Fundamental
Evangelistic Association
selected
articles from:
©FOUNDATION
A MAGAZINE OF BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALISM
Dennis W. Costella, Editor; Karel Beyer, Production Manager; Matt
Costella,
Copy Editor
M.H. Reynolds, Jr. (1919-1997), Founding Editor
Promise Keepers' "Stand In The Gap
Rally"
- A Firsthand Report
by Brian Snider
©FOUNDATION Magazine, September-October 1997
[Brian Snider is a free-lance writer from Birmingham , Alabama; he
represented FOUNDATION Magazine at the Promise Keepers Washington D.C. rally. The
FOUNDATION Magazine article contains photographs taken by brother Snider].
To borrow a thought from a
writer of long ago, one observes that the designs of God, when scrutinized ever so
carefully and closely, are exceedingly more beautiful and intricate than can been imagined
or seen on the surface. A flower is beautiful, but under high magnification, an even more
beautiful, delicate and flawless construction is revealed. Conversely, the designs of men,
which might appear to be smooth and attractive at first glance, under close examination,
reveal imperfection, impurity and corruption. The surface of even the most finely polished
metal, when examined under a microscope, will be found marred and imperfect.
And so it is with yet another design of men, the Promise Keepers movement and its
recent national spectacle, "Stand in the Gap." A close examination of this
movement, which appears on the surface to be sincere and helpful to so many Christians, is
readily found to be a sad departure from the clear teaching and truth of the pure Word of
God. While it is true that most major evangelical and charismatic leaders are praising,
supporting and participating in Promise Keepers, we must speak out against its mixture of
truth and error (please notice Rom. 16:17, 18; Eph. 4:14, 15; 2 Tim. 4:2; Jude 3).
It is estimated that more than one million men crowded onto the National Mall on
October 4, 1997, to hear from a diverse array of speakers who came to call this
cross-section of American churches to repentance. The crowd heard from charismatic,
evangelical, black, white, Indian, Asian and Hispanic speakers. They spoke of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, repentance from racism and sexual sin, the need for stronger churches and
the conversion of sinners. And yet, upon closer examination, their words and actions are
found to be a mixture of truth and error, deceiving millions of Christians into false and
dangerous beliefs and alliances. While television and newspaper cameras showed hundreds of
thousands of men on their faces in prayer, a survey of those in attendance confirmed that
many of these same men did not understand basic and foundational Bible doctrines and were
unable to provide a testimony indicative of a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. How
is it that a million men, many of whom do not have a clear testimony of salvation, can
redeem a nation by "Standing in the Gap?"
Sadly, a significant percentage of the Promise Keepers who were surveyed became angry
at the concept that such an obvious display of unity should be questioned in light of
God's Word. Men who did not have any problem with fellowshipping and unifying with
denominations that ordain lesbian ministers, support abortion rights, or preach the false
gospel of Rome, literally became red-in-the-face at the idea that God would not honor a
mixture of truth and error, a fellowship with those preach a false gospel, and even their
noble pilgrimage to Washington. This despising of doctrinal purity came in spite of the
clarity of God's Word which not only forbids the believer from fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but commands the believer to reprove them (Eph 5:11). God's
command to prove all things, to hold fast that which is good and to abstain from all
appearance of evil was being sacrificed on the altar of unity in diversity.
The concept of unity in diversity has so permeated the evangelical church that
seemingly no one on the Mall could offer any reason why God should not smile at this
patched together conglomeration of liberals and conservatives, holy rollers and
liturgists, Catholics and Baptists, old schoolers and new agers. An announcer on a local
Washington radio station which covered the event spoke the beliefs of most of those
present: "To a God who sees all, this must please his heart."
While we are instructed by Scripture to be of one mind, the evangelical today scoffs at
the idea of true biblical unity based on complete agreement with, and submission to, God's
holy Word. The only use of the word "unity" in the New Testament is found in
Ephesians chapter four. It is a "unity of the Spirit" (v. 3), not of men. It is
a "unity of faith" (v. 13) based on sound doctrine for which believers are to
contend, not water down (Jude 3). No real spiritual unity can exist apart from doctrinal
unity, and we are to "mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the
doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." (Rom. 16:17).
As the speakers preached the Promise Keepers' gospel of repentance from denominational
division, those in attendance revealed just what that means in a practical sense by their
opinions and beliefs. The following is a paraphrased summary of answers given in response
to a series of questions asked to a number of "Stand in the Gap" attendees. The
survey was intended to merely show the mind-set and basic biblical knowledge (or lack
thereof) of many, if not most, of those in attendance. As the random survey was conducted,
it became readily apparent that the only real "unity" among the men on the Mall
was their inability to provide consistent and biblical responses to the questions that
follow:
1. What church do you attend?
Those responding to the survey included Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, Charismatics,
Independents and others. One Liberty University student claimed to be a Baptist with a
Catholic background and said that both traditions are valid!
2. Are you born again?
Almost everyone, including the Catholics interviewed, responded "Yes" to this
question, though several offered disclaimers by saying something along the lines of
"I don't mean 'born again' the way most people mean it."
3. Do you speak with other tongues?
About a third responded that they did.
4. What is your understanding of the Bible? Is It to be taken literally?
Responses to this question were somewhat delayed, and much explanation was needed to
develop each respondent's personal view of what the Bible has to say and how It is to be
read. Answers were extremely mixed on the inerrancy of Scripture. Most indicated that the
Bible should not be taken literally on history or science.
5. What will be the final condition of the church when Jesus returns?
Answers to this question were almost evenly split between those who believe the church of
Christ will be large and powerful and those who had never considered such a question and
had no thoughts to offer on it. No one said that they believed the church would be a small
remnant of true believers or that apostasy among professing Christians would increase as
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ draws near (2 Tim. 3:1-13; 4:1-5; 1 Tim. 4:1-5; 2 Pet.
2:1-3; Jude; Rev. 17-18).
6. How important is it to you that there is little doctrinal agreement among the
members of Promise Keepers?
Almost every person interviewed quickly answered that it was of no consequence to them
that there was no agreement on Bible doctrine among members of the Promise Keepers. Most
took great pride in the ability to ignore Bible doctrine for the cause of forging an
ecumenically styled unity. The one surprisingly pleasant answer to this question came from
the only woman interviewed. She was a 27-year-old volunteer handing out some of the one
million free Stand in the Gap Contemporary English Version New Testaments. She answered
that she was very concerned that there was not much emphasis on doctrine.
7. What do you believe the Bible says about the importance of doctrine?
Many answered with the question, "What do you mean by doctrine?" Others said the
Bible teaches that there are only essentials to which all Christians must subscribe and
that there is great freedom beyond that. The female PK volunteer was the only one who
answered that the Bible treats the subject of doctrine seriously.
8. Do you believe there will be a revival before the return of Jesus Christ? How
will it manifest itself?
"Yes. You're looking at it," was the primary response. One respondent said that
there would be a revival and deception at the same time. No one else interviewed indicated
there would be any type of apostasy that should be avoided.
9. Do you believe that Roman Catholics are Christians?
Almost every respondent said yes, though several added weak stipulations. "Yes, they
can be," and "Yes, if they accept Jesus Christ, they are," were the most
typical answers. No respondent said flatly that Roman Catholicism is not Christianity.
10. Do you know what the Eucharist is?
Most had no understanding of the Catholic Eucharist. One former Catholic understood
completely and renounced the Eucharist as unchristian. Another evangelical understood that
it represented the literal body and blood of Christ, though he seemed not to object to its
use.
11. Do you believe that a Christian can pray to Mary?
This question produced some of the most surprising answers as several said that a
Christian can pray to Mary but should not expect an answer. After receiving that answer,
the question was rephrased to say, "Do you think God minds when a Christian prays to
Mary?" Some of the respondents changed their opinion and provided a weak response
such as, "Well, I suppose," but many refused to consider the possibility that it
was not pleasing to God.
If space permitted, many other responses from those in attendance could further attest
to their lamentable lack of understanding of biblical doctrine and fidelity to the Word of
God.
It is not necessary to give a great deal of space to the fair speeches delivered from
the platform. Most of the danger in Promise Keepers, as with all neo-evangelical
organizations, lies not in what is said (though that is often bad enough) but in what the
leaders refuse to say.
One could cite Dr. A. R. Bernard, pastor of Christian Life Center in Brooklyn, New
York, and his continued references to the great work of reconciliation performed by Martin
Luther King. Would not the cause of Christ be better served by calling on black Christians
to jettison their allegiance to a man who was no Christian in any biblical sense. Will God
not judge those who follow a man who denied the deity of Christ, who spent his last night
on earth in the same adulterous pattern he had lived through the last years of his life,
and who preached not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but rather the gospel of social reform?
One could cite Jack Hayford, Randy Phillips, Raleigh Washington, or any of the numerous
speakers who urged men to their knees in repentance, yet they themselves refused to
acknowledge that there was anything to repent of in attending churches run by false
prophets, liberals, homosexuals or women.
One could cite James Ryle, pastor of the Boulder Valley Vineyard, who gave a clear
presentation of the Gospel calling on all the men present to repent, and yet failed to
acknowledge his own false prophecies and repent of them (for more information on Ryle's
false prophecies, c.f. "False Prophets…Pseudo Apostles, & A New
Gospel," Fundamental Evangelistic Association).
While more than a million men streamed into Washington to acknowledge their sins, they
went home just as ignorant of what many of those sins are, even after spending the day
prostrate in prayer or in group hugs.
Those who have witnessed to a modern-day evangelical encounter firsthand the amazing
ignorance, or perhaps indifference, that exists today regarding apostasy in the church in
these last days before the Lord's return. Multiply that phenomenon by one million, and you
have "Stand in the Gap." One British newspaper described the audience in this
way: "Every denomination was represented, from Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and
Baptists to 'Bikers for Christ'…. There were guitar-playing Christians calling on
people to 'Jam for the Lamb' and muscular Christians sporting logos of a Herculean Christ
under the words 'Lord's Gym.'"
Even the Chicago Tribune took notice of the disparity of beliefs among participants:
"…Joseph Stowell, president of Chicago's Moody Bible Institute and
representative of one of America's most venerable and buttoned-down evangelical
institutions, spoke from the same podium as Charismatics and Pentecostalists who practice
a wildly different kind of worship." For Promise Keepers, "wildly
different" beliefs and practices are of no concern unless they produce division, and
only then do they believe there cause for repentance. Furthermore, Promise Keepers believe
that fellowship with apostate denominations is not something to be avoided, but something
to be embraced. How different this is from God's instructions for believers: "And
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them"
(Eph 5:11). The Promise Keepers would do well to learn from David, a man whose heart was
perfect with the Lord his God (1 Kings 11:4): "I have not sat with vain persons,
neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and
will not sit with the wicked" (Psalm 26:4-5).
In these deceptive last days of the church age, there are a number of issues that
should be of primary concern for any group that caters to new-evangelical Christians,
including:
- ecumenism and the return to Rome
- worldliness in the church
- the replacement of the Gospel with psychological counseling
- homosexuality in the church
- the charismatic invasion of churches
- false prophets and teachers in the church
- the legitimization of liberal churches that desecrate the Word of God through unbelief
and apostasy
- the flippancy with which publishers have perverted
- the Word of God.
Not once was any man at Stand in the Gap warned of, or given an opportunity to repent
of these grave sins before a Holy God. The concept of standing firm on any particular
doctrine or belief has been utterly abandoned by the majority of evangelicals today. It
has been replaced by a concept of God's love at the expense of God's holiness in which
anyone who names the name of Christ, no matter how far astray in doctrine, is welcomed
into the fellowship of believers.
Promise Keepers is just the latest tower of Babel-a feeble attempt by all concerned to
reach God on their own terms. As the days of Babel were marked by reliance on human effort
to reach God, we know from Scripture that the last days will be characterized by the same
haughty spirit of spiritual self-achievement.
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be
lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the
power thereof: from such turn away" (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
This attitude of spiritual self-achievement was obvious on the Washington Mall. The
Promise Keepers brought with them their own covenant and stuck it in God's face for Him to
sign. "We are building a covenant with God, statement by statement," Hayford
announced early in the day. Throughout the day, Stand in the Gap was arranged around a
series of steps and commitments that each man was to enter into with God. They were:
- An Extraordinary God
- Acknowledging The One And Only God.
- An Extraordinary Response
- Acknowledging Our Need For Jesus
- An Extraordinary Hope
- Understanding God's Heart For A Unified People.
The audacity of men who would deign to design their own covenant with God is amazing.
God made a covenant with Noah. God made a covenant with Abraham. God made a covenant with
Moses. God made a covenant with David. God made a covenant with Israel. Men do not
construct covenants with God. Men have no authority to create such covenants, nor do they
have the power to keep them. This is yet another example of how the Promise Keepers twist
the meaning of biblical truth to suit the designs of their own making. Through Promise
Keepers, men are offered the opportunity to improve themselves and their families-to live
a life that is more fulfilling. But the believer is to take the narrow road, the road of
self-denial, the road of fidelity to the Word of God, the road of truth and love, the road
of hatred toward the wickedness of this world and the road of willingness to forsake
family and friends to follow the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. "If
any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and
brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke
14:26).
Surely the large numbers of men attending Promise Keepers rallies provide validation
that this is a move of God, do they not? To the contrary! To the discerning Christian,
large crowds should raise a question in his eyes that something is not right with the
group. Jesus never commanded the love and admiration of the masses, nor does He today.
Men, on the other hand, have always relied on the arm of flesh as an indication that
things are going right.
Arguably, King David's greatest sin was numbering the people (2 Samuel 24:10), and
seventy thousand men died before God's judgment was complete.
Today, as in other ages, men are tempted to look at the overwhelming numbers involved
in Promise Keepers and say to themselves, "This has to be of God." We would do
well to remember that God often reduced the numbers of Israelites sent out to fight, lest
they take for themselves the glory for the victory.
This reliance on numbers has led Promise Keepers leadership to the heady self-opinion
that they are God's prophets for this age, as Bishop Phillip Porter, chairman of the
board, said in Washington: "Men, it is not Promise Keepers that have called you here
today, but it's been Almighty God. Promise Keepers are like the prophets of old-they've
served as God's messengers for this assembly." The Promise Keepers often adopt the
terminology and the concepts of the Old Testament when they are convenient but rarely look
very deeply into the reality of the truths presented there. Old Testament prophets were
consistently rejected, hated, maligned and killed by those whom they were sent to reach.
They certainly did not have mega-ministries spring up around them. The fact that only the
most ardent lesbians and feminists protested this event (and they seemed to be radically
out of step with everyone else who had an opinion about the rally) should serve as
confirmation of the unholiness of this alliance. Stand in the Gap stirred the praise of
commentators as diverse as George Stephanopolous and Rush Limbaugh.
President Clinton, not widely known as a Promise Keeper, said, "No one can
question the sincerity of the hundreds of thousands of men… who are willing to
reassume their responsibilities to their families and to their children and therefore to
our future." Even false prophet Louis Farrakhan seemed to be impressed: "I have
nothing but praise for the Promise Keepers." Should not alarms go off when the enemy
offers his praise? According to the Bible, they should: "Woe unto you, when all men
shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets" (Luke 6:26).
This diverse praise of men is similar to the incongruity that exists when news magazines
like Time and Newsweek heap derision and doubt on Jesus Christ, yet praise
Billy Graham. Something is wrong with this picture.
John Leo, a columnist for U.S. News and World Report, wrote an op-ed piece
exposing the frustration of liberals who expected negative coverage of the event. "In
Washington, the media not only played it straight, they gave Promise Keepers an
edge," Leo said. He attributed this to "Promise Keepers' total absence of
anti-gay and anti-feminist rhetoric. A prominent homosexual minister told the Washington
Blade, a gay newspaper, "The irony for me is that I'm getting so many letters
from gay men who are going to the Promise Keepers' event, and I'm alarmed."
Had the Promise Keepers speakers shared with the world the plain declarations of
Scripture regarding homosexuality and feminism, howls of outrage would have quickly
drowned the voices of one million men. The truth of God's Word would have unleashed such a
feeding frenzy, that the media would have torn apart the "politically correct"
appearance of the movement in the eyes of the nation.
But by far, the most tragic aspect of Stand in the Gap would have to be the
million-plus men in attendance. In 1948, the World Council of Churches came on the scene
with a frontal assault on the church of Jesus Christ. Their attack? To unify all Christian
denominations into one. In that era, fundamentalist Bible believers were well-grounded
enough in Bible doctrine and prophetic truth to recognize the church of antichrist when
they saw it. But only one generation later, the children of those steadfast Christians
have simply become another Bible prophecy fulfilled. "For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the
truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
What should the Bible believer's response be? Every person reading this article most
likely knows someone involved in this movement. It is incumbent on us, in this last day,
to wage a good fight against any church, man, organization or movement that does not
operate in accordance with the will of God as revealed in His holy Word. It is Satan's
ultimate goal and desire to entangle Christians in the his snare. We are not to be
ignorant of his devices. We must, with compassion, continue to speak boldly against this
movement. We must warn other believers, even though they will not readily listen.
Sounding a faithful warning is often where the reproach of the cross manifests itself:
when we lift up the truth of Scripture before a world-and Christians-who have rejected
that truth. It takes much patience, love for the brethren and the continued application of
Scripture to bring light to those minds darkened by this deceitful movement. But we must
keep shining that light. God is faithful, and He has promised that His Word will not
return void (Isaiah 55:8-11).
[This resource is available from the Fundamental
Evangelistic Association in the booklet, "What About the Promise
Keepers?" which includes articles compiled from FOUNDATION Magazine
including: 1) The Promise Keepers Movement is
Dangerous-Watch Out for It; 2) Promise Keepers
'97: Making godly men or ungodly alliances?; 3) Promise
Keepers Draws the Line - FOUNDATION Magazine editorial; 4) Promise
Keepers "Stand in the Gap Rally-A Firsthand Report; 5) Articles taken from
FOUNDATION Magazine's "The Watchman's Trumpet".
"What About the Promise Keepers?" is a 40-page booklet is available from the Fundamental Evangelistic Association.]
FOUNDATION Magazine is available from the Fundamental Evangelistic Association. Click
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