Alpha Courses

[frienduff thaylorde]

7 hours ago, Melinda12 said:

Now this i did not know. I will look up what i can but what in your view are the main implications of this stance? 

To get us to be as one and with a mindset that will serve THEIR desired goal .

A one world mindset that serves a one world king and kings .    They just molding the minds right now .

It started small as leaven always does , but it has risen .

They focus on relationships ,  But not the main relationship which would PUT JESUS , TRUTH above all .

When paul said let their be no divisions among you ,  HE DID NOT MEAN oh just bury your differences and focus on getting along .

WHEN paul said let their be no divisions among you , IT was this kind of division ,  MARK those who cause DIVISIONS CONTRARY TO SOUND DOCTRINE

mark them and avoid them .

WHEN paul spoke of unity,   it was not unity for the sake of having unity , it was unity with those who are Christ centered .

Not humanity centered .

God said be not unequally yoked for a reason .    And thus the dark one knows if he can get us to focus more on this sensual type of unity and relationships

folks will fall away in time .

IT worked with seeker friendly , its working with this too .

As many churches who brought into seeker friendly allowed folks in , YET focused on relationship , NOT on doctrine which would have led to repentance from error

the leaven took over .   Instead of trying to help those in error of sin , they simply focused on relationship .  That did not work out well .

Stead of a clean spotless church who could have helped ,  its become a dark church who simply accepts the leaven .  

Instead of preaching the goodness and severity of GOD , they left off the severity and preached a goodness which in turn led to acceptance of sin

NOT the true goodness of GOD which leads to REPENTANCE .   its a mess Melinda .

And worse it will get .  And always the same pattern they use .  what worked with seeker friendly and led to acceptance

will also work with acceptance of even other religions .    Ever wonder why more and more are starting to believe that even muslims and buddists , atheist and such

are following the same GOD as does a christain, just because they can have an appearance of love and good works .

THEY KNOW what they doing Melinda .    MY people are destroyed from lack of knowledge .

And if we want to be wise unto salvation ,   we better leave off their teachings and return fast to bibles only .

For the holy scrips are what makes one wise unto salvation through faith in Christ .   You mark my words ,  its why in time we will also

not only as we have seen the unification of the faiths , but also unification to be as one with other religions and the world too .

THEY are slick .

[turtletwo]

15 hours ago, Melinda12 said:

Now this i did not know. I will look up what i can but what in your view are the main implications of this stance? 

@Melinda12 I commend you for asking this question of frienduff. 

I'm starting a thread that sheds light on the dangers within the Alpha Courses. I hope it is helpful to you. 

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, turtletwo said:

@Melinda12 I commend you for asking this question of frienduff. 

I'm starting a thread that sheds light on the dangers within the Alpha Courses. I hope it is helpful to you. 

Yes great. It will be useful to know the full picture. 

[B3L13v3R]

I let a pastor in our area know of it's troubling teachings, as he was thinking on teaching this 7 week Alpha course to his parishioners. Upon seeing it up on his church bulletin board for a pre-start date a short time later, I had typed up much more thorough memo on much of Alpha's anti-biblical content and wished to hand it to him in person.
   Upon seeing him out front a a bit later, I pulled over to give it to him. He quickly walked inside, and locked the door. I knocked on the door, no answer. So, I taped it on the outside of his door, in prayerful hopes that he might read it and walk away from the Alpha Course . Didn't happen. But the ear tickling Ecumenical, Roman Catholic like message that was intertwined throughout did nearly triple his numbers in church for the next 7 weeks. This particular Alpha Coarse taught at the end, you would "experience" holy spirit "laughter..."

A portion from a ministry that researches these things often times far beyond what I do:

"Author and lecturer Roger Oakland offers some insight: (On the Alpha Course)
   ...When Vineyard pastor Randy Clarke came to the Toronto Airport Vineyard in January of 1994, he held several nights of meetings and then lit “the fire.” Randy Clarke had received his “anointing” from the “Holy Spirit Bartender” from South Africa, Rodney-Howard Browne.
   For years afterwards, the transferrable anointing spread around the world. “It” was also called “it.” Once someone got “it” they were able to give “it” away. “It” was transported to the UK by Nicky Gumbel from the Holy Trinity Brompton Anglican Church in England."
  "...When we look at the background and what influences the “spirit” behind Alpha, there is every indication that this is not the Holy Spirit of the Bible, who does not ask us to do all kinds of weird and crazy things. We are not to seek visions and dreams or other things typical in Alpha-style hyper-charismatic circles. While some might perceive Alpha’s teachings on the Holy Spirit to be biblical, the problem lies in the clear beliefs and practices of the founder and how it is and has spread throughout the churches in practice thanks to Toronto and Brownsville. The kinds of manifestations that Gumbel promotes have nothing to do with the Comforter leading us into all truth and making us more like Jesus. It will more likely lead the participant into altered states of consciousness and occult practices common in New Age and emergent circles.
Alpha Endorsers
So who are the endorsers of the Alpha program? Probably the most influential supporter of Alpha (at least within the evangelical church) is Rick Warren. Warren was the keynote speaker at the 2014 Alpha Global Conference. For the fee of $190, one could catch him at Royal Albert Hall or get a seat at Gumbel’s church in Brompton (HTB)—remember, the site of the birth of the Holy Laughter movement."

[turtletwo]

On 11/30/2019 at 1:01 PM, Michael37 said:

Do tell us more about your experience with this course, Melinda12. Alpha courses have been around since 1980 and have been mainly part of the Anglican and Baptist curriculum here. I have steered clear of them due to some issues with what they teach, such as ritualism, ecumenism, and works salvation, but many attendees speak favourably of them. Fellowship and edification are important but not at the expense of sound doctrine.

@Michael37 I agree with fellowship and edification not being more important than sound doctrine. Thanks for pointing out that there is ritualism, ecumenism and works salvation in the course. I too, believe these are serious issues that would cause me to steer clear of them.

[Michael37]

26 minutes ago, Margo1945 said:

I do not know much about the Alpha Course but from what I have read here, it sounds like the emergent church which is found in all Christian denominations and is very dangerous to true Christians. The emergent church promotes things we true Christians should not become engaged in. We must find out what is being promoted and whether or not it is in line with God's Will and God's Holy Spirit inspired Word and Truth. I would suggest you google emergent church.

Alpha and Emergent have some things in common, the later being the more recent of the two. Add to these we now have Progressive missing the mark: 

Link to Apostate "Progressive Christianity" Site

By calling ourselves progressive Christians, we mean we are Christians who…

1.  Believe that following the path and teachings of Jesus can lead to an awareness and experience of the Sacred and the Oneness and Unity of all life;

2.  Affirm that the teachings of Jesus provide but one of many ways to experience the Sacredness and Oneness of life, and that we can draw from diverse sources of wisdom in our spiritual journey;

3.  Seek community that is inclusive of ALL people, including but not limited to:

• Conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,
• Believers and agnostics,
• Women and men,
• Those of all sexual orientations and gender identities,
• Those of all classes and abilities;

4.  Know that the way we behave towards one another is the fullest expression of what we believe;

5.  Find grace in the search for understanding and believe there is more value in questioning than in absolutes;

6.  Strive for peace and justice among all people;

7.  Strive to protect and restore the integrity of our Earth;

8.  Commit to a path of life-long learning, compassion, and selfless love.

[Michael37]

12 minutes ago, Margo1945 said:

I just read two other people's posts .. one said he thinks the Alpha course seems me-centred .. YESSSSSSSSSSSS, it most certainly is 

the same person said even though the Alpha course may have good intentions ... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, it has no good intentions 

another person said something important but I cannot read my own writing, so can't put exactly what she said and in looking back, I couldn't find it .. really weird .. but the gist of what the person said was something about the Alpha course leading to death (not her words precisely, but the gist) .. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS, the Alpha course is a course of "death" as those who follow it will be lead to spiritual death as this course is not Christian

I have done a lot of study about today's "emergent church" and it parallels the Alpha course and is me-centred, has no good intentions, and will lead to spiritual death for all who follow it 

Hi Margo1945. If you search this Forum for "emergent" choosing Content Titles in the menu drop you should get 10 hits. This thread dates back to 2005

 

[Blood Bought 1953]

 

This is the price lazy and Bible - ignorant people pay.....subject to fall for any  HogWash that comes down the Pike...

God has told us to be Good students of the Word- able to  “ rightly divide” the Scriptures. I find it difficult to conjure up much  sympathy for those “lemmings” who are clueless about doing as the Bereans did.Check out EVERYTHING to see if it lines up with the Word Of God. “ The people perish for  lack of knowledge”

[samuelg1]

Alpha is subversive and heretical. They are promoting Jim Carey and Freddie Mercury as sources of Christian wisdom of all people. They are also promoting multiculturalism and open borders, but not explicitly so. They are trying to sneak it in through the backdoor via imagery, especially through choice of interview subjects. 

Their constant flim flamming around, trying to avoid mention of Jesus is especially suspicious. 

Alpha is a project to water down Christianity and subvert it from within so as to render the church as a source and future base of new age religion.

The sad thing is, this subversiveness is totally unnecessary and redundant. The church is ALREADY severely compromised and is becoming more so everyday. Look at how degenerate the office of the Pope has become. That is the future of Protestantism as well: pro-communist, pro LGBTQ, pro open borders. In other words, 100% heresy and anti Christianity Christianity. 
 

Salt in the wound, as they say. 

 

edit: if the pastors wear street clothes, especially skinny jeans, the church is heretical! I'm joking, but not really. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by samuelg1