An Open Letter to
Dr. Howard G. Hendricks
Miles J. Stanford
- 4 September 1995
- Open Letter
- Dr. Howard G. Hendricks
- Dallas Theological Seminary
- 3909 Swiss Avenue
- Dallas, Texas 75204
Dear Dr. Hendricks
This is a Labor Day letter; a labor of love, and I trust neither labor in vain, nor love's labor lost. Besides, September is "Be kind to writers" month.
In studying some of your writings on the subject of Mentoring, I would like to take the liberty of sharing some positive and, I trust, accurate observations. First, as to your article titled "Vital Relationships," in the Promise Keepers magazine, New Man (Sept.-Oct., 1995).
My bride of some 44 blessed years and I have been mentoring for a long time, and we are in complete agreement with your statements on pages 52 and 53 in New Man:
What is a Mentor? He is someone committed to two things: helping you grow and keep growing, and helping you realize your life goals.
Do we really need mentors to help us do that? Absolutely! The testimony of Scripture, as well as countless men of God, is that growth and change simply won't happen apart from a relationship with someone perceived as significant; someone who will influence our development and provide motivation and accountability.
Yet too many men are trying to go it alone in terms of their marriage and family, their personal life, and their personal commitments. It won't work. Men need mentors, personal guides to help them along the way.
I am also in full agreement with you that the crux of the vital relationships matter is just who the mentors are to be, when it comes to the overall welfare of the "mentee."
Charles Colson -- The first example you give is Dr. Colson (honorary, Wheaton) and the early benefits to him via his small group of mentors:
If you are new to the faith or a fairly young believer, we strongly urge you to seek out a small group of men who together can serve as your mentors. It could make a vital, live-or-die difference in your spiritual journey! It certainly did for Chuck Colson (p. 54).
Charles' testimony is that "I have often wondered what would have happened in my Christian life had I not had a mentor like Doug Coe" (p. 54). As you mentioned, members of the Coe group consisted of Washington figures such as Harold Hughes, Al Quie, and Graham Parcell. And I am sure that Richard Halverson had a part in it all.
You will be interested in this indicative sidelight. A friend of mine sent Dr. Halverson my dispensational Paper, titled "Differentiation" (Tri-S-Series, #12). This was back in 1981, soon after Richard had been installed as Chaplain to the United States Senate. His response to the letter is as follows:
Thanks so much for your December 9 letter with its enclosure by Miles J. Stanford which I read. It is interesting to me that just a few days ago I had taken from my library shelves a number of books on "the Kingdom," placing them near the chair where I usually do my study. The first one I read was by Jesse Wilson Hodges, Christ's Kingdom and Coming, with which Miles Stanford would disagree totally.
The first Bible I received when I came to know Christ was a Scofield, and I "cut my eye teeth" on the dispensational division of the scriptures which Miles Stanford represents in this article. But long since I have departed from that particular view.
Whatever Charles Colson's mentoring has consisted of through the years, he has not been brought to a dispensational concept of the Word--which you and I deem to be crucial. His membership is in a Southern Baptist church in Naples, Florida, and his wife is, and always has been, Roman Catholic.
My conception of his ministry is that he, being a lawyer, prosecutes the Church; and, not being a theologian, he does not have the scriptural answer to the need of the Church. The following makes that clear enough:
As you know, Charles Colson collaborated with Roman Catholic leaders, and others, for two years to produce the Accord titled "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium." This 25-page agreement was written by co-collaborator, Father Richard John Neuhaus, and was signed by a number of Roman Catholic leaders, as well as many neo-evangelicals, at the Neuhaus "Institute on Religion and Public Life in New York City," on March 29, 1994.
Without intending to review or critique your new book--As Iron Sharpens Iron: Building Character in a Mentoring Relationship (Moody Press, 1995; 272 pages)--I would comment on just a few matters therein.
Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse (1895-1960) -- Concerning your references to Dr. Barnhouse:
God sometimes gifts a person such that every time he opens his mouth, someone somewhere seems to profit by it. Dr. Barnhouse had that kind of impact on me, particularly when I was just starting out in my ministry (p. 15).
What matters is that God sent Dr. Barnhouse into my life at a critical moment, just at the time when I was forging my basic approach to ministry. In a very real sense, I can say that he helped to make me who I am and that, apart from his tutelage, my life might have taken a very different direction (p. 16).
My wife and I knew Dr. Barnhouse to some degree, although in no way as mentor. As a matter of fact, she was saved through the influence of his Monday night Bible studies in Manhattan, back in 1936. Although he mentored many, and still does via his written and taped material, his ongoing history is anything but assuring:
1920s -- Dr. Barnhouse graduated from Princeton Seminary, and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. In the late 20s he was installed as pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church, in Philadelphia. By that time Liberalism had taken over the Denomination, which Dr. Barnhouse forcefully attacked from the inside.
Dr. J. Gresham Machen, as president of Princeton Seminary, along with a number of students, fought Liberalism both in the Seminary and Denomination. As a result, they left the school in 1929, while remaining in the Denomination.
1936 -- But the Presbytery finally took the initiative, and brought these dissenters to trial: Drs. Machen, Macartney, MacIntire, Ockenga, Woodbridge, Woolley, and others. They were summarily defrocked and dismissed from the Denomination. Despite his blistering remonstrance against Presbyterian Liberalism, Dr. Barnhouse was not brought to trial, and he chose not to follow his now deposed friends and colleagues.
Actually, Liberalism didn't mind the Barnhouse rhetoric--they had the man! He was put to good use as their Exhibit A, their conservative front man. Despite all that he said and wrote to the contrary, his ordination yoke with the Liberals was a distinct service to their cause for over 25 years--while constituting a distinct disservice to the cause of conservative Christianity.
1954 -- In November Dr. Barnhouse capitulated to his Denomination, and his Philadelphia Presbytery in particular. Many were astounded by his seemingly sudden surrender. The Philadelphia Bulletin for November 12, 1954, reported:
A 22-year-old break between the Presbytery of Philadelphia and Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse has been healed by the latter's recent appearance before the Presbytery expressing the desire for closer fellowship with the alienated group.
Presbytery immediately responded in an open-armed gesture of welcome.... Dr. Barnhouse said, "I have come to realize that some of my personal relationships have suffered because of these past differences, and I now recognize that this has been a mistake. For my part I want to work in a much closer fellowship with you in the Presbytery.
1956 -- Dr. Barnhouse and the charismatic Dr. Walter Martin entered into "sweet fellowship," as they put it, with the leaders of Seventh-Day Adventism. As a result there appeared a series of laudatory articles, beginning in the September issue of Eternity magazine. Dr. Barnhouse wrote, "They are as orthodox on the great fundamentals of the Person of Christ as anyone in the world could be."
Sure enough, the very next month the Adventist monthly, Signs of the Times magazine, came forth with an editorial entitled "Adventists Vindicated!":
As the effect of Dr. Barnhouse's courageous reappraisal of Seventh-Day Adventism, we are convinced that it will not only create a sensation in evangelical circles, but it will lead thousands to restudy the "message" which Seventh-Day Adventism feels called to give to the world in these last days.
This from an anti-security, law-enslaving cult, whose heretical "message" includes: 1) The Sanctuary-investigative judgment; 2) Christ's assumption of a sinful nature; 3) Sabbath-keeping; 4) OT dietary restrictions; 5) Partial atonement at Calvary; 6) Conditional immortality; 7) Soul sleep; and 8) Annihilation of the lost.
Dr. Robert Brinsmead, long-time SDA leader, now deposed, said:
Mrs. Ellen G. White's [SDA founder] intrusion into a supposed word from the Lord has robbed intelligent people of their personhood, imprisoned them in a vast system of legalism, emasculated them spiritually, and made pious zombies out of them.
1958 -- This year witnessed Drs. Barnhouse and Martin entering into "close fellowship" with the Pentecostals. Eternity for April reported their visit with the leaders of the Assembly of God at their headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, stating:
We found total disagreement of two percent of our doctrine, and absolute agreement of 95 to 98 percent.
1959 -- In the June issue of Eternity Dr. Barnhouse declared:
Karl Barth is in the camp of the true believers even though some of his forms of expression differ from traditional statements of theology. Much as we reject what some of his followers have made of him, he must be considered as a brother in Christ.
It was at this time that Dr. Norman F. Langford (Secretary of the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.) was being mentored by "brother" Barth:
Dr. Barth has shown me that theology can never come to repose in a fixed theology--not even neo-orthodoxy!--but must ever be moving on with no knowledge of where the journey will lead.
Charles (Chuck) R. Swindoll -- Next, you speak of your early mentoring relationship with Dr. Swindoll:
One of the greatest spokesmen for the cause of Christ today is Chuck Swindoll... now president of his alma mater, Dallas Theological Seminary, where I happen to teach.
I remember when Chuck was a student. From the moment I met him, I felt, "This guy's a winner!" He was a go-getter. He always sat in the front row. His questions were extraordinarily perceptive. After class he would be up front, plying me with even more questions. It was abundantly clear that this man had a bright future ahead of him.
At least it was clear to me. For his own part, Chuck will tell you that for years he struggled with self-doubt. In fact, at times he even thought of quitting the ministry. One factor (among many) that helped him hang in there was our relationship. As Chuck puts it, "Hendricks believed in me when I didn't believe in myself!"
Recently Dr. Swindoll stated:
Of all Dallas' previous presidents, I identify most closely with Dr. Chafer. His portrait hangs in my office as a constant reminder of his heart's desire for Dallas Seminary. I deeply appreciate Dr. Chafer's vision for Dallas Seminary, and I share that vision myself.
I'm in complete agreement with the Seminary's Doctrinal Statement which states quite clearly that the church "began at Pentecost and is completely distinct from Israel."
Dr. Chafer left no question as to his distinct dispensational perspective for the Dallas ministry:
There is no proper approach to the Synoptic Gospels other than to see them as the fulfillment of the OT predictions concerning the [Israel's] Messiah (Systematic Theology IV:260).
Sad indeed is the spectacle when Christians assume that the Sermon on the Mount represents the high calling of the Church, and attempt to modify the character of sovereign grace to the end that it may conform to a merit system (Ibid. , V: 109).
In his book, Simple Faith, Dr. Swindoll wrote:
"Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12). That single sentence is perhaps the most universally famous statement Jesus ever made. In some ways it is the cornerstone of true Christianity, certainly the capstone of Jesus' Sermon (p. 215).
In his booklet, Demonism (Multnomah Press), Dr. Swindoll wrote:
Can a Christian be demonized? For a number of years I questioned this, but I am now convinced it can occur. The believer has the Holy Spirit resident within. Therefore the alien wicked spirit cannot claim "ownership" of the Christian. He is still a child of God. But while present within the body (perhaps in the region of the soul) that evil force can wreak havoc within a life.
Now, Dr. Hendricks, is it a little too naive, or idealistic, for Chaferian dispensationalists to expect the president of Dallas to stand up and assure the Church, without equivocation?:
Dallas Theological Seminary intends to maintain Dr. Chafer's clear-cut dispensationalism, and thereby produce for you graduated leadership that is dispensational. [Present crops are being silent about Dispensationalism, and vocal on behalf of Covenantism]. We will even stand with you against the encroachment of Arminianism, Covenantism, and Progressive Dispensationalism.
Joseph M. Stowell -- There is also your account of your early relationship with Dr. Joseph Stowell:
Joseph Stowell was a person burning with initiative. Now president of Moody Bible Institute, Joe was a student of mine at Dallas. Like Chuck Swindoll, he was already a man on a mission by the time I encountered him. He was an extraordinarily proactive learner, engaged in the process, keen on acquiring information, and intent on making use of it. After classes, he would ply me with questions as if he couldn't get enough (p. 51).
Evidently Joseph failed to ask the right questions. As president of MBI, he maintains the father of contemporary Charismatic demon deliverance as professor of Theology, and chairman of the Theological Department--one Dr. C. Fred Dickason. Moody Press has published a long line of Charismatic "deliverance" authors, such as Anderson, Bubeck, Dickason, Unger, and others. All this and more under the logo statement: "Moody Press--A Name You Can Trust--A Ministry of Moody Bible Institute."
I'm afraid the characteristic lack of the leaders you have cited is dispensational.
The Promise Keepers -- It is clear that your book is directed primarily to the men of Promise Keepers. On page 10 you say:
As Iron Sharpens Iron is addressed specifically to men. That is largely because the book was prepared to coincide with the 1995 schedule of Promise Keepers conferences....
I note that you are a member of the Promise Keepers Board. And it would seem that your intent is to share your mentoring concept with the Promise Keepers:
In 1993 I spoke on the subject of monitoring at the Boulder, Colorado gathering of the Promise Keepers. More than 50,000 men had filled the University of Colorado football stadium. I stated a truth that has not changed: "Every man here should seek to have three individuals in his life. You need a Paul. You need a Barnabas. And you need a Timothy."
As I explained, these are three kinds of mentoring relationships that a man desperately needs to pursue: a Paul, an older man who can build into his life; a Barnabas, a peer, a soul brother to whom he can be accountable; and a Timothy, a younger man into whose life he is building. At the end of the time, I asked every man present to bow his head and pray that God would lead him to a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy (p. 78).
Practicality -- Now that we are on the home stretch, it may be advisable to settle down to some practical considerations. Your stipulation that each man at the rally, and those who read your book, should have two mentors, you are approaching the need for a quarter-million qualified Pauls, plus an equal number of Barnabases. Timothys always abound. The Church at large simply does not have that many qualified men--especially in the Charismatic realm.
The Groupers -- In your "Vital Relationships" article, as well as your book, small group mentoring is strongly stressed:
If you are new in the faith or a fairly young believer, we strongly urge you to seek out a small group who together can serve as your mentors. Look in your church. Look around the community. Find out who else is a Promise Keeper and invite them to join you on a regular basis ("Vital," P. 54).
It must be said that the small group mentoring scene across the country is fraught with danger on a number of counts:
1) If the charismatic PK (who represents at least 75 percent of the movement) succeeds in gathering a group of similar PKs (evidently the ideal), he is only compounding the problem, as iron is not sharpened by subjective, experience-oriented charismatic mush.
2) If the charismatic PK should join a group that includes doctrinally established men who rightly divide the Word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15) (and what other kind of qualified "Pauls" are there?), that group is doomed from the outset. When the charismatic begins to press his agenda ("The baptism," "tongues," "healing," and "demon deliverance"), the doctrinally sound would never tolerate that--so there goes the old neighborhood!
3) If the PK were to join a Covenant-oriented Navigators small group, he would be in trouble, and he would not last long there. When Terry Taylor, Navigator president, was asked about his co-publishing of Robert Hicks', The Masculine Journey (for the Promise Keepers), and Bob Beltz's Daily Discipline for the Christian Man, and the featuring of Renovaré's Richard Foster at their August 2-4, 1995, Family Conference, he simply replied:
What I don't see prominently stated in the publication you sent me is a clear acknowledgement of the overwhelming positive influence Promise Keepers is having on the men of our society. That oversight [!] is disturbing. The positive far outweighs the negative in what is truly a remarkable work of God in our time.
4) If the PK were to become involved in the Larry Crabb type of small group, he is in deeper trouble still. Dr. John C. Whitcomb (for 39 years Professor of Theology and OT, at Grace Theological Seminary) wrote an eight-page letter in February of 1990 to the Seminary Trustees. In it he said:
Dr. Davis [then Seminary president] has in some cases stood with me. This was particularly true of the damaging impact of the Biblical Counseling Program (under Dr. Larry Crabb and his team) upon many students and professors since 1982, which even broke relationships between children and parents.
Dr. Davis stated that "the Seminary will never recover from the negative aspects of Dr. Crabb's program." In the opinion of qualified observers at the Seminary, "Dr. Crabb's teachings have done more to damage our school than any single influence in our history."
5) If the PK encounters a Faith at Work group, promoted by Bruce Larson (now co-pastor with Robert Schuller), or the alcoholic Keith Miller, that would not do at all.
6) If he should be in the Washington, DC, area where Chuck Colson got his start, he might become a part of an Ogilvie mentoring group. Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie, long-time pastor of tongues-ridden Hollywood Presbyterian Church has recently succeeded Richard Halverson as Chaplain of the United State; Senate. Dr. Ogilvie says:
All through the years I've had a "fish, or cut bait" group to whom I've been accountable; where at least once a week I've had to log in and report how I am feeling, where I am in my marriage and in my sex life, with my kids, my money, etc.
What a terrible and irresponsible thing, to subject one's wife and family to this type of mentoring! Yet this is mere child's play in comparison with the PK groups being set up in churches across the nation, by PK Ambassadors and Point Men, especially in that they use the sex-oriented Robert Hicks material. From his Study Guide:
Note to the leader: If the men in your group are likely to have difficulty talking vulnerably and emphatically with each other about their sex lives (their wedding night, the conceiving of their first child, etc.), then stop and talk about why they are having a difficulty (NavPress, 1993; p. 32).
It is a sad fact that the Promise Keepers movement constitutes the greatest charismatic infiltration of sound Bible churches (and others) since Azuza Street. A friend wrote in February from an eastern state:
As you can see from the enclosed clipping, the Promise Keepers have become a focus of spiritual growth in our local Bible church. Those who have returned from the big PK rally are making the members feel that "if you are not a Promise Keeper, you are not following God's will for your life."
Indeed there has been a very definite change in the "tone" of our Sunday worship--from quiet reverence to a lively Pentecostal-like atmosphere, especially the music. One of the songs now sung says to "lift up holy hands unto the Lord"; another, to "clap your hands, all ye people." Alas, what has happened to our beloved church?
Accountability -- Dr. Hendricks, one can understand charismatics such as Bright, Hayford, Hinn, Laurie, Wilkerson, et al, taking the PK platform. And the Nazarene, Dobson. Also Crabb, and the ecumenical Colson. Even Joe Stowell, as well as Roman Catholic bishops and priests. And Chuck Swindoll, with shades, leather jacket, Harley, and all. (That set the 50,000 children to screaming!)
But Dr. Howard Hendricks? That is a sad enigma, indeed! I can see that your motives are good. You in all likelihood see the PKs as a golden opportunity to share your mentoring method. But the Arminian PK movement lacks the doctrinal basis for that. The main point, however, is that accommodation on behalf of the best of causes that violates one's doctrinal principles, is totally unacceptable.
Come up hither! -- Not long before your arrival on the Wheaton campus in 1943, I had been saved (at 27), under the influence of Princeton grad, Evan Welsh. I subsequently became a member of his College Church. You were probably busy at Wheaton Bible. (Incidentally, it was mandatory for the Bible Church staff to attend the recent Indianapolis PK rally!). At any rate, Evan was too busy pastoring and soul-winning (peerless in that!) to mentor me--which turned out for the best, as I might have become Covenant.
So how did the Lord lead me? I didn't even know John 3:16, and it wasn't long before I flunked out on Daws Trotman's B-Ration kit! But I had my Scofield Reference Bible, and the rightly-divided Word of truth mentored me to my mentor, the Apostle Paul--who in turn led me, by the Spirit, to my real Mentor, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul taught me my life-union with and my heavenly position in Christ, who is my Christian Life--complete, one spirit and co-heir with Him. And many others have found Paul and Christ to be their more-than-adequate mentors and spiritual guides.
It is not that we totally reject contemporary mentors. It is just that Paul and Christ are both safe, and incomparable. "My tastes are simple; I like the very best!" A charismatic, mentoring with his agenda, would never do. Neither would a Covenant, or Progressive Dispensational mentor, who would divert the "mentee" from Paul, and the ascended, glorified Christ--their trajectory being horizontal, kingdom-aimed.
For all of his spiritual growth and family responsibilities, the Christian man must know himself to have died unto sin, self, the world, the law, and Satan; and to be alive unto God in Jesus Christ--nothing lower, nothing less!
By His grace we have over a million books out there, some in over a dozen foreign languages, working night and day to bring hungry-hearted believers to Paul, and thence to abide above in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Would those who know Him on high need what the PKs are offering, with their charismatic Santa Claus "Jesus"? Not hardly. Would they scour the land for "qualified" mentors, who in most cases would only bring them down to the earthly kingdom level of the Promise Keepers? What kind of trade-off would that amount to?
The present mandate of Christianity is to build the heavenly Body of Christ. It is not a matter of promise keeping, but rather that of counting upon Christ's finished work.
Those who by faith occupy their position in Christ have neither inclination nor taste for singing the PK kingdom song:
Growing together, we're building the kingdom
Working together, we're building the kingdom
Standing together, we're building the kingdom of God.
The Apostle Paul, my long-time mentor (50-plus years), beseeches us to "be ye followers of me" (1 Cor. 4.-16), and:
"If [since] ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 1:1-3).
If that is good enough for Paul, it is good enough for ol' Miles. How about Howie?
Resting in Him
Miles
