THE
PROMISE KEEPERS: SATAN’S LATEST TOOL IN DECEPTION
AN
INTRODUCTION TO THE PROMISE KEEPERS
By
Wayne Camp
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an
angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers
also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end
shall be according to their works.
Over the years I have investigated a
number of Satanic movements such as the Mormons, Catholicism,
Pentecostalism, Russellites (falsely called Jehovah’s
Witnesses), Planned Parenthood, the Jesus Movement, and others. I
have never been quite as stunned as when I began (by request) to
investigate the latest Satanic phenomenon, The Promise Keepers
(Hereafter I will call them the PK’s to save time and space.
Never have I seen such a conglomerated mess of doctrines taken
from mythology, psychology, paganism, humanism, the barking dog
in the glass cathedral, and other isms and ologies. PK’s
have a meeting scheduled in Memphis in the month of October. With
that in mind, I thought, at the suggestion of others, that I
would write an article for the October, 1996, issue of this
paper.
I began my research on the Internet. I
have downloaded nearly 500 pages of favorable and unfavorable
material. I have gone to a local "Christian" (?)
bookstore which has an entire section dedicated to PK’s. In
addition, they have a section connected that is dedicated to the
"men’s" movement in general (The Christianized
Men’s Movement). I spent about two hours perusing the books
written by the leaders of the PK’s to see if what I was
finding on the Internet was really in their books. Since their
books have very little information on each page I could peruse a
page pretty quickly, hence a book pretty quickly since their
over-priced, slickly presented books are also very short. More
will be said about this later. At this time I have not persuaded
myself to invest any money in their books. I hate spending good
money to purchase their over-priced, poorly written, slickly
decorated books. I will make a trip to a couple of libraries to
see if they have wasted their money on them. If not, I may spend
a good deal of time in bookstores that handle them verifying
quotes others have made from them.
By the time I had done the research I have
described (more will be done as this series progresses), I had
jotted down a list of things that I saw that I felt should be
exposed. I will give a list of these later, but first let me show
you the seven promises of the PK’s.
THE
SEVEN PROMISES
A Promise Keeper is committed to
honoring Jesus Christ through worship, prayer, and obedience
to God's Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.
A Promise Keeper is committed to
pursuing vital relationships with a few other men,
understanding that he needs brothers to help him keep his
promises.
A Promise Keeper is committed to
practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity.
A Promise Keeper is committed to
building strong marriages and families through love,
protection, and biblical values.
A Promise Keeper is committed to
supporting the mission of the church by honoring and praying
for his pastor , and by actively giving his time and
resources.
A Promise Keeper is committed to
reaching beyond any racial and denominational barriers to
demonstrate the power of biblical unity.
A Promise Keeper is committed to
influencing his world, being obedient to the Great
Commandment (see Mark 12:30-31) and the Great Commission (see
Matt. 28:19-20)
Taken from the book Seven Promises
of a Promise Keeper published by Focus on the Family
Publishing, Colorado Springs, CO 80995. (Editor’s note:
Pop psychologist James Dobson is very much involved in and
supportive of the PK movement. His publishing company publishes
some of their books.)
In this series of articles we will
look at several things concerning the promises keepers which I am
going to list and briefly comment on. In future articles we will
come back to each of these items and expose the error of the
PK’s on each.
THE ORIGIN OF PROMISE
KEEPERS IS WRONG. The movement was
founded in 1990 by James Ryle, pastor of Boulder Valley Vineyard,
which is part of the Vineyard Keepers movement, the extremist,
Pentecostal group where the Laughing Phenomenon of Pentecostalism
originated, and by Bill McCartney, the figure-head founder and
writer of the PK’s movement. Ryle is a member of the board
of directors of PK.
THE BIBLIOLOGY OF
PROMISE KEEPERS IS WRONG. While
they do occasionally appeal to the Scripture in their books, most
of their positions and lessons are found in such books as The
Masculine Journey: Understanding the Six Stages of Manhood.
The book, by Robert Hicks, is actually a spin off from a book by
popular New Ager, Robert Bly, which admittedly draws its ideas
for the stages of manhood from mythology, shamanism among the
American Indians, and pagan rites of manhood. When PK’s use
the Scriptures, they usually grossly abuse them with their
interpretations. In some cases, as will be shown, they twist them
to teach the exact opposite of what they really teach, a
necessity for their aggressive ecumenism.
THE SOTERIOLOGY OF
PROMISE KEEPERS IS WRONG. They
welcome Roman Catholics and Mormons as born-again believers in
Christ, when both these groups teach an erroneous way of
salvation. Of course, the PK’s are Arminian to the core,
also. They place more emphasis on their seven promises and the
six stages of manhood than on true evangelism.
THE CHRISTOLOGY OF
PROMISE KEEPERS IS WRONG. Every
man who attended the 1993 PK convention in Boulder, Colorado,
received a free copy of The Masculine Journey:
Understanding the Six Stages of Manhood. In this book
there are references to a "phallic" Jesus.
According to Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate
Dictionary, "phallic" means
"relating to or being the stage of; psychosexual development
in psychoanalytic theory during which a child becomes interested
in his or her own sexual organs. "Phallicism,"
according to the same authority, is "the worship of the
generative principle as symbolized by the phallus (penis)."
In one of their studies they suggest that Jesus had thoughts of
committing homosexual acts. This is done to encourage men to
freely talk of their own sexual thoughts and of their sex life
with their wives. It is necessary to discuss and confess all such
thoughts to pass one of the stages of manhood set forth in The
Masculine Journey. In the book, Hicks also accuses Jesus
Christ of being a sinner, and of having sexual thoughts and
fantasies about Mary Magdalene.
THE THEOLOGY OF PROMISE
KEEPERS IS WRONG. In 1990 at a
Vineyard Harvest Conference in Denver, James Ryle, Bill
McCartney’s pastor, claimed that God had personally revealed
to him and instructed him to reveal to his church that He was
going to bring about a worldwide revival through Music. He
claimed that God told him that the 60-70’s rock stars, the
Beatles and their music, were the direct result of a special
anointing of the Holy Spirit. For support for their teachings,
PK’s more often cite The Masculine Journey,
than the word of God. This book quotes men (as authorities) such
as Carl Jung, a demon-possessed psychiatrist, Leanne Payne, a New
Age psychiatrist and occultist/spiritualist Elizabeth
Kubler-Ross. Promise Keeper speakers, including Bill McCartney,
are constantly claiming to have had direct revelations from God
about things that are not in agreement with Scripture. The
PK’s get their ideas of God from their personal experiences
and feelings, more than from the Bible. Some who have studied the
movement from its origin are of the opinion that it is headed
down the road of modern Gnosticism. Gnostics look to dreams,
personal experiences and revelations, and other writings as
essential to understanding God and the Scriptures.
THE ECCLESIOLOGY OF
PROMISE KEEPERS IS WRONG. This goes
without saying, almost. They were born out of a fringe group of
Pentecostalism which is itself an unscriptural movement. They are
a parachurch organization and believe they have been given a
commission to break down the walls of doctrinal differences and
unite the churches. It is their opinion that they are to impact
the pastors (they call us "clergy") and to take the
pastors and make them be what they have to be to be a part of
this army of men. PK’s Bill McCartney called for a meeting
of over 100,000 clergymen in Atlanta, GA. Speaking of those
pastors, McCartney said, "We can’t have anybody pass up
that meeting. If a guy (pastor) says that he doesn’t want to
go, he needs to be able to tell us why he doesn’t want to
go. ‘Why wouldn’t you want to be a part of what God
wants to do with His hand-picked leaders?’" McCartney
went on to call for one leadership in the entire nation for all
the churches. "One Leadership, Unity of Command."
THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF
PROMISE KEEPERS IS WRONG. They
subscribe to the Pagan and mythological ideas of men maturing.
Their stages in the masculine journey are
absolutely without biblical authority. The authority for these
things is found in the mysticism of the American Indians, the
mythology of Paganism, and the psychobabel of Jung, Bly, and
Hicks. In The Masculine Journey, previously
mentioned, which has the approval of PK’s, Hicks states on
page 51, "We are called to worship God as phallic kinds of
guys, not as some sort of adrogynous, neutered non-males so
popular in many feminist enlightened churches. We are told by God
to worship Him in accordance to what we are—phallic
men." No where in God’s word is such a thing found.
THE PAGANISM OF PROMISE
KEEPERS IS EVIDENT. Robert Bly, in
a treatise called Iron John, expressed the need for
men to experience the ancient, occultic rites of initiation.
Pagan rites of initiation have existed in primitive societies
past and present and are usually found as a fundamental practice
in most secret male societies. Hicks has simply "Christianized"
these pagan practices and doctrine.
THE PROMISE KEEPERS ARE
DISTINCTLY PENTECOSTAL. Though they
claim to be very ecumenical, they are distinctly Pentecostal.
Most of their leaders are Pastors or members of Pentecostal
churches. One secular reporter who was assigned to do a story on
one of the rallies related his experience in trying to interview
some of the men. He said they kept laughing. He would ask a
question about the movement and they would laugh as they were
answering. Apparently this is the effect of the Laughing
Phenomenon that is growing among fringe sects of Pentecostalism.
Vineyard Keepers, with which most of the leaders are affiliated,
is the nest of this heresy. Alleged direct revelations from God
set the doctrine and practice for PK's just as it often does for
other Pentecostal groups. Remember Oral Robert’s 90 foot
Jesus who told him to build a hospital that was unneeded and
almost unused and had to be sold. Remember Jim and Tammy Faye and
the things God allegedly told them to do. This is the heart of
PK’s theology and methodology. Nearly anything they decide
to do is the result of a vision or a dream. Their seven promises
were born out of a staff prayer meeting, not derived from the
word of God.
THE ECUMENISM OF
PROMISE KEEPERS IS DANGEROUSLY WRONG. In fact, it is felt by many that this is the most
dangerous aspect of this movement. Promise Six of the Seven
Promises says, "A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching
beyond any racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the
power of biblical unity." It is apparent they are willing to
downplay nearly any doctrine to achieve an unscriptural unity.
There leaders have written books about "tearing down
the walls," "breaking down the walls,"
"destroying the walls," and other such ideas.
It seems that the greatest motivation they have is "to unite
men who are separated by race, geography, culture, denomination,
and economics." They do not call on Mormons to leave
Mormonism. They do not call upon Catholics to leave Catholicism.
In fact they have promised Catholic leaders there will by no
proselytizing of their people. Over the last few decades there
have been several forces that have made inroads into
"Christianity" with the message of ecumenism. It
started with the National Council of Churches. It was enhanced by
the ecumenism of the Charismatic movement. It was further
advanced by the prophets of psychobabbleism. The practice of
analyzing all things via "Christian Psychology"
has caused many to support and recommend men who were doctrinally
unsound because they had found an audience with their
psychological approach to the solving of problems of Christians.
The Bible is all we need for counseling. PK’s is cursed with
all these. Their calls for unity is distinctly in the spirit of
the National Council of Churches. Their Pentecostalism is another
tool in this ecumenism. They are loaded with men who major in
psychology, among them Robert Hicks and James Dobson.
THE COMMERCIALISM OF
PROMISE KEEPERS IS GREEDY. At one
meeting in Atlanta, Feb. 13-15, 1996, the registration fees
brought in between $3-$4 million. This is not a drop in the
bucket to what is made off the sale of PK’s products. They
sell polo shirts, $28, windbreakers $35, sweatshirts, $45, caps
$10-$16, and coffee mugs, $5. They market tapes, books, videos,
and other PK’s materials. They have run greedily after gain.
THE HUMANISM OF
PROMISE KEEPERS IS WRONG. All
Arminian movements are infected to some degree of humanism,
self-esteem, and self love. It abounds in PK’s. There entire
approach is to appeal to man and his own ability to lift himself
up. It is seen in their stages of manhood. It is seen in their
mentoring. It is rampant in the chanting and other things that
are done to get the emotions running high. It teaches men to
depend on other men for their success as a Christian. They
absolutely teach that without a few other men mentoring and
assisting, no man can grow into the man God would have him be.
Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me."
THE ALLIANCES AND
LEADERS OF PROMISE KEEPERS IS A MOTLEY CROWD. It is not my intention to name them here as I have
named several in this introductory article already. This crowd
makes for a confused mix of psychobabble and charismatic babble.
Just today I read that Jerry Falwell may get on the bandwagon, as
he did when Jim Bakker fell from his pinnacle.
THE MORALITY OF PROMISE
KEEPERS IS SUSPECT. There are
things in their endorsed book, The Masculine Journey,
that, in the name of decency, I will not be able to tell you.
There is evidence that their men’s meetings on the local
level, at certain stages in their masculine journey, turn into
locker room vulgarity. One of my men was recently told by a
person whose husband is big in the local PK’s organization
that he curses her and tries to lord it over her. When men are
taught that Jesus entertained sexual thoughts and sexual
fantasies about Mary Magdalene and also had homosexual desires
and thoughts, there is little doubt that this will negatively
affect their morality. There is some shocking information,
including one guide book encouraging men to "celebrate their
sin." One stage of manhood through which men must pass in
this group is the "wounded stage." Various ways in
which one may be wounded are named, including marital infidelity
and divorce.
THE ESCHATOLOGY OF
PROMISE KEEPERS IS GARBLED, UNINTELLIGIBLE, AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE. They don’t seem to care or know what
their position is. It is asserted by several of their leaders
that they are building "Joel’s Army."
This apparently has reference to the second chapter of the book
of Joel. Joel 2:11 And the LORD shall utter his voice
before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong
that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and
very terrible; and who can abide it? As we will show when
this point is dealt with in detail, one of their leaders has been
seeing visions and getting messages about this army since he was
19. And, it has been revealed to him it was happening at other
gatherings but now he knows it is more certain in the PK’s
movement.
CONCLUSION
This has only been an introduction
to the religious babble of Promise Keepers. You will miss nothing
that will enhance your spiritual life by not being in this
movement. You do not personally need this movement. The
Lord’s true churches do not need this movement. It is of the
Devil and in the spirit of Antichrist.
A number of pastors who were favorable
toward PK’s when the movement first started, are now
opposed. Churches are being divided over the movement. It is
probably one of the most dangerous and deceptive movements to
come down the pike this century. It is a tool of Satan to
accomplish his ecumenical mission. 1 John 4:1 Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of
God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
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Friday, March 04, 2011