(a response to many myths PK supporters habitually employ to avoid dealing with the content of this Web Page)
updated 9/9/99
Q: What is up with your motives/intentions to have a Web page dedicated to exposing Promise Keepers?
A: The contents of this Web Page stand or fall entirely independent of my motives/intentions. The reader is encouraged to read the articles, acquire and study the referenced official PK material to see if it was quoted accurately and in context etc., consider how it all stacks up against Scripture interpreted in context, and come to their own thoughtful conclusions ("thoughtful" is easier to achieve apart from the distracting atmosphere of a Pk event). To suggest that my motives would suddenly invalidate your independent research confirming PK to be bunk is to fall victim to the "ad hominem" logical fallacy (the reader is encouraged to do a Web search on "ad hominem" to learn what it means if they don't already know).
Q: How can any Christian be against such a wonderful movement of God as Promise Keepers who have led so many to Jesus and have changed lives, restored marriages, put the man on the moon, etc?
A: Every Christian should be against deception. Deception always comes packaged in a mixture of truth + error ("good" + bad), and the Bible doesn't give deception a pass.
2 Cor 11::3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted-- you may well put up with it!
The "fruit" in Jesus' "you will know them by their fruits" (Matt.7:20) are the words (teachings) of a prophet (cf. context - the passage starts in verse 15; see also Matt.12:33-37), not the outward results produced by an organization. Pragmatism (the ends justify the means) is not a biblical/Christian philosophy nor a logical (reliable) guide for establishing truth and thus should not be used as a basis to evaluate anything spiritual. The Bible does not teach that everyone who responds to an alter call and fills out a decision card should be counted as an authentic conversion. Nor does the Bible teach that if a movement can manipulate a ton of men to respond to an alter call, therefore you have to believe the message accompanying the demonstration and give them a pass should they teach any error. At best, God working in men in spite of PK (Rom.8:28) explains many of the "testimonies" PK then publicizes to help sell their own product., "Promise Keepers." But it is also possible that the placebo effect is at work in these "testimonies", i.e., men associate "PK" with God and respond accordingly in their own strength.
Q: Since no human organization is perfect ("all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God") and PK is a human organization, shouldn't you give them a pass to make a mistake once in a while?
A: By same logic I'd have to give a pass to every human organization that ever existed, "Christian" or otherwise.
Q: Can't PK make a few errors but still be useful to God?
A: Even Satan is useful to God, thus being "useful to God" doesn't justify the one used.
Q: Have you ever been to a PK event?
A: No. Although some of the critics on the Web Page have been to PK events and report on the same, a Christian does not need to attend a PK event in order to qualify as a legitimate critic of Promise Keepers. PK often broadcasts their conferences live on the radio and occasionally on TV for those who can't attend the meetings personally - I've exposed myself to several PK events through these media (some of which is preserved via audio and video tapes in my personal possession for further reference). Besides this, I use to listen to (and occasionally record) the PK This Week radio program when it was on every Saturday (which included a half-hour conference segment replay). I do not believe that there is some secret knowledge about PK that is only accessible to those who locate their physical bodies inside the stadium and hear PK leaders and Maranatha Praise Band on that anointed PK loudspeaker and jumbotron equipment, knowledge that would suddenly put all other information accessible to man (via every kind of media under heaven) re PK in a totally different light thus showing PK to be nothing short of a mighty move of God.
Q: Aren't the articles on your Web page written by a bunch of ignorant people who do not understand PK?
A: The authors constantly quote from official PK sources which the reader is free to confirm for authenticity and context. In most cases, the issues PK comes under fire for involve what all (both pro-PK, and con-PK) acknowledged to be what PK actually teaches. In those few instances where what is claimed to be the PK position sounds unfamiliar to the reader (and thus suspicious), this is due to the ignorance of the reader rather than a misrepresentation by the PK critic.
Q: Precisely who appointed you the guardian of all truth?
A: No such appointment has been claimed by any of the authors exposing the errors of PK on this Web Page. Does a Christian need such an appointment in order to evaluate, reject, and expose the errors of Promise Keepers?
Q: Who appointed you the final arbiter of the motives and intentions of PK officials and its supporters?
A: If you would read the content of this Web Page, you would know that the motives and intentions of PK officials and its supporters are not things that receive much attention; in other words, I don't care what their motives and intentions are. If what they are teaching, believing, and practicing is wrong, they aren't suddenly going to become "a mighty move of God" because their motives and intentions are "Christlike."
Q: How can you say that PK leaders and supporters are on their way to hell?
A: If you would read the content of the Web Page, you would know that the salvation status of PK leaders and their supporters does not receive any attention whatsoever. The claim is rather that PK leaders and their supporters are represented in Ephesians 4:14,
... children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
The above atmosphere is not in accordance with the will of God, thus Christians need to work to put an end to it by speaking the truth in love (Eph.4:15) and avoiding those who propagate the error (Rom.16:17).
Q: Why is it you attack people? Is this Christ like?
A: It surely is. Just observe the way Christ spoke to the Pharisees.
Q: Where is the Love?
A: Love rejoices with the truth. It isn't love to submit to the PK gag rule while spiritual deception flourishes unchallenged, spreading to infect more and more Christians and putting them in a state where they waste lives encouraging one another in error (Eph.4:14).
Q: What's wrong with PK's Seven Promises?
A: #1 PK breaks their own "commitment" to"obedience to God's Word" in the making of promises to begin with; #2 has nothing to do with biblical Christianity, but is rather a psychological tool involving the use of peer pressure to reinforce the error PK has led everyone into; #3 "spiritual purity" contradicts the "reach beyond all denominational barriers" of #6, which necessarily requires doctrinal compromise = spiritual impurity; #5 wrongly assumes that the pastor is worthy of honor, a thing that isn't so if the pastor is teaching false doctrine. "honor the pastor" is also a flattery trick to try to manipulate the pastor to be pro-PK; #6 compromises much truth for the sake of PK's unbiblical "biblical unity", as well as falsely equating "racial" with "denominational" as if these two "differences" were of the same kind.
Q: What church do you go to?
A: This information is irrelevant to determining the validity of the content of this Web Page.
Q: Don't you think you should think things through a bit more before you go around tearing down your brothers and sisters who are trying to build up their brothers and sisters.?
A: You can't build up your brothers and sisters by teaching them false doctrine as PK has done. It is the leadership of PK who have torn down the Body of Christ (Eph.4:14) by teaching them false doctrine.
Q: How can you call yourself a Christian while at the same time cause division in the Body of Christ with your anti-PK Web page?
A: Some Christians have followed PK in their error, while other Christians have not. The ones who have caused the division around here are those who have propagated the spiritual error, in this case, PK leadership:
Rom 16: 17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. 19 For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.
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