Promise Keepers and Rome
November 5, 2024
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
Promise Keepers is a men’s movement founded in 1990 by Bill McCartney, who at the time was a successful football coach for the University of Colorado. McCartney was a member of the Boulder Vineyard Church. The first president of Promise Keepers, Randy Phillips, was also a member of the Boulder Vineyard. (The church left the Association of Vineyard Churches in late 1997, after the death of John Wimber.)
Promise Keepers is trying to make a comeback after largely fading from the limelight after McCartney’s resignation in 2003. After a 23-year gap, it held its first stadium event in July 2021. The rally in Dallas, Texas, drew 30,000 and was simulcast to all fifty states and 25 countries. Ken Harrison is the new president.
Promise Keepers is trying to make a comeback after largely fading from the limelight after McCartney’s resignation in 2003. After a 23-year gap, it held its first stadium event in July 2021. The rally in Dallas, Texas, drew 30,000 and was simulcast to all fifty states and 25 countries. Ken Harrison is the new president.
There is one Mediator and one High Priest, and that is Jesus Christ.
Promise Keepers was hugely successful in the 1990s. A crowd of 4,200 men attended the first convention at the Coors' Event Center in Boulder in 1991. By 1994, roughly 300,000 men attended seven conferences. The organization's financial and numerical peak was achieved in 1997. PK’s “Stand in the Gap” rally in Washington, D.C., in October 1997 drew as many as one million men. Not only have hundreds of thousands of men attended PK conferences, but local PK groups were established in many parts of the country.
Promise Keepers encourages men to adopt the “Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper.” Promise Number six states, “A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching beyond any ... denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity.” That is ecumenism, and Promise Keepers is one of the most ecumenically successful movements in history.
The evidence of PK’s ecumenism is its close relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.
Every Catholic who accepts Roman Catholic doctrine believes that the church and the sacraments have a part in salvation. The New Catholic Catechism states: “The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation” (1129). Words could not be plainer.
Bill McCartney is a former Roman Catholic, and he has never renounced the Catholic Church. The following overview is from The Berean Call:
“Bill McCartney was a lifetime devout Roman Catholic who attended Mass daily until he visited the Boulder Vineyard Fellowship, liked the pastor's preaching, and began attending there. He has never broken with the Catholic Church. If he has, then let us hear it from him: when he left Romanism and why--i.e., what was wrong with it that caused him to leave and why he would seek to rescue other Catholics from its errors. Any ex-Catholic I have ever known came out of that church because of having come to know the Lord Jesus Christ personally as Savior, and thereafter desired to see other Catholics delivered from Rome's false gospel. In contrast, McCartney accepts Catholics as Christians and sees no reason to evangelize them.
“In his autobiography, From Ashes to Glory, McCartney admits that as a ‘daily communicant in the Catholic Church’ he ‘had never been encouraged to read the Bible, so ... knew nothing about the Word of God’ and ‘had been totally without a clue about what it's like to be a whole-hearted, committed Christian’ (p. 110). Those statements alone condemn Catholicism! He then tells what he apparently offers as his conversion story (pp. 110-13) and calls himself a ‘born-again Catholic.’ In fact, it sounds like a ‘dedication’ of his life to Christ, as though he thinks he was already saved and is confusing ‘sanctification’ with ‘salvation.’
“His next statement is even more confusing: ‘Making a profession of faith like I did may not be expected and may not even be important in the Catholic church.’ This is an astounding declaration if he has just related how he got saved! No ex-Catholic who has come to faith in Christ as his Savior would ever say that to do so would not be essential for other Catholics. In fact, he would insist that they, like all mankind, are lost and on their way to hell until they receive Christ and look to Him alone for their eternal salvation instead of to their Church and its sacraments. Clearly McCartney has no such conviction” (The Berean Call, November 1996).
In an interview with the Catholic publication Our Sunday Visitor, McCartney said that full Catholic participation was his intention from the start. “Back in 1992, at our first stadium event, we very clearly stated from the podium that we eagerly welcomed the participation of Roman Catholics, and we’ve had scores of Roman Catholics attend and go back to their churches excited” (Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997, p. 10).
In an interview on the national radio program “Promise Keepers This Week” (August 31, 1996), McCartney said, Promise Keepers is going to have to understand that more and more Catholics are going to participate. And what every guy needs to do is, STOP LOOKING AT PEOPLE'S LABELS ... LET’S NOT START CATEGORIZING PEOPLE. Let's just allow God to be God and he can bless who He chooses to bless. And that's how Promise Keepers is going to grow.”
The Tidings, a Roman Catholic paper, stated that Promise Keepers is “being expanded to include Catholic congregations.” Catholics were encouraged to participate in Promise Keepers because “there is no doctrinal issue which should cause concern to the Catholic Church” and “there is no attempt at proselytizing or drawing men away from their [Catholic] faith to another church” (March 31, 1995).
A Promise Keepers group was formed in a Catholic parish in Tallahassee, Florida, according to the December 1995 issue of the charismatic Roman Catholic publication New Covenant.
Catholic priest John Salazar spoke at a Promise Keepers meeting in Plainview, Texas, in December 1995. A local newspaper reported, “Father John Salazar, who leads Catholic churches in Kress and Tulia, implored listeners to value themselves because they were made in the image of God. ... ‘That is the Jesus Christ we need to bring, especially to other men and to young men,’ Salazar said to an audience that encompassed everyone from quietly reverent Episcopalians to openly enthusiastic Pentecostals” (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock, Texas, December 3, 1995).
The Promise Keepers field representative for the upper Midwest in the 1990s was a Roman Catholic named Steve Jenkins. He became involved in Promise Keepers after attending the 1992 PK conference in Boulder, Colorado.
The March-April 1996 issue of the respected Foundation magazine reported the following relevant bit of information: “Some people find it difficult to believe that Roman Catholics are actually participants in the Promise Keepers movement, but it is true. A Promise Keepers Wake Up Call brochure distributed in San Louis Obispo, Calif., urges pastors, churches and their men to attend special rallies during March, one of which is to be held at the St. Rose Catholic Church in Paso Robles, Calif. This fact was confirmed by a phone call to the Promise Keepers leader in that church.”
In 1997 Promise Keepers appointed a Roman Catholic, Mike Timmis, to its Board of Directors (1997 Summer Conference brochure for the Franciscan University of Steubenville).
One of the speakers at several of 1997 PK rallies was Roman Catholic “evangelist” Jim Berlucchi (“Making New Catholic Men?” Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997, p. 10).
In June 1997, Promise Keepers hosted a Catholic Summit at its headquarters in Denver, “sounding out Catholic volunteers and leaders from around the world” (Ibid.).
That same month, Promise Keepers organized a Roman Catholic mass as part of its Rich Stadium conference in Buffalo, New York. About 50 men participated in the mass, which was designed to prepare Catholic men for the conference. Catholic priests participated in the clergy luncheon that Promise Keepers also conducted prior to the conference (John Swomley, The Humanist, Sept. 19, 1997).
In January 1998, Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver gave a “thumbs-up” to Catholic men who want to participate in Promise Keepers (The Catholic Register, quoted in Religious News Service, Jan. 19, 1998). Chaput’s remarks followed a lunch meeting with Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney. Chaput stated that though Catholics have legitimate concerns about the PK movement, they are obligated to “joyfully embrace groups like Promise Keepers.” The Catholic Archbishop said a chief concern was Promise Keepers’ failure to understand that the Bible alone is not the Christian authority. He said that Catholics also believe in “sacred tradition" and noted that “the church preceded Scripture.” He said that the Catholic Church has been given the authority “to interpret, teach and safeguard the Scripture.” He said that task resides with the Catholic bishops. According to this heretical Catholic dogma, the Bible does not rule the church, the “church” rules the Bible. The Catholic Church claims that no one can understand the Bible properly apart from its authority. Chaput said that in early March he would conduct a Catholic mass for Catholic members of Promise Keepers.
Roman Catholic Ralph Martin was a speaker at the Promise Keepers conference in western Michigan in August 1998. Don Jasmin, editor of the Fundamentalist Digest, attended the meeting with press credentials and noted: “The PK emphasis is more dangerously ecumenical than ever, with Roman Catholics now occupying strategic places of prominence in administration and operation” (Calvary Contender, February 15, 1999).
Promise Keepers held weekly meetings at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Lakeland, Florida. Lakeland is my hometown, and I personally saw this meeting advertised on St. Anthony’s signboard on a visit with my relatives in August 1999. I also called St. Anthony’s and spoke with a representative of the church. I was told that their weekly Promise Keepers meetings are connected with the national Promise Keepers organization and that the group is scheduled to attend the Promise Keepers conference at the Tropicana Dome soon. The meetings were led by John Angel, who works at St. Anthony’s.
Since 1995, Promise Keepers representatives have been featured at the Catholic Men’s Conferences held at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. The July 23, 1995 issue of Today’s Catholic featured an article entitled “Promise Keepers Christian crusade draws Catholic men.” This paper reported that in July 1995, an official Promise Keepers Leadership Seminar was held at the Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio) with more than 600 Catholic men participating. The meeting concluded with a Catholic mass led by the school’s president, Catholic priest Michael Scanlon. This same priest distributed elements at one of the masses at the North American Congress on the Holy Spirit & World Evangelization in New Orleans, July 1987, which I attended with media credentials. Scanlan is a traditional Catholic. He believes the sacraments are necessary for salvation. He believes he can turn the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper into the very body and blood of Christ. He prays to Mary, hailing her as “the Mother of God.” At another North American Congress on the Holy Spirit & World Evangelization, held in Indianapolis in August 1996 (which I also attended with media credentials), Scanlon recounted being jailed for participating in ecumenical anti-abortion marches. During his time in jail he conducted masses and taught the Protestants how to pray the rosary. He considered it a great achievement that some of the Protestant anti-abortion crusaders adopted the rosary into their worship. This Catholic priest will not give up any of his heretical doctrines, but he certainly is not opposed to teaching them to any gullible “Protestants” who will listen. And he was closely connected with Promise Keepers.
The Franciscan University sponsors annual “Defending the Faith” conferences, in which Catholic dogma is upheld and defended with great zeal. The Catholicism of the Franciscan University is even more dangerous than traditional Catholicism because its adoption of charismatic experience has given it a semblance of biblical piety and spiritual fervor. This university sponsored a conference in June 1996 dedicated to “Mary as spouse of the Holy Spirit.” The announcement said, “Rediscover Mary’s prophetic role through her recent apparitions.” The Franciscan University’s Summer Conference Magazine advertised pilgrimages to Mary shrines. The theme of the 1996 issue was “Following Pope John Paul II into the Third Millennium.” The cover of the 1997 issue featured this prayer by Franciscan University President Michael Scanlan: “With renewed fervor, we reconsecrate our lives and our work to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
This is blasphemy. Mary has no part whatsoever in salvation or sanctification. There is one Mediator and one High Priest, and that is Jesus Christ.
Promise Keepers representatives Dale Schlafer and Glenn Wagner spoke at the Franciscan University in 1995 and again at the May 31 - June 2, 1996 “Christian Men’s Conference.”
When Schlafer and Wagner returned to the Franciscan University in 1996, they attended a Catholic mass. Their guide, John Sengenberger, an official at the university, explained that the mass only made sense “if you believe in the real presence of Jesus” (Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997). This, of course, is true, but the “real presence” is heresy. The Vatican Council II stated that in the mass “Christ perpetuates in an unbloody manner the sacrifice offered on the cross, offering himself to the Father for the world’s salvation through the ministry of priests” (Vatican II, The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Instruction on the Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery, Introduction, C 1,2, p. 108). "In this sacrament Christ is present in a unique way, whole and entire, God and man, substantially and permanently” (Ibid., Chap. 1, E, p. 114). Further, the Catholic Church teaches that the mass is a necessary part of salvation. Vatican II stated: “As often as the sacrifice of the cross by which ‘Christ our Pasch is sacrificed’ (1 Cor. 5:7) is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out” (Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter 1, 3, p. 324).
This doctrine is blasphemy. It denies the once-for-all finished atonement of Jesus Christ, and it exalts sinful men to the place of God in claiming to have the power to offer the very Jesus Christ on their altars. When a Roman Catholic bows before the consecrated wafer of the mass (the host), he thinks he is bowing literally before Jesus Christ. The host is placed in a “tabernacle” and is available to be prayed to and worshipped between masses. Consider the following solemn statement from the authoritative Second Vatican Council of the mid-1960s:
“All the faithful ought to show to this most holy sacrament the worship which is due to the true God, as has always been the custom of the Catholic Church. Nor is it to be adored any the less because it was instituted by Christ to be eaten. For even in the reserved sacrament he is to be adored because he is substantially present there through that conversion of bread and wine which, as the Council of Trent tells us, is most aptly named transubstantiation” (Vatican II, The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Instruction on the Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery, Intro., C 6, pp. 109,10).
During the aforementioned mass at Franciscan University, John Sengenberger knelt on his knees before the consecrated wafer, then he fell prostrate upon his face before it. In his mind he was worshipped God in the form of the wafer, but in reality he was worshipping a man-made idol, for there is absolutely no biblical authority for the Catholic mass. There is not no New Testament instruction for the appointment of priests. SENGENBERGER SAID THAT PROMISE KEEPERS LEADER GLENN WAGNER, A VICE PRESIDENT OF THE ORGANIZATION, FOLLOWED HIS EXAMPLE AND PROSTRATED BEFORE THE IDOLATROUS WAFER (Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997).
Franciscan University has participated in Promise Keepers since 1995. This is plain evidence that Promise Keepers refuses to expose false gospels and it willingly joins hands with those who are committed to false gospels.
For Promise Keepers representatives to claim that they only desire unity among those who follow the true gospel of the grace of Christ is a deception. Further, for them to claim that their only motive in inviting Roman Catholics to participate with them is evangelism, is nonsense. The facts refute this.
The Promise Keepers doctrinal statement is weak enough to allow for all sorts of false doctrine. In fact, in 1997, it amended its statement of faith, revising some of the lines that Catholics had found offensive (Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997, pp. 10, 11).
A wise pastor said, “We will have either a limited fellowship or a limited message.” Those who preach the whole counsel of God find that their fellowship is extremely limited today because of widespread apostasy. It is impossible to preach the whole counsel of God, like Paul did (Acts 20:27), and have a broad-based Promise Keepers-type fellowship.
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3).
Promise Keepers encourages men to adopt the “Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper.” Promise Number six states, “A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching beyond any ... denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity.” That is ecumenism, and Promise Keepers is one of the most ecumenically successful movements in history.
The evidence of PK’s ecumenism is its close relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.
Every Catholic who accepts Roman Catholic doctrine believes that the church and the sacraments have a part in salvation. The New Catholic Catechism states: “The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation” (1129). Words could not be plainer.
Bill McCartney is a former Roman Catholic, and he has never renounced the Catholic Church. The following overview is from The Berean Call:
“Bill McCartney was a lifetime devout Roman Catholic who attended Mass daily until he visited the Boulder Vineyard Fellowship, liked the pastor's preaching, and began attending there. He has never broken with the Catholic Church. If he has, then let us hear it from him: when he left Romanism and why--i.e., what was wrong with it that caused him to leave and why he would seek to rescue other Catholics from its errors. Any ex-Catholic I have ever known came out of that church because of having come to know the Lord Jesus Christ personally as Savior, and thereafter desired to see other Catholics delivered from Rome's false gospel. In contrast, McCartney accepts Catholics as Christians and sees no reason to evangelize them.
“In his autobiography, From Ashes to Glory, McCartney admits that as a ‘daily communicant in the Catholic Church’ he ‘had never been encouraged to read the Bible, so ... knew nothing about the Word of God’ and ‘had been totally without a clue about what it's like to be a whole-hearted, committed Christian’ (p. 110). Those statements alone condemn Catholicism! He then tells what he apparently offers as his conversion story (pp. 110-13) and calls himself a ‘born-again Catholic.’ In fact, it sounds like a ‘dedication’ of his life to Christ, as though he thinks he was already saved and is confusing ‘sanctification’ with ‘salvation.’
“His next statement is even more confusing: ‘Making a profession of faith like I did may not be expected and may not even be important in the Catholic church.’ This is an astounding declaration if he has just related how he got saved! No ex-Catholic who has come to faith in Christ as his Savior would ever say that to do so would not be essential for other Catholics. In fact, he would insist that they, like all mankind, are lost and on their way to hell until they receive Christ and look to Him alone for their eternal salvation instead of to their Church and its sacraments. Clearly McCartney has no such conviction” (The Berean Call, November 1996).
In an interview with the Catholic publication Our Sunday Visitor, McCartney said that full Catholic participation was his intention from the start. “Back in 1992, at our first stadium event, we very clearly stated from the podium that we eagerly welcomed the participation of Roman Catholics, and we’ve had scores of Roman Catholics attend and go back to their churches excited” (Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997, p. 10).
In an interview on the national radio program “Promise Keepers This Week” (August 31, 1996), McCartney said, Promise Keepers is going to have to understand that more and more Catholics are going to participate. And what every guy needs to do is, STOP LOOKING AT PEOPLE'S LABELS ... LET’S NOT START CATEGORIZING PEOPLE. Let's just allow God to be God and he can bless who He chooses to bless. And that's how Promise Keepers is going to grow.”
The Tidings, a Roman Catholic paper, stated that Promise Keepers is “being expanded to include Catholic congregations.” Catholics were encouraged to participate in Promise Keepers because “there is no doctrinal issue which should cause concern to the Catholic Church” and “there is no attempt at proselytizing or drawing men away from their [Catholic] faith to another church” (March 31, 1995).
A Promise Keepers group was formed in a Catholic parish in Tallahassee, Florida, according to the December 1995 issue of the charismatic Roman Catholic publication New Covenant.
Catholic priest John Salazar spoke at a Promise Keepers meeting in Plainview, Texas, in December 1995. A local newspaper reported, “Father John Salazar, who leads Catholic churches in Kress and Tulia, implored listeners to value themselves because they were made in the image of God. ... ‘That is the Jesus Christ we need to bring, especially to other men and to young men,’ Salazar said to an audience that encompassed everyone from quietly reverent Episcopalians to openly enthusiastic Pentecostals” (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock, Texas, December 3, 1995).
The Promise Keepers field representative for the upper Midwest in the 1990s was a Roman Catholic named Steve Jenkins. He became involved in Promise Keepers after attending the 1992 PK conference in Boulder, Colorado.
The March-April 1996 issue of the respected Foundation magazine reported the following relevant bit of information: “Some people find it difficult to believe that Roman Catholics are actually participants in the Promise Keepers movement, but it is true. A Promise Keepers Wake Up Call brochure distributed in San Louis Obispo, Calif., urges pastors, churches and their men to attend special rallies during March, one of which is to be held at the St. Rose Catholic Church in Paso Robles, Calif. This fact was confirmed by a phone call to the Promise Keepers leader in that church.”
In 1997 Promise Keepers appointed a Roman Catholic, Mike Timmis, to its Board of Directors (1997 Summer Conference brochure for the Franciscan University of Steubenville).
One of the speakers at several of 1997 PK rallies was Roman Catholic “evangelist” Jim Berlucchi (“Making New Catholic Men?” Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997, p. 10).
In June 1997, Promise Keepers hosted a Catholic Summit at its headquarters in Denver, “sounding out Catholic volunteers and leaders from around the world” (Ibid.).
That same month, Promise Keepers organized a Roman Catholic mass as part of its Rich Stadium conference in Buffalo, New York. About 50 men participated in the mass, which was designed to prepare Catholic men for the conference. Catholic priests participated in the clergy luncheon that Promise Keepers also conducted prior to the conference (John Swomley, The Humanist, Sept. 19, 1997).
In January 1998, Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver gave a “thumbs-up” to Catholic men who want to participate in Promise Keepers (The Catholic Register, quoted in Religious News Service, Jan. 19, 1998). Chaput’s remarks followed a lunch meeting with Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney. Chaput stated that though Catholics have legitimate concerns about the PK movement, they are obligated to “joyfully embrace groups like Promise Keepers.” The Catholic Archbishop said a chief concern was Promise Keepers’ failure to understand that the Bible alone is not the Christian authority. He said that Catholics also believe in “sacred tradition" and noted that “the church preceded Scripture.” He said that the Catholic Church has been given the authority “to interpret, teach and safeguard the Scripture.” He said that task resides with the Catholic bishops. According to this heretical Catholic dogma, the Bible does not rule the church, the “church” rules the Bible. The Catholic Church claims that no one can understand the Bible properly apart from its authority. Chaput said that in early March he would conduct a Catholic mass for Catholic members of Promise Keepers.
Roman Catholic Ralph Martin was a speaker at the Promise Keepers conference in western Michigan in August 1998. Don Jasmin, editor of the Fundamentalist Digest, attended the meeting with press credentials and noted: “The PK emphasis is more dangerously ecumenical than ever, with Roman Catholics now occupying strategic places of prominence in administration and operation” (Calvary Contender, February 15, 1999).
Promise Keepers held weekly meetings at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Lakeland, Florida. Lakeland is my hometown, and I personally saw this meeting advertised on St. Anthony’s signboard on a visit with my relatives in August 1999. I also called St. Anthony’s and spoke with a representative of the church. I was told that their weekly Promise Keepers meetings are connected with the national Promise Keepers organization and that the group is scheduled to attend the Promise Keepers conference at the Tropicana Dome soon. The meetings were led by John Angel, who works at St. Anthony’s.
Since 1995, Promise Keepers representatives have been featured at the Catholic Men’s Conferences held at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio. The July 23, 1995 issue of Today’s Catholic featured an article entitled “Promise Keepers Christian crusade draws Catholic men.” This paper reported that in July 1995, an official Promise Keepers Leadership Seminar was held at the Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio) with more than 600 Catholic men participating. The meeting concluded with a Catholic mass led by the school’s president, Catholic priest Michael Scanlon. This same priest distributed elements at one of the masses at the North American Congress on the Holy Spirit & World Evangelization in New Orleans, July 1987, which I attended with media credentials. Scanlan is a traditional Catholic. He believes the sacraments are necessary for salvation. He believes he can turn the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper into the very body and blood of Christ. He prays to Mary, hailing her as “the Mother of God.” At another North American Congress on the Holy Spirit & World Evangelization, held in Indianapolis in August 1996 (which I also attended with media credentials), Scanlon recounted being jailed for participating in ecumenical anti-abortion marches. During his time in jail he conducted masses and taught the Protestants how to pray the rosary. He considered it a great achievement that some of the Protestant anti-abortion crusaders adopted the rosary into their worship. This Catholic priest will not give up any of his heretical doctrines, but he certainly is not opposed to teaching them to any gullible “Protestants” who will listen. And he was closely connected with Promise Keepers.
The Franciscan University sponsors annual “Defending the Faith” conferences, in which Catholic dogma is upheld and defended with great zeal. The Catholicism of the Franciscan University is even more dangerous than traditional Catholicism because its adoption of charismatic experience has given it a semblance of biblical piety and spiritual fervor. This university sponsored a conference in June 1996 dedicated to “Mary as spouse of the Holy Spirit.” The announcement said, “Rediscover Mary’s prophetic role through her recent apparitions.” The Franciscan University’s Summer Conference Magazine advertised pilgrimages to Mary shrines. The theme of the 1996 issue was “Following Pope John Paul II into the Third Millennium.” The cover of the 1997 issue featured this prayer by Franciscan University President Michael Scanlan: “With renewed fervor, we reconsecrate our lives and our work to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
This is blasphemy. Mary has no part whatsoever in salvation or sanctification. There is one Mediator and one High Priest, and that is Jesus Christ.
Promise Keepers representatives Dale Schlafer and Glenn Wagner spoke at the Franciscan University in 1995 and again at the May 31 - June 2, 1996 “Christian Men’s Conference.”
When Schlafer and Wagner returned to the Franciscan University in 1996, they attended a Catholic mass. Their guide, John Sengenberger, an official at the university, explained that the mass only made sense “if you believe in the real presence of Jesus” (Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997). This, of course, is true, but the “real presence” is heresy. The Vatican Council II stated that in the mass “Christ perpetuates in an unbloody manner the sacrifice offered on the cross, offering himself to the Father for the world’s salvation through the ministry of priests” (Vatican II, The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Instruction on the Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery, Introduction, C 1,2, p. 108). "In this sacrament Christ is present in a unique way, whole and entire, God and man, substantially and permanently” (Ibid., Chap. 1, E, p. 114). Further, the Catholic Church teaches that the mass is a necessary part of salvation. Vatican II stated: “As often as the sacrifice of the cross by which ‘Christ our Pasch is sacrificed’ (1 Cor. 5:7) is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out” (Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter 1, 3, p. 324).
This doctrine is blasphemy. It denies the once-for-all finished atonement of Jesus Christ, and it exalts sinful men to the place of God in claiming to have the power to offer the very Jesus Christ on their altars. When a Roman Catholic bows before the consecrated wafer of the mass (the host), he thinks he is bowing literally before Jesus Christ. The host is placed in a “tabernacle” and is available to be prayed to and worshipped between masses. Consider the following solemn statement from the authoritative Second Vatican Council of the mid-1960s:
“All the faithful ought to show to this most holy sacrament the worship which is due to the true God, as has always been the custom of the Catholic Church. Nor is it to be adored any the less because it was instituted by Christ to be eaten. For even in the reserved sacrament he is to be adored because he is substantially present there through that conversion of bread and wine which, as the Council of Trent tells us, is most aptly named transubstantiation” (Vatican II, The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Instruction on the Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery, Intro., C 6, pp. 109,10).
During the aforementioned mass at Franciscan University, John Sengenberger knelt on his knees before the consecrated wafer, then he fell prostrate upon his face before it. In his mind he was worshipped God in the form of the wafer, but in reality he was worshipping a man-made idol, for there is absolutely no biblical authority for the Catholic mass. There is not no New Testament instruction for the appointment of priests. SENGENBERGER SAID THAT PROMISE KEEPERS LEADER GLENN WAGNER, A VICE PRESIDENT OF THE ORGANIZATION, FOLLOWED HIS EXAMPLE AND PROSTRATED BEFORE THE IDOLATROUS WAFER (Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997).
Franciscan University has participated in Promise Keepers since 1995. This is plain evidence that Promise Keepers refuses to expose false gospels and it willingly joins hands with those who are committed to false gospels.
For Promise Keepers representatives to claim that they only desire unity among those who follow the true gospel of the grace of Christ is a deception. Further, for them to claim that their only motive in inviting Roman Catholics to participate with them is evangelism, is nonsense. The facts refute this.
The Promise Keepers doctrinal statement is weak enough to allow for all sorts of false doctrine. In fact, in 1997, it amended its statement of faith, revising some of the lines that Catholics had found offensive (Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997, pp. 10, 11).
A wise pastor said, “We will have either a limited fellowship or a limited message.” Those who preach the whole counsel of God find that their fellowship is extremely limited today because of widespread apostasy. It is impossible to preach the whole counsel of God, like Paul did (Acts 20:27), and have a broad-based Promise Keepers-type fellowship.
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3).
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