Authored By :
Bill Kochman
Published On :
September 11, 2000
Last Updated :
September 26, 2019
NOTE: This is an outdated article regarding events which occurred about twenty years ago. If you ever operated or visited a Hotline server, or if you ever downloaded MP3 files in the old days, you may find this article interesting.
Offending God's Sheep, Remove The Obstacle And The Excuse, The Music Or The File Format?, Obtaining Permission, Render Unto Caesar, Stolen Offerings To God?, Subject To Higher Powers, When To Resist, Contend For The Faith, Persecution, Double Standards, Evil Coming From Good?, Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right, Bible Smugglers, Our Plastic Commercialized American Christianity, Luxury Or Necessity, The Offensive Gospel, More On Persecution, America's Ungodly Youth, If I Am Wrong, Satisfaction Of Preaching The Word, Radio Music, Television, Difference Between VCRs And MP3s, Free Through Sponsorship, Software Banners, Regarding Stolen Profits, Closing Remarks, BBB Suggested Reading List
Returning to the hot issue of MP3s, and other illegal or questionable files, if we as Christians are in possession of such files, and worse yet, if we are distributing them to friends on a personal level, or on an even higher level via a website or via a server such as Hotline, then we are indeed guilty of not living according to the Lord's commandments. If that is indeed the case, then sooner or later, our sins will be exposed; we will be embarrassed; and we will be ashamed when we bring reproach to the Cause of Christ. How effective will our Christian witness be then?
To reiterate, the bottom line for me personally is this: If nonbelievers are coming to our servers, or websites, and finding certain illegal or at least questionable files which cause them to doubt the truthfulness and honesty of our faith, then we may be placing a stumbling block and a rock of offense in the way of their possible Salvation. As you may know, Jesus Himself issued a very serious warning regarding this issue, as we see here:
"But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
Matthew 18:6, KJV
As I explain in a few other articles, that word "offend" is derived from the Greek word "skandalizo", and would have been better translated as "stumble", because that is what Jesus meant. That is, to cause one to stumble and fall away from the faith because of something which was said or done. While Jesus was referring to those people who already believe -- please note that He says "one of these little ones which believe in me" -- shouldn't we apply a similar rule to the nonbelievers who we are trying to win to Christ via our online ministries?
I can only conclude then that if we truly love their souls, then we will remove such files, in order to make it as easy as possible for them to come to the Lord. Some of them have such hardened hearts, that we really need to go the extra mile with them. Furthermore, by removing the files which are or which appear to be illegal or at least questionable, they can no longer point the accusatory finger at us. Thus, we will have eliminated their supposedly "valid" excuse for rejecting our Christian faith. We will indeed be "blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation", as we read in part one. Or perhaps in the midst of the online community?
A few days after finishing this article and placing it on my Hotline server, as well as on my website, I received the following feedback from a member of my now-defunct online Christian mailing list, who enjoys listening to Christian MP3s. My response follows his remarks:
----- Begin Quote -----
In general, I whole-heartily agree with your article. I only feel that your comment needs a little clarification on what was found illegal by the courts.
The "MP3" "*.mp3" format is no more illegal [th]an any ".au .zip .pdf .avi .ps" format. It's the content of the file that causes problems. Trading of any uncompensated copyrighted material in whatever format is wrong. MP3.com's "beam-it" file-sharing music sharing was the subject of the law suite; not the .mp3 format itself. While the beam-it was intended to allow [you to] obtain a .mp3 version of recordings you've already paid for (another discussion in of itself) the problems occurred with people trading the downloaded files illegally.
I have legally downloaded a number [of] Christian MP3s (from MP3.com). Many of these Christian Artists are some of the only groups on mp3.com that encourage free download of their entire album releases; mainly as I believe in their way [of] spreading the news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In support of these independent (non-label) Christian artists (at MP3.com), I've purchased a number [of] these recording at a fraction of what would be charged by the secular recording industry.
(i.e.)
https://artists.mp3s.com/artists/9/madelyniris.html
MP3.com gives Christian artists a new avenue that allows them to share the Gospel in a way that ordinarily would not be unavailable.
You and I may disagree over choices of musical content in as much as I may choose a different Bible translation, but condemning a file format should not be one.
----- End Of Quote -----
Based upon this person's comments, perhaps it is necessary for me to clarify that I am not explicitly condemning the MP3 file format itself, as much as I am questioning the illegal act of downloading something, either for personal use, and/or for trading with others, which is not legally-purchased material, or which has not been designated as being okay to freely distribute to others. On that point, it seems that my friend and I agree. As I noted in part one, this has been a very sticky issue between myself, and a few other Hotline server admins, who do have Christian MP3s available for download on their servers.
In order to continue being listed on the Armageddon tracker, all I have done is simply asked these admins to write to whomever is necessary, in order to find out if the Christian MP3s which they have downloaded from the web, are being made available for free personal use only, or if that also includes the right to distribute them to others, such as via a Hotline server. I wrote the following to one Christian admin in particular:
----- Begin Quote -----
To give me peace of mind about it, I would like to ask you to do something for me. Please go to the websites where you obtained the materials, and see under what conditions one is allowed to download those files. My main concern is this: Are the files free for download for personal use, or does their download policy include the right to freely distribute the material to others as well, such as via your server? There could be a very big difference there. If such information does not exist on the server, then I suggest that you write to them, tell them exactly how you are using their material, and see what they say. I would appreciate hearing back from you on this.
----- End Of Quote -----
Until these administrators clarify this issue -- and they haven't done so to date -- I simply cannot jeopardize my Christian reputation on Hotline, by allowing them to be listed on my tracker, because by doing so, I may be guilty by reason of association, if what they are doing is illegal and wrong. After receiving my request, one Christian admin wrote back to me and informed me that he had decided to withdraw his server from my tracker until the MP3 issue is resolved. In a message which followed after that, he shared the following verse with me:
----- Begin Quote -----
"They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."
Matthew 22:21, KJV
----- End Of Quote -----
In explaining this verse to me, this person asked me if such praise and worship songs which are found on some of the servers, are meant to be offered up to God. In other words, he was questioning me as to why I felt that it was wrong to have these MP3 recordings on our servers, when they uplift and glorify the Lord. I wrote back to him and explained to him that while the above verse is indeed true, to apply its meaning to music or video files which are of a questionable and possibly illegal nature, is not true. In other words, how can we of a clean conscience offer things up to the Lord which may be considered stolen by the governing authorities in the country where we reside? It is difficult for me to accept that God would honor such a thing. After reading part one of this article, this same admin wrote back to me with the following response. Please note that I am quoting him word-for-word so that there is no chance of misunderstanding or miscommunication:
----- Begin Quote -----
Your article was lengthy yet only revolved around the pre-drawn conclusion that it was stealing. In the above verse I was merely trying to show you that there is Scripture that tells us what is and what isn't stealing in God's eyes. Why didn't you go to that extreme? You have taken what worldly people think and have applied it to our servers. We are different than the world. Our reasons are not theirs.
I am not applying it [the verse] to the files, but to the songs themselves. The songs are to be offered up to God. We have no right to sell them. Responsible Christians that use them will yield to the Holy Spirit and either buy the album, or make a donation to the artist. This is the way God meant it to be. Not commercialization.
Do you think it was "legal" when Jesus upset the money changer's tables?
----- End Of Quote -----
While I can certainly agree that we are not children of the world; and that we are supposed to live by a standard which is very much higher than the standard of the world; and have in fact emphasized this very same point in a number of my articles; nevertheless, based upon the verses which follow, I personally believe that this person has presented a weak, distorted argument, because he is not balancing Scripture with Scripture as we are supposed to do. He is only taking what is convenient for him to use, in order to validate his position regarding this issue. Consider these verses:
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."
Romans 13:1,2, KJV
"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."
Ephesians 4:28, KJV
Regardless of how difficult it may be for some Christians to accept the above, Paul's message to us is very clear; and we can apply it to this current issue regarding MP3 files. In short, if the US government decides that downloading, using and distributing MP3s in this fashion is illegal, bootleg, software piracy, and copyright infringement -- as it now has, as we see by the MP3.com and Napster cases -- then as law-abiding Christian citizens of a worldly government, we are supposed to obey their mandates without question. To do otherwise is not really giving unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's, as Jesus instructed us to do. In short, when you download and distribute MP3 files without paying for them, you are stealing from Caesar, and being a poor Christian example on top of it, plain and simple. Man's laws say so, and God's Laws say so as well.
From reading the Scriptures for many years, I have come to the understanding that the only time we should resist the secular governments, is when they try to make us deny our faith, or when they try to stop us from being a Christian witness to others through personal one-on-one witnessing. When it comes to our faith, we most certainly cannot deny our Lord, and we cannot withhold the waters which bring Life from the spiritually lost and dying souls of the world. As Jesus said, if we are ashamed of Him, He will likewise be ashamed of us, as we see by this verse:
"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Mark 8:38, KJV
At the same time, please don't misunderstand what I mean by resist. As I explain in "Civil Disobedience and Christian Persecution", the kind of resistance I am talking about is not political or para-military style resistance. It is simply standing up for our faith in the face of adversity when we are called to do so, even if it means being persecuted, and being wise enough to know when it is time to flee to safety, so that we can continue being a witness another day. God wants us to stay alive as long as possible. He doesn't want us to play the hero and go out and purposely try to be a martyr. That is simply pride and foolishness. I discuss this topic more at length in the article entitled "He Who Fights and Runs Away: Choose Your Battles Wisely".
Contrary to everything I have just shared with you, based on what this person has written to me, and assuming that I have understand him correctly, he seems to be saying that what Jesus' words mean to him, is that being as we are not of this world, we are not bound by the same laws as the world. He seems to be stating that what may appear wrong in the eyes of the world, may not necessarily be wrong in the eyes of God. Applying this mentality even further, he seems to be suggesting that while the world may have a negative view of MP3 sharing -- even viewing it as an illegal activity -- we are not subject to that ruling, and should just ignore it, because by downloading and distributing Christian MP3s, we are glorifying God.
Can you see the subtle deception in his reasoning? As I stated earlier, there is indeed a lot of truth in what he is saying; but his practical application of the verse is dead wrong, because he is basically saying that it is okay in God's eyes to do something illegal according to the worldly standard, as long as the end result is good and positive; such as encouraging people's faith through the distribution of MP3 files. He seems to be saying that it is okay to do evil as long as good results from it in the end. As I have already made clear, I view this as erroneous reasoning, because you cannot glorify God with something which has been stolen; particularly when He tells us "Thou shalt not steal".
To further justify his position, this person then resorts to exposing the unprecedented commercialism which has plagued modern Christianity; exactly as I have done in this and other articles. Yet, contrary to what I stated in part one, he is indirectly saying that two wrongs make a right. While he admits that it's wrong to commercialize our faith, he is not willing to admit that freely distributing copyright protected Christian MP3s is wrong, unless one has received permission to do so from the necessary authorities. Now, if these non-label Christian artists or their representatives write back and say that it is okay, then personally, I don't have a problem with it whatsoever. If they want to freely distribute their Christian songs via the MP3 file format, as their way of witnessing to the world, so be it. God can use any medium He wants to use. In fact, I would welcome these Christian servers back to my tracker, once they convince me that they have received the necessary permission, or else removed the questionable files. I am of course referring to all types of files, whether they be audio, video, commercial software, etc.
Before addressing our final topic, there is another related issue which I feel we need to discuss. It has occurred to me that some Christians -- or maybe even some of our antichrist enemies -- might argue "Well, what is your view regard Christians who smuggle Bibles into countries where oppressive and antagonistic governments are in control, such as in China and other communist countries? They are doing something illegal according to the laws of those countries. Doesn't everything you have just explained apply to them as well? According to your reasoning, shouldn't they stop what they are doing?"
For me personally, this is a very black and white issue; and I think that it is rather ludicrous to even make such a poor comparison. As far as I am concerned, there is a very big difference between front-line soldiers and missionaries who are obeying the Lord's commandment to go into all the world, and putting their lives in danger in order to reach the lost of those countries who may have never heard the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and American Christians; most of whom are very rich and comfortable compared to the standards of the other countries where these people live. America is one of the most industrialized, modernized, commercialized and "gadgetized" nations upon the face of the Earth; and CCM, -- Christian Contemporary Music -- portable CD-ROM players and the like is all a part of it.
Excuse me, but while countless numbers of people suffer from both spiritual and physical oppression and hunger in foreign lands, and are thankful to see even one page from a real Bible, American Christians are really living "high off the hog" as we say in American slang. In other words, getting the Gospel to those oppressed peoples is a spiritually life and death situation which requires taking certain risks which may violate the local laws of some of those oppressive regimes. It is a matter of necessity for the sake of God's Kingdom. On the other hand, in fat, rich, lazy, and Gospel-stuffed America, downloading and distributing questionable Christian MP3 files is NOT a necessity. It is nothing more than a luxury. Furthermore, I still think that one-on-one personal witnessing, and Gospel tract passing, is still the best way to win a person to Jesus Christ.
We don't need all of that commercialism. We don't need all of the popular Christian rock bands. We don't need all of the idol worship by the fans as if they were worldly rock stars. Yes, God can work through such things, but we still really don't need it. It is all a part of modern, American, "plasticized" Christianity. For almost two thousand years, the true Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached via word of mouth, and in writing, and such methods have been very effective. So to reiterate my main point, to compare the legality of downloading copyrighted Christian MP3s in rich America, where most Christians can easily afford to buy a CD-ROM, with smuggling Bibles into foreign lands, whether they be Communist, or Islamic, or Buddhist, or whatever, is kind of silly in my view.
Now, if some of you American Christians are offended by my words, well I'm sorry, but I am really not. Those of you who have known me for a few years realize that I preach a hard Gospel. I preach a strong Gospel. I preach a controversial Gospel. But I always do my best to preach the Scriptural truth, come what may. Some day I may end up paying for it, but I don't even think or worry about that. I just keep busy from day to day doing what I believe the Lord wants me to do. Jesus also preached a divisive Gospel, and look where it got Him. Isn't that why Paul wrote the following?:
"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
2 Timothy 3:12, KJV
We Christians with our so-called narrow-minded, religiously-intolerant views certainly seem to be becoming less popular each day, as so-called Christian America turns more and more antichrist. The ungodly nature of the younger generation truly astounds me. It amazes me; because I have a chance to chat with some of them on a regular basis via my Hotline server. I have never experienced in my entire life, so many young people who not only don't believe in God, but who are turning to Satanism, witchcraft, paganism, etc. America's spiritual condition is truly deplorable.
At any rate, if you honestly feel that I am wrong in a certain area, or regarding a certain opinion, then just pray that the Lord will straighten me out, and help me to see the light sooner or later. If He does, you can be sure that I will eventually write an article about it, although it may take a while. I am already way over my head in unfinished work; but I enjoy it. It gives me a deep inner satisfaction to know that I am feeding God's sheep, with both the milk and the meat of God's Word. For me personally, that is the bottom line. Whether we are discussing the MP3 controversy, or something else, are we truly following God's Word; or are we following our own weak self-justifications? What is the ruling authority in our lives? Is it God's Word; or is it merely our own thoughts and opinions which girate towards selfishness and doing our own thing?
Before concluding this article, I would like to share one more email message which is related to this topic, which I received today from another person who is not a member of my mailing list. I tried to email my response to him, but it was returned as undeliverable, stating that the person in question does not have an email account with the service in question. I suspect that he may have added something to his email address in order to avoid spam. So Randall, if you are reading this, following is my response to your inquiry. He wrote:
----- Begin Quote -----
Greetings in the name of Christ Jesus. I loved your article about "sharing music", and I WAS guilty of that at one time until God convicted me. But I have a question about recording from the radio. Is that also stealing in God's eyes? I am the only one that listens to the music and don't share it with others. Please reply.
----- End Of Quote -----
Being as I am not a legal expert who is familiar with all of the copyright laws of the United States, that is a rather tough question for me to answer. So please take my advice with caution. My first inclination would be to say that this might possibly fall under the same category as recording a movie from the television set on your VCR. As long as it is for personal viewing, or personal listening in the case of music, I really can't see how it is a tremendous crime. If it were a crime, then we would all have to candidly admit that, according to law, the United States is full of many millions more of criminals than anyone has ever possibly imagined or suspected. Not only that, but VCR and other recording device manufacturers would have to be included as accomplices to the crime, because they make such activities possible; just like these online MP3 companies we have been discussing.
On the other hand, copying, downloading and trading MP3s via the web, when they haven't been paid for, and no profit of any kind has been garnered from them, is a very different issue in my view. In most cases, contrary to what this other admin hopes for and suggests, the music will probably never be purchased by the vast majority of people, whether they are secular people or Christians. Furthermore, aside from a few Christian groups, it is not being made freely available by the artists or the recording industry which represents them. It is an illegal act of stealing something without permission. In the case of music on the radio, or programs and movies on the television set, they are being freely offered for public listening or viewing pleasure, because they have been paid for through station commercials and sponsorship.
As a former radio disc jockey, I understand a little about how radio stations operate. Contrary to the understanding of the listener on the receiving end, radio is not about the music. Music is merely the enticing packaging around the real product; and that is the goods and services which are offered during the commercials. That is what pays a radio station's bills, and their salaries. In other words, as you know, different businesses pay for time slots on the air, in the hope that if you hear their commercial enough, you will go out and purchase their product or service. The music is just to help keep you in a good mood, so that you will be receptive to the sales talk you hear every few minutes. Obviously, television works the very same way.
In fact, some software companies have begun to operate the same way as well. Take for example Qualcomm's Eudora Pro email program. It is now three applications in one: Lite mode, sponsored mode, and paid mode. Unless you pay for it as I have, you must allow a small window to display banner ads on your desktop. I am totally against this scheme, so I opted to pay the registration fee. The Hotline software is the same way. The reason why it is now free, is because of the desktop banner displays, which are paid for just like commercials on the radio or television. Again, I detest the banners, so I have continued to Hotline 1.2.3. Also, I paid for both the Hotline server and client software before either one of them ever became free; so I have paid my dues.
So I hope that you can see the difference between songs on the radio, television programs and movies, and online MP3s. When music is downloaded from the Internet, regardless of what kind of music it is, unless it's specifically released for free for both personal use and public distribution, no one is earning a profit from it. Not the artists. Not the recording companies. Not the distributors. No one. There is no sponsorship either. That is why it has become such a big issue. This case is all about money and profit; no more, and no less. As I stated earlier, I am not a legal expert on American copyright laws. But it just seems to me that there is more legitimacy to copying from the radio or television, as long as it is for personal listening or viewing pleasure. Just read the warning which appears on your screen when you watch a video. That will give you a good idea of what is considered legal, and what is not.
Well, that is all I really have to say about this issue. I had never expected to write an article on this topic; much less expand it to a two-part one. But perhaps my advice will be of help to others as it has been to this person who wrote to me. In the long run, what it really comes down to, is doing what we feel is right in the sight of the Lord. But, it must conform to God's Will according to the outline which we have in His Word. As the Apostle Paul wrote when he was forced to deal with certain legalistic issues with the brethren in Rome:
"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."
Romans 14:5, KJV
None of us is perfect. We are all sinners. We have all done certain things in our lives of which we would be embarrassed and ashamed if it ever came to light. It is time for all of us to clean up our acts. Time may be shorter than we think.
With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!
For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.
Abundant Life Doctrine: Scripturally Exposed!
Are You Crucified With Christ?
Civil Disobedience and Christian Persecution
Dead to the Law: God's Laws Written on Our Hearts
Elijah: Where Are the True Prophets of God?
He Who Fights and Runs Away: Choose Your Battles Wisely
Money-Making Bible Hucksters and Mammon
Musical Ministries and Wordy Preachers
Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God
So You Really Think You Are So Humble?
The Children of God and Politics
The Fruits of Disobedience