Hi Maria I will share some of my thoughts. I think I understand where you are coming from. I personally have not spent much time with the courses. The main way I benefit from Historic Faith is the opportunity to interact with other like minded Christians. For a number of years prior to joining Historic Faith I had already gone on a journey that has given me a well rounded understanding of the Scriptures. And I received hardly “ no brownie points” for my labor of Love. I actually have a copy of Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs and I have spent much time meditating on the quotes David gave in that Priceless Reference of the Historic Faith. I have listened to a number of David’s podcasts and audio cds. I study the Bible in its original languages. So when I joined Historic Faith I did not feel the courses were necessary for me to spend time going through. But not everyone is like me. I actually live a celibate lifestyle and my sole purpose in life is a deeper walk with God. But many people are not in my position. I believe many Christians need some encouragement to lay aside their busy schedule and study the Historic Faith. From what I understand, many Christians are almost on the verge of being choked off by the cares of this world. And I think they need some encouragement to actually break away from the bindweed in their life. I was there at one point in my life, I barely had time for my daily scripture reading. I was constantly on my feet. I shall also say that, I have seen some of the things you share on the forums. And I can tell that you are a Woman of God. I don’t think going through all those courses are truly necessary for you, but I think there are others who really do benefit from them. Those are just my thoughts. God bless you, stay encouraged Sister!
Nathanael, I appreciate your perspective here. Over the years, I have dug deep into the world of nonprofit para church ministries as well as church finances. What I'm finding here in America is a vast, vast network of nonprofit teaching christian ministries that peddle BILLIONS of dollars with the mission to fulfill the great commission. The sad conclusion I've come to is that many of these ministries are about the teachers making a living off the gospel, and will create all kinds of useless content to justify their pay. Let me be clear, I am not saying David Bercot is doing that, far from it. But there is something very unsettling to me about making money from teaching ministries outside the accountability of the local church. The church was given the mission to fulfill the great commission, not para church independent teachers who are often not accountable to any church elders. Now, I cannot tell you much about David Bercot and what his sources of accountability he has within his local church, but I've read some of his books so I get a little bit of an idea what's happening here. Maybe David can respond to us how he is submitting to his brothers in his local church in regards to this ministry. Having said this, I have benefited quite a bit from David Bercot's content, as well as from his friend's content, but that doesn't mean I agree with everything he says or does. I hope it helps to understand why I think this is an important topic to raise here in the public forum, and that I have good intentions for the edification of my brothers and sisters in the Lord.
I'm only a member of the site like yourself, and I don't know how everything is funded, so take with a grain of salt. If you go to scrollpublishing.com, and find the newsletter which tells what the Society for the Good Shepherd is doing - the current one is "Helping a family in Azerbaijan" - it doesn't look like it has any relationship to the Historic Faith, other than that the Bercots are associated with it. Whatever compensation they get from that I trust is reasonable according to the work they put into it, because their intention is to help people and provide an opportunity for others to join in that effort. As far as this site goes, it originated as a Sattler College project to give Bercot's (and others) teaching in a more modern, accessible format. Now it's run by people at Chambersburg, and how it's funded I don't know because it used to cost, but now if you were paying for it and didn't stop when they made it free, your donation goes to the Society for the Good Shepherd, which doesn't maintain the site. I could be wrong though, but I've known the Bercots for years and have benefited so much his works that I can't imagine what you mean by unnecessary teachings. But then, like Nathanael, I've mostly read many of his books & listened to many of his CDs already. The point-system was setup when Sattler was running the site and they thought it would be a helpful motivation for some people to keep coming back. The points don't actually earn you anything. From what I can tell, the Bercots aren't running this site, but those in his fellowship and others who value his works and want them to reach a broader audience.
Dan, thank you for the details you shared here. If you click around this website, you find the following message under the place where you click to Donate, "The Historic Faith is a ministry of the Society of the Good Shepherd, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions may be tax-deductible as permitted by law."......So I looked up Form 990 for Society of the Good Shepherd since there is no other Form 990 for The Historic Faith that I could find, it falls under the nonprofit Society of the Good Shepherd as far as I can tell. Maybe the moderators of this website can clarify these things for the members.
God bless you. I understand your concerns. Feel freedom in Christ to pursue whatever God lays on your heart. Concerning what David’s ministry, along with his friends, I believe they are presenting us with the most Doctrinely Sound Commentary available. But as David shares in Secrets of the Kingdom, as we study the scriptures I believe we should constantly ask ourselves what were the Apostles “actually trying” to say. “If I did not know any better, what would I think I just read?” And I think David would give an “Amen!”
