Alpha News
November 2002

 By: K. B. Napier

Today, I see next to nothing written against Alpha. Christians, as usual, are letting the whole thing go and many of them are rethinking their objections to the course. Maybe it is okay after all – see how many are saved! But are they? How can they be saved, when Alpha is not preaching the authentic Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Ecumenical

Alpha is ecumenical. At the moment it is running in 7,300 churches in the UK alone, and these belong to all kinds of denominations, including Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Salvation Army, Pentecostal, assemblies of God, Free Church, United Reformed, etc. To my knowledge every one of these is Arminian! And the Roman Catholic contingent in particular is downright apostate and not even a part of the Christian church!

So, what worth the course if it embraces heretics like itself? Make no mistake, Arminianism is heresy.

Alpha also runs in 85 universities and 135 prisons. So, it is affecting potential leaders of the country and gives false hope to those whose lives have been failures in the past.

A Problem

So what if a church is Arminian! Surely it is better to belong to a church that contains errors than not to attend at all?

I have heard that weird argument many times before! And it’s nonsense! God says that there is only one true Church and only one way to salvation. If one is not saved truly and does not attend a truly Christian church, then the whole thing is a sham and a deception!  Apart from the ‘anything goes’ mentality in these apostate churches, they are simply not Christian in their teaching, Gospel or theology.

Non-Threatening

Adherents of these churches are horrified at my stance. They think that I am hard and unloving because I insist on predestination. It is far too threatening and judgemental!

Alpha teachers pride themselves on the course being ‘non-threatening’. By this is meant, that Alpha does not present the true Gospel, but only a feel-good factor.

The teachers of Alpha would probably vomit in terror if they were under the very threatening preaching of Peter and friends on the day of Pentecost!! Peter just hit his listeners right between the eyes. No fooling about with funny stories or anecdotes. No long and outmoded ‘interviews’ on stage. No tea and buns. Just the facts. As a result thousands were saved in one day.

Alpha, on the other hand, draws crowds – not to the Gospel as it is given in scripture (and therefore not to the authentic Jesus Christ), but to the feel-good crowd who are giving away free cups of tea and lunches! Those drawn feel a part of a community. That is what it is all about!

Meanwhile another 16,000 churches in 130 countries are running Alpha, all feeling good about themselves and praising the power of Alpha to bring salvation! Not praising God or Christ, but Alpha.

May God help Alpha folk, for He is certainly not helping Alpha!

Remember the Leopard?

A leopard never changes his spots. Even if he wore a red raincoat, he would still rip your throat out and eat you for breakfast!

A false Gospel is a false Gospel. It cannot change its theology or its approach, or its end result – hell.

If all you want is to feel good, then by all means attend an Alpha course. But you will not enter heaven. Listen to the ‘threatening’ Gospel instead and live!

The true Gospel is a very real threat to all who are unsaved. Why? Because the Gospel is not about making us feel good, or about us gaining benefits. It is about God telling us we are worthy only of death and then hell. What is more threatening that that?

True, once a man is saved he will know the overwhelming love of God, but the Gospel itself is only ‘good news’ to those who are predestinated! True, the love of God can overcome a person even before salvation – but feeling good is never a criterion for salvation. The threat of hell is far more real than a cup of tea, a joke and a cake!

You will find, if you read scripture, that most of it is about the dire consequences of refusing Almighty God. So, how can Alpha dilute this and substitute with fun and games, a quick run through philosophical questions, and a weekend of false but occult spiritism? It can do it easily, because it is a false Gospel offered by false churches.

Romish Rubbish

On a number of occasions I have warned that anything approved by Rome must be suspect. Why? Because if it is approved by Rome it must be heretical and false, designed to lead people into its own arms and chains.

Rome sees Alpha as a means to ensnare unwary unsaved people into its net. Rome is happy to let Alpha do the work, so long as it gains in numbers.

The Growth Predicted

When the Toronto Blessing exploded I warned that it would soon ‘theologise’ its heresies. This it is doing, but the main link to it all is Alpha. I also predicted that Alpha would not rest with its ‘Gospel’ offering but would soon expand to cover every aspect of life with its heresies.

All of this is now happening, with dozens of different courses on different aspects if life. Thus, Alpha and its apostate thinking is building a web of falsity and adherents are well and truly caught!

All of this is taking the place of ‘straight’ scripture and it moves people far away from scripture-alone, toward Rome and the pit.

Strategies not Spirit

Alpha is all about strategies. Though talking a lot about the ‘Spirit’ (Who is reduced to an ‘it’ or ‘force’ by many who attend) Alpha is about marketing ploys. In its book on running courses, Holy Trinity (the source of the Toronto Blessing in the UK) says that one ought to run Alpha exactly as it is written, ‘because it works’.

It ‘works’ on a superficial level, on people’s emotions and minds. It ‘works’ because it is astounding marketing, and not because God is moving men and women by His Holy Spirit.

Instructions include best ways to advertise, slogans and use of jokes. There are even books and sessions on ‘practicalities of dynamic prayer meetings’. Read our article on prayer meetings and then read what Holy Trinity says, and see the difference!

There are seminars and books galore, all used to praise and promote Alpha. Now, look at scripture. Can you see anything there that even remotely resembles what Alpha is doing? Anything that praises itself before God?

Look at Alpha literature and you will find so much self-praise as to be sickening. As a ministry we very rarely publish letters or other correspondence that gives us praise. We do so, because praise is not due to us, but to God alone. Also, if we publish letters of praise regularly, it is a tool of marketing as well as a subtle means of ‘blowing our own trumpet’. We just will not do it…but Alpha is not slow to pat itself on the back at every opportunity.

Reading an Alpha newspaper is like reading the diary of Narcissus! Every so-called ‘success’ is attributed to Alpha, not to God. Does this not tell you what is really behind the whole charade?

MORI is the Measure?

In Alpha News No. 29, November 2002, the front page article was not in praise of God, but in praise of itself.

A MORI poll indicates that “8 million adults across the UK can now identify Alpha as a Christian course and recognise its logo.”

“Even Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was aware of the course”. Oh well, that is the height of success, eh?

Throughout the lead article no mention at all is made of God, or Christ, or the Gospel.

Every part of the article is designed to praise Alpha and its success.

The MORI poll also discovered that Alpha is growing year by year. I do not hype the fact that Alpha is growing like a cancer and will dictate the thinking of most Christians throughout the world before too long.

The danger in Alpha is the way it substitutes lies for the truth, in a friendly and pseudo-Biblical way. Those who have read my full Alpha critique will see what I mean, for the Alpha course contains dozens of heresies and Arminian errors. That makes Alpha the leading cult of our time, if not of all time.

Alpha is taking churches and individuals toward Rome, whether they know it or not. All roads will, one day soon, lead to Rome! It is the task of Alpha to make sure the road is smooth.

In its many testimonies, the Alpha News stories contain nothing but praise for Alpha. Where is God in all this? No doubt Alpha leaders would retort that they do attribute all the glory to God! But where is it in public statements? It is not there!

The new archbishop praises Alpha, of course – but is this of any value, given his liberalism? Hardly.

And what of Nicky Gumbel speaking at Willow Creek? This is reported proudly. This easily confirms Gumbel’s Arminianism! The pastor praised Gumbel, not God, for his work.

And in Lisburn, Ulster, Protestants and Catholics presented a joint Alpha course! A RC priest said that it was great, because both groups could deepen their faith together…that is, Catholic. Alpha is heresy!

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© November 2002

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