God's Gift of Salvation Is Not For Sale, It's Free

9/07/2019 Christianity 14 Comments

Because of man’s insatiable greed for money, he has devised all kinds of scams to further enrich himself even if it would mean victimizing the poor, the innocent, and the unsuspecting. Those who do this, of course, conceal their real motive. We see them in the guise of holiness, using the word of God as their bait to entice people. Yes, indeed, this practice is very evident in religion.

Religions and religious leaders today have become so enterprising that they never run out of gimmicks and schemes that aim to deceive people so that they could amass more and more riches.

Anywhere you go, you can find religious organizations selling different items such as anointing oils, miracle oils, prayer booklets, scapulars, medallions, blessed water, etc. – all of which promise healing, protection and deliverance from evil. This, now, gives people the impression that if they pay a certain amount for these items, they would receive special benefits. That is why an ordinary person could not help but think if there is also a corresponding amount of money to be paid to merit salvation. Is salvation for sale? Can it be bought?

Definitely, salvation is not for sale! It is a gift from our benevolent Lord and Creator. Being a gift, you do not pay for it. Salvation is free. And there is no amount of money that could equal its importance.

It must be remembered that when the Lord Jesus Christ instructed the apostles to preach the Gospel, He also instructed them to preach it for free.

​MATTHEW 10:7-8 (KJV) says,


The preaching of the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ should be done freely. That was Christ’s instruction. And the apostles did as they were told by Christ. Thus, in preaching the Gospel freely, they, in effect, had offered to the people the salvation which Christ had taught.

​2 CORINTHIANS 11:7 (KJV) says,


Nothing is for sale when it comes to the salvation of the soul. Selling anything that is relative to salvation is prohibited by God.

​PROVERBS 23:23 (KJV) says,


Truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding are not for sale because these are sacred things that come from God — for free.

​ROMANS 6:23 (KJV) says,


Salvation can be attained through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The statement “the gift of God is eternal life” is synonymous with salvation. Very clearly, salvation is a gift; it is not for sale. A gift is given out of the kindness of the giver.

Holy oil, miracle oil, blessed water, and the like, are just inventions of many religions to make money. These cannot deliver you from perdition; these cannot save your soul. If it is true that those things can give people salvation, it would imply that the rich have a very great chance of being saved since they have the money to buy tons of these so-called miracle oils and holy water. On the other hand, it would also imply that the poor would only have a very slim chance to salvation since they do not have the money to buy those. But such is not the case. This is just one of the many scams and deceits in religion, and the Bible calls it bait, or a trap.

​JEREMIAH 5:26-27 (KJV) says,


To accumulate more and more money, what do these pastors do? According to Jeremiah, “ . . . they set a trap, they catch men.”

They think of so many strategies so that they could ensnare and victimize people without making them suspect that it is all a hoax. Their victims are compared to birds trapped in a cage. Normally, birds would not voluntarily place themselves inside a cage because they love flying freely in vast spaces. But since a trap was set for them, they were captured.

The same principle applies to humans. No person in his right mind would make himself a victim of deception and scam. But because of the bait employed unto him, he has become prey to his greedy pastor who has practically made him his milking cow. And we are a hundred percent sure that those pastors are not of God.

By simply checking on their lifestyles, we can readily determine if a pastor or a religious leader is of God or not. If a religious leader lives in comfort and luxury while his members suffer from extreme poverty and he is unmindful of them, that pastor is not of God.

The real pastors, or ministers, of God look after the welfare of their members; they care about their plight. They would not even eat yet until they are sure that all of their members have eaten. So, it is shameful for a pastor to be living in luxury while his members are living in misery.

Let us take the case of the richest pastor in Africa. This is what an article says about him:








He has so much in life; he lives in abundance while many people in Africa are starving. He does not even share a little of his riches with his poor fellowmen in the African continent. Instead of sharing, he even makes business out of them.​

If the rich pastors in Africa are truly of God, then, no person in Africa will die of hunger.

It is very saddening that many pastors have made religion a means of enriching themselves. They think of nothing but personal gain.

The Bible has rightfully likened them to greedy dogs.

​ISAIAH 56:11 (KJV) says,


They are without satisfaction, like greedy dogs which can never have enough. But in MATTHEW 7:15, these pastors were not simply called dogs but ravening wolves, the fiercest among the family of dogs.

These pastors have made religion a kind of merchandise, as written in 2 PETER 2:1-3 (KJV),


The religion that they established is their merchandise. They make business out of the word of God.

​2 CORINTHIANS 2:17 (RSV) says,


You can just imagine the gravity of that declaration by the Apostle Paul. If during his time, there were already so many peddlers of the word of God, expect that these “peddlers” have multiplied in number in our dispensation. Today, there are more pastors who sell the word of God not only the word of God but also things, which they claim to be sacred. What is worse, they also sell their members to politicians.

In the Philippines, for instance, there are religious groups that sell the votes of their members to politicians. They promise the politicians of their bloc vote, and in exchange for their votes, the politicians have to pay them a certain amount of money. But of course only corrupt politicians approach these religions; the decent and highly-principled ones would not succumb to this kind of compromise.

But the sad reality is, these are the kind of religions that we have in our times – profit-oriented, earthly, and deceitful. They make religion a lucrative business. So you must be very vigilant. If they sell you something – which according to them guarantees your salvation – do not believe them. Salvation is something which cannot be bought even by a huge amount of money.

Do not forget — salvation is a gift which the Almighty God offers to people who zealously search for the truth and truly desire to be saved. And it can be attained through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.