Independent Conservative » Blog Archive » If Christians Should Not Sue Fellow Christians. Should Christians Report Fellow Christians to YouTube for Copyright Infringement? Ex Ministries, G. Craige Lewis, Causing Christians to Lose Their YouTube Accounts.

If Christians Should Not Sue Fellow Christians. Should Christians Report Fellow Christians to YouTube for Copyright Infringement? Ex Ministries, G. Craige Lewis, Causing Christians to Lose Their YouTube Accounts.

by IndependentConservative @ 3:02 am. Filed under Evangelicals Under Attack

I’ll just let the video speak for its self.

video titled: dear subscribers-there is a friend in need

(Hat tip to YouTubber thrufaithalone.)

Once upon a time, I thought G. Craige Lewis was OK. Then I learned more about his doctrine, started learning more about him and became concerned. All things noted and discussed in detail already. But on YouTube I felt those going after saints’ accounts were the type of people G. Craige was against. Well it appears in my opinion, that G. Craige is about leveraging the laws of man to ensure video sales, more than seeing the truth spread.

This is why once I started blogging more about church matters, I updated my blog’s copyright statement. So nobody would fear making a copy of material here related to church matters and I figure a Christian making a copy would cite their sources. I primarily like this blog to be cited as the source of something copied from here, so that I can explain or defend if someone has questions.

While I have major doctrinal issues with G. Craige Lewis, I felt he would not be uptight about people posting clips of his videos on YouTube. It gives him positive promotion and beyond that in some cases it helped spread some truth. Given my issues on some things of course I can’t say I agree with every statement from his mouth, but I felt many YouTubbers were selecting clips that expressed truth. I can’t say I know what video clip YouTubber BlazingSky2006 was using and I don’t know anything else about her or what she was doing on YouTube, but it’s pretty sad she lost her account over someone she was trying to promote.

So Christians being attacked on YouTube continues and Ex Ministries is playing a role in that.

1 Corinthians 6:1-8 (New American Standard Bible)

1 Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?

2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?

3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

4 So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?

5 I say this to your shame Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren,

6 but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?

7 Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

8 On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.

I’ve heard G. Craige Lewis claim he has to sell videos to feed his family. Well he is the pastor at a church. If he has need, his assembly should handle with that, if he’s being a good elder, 1 Timothy 5:17-18. Instead he’s engaging in the worst of what comes with peddling. By using laws of man against Christians.

2 Corinthians 2:17 (New American Standard Bible)

17 For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

If he wants to work of his own hands to supply his needs, he could always consider taking up something that does not involve peddling what he claims to be gospel. Like tent making, Acts 18:1-4.

There once were several of G. Craige Lewis’ videos easily findable on YouTube. Hard to find any now. After he went after some, there are some YouTubbers that feel YouTube did the rest automatically based on the file attributes of matching videos. I suspect if G. Craige Lewis had simply asked people using his videos to remove them that they would have voluntarily. It seems a YouTube message to the person he felt offended by would have sufficed.

I’ve seen more than one video of someone saying a YouTube account was shut down for having an Ex Ministries video on their account. I can’t say every video I’ve seen in that regard displays good temperament, so I can only post the one that is above. It seems some weak in the faith are not helped by what is happening at the hands of someone they felt good about.

People say they’ve tried to reach G. Craige Lewis about this issue and not received any response.

While it probably does not make him much money, it’s apparent G. Craige Lewis is peddling and acting as the ungodly do about it. So it’s like I’ve gone from once feeling G. Criage Lewis was OK, to having major doctrinal issues with him, to now having even more concerns about him. I had no plans to purchase his material, but I never advised anyone else to consider not giving him a dime. Now I’m thinking saints should avoid him, totally. I’ve never made a full post here that was only dedicated to warning about him, consider this the first.

I considered contacting Ex Ministries for comment. But when I went to their contact page, I decided not to. Primarily, all the page is about is booking him for a speaking engagement. Which of course he’ll want money for. And at the bottom of the page in small print it says the following:

For questions, please consult the arguments sections of our site.
We do not address rumors, personal issues, or personal attacks on G. Craige Lewis or EX Ministries, nor do we allow slanderous blogs, comments, or personal attacks on others on this site. We fight the devil at EX Ministries, not people. Ephesians 6:12

(I made the scripture noted into a hyperlink.)

His response to people that ask why he does not allow comments is interesting. I take it that is also why he does not allow comments on his blog. It seems he feels everything he does under the Ex Ministries banner is God inspired. And he makes it clear he’s not responding to phone or e-mail contact here. The only contact e-mail on his web site is for bookings, I’m not sure where any other e-mail address anyone else might have for him came from. They’re not getting responses and he’s said he would not be responding to phone and e-mails sent to him. But he does have time if you have the money to book him for a speaking engagement!

So I figure that he’s made it obvious I need not bother trying to reach him.

[link]

3 Responses to “If Christians Should Not Sue Fellow Christians. Should Christians Report Fellow Christians to YouTube for Copyright Infringement? Ex Ministries, G. Craige Lewis, Causing Christians to Lose Their YouTube Accounts.”

IndependentConservative Says:
April 22nd, 2008 at 10:30 am
(In response to Trayjay’s comment in another thread.)

Trayjay,

I just wondered why you thought this whole string warranted bringing him into it. Why was he being compared to this Guest guy.

The comparison and contrast is that Lewis is a raw peddler and Pastor Guest is not.

Sure, he charges a fee, but not everyone has someone behind them to support the financial part of their ministry.

You’re not lining up well with 2 Corinthians 2:17, but making excuses for a man who is so clearly involved in peddling he leaves no room for mistaking it for anything else.

You said yourself in the comment that Guest has financial support, which means to me that it is unfair to compare the two.

Pastor Guest has support of saints via the church he pastors. Lewis is NOT a pastor and is simply a man who has devised his own ministry. Not that starting a ministry is a bad thing, but instead of Lewis seeking for that ministry to have started and continue based on people giving to him, he’s doing it based off peddling and set speaking fees. He’s not a pastor on a salary from a church, but rather a man taking in every dime he can get from continual resale of things he said years ago. And even if someone shares the material freely, he turns to the laws of man to rebuke them.

Secondly, I understand why you are bothered by the fact that people’s youtube accounts have been shut down, but how do you deal with that side of it without dealing with copyright laws and how they are being broken by these youtubers? I just believe in being fair on all sides.

What about standing on the godly side Trayjay? What about the following:
Matthew 10:8 (New American Standard Bible)

8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.

Lewis will tell you his stuff is sending demons a plenty on the run. But he’s setting a fee. Again you’re having trouble meeting scripture. Anyone freely sharing the THE GOSPEL has no issues in the eyes of God because they FREELY GAVE. So if Lewis must use copyright laws, his material is something other than the gospel.

I have almost all of his videos and show them to as many people as I can.

Don’t do it at too big of a venue, or Lewis will go after you too. What is YouTube other than a means to show a video to as many people as one can?

I personally am right now dealing with a copyright issue. If someone took a play that I wrote, directed, and produced, and I saw it on youtube, I would have them shut down, too. Why? Because you are stealing someone else’s material. They can do a youtube of their own. If they believe in his message, then they should either get his permission, or produce a youtube video of their own.

Whatever play you exercise copyright authority over via legal means to the point of preventing anyone from sharing it IS NOT a work done for the sake of the gospel, but your own desire for personal income. If you’ve got something you’re doing that you’re not trying to claim is about spreading the message of Jesus fine, but don’t claim you’re acting on a mission to share a message from God when you exert efforts to stifle it being shared freely.

What word of prophesy did God ever desire to be held behind a fixed fee?

Copyright laws are copyright laws and we are instructed in the Word of God to obey the laws of the land.

Please take a look at the post above and see what God says about you using man’s laws against a fellow saint.

He is not just selling videos of him preaching, he is sharing information from hours of research.

Hours of research done years ago, but how many hours did the prophets in scripture work? How many hours did the apostles work? How many hours did the many other disciples work? Did any of them resell material? Any of them Trayjay? Any single one of them? Anybody in scripture working to offer a message for the people of God, did a single one put a price tag on anything at all? In all 66 books, did a single one? Which letter in our Bible was not given to the intended audience until they paid a fee to receive it? But Lewis claims his words are the Word of God. We’re not talking about someone that is an elder getting a salary raised via donations given by people who gave as they felt led to give, but rather a person who has a set fee on something he’s claiming to be a work of “ministry”. Now it would not be so bad if AT LEAST he would not take his outside of scripture peddling to the point that he’s using laws of man against anyone that might share a mintute or two of the material on YouTube.

Whether we agree with what he says or not, he has to support his ministry.

And how throughout scripture is that done Trayjay?

I will say that I think that he, as well as others, are charging too much for the videos, but nevertheless, it is material that he put together and that material is protected by copyright laws.

It’s raw peddling, peddling in the Lord’s name and spoken clearly against in 2 Corinthians 2:17. If fact, I dare you to review that verse in the original Greek and the terms used for translating it.

I just didn’t see the point in you bringing him into the comments at all.

It’s likely I’ll bring him up again. He’s a prime example of a peddler.

My main point is fairness in addressing both sides of the issue.

The issue is that you are using man’s law as your measure of “fairness” rather than the message of Christ that we share freely and any money raised come from freely given donations. If Lewis wants a salary, it should be paid via freely given donations, not fixed fees. If he wants to make $100K a year, OK, accept FREELY GIVEN donations during a year till his salary is met, but fees to share a message, fees to deliver a message, it’s peddling.

Now Trayjay, I don’t speak against Lewis in this regard of peddling because of any doctrinal view I might disagree with him on. Please see this video that BlackCalvinist posted to YouTube yesterday and my response and admonishment yesterday there against the peddling of what is Reformed doctrinal material. Now if you can show me where a group like Ligonier Ministries is knocking out YouTube accounts for sharing their videos I’ll make a post about them also. But I see RC Sproul’s stuff all over video sharing sites and nobody has lost an account for it.

I’ve even had to change my blog’s copyright notice, to ensure that people know anything related to the gospel of the Lord Jesus on this blog can be freely shared. That’s freely shared, there are exceptions in the updated notice related to people trying to use material here for a fee.

If someone wants to do a full time ministry of their own, their salary should come from freely given donations, not fixed fees for words they claim to be gospel. There is a big difference between a laborer getting wages and peddling. We only have the example across the entire Bible.

If someone wants to share the gospel, they have to do it in a godly manner, or it’s not sharing the gospel, it’s serving your own belly.

Have you not seen me debating saints on Melvin’s blog about John Macarthur doing so much peddling on his ministry web site? But he allows the material to be shared on video sharing sites with no complaint. And Macarthur gives a whole lot away on other ministry sites, still I take issue with his peddling and his placing his name on the Word of God with things like the “Macarthur Study Bible”. His name in big letters .

Still NOBODY is taking it to the level of Lewis in shutting down accounts and crying to YouTube when somebody shares a few minutes of one of his videos.

And here’s a news flash, sharing a few minutes of one of Lewis’ videos IS NOT ILLEGAL. Have you ever heard of Fair Use guidelines? Sharing a few minutes of something that is an hour or hours in length, for non-profit educational purposes IS LEGAL.

So Trayjay, ITS NOT THE YOUTUBBERS THAT ARE BREAKING THE LAW, LEWIS IS. Problem is that the YouTubbers don’t have the resources to hire lawyers to stand against Lewis.

Ask Lewis for permission? People have tried, nobody can get near the man’s ear unless they are trying to pay him to book him for lecture. The mentioned YouTubber who lost her account, I’ve talked with her a number of times. She’s tried VERY HARD to reach Lewis and tried VERY HARD to seek out means to request permission and never could reach anyone. She shares gospel freely, SHE’S LIVING OUT OF HER TRUCK, I KID YOU NOT. But she’s not trying to make merchandise of God’s word.

This blog involves a bit of time and research on my part. How much did I charge you for it? It’s only got 1,759 posts to date and that does not include any contributions I’ve made in comments.

dazzarai is freely giving. InYourBible.com freely gives and simply request donations for support.

Once the salary is funded off the sale of merchandise, it’s peddling.

I don’t care if secular investigative reporters make videos for a fee and claim they spent X hours and effort to make the video, we’re contending for the faith. Or so we claim.
trayjay Says:
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I.C., you make some very good and valid points, and no, I would not pull them off as long as the information is given for free. I still feel like there is a little bit of raw animosity with you regarding G. But it’s okay.

Please don’t think I’m being a donkey. I was just wondering.

Be blessed.
IndependentConservative Says:
April 22nd, 2008 at 4:57 pm
If there is any raw animosity in me towards him or anyone else I pray the Lord help me see it and repent of it.

A fee to cover initial cost of production I don’t complain about, but I’ve found few who only charge for the sake of simply covering production costs. And these days things can be placed online in text format for cheap, so I don’t see why anyone can’t make their material freely available if they really desired. Videos and audio can be uploaded to Usenet free of charge. (I figure if YouTube and all over video sites make it hard for Christians, Usenet might have to be leveraged.)

And while I don’t like fees when people seek to profit, I usually don’t make full posts here on this blog about that. I will complain in comments at various places including here about that sort of thing. I know I’m in the minority in my view of that, but I’ve explained why I hold my view.

When someone has fees and they start using the law against saints, that’s when I can’t hold back any longer.

I’m just glad nobody responded trying to say “well if Jay-Z can have a fee why can’t a minister” . (Still too many saints use the world’s example instead of the Word when they consider what is done in ministry.)

I’m all for pastors having a salary if they feel they need it, 1 Timothy 5:18. I’m just against methods being used outside of donations to fund that salary. Since I can’t justify with scripture anything but the donation method to meet a needed salary level. And honestly, I’m OK with some salary ranges for pastors that might exceed what some other saints might find acceptable. (Like some feel $100K is too much for a pastor, I’ve got no problem with it.) We all agree that does not justify what the pimps are doing at all.