Does the Bible approve of

multilevel marketing (MLM)/network marketing?

http://oldpaths3.wixsite.com/spiritualministry/q-a

In the Bible, the Book of Judges states, twice, that In those days there was no king in Israel:
every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17.6 and 21.25) It is sad to see
Christians getting involved in something that they think is right in their own eyes without finding
out from God or the Bible whether that thing is right or not.
But, first of all, we need to know who is a Christian and what is a Christian. A Christian is once a
sinner saved by the grace of God. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2.8,9) He
must have been convicted of sin, awakened by the Holy Spirit of God to see his wretched and
sinful state, looked to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation of his soul, and believed that He came to
save sinners (1 Timothy 1.15) and died on the Cross for him. (Romans 5.8; 1 Peter 2.24) He
should be able to know when and where he was saved. From the day he was saved, he has
become a new creation and cannot and will not like to follow his old and sinful ways. Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [creation]: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5.7) He is not the same as before. He will want to obey
Gods Word and do His will. He will love the Lord Jesus Christ and grateful to Him for dying on
the Cross for him. If he does not love the Lord, he is accursed. (1 Corinthians 16.22)
Now we come to the matter regarding multilevel marketing of manufactured products. Should a
Christian get involved in this business? Of course one will not find a scripture in the Bible that
says You shall not get involved in multilevel marketing, but there are scriptures in the Bible
that disapprove of the philosophy and practices of multilevel marketing.
THE ENRICH PHILOSOPHY
One of the aims of MLM businesses is to produce wealth and make their members richer.
Generally speaking, all those who are involved in the business will want to enrich themselves.
Christians are also caught up with this idea. It is not in the will of God that everyone should be
rich. There have to be the poor or not-so-rich in the world.
Proverbs 22.2
The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the Maker of them all.
The Lord is the Maker of them all: not only as men, but as rich men and poor men; God gives
riches to whom He pleases, and poverty to whom He pleases; riches and poverty are according to
the order of Divine Providence. (Gills) But MLM philosophy goes contrary to this order:
anybody in this business can be rich or richer. If God gives riches to one of His own, the riches
are obtained by honest means without contradicting His Word. He gives riches so that He is
glorified and honoured.
The Bible has a lot to say about wealth and what it can do to the soul. We look at some of the
scriptures.
Psalm 73.11,12
And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
Behold, these are the un-Godly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

James 5.1-3
1. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall
eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
1 Timothy 6.6-10
6. But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8. And having food and raiment [covering] let us be therewith content.
9. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred
from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Those who have enriched themselves buy properties, luxuries, etc They have heaped up treasure
not knowing all their possessions shall be destroyed in the Great Tribulation. The Great
Tribulation is coming!
MLM does not make those involved in MLM content. If they have food and covering (that is, a
roof to cover them), as well as clothing, they should be content. MLM cannot satisfy. They want
more and more riches! They will not be not content.
Those who are enriched through MLM or other means may fall into temptation and a snare, and
into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. From time to
time, we hear the woes of those who are rich. We hear of broken marriages, infidelity, family
feuds, murders, health problems, etc. They cannot sleep, and enjoy a good sleep.
Ecclesiastes 5.12
The sleep of the labourer is sweet, whether he have eaten little or much; but the fulness of the
rich doth not suffer him to sleep.
Ecclesiastes 5.13,14
There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to
their hurt. But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in
his hand.
Covetousness
There is one word that describes all those who want to enrich themselves. The word is
covetousness, or greediness. We know the covetous will not enter the Kingdom of God.
1Corinthians 6.10
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom
of God.
Ephesians 5.5
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater,
hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Luke 12.15
And He said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in
the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

The Lord Jesus Christ says a mans life does not depend on his possessions or wealth. He has
riches but not peace and joy. He may not have health. They may spread a sumptuous table before
him but he is not able to eat, or enjoy the food. He has all along thought his ability, acumen,
wisdom, and strength have helped him to gather riches, but he has left out God.
Ecclesiastes 6.1,2
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it is frequent among men: one to whom God
giveth riches, wealth, and honour, and he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet
God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and a sore evil.
Serving Mammon
The business has become their Mammon. They set their heart to earn as much money as possible.
It can consume a lot of their time to sell the products. Family time is affected. They neglect the
home and their children. If they are Christians, they have very little time for God and His Word.
They are actually serving Mammon, and the Lord Jesus Christ says: Ye cannot serve God and
mammon (or, money). (Luke 16.13) Serving Mammon means be entirely at the command of;
and this is true even where the services are not opposed.
MLM businesses make use of Sunday, the Lords Day, for their activities, conducting meetings,
seminars and workshops in which members are invited to attend. Their members even sell the
products on the Lords Day. They may not want to go to church for meetings because they have
to attend MLM meetings. They are serving the Mammon even on the Lords Day. The Lords
Day is for the Lord, but they are using it for Mammon.
Their health also suffers. It is because they are serving Mammon. However, there are many who
have dropped out of the business because they know it will not be easy to be enriched in MLM.
Only a few can make it but at what expense? They have spent so much money buying the
products and incur a lot of expenses selling the products and holding meetings. How much can
they get back in return? They have spent so much money, time and energy, and their family life
has been affected. They give up the MLM business. It is not worth all the trouble. Why be
enriched? And for what purpose? vanity of vanities. They stop serving Mammon, a very hard
and cruel taskmaster.
Honest labour rewarded
In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25.14-30), the master gave his servants talents (silver
money) before he went away to a far country. He gave five talents to one servant, two talents to
another, and one talent to a third. The servants who had five and two talents went and traded with
them and made five and two other talents respectively. But the third servant went and hid his
masters talent in the ground. The master returned from his journey and each of the servants had
to come before him and give an account as to how they had used the talents. The one who was
given five talents went to make five more, and the one who was given two talents, made two
more talents. To each of these two servants, the master said: Well done, thou good and faithful
servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter
thou into the joy of thy lord. It is to be noted that the two servants with five and two talents
doubled the talents by honest industry. The Greek word for traded means worked. The two
servants worked, without getting others to work for them to double the talents no more and no
less. The five talents get another five more, not eight more, or ten more. The same is said with the
two talents. There is no need for the two servants to make as much money as possible for their
master. It is not so with multilevel marketing businesses. They want you to work hard and sell as
much as possible. Even if you work so hard for MLM, it is not honest hard work. Do you think

God wants you to make as much money as possible for Him? You think God is so poor and need
your money? Listen:
Psalm 10.10-12
God says:
For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof.
1 Corinthians 10.26
For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.
People use the things God created to make money for themselves, and never thank the Creator!
Every multilevel marketing business rewards its distributors if they work hard to sell its products
and sponsor others to do the same as the distributors. The distributors and those over them are the
upper levels or uplines, and those below them are the downlines. The more the distributors and
their downlines sell the more rewards the uplines get (of course the big boss gets the most). The
downlines also hope to have their own downlines to help make them rich and then they can sit
back and let the downlines earn money for them. Sometimes the downlines sell more than the
uplines, but the uplines still get rewarded from the products sold by the downlines. Is it right?
Someone from a downline works so hard or even harder than those in the uplines and in the end
find all those above him or her are rewarded. Is it right in Gods sight? So the more downline
distributors there are the more their uplines benefit. So the uplines get richer and richer without
having to expend so much energy and work because the downlines are earning money for them.
The ones who profit most are those at the top of the MLM business. Is it right in Gods sight? In
the Parable of the Talents, we see the servants themselves laboured to double the talents. They
did not get others to help them earn the talents. If they had received help from others, then their
talents would have been more than doubled. No, they did not.
MLM businesses promote materialism and worldliness
One notes that the products of MLM businesses are very expensive. Only the rich can afford
them. MLM products are for those who have money to spend, and not for those who are poor.
The prices of their products are marked up very high. Christians should ask themselves whether
they should buy or sell such products. Remember, the money you have does not actually belong
to you. It belongs to God. It is God Who gives you life, strength and ability to work, and you
should use the money you earn for His glory and service. We have to give an account of our
stewardship to God one day. The more you have the more you have to give an account to God.
If you can get a good stainless steel cooking pot at a departmental store, say, for $100, why get an
MLM cooking pot that costs $1,000? The MLM pot is a luxury. Should you take vitamin
supplements? There are MLM distributors who promote the sale of vitamin supplements. They
try to convince you to buy the supplements to promote and protect your health. Doctors will tell
you vitamin and mineral supplements are not necessary for it is very rare, today, for a person to
suffer from a vitamin deficiency. Anyone who thinks taking vitamin supplements can give him
health is deceived. A person can take all the supplements he wants and God allows him to get
sick or some serious disease. Your trust should not be in the supplements but in God. Do not buy
them. They are very expensive. Use the money for Gods service and not to line the pockets of
those who are already rich. MLM products can make a Christian worldly. Their cosmetic
products are selling very well, of course, to those who are more interested in outward beauty than
in inner beauty of the heart.

1 Peter 3.3,4
Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or
of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible,
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
On the other hand, if you are not rich and need to buy a thing, ask God to show you where to get
that thing at a lower price. God will direct you where to buy it and you save money. Believe it! It
is difficult for those who are rich to trust in God because they trust in money! To them, money
can buy anything! Money is their god. They worship the god of wealth.
1Timothy 6.17
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches,
but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.

The rich have difficulty getting saved

It is very difficult for those who are rich to go to Heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ says so.
Mark 10.23
And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto His disciples, How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God!
Those who enrich themselves in MLM business will have difficulty knowing God and be saved.
If you are a Christian involved in MLM, you are responsible, in a way, for those who have been
enriched by you not coming to know God because they have become so rich and do not need God.
You are responsible, whether you like it or not, for their going to Hell. We should not put a
stumblingblock in their way to know God, but MLM is a stumblingblock.
The founders of MLM businesses are responsible too for causing people not to know God and
leading thousands and millions to Hell. They imbibe in their members the idea they can get rich
in MLM business. They tell the members and distributors if they work hard they will be rewarded,
and become richer.
Someone may say the founder of the MLM business is a Christian, and even tells people about
the Lord Jesus Christ at MLM meetings. The founder has earned the most money in his MLM
business, and in order to sooth his conscience and make him feel good, he tells people about God.
First, do not think anyone who talks about God or the Lord Jesus Christ really knows Him. Satan
can use people to talk about God and righteousness.
2 Corinthians 11.13-15
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness;
whose end shall be according to their works.
Someone says he uses the money to give to charities or to God. First, God does not need his
money. Second, he feels bad if he does not give to charities. When he sees other non-MLM
millionaires or billionaires give to charities, he feels bad if he does not give. Third, we need to be
careful not to consider anyone who calls himself a Christian a saved person and a child of God.

Only God knows who are His, and any child of His will not want to start this kind of business or
get involved in MLM.
2 Timothy 2.19
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that
are His. And, Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Any one who names the Name of Christ must depart from iniquity. The word iniquity comes
from the Greek adikia, which denotes unrighteousness, lit., unrightness (a, negative, dike,
"right"), a condition of not being right, whether with God, according to the standard of His
holiness and righteousness, or with man, according to the standard of what man knows to be right
by his conscience. (Vines Expository of New Testament Words)
As we have seen see, MLM is not right in the eyes of God, and already there are people who have
voiced objections or disapproval of multilevel marketing, whether legal or not. A visit to the
Internet reveals the many articles that have been written against MLM, and the Bible speaks
clearly against it.
Are you a Christian involved in MLM? You had better examine yourself and know where you
stand before God. You may say you are not covetous, but why are you involved in MLM to
increase your riches? It is covetousness in the sight of God. Covetousness is a sin, and a covetous
person cannot go to Heaven. One thing is sure: the Holy Spirit will tell a saved person not to be
involved in MLM. An unsaved person has no Holy Spirit to tell him so.

Mark 8.36,37:
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?