MANY CHRISTIAN LEADERS WARN OF PROMISE KEEPERS

MANY CHRISTIAN LEADERS WARN OF PROMISE KEEPERS

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Updated October 12, 1997; first published June 13, 1996 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist News Service, 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277) - The idea that Promise Keepers has almost universal support is not true. Many Christians from a wide variety of churches and denominations have warned of the errors of this movement, and the number of these is increasing as men have further opportunity to study this new movement. The vast majority of Independent Baptists, for example--by no means a homogeneous group-- refuse to participate with Promise Keepers. The term "independent fundamental Baptist churches" refers not to a denomination but to a type of church. These churches are Baptist in doctrine and polity. They are independent in relation to other churches, meaning there is no denominational or ecclesiastical headquarters which has authority over these churches; each church is autonomous under its one Head Jesus Christ. They are also fundamentalist in their stand for Bible truth, meaning they are militant in their zeal for Bible doctrine and they practice ecclesiastical separation. There are an estimated 10,000 independent Baptist churches in the United States, and these churches support approximately 6,000 missionaries. They also operate hundreds of theological institutions.

Though independent Baptists do not believe in denominational structures which influence or control the assemblies, they do believe in fellowship, and they associate and work together in various ways for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Two loosely knit fellowships of independent Baptist preachers and churches are the Southwide Baptist Fellowship (SBF) and the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship (FBF). Southwide was formed in 1956 at a meeting held in Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship of America can trace its roots back to 1920, but its present form began in 1967. The Southwide Baptist Fellowship and the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship both passed resolutions this year warning of the Promise Keepers movement.

"Whereas the para-church organization known as 'Promise Keepers' advocates an unscriptural religious unity at the expense of sound doctrine and practice, accepts and promotes unscriptural charismatic teachings and the inclusion of Roman Catholicism, approves and uses psychological approaches that mix truth and error, uses unholy music and highly questionable speakers, and whereas they are aggressive in the pursuit of new members, a definite threat to Bible-believing Baptist churches who hold to doctrinal purity; therefore, be it resolved that the Southwide Baptist Fellowship stands firmly against it and its ecumenical bent" (Southwide Baptist Fellowship, meeting at Trinity Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Florida, October 7-9, 1996).

"The FBF continues to oppose the burgeoning movement known as Promise Keepers, seeing in this 'grassroots ecumenism' one of the gravest dangers to the cause of true Biblical separation in this generation. A recent example of this ecumenism occurred at the 1996 Clergy Conference for Men held in Atlanta, Georgia, February 13-15, where Bill McCartney, leader of Promise Keepers, said, 'It is exciting to see the denominational barriers come down as we have Protestants and Roman Catholics together. The purpose of this meeting is to have the unity of the church.' While giving lip service to Jesus Christ, Promise Keepers, in its attempt to break down denominational walls, sends out a confusing message concerning doctrinal walls that God sets up in His Word as essential to Biblical Christianity" (Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, meeting at Bethel Baptist Church, Schaumburg, Illinois, June 11-13, 1996).

Though not as strictly independent as the aforementioned churches, another association of Baptists which has taken a public stand against Promise Keepers is the General Association of Regular Baptists. The following resolution was passed at its annual meeting, June 21-25, 1997 --

"We express our opposition to the inclusive character of Promise Keepers, which minimizes doctrine and denominational distinctions in an attempt to achieve unity and fellowship. We voice our concern over the practice of using some speakers who are identified with denominations that are apostate or charismatic" (General Association of Regular Baptists, June 25, 1997).

Another Baptist group which has publicly testified against Promise Keepers is the National Convention of Free Will Baptists. At their 1997 convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, they issued a motion "urging our people and our churches to avoid Promise Keepers and instructing denominational departments and employees not to promote nor participate in the movement."

Other organizations and associations which have taken a public or written stand against Promise Keepers include the American Council of Christian Churches, the Ohio Bible Fellowship, the Fundamental Evangelistic Association, Mission to Catholics, Media Spotlight, PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries, Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America, Bob Jones University, Biblical Discernment Ministries, The Berean Call ministry, and Baptist World Mission. This is only a small sampling.

Douglas Comin, Reformed Presbyterian pastor, has written a booklet entitled Promise Keepers in the Light of Scripture (413 W. 8th St., Washington, IA 52353).

Douglas Wilson and David Hagopian have written a book warning about Promise Keepers. It is entitled Beyond Promises: A Biblical Challenge to Promise Keepers (1996, 269 pages, Canon Press, P.O. Box 8741, Moscow, Idaho 83843). It has been recommended by such well-known Evangelical leaders as John MacArthur, Jr., John Armstrong, R.C. Sproul, Jr., and Don Matzat. MacArthur says of the book, "I found the entire book deeply thought-provoking and profoundly sobering. ... My prayer is that it will help multitudes of men from making shipwreck of the faith."

We don't agree with these men on a number of important issues. We also do not agree with them that there is much redeeming good in Promise Keepers, but it is our purpose here to note that a broad range of Evangelical leaders are publicly warning of Promise Keepers.

Another example of the testimony against Promise Keepers is Phil Arms’ book Promise Keepers Another Trojan Horse (1997, 414 pages, Shiloh Publishers, P.O. Box 770, Alief, TX 77411; 800 829-9673). Arms, pastor of Houston Church in Houston, Texas, spent 15 years as a Southern Baptist evangelist. He has spoken to hundreds of thousands of students on high school and college campuses. He has a national weekly television ministry called Phil Arms Presents.

Let me give one more example. Dr. A.L. Barry, President of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, in a letter to a church member who asked about Promise Keepers, gave clear warning about PK's doctrinal error. This letter was published in its entirety in Christian News, June 10, 1996. Following are some excerpts:

"In your letter you do raise a number of important concerns about the PK movement. I have watched the PK movement develop. The background of the movement is important for us to understand. It traces its theological roots to the Pentecostal movement. For instance, the magazine of the PK movement features many advertisements from charismatic and Pentecostal organizations. The magazine itself is published by individuals who have been associated with a popular charismatic magazine called Charisma. So, we need to be cautious as we hear the PK movement's doctrinal assertions.

"The PK movement very purposefully de-emphasizes the importance of complete faithfulness to the Word of God. They tend to overlook differences between denominations as not all that important. The Holy Scriptures time and again urge us to be completely faithful to all that Jesus has given us ... The PK movement tends to view specific doctrinal points of disagreement as non-essential, unimportant and thus able to be overlooked. This would explain why the PK movement offered Holy Communion to a very diverse crowd of people at the PK clergy conference recently held in Atlanta. Differences must be ignored in order to facilitate this sort of ecumenical gathering, which we would describe as unionistic. Because God commands us to be faithful to the whole counsel of His word it is both dishonest and insincere for us to pretend that differences do not 'matter' or are 'insignificant' and thus join in fellowship with those who do not accept the teachings of the Word on whatever the subject might be, the sacraments or the doctrine of regeneration, or justification, faith, sanctification and all the rest. The PK movement downplays differences in these key areas and tries to reduce everything to a very simplistic formulaic approach to the Faith. The PK movement tends to accept the notion that there is a 'generic' sort of Christianity to which the various denominations add their particular emphases, sort of like a 'base' of paint to which various colors are added to give the paint the particular color desired. ...

"Overlooking differences is not an option for the faithful man of God. Recognizing them and realizing that in this life we may have to separate over them is a responsible choice, as opposed to simply 'agreeing to disagree' and then neglecting these divisive issues" (A.L. Barry, President, The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, Christian News, June 10, 1996).

FRIENDS, PROMISE KEEPERS HAS DRAWN SOME LARGE CROWDS, BUT BY NO MEANS IS THERE A CONSENSUS AMONG CHRISTIANS THAT THIS MOVEMENT IS FAITHFUL TO THE WORD OF GOD. ANY MOVEMENT MUST BE TESTED BY THE WORD OF GOD, NOT BY THE EXPERIENCE OF THOSE WHO ATTEND ITS MEETINGS.

At Way of Life Literature's End Times Apostasy Online Database there are dozens of articles exposing the error of the Promise Keepers movement -- http://www.wayoflife.org/special/spec001.htm