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Thank you for the great work you are doing! I look forward to receiving your updates every month and I think you’ve got a good grasp on what’s happening in the church that is not only heretical, but goes against the mainstream Christian “church”. Keep up the great work!
Stacy L. Harp. Founder & Editor E-Involved www.einvolved.org
[1] Every time I read a fundamentalist criticism of, say, Alpha or Saddleback, I think: “strain out a gnat and swallow a camel”!
Some of the criticisms are valid, but the Fundamentalists are forgetting — or don’t seem to realise — that people have stopped listening to them.
Not, “heard the Gospel message and rejected it”, but, “have never heard it in the first place because of the way the Fundamentalists go about things” e.g.
I understand why they and the older Pentecostals hold the KJV in esteem, but take it from someone of a younger generation: to try using it with us is only to create an utterly unnecessary stumbling-block. As St Paul said, “I became all things to all men in order to save some”. Pentecost is in the same boat in some ways; I absolutely agree that we need to preach about sin and repentance, but is that where we necessarily need to start? I am not sure of that point.
[2] And that is the point of Alpha and perhaps the Purpose-Driven Church: people are listening, and the working with felt needs (e.g. addictions), is what opens the door for people to hear the Gospel, in particular the need for repentance from sin, and the judgement to come. If, in situations like the third world, medical mission is an accepted way of building bridges with people, then, in the West, so can be working with ‘felt needs’, at least to start with. The principle, to me, seems to be the same. The historical record is that the early Christians preached, but they also ministered into the situations they were in. While ‘good works’ and ‘works of mercy’ are not the Gospel, in many places they have served to authenticate or witness to the preaching of the Gospel. Ditto, I suspect, for signs and wonders. Making contact in the community by offering 12-step programmes is no different. Nor was my last church when it ran a community programme for mothers of pre-schoolers – conversions have come out of that ministry.
[3] The genesis of American fundamentalism lies in the American South; not in the utterly different culture of Southern California. It is also a little rich for the Southern fundamentalists to complain that Rick Warren & Co have ‘compromised with the culture’, when they (the Fundamentalists) were very bad at (in one area in particular), being compromised to their own culture. And some of the complaints actually involve issues of ‘culture’ (like the complaining that Warren & Co are dressed informally for church).
[4] Because our culture has so changed from when Fundamentalism had its genesis, it means that our unchanging message (the Gospel) does need to be preached in different ways. If you have time, do a comparison of Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 with Paul’s to the Athenians in Acts 17, which is far more applicable to our situation. The fundamentalist critics of (e.g.) Alpha understand Acts 2 – but do not understand that the culture has so changed that what Paul did in Acts 17 is a far better model for what we should be doing.
[5] The other thing is that Alpha gives people an introduction to the Holy Spirit; something you, an old-time Pentecostal, should be pleased at!
To finish up, I agree that these ministries do need to improve how they do things, but I am not sure at the end of the day that our Fundamentalist friends are making any more progress.
On another matter – and here I do agree with your view – how are the Houstons getting on?
At the moment in NZ, I can really think of only one well-known ministry that is pushing prosperity doctrine with any enthusiasm (Brian Tamaki’s – and he got into quite a stink for giving Ian Bilby a second chance at things when there was no way that Ian deserved it).
Also – one recent Baptist news feed advised that one result of the Passion of the Christ was that people in the Muslim world were seeing the movie then going off to ask for Arabic New Testaments etc. I am well aware of the film’s faults, but God seems to be using it all the same.
Ross Clark Wellington, New Zealand
As a moderate Charismatic of a non-ecumenical doctrinal persuasion and as an opponent of The Toronto Experience, I have for some time been keen to engage you in a public debate regarding your Alpha Courses. I am currently in California but return to the UK shortly.
I understand that you may well be unaware that this invitation existed, however it is on record that I have made open announcements regarding my wish to debate you during previous speaking engagements. Christian friends from Wales are prepared to act on my behalf to bring this request to your personal attention and are also prepared to act as an intermediary until my return to the UK.
I am therefore pleased to personally invite you to such a debate.
My only requirements would be that the format be open to the general Evangelical Christian public, video taped, and properly moderated in the presence of a panel of a few academics versed in Hebrew and Greek, and that photographic and documentary evidence can be presented. I am sure we can mutually agree a venue and an independent facilitator for the event.
I recall in 1990 when Sandy Miller & HTB promoted the late John Wimber and The Kansas City Prophets at Docklands prophetically predicting a huge revival for October of 1990. No revival took place but on the contrary, more mosques have been built in Britain than churches since that time and C of E church attendance declined with an added momentum now averaging 1,000 fewer per week. A sad reflection on the UK you may agree.
There are many issues related to the ‘Toronto Blessing’, and to the Alpha Course that I wish to debate with you. I should think that, as you are mainly responsible for the successes of this course that you might be quite willing to perhaps extol the Course’s virtues and to take advantage of this public platform to defend any criticisms that may arise during the debate.
Now, following your recent visit to The Vatican, surely your Alpha position regarding Rome constitutes a de facto rejection of your own 39 articles and dismissal of the martyrdom of Tyndale, Hooper, Cranmer, and Latimer – given that Rome still champions those doctrines these founders of Evangelical Anglicanism (themselves, former Roman Catholic clergy) chose death rather than to compromise with.
For these and other reasons, I actually regard Alpha as contra biblical and ultimately useless in calling Britain back to Christ and I would look forward to a lively debate. Alpha appears to be good marketing, but poor theology and in the final analysis, I contend, does not deliver the promised goods any more than the Kansas City or Toronto promises did.
I have notified some Christian friends in Wales who have contacted me via our American branch, of my willingness to debate with you and made it clear I would also respond with favour to their suggestion that I and another jointly debate Sandy Miller and yourself. I trust that you will also accept their offer to stage such a debate and arrange the necessary logistics. Any video would of course be handed un-edited to each participant immediately at the conclusion of the debate. This would not preclude a properly edited version being made available to everyone at a later date.
I do look forward with interest to receiving your personal response to this invitation and hope that you will indeed take up the challenge as outlined herein. If there is anything else I can do to make my position clearer, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Finally, I would add that there is a growing number of people who are very interested in hearing answers to the concerns I have regarding the Alpha Course and related matters. Therefore, many Christians apart from myself will await your response to this letter of invitation with keen anticipation.
I commend this unique opportunity to you and ask that you kindly attach to it the importance we feel it merits.
Benny visited Brisbane for two nights —June 25-26. There have been only two Newspaper reports. One report was totally satirical and the other by Roman Catholic Church officials calling for an investigation into his “healing” claims.
There has been a sinister development linking Benny Hinn with Yassar Arafat and the Middle East Peace Process.
The Bible makes it clear that antichrist will be a man with both Israeli and religious connections. What do you think?
It would appear that a person named “White” whom Hinn heralds as a man “filled with the Spirit”, does not have the government links that he claims.
This puts into question Hinn’s ‘discernment’.
Read on at: http://www.letusreason. org/b.hinn16.htm
May not have appeared in any CWM Publication
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3
