048: Debate: Is It Wrong to Charge Admission to a Christian Conference?
On Thursday, June 26th, 2025, Conley Owens debated "Hazard's Ghost" (on x.com as @WhosDude) about charging for Christian conferences. sellingjesus.org |...
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047: Speaking in the Sight of God
Read the article.2 Corinthians is replete with remarks regarding sincerity. It would be rightly said that the theme of the whole book is The Sincerity of the Kingdom of God. This underlying concern flows from the first chapter where Paul respon...
046: The Sin of Buying Jesus
Read the article.If selling Jesus is a sin, is buying Jesus a sin? Often, people are convinced by the biblical arguments that Christian teaching should not be sold but then want to know whether Christian teaching may be bought. How does this apply to a C...
045: The Surprising History of Copyright and The Promise of a Post-Copyright World
Allow me to introduce you to a website you’ve probably never heard of: questioncopyright.org. The site includes an article by Karl Fogel titled Th...
044: The KJV Is Still Restricted by Copyright
Read the article.One of the common misconceptions about the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is that it is a universally public domain work—something many tout as a feature of its superiority to modern copyrighted t...
043: Lingua Deo Gloria - with Sawyer Moranville
We love to highlight ministries that are freely giving, not only so that others can see that it’s possible, but also to encourage them and help you know how to pray for them. So in this episode we’re putting the spot...
042: Blood Money and Its Connection to Ministry
Read the article. When someone needs a blood transfusion, should you sell your blood to them, or give it freely? How much is blood worth? What is the price of human life? These are questions most haven’t thought muc...
041: What Is Christian Ministry? A Biblical Deep Dive
In this episode (which is the audio of the video version) we will see that while Christians should glorify God in all aspects of life, not all work can be classified as ministry. We’ll look at how misinte...
040: The Problem with Creative Commons ShareAlike
Read the article. For those interested in disseminating ministry materials at no cost, Creative Commons licenses have provided a standard alternative to full copyright. Any license in this suite of licenses ensur...
039: The Sin of Judas and the Sale of Christian Teaching
This episode discusses how the sin of Judas has a modern-day parallel in the practice of selling Christian teaching for profit. Those who trade the things of God for material gain are committing a s...
038: Eric the Excuse Expert & A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin
Eric is the leader of a prominent publisher of valuable resources in the field of biblical studies. He loves God with all his heart, and wants to see the Church edified and grow in the knowledge of ...
037: On the Specter of Copyright Hijacking
Here at Selling Jesus, we advocate that ministries release their content into the public domain. Among other reasons, we believe this to be the most consistent approach to Jesus’s command to “freely give” in Matthew 10:8. Howe...
036: How to Share the Joy of Freely Giving with Others
This episode offers practical guidance and wisdom on how to share the principle of freely giving, along with its implications and applications. It can be a sensitive topic, and people often avoid sharin...
035: Julia the YouTuber & Blogger - Christians Who Sell Jesus
This series on "Christians Who Sell Jesus" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwi...
034: How to Publish a Book That's Truly Freely Given
Many feel intimidated when it comes to making their book available free of cost or hindrance. And if you’ve listened to our conversation about Joe the Author, you may have lots of practical questions about ...
033: The Worship Tax
In this episode (which you can read on sellingJesus.org) Jon explores how the Christian music industry exploits church worship for commercial gain, despite religious exemptions for churches. Churches are required to pay annual licensing fees to use modern worship songs ...
032: Mandy the Biblical Scholar & Tom the Seminary President - Christians Who Sell Jesus
This series on "Christians Who Sell Jesus" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals...
031: The Ministry I Work with Requires Me to Sell Jesus...
What do you do when you've invested years working for a particular ministry that's part of the Jesus Trade, but then become convicted that selling ministry is wrong? We received an email from a ...
030: FirstLove Ministries - with Joe Jacowitz
Our guest in this episode, Joseph Jacowitz, has been the pastor of Christ Bible Church, in Pleasanton, CA since 1990. He and his wife Sherry have been married since 1978 and have five children and eight grandchildren. ...
029: The Sale of Religious Instruction = Simony
"When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money. 'Give me this power as well,' he said, 'so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spir...
028: How the Jesus Trade Harms the World - the Iron Curtain of Copyright & Cost - episode 3
For those of you who prefer to listen rather than watch a long video, this episode is for you. Watch the original video here, wh...
027: Chris the Prophetic Voice - Christians Who Sell Jesus
Read the profile here. This series on "Christians Who Sell Jesus" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus tr...
026: Charging Fees for Biblical Counseling? - Deborah Dewart
Although this article was not originally written for a podcast, we offer it here for those who don't have time to read it. If you prefer to read it, you can do that here. See the timestamps ...
025: Deep Dive into 2 Corinthians 2:17 - Commercializing the Word of God
Read the article here. "For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ"...
024: ACBC Counseling Fees
Our Master has commanded us to “teach and admonish one another” (Col. 3:16) and to “warn those that are unruly” (1 Thess. 5:14) as part of our Christian duty. Yet rather than speaking truth and wisdom to others freely, as they received it from God, some sell t...
023: Luke the Sought-After Preacher - Christians Who Sell Jesus
This series on "Christians Who Sell Jesus" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwi...
022: Bible Publishers - Stewards or Gatekeepers?
Read the article and footnotes here. Let’s imagine that your pastor gets up one Sunday morning and announces: “If anyone wants to share passages from the Bible they need to ask me for permission first. I have to do...
021: James the Worship Composer - Christians Who Sell Jesus
This series on "Christians Who Sell Jesus" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. ...
020: Should Christian Ministry Be Supported by Ads?
The 1998 movie The Truman Show is a film about a man named Truman Burbank who—unaware—lived his entire life inside a simulated reality TV show. In order to pay for the show, the producers filled Truman’s worl...
019: Biblical Counseling Should Be Free
The biblical counseling movement was founded on the conviction that the Bible is sufficient for solving all non-medical problems that humans face. The central figure behind this return to Scripture was Jay Adams, who shocked the wor...
018: Should Preachers Be Paid?
Conley Owens argues that the Bible is clear that ministers should be financially supported. In the same context that Jesus commanded the disciples to “freely give” their message, he acknowledged that the worker is “worthy of his food” (Matt. 10:10). ...
017: Steve the Biblical Counselor - Christians Who Sell Jesus
This series on "Christians Who Sell Jesus" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly....
016: Obligation and Compulsion - Conversation 6
As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they tackle the question: Where should our sense of obligation lie when giving to support Christian ministry - to God or to man? Looking at biblical illustrations l...
015: Jane the Free Thinker - Christians Who Sell Jesus
This series on "Christians Who Sell Jesus" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Our intention i...
014: What's up with Paul? - Conversation 5
As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they try their best to grapple with some passages from the Apostle Paul that can be confusing. Why is Paul willing to receive money from people in some circumstances and unwi...
013: Joe the Author - Christians Who Sell Jesus
This series on "Christians Who Sell Jesus" takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Our intention is to engage ...
012: The Bondage of the Word - Copyright & the Bible
For nearly a century, copyright legislation has been subtly but effectively applied, misused and abused in regard to the Word of God in order to chain the Bible to a new pulpit, differing in kind but not in...
011: Does Jesus’ Command to “Freely Give” Apply Today?
People often attempt to justify the Jesus trade by dismissing the command of Christ in Matthew 10:8 as irrelevant to Christians today. They say that the command to freely give just doesn’t apply to us a...
010: Typical Objections to the Biblical Teaching that Ministry Should Be Free
In this episode Jon, Conley, and Andrew discuss some of the common objections that typically come up when Christians encounter resistance to the Jesus trade...
009: The History of the Jesus Trade - Conversation 4
As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they discuss the history of how we got to this point in history where the monetization of ministry is so normal and such a respectable sin. They talk abou...
008: The Command of Christ - Conversation 3
As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they discuss the interpretation of Matthew 10:8-11 and other key verses that help shed light on the difference between selling ministry and supporting ministry. They look a...
007: Pragmatism vs Principle - Conversation 2
As Tim and his pastor continue their conversations, they explore how the tendency to do "whatever works" has often triumphed over obeying Scripture, especially when it comes to money and ministry. They look at examples o...
006: Our Lavish God - Conversation 1
With this short conversation between Tim and his pastor, we want to set the foundation for further discussions of generosity and biblical thinking about money and ministry. And that foundation is that we worship a stunningly lavish God wh...
005: What God Thought about Truth-Selling in Ancient Israel
Read the written version of this article here. Truth was already being sold way back in the 8th century BC in the time of the prophet Micah, and what he wrote has implications for today’s mon...
004: A Google Engineer's Journey to Clarity on What Scripture Teaches about Money and Ministry
Conley Owens is a pastor at Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church and a software engineer. This is his story of discover...
003: Who Really Owns God’s Word? - Jon’s Journey to Freely Giving Scripture
Through many twists and turns, Jon comes to the conviction that God is actually the owner of his Word, and that the commercialization and legal restriction of i...
002: My Journey to Freely Giving & Abolishing the Jesus Trade - Andrew Case
In this episode I'd like to tell the story of how I got to where I am today in my conviction about freely giving ministry—the belief that ministry should be sup...
001: Abolish the Jesus-Trade - Introducing a Biblical Response to the Commercialization of Christianity
Our purpose here is to highlight and exalt the radical generosity of God’s heart, confront the commercia...