Three people jump and celebrate on a beach at sunset, with an orange sky and the sun near the horizon. The text reads: "IS IT JUST HYPE? BY DAVID COLLUM.

Is it Just Hype?

/in /by

HYPE – extravagant or intensive publicity or promotion. I get tired of it. I become skeptical. When I feel like a person is pushing a point too much, too “over the top”, it drives me away from something I once loved.   

I find myself asking, “Is what I am being told real, or just some hype?”  Has something really changed, or is this just an attempt to draw me in deeper? 

How about you? With all the fake news, do you feel surrounded by HYPE? Does it lead to skepticism or even numbness to really hear? 

I ask because I believe I am staring at something that is different – something that says, “there is a true, real, global change happening”.  

Inside me, a part of me, the natural skeptic, is saying, “David you sound like one of the people who is always going on about a subject; you are bordering on being that person who is creating “hype”. 

To check myself, I go to the data (and yes, I know the phrase “figures don’t lie, but liars’ figure”). 

For those who do not want to look at some numbers, here is my summary statement: 

More people than ever are searching for God – so many more that we ought to sit up, take notice, and pray, “Lord, what is going on, and what do you want me to do?” 

“More people than ever…” – I am not kidding – here is the data. 

July 15 to October 15, 2025, 215 million people saw on their smart devices The Pocket Testament League advertisement to download the Gospel of John – in every country of the world except North Korea. 

That means 215 million people typed into their smart phone, or computer a question about God, Jesus, or Hope – 2.4 million every day – 27 people every second. 

Here is what they saw and clicked on. 

A promotional graphic for The Pocket Testament League shows a phone displaying text, lists 12 languages for ads, features headlines in English and Arabic, and highlights key ad copy promoting the Gospel of John.

Here is how this works. We have advertisements in 12 different languages, and Google, through its analytics, will prominently present our Ad when the words and phrases a person types align with the words in those Ads. 

Words such as hope, joy, and love—and name of Jesus. 

Those words are being typed into search engines at crazy rates – 27 people every second. 

Those numbers represent the people who saw our Ad—and we are not one of the big guys. My point is that the number of people searching is larger: much larger. 

What that tells me is: the world is searching for hope, for love, for truth—for Jesus. 

I often imagine if I were in a park, and in a distance, I could see and hear one person crying out, looking for God, I would go to them and offer help. I would sit with them, pray with them and I would offer a Gospel of John. 

When I connect the image of “the park” to what we are seeing digitally, the image changes to something more like a huge stadium, full of people, frantically looking for God. 

The verse that springs to my mind is 2 Corinthians 6:1-2: 

“Now is the time, as God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”” 

So yes, perhaps I sound like I’m creating hype. But when you see 27 people every second typing “Jesus” into a search engine, it’s not hype, it’s a call. What will we do with it?