The Faithless Media Ministry

By Dr. Ken Matto

Mark 16:15 (KJV) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Whenever we put our radios or televisions on and we hear preachers speaking about the fact that all Christians should have faith in God for all their lives, they are speaking the truth. As Christians it is important that we have faith in God because if we do not, then what do we have faith in. Hebrews 11:6 (KJV) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Yet it seems that the media ministries lack the faith in God which they proclaim that every Christian should have. Now I am not speaking of only charismatic ministries but also those who are not charismatic. Unfortunately, it all comes down to the bottom line. It seems their faith is based upon their bottom line and that it all comes down to one thing. MONEY! The Lord gave us the responsibility of sending forth the gospel to the entire world. I want to show a hindrance to the fulfilling of that command.

Matthew 10:8 (KJV) Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

The principle of getting out the gospel to the world is the fact that we received the gospel freely and therefore it behooves us to pass on the gospel freely to others. Remember what Jesus did in the temple when He came upon the moneychangers? He saw that they turned the law of God into a moneymaking opportunity and that is why many of the Sanhedrin were very wealthy because they turned it into a business instead of supplying the basic needs for those who needed to purchase their sacrificial animals. Many traveled great distances and could not bring sacrificial animals with them so they would purchase them at the temple. The problem was they were being overcharged and cheated and this raised the ire of Jesus.

Now I want to share with you something which I believe is an erroneous practice which should be abolished in the Christian community. Recently I purchased the 13 CD series by Chuck Swindoll on Joseph. I think the series was very well done. When I received the CDs, this is what I found written on them.

“Copyright © 1980, 2015 (p) 2015 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. This Insight for Living Ministries production is for your personal use only. Civil and criminal copyright infringement occurs when this production is uploaded to the Internet, publicly performed, copied, or placed on any information storage and retrieval system now known or yet to be invented, without prior written permission from Insight for Living Ministries.”

Now, do you see the situation this creates. If I was to play these sermons in a church setting or a bible study setting, then I am opening myself up to criminal charges. What kind of nonsense is that? Don’t we have a command from the Lord to send forth the Gospel to the entire world? Did the Lord say we can sell the Gospel? Remember His dealings with the temple how they were selling sacrifices, even to the poorest of the poor. How do we reconcile a warning like that with Matthew 10:8, concerning the command to freely give? Basically, we cannot because it is temple tactics all over again. Now this is not just aiming at Chuck Swindoll but it is pandemic throughout all media ministries, even churches sell sermons for $3 or $5 for a CD. Since when do we sell the gospel?

Isn’t our God capable of raising up sufficient funds to be able to fund these ministries so they can give out the Gospel to the world free of charge. The problem is they sell their books and materials with a high mark up and then they solicit funds above and beyond those sales. It is like getting double donation from one person. Again, it is temple tactics all over again. I want to give two instances found in Scripture where the people of God gave much money for the Lord’s work.

1 Chronicles 29:6-9 (KJV) Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king's work, offered willingly, {7} And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. {8} And they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the LORD, by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. {9} Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.

The first instance we see is when David began to gather materials for the building of the Temple by Solomon. David had given literally millions of dollars by today’s standard to the temple project. Next he asks others to get involved and the people came through with gold, silver, precious stones, etc. If you notice in verse 9, the Scripture states that the people “offered willingly.” They weren’t told something like, well for 100 shekels, you can buy a brick in the temple, or for 1000 shekels, you can fund one of the main supports. Now, they didn’t use gimmicks that ministries use today. They took the gifts and placed them into the treasury in the house of God until needed. Here is one event where God raised up the funds, through his people, for the building of the temple.

The second instance happened way before the above event with David. This occurrence was with Moses and the building of the Tabernacle. Once Israel had crossed the Red Sea, they planned to build a Tabernacle for the Lord according to His plans which he laid out for them. For them to build this Tabernacle, they needed funds to build it, so they could purchase whatever was needed. This has to be one of the most joyful scenarios in all of Scripture concerning the act of giving.

Exodus 36:3-7 (KJV) And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning. {4} And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made; {5} And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. {6} And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. {7} For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

Moses took an offering for the work. This happened every morning where the people brought the offerings. The men who were in charge of the building had come to Moses and told him that the people had given sufficiently for the building of the Tabernacle. Moses was then told that the people had brought more than was needed, so then Moses sends out a commandment that the people were not to give anymore because the Tabernacle was now funded, even beyond what they actually needed. Here God raised up an abundant amount of money needed to build the Tabernacle. Now here is an important faith principle which the modern church and the media ministries have completely missed. Exodus 36:1 (KJV) Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded.  Notice that it was the Lord who commanded that the Tabernacle be built and that He appointed men of wisdom and understanding to oversee the building. Here is the faith principle, that God gave the command to build the Tabernacle and He supplied money, over and above what was needed. In the ends of the Gospels, Jesus commands the church to take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. Do you not think that if Jesus commanded this that He would not supply the funds needed to accomplish this task? How do you think it looks to the Lord, when a ministry threatens criminal charges against someone for playing a sermon on a CD in an unapproved milieu? Are we not to be ready both in season and out of season? I think it grieves the heart of the Lord that media ministries and even churches charge for sermons. Believe me, there is no preacher on earth so profound that their sermons should be sold instead of given away.

There would be a lot more Christian materials floating around this world if media ministries gave away their sermons and books. What we in America fail to realize that if a person in a different country has to pay for a book, it may be that the cost of that book in American dollars converting to another currency might mean the cost of an entire week’s or month’s pay. The reason that media ministries do not want to give away their materials is because they have operated from fear and not faith. Another reason is the humongous salaries they pay and the fear is that the head man may not get his 6 figure salary. Maybe if ministries were run properly and with proper pay scales, they would not have to worry about whether God would supply their needs or not. Remember the temple, the leaders were getting rich and that is one reason why eventually the temple was destroyed. Their concern was riches and not fulfilling the law according to the Scriptures. It is time media ministries come to their senses (if possible) and realize if we are going to reach the world for Christ, then we better not hinder that gospel outreach by selling the Gospel, but to give it away as the Lord commanded. Once we start doing that, then our faith in Him builds and our ministries get funded because He is still the same powerful God who hung the stars in space.

Genesis 1:16 (KJV) And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

He “made the stars also” and you are worried about something as small as funding for your ministry, oh ye of little faith!

If you want to check out the high salaries many ministries are paying their CEOs, then you can go to Charity Navigator at http://www.charitynavigator.org/ 

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