ED COLE:.....talk openly
about sex and the glory of virginity
.....
Radio Interview
With Bill and Janae Cooksey
......powerful move of God...after War
II...Billy Graham and Oral Roberts...
Promise Keepers "Maximized Manhood" 700
Club
Taken From "Cooksey's
American Carousel Radio Classics"
TWELVE MEN WITH A PASTOR'S
HEART
BILL: Mr. Franciosi, how are you doing?
FRANK: Just great, Bill. And you?
BILL: We're just keeping busy. But it must be a very special day for the General Manager of KCBC to have popped in from back East. Even though you're only in here a couple of days a month, I'm glad I got a chance to see you, Frank.
FRANK: Same here, Bill. Let me get these papers off the table here and I'll be out of your way so you can use the production room.
BILL: Take your time, Frank. We came a little early, because we didn't want to miss our phone interview with Ed Cole.....you know, most people know him from speaking at all those Promise Keepers' rallies.
FRANK: Oh, sure. Everybody's familiar with Ed Cole's name. That's great. You and your wife can come on in now and get set up if you like.
BILL: Thanks so much, Frank. We hope to see you again before you leave. Oh, hi, Rich. What's up?
RICH: Hi, Bill. I was on the phone when you came in. What time are we supposed to call Dr. Cole?
BILL: I believe right at noon our time. We call his hotel room in Atlanta.
RICH: Oh, okay. Let me step into the control room and get the tape and board all set up.
JANAE: Hello, Rich. I'm kind of slow getting in gear today. But I am excited about the Ed Cole interview. Let me put my books and purse over here on the table.
BILL: Did you say hello to Frank as you passed him on the doorway when you came into the production room?
JANAE: I sure did. We didn't run him out of here, did we?
BILL: Of course not. He understood we had a special interview time today with Ed Cole and needed the room.
JANAE: That's great! Pass me some of that promo material on Dr. Cole. I want one last glance at it to see if there's another question I'd want to ask him.
BILL: Well, you know, he's the Founder and President of the Christian Men's Network. And there seems to be no end to the number of Promise Keeper rallies he speaks at each year.
JANAE: Don't forget to ask him how he got hooked up with Promise Keepers.
BILL: What do you think I am....crazy? Who could interview Ed Cole and not ask about Promise Keepers?
JANAE: Alright! You've made your point. Let's see. I've written down that the humor and truth in his books make him almost appear to be like a Christian Will Rogers for the Nineties.
BILL: Don't forget he was a pastor also.
JANAE: Pastor? Not Ed Cole! His ministry has been traveling about speaking to large groups. What made you think he was a pastor?
BILL: Well, it could have something to do with my speaking with his daughter, Joanne, in Texas. She surprised me too. Obviously, she didn't dream that her Dad was the Pastor of Calvary Temple in Concord, California from 1969 until 1974.
JANAE: You know, now that I think about it, he does speak like a pastor. He has compassion and concern for those he's sent to minister to. Yeah, I could see that. He'd make a great personality and certainly someone you'd feel comfortable confiding in.
BILL: I guess with all these large groups of men he speaks to collectively, he must at times feel like he's the shepherd called to oversee the entire flock of the world's male population.
JANAE: Come on. Enough already with your exercise in justified dissertation. Save it for the interview. Put on your headset. Let's get the show on the road. It's almost noon.
BILL: Rich, can you hear me in the control room? Hello Rich. I can see you through the glass two rooms away, but I don't think you can hear me.
RICH: Yeah, Bill. You're coming in loud and clear. Maybe you need to turn up Janae's mike just a tad on the second knob on the mixer right there to your left.
JANAE: Testing...one, two, three. How's that?
RICH: That's fine, Janae. I just dialed the number to the hotel and they're ringing the room.
BILL: Great! Once you get him on the line, please cue me with a hand signal. Then I'll introduce the little "Promise Keepers" promo excerpt where Ed is in the middle of his speech to 50,000 guys. Hit the cassette of that and we'll be ready the second the one minute sound bite has concluded to go right into our phone interaction with Dr. Cole.
RICH: Okay, stand by........Yes, Dr. Cole, this is Rich Woodruff, Producer of the Cooksey's show. As soon as we play this one minute tape of your speech, Bill and Janae will start right into the interview. Please hold. Okay...Cooksey's American Carousel interview with Dr. Ed Cole begins in three ...two...one.
________________________
COOKSEY: Janae, let's play that little excerpt from one of Dr. Ed Cole's Promise Keeper meetings. Ladies and Gentlemen, here's Ed Cole speaking in front of 50,000 men.
(RECORDING OF DR. COLE'S SPEECH): "There are seven characteristics of a child. A child is the center of it's own universe. A child responds only to concrete authority . A child is insensitive to other's needs. A child demands it's own way. A child would have temper tantrums if it's not catered to. It's irresponsible in behavior and unable to be reasoned with. In many areas of our life, we can act like a man. But, in other areas, still be childish."
COOKSEY: Okay, Janae, give me the phone. I'm so anxious to talk to this man. Let me make sure he's still on the line. Hello, Dr. Cole, how is everything there in Atlanta, Georgia today?
COLE: It's great! If I was any better, I'd have to be twins.
COOKSEY: Double the pleasure...double the fun! Ed, Janae and I are so excited about having you on the program today. We've had a lot of people who've been to all the Promise Keeper events and the Men of Integrity groups all talking about Ed Cole. What has happened to you in these last 20 years since you've started working so hard in all your programs?
COLE: Well, a lot of things have happened. Mainly, today we're in about 93 nations of the world and heading for 120 on a world tour. We're just really doing it, because this a great day to be alive.
COOKSEY: It certainly is. I have a paper in front of me that calls you the "Father of the Men's Movement". Do you like that or not?
COLE: Oh, I don't care. It sounds pretty good to me. I'll take anything they want to give me.
COOKSEY: Anything that'll put a stamp on you as long as it has the Lord involved with it. Right?
COLE: Right!
COOKSEY: Talk to us, Ed. We have so many listeners out there who are men that are troubled...men who have lost the authority that they should be taking. How would a man approach it if he sees his life is in trouble? Maybe he's divorced or his family's not going that well. In a brief word, how would you speak to them to start all over?
COLE: Well, to start all over, first of all, he's got to accept responsibility for his actions. That's where it all begins. That's really where it began in the Garden of Eden when Adam refused to accept responsibility for his actions. He lost his manhood and was expelled from Eden. And most men lose their Eden or their marriage or their business or whatever it is...simply, because they don't accept responsibility for their actions. They'll try to blame everybody else except themselves. So, that's where it begins. Well, that was the first Adam. The last Adam came and accepted responsibility not only for His Actions, but for the actions of the entire world. And, He changed the world. They both changed it...one negatively...one positively. And I think that's where it begins with a man. Maturity doesn't come with age. It begins with the acceptance of responsibility.
COOKSEY: You know, this book that you wrote in 1982, "Maximized Manhood"...what was the inspiration for that? What did you see to make you get so fired up and write a book that powerful?
COLE: Well, actually what happened was I had been the minister at large for the 700 Club for a number of years ministering to counselors and everything else. So, I came to some conclusions. First of all, that most men who go to church are trained to hear sermons...not to study the Word of God. Secondly, that pastors are content to make converts...not disciples. Thirdly, that sermons don't set you free...truth does. So, I wanted to bring the men truth. I wanted to bring them a truth they could live by. If your theology cannot be lived in practice, then it is not good theology. So I wanted to bring them something. As a result of that, those 5 things that kept the children of Israel out of Canaan when they came out of Egypt were the same 5 things I saw were still keeping men from being maximized in their manhood...Lust, Idolatry, Sex sins, Tempting Christ and Murmuring. And, when you look around the world, you can pretty well understand that's true.
COOKSEY: That's incredible! As you began to speak on this, these other doors opened up. How did you become associated with the Promise Keeper movement?
COLE: Actually, Coach McCartney came to a meeting where I was speaking in 1989. He had a hunger to get into men's ministry. He and the man he was with at the time in the car were talking about it. They both agreed if they had anything to do the rest of their lives, they'd want to major in men. I was speaking at that time on "Your Word Is Your Bond". I was talking about how your word is the measure of your character. It's the expression of your nature. Your word is magnified above your name. And your word is the source of faith in the role of conduct to those who give it. Because that's what God's Word is to Him, that's what our word is to be to us. And when I spoke that and talked about God's Name being only as good as His Word...that's why He magnified His Word above His Name. And that a man's name is only as good as his word. If his word is no good, then his name is no good. And as a result of that message, Coach McCartney said that he walked away and said, "I've got the name of the ministry...Promise Keepers!"
COOKSEY: You know what, Ed? People who are listening to us right now may have an idea for a ministry and don't totally understand exactly where the Lord is leading them. But, maybe if they could hear just one night of what you have to say or watch your ministry, then they could also grab part of what they've heard from you and allow God to use that gem of wisdom on another level...magnifying His Name.
COLE: It's true! One truth can change your life. You don't have to hear a whole sermon. You don't have to digest the entire Bible. One truth can change your whole life. I mention that change is not change until it's change...that it's changed a man's life. I was teaching the other day that when a man acts like a child, it forces his wife to act like his mother. A man stood up and said, "That changed my life! Hello, Wife. Goodbye, Mom."
COOKSEY: Where in the world did you get your sense of wit and wisdom?
COLE: People have asked me that. I can't tell you. If the truth were known, it's got to come from God. Because, by nature, I don't see myself as having that.
COOKSEY: Where were you raised? I mean, under what environment were you raised?
COLE: Well, I grew up in church. My mother went to Bible School back in 1927 when I was a boy. That'll tell you a little something. And, of course, I went to church. I rebelled against the double standard of the hypocrisy I saw among the teens when I was 19. I followed my Dad's example. But I couldn't out run my mother's prayers. So, at 23, I made my return to the Lord. And I've been at it ever since.
COOKSEY: Now, what state was this in?
COLE: That was in California...Southern California.
COOKSEY: What years were those? In the Fifties? Or when.....?
COLE: When I came back to the Lord, it was in '49. I guess it was.
COOKSEY: Brother, that was a powerful move of God after that war...World War II.
COLE: Yes, it really was.
COOKSEY: Billy Graham and Brother Roberts! All these people that were going out, and they were serious!
COLE: I tell you what. I was raised in one of the most serious ministries you'll ever find. And that was Angelos Temple in Southern California.
COOKSEY: Well, no wonder you've got such a firm foundation.
COLE: Well, I mean to tell you, those were the days when that was a flourishing, flourishing ministry.
COOKSEY: When the Spirit moved...He moved. Didn't He?
COLE: That's right! My mother used to go to those meetings where they started on Friday night at 7:30 and went all the way around the clock and ended up on Saturday night at 10:30. They'd have 5,000 people filled with the Spirit during that time. Soooo....
COOKSEY: Is your Mom still alive?
COLE: Yes. She has Alzheimer's. Pretty well mentally she's out of it.....Thank you for asking.
COOKSEY: She's really got to be proud of you though, Ed.
COLE: The interesting thing to me is that my mother's mind really doesn't work because of Alzheimer's, until I say, "Mom, do you love Jesus?" And she says, "Yes." The Spirit still is alive there.
COOKSEY: We minister to people all the time, Ed...people who are retarded in their bodies or held back in some limitation. But, you know, God never created a retarded spirit.
COLE: That's right!
COOKSEY: We know people who have come out of comas after years of their parents reading to them for periods of up to 15 to 20 years. And when the victim comes out of the coma, the parents say, "Let me tell you about Jesus." And the response is, "You don't have to tell me. I already know." Ed, tell us about your own salvation experience. How did you come to the Lord?
COLE: Well, my first experience with the Lord was when I was a five year old in a "make-to", corrugated, tin church in McKinney, Texas during the oil-boom days. But my real relationship with the Lord was established after World War II in 1949 when I could not just live without God. I was a real prodigal. And I just could not live without God. I just hungered everyday. And I finally got to the place I could not stand it. So, I walked into church one day and knelt at an altar after the service. I prayed but got nowhere. I went back that night. But by that time everyone in town had heard that Ed Cole had gone to church. The place was packed with people coming. My mother had driven 150 miles to be there to see me. And so, anyway, that night I really prayed through to a genuine experience with God that's lasted all these years.
COOKSEY: And He won't let you go. He really won't. If there's someone out there listening to us that's running from God, that person can forget it. If He's got your number, He's going to get you. Right?
COLE: Well, the interesting thing is that if somebody's praying for you, you can't out run their prayers. Nobody gets saved without somebody praying for them.
COOKSEY: Amen! You know, Ed, I understand you're holding special meetings in major cities now for the whole family and not just for men. Did that come about as an extension of something you'd experienced at your Promise Keepers meetings?
COLE: Well, Bill, here's the thing. And I've majored in men for 16 years. The men go to Promise Keepers. The man comes home ready to make changes...ready to make the move. The wife doesn't understand it. The children don't understand it. And as a result of that, it produces tension in the home. Sometimes it's lost in the man. Sometimes it has to shift around over a period of time. So two years ago, God began to impress me with the fact that the whole family needs to hear what's being said to the men. I was a little reluctant about it, because you know we do talk openly about sex and the glory of virginity. We found out that when I teach that and the whole family is there, the whole family understands it. Cohesively, they can help one another. And so, as a result of that, we see the family get a hold of this. It becomes revelatory. The wife supports the husband. The children submit to the husband. And the husband takes responsibility. It's a congealing and a bonding of that family that is absolutely incredible. So, I'm on the cutting edge of something that's wonderful and brand new for me.
COOKSEY: It's fresh. Isn't it? I can hear it in your voice.
COLE: Yeah! It is!
COOKSEY: Ed, I'm so glad someone like you is bringing a tool for growth to the Body of Christ. It's so terribly needed. Some people get saved and a week later feel they can't maintain the walk, because they lack the necessary teaching and discipling. I thank God for this message you're now bringing to the whole family.
COLE: The maturation of the Christian has to develop in the matrix of the local Body. You can watch things on television. You can listen to it in radio. But you can only develop character when you're with somebody. You can develop talent when you're all alone. But character only when you're with somebody. So, you have to belong to a local Body to develop that character.
COOKSEY: Amen! That's strength! That really is. You've got to have each other. That's what our listeners need to do, but don't realize that. And also, when you said your word is your bond, what came to me was that the Word of the Lord which is in us because of Jesus and from reading the Scriptures, is according to the bond we develop with Him. Our strength from that Word is from the bond we have with Him. And these people don't seem to understand this.
COLE: Well, you see. That's why it says in Hebrews 6 that He could sware by no greater that He sware by Himself. Because God's Word is His Bond. That's how He makes covenant with us through His Word. A lot of people try to find experience. They try to find the supernatural thing that happens. But what it takes is simply believing the Word. When you take God at His Word, you're acting in faith. Faith is nothing but belief in action. It's not faith until you put faith in action. When you act on what you read in the Word, then it's faith.
COOKSEY: God has given you some real insights, Ed. I'm telling you.
COLE: It's like the old story I used to tell about the man who crossed the Niagara Falls on a tightrope. And he asked how many people believed he could do it. Then, nobody raised their hand until he did it. And again, when he asked the same question, they all raised their hands. Next, he got a wheelbarrow and asked how many believed he could do it. This time they all raised their hand. And he said, "Alright, who'll be the first to get in?" You can raise your hand and say, "I believe!" But until you get in the wheelbarrow, you're not really saved.
COOKSEY: You're talking real commitment! Some folks just sit in a church week after week. You can go to meetings with your friends at the Country Club on Sunday morning and have breakfast. But we're talking about more than just attending meetings. You mean, total commitment. Don't you, Ed?
COLE: That's right! Living together is involvement. Being married is commitment. You can go to church and be involved. But it's when you become identified with Christ by the commitment that you become saved.
COOKSEY: That's why there's so many divorces...because of a lack of commitment.
COLE: That's involvement. They're content to be involved. And, you see, there's where the matrimonial vows come in. Because if you don't recite the matrimonial vows, you're not committed to anything. You're only committed to what you confess. So, if you don't confess it, you're not committed to it.
COOKSEY: Now, Ed, this program airs in the Greater San Francisco area and all of Northern and Central California, plus all the way to the East Coast. In California, it airs on Saturday nights at 6:00 PM and Saturday is party night. There'll be a lot of people involved in many activities with many other people. But, there will be very few serious commitments among those who have partying on their minds. Right now, there are countless numbers of travelers riding up and down Interstate 5 and Highway 99 on a beautiful Saturday in California listening to us speak. So, Ed, would you take just a moment to share with our audience the importance of having the message of the Gospel in their hearts in order to fulfill the worthwhile commitments in their lives? Would you just pray with them and lead them to the Lord?
COLE: Let me just say to you, right now, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a bit like soap. Soap won't do you any good if it's not applied. And you can hear truth. But until you apply it, it won't do you any good. So, the confession then is the application. You can know it in your mind. You can say you believe it in your heart. But until you confess it with your mouth, you haven't really committed yourself to it. So, that's the reason why Bill and Janae lead you in that confession of Jesus Christ. Because, it's not enough to know it in your mind or believe it in your heart. You have to confess it with your mouth. And that's just as close to you as you are to yourself. And all you have to do is open your mouth and confess what you believe in your heart. And the Bible says, "You will be saved." Now that's followed up with a gratitude to God. Gratitude confirms relationships. Jesus healed ten lepers. Only one turned around to say, "Thank you." Only one had his healing confirmed. Once you admit that you believe on Christ in your heart, you confess Him with your mouth by asking Him to forgive you of your mistakes and errors and sins...and whatever else. And tell Him that you believe in Him and trust in Him. Then this next thing you do is you thank Him by faith...by believing in His Word. Thank Him for what He's done in your life. Then call the program here and tell them, "He has changed my life." Because that gratitude will confirm not only your relationship to God, but it'll confirm your relationship with others who are of like, precious faith. So right where you are...whether you're in your kitchen...whether you're in your car...whether you're in the barroom...It doesn't make any difference where you are. You can do it right this moment.
COOKSEY: Go ahead, Ed...lead them in a prayer.
COLE: Just say it after me, "Father, in the Name of Jesus, I believe...Jesus Christ...died for my sins...and rose again...for my Salvation. I do believe that. And I ask You to forgive me...my mistakes...my errors...my sins. I want them out of my life. I thank You for hearing me. Thank You for hearing my repentance...my change of heart...my change of mind. And I thank you right now...for what you're doing in my life. In Jesus Name...Amen.
COOKSEY: Oh, Ed. There's no way they can escape that invitation with 13 million people in California alone in ear shot of our voices on this powerful station. I guarantee you that hit many people right in the heart. And we'll get the calls, for sure. Praise God. Thank you so much for your time, Ed, out of your busy schedule to be with us. We'll be praying for you as you take this "Family Breakthrough" message around the world changing lives for Jesus Christ. It's wonderful to know that you're committed to bringing that powerful truth you've shared with men for almost two decades directly to every member of the family. We're expecting to hear great reports from your travels and we want you to come back and share those wonderful testimonies with us on the program. You'll be in our prayers.
COLE: Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Janae.
COOKSEY: God bless you, Ed. Bye-bye.
