The Promise Keepers
Good or Bad?

Over 64,000 men gathered in the Seattle Kingdom in early July, 1995 as part of the Promise Keepers movement. It's hard to believe that something other than the Seahawks playing in a Super Bowl could have gathered that many enthusiasts in the place. This is especially true when the crowd is a mass of men come to learn how to be more Godly husbands, fathers and Christian churchmen.

So What's The Problem?

Some of my brethren in the ministry have been concerned over reports that both the Catholic and the Mormon churches have given the OK for their men to attend and that at least one of its leaders has attended or still attends a local Vineyard church. One was concerned that the group uses new age and or psychological techniques; that the pressure for such ecumenicalism, so strong that no one's theology would be offended, would wash out the power of the cross and Christ's atoning gift there.

Another wrote that the movement was a religious, political force tied to a central leader and drew an obscene parallel to Hitler and the Third Reich in Germany during the 30's.

Beyond all the negative things being said by brethren, the media was down on the event like it was a plague arriving. News stories and letters to the editor columns before, during and weeks after the conference had been filled with hate and anger, with only a very few positive letters being printed along with the tripe.

Well, I was pretty disheartened about it all. I've been believing God for a wave of Holy Zeal to light a fire under the Christian men in America. I teach and preach on that subject! I had hoped this movement might be what could usher in a great harvest for the King of Kings.

One of my son's-in law, Keary, had gone to Promise keepers a year earlier in Portland and came back really changed, with a zealous, Christ centered heart for the things of God. What a joy to see this young man [and his family] experience a life centered in the Word of God.

So, I went to see what it was all about. My son, Joshua went with me and in that mass of men, we actually found Keary walking up our aisle, looking for a seat (there was one next to us). In that crowd, a miracle.

I had several motives for going there.

First, I wanted and needed to get my own spiritual fire reignited. I knew I needed that refreshment badly..If it was there, I wanted it!

Second, I wanted to see what a Mormon would get from the meeting that would send him back to the ward a better Mormon. So I listened to every word said, every song sung from that perspective.

Third, I wanted to go as a leader in a discernment ministry to see if there perhaps was a cult in there.

So.....let me tell you what I discovered.

One concern was that the gospel would have to be watered down to remain ecumenically acceptable . The first speaker, Bob Moorhead, Pastor of the largest church in the state, Overlake Christian Church, put that rumor to flight when he had a good old "Gotta Be Born Again" altar call within the first half hour. Over 5,000 men stood and prayed the sinner's prayer of salvation.

Another concern was that the power of the Bible would be watered down for the Mormons and all those who feel it is not the perfect word of God. The second speaker, T.D. Jakes, put an end to that rumor when he held up the Bible in his hand, proclaiming that it was the Word of God, the only true Word. "It doesn't need a supplement, it doesn't need updates. We don't need other books", he shouted. "This is it. Right here."

Someone was worried that Gary Smalley would bring the heresies of modern psychology, a new age slant to the men. Yet, as I listened with an extremely critical ear, every word out of the mouth of Smalley regarding a man's obligation before God for his wife and children was clean, clear, scripturally based Godly advice.

Another critic talked of the oaths we were going to have to swear, as we submitted ourselves to the headship of The Promise keepers. Nothing was further from the truth. You all know where I stand on oaths. There were no oaths sworn. We were asked by various speakers things such as "How many of you men are willing to commit to being more Godly husbands and fathers? Will you stand with me as we commit ourselves to Christ in this matter???" That is not oath taking, friends and I have stood a few hundred times in good, solid churches when asked similar questions by other Godly preachers.

Another writer suggested that we would be taking our families and our churches and putting them under the headship of Promise Keepers. It didn't happen. That was not sustained in any of what I heard there. All the headship messages were to the point that the man was the Biblical head of his house and he should be submitted (with his family) to their local church fellowship where it was his duty to be involved as an active, participating, financially supportive member.

Saturday Morning, Bill Bright spoke about becoming men of God's Word. I started to count the number of times he lifted up the Bible as God's one true Word. I finally gave up counting. "There is no other book," he said, close to a dozen times.

"This book," he said, "contains the clarity of the simplicity of the gospel." Again, "It contains the nature of the true God that created all the universes' Again, " It tells how God saved us by the blood....John, Chapter One tells us that Christ was always God." Bill Bright explained that there have been many who have called themselves prophets, leaders, Mohammeds and Buddhas, but all of them put together can't hold a candle to Jesus. That message alone should every Mormon present either to his knees or out the door!

Dr. E.V. Hill laid the thing to rest Saturday evening. He preached about racial and denominational reconciliation. He preached the simple gospel message of God's love, the cross and the redeeming blood of Christ, saved not by works, but by God's grace! He said that if that gospel be any different, if it be hid from the eyes of the listener, then it was hid by the god of this world, Satan. Could it be any clearer?

He also gave true balance to interdenominational or ecumenical fellowship. He pointed out that the sixth promise, as preached above was to be done in Biblical unity. I didn't have to sit down as a brother to an anti-Christ.

The final speaker, Dr. Howard Hendricks, gave us the bottom line. "No man," he said "should leave here without being born again by the power of Christ, dedicated and made a zealot for souls. He prayed that there be an enthusiasm for Jesus Christ throughout the church, such as to reach all mankind for Christ."

Hey! I'm sorry, but if this is great stuff! I know there have to be problems of all kinds in trying to bring together men from hundreds of Christian groups, but the centrality of Jesus Christ requires that we do it.

We have to see beyond the diversities of gifts, of forms of service and which translation of the Bible each uses. We can't all be the only true form of true Christianity. The Word of God makes this far clearer than I ever could:

" For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body." (1 Cor. 12:14-20)

We must put aside some of our prejudices if we are to ever see any great revival hit the land. Men must come alive in their Christian walks, homes and Churches if it is ever to happen. We must love and edify one another until we come to that unity of faith mentioned by Paul, when he said to the church at Ephesus:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (Eph. 4:11 -15)

Those of us who act as discerners in the church need to work with these brothers, not shoot at them from the sidelines and from behind. Let's be part of the solution, not part of the problem. If they have problems that take away from the essentials of the gospel, then deal with them as brothers, but if the problems are from our perspective or point of but let's stop trying to make the whole body look like our mirror image.

I give the Promise Keepers a two thumbs up vote of confidence. Let's stand with them! Let's pray for them! We Men need revival in our lives. We need to wake up from our sleep and be zealots for Christ!

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