What is simony?

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We often get asked this question, because we do charge for conferences and online courses. So is that ethical? We want to look to the Bible for the answer.

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Scripture forbids selling prayer, healing, prophecy, or deliverance ministry. You should not buy from someone selling these. If someone comes to me sick, and I make them pay before I'll pray, that's wrong. If someone asks you to 'sow a seed' before you get prayed for, that is against Scripture.

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But what about seminaries, conferences, Christian books and music, the Bible itself? Paying for materials, for someone's expertise, for someone's time, that's a different category. And Scripture treats it that way.

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What does simony teach us about selling the gifts of the Spirit?
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There's actually a name for trying to purchase a spiritual gift. It's called simony, named after Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8. Simon watched the apostles lay hands on people and the Spirit fall, and he offered them money for that power. Peter didn't soften the rebuke.

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"May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money." Acts 8:20 (ESV)

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That's the whole argument. The gift of the Spirit was purchased by the blood of Christ, not by your wallet. Jesus says the same thing in Matthew 10:8, "freely you have received, freely give." Anyone charging a fee specifically to pray for you or hand you a prophetic word is stepping into territory Scripture directly condemns.

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What about a conference or course teaching about spiritual gifts?

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That's different, and here's why. You're not paying for the gift itself. To be clear, we're not handing anyone the gift of healing or prophecy in a course. We're teaching people what the Word says about it and asking God to move. The gift itself is sovereignly given by God.

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The price of the program covers the business expenses, such as the venue, a worship team, tech team, staff, and the hours someone spent building the teaching. That's the same category as buying a Bible, which cost translators and publishers real labor, or paying for a seminary class.

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What about suggested donations?

Where it gets genuinely harder is something like a "suggested donation" for a deliverance appointment. No one's forcing payment. The prayer happens either way. But if that's someone's full-time income and the donation amount tracks pretty closely with what a counselor charges per hour, it starts to feel less like an offering and more like a fee with a polite name. We don't think that's automatically simony. We also don't think it's automatically clean. It's the kind of thing that requires real conscience and real accountability, not a tidy rule.

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That's the radical middle at work. We take the giftings seriously enough to protect them from being sold, and we also want to compensate a worker for his/her wages where it's appropriate. If you want to hear the full conversation, please watch the episode: Simony, Money & Ministry: Where Scripture Draws the Line.

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