When the Holy Spirit Works (Focus On Grace, January 2014)

In 1990, two men were having a discussion about spirituality and maturity in men, and between them decided that the most important factor in attaining those ideals was discipleship. They formed a men’s discipleship group from that initial idea, laid down some basic tenets, and got to work inviting men to their group. By 1993, the movement that sprang from that group attracted 50,000 men to a single rally. By 1995, they drew more than ¾ of a million men to 13 conferences; in 1997 they had nearly 800,000 at a single event at the National Mall in Washington DC. But four months later, they laid off their entire office staff for financial reasons. By 2000, they were canceling rallies altogether, and they largely fell out of public awareness. That movement, if you haven’t guessed by now, is Promise Keepers. They are still around, and they still hold to their commitment to disciple men in what they consider a godly and Biblical fashion, but as a movement, they have been severely curtailed.

I remember well when Promise Keepers was at its height. It was very well-regarded at the church I attended, and a great many godly people saw their success as something like a mirror of what happened with the first Church on Pentecost. People believed it was surely the Holy Spirit at work, as was “clearly” evidenced by the movement’s growth and success. But public criticisms were growing at the same rate. Some claimed they too quickly embraced religious organizations that did not follow Biblical teaching, though Promise Keepers leadership explained that they only accepted those who expressed a faith in Christ, whatever their background. They endorsed materials that were not solidly based on Scripture (the most cited being “The Masculine Journey: Understanding Six Stages of Manhood.” by Dr. Robert Hicks, which, among other things, supposedly claimed David was a manic-depressive, and Jesus was a sinner, tempted by homosexuality). Some of the leadership of Promise Keepers even claimed they were modern-day prophets who received direct revelations from God. Yet, their doctrinal statement, which has not changed substantially since their inception, appears orthodox.

So, was Promise Keepers truly a movement founded and led by the Holy Spirit? I don’t think you can give a simple answer to that. There were definitely a lot of men challenged and encouraged to live more godly lives than they would have if not for their involvement in the movement. But a parable taught by Christ jumps immediately to mind whenever I think of what happened to Promise Keepers. In Matthew 13:31-32 we read, “… He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.’” The mustard plant is at best, a shrub. It does not grow into trees. The kind of growth Jesus talks about here, for a mustard seed, is unnatural. Some Bible scholars say that this represents the work of the Holy Spirit, causing growth and prosperity that nature alone would not provide. But, the thing that makes me think, “maybe not,” is that last line about the birds of the air nesting in its branches. In Scripture, when it’s not a reference to literal birds, this is an indication of evil spirits (see Luke 8:5, where the birds of the air devour the seed which represents the word of God). I think Christ was warning His people in Matthew of sin (the following parable reinforces this idea), and to be cautious when something gets so big that the evil is mixed in with the good, and might eventually bring it down (See also Matt. 13:36-42).

One thing that caused people to assume the Holy Spirit was at work with Promise Keepers was that there was a strong sense of positive emotion associated with it. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that, “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Such fruit in a person’s life should bring forth a wealth of good emotion and a profound sense of well-being. But there is a difficulty, I think, when we look to positive emotional experiences and assume them to be an indication the event that produced those feelings is the work of the Holy Spirit. Just because we have the same emotional response to something as we do to the Spirit’s work in us doesn’t necessarily mean that whatever promoted those feelings came from God. In other words, when God has truly taken hold of your life, it can feel great, but that doesn’t mean that everything that feels great is from God. This is one reason, I think, that we have to be careful about Christian movements that look, at first glance, like they came from the Lord. The movement may very well have started out from Him, but if those involved manage to focus on the same favorable emotional responses as a measure of the Spirit’s working, they can drift very far from Him without realizing it. First impressions also play into this dynamic. If your first look at something shows it to be something good and godly, you might not take a second or third look into it and see its flaws. If given too high a status, emotional responses can dampen if not deaden discernment.

Another problem is tradition. Our modern American culture is polarized by traditions; we either cling to them or reject them utterly. But both responses are wrong. Things should be judged by their actual merits, not how widely they are accepted or rejected. But Christians tend to cling to what they were taught when they first came to Christ. Sometimes, there are subtle issues with those early teachings, or even outright errors, and a believer might never challenge what they were first taught, or what they have become comfortable with. Yet if it turns out what the Bible says goes against what you were once taught, you had better challenge it yourself. And you must also be wary that when someone confidently says to you, “this is what the Bible teaches,” that it is really what the Bible teaches. Many respected Bible scholars disagree on quite a lot of Biblical points. Some of them, almost certainly all of them, must be wrong about something, or there would never be any basis for disagreement. We always have to be open to the possibility that our understanding of Scripture might be wrong, and also be open to the Spirit teaching us better.

Like in the parable of the wheat and the tares, I think movements like Promise Keepers most likely started with a mix of good seed and bad; God was at work, but Satan saw an opportunity in human flaws to plant his own seeds. This is a possibility in any work of the Holy Spirit among humanity. Even the church itself, which is one work of the Spirit that never died down since the day our Lord instituted it, has suffered the corrupting influence of the “birds of the air.” And the only defense we have as individuals from being subject to that corrupting influence is to make sure we honestly and sincerely fall back on Scripture, letting the Holy Spirit guide us anew and freshly, so that we do not spin off into error ourselves.

We need to pray daily that God leads us, and we do not begin to lead ourselves. We need to study Scripture carefully and diligently, and never assume we know everything there is to know about a passage or a teaching. We need to be sure that we are doing things because they are right, and not just because they feel right. In other words, rather than leaning to our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5b) or putting our trust in man and making flesh our strength (Jeremiah 17:5), we need to truly follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, trusting in the Lord with all our heart (Proverbs 3:5a; Jeremiah 17:7).

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