Quite some time ago my husband told me of something he had been thinking on. It was Scriptural but it also applied to today.
He told me how he had been thinking that preachers and 'churches' today are much like malls. If a person goes into the mall, with your very first step in the doors you are bombarded with numerous stores from which to choose to do your shopping. Each store sells it's own brand of merchandise, it may be a children's clothing store, a discount store, a store for buying toiletries or a toy store but they are all stores and they all have one thing in common: they all want your business.
To gain that business they have workers standing in the doorways or in each department, 'hawking' their wares, often offering a free trial of their lotion, a brief massage for free, a sniff of their perfume, or the chance to sit in their comfy chair. Whatever they offer the hoped for result is the same, they want your money and through it they hope for your allegiance.
If they can get you into their store or department then they stand a chance of selling you something. Some workers are content to let you browse and buy or not at your discretion, others are determined to sell you something no matter how many times you refuse what they offer.
I was in a store not all that long ago that sells bulk teas and spices. It's a nice little store and as far as I can tell it's a privately owned business. The workers are friendly and helpful. They are also pushy. They greet you as you come in and encourage you to browse and 'smell the teas and spices. It's a welcoming atmosphere with a wonderful aroma to the air from all the blended smells.
The browsing isn't left to last long though before the friendly workers are helping you browse. They're showing you super expensive spice blends and telling you what good dips they make. If you're looking at teas they are telling you which ones are their favorites and encouraging you to smell this one and telling you what it tastes like.
In short they do what most stores and the people that work in them do...they hawk their merchandise.
There is no secret to their system, no wondering why it is that they do what they do. They want your money and they hope you'll be a repeat customer. I was given a frequent customer card for buying tea at the tea and spice store. I have one for the pet store. I have had to sign up for rewards cards at grocery stores in order to get things on sale. I've been sold a coupon book at a restaurant because the coupons were for big enough discounts to make the booklet pay for itself on the first use.
It's madness.
It's actually madness gone to the extreme and it's done for the sole purpose of greed. Businesses want more and more money and they hawk their merchandise at ever increasing prices to get it. They don't care how many hours a person must work to afford to buy what they're selling or if low income people can afford the necessities at all. All they care about is their own bottom line and how much they can rake into their own pockets while they get it.
It's a racket.
And the sad thing is the greed and hawking of merchandise does not end with the selling of goods or services. The 'churches' of today do the very same thing. I recently read 2 Peter 2, not once but twice. Then I reread certain parts just to make sure I was seeing things correctly.
I'm going to share the entire chapter here, in the esv version, then I will expand my thinking:
'But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you,
who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them
the way of truth will be blasphemed.3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.
Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness wto be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient
world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought y
a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to
ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen
conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was
tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the
Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,4 and to keep the unrighteous under
punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of
defiling passion and despise authority.
Bold and willful, they do not tremble gas they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them
before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct,born to be caught
and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant,will also be destroyed
in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it
pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,
entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking
the right way, they have gone astray.They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of
Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression;
a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter
darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual
passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.19 They
promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world
through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,they are again entangled in them
and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have
been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to
turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has
happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself,
returns to wallow in the mire.”
That entire chapter speaks of false teachers and gives great detail of what a false teacher is. How can anyone fail to see what it takes to make a false teacher after reading that chapter?
If the whole chapter doesn't give a clear enough picture, what does one make of verse 3?
3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words...
Let me just note here that the esv version reads as above while the KJV reads:
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you...
The Geneva bible reads the same as the KJV on this verse while the Wycliff version reads:
and they shall make merchandise of you in covetousness by feigned words.
I did dig a bit deeper to look at the interlinear Bible which uses the word exploit rather than merchandise.
My husband and I were discussing this verse and as I told him, I can't figure out which version makes the strongest point. To exploit something is to use it to your own advantage while to make merchandise of something is to make it into something you can sell.
Either way, I don't think there is any doubt that this verse is connecting the selling of Christ with being a false teacher. It's right there. Plain as day. False teachers will exploit Christ. They will make merchandise of him. Why? Out of their own greed or covetousness.
How in the world does anyone miss that? How can anyone that has read that justify giving money to a preacher? And worse how do 'preachers' justify taking money for the sharing of the Lord's word?
Can they not see that to take money for anything to do with Christ is to turn themselves into a false teacher?
I've met many a 'preacher' and I highly doubt that a single one of them would ever admit to being covetous or greedy. They would probably sing their own praises, telling how they live on a modest income and use what they have for their families.
False teachers...hmm...brings a new spin to things in my mind. I have disagreed with 'preachers' like John Macarthur, R.C. Sproul, and Paul Washer before. I don't believe any two people will ever agree completely when it comes to Scripture, not on everything anyway. They should, if they are the elect, come extremely close in agreement on the whole of Scripture but there will probably always be a few points they will be off on.
A bit of disagreement is to be expected. In most cases where one disagrees with a 'preacher', no matter their doctrine of belief or soteriology, the lay person will be pointed to their error. That's a good thing if said person really is in error, the trouble is that 'error' is rarely, if ever, applied to 'preachers'. They are simply above reproach, a force of their own, a whole other league, and they are not to be questioned or corrected. Period. End of discussion. No more options.
That's just the way 'preachers' work. They know best because they have been trained best. Yet...they clearly are out to make merchandise of Christ, using him for gainful employment, Scripturally known as ill gotten gains, and lining their own pockets.
We are warned time and again to have nothing to do with false teachers but how many times is every 'preacher' out there said to be a false teacher?
I'm saying it today.
If a man (or woman) makes a single penny off the Gospel or anything to do with Scripture they are false teachers and we should have nothing to do with them.
If a preacher does not work for his wages in a job that does not include anything to do with Scripture and he gets any money from sharing the gospel and speaking of Christ...
He is a false teacher.
If an elect believer writes a book of their conversion and they sell it for so much as a single penny...
They are a false teacher.
If a believer has a blog where they write of Scripture and Christ and they put a donate button on it, bringing in money through the blog...
They are a false teacher.
Paul Washer is a false teacher. John Macarthur is a false teacher. Billy Graham was a false teacher. Beth Moore is a false teacher. Charles Spurgeon was a false teacher. The preacher at the local 'church' is a false teacher.
Christ is not merchandise to be exploited out of greed and covetousness. He is not something to use for ones own gain. He gives His salvation freely and we should share that good news freely. Anyone making a single cent off of Christ or His word is a false teacher.
It's easy enough for anyone professing any kind of belief in Christ to see that people holding to different doctrines than themselves are false teachers. Mike Murdock goes on national television and says god will bless people if they send in 'seed money' and their blessing will be in direct relation to how much 'seed money' they send in. He also goes on about how he loves hundred dollar bills. Most people can see him for the false teacher that he is.
How many see John Macarthur for a false teacher? How many saw Spurgeon as one? Do they ever compare their chosen 'christian' leader or 'preacher' to this single verse in 2 Peter 2? Do they look at their life of this 'preacher' under a microscope, examining this person they entrust their soul to in order to test this person against the Scriptures and make for certain they are not blindly handing their soul into the hands of a false teacher that will lead them wrongly?
Scripture warns time and again of false teachers. 2 Peter 2 does nothing but warn of them. It says they will make merchandise of Christ, exploiting Him and His followers, out of their own greed. They do it out of intent, or at best out of misguided stupidity, and not by accident. They do it because they want to be paid for 'serving' the 'flock'. How many preachers do you think would keep 'preaching' if their paycheck was taken away?
'Jesus' and 'God' as a whole are being exploited to the point of raking millions into the hands of nonbelievers and professing believers, and sadly into the hands of people that have been given eyes to see the Truth. At least the nonbelievers and the professing believers have an excuse...they are blinded to so much in Scripture how can we expect them to see the teachings of 'preachers' when they can't even see the way salvation is attained?
What of those that can see Truth? Do we just overlook their false teachings, because Scripture says false teachers make merchandise of Christ, therefore anyone accepting a penny for their teachings or 'preachings' is a false teacher, and continue to enjoy their sermons that give truth? Do we keep calling them brother and welcoming them into our homes and souls?
Sometimes as I study on a subject or as I am writing on it I will do a bit of research. I am currently researching, as time allows, the first century. I want to better understand the world Paul and the apostles lived in. I want to be able to 'see', 'feel', 'taste', 'hear' that world. I want to be able to really imagine what life was like for them and for the early elect.
Today, as I write this, I did a bit of research. Mostly just out of curiosity. Boy, am I glad I did. I have posted articles on my blog before asking people to please never take anything that I say as Truth. I beg everyone, test it all yourself. Go to Scripture. Dig deeper. Study harder. Make sure what I say is correct with Scripture. Your soul is at stake. Never.
Never.
Never.
Never entrust it to someone else. Always entrust it only to the Lord and make sure anything that feeds it is Truth according to Scripture.
I want no one to ever take what I write at face value. Put it to the test and make sure it comes through the fire intact. If it does not then I am in error somewhere and you should discard what I said.
Sometimes though, if we aren't testing everything we say and do in life our own words can come back to bite us. Let me show you what I found in my brief, less than ten minutes, of research. Here are John Macarthur's own words, taken straight from a sermon off his own website:
Now the idea, people, is this is very crucial. When you are identifying a false teacher sometimes you can't tell by their theology, you have to look past that to their morality.
Wonderful suggestion Mr. Macarthur. I will take you at your word and do just that in just a moment but first let me share a bit more information straight from your own mouth:
Number seven in my little list, the spring of their operation, the spring of it. What do I mean? The operating motive, the underlying cause. Verse 3, "And in greed they will exploit you with false words." Here's another component that you need to know about. What drives them on the inside to do what they do? Listen very carefully. They're not driven by immorality. They're not driven by aselgeia, sexual immorality. You can do that by yourself. That's not going to make you a false teacher. You can be immoral all alone in your own little world with just the people you choose to be immoral with. You don't need to be a false teacher to be immoral. And if all they wanted to do was fulfill their sensual desire, they wouldn't need to be a false teacher. But there's another component. What is it? Greed, greed.
The driving force of their enterprise to be teachers is not the love of the truth, it's not submission to the Lord, it's not even sexual immorality. They can do that in the pew. The driving force is money. The word pleonexia means uncontrolled greed. They're expert at it. They're in it to accumulate money. And watch them, they do. Verse 14 of the same chapter, "Their eyes are full of adultery,” obviously, “they never cease from sin, they never submit to lordship, they entice unstable souls.” Why do they do that? “Because their hearts (boy, this is really graphic) are trained in (what?) greed." They're experts at it. They can con money out of anybody. They want money. They want money. They want your money. They want anybody's money.
What do they do? They move into the church and because of greed they exploit you, the word from which we get emporium, which means to carry on business, to make gain from. Here's the best translation, to get rich from. They want to get rich off you. That's it. They're driven by money, greed.
There you have it. That is Macarthur's own interpretation of 2 Peter 2:3. Please feel free to read it in the sermon he gave it in. You can find that sermon here: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/61-17/a-portrait-of-false-teachers-part-2
Now I'd like to back up just a bit and do what Mr. Macarthur said to do, I would like to look a bit deeper at his morality. I found this information:
John MacArthur’s sizable income
What are you about to see in these next two articles (by different writers), is that John MacArthur’s total annual income is just over $900,000 per year. That number including his IRS recorded earnings from ‘Grace to You’ and his IRS recorded earnings from teaching at Master’s Seminary, as well the writer’s conservative estimation of his earnings from preaching at Grace Community Church (senior pastor there), and their conservative estimate of his earnings from book royalties, and other speaking event earnings. That does not include the basically no-bid contract for the ministry videos and promotions that are sent to the company that his son-in-law is the sole owner of. John’s son-in-law, Kory Welch, earns between $740,000 to $775,000 per year, just on the John MacArthur ministry contracts.
Here is the first article with the short summary:
“ 2010 2011 John MacArthur's Income
$47,000 $103,000 (108% one-year increase) 40 hrs p/week at Masters College
$222,000 $402,000 (81% one-year increase) 20 hrs p/week at Grace to You
Add to the above John MacArthur's other personal income, speaker's fees, etc.:
$200,000 $200,000 conservative estimate of Grace Community Church salary
$200,000 $200,000 conservative estimate of royalties
$669,000 $905,000 TOTAL ANNUAL INCOME (projected)
Then consider this increase in the annual contract John (GTY) pays to his son-in-law:
$658,000 $694,000 Grace to You paid The Welch Group for video work
You can see the source here: http://www.incpu.org/concerns-on-JohnM.htm
I found this on wikipedia:
John MacArthur bibliography
This is a list of all published works of John F. MacArthur, an evangelical Bible expositor, pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church, and president of The Master's Seminary, in Sun Valley, California. In addition to more than 150 individual books and monographs, MacArthur has also contributed to more than 30 multi-author works.[1] His publications have been translated into more than two dozen languages, including ten or more titles each in French, Spanish, Romanian, German, Korean, Russian, Portuguese, and Italian.[2]
A 2001 Duke Divinity School survey asking pastors "...what three authors do you read most often...?" concluded that MacArthur was among the top twelve for Conservative Protestants.[3] A similar 2005 study by The Barna Group concluded that he was one of six authors "who had the greatest number of influential books listed by pastors."[4]
Let me just go ahead and add that Macarthur has what amounts to his own Bible in production, or
should I say Bibles because there is more than one version. I'm not opposed to people putting out
books on Scripture or adding commentary to it and producing a study Bible. What I am pointing out
here is that, per Macarthur's own words, we should look to the morality of the person and there sure does appear to be a whole lot of greed where Macarthur is concerned.
I'm also not pointing out Macarthur for any reason beyond the fact that it was his words I came across first. I wasn't looking for anything on him in particular and I have nothing against him except he seems to be greedy for ill gotten gain, turning Christ into merchandise and therefore making a false teacher of himself.
I have been told that John Macarthur plays golf every day so being the obedient 'christian' that I am
I set out to further get a feel for Macarthur's morality. I came across a site that claims to be a "John
Macarthur cult watch forum". You can find this forum here :
Let me just add in here real quick that I know nothing about these sites where this information is
coming from. I'm not bothering to take the time to verify everything I am coming across. Some of this
information could be wrong, please check the sources for yourself.
On the forum about Macarthur I found such statements as these:
Pastor John Coleman, who has spoken at The Masters College, stated years ago on his radio show that John Macarthur once advertized (and Pastor Coleman had seen the flyer) that pastors could play a round of golf with Macarthur, have lunch at his home, and then finish off with a private bible study for $2500.
This type of thing is actually not unusual. I remember when I was there they had a group called the "President's Circle," that was for people who donated at least $25,000 per year I believe. They got to meet with MacArthur for dinner, an awards ceremony, and Bible study inside the Penberthy Dining Room. This dining room is not open to the public and is not the one the students, staff, execs, and professors meet in. It is only opened for special occasions, like when a celebrity is there to meet with MacArthur and execs or for things like this. Many students don't even know this dining room is there, as it is behind a locked door on the ground floor of the student union building.
Many bury their head in the sand on this one and try to rationalize his lavish lifestyle by saying he gets paid a salary commensurate with a corporate president of a company with a similar size, not realizing fully what it means to make money as a pastor, college president, and writer getting royalties. He built a two story museum to himself in Santa Clarita called the "Legacy Room"...
Again, I cannot speak to how true these statements are. I am simply taking them at face value.
I see no reason to doubt them considering the income Macarthur pulls in off his 'preaching' and the fact that the numbers on that income do appear to be accurate. Why would any one man, particularly one proclaiming to be the elect, need such a kingdom of his own?
I am not speaking badly of John Macarthur out of any dislike for the man. I will even own up to owning one of his study Bibles, a commentary by him, and at least one other book he has written. That said, I have never even looked at the commentary, have not read the one book of his I know I have, although I did start it once, the Lord let me read maybe one chapter before I lost the book when it fell behind the computer desk where I think it still lives, and I rarely look at my Macarthur study Bible, which I bought years ago.
What I am doing is exactly what Macarthur himself said I should do...looking at the morality of the man. And what I'm seeing gives me no comfort in calling him a brother. If he is one of the elect, he is in grave error and is still a false teacher, according to 2 Peter 2:3. He is making merchandise of Christ, exploiting Christ and thereby exploiting the elect by taking their money for his insight into Scripture.
John Macarthur is only one of many, many 'preachers' in the world today. He cannot be held guilty for being a false teacher any more or less than the rest of them can be. Giving the gospel was never a profession in Scripture and we have many verses that show us where anyone giving the gospel is to be working, 2 Thessalonians comes to mind.
The sermon I stumbled across by Macarthur was the unfortunate, for Macarthur, first thing that popped up in my research so I turned my attention to him. I said before and will say again, I have nothing against Macarthur personally and would even recommend him to others under certain circumstances.
He is, however, a man that claims to see and understand Truth, so much so that he is so confident in his own understandings that he has plastered his name on the Holy Bible and added his own opinion to the entirety of holy writ.
He then proceeded to sell his Bible to others at an astonishing price. I believe I paid 75.00 for a paperback copy of Macarthur's study Bible four years ago. I was in error then. I would not pay that price for one today and in fact wouldn't even buy one now but I did buy one then and I paid a high price for it.
A quick look shows the paperback version of his bible to be selling online for about 25.00 today. I compared that price to the price of a paperback bible in the same version, ESV, and discovered that the Lord's word only commands the low price of 2.99 and both qualify for free shipping.
So...Macarthur's words are worth 22.00 more than Scripture is.
I realize there are more variables involved. One Bible might have higher quality paper or better binding, one might be bigger than the other. The publisher matters. So do so many other things that I don't even know to compare but there is no denying that Macarthur put his thoughts down on paper, added them below Scripture and he is selling it at a premium price.
If he can interpret Scripture that well...why can't he interpret that to make money off Christ is to make oneself a false teacher and that no elect person should have anything to do with you? Why can he not see that he should be working with his hands?
Again, I point to Macarthur only because I came across a study he did on this very same topic and his own words can be used against him to point to him as a false teacher. He does not hold up to the very scrutiny he suggests his listeners use.
He is far from the only one doing this. I am still inclined to give the professing believers the proverbial 'get out of jail free' card and not call them on this one. If they can't see that their salvation prayer is not in Scripture, how in the world are we to expect them to see that their 'preacher' is a false teacher?
But those that can see Truth...
Those people should be held to higher standards. In fact they should be held to the highest standards, those of Scripture, and anyone making so much as a cent off Christ's name or His word is making merchandise of Him, exploiting Him and His elect, and they are doing it out of their own greed.
Just as those shopping mall merchants hawk their wares to whoever will listen, greedy 'preachers' are hawking their wares to whoever they can. Tithes off 5000 people every Sunday service wasn't enough for Macarthur, a seminary wasn't enough, private donations aren't enough, one book wasn't enough...
The driving force of their enterprise to be teachers is not the love of the truth, it's not submission to the Lord... The driving force is money. The word pleonexia means uncontrolled greed. They're expert at it. They're in it to accumulate money. And watch them, they do... “they never cease from sin, they never submit to lordship, they entice unstable souls.” Why do they do that? “Because their hearts (boy, this is really graphic) are trained in (what?) greed." They're experts at it. They can con money out of anybody. They want money. They want money. They want your money. They want anybody's money.
What do they do? They move into the church and because of greed they exploit you, the word from which we get emporium, which means to carry on business, to make gain from. Here's the best translation, to get rich from. They want to get rich off you. That's it. They're driven by money, greed.
There again, in Macarthur's own words. Replace 'they' with his own name and see if his statement does not apply based on the information I gave above. And the sad thing is it's not just him. I have, yes, guilty again, books by R.C. Sproul...he put his comments in a Bible too and sold it as the Reformation Bible...Todd Friel, Spurgeon, Pink (although his books weren't published until after his death so I'm not so sure they apply), and others. All people that would claim to be Reformed or true Christians. They can see the Truth and yet they are like those shopping mall merchants, they may give excuses as to why they are writing this book or that, they may have a very good reason for adding their commentary to Scripture, but the reality is greed.
They want your money. We don't need another study Bible in the world, we don't need another book on what the elect is or the book of John. We don't need anything but Scripture.
A few commentaries or indepth writings on a certain subject are understandable and possibly, possibly, need just a few of those but our world has gone long past the point where that might have been the case. Now all these authors writing of Christ and His word are doing it for filthy lucre and nothing else.
That is the same reason 'preachers' perpetuate the lie that is tithing because if they don't they lose their money...er, your money. Just as the mall vendors lose your money if they can't convince you that you need their product.
This shopping mall mentality is alive and well in businesses that make their money off merchandise and it's alive and well in 'Christians' of all sorts that make merchandise of Christ and make their money off Him.
I've been deep into a study on the teachings of men and I would be remiss if I didn't point out here that though I have not mentioned that topic in this post, it is very much a part of that very topic. Just as new employees are trained when they get a job at the mall, new 'preachers' are taught the ways of being a 'preacher' and 'church'.
It a system of teaching that passes from one to another and perpetuates the cycle of the teachings of men that take precedence over Scripture these shopping mall 'preachers' are a big part of the problem. Even the ones that claim to give Truth pervert the Gospel by their very professions.
******************************************************************************
I am well aware that some people will say that Peter is just talking about those that are giving the false gospel or what is called damnable heresies but any faith, arminian and Calvinists, have both accused each other of giving a false gospel and their beliefs to be damnable heresies. Keep in mind that when Peter said this he was in the first century when denominations did not exist, nor did Arminianism, Calvinism, or what we refer to as the Reformed faith. There were professing believers of varying degrees, some truly elect and some just professing believers for the moment.
It does not take someone of the Spirit to discern that the Scriptures clearly show that the warning is that anyone trying to make a living off of Christ is in error whether or not they are a brother.
Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.[d]
13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 ESV
I know the young in Christ or those that just want to live by the system are going to point to where it says 'we have the right' but one must remember that Paul was an Apostle, he was working on earth to actually bring the Scriptures into the world, he was not simply preaching, he was creating the Bible. And even at that, Paul tells us repeatedly that he worked with his hands, that he provided for himself and those with him.
It does not matter what a person's theology is Paul warns that anyone making their living off of Christ they are in error and we should have nothing to do with them.
