And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (II Peter 2:2-3)

Undoubtedly, anyone and everyone who has followed the history of the Christian institutional ministries in the last twenty-five years, as presented on radio, television, and through publishing houses, has seen a very dangerous trend. Christianity is becoming a market, not a ministry. Of course, this observation has exceptions, and there are dangers in all of our ministries. In the field of Christian music, this danger is even greater than in any other.

Having made a complete exodus from pentecostalism, I have come to realize even more so that the apostasy of the Charismatics really began in a rather peculiar manner shortly after World War II. The change from an old-fashioned pentecostalism of modesty and holiness to modern charismatism with all of its worldliness and materialism came about with an initial catalyst of electing businessmen to church boards and institutions. The former presupposition of building the church through a spiritual ministry became, more and more, one of building a church of prosperity, health, and materialism. Prosperity theology became synonymous with neo-pentecostalism. Of course, this ultimately led to a change in doctrine, too. When the orthopraxy of a people changes from a spiritual to a materialistic motive, the orthodoxy then must change.

Back through history, there has been a similar pattern, whether in the sale of indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church or in the backsliding publishing houses in Protestantism that sought pragmatic success of business. Many of the publishing houses were started by Christians.

But in this present time, the charismatic catalyst is also paralleled with the methodology of the neo-evangelical. These dangers also are deepened when a good ministry, a fundamental ministry, a separatist ministry moves away from its Biblical moorings to go "where the fish are." More and more, we are hearing it openly stated that we must spend more to reach more to save more souls. I have often wondered how Noah did it without modern inventions, communications, radio, or television. His base was a boat; it sounds so horizontally simple to me. More and more, the institutional church reminds me of a huge network of machinery functioning like "workaholics," bringing nervous breakdowns and heart attacks among its most prominent administrators. Whenever a church has learned to function sufficiently within its own powers, without the urgency of the Holy Spirit, then that church becomes an institutional church. It becomes a market, not a ministry.

On the other hand, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, by its original pattern of Jesus and His Twelve, was an uncomplicated organism. With the presence of Judas, it was not perfect; with the presence of the other eleven, it was not always strong. But I do believe it was spiritually efficient—a ministry, not a market.

Some may say of those who plead for faith, thrift, prayer, Scripture, and the Holy Spirit that they are not alive, progressive, successful, or zealous for souls. I cannot speak for everyone, but I must witness for my own ministry. We have fifty acres of land, eleven buildings, a mobile home park, fifty-four ordained ministers and students from thirty states and eleven foreign countries in our history. This has taken twenty-five hard-working years. We are still unpretentious. Some have spoken of the Foundations Ministries as "thrift with style." We have undertaken one of the most far-reaching facilities we have ever envisioned: a 45,000 square-foot, new divinity facility, towers, and sanctuary. I am delightfully as busy as before, but most of it is in Bible study and prayer and writing. I have reached my full capacity. My coworkers have reached about the same capacity. We have never wanted more than five hundred college students, not because we think small, but because we cannot achieve our purpose of dealing individually and spiritually with the character and counsel needed through the Word of God in our time.

A general superintendent of a denomination once told me that he thought my preaching was Biblically sound and true. However, he also followed that, in our time, people will not give money to support Biblical ministries and you have to preach with the people's financial support in mind. "You can only reach a large number of people if you have a lot of money," he added.

I responded with tears, "But is there not a God Who is able to provide support for a Biblical ministry?"

He said, "Yes, that's what we preach, but it does not work out quite like that at all. You must preach so that material success will result from the people. You must be pragmatic about it."

I have thought much about this matter and very often; I have prayed much about it, too. I must acknowledge that only God gave us our ministry—through people who loved the Truth. It has not succeeded because I was an unusual administrator. We must be in existence because we are a ministry, not a market. There are some things we must not borrow monies for in our ministry. In the main, it is my opinion that except for building and properties which stand for themselves, we must plan to pay the whole bill, so we may, if necessary, distribute publications as freely and as inexpensively as possible. God is not displeased with a small work, a low-key financial plan, a modest investment. I must say this in light of Foundations Ministries' having come from a $26,000 annual budget to almost $1 million in the annual operation over twenty-five years.

However, with all of these blessings, I do not believe we had to reach this modest plateau to please God; and I am very doubtful that we now please Him more than we did the first day we came out into this nut-grass, potato field back in April of 1974, when the first purchase towards a Bible Church, College, and Academy was initiated. In reality, I am more fearful now of my own frailties and failures in the preciousness of God's grace than I seemed to be when we began. I know that I am not a greater man now than before, since we have accomplished something in our ministry. Frankly, I have made many human mistakes during the time of accomplishment. However, I do believe I am a more thankful man and that I magnify the grace of God more.

We must not follow "where the fish are"; we must follow "where the Lord's Word leads."

In these days when many radio and so-called Christian television networks, book and music publishing houses are compromising with the philosophy of this age, we need to consider placing a statute of limitations on an increased ministry. There is but so much that we can pray and preach about. Only what is done for Christ will last. We must, therefore, restrict ourselves to a ministry, but never a market.