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The Apostles of Christ faced
a variety of enemies as they sought to establish churches
during the first century. The two generations that followed
the ascension of Christ featured more theological innovation than
any other similar period in all of church history. That's a bit
of an eye-opener to many people because they have the idea that
for quite a long time after the days of the Apostles, things
went along fairly well, and it was only later that the innovations
began. But actually, the record shows
that it was in that period while the Apostles were still alive
that the devil unleashed every weapon from his arsenal. In fact,
almost everything that has arisen since that time has been almost
always a reworking of some idea that was spawned while the Apostles
were still alive. The Apostle John, who is called
by many the Apostle of Love, was one of the fiercest combatants
against doctrinal deviation. and especially so as the other
apostles died. And eventually, he was the last
one left alive. It is significant that in the
very epistle in which John spoke so much of the need for believers
to love each other, he was also directing their attention to
the theological dangers that were lurking all about them.
For those dangers had the capacity to undermine the churches that
had been established already and to lead them, succeeding
generations in those churches, to spiritual ruination. It was
no great wonder then that John exhorted the believers of that
time not to believe everything that came along, but to test
the spirits so as to determine which were from God and which
were not. Many false prophets, John said,
had spread throughout the world. And there was a great need for
the believers to be able to discern that which was true from that
which was false. And the inspired apostle made
it clear here that the ultimate tool in such discernment is the
person of Jesus Christ. What do people say about Jesus
Christ? Has He come in the flesh? Is He the virgin-born Son of
God or not? Those who deny that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh, meaning those who deny the doctrine of
Christ, for to say that He has come in the flesh is to say certain
things about His person and His work. Those who deny the doctrine
of Christ, John said in this passage, are of the world. They follow the spirit, as he
said, of Antichrist. Those who embrace the doctrine
of Christ, on the other hand, are of God. That becomes then the touchstone,
the determining factor. And notice that the emphasis
is on the doctrine of Christ, so that John would say in his
second epistle, if any come unto you and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into your house, neither bid him God's speed.
So that any tendency to move away from the doctrine to the
ground of emotional experience, will leave you without a firm
reference point. And it will lead you into compromise,
even unwittingly. It will lead you to a denial
of the truths of the gospel. So that is the importance then
of what John was saying here concerning the doctrine of Christ. It is that very tendency to compromise. and denial of the truths of the
gospel that is the legacy of what is called the Alpha Course. The Alpha Course is a way described,
supposedly, to introduce unbelievers to Christianity. It was developed
in England less than 20 years ago. And not until 1991, really,
was it used in a form that could be adapted widely. And since
that time, the Alpha Course has spread around the world. The
Alpha Course is a series of 15 sessions, about an hour long
each. Those are spread over a period
of 10 weeks. Each session begins with a light
meal and is followed by an informal presentation of the subject designated
for that session. And these sessions generally
have relatively small groups of people in attendance. And after that informal presentation
of the subject, by whoever's leading the whole session, then
those who are in attendance are divided up, and this is done
in a predetermined way, it's not left to chance or to random
division, but they're divided up into smaller groups to discuss
what they have heard and are encouraged to give any ideas
they have, no matter how absurd they may appear to others to
be. The last sessions in the course
take place on what is called Alpha Weekend, and that is a
weekend retreat. And those sessions feature an
emphasis on the charismatic signs, on praying or trying to get the
Holy Spirit. And those charismatic signs lie
at the heart of the program's attempt to break down denominational
barriers in Christendom. And that's one of the stated
goals, to try to de-emphasize those things that divide people. And it's not surprising then
that it has been endorsed by leaders from over 75 traditions,
as they say, including Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, charismatic,
Baptist, independent, all the way down the line. Now, when
you look at the thing at first glance, it's very nicely packaged
and it seems a very good idea. What can be wrong with an attempt
to reach young people? And they are the chief targets,
especially young people who do not now attend any church. What's wrong with trying to reach
them with some introductory material about Christianity? What's wrong
with an effort to take young people who have just professed
faith in Christ and try to provide them with some grounding in the
truth and some suggestions as to how to have a Christian life?
Well, those are the questions that are always brought to those
who criticize. the Alpha Course. And those questions
underline the danger that lies in this approach to what is called
evangelism. The Alpha Course appears to be
something positive while it conceals something sinister, something
that is designed to remove churches from their doctrinal moorings,
to facilitate fellowship with those who reject the truth concerning
Christ, the doctrine of Christ, and the gospel. And here is the
very thing against which the Apostle John was warning the
believers of the first century. Those who would not be bound
by the authoritative word of inspired apostles were showing,
John was saying, they had no connection with the church of
Jesus Christ at all. In that very ominous sentence
at the end of verse 6, which is our text, John said that hereby
know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. This evening, let us give heed
to John's words and let us consider the subtle spirit of error. It is incumbent upon us as believers
in Christ not to pretend that these things do not go not to
bury our heads in the sand and to pretend that the trends of
the times have no impact upon us. It is incumbent upon us to
gather as much knowledge as we can so that we can more effectively
be vigilant and guard our own hearts and our own minds and
those of our children and our grandchildren. We are not to assume, John said,
that everything is what it appears to be. No one should be against
any genuine effort to reach sinners with the truth of the gospel.
We are in favor of any means by which we can reach sinners
with the truth of the gospel as long as those means do not
compromise that truth in the process. But let us be aware
that the devil can cloak himself as an angel of light. He can
appear to be in favor of something that is commendable or seems
commendable, while at the same time he delivers with it that
which is evil and anti-Christian. Now, tomorrow and Tuesday, here
in Phoenix, there will be a conference called the Alpha Conference.
I received an information sheet about it in the mail here at
the church a few weeks ago. That's what got me thinking about
this particular message. It looks very inviting. There's
a nice picture on the front of a group of young people sitting
around a table at an informal meal, a light meal. That's the
purpose of it. On the cover, Christianity. Boring? Untrue? And irrelevant? Who is
Jesus? How does God guide us? What does
the Holy Spirit do? Why did Jesus die? How and why
do I pray? What about the church? All these
questions that they propose to answer. Well, they're going to
have a conference down at Foothills Baptist Church in South Phoenix. And sponsoring that conference
locally, are Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist,
Episcopal, and Independent Churches. All those signatures were on
the letter that was sent out. Now it should be obvious that
not one of those groups sponsoring this conference, a conference
which is for the purpose of teaching people how to implement the Alpha
Course in their own churches, Not one of those churches is
going to view the Alpha Course as a threat to its own doctrinal
distinctives. And therein lies the danger. For the doctrinal aspects of
the Alpha Course are so diluted, made so unimportant, really as
some say irrelevant, that none of those churches that sponsors
the Alpha Conference finds anything in the Alpha Course to be feared. Now, this evening we are here
to provide an overview of the Alpha Course, and I can only
really skim the surface of it. There is a lot of information
regarding the Alpha Course on the Internet. If you just do
a search for the Alpha Course, you will find out that there
are a number of sites. I think the search I performed
indicated there were more than 1,400,000 pages concerning the
Alpha Course on the Internet. But tonight, I just want you
to consider four things concerning this subtle spirit of error. Number one, supporters. of the Alpha Course. Now in considering
the value of anything related to Christianity, it is almost
always the case that you can gain a great idea about that
value by looking at those who support it. In this case, there is a long
list of leaders from the Charismatic Movement, notably the Vineyard
Fellowship, and we will deal more with that by and by, from
New Evangelicalism, from the church marketing movement, and
from liberal Protestantism. And here are just some of the
people who heartily endorse the Alpha Course, whose pictures
and whose endorsements appear inside this brochure. Tony Campolo,
Professor at Eastern University. Dr. Allison has referred to Eastern
University. There are some students from
Eastern who now attend the Free Church there. Eastern is a cesspool
of apostasy. Tony Campolo is a professor there. He was a spiritual advisor to
former President Clinton, was supposed to help him through
all of his difficulties. He's an endorser of the Alpha
Course. Leighton Ford, a close associate of Billy Graham, and
now in evangelism on his own. Bill Hybels, senior pastor of
Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago area, a leader
in the church growth and marketing movements. Bill Bright, president
of Campus Crusade for Christ. J.I. Packer, Professor of Theology
at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. And whenever
I have to mention Packer's name, it always gives me great grief,
because Packer is supposed to be reformed in his theology. He has written some of the finest
books in the 20th century dealing with reformed truth. His book,
Knowing God, is certainly a tremendous piece of work. But J. I. Packer
is a compromiser to the extreme. And he endorses the Alpha Course. Charles Coulson is another one,
founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries, a leading New Evangelical. Charles Coulson is the one whose
wife is a Roman Catholic, and Charles Coulson is the one who
said he never knew what it meant to be born again until he went
to the Mass with his wife. Luis Palau. an evangelist from
Latin America known for his willingness to compromise with modernists
and apostates. Those are some of the people
who endorse the Alpha Course. There are many other names that
we could list who are not so well known. But we can say about
every one of those people who endorse the Alpha Course that
they have sold out the Gospel in an effort to gain acceptance
by a wider community. When you see those who support
the Alpha Course, you should sense right away, there must
be something wrong with it. I read some of the names off
to my wife this afternoon, and she said, without hearing anything
else, well that's all you need to know, to know that you can't
support it. It is usually a safe method in
determining where to stand on an issue to look at those who
are in favor of it and those who criticize it. Now if I had any one of those
people I named supporting me, then you would have just cause
to be very alarmed that I had lost my separatist stand. And you would have every reason
to wonder about how I would stand on every issue concerning the
Gospel. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ gave
instruction on this very matter. If you turn to the Gospel of
Matthew and to chapter 7, And let's look at verse 15. Beware of false prophets which
come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves. Now here is an exhortation that's
in the same chapter that begins with the words of Christ, Judge
not that ye be not judged. And I don't know how many times
I have heard those words quoted to me over the years when you
try to point out compromise. Oh, judge not that ye be not
judged. Well, if they want to quote that
verse, let's come down a little ways in the chapter to this verse,
where Jesus said, Beware of false prophets which come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye
shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them. You look at these people
who support the Alpha Course, what are the fruits of their
work? What are the fruits of the work
of Tony Campolo? And when you look at that, you
find out that Jesus said that's how you know. You beware of false prophets.
So when you look at the supporters of the Alpha Course, there's
every reason to be alarmed. But we find even more when we
come to the source of the Alpha Course. Where was this idea hatched? It was developed at Holy Trinity
Church in Brompton, in England. Brompton is a suburb of London. Now the current form of the course
was finalized in 1990, and the leading figure in its development
was an Anglican curate named Nicky Gumbel. He wrote a book
called Questions of Life, and that book serves as the foundation
for the course. And he himself has made the observation,
look, this book and this course, they're not fixed in their content. That is, if times change and
if circumstances change, well, we can certainly revise the material
in the course or revise the material in the book as necessary. Now,
there is a two-fold significance in the place of the course's
origin. Holy Trinity Brompton is an Anglican
Church. And the Church of England, especially
during the last half century, has been sliding rapidly back
toward reunion with Romanism. Indeed, it is marked by theological
bankruptcy on a broad scale. Its pulpits are filled by an
amazing variety of pastors, some who deny the cardinal truths
of Christianity. The recently installed Archbishop
of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, of whom you may
have read in The Burning Bush, has refused to challenge those
who deny the virgin birth of Christ, or who deny the deity
of Christ, or who deny the bodily resurrection of Christ. And he
has also indicated his sympathy for the ordination of practicing
sodomites as clergymen in the church, in spite of the fact
that the church takes a position against those things. So it's
hard to imagine a less auspicious source for anything purporting
to do with Christian evangelism than an Anglican church. But
the other thing to observe here is that Holy Trinity Brompton
is also the seedbed for the so-called Toronto Blessing. The Laughing
Revival. Now, the Toronto Blessing is
a whole message in itself. Dr. McClelland, of course, is
well acquainted with the Toronto Blessing and has even observed
it first hand. But suffice it to say, it is
a kind of approach to revival where people are taught that
when you get the blessing, you fall down on the floor and roll
around uncontrollably laughing, or sometimes barking like a dog,
or snorting like a pig. At Holy Trinity, Brompton, taxi
cabs are summoned for those who are in attendance at the services,
who are too drunk in the Spirit to drive home safely after the
services. So, instead of being drunk on
wine, they're drunk on the Spirit, and they don't trust them to
drive home, so they call a cab. And it was this kind of atmosphere
that became the leading feature of the Vineyard Fellowship movement,
both in England and in America. And it has become a leading feature
of the Alpha course as well. Nicky Gumbel, in his book Questions
of Life, says Sunday services should not be the dull and somber
affairs that he says are part of traditional Christianity.
They should be, he says, like a party. And he points to the
parable of the prodigal son. And Gumbel said that 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, he says, where
you can get drunk on God. Now that is the spirit of the
man who is at the heart of the Alpha Course. One woman in England refused
to fall for this rubbish. She walked out of her church.
Now, when an Anglican does that, that's significant. Because Anglicans
have usually been in their churches since they were born. So she
walked out of her church and she's holding services in her
own home. And why? Because she said she
doesn't want to snort like a pig and bark like a dog when she
goes to church. So the connection between the
Alpha Course and the charismatic delusion should be enough in
itself. to warn Christians away from
it. But then we come to the heart
of the matter. The third thing. The substance of the Alpha Course. And here is the danger. Here is the subtle spirit of
error. Because you see, as I pointed
out, When you first look at the content of the course, you would
say, well, I don't find too much objectionable about that, or
that, or the other thing. But one word that comes through
over and over in comments about the content of the course is
shallow. They don't go into very great
depth. They try to avoid going too far. And what's the reason
for that? They don't want to raise any
issues that might put people off, that might serve to divide
people one from another. They're trying to get everybody
to come together. So let's not get too deep into
any one subject. An Englishman named Chris Hand
has provided a telling analysis of the Alpha Course in which
he makes the following observations. And he has a two-part message
actually on the Alpha Course that is on Sermon Audio that
you can listen to. He's from England. But this is
what he concludes in his analysis. Number one, the God of Alpha
is not the God of the Bible. He said it does not present us,
that is the Course 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. And what's the purpose? Keep
everything vague. That way people who are coming
from a Buddhist background, they may see God in the sense of Buddha. Those who are coming from a New
Age background may see God as kind of an aura. So we don't
get too specific. He went on to say, that 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. And that is a big omission. And so it is. But isn't that
the whole spirit of the church marketing approach today? Don't
they tell people, if you come to our church, you won't be made
to feel badly about yourself. Even if you are shacked up with
somebody. Even if you have committed adultery
and are committing adultery. You won't be made to feel bad
about yourself. I've heard people tell me, you
know, they don't say that they sinned, they say they messed
up. And here's the concession to that. We just tell people,
well, you made a mistake. You messed up. So the approach
to sin in the Alpha Course is not the approach that the Bible
takes. He goes on to say that the Jesus
Christ of Alpha is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible. Despite having part of the Course
titled, Why Did Jesus Die?, the Course is unable in the final
analysis to answer that question. So the Bible makes it plain what
the truth is about Jesus, what the doctrine of Christ is, but
the Alpha Course is vague on the subject. It may identify
him as a historical figure, But it really leaves out all of the
content concerning His person and His work. He goes on to say,
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. The Alpha Course does not provide that context. And what's
the reason? You get these young people coming
together in an effort to reach them. You don't want to emphasize
the holiness and the justice of God. Why? That might make
them sweat. That might make them uncomfortable.
So we don't mention it. He goes on to say the Holy Spirit
of Alpha is not the Holy Spirit of the Bible. Alpha's spirit
appears to work in ways that lie, here's the key, outside
the confines of Scripture. Whoever it is that people are
introduced to at the Alpha weekend, that's the final sessions. Those
are the final sessions in the Course. 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. There's the
genius of the Alpha Course. You get people from all these
traditions who come together and they're all happy. They don't
hear anything that will make them divert from what they're
used to. They are taught that they can
take Christianity and continue on practicing their new age or
their pagan religions. And then he notes that 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. And I think that that is certainly
a telling analysis of the substance of the Alpha Course. Let us remember
what the Apostle John has said in the passage from which we
have read this evening. He is saying in verse 1, many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Yes, that was in the
first century. They were already out there.
And what were they doing? They were trying to water down
the truth. They were trying to distract
sinners from the real issues of sin and salvation. to enable
them to feel more comfortable about themselves. But John comes
to say that we determine whether or not something is of God by
looking at the doctrine of Christ. We compare it to the doctrine
of Christ. And if it diverges from that
doctrine, if it does not come up to meet that doctrine, what
do we know? It's not of God. It comes from the devil. It's
of the world. And that leads us to the final
point, the sadness of the Alpha Course. There are many people who have
been taken in by the subtle spirit of error, who have had some kind
of an emotional experience in connection with the Alpha Course,
just as those who have emotional experiences at promise keepers
meetings, who are confident that by reason of that experience
they have become Christians, when all they have done is to
accommodate themselves to some sort of Christian lifestyle. Here is the great danger. And
here is why the Alpha Course really makes true Christian evangelism
much more difficult. Because when you deal with people
who have had this kind of an emotional experience, They find it very difficult to
accept from you any suggestion that they have not become Christians. And so they go on then, simply
assuming that all is well with them. And the reality is they
have never repented of their sins. They have never come by
faith to lay hold on Jesus Christ. Because everything about Christ
and everything about the Gospel has been made vague to them.
Oh, there is enough terminology there. There is enough terminology
there. But it's all vagueness. So all they have accomplished
is a reformation. They've reformed themselves.
Living in a slightly different way than they used to. But it
is not reformation that sinners need. They need regeneration. Now I said at the outset that
for us to go into any depth, there's one article I read on
the internet thirteen pages long. And it goes into some detail
about the Alpha Course. Well, I wouldn't have the time
to really go through all of that. It examines really the book itself
that they use in some detail, some of the statements there.
But here is something that, like promise keepers and like other
things, the devil has put out there to try to muddy the waters. And the important thing is for
those who are following after Christ to recognize that according
to John's standard, it is not of God. Not in any way. So therefore, when we hear about
the Alpha Course, our response ought to be to try to dissuade
people from getting themselves involved in it. We ought to be
encouraging them not to go to some course but to come to the
house of God and listen to the exposition of the Holy Scriptures,
even if they have no reference point for it. Because it is that
which they need. They need the Word of the living
God. It is the Word of the living
God that operates in the soul of a sinner to bring light, to
bring life. So then, Let us know the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error, and let us resolve that by the
grace of God we will not be taken in by the spirit of error, but
will stand for the truth of the gospel and lift up Jesus Christ
and Him crucified as the only hope for sinners. That is what
sinners need. Whether they are young people
or middle-aged people or older people, that is what sinners
need. to hear Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. May God give us the grace then
to stand against the subtle spirit of error and to lift up the truth
of Jesus Christ so that sinners may be drawn unto Him.
The Subtle Spirit of Error
On the eve of the first Alpha Conference ever to be held in Phoenix, we examine this deceptive method of "evangelism" by considering those who endorse it, its origins, and a summary of its contents. The Scriptures warn against the spirit of error that leads people away from the doctrine of Christ and that promotes not only ecumenism but also syncretism.
| Sermon ID | 32403181027 |
| Duration | 41:23 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | 1 John 4:6 |
| Language | English |
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