Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time for prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried up, who was placed at the temple gate called “the Beautiful Gate” every day so he could beg for money from those going into the temple courts.

When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple courts, he asked them for money. Peter looked directly at him (as did John) and said, “Look at us!” So the lame man paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, stand up and…

Acts 3:1-6

Imagine for a moment if this miracle documented in Acts 3 happened today. In todays culture, imagine Peter and John who have no silver or gold. They are kind of broke. An Apostle of the Lord just doesn’t have much income. So they decided that maybe they could establish an income stream for themselves through a Substack account. For a small monthly fee, subscribers could access additional content. Good plan! So the Substack account with a paywall is established.

Later, after the paywall account is up and running, Peter and John drive up to the temple in their new Mercedes and head into the temple courts. As they encounter the beggar at the temple gate, Peter tells the man to stand up and…the man sits there waiting, there is an awkward pause, the man looks at them expectantly and says “…and what?” Peter looks at the man and says, “I’m sorry but to access additional content you need to join my community of paid subscribers.” The man looks down silently knowing he can’t afford the content behind the paywall.

What a terrible thing. Miracle canceled because of a paywall. The opportunity for the salvation of thousands of people lost because of a paywall.

Ok, a little satire to make a point.

Thankfully, that’s not what happened. There was no paywall or Mercedes. Only two apostles of the Lord Jesus walking in the power of the Holy Spirit building a wildly successful ministry to begin the mission of the church. How did the story really go? Well, what Peter had, he freely and gladly gave to the man.

But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, stand up and walk!” Then Peter took hold of him by the right hand and raised him up, and at once the man’s feet and ankles were made strong. He jumped up, stood and began walking around, and he entered the temple courts with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

Acts 3:6-8

My point is this: increasingly, good Bible teachers who provide desperately needed teaching by people who can’t find it anywhere else are putting critical information behind paywalls. I will never: 1) put scriptural content and other information people need from a biblical worldview behind a paywall, 2) I will never pay anyone to access biblical information that should be made available at no cost to anyone who wants it. Never. If you erect a paywall, I will simply find my information elsewhere.

As a pastor or Bible teacher in this day, in this prophetic time, if you put your teachings that people need behind a paywall, then you can keep it. People need this information but the poorest among us (not me), cannot afford a stupid paywall.

Good pastors and teachers who are trying to build an online ministry need to understand the times and the great need people have today of access to solid biblical perspectives and teaching.

For the pastors who provide the solid biblical teaching I find on your blogs at no cost, THANK YOU. I know your blogs are a labor of love and have enormous value.

But for pastors and teachers who are erecting obstacles to biblical content. Stop it. The time has come to remove ALL the obstacles to the Word of God.