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Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some answers to common questions we receive.

Why do you charge a subscription fee for access to your downloads? Shouldn’t the gospel be free?

The gospel is free in the sense that it is freely available to any person who will turn their life over to Jesus as Lord and Savior.

But think about this …

Hasn’t the gospel always cost something? What price did Jesus pay to bring us the gospel? What about the sacrifices of the apostles and first-century Christians?

Doesn’t God require “something” from us?

  • Jehovah commanded the people, “[T]hey are not to come before the Lord with nothing in their hands” (Deut. 16:16).
  • David said, “I will verily buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto Jehovah my God which cost me nothing” (2 Sam. 24:24).
  • Again, David said, “I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for Jehovah, nor offer a burnt-offering without cost” (1 Chr. 21:24).
  • “Even so did the Lord ordain that they that proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14). If we, who proclaim the gospel, by the Lord’s command earn our living “of the gospel,” doesn’t this necessitate there be those who “pay” for the gospel?
  • In fact, he instructed his disciples that those who refuse such aid would find a sorer punishment than the debased cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:15).
  • The apostle Paul instructed the Roman Christians of their obligation to financial assist those who from whom they had received spiritual assistance (Rom. 15:26-29).
  • Paul argues intensely for the Christians in Corinth to financially support those who labor in the gospel. “Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?” (1 Cor. 9:7).
  • “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed” (Rom. 13:7). Those who develop resources (books, journals, study tools, web sites, etc.) have every right to be compensated the revenue owed them.
  • Those who demand a “free” model for everything are doing great harm—actually stifling the progress of the gospel just as socialism destroys human productivity.

While we don’t have to look very hard to find profiteers who have taken advantage of people using these scriptural principles, neither is it very difficult to find those who abuse faithful ministers by denying them their right ordained by Christ himself.

Every dollar we receive is used directly for the support of this work and the development of spiritual resources to aid our family of readers.

In the past, these spiritual blessings were delivered to our readers through the benevolence of a handful of generous people.

As time passed, we began to realize that more and more, there are the many who benefit from the sacrifices of the few.

There are some who simply cannot comprehend what is involved in developing and maintaining the technical requirements of these resources.

Others wonder why we don’t also provide all our services for free like Facebook, YouTube, and others. The fact is that most of these other “free” services are losing money — millions of dollars — and are mere traffic streams for other revenue sources. Some “free” services are data mining projects that have external profit centers. Others produce revenue by selling ad space (and are still losing money).

The bottom line is that the “serve me for free” mentality is not a model we can afford to service.

We provide an extremely valuable resource for free to anyone with internet access through the ChristianCourier.com web site.

FortifyYourFaith.org provides an enhanced level of spiritual service to you with in-depth studies and resources. As with any book or study tool you may purchase from a Christian bookstore, FortifyYourFaith.org is available for a nominal cost.

As always, it is our intention to provide you with value above and beyond the minimal cost required to sustain our efforts.

If you already are charging a subscription, then why do you attach a dollar value to each download?

We attach a dollar value to our downloads for several important reasons:

  1. Because even though we charge a nominal fee to access these resources, the costs associated with producing the resources on this web site and delivering them to you are substantial. Assigning a dollar value helps to remind users of the value they receive as members.
  2. The value assigned is arbitrary to some extent but fairly representative of the time, labor, and costs associated with producing each download.

Can I burn a CD and give it to a friend?

  1. Please review our Acceptable Use Policy for details and restrictions on site usage and copying and distributing resources.