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The Powers Behind The Alpha Course
Part 3: The Powerful Spirit

by Dusty Peterson & Elizabeth McDonald
2003, Updated 2006 

PROLOGUE  

It’s 1942; the middle of the Second World War.  You’re a combatant, but you have been permitted to take a short break in neutral Switzerland …  

You’re sitting in a park, minding your own business, when a man you don’t know walks over with a drink in his hand and offers it to you.  There’s a world war going on, and secret agents operate in that part of Europe , so you are naturally on your guard.  You study the man’s demeanour.  While doing so, you also politely quiz him about his motives and about the contents of the glass.  He interrupts you and, in a rather impatient tone, declares that the checks you are performing are irrelevant and that the only sensible test of the brew is for you to drink it and see what happens.  Who among us would be silly enough to fall for such a proposition?  The drink could be a poison that kills you instantly.  Worse, its toxin might be slow-acting, thereby deceiving those folks around you into trying it themselves.  Worse still, its slow-acting toxin might be present alongside some beneficial ingredients, or even just a mild hallucinogen, in which case its initial effects might well seem helpful.  And if one of its ingredients also made it addictive…  

Again, who in their right mind would make the apparent effects of the above drink the sensible test of it?  If the concoction were lethal, one or more people would have to die according to the above approach, yet this is exactly what certain individuals today are insisting God has made the test of any new movements being touted in the professing Church.[1]  Fruit is the test of a person (in other words, does the person exhibit the fruit of the Spirit as per Galatians 5:22 -23?) but, for the reason spelt out above, fruit cannot be the God-given test of a move or movement.  

The proper tests of a movement are like those for our mystery drink…  Who are the people behind it, and what are their views?  What are its ingredients?  How is it produced?  And how is it supposed to be received?  Biblically speaking, if we happen to come across people who have already got involved with the movement in question, its effects on them must be understood in the light of these other, correct tests – but some in the Church are being told (often rather impatiently too) that the opposite is the case.[2]  

If the reader has ever struggled to square the fruit reported from Alpha with the actual background to the Course, the following material has been written just for you.

INTRODUCTION  

Some Alpha Course literature refers to “The God Who Changes Lives”, and newspapers published by Holy Trinity Brompton are indeed filled with testimonies of people who have been transformed during the program.  This fact is constantly used to defend Alpha against the multitude of concerns that have been raised about its source, ingredients and methods.  As we have now seen, the fruit is not the God-given test of a movement.  We must always be sure to interpret its fruit based on the results of the proper tests and not vice versa.  But once a movement has been around long enough, its fruit will ripen and – if viewed from the correct perspective – will always support the findings of those proper tests.  So, how are we to interpret the substantial changes occurring in Alpha guests?  The following material seeks to answer that very important question.[3]  

But first a warning.  Some folks, especially those who do not know their Bible, will need to keep a seriously open mind as they read this assessment.  We pray that readers will approach our arguments in a mature way and will consider all our evidence before reaching any conclusions.  (If you are convinced that our views are wrong, you will obviously need to see the whole article in order to correct us fully.)  

ROOT CAUSE  

Over the last thirty years the heaviest influence on Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) can be shown to have been from the Vineyard movement.[4]  It is sometimes claimed, in turn, that Vineyard’s roots largely lie in the New Age movement.[5]  If this is correct then we might reasonably expect the same manifestations to be present on Alpha as occur in New Age initiation.  Is this happening?  Readers can decide for themselves, because the following list is taken, almost verbatim, from Kundalini Signs and Symptoms[6] which is a New Age document describing the manifestations that occur in New Age Kundalini initiation.  (For any readers unfamiliar with the term ‘Kundalini’, we explain it later.)  Intriguingly, the endnotes for the article you are reading give source references for each of these experiences occurring on Alpha.  Not only that, but every single endnote comprises two such references, and every reference is taken from HTB’s own publications.  (Our book Alpha – the Unofficial Guide: Overview supplies the quotes themselves.  See this note for outlet details.[7])  

According to the author, “The risen Kundalini can dramatically impact the body”.  It can cause:  

·         Energy rushes[8] or feelings of electricity;[9]  

·         Tingling sensations;[10]  

·         Unnatural heat or cold;[11]  

·         Involuntary bodily movements: jerking, tremors, shaking;[12] feeling a force[13] – especially a force pushing one[14] or moving one's body;[15]  

·         Numbness or pain[16] in the limbs (particularly the left-hand limbs[17]);  

·         Rapid mood shifts;[18] unprovoked episodes of grief, fear, rage, depression;[19]  

·         ‘Whooshing’ sensations[20] and other strange activity (e.g. white lights) in the head;[21]  

·         Spontaneous vocalizations (including laughing[22] and weeping[23]) – as unintentional and uncontrollable as hiccoughs;  

·         Trances or out-of-body experiences[24] (also bouts of self-grandiosity[25]);  

·         Contact with spirit guides through inner voices,[26] or visions (of spirit guides)[27]  

Allow us to reiterate that every endnote in the above list gives source references for two examples of the same experience being officially acknowledged as products of the Alpha Course.  

“But surely”, some readers will reply, “this list merely describes the occult counterfeits of genuine Holy Spirit manifestations?”  There is a truth in this, but not in the way such readers suppose.  Here are a few comparisons to illustrate what we mean:  ► The true Holy Spirit brings us spiritual light (i.e. biblical wisdom).  A mere physical light in the head is a poor and valueless imitation of this.  ► God gives us real joy in our spirit (through knowing we are saved from Hell).  It is a counterfeit if we are simply amused, or are forced to physically laugh for no reason.  ► The true Holy Spirit supplies power in our spirit (i.e. He enables us to stand fast in the faith).  It is not a blessing from God if some ‘power’ just makes us physically do things, such as jerk uncontrollably, or makes us feel things like electric shocks in our physical bodies.  ► The Holy Spirit gives us warmth in our spirits (helping us to be warmhearted towards others).  It is just an empty imitation if people are made to feel unnecessary heat in their physical bodies.  (We supply several further examples of this pattern in Part 5 of the aforementioned book.)  

The Spirit of God is holy.  As such, He indwells and testifies to our spirits, not our fallen souls or bodies (Rom. 8:16 ; Acts 18:5; John 13:21 ) – thus the physiological sensations above cannot represent His presence.  Beyond this, Alpha’s Nicky Gumbel calls his Holy Spirit a “controlling Spirit”,[28] and says “we should be completely overwhelmed by” this Spirit,[29] but the fruit of the genuine Holy Spirit includes self-control (Gal. 5:23 ).  Being supernaturally forced into a physical experience is consistently associated in the Bible with curses and judgment.  For example, see Daniel 4:30-33; Psalm 69:22-24; Jeremiah 51:57-58, 48:26, 25:27; Isaiah. 29:9-10; and Mark 9:20,22.[30]  In contrast, after Legion was cast out, the delivered one was found “sitting [rather than jerking] at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind” (Luke 8:30 ; see also 2 Tim. 1:7).  

FILLING IN THE GAPS  

So, what is ‘Kundalini’?  One researcher explains it thus:  “The classic definition of kundalini (or, the Kundalini) is as the ‘primordial energy of the universe’. It is known as the ‘serpent force’, also ‘shakti’, and in Hindu thought is considered the key that opens the door to hidden ‘spiritual’ truths”.[31]  We will let readers decide the source and nature of this “energy” for themselves.  Kundalini yoga is merely one of the New Age activities that seek to awaken this “force” in people.  

Incidentally, if readers were expecting references to barking like a dog or snorting like a pig in that list of manifestations earlier, such activities are implicit under the heading of “spontaneous vocalizations”.  They have likewise occurred during Alpha,[32] but the enemy is subtle and will obviously not want to expose folks to a manifestation more shocking or frightening than they can tolerate.  But regardless of how ‘mild’ the ecstatic manifestations may appear, they all derive from the same source.  (It is worth observing at this point that Kundalini’s “spontaneous vocalizations” regularly take the form of tongues.[33]  The enemy seeks to counterfeit everything of God in order to deceive as many souls as possible.)  

Just because the New Age movement leads many unbelievers today into supernatural experiences, we must not yield to temptation as this Alpha leader did: “We realized that we needed to offer something … – especially in a post-modern world – where [the participants] can have some spiritual experience”.[34]  The spiritual experience unbelieving participants need is a Spirit-wrought conviction of their sinful nature and sense of God’s wrath (both are strikingly absent from Alpha), not more of the New Age.  The true Holy Spirit humbles us, and He directs us to glorify God (John 16:7-14), but this is not the pattern on Alpha:  

“I now knew I mattered to God … Nicky [Gumbel] invited us all to say a prayer … It was one to welcome Jesus into our lives [rather than give our lives over to Him?] … As I said the prayer, I had this feeling like a gold Catherine wheel hitting me in the chest and then shooting all down my arms and legs. When I came home I said nothing…” [HTB’s UK Focus magazine[35]]  

Here is a big clue to Alpha’s ‘success’.  These manifestations can be produced in participants who are self-confessedly not Christians.  When this happens, Course leaders invariably assume that these people are now saved (if not baptized in the Holy Spirit), and tell them so.  Furthermore, Alpha materials suggest to participants that they can have more of these drug-like experiences if they join the Fellowship running their Course.  Decisions to start attending Fellowships after completing the program can be made purely for this extremely shallow reason, but they will typically be interpreted by Course leaders as more evidence of salvation.  The gullibility of such leaders is a result of their mistaken belief (heavily propagated by Alpha’s resources) that the world is going to get ever more righteous as the return of our Lord approaches, whereas Christ Himself taught rather differently (e.g. see Matt. 24:3-27; 10:14-39; Mark 13:3-23).[36]  

REAL CHANGE  

What follows is Alpha’s ace.  Despite its use of formulae and worldly techniques instead of Spirit-led preaching, and despite all the heretics legitimized within its resources, and despite the serious problems associated with its doctrines and practices, and despite the unbiblical manifestations produced on it (see our book for proof of all this[37]), Alpha is welcomed by denominations the world over because it changes guests in apparently good and substantial ways.  The logic of biblically unaware Christians today dictates that this must mean Alpha is being used of God and therefore has His approval.  

Note: The notion that Alpha must have God’s approval would not follow regardless.  After all, the crucifixion of our Redeemer was “used of God” but that doesn’t mean God approved of the murder of His only Son!  However, there exists a second terrible flaw in the above argument, because New Age initiation is a deliberate, satanic counterfeit of being authentically born-again.  The transformations caused by Alpha, while almost never leading to a testimony that even comes close to exhibiting the telltale signs of true conversion, are identical to those of Kundalini awakening.  The following list has been copied word-for-word from the remainder of that New Age document quoted earlier but, since Alpha has Christian trappings, some folks in the Church today seem incapable of ascribing the following – unarguably deep and supernatural – changes to the enemy:  

“The risen Kundalini flings open gates to all sorts of mystical, paranormal and magical vistas. It often leads to:  

·         Intervals of tremendous joy, love, peace and compassion;  

·         Psychic experiences: extrasensory perception; past-life memories; healing powers;  

·         Increased creativity: new interests in self-expression and spiritual communication;  

·         Intensified understanding and sensitivity: insight into one’s own essence; deeper understanding of spiritual things; exquisite awareness of  one’s environment (including “vibes” from others);  

·         Enlightenment experiences: direct Knowing of a more expansive reality; transcendent awareness”  

In other words, New Age initiation can result in profound transformations.  It can ‘rescue’ people from off the streets and out of mental wards; it can cause hardened criminals to ‘go straight’; it can make people seem much more spirit-oriented than they were before – but none of this means it is of God.  It is a pagan counterfeit of Christian salvation and it tellingly never leads to the all-embracing conviction of sin or fear of Hell or appreciation for the cross that genuine rebirth involves.  

And so it is with Alpha.  Check virtually any testimony from any Alpha Course against the above lists and the reader will discover that it has no precedent in God’s Word but instead corresponds to Satan’s imitation.  Ask yourself, for example, if you can find any reference to Christ or to conviction of sin in this guest’s statement published by HTB:  

“A friend asked me if I’d like to attend an Alpha Course and my reply was, ‘Why not, I’m kind of bored anyway!’ That’s how I looked at my life, I was bored and so I was trying to fill the hole with drugs. I needed a change in my life. I’d always been interested in talking to people and seeing how they felt and I thought, ‘How unique’ and that’s just what Alpha is. On the Holy Spirit weekend, late in the evening, I lay in the back of my pick-up truck and asked God to stir me and fill me full of the Holy Spirit. Late in the night, I was awakened by God and I felt as if he opened my heart and poured all the stars in the universe in me” [Alpha News[38]]  

There is no mention of conviction of sin in the remainder of the testimony either.  Neither is there any mention of Christ – even after the interviewer specifically tries to prompt this individual to talk about our wonderful Saviour by asking “What difference has Jesus made for you?”.  

Now that this clear correlation between Alpha and Kundalini has been revealed, HTB has started making much of the fact that the Course has been known to dissuade attendees from continuing with certain New Age practices.  But, provided these people remain unsaved (and ideally become entangled in Alpha’s equivalent of Kundalini), Satan is only too happy to produce such ‘deliverances’ if they fool the recipients, and those that hear about them, into thinking they have found the truth.[39]  Plainly it is the same spirit behind both Alpha and the New Age.  Indeed, an Alpha graduate from Holy Trinity Brompton has released a yoga video and a book promoting yoga without offering so much as a hint that this might not be compatible with Alpha’s spirit.[40]  

MORE CHANGE  

Just as with various mind-altering drugs, Kundalini awakening usually results in greater calmness on the part of recipients.  This can take place alongside an increased sense of harmony with the world and an enhanced degree of forgiveness towards others.  (As a result of all these changes, New Agers often also report improved relationships.)  Obviously New Agers can point to healings as well, else their ‘alternative therapy’ clinics would soon lose every customer.  The enemy has ample power to do such things, yet these are exactly the types of test being used to verify that Alpha is of God.  

Similarly, given that all demons and unsaved humans are in his kingdom, Satan is perfectly able to engineer ‘coincidences’ in the lives of people in his realm, hence: “After the awakening of Kundalini, you experience many coincidences which are miraculous…”.[41]  Again, coincidences in the lives of Alpha guests are naively seen as proof of God’s hand at work.  

The new-found interest in spiritual things commonly experienced by Kundalini initiates naturally reflects the values held by the folks who guided them through their initiation.  Hence people receiving this spirit within Catholic circles become more Catholic as a result.[42]  Therefore, graduates from the supposedly evangelical Alpha Course may well develop a real eagerness to read Scripture, but this must not be allowed to fool us.  Satan is more than crafty enough to counterfeit a God-given devotion to holy writ, which is why the Pharisees too were very keen on reading Scripture.  In both cases though, it is just an interest controlled by a false spirit, rather than a commitment prompted by the Holy Spirit.  And in both cases it manifests as a desire not to submit to everything we are commanded in Scripture, but rather to pick and choose convenient verses which then become the focus and are misused to obscure the “weightier matters”, as our Lord put it (Matt. 23:13-28).  

Kundalini recipients, like people on drug highs, also feel they ‘love’ everybody.  They particularly ‘love’ whatever they believe caused their thrilling experiences.  Likewise, Alpha’s guests (not after hearing the ‘gospel’ talks of course, but only after enjoying some exciting bodily manifestations on the ‘Holy Spirit weekend’) may say they ‘love’ what they think to be Jesus.  However, we need to bear in mind that many New Agers would say they ‘love’ Jesus too.[43]  This is not the correct test.  (The true test is obedience to the words in Scripture of the true Jesus, not merely some fuzzy feeling toward the different Jesus being taught on Alpha – and about whom Paul warned us in 2 Cor. 11:4.[44])  Like New Agers, Alpha guests ascribe their supernatural experiences to the force or person they are taught was behind those experiences…  

“Anne put her hand on me and said ‘Come Holy Spirit’ [among other names, New Agers refer to Kundalini power as ‘Holy Spirit’[45]] and the most incredible thing happened. I felt as if someone took two torches and put them into my eyes. I saw this incredible white light and my whole body, from my head to my toes, was bathed with bright white light [remember the enemy’s physical light in place of God’s spiritual light?]. … I kept saying over and over again ‘I’ve met Jesus. I’ve met Jesus.’...” [Alpha News[46]]  

CONCLUSION  

Let’s take stock.  An Alpha graduate may well develop a ‘spiritual’ worldview; may behave a lot more morally than before; may receive a healing; may say they ‘love Jesus’; may want to join a Fellowship and read the Bible, yet all these types of change occur among New Agers too.  They don’t mean the person is saved.  One could spend months searching official Alpha testimonies in vain for any of the hallmarks of true conversion – such as deep humility, or a serious reverence for the Almighty, or a heartfelt desire to be forgiven by the souls against whom they have trespassed, or a mighty gratitude for Calvary, or a profound shame for the sins of their old life, or a proper grasp of their sinful nature.  The chances of finding multiple such hallmarks are virtually zero.  

The next time the reader comes across an impressive-sounding Alpha testimony, we urge them to ask (a) if any of the above biblical hallmarks are clearly present, and (b) if Satan is genuinely powerless to produce the changes described, especially given that New Agers experience the very same sorts of healings, transformations, restorations and so on.  As we noted at the start of the Introduction section, Alpha Course literature refers to “The God Who Changes Lives”, as if only one supernatural entity has that ability.  Let’s not imagine the “god of this world” to be incapable of changing lives too.  It is the God who saves souls we need to be following.  

There is so much more we could say to prove our assertion, but it is all in our book.[47]  Please pray about warning elders before they accept Alpha.[48]  They will listen much more readily if they have not yet taken the program onboard.  Why is this?  Partly because they will lose a lot less ‘face’ if they reject Alpha before encouraging their Fellowships down the very involved road of running a Course, but also because we constantly find that the powerful spirit behind Alpha blinds people to the truth once they have received it.  

People who have already imbibed this spirit need to renounce it and repent of accepting it.  For more information, see this endnote.[49]  We firmly believe the Lord enabled us to produce this article.  May He deliver many souls through its prayerful and discreet use.[50]

God bless you.