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두란노아버지학교_ Promise Keepers - Ecumenical "Macho-Men" for Christ? 2
두란노아버지학교_ Promise Keepers - Ecumenical "Macho-Men" for Christ? 2

- Does a "promise-keeper" even need to be a believer? Apparently not. Despite all the hype about developing godly men, Promise Keepers has now admitted that it doesn't know if its conference attendees have ever trusted Christ. In a 4/94 letter sent to men in the Indianapolis, Indiana area, Promise Keepers V.P. of National Ministries and "PK Minister at Large," E. Glenn Wagner, confessed that at an "invitation" during the opening session of Promise Keepers '93 in Boulder, Colorado, more than 5,000 men responded! But since there were not enough "trained counselors" available to help those responding, Promise Keepers decided to employ Billy Graham Evangelistic Association trained instructors to train the volunteer counselors that were to work each of the seven conference locations in the Spring and Summer of 1994: "The Promise Keepers Counselor Training Course [is] the same as the Billy Graham Counselor Training Course [with] ... classes ... developed over the last forty years to train counselors for Billy Graham Crusades." This should be cause for alarm to anyone familiar with Billy Graham Crusade methods.

Promise Keepers claims that at 1994's conferences, approximately 16,000 men "surrendered or recommitted their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ" (4/95, Men of Action). But for Promise Keepers, instead of that meaning that men's hearts were flooded with grief and repentance and seeking forgiveness, we are told they answer some form of an altar call, are given some words of loving assurance during "counseling" in the name of Jesus, and then challenged to go out there and try harder; i.e., they are pointed to a list of promises they must keep. Even under the most optimistic circumstances, if broken-hearted men were to hear the pure Gospel of Christ at a PK rally, with no strings attached, where would they seek ongoing comfort and fellowship once the rally had moved on to the next town? Would they be directed to nameless churches, churches that commend social friendships as the means of comfort, or to churches that obscure the gospel with their zeal? Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God wants to unite men through vital relationships with each other in order to become godly influences in the world. It says that God wants to unite men into His Church with the One Man, Christ (10/16/95, Christian News, p. 14).

- Who are the speakers at Promise Keepers national meetings and what is their theology? The ministries of the speakers/teachers at Promise Keepers meetings run the gamut from compromising neo-evangelicalism and charismatic error, to psychospiritual occultism and ecumenical liberalism. It is, therefore, clear that these men are introducing the men attending these meetings to unscriptural doctrines and fellowships. (Dates spoken at Promise Keepers National or Regional Men's Conferences and/or concurrently held National Leadership Conferences are in parentheses.):

(a) Bill McCartney (1991-1999) -- Founder and board member of Promise Keepers, and head football coach at the University of Colorado until his January, 1995 resignation. A former Roman Catholic, McCartney's theology is now charismatic as evidenced by his membership in a local church affiliated with the Vineyard Christian Fellowship [the church has since changed its name to try to remove its Vineyard stigma] -- a denomination founded by hyper-charismatic, signs &wonders "healer" John Wimber. Promise Keepers also has McCartney's Vineyard pastor, James Ryle, on its Board of Directors, and Vineyard member Randy Phillips was its then president. (See later in this report for more on Ryle and McCartney.) [In his book From Ashes to Glory McCartney speaks glowingly of his Roman Catholic background, and asserts that he still believes much as a Roman Catholic. He states that he did not leave Roman Catholicism as much as he joined James Ryle's Vineyard Fellowship because it was "meeting his needs at the time."]

(b) Gary Smalley (1991-1997) & John Trent (1992-1993; 1995-1998) -- author, founder and President of Today's Family, Gary Smalley is the "Church's" leading proponent of Right-Brain/Left-Brain pseudoscience. This right-brain/left-brain myth, which claims to describe personality types by brain hemisphere dominance, as well as give insights to male/ female communication effectiveness, has been thoroughly discredited by secular neuroscientists (to say nothing of the fact that it also has no support in Scripture). The popularization of right-brain/left-brain has been largely due to the book The Language of Love, co-authored by Smalley and fellow psychologist, John Trent. (Both also have theological degrees, but apparently believe that the Bible alone is insufficient to handle people's problems of living.) As for John Trent, former Vice President of Today's Family, and now President of Encouraging Words, he talks about personality traits, not like those of the Bible, but astrology. He compares our behaviors to animals and says this is why we act the way we do -- he has you compare your actions to a lion, a golden retriever, a beaver, or an otter. (Trent has also endorsed Robert Hicks' book, The Masculine Journey, as teaching "what Biblical masculinity" is all about, and has written a book titled How to Handle Your Promise Keeper, directed to women who desire to control their husbands in the manner Smalley and Trent teach.) (See later in this report for details of the teachings in Hicks' book.)

(c) Chuck Swindoll (1994-1995) -- Swindoll is the former senior pastor of First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, California (for 24 years); he resigned in mid-1994 to become president of neo-evangelical Dallas Theological Seminary. Swindoll's "r�sum� of heresy" is seemingly endless -- he recommends the books of many of the worst psychologizers, New Agers, and occultists imaginable, all under the banner of "all truth is God's truth"; he teaches a psychological self-love/self-esteem gospel that is virtually indistinguishable from that of the atheistic psychologists, in effect, denying the doctrines of grace and redemption; he openly supports ecumenical cooperation with Catholics and charismatics, all under the guise of "grace" and non-judgmental "acceptance"; he endorses the occultic practices of visualization and inner healing/victimization therapy; and he teaches that believers can be demon possessed. [At the 7/94 PK Boulder, Colorado conference, Swindoll, clad in faded denim, roared onto the stage astride a motorcycle to the band playing "Born to Be Wild," and then delivered a sermon on avoiding temptation.]

(d) Luis Palau (1992; 1995-1999) -- internationally known Argentinean evangelist Luis Palau ("the Billy Graham of South America") is a Catholic sympathizer whose ecumenical message is heavily diluted with pop psychology and Arminian easy-believism. He regularly cooperates with apostate Methodism and the radical fringe of Charismaticism (e.g., Oral Roberts).

(e) E.V. Hill (1992-1999) -- hyper-charismatic pastor of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in the Watts section of Los Angeles (member in the apostate National Council of Churches) and V.P. of the National Baptist Convention. Hill praises Jesse Jackson (apostate, radical social activist) and has been linked with liberal groups such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (which endorsed the early-1993 Gay Rights march on Washington, D.C.!). Hill is a frequent guest speaker on various charismatic platforms (e.g., at Kenneth Hagin's RHEMA Center).

(f) Jack Hayford (1991-1999) -- author and hyper-charismatic pastor of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California; he claims to have seen a vision of Jesus seated in heaven and to have heard Him speak! (At the 5/94 Promise Keepers regional conference in Anaheim, California, Hayford gave three reasons why God required circumcision in the Old Testament: "[1] God wants to touch your very identity as a man; [2] He wants to reach out and touch your secret and private parts. This enables Him to better perform surgery on the heart; [3] God wants to touch man's creative parts.") He is the senior editorial advisor for Ministries Today, a pro-charismatic magazine published by Strang Communications, is a Promise Keepers board member, believes that the Catholic mass is a valid form of Christian worship (Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper, p. 19), and believes that being committed to doctrinal distinctives at the expense of unity is an example of "small-minded sectarianism" (12/95, Charisma, p. 68).

(g) Gary Oliver (1991-1993; 1995-1996; 1998) -- author of Real Men Have Feelings Too, psychologist, Clinical Director of Southwest Counseling Associates, and Promise Keepers board member. Among the many Freudian and miscellaneous humanistic psychological models used by Oliver, his favorite appears to be one based upon the teachings of "Christian" psychologist Dr. Larry Crabb. Concerning PK and Catholicism, Oliver says, "Since day one, we've really encouraged Catholic participation, not because they are Catholics, but because anyone who loves the Lord is welcome."

(h) Larry Crabb (1992; 1996) -- author, clinical psychologist, and founder and Director of the Institute of Biblical Counseling at Colorado Christian University in Morrison, Colorado. Crabb's model of counseling is primarily a psychological system of unconscious needs that supposedly motivate all behavior. This system has been derived from Freudian (the "unconscious") and humanistic (a hierarchy of needs) psychology, with great emphasis on so-called emotional needs.

(i) Robert Hicks (1993) -- Professor of Pastoral Theology at the Seminary of the East (Dresher, PA), pastor, psychotherapist, president of the psychologically-oriented Life Counseling Services, and author of the Promise Keepers endorsed book The Masculine Journey (foreword by John Trent). (See later in this report for details.) Hicks is the author of other psychobabble books: Uneasy Manhood, Returning Home, Failure to Scream, and Man of All Passions.

(j) Howard Hendricks (1993; 1995; 1997) -- psychologically-oriented Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Center for Christian Leadership at Dallas Theological Seminary. He has authored many books about marriage and family life (e.g., Heaven Help the Home), and spends considerable time conducting so-called "Christian" marriage enrichment seminars. (Hendricks has also endorsed Robert Hicks' book The Masculine Journey as "an eye opening key to understanding the Bible's teaching on what it means to be a man.") He is also a Promise Keepers board member.

(k) Joseph Stowell (1994-1999) -- Ecumenical psychologizer and president of the Moody Bible Institute. Stowell has previous strong ties to the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC).

(l) Jim Smoke (1993) -- Executive Director of the Center for Divorce Recovery and author of Ten Ways You Can Grow Through Divorce. Smoke is a self-love advocate whose terminology sounds much like that of Carl Rogers.

(m) Bill Hybels (1994-1996) -- Author, church-growth guru, and the ecumenical, psychologically-oriented pastor of the 12,000-member Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois.

(n) James Dobson (1993) -- pop psychologist, author, and founder and Director of Focus on the Family Ministries. According to Dobson, "low self-esteem" is the root cause of most societal ills. Dobson has heavily promoted Promise Keepers on his nationwide radio program, and Focus on the Family Publishing is one of Promise Keepers' publishers and produces most of its tapes. In fact, PK credits Dobson's nationwide radio program promotion of the PK '92 Convention as instrumental in PK's subsequent extraordinary growth. In PK's early years, Promise Keepers was keep afloat by a gift from Focus on the Family.

(o) Greg Laurie (1994-1999) -- author, crusade evangelist, and charismatic pastor of the 12,000-plus membership Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California; Calvary Chapel's Chuck Smith is mentor for this ecumenical psychologizer.

(p) Bill Bright (1992; 1995-1996) -- ecumenical/Catholic promoter and founder and Director of Campus Crusade for Christ. Bright was a signatory to the 3/94 ecumenical accord -- "Evangelicals & Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium," and won the $1 million 1996 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.

- Also speaking at one or more of the six 1994 Promise Keepers regional conferences held in May-June and October of 1994 (in addition to those listed above) were Calvary Chapel's charismatic pastor, Chuck Smith and Boulder Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship pastor and Promise Keepers board member, James Ryle. Total attendance at the six 1994 regional conferences was estimated at more than 225,000. (The October 28-29, 1994, Dallas meetings were not originally scheduled, but still they drew over 30,000 men.)

At the 7/94 Boulder, Colorado National Conference, "A Christian rock band set the mood. When the music stopped, the crowd rose to do 'the wave,' shouting 'Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.' ... 'We're scoring baskets for Jesus,' declared emcee Bob Horner, an official with Campus Crusade for Christ." Then there were Swindoll's motorcycle antics described above. (7/29/94, Newsweek, "The Gospel of Guyhood," pp. 60-61). Not to be outdone, later in the evening Gary Smalley made his entrance on a kiddy-sized Big Wheel bike. All this in the name of Christian manhood! (Nate Adams, author of Nine Character Traits Separating the Men from the Boys, says that Promise Keepers is a fun thing and stresses the importance of the conferences giving men the chance to express their boyish and playful sides. Another observer described the 1994 National Conference as a "techno-tent revival"; another as a "charismatic camp meeting experience ... [resembling] a cross between a Bill Gothard Seminar and a Billy Graham Crusade"; another as "part tent revival, part mass male bonding ritual"; and another as a stadium show that is the "time-tested snake oil of tent revivalism -- contrived emotion, a fervent push for here-and-now decision, dumbed down doctrine, and the elision of denominational differences.")

- Promise Keepers held thirteen, 2-day (Friday-Saturday) stadium conferences in 13 major U.S. cities in 1995; the first was in late-April in Detroit's Silverdome, and the last was in late-October in Dallas's Texas Stadium. Total attendance was 727,000. (There was no special 1995 "National Conference" in Boulder, Colorado, as in previous years; all conferences are now equal in status.) Special Friday morning seminars were also held in each of the 13 cities. One seminar was for pastors on how to "encourage and equip pastors for men's ministry," and the other was for "worship leaders" on how "to lead men in their church."

The theme for Promise Keepers '95 was Raise the Standard. Each of the 13 conferences had the same eight topics, with only the 45 scheduled speakers rotating topics from conference to conference. Dallas ecumenical pastor Tony Evans spoke at 11 of the 13 conferences, while Jack Hayford and Bill McCartney spoke at eight each, Howard Hendricks at six, E.V. Hill at five, and Gary Smalley at four. Some of the first-time Promise Keepers conference speakers included Juan Carlos Ortiz, the pastor of Hispanic Ministries at apostate Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral; Chuck Colson, co-author of the ecumenical accord "Evangelicals and Catholics Together" and recipient of the Progress in Religion Award; self-esteem psychologizer, Dennis Rainey; psychologizing financial guru, Ron Blue; Billy Graham's liberal son, Franklin Graham; Far East Broadcasting Company's Billy Kim, who speaks and travels with hyper-charismatic David Yonggi Cho and is vice president of the apostate Baptist World Alliance; John Wesley-White, evangelist for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association; and charismatic Bruce Wilkinson.

- The theme for 1996's rallies was Break Down the Walls -- Randy Phillips said, "There are centuries-old walls built of pain, hurt, neglect and abuse. Our desire is to exalt the person of Christ and power of the cross in a way that breaks down the walls that exist brother-to-brother, brother-to-sister, and church-to-church" (2/12/96, Christian News, p. 1). Promise Keepers held 22, 2-day (Friday-Saturday) stadium conferences in 22 major U.S. cities; the first in mid-April in the Los Angeles Coliseum, and the last in late-October in Dallas/Ft. Worth's Texas Motor Speedway. Total attendance for the 22 conferences was more than one million men! Special Friday morning seminars were also held in each of the 22 cities for "men in church leadership ... with the goal of uniting in worship, instruction and encouragement."

Each of the 22 Break Down the Walls conferences covered the same seven topics, with only the 69 scheduled speakers rotating topics from conference to conference. Bill McCartney spoke at 13 of the meetings, while Dallas ecumenical pastor Tony Evans, Jack Hayford, John Trent, Gary Smalley, Greg Laurie, Franklin Graham, Bruce Wilkinson, and Chuck Colson spoke at three meetings each. [At the 9/96 rally in NYC, Colson, sounding like "Mother" Teresa, said, "If you trust in God it doesn't matter what religion or race you are, we all belong to each other."] Some of the first-time Promise Keepers conference speakers included John Dawson, charismatic author and International Director for Urban Missions of Youth With A Mission (YWAM); Max Lucado, popular psychologically-oriented author and Church of Christ pastor; James Robison, hyper-charismatic pastor and televangelist; Haddon Robinson, ecumenical Gordon-Conwell professor and neo-evangelical writer for Radio Bible Class; and Rick Ryan, pastor of the charismatically-oriented Calvary Chapel of Santa Barbara, California.

In addition to 1996's stadium rallies, hundreds of Wake-up Calls/Rallies (also called "Men's Ministry Leadership Seminars"), "Key Men/Ambassador Training Seminars"; "Foundations for Effective Men's Ministries Seminars"; and "Building Men of Integrity Seminars" were held by PK from February-May, some of them in Catholic churches, and some in Pentecostal churches. As an indication of PK's total lack of discernment, one of the Wake-Up Call meetings was held on 2/6/96 at apostate Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.

- The theme for 1997's rallies was The Making of a Godly Man. Promise Keepers had originally scheduled 20, 2-day (Friday-Saturday) stadium conferences in 20 major U.S. cities; the first in early-May in the Pontiac Silverdome, and the last in late-October in Texas Stadium. Two were cancelled due to low attendance. [PK also held a rally on 1/10/97 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Speakers included Jack Hayford, Billy Kim, and Bill McCartney.] Each of the 18 The Making of a Godly Man conferences covered the same six topics, with only the 40 scheduled speakers rotating topics from conference to conference. Total attendance for the 18 conferences was expected to be about 900,000, but was only about 630,000. Special Friday morning "Clergy Conference for Men" meetings were also scheduled in each of the 18 cities, with the theme "Becoming An Agent of Revival."

[Note: We are no longer going to make specific comments on each year's conference (as with the 1994-1997 conferences above), due in part to the waning influence of PK as a national phenomena.]

- Not only can we surmise Promise Keepers theology by examining the theology of those it invites to speak at its conferences and seminars, but also by the materials it makes available to its attendees. At the July, 1993, National Conference in Colorado, psychotherapist Dr. Robert Hicks' book The Masculine Journey: Understanding the Six Stages of Manhood was provided in hard cover to each of the 50,000 men who attended. Both the book and the accompanying Study Guide at the time carried the Promise Keepers' logo, information, and/or phone numbers. At the end of the book the statement was made: "Promise Keepers wants to provide men's materials (like this book) ..." (p. 203). Moreover, the book was advertised in the July/August 1994 premier issue of the Promise Keepers magazine New Man (as well as in subsequent issues -- New Man is now controlled by Charisma's Stephen Strang), as well as in Charisma magazine. Thus, it was reasonable to assume that Hicks' teachings were representative of the Promise Keepers' doctrine of manhood. [In 10/94, Promise Keepers first began to make available a seven page statement that was highly supportive of Hicks' teachings; see the end of this section and the 10/94 revised edition of PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries' 44-page booklet, Promise Keepers & PsychoHeresy, for an analysis of this statement. As of early-1996, Promise Keepers no longer sells The Masculine Journey at conferences or through its catalogs, and when inquiries are made of PK, it no longer tries to defend the book and the study guide. Nevertheless, PK continues to refer to Hicks' theology as "orthodox." See clarifying statement at the end of this section.]

Hicks claims that his book will help identify the landmarks to watch out for along one's "masculine journey," "help discover where you are in the journey, how to grow comfortable with your unique identity, how to move closer to God, and how to experience genuine camaraderie with other men." To the contrary, we contend that Hicks' efforts are nothing more than the same old psychoheresy (Freudian and Jungian, in Hicks' case), wrapped in bad exegesis and a convoluted, psychologically-biased interpretation of Biblical language.

Hicks looks at the six Hebrew words translated as "man" or "male" in the Hebrew Bible and concludes that each of these words reflects a different stage or stop on "the masculine journey" to manhood. (Hicks claims he learned these words at seminary.) He claims that the Hebrew word zakar "depicts man as a phallic being. Men have an innate sexual force which sometimes gets denied, denigrated or perverted. ... gibbor ... means to be a warrior. ... Sometimes the warrior ends up being wounded. ... enosh describes man in his woundedness, weakness, and frailty. Men today have been wounded by abusive or absent fathers; by domineering mothers or teachers; by layoffs; by failure, alcohol and divorce. ... many men are bleeding to death on the inside. ... zaken ... elder [mentor/sage]. This is the man the Bible presents as connected to all of life, reconciling his past conflicts and making significant contributions to his community and culture. ... The zaken time of life is the destination of the male journey and should be sought after and celebrated" (Spring/Summer 1993, Men of Action). Hicks also claims that the word �dam speaks of man created as a "noble savage"; this apparently comes from humanistic anthropologist Margaret Mead's romantic idea that uncivilized people have a natural purity because they have not yet been corrupted by society. Hicks also claims that �sh "reflects man as a ruler of his own soul, being independent of outside considerations." (Reported in the Jul/Aug and Sep/Oct issues (1994) of PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter.)

Therefore, Hicks' six stages to manhood, in order, are (1) creational male (�dam); (2) phallic male (zakar); (3) warrior (gibbor); (4) wounded male (enosh); (5) native man (�sh); and (6) the sage (zaken). Following are some lowlights from The Masculine Journey and/or the accompanying Study Guide: (All emphases added.)

(a) In chapter after chapter, subjective insights into manhood are offered through quotes by a host of secular authors with a psychological or New Age bent. These include psycho-occultist Carl Jung, inner-healing therapist Leanne Payne, transpersonal New Age psychiatrist and occultist/spiritualist Elizabeth K�bler-Ross, and psychologist Sam Keen. (Keen is a former theologian in residence at Esalen, the New Age/Eastern mystical therapeutic center south of San Francisco. Keen's books feature vicious diatribes against Biblical Christianity.) [4/94, The Berean Call] One can also question Hicks concerning his lead-in quote to Chapter One from former U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold: "The longest journey is the journey inwards of him who has chosen his destiny" (pure New Age); and to Chapter Two from evolutionist Charles Darwin: "Man with all his noble qualities still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin."

(b) In Hicks' discussion of man's (emotionally) wounded stage (enosh), he confuses sins and wounds: "In order for men to discover what manhood is all about, they must descend into the deep places of their own souls and find their accumulated grief. ... I am convinced many men in our society today are lashing out at women, at society, at bosses, even at God -- all because they do not understand the wounding experience. ... The story of Jacob ... illustrates a young man having been severely wounded by a dysfunctional family system" (pp. 115-117). In addition, Hicks teaches that David was a "manic-depressive" whose Psalms were the "musings" of a disordered mind (p. 114). [Wouldn't the Holy Spirit would be impressed with such a statement! -- You have to be totally indoctrinated by inner healing psychobabble to derive even a jot of such nonsense from the Bible (4/94, The Berean Call). This also shows Hicks' low view of Scripture.]

(c) Hicks claims that what keeps men moving along this journey is having some other male mentors in their lives and seeing Jesus as the primary voice of God in each stage. "Jesus ... was the second Adam ... was very much human ... was also very much zakar, phallic. ... I believe Jesus was phallic with all the inherent phallic passions we experience as men" (pp. 180-181). [This seems to be either the result of Freudian brainwashing or hanging out in locker rooms. Either way, it's blasphemous (4/94, The Berean Call).]

(d) More blasphemy -- the movie The Last Temptation of Christ is referred to in a positive light! Claiming that Jesus is a "phallic male," Hicks says Jesus "may have thought about it as the movie ... portrays" (p. 181) -- referring to Jesus thinking about having sexual relations with a woman! But doesn't Hicks' suggestion make Jesus guilty of the sin of lust, thereby embracing the movie's blasphemy? In fact, the movie portrayed graphic sexual desire, not merely temptation. To cite The Last Temptation of Christ as evidence that Jesus may have been tempted with lust for Mary Magdalene is as blasphemous as that movie itself (Media Spotlight, 11/94 Special Report on Promise Keepers, p. 6). Hicks even justifies gay men being Christians by claiming that Jesus was personally tempted with homosexuality (p. 181)! (Has not Hicks read Romans 1:18ff.?)

(e) In the book's accompanying Study Guide, Section Three, "Exploring the Issues with Other Men" (p. 33), the following statement is made: "Our culture has presented many initiation rites, or passages to manhood, that are associated with the phallus [penis]. Which ones have you experienced? Do you have a story to share with other men about one such event?" He then lists such supposedly debilitating "phallus" experiences as potty training and bed-wetting, pubic hair development, pornography, first date, wedding night, and conceiving one's first child.

[Why do Christians need to talk about these things? Why so much emphasis on the penis? Freudian psychology is based upon genitalia and the discussion of these matters, but the Bible condemns such discussions (Eph. 5:4; Col. 3:8; Phil. 4:8,9). If we are dead to sin (Col. 3:1-3), should these questions even be allowed in church? For example: What experience with pornography and the male sexual organ could be discussed without the potential for stirring sinful thoughts? And what experience about one's wedding night would be permissible to discuss with other men? Does not one's body now belong to his wife? Is not the marriage bed sacred? How ungodly to discuss such intimacy with anyone else but her!]

(f) Hicks doesn't stop here, but whines, "If only the church had alternative initiation rites to the ones offered above. What creative alternative celebrations can you think of?" (p. 33). [How can this be? Again, this is not possible without sin.]

(g) The majority of the book keeps referring back to the phallus. The first 70 pages do so clearly, and so does the last chapter, "A New Male Journey." For example, Hicks says that "The phallus has always been the symbol of religious devotion and dedication" (p. 51), and that all men have a "deep compulsion to worship with our phallus" (p. 56). Hicks discusses the phallic stage -- "Possessing a penis places unique requirements upon men before God in how they are to worship Him. We are called to worship God as phallic kinds of guys, not as some sort of androgynous, neutered non-males, or the feminized males so popular in many feminist-enlightened churches" (p. 51). Hicks' "phallus" phraseology is clearly Freudian and brings forth images of Greek paganism rather than Biblical manhood (Jul/Aug 1994, PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter).

(h) Hicks further discusses the matter of initiation, bemoaning the absence of ceremonial initiation rites for adolescent males. He wishes there was "some way we could make more ceremonial the first rich awareness of our mortality and utter sinfulness." He continues, "I'm sure many would balk at my thought of celebrating the experience of sin. I'm not sure how we could do it. But I do know we need to do it." To defend (rationalize) his point, he talks about how we condemn our teens when "... they have their first experience with the police, or their first drunk, or their first experience with sex or drugs ..." He says we could look upon any of these "... as a teachable moment and a rite of passage. ..." Then he purposes that "true elders could come forward and confess their own adolescent sins and congratulate the next generation for being human." Hicks closes the paragraph by saying, "Then they could move on to the all-important issues of forgiveness and restoration ..." (p. 177). Unbelievable!

On what does Hicks base his teaching? Not the Bible, but rather his own personal experience of what it means to be a man -- his arbitrary stages of manhood are developed in order to accommodate his own personal experience and subjective psychological notions. By giving Biblical labels to these stages and mixing in some Biblical language, Hicks deceives the undiscerning into believing the Bible validates everything he says about manhood. Yet Hicks follows the predictable pattern of the psychological integrationist. He takes a psychological theory, believes it to be valid under the guise of "all truth is God's truth," and then considers what the Bible might add. His teaching originates from the opinions of godless men and the Bible is bent to conform. Since Hicks' book is the official guide for "the masculine journey," it is reasonable to assume that Promise Keepers' mentoring will utilize Hicks' stages of manhood, his secular psychology, his deceitful descriptions, and his mixed methods of maneuvering men along (Jul/Aug & Sept/Oct 1994, PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter).

(자료출처 http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/pk/pk.htm)

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