Saturday, February 23rd, 2013

What is the ROOT of the Olive Tree in Romans 11?

The Question:

What is the ROOT of the Olive Tree in Romans 11?

The Answer:

Isaiah 11:10 In that day the ROOT OF JESSE will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.

Isaiah called the future Messiah the “Root of Jesse”, who will stand as a banner for all nations.

Isaiah 53:2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a ROOT out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

Isaiah also speaks of the Messiah as growing up like a root out of dry ground.

Matthew 13:6, 21 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no ROOT. …But since he has no ROOT, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus talks about plants springing up that have no root, which exemplify people who at first receive the Word and but do have a ROOT, which is Christ Himself, to anchor them.

Mark 4:17 But since they have no ROOT, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

Mark identifies trouble and persecution that comes because of the Word as the reason that rootless believers fall away quickly.

Luke 8:13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no ROOT. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.

Luke goes further to tell us that they receive the Word with joy when they hear it, but still fail to have a root. And he tells us that the persecution and troubles are times of testing, but without a root, they wither and die.

Romans 11:16-18 If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the ROOT is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive ROOT, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the ROOT, but the ROOT supports you.

In Romans 11, Paul compares the kingdom of God, with both Jewish and Gentile believers, to an olive tree. This olive tree has a “Holy ROOT” that “supports” both the Jewish and Gentile branches and nourishes them.

Romans 15:8-12 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews [literally circumcision] on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.” Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.” And again, Isaiah says, “The ROOT OF JESSE will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.”

This root is identified by Paul as Jesus Himself.

Revelation 5:5, 22:6 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the ROOT of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” …”I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the ROOT and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

The Apostle John in his great Revelation of Jesus Christ and the end times also identifies Jesus as the Root. Notice that Jesus is identified as the Root AND Offspring of David. Not only is Jesus a descendant of David, but since He created all things and is the source of everything, He is also identified as the Root of David.

So what is Paul talking about in Romans 11? The imagery of the Olive Tree is similar to the imagery of the Body of Christ. Whereas in the Body of Christ, Jesus is the Head and we are all members one with another, Jewish and Gentile, in the Olive Tree we are all branches, Jewish and Gentile, and flourish from the support of the Root, which is Jesus.

In both cases, Paul is stressing our need for unity one with another, and that no branch or body member can be arrogant and think they are superior than any other branch or body member.

What this is NOT teaching is that Jewish and Gentile believers alike have to be Torah observant to partake of Jesus and to fellowship one with another. It is also NOT teaching that the ROOT is Abraham, Jacob, Moses or any other Biblical personage. While it is true that Christianity has Jewish “roots”, THE ROOT, the stabilizing and nourishing factor in the Kingdom of God is Christ.

Paul’s theme and rationale for writing the book of Romans is summed up like this:

Romans 15:4-7 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

All of the branches of the Olive Tree need to accept each other and glorify God the Father with one heart and mouth, drawing nourishment and support from our one and only ROOT, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Word “Grafted”  1.  We are grafted into Christ purely by grace.  2.  God keeps us grafted into Christ through His Law and Gospel. (The LAW of Christ)

“I want to make sure you understand what grafting is.  Grafting is when you take a branch from one tree, cut it off and bind it to another tree, and then that branch grows into being a part of its new tree.  In our text Paul compares believers to the branches of an olive tree.  God Himself planted the tree of believers. In the Old Testament the Children of Israel’s roots included their adoption as sons, seeing the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the Law, the Temple worship, the promises, and the Savior being born to them.  But how did Old Testament Israel get to be God’s olive tree?  They didn’t choose this, anymore than a baby chooses who its parents are.  God made the Children of Israel to be partakers and sharers of His salvation purely by grace.  He told them in Deuteronomy: The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.  Deuteronomy 7:7

Sadly, many in Israel rejected grace.  They insisted their roots were evidence that they were better than others.  They also felt safe to dabble with sin, and then a little more and a little more, because, “They were God’s people and that would never change!”  Gradually the Jews had gotten so far away from their spiritual roots that they became dead branches.  If a hurricane is coming and you got some big dead branches in a tree beside your house, what should you do?  You better get those branches out of there.  That’s what God did.  He cut off those unbelieving branches.  Then He took us, whose original roots were the sinful nature we inherited from Adam, and the influences of this world and the control of Satan.  He cut us off from all that through our Baptism and He grafted us into His tree of believers.  But why us?  Why not first people in China or Africa or some other place?  Jesus answered that when He told His disciples how they became disciples.  He said: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.  John 15:16   Did you catch that?  We are called to faith by grace, so that we may work to lead others to Him.” – (source O.T)

The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:1-17)

http://joyfullygrowingingrace.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/hebrew-roots-movement-believers-are-grafted-into-and-become-israel-um-no/

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Myths about the Crusades

By Subby Szterszky
September 9, 2013

“History is written by the victors,” says the oft-quoted and rather jaded assessment. But truth be told, in our own time it might be more apt to say, “History is written by Hollywood and popular opinion.”

Not that Hollywood and popular opinion have found much resistance in this regard. Ours is a comparatively ahistorical culture. We live in the moment and plan for the future but typically don’t place too much value on the past. Consequently, when a movie comes along and claims to be based on “actual historical events,” many of us simply accept the picture it paints without questioning whether that picture is in fact true. When politicians or journalists make pronouncements about history, most of us aren’t familiar enough with that history to cry foul where appropriate.

Take the Crusades as an example. Together with the Inquisition, the Crusades make up that treasured pair of historical trump cards that opponents of Christianity love to toss on the table. “How can anyone believe in a religion responsible for such atrocities?” they ask.

Most of us are likely familiar with the standard Crusade narrative: During the Middle Ages, several waves of boorish, bloodthirsty Christians, egged on by their fanatical popes, trundled across Europe to the Holy Land in search of loot. Once there, they attacked and slaughtered thousands of peaceful, sophisticated Muslims in an unprovoked display of early-onset Western imperialism. In the process, they caused the decline of Medieval Muslim culture, thereby giving modern Muslims a justifiable grievance against the West.

This narrative is so widespread as to seem virtually beyond dispute. It’s found in many popular history texts on the subject. It was on full display in Ridley Scott’s 2005 feature film, “Kingdom of Heaven.” It was referenced by former U.S. President Bill Clinton in a speech after 9/11 to suggest that – just maybe – those attacks were understandable from a certain viewpoint. Many Muslims, both extremists and moderates, have embraced it and used it for political advantage. And some Christians, labouring under its weight, have even felt compelled to publicly apologize for the Crusades.

The problem? Like Ridley Scott’s film, the received Crusade narrative is essentially a work of historical fiction. It’s based on “actual historical events,” mingled with generous helpings of exaggeration, distortion and flat-out falsehood. Here are just a few common Crusade myths, briefly noted:

1. The Crusades were an unprovoked attack by militant Christians on peaceful Muslims

This is probably the most basic misconception about the Crusades. It requires a massive suspension of disbelief to ignore the politically incorrect elephant in the room: by the time Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade in 1095, Muslims had been attacking and conquering Christian lands for over 450 years.

In 632, the year Muhammad died, virtually the entire Mediterranean world was in Christian hands. Within a century, most of these lands had fallen to the Muslim onslaught. This included Spain, North Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and most of Asia Minor. Southern France and Italy were under attack, and would soon lose their island possessions. In the east, the Byzantine Empire desperately clung to a small corner of Asia Minor around Constantinople. Far from being an unprovoked war of aggression, the Crusades were the first large-scale European counterattack against the dire and ongoing threat of Islamic expansion.

2. The Crusaders were barbarian bigots attacking a tolerant and advanced Muslim culture

Like most of the myths about the Crusades, this was fabricated by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century intellectuals with an axe to grind against Christianity. In reality, Europeans of the so-called “Dark Ages” were not the benighted primitives of popular imagination. They had already made technological advances in food production and war craft, among others things, that gave them a distinct edge over their adversaries. Moreover they showed little interest in forcibly converting others to their faith, at least during this period of history.

On the other hand, the Muslims weren’t the model of enlightened multiculturalism that’s commonly depicted. They had a complex and uneasy relationship with their conquered subjects, by turns persecuting and “tolerating” them as second-class citizens. Regarding the achievements of Medieval Muslim culture, sociologist and historian Rodney Stark is quite blunt:

The civilization we typically associate with Islam was in fact the civilization of the Christians and Jews they were ruling. When those Christians and Jews finally disappeared, so too did that advanced “Muslim” civilization. Suddenly the Muslims were all backward, and the question was, “How did they lose all that civilization?” They didn’t. They never had it.

3. The Crusaders used religion as an excuse for their greed, bloodlust and imperialistic ambitions

This is a gross distortion that reads modern secular assumptions back into the Medieval mind. The Crusaders were violent people living in violent times. They were also deeply religious, with a keen sense of their own sinfulness. Labouring under a theology that had lost track of salvation by free grace through the Gospel of Christ, they sought to do acts of penance for the forgiveness of their sins. Going on Crusade, enduring hardship to help their embattled Christian brothers and suffering a martyr’s death fit the bill nicely.

Far from dreaming of Eastern wealth and political glory, most Crusaders mortgaged themselves, their families and even their countries into insolvency to finance their venture. Most of them expected to die on Crusade, and many of them did. It was a price they were willing to pay for the salvation of their souls.

4. The Crusades gave Muslims a legitimate grievance against the West

This one is a genuine case of truth being stranger than fiction. Until the early twentieth century, the Muslim world thought little and cared less about the Crusades. If anything, they were a distant memory of a series of skirmishes with pesky Westerners that ended when the victorious Muslims finally booted the Europeans out of the Holy Land, as they did in 1291. After that, the Crusades faded from the Muslim consciousness for the next 600 years.

Then the dissolution of the Turkish Ottoman Empire after World War I gave rise to a new Arab nationalism, which needed a narrative to frame its struggles and aspirations. It needed someone to blame for the backward state of Islamic culture at the time.

In one of the most sublime examples of historical irony, the Arab nationalists and the Islamic fundamentalists after them took up the Enlightenment version of the Crusade story, distortions and all, and made it their own. Historian and political scientist Paul Crawford sums it up neatly:

So it was not the crusades that taught Islam to attack and hate Christians. Far from it. Those activities had preceded the crusades by a very long time, and stretch back to the inception of Islam. Rather, it was the West which taught Islam to hate the crusades. The irony is rich.

To the present day, many Muslims of every stripe take it as a point of faith that the Crusades were the first shot fired in the West’s ongoing war of oppression against Islam. All based on a historical fiction.

Conclusions

At this point, a couple of clarifications are in order.

First, these ideas are not the product of fringe revisionism, but are taken from leading contemporary scholarship on the Crusades. Indeed, top Crusade historians have been saying similar things for a long time, but their voice generally goes unheard. This is mostly because what they’re saying rubs against the liberal secular zeitgeist, which loves to blame all the world’s woes on Western civilization, Christianity in particular.

Second, the point of this exercise isn’t to whitewash Medieval Christians, or to give them a free pass for terrible things they may have done. Bottom line, it was a time of war in a larger era of warfare. Atrocities were committed on both sides that we simply cannot pass over, as modern people or as Biblically faithful Christians.

But as Christians we’re also committed to the truth, not just theological and moral, but scientific and historical as well. We’re not all historians, but we can equip ourselves so that when someone rejects the faith from a faulty understanding of history, we can at least begin to engage them with the truth.

Sources and further reading

Brendan Case, “God’s Battalions: The case for the Crusades (book review),” Relevant, December 9, 2009, http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/books/gods-battalions-case-crusades

Paul F. Crawford, “Four myths about the Crusades,” Intercollegiate Review, Spring 2011, http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=1483

Timothy Dalrymple, “Crusade for Christ: An interview with Rodney Stark,” Patheos, May 13, 2010, http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Crusades-for-Christ

Thomas F. Madden, “Inventing the Crusades,” First Things, June/July 2009, http://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/05/inventing-the-crusades-1243195699

Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam, New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.

Rodney Stark, God’s Battalions: The case for the Crusades, New York: HarperOne, 2010.

Subby Szterszky is the managing editor of Focus Insights.

 

http://www.focusinsights.org/article/society-and-culture/myths-about-crusades?utm_source=Focus+on+the+Family+Canada+-+eNewsletter+Subscriptions&utm_campaign=c02eb9c1be-FI_Sept_11_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_772e501ac9-c02eb9c1be-306677773

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YOUR ADVERSITY IS A MARK OF CHRIST 

By Isaac Mwangi 

Galatians 6:17 “From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.”

Paul had wounds inflicted by his enemies in an attempt to stop him from preaching the gospel. Christ suffered, too, and called on every disciple to pick up their cross and follow Him.

It is common to hear people being exhorted to accept the gospel and experience miracles – and by this is meant material prosperity. All your troubles, you are told, will fly away if you simply join our denomination. Or plant a seed. Or do any of a thousand deceptions.

But the cross is about suffering and death, not personal glorification. Elijah fled into the wilderness to hide from Jezebel. Jeremiah was thrown into a pit and into prison. John the Baptist was forced to feed on insects and later beheaded. And Stephen was stoned to death. We do not follow Christ for material riches, although He is able to give us wealth as well. As surely as night follows day, an uncompromising faith will attract severe demonic persecution. When you lose your job for reasons you cannot understand, or are in danger of losing your only house, or find that even your very life is at stake, take heart and know that this is the cost of discipleship. You are following in the footsteps of a long chain of Christians who have taken the narrow road and entered through the small gate. Rejoice and be glad.

Today’s writer is a Kenyan journalist and author of Poisoned Well of Tradition.

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J. C. Ryle on the Acceptance of False Teachers

“Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous.

1. There is an undeniable zeal in some of the teachers of error: their “earnestness” makes many think they must be right.

2. There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe guides.

3. There is a general tendency to free thought and free inquiry in these latter days: many like to prove their independence of judgment, by believing novelties.

4. There is a wide-spread desire to appear charitable and liberal-minded: many seem half ashamed of saying that anybody can be in the wrong.

5. There is a quantity of half-truth taught by the modern false teachers: they are incessantly using Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense.

6. There is a morbid craving in the public mind for a more sensuous, ceremonial, sensational, showy worship: men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work.

7. There is a silly readiness in every direction to believe everybody who talks cleverly, lovingly and earnestly, and a determination to forget that Satan often masquerades himself “as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

8. There is a wide-spread “gullibility” among professing Christians: every heretic who tells his story plausibly is sure to be believed, and everybody who doubts him is called a persecutor and a narrow-minded man.

All these things are peculiar symptoms of our times. I defy any observing person to deny them. They tend to make the assaults of false doctrine in our day peculiarly dangerous. They make it more than ever needful to cry aloud, “Do not be carried away!””

~ J.C. Ryle (1816-1900)

 

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“We cannot therefore, at this time, over-estimate the importance of believers having open minds to “examine all things” they have thought, and taught, in  connection with the things of God, and the spiritual realm. All the “truths” they have held; all the phrases and expressions they have used in “holiness  teachings”; and all the “teachings” they have  absorbed through others. For any  wrong interpretation of truth, any theories and phrases which are man – conceived, and which we may build upon wrongly, will have perilous consequences to ourselves, and to others, in the  conflict which the Church, and the individual believer, is now passing  through. Since in the “later times” evil spirits  will come to them with deceptions in doctrinal form, believers must examine carefully what they accept as “doctrine,” lest it should be from the emissaries of the deceiver.”

The Peril Of The Time Of The Baptism Of The Spirit

It is just here that the ignorance of the believer about (1) the spiritual  world now opened to him, (2) the workings of evil powers in that realm, and (3)  the conditions upon which God works in and through him, gives the enemy his  opportunity. It is the time of greatest peril for every believer, unless he is  instructed and prepared, as the disciples  were for three whole years by the Lord. The danger lies along the line of supernatural “guidance,” through not  knowing  the condition of co-operation with the Holy Spirit, and how to discern  the will of God; and counterfeit manifestations,  through not knowing the  “discerning of spirits” necessary to detect the workings of the false angel of  light, who is  able to bring about counterfeit gifts of prophesy, tongues,    healings, and other spiritual experiences, connected with the work of the Holy  Ghost.

Those who have their eyes opened to the opposing forces of the spiritual  realm, understand that very few believers can  guarantee   that they are obeying God, and God only, in direct supernatural guidance, because there  are so many factors liable to intervene, such as the believer’s own mind, own spirit, own will, and the deceptive intrusion of  the powers of darkness.

Since evil spirits can counterfeit God as Father, Son, or Holy  Spirit, the believer needs also to know very  clearly the principles upon which  God works, so as to detect between the Divine and the Satanic workings. There is  a “discernment” which is a spiritual gift, enabling the believer to discern  “spirits,” but this also requires  knowledge of “doctrine” (1 John 4: 1),  so as to discern between doctrine which is of God, and doctrines, or teachings, of teaching spirits.

There is a detecting, by the gift of discerning of spirits, which  spirit is at work; and a test of spirits, which is doctrinal. In the  former a believer can tell by a spirit of discernment, that the lying  spirits  are  at work in a meeting, or in a person, but he may not have the understanding needed for testing the “doctrines” set forth by a teacher.  He needs knowledge in both cases; knowledge to read his spirit with assurance in  the face of all  contrary appearances, that the supernatural workings are “of  God”; and knowledge to detect the subtlety of “teachings”  bearing certain infallible indications that they emanate from the pit, while appearing to be  from God.

In personal obedience to God, the believer can detect whether he is obeying God in some “command,” by judging its  fruits,  and by knowledge of the  character of God, such as the truth that (1) God has always a purpose in His  commands,  and (2) He will give no command out of harmony with His character and  Word. Other factors needed for clear knowledge are  dealt with later on.” – Jessie Penn Lewis; War On The Saints

Below are 2 great articles that were given to me regarding the “Alpha” course and the demonic deception sweeping the church through “The Toronto Blessing”.

The Alpha Course is a course that has been used by many as a way to attempt to introduce the false doctrines and practices of the Third Wave into mainstream denominations.

I was dumbfounded when I found out some of the people who endorse this course.  Among them were the Salvation Army and, most notably, Luis Palau.  Here is his endorsement that is featured on the Alpha Course web page:

“Alpha seems especially blessed in that the Lord is using it to reach all sorts of people in all sorts of spiritual condition.”

The Alpha Course, though teaching some truth, also lays truth alongside error.  The wooing of people using the gospel message, only to later enslave them in ritualism, works salvation, and occult manifestations is one of the great deceptions of our time.  One of the cleverest ploys of the enemy in our day is to allow “unprincipled” men to use the salvation message as an enticement to unsuspecting and untrained people, while they secretly introduce false doctrine, thereby giving “the devil a foothold” for fleshly manifestations and temptations in their lives.  The men who designed this course are laying error alongside truth, introducing error secretly (“pareisaxousinin” in Greek) the result of which will ruin the faith of the believer in the end.  The Bible says of this process:

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves.” (2 Pet. 2:1)

Beware of the Alpha Course!

Perhaps the preachers and evangelists who have endorsed this course need to take a longer look at their Bibles. Jesus NEVER laid hands on his disciples, the result of which were “manifestations” of uncontrollable laughter, mayhem, shaking, animal noises, vomiting, or any of the other demonic disorder of the Toronto and Brownsville “things”.  Luis Palau, of all people, had better wake up to this deception that is sweeping the churches of Europe and is now being used around the world.

The Alpha Course

 – by Chris Hand

Many people have been greatly impressed by the Alpha course. Designed to be an introduction to the Christian faith through talks, video presentations, small-group discussions and a special weekend-away, lots of churches are now employing it as part of their outreach.

In the eyes of many it has been a run-away-success and its fame has spread far beyond the UK, and Holy Trinity Brompton, the London church where it originated.

It is no exaggeration to say it has spread right across the world and is now finding friends in several continents. It has been adapted so as to be accessible to young people and has also proved versatile enough to be used in prisons, schools and places of work.

Churches in inner cities and rural areas have found it sufficiently flexible for their needs. Future plans for expansion suggest that Alpha is very much here to stay. What is more, many people claim to have been helped through going on the Alpha course and believe it has brought them an understanding of God and how to respond to Him. Testimonies and accounts of wonderful things that have happened to individuals abound; In the light of all this, surely there cannot be anything wrong with it?

With so many in today’s society gripped by materialism and atheism, can Alpha be anything other than a good thing? As young people become hopelessly enmeshed in a godless culture, should we not applaud the efforts of Alpha and help make it a success?

We wished that the answers to these questions could be an emphatic Yes. But closer examination of Alpha prevents such a clean bill of health being given to it. Why this concern? There are six vital reasons we would like to bring to your attention.

1. The God of Alpha is not the God of the Bible.

Alpha quotes from the Bible a lot. It cannot be faulted on that. But for all this it does not present us with the God who has revealed Himself in the Bible. There is much we could say about the God of the Scriptures. He is the Creator of the universe and the one who upholds it and maintains it. He is a great King and Sovereign over all He has made. We are challenged to ponder:

” To whom then will you liken me. Or to whom shall I be equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of his might and the strength of his power; Not one is missing.” (Isaiah 40:25-26)

He is high and holy. He dwells in heaven and is all-glorious. Nothing impure can live in His presence. For those that fall short of His glory and perfection, there is judgment that follows (Romans 6:23)

Now of course much more could be said. But you will have to search hard and long in Alpha to find a God that resembles the One just described. Nothing about Him as Creator, nothing about Him as a great King. He is assumed rather than described. The Bible tells us “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). But we would not be any wiser of this from going on the Alpha Course. It simply fails to tell us anything we need to know about God.

2. The plight of man in Alpha is not as serious as in the Bible.

Man’s state until he is reconciled to God is not a happy one. Psalm 7:11 tells us God is a just judge, And – “God is angry with the wicked every day”. The gospel of John makes this abundantly plain: He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36) Man without God is subject to the wrath of God. We are not slightly displeasing to Him. It is not that we have occasional faults and foibles that surface. It is what we are by nature.

The apostle Paul explains that we are “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). This is very strong language and leaves us in no doubt. We have offended against God and broken His holy law. We are sinners in His sight and deserve condemnation. It is as straightforward as that.

By contrast, Alpha does not use strong terms and leaves us rather unclear about where we stand. As one follows its argument, sin is more to be seen in the way we have messed up our lives (Gumbel 1994: 44,47). It is an inward-looking description of man’s state that majors on his feelings of fearfulness (Gumbel 1994:22). It is a picture of man predominated by his feelings of sadness and unhappiness (Gumbel 1994:12-22). sup1/sup.

Now of course these things are all true. This is what life is like for sinners. It is a miserable life for them. Yet this is to major on the consequences of sin rather than sin itself. These are the miseries that follow inevitably because we are sinners. The problem, however, is more serious than simply sin’s consequences. Alpha fails to tell us that ultimately we have offended God and courted His displeasure. We have sinned against God and are justly under His judgment. We are people “…having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). For all the gravity of sin, Alpha never allows us to feel too bad about ourselves. It never permits us to see ourselves in God’s sight. That is a big omission.

3. The Jesus Christ of Alpha is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible.

This may surprise us. Alpha appears to have quite a lot to say about the Lord Jesus. It tells us what He did, what He said, the claims He made about Himself and establishes beyond doubt that the resurrection actually took place.

But despite having part of the course entitled ‘Why did Jesus die?’, it is unable in the final analysis to answer this question. This is a core issue.

Christ died because God’s holy justice required it. Our lives were forfeit. We had sinned and were helpless. Christ had to die in the place of sinners who truly deserved to bear the penalty for their sin. Christ’s death propitiated or appeased the wrath of God (Romans 3:25,1 John 2:2). Alpha has not described God to us and therefore has no meaningful place for God’s wrath. Christ’s death ends up having to satisfy some abstract principle of justice that has somehow become detached from God Himself.

Alpha’s own illustrations and attempts to explain get us no closer to the heart of the matter (Gumbel 1994:19-20;47-48). Christ’s death upon the cross becomes an act of love but without any real connection with the reality of judgment and God’s wrath. All we are left with is the impression that Christ has sacrificed Himself to rescue us from the consequences of sin because that was required by some impersonal and rather arbitrary justice system. It is all rather mysterious. This is not the Christ of Scripture.

4. The love of God in Alpha is not the love of the God of the Bible.

The Bible is clear that ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). Alpha tells us this too. There is a difference, however. In Alpha God is love and little else. There is not much else that He can be as the course has missed all the aspects of His great character that refer to His holiness and glory. We are left with love.

The God of the Bible is love but it is love that is seen in His willingness to save sinners. We are told, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Why did the Lord come? To save sinners. What moved God to do this? His love. This is what makes His love so special and wonderful. It is that such a holy and glorious God should save sinners. This is clear from Romans 5:8 as well, But God demonstrates his own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God’s love is evident in that He acted to save sinners. Here we see the glory of Christ’s love. But without the context of God’s holiness and absolute perfection, the meaning of that love is lost to us. Instead God merely becomes an emotional being of unconditional love divorced from any true understanding of His true nature and being. Alpha’s God will give us an emotional high and make us feel special. The God of the Bible will give us eternal life. There is a big difference between the two.

5. The Holy Spirit of Alpha is not the Holy Spirit of the Bible.

There is more space in Alpha devoted to the Holy Spirit than to the Lord Jesus. This is surprising given what Scripture says about the Holy Spirit (John 16:13-14). Why does Alpha do this? It is because Alpha’s ‘Holy Spirit’ is the agent for giving to people an ‘experience’ that is going to make God real to them.

The main focus for this is the ‘Holy Spirit Weekend-Away’. People doing Alpha are told to expect all manner of things might happen to them. We are told, Sometimes, when people are filled, they shake like a leaf in the wind. Others find themselves breathing deeply as if almost physically breathing in the Spirit. (Gumbel 1994:136). It is not restricted to this, however.

Physical heat sometimes accompanies the filling of the Spirit and people experience it in their hands or some other part of their bodies. One person described a feeling of ‘glowing all over’. Another said she experienced ‘liquid heat’. Still another described ‘burning in my arms when I was not hot’. (Gumbel 1994:136)

This is all very interesting but it has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit as known through the pages of Scripture. Nowhere are any phenomena such as these attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit. Alpha’s ‘Spirit’ appears to work in ways that lie outside the confines of Scripture. Whoever it is that people are ‘introduced’ to at the Alpha Weekend, it is not the Holy Spirit. But whoever the mysterious guest is, he is equally at home among the ecstatic gatherings of New Age enthusiasts and non-Christian religions alike.

6. Conversions in Alpha are not like conversions in the Bible.

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter’s hearers were ‘…cut to the heart…'(Acts 2:37). The Philippian jailer asked urgently ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ (Acts 16:30). They understood that they were sinners. They realized that they needed mercy. It was clear to them as it was to the believers in Thessalonica that the gospel was ‘…in truth, the word of God…’ (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Conversions in Alpha come differently from this. More often than not it is an emotional experience about the love of God but without any understanding of holiness or the need to be saved from our sins. There is no recognition of the need to repent and to turn to God as a matter of life and death. People feel forgiven but do not seem to have realized the depth of their sinfulness or repented of their sin. People feel cleansed without having consciously put their faith in Christ. Often this happens when people are in some ecstatic state. Alpha may regard this as conversion but it is not what we find in the Bible.

For all its efforts, Alpha does not help us to know God. It does not describe the true and living God for us. It does not diagnose man’s condition accurately enough. It is unable to adequately account for Christ’s death and substitutes an unbiblical view of God’s love and God’s Holy Spirit in its place. To cap it all, the whole issue of conversion is grievously misunderstood. By sparing us the ‘bad news’ about ourselves, it is unable to supply us with the ‘good news’.

The needs of our souls for biblical and life-saving truth are far too precious and important to be brought down to this level. It needs the unvarnished truth of the Scriptures. We may merely succeed in adding people to our churches who have never been converted. That will be no help to them and no help to our churches either.

To leave someone believing they are converted when they are not is an awful prospect. Yet that is what we are risking using defective tools such as Alpha, ‘having a form of godliness but denying its power’ (2 Timothy 3:5). We must do better. Failure is too high a price to pay.

 

Everyone is asking “What about Alpha?” What is it, and what are we to believe about it?

– by Tricia Tillin

The Alpha course is an evangelistic initiative begun by Holy Trinity Brompton – perhaps better known now for its promotion of the Toronto Blessing.

The official history of the Alpha Course begins 16 years ago when a member of HTB, Charles Marnham, set up an informal home group to present answers to basic gospel questions. However, HTB curate, Nicky Gumbel, transformed the course into what we see today. [see endnote] It is designed to appeal to non-believers, with every detail – the food, flowers, hospitality and questions – aimed at disarming the unchurched.

The final weekend away is a vital part of the course – and this has attracted the most criticism, as it gives a chance for the leaders, if they are so disposed, to present the Holy Spirit in an experimental fashion to a captive audience. The course always ends with a Supper laid on to which more non-believers are invited, and so the process continues.

Whatever else can be said about the Alpha Course, it has been a runaway success. In 1991 there were just four courses involving 600 people; in 1993 there were fewer than 10 courses being held in Britain. Now there are an estimated 3,000 being run regularly three times a year, more than 500 of them overseas. These are being run by every denomination, including Catholic.

One difficulty in pinning down the problems with the Alpha Course is that each church running the course will use the materials in a different way. Thus it is feasible, in theory at least, that a church might avoid all controversy and simply use the course to preach the gospel to unbelievers. This does leave unanswered the question – why does any church need to buy a course to be able to preach the gospel?

However, there are deep concerns. Below I present some thoughts on the Alpha Course by a Christian (i) who grew alarmed when viewing the course materials. It is a personal view but I believe it speaks for many.

Alpha certainly starts by preaching the gospel; the first three talks on Video One focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ, and the three talks on video Two which cover fundamental steps for new Christians, such as ‘How can I be sure of my faith?’, ‘Why and how should I read the Bible?’ and ‘Why and how should I pray?’ are all good. But as the course progresses, some of the talks tend to wander off into lengthy accounts of HTB’s experiences of the Toronto Blessing and associated ministries, novel exegeses of various Biblical passages common amongst pro-Toronto preachers, calls for unity despite truth and an over-emphasis on the Holy Spirit, all of which are less than helpful, to say the least, to potential Christians.

Clearly the aim is to bring as many into God’s Kingdom as possible but by the end of the course I cannot help feeling that the Toronto Blessing may have been the greater beneficiary.

The Alpha course was virtually unknown until Eleanor Mumford of the South-West London Vineyard church brought the Toronto Blessing from the Toronto Airport Vineyard church in Canada to HTB, via Nicky Gumbel in May 1994, (ii) and Nicky Gumbel spends a substantial amount of time relating to Alpha participants in video 3 talk 9, exactly how it occurred:

“Ellie Mumford told us a little bit of what she had seen in Toronto… .it was obvious that Ellie was just dying to pray for all of us.. then she said ‘Now we’ll invite the Holy Spirit to come.’ and the moment she said that one of the people there was thrown, literally, across the room and was lying on the floor, just howling and laughing….making the most incredible noise….I experienced the power of the Spirit in a way I hadn’t experienced for years, like massive electricity going through my body… One of the guys was prophesying. He was just lying there prophesying. . .”

Gumbel’s description of the antics that went on in the vestry of HTB after their invocation of the Spirit seems to me to bear no resemblance at all to what happened on the day of Pentecost. (iii)

Yet Alpha participants are being taught all this as part of an evangelistic/Christian Living course as though it is normal and desirable, with absolutely no mention made of the need to test the spirits (1 John 4:3), and at the end of this talk are prayed for, corporately, to receive it. Thus, they are initiated into the Toronto Blessing without a whimper of protest amongst them.

“I believe it is no coincidence that the present movement of the Holy Spirit [TB] has come at the same time as the explosion of the Alpha Courses. I think the two go together.” [Nicky Gumbel, ‘The Spirit and Evangelism’, Renewal, May 1995, p15].

So one of my concerns is whether the TB, which is being experienced at HTB, can possibly be divorced from the Alpha Initiative. In view of the similarities of emphasis and content between the two, I’m not sure that it can. Alpha also promotes, as does the leadership of the TB, ‘unity’ between Protestants and Roman Catholics, with no consideration, or perhaps realisation, of the unreconcileable doctrines of the two Churches, and so another concern is its trend towards ecumenism.

POWER EVANGELISM

Heavily influenced by the ‘Signs and Wonders’ ministry of John Wimber in the 1980s, power evangelism has been one of the preparation grounds for the Toronto Experience. It focuses on a pragmatic/experiential rather than a proclamatory/doctrinal approach to spreading the gospel. As such it tends to shift the focus away from the shed blood of Jesus on the cross and onto the supernatural works of the Holy Spirit carried out by men. This is the method of evangelism favoured by Alpha. [Telling Others pp21-24;29-31].

ALPHA AND THE NEW AGE

All of this heightened interest amongst Charismatic Christians in ‘Signs and Wonders’ and the supernatural experiences of the Toronto Blessing is a reflection of spiritual and cultural changes going on outside Christianity, in which New Age experiential mysticism predominates.

Nicky Gumbel is aware of this paradigm shift from reason to experience: “In the Enlightenment reason ruled supreme and explanation led to experience. In the present transitional culture, with its ‘pick-and-mix’ worldview in which the New Age movement is a potent strand, experiences lead to explanation”. [Nicky Gumbel, Telling Others, p19].

Post-Christian neo-mysticism is already so pervasive that virtually every non-christian participant of Alpha – or any other evangelistic initiative – will reflect to some degree New Age thinking. In New Age philosophy “experiences lead to explanation” yet, like the Toronto Experience, the thrust of Alpha is towards the experiential, not the written Word. One pastor who has made use of the Alpha course writes: “One of the problems of proclaiming the gospel in a post-modern world is that culture itself warms much more readily to lifestyle than to doctrine. But the Christian lifestyle is not Christian faith… .I am sure that many people are being converted through the Alpha course, but I have a suspicion that some of those people are being converted to a Christian lifestyle rather than to Christ.”. [Ian Lewis, ‘The Alpha Course’, Evangelicals Now, Dec 1995].

The two testimonies given by Alpha participants at the beginning of the first Alpha video are prime examples of this. There are certain basic elements one would expect to hear in a classic conversion testimony: the conviction of sin leading to repentance and subsequent assurance of God’s forgiveness and salvation through the death on the cross of Jesus Christ. But these are not there in any form in these two testimonies.

A relationship with God is referred to, as is the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, prayer, an interest in Bible reading, church-going, Christianity and what Alpha has done for them. But Jesus and what He has done for them and a relationship with Him is not mentioned at all. Yet the Lord Jesus is the gospel, He is salvation, He is their new life so how can He possibly be so completely overlooked in a basic conversion testimony?

Adherents of false religions claim a relationship with God, and a prayer life, but they are not saved. Many church goers read their Bibles and have an interest in church and in Christianity, but they are not saved.

Likewise, more compassion/understanding at work, more patience, tolerance, confidence and deep feelings of contentment can equally well be produced by a sense of psychological well-being. Without the cross they do not constitute salvation. The attempt by Nicky Gumbel to bring Jesus into the testimonies by asking exactly what had made these differences, was met with a blank look and the response: “Just the relationship that I’ve developed with God. Simple as that.”

These testimonies seemed to me to be, as Ian Lewis suggests, only evidence of conversion to a Christian lifestyle, not to Christ. And when the “Christian lifestyle” is an endless round of blessings’, supernatural ‘experiences’, spiritual ‘parties’ [see video talk 14] and ‘play’-times (iv), then the transition from the counterfeit spirituality of the New Age to Christianity is really only one of degree, not kind. In which case I would echo the question of one evangelical minister who asked: “What is it they are converted to?”

EVANGELISM OR CHRISTIAN LIVING?

“Scripture tells us that salvation comes through hearing the gospel, and I would expect any course aimed at non-christians to concentrate primarily on the facts of the gospel. The Alpha course deals with the basics of the gospel in two sessions… While these are unequivocal gospel presentations, the remainder of the course deals essentially with what may be described as Christian living… When we used an adapted version of the course in our church, non-christians were left behind by about the sixth week. They still had very fundamental questions about what Christians believe, which were not answered by talking about how Christians live and for this reason the course seemed more suited to people who have already made a commitment to Christ.” [Ian Lewis, Evangelicals Now, Dec 1995].

THE HOLY SPIRIT WEEKEND

White Alpha training manual pp26-36/Video III talks 7-9 “We live in the age of the Spirit.” [p29].

Christians have always referred to the period of time between the first and second advents as the age of Grace, or the Church age. That has not changed. Why encourage now, in such a precarious spiritual climate, the New Age concept of the Age of Aquarius (the spirit)?

Continuing his observations on the New Age Nicky Gumbel writes: “I have found on Alpha that those from an essentially enlightened background feel at home with the parts of the course which appeal to the mind, but often have difficulty in experiencing the Holy Spirit. Others coming from the New Age movement find that rational and historical explanations leave them cold, but at the weekend away they are on more familiar territory in experiencing the Holy Spirit.” [Telling Others, p19].

But it is the “rational and historical explanations” of sessions l and 2 which are the essence of the gospel (Acts 2:22-41; 6:9-7:60; 8:26-38; 17:16-33) and which the unbeliever must grasp and accept with his mind, under the convicting and illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, if he is to repent and experience salvation in his heart (Romans 10:13,14). Nevertheless: “At the end of the course I send out questionnaires… if there is a change I ask when that change occurred. For many the decisive moment is the Saturday evening of the weekend.” [Telling Others, p120]. This is the time when Nicky Gumbel invites the Holy Spirit to come and participants are filled with the Spirit. [Telling Others, pp117,120,123; Blue Alpha training manual p18]

I find this extremely worrying. The “decisive moment” should surely be the point at which a person steps over from eternal death to eternal life through the conversion experience (John 3:16; 5:24; Romans 10:9,10,13 and other refs). But most of the testimonies in ‘Telling Others’ seem to confuse the experience of conversion with the experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit.

But is this surprising when Nicky Gumbel himself seems to treat conversion as a preliminary to the main event? The breath of new life into a repentant sinner is taught in talk 7, but Nicky Gumbel does not make it clear that this happens at conversion (2 Cor 5:17). Rather, he suggests this is due to a second experience: the baptism in the Spirit.

The following testimony is an alarming example of the confusion between conversion and baptism in the Holy Spirit, but it is by no means the only one:

“….my wife encouraged me to read an article in a magazine about the Alpha course at HTB. What had stuck in my mind was how the work of the Holy Spirit was described as of paramount importance. I knew in my heart I had to have his power in my life at any cost. So I… enrolled on the course and focused on the weekend where the work of the Holy Spirit is discussed… .Never mind the weeks of pre-med, I just had to get into the operating theatre… .I looked at the order of play, saw that the third session on ‘How can I be filled with the Spirit (which I identified as the main one) was at 4:30pm and simply hung on like a marathon runner weaving his way up the finishing straight with nothing but the finishing tape as the focus of his attention… .the prize was so near but we were getting there so slowly. I literally wanted to scream out ‘Do it now! Do it now! I can’t hold out any longer’ I’m not exaggerating when I say I was in agony Then Nicky Gumbel invited the Spirit to come and oh, the relief.” [Interview in Renewal, Oct 1995, p16; Telling Others pp36-37].

Though the prayer at the end of these talks includes repentance, the gospel talks are not at this point uppermost in participants minds, and the corporate request “inviting the Holy Spirit to come and fill us” is then made by all in the room.

HOW CAN I RESIST EVIL?

Session 9 White Alpha training manual pp39-45/Video IV Talk 10.

In section II of this session Satan’s tactics are listed: destroys; blinds eyes; causes doubt; tempts; accuses. All of these Gumbel applies to the area of Christian behaviour. Deception, the tactic focusing on belief, is omitted. This oversight can be deadly. Deception concerning doctrine is Satan’s most powerful weapon against the Church and new Christians need to be made aware just how practised Satan is at deceiving Christians through false doctrines and false spiritual experiences. (v)

Gumbel points out in this talk that occult activity “always comes under the guise of something good”. The Toronto Blessing is seen as “something good”. How strange then that neither he nor anyone else at HTB thought to test the Toronto spirit before accepting it and then passing it on to everyone else. (vi)

HOW DOES GOD GUIDE US?

Session 10 White Alpha training manual pp46-51/Video IV Talk 11

The “Guiding Spirit” and “more unusual ways” of guidance referred to in this talk, especially guidance by angels, need thorough testing against Scripture in today’s religious climate in which false prophets and occult ‘spirit guides’ masquerading as angels of light abound.

A testimony in HTB in FOCUS: ALPHA NEWS, Aug 1995, in which Jesus is referred to as “a guiding light” (p14), is just an inkling of what may be to come.

DOES GOD HEAL TODAY?

Session 12 White Alpha training manual ppS8-62/Video V Talk 13

During this talk Nicky Gumbel tells Alpha participants of the visit by John Wimber to HTB in 1982 to demonstrate God’s power to heal. He says: “John Wimber then said ‘We’ve had words of knowledge’ these are supernatural revelations, things that they couldn’t have known otherwise about the conditions of people in the room… specific details were given, accurately describing the conditions… .as the list was responded to, the level of faith in the room was rising.”

Gumbel says that he still felt “cynical and hostile” until the following evening when he was prayed for: “So they prayed for the Spirit to come….I felt something like 10,000 volts going through my body….The American had a fairly limited prayer. He just said ‘more power’….it was the only thing he ever prayed. I can’t remember him ever praying anything else… Now we’ve seen many kinds of these manifestations of the Spirit on the weekends… these manifestations… and the physical healings themselves are not the important thing… .the fruit of the Spirit… these are the things that matter, the fruit that comes from these experiences. So we began to realise that God heals miraculously….”

Nicky Gumbel gives no indication here that he or anyone else attending that meeting tested the spirits to ensure that everything came from the Holy Spirit.

And, of course, the fruit of the Holy Spirit does not come from “these experiences” but from the daily sanctification by the Holy Spirit through obedience to the Word (John 14:15;21;23-26;15:l-7;10;14-15).

Once again Alpha participants are not being warned of the very serious dangers of accepting anything and everything from anyone and everyone. So they will walk out of the cocoon of Alpha and straight into the path of the “enemy the devil [who] prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”. (1 Peter 5:8).

WHAT ABOUT THE CHURCH?

Session 13 White Alpha training manual pp63-68/Video V Talk 14

(1) ROMANISM

“The Alpha course is… adaptable across tradition and denominations… I know of its uses in Catholic churches.” [Martin Cavender in Telling Others].

Adaptable in what sense exactly? Alpha’s publications manager advises that, while presentation of the material can be adapted to suit, the content should be followed exactly. (He makes particular reference to the weekend dealing with the Holy Spirit in this respect) [Christian Herald, 9:12:1995].

If the content of the course teaches the fundamental historical and theological facts and doctrines of the Christian faith as recorded in Scripture, then, having tested and proved that to be so, any Protestant church using Alpha could follow the course exactly. But could a Catholic church do that?

In talk 8 and in section II of this talk Gumbel teaches Alpha participants that the differences between Protestants and Catholics are “totally insignificant compared to the things that unite us… we need to unite around the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus; the absolute essential things at the core of the Christian faith on which we are all agreed. We need to give people liberty to disagree on the things which are secondary.”

I agree wholeheartedly with the last sentence but that is not the issue here. It is on the essentials that Protestants and Catholics do not have unity. That was the whole point of the Protestant Reformation. Discussing the price of unity in the Church, Bishop Ryle wrote: “Our noble Reformers bought the truth at the price of their own blood, and handed it down to us. Let us take heed that we do not basely sell it for a mess of pottage, under the specious names of unity and peace.” [Warnings to the Churches, 1877, p128].

Still Gumbel says: “We need to unite… there has been some comment which is not helpful to unity. Let us drop that and get on. It is wonderful that the movement of the Spirit will always bring churches together. He is doing that right across the denominations and within the traditions… we are seeing Roman Catholics coming now… Nobody is suspicious of anybody else… People are no longer ‘labelling’ themselves or others. I long for the day when we drop all these labels and just regard ourselves as Christians with a commission from Jesus Christ.” [Renewal, May 1995,p16]

‘Adaptability’ of the Alpha course to include Catholics, not necessarily to convert them, is referred to in Alpha as ‘unity’ and I am concerned that Alpha is contributing – albeit unintentionally – to the undoing of the Protestant Reformation through the promulgation of ecumenism disguised as Christian Unity.

(2) UNITY AND FALSE DOCTRINE/TEACHERS

“A disunited church, squabbling and criticising makes it very hard for the world to believe”. [Gumbel, Renewal, May 1995, p16]. Consequently “we make it a rule on Alpha never to criticise another denomination, another Christian church or a Christian leader.” [Telling Others, p114; and this talk, section II].

Yet there are times when failure to ‘criticise’ – or rather to rebuke and correct (2 Tim 3:16; 4:2-5) – is actually to be disobedient to the Word of God. Although in talk five Gumbel only applied the rebuking and correcting to Christian behaviour, it also applies to false teaching. We must certainly not judge one another’s sins or their hearts (e.g. Matt 7:1-5), or their personalities, but we are to test all teachings prophesies and practices against Scripture and judge whether they are true or false (1 Cor 2:15;16; 1 John 4:1).

According to Ephesians 4:3-6 Christian unity comes through our being baptised through one Spirit into “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all”.

Unity is also essential to Latter-Rain doctrine, to enable the incarnation of Christ into His physical body (the Church), because He cannot incarnate a divided body. But Latter-Rain is a “different gospel” (Gal 1:6-7) with a faulty eschatology which is insinuating itself into Charismatic fellowships these days; one of its most successful routes being the Toronto Blessing (vii).

It is vital that we “earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). If not, we may find ourselves, and those new believers we have nurtured, part of the Apostate church.

(3) THE PARABLE OF THE PARTY

In section IV, Gumbel says the Church, though God’s Holy Temple, so often loses “the sense of the presence of God in its midst”. He is making reference here to the Sunday meetings of believers rather than to the Church as the body of Christ and uses the parable of the Prodigal Son to explain that Sunday services should be like a ‘party’. “Jesus was saying that….the Church is like….a feast and a celebration, and at a party everyone has a good time. There’s fun, there’s laughter… .Why shouldn’t there be laughter at the biggest party of all? and that’s what we’re seeing today, laughter and fun, and people getting drunk – not with wine, Paul says ‘don’t get drunk with wine – be filled with the Spirit, Come to a party where you can get drunk on God… .I was at a party like that last night. It was a whole load of church leaders, and we invited the Spirit to come… It was a party thrown by the Holy Spirit. It was a fun place to be. The Church is meant to be a party…”

The Church will celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb when the Lord Jesus returns, but I find no references to “fun” or “parties” anywhere in Scripture, except in denunciation. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 for example. Until Jesus returns and we attend the marriage feast of the Lamb, there is no place for “parties” or “festivals”; not even “to the Lord”.

CONCLUSION

It may only be part of Alpha’s teaching which does not accord with Scripture, but I would say with Paul: “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” (Gal 5:9).

Every Christian and every fellowship is able to witness to the gospel. Many fellowships create their own evangelistic courses under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It should not be necessary to rely on the methods and techniques of another fellowship when we have all the instruction and teaching material we need in Scripture, all the experience we need in each of our relationships with the Lord Jesus and are each empowered by the Holy Spirit to go and do it. But if leaders do decide to use the Alpha course they should at least consider the following points in light of the concerns above:

• That they ensure non-believing participants have fully understood the meaning of the cross and are saved (sessions I and 2) before propelling them into a course on Christian Living. (sessions 3-14).
• That they ensure converts are fully aware of their conversion experience and are becoming stable in their daily      relationship with the Lord Jesus before thrusting them into the baptism of the Holy Spirit, for which they are not yet ready and which could allow into their lives the influence of an alien spirit through ground given, albeit unintentionally.
• That they ensure participants understand the different nature of the work of each person in the Trinity.
• That they ensure the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and his convicting and sanctifying work in a believer’s life is not      submerged beneath the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit.
• That they ensure participants are taught to proceed from the Word to experience, not from experience to the Word.
• Following from this, that they ensure participants understand that deception regarding doctrine and supernatural      phenomena has always been Satan’s main weapon against the Church and that knowing and standing fast in the Word is our weapon of defence, as it was for Jesus (Matt 4:1-11).
• That they ensure participants are taught to become Bereans (Acts 17:11) able to test everything against Scripture for      themselves, not relying on leaders, who are not infallible (e.g. Gal 2:11-14), to do their thinking and living for them.
• That they revise the booklist on pp72-75 of  the white Alpha training manual as it tends to display a bias towards      writers sympathetic to the Vineyard/Toronto Experience/Restorationist persuasion, while omitting other sound and more obvious choices in several of the sessions.

• In 1877 Bishop Ryle wrote: “The Lord Jesus Christ declares, ‘I will build My Church’….Ministers may preach, and writers may write, but the Lord Jesus Christ alone can build. And except He builds, the work stands still….Sometimes the work goes on fast, and sometimes it goes on slowly. Man is frequently impatient, and thinks that nothing is doing. But man’s time is not God’s time. A thousand years in His sight are but as a single day. The great builder makes no mistakes. He knows what He is doing. He sees the end from the beginning. He works by a perfect, unalterable and certain plan.” [J.C. Ryle ‘The True Church’ in Warnings to the Churches, 1877, pp13-14].

[Note: Nicky Gumbel dates his call to evangelism (Tape Five of the video set) to the 1982 incident in which he received prayer from John Wimber. On that occasion, he experienced such supernatural power that he had to call out for it to stop. Wimber gave a “word” that Gumbel had been given “a gift of telling people about Jesus”.]

A much expanded version of this paper is presently available from Jo Gardner, price £1.25 incl. postage. Write to: Adullam Register/Alpha, 86 Manor Way, Croxley Green, Herts WD3 3LY. This paper and other material will also shortly be produced in the form of a booklet. Enquiries to Jo Gardner, not Banner!

FOOTNOTES

(i) Letters to the author should be directed to Banner Ministries.

(ii) HTB in Focus: Alpha News, Aug 1995 p9. See also Wallace Boulton, ed., The Impact Of Toronto, 1995 pp2O-24.

(iii) See Richard Smith, “Spiritual Drunkenness”, Sept 1994.

(iv) See Wallace Boulton, ed., The Impact Of Toronto, 1995, p19.

Also David Noakes, Dealing With Poison In The Pot, audio tape, CFCM 95/04, side 1.

And Johannes Facius, ‘Laugh? I Nearly Cried’ in Prophecy Today, May/June 1995, p25.

(v) See for example, Robert M. Bowman, Orthodoxy And Heresy: A Biblical Guide To Doctrinal Discernment, 1993. And J.C. Ryle, Warnings To The Churches, 1877.

(vi) During the Leadership Consultation held in January and March 1995, by the Centre for Contemporary Ministry, it was noted that Wm Branham also practised impartation of the Spirit, which others could then pass on. Arnott has likened the Toronto Blessing to a virus. (See Haggai 2:10-14).

(vii) See ‘Birth of the Manchild‘ in Mainstream, Spring 1995, ppi-5 for the eschatology being taught at some Vineyard churches.

 

 

 

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Recovery IS Deliverance

Deliverance: The Action Of Being Rescued Or Set Free

Recovered IN Christ Package

“Deliverance from the power
of the evil one comes through
definite resistance on the ground of the Cross.”
– J.O Fraser

This material is being presented this weekend at “The First International Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference” in Portland, Maine, filled with thousands of seekers and Christians coming together to learn how to better make a stand for Christ and our biblical roots in all 12 step fellowships.

http://mauihistorian.blogspot.ca/

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