The Golden Calf

Distributors are also told to get a ‘dream’, a burning desire to attain specific material possessions that will motivate them to ‘sell out’ to this business. They are encouraged to do ‘whatever it takes’ (legal or not, honest or dishonest) in order to obtain this dream. Distributors are encouraged to find out the dreams of their down-line and use them as leverage to get them to do the business. I have also heard our supposedly Christian up-line guru say forcefully: "You should never be satisfied with what you’ve got." This sacrifices many to the false gods of greed, covetousness and discontent. The following scriptures point out the error of this attitude:

"I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." (Phillipians 4: 12)

". . . godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness." (1 Timothy 6: 6-11)

I do not believe the bible teaches that there is anything wrong with trying to better your lot in life. There are plenty of bible directives about working hard, earning our own keep, providing for our families, leaving an inheritance for our children and being good stewards of the worldly wealth that is entrusted to us by God. I do believe, however, that the previous scripture quote warns against the fervent and obsessive efforts to attain riches that is promoted and practiced in businesses like this and to the harmful results that come from such practices.

There is also a lot of exposure to the false god of positive thinking-the ‘name it and claim it’ mentality that leaves the will of God out of the equation. This is also obeisance to the false god of self.

" Now listen you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on a business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, " If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that." As it is you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins." (James 4: 13-17)

This positive thinking mentality also leads to the sin of duplicity and manipulation.

" Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. (Matt 5:37) Also see John 8: 44.

Homage is also paid to the false god of nationalism. Many of the leaders in the business figuratively wrap themselves in the flag at functions and liberally use the name of God and Jesus. They do this while blatantly ignoring the word of God and the law of the land in their business practices as I have previously pointed out. "What you do speaks so loudly that I can barely hear what you are saying." is an MLM business cliché that can be aptly applied to this hypocritical behavior.

The false god of ultra-conservative laissez-faire politics is also worshiped. To the leaders of this business ‘laissez-faire’ seems to mean, "Leave me alone so I can make gobs of money in my illegal and unethical business that is exploiting hundreds of thousands of people and leading many of them to spiritual destruction through the practice of worldly idolatry". Political connections are also cultured and lobbying is practiced to allay government interference in their questionable activities.

Do not make the error of being led to believe, as we were, that those who have succeeded in this business have done so because God deems them and their business to be righteous. There are examples all around us of the financial success of people in businesses that are clearly unrighteous. As I have already shown, the tactics used in this MLM motivational organization are anything but righteous in the sight of God.

Although these cult- like systems have been put in place by the motivational organizations of top level distributors, the corporation owners are giving more than tacit consent to these practices. More information on this is available on the Internet.

Gone are the days when people could get into this business and safely build a supplementary income by retailing products and recruiting customers. As soon as new people join, their names and addresses are made available to the super ambitious up-line who are sure to contact them. Shortly thereafter, many of them are caught up in chasing a ‘dream’ that is elusive for most if only because of the mathematical impossibility of universal success. For many of these people this means that any profits they are making plus much of their other household income will be quickly eaten up by products, tapes, books, function tickets, product seminars and travel expenses.

My wife and I were aggressively approached by a pseudo-Christian cult a few years ago and, as a result, we have been studying these organizations extensively. We were shocked to discover the following characteristics these groups share with the MLM motivational organization with which we were involved.

Here are the similarities that are most obvious, some with bible references that show their error.