Get this:

     Money became the unavoidable result of so many entities having a financial stake in the process.

     The film making "industry" gradually dumped the caviar from their silver serving platters, replaced it with pig slop, and offered to the masses at premium prices. The process was so gradual that only now are a few individuals rising up and demanding, "Stop!....This is slop!...And I won't eat it anymore."

     Martin Luther, part of the great Protestant Reformation of the 1500's and 1600's, saw that the same kind of slow slide into corruption had taken place in the Church of his day.

     A priest, thoroughly educated in Church theology, travelled to Rome in great anticipation.  Now he would get to see the Holy Father himself.  He would be among the holy Cardinals and Bishops, observing as they held mass and would be present to receive their blessing.

     He thought that surely Rome would be like a little piece of Heaven on earth.  But once he got there, words could not express his shock.

     He found the Church hierarchy awash in incredible luxury, and eye-popping wealth on every hand, while the common people wallowed in gut-wrenching poverty, ignorance, and filth.  He was utterly horrified as he counted 90 brothels set aside in the city of Rome for the exclusive use of Bishops, Cardinals, and Popes who were supposedly "celibate,"  nod-nod, wink-wink.

     He realized that so much of what he had thought the Church was actually about--care for the poor, humility, serving others, and celibacy of the priests--was nothing but a cruel and deceptive facade for immoral, corrupt,
power-hungry men grabbing for every piece of gold they could get their hands on.  He saw in the Church of his day a version of what we see in Hollywood today.

     The Popes controlled the Monarchs, who controlled the armies, who controlled the people.  This Church "infrasturcture," had turned into an industry so awash in money that content no longer mattered.

     I believe that there are parallels between the Church of the Middle Ages and the Church of today.  Oh, we don't have public brothels for ministers.  Nor do I believe that the majority of ministers today are greedy hypocrites.  But there are some parallels that should give us all pause.

     Too much of the Church world now is an industry not a ministry.  

     In the Church world today, as in Hollywood and in Rome of the Middle Ages, a self-sustaining infrastructure has arisen, with many people having financial interests in each other and in maintaining the status quo.  The majority, if not all, of the Christian publishing houses are owned by secular companies.  Even if these Christian publishing houses strive to be independant of their owners, their owners are never-the-less interested in one thing only:  M-O-N-E-Y.  And these Christian publishing houses can very easily slip from being a ministry to being simply an industry.

     Recently, two Christian publishers merged under the ownership of a secular publisher.  They began dividing up the contracts between them.  The more affluent company kept the contracts of their Christian authors of star quality, whose books sold in the millions, and dumped the lesser selling authors on the less affluent company.

     The owner of the more affluent company mentioned the names of two well-known Christian authors.  One is under contract for 5 years, the other is under contract for 7 years.

     "Each owes us a book a year," the owner flatly stated.

     Owes?

     The idea of leading Christian authors "owing" a new book every year to a profit-seeking publisher is troubling to me. 

     I do not believe that either of these two Christian authors are writing books for the sake of money.  I believe that both of them have walked with the Lord for many years, learned life lessons, and desire to put these into print to help people.  And with both of these authors, I think their books have indeed helped people.  But I see the temptation and pressure that is inherent in this situation.

     Let's look at the Christian publishers for a moment.  I would like to know:

     Do these publishers seek God?

     Do they fast and pray and get before the Lord and ask Him what the Body of Christ needs to be instructed, corrected, and rebuked about at this time?

     Do they diligently read submitted manuscripts from all individuals and try to discern the voice of God speaking to His people, regardless of who has written it?

     I think not.

     Some Christian publishers flatly state on their websites that they are "not accepting new manuscripts at this time," because they are giving their full attention to "developing books by [their current prominent Christian author]."

     Manuscripts from unknown authors are simply not read--I know from personal experience.

     In the early 1990's I edited a book for a friend that I thought would be of interest to Christians.  I contacted numerous Christian publishing houses.

     None of them asked about my prayer life.  None of them asked of the state of my character or morals.  None prayed with me.  They asked only:  "How big are your meetings?  Who do you know?  How many tapes have you sold?  How many copies of this book do you think you can sell?"

     They asked not one single spiritual question.  Now, I understand that they are in business to make money.  I understand also that time is short, resources are few, and I was a nobody from nowhere contacting them.  I accept those facts, and I have no axe to grind against them.  However, I thought there would be at least an appearance of spirituality to the process.  There was none.

     The book my friend sought to publish had a very clever premise, practical guidelines, and substantial information and instructions.  Of the dozens of Christian publishers out there, only one even remotely considered my friend's manuscript.  And their consideration of it was so fleeting, that their phone conversation with me clearly occurred only by sheer acccident.

     My friend went ahead with the manuscript and self-published it, and it proved to be a blessing to about 1,000 people.      

     I saw another interview on TV with a well-known national Christian leader which caused me concern.  He said his conventions are so huge now, that local hotels, and other businesses actively compete against each other for his business.  Do they do so because they want to see the lost come to Christ?

     I think not.

     Their motive is profit.  And they will promote the meetings of a preacher just as quickly as they promote some ungodly event.  But the temptation for a minister in this situation is to keep preaching whatever will bring in the funds to keep feeding this infrastructure.  It can be very tempting to compromise our message. 

     A Christian ministry infrastructure and industry is so thoroughly entrenched now, that like in Hollywood, content can suffer.  Profit is almost unavoidable in some ministry situations because so many secular entities, and so many Christian enterprises have such a stake in the process.

     The end result is that as film content in Hollywood has gone from masterpieces to massacres, some of the content in national ministries today has gone from life-changing revelations to mediocre re-hashes of past teachings merged with pop-psychology.

     Although there are indeed good Christian books out there, it seems to me that there has been an exponential increase in Christian books that offer little of eternal value.  

     Truthfully, I've never followed the Christian Top Ten Bestsellers List--if there is one.  What I've always done, and still do, is I thumb through a new Christian book and read an excerpt or two.  I feel in my spirit to see if the Lord is witnessing to me to buy the book.  If I don't feel lead to buy it, or if I don't believe the book addresses something that is relevant to me, I just put it back on the shelf.

     Now allow me to say something about national Christian authors.  (I know I've used that phrase "national Christian authors" several times.  I'm doing so because I don't want to criticize any fellow Christian by name).  I go to Wal-Mart, just like you do.  I see the same Christian books on their shelves that you do.  And I rejoice that these books have become so popular that they are filtering into the secular marketplace and have the potential to reach the lost.  My goodness, I am in favor of any legitimate tool that can be used to help unbelievers understand that the answer to their problems is to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, and then to learn the Word and apply sound principles from it.

     However my friends, although Christ never said that we can't have God and mammon, he did tell us that we can not serve God and mammon.  And the mammon-producing Christian infrastructure that has grown up in recent years has gotten too close for comfort.

     I would caution those at high ministry levels and those of national prominence to take the time to seek God until they know that they are writing a book not to meet a deadline from a publisher, but to obey an assignment from Heaven.   

     We need to remember the admonishment the Lord gave Brother Hagin some years ago.  In a vision, Christ cautioned Kenneth Hagin about money and ministry.  His comment was along the lines of:  "Many of My servants became so focused on money that they lost their gift and anointing."  No amount of money, fame, or glitter is worth losing the anointing over.

     Lastly, we need to pray for those of our brethren to whom God has given prominence.  They face many temptations and pressures.  We've seen many brethren succomb over the years to the pressure of the infrastructure and industry that surrounded them.  

     Let's pray that they never allow their gift to go from a ministry to an industry.

     Let us also pray that those who have will realize how they have slipped, and will repent and return to Christ's assignment for their ministry.  Christ warned us that works that are not done for Him will amount to nothing when we stand before  God.   

     "The things of this world will soon be past, and only what's done for Christ will last."  

Copyright 2006  Mel C. Montgomery All Rights Reserved.  Material may be copied and shared with others if done so in entirety, without charge, and if attribution is given.