Tag Archives: Influencer

The Influencer and The Choice

July 2, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)

The evil one took Jesus to a high mountain. It’s popular for artists to depict the evil one in all sorts of cartoonish or heinous ways, but the further I’ve gotten in my spiritual journey the more I’ve come to picture him as the Great Story describes him, the most beautiful of God’s angels appearing as an angel of light. The evil one is the greatest “influencer” that ever existed. In fact, “The Influencer” is an apt moniker for him. Beautiful, gorgeous, absolutely stunning in appearance. His is the face that immediately stops your death scrolling. His appearance, his dress, his demeanor, his crib, his ride, virtually everything about him creates instant envy. Man, if only I could be that, have that, experience what that life is like. And, it’s all curated to appeal to each of us individually just as each of us desire.

Almost all the major events of the Great Story happen on mountains…

The Story begins in the Garden which is described as a mountain.
The Law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
David established the capital on Mount Zion, and on Mount Zion Solomon built God’s Temple.
Jesus constantly went up a mountain to pray.
Jesus gave His most influential message on a mountain side.
Jesus was transfigured on a mountain.
The Great Story ends with the City of God on a mountain.

So, it’s fitting that The Influencer takes Jesus to a mountain. In an instant he shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. The wealth, the power, the opulence, the mansions, the artwork, the beautiful people, the fashion, the Oval Office, the throne, the C-Suite, the corner office, but I think there was probably also the wife, the viral Pinterest home, the perfect children, the gathering, the feast, the romantic sunsets, the peaceful retreats, the perfect family vacations, the travel, the adventures, the adrenaline pumping thrills, and of course the mind-blowing sex. It was all there, curated just as Jesus would desire it.

What I never truly noticed for the longest time is what The Influencer said next.

“I will give you all of it; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.”

Jesus always called The Influencer “The Prince of This World.” As the Great Story tells it, this world did become his dominion after the Eden debacle. And while he stands condemned, like all of us, he remains out on parole waiting final judgement. But in the meantime, the kingdoms of this world are his to do with as he pleases. And while he loves all that the kingdoms of this world have to offer, his own beauty, and The Influencer role that stops you scrolling, what he really delights in is the chaos, the addiction, the misogyny, the violence, the wars, the sickness, the pain, the cancer, the tragedy, hatred, depression, loneliness, and despair to which he wants to lead me in hopes that I will abandon the thing that he hates the most: Life, which is God’s gift.

In today’s chapter, Paul reminds Jesus’ followers that it is The Influencer, and the kingdoms of the world over which he currently has dominion along with the rulers, authorities, and powers of those kingdoms with which I struggle daily. And what is my armor in that struggle?

Truth
Righteousness
Jesus’ Message of Peace
Faith
Salvation
Spirit
Word
Prayer

Jesus declined The Influencer’s offer on that high mountain. He chose a humble life of love, service, contentment, prayer, and sacrifice. He chose to obediently give up this earthly life and suffer an earthly death He didn’t deserve so that I might have the same choice that He did on that mountain: to eschew The Influencer, the Prince of this world, refuse the kingdoms he controls, and choose the King and His eternal kingdom. All I have to do is choose to follow in Jesus footsteps, to live and obediently walk in the way of love, service, contentment, prayer, and sacrifice.

And so, I set out on this another day of my earthly journey, step-by-step, placing my feet in His footprints.

Tomorrow we begin our trek through the final of Paul’s “Prison Letters” with Philippians 1!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

Chapter-a-Day

Best of ’24: #5 A Confession

February 10, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

For two weeks, while Wendy and I are away enjoying some warm weather, I’ll be counting down the top ten chapter-a-day posts of 2024 (based on total views and plays). It’ s always interesting which posts resonated with readers and listeners. The chapter for tomorrow’s post will be listed at the bottom.

Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
Romans 9:18 (NIV)

A decade or so ago, I found myself in the check-out line in a department store feeling this quiet, internal, seething anger. The source of this anger? Chip and Joanna Gaines. They were everywhere. Wendy and every one of her friends were talking about them. People I know were making pilgrimages to Waco, Texas. Their “collections” were suddenly in every store. There in the checkout line, Joanna was staring at me from the covert of Cosmopolitan. So, what do we do when we get angry these days? We vent on social media!

“I love Chip and Joanna,” I tweeted, “but I’m tired of seeing their faces a million times a day!”

The next day my tweet received a reply from Chip Gaines, himself.

“I know,” he tweeted back, “I told Joanna the other day that even I’m tired of us!”

It wasn’t long after this that I noticed myself feeling that same quiet, internal, seething anger. This time it was an online author and “influencer” who was trending and I started hearing this person’s name come up in conversation all the time. I remember Wendy and her friends talking in our kitchen one day and everyone was talking about what this influencer recently said about this or that topic. I was suddenly filled with anger. I wanted to throw up. I had to leave the room my insides were seething so intensely.

The problem was, I knew that these angry reactions inside of me weren’t healthy. Anger like this always points to something deeper in the Spirit that is askew. I began to dig into what it was that was going on inside of my heart. The answer ended up being simple once I realized it. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I’ve had this anger, these feelings of irritation and animosity, toward certain individuals my entire life. And they were almost all individuals I didn’t know at all!

Here I was a 50-year-old man who had been a disciple of Jesus for almost 40 years and it had taken me that long to realize that I have a problem with envy. The commonality between all of the individuals who produced this latent animosity within me is that they were people who suddenly became famous and everyone was talking about them and being influenced by them. Why them? Why not me? I feel shame in confessing it because it feels so petty. It’s true, however. I have to own it. Over the past several years I’ve had to consciously deal with this very real sin to which I had been blind my entire life.

As I have processed and worked on my envy, I have run headlong into what, in human terms, is an uncomfortable reality: God’s sovereignty.

Jesus told a parable about the owner of a vineyard. Throughout the day the owner finds workers, negotiates a price for their labor for the day, and sends them to work in his vineyard. At the end of the day, the workers who worked all day find out that they’re getting paid the same as the guy who was hired for the final two hours of the day. They are pissed. The owner of the vineyard responds,

‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’
Matthew 20:13-15 (MSG)

In today’s chapter, Paul addresses the truth of God’s sovereignty. God blessed Jacob, but not his older twin brother Esau. The prodigal wastes all of his father’s money on partying and prostitutes and is given a homecoming party, while the older brother goes seemingly uncelebrated for his faithfulness and obedience. God, in His sovereign purposes, raises one person to prominence while another works in obscurity.

On one hand, I can dismiss these human inequities as simply “life isn’t fair” (and it’s not), but Paul is adding to this another layer of truth that Jesus was addressing in His parable. God is sovereign, and His knowledge and purposes are infinite, while mine are finite. This is where a disciple of Jesus finds the requirement of faith and surrender.

If God is good, and I believe He is. If God has a good purpose for me and my life, and I believe He does. Then I can rest in living the life God has generously and sovereignly purposed for me, this life I am now living, and this path I am now walking. I can also surrender any desire that my path should be like the one anyone else is walking.

In the quiet this morning, I’m thinking about our kitchen. On the counter, right next to the stove, Wendy has placed the Magnolia Cook Book in such a way that Joanna Gaines stares at me every day in my own house. It’s good. It no longer triggers me. It’s a daily reminder for me to pray for Chip and Joanna and all that God is doing in and through their lives. God has been generous to them, and they have a tremendous amount of positive impact in our world. I’m also quite certain that they face struggles and stresses because of that generosity which I wouldn’t want in a million years. In dealing with my envy problem, I’ve embraced that sometimes God’s generosity is in saving us from the things our heart’s desire, but which would lead to tragedies we could never foresee.

Tomorrow’s Chapter: Acts 19

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

Chapter-a-Day

Flyover Country

December 2, 2024 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
Mark 1:38-39 (NIV)

Other than a four year sojourn to the outskirts of Chicago for college, I have lived my entire life in Iowa. As I network for work with business people on both coasts, I find that most people a) don’t know exactly where Iowa is on the map and b) have never been here. Iowa is known as “flyover” country. Business, politics, and culture in America are driven primarily by people on the either coast. Here in Iowa It’s mostly rural farmland dotted with small towns. We’re an easy target for comedians. The only reason anyone pays attention to Iowa is our first in the nation caucuses every four years that kick of the presidential race, and every four years the important and elite talking heads on the coasts gripe in the media about us having that little sliver of the political pie.

In the 40-plus years that I’ve been studying this Great Story from Genesis to Revelation, one of the things that I find lost on most people is the giant cultural divide between the worldly powers of Jesus’ day and where Jesus chose to begin His earthly ministry. For those living in Judea, the center of everything elite and important was in Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem was New York, L.A., and Washington D.C. rolled into one. Just as people flock to those centers of business, politics, and entertainment to “make it” in the world today, so would those who wanted to “make it” in Jesus day go directly to Jerusalem. Every one who was anyone of power and prestige was in the big city.

The north shore of Galilee, on the other hand, was the “flyover” country in its day. That’s where Jesus chose to begin his ministry. When I visited the area I was amazed how remote it still feels today. To get to some of the little villages where Jesus taught we had to navigate back-country roads to places it’s obvious few people ever visit. It’s remote, isolated, and about as far away from “worldly power” as one could get.

Today our chapter-a-day journey begins a trek through the gospel of Mark, written by a man named John Mark, who has his own interesting story. Mark was a young man when his mother, Mary, became a follower of Jesus. He was among the throng of followers who are often forgotten in the shadows behind The Twelve who got most of the attention. Mark’s mother was among the women with means who financially supported Jesus’ ministry and in the events after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus’ disciples and followers met at and lived in Mary’s home. Mark is in the background of most of the events of those early years of the Jesus’ Movement. He was with Paul on the first missionary journey, spent much of his adult life living with and assisting Peter. At the end of Paul’s life, Mark is there by his side.

I felt a spiritual connection between person and place this morning as I meditated on the first chapter of Mark’s biography of Jesus. Jesus chose to center His ministry in a rural area dotted with small villages of simple people just trying to catch fish, grow crops, and survive. Jesus’ followers were, for the most part, blue-collar workers with little education and zero prominence in the world. People like Mark, who was just a kid whose mom decided to follow Jesus, and so he lived his life in the background of events that would change the world. He was a stage-hand in the drama of the Jesus Movement – listening, learning, and then sharing Jesus’ teaching. Just one of those names in the program to which no one really pays attention.

And, I think this is the point. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said that His ways are not our ways. He doesn’t do things the way Wall Street, Washington, Hollywood, or Silicon Valley believe that things should be done. God sent His Son to flyover country to simple people living in rural areas who are just trying to make a living and figure out life.

I find something endearing and profoundly significant in this, especially in a culture where popularity, fame, and influence have become the currency of power in an online world that has become an endless cacophony of voices. Jesus’ message has never broadly resonated in the power centers of this world where the kingdoms of politics, education, commerce, and even religion hold sway. I am reminded that at the very end of the Story in Revelation, those kingdoms will still be lined up against God.

And so, in the quiet this morning, I sit in flyover country. Few people can find me on a map, and most people will avoid visiting. The further I get in my life journey the more I appreciate it. Jesus taught that I should seek first the Kingdom of God. Along life’s road I discovered that the closer and more enticed I become with the Kingdoms of this world, the harder it becomes find the eternal treasures that Jesus said were most important. I think Mark understood this. What a great role model; Living life in the background listening, learning, and sharing Jesus’ teaching among simple people who are just trying make a living and figure out life.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

A Confession

July 18, 2024 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
Romans 9:18 (NIV)

“I love Chip and Joanna,” I tweeted, “but I’m tired of seeing their faces a million times a day!”

The next day my tweet received a reply from Chip Gaines, himself.

“I know,” he tweeted back, “I told Joanna the other day that even I’m tired of us!”

As I have processed and worked on my envy, I have run headlong into what, in human terms, is an uncomfortable reality: God’s sovereignty.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Going Viral

December 5, 2023 Tom Vander Well 4 Comments

All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.
Luke 4:28 (NIV)

As I was driving home from a client meeting yesterday, the song Rockstar by Nickelback came on. I’ve always liked the song. It’s incredibly catchy. The song is about our common desire to be famous and live the life of a rockstar. In the music video, everyday people on the street lip sync the lyrics along with real life rockstars and celebrities. It got me thinking about fame.

I started blogging back in 2006. It’s been a fascinating journey. The whole things has evolved a lot over the years. I’ve become a better writer, I’ve honed my blog, a few years ago I started podcasting my posts for those who prefer listening to reading. In doing so, I found out there are a number of you who prefer listening! Thank you! I once played around with “monetizing,” which is how bloggers and podcasters start to turn the writing and broadcasting into making a living. Over the almost five years since I set up “monetization” I’ve made $14.07.

It has fascinating for me as I plug along on this journey to witness those who go viral and become “influencers” on social media. If you have thousands or millions of followers, advertisers will pay you a lot of money to “influence” your followers for them. For some, it happens in almost an instant. In 2019, a study revealed that 86% of young people in America want to grow up to be social media “influencers.”

Today’s chapter recounts the beginning days of Jesus’ ministry. He established the fishing town of Capernaum as his base of operations. Capernaum was fascinating because it was culturally diverse. There were a number Jewish synagogues, but it was also a hub of Greek culture in the region. Luke records that once He started teaching and healing, Jesus went viral:

“…news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in the synagogues and everyone praised him.”

“…they were amazed at his teaching…”

“All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.”

By the end of the chapter, Luke records that crowds of people were following Jesus wherever He went.

Amidst Jesus going viral, Luke reports that Jesus went to His own hometown of Nazareth and delivered the message in the synagogue. He tells them:

“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

The days of Elijah and Elisha that Jesus referenced were a time when the Hebrew people had turned their backs on God. The two people who Jesus referenced as being cared for and healed were non-Hebrew “Gentiles.” In delivering this message, Jesus is prophetically foreshadowing what He is going to do, and what is going to happen. He is going to bring God’s message of love, salvation and forgiveness to the Gentiles (whom the Hebrew people despised and treated as dirty and inferior), and His own people will kill Him for it. Sure enough, the riot Jesus sparked led to a mob trying to throw Him off a cliff.

In the quiet this morning, I meditated on Jesus going viral. When you’re publicly healing people and casting out demons, I would imagine you draw a pretty big crowd of followers. As I contemplated the crowds and Jesus’ popularity, I was reminded of the words of John, who was a primary source witness of those heady early days in Capernaum:

…many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.”

As I observe from the outside the experiences of influencers and viral bloggers and podcasters, it’s easy to see how silly things can get. Fame can be fleeting, especially in a world of cancel culture. Crowds are fickle. Even Jesus seemed to enter this “viral” stage of His ministry knowing that the same crowds gathering for his “Miracle” tour and putting Him at the top of every “trending” category known to man, will essentially be the same crowd screaming “Crucify Him” in a few years.

It’s fascinating that today’s chapter about Jesus going viral begins with the Evil One taking Jesus to a high place and showing him “in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus passed on the opportunity. I will follow.

My mousepad is Van Gogh’s “the sower.” Each morning, as I write these posts and record my podcast, it metaphorically reminds me of my compulsion to continue this chapter-a-day journey. Each post, every podcast, is a seed that I cast out there praying that it will land, take root, and bear fruit wherever God intends. That yield, whatever it might be, is priceless. It’s certainly worth more than $14.07.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.