The God of the Bible vs the god of MLM

[Doc Bunkum]

Back on 07-20-2007, sojustask started a thread over on scam.com - The God of the Bible vs the god of MLM. She referenced a site put up by some religious group that apparently didn't think much of MLM. The thread got buried over there, but someone revived it recently.

I read the preamble and thought, "This is really good material!". Unfortunately, the links to the site don't work and the site itself has long vanished. Fortunately, the Way Back Machine managed to archive the site. I'm going to retrieve those files and post them over here so they don't get lost, if no one minds. This material is way too good to just vanish!

The God of the Bible versus the god of MLM (http://web.archive.org/web/20080222224422/http://www.users.fast.net/~gospeltruth/default.htm)

"As the coming of the LORD draws nearer, Satan is increasing the pace and sophistication of his deception of fallen man.

In the last half of the 20th century, a new category of home businesses has emerged known as multi-level marketing. From humble roots of door-to-door selling to housewives in the late 1950’s, this distribution system has evolved into a multi-billion dollar global enterprise that rivals many Fortune 500 companies in size.

The explosive growth of multi-level marketing has been fueled by the development of comprehensive ‘training’ and motivational systems that provide the proselyte with a complete set of moral and spiritual values that are presented as necessary to success in the business. Sadly, many of these values are represented as "Christian"—but are most often a Satanic distortion of Biblical truth.

This website seeks to compare the doctrine and teachings of one of the largest multi-level marketing training systems in America with the teachings of God’s Word. The teachings of this multilevel marketing (MLM ) training system are well documented in hundreds of cassette tapes, seminars, books and other components that comprise this training system.

The author was an active consumer of these training materials for over 15 years. I believe that this particular MLM training system is on of the most comprehensive—and dangerous imitations of New Testament Christianity in operation today. The methods and language often mimic fundamental Christianity. However, a Spirit-directed comparison of their beliefs, behaviors and by-products reveal that Satan indeed masquerades as an angel of light in these last days. May God be glorified."

Amen.

[Whip]

So this is the Bible vs. self-appointed clem lemons?

[ProfHenryHiggins]

I may be of demonic heritage, but I'd add an Amen to that. I would much, much rather deal with honest Christians (or honest followers of practically any faith) rather than a perversion and twisting of faith for personal gain. It may be a sad sign of how bad things are in America, that out of hundreds of homeless people and solicitors asking for handouts or donations to charities that I've encountered in the past 3-4 years, only one - yes, just 1 - was able to say "God bless" with any supernatural force that I could feel behind it.

[Soapboxmom]

Tim Darnell and Jack Weinzierl are clearly special emissaries from God. It was obviously a group hallucination when the court records showed their Advantage Conferences pyramid scheme was trounced in Summary Judgment by the BBB. Darnell had confidently proclaimed, "More importantly, God is absolutely in control, and we will prevail (as plaintiffs)."

Of course, the liens and bankruptcies were also part of a Satanic conspiracy. Weinzierl and Darnell claimed with perfectly serene countenances that God wanted them to be wealthy. They were "blessed to be a blessing!" The are certainly full of something and it isn't $$$$.

1381

[Doc Bunkum]

Amway must have taken a few ideas out of the Planned Parenthood playbook.

These admonitions are priceless!



"If you are married and childless, wait until you are at least Diamond before you start to have kids. Then you will have the time to enjoy them."


"Don’t let Satan trick you into staying at home with the family—get out there and defeat Satan by sharing the concept with another family who needs this business!"


"Don’t let a three-year old decide your economic future—get out there and show the plan so they will have an economic future."


"You don’t need to be home anyway after 8:00P.M. All you do is watch your kid sleep. It’s their bedtime anyway, right? A baby sitter can do that. Do for your family what the babysitter can’t do—go out and create a lifestyle and economic security for your loved ones."

Borrowed from...

Family Time (http://web.archive.org/web/20080222224448/http://www.users.fast.net/~gospeltruth/familytime.htm)

"Family time is the time God gives parents to nurture, teach and enjoy their children as they mature into young adults. As such, it is limited, irreplaceable and priceless. Success in MLM can’t buy back a lost evening of catch, story reading or playing with the family pet. Nothing is sadder than the manicured, empty backyard of a millionaire who traded his family for the pursuit of business.

Nonetheless, the god of MLM is a jealous god. He has no compunction about using this most precious gift—family time—as bait to become involved in MLM. The pitch is simple—and effective. Prospects for MLM are often shown a business concept that includes a ‘permanent’ or ‘residual’ income feature —income that develops independent of the distributor’s ability to produce. "Invest 8-10 hours a week for 3-5 years now and buy the rest of your life back with a permanent six-figure income" is a common theme that resonates through the MLM business presentation. As the distributor buys into this promise, the MLM ‘training’ system( books, tapes ,seminars and rallies) slowly erodes the distributor’s commitment to family time. Here is a sampling of some of the teachings that the god of MLM uses to build a rationale for replacing family time with MLM time..."


"You learn how to spend quality time with your kids-- not quantity time."

... more on the link above.

And MLMers wonder why we ridicule them? :duh:

[littleroundman]

I can't wait for you to post up the bit about maxing out your credit card or getting multiple cards to fund your "business"

After all, you have to spend money to make money.

[kschang]

FWIW, Islam is strictly against MLM

Islam: multi level marketing, multi level marketing, substantial commissions (http://en.allexperts.com/q/Islam-947/2008/8/multi-level-marketing.htm)