THE ALPHA COURSE
FINAL ANSWER OR FATAL
ATTRACTION?
by G. Richard
Fisher
When the
The Alpha program
sounds like a great idea. After all, with such heavyweights backing it and a
program to facilitate an introduction to the Christian faith (with weekend
retreats and group discussions) it has to be good — or does it? If nothing
else, one must admit that Alpha is packaged
impressively for maximum sales.
Popularity does not
mean that something is true. If it did, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny would
be real entities. Popularity does not automatically equal truth nor can it
create truth.
ALPHA ROOTS
The Alpha Course
originated in the
Author Dave Hunt
reminds us that “Holy Trinity Brompton
in
Evangelist Stephen
Hill, who helps oversee the pandemonium at the Brownsville Assembly of God in
“The
Brownsville Outpouring” has now become a traveling road show with all kinds of
“revival” paraphernalia for sale which generates hundreds of thousands of
dollars a year for the revival’s key players.3 The Pensacola News
Journal articles document that Brownsville leaders continue to be loose
with the truth as they rake in incredibly huge amounts of cash which are being
partly socked into personal real estate.
ALPHA BRITS
The
“A—Anyone
interested in finding out more about the Christian faith; L—Learning and
Laughter; P—Pasta (eating together gives people the chance to know each other);
H—Helping one another (small groups are used for discussion of issues raised
during the lectures); A—Ask anything. No question is seen as too simple or too
hostile.”4
The same article went
on to say that not all is well in Alpha land:
“An infectious
enthusiasm, entrepreneurial spirit, and a bold plan for growth are all
trademarks among Alpha’s top leaders. But not everyone is cheering Alpha
onward. Some church leaders have found Alpha teaching too charismatic, too
experience-driven, and too negative about traditional churches. Martyn Percy, director of the Lincoln Theological Institute
for the Study of Religion and Society of the University of
Sheffield, England, has commented about Alpha that it is ‘a package rather than
a pilgrimage.’ In a recent essay, he said, ‘It is a confident but narrow
_expression of Christianity, which stresses the personal experience of the
Spirit over the Spirit in the church. ... The Alpha approach has been faulted
for pushing an experience-driven approach to evangelism that sidesteps
intellectual difficulties.”5
There is no doubting
that the Alpha program, like many other fads, caught on with the help of slick
marketing by David C. Cook Communications and is enjoying worldwide success, at
least for now. The previously mentioned Christianity Today advertisement
says that a half-million people took the course in 1997 alone.
ALPHA
The Alpha Course is an
array of videos, audiocassettes, books, booklets, testimonials and leader’s
videos and guidebooks. One would have to spend hundreds of dollars to buy all
the paraphernalia.
The Alpha Course and
program is also promoted and endorsed by glowing personal testimonies but on
close examination has many weaknesses and falls short of meeting biblical
scrutiny. Isaiah
One such testimony
reported by Christianity Today is that of Keith Prestridge,
a former punk rocker:
“Prestridge
offered a pugilist’s description of Alpha’s Holy Spirit weekend: ‘They laid
hands on me, and I knew release, you know? I know those of you who have felt
the Spirit know what it’s like. It’s like being in a
good fight and suddenly being knocked out.”6
One would have to
search long and hard to find a verse that would compare the Holy Spirit to a
boxer who beats up people! This is reminiscent of John Wimber’s
fantasy of Jesus as a sumo wrestler who beats people around.7 And one has to look even harder for a Scripture verse that
says you can “feel” the Holy Spirit.
Though the Alpha Course
is mostly held in Vineyard and Charismatic churches, Roman Catholic, Anglican
and other groups are using them.8 Doctrinal issues have been
diminished or ignored in spite of 1 Timothy 4:13, 16.
ALPHA CRITICISM
The British
publication, The Christian Research Network Journal, has scrutinized the
Alpha program and come up with six major criticisms. The Journal says
the Alpha Course is: “massively over-hyped and
spiritually deceptive ... with its wholly inadequate view of Christian
conversion and experience.”9
Chris Hand in his
analysis of Alpha concludes the following:
“1. The God of Alpha
is not the God of the Bible. ... it does not
present us with the God who has revealed Himself in the Bible. ... 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. ... 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.’... 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. ... despite
having part of the course titled ‘Why did Jesus die?’, it is unable in the final analysis to answer this
question. ...
4. The love of God
in Alpha is not the love of God of the Bible. ... The God of the
Bible is love but it is love that is seen in His
willingness to save sinners. ... without
the context of God’s holiness and absolute perfection, the meaning of love is
lost to us. ...
5. The Holy Spirit
of Alpha is not the Holy Spirit of the Bible. ... 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 this
mysterious guest is, he is equally at home with the ecstatic gatherings of New
Age enthusiasts and non-Christian religions alike.
6. Conversions in Alpha
are not like the conversions in the Bible. ... 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. ... 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 supply us with the ‘good
news’.”10
Alpha is just new
window dressing on the old “Holy Ghost bartender” theme, the
ALPHA DEFICIENCIES
Alan Howe informs us:
“Central to the Alpha
Course is not the Christian gospel, but the so-called ‘Holy Spirit Weekend’
which is in fact a thinly-disguised opportunity for initiation into the
ALPHA SHAKE AND BAKE
A close look at the words of Nicky Gumbel,
as quoted by the CRN Journal, show the real direction of
the Alpha Course. Gumbel unashamedly is trying to
move people into esoteric experiences, altered states of consciousness, self-hypnosis and mindless emotionalism and then tell his
followers it is all of God. Gumbel uses “God’s words”
to move people toward the ultimate end which is
hysteria, loss of control and mindlessness.
Gumbel says that the purpose of the Holy Spirit weekends is to
expect all kinds of strange manifestations and bodily agitations. Consider his
comments:
“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. ... 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’.”12
Surely this cannot be
far behind the Mormon’s “burning in the bosom” where truth is sacrificed for
feeling and we no longer walk by faith but by tingles, sensations and
subjective, fallible impressions.
Someone should make Gumbel aware that one can get the same results practicing
pagan Kundalini. Edward Andrews, in documenting the
emotional excesses of the heretical Shakers, reports phenomenon that would
parallel Gumbel’s excesses.
To suggest that the
kinds of manifestations encouraged in Alpha could be remotely
connected to Christianity is absurd. They are more readily a product of
self-hypnosis, suggestion and altered states of consciousness
or even perhaps the demonic and occultic.
The Alpha Course may
very well be a huge success in a society driven by a need for new experiences,
new highs and out-of-control emotionalism but when held up to the pure light of
Scripture, it is an enormous failure. No matter who publishes it or who
endorses it, the final question is: How does it all
conform to the Word of God?
In his interview with Christianity
Today, Gumbel indicated that the Alpha Course is
evolving. What Alpha is today, it may not be tomorrow. Could it get worse? Gumbel said: “We haven’t got
everything perfect. Alpha is alive. It’s not fixed.”13
ALPHA SOURCE
This writer has read Gumbel’s book, Questions of Life, which is the main
text for Alpha teaching. The 263-page volume relies on mainstream evangelical
writers, as well as the likes of the aberrant John Wimber.
Though agreeing for the most part with the CRN Journal article, this
writer might have stressed things from a slightly different perspective and
have had less concern for a few of the points. Maybe we could call it giving
the devil his due.
CRN said
that “The God of Alpha is not the God of the Bible.” It is true
that Questions of Life presents no real doctrine of God nor does it seek
to teach about His person, character or attributes.
Alpha leaders would probably reply that their introduction to the Christian
faith is limited in nature or to a particular theme. Namely, that it mainly
addresses Jesus, salvation and living the Christian life and is not presenting
systematic theology of all the doctrines of Scripture
as do other books.
But failure to present
even the basics about the person of God (in evangelism) may leave the person being witnessed to, in various forms of mental idolatry or a
new age mentality, which is a faulty foundation for any supposed conversion.
Alpha passes over the person of God. Evangelization without some proper
understanding of God is suspect and deficient. Here CRN is absolutely
right.
Secondly, the plight of
man in Alpha is not as serious as in the Bible. In fairness, Gumbel does talk of the “pollution of sin,” as well as “the
power of sin” and “the penalty of sin.”14 He does elaborate on
Romans 3:23.15 Gumbel does talk about the
evil that comes out of a man’s heart and our guilt because of breaking God’s
laws.16 Gumbel’s emphasis on the
consequences of sin, which he discusses early in the book, pulls the reader in
by way of identification. Gumbel has not entirely
missed it here, though he does at other points.
Next is the comment
that the “Jesus Christ of Alpha is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible.”
In his chapter, “Who Is Jesus?,”
Gumbel draws straight from Josh McDowell, C.S. Lewis
and F.F. Bruce. Gumbel does a fairly
good job on the deity of Christ, fulfilled prophecies and the
resurrection of the Savior. How could he not have in transcribing from the
three above-mentioned scholars? In Gumbel’s section,
“Why Did Jesus Die?,” there
was enough information on substitution and crucifixion, as well as Scripture
citations on the work of Christ, to satisfy this writer.
The successive comment
that the “love of God in Alpha is not the love of the God of the Bible”
is a deficiency which could well go back to the first point. In stressing the
love of God apart from the balance of all His other attributes, one is left with faulty views of God. Love without holiness and
justice is not real love at all.
Concerning the
observation that the “Holy Spirit of Alpha is not the Holy Spirit of the
Bible,” Gumbel devotes 13 pages giving a fairly mainstream answer to “Who Is The
Holy Spirit?”17 The Holy Spirit, in Questions of Life, is presented in orthodox terms and in textbook fashion. The
big problem comes in the pages to follow, which speaks to the issue of: How
does the Holy Spirit act and what does He do to believers?
Here, Gumbel wanders off the biblical path and into the twilight
zone of speculation and emotionalism. The Holy Spirit of Alpha is not the
Comforter who assists us in the development of the fruit of the Spirit and
practical Christian living but is a capricious being who makes us do all kinds
of weird and crazy things. His theme song could well be “Shake, Rattle and
Roll.” If one could speak of heresies in sanctification, it would be here. If
there are converts, they are now thrown into the briars and thickets of pure
speculation, human imagination and emotional excess.
The
“believer” is inundated with teaching about tongues-speaking and burning body
parts.18 We are asked and expected to believe in the late John Wimber’s words of knowledge.19 The old party
line on healing is spelled out.20 We are instructed to seek guidance
in visions, voices and dreams.21 The maternity room turns into the
twilight zone and a maze for the new converts.
This is typical
charismatic fare without a hint from Gumbel that some
things in the Bible may be historic and descriptive, not necessarily
prescriptive. No one has recently reproduced the parting of the
Finally, CNR remarks
that the “conversions in Alpha are not like conversions in the Bible.”
Time will tell on this one. But conversions based on a faulty foundation and
misinformation about God cannot last. Converts (if they are) led into the
quicksand of emotions, altered states of consciousness, wild emotional
weekends, and the pursuit of dreams and visions, have no real future and will
wash out. The conversion stories that CRN detailed are questionable and are
more like occultic experiences than Christian ones.
One can only mourn for these “converts.” Only God knows if they are truly born
or “stillborn.”
One area of major
concern not addressed by CRN is Gumbel’s
teaching of Kingdom Now theology. Kingdom Now theology (sometimes called Dominionism or Triumphalism) is
the teaching that we can now have (with enough faith) all or most of the
physical and health benefits promised at Christ’s ultimate and perfect Kingdom.
In other words, we can begin to claim for ourselves most Kingdom benefits here
and now.
The
illusion that we can now have the physical aspects of God’s perfect future
Kingdom is expressed in this way by Gumbel, “The
Kingdom is both ‘now’ and ‘not yet.’”22 Gumbel also
says that the age to come can be realized in principle
in this age. He goes on to affirm:
“We live between the
times, when the age to come has broken into history. The old age goes on, but
the powers of the new era have erupted into this age. ... healing
is one of the signs of the Kingdom which was
inaugurated by Jesus Christ and continues to this day. Hence we should expect
God to continue to heal miraculously today as part of His Kingdom activity.”23
Apologist Hank Hanegraaff appraises the Kingdom Now illusions in these
words:
“Leaders of the
Counterfeit Revival demand the Kingdom now! — in this life, with all of its attendant material wealth,
public accolades, physical health, and earthly power.”24
Gumbel bases his Kingdom Now theology on his misinterpretation of
two Scriptures. First, he cites the questionable (and often disputed) Mark
16:15-20. And like most of his persuasion, he is selective. He does not press
the verse and suggest that he handles poisonous serpents or that he can empty
out cemeteries. Why not do it all?
The Mark 16 passage
cited above is hotly disputed as to authenticity.
Historically the orthodox position on the Scripture has been the inspiration
and inerrancy of the original autographs. No one should base major claims on a
few verses that are legitimately questionable. The rejection of these verses
based on internal and external evidence in no way alters crucial doctrines of
the Christian life.25
Charles R. Erdman,
commenting on the Gospel of Mark, affirms that: “The closing verses of this
Gospel are commonly regarded as an appendix, added by a later hand.”26
The Geneva Bible explains the
controversy over the ending of the Gospel of Mark:
“Scholars differ
regarding whether these verses were originally part of this Gospel. Some
important early Greek manuscripts lack these verses, other manuscripts have vv.
9-20 (known as the ‘Longer Ending’), and still others have a ‘Shorter Ending’
(roughly one verse long). A few manuscripts have both the ‘Shorter Ending’ and
the ‘Longer Ending.’ Because of these differences some scholars believe that
vv. 9-20 were added later and not written by Mark.”27
In his further attempts
to justify Kingdom Now ideas, Gumbel also quotes John
14:12 that says those that
believe will do greater works than Jesus. If Gumbel’s
view is true he should lead the way in regularly walking on water, multiplying
food, raising the dead, demonstrating a transfiguration body, changing water to
wine, healing masses of incurable diseases, controlling storms and getting tax
money from the mouth of fish. After all, how else could we do greater works
than Jesus? Certainly Gumbel is not a model of his own teaching. Having someone
fall down or say their headache is gone or they have a warm feeling in their
elbow is a comic illusion and a charade when compared to the power and scope of
the ministry of Christ.
Gumbel should be honest and point out that many able expositors
say that the greater works have to do with more extensive
results in the conversion of more sinners. The word “greater” is not used to show the exertion of power but rather the
effects of Gospel preaching. Christ’s lifetime ministry (as miraculous as it
was) ended with just a few at the cross. His post-resurrection ministry through
the Apostles and the Church has brought untold millions to the experience of
salvation.
Alexander Maclaren observes:
“... the
comparison is drawn between the limited sphere and the small results of
Christ’s work upon earth, and the worldwide sweep and majestic magnitude of the
results of the application of that work by His servants’ witnessing work. The
wider and more complete spiritual results achieved by the ministration of the
servants than by the ministration of the Lord is the point of comparison here. And I need only remind you that the poorest Christian who can go to
a brother soul, and by word or life can draw that soul to a Christ whom it
apprehends as dying for its sins and raised for its glorifying, does a mightier
thing than it was possible for the Master to do by life or lip whilst He was
here upon earth.”28
Likewise, distinguished
Bible teacher Oliver B. Greene points out:
“Greek scholars tell us
that this phrase in the Greek reads, ‘And greater than
these shall he do.’ Notice the word ‘works’ is not there; therefore it stands
to reason that Jesus was not referring to physical miracles, but rather to
something else that would be of greater magnitude than raising a dead person or
healing a sick body. The apostles would do something greater than the
miracles He had performed, and I do not doubt that He was speaking of the
preaching of the Gospel. Preaching the Gospel of a risen and exalted Christ,
proclaiming the grace of God to every creature, pointing souls from darkness to
light and causing unbelievers to be born of the Spirit is a far greater miracle
than healing a leper or causing a withered arm to be made whole.”29
Dr. Harry Ironside further points out:
“When you realize that
when Jesus left this scene, committing His gospel to a little group of eleven
men in order that they might carry it to the ends of the earth, at that time
the whole world, with the exception of a few in Israel, was lost in the
darkness of heathenism. But in three hundred years
Christianity closed nearly all the temples of the heathen
Charles Ryrie comments
on John 14:12:
“Greater in extent (through the worldwide preaching of the
gospel) and effect (the spiritual redemption and placing in the body of Christ
multitudes of people since the day of Pentecost).”31
In The
“
Is the Kingdom “now,”
in any sense? Certainly the Kingdom was embodied in
Christ. There was a partially “now” aspect as the King walked the earth healing
sicknesses and commanding demons, giving us a glimpse of the perfect Kingdom.
Since His Ascension, our Lord, through the Holy Spirit, extends the spiritual
blessings of the Kingdom through forgiveness, redemption
and salvation. He Himself said, “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John
A Sunday school child
would know that earth is not heaven and that we pray for the Kingdom to come. That complete final perfect Kingdom will come
when the King comes again (Matthew 26:29).
Our physical corruption
awaits the day it will put on
incorruption and perfection (1 Corinthians 15). We wait for the redemption of
our body (Romans
George Eldon Ladd
describes the sharp differences between spiritual blessings (and benefits of
the mediated Kingdom at this time) and the completed and perfect Kingdom with
all its physical benefits and blessings in this way:
“The presence of the
messianic salvation is also seen in Jesus’ miracles of healing for which the
Greek word meaning ‘to save’ is used. The presence of the
Ladd continues:
“The limitation of
these physical deliverances illustrates the nature of the present Kingdom in
contrast to its future manifestation. In the eschatological Kingdom, all
‘who are accounted worthy to attain to that age’ (Luke
ALF - ALPHA
Alpha’s deficiencies
outweigh any merit. The acrostic ALF can be used to
remember the deficiencies.
Advocating Kingdom Now
theories.
Locked into fickle emotions.
Faulty biblical understanding.
Gumbel has some truth but much error. The Alpha course is a
well-packaged meal with a dose of e. coli.
The non-discerning are at risk. The naive may “hold the finger of a small idea
and forget the fist of falsities that are smuggled in, in the process.”35
The idea of a fatal
attraction has come to mean a relationship that was thought
to be wonderful, finally turning out to destroy a person. The Alpha Course may
very well fit that description as it claims to take people through Bible
terrain but in reality turns them inward to their emotions and experiences. It
locks them into a detour and cycle of fickle emotions, carnal feelings and
self-focus and away from the true lover of their souls. It will be another fad
that will leave people dazed, confused, and worse off in the long
run. So-called Holy Ghost weekends cannot compare to a sane and balanced
daily walk with Jesus Christ through the Scriptures.
As a pastor, hardly a
week goes by that there is not someone on the phone trying to sell me a new
program, a new video, or new
curriculum that is going to “make” my church all it needs to be. My conviction
is that the Scriptures are all I need to make my church what it should be. The
problem is so many people are sidetracked and detoured, keeping up with all the
new fads being shoved in their faces and hawked at
every turn. We need to “just say no” to the deluge of new programs, so-called
revival paraphernalia, the marketing and prostitution of Christianity, as well
as the hucksters and sit down with the Scriptures daily and let God’s Word
minister to us (2 Timothy 3:15-17). We need to turn from the distractions and
fatal attractions and pour ourselves into our local churches, using our gifts
for ministry.
Endnotes:
1.
Dave Hunt, Occult Invasion.
2. See further, The Quarterly Journal, April-June 1997, “The Murky River
of Brownsville” and January-March 1998, “The Raging
River of Brownsville.”
3. See further, The
4. Christianity Today,
5. Ibid., pp. 37, 39.
6. Ibid., pg. 38.
7. See further, Hank Hanegraaff, Counterfeit
Revival.
8. Christianity Today, op. cit.,
9. The Christian Research Network Journal, Spring 1998, pg. 22.
10. Ibid., pp. 20-21.
11. Ibid., pg. 12.
12. Ibid., pg. 21.
13. Christianity Today, op. cit.,
14. Nicky Gumbel, Questions of
Life.
15. Ibid., pg. 44.
16. Ibid., pp. 44-45.
17. Ibid., pp. 119-131.
18. Ibid., pg. 152.
19. Ibid., pp. 199-200.
20. Ibid., pp. 199-215.
21. Ibid., pp. 103-118.
22. Ibid., pg. 44.
23. Ibid., pp. 204, 206.
24. Counterfeit Revival, op. cit., pg. 108.
25. For a fuller investigation, see James R. White, The King James Only Controversy.
26. Charles R. Erdman, The Gospel of Mark.
27. The
28. Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture
-
29. Oliver B. Greene, The Gospel According
To John.
30. Harry Ironside, Addresses on The Gospel of
John.
31. The Ryrie Study Bible, New Testament, pg. 191.
32. The
33. George Eldon Ladd, Jesus And The Kingdom.
34. Ibid., emphasis added. For a fuller treatment of Kingdom Now theology, the
people who advocate it, and the nuances of difference between them, see:
Michael G. Moriarty, The New Charismatics.
35. Quote from Ravi Zacharias,
Deliver Us From Evil, tape #2, Word Video
Resources, 1997.