This morning as I was doing a quick check of my LinkedIn profile, I noticed this surprising headline: Amazon cutting 14K corporate jobs. The main reason given for these cuts is that Amazon, following a trend that’s come like a tidal wave to the world, wants to replace people with lower cost AI alternatives. I noticed comments on the LinkedIn article from people who are being affected by the layoffs, including one I saw in which a woman (somewhat ironically one with the last name “Suffrin”) lamented that “While I saw the possibility coming with all the changes surrounding AI and the push for self-service, it still stings. Amazon was my first job out of college…”
Amazon’s Termination Email
The message to those Amazon employees reportedly included this messaging from Beth Galetti, SVP, People Experience & Technology:
I have some important, but difficult, news to share with you. After a thorough review of our organization, our priorities, and what we need to focus on going forward, we’ve made the hard business decision to eliminate some roles across Amazon. Unfortunately, your role is being eliminated and your employment will end after a non-working period.
We didn’t make these decisions lightly, and we’re committed to supporting you throughout this transition, which will include a non-working period with full pay and benefits (as applicable), an offer of a severance package, transitional benefits as applicable by country, and access to several skills trainings as well as external job placement support.
You likely have questions, and we’re here to answer them. You’ll soon receive a Chime meeting invitation for a conversation with a leader and/or HR representative from your team to discuss the specifics of your transition and how we can support you. While this meeting is optional, we encourage you to attend virtually as it provides an opportunity to address your individual questions. Your badge access has been restricted, so if you’re currently in an Amazon office, Security can assist you with exiting the building. Beyond this conversation, you can also review additional information and FAQs in MyHR at any time.
As of now, you are no longer required to perform work on Amazon’s behalf, and will receive your full pay and benefits (as applicable) for the next 90 days. During this transition period, you’ll continue to have access to internal email, Chime, and A to Z on your personal device, and our primary mode of communication with you will be through email.
As I thought about Amazon’s move to cut back their corporate workforce by a significant 4%, it felt like a good chance to dig into the deeper purpose for which Amazon exists in the first place. These layoffs seem consistent with what Amazon and those who have made it into the beast that it is have in store for American society.
As a Christian, one who is confident that the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ is likely going to happen within the next decade, I can’t help but view moves like Amazon’s layoffs like I’m watching a boa constrictor, loosening and tightening upon its prey until the game is over. Economically, Amazon is clearly a significant element of the anti-Christ beast system that is becoming more powerful by the minute. I’ll explain why and how I believe that is.
Taking the Kingdom of God
The misfortune that thousands of people are now experiencing of having depended upon Amazon for their livelihood and economic sustenance reminds me of an explanation given recently by Ben McClintock of Tree of Liberty Society of what it means to set up and promote the kingdom of God in this world.
He teaches that in order to ultimately have the kingdom of God in this earth, we must act like we are under that kingdom, and stop giving validation to the kingdoms of the devil (including governments that don’t respect the inalienable rights of humans) that are so prevalent today.
While the video cannot be embedded here, it can be seen by following this link to the “Taking the Kingdom of God” page of Ben’s Tree of Liberty Society website.
Small Businesses Competing With Amazon
When my wife and I first started building ecommerce stores in 2003, Amazon wasn’t much of a hindrance to us. We relied mostly upon organic (meaning based upon rankings and not paid ads) traffic from Google to sell our products. Over the past 20 years, it has become increasingly more difficult for small businesses like ours to compete with the likes of Amazon, which dominates search results in Google. Even more challenging for online merchants who want to be found by customers is the notion that in today’s environment, more people use Amazon to search for something to buy than use Google to find what they want. One recent estimate of shopping behavior put Amazon in the lead with 49% of all shopping searches, with Google only being responsible for 36% of product searches.
Why does this data matter? Amazon has clearly become the shopping center for the United States and much of the rest of the world. As much as people want to credit Jeff Bezos and his focus on making his customers happy for Amazon’s explosive growth and dominance, for small businesses who have tried to compete with Amazon over the past 30 years and have failed despite their best efforts, there’s clearly something more to it. Something that feels at least unfair, if not sinister.
Where Did Amazon Get Its Advantage?
I remember a situation where I purchased just two toothbrushes from Amazon more than 10 years ago. The total cost was less than $5. I wondered how in the world they could profit off an order like that, and I was later surprised that the toothbrushes came separately, shipped in boxes that were large enough to hold 50 toothbrushes in each one.
Later, when my wife and I began selling home decor items on Amazon, we were blown away with how cheap the shipping costs (which Amazon deducted from our seller account) were to send in products to the Amazon FBA warehouses. Amazon’s cost for shipping through UPS was nearly 1/3 of the normal retail price we paid.
It became clear that as an online retailer, Amazon played by a very different set of rules than the rest of us. For the past several decades, Amazon has become the designated extinguisher of small businesses. While it’s true that there have been many businesses opportunities created by Amazon, the clearer conclusion is that Amazon has become a vortex for small businesses, who first try to compete, then try to partner, and ultimately end up simply becoming part of the Amazon machine.
Being Painted Into a Corner
When I was choosing a career, I wanted something that would give me freedom and flexibility. While I did mix in several stints at startups, small businesses, and even a large corporation (the LDS Church, where I spent two and a half years doing marketing from 2009 to 2012), I have always been drawn to the opportunity to work independently as a business owner for several reasons. One of those reasons is that I’ve always been determined to maintain my sovereignty as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I didn’t want my thoughts or actions influenced by the values of a secular institution. Those who are beholden to a company that celebrates Pride Month for a paycheck find it difficult to stand up and condemn homosexuality and other immoral conduct that’s now commonly sanctioned publicly. I’ve known people who work in those environment and feel like they’ll be cancelled if they don’t just go along with the narratives of the day. I’ve intentionally avoided scenarios where my employment status could interfere with my religious convictions.
I remember telling my wife nearly 20 years ago that, economically in addition to other ways, it feels like true disciples of Christ are being painted into a corner by society. Many of the mechanisms for providing for a righteous family have been largely removed, seemingly intentionally, from the larger economic landscape. Now, the world is experiencing an environment where it’s nearly impossible (or at least it has been made very undesirable) to start a family because of how difficult the economic environment is. It feels as if our independence is steadily diminishing as we experience the efforts of elitists who want us to be “happy” (whatever that means) while owning nothing.
In just the past few years we’ve witnessed the loss of even the basic freedom to refuse having a deadly experiment injected into people’s bodies in order to continue to have basic opportunities like providing for a family by keeping a job. Now we’re all being warmed up to the idea that social credit scores and other ways to micromanage our consciences are necessary for the protection of society generally.
The news of this major layoff from Amazon feels like it falls right in line with that initiative. That corporation seems to have played the role of a honeypot for businesses, employees, and others whose utility has been spent, and who are now wondering where to go next.
Biggest Irony in the Amazon Layoffs: Subsidizing the Replacements
One of the most ironic details about the Amazon layoffs announced today is that those who will now have to scrap for new jobs in an economy where finding something else to replace what they had is nearly impossible will no longer have a salary from Amazon. That salary would be especially useful for them to help offset the costs in taxes, higher utilities, etc. that are being given to companies like Amazon to build and operate the very data centers that house the AI tools that have been assembled to replace those workers.
Business Insider’s Exposing the Dark Side of America’s AI Data Center Explosion documentary, published in September, 2025, gives all the juicy details about who pays for the mysterious data centers that are being used to replace humans with AI tools.
Exercising Faith When Things Look Bleak
I feel empathy for the Amazon workers who just got the announcement that they’d be out of work. If there ever was a good time to be let go from a job, this wouldn’t be it. The economy is as bad as anyone can remember, including out of control inflation. Two-thirds of American households claim that they are living paycheck to paycheck.
As a husband who has a wife and nine kids who I’m responsible to provide for, I empathize with those who were laid off today. If it had happened to me, I’d take the news as a chance to evaluate my financial situation and ensure that I’m doing the best I can to provide for myself and my family.
Stepping back from this specific announcement and seeing what’s happening in the world, it feels like all of us are going to be called upon (if we haven’t been already) to separate ourselves from the overwhelming system that is designed to enforce evil values upon us by those whose reign we expect to end with the coming of Jesus Christ. In the meantime, we may have to get creative about how to provide for our households, likely cutting out things that don’t benefit us spiritually. We may have to spend time working much harder than we have in the past, while still ensuring that we spend the time required to protect our families.
Jacob’s advice in 2 Nephi 9:51 seems appropriate here:
Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.
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