Amway/Quixtar? Plexus? Reliv? Equinox/Trek Alliance? Mary Kay? Herbalife? etc. etc.
Network Marketing?
“Faithfully follow the three-foot rule” ??
“Anyone within a three-foot distance, we talk to about Relìv,” Arturo explains. Arturo is a Reliv “Ambassador“.
The whole world is being prepared for a counterfeit christ. I recommend that an MLM subculture not be allowed to turn Biblical zeal into a counterfeit zeal where friends are seen as prospects and assets and instead of encouraging one another in the Lord we encourage them in the business as downline and converts to the business; and where we promote the MLM books which teach that each person can create their own reality through the powers of their mind with the false gospel of positive thinking and self-esteem, and visualization of goals.
Multi-level marketing leads to two undesirable effects in the Body of Christ: First, it replaces important concepts and features of the Christian life (evangelism, conversion, making disciples, testimonies, zeal, praise, glory, etc.) with counterfeits of the Business. Second, it leads to false gospels being introduced by various popular “must have” books, e.g., “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill and “Pscycho-Cybernetics” by Maxwell Maltz.
Are you all excited about a new business opportunity? Do you also profess to be a follower of Jesus? Please consider my concerns. I’m concerned when people speak in messianic terms about a business, a movement, an organization, or a leader.
It’s not the “business model” or the products being sold I’m concerned about when it comes to MLM. It is the idolatry and the cult mentality that is often promoted by these business organizations:
Counterfeit evangelism… not evangelizing for Jesus but for “the business”.
Counterfeit conversions… to “the business” and its “community” not to Jesus and the Body of Christ.
Counterfeit zeal… for “building the business”, for building the “downline”, not for the things of God, not for the calling of the New Testament for the Church, not for making disciples of Jesus… but for making disciples of the “upline”.
The following provide examples of the False christs and false gospels promoted by the many “must-buy-for-the-success-of-your business” books that the upline promote and which, in turn, promote the universal visionbeing given to a rebellious mankind:
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill,
Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz,
Don’t Let Anybody Steal Your Dream – Dexter Yager with Douglas Wead,
The Possible Dream: A Candid Look at Amway – Charles Paul Conn,
Compassionate Capitalism – Rich DeVos, Co-founder of Amway,
See You At the Top – Zig Ziglar.
Please! Watch out when anything draws your allegiance and your zeal away to itself. Only Jesus deserves our devotion. If we have true zeal for our Lord and being the Bride of Christ, who has anything left for another Messiah?