TikTok Influencer: ‘I used to cry because I was depressed. Now I cry because I know the love of Jesus’

I’ve always been a content creator and I’ve always loved telling stories. The first time I went viral it was accidental. But over time I grew a more engaged audience on TikTok.

I learned to monetise content creation through brand deals and, in two years, I went from having nothing to having everything and flying around the world with Red Bull. 

I came from a background where you’d have to steal food just to have breakfast. I’d been homeless and sofa surfing aged 19 and yet now I was enjoying huge success. I moved into a penthouse in the tallest building in Ireland and it felt like a huge achievement. 

Mr Popular

I used to be very unpopular in school and was bullied quite a lot. I didn’t have a lot of friends. But very quickly I was in a position where everyone wanted to get to know me. 

I started to experience this micro-celebrity status in Belfast. I’d be in a club on a Saturday night and hundreds of people would be asking me for photos. 

When you start being Mr Popular, it rewires your brain and changes how you perceive people. It all becomes very vapid; everything is based on status. A lot of that was very selfish. The fame, attention and money went straight to my head. I thought I was sound-minded but it just goes to show, you can’t trust your flesh. Ultimately that sinful nature takes us down [a dangerous] path. 

Invited to church 

I was living in a penthouse, but I’d be crying in bed, thinking: What is the meaning of all this? What is all this attention for? I’m not doing anything good with it. 

I was into new age spirituality and concepts such as ‘give all things to the universe’, and ‘thoughts become things’. This is very popular in my age group. People want to give themselves to a higher power. Around this time, a girl entered my life and she invited me to church. 

I’d always said I was Catholic, but I never practised it. That’s common in Northern Ireland, where labels of Catholic and Protestant are more about whether you identify as Irish or British. Your religion is mixed with your nationality and that was true of me, too. 

The church she invited me to was in a Protestant area, the Shankill Road, so a lot of my friends wouldn’t come even though it was just a quiz and curry night. I went to that, then I went to the church the next weekend. I was hungover and had only had three hours sleep, but I went in and it was so different to the Mass I had been used to. 

I kept going back. Every week I would cry my eyes out. I wondered: What is going on inside of me? Something in my heart was changing. 

I want to use my platform to let people know that life is so much sweeter when you have Jesus

The moment I was saved, it was all unlocked – the love, joy and peace that I needed to help me get through the day. It was all just immediately there.

I discovered that when you accept Jesus into your heart, he changes your desires. You naturally begin to love what he loves and hate what he hates. It’s not something you get from following a book or believing in a religion. It’s about having that relationship.

I stopped going to the clubs the moment I got saved. I gave up thousands of pounds from club nights and deals with alcohol brands – not because it says so in the Bible, but because I knew in my heart I had to give it up.

I didn’t think I could give up alcohol, but from the moment I was saved, I haven’t had a drink. 

Online evangelist

I’ve been given such an amazing gift – the gift of salvation – and it’d be so selfish for me to hold that to myself when I know there are so many people struggling out there. It really hurts my heart to see people suffering through the same sort of hardship that I experienced. I know the truth, which is that Jesus is “the way…the truth and the life” (John 14:6) and, through him, you can do all things.

I want to use my platform to reach people and let them know that life is so much sweeter when you have Jesus. 

I try to be vulnerable and honest online. Sometimes I’ll make a video about how I used to cry because I was depressed, and now I cry because I know the love of Jesus and what he saved me from.

I also remind people that I’m still a human being; I’m not going to go off and become a monk. It’s about showing that we’re real people. 

My social media platform was built off the party scene. Now it’s completely switched. Understandably, there’s been a lot of hate. I have a public profile and if I post something, people have a right to an opinion. But I want to show them, through my walk, that this is a much more positive way of life. I’ll keep making content because God’s desire to see his children saved is more powerful than my fear of receiving hate.  

Ged Armstrong was speaking to Donna Birrell. Listen to the full interview here 

Follow Ged on TikTok at tiktok.com/@ged.jpeg