Promise Keepers is a thriving national organization of Christian men that is alive and growing here in Central New York. The movement is known for its large rallies held in stadiums which have attracted thousands of men over the last few years. The theme of the organization, from which it gets its name, is an initiation in which participants make an oath of seven promises together with other Christian men.

This publication presents an evaluation, for Christians, of the promises of the initiation into Promise Keepers (PK). We do need to be careful about what leaders we allow to lead us spiritually during these confusing and difficult times. Wise Christians know that big names and big numbers do not always mean right direction. Christ warned us: "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many" (Matthew 24:11).

What about Making Promises?

The Word of God has a great deal to say about making oaths or promises, a number of them intended to put us on guard. Christ warned:

"Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths; But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay nay: for whatsoever is more than these, cometh of evil" (Matthew 5:33-37).

The book of Proverbs also addresses the subject of ill-advised oaths:

"Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth" (Proverbs 6:2).

The Promise Keepers Oath

Are the PK promises safe? Could they be a snare, promising strength, relationship, and victory, but actually binding men in an ungodly or compromising situation? Here they are:

1. A PK is committed to honoring Jesus Christ through worship, prayer, and obedience to God's Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.

    

2. A PK is committed to pursuing vital relationships with a few other men, understanding that he needs brothers to help him keep his promises.

    

3. A PK is committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity.

    

4. A PK is committed to building strong marriages and families through love, protection, and Biblical values.

    

5. A PK is committed to supporting the mission of his church by honoring and praying for his pastor, and by actively giving of his time and resources.

    

6. A PK is committed to reaching beyond any racial or denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of Biblical unity.

    

7. A PK is committed to influencing his world, being obedient to the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).

Where is the Fine Print?

Can we as Christians enter into such a pact? Certainly we must be careful before we sign on the dotted line. No one in his right mind would be satisfied with a flippant examination of a legal contract, say for the purchase of a car or house or the acquisition of a charge card. Spiritual matters require even more careful consideration. Who wants to get ripped-off?

To begin with, what Christian could find a problem with promises 1, 3, 4, or 7? Hopefully no Christian would object to these if they mean, in practice, what they seem to mean at face value. But is there another message behind the right-sounding words? As an illustration, remember that in the book of Acts, chapter 16:16-18, a woman with an evil spirit followed after Paul and Barnabas proclaiming, "These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation." She had right words. However, Paul and Barnabas did not invite her to go on a speaking tour. Rather, Paul cast a demonic spirit out of her. Right words; wrong spirit. Paul in no way wanted to be in association with this woman.

Our Choices:

The PK promises will leave the Christian man with some tough choices. If a Christian would promise all seven, which would he have to break when the promises contradict?

Obedience to the Word
or
Reaching Past Denominational Barriers

We need to look no further for what promises 1, 3, and 7 mean in practice than promises 5 and 6. What if to obey God's Word (promise 1), one must keep some denominational barriers intact? He would then disobey promise 6. A Christian ought not to fellowship with those who teach a different gospel or an addition to the Gospel, even if it is taught under the general heading of Christianity. When he must choose between the truth and unity, a Christian should choose the truth. A Christian PK would then be forced to become a PB. That is not a peanut butter sandwich, but it is just about as sticky. It is a Promise Breaker.

Spiritual Purity
or
Supporting a Bad Church

How can a Christian remain spiritually pure as promise 3 says and at the same time support a false church or a pastor teaching lies, as promise 5 requires? If a Christian re-dedicates his life to spiritual purity, he may have to separate himself from the old church and pastor if they are in error. Which promise will the Promise Breaker break this time? A Christian makes a big mistake when he devotes his time and resources, as number 5 requires, to a bad church.

The Great Commission
or
Tolerance of Dead Religion

In this case, the PK movement tells what to do in practice. Consider the following dilemma:

A true Christian is invited to a PK rally. He has already decided (as he should) to obey Christ's Great Commission to all His followers (this also happens to be part of PK promise number 7):

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matthew 28:19-20).

 

This Christian wants to share with lost souls that he has come to know Christ in a personal way -- more than a mere mental acknowledgment of Him. The Christian was forgiven and changed by the Lord when he repented. There's an excellent chance, at least if he grew up in Western Civilization, that he also grew up learning about Christ and the Bible in and around one or another church. But that background did little for him. Somewhere along the line, the Christian experienced what Christ said was mandatory if anyone is to enter the Kingdom of God: "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). Someone -- say a friend or co-worker -- who had experienced the saving grace of Christ shared the Gospel with him, and he accepted. Now, within the Christian's heart burns a desire to lead others to the Savior, Jesus Christ, and to the blessed reality of being born again.

But the very air of the Promise Keepers rally says, "Don't do it!" The Christian has inadvertently found himself connected with an organization, whose leaders claim to be born again, telling him, "Don't share your faith here. Keep your mouth shut!" In fact, promise 6 requires that Christians do not teach others the way of salvation. According to the promise, each man must accept the man who sits next to him at a PK rally as a spiritual brother, even if that man is as bound in dead or false religion as the Christian once was.

Sincere brothers in Christ, listen; the Lord would say to you, "Don't make that promise!" How can you be a man of integrity and pretend you can tolerate the false beliefs of others in PK while all the time you are burning in your soul to share with them the Gospel that will set them free? Tolerance has not worked in our society. Thanks to liberalism in the secular realm, we have an unprecedented surge of lawlessness in the world. Are we willing now to let the liberals have their way in the last bastion of truth left on the earth, the genuine Church of Jesus Christ? Let not the Church be more over-run with ungodly tolerance of sin, worldliness, and false doctrine than it is already. We should not be involved in any parachurch organization that would have us promise to compromise sound Biblical doctrine.

Compromising with Catholicism

Think of the Catholic. It is commonly reported and advertised that the Catholic is invited to become a PK as a brother in Christ. The leader of PK, Bill McCartney, says that PK does not care whether or not men are Catholics. Dr. Jack Hayford, author of the PK rally text Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper writes, "Redeeming worship centers on the Lord's Table. Whether tradition celebrates it as Communion, Eucharist, the Mass, or the Lord's Supper, we are all called to this centerpiece of Christian worship" (p. 19). These rites, in their respective denominations, are not at all comparable. The Catholic rites are blasphemous. In addition, the Catholic man is bound in dead liturgy. Against the command of Christ, he calls his priest Father. He believes he was born again when he was baptized as an infant. He prays to Mary, whom he calls the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of God, for grace and forgiveness. He buys mass cards and lights candles and prays so that dead people can be saved. He believes he is headed for purgatory where he will be punished for his sins. His pope carries as much authority with him as the Bible does with the Christian. These beliefs are all tragically mistaken.

Certainly, we love the Catholic. He needs to be loved, so he can be saved. He needs to be loved right into the kingdom with the truth of the Gospel as it is presented in the Bible. But a PK is not allowed to share the Gospel with him because the PK has taken a vow to embrace Catholicism as an acceptable denomination. Evangelism not allowed. Evangelism puts the Promise Keepers organization in jeopardy. PK prefers to seal the Catholic's fate as a lost soul. The PK member, then, cannot keep both promises 7 and 6. No wonder Christ warned us against taking oaths more than saying simply yea or nay.

A good indication of how Catholics and members of other un-saved denominations feel insulated at PK meetings comes from a study of PK done by priest Christian Van Leifde for the Catholic church as quoted by Bobgan and Bobgan in "Promise Keepers, Catholics, and Mormons... Together," 1995:

"...there is no 'doctrinal issue which should cause concern to the Catholic Church.' Promise Keepers places a very strong emphasis on returning to your own church congregation or parish and becoming an active layman... There is no attempt at proselytizing or drawing men away from their faith to another church."

What to do with a Bad Contract

The PK vows are contradictory because they are not all Biblical. The PK initiation is a faulted and un-Biblical contract. Once when I was trying to purchase a house, my lawyer informed me that the seller could not offer a clean or legal contract to sell. He informed me that if I would continue pursuing the deal, he would no longer represent me. I instantly discontinued negotiations and followed my lawyer away from the table. I did not need much convincing. Who would not have done the same? Likewise, men should abandon the PK movement. It's a faulted contract, and the leaders are not about to change it.

Some may wonder if it would be OK to be involved in the rallies for the excitement, encouragement, and fellowship if one does not take some or all of the PK oath. At the center of the rally is the oath. If the rallies and the organization are faulted at the center, what would any Christian man of integrity want to do with being there and supporting it with his time, effort, and money?

Other Problems

The faulted nature of the PK oath should alarm our spirits of the likelihood of even additional error, and indeed, such error exists. The following is a summary of the error of the PK organization:

1. There is no Biblical precedent for such parachurch organizations as the PK. The very existence of such an organization erodes the Body of Christ's faith that the Lord provides for His flock through the local church. The church is to trust Ephesians 4:11-12: "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."

    

2. An all-male ministry is a ministry of division. Getting people of different races together? Commendable! It is our constant prayer! But how about Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (emphasis added).

    

3. Part of the PK method includes an unholy mix of New Age and Jungian approaches to psychology with Biblical imagery. For instance, Robert Hicks' The Masculine Journey sells like ice cream on a summer day at PK rallies. Hicks writes, "We are called to worship God as phallic kinds of guys" (p. 51). In his book he advocates celebration of a young man's loss of innocence: "I'm sure many would balk at my thought of celebrating the experience of sin... Instead of jumping all over them when they have their first experience with sex or drugs, we could look upon this as a teachable moment and a rite of passage" (p. 177). His workbook, also sold at rallies, asks men to share with each other about the phallic initiation rites they have participated in. Hicks is not alone in his twisted focus. Explaining the three reasons for the covenant of circumcision in the Old Testament, so-called Christian psychologist Jack Hayford taught at the PK Anaheim rally in 1994: 1) God wants to touch men's very identity as men; 2) God wants to reach out and touch men's secret and private parts; and 3) God wants to touch men's creative parts.

    

4. Bill McCartney's pastor and mentor, the infamous James Ryle, is on the board of directors of PK. Ryle is a loose cannon who has prophesied such outrageous things as a civil war between Christians over the latest 'holy laughter'/Toronto craze and that the Beatles -- yes, the rock band -- were anointed to bring forth a world-wide revival.

    

5. McCartney has an un-Biblical vision of central church command. Consistent with Ryle's assemble-the-army and join-or-be-doomed tactics, McCartney said at the Detroit rally in 1995:

   "We have a great army assembling. They're the Christian men in this nation. However, our leadership, our clergy, are not in uniform. Our clergy are divided... Now listen to me, men. February 12th, 13th, and 14th to me is not a coincidence that it comes over Valentine's Day. I think we're going to have another St. Valentine's Day massacre. I think Almighty God is going to rip open the hearts of our leaders. I think He's going to put them back together as one. One leadership. We've got to have one leadership, one leadership only."

Pastors, how do you like the idea of getting your 'marching orders' from Coach McCartney? Certainly, no pastor called by the Lord, laboring in the Word, having given his life to the service of the Body of Christ, can be blamed for being offended at such a call. Coach McCartney does not qualify for church leadership according to I Timothy 3:6: "Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil." And such an image as the St. Valentine's Day massacre is not an image from the Holy Spirit.

Contrary to McCartney's lofty vision, the Lord's way -- the Bible way -- when it comes to leadership, does not extend beyond local control. Even the apostles, in Acts 15 for example, yielded the final judgment in the Jerusalem church to the Jerusalem pastor, James. Certainly Paul and Barnabas, recently come from Antioch, would never think to usurp the authority in the Jerusalem church. They were outside the boundaries of their authority. Division of church command by locality is God's safety valve. In this way, if a leader does get off track, the damage is limited to one locality.

A Final Word

This publications lists a few weighty concerns about the Promise Keepers' promises. It turns out that the words of the Proverb are an appropriate warning: "Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth." No one wants to be taken. The Proverb warns us to keep away from PK's contradictory and, in part, un-Biblical oath. This publication also raises a few other concerns about the PK organization as a whole. Certainly we must all pray that men not be attracted by names and numbers to a dangerous compromise with false religion, worldly and perverted psycho-techniques, or out-of-control and un-Biblical vision. As Psalm 18:30 says: "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried." The Lord already has abundantly provided everything needed to minister to us in His Holy Word. We dare not scheme up our own faulty supplements.

by B. M. Rocine