In Matthew 10:8 we see that Jesus was about to send out the disciples out to share this message 10:7"The kingdom of heaven is near. 10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.Freely you have received, freely give."
In this world of television and radio ministry it is overwhelming at all the teachers and healers on the air who some claim to have the keys to a successful marriage, the right prayer to heal this sickness or that. Clearly we are to go out into the world and preach or proclaim the Gospel, yet if I am in the middle of loosing my marriage and God has showed you how to help me put it back together how is it right for you to charge me for it when you paid nothing for it yourself?
I have become turned off by the number of pastors and teachers who are profitting off of God’s word.I recognize that there are expenses to publishing and to printing a book or for a television ministry. Yet it hits me in my heart that who’s ministry are we promoting and why?
Is it our’s or God’s?
The tithe is scriptual sound teaching and should be given.Yet how many churches are missing their growth potential because funding is going to these other ministries elsewhere?
More importantly how do we justify a fee for what we have been freely given?
I can not see that God approves of charging for His teaching’s.
He will provide our every need is one of his basic promise’s.Maybe I am the only one who feels this way ,and I don’t think it is fair to present a problem without offering a solution.
I think you order 10,000 copies in advance(remember this is God’s word given to you, He would’nt tell you to write it or teach it unless it needed to be said)
You divide the number of copies by the cost adding 10% as a biblical based payment to expand the author’s ministry and to help him cover his work and effort.A fair days pay for a fair days pay.
That would alleviate some of these ministres that are of questionable intent. Although the gift’s of God are unrepentant I beleive they can be misused and have been.
Maybe their ought to be a seal of approval like the Family Dove Award or something that let’s the person making a love offering know that they are not paying for God’s word but meeting cost of the publication.
As far as raising money that is awesome to do and I beleive it can be done outside of offering a trade of if you support this ministry you will learn how to......... "Freely you have received,freely give.
