The claim behind crystals, sage, manifesting and the “spiritual but not religious” path is that spiritual power is available on your own terms. A stone holds and directs energy. Smoke clears a room or a body. A vision board draws a chosen life closer. God, or a higher power, can be had without the church that disappointed you.
The claim fails. But the reason it fails is more useful than simply calling it fake. It rests on a premise many disappointed churchgoers accepted long before they ever bought a crystal: that spiritual power is a resource you reach by doing the right thing, on a timeline you can feel.
That premise is false. And if it is false, the crystal fails for the same reason the old bargain with God seemed to fail: the bargain was never on offer. Christ is not a stronger version of the resource the crystal promises, because he is not a resource at all. Arguing about whether a stone has secret properties while leaving that premise in place only clears the ground for the next substitute.