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A Disturbing Trend
- 08/05/06
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It was announced on Thursday that Multnomah Publishers has been purchased by Random House, Inc. In a press release, Random House says:
The Oregon-based Multnomah publishes more than 100 new titles annually by such popular authors as Randy Alcorn, Shaunti Feldhahn, Robin Jones Gunn, and Andy Stanley. Its active backlist of more than 600 works of fiction and nonfiction includes classic books of faith by Dr. James Dobson, Francine Rivers, and Joshua Harris, and THE PRAYER OF JABEZ by Bruce Wilkinson, the eight-million-copy #1 New York Times bestseller and the bestselling book published in the U.S. in 2001.Multnomah will become Random House, Inc.s second evangelical Christian imprint, following the creation of WaterBrook Press in 1996. WaterBrook is an editorially autonomous division of Random Houses Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group. Multnomah will be integrated operationally with WaterBrook, relocating to WaterBrooks offices in Colorado Springs. Together they will form the new WaterBrook Multnomah division within Doubleday Broadway, with each imprint maintaining its distinct editorial identity.
This is further evidence of a disturbing trend in Christian publishing in which we see secular companies purchasing and assimilating Christian imprints. As the press release indicates, Random House now has two Christian imprints, Multnomah and WaterBrook Press. Similarly, Zondervan was recently purchased by Harper Collins. The Christian music industry has seen similar patterns. This proves that Christian products, whether books, music or trinkets, are becoming an increasingly lucrative market and one that is ripe for exploitation by big companies.
The acquisition of Multnomah makes for some strange dynamics. For instance, books like The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney and Stop Dating the Church by Josh Harris, both gospel-centered books written by godly, gospel-focused men, are published by a gospel-free secular company. It is fair to ask how this will impact the company’s long-term dedication to these books and to the authors. And I wonder how these authors and others will regard the company now that it is in new hands. The time may soon be coming when many of the most popular versions of the Bible are owned and printed by non-Christian companies. We an only guess what the ramifications of such a situation might be.
In recent months I have heard any number of stories about publishers and their sometimes shocking attitudes toward their authors and books. Too often it seems publishers, and big publishers in particular, are driven by the bottom line more than anything else. There are exceptions, of course, and many publishers (especially smaller ones) have maintained their integrity. P&R Publishing, Crossway, Evangelical Press and others seem to truly desire to honor God through the business of publishing books. But too many others have become captives to the bottom line, publishing books primarily on the basis of what will sell the most copies. And in an age when almost anything can pass for “Christian,” these popular books often bear little resemblance to the Christianity of the Bible. It is little wonder that ministries like Ligonier have created their own small publishing branches. With increasing ease of distribution in today’s world and Sproul’s name to provide credibility, this publishing venture may just succeed. I’m sure many other ministries will follow suit.
Can Sovereign Grace Books or Grace To You Publishing be far behind?
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
Releasing on April 1, The Next
Published in 2008, this book
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This review of the bestselling
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Comments (68)
This is a thoughtful post, Tim, but you forgot one important name: the Banner of Truth trust!!! I have been seriously blessed by their ministry of re-publishing classic Biblical Christian books. I pray that God will bless Banner and raise up many other Gospel-centered publishing companies to counteract this unsettling trend.
Can Sovereign Grace Books or Grace To You Publishing be far behind?
I hope not! It is only right that Christians maintain control of all aspects of their ministries.
Tim,
This is a very disturbing picture. It stabs at the heart of Christian literature and the motivation behind publishing.
I think it is imperative that as Christians, we support those who produce books that edify Christ and not simply tickle our ears.
Conversely, I think that when companies like Amazon.com and secular publishers begin to control production and distribution, we are being set up for a gradual infiltration of heretical teachings into our most popular Bible teachers.
Therefore, look before you buy and consider who you are supporting rather than simply finding the lowest cost supplier.
I was thinking to myself … I wonder if anybody else is going to misunderstand Tim’s last sentence, like I did. You see, I skimmed your second last paragraph and so didn’t read in context. Then I click on the comments and sure enough someone else did misread you too. I don’t feel so bad now.
The publishing industry has such margins that a publisher has to publish books that sell thousands in order to keep sales growing. That is the reason publishing companies will abandon their commitment to publishing as being a ministry to the church and become simply publishing companies.
We are about to begin one of those small publishing ministries here in the USA starting in September. Matthias Media (publishers of Two Ways to Live evangelism resources) has been faithfully producing gospel-centered resources in Australia and the UK for years now. Those who know of Matthias Media in America have been saying what Tim said above for many years and thus encouraged us to begin a US-based ministry. We chose deliberately not to list on Amazon.com with the hope that people will have the same attitude as Jim’s (above) toward those who are trying to remain faithful.
Thanks for bringing this to light Tim….
“It is only right that Christians maintain control of all aspects of their ministries.” - This is one area where independent publishing, under the accountability of the local church, has its advantages.
My how proof is so subjective these days.
Marty,
Drop me a line with your info on this new venture.
God bless,Jim
Well I got to say that I am sorry to see this happen but my natural cynicism jumps in and I have to say that unless the owners of Multnomah didn’t want to sell the company it wouldn’t have happened. Obviously the owners mindset is on something other than ministry.
Could it be that the present owners of Christian publishing houses do not possess the same burden as did the founders of these publishing houses? Nor the same worldview…
Bruce Wilkinson’s book coming out of Multnomah was the death knell for this endeavor and may truly reflect the condition of the owners and operators of Mulnomah.
Marketability—-target audiences——demographics——seem to be the bottom line in most “Christian” endeavors these days.
I have a question - what is wrong with using Amazon.com if I only buy books that I know are published by truly Christian publishers? Didn’t Amazon have to buy them from them? or from someone who did originally? and if so, would this not be supporting them? thanks!
A secular publishing company can’t just swallow up a Christian publisher unless that company’s owner or stockholders make a decision to place profit above publishing truth.
Tim-
Great post, and this is that one issue that has really, really worried me as I’ve seen “Christianity” become the newest big market fad. We should have seen it coming when the “Religious Right” ‘coopted’ the 2004 elections.
Methinks that David C. Kanz is dead on, too.
Tim,
As a small-time author, I echo your concerns regarding the publishing community in general. I would add Christian Focus Publishers to your list of publishers that are retaining doctrinal fidelity and seeking primarily to spread the glory of God’s name through their books.
Alex
Moosiecat,
The reason you can buy books so cheap at Amazon.com is because they a) purchase them at deeply discounted prices and b) economies of scale . Amazon is a middleman.
These discounts are sometimes greater than retailers get (Christians bookstores). So, the profit on a book sold through Amazon (and other similar stores) is minimal for the publisher.
Still, publishers know they must go to Amazon in order to allow their books to have full exposure. To make up for the profit lost in going through a middleman, the publisher is relying upon volume of sales.
Unfortunately, by selling faithful evangelical books, a publisher has already cut their market to a minimum and sales numbers generally don’t make up for the discounting.
This is why many publishers have gone astray - they need to bring to market books that sell. Those those books usually aren’t faithful books but rather books in the mold of 2 Timothy 4:3
So, yes, you are supporting the the publishers by purchasing them through Amazon. But, they are losing the cost of the middleman. You are supporting the middleman almost as much as the publisher. For a small publisher, that money is an even greater deficit to make up. Money is needed to fund the development of resources.
It used to be that you could not purchase direct from a publisher but that has changed mostly. So, if you purchase direct from the publisher you will be giving more of your money to them and not to the middleman.
There is nothing wrong with Amazon or with wanting to purchase at the lowest price. However, it does cut the profit a publisher makes.
Tim: You mentioned being shocked at how many Christian publishers are becoming more driven by the bottom line. I agree it’s unfortunate when that’s true about a publisher—it shouldn’t be the case. However, Marty is correct—the profit margins in publishing are so unbelievably small that a publisher DOES have to make sure large numbers of books sell in order to stay afloat. The great expense of publishing a book nowadays makes it very, very difficult to justify publishing and keeping in stock a book that sells in small quantities—unless, of course, you’re able to offset that in other ways (keep you company very small, remain a nonprofit ministry that can ask for donations, etc.).
What I think is even more shocking than the bottom-line problem is the magnitude of theological ignorance among those who head Christian publishing houses. Some of the CEOs and presidents lack the discernment necessary to publish solidly biblical books. The gatekeepers to the Christian reading community are too careless about whom they allow to feed the sheep.
Dear Tim:
Thank you for this post. As you know, this is one of the reasons I left the CCM Industry and published the 107 THESES, A Call for Reformation for Contemporary Christian Music. This has been going on for years.
Firstly, make no mistake, money is the only consideration here. One CCM record executive told me after I left his company and had recorded several records for him, when selling his label to a large multi-national conglomerate, that he could take the $40,000,000 and repent later. Very tragic.
Secondly, the biblical principles being violated here is found in 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1 - Paul warns against being unequally yoked with nonbelievers in any spiritually ministry or enterprise.
Thirdly, this will only change when all of the current headline authors, pastors, radio personalities, speakers, etc. will leave these unequally yoked entities and say no more. Integrity is greater than profits.
Unfortunately, there is not one evangelical leader currently that is willing to do this—regardless of their theological convictions and standing. Most of these men are great voices for the truth of the gospel, but when it comes to even them leaving these companies and giving up thousands and sometimes millions of dollars—they lack the courage.
Lastly, the justification for many staying with these secularly purchased publishers is this: “as long as they don’t tell me what to say, I’ll stay with them.” Sounds noble,,, right? Wrong. Paul never gives that loophole in the Scriptures. The message is important, but so are the methods—they are not a-moral.
I heard of this deal taking place several months ago—it is sad that it came to fruitition.
It’s sad that men of God are willing to stand against Open Theism, NPP, Socinianism, Sabellianism, Pragmatism, Political Activism, etc. but they won’t stand against that which affects their bottom line. We cannot serve both “God and Mammon,” can we?
How can we call people to abandon it all for the sake of the call, and then be bound with nonbelievers in Christian music and publishing? It is absolutely impossible.
Thank you again Tim for posting this…Steve2 Cor. 4:5-7
Steve Camp,
I understand you have deep practical experience in this area of which I do not, but I am just trying to have you explain what you state is the biblical nature of your judgments. I have no dog in this fight, but you seem to be making the argument that any evangelical writer or artist who consciously joins such an “unequally yoked” organization (any publishing or recording business whose ownership or mgmt at the top is not controlled by Christians) is in violation of Scripture, ergo in sin.
First, do you truly intend to make such a sweeping statement which your post could be easily read to be saying? Second, if not, where do you draw the line exactly of where you can make a judgment about the intrinsic sinful nature of some business or ministry transaction with nonchristians, despite being unable yourself to see the motive of any individual’s heart? Do you go so far as saying any evangelical Christian who would now join or work for Multnomah as an executive or agree to have a secular publishing firm print and publish their finished work, which in various cases can occur without editorial change, is per se in sin?
If you can not tell us where the line or lines are, and are merely saying “it’s always a question of the individual’s motive or heart and the actual nature of the business relationship for which you need to get into the details, but we need to be very careful here”, then I should think you need to be more careful about what sounds to me like making judgments where Scripture does not warrant you to be encouraging us to be so broadly condemning and creating rules Scripture does not. Especially as you go more public with your opinion, you are influencing others to make similar judgments about a multitude of people in a multitude of different circumstances which itself can lead to wrong judgments and divisiveness, unnecessary economic harm to employees and writer/artists who feel a need to accomodate a newly raised evangelical cultural standard rule. I agree wholeheartedly with your informed conern for all Christians to consider as a biblical principle, not as a rule prohibiting writers and musicians to have relationships with nonchristians who are not changing the content of their ministry.
Steve (Camp) and Tim - we know that bloggers have a pretty bit audience (some of us way, way smaller - or bigger - than others).
Is there a way that we (bloggers) can independently do book and/or movie reviews inside of a NETWORK of Christian bloggers, referring directly to publishers? I know that (when I can) I refer readers to Baker Book House to purchase, but if we could set up a network that would support many different publishers - maybe a non-profit version of Amazon?
I know that (I think) is sort of what you’re doing, Tim. But if we had a network of bloggers that could all point to the same sources, that would be very cool.
steveprostWe all have PhD’s in rationalizing our behavior don’t we? I know I do. I could pragmatically try to justify staying in an industry that now the world has bought up. But Scripture doesn’t permit that partnership with nonbelievers when it comes to ministry—it is forbidden. The issue is not personal motive, but biblical standards being honored.
This is not a call to isolationism, but a call to biblical ministry.
ALL Christian labels or publishing houses have mission statements that are biblical in nature and purpose. They just are businesses, but ministries that support other individuals in their work for the Lord. It’s not entertainment, it is about the work of the gospel.
Most of us who have been in the industry for many years know the reality of this. And yes, it is sin to submit ones ministry to the hands of nonbelievers who, because of the money involved, have the final say on everything. Do not think for a moment that a large publishing house buys a Christian one, pays millions for the company, and then says, “just go and do whatever you want to do…” It doesn’t work that way.
Rather than making music or printing books that are for the glory of God and the furtherance of His gospel and for the building up of the the body of Christ, it is now consumer driven. Ministry is not the concern, only money.
Thank the Lord, there are still alternatives within Christian publishing where you don’t have to sign with one that has compromised itself by selling out their company to nonbelievers for millions of dollars for pragmatic concerns. Tyndale House is still owned by believers; same with Crossway to name two. In CCM there is no alternative—the world owns it all.
Pray for reformation for us all within this industry that God would bring genuine reformation to the Christian media world. You can read more about this here.
Grace and peace to you and thank you for your comments and questions.
I am sorry that the first link wasn’t correctly inputed. Here is the correct one.
Steve
Something I just thought of that could easily have a bearing on this.
I think a friend told me that the laws of the land (and the laws could have changed since his class) require companies with public shares to make the decisions that make the most amount of profit - would that play in, or am I wrong?
Ellen
Yes that is true. Publicly traded companies, such as Thomas Nelson/Word, are subject to the stockholders. It’s very sad when Zondervan sold its soul to Rupert Murdock. Zondervan since then has published the TNIV—a gender neutral Bible; and has been mostly responsible for publishing the lion-share of the ECM material.
Under secular ownership, doctrine or theology, biblical truth doesn’t even come up on the radar screen. Their only concern is what sells. And to sell huge volumes of books today, you usually (though not always) have to dumb-down the message.
There is little “Christian” of anything associated with the CCM or CBA. It is nothing more than what Rev. Dr. William Dennison calls “baptized secularism.”
However, thank the Lord for the blogosphere and internet. We should look at starting an online publishing house that would operate under biblical principles, being Christian owned and operated, and not charge for any of its materials, but offer them whatever people could afford to give.
What do you all think?
Grace and peace,Campi2 Cor. 3:5
Is it any wonder tha Amazon is the Walmart of book publishing? A question to you is: are you willing to buy a book thru an independent Christian publisher rather than thru a gigantic company able to drop book prices a few bucks because it gets its profits selling by the thousands? A friend of mine chose to buy thru Amazon a book because it allowed him to save a couple of bucks! I am not far from not following his example. Not after I bought a 0.80 $ lantern instead of the next cheapest (8.00 $). Low prices always?
I’ll make just one comment regarding what Steve Camp has posted. The mere fact a Christian publisher is still privately owned does not necessarily make it any better than a Christian publisher that is owned by a nonChristian corporation.
There are some privately owned Christian publishers who are just as bottom-line driven as a secular company, and there are some that are Christian in name only and show little or no biblical discernment in what they publish. My encouragement to Steve is that there’s quite a bit more to the equation than just the matter he has brought up.
Moreover, if Steve Camp believes that all the publishing decisions made at Zondervan or Thomas Nelson are okayed or vetoed at a secular headquarters over and above the Christian publisher, he is incorrect. Some influence may be exerted from above, but it is rarely an absolute influence. I fear Steve Camp is imposing his experience from the Christian music industry upon the Christian publishing one.
I do believe that Christian companies should be able to operate at a profit (if a man cannot provide for his family he is worse than a pagan) - but where to draw the line? I don’t know.
Ellen: You’re right that there’s nothing wrong with a Christian company making a profit. After all, that’s what helps keep the company afloat, pay the salaries, and enables growth so the company can do more. There is nothing unbiblical about making a profit.
You then asked, “Where to draw the line?” Well, the line isn’t easy to draw or discern, but there are two considerations here: 1. The motive for making a profit. It’s very difficult to determine another person’s motive. But in Christian ministry, the supreme motives should always be to glorify God and stay true to His Word no matter what. The bottom line should stay exactly there—at the bottom, not anywhere near the top. 2. While there’s nothing wrong with making a profit, there IS something wrong with setting prices unreasonably high out of greed.
With both considerations, we’re talking about matters of the heart, which makes it hard to “draw a line” so to speak. But we who are believers should always examine our motives and reasons when it comes to money and business, and make sure that we are doing what is right and honorable. It’s so easy for us to rationalize when it comes to our motives or reasons, and we need to caution against that.
Steve,
I guess I’m just curious as to what you would say to this, but what are churches to do when it comes to contructing new buildings at their campuses? Are they to only be partnered with “Christian” contractors and architects? Where is the line drawn? I guess my point would be that I think you are drawing lines and making judgments that aren’t present in Scripture.
The respectable evangelical authors who say that these publishers don’t tell them what to say should be trusted, and if what they say is true, then great for them, and I don’t think they are disobeying what Paul is saying in 2 Cor. 6 and 7. Perhaps a more secular company can further those faithful books much more effectively than a smaller publisher can, which is for the benefit of the whole church. And if these publishers make a lot of money from it, and the authors give all their royalties away, as most of them do, then great. The unbelievers who work for these companies may make a lot of money, and that’s great for them. God’s prospering of people is common grace offered to them, and should not be spurned by believers, but we should merely set an example by our giving, and pray for their hearts.
Anyways, just a few thoughts to think about. I hope all is well.
- Michael
Tim,
Having worked in the retail end of Christian books, I must say I am not all too surprised. The chain of bookstores I worked for did indeed become slaves to “the bottom line”. In the end God withdrew His blessing from the ministry because the focus had been shifted from bring Him the glory due to His name to making sufficent profit to keep the stockholders and other execs. at home office happy. It was tragic that most of a group of Christians only had good intentions versus strong convictions about their service to God.
Where to start? I’ve taken a few minutes to try and gauge the best way to approach this. I’ll start by allowing two contemporary reformed theologians to speak their minds about the Christian/secular dichotomy.
“God did not invent Christian music or Christian books. He has never organized a Christian concert or Christian Yellow Pages. The doctrine of creation teaches us that, while in the realm of redemption (regeneration, justification, sanctification, union with Christ, etc.) we are different from non-Christians, in the realm of what we eat, drink, watch, play, work at, create, and discuss, we share a common humanity. What our convictions require is not that we deny our humanity, but that we be God-centered in the way in which we express our humanity.” —Michael Scott Horton, Putting Amazing Back into Grace, pp. 35-6
“One lesson to be learned already from this is that God has an interest in all our nonreligious life. All our business transactions are his concern. God is not so distant or even so “religious” that he only cares about what happens at church and during devotions. Every square inch of this earth is his and every minute of our lives is a loan from his breath. He is much more secular than we think.”—John Piper, The Pleasures of God, p. 253
At first one might think that these opinions clash. I suggest they don’t, and that they form the best biblical view of this issue. Instead of just lifting II Corinthians 6:14+ out of its context, let’s look at a little more Paul to see if the idea of allowing a secular publisher to release your book really is sin if they aren’t changing the theological content, or if a Christian author shouldn’t continue to allow publishing of his material by a Christian publisher now owned by a secular company.
“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—-not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—-not even to eat with such a one.” I Corinthians 5:9-11 ESV
Paul makes it clear that breaking of association with those of sinful nature is relagated to the context of believers only, a clear allusion to discipline within the church, as it would be impossible to be alive and not be association with sinful unbelievers.
Now, for a more diffucult text let’s focus on Ephesians 5:3-14 with the command of verse 7 that says, “Therefore do not associate with them;…”
The overall context is about sexual immorality, impurity and covetouness not being discussed in detail among believers (v.3). After stating those whose life is defined by that are doomed (v.5), Paul tells his audience not to let people “deceive them with empty words” and tells of the punishment for those deeds (v.6). After setting the stage he gets to the comment in question and then goes on about darkness and light (vv. 8-14), how those deeds don’t fit our speech (v.12), and how light has changed us from darkness and affected our walk (vv.8, 14).
The dispute is about what verse 7 actually extends to. Some have taken it as a way to avoid all contact with unbelievers outside of direct evangelistic endeavors. Here are a few views on what is being dealt with:
“That is, do not be their partners in these sins, which would neccessarily expose you to the penalty threatened against them.”—Charles Hodge, Ephesians: The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.171
“Rather the term partners, which appears in the New Testament only here and at 3:6, is used to signify ‘one who shares in a possesion or a relationship’. Accordingly, the readers are to make sure that they do not share with disobedient Gentiles in their immorality and thus escape the judgement that rightly falls with it (cf. 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1).—Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians: PNTC, pp. 365-66
“I take this to mean, don’t get involved, or participate in any form of the spirit of Antinomianism.”—R.C. Sproul, The Purpose of God in Ephesians, p.125
“Paule is not prohibiting all contact or association with such people. Otherwise we could not bring them the good news or seek to restrain them from their evil ways. And we would need to go out of the world altogether, which Christ has forbidden (Jn. 17:15; I Cor. 5:9-10). The Greek word summetochoi refers to participation, not just association, and the prohibition means ‘do not be partners with them’ (NIV). For if we do share in their practices, as Lot warned in Sodom, we run the risk of sharing in their doom.”—John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, p. 198
The only commetary, out of 8 that I’m using to teach through Ephesians, that dares dispute this is Andrew Lincoln’s and he, while very technical, holds to the view of Ephesians as a non-Pauline text.
Why so much on this passage? It is in a clearer setting than is the II Corinthians passage. Always interpret the vague by the clear. Paul in I Corinthians clearly shows that getting completely away from nonbelievers involved in the grossest of sin is impossible. In Ephsesians he restricts us from partnering/partaking in the sins themselves, but also enjoins us to be light as we were once darkness and the light changed us.
Even Matthew Poole, while holding the opposing view of the II Corinthians passage in Vol. 3 of his Commentary on the Holy Bible, said he couldn’t rectify his view on this passage with the clear understanding of the I Corinthians passage.
How can it possibly be wrong for a sound theological work to be published by Multnomah at this point? Unless Randy Alcorn, Josh Harris or others are allowing their content to be edited to a more favorable yet less biblical standard, or are joining in the sins of those non-Christians involved with the publishing, what legitimate biblical grounds are there for anything but prayerful support? It’s quite easy to stand at a distance and throw stones. Just make sure the stones have truth in them or else let them drop and walk away.
The following is from the 107 THESES that I released 9 years ago October 31, 1997. It was sent to, evaluated and approved by many evangelical leaders and pastors that I deeply respect and admire for their faithful handling of God’s Word in ministry among whom were Dr. R.C. Sproul and Dr. John MacArthur.
I think this well help clarify a bit more the issues at hand. It’s not about pragmatics, as some have suggested here (who can get out the books to more people), it is not about isolationism (hiring a Christian construction team to build a building—not at all), it is about being in the world and not being of it.
It is not wrong to work for IBM, but IBM can’t own my ministry. I realize that this is a difficult issue, but I thank the Lord for Tim posting his article and for the freedom and joy to be part of this important discussion here.
Grace and peace,SteveCol. 1:9-14
Part Six:To not be Unequally Yoked with an Unbelieving World
74. The CCMI [and Christian Publishing Industry] has committed spiritual adultery in joining itself with the wayward world in trying to forward the message of the gospel. This has and will prove to be fatal for Gospel music, as we know it today. (Deuteronomy 32:22-24; Psalm 1; Jeremiah 17:5-8)
75. We cannot partner with the unbelieving world in a common spiritual enterprise or ministry. To harness unbelievers and believers in a Christ-centered endeavor is to be unequally yoked. (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)
76. We must be separate from non-Christians in positions of ownership, authority or influence in the advancement of the gospel. (Ibid.)
77. The kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness are two mutually exclusive worlds; two opposing societies; two converse communities that are incompatible and incongruous with each other in regards to the faith. (Ibid.)
78. One is characterized by righteousness, light, Christ, believers and the temple of God. Lawlessness, darkness, Belial, unbelievers and the temple of idols distinguish the other. One is based on God’s truth-the other on Lucifer’s lies. In matters of Christian faith and belief no partnership does or really can exist between these two realms. (Ibid.)
79. “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being detestable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” (Titus 1:15-16)
80. God is our Father and we, as His children, must disavow all praetorian religious and spiritual alliances with sin and Satan or we will forfeit the joy and blessing that flow from obedient fellowship in the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)
81. Satan’s number one assault on the church is to infiltrate with error. He doesn’t want to fight the church-he wants to join it. (John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:12-15; 1 Timothy 4:1)
82. Undiscerning believers think it a profound ministry strategy to join forces with unregenerate people in forwarding the gospel. Unwittingly, they harness Jesus Christ, the Worthy One, with Belial or Satan, the worthless one, in an unholy alliance-the very essence of being unequally yoked. (2 Corinthians 6:15)
83. “Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone.” (Hosea 4:17)
84. We are not, however, called to isolationism. We are called to be salt and light in the world. We are to be faithful witnesses of God’s mercy, love and grace to the lost and dying. We are to cultivate personal relationships with unbelievers, love our neighbor and our enemy, serve them and share our faith with them. (Matthew 5:13-16; 40-44)
85. We are to be in the worldbut not of it-and this is our greatest challenge. Separation is not being divorced from contact with the world, but from complicity with and conformity to it. (1 John 2:15-17)
86. For instance, it is not unBiblical to consult non-Christian experts in matters of business, craft or trade (though whenever possible, Christian experts respected in these fields are preferable because of a shared integrity), but we can never engage in intimate binding-indissoluble relationships, alliances or partnerships that result in shared responsibility or authority for ministry purposes. (Deuteronomy 22:9-11; Philippians 2:14-15))
87. The promise of increased financial resources, wider distribution and a larger audience is not a justification for the surrender of our spiritual autonomy. (Luke 4:4-12; Ephesians 5:8-12)
88. It is impossible for God to fully bless and use His children who are in compromise with non-believers. (Romans 8:7-8)
89. “Adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
Regarding Steve Camp’s perception that secular publishing houses drive the direction of the Christian imprints under them…it’s possible that’s the case in some places, but it most definitely is not the case in others. In fact, when it comes to Random House and WaterBrook, a press release this morning affirmed, “WaterBrook is an editorially autonomous division of Random House’s Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group.”
Indeed, my contacts within the industry and my own personal experience affirm that this is the case.
Yes, a secular company will place pressure on its Chrsitian imprints to garner bottom-line results. But in at least some cases (if not most), interference with the editorial content is nonexistent or extremely minimal.
I say this not because I want to contend with Steve Camp, but because it’s important that we have the facts straight before we hurl any criticisms.
I apologize that I’m a little behind the times as far as the investment world is concerned. But I thought I saw in your posting that you were wondering if the day would come when the Bible would be owned by non-Christians? Doesn’t Rupert Murdoch already own the most common and well known versions of the Bible such as the KJV, etc? I thought Zondervan owned the KJV, which is controlled by by Harper-Collins, which is controlled by News Corporation, which is controlled by Mr. Murdoch? Did something change that I missed? As isn’t Mr. Murdoch off limits for us as Christians to critique because he owns the totally cool Fox Network? Sure, Fox has a lot of vile stuff in their entertainment division, but their news is right on because it’s 100% Rockefeller Republican. Am I missing something here? How dare we critique any of News Corp’s policies, procedures or tv shows or movies because having Fox news trumps all of that! We should all be thankful that those of us invested in News Corp. (NWS) has enough business sense to get into the lucrative Christian market and enough sense to put out vile filth, too. You never want to put all your eggs in one basket.
I appreciate your investment chat board. It helps keep me abreast of my portfolio and keep it up to date.
As the name implies, I’m from the South and therefore not the brightest guy in the world. I went back and reread my post. It would appear as if I’m still coming to grips with the English language. I apologize for any typos, etc.
But since this is an investment board, I wanted to clear up some misinformation. Thomas-Nelson went private and is no longer publicly traded. The are part of InterMedia Partners now. So if you weren’t a stockholder of record when they went private, then you’re out of luck.
I’ve noticed that some of you on this board are breaking the most basic rule of investing: letting your emotions rule your investments. There has been talk about the religious philosophies of the publishing companies and whether they are good or not. As long as sales are up that’s all we as investors need to be concerned about. I’m afraid that some of you are cheating yourselves out of good investments by not thinking pragmatically and letting your personal biases distort your investment decisions.
1. I’m reasonably certain that General Lee meant the NIV and its offspring, not the KJV. I think the U.S. copyright may have expired on the latter. :-)
2. I appreciate the fact that Steve Camp is differentiating ministry from other expression by Christians, e.g., the band Soular is a secular, non-ministry band made up of Christians. The same would go for, say, a Christian novelist who is not promoting his/her work as “Christian fiction.”
James,
You are correct. The KJV has been around long enough that it is now in the public domain and not copyrighted. Although, it could be said that Zondervan is one of the biggest publishers of it, so they still get a lot of money from it. I didn’t realize this before, but the Bible is a growing market to clever marketing and is open to new sales from actualy new copyrighted versions. There could be any type of Bible you can think of: the Bible for teen girls, the Bible for pre-teen girls, the Gay Bible, the Muslim Bible, the Cowboy’s Bible, etc. This should lead to increased earnings for Zondervan.
Tim,
Great discussion, we have dealt with all these issues for the past several years at Ligonier Ministries. As you know, we have recently launched a new publishing division, “Reformation Trust Publishing”. So, contrary to an earlier comment, (sorry Steve)there are now at least 2 “evangelical leaders”, who agree with much of what has been said and are doing something about this “disturbing trend”.
Dr. R.C. Sproul, and Dr. Steve Lawson, are the first authors to agree to publish several new titles under the ?Reformation Trust Publishing? brand. We also have another publishing division, “Soli Deo Gloria” which is committed to publishing works of the Puritans, whom no longer have worries about this trend.
Thank you for your work, we appreciate what you are doing for the Kingdom.
T. D.Ligonier Ministries
TD (Jakes?), thanks for the tip about Ligioner. What has your stock been trading at lately?
Tim:There is no contradiction here.
This is a brand new venture… correct? I have a clarifying question you: Is it wholly owned by Ligonier with no outside funding by non-Christians, nor partnership in any measure in management, decision-making, or product influence by any non-Christians?
This is good news and another step in the right direction… So encouraging to see it happening. Another question: Is R.C. going to publish any more titles with some of the publishers who are secularly owned in the future, or will he be publishing exclusively with Reformation Trust for however many more excellent tomes he blesses the body of Christ with in the future?
Lastly, are you or R.C. prepared to make a public statement repudiating the current trends in Christian publishing, decrying secular ownership of Christian publishing houses and the unequally yoked state of the CBA?
It would be a tremendous help in this effort.
I so appreciate R.C. very much… and here is another reason to PTL for our brother.
Grace and peace,Steve2 Cor. 4:5-7
BiblemaniacYou wrote: I say this not because I want to contend with Steve Camp, but because it’s important that we have the facts straight before we hurl any criticisms.
My facts are correct.
I live in Nashville and have friends at every level of the publishing industry (books and music). Having lived here for 23 years and have functioned in this industry for 19 years of it, this is more than a casual discussion for me.
But with all do respect, the issue here is not secular pressure for content sake, the issue is the yoking of partnership with nonbelievers in the ministry of Christian publishing and music.
I hope that helps clarify a bit more… I would like you to deal with the biblical texts on this issue though. No one ever wins a pragmatic discussion. What do you think the Word of God teaches about this…
SteveCol. 1:9-14
Steve: Thanks for responding to my comment, and I appreciate your invitation to give my thoughts on the yoking of partnership with unbelievers. Right now time constraints prevent me from giving my answer at this moment (it would take some time to type it all out), but I’ll try to get to work on it (may be a while).
In the meantime, I would still contend you don’t necessarily have your facts correct, and you’ve attempted to sidestep that by saying pragmatic discussions don’t get us anywhere (a point I basically agree with, by the way). For example, consider this one statement you made earlier: “It’s very sad when Zondervan sold its soul to Rupert Murdock. Zondervan since then has published the TNIV—a gender neutral Bible; and has been mostly responsible for publishing the lion-share of the ECM material.”
Very clearly, you have posited a cause-effect relationship here—that since Zondervan went under Murdoch (correct spelling), it has published the TNIV and lion’s share of the ECM material.
However, if you do your research, I believe you will find confirmation that the seeds for Zondervan’s involvement with the TNIV and ECM were not necessarily sowed by HarperCollins or Murdoch, but rather, go back to earlier years and that executives and others at Zondervan had already evidenced relativistic and ecumenical leanings before the HarperCollins purchase. Also key is that Zondervan has long operated more as a business than a ministry—again, this goes back to before HarperCollins came along.
When it comes to the books you see being produced by Christian publishing hosues, by and large it is professedly Christian businessmen at the top who are making these decisions, along with editors, etc. within the staff itself. Many Christian publishing houses have fallen quite well on their own—there’s no need to point the finger of blame to those particular houses that are owned by secular firms.
Much of the bad fruit we see coming from Christian publishing houses today cannot be blamed on ownership by secular corporations, but by the fact the church in America is in such poor spiritual health. Zondervan’s decisions to do ECM books didn’t come from above, it came from being convinced by those within the ECM that this is what today’s church needs.
Clarification: I wrote, “Many Christian publishing houses have fallen quite well on their own—there’s no need to point the finger of blame to those particular houses that are owned by secular firms.”
That should read, “Many Christian publishing houses have fallen quite well on their own—there’s no need to point the finger of blame to secular firms that happen to own Christian publishing houses.”
Tim,
Will you please send Steve Camp my email address so that we can begin an off-line conversation on this subject as well, which you are welcome to join? In the mean time, I’ll prepare a response to a few of his questions for tomorrow? Thanks.
And thank you again for your work.
T.D.(not jakes)Ligonier Ministries
Steve Camp,
You talk a whole lot about your credentials, but you really don’t say much else. Just because you have lived in Nashville for a while and “have friends” doesn’t really mean jack. You expound poorly on a text and post part of your “theses” which, you say, have been “evaluated and approved by many evangelical leaders and pastors that [you] deeply respect and admire for their faithful handling of God’s Word in ministry among whom were Dr. R.C. Sproul and Dr. John MacArthur,” and that means what?? If a solid gospel-centered book reaches a much larger audience through a secular publishing house than it would through a “Christian” publishing house, I say more power to them. The books are for the church, and you can bark up a mast all you want about partnering with unbelievers, but if it’s not partnering in sin, and it’s for the benefit of the church, can you honestly say that it’s wrong when the text you “proof” it from doesn’t really apply to that context at all? I know you live in Nashville, but living in Nashville doesn’t guarantee the facts. God bless.
- Captain Planet
sorry for my ignorance - but what does “ECM” stand for?thanks!
Moosiecat: ECM=Emerging Church Movement
Captain Planet: I’d be careful about saying Steve Camp has expounded poorly on the text unless you’re able to defend specifically where the shortcomings are. I think he’s actually done a pretty good job of expounding the text, and that the difference between me and him is largely in the realm of how that text is applied.
The reason I called into question his comment about Murdoch and Zondervan is his cause-effect statement reveals a simplistic view that’s going to be extremely difficult for him to back up with any evidence, and seriously neglects to take into account more significant factors regarding the direction Zondervan’s pubishing program has taken.
As an alumnus of Multnomah School of the Bible “MSB” (aka Multnomah Bible College and Seminary), I am especially saddened. In the 80’s I had many friends associated with the MP Publishing arm of our fine college in Portland, OR. It was the works of MP that led me 3,000 miles to attend MSB. And through the works of Joe Aldrich I learned to share my faith. I was tutored to walk with my Savior through the works of our founder, John Mitchell. And the Spirit opened my eyes to the grandeur of God’s love in Christ and my inheritance with the saints from Professor David Needham’s “Birthright”. And as a student, I remember getting one of the very first copies of a book titled “Desiring God” and wondering who in the world was John Piper and what was this “Christian Hedonism” subtitle all about. I could go on and on. My loyalty and love for the name is hard to express. I was sad when MP left the fold of MSB, but consoled myself that they did not go far to Sisters, OR.But now I truly grieve. I guess I secretly felt it coming for years — ever since the success of “Jabez”. Pre-Jabez, I was hard pressed to find anyone in the Mid-Atlantic States who had heard of MSB or MP. Post-Jabez, MP became a household name…even if it was missed pronounced “Multa-NO-muh”.My wish would be that the name Multnomah be dropped entirely. Let her rest in peace. May my alma mater go back to relative obscurity faithfully training men and women to take the Good News to the ends of the earth — “If It’s Bible you want, then you want Multnomah”…Bible College, that is!
Steve,
So, is there a dicotomy between ministry and life? Christian music and secular publishers are out of line, but what about Christian businessmen and secular companies?
If my entire life is to declare the glory of God as the Psalmists claim, then there is not a time when I am ‘in ministry’ or ‘out of ministry.’ All of life is living in the presence of God.
Perhaps I am too reformed, but to declare parts of life as ministry and other parts as something other than ministry creates a dicotomy that the Scriptures never support.
While greed and desire for success has crept into the CCM world, so have these things crept into our churches. We love to have a well paid pastor, and we love to build another big church building all under the guise of worshipping God.
Captain Planet - I’d ask that you please be respectful towards Steve and everyone else involved in this discussion.
“If a solid gospel-centered book reaches a much larger audience through a secular publishing house than it would through a “Christian” publishing house, I say more power to them.”
That, my friend, is pure pragmatism. Speaking of expounding Scripture, you will have an exceedingly difficult time showing from the Bible that pragmatism is ever an option. God does not call us to results, but to obedience. It is not for us to measure success by the results we perceive, but by faithfulness to the Bible.
A couple of comments aside, this has been a very interesting discussion and I’m sorry that I have not been able to be more involved in it.
Tim: I have a quick question for you. As you know, Steve Camp asked a gracious question that I intend to answer when time allows, and I’m already formulating that answer in my mind now. But it has the potential to get long. I’m going to try to keep it as short as possible. But if it’s too cumbersome for me to answer here, let me know. I’m fine with whatever your preference is.