Is Multi Level Marketing Christian?
It has been 10 years since the following letter was written.
I have not heard from my friend in all these years. I pray for
him and his family often and there is rarely a week that passes
which I don't think of him. He had a greater impact upon my life
than any other Christian man I have known in the 45 years I have
been walking with the Lord.
I often wonder if I shouldn't try and contact my friend but
I haven't for three reasons. First, over the years, I have
prayed for him dozens of times and never once has the Lord
encouraged me in my spirit to make contact with him. Secondly, I
have heard from others who know him. Of course, he did not
continue in the multi level program he came to sell me on many
years ago or at least this was my understanding from our mutual
friends who spoke with him in person. Thirdly, a friend did
speak with him years later and he casually asked if this family
had heard from me over the years. The reply was they had not
heard from me except for the terrible letter I had written them
criticizing them for their involvement with the MLN. I leave it
up to the reader to determine if my letter was mean spirited,
uncaring, unchristian, or in any way "terrible."
Finally, it is interesting to me how this letter, although
until recently was not on my own website, has traveled around the
world. In 1994 I logged on to the internet for the first time.
Before I even logged on to the internet, however, I had received
comments from someone who had read my letter. I had posted the
letter on my bulletin board system and I knew it had also been
distributed over a Christian computer network before the internet
was as popular as it is now. I had no idea, however, that the
letter was on the internet. When I wrote back to the first
person who had contacted me, they told me that my letter was on a
website in Australia. After putting my first website on the web,
I still did not put the letter to my friend on my own site
because it simply never came to mind to do so until recently.
Since 1994, however, I have heard from Christians all over the
world who have read my letter. All who emailed me thanked me for
making my letter available for others to read. Some said it
caused them to reconsider their involvement in multi level
businesses as Christians. Others thanked me for at least
pointing out the spiritual and Scriptural considerations before
becoming involve with MLN companies.
To this day, I know three people who were successful in
multi level networking and reached retirement age and now live
comfortably during their retirement years. All three of these
people are people who not only promoted the MLN program itself,
but were extremely sold on the products and daily use the
products. Unfortunately, I know dozens of others who went broke
trying to make MLN work for them. Yet, I am still not against
MLN businesses and even buy products through MLN companies. I am
less enthusiastic, as you will see, about participating in any
MLN as a business but I am not against Christians, who have
prayerfully considered the nature of the MLN they are in, being
involved with such businesses.
In closing, I miss my friend a great deal. Before I wrote
the below letter to my friend years ago, I called and discussed
my intentions with my pastor and one other pastor of another
church. I told them exactly what I was going to say and why.
They both encouraged me to send my letter but they both warned me
that I would probably lose the friendship and most likely would
never hear from my friend again. They were right. The man to
whom I wrote I consider to be one of the finest Christian men I
have ever known. He taught me more about the ministry than
anyone else and as his assistant pastor for about a year and a
half, I cannot think of anyone that influenced my life more than
he. I am glad we will see each other in Heaven even if we never
get to be friends again in this life.
Phil Scovell: May 2002
August 31, 1992
Hi Rayburn,
It sure was great to see you the other day and to catch up
on things. I was glad to hear how the Lord has been working in
your life and how he has blessed your family over the past few
years. I trust the Lord will continue to bless you, your family,
and the business in which you are now engaged.
Thanks for leaving us the tapes and though Sandy didn't get
time to listen to them, I did and found it interesting. I have,
of course, heard dozens of such presentations over the years.
When I was doing the high speed cassette duplication for eight
years, I duplicated every type of business presentation, multi-
level and networking seminar one could possibly think of and they
are, of course, all basically the same in nature. It's still
interesting, though, to hear how people get into such businesses.
Before we get together again, I wanted, however, to share
with you my thoughts on these things. Please keep in mind they
are strictly personal thoughts and in no way reflect on what God
has you doing right now except indirectly. Since I was willing
to hear what you had to say about the business you're now in, I
trust you'll extend me the same courtesy and read my letter
carefully. Please read it at least twice because by the time
you've reached the end the first time threw, you will have
forgotten what I said up front. I likewise called my pastor and
explained to him my intentions and asked his advice before
mailing my letter to you.
Some of what I'm about to share is very personal in nature
because of my own experience in such networking businesses. I
have been in several; some with Christians. I have seen many
people do well; even great. There are some aspects of such
networking businesses, on the other hand, which are, at the
worst, unscriptural, or at the very least nonchristian, as far as
their foundations are concerned. If, in my opinion, brethren are
able to see those things and deal with them accordingly, I
believe God will bless them in spite of the company inner
workings. Let me share with you a couple of examples of what I'm
talking about.
I was in a networking long distance telephone company with
several other Christian brethren both locally and around the
country. We all went into it together and worked the plan
together and after a few short months, it was going very well. I
was one of the most active people in Colorado for some time
working this program and was getting business nationally from
others as you are now. As I began sharing the plan with other
friends, I discovered not everything the company was telling us
was true. I called Dallas one day and spoke with the national
director of this organization and explained to him what I had
been finding. He flat out told me that when sharing the
information with potential clients, if they checked up on what I
said and found it to be unverifiable, I should basically lie and
say otherwise. That wasn't exactly how he put it but that's what
he meant. When I told him such would be misleading them, he said
he didn't think it was. I eventually dropped out of this
networking plan largely because it later proved not to be what
they said it was.
I could go on with a number of other experiences I have had
over the years with a number of networking programs in which I
have been enrolled. One of the best ones I got into had to do
with selling a monthly vitamin package deal. A few Christian
friends talked me into it and I thought it to be excellent. I
worked it faithfully, more than I had with anything else, and it
began to grow. The thing which made this multi-level outfit
different was the fact that every person in the system was a
paying monthly customer. Yes, they sold the idea that you could
make bunches of money but they made every person in the program
buy the vitamins each month which was $30. I signed up several
people and then the company, which was just a few months old,
began to change the rules from the top down. When the lower
level people expressed concern and tried to show them what would
happen if they continued their plans, things got messy. All my
Christian buddies bailed out of the program, as they had in the
long distance program in which we had joined together, and I was
left hanging. I have found that most people in multi-level
programs, and of course we both know that "networking" is the
latest buzz word used for multi-leveling, never permanently stay
in the program. I know of only a couple of families who have and
they were in the Shaklee vitamin programs. The reason, I
believe, for people dropping out is the idea that if you work
hard for awhile, you'll eventually have a steady income for the
rest of your life and then you'll be on easy street. This is do,
of course, to all the people under you doing their thing which
keeps you at the upper levels. It sounds great on the surface
and does in fact work unless, of course, people under you begin
to drop out of the program. Anyone who tells you such doesn't
happen is being less than honest. This is a subject which people
in networking always attempt to avoid in their selling of the
program to potential signees. People under you always drop out
and must be replaced or the whole system breaks down. Your
program may work somewhat differently but all networking programs
share similar characteristics.
I mentioned I felt that such networking programs were
unscriptural or, at the very least, nonchristian. Let me explain
why I feel that way.
First, all such multi-level and networking programs link
Christians in business with unsaved business partners. This is
why I believe when such networking programs are used, they should
be Christian in nature. There are now many such Christian
networking programs around I've discovered. No matter how you
view it, people above and below you in the structure are your
business partners. Those closest to you in the tree structure
are literally your business partners and if they are not saved, I
believe there is a Scriptural bases for considering such programs
as being unacceptable as Bible Believers. You even referred to
the Mexican Catholic man you mentioned as your "business
partner." That bothers me because the Scriptures clearly speak
to that relationship as being unholy. I have many Christian
friends in networking, however, and they feel completely
different about it than I and if in their own hearts and minds
they are able to justify the relationships as something less than
partnerships, then so be it. I, on the other hand, have a
Scriptural problem with it.
The thing which disturbs me the most, however, has nothing
to do with the Scriptural aspects of networking. The major focus
of all networking plans is on the selling of an idea rather than
a product. Oh sure, every program like this has a product (it is
against federal law to conduct business without the selling of a
product) but no body wants to discuss up front the product or
products. Why? Because they aren't selling a product; they're
selling the program (I.E. the idea). What is that idea? Wealth!
Materialism! Early retirement! Easy street! Rayburn, every
speaker on that tape you left me had a common theme. They were
all pretty well to do people who felt insecure. They all said
they were dissatisfied with their current life and life style.
They all confessed they were too busy and wanted to live without
having to work hard, and they all wanted more money. They even
attempted to disguise their greed by suggesting their real motive
was they wished to spend more time with their families. the
bottom line was, however, they wanted more money
and lots of it. Doesn't that strike you as odd? Here are
wealthy people, at least by our standards, who all said money
hadn't satisfied them but now that they were making more money
than ever before, through this new program, which they never
wanted to identify by name, they were now satisfied and had found
self fulfillment. That philosophy alone should send up a warning
flag to any Christian considering their appeal to get into their
program. The bases for such a program is by itself unscriptural.
No where in God's Word is there room for such philosophy and yet
every time you give out one of those tapes, you are promoting, as
a Christian, that philosophy yourself. Now, I know that you
personally do not ascribe to that belief but you are in fact
promoting it. You even, admitted yourself that you are
attempting to achieve that life style by saying that within
another year or so, you'll be able to basically retire
financially and start another church or go fulltime in another
ministry work without that work supporting you. It is that
philosophy alone which is the most detrimental to the Christian.
God doesn't call millionaires to pastor
because they have money; He calls those who seek Him and are
willing to follow Him.
Closely connected with this is Zig Zeiggler's philosophy of
"Help enough people get what they want and you'll get what you
want." Though that philosophy sounds good and though Zig
Zeiggler is a born again Christian, the bases of that philosophy
is wrong; unless, of course, what "they" want is what God wants
for them. In principle I agree with Zig's statement but in
practice, when applied in a networking plan, what we are really
helping people get is wealth. Even that isn't wrong in and of
itself but such a philosophy as the reason for living is
certainly mundane and places money at the center of one's life.
Even helping Christians achieve this goal for the purpose of
helping God out with their vast amounts of accumulated monies
doesn't change the philosophy; it's still wrong. God doesn't
need our money. I've enclosed a short little article I've
written on what God has taught me over the years on money and
stewardship. Additionally, I'm not surprised at all that you've
been able to involve lots of Pentecostals and Charismatics in
this program. They are the most gullible people in the world and
are easily misled because they are used to believing first and
checking up on it later. How else do you think Jim Bakker and
Jim Swaggart made their hundreds of millions of dollars in their
ministries each year.
When I decided to stop trying to travel and hold revivals
back in early 1980, I finally thought it best for me to get into
cassette duplicating. God really blessed me over eight years and
in fact, for two years, after getting an SBA loan, things were
unbelievable. I had two incoming 800 toll free lines, I was
advertising in national Christian publications, I was doing about
60,000 cassettes a year, and I had even hired two part time
employees. I was making more money than I ever had in my life.
I was so happy with how the Lord had blessed me yet I felt
something was abnormal about my business. I began praying on a
daily bases for wisdom. It was during these weeks and months of
prayer concerning my business that God began to speak to me about
the gift of tongues. I had been, of course, filled with the
Spirit three years earlier but because I did not believe in the
gift of tongues, I never received the gift. Though I was given
the gift of tongues during this time, my business went belly up a
few months later. I filed for bankruptcy in late 1987. It took
a long time for me to understand how things could have been going
so well for me financially and then all of the sudden the bottom
dropped out. I know now my philosophy was wrong. I got into the
cassette duplicating business, and I confessed it often to others
as we visited, to make money so I could eventually be financially
self supporting. With my business largely mail order, I could
live anywhere and still make good money. In this way I could
move to any little town any where and pastor a church without
support. I figured I would get a church to pastor even if they
could not pay me. In other words, I was buying my way into the
ministry. Were my motives wrong? Of course not. My methods,
however, were unscriptural and God wasn't obligated to honor my
work. I was wrong, my philosophy was wrong, and I paid dearly
for my mistake.
First of all, Rayburn, I don't want you to misunderstand
anything I've said so far. I know exactly how you feel
concerning finances and the like. The ministry is financially
sacrificial when it comes to money. You and your family have
sacrificed your very lives in the ministry by your faithfulness
and I want you to know the God will honor that faithfulness in
whatever you do with the rest of your life. Don't ever let
anyone tell you differently.
Please understand also that I am not disappointed in your
interest in this networking plan. There is absolutely nothing
wrong with wanting to make good money, even lots of money, in
order to support your family and to do things to help out other
ministries. We must never lose sight, however, of the fact that
God doesn't need our money and He isn't impressed with how much
money we make and give to Him for any reason. If we can work a
program such as the one you are in with these things kept in
perspective, I have no problem with it though I personally do not
believe in networking programs generally and would never again
participate in one unless I was sold on the product. Even then,
there would be many other things I would first consider before
signing up. Compare this with the tape you left me hear and
you'll see they all were sold on the plan/idea/program; not the
product. In fact, they never once mentioned the product. Why?
The product is available to justify the program. Their main
interest is money and the plan.
I trust you will read this letter a second time. I honestly
believe these things I have said come from my personal
experiences in networking programs; both personally and with
those I know who are Christians. In fact, the church I pastored
for a year was started by a man who turned his ministry over to
me because he went into networking. The company was represented
by hundreds of commercial companies selling products through this
networking program which they called Unamax. They, too, had over
15,000 products from which to buy. They, too, had tapes of rich
people who had joined the program. My pastor friend, who later
turned his church ministry over to me, was making over $3,000 a
month and he had done that in less than six months. He signed up
half the church before resigning, too. He even got one of my
best friends so caught up in it that my friend quit his thirteen
year King Sooper's job and went full time into multi-level and
networking programs. He went broke in a few months and hasn't
been steadily employed now for over three years. I have many
friends who have put their whole life into networking and today
have nothing to show for it. Some of them were super sales
people, too. I believe the bases for these Christians not making
the plan work is that the plan itself is worldly and
materialistic in nature. From what little you told me about this
program, it sounds so much like Unamax I was beginning to wonder
if it was that same organization under another name and title.
Though I am in no way suggesting these things will happen to you,
I trust you will consider what I'm saying as at least worthy of
your prayers.
By the way, the pastor I said turned his church over to me
also signed up our church secretary and her family. They, along
with others in the church fellowship, began traveling around the
country together holding meetings in different cities. What
happened? The pastor spent so much time with his former church
secretary that they began sleeping together, divorced their
mates, and moved in together. The pastor had five kids and the
secretary had three children; one was a six month old infant
which she cheerfully turned over to her husband for custody. At
the risk of sounding dramatic Rayburn, what you're in is
dangerous to the very fiber of a Christian's relationship with
God. Not because you're making money but because the people with
which you work are caught up with money and wealth and easy
living. I personally do not see how a Christian can successfully
negotiate Christian and Biblical and moral principles by
saturating their minds with that mundane and ungodly philosophy
and I'm asking you to stop and think about what you are in.
As I've typed this letter and tried to put my feelings into
logical patterns, I've felt in my heart that my letter won't have
any effect. After all, you may reason, it's working! It may be
working but the foundation isn't based upon Christian morality
and that's what bothers me.
There are many other things which could perhaps be said but
I'm sure what I've said won't touch you personally. Sandy
suggested I forget saying anything and just let it go. I,
however, have felt the need to at least share my feelings with
you because I'm concerned over what could happen. If you had
come to me and said you and a Christian friend borrowed a half a
million dollars and purchased an old copper mind and because the
mine was producing a million a year and you and your partner were
making $100,000 each, I would have been thrilled. If you then
tried to sell me stocks in order to expand your operations, I
would have purchased all I could afford. I have no qualms about
Christians making lots of money. In fact, one of my favorite
preachers is a farmer in Arkansas. He nearly supports his entire
ministry through the buying and selling of properties. I am not
apposed to that and in fact admire him. I am not apposed to you
doing the same thing and later returning to the ministry with
your own support. The motives for such a desire, however, is
what bothers me. I believe you'll find it impossible Rayburn to
return to the ministry if you maintain this same philosophy,
working with people who hammer this philosophy, and selling this
philosophy to others; especially to other Christians.
I wouldn't care if you went into a business and never
returned to the ministry. I would be honored, on the other hand,
if some day I were able to say, "Yes, I know Rayburn Cox...I
even new him before he was a millionaire." There is nothing
wrong with your desires; in fact, they are honorable before the
Lord. I'm asking you to simply consider how you are going about
it without the money and the hype and glamor in front of you by
those who only want you involved in their idea so they can make
more money. Be honest Rayburn. The philosophy is "Help me get
rich and you'll get rich, too."
As I close my letter, I'm trying to guess how you will
respond. I'm guessing, because of what I've said, I won't hear
from you again for some time; maybe you'll choose never to talk
with me again. That makes me sad. You mentioned how other
Christians whom you had not seen for years became upset when you
visited them only to discover they were being visited because you
wanted to sell them on something. I know how they feel but I'm
not so sensitive that I felt that way. Like Sandy said, we're
just glad you came to visit no matter the reason. I do
understand how those people feel however. They probably wonder
if you ever would have contacted them if you hadn't gotten caught
up into this business.
Then, too, I've thought that you may get really angry and
tell me how wrong I am in assessing your motives. I state again,
however, I am not questioning your motives and in fact think your
motives are honest and admirable. How could it be wrong for any
man to want to support his family in the best way he could and to
also put lots of money into God's work on earth. Those are good
motives and honorable before God. If the foundation is wrong,
however, we should reconsider. I wonder if you have gone to any
brethren you really trust, set this before them, and asked them
if they saw anything wrong with the program before you gave
yourself to it? I know you've gone to others but not for their
honest opinion and advice; you went to sell them. Did you at any
time go to two or three men of God and show them the complete
program and ask if they had any advice? I also would be
surprised if Brother Todd would be in agreement if he had an
understanding of the way this networking system works.
Many years ago, as a teenager, I wrote a letter to a
Christian friend in Iowa. We had grown up together in a Baptist
church. Though I was living in Nebraska, we kept in touch. I
had allowed my Christian life to drift into something less than
honorable to God and wrote him a letter filled with immorality
concerning a girl we both knew. To my amazement, he wrote back
and chastised me for my letter and told me I was totally out of
line and to get my Christian act together. Though I was stunned
by his letter, I respected him for his stand and his courage to
warn me of my ways. Only a friend, I knew, could have been
courageous enough to have written that letter to me. I trust,
though I'm not comparing you to a Christian backslider, you'll
consider my letter in the spirit in which it was written.
Finally, I've considered the possibility that you'll just
consider me a jerk and ignore anything and everything I've said.
I hope you won't consider me anything less than your friend but
that, too, is a possibility that has crossed my mind. The one
thing which I don't believe will happen is that you will take my
remarks seriously. I know you won't give up what your doing
because of the results and satisfaction you've gotten from it.
The money, the people you've meant, The trips you've taken to
Mexico, the traveling from one end of the country to the other
and the exciting meetings you've been to are all pretty difficult
to overlook. I will pray for you, however, that God will
continue to lead you in the direction He wants. You are one of
the most Godly pastors I've ever known. You mean more to me than
nearly any man with which I've ever worked. You are one of the
greatest soul winners I've ever had the privilege of seeing in
action. None of these feelings I have will ever change no matter
what and where you go in life Rayburn. I pray, however, you will
consider what I've said. Forgive me if you think I'm being too
personal and trying to tell you how to live your life; that's not
my intention. The reason I said nothing while you were here in
Denver was out of respect for you and to hear you out. Then,
too, I felt what you did was none of my business. It still is
none of my business but as one of your brethren, I felt I had no
choice but to ask you to at least think about what I have to say.
My love for you as a brother in Christ, however, over rules any
of my other considerations for grounds not to write this letter.
I would have had a difficult time living with myself if I didn't
express these thoughts. I know you didn't ask for them but if I
didn't respect you and love you as my brother, I wouldn't have
taken two days and many hours to write this long letter.
I am not saying any of these things out of spiritual piety.
In fact, I often feel I have failed in the ministry. I have no
church, as do you, to point to and say, "See, that's what I did
for the Lord." The only church I ever pastored eventually folded
though we did so oweing money to no one. I don't feel more
spiritual than you or anyone else and this letter was not written
with that attitude even if you think otherwise. I'm not telling
you how to live your life; I'm telling you that as a Christian,
some networking programs violate Biblical principles and morals.
Since you've lived your entire life by the Scriptures, I'm simply
requesting you examine the Scriptures in relationship to this
business. I would be disappointed in you if you saw something in
my life you felt cut the grain of Scripture and didn't tell me.
I hope you'll believe that I am attempting to do the same now.
I pray God's best for you Rayburn and if you remain in the
program you are currently in, I'll think no less of you. I feel
honored that you even thought of me and my family as part of what
you are doing and I mean that sincerely. I trust it will always
be so.
Complete In Him,
Phil Scovell
Go To HOME: The Zeneith Tube Website: RedWhiteAndBlue.org