Yes, I want to jump the bandwagon of AFA’s decision to part ways with Alistair Begg. Obviously, the issue at hand is a biblical, moral issue, whereby both parties try to find biblical grounds for what they’ve said (Alistair Begg) and what they’ve done (AFA).
While I’m going to throw you a curveball in the rest of this article, please bear with me. By the way, I will be biased. Also, if you don’t want to read this article, you can just skip to the last three paragraphs.
Even though I could’ve used other ministries that are part of AFR’s lineup as an illustration, I’ve chosen to use David Jeremiah’s Turning Point Ministries, because I did reach out to them by email on July 29th, 2023.
Here’s the issue at hand: if David Jeremiah had an opportunity to distribute 3,333 Bibles to his persecuted brothers and sisters, without any cost or effort on his part, should he do so? And, if he doesn’t do so, should AFA drop his ministry from its lineup?
Obviously, to either distribute 3,333 Bibles to one’s persecuted brothers and sisters, or to not distribute 3,333 Bibles to one’s persecuted brothers and sisters is certainly a biblical, moral issue, especially when it’s without any cost or effort on his part.
Here’s the background: from 2013-2023, AmazonSmile generated over $400,000,000 to U.S. charities, which included numerous churches and ministries. One of those ministries was Turning Point Ministries. In other words: David Jeremiah wasn’t opposed to gain free money by way of an affiliate program.
To go straight to the point (after some preliminaries): according to David Jeremiah’s website, “every morning, over 1 million people receive our e-devotional.” What if David Jeremiah were to use that God-given one-million-resource as part of an affiliate program that consists of classic Christian books?
For example, if only 1% of his 1,000,000 email subscribers were to purchase one of the $4.00 classic Christian book deals, he would distribute 3,333 Bibles to his persecuted brothers and sisters, without any cost or effort on his part.
While I understand that his email subscribers signed up for his devotionals, I’m sure that he could genuinely recommend one of the classic Christian book deals, one that he knows will be a blessing to his subscribers. Actually, should he be more concerned about the possible thoughts of his email subscribers, or the possibility of providing 3,333 Bibles to his persecuted brothers and sisters?
Personally (but I am biased), I believe that a 1% participation is a very low number, especially if he were to encourage his subscribers to participate in this Bible fundraiser. A 5% participation would enable him to distribute over 16,500 Bibles.
So, the moral issue is as follows: if David Jeremiah has a legitimate opportunity to distribute 3,333 Bibles to his persecuted brothers and sisters, without any cost or effort on his part, should he do so? By the way, I don’t question all the good that he has done and is doing. Not at all! This is a free, simple, and easy opportunity to help more Christians, whereby he can provide 3,333 persecuted Christians with their first Bible, just by using his God-given influence.
To throw you another curveball: if it was found out that David Jeremiah had recently defrauded his ministry from $20,000, the likelihood that he would be pressured to step down would be quite high. Most likely, AFA would have to consider whether or not they would drop him from their lineup.
What if, instead, he “defrauded” 3,333 persecuted Christians from their first Bible. Would that cause an uproar? It’s not only what we’ve done; it’s also what we could’ve done but didn’t do, especially when it’s as easy and as simple as one email or one social media share. Obviously, the same applies to the complete lineup of ministries on American Family Radio.
Actually, what about AFR themselves? They have 97,000 Facebook followers. What if they signed up as an affiliate and shared one of the $4.00 classic Christian book deals with their audience? If 1% were to participate, they would be able to distribute 323 Bibles to their persecuted brother and sisters, without any cost or effort on their part.
A firefighter would be severely reprimanded, put on leave, or even fired if he had an easy and simple opportunity to rescue the sixth child but, instead, neglected to do so and boasted on how he had rescued five children from a home that was about to collapse. What about spiritual leaders and their opportunities to reach and help more people?
To all who disagree with Alistair Begg’s response to the grandmother, including those who called him to repent and step down from ministry, I’m going to assume that you will eagerly share this Bible fundraiser for your persecuted brothers and sisters on your social media. The Bible clearly states: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10).
Obviously, sharing a Bible fundraiser for your persecuted brothers and sisters is an excellent opportunity and a good thing, not even mentioning the encouragement that Christians will receive through these classic Christian books. Ultimately, if your share only resulted in the distribution of one Bible to one of your persecuted brothers or sisters, that would be more than worth it, right?
For those who disagree with Alistair Begg’s response and don’t want to share this Bible fundraiser on their social media, you may want to delete your comments about him. It’s one thing to give your reasons about whether or not a Christian should attend the marriage of their grandson, it’s quite another thing to willfully, knowingly, and purposely refuse to help your persecuted brothers and sisters, especially when you have a free, simple, and easy opportunity to do so.
In summary: if you, as a Christian, could easily and freely help distribute Bibles to your persecuted brothers and sisters, by way of creating awareness for a Bible fundraiser, would you do so? If not, are you not willfully rejecting plain Scriptural directives, which is to love your neighbor and show compassion to those who are in need?
Or as Alistair Begg shared in his recent message: we may have a far greater “inclination toward Pharisaism” than we may realize. Please delete your comments about him if you don’t want to share a Bible fundraiser on behalf of your persecuted brothers and sisters.
Without question, if you were a persecuted Christian without a Bible, you would want Christians in the West to help distribute Bibles to the persecuted church by way of creating awareness, which is without any cost or effort on your part. Needless to say, to help or not to help your persecuted brothers and sisters is certainly a biblical, moral issue, right? For some additional thoughts: please visit www.TheChristianExperiment.com.