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Multi-Level Marketing within the Church
Posted by: AdminMagill on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - 10:05 PM |
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A new category of home businesses emerged in the late 1950’s known as Multi-Level Marketing [MLM] which evolved from door-to-door salesmen selling to suburban housewives and these distribution systems have since grown into multi-billion dollar global enterprises that rival many Fortune 500 companies.
The exponential growth of multi-level marketing has been fueled by the development of comprehensive training and motivational systems that provide the recruit with a complete set of moral and spiritual values that are presented as necessary to succeed in the business. Sadly, many of these values are represented as ‘Christian’ but are most often are a satanic distortion of Biblical truth. Once the programme was ‘Christianized’ it has increasing appeal to churches and seen as financially attractive for Church finances. Pastors and Elders can assume higher levels within the selling hierarchy and recruit their congregation to the lower levels thus maximizing their earning potential from their congregation’s volume sales. This is the beginning of the infiltration of multi-level marketing into the church and its misguided emphasis on creating wealth, visualization techniques which are an important part of their teaching and distraction from its mission of preaching the gospel. Furthermore it is interesting that after universal acceptance of multi-level marketing principles the Church digressed to market its own products and services to the world by embracing seeker services which promote psychology and New Age influences.
The doctrine and teachings of one of the largest multi-level marketing training systems in the World has been examined in the light of God’s Word. The marketing philosophy is well documented and easily understood from their training systems which comprise numerous cassette tapes, seminars, books and brochures available. Discerning Christians who were once former participants of these training materials believe that some multi-level marketing training systems are the most comprehensive and dangerous imitations of New Testament Christianity in operation today as the methods and language often mirror fundamental Christianity. However, a discerning comparison of their beliefs, behaviours and outcomes reveal that Satan indeed masquerades as an ‘angel of light’ in these last days and as the coming of the LORD draws nearer Satan is increasing the pace and sophistication of his deception upon fallen man.
Essentially Multi-Level Marketing is evangelism for a counterfeit gospel. The following table illustrates the correlation between Evangelism and Downline-ism which refers to the descending levels within multi-level marketing.
| Evangelism | Downline-ism | | As a new Christian I seek to share my faith with others. | As a new distributor I seek to share ‘the plan’ with others. | | As a new Christian I rely on the counsel of my disciplers. | As a new distributor I rely on the counsel of my upline. | | As a new believer I want to tell everybodyabout what Jesus did for me and what He can do for them. | As a new distributor I want to tell everybody what‘The business’ did for me and what it can do for them. | | To build my faith and walk I must share my beliefs with others and hopefullymake converts of them. | To build my distributorship I must share ‘the plan’with others and thus recruit and make of them a new downline. | | To make sure the new convert prospers in faith and fellowship I must keep in touch with them and offer them prayer and guidance in the Word of God and discipleship. | To make sure the new down-line prospers in ‘the business’, I must meet with them weekly and offer them guidance in the ways of ‘the business’ and false discipleship. |
Essentially the main difference between the two programmes is that one path leads to serving God and the other to serving mammon and the world. Another difference is that a Christian, sharing their faith with an unbeliever, has nothing to gain and the unbeliever has everything to gain. A distributor has much money to gain, but both the recruit and distributor have everything to lose.
Contrasts between Marketing and Ministry:
| Stages | Marketing | Ministry | | Objective: | To bring in revenue. | To reach out and change lives with no concern for recompense. | | Purpose: | - To move merchandise
- To gain exposure by uplifting one's name
- To make a profit (or net revenues)
| - To move the Word of God
- To uplift Jesus' Name
- To win souls to Christ
| | Tools: | - Advertising
- Packaging
- Distribution
- Media
- Pricing
- Litigation
- Politics
| - Faith
- Hope
- Love
- Discernment
- Following Christ [Obedience]
- The Word of God
- The Holy Spirit
| | Results: | - Lifting up one's own name
- Bragging on how wonderful and great you and your product/ministry/company is
- Financial strength
- Propelling and advancing your own agenda (fame)
- The wide path to destruction, i.e., it is harder for a rich man to go to heaven that it is for a camel to go through the eye of the needle
| - Lifting up Jesus' Name
- Conviction about the wretched state of your soul
- Making others strong in the will of God
- Obeying God's will
- The narrow path of righteousness through Jesus
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The only similarity between marketing and ministry is that they are opposing spiritual forces.
One side represents God [Ministry]; the other [Marketing] represents the way of the World. The two are already separated by righteousness the Bible says: “Be not yoked unequally with unbelievers; for what common ground is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what association is there between light and darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). The Church needs to keep these two philosophies separate. However those who do not separate these conflicting concepts will experience outcomes more conducive towards marketing rather than ministry.
Information in this article was gleaned from the following website which provides a more in-depth investigative research into this marketing concept with relevant links:
The God of the Bible versus the god of MLM
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