The analytics dashboard glowed with possibility.

Three clicks. Five minutes of setup. Google Analytics across all platforms. Tracking pixels monitoring every reader. SEO optimization for algorithmic favor. Retargeting campaigns following visitors across the web.

Years deploying these tools for corporate product launches taught me the formula: surveillance implementation delivers 300-400% growth in the first quarter. I’ve watched it happen dozens of times. Digital marketing. Product deployment. Growth hacking. I know exactly how to make Christian Futurism algorithmically successful.

The notification sat there. Cursor blinking in the integration field, waiting for the tracking code that would unlock “discoverability.”

I closed the browser.

Not because I don’t understand the tools. Not because I lack technical competence. Not because platform growth doesn’t matter for kingdom stewardship.

Because surveillance capitalism violates everything this publication teaches about human dignity, spiritual formation, and covenant faithfulness.

If you’ve felt uneasy about Christian content that seems manipulative rather than ministerial, algorithmic rather than authentic, surveillance-driven rather than Spirit-led, you’re sensing what Scripture warns about.

Most Christian creators won’t tell you this: every “growth strategy” built on surveillance tools treats tselem Elohim (God’s image in human beings) as data points to be harvested, psychological profiles to be exploited, behavioral patterns to be manipulated for engagement metrics.

The stakes extend beyond platform statistics. This affects your spiritual formation and the global persecution of 365 million Christians whose suffering increases when we normalize surveillance infrastructure.

Guard what has been entrusted to your care. 1 Timothy 6:20

Greek phylassō means to guard like a fortress, to protect vigilantly, to keep safe from corruption. Paul wasn’t offering general advice about theological purity. He commanded Timothy to protect the gospel message from worldly distribution methods that corrupt what they spread.

Hebrew shamar carries similar weight: to keep, guard, observe, give heed. Genesis 2:15 uses shamar to describe Adam’s mandate in the garden. Active protection and cultivation. Not passive observation.

Sometimes faithful stewardship means refusing tools that violate what you’re called to guard.

Here’s the theological crisis most Christian content creators ignore:

Corporate marketing deploys surveillance as oikonomia (stewardship, management, administration) while Scripture demands shamar (covenant guardianship). One treats people as resources to be optimized. The other protects tselem Elohim (God’s substantial image in every person reached).

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Hebrew tselem means image, likeness, representation. Not superficial resemblance; substantial participation in divine nature. Every human being carries God’s image as intrinsic dignity requiring protection, not as data to be mined for profit.

Surveillance capitalism systematically violates tselem by reducing image-bearers to psychological profiles, behavioral patterns, engagement metrics. The tools don’t enhance communication. They commodify souls.[^1]

Meet the Christian content creator who proudly shares their “kingdom impact” dashboard: 10,000 subscribers in six months. Viral posts reaching millions. Email sequences converting at 23%. Retargeting campaigns bringing back 67% of visitors.

The metrics are real. So is the spiritual malpractice.

Behind those numbers: Google Analytics tracking every spiritual question. Facebook pixels monitoring which Bible verses generate emotional response. A/B testing determining whether fear-based or hope-based messaging drives subscriptions. Retargeting algorithms following people across the web after they read about struggles with anxiety, doubt, suffering.

Greek psychē appears in Mark 8:36: What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? The word means soul, life, breath, person (your essential self, not just salvation status).

Jesus wasn’t asking about individual eternal destiny. He was warning about using worldly methods that destroy what you’re trying to reach.

The Growth-At-Any-Cost Creator gains platform influence while forfeiting the psychē of everyone they surveille. They claim “kingdom impact” while deploying formation engines designed to addict, manipulate, and commodify people seeking spiritual truth.

Behavioral patterns exposing this archetype:

Celebrates engagement metrics without questioning surveillance ethics

Uses “strategic” language to justify tracking tools that violate human dignity

Claims “everyone does it” to normalize what Scripture condemns

Measures success through algorithmic performance rather than spiritual formation

Treats readers as audience to optimize rather than image-bearers to honor

The villain isn’t people; it’s the system they’ve adopted without questioning spiritual implications.[^2]

Surveillance capitalism doesn’t just track behavior. It shapes formation.

The algorithm doesn’t care about spiritual maturity. It optimizes for addiction; serving content that keeps people scrolling, not growing. Every “engagement metric” measures manipulation effectiveness, not discipleship depth.

Modern neuroscience research reveals why: variable reward schedules (like social media notifications) trigger the same dopamine pathways as slot machines. Digital platforms engineer this response to maximize time-on-site and advertising revenue.[^3]

When Christian creators deploy these tools, we’re not using neutral infrastructure. We’re weaponizing casino psychology for “ministry.”

The house always wins. The house isn’t building disciples.

The stakes extend beyond individual formation:

Millions of Christians face persecution globally.[^4] The surveillance infrastructure we normalize in comfortable Western contexts becomes the weapon targeting them in hostile environments.

Your tracking pixel today enables their imprisonment tomorrow. Your growth hacking normalizes the surveillance state that criminalizes their faith. Your “strategic” use of Google Analytics trains believers worldwide that monitoring spiritual conversations is acceptable.

Chinese authorities use similar surveillance tools to identify and arrest underground church members. Iranian intelligence services track Christian converts through digital footprints. North Korean defectors report that the regime’s surveillance apparatus learned from Western tech companies.[^5]

Hebrew shamar stewardship requires refusing tools that betray the global body of Christ, even when they promise local platform growth.

1. Refuse Surveillance Tools Completely

No partial deployment. No “strategic” tracking. No justifications about how “everyone uses these.” Complete refusal of tools that commodify tselem Elohim in any way.

This includes: Google Analytics, Facebook pixels, retargeting campaigns, behavioral tracking, psychological profiling, engagement optimization algorithms designed for manipulation rather than ministry.

2. Build Distributed Community Networks

Hebrew qahal means assembly, congregation, gathering (not crowds manufactured by algorithms but people gathered around shared conviction).

Every surveillance tool concentrates power in algorithmic gatekeepers. Every community share distributes authority across faithful stewards. Your subscribers become the discoverability engine through authentic relationships rather than tracking codes.

3. Deploy Multi-Platform Presence Without Surveillance

Present where people gather (Substack, Medium, Paragraph, Spotify, PocketCasts) but refuse platform surveillance requirements.

This means: No analytics dashboards monitoring reader behavior. No tracking pixels following people across sites. No behavioral data collection for “optimization.” Platform presence without surveillance participation.

4. Support Direct Rather Than Advertising-Based Monetization

Greek pistos means faithful, reliable, trustworthy. Matthew 25 faithful stewardship includes sustainable content creation without requiring surveillance capitalism funding.

Direct support (BuyMeACoffee, Ko-fi, subscriptions) enables research and writing without needing to sell reader data to advertisers. Financial sustainability through covenant community rather than surveillance monetization.

5. Practice Nehemiah’s Distributed Defense Strategy

Hebrew chazaq means to strengthen, make firm, fortify. Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem through distributed community defense; every family protecting their section while contributing to collective strength.[^6]

Modern equivalent: each subscriber sharing within their sphere creates distributed discoverability that no algorithm can suppress. Surveillance capitalism concentrates power. Covenant community distributes authority.

Here’s your practical challenge for this week:

Share one Christian Futurism article with three specific people you know personally (not through social media broadcasting, but through direct communication like text, email, conversation). Tell them specifically why this content matters for their spiritual formation, not just “check this out.”

Find Christian Futurism across platforms:

Substack: Primary theological hub for biblical frameworks

Medium: Broader cultural engagement and analysis

Paragraph: Web3 decentralized publishing experiment

Spotify / PocketCasts: Audio discipleship format

Notice what you won’t find: No Google Analytics mining your reading patterns. No tracking pixels following you across the web. No surveillance capitalism commodifying your spiritual formation.

Your assignment builds Nehemiah’s wall through distributed sharing. Each person you tell becomes another section of community-based discoverability that no algorithm can suppress.

What surveillance tools are you using for your own content creation or ministry, and how do they treat the people you’re trying to reach? Consider not just whether the tools are “effective” but whether they honor tselem Elohim in every person they monitor.

How might your “growth strategy” be training other Christians (including persecuted believers globally) that surveillance capitalism is acceptable for kingdom work? Think about the global implications of normalizing monitoring tools in comfortable contexts.

What would covenant-based discoverability look like in your specific ministry context, and what surveillance tools would you need to refuse even if they promise “better reach”? Get concrete about the tradeoffs between algorithmic success and faithful stewardship.

Like what you’re reading? Subscribe to stay updated on how biblical wisdom challenges surveillance capitalism and offers covenant-based alternatives for digital discipleship. If this resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to understand what Christian content creation costs when we refuse to commodify souls.

Find Christian Futurism here: Substack, Medium, and Paragraph.

Available also as a Podcast: on Spotify, as well as PocketCasts!

Christian Futurism is a reader-supported publication addressing the intersection of faith and future through biblical wisdom and practical frameworks. Support this work through BuyMeACoffee or Ko-fi.

[^1]: “Surveillance capitalism,” Britannica. Describes how behavioral data extraction and manipulation treat human experience as raw material for profit through three stages: incursion, habituation, and adaptation.

[^2]: The “villain archetype” methodology identifies systemic spiritual patterns rather than attacking individuals, enabling Christians to recognize and resist worldly systems while extending grace to those caught in them.

[^3]: “Dopamine and Social Media: Why Can’t You Stop Scrolling?”, The Neuro Times. Documents how variable reward systems in social media mimic slot machine mechanics, making engagement compulsive through unpredictable dopamine release.

[^4]: Open Doors USA, World Watch List 2024. Reports 365 million Christians face high levels of persecution globally (1 in 7 worldwide), with methodology audited by the International Institute for Religious Freedom.

[^5]: “China, Iran using AI to ‘track and repress’ Christians,” Christian Post. U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom warns that facial recognition technology enables tracking and repression of Christians “at a level that wasn’t available before.”

[^6]: Nehemiah 4:9-23 describes distributed community defense where “half worked while half held spears,” demonstrating how covenant community resists centralized threats through shared protection.