No Book Selling Policy: The Apostles Did Not Sell The Gospel!
Does a prophet or teacher
that wants to sell you a book really have the quality of life and the
gift of imparting (Romans 12.8) that he should have? I don't think
so.
Sharing God's word freely and working with our own hands
even if it has to be under hard circumstances and without a place to
sleep as the example of the Apostle Paul should be followed. We need
to buy books such as bibles and writings of post-early church
leaders, such as Athanasius for an example, to learn doctrine but
with acknowledging foremost the Scripture as the authority, but we
should not depend on modern authors who sell their doctrinal
material. Also, many of these book-sellers err
concerning knowledge of biblical institutions
and the sanctified family unit. Don't be a partaker of their sin
by making them more wealthy.
Personally, I do not want to commercialize the gospel or learning materials that pertain to the gospel, so I will not print a book and try to sell it, but for necessity's sake for greater learning some Biblical language grammar books must be acquired from scholars, not books on doctrine. Our goal is to establish our own Christian communities and train our people to learn the Biblical languages. Then, they can pass the knowledge on to others as the communities multiply. Hopefully, eventually we would not need to buy books even from scholars. One thing Christians should be noted for is understanding the Bible, and to do that, understanding the orignial languages and critical thinking is required.
The Bible teaches 'freely you received, freely give' (Mt. 10:8). That's the way I intend to do. However, when I started to learn the original Bible languages, since no one offered to give me a free self-learning book, I had to buy it. I don't believe that is a sin on my part. The apostles did not sell gospel material; they gave their lives for it. Having been convicted of the exemplary lives of the early church leaders, perhaps in the future people will be inspired to do the same. Today, however, even well intentioned preachers are selling their materials.
Worse yet, on the other hand, there are those that are deceiving many, even if the least popular and influential one of those who extol and aid the promotion of their chief peers were to repent of their common deception he would be the greater. The Apostle Paul or Peter never spoke like you hear, for instance, the many irreligious bureaucratic parrots and seminary graduates bid for return money such as, “Return the order form today, or for fast delivery use your credit card!” Today's seductive preachers and teachers are not only selling a pernicious substitute for what they should be giving; they are also suggesting the worldly economic practice of credit and interest, which is another stumbling block that Christians should avoid (Dt. 15:1-11).
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