THE PROMISE KEEPERS

 

Dear Promise Keepers ~ I am a Stranger and a Pilgrim on the earth, having left the City of Destruction (which will soon be burned with fire) and do seek a better country, that is an Heavenly, wherein dwelleth Righteousness.  I have read in my Book, The Holy Bible, that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, which Revelation doth cause me to rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory.  Indeed, I fain would be clothed with Immortality and to behold alway the face of Him who died on a Cross for my sins.  Yea, this expectation would be all my Joy were it not for grievous thoughts which do assail me regarding certain travelers I have met with on my journey.  These liberal-minded professors have not entered in at the Strait Gate, wherein I was instructed to go, that I may be eased of my Burden of Sin, but hath climbed up some Other Way.  Even so, such Vain Persons are fully persuaded that the King of the Celestial City will receive them and bestow upon them the Promised Inheritance, which is incorruptible, undefiled and fadeth not away. The first of these benighted souls is Mr. Worldly Wiseman, who doth abide in the town of Morality, which is under the rule of Legality.  The next is Wanton Professor, who liveth in Pleasure being dead even while he liveth.  And finally there is Ignorance, who will not endure Sound Doctrine that he may grow thereby, but walketh in the Vanity of his Own Mind.  These three fellows Esteem Themselves more highly than they ought and ~ professing to be Wise ~ knoweth not that they are Fools.  Methinks such men are greatly deceived in that they presume the King of yonder Celestial City will grant unto them Life Eternal when, of a truth, they will be sore ashamed before Him at the very Throne of Judgment.  For many Deceivers are gone out into the world which through great swelling words of Vanity do promise them Life.  Such are the Servants of Corruption that, verily, make of their disciples twofold more the Children of Hell than themselves.  For this cause, I am of a mind to bid these beguiled fellows to an assembly of Promise Keepers, but must needs first inquire by what particular doctrine thy organisation doth seek to bring such Graceless persons to Christ. Your Fellow Servant, Christian

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PK PROMISE KEEPERS MEN OF INTEGRITY Dear Chris,   We appreciate your interest in our organization, which would welcome your fellow travelers.  Perhaps you may be overly harsh in assuming that such sincere persons are without hope and without Christ in this world.  We would not be so intolerant, but would present to them a heart-warming message in the exciting and non-threatening atmosphere of a familiar sports arena.  It is the purpose of the Promise Keepers to promote a contemporary version of Christianity in a doctrinally-free, recreational and multimedia setting.  At Promise Keepers conferences, prominent Christian leaders like Chuck Colson assure the men, "If you trust in God it doesn¡¯t matter what religion or race you are, we all belong to each other."  Our ecumenical message is carefully designed so as not to offend, but to include all in the great worldwide move toward religious unity. For example, Mr. Worldly Wiseman would find common interests with many Roman Catholics and Mormons who are encouraged by their churches to attend Promise Keepers conferences.  Their particular brand of "faith" is never challenged as long as they profess to "love Jesus." Modeling these works-based religions, Promise Keepers requires that each member make Seven Promises which he tries to keep with the help of mentors.  Such carnal methods of attaining to holiness were adopted from the rule of Legality over the town of Morality, where Mr. Worldly Wiseman resides. He will no doubt be familiar with such Promises, and be already hard at work trying to keep many of them. Wanton Professor, we would suspect, suffers from being spiritually challenged.  Instead of confronting his condition, which others would harshly label ¡®sinful,¡¯ Promise Keepers provides weekly encounter groups for the men to explore their masculinity in a psychological context. Rather than overwhelming Wanton with the deep truths of the Bible, he would be given reading materials that are better suited to his interests, such as The Masculine Journey, by Robert Hicks.  This revolutionary book would inform him that Jesus was lustful just like he is, and introduce him to a host of alternatives to repentance, such as initiation rites, male-bonding and taking of oaths.  In addition, The Masculine Journey and Study Guide would refer him to the secular men¡¯s movement, where he may find more agreeable fellowship than a strict Bible-teaching church offers. Ignorance will surely agree with many of the informative articles in our monthly publication, the New Man.  Features such as "Fathers, Fossils and Faith" (1) provide skeptics an intellectually stimulating defense of "Biblical" evolution in contrast to the less scientifically supported view that is presented in Genesis 1.  Renewed interest in pagan rites is also part of Promise Keepers¡¯ program as we strive to incorporate the fashionable esoteric practices of New Age spiritualism.  Our leaders received their training in the Vineyard Movement, which has been on the vanguard of the occult revival within the Church.  In our efforts to further update the narrow doctrinal position of traditional Christianity, Point Men are assigned to local churches and communities who have been trained to pressure pastors to break down all denominational walls.  Such modernization of the church we hope will provide easier access and travel for many, like your friends, who prefer the Broad, rather than the Narrow Way. ~ The Promise Breakers

"They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law." Psalm 78:10

Promise Keepers is a non-denominational parachurch organization, formed in 1990 to "celebrate Biblical manhood and motivate men toward Christ-like masculinity." Last year, nearly 1.1 million men attended Promise Keepers events at 22 stadiums around the United States. The movement has grown exponentially in the six years since it was founded by Bill McCartney, who was then the head football coach at the University of Colorado. It now has a full-time staff of 430 at its headquarters in Boulder, Colorado and an annual budget of $97 million. The headquarters produces videos and a radio show, maintains a Web site, publishes books and several newsletters, and keeps in contact with 38 state offices and a handful of international affiliates. Sixty percent of its budget comes from men who pay $60 apiece to attend the stadium events and the remainder from donations and sales of instructional materials. (2)
Promise Keepers plans to expand its outreach globally. Last summer, seventeen men from four countries that hold affiliate or near-affiliate status (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) met at the PK headquarters in Colorado. Promise Keepers¡¯ December 1996 New Man magazine reported that representatives of 30 nations have made official inquiries about forming a Promise Keepers organization in their countries.
President Clinton has endorsed the Promise Keepers movement on the McNeil-Lehrer Report and Hillary Clinton praised this non-denominational ministry to men in her book, It Takes a Village. (3)The L. A. Times ran a favorable article and the New York Times gave Promise Keepers front page recognition. A New Age Journal article noted that Promise Keepers combined the secular men¡¯s movement (founded by New Age poet Robert Bly) with the political evangelicalism of Pat Robertson. (4) And the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gave the following appraisal: "Promise Keepers combines the Jesus Saves preaching of Billy Graham with the male-bonding message of Robert Bly, the call for racial conciliation of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the marital advice of Ann Landers." (5)

THE VINEYARD MOVEMENT
Bill McCartney founded the Promise Keepers through the inspiration of his Vineyard pastor, James Ryle. Randy Phillips, the president of Promise Keepers, is also a member of James Ryle¡¯s Vineyard Fellowship. James Ryle claims to be a modern prophet with revelatory powers. His book, A Dream Come True: A Biblical Look at How God Speaks Through Dreams and Visions, forwarded by Bill McCartney, encourages Christians to seek Jesus through dreams and visions. (6) At a 1990 Vineyard Harvest Conference in Denver, Rev. Ryle stated that God had instructed him to reveal to the church that the Beatles and their music were the result of a special anointing of the Holy Spirit - and that God was looking for others upon whom to place that anointing in order to bring about a worldwide revival through music --

"The Lord has appointed me as a lookout and shown me some things that I want to show you¡¦The Lord spoke to me and said, 'What you saw in the Beatles -- the gifting and the sound that they had -- was from me¡¦It was my purpose to bring forth through music a worldwide revival that would usher in the move of My Spirit in bringing men and women to Christ¡¦" (7)

In an evaluation, entitled "Promise Keepers: Growth and Caution," Chris Corbett of Point of View radio ministry chronicled the connection between Promise Keepers and the Vineyard Movement. This profile of the Vineyard, in fact, describes the doctrinal foundation upon which the Promise Keepers Movement was built:

"The Vineyard movement of churches is controversial even within its Pentecostal base. It has been labeled ¡®hyper-Pentecostal¡¯ by its detractors, which have included figures such as Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel and evangelist David Wilkerson. Currently, the Vineyard is a major conduit for the ¡®Holy Laughter Movement¡¯ in which those said to be filled with the Holy Spirit during a meeting might begin laughing uncontrollably, becoming paralyzed, roar like a lion or howl and bark like a dog.

"Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney's pastor, James Ryle, who is on the Board of PK, is a highly controversial figure. His participation in the ¡®Laughing Revival¡¯ was written up in a Washington Post article (11/18/95) about the Laughing Movement at the Pasadena Vineyard Christian Fellowship: At the Pasadena church, James Ryle, chaplain of the University of Colorado football team, is telling the congregation how Jesus freed him from his own demons -- growing up in an orphanage and serving jail time for selling drugs. He tells many jokes about his missing middle finger, lost to a lawn mower. There are waves of tear-wiping laughter. Ryle makes sound effects, including some animal noises. He snaps his fingers, bangs the podium, paces and tells how God will appear here in suits of fire, oil, water. ¡®You will feel! And the glory of the Lord will put you down!¡¯ (A Rush of Ecstasy and Alarm, Carol McGraw)

"The Vineyard movement has been closely associated with the signs and wonders means of evangelism. Founder John Wimber follows closely the doctrines of George Eldon Ladd who was a professor of Biblical Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Ladd introduced radically new ideas of the kingdom, redemption and Christian unity. According to The Doctrines of the Kingdom of God, by Carl Widrig (1995), . . . Ladd¡¯s ¡®gospel of the Kingdom¡¯ had a tendency to distract Ladd away from emphasizing the saving information of the gospel of Jesus' death on the cross." (8)

The Vineyard Movement has assumed the Gnostic mantle of William Branham, George Warnock, Paul Cain and others, who formerly tried to introduce Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God teachings into the Pentecostal movement. Recently, when Kansas City Prophets Bob Jones and Earl Paulk were exposed for moral failure and Rev. Ernie Gruen challenged the error of modern false prophets, John Wimber provided a covering for their sin through affiliation with Vineyard Ministries. The issues of fornication and heresy were never dealt with and these prophets continue to promote their false doctrines through the Vineyard Fellowship.
The Word of God has carefully defined the eligibility criteria for those who shepherd the flock of God. I Thessalonians 5:12 commends believers to "know them which labour among you." However, leaders of parachurch ministries are often protected from scrutiny. I Timothy 3 sets forth precise qualifications for an elder candidate, who must be "above reproach" and "one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)¡¦" A secular magazine, GQ, noted that Bill McCartney is "the only major college football coach in America with two illegitimate grandchildren sired by two different players upon his only daughter." (9) When the requirements of Scripture are ignored in the local church, the spiritual body becomes dysfunctional. Yet many parachurch leaders like Bill McCartney, who would not qualify as elders of a local church, are shepherding millions of Christians worldwide. In addition they receive millions of dollars in tithe money that rightfully belong to local churches. Jesus identified the hireling as a shepherd who does not receive his authority lawfully -- by the high standard given in the Word of God:

"He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." (John 10:1)

THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT
After the September, 1996 conference in New York, the Promise Keepers issued a press release:

"(Queens, NY) -- Like an army of Christian crusaders, 34,600 highly motivated missionaries and nearly 2,500 volunteers were turned loose on the New York metropolitan area today with the closing of the two-day Promise Keepers Conference at Shea Stadium. A nationwide radio broadcast on 398 stations reached over 250,000 listeners per quarter hour, while a strong national and international media presence assured the message would reach millions more¡¦" (10)

What is the spiritual "message" that has almost overnight catapulted thousands of men across the nation to become missionaries to their cities and has also attracted the attention of national and international media? The multi-ethnic gathering of men in New York City heard from several popular Christian speakers, including Charles Colson, formerly a key political aide to President Nixon and the founder of Prison Fellowship. Colson shared the "message of Jesus" which he learned in jail: "If you trust in God, it doesn¡¯t matter what religion or race you are, we all belong to each other." (11)
Perhaps this unifying message best explains the favorable coverage given to Promise Keepers in the secular press and the political arena. The message of Jesus Christ who said, "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." (John 14:6) is politically incorrect today. When Charles Colson received the $1 million Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, presumably for his co-authorship of The Evangelicals and Catholics Together Document, he quoted John 14:6a -- but omitted the rest of the verse!
The Promise Keepers statement of purpose is: "To unite men through vital relationships to become godly influences in their world by making promises to Jesus Christ and to one another that last a lifetime." In order to become godly influences in their world, the men must keep the sixth of "Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper":

"A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching beyond any racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity . . .A Promise Keeper is willing to cross over the lines that have divided the church and meet with at least one man of a different race or denomination at least once a month."

Overseeing the implementation of the Promise Keepers¡¯ agenda are Point Men or Ambassadors who are assigned to local churches and communities. The Ambassador Candidate booklet states:

"Because Promise Keepers is committed to building relational bridges, Ambassadors must avoid negative political and denominational remarks and discussions . . . walls of denominationalism are difficult to break down -- this process may take six months to a year." (12)

Many pastors have reluctantly yielded to the pressure placed upon them by these change agents, who exert substantial influence and generate enthusiasm for Promise Keepers within evangelical churches.
Those who benefit most from Promise Keepers¡¯ ecumenical orientation are Catholic and Mormon leaders, who see in the movement an opportunity to build their own churches. They actively encourage their men to attend rallies and to form PK groups within their churches. After studying the feasibility and propriety of utilizing Promise Keepers at the Catholic parish level, Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles concluded --

"There is no ¡®doctrinal¡¯ issue which should cause concern to the Catholic church. Promise Keepers places a very strong emphasis on returning to your own church, congregation or parish and becoming an active layman. There is no attempt at proselytizing or drawing men away from their faith to another church . . . The Promise Keepers seems to me to be a wonderful way to prepare for the Third Millennium of Christianity which begins in the year 2000." (13)

Presaging the spiritual direction that Promise Keepers will be taking is its clarion call for unity under a common leadership. In February of 1996, a National Clergy Conference was held in Atlanta to "tear the hearts of pastors wide open so that a single leadership can be produced." Bill McCartney continued, "And I think He's going to put them back together again as one. One leadership. We've got to have one leadership, one leadership only." (14) McCartney had lamented the division among the clergy at an April, 1995 meeting in Detroit and disrespectfully demanded a reason from any pastor who refused to attend the upcoming Clergy Conference:

"We have a great army that we are assembling. They're the Christian men of this nation. However, our leadership, our clergy are not uniform. Our clergy are divided. Division is many visions. There's no unity of command¡¦there is tremendous division in our clergy¡¦this gathering in Atlanta should exceed 100,000 clergymen. Why? Because we have many more than that, and every single one of them ought to be there. We can't have anybody pass up that meeting. If a guy says that he doesn't want to go, he needs to be able to tell us why he doesn't want to go." (15)

During this conference, an altar call was given for the pastors, who knelt while McCartney led them to confess sin for "putting up barriers on account of denominational dogma." Previously, McCartney had stated, "We need you (priests and ministers) to rightly divide the Word of Truth for us because we can't do it ourselves." Is Promise Keepers hereby calling Evangelicals to revert back to the style of church government from which the reformers struggled to release God¡¯s people -- a united clergy under a single command? Should we also wonder who former Catholic Bill McCartney might have in mind for this "single command"? In his autobiography, From Ashes to Glory, McCartney refers warmly to his Roman Catholic background and remarks: "I never had the feeling I was discarding or even rejecting all that I had been taught." (16) However, in a negative reference to the Protestant Reformation, he proudly announced at the Atlanta Clergy Conference:

"No such meeting was held in the past 400 years, and it is exciting to see the denominational barriers come down as we have Protestants and Roman Catholics here together. The purpose of this meeting is to have the unity of the church."

The recurrent theme in conferences and Promise Keepers' literature is "Breaking Down Denominational Walls." A recent issue of the New Man carries an article written by founder and president of Concerts of Prayer, David Bryant, entitled "Prisoners of Hope." Bryant asserts that revival starts with brokenness, not over personal sin as set forth in Scripture, but for the lack of unity among denominations: "Repent of the disunity of the church that makes it impossible for God to pour out a broad-based spiritual awakening¡¦We must repent of divisiveness caused by our denominationalism ¡¦" (17)
In Promise Keepers' rationale, maintaining a denominational preference is hate-mongering equivalent to racial prejudice. To commit the men to this social/religious agenda without undue delay, Promise Keepers now includes commitment cards with each conference attendee¡¯s syllabus. The manufactured transgression of denominationalism is repeatedly the focus of altar calls in rallies and guilt projection onto readers of Promise Keepers literature. Remarkably, however, the weighty sin of homosexuality is marginalized in the Promise Keepers official statement as "a complex and potentially polarizing issue," and homosexuals must be included and sensitively tolerated within the movement.

"¡¦Promise Keepers also recognizes that homosexuality is a complex and potentially polarizing issue. There is a great debate surrounding its environmental and genetic origins, yet as an organization we believe that homosexuals are men who need the same support, encouragement and healing we are offering to all men. While we have clear convictions regarding the issue of homosexuality, we are sensitive to and have compassion for the men who are struggling with these issues. We, therefore, support their being included and welcomed in all our events."

But what saith the Scriptures? I Corinthians 5 forbids fellowship with unrepentant fornicators for good reason: "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" That a Christian men's movement, where men will be congregating and bonding with other men in close relationships, would take a worldly position on homosexuality should sound an alarm within the Church. A powerful expose of the largely homosexual composition of the Nazi Party, The Pink Swastika, paints a somber portrait of the German Wandervogel youth movement, which in its early stages drew the attention of homosexual men. This wholesome hiking and camping society for boys was infiltrated by homosexual pederasts, who preyed upon the innocent. Authors Kevin Abrams and Scott Lively note that:

"Right under the nose of traditional German society, the pederasts laid the groundwork for the ultramasculine military society of the Third Reich. The Wandervogel was certainly not a ¡®homosexual organization¡¯ per se, but its homosexual leaders molded the youth movement into an expression of their own Hellenic ideology and, in the process, recruited countless young men into the homosexual lifestyle. The first members of the Wandervogelgrew to manhood just in time to provide the Nazi movement with its support base in the German culture. As Steakley put it, ¡®[the] Free German Youth jubilantly marched off to war, singing the old Wandervogel songs to which new, chauvinistic verses were added.¡¯" (18)

This eye-opening book tracks another aggressive homosexual agenda -- in America -- and printed an essay written in 1987 by a certain "Michael Swift," which has also been placed in the United States Congressional Record:

"We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools [Project 10], in your dormitories [forced homosexual roommates], in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms,in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups [Wandervogel, Boy Scouts], in your movie theater bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses ['gays' in the military], in your truck stops, in your all-male clubs, in your houses of Congress,wherever men are with men together." (19)

THE MEN'S MOVEMENT
It was only as an adult, upon reading The Peter Pan Syndrome, (20) by Dan Kiley, that I understood Peter Pan to be a type of boy who refused to grow up. Never, Never Land was an enchanting utopia where children could remain children, never putting away their childish things. That America is beset with men who refuse the obligations of manhood is a recognized fact even in secular society. Census Statistics show record numbers of biological fathers who have abandoned their families. In 1993, 6.3 million children in the U.S. were living in a single parent home. In 1994, there were an estimated 11.4 million single parents, a number that has increased by an average of 3.9% per year since 1990. (21)
It seems that our permissive culture fosters irresponsibility at every level of society. Progressive education has succeeded in "dumbing down" American students, the mass media stoops low to accommodate the least common denominator of moral degeneracy and intellectual torpor, judicial legislators penalize law-abiding victims yet reward criminal behavior, a professional medical establishment for profit disposes of unwanted human products of conception and church pulpits withhold from spiritually famished congregations the sincere milk and strong meat of God¡¯s Word.
The sad state of the union was the focus of the National Parenting Association Task Force on Youth Violence on December 15, 1995. Last year an editorial in the Wall Street Journal applauded the National Parenting Task Force on Youth Violence for meeting with Promise Keepers representatives to seek solutions for the breakdown of the family. When these spokesmen were asked the reason for the ministry¡¯s success, the editorial made no mention of Promise Keepers leading men to faith in Jesus Christ, but rather "to affirm their commitment to Christianity..." (22)  Surely, the world will give the Church a favorable opinion -- until it asserts that Jesus Christ is the exclusive Way of Salvation.
In response to the present state of emergency in families caused by rampant "Peter Pan Syndrome," the stated purpose of Promise Keepers is to move men toward Christ-like masculinity -- men of integrity and purity. This being a worthy goal, it is disappointing to discover that the practical premise of Promise Keepers is that spiritual maturity can be developed in men by means of pep rallies, psychological teachings, sharing, mentoring, male-bonding, making promises and rites of initiation rather than through the consistent application of God's Word. Supplementary to the stadia events, study guides are produced by Promise Keepers to guide the men in weekly or monthly meetings. The focus is not serious Bible study; rather the groups are modeled after the psychological encounter group format that was largely discredited after the 1970¡¯s, even within the psychological community. In these vulnerable settings, men are encouraged to explore and expose their inmost feelings and intimate experiences before a group that is led, not by a church elder, but by random leaders and mentors.