shift very rapidly,” Strachan says. “I just realized that I'm living in this culture and breathing its crazy air. Everyone else is as well.”
Strachan, author of A Call to Cultivate, pointed to Jeremiah chapter 29, where God told the ancient exiles in Babylon not to revolt or run away, but to build homes and plant gardens.
He said that Christians today must swap a digital “consumption mindset” for a steady, grounded “cultivation mindset.”
“We tend to overestimate the reach of our online presence. We tend to underestimate how important actual human presence and human connection is to the people face to face with us around us,” Strachan says.
Strachan warned that the constant drumbeat of digital activism can grind the soul to dust. Instead, he reminded believers that a faithful, quiet life of serving your local church, loving your family and walking with God is deeply meaningful — and deeply blessed.
AFN has reported previously on the connection between Christians and technology.
Ellis called it a “spiritual crisis” that Christian youth are being shaped by algorithms — TikTok, Instagram and YouTube — instead of pastors, doctrine or real accountability.
“Influencers rise to the top because they’re charismatic, provocative, and emotionally compelling. None of those traits qualify someone to teach the Word of God. Yet many Christians trust online personalities more than the pastors who actually shepherd their souls,” Ellis said.
Meanwhile, Bob Magginis warned Christians about reliance on AI chatbots, advising them not to use depend on it as a virtual Jesus, Bible study guide or a history text. He noted on The Washington Stand that a pastor asked a chatbot about church history and biblical doctrine. However, the verse citations the bot gave did not support the AI’s claim, even though its argument was “articulate” and “persuasive.”
