"This Material For Sale" Say What??

O.K. folks, help me out. I've got something that's been bothering me lately, and I need some other perspectives on it. We all know about the "prosperity gospel" folks, and how they dig and scrape and beg for money. How they pervert God's Word shamelessly to take money from poor Grandmothers who don't know any better. I don't want to talk about them in this post; I want to talk about the "good guys", the true teachers and preachers, and something that many of them do.
I'm not going to name any names - at least not right now - that's not the point right now. But here's the problem. I know someone who is tangled up in a false teaching cult. We've discussed doctrine for years. When we'd come to a particular doctrine that we'd be looking at, he'd just go on the internet, and in a few days you'd have to take a shovel to find his mail box. Tracts. Books. Tapes. Study papers. All rushed to him at no charge. Not even postage. When I'd suggest that we get another perspective from someone that I knew to be trust worthy, we'd go on the internet to some of my favorite ministries web sites, and there would be tons of good material available. For $19.95. $29.95. $75.99.
My friend always took this to be a sign that my guys were a "money racket". He'd lecture me that "the truth is not for sale". And, "if these people were for real and had the truth, they'd want to get it out weither they got any money or not". What should I have answered? Do you think he ever bought anything from these sites? Not on your life.
He looks at it this way. If God called a person to the ministry, He will provide everything that's needed for that ministry to be successful in it. If you have to charge for material to keep your ministry going, it's you that's keeping it going; not God.
I have to say that I can't disagree with him there. So why does godly ministries charge for their material? Why should we think that a lost person is going to stumble across a website with good material on it and say, "hey, I think I'll drop a few twenties on this material".
One place in particular that I think highly of is bad at this. It's an apologetic, cult watching type ministry. It's a good ministry. They did an interveiw with one of the leaders of the particular cult my friend is in. I thought, "this should be good". So I checked. You could buy a copy of the video for around $50. The audio tape was around $20. I thought, "O.K., they have transcripts, I'll just read it first to see if the interveiw is relevant to anything we've talked about". Guess what? The transcript is for sale for $10! I don't get it. The people in that particular cult are the ones most in need of this material, but their used to getting all their stuff free. There's no way any of them are going to plunk down a red cent for it.
What are we, and I'm talking about true Christian ministries as a whole, doing? Do we really think that God sent us out to teach a lost and dying world about Him, but we've got to charge for our good stuff, or we'll go broke???
I sent e-mails to a couple of places about this. I was nice, non-accusatory, with no flame throwing, but at the same time 'to the point'. I asked them if they could give me their perspective on the subject and maybe point me to something I'd missed. I never got a response from any of them and it's been months.
So, what do any of you think?
Jim

 

This particular bunch I'm referring to does let you know that "offerings" make it possible for them to give the stuff away. They don't put on any pressure. Even though it's a cult, I think they have the right perspective. I just wish some of God's true ministries had as much faith in the Lord as this bunch claims to have.
I think John MacArthur does a good job. If you're on his mailing list, when he puts out something new he just sends a card explaining what it is. You can order a copy or not, it's up to you. If you do, you can make a donation or not, it's up to you. I think that's the way it should be.
Jim

 

Hey folks. Thanks for the replies.
Let me do a little clarification; I know that someone who has dedicated their life to the ministry has a right to make a living from it. "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the grain". Paul said something to the effect that if the people he had taught had "reaped spiritual things from him, didn't he have the right to reap material things from them"? The answer implied was "yes".
I think it was Mark who wrote in a post that he wouldn't want to get everything free. Neither would I. The point I was trying to make was, what happens when the unsaved are deterred from acquiring this material that they need because it has a $ beside it? If just one person goes to hell because there was a $ beside something that could have made a difference, I think it's too high a price to pay.
Gina wrote that ministries have to be paid for, and money just don't fall out of the sky. I agree to a point, Gina, but then again, if God gives a ministry a job to do, there's just no way He will fail to supply what is needed to see it through. I think it boils down to this - is the ministry going to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, and trust the H.S. to work on the hearts of the members of God's family, or are they going to take matters into their own hands.
Let me give you all an exercise to try. But only if you are grounded in true doctrine and have a good understanding of scripture. Send your name and address to 3 or 4 cults or sects with false teaching and see what happens over the next 3 or 4 months. I think you'll be shocked at the dispairity between Baptist and false teachers. They are kicking our tails day in and day out. They are out-working us. I read something not too long ago that Southern Baptists have the highest percentage of defections to cults of any denomination. This is part of the reason. Also, when you get this material from the cults, it's heavy on doctrinal teaching. Most of our stuff is inspirational. (Our free stuff, that is.) Nothing wrong with inspirational teaching, but the foundations should come first.
Titus wrote that he looked forward to the day when all material said "$ up to you". Me too. I think this is the right approach. But that puts the burden to finance these good ministries squarely on our shoulders. We can't duck our responsibilities.
Jim1999 wrote that one thing that drove him crazy was when a ministry came across with the "if you don't send in money we'll be off the air and it will be your fault and people will go to hell" approach. Amen, Jim. My own reply to these type messages is, "if God allows you to go off the air, then go, Brother!"
Jim

 

Hi Titus 2-1. I have the same opinion about the 1Cor.9 passage that you do. Paul specifically made the point that he didn't exercise his right so as not to hinder the gospel. I think this should be the attitude of all ministries.

I think we as Christians have work to do in this area.

Hey, you play guitar? You must be an alright kind of guy! I do to. (Well, I try, let me put it that way.) What kind do you have? Who's your favorite instrumental guitarist?
Jim

 

Hi Pam. Yes, I've tried for years to get him to see the problems with this organization. I found lots of info. dealing with this group over the years. I also spent years studying their doctrine so I would be able to discuss it intelligently with him. I even had my name added to some of their mailing lists and recieved their publications so as to keep abreast of their teachings.
What I discovered over time was that, for every arguement I put forth, he would go find an "answer" to it from "official sources". Never mind that, more often than not, the answers to the difficult points were often just plain silly, at least in his mind they were answers.
The "cult" he is involved with is the remnants of the organization started by Herbert W. Armstrong. I also have a relative involved in it.
After a long time, I finally realized that it is beyond my power to open spiritual eyes. The issues go deeper that merely intellectual arguements. They are spiritual problems. As I debated with these two, I discovered that the more I opposed what they believed, the firmer they set their teeth and dug in their heels. I became concerned that I was driving them away from truth instead of leading them to it. So, I stopped argueing and started praying for a movement of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. That's what it's going to take to do the trick!
I appreciate your offer to help! Thanks.
Jim