Cults, Dominionist, One World Church "Promise Keepers has now openly claimed to have a mandate from God which requires all churches to place themselves under Promise Keepers' leadership. A mandate from God is not merely a suggestion; it is an order. And to willfully disobey an order from God is rebellion. Consequently, all pastors who do not submit to Promise Keepers' leadership are in open rebellion against God."If, on the other hand, Promise Keepers' does not have a mandate from God, then their claim is based either on a delusion or it is a deliberate deception. If it is based on a delusion, Promise Keepers has proven itself unworthy to lead the churches since its leadership cannot distinguish between the voice of God, a mental image of human origin, or mental image of demonic origin.
It doesn't matter how much "good" they may lay claim to;
they are attempting to establish themselves as authorities over God's Church without God's permission. Click For More
"The Father's heart, he stated, is to see all Christians come together under Promise Keepers' leadership with the financial support of the churches. Raleigh Washington took the podium to remind the pastors that, in the seven years of Promise Keepers' existence, 100,000 men have given their lives to Christ. He pointed out that Promise Keepers has no cash reserves-that their money had been spent on the Stand in the Gap gathering in Washington DC, and on television specials. He also claimed that attendance at stadium events last year was down because many men decided to go to Washington DC rather than to the stadiums. The purpose of Washington's appeal was not "asking to keep Promise Keepers alive; not asking to support salary staff."
The purpose is to ask the churches to come along and support the movement "to present the Body of Christ as one." This, he said, cannot be done unless the pastors connect with the Holy Spirit and get behind Promise Keepers. He then asked the people to pull out their checkbooks and give a gift of $1,000.
Rick Kingham, speaking on "Vital Prayer Partnerships," reiterated the need for the churches to place themselves under Promise Keepers' veil if they wanted to see God's will done on earth. He referred to McCartney's statement that "we really do believe that God has raised us up as an organization to bring the Body of Christ together." Bill McCartney calls the Promise Keeper agenda a "mandate" from God:
"Without regard to the background of the pastors in attendance, Damazio attempted to lead them into a revival mode through charismatic worship:
"Come on! Lift your hands with me! Holy Spirit, rain on these leaders right now. Oh, rain! Rain! Fall upon these leaders. Let today be one of the first rains. A time where they will open heavens in the presence of God, and they would say out loud,
"Oh, God, it's been so long since I have felt the enthusiasm. Let the rain begin to fall on me right now. Open my spirit. Open my heart. Oh, rain of God, come! Come! Come!"
Now, do you know how to worship? Do you know how to sing praise? Open your mouth and just begin to sing praise out loud. Try it. Come on, just sing it.
"[Singing] Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, this day. Lord, I lift my voice to you right now. Come on, men! Open the floodgates! [Singing) Lord, I lift my voice to you right now. Lord, I praise your name. I praise your name. Let the rain come upon me, Lord. Let the rain come upon my home. Let the rain come upon my ministry right now.
I lift up holy hands to a holy God. I open my spirit right now. I open my heart right now.
Oh, come Holy Spirit. Oh, visit me; come upon me. Oh, visit me, Lord God. Oh, Jesus. Oh, rain.
This vineyard concept really makes the Holy Spirit COME. The worship team must bring the group to a climax with God as experienced by hand clapping, dancing, moving around or some other effort. This is taught by the ZOE concept less explicitly.
"For the most part the pastors resisted Damazzio's attempt to manipulate their worship. But notice his implication that,
unless they worship in this manner, they don't know how to worship.
This is characteristic of charismatic arrogance that sees as less spiritual those who do not follow the charismatic emotional method of worship and praise.
[This was tried at Jubilee 98 when Mike Cope tried to get everyone to lift up their hands while the musical praise team worshiped at the foot of the Asherah poles. Click Here for Jubilee 98. Jubilee 99's theme with Lynn Anderson was Lifting Up the Name of the Lord.]
See the Latter Reign at Jubilee 99
See the Post Modern or Post Denominational Cult
As we speak churches are importing their Musical Worship Minister, musical worship teams, establishing dominion groups among the lads, taking church property away from the old group by deceit and warning the old timers away from the process and other methods of literal warfare.
It is possible that "pastors" have been subjected to a brain wash, have broken down the walls between themselves and dominant theologias and are so deeply involved with local control agents that they are now afraid not to follow the plan.
Elders, selected by the congregation, to be spiritual leaders must, of course, come under the domination of the local pastor especially if he went through the brain warp at Jubilee 96 and probably got themselves mug-shotted by the FBI and and came home to usurp spiritual leadership.
Too often I get an e-mail which begins: "Our pastor says that prophet Joel says that great things are gonna' happen. When you begin to see the radical hapenings in the church you must not ask any questions; you must just trust your leaders and submit" Then, they ask: "how do we stop this insanity"? First, I say, "You are under bondage to a cult. You may have waited too late." The leaven of Herod has added "flavor" to almost every church in the nations in the form of control agents.
Picture From: But there may be time. Therefore, BELOVED, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 1 John 4:2
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 1 John 4:3
The Israelites fell into charismatic worship at Mount Sinai because they were looking for God in a physical way rather than having faith enough to call upon Him for their salvation even when they couldn't see Him:
For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. Romans10:5
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Romans 10:6
Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) Romans 10:7
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; Romans 10:8 Jesus said that these words were Spirit and Life John 6:63.
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 1 John 4:4
They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 1 John 4:5
We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:6
Don't believe that every one who throws around the word "J - e - s - s - z - u - s" is from God. In fact, the more they use the name in chants and yells the less you should trust them.
Denying Jesus is to speak of "the now but not yet kingdom."
Denying Jesus is to hire a minister to become master to manage your life.
Denying Jesus is to hire a "Musical Worship Facilitator" to "lead you into the presence of God." This is in violation of the command not to try to resurrect the "dead" Jesus or ascend into heaven to bring Him down to "do it right this time."
This is accompanied with an explicit denial of the power of the Word for faith and practice. The proof is confessing a new religion - Post Modern or Post Denominational.
Denying Jesus is to be told that if you want to meet God you had better be at the appointed time and at the appointed place with the appointed attitude.
Denying Jesus is to throw away His Words and substitute really shallow stuff for sermons.
Denying Jesus is to throw away His "Spirit" songs and substitute Four Part Fanny.
Denying Jesus is to demand that you have to work up to a certain level of exhilaration or you are not spiritual.
Denying Jesus is abandoning the local body and signing onto a para-church group to learn how to control and manipulate. While it may seem fun -- like ball games -- to the immature, the shepherds are breaking down the walls and opening the gate to their own sheep. They are not watchmen on the walls.
Next, I am quoting at length from a web page without too many comments:
Identifying a Cult. See Post-Modern or Post-Denominational Cult Signs.
"In researching the theological foundation, structure, and origins of the Promise Keepers movement, it became apparent that the typical categorizations that abounded in mainstream media did not adequately describe what this organization truly is. Promise Keepers is more than a fundamentalist or evangelical reaction against the rise of feminism in modern culture and the changing nature of gender and families. It is something beyond the scope of previous politicized religious movements, something more than a Third Wave of the religious right. While groups such as the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition made no bones about their political character, Promise Keepers vehemently eschews such a label. The organization has certainly attracted the support and interest of traditional religious right stalwarts like James Dobson and Pat Robertson; but the leadership of this movement is, in a way, more dangerous. It is firmly identified with extreme evangelical charismatic sectarianism, where the polished political savvy of a Ralph Reed and the Coalition are sacrificed for a more blatant, even martial "spiritual warfare."
The structure of Promise Keepers, by its own admission, is that of an army of God. If this is indeed a "Third Wave" of religious righteousness, Promise Keepers then isn't so much an open and inclusive political movement,
but an aggressive "army" which in its rhetoric, totalistic philosophy, and theological roots borders precariously close to cultism.
I have coined the term paracultic to describe the essential traits, the deep structure of the Promise Keepers movement- which I believe comes very close to being a cult. What paramilitary organizations are to military organizations, paracultic organizations are to cults. In the case of Promise Keepers, there are several characteristics or assumptions which, in my opinion, constitute compelling evidence of a dangerous paracultism.
1. Cultish admiration and worship of a strong leader
Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney began making his public career not simply as a religious-right rabble rouser, but as a football coach. He is referred to throughout the movement by the label Coach, and his success as the organization's founder led to his being named "person of the Week" last year on ABC News. At Promise Keepers, McCartney's persona often eclipses other speakers. Not surprisingly, his charged rhetoric is laced with sports metaphors, undoubtedly a holdover from his days as one of the most successful coaches in college football prior to his 1994 decision to resign from the game and proselytize full time.
2. The use of mass spectacle as an instrument of proselytization
The fact that Promise keepers stages its events in athletic venues like stadiums has evinced surprisingly little curiosity from the media, other than to suggest that the athletic ambiance is a familiar one to many American males.
Mass spectacles of any kind alter the psychology and behavior patterns of participants. Individuals become part of the mass.
Stadium spectacles can suppress any critical faculty in persons who have become anonymous components of a massive group.
Albert Speer recognized the compelling potency of mass spectacle in orchestrating the Nuremberg rallies for Hitler and the Nazi Party. Mass spectacles ranging from tedious mechanical parades
to enormous stadium and arena rallies
have become a perfected art form for totalitarian regimes. [See Machiavelli and Hitler background below to use in making comparisons]
One thinks of the choreographed performances honoring "the great leader" not only from the Nazi era, but in later authoritarian and totalistic societies such as Stalinist Russia, China, Korea, or Albania.
Regardless of the explicit ideology,
such mass spectacles inevitably carry an implicit message of suspension of individual consciousness,
subordination to "the greater,"
and induce a sense of being immersed - or swept along - in a cause, program, ideology or belief greater and more important than one's self.
One is humbled both literally and metaphorically before "the greater" - be it an ideology, god, movement, or all three.
3. Construction of a "totalistic" ideology
The frenzied spectacle of Promise keepers rallies with hours of chanting, praying, and near-belligerent calls for repentance and submission
serve to "break down the walls" (a famous PK slogan) of individual resistance in order to construct a "godly man."
The totalistic ideology, however, continues in follow-up environments. Promise Keepers "huddles"
continue the process of "breaking down" and "constructing" by pressuring members to participate in "accountability groups." (Covenant keeping)
Journalist Russ Bellant ("Promise Keepers, Christian Soldiers for Theocracy," Front Lines Research, May, 1995) notes that in such groups, these "godly men"
are "expected to submit all aspects of their lives to review and rebuke.
Each member must answer any probes concerning his marriage, family, finances, sexuality, or business activity."
A Promise Keepers national coordinator in charge of these "accountability groups" has noted, "I can go home and maybe still be the same guy after a [Promise Keepers] conference.
But if I have another guy calling up, holding me accountable, asking 'How are you treating your wife?
Are you still cheating on your income taxes?
Are you looking at your secretaries with lust?'
it makes a difference. I don't think a woman would get in my face, go toe to toe with a guy, whereas a guy could tell me,
'I don't like it. And if you don't listen to me, I'll punch your lights out.' Something like that." Sons of Shamgar Warriors of Promise Keepers?
[While we do not brand anyone, it is significant that any take over group uses the basic principles of Machiavelli in The Prince which were used quite well by Hitler. Understanding the principles used for evil results will help judge, join or avoid groups which may worry you a bit. See notes on:
- Hitler: Völkish State: Supporters (emotional) and Leaders (Intellectual)
- The Machiavelli FAX of Life Resisting Change
- ---Machiavelli Prince Ch3-Ch6-Ch7
- ---Mein Kampf Vol 2, Ch5, Ch8, Ch11]
4. A Manichaean division of the world
"Promise Keepers is more than a revolt against the blurring and disintegration of traditional gender stereotypes. It is a reaction against the problematic and conditional aspects of modernity itself. The movement's ideology bifurcates the world into moral absolutes based on a literal interpretation of doctrine.
Despite the claims of Promise Keepers leaders that their movement is "spiritual,"
there are distinct social and political implications of such a Weltanshauung, (worldview) where the religious doctrine of Dominionism
compels followers to become
"spiritual warriors" in "renewal" and "taking back" the institutions of society.
See Jubilee Movement for the same subliminal theme.
PK evangelist Tony Brown, for instance, tells the godly men that there is to be "no compromise" on authority in the home, and that women should submit "for the survival of our culture."
5. Suspension of skepticism, critical judgment, and disbelief, and the pressure to conform
Along with the rhetorical bombardment of rallies and "accountability groups" (a feature found in paracultic groups like the Vineyard Movement and the "Shepherding-Discipleship" sects),
Promise Keepers submerges followers in a closed system of belief which offers simplistic, vague solutions to complex problems.
Nowhere is critical judgment or thinking emphasized: rational thought is replaced with slogans and terminology borrowed from tent-evangelism and mass media advertising. "Mega Wake-Up Calls,"
"Everything You Need to Know" seminars, [Experiencing God promises that you will never be the same after a 12 - step program]
calls for "reconciliation" or "Building Men of Integrity," and fixation with "the mystery of the Gospel"
are substituted for reasoned discourse.
Followers are implored to Stand in the Gap! or Break Down the Walls - phrases supported with Bible verse rather than clear, definitive explanations for what they supposedly (or really) could mean.
6. Fabrication of a "Crisis" or "Last-Days" Mentality which defines the actions of the group.
Promise Keepers rhetoric and materials
are laced with terms and ideas popular in the "spiritual warfare" circles
of fervid evangelical and charismatic groups.
Apocalyptic thinking - the sense that one must labor frantically as a predetermined timetable of events unfolds - often serves to unify tight-knit religious groups.
Varying degrees of such "end times" phobias have been found in cults as diverse as Peoples Temple, Aum "Supreme Truth" (Japan), Church Universal and Triumphant, and the Order of the Solar Temple.
Members are instructed to filter all events in the outside world through a "lens" which reveals a deeper level of truth. Within the ur-cultism of Promise Keepers,
this truth coincides with a "signs and wonders" tradition found in charismatics and extreme evangelicals. [See Experiencing God above]
Source Sometimes atheists can see us as others see us The Jubilee movement fabricated a crisis which defined all of the churches of a group as decadent and deleterious (roten and destructive). However, WE have the power to bring about a refreshing new wineskin so that the church can bubble, exhilarate in worship, expand and be inclusive of all groups based on "love."
If you have any of these guys you are already in trouble. See other signs of cults.
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