Selling Jesus

This series on "⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly.

Julia is a well-known Christian YouTuber and blogger. Her mission is to leverage the reach of the internet to edify believers with God-centered, Christ-exalting content. She’s particularly called to minister to women who have been victims of abuse, helping them seek healing in Christ. When her subscriber count hit 100,000 she was advised by her cousin to monetize the channel and start earning ad revenue and seek out sponsors. When she asked her followers about this idea, most people said, “Of course! We would gladly sit through ads to support the great things you share! God has obviously blessed you! A worker is worthy of her wages! You go girl!”

Now Julia has nearly half a million followers and several revenue streams besides ads and sponsors. First, she has a special subscription option that enables people to access some of her content early, as well as suggest ideas for future videos and blogs. People who pay for an even more premium subscription also get some kind of free merch once a year, along with an opportunity to ask her questions in a livestream she does every couple months.

When her sister admonished her to think more carefully about whether it’s biblical to force people to watch ads before receiving spiritual guidance from her, she got offended. “It’s not like I’m driving a Tesla and live in Beverly Hills! I always tithe, and I support six different charities. These income streams allow me to give more than I ever have in my life! How dare you judge me, when the Bible clearly says that you shouldn’t muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain! Besides, people don’t have to sign up for the premium stuff, and they can get an ad blocker if they don’t wanna watch the ads. Or if they don’t like it, they can go listen to someone else! It’s a free country.”

Read the ⁠rest of the profile⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠sellingjesus.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thedoreanprinciple.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copy.church

Many feel intimidated when it comes to making their book available free of cost or hindrance. And if you’ve listened to our conversation about Joe the Author, you may have lots of practical questions about where to start. This guide is for you.

A common misconception is that you need a legacy publisher to typeset, format, and publish your book in order for it to be successful, beautiful, and professional. That is simply not true. God, in his providence, has given us incredible tools that allow us to circumvent the unbiblical system of most legacy Christian publishers and reach far more people with our work. So this is a comprehensive guide meant to demystify the steps involved in self-publishing a book in a way that truly accords with Christ’s command to freely give (Matt 10:8).

From choosing typesetting software and formatting your manuscript, to navigating the publishing platforms, this guide covers most of the essential details to get you started. It explains how to leverage free tools and services, as well as freelance assistance when needed. While there is definitely a learning curve to this process, it is not out of reach for anyone who has a desire to grow and try new things. You’ll be surprised by how much trouble, time, and money you’ll save by not going with a legacy Christian publisher, while enjoying full control over the presentation, distribution, and updating of your work. Follow these steps, and you'll be able to self-publish a high-quality book that’s genuinely free for readers around the world.

Read the whole guide at copy.church.

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In this episode (which you can read on sellingJesus.org) Jon explores how the Christian music industry exploits church worship for commercial gain, despite religious exemptions for churches. Churches are required to pay annual licensing fees to use modern worship songs in their services, and most of the money goes to a select few artists who charge exorbitant fees and have questionable practices or beliefs. This episode also discusses the role of CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International), in facilitating this business model. Scripture requires all churches to abandon this unbiblical system.

When contemporary Christian music first started to emerge—and be commercialized—one artist refused to profit from the gospel. Keith Green, one of the most popular Christian artists of his time, was adamant that “if it's ministry, you cannot charge.” Keith didn’t want anyone to be impeded from hearing the gospel through his music, and was convicted to not charge for tickets to his concerts (which thousands attended) and gave away records for free. He died in a tragic accident at the age of 28, but his music continues to impact hundreds of thousands of people today. Artists have their role model, a man who refused to compromise and took seriously Jesus’ words: “freely you received, freely give” (Matt 10:8).

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This series on "⁠⁠⁠⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠⁠⁠⁠" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly.

Mandy is an Old Testament scholar and the author of some of the best commentaries on Job and Amos. Both are published by Zondervan and don’t cost more than other commentaries. She’s also employed by a legacy Bible institute and teaches several courses, including biblical Hebrew. She regularly tells her friends that she has a dream job and couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to do what she loves. People respect her and look up to her as a nearly perfect model of someone who has given her life to God’s service, blessing readers and students year after year.

Unfortunately and unwittingly, Mandy is selling Jesus. The problem for her, like many others, is the fact that she has simply never thought about copyright or the status quo of selling Christian teaching. Even though she is a deep, critical thinker and has a PhD, she hasn’t taken the time to think biblically about whether it’s right to sell her commentaries on God’s Word or require students to pay tuition before being able to learn about the Bible from her. She has accepted an old, widespread system without a second thought, assuming that the system is biblical because so many other people have bought into it. If you were to challenge her to think differently and reconsider how biblical the system is, she would dismiss any contrary ideas as “fringe” and not worthy of her time. Like Luke (above), she’s comfortable with the way things are. In this way she resembles antebellum Christians who were extremely comfortable with the slave trade, and many historic Roman Catholic priests who were comfortable selling baptism. Besides, she might lose her dream job if she started to take what Scripture says about money and ministry seriously. Better to leave well enough alone, and if anyone brings it up, simply silence them by forcing certain parts of Scripture to support the status quo of commercializing Christianity. Ignorance is bliss.

Tom follows in the footsteps of many seminary leaders who have gone before him since the seminary was founded in 1892. He has inherited a system and structure that is typical of nearly all seminaries around the world: students must pay tuition if they want to receive spiritual guidance and biblical teaching. Thankfully, the seminary has some endowments that allow it to keep its course prices down, but Tom is well aware that there are many people who never attend his seminary because of the cost. Although there are scholarships available, they are limited and usually reserved for international students. Sometimes at night he thinks about how nice it would be if professors could simply be like missionaries and raise support, freeing themselves to teach without charging students money. Or why couldn’t there be more bivocational professors who support themselves with another job like Paul did and offer their services to the seminary for free? But then he shakes his head and laughs at how impossible his idealistic musings are. The seminary has been operating the same way for too long. Tradition can’t be broken. There are too many people who would hate his ideas and keep them from even being tried. Why bother with a pipe dream?

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If you have a question about selling Jesus, please feel free to ⁠⁠reach out to us via email⁠⁠.

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Our guest in this episode, ⁠Joseph Jacowitz⁠, has been the pastor of Christ Bible Church, in Pleasanton, CA since 1990. He and his wife Sherry have been married since 1978 and have five children and eight grandchildren. Most importantly, for this podcast, Joe is the president of ⁠FirstLove Ministries⁠, which is one of the few ministries that truly lives out the ⁠Dorean Principle⁠ of freely giving and doing ministry by faith and funding everything through the provision of God through the free generosity of the Body of Christ. This is the first in what we hope will become a series of episodes in which we interview ministries that have rejected the Jesus Trade and are living out the command of Christ and the example of Paul, refusing to sell Christian ministry, but rather relying on God for all necessary finances to function. Although we may not always share all peripheral convictions with these ministries, we do share the core conviction of freely giving and taking a stand against the peddling of God’s Word. If you lead a ministry that seeks to reflect God’s heart by not commercializing Christianity, and you’d like to share about your ministry and God’s faithful provision as Joe has in this interview, please feel free to ⁠reach out to us via email⁠.

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Read the article.

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For those of you who prefer to listen rather than watch a long video, this episode is for you. Watch the original video here, which also includes subtitles for the limited parts in Spanish. This is part 3, so if you haven't watched the previous episodes, make sure to watch part one and part two.

Now that we’ve spent some time laying the biblical foundations for freely giving ministry, it’s story time. I want to share some anecdotes and interview clips to give you a picture of the bitter fruit of the Jesus trade. When we refuse to follow Jesus’ command in Matthew 10:8 to freely give the grace that we have freely received, the repercussions are tragic. Much of the fallout of the modern Church’s obsession with monetizing ministry has been invisible to Westerners. That’s because it’s usually casting a dark shadow on people in other countries who don’t speak English or who aren’t as wealthy. Special thanks to Fausto, Danillo, Paulo, and Botros for being willing to share about the reality in their countries. Here are some of the resources referenced in the video, as well as some others that might be helpful:

Free and Open: Bibles without Copyright Restrictions

Daniel Block interview

Books and articles on copyright (including "Against Intellectual Monopoly")

https://gracious.tech/

Bible Publishers - Stewards or Gatekeepers?

United Bible Societies open resources

https://open.bible

https://aquifer.bible/

STEP Bible

Center for New Testament Restoration

https://openbookpublishers.com

https://berean.bible/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essays/

The Dorean Principle

The Christian Commons

Does Jesus’ Command to “Freely Give” Apply Today?

Common Objections

Ten Times Commercializing Ministry Is Condemned

Books and Resources on the topic

Easy conversations to help you understand these issues better

Read the profile here. This series on "⁠⁠⁠⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠⁠⁠⁠" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly.

Chris has a timely message and warning for the Church. He’s filled with a passionate and prophetic urgency to admonish evangelicals about the dangers he sees looming ahead if they do not repent and reform in seven key areas. So he has written a book in the form of a letter called Dear Church: Seven Lies Seducing Evangelicals. In the book he talks about how these lies are slowly infiltrating Christendom, and he desperately wants people to be aware of the dire consequences. Speaking from decades of pastoral experience, he believes that God has commanded him to sound a wake-up call to his people, and that he would have blood on his hands if he failed to raise these concerns. Chris has shared in multiple interviews that he had no intentions to write another book in his life, but God made it clear to him that he needed to help deliver people from the deadly deceptions of our anti-Christian culture.

Since Chris is already a well-established author, he published his “letter” with a legacy publishing house. There are two options to choose from: a Kindle version for $14.99, and a hardback for $21.99. It is not freely available in any format, and copying it or sharing it is strictly forbidden in the “All Rights Reserved” notice at the beginning of the book.

As we’ve already seen from other profiles like that of “Joe the Author,” what Chris has done is a clear violation of Christ’s command (Matt 10:8) and the wider teaching of Scripture (e.g. 2 Cor 2:17, Micah 3:11, 2 Cor 9). But from a purely pragmatic perspective, Chris’s choice for spreading his timely message is completely insane and hypocritical. It is evil, cruel, and illogical. Why?

1. When you write a letter to someone, it’s an insult to require money from that person before allowing them to read it. It goes against the very definition of a letter to charge the recipient for it.
2. It is both illogical and evil to put a paywall between people and urgent warnings. It’s illogical because, if you truly want to save people from imminent harm, you want them to get access to your warning as quickly, effortlessly, and freely as possible. For example, if you charge a fee before people can hear a hurricane or fire warning, it reveals that you don’t truly want to save lives, nor do you have any real “urgency” in your heart. This paywall is also evil and cruel because it ensures that many people will suffer harm or death because they didn’t hear the warning, especially the poor. Chris, by putting his book behind a paywall, has sealed painful consequences for many people, for which he will be held accountable at the judgment (by his own assessment and admission).
3. People who are the most vulnerable to these lies of our anti-Christian culture are often the least likely to pay for a book in order to find out how they’ve been seduced. Many people who are deceived believe with all their hearts that they’re walking in the truth. They scoff at the idea of going out of their way to pay someone to tell them what lies they’ve fallen for.

Ironically, Chris has contributed to the lies that harm evangelicals by believing and promoting a lie himself: the lie that Christian exhortation and messages inspired by the Spirit of God (speaking truth) can be turned into merchandise. He is not only aggravating the current crisis by keeping his important letter behind a paywall, but also helping to spread the deception that the only way to warn people is by selling that warning.

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Although this article was not originally written for a podcast, we offer it here for those who don't have time to read it. If you prefer to read it, you can do that here.

See the timestamps below to skip to different sections:

00:00 BIBLICAL CONTENT + BIBLICAL CONTEXT

03:29 BIBLICAL TIMES

04:06 MINISTRY, MOTIVES, AND MONEY

08:27 GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS TO HIS LEADERS

14:16 OTHER BIBLICAL EVIDENCE

19:57 WHO IS THE “COUNSELEE”?

21:20 WORLDLY MODEL

25:07 LEGAL LIABILITY

29:54 COUNSELING OR DISCIPLESHIP?

30:28 CONCLUSION - “COME TO THE WATERS”

Should a ministry relationship, either in its initiation or continuation, ever be conditioned on the payment of a fee?

Should the fulfillment of a biblical responsibility to care for God’s people ever be conditioned on the payment of a fee?

In recent years, many churches and Christians have started to question modern psychotherapy and return to God’s Word as sufficient for counseling other believers. Although we rejoice at this development, a related question lurks in the background. Is it biblical to charge fees for biblical counseling? Is this question quickly answered “yes” by a simple reference to scriptures saying the “laborer is worthy of his wages”? (See Leviticus 19:13, Deuteronomy 24:15, Luke 10:7, Matthew 10:10, 1 Timothy 5:18, 1 Corinthians 9:14.)

Knowing this topic may generate heated debate and disagreement, I begin with some personal observations as a former psychologized counselee. My journey through the maze of psychotherapy ran nearly thirty years. I was much like the sick woman who came to touch the garment of Jesus after spending all she had and suffering under the care of doctors who could not heal her (Mark 5:25-34). I poured out thousands of dollars to psychiatrists and psychologists who had no answers. The church sent me away, referring me to “greener” counseling pastures. Just having a “friend” cost dearly. Is this how God intends for His undershepherds to care for His sheep? Jesus told John three times to “feed My lambs” (John 21:15-17). Did He intend for His lambs to be charged for the meal?

This was originally published by Christian Discernment Publications Ministry, Inc. (© 2007) and has been republished by permission, due to its valuable insights.

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Read the article here. "For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ" (2 Cor. 2:17, ESV).

This highly technical discussion is not an easy listen, and it's recommended that you complement it with the visuals in the written version of the article. That said, the primary source of interest in this verse is the word translated by the ESV as “peddlers” (καπηλεύοντες, from καπηλεύω). Commentators and translations divide over recognizing this word as indicating an adulteration or commercialization of the gospel. Furthermore, they differ on whether or not this word necessarily implies a motive of profit. Thus, as we will see below, some translations add “for profit” to the verse because they believe it to be implicit information from the context that needs to be made explicit to the reader, even though the words “for profit” are not found in the Greek.

This matters because there are those who would argue that 2 Corinthians 2:17 does not confront the Jesus trade, but rather speaks merely of those who make too much profit from selling Jesus. Or they claim that this verse has nothing to do with selling, but rather with "corrupting" God's Word. Is there really a loophole here for Jesus sellers to avoid Paul's condemnation, or does it simply mean: "we are not commercializing God’s Word like so many others"?

sellingjesus.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thedoreanprinciple.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copy.church

Read the article here. ⁠sellingjesus.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thedoreanprinciple.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copy.church

This series on "⁠⁠⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠⁠⁠" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly.

Luke is a gifted preacher and speaker. Some of the biggest summer camps book him years in advance, and large churches love to invite him to present at conferences.

In the early years of his preaching ministry he would only receive honorariums as a free gift that churches might give him to help cover expenses. But now he receives more requests than he can commit to. At one point an old pastor told him that he needed to think about charging upfront for speaking engagements. This would help limit the amount of requests and enable him to start a college fund for his kids. His family agreed that this was a wise idea, and after considering it prayerfully, Luke began making it clear that he would require X amount in payment in addition to all of his travel expenses before agreeing to speak at an event. At first he didn’t like how this exchange felt, especially when smaller, likable churches couldn’t afford what he asked. But as the money started to flow, after a while he got used to it.

Now and then, when Luke has quieted his heart and is out on an evening walk with God, conflicted sentiments crowd his thoughts, and his conscience wonders whether he’s doing the right thing by putting a price tag on sharing what God has freely given him. But he’s quick to tell himself, “At least you don’t charge as much as your friend David does. He charges twice as much and doesn’t even have the greatest things to say. Most respected Christian celebrities charge for speaking. Besides, how else could you help your kids with their college expenses? God wants you to care for your family.”

Luke is a classic example of a man who bases his pursuit of holiness on people around him instead of on the standard of God’s Word. As long as he’s a little better than “that other guy,” he feels justified. He has believed a few lies: 1) putting his kids through college is more important than obeying God, 2) God is incapable of providing for his children through any other means than the ill-gotten gain of peddling God’s Word, 3) as long as his sin is not as extreme as those around him, God is pleased and honored, 4) widely-respected, famous evangelicals are a better standard to live by than Scripture. While Luke is not actively trying to do evil, he has become complacent with the default state of affairs around him and is content to go with the flow. He’s comfortable with worldly ways of thinking about money and ministry, so why rock the boat?

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Music: "Amazing" by Liborio Conti, https://www.no-copyright-music.com

Read the article and footnotes here.

Let’s imagine that your pastor gets up one Sunday morning and announces: “If anyone wants to share passages from the Bible they need to ask me for permission first. I have to do this in order to carefully steward God’s Word, because people might abuse it. That said, I’ll be very generous in giving permission. I’ll even let you share it for free if you’re only using small portions. But if you use large portions, I’ll expect some payment to cover the costs of carefully stewarding God’s Word.” How would you feel?

This episode confronts the uncomfortable reality that modern translations are heavily copyrighted and commercialized. Jon unpacks the strict legal limits on quoting Scripture, the for-profit interests driving many publishers, and the burdensome barriers to getting permission to share God's Word.

Challenging common myths, he evaluates whether publishers are as generous, protecting, and well-intentioned as claimed. The conclusions are unsettling. Should Christians forbid freely sharing Scripture? Does charging for access align with the gospel? Join us as we envision reform where God's Word belongs to believers again. ⁠⁠⁠sellingjesus.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thedoreanprinciple.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠copy.church

This series on "⁠⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠⁠" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. James is a worship leader. When he was single he wrote some of his best worship songs in the evenings while working at a bookstore to make ends meet. His heart’s passion is to serve the Church with Bible-saturated, God-centered, beautiful music that will point people to Christ. In the days of MySpace he was happy to post his songs for free for people to stream, and some of them started going viral. Eventually a Christian record label approached him and laid out a plan to turn his passion into a “career.” James trusted them because they seemed like sincere believers and were obviously “professionals” who had been in the worship business for decades. They convinced him that the best way to bless the most Christians with his music would be to join them and use his gifts to generate a full-time income.

Now James leads worship events for large conferences and usually charges an upfront fee of tens of thousands of dollars for each event. His songs are now sung in churches around the world and bring in a steady stream of income through royalties and CCLI. He’s happy that more people than he ever imagined are being touched by his music and encounter the presence of God. His recordings are no longer free to listen to, but every now and then he’ll release one at no cost to download, which makes him feel good that he has done his part to be generous.

James has been deceived by the “professionals” into believing that the worship of God can be sold as a commodity. He also has bought into the lie that reaching large numbers of people means that God must automatically approve of the way one is doing ministry. God must be happy and honored with the means, if the outcome is large. Unfortunately he has failed to take seriously the account of Jesus cleansing the temple because the place of worship and prayer had been turned into a marketplace. If James is honest with himself, he remembers being happier before he turned his passion into a full time career that denies people access to his music unless they pay. Although his former way of life proved that he could write amazing songs for the Church without treating it as a full time business, he now tries to convince himself that it’s the only way for him to make it “sustainable.” He has already signed contracts and feels trapped in a corporate landscape that feels nothing like a real ministry. But everyone he respects is doing the same thing, and older, wiser Christians assure him that he’s doing what’s sensible, and that God is using him powerfully. And so, in his heart, the lie that the Jesus trade is respectable and inevitable has prevailed.

Ending song by Andrew Case, freely given here.

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Intro music: "Amazing" by Liborio Conti, https://www.no-copyright-music.com

Read the article ⁠here⁠.

Article mentioned: Giving out of Obligation to God, Not Man.

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Read the article here.

Help foster change by sending this article to ACBC and CCEF.

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Read the article here.

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This series on "⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly.

Recommended reading (even though, sadly, none of these books are free):

1. Competent to Counsel
2. The Biblical Counseling Movement after Adams
3. Counseling the Hard Cases
4. Speaking Truth in Love

Check out this article: Charging Fees for Biblical Counseling? by Deborah Dewart

Steve is a biblical counselor. He believes that God has called him to minister to the broken in spirit, and he sincerely wants to help people be healed and whole, walking in victory over sin through the power of the gospel. But he’s concerned that if he charges the same rates for counseling sessions as other prominent biblical counselors in his area, he’ll end up alienating the poor. During times of prayer he believes that God has placed a desire within him to simply give counsel for free, but older, more experienced counselors have talked him out of it. “God gave you common sense, and you need to be responsible and provide for your family,” they say. “Besides, if people don’t pay you for your counsel, they won’t value it.” So Steve has reluctantly decided to charge half of what most people usually charge.

Although Steve believes that the Bible is sufficient for godly wisdom, he has failed to turn to it for answers to the simple question as to whether he should require payment for “speaking truth in love” to broken people. He has failed to heed Jesus’ command to give freely (Matt 10:8), and allowed the conventional, worldly wisdom of his superiors to eclipse the sincere desire God has placed on his heart. He has also believed the lie that biblical counselors are somehow “above” raising support (as most missionaries do) to be able to minister freely and without compromising their sincerity. Steve is a tragic example of someone with an honest desire to honor God, but who was derailed by the blindness, complacency, and carnal pragmatism around him. He’s trapped in a fog of confusion. In the end, biblical counselors are offering to lead people to Jesus through the Scriptures, with wisdom, truth, and sincere friendship–things that cannot and should never be sold. But Steve is unable to see this fact.

⁠⁠sellingjesus.org⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠thedoreanprinciple.org⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠copy.church⁠⁠⁠

Music: "Amazing" by Liborio Conti, https://www.no-copyright-music.com

Read the conversation ⁠here⁠.

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This series on "Christians Who Sell Jesus" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Our intention is to engage with practical matters and have an open conversation about how each person can follow more closely in Christ's footsteps and give ministry freely.

Jane believes that there are no guiding principles in Scripture regarding money and ministry because “everything is ministry, if it’s done as unto the Lord, right? As long as we’re loving God and our neighbor and seeking to make disciples, all of life is ministry! A janitor can work for the glory of God, and when he does, that’s a ministry just as important as preaching. A Christian flipping burgers can be a ministry just as much as praying for someone’s healing!” So Jane has concluded that, just as a janitor can demand payment for the work he is doing, a preacher can demand payment for each sermon he preaches.

It’s true that all of life should be lived to the glory of God, and that all believers are priests and should actively participate in building up the Body of Christ. But Jane has believed the lie that Scripture does not distinguish spiritual things from earthly things. Although she is well-meaning, and wants to glorify God, she has mistakenly oversimplified what it means to do Christian ministry. She also has wrongly conflated the truth that we should do everything as unto the Lord with the truth that some things are uniquely suited for the edification of the Church. The sincerity of encouragement and love are utterly compromised when done in exchange for money. Even unbelievers understand that some things like friendship and marriage should not be sold, and if they are sold, they are no longer real. Jane means well, but has been led astray by her culture’s obsession with money and materialism, along with the desire to force Scripture to support the status quo.

⁠⁠sellingjesus.org⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠thedoreanprinciple.org⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠copy.church⁠⁠

Music: "Amazing" by Liborio Conti, https://www.no-copyright-music.com

Read the conversation here.

⁠sellingjesus.org⁠ | ⁠thedoreanprinciple.org⁠ | ⁠copy.church

This series on "⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Our intention is to engage with practical matters and have an open conversation about how each person can follow more closely in Christ's footsteps and give ministry freely.

Joe is a gifted author who writes books to help churches be healthier. He has valuable biblical teaching to share, and he genuinely wants to serve the Body of Christ. Since he has friends in high places, he’s been able to get his books published by a large and influential Christian publishing house. He’s happy that the publisher only charges $14.99 for each of his paperbacks, and $9.99 for the e-book versions. They pay him a dollar royalty for each sale. When people ask him about how much he makes from his books, he’s always quick to say that he’s not in it for the money, and the small kickback he gets doesn’t even cover the amount of time each book takes him to write. The fact that he’s losing money (in the sense that his profits don’t equal the value of his time) makes him feel good that he’s making a sacrifice for the Kingdom of God.

Although Joe is well-meaning and sincere, and willing to sacrifice time and money to build up God’s Church, he has been deceived in several ways. First, he wrongly assumes that Scripture allows the sale of ministry. What he’s doing is clearly Christian ministry, and both Jesus and Paul make it crystal clear through their lived example and teaching that ministry should never be sold, but it should definitely be supported by the free generosity of God’s people.

Second, Joe wrongly believes that the only way Christian writers can care for their families and keep from poverty is by putting price tags on their books. The Bible and Church history are full of examples of servants of God who were provided for through the free giving of his people to do ministry, or who worked a secular job (like making tents) in order to pay the bills.

Third, Joe has been deceived by promises of renown and acclaim if he publishes with a big-name publisher. Although he knows that he could distribute his book for free online digitally, and self-publish a paper version without receiving any profit, the lure of being perceived as a “legitimate” or “real” author because of the imprint of a well-known publisher prevailed. However, he covers up this desire for prestige by telling himself that a big publisher will reach more people. This may or may not be so, since he has never tried the alternative, but it doesn’t matter. God does not measure success in numbers of copies distributed, but rather in obedience. And obedience would mean giving his writing away, and supporting his ability to write by some other means than selling it. Joe is unintentionally living the lie that reaching more people with his writing is more important than obeying God. For him, the ends justify the means.

⁠sellingjesus.org⁠ | ⁠thedoreanprinciple.org⁠ | ⁠copy.church⁠

Music: "Amazing" by Liborio Conti, https://www.no-copyright-music.com

This is a paper presented at the Evangelical Theological Society in 1996 by Dr. Maurice Robinson. Dr. Robinson is a professor of New Testament and Greek, with expertise in NT textual criticism. We'll be talking more about copyright and intellectual property in the future and discuss whether they are biblically defensible. In the meanwhile, please visit ⁠⁠copy.church to learn more about this topic, especially the bondage of God's Word.

⁠sellingjesus.org⁠ | ⁠thedoreanprinciple.org⁠ | ⁠copy.church⁠

Music: "Hidden Beauty" by Liborio Conti, https://www.no-copyright-music.com

People often attempt to justify the Jesus trade by dismissing the command of Christ in Matthew 10:8 as irrelevant to Christians today. They say that the command to freely give just doesn’t apply to us anymore, so we can sell the spiritual and the sacred without any problem now. In this episode Conley Owens addresses the issue and argues that the command of Christ does indeed apply to us today. Conley is the author of The Dorean Principle: A Biblical Response to the Commercialization of Christianity, and is a pastor at Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church. 

sellingjesus.org⁠ | ⁠thedoreanprinciple.org⁠ | ⁠copy.church

Music: "Hidden Beauty" by Liborio Conti, https://www.no-copyright-music.com

In this episode Jon, Conley, and Andrew discuss some of the common objections that typically come up when Christians encounter resistance to the Jesus trade. There are a lot of people with their entire lives invested in a system that monetizes ministry like everything else on the market, and when we point out that the Bible condemns the sale of ministry, but commends the support of ministry through the free generosity of God’s people, there are a few knee-jerk reactions that tend to come up often. So this conversation is about these typical objections, and we do our best to respond. We hope this is helpful and edifying, and we realize that not everything we say in these conversations will be perfect or exhaustive, and so we encourage you to diligently search the scriptures for yourself and weigh what we have to say in the more thorough articles and resources over at sellingJesus.org. 

Music: "Hidden Beauty" by Liborio Conti, https://www.no-copyright-music.com/

sellingJesus.org | thedoreanprinciple.org | copy.church

Faith in Reading

God and Mammon

More Money, More Ministry

sellingjesus.org | thedoreanprinciple.org | copy.church

As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they discuss the interpretation of Matthew 10:8-11 and other key verses that help shed light on the difference between selling ministry and supporting ministry. They look at how believers should give support out of obligation to God, not man, and why Jesus' command to freely give applies to us today. sellingjesus.org | thedoreanprinciple.org | copy.church

sellingjesus.org | thedoreanprinciple.org | copy.church

sellingjesus.org | thedoreanprinciple.org | copy.church

Read the written version of this article here.

Truth was already being sold way back in the 8th century BC in the time of the prophet Micah, and what he wrote has implications for today’s monetizing of ministry. So, I invite you to join me in taking out the microscope and meditating on Micah 3:11. "Could it be possible that the richest, most materialistic societies in all of human history (Western nations) might have a tendency to do what is right in their own eyes regarding money and ministry?"

Song fragment: Ballad in Plain Red by Derek Webb

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"I don’t know who may be listening to this or watching this.  Maybe you are a pastor who has been selling ministry material for a long time.  Maybe you are a new Christian who has never even been involved in ministry.  Regardless, I hope you will join us here on this channel in our pursuit of both personal reformation and global reformation, as we call the church to offer the gospel and biblical teaching the way Jesus did: freely." —Conley Owens sellingjesus.org | thedoreanprinciple.org | copy.church

Through many twists and turns, Jon comes to the conviction that God is actually the owner of his Word, and that the commercialization and legal restriction of it is contrary to the gospel, the spirit of Christ, and Scripture itself. Visit his website ⁠copy.church to learn more.

sellingjesus.org | thedoreanprinciple.org | copy.church

sellingjesus.org | thedoreanprinciple.org | copy.church

sellingjesus.org | thedoreanprinciple.org | copy.church