Question: ...Did you realize that your printed remarks [about Mike Timmis of Promise Keepers] were ...

Question [condensed]: I quoted The Berean Call...to a missionary in France who...used to be a student of mine in Dallas Theological Seminary. He then quoted for me the Promise Keepers rep in France who had a different group of “facts” from those given in TBC, written by T. A. McMahon in October ’99. He said, “PK is struggling with how to include true Christians while ‘weeding out’ false doctrines and ‘other gospels....’ We believe that truth and unity do not have to be mutually exclusive; in fact, the Bible is clear that both live in the same home....Mr. Timmis is the only Catholic board member PK has ever had—and he recently resigned. However, the ministry continues to investigate theological common ground with Catholics and the possibility of having Catholic speakers in 2000....All men who work for or represent PK must be in agreement with our Statement of Faith, which says that it is ‘only by faith, trusting in Christ alone,’ that salvation is possible.” Dave, I always tell everyone how accurate you are with your sources and I still believe that. So if you can make any observations....I pointed out to him the way language was being used...to “hide” the truth about PK’s practices and beliefs. There are so many hidden “messages” in the phrases PK uses for defending itself! But did you realize that your printed remarks re Timmis were out of date? I lose a lot of credibility when I quote something that is not accurate!

Response: Thank you for your letter. No, we did not realize that Mike Timmis had left Promise Keepers’ board. Following up on your letter, however, we confirmed that fact. It means little that he is no longer on the board. The fact that he was reveals PK’s full acceptance of Roman Catholicism. And to suggest that they are considering “the possibility of having Catholic speakers in 2000” gives a false impression. They have already used Jim Berlucchi, a Roman Catholic speaker. 


As you noted, the PK rep’s response is less than forthright. Is it possible that he is not informed? The truth is that from the beginning PK has been closely tied in with Roman Catholics and they have been in prominence at many rallies, including the large one at Washington, D.C. There Bill McCartney declared, “We have a plan...Baptists...Lutherans...Roman Catholics...we’ve been divided...but now we’re being reunited...!” Indeed, Our Sunday Visitor of July 20, 1997 quotes Bill McCartney that “full Catholic participation was his intention from the start.” It’s a bit late, and certainly less than forthright, to claim they are “investigat[ing] theological common ground with Catholics....” Why do they downplay the Catholic connection?

Furthermore, the rep doesn’t tell you that “only by faith, trusting in Christ alone for salvation” was (to satisfy Catholics) a revision of the original statement of faith (“accepting through faith alone, God’s gift of salvation”). There is a big difference. Obviously, the change was important to the Catholics or they would not have insisted upon it—further proof of their influence upon PK. One can’t merit a gift, so works are excluded by the original statement. But the Catholic salvation, though purchased by Christ, is received gradually through participation in church sacraments and is merited by good works. The gift of biblical salvation is received by one act of faith directly and entirely from God through Christ. Catholic salvation is dispensed in installments to the faithful by that Church. In a Q&A (Nov. ’97), I dealt with this in some depth.

His statement that “truth and unity do not have to be mutually exclusive, in fact the Bible is clear that both live in the same home,” is rather pathetic. Of course! The whole point is that unity is only based upon truth. We don’t unify around error or simply for the sake of a phony “unity” in spite of serious doctrinal differences. And there are serious doctrinal differences between the biblical gospel and the Roman Catholic gospel which exclude any possibility of true biblical unity with them! In fact, official Roman Catholicism comes under Paul’s anathema in Galatians 1 because it is “another gospel” which damns those who believe it.

Further re Mike Timmis, we verified that (though he isn’t even listed on their website) he has indeed taken Colson’s place at the head of Prison Fellowship. This fact was confirmed by phone with PF. Of further interest is the fact that Chuck Colson, Michael Timmis and Jim Berlucchi (PK’s Catholic evangelist) are scheduled speakers along with two Catholic priests at the “Catholic Men’s Conference” to be held June 9-11, 2000 at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, heavily involved with the Marian apparitions at Medjugorje and with PK.