ALPHA
or WHY
ROMAN CATHOLICS LOVE IT
A FEW
YEARS AGO THERE WAS AN OUTBREAK IN AMERICA CALLED THE “TORONTO
BLESSING”.
NICKY
GUMBEL IMPORTED IT INTO HIS CHURCH AT BROMPTON HOLY TRINITY,
ENGLAND.
NOW,
BECAUSE OF THE UNACCEPTABLE PRACTICES THAT ACCOMPANIED THIS
“BLESSING” - animal noises, uncontrollable laughing, convulsions and
body
sensations, A MORE MARKETABLE APPROACH FOR “THE BLESSING” WAS SOUGHT.
GUMBEL
DEVISED THE “ALPHA COURSE” TO GIVE IT RESPECTABILITY.
When
“getting filled with the spirit” and “speaking in tongues” grew
legs in the 60’s and invaded Christian churches, the Catholics saw it
as an
ideal opportunity to bring the “separated brethren” (those not Roman
Catholics)
back into the fold.
ALPHA IS
SIMPLY A “ONE WORLD
CHURCH”
TOOL TO DRAW ALL CHURCHES
UNDER ONE
BANNER.
ALPHA
TEACHES
ROMAN CATHOLIC DOCTRINE REGARDING SALVATION –
(faith and
works) - THE ONE LEADING
A BILLION
SOULS TO HELL!
Unfortunately
many people have fallen for
the
“whore of Babylon’s” latest “two-card trick” protesting that
she really has changed since Vatican II in the 60’s.
“Getting
the spirit” will take many to hell!
ROME
ENDORSES ALPHA:
Roman
Catholic Bishop of Hexham, Ambrose Griffiths, describes the Alpha
Course as
“the most powerful evangelistic tool ...” (Alpha
News July
1997, p1)
Roman
Catholic
Bishop of Leeds, David
Konstant: “The Alpha
course is a valuable contribution to our commitment to evangelisation
... it
will be of great benefit to the church’s mission.” (Alpha News
July 1997
p3). “...and it doesn’t contain anything that is contrary to
Catholic
doctrine.”
(Alpha
News
1997 p1)
QUESTION:
Did the
countless millions of Christian martyrs who died cruel and
horrible deaths at Rome’s hands get it all wrong? Were they
mis-interpreting
their Bibles?
WHO IS GOD?
Alpha
tells us
nothing of God - His purposes, character, being, righteousness or
holiness;
with no mention that He is the self-existent, eternally glorious, great
and
mighty Creator of heaven and earth. Alpha’s God does not require man to
adjust
to the knowledge of Him and His requirements. Alpha believes that God
exists to
address our problems, our fears, our confusion
and our
need for direction in life.
THE BIBLE
SAYS:
There is
one and only one living and true God, infinite in being, perfect, pure
spirit,
unchangeable, great, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, wise, holy,
free,
absolute, just, hating all sin, punishing the sinner, rewarder of those
who
diligently seek Him, merciful and gracious.
(See
Westminster Confession of Faith for Scriptures too numerous to mention)
Comment:
God
is presented as a “frantic Santa
Claus”
in heaven, at his
wits
end trying to accommodate a modern complex man
entering
the new millennium. The Alpha God’s requirements are secondary to
man’s.
WHO IS MAN
AND WHAT IS SIN?
Alpha presents
man as
basically good but is separated from God because he’s “messed up and
done
wrong”.
THE BIBLE SAYS:
“For from
within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:” (Mark 7:21-22)
“The heart
is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know
it?” (Jer 17:9)
“But we
are
all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags; and we
all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away.”
(Isaiah 64:6) “Every man at
his best state is altogether vanity.” (Ps
39:5)
Comment: Alpha
fails to present man as God sees him.
Alpha sees
that man is a
sinner because he sins. The Bible says that man sins because he is
a sinner. Alpha’s
man has only
done wrong, “messed up” and got into trouble. God says man is
incurably corrupt by nature.
THE ALPHA
CHRIST
Alpha’s
Christ comes to rescue us from the CONSEQUENCES OF OUR SIN ONLY.
Alpha’s
Christ
comes to meet our needs, fears and existential (life)
questions. Christ
comes to rescue us from the consequences of our sin;
save us
from our lost and confused worlds; comes to remedy our
fears. Christ
comes to rescue us out of the “mess we’ve got ourselves
into”.
THE
BIBLE SAYS:
“But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
(not just
people who commit sins) Christ died for us.”Romans 5:8
“...as by
one man sin (not sins)
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death
passed upon all men.” Romans 5:12
Comment: Alpha
fails to
mention that Christ came to meet the requirements of God’s holy
law.
Alpha’s Christ was crucified “...to pay the penalty for all the things that we
have done
wrong.” Alpha fails to distinguish between sin and sins. Alpha
completely misses the point of Christ’s work on the cross. The Bible
says that
Christ died to satisfy the requirements of God’s law. Gumbel talks
about the
seriousness of sin and the need to be cleansed but never reveals what
that is.
Alpha misses the point completely. Death is required by God’s law
having being
broken.
WRATH
& JUDGEMENT
The wrath
and
judgement of God is an alien concept in Alpha.
THE
BIBLE SAYS:
“He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not
the Son
shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36
“It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”Hebrews10:31
“In
flaming
fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ...shall be punished with everlasting
destruction ...”2Thess 1:8-9
Comment: Alpha
doesn’t makes us aware of God’s eternal wrath abiding on us. The
torments of hell and judgement are watered down to being “eternally
isolated
from God”. Having failed to tell us what God is like, Alpha can’t tell
us what
sin is and why it is subject to the wrath of God.
LOVE
Alpha’s
God of love is not the Biblical God of love. It is a love that
is sickly sweet and emotional.
THE
BIBLE SAYS:
“while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“...he
that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18
“...the
fearful..unbelieving..abominable..murder-ers...sorcerers...idolaters...all
liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire...” Rev21:8
Comment: Alpha
can’t tell us
who God is, so His love is reduced to sentiment and emotion. Unless we
are
conscious of how sinful we are, we’ll never understand God’s great act
of
mercy. People aren’t told that their greatest enemy is God Himself and
it’s
because of their sin that He has nothing but wrath and hatred toward
sinners.
BAPTISM
WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
Alpha
completely
misunderstands what the New Testament teaching is on baptism by the
Holy Spirit
and adopts Pentecostal doctrine.
THE
BIBLE SAYS:
“One Lord,
one faith, one baptism.” Eph 4:5
“For by
one
Spirit are we all baptized into one body...” 1Cor
12:13
“...be
filled with the Spirit” Eph 5:18
Comment: You
can’t get another
filling of the Holy Spirit if saved. When a person is saved, the Holy
Spirit
baptizes that person into the body of Christ. To be filled means to be
controlled by. They get “filled” alright - by another spirit that
counterfeits
the Holy Spirit.
THE BIG
CRUNCH - ALPHA’S SALVATION!
Alpha
doesn’t
teach the gospel of trusting in the work of Christ on the cross by FAITH ALONE!
ALPHA
NEVER SAYS THAT SALVATION IS BY FAITH ALONE!
This is
why Rome loves the Alpha Course! Rome’s
doctrine of faith + works is taking a billion Catholics to hell &
those who
have disagreed with Rome have been slaughtered in countless millions.
WHAT’S
GOD GOT TO SAY ABOUT ALL THIS?
“Now to
him
that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to
him that
worketh not, but BELIEVETH ON HIM THAT JUSTIFIETH THE UNGODLY,
his
faith is counted for righteousness.” Romans
4:4-5
Comment: PUT ROMANS 4:4-5 IN THE ALPHA COURSE AND WATCH
ROME
FLEE!
This is
why Rome has 100 curses on those who say that salvation is by
faith alone.
GET THE
SPIRIT TO GET SAVED?
You can
search the
Scriptures for a trillion years before you’ll find that unbelievers get
the
Holy Spirit before they’re saved. Salvation is a legal act
whereby a
sinner is given right standing with God with no internal change at the
point of
salvation. God declares the sinner righteous and then the Holy Spirit
enters
the person and the process of sanctification (‘being changed’) begins.
If after
the first
couple of Alpha sessions people don’t get saved they’re encouraged to
stay for
the “Holy Spirit Weekend” - which is just another name for the
unscriptural
“Toronto Blessing”.
Roman
Catholic doctrine regarding salvation is not by faith alone and that’s
why they
endorse Alpha because it teaches the same.
ALPHA IS A
TOOL THAT ROME USES TO GET A FOOT IN THE DOOR.
Alpha is
just a liberal, weak, wishy-washy, ‘feel good’ course - strong
on socialising and the incorporation of Rome’s doctrines. Currently
being used
by churches who’ve thrown in the towel and have their necks on Rome’s
chopping
block!
Toronto
roots produce Toronto fruits! FALSE CONVERSIONS ARE
THE RESULT!
“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the
fountain of
living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can
hold no
water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)
Harley
Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
Australian
Bible Ministries
PO Box
5058
Mount
Gravatt East 4122
Qld
Australia
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com
