In recent months, an influencer rose from the chaos of the pandemic, and he is none other than controversial Andrew Tate. For those who may not know, Andrew Tate is a former kickboxing champion and rose to fame by producing videos and live streams alongside his brother, Tristan Tate. His videos gained popularity due to the motivational messages they brought, along with many controversial statements which had led him to be banned on multiple social media platforms such as Instagram and Youtube. The Tate brothers are now in jail for alleged human trafficking, but my focus for this article is not on the offences that the brothers have committed nor the controversial statements, but rather, his motivational statements that have led many men to fall for his massive scam.
Andrew Tate's main message basically centres around working hard and getting rich, and he sells his programme to people, claiming that if they join his programme, they will learn how to be rich and live out his lavish lifestyle, which he frequently flaunts. He is essentially one of those gurus who say that they can teach you how to make money fast but actually don’t, and he adds in a mix of controversial and motivational statements to gain massive popularity. That being said, working hard and gaining wealth as a result of that is not inherently wrong. The Bible does tell us to work hard, and laziness is harshly condemned (Proverbs 6:6), but it is Tate’s end goal, the lifestyle that he preaches, that is wrong. He constantly flaunts his lifestyle as the ideal that everyone should live, especially men, and he suggests that to be anything less is just someone who will always be unhappy. However, his immense riches were built on dishonest methods of income, and this is what is becoming very dangerous in today’s world, especially for young men.
Working hard is a virtue, but we must not work hard and sin in order to attain riches, because ultimately these riches do not matter. The parable of the rich fool in Luke 12:13-21 captures this perfectly. The rich fool thought that he would still have many days ahead of him, and kept focusing on how to store and grow his immense wealth, completely forgetting about God. When Jesus comes again, our earthly riches will not carry over to heaven, and everything that we have accomplished on Earth would amount to nothing. This is why laying up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20) is so much more important. If riches on Earth amount to nothing in heaven, what more committing sin to earn those riches! It is simply not worth casting away one’s soul in exchange for money and power (Matthew 16:26). This is why Andrew Tate is truly dangerous, as he leads so many vulnerable young men down the same path of destruction, chasing fleeting worldly riches. The worst part is, most of these men that follow Tate do not even become rich in the end, and so they would have discarded their soul, for absolutely nothing in return.
Now, Tate’s message on hard work is still pretty good, but we as Christians should not be working hard to chase worldly things and forsake God. Instead, we work hard by doing everything as to the Lord (Colossians 3:23) and the riches that come along are blessings from God, and with those blessings we should give back to the church and those in need. Do not chase after fleeting worldly things, but instead always remind ourselves that God should be the utmost priority in our lives, because at the very end, He is all that matters.