Romanist ‘saint’ beloved by foolish Protestants revealed to be sex abuser

2 Timothy 3:2-5: “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

The Roman Catholic Church has been beset by an uncountable number of revolting sexual scandals throughout the world over the past number of years.

That most sickening of crimes of child abuse has been almost endemic within Romanism, with floods of victims having come forward across the world and some of the most senior priests in the whole rotten system implicated either as child abusers or as having covered up for child abusers.

So vast has the number of reported victims been that numerous Roman Catholic dioceses, particularly in the USA, have filed for bankruptcy in an effort to avoid being liable for enormous sums of compensation to those subjected to the vile abuse of their supposed spiritual leaders.

Those developments, ongoing in numerous areas at present, just succeed in adding financial bankruptcy to the moral and spiritual bankruptcy cancers already rife within the Roman Catholic church.

Of course, Rome may try to avoid court judgments ordering them to pay out money to the victims of the abusers they harboured, in many cases, for decades, but they cannot run from God.

2 Corinthians 5:10 reminds us of this solemn fact: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

The actions of so many of Rome’s priests are indisputably foul and wicked and what a dreadful judgment they are heading for.

Given not only the proliferation of such priests, but also the proliferation of compromising foolish Protestant ministers all too keen to cosy up with Rome, there is always very much the risk that they can end up embarrassing themselves by fawning over a Romanist who later turns out to have some rather unseemly skeleton in his closet.

And so it would appear to be the case for those who chose to fawn over, promote and recommend Jean Vanier (pictured, top), an ardent Romanist who founded the L’Arche Community in France, an organisation set up to assist people with learning disabilities.

Now certainly we do not condemn the idea of helping those with any form of disability.

However, Jean Vanier was a committed Romanist and remained wedded to the hellish, Christ-denying doctrines of Rome to his dying day.

It was revealed just a few weeks ago in a report by the L’Arche organisation, reported on by the Washington Post, that “Vanier had coercive sexual relationships with six women during his lifetime that left the women hurt and in need of psychological therapy for years”.

The evidence appears to be rather damning, so much so that L’Arche’s executive director in the USA, Tina Bovermann, said in a letter that “we stand today on the side of those who have been harmed ”

Further damning revelations also “found that Vanier was aware of inappropriate sexual conduct by his mentor, the late Rev. Thomas Philippe, possibly as early as the 1950s,” the Washington Post report continued.

“Neither Philippe nor Vanier had sexual relationships with the adults with disabilities whom L’Arche serves, the group said.”

It was revealed that the allegations came to light last April, a month before Vanier’s death.

The article states that at that time “leaders of L’Arche hired a consulting firm to investigate two women’s reports that Vanier had been involved in inappropriate relationships with them.

“During the investigation, the consultants — who interviewed more than 30 people — learned of four more women who alleged harmful sexual relationships with Vanier.

“The women did not know one another or know about each other’s allegations, the report stated. The abuse took place between 1970 and 2005. Some of the women were single, some were married, and at least one had taken a religious vow of celibacy.”

These are the actions of a man who was described before his death last year as a “living saint” by Alpha Course leader and Church of England minister Nicky Gumbel, who said it was “an utter privilege” to have met him.

Stuart Bothwell (pictured, below), lead pastor at Lagan Valley Vineyard Church in Lisburn, County Antrim, took to twitter last year to praise him to high heaven after his death, saying: “We lost a giant today. May we never lose his vision.”

Lead pastor at Causeway Coast Vineyard, Neil Young is far from averse to quoting Jean Vanier on his Twitter page.

Regular readers may remember our previous article highlighting the Presbyterian Herald, the magazine of the Presbyterian Church, dedicating an issue to this man.

No doubt they will rather wish now that they hadn’t.

Vanier used his spiritual authority, as these women saw it, to hold sway over them, the report stated.

L’Arche’s own report says: “The relationships … are described as emotionally abusive and characterised by significant imbalances of power, whereby the alleged victims felt deprived of their free will and so the sexual activity was coerced or took place under coercive conditions.

“One victim said Vanier told her: ‘This is not us, this is Mary and Jesus. You are chosen, you are special, this is secret’.”

What an evil, blasphemous pretext this man used to engage in such vile behaviour.

Does Nicky Gumbel still consider this man a “saint”?

Does Stuart Bothwell still consider him a “giant “?

Will Neil Young continue to tweet his quotes, thus recommending him to his followers?

Will the Presbyterian Herald apologise for dedicating an issue to a man who sexually abused women?

Let us not forget, too, that Vanier was a Romanist, denying the all-sufficient death of Christ on Calvary.

We should not need reminding that Rome rejects the Bible, rejects Jesus Christ and rejects the means of salvation outlined in God’s Word.

Dear reader, please don’t do that yourself, come to Christ for salvation if you are not yet saved.

Don’t place stock in the men of this world, but rather look to Jesus for salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9″ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

‘Prophetic art’ – Belfast church teaching people to paint your prophecy

There are some bizarre events led by churches within the charismaniac movement, but one that was held at Christian Fellowship Church Belfast (or CFC Belfast) on Saturday past will take some beating in that regard.

This church, which is based on the Belmont Road in east Belfast, played host to a ‘Prophetic Art Conference’.

What exactly prophetic art is we are really rather unsure, though we have visited a few online pages showing some pictures, including someone who had written down ‘Be still and know that I am God’ and coloured in the individual letters.

This was, apparently, prophetic.

The website Prophecy Through Art tries to justify such nonsense by saying that “Our Father is a creative God” because He made the world.

Well, yes, of course He did but it is scarcely equivalent to writing out a Bible quote or drawing a picture of a heart and somehow labelling it prophetic.

Throughout the entirety of the prophetic books, of which there are rather a lot, and the various prophesies in other books of the Bible, of which there are rather a lot as well, there is a notable absence of prophets pulling out an easel and doing a watercolour to explain the situation in the land.

We don’t have Elijah delivering a picture of dried up rivers to Ahab at the start of 1 Kings 17 or Ezekiel sculpting his impression of the vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37.

Of course, were they to have done so, they were prophesying of future events, whereas the examples of prophetic art are simply drawings people take to mean something to them, an artistic version of a fortune cookie or horoscope.

The event at CFC Belfast was ran by a group called Acts Ministries International (AMI) who claim it “equips you in hearing the voice of God through art”.

Acts Ministries International was born out of Phoenix Vineyard Church, and certainly the Vineyard Church name is a leading figure on both sides of the Atlantic in all manner of charismatic nonsense.

Andrew Montgomery (pictured, top) is a leader of AMI Ireland, a local branch of this charismatic organisation which, like so many others, is obsessed with “signs and wonders”.

He is also an Associate Pastor of another charismatic church, called Destination Church Belfast, based in the Newtownabbey area in the north of the city.

Andrew Montgomery apparently gave an “introduction to prophecy” at the event, while another member of his church, a Diane Latimer, helped lead one of the workshops, which we will elaborate upon shortly.

Another session was led by a Jill McKee (pictured, below), who is the Clerk of Session at First Presbyterian Church, Ballynahinch in County Down.

She ought not to hold the position she does, of course.

1 Timothy 3:1-2, 12 says: “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.”

First Presbyterian Church, Ballynahinch is certainly not a church which anyone should wish to associate themselves with.

It is currently taking part in an Alpha Course initiative, that leaven-filled scheme which is ran by that Rome lover Nicky Gumbel and also recently held a line dance in its church hall in yet another example of worldly pleasures being introduced to the church.

As an aside, the Methodist and Baptist churches in Ballynahinch are also taking part in that Alpha Course.

While, generally speaking, Methodist churches are to be studiously avoided, the Baptist Church is a rather mixed bag in Ulster.

It would appear Ballynahinch Baptist Church is one to be wary of.

Lynsey Grierson of Cadence House of Prayer, an inter-denominational grouping in Bangor, County Down, was also leading a workshop.

While we had not previously heard of Cadence House of Prayer, their website states it was set up by a husband and wife duo (the charismatics do love those) called Denise and Frederick Hayward, who met apparently “when they were both in full-time ministry as part of a worship and healing dance team”.

Of course they were. We believe that says it all.

Also helping lead sessions were a Victor Mitchell of the Journey Community Church in Antrim, who enthusiastically promoted the disgraceful, heretical Bethel Supernatural Ministries earlier this year, an Erin Charteris of another CFC branch in Strandtown, also Belfast, and a Claire Fair of King’s Church in Bangor.

The pastor of King’s Church is a character we have featured previously, Glen Mitchell (pictured, above), due to his rejection of the Biblical account of creation in favour of the Christ denying blasphemy known as the Big Bang Theory (his endorsement of this heresy is pictured, below), as well as his expression of disappointment when a vote to light up the town hall in his nearby town of Newtownards in honour of sodomy was overturned by local councillors.

So there certainly was an encouraging pattern to follow for those in attendance.

Indeed, rather ironically, it was something of a painting by numbers collection of charismatics and Christ deniers posing as religious leaders.

The workshops within the ‘Prophetic Art Conference’ certainly were unusual.

First among these was entitled ‘Art Reach’ – this taught attendees “how God communicates through art for reaching to your community”.

That really does sound illuminating. The individuals running that workshop were a Kadie Hooley and Brianna Robinson of Youth With A Mission (YWAM). What that mission is, going by that workshop synopsis, is anyone’s guess.

Workshop two was entitled ‘Painting His Heart’ and was brought by Jill McKee of First Presbyterian Church, Ballynahinch. This workshop taught you “how to grow in intimacy with God connecting with Him for others”.

Again, answers on a postcard from anyone who knows what that means.

The third workshop is perhaps the most outrageous and ludicrous of the lot.

It was entitled ‘Corporate Prophetic Art’ which allowed attendees to “be equipped to spontaneously draw and clearly communicate the prophetic gift in a worship setting”.

This truly is nonsense.

Lynsey Grierson of Cadence House of Prayer, Diane Latimer of Destination Church Belfast and Victor Mitchell of Journey Community Church in Antrim were responsible for that exercise.

And the fourth, and, on the face of it, least ludicrous workshop was called ‘The Secret Place’, in which you could “experience how art and writing can deepen your personal relationship with God through journaling”. Claire Fair of King’s Church Bangor and Erin Charteris of CFC Strandtown led the way on that one.

After these four sessions, there was then a cup of tea before engaging in worship and ministry, which would apparently include “opportunities to engage in prophetic art”.

This truly is a sad event, tricking those in attendance into thinking they have some prophetic gift, when all they are doing is drawing little pictures.

It most emphatically meets the bar of that which is warned against in 2 Timothy 4:4, which says: “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

The idea that someone drawing a heart, as we have seen on some websites we have viewed discussing so-called ‘prophetic art’, could possibly be construed as prophetic is, in fact, pathetic.

As we have said before when discussing the outrageous so-called prophecies of the likes of Bethel Supernatural Ministries’ Havilah Cunnington, such vague generalities are not the currency that prophets dealt in in the Bible.

Look at the prophecy Jeremiah disclosed to King Zedekiah in the closing days of his reign.

Jeremiah 37:17 says: “Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

Did Jeremiah speak obtusely or abstractly? Did he sketch a drawing which Zedekiah was free to interpret whichever way he saw fit? Or did he clearly set forth the actual message of God?

Of course, this was a negative prophecy for Zedekiah which Jeremiah gave, and that is certainly not the sort of “prophecy” you would get from people taking part in these events.

It always seems to be a mindlessly positive prophecy, replete with the amazing plans God has for their life and the wonderful way in which He is going to use them.

If we look at what might be termed a positive prophecy from the Scripture, we will see once more that it was spoken plainly.

Jeremiah 29:10-14 says: “For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.”

Here is a prophecy of the deliverance of the children of Israel from oppression and that they would return to their own land after 70 years of captivity.

Is this the sort of thing that these people are prophesying of? Of course it isn’t.

They couldn’t prophesy an event happening next week, never mind in 70 years.

Dear reader, do not be taken in by such an outrageous event, but rather be steadfast in your opposition to such gimmicks and nonsense.

Also, be careful not to associate yourself with churches involved in this outrage, such as First Presbyterian Church, Ballynahinch, Destination Church Belfast, King’s Church, Bangor, Journey Community Church, Antrim as well as any church promoting the Alpha Course.

Let us be even bold as Jeremiah was in the prophecy above to Zedekiah, when he said “thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon”.

Speaking to a man who had the power to put him to death, Jeremiah told him the one thing which he wanted to hear the least.

Those in these churches and in the wider charismatic or ecumenical movement hate to hear what the Bible has to say on their unscriptural antics.

However, to be faithful, we are bound by God to say these things.

And let us strive to put the pleasing of God above the pleasing of man.

Acts 5:29: “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”

Presbyterian Herald devotes issue to Romanist ‘saint’, Jean Vanier

2 John 1:9-11: “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

As increasingly more so-called Protestants and evangelicals grow in (often wilful) ignorance of the false doctrines and hellish deceits of Rome, there is now, more so than ever, a promotion by these alleged Protestants of agents of the papacy.

There are few Romanists more commonly exalted by Protestants than French-Canadian Roman Catholic and friend of the Pope, Jean Vanier (pictured, top), who died in May of this year.

Henri Nouwen is perhaps the only other Romanist, as well as, of course, the Pope, to be so revered by alleged Protestants.

Now, Jean Vanier is credited with helping an immense number of young people with disabilities throughout his life, forming the L’Arche Community in France to create an environment in which those with various special needs could thrive, and such kindness is to be commended.

However, he was a proponent of the false Romanist system of salvation by sacramental merit which damns its adherents to an eternity in hell and to therefore be holding him up as a hero is a very foolish thing to do.

Yet this is exactly what the Presbyterian Church has done in its official publication, the Presbyterian Herald, dedicating its June edition to this man who upheld the erroneous and blasphemous teaching of the Roman Catholic Church until the day he died.

Introducing the June edition of the Presbyterian Herald (of which we have just become aware), its editor Sarah Harding, said: “Last month, Jean Vanier, the founder of the L’Arche organisation, sadly passed away at the age of 90. Vanier left a remarkable legacy in L’Arche – its mission is to support people with learning disabilities and today it has 150 communities, in 38 countries, supporting 3,500 people with day services and residential homes.

“It all began in Paris in 1964, when Vanier welcomed two men with learning disabilities to live in his home – they had been in an asylum and had no family. He had no grand vision then for what this act of kindness would become, just a simple faith in Jesus’ command to love one another, saying, ‘It’s a question of loving people as they are’.

“Living lives full of integrity, authenticity and love seems overwhelmingly difficult, but as Jean Vanier once said, ‘We are not called by God to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things with extraordinary love’.”

There is not one mention there that this man, who provides the overarching theme (defined as ‘Extraordinary Love’) for an entire issue of the official publication of the Presbyterian Church, was a devout Romanist. Not one.

It would have been bad enough to have raved about his (undeniably kind) work whilst applying a health warning and pointing out he was relying on and was a proponent of a false, devilish doctrine, but to fail to do so is nothing short of outrageous.

Jean Vanier is held up by so many gullible Protestants as a praiseworthy example, not just because of his charitable work, but because of his so-called ‘Christianity’.

However, Jean Vanier was not a practising Christian, he was a practising Roman Catholic, which is not a Christian religion, but rather a pagan corruption of true Christianity.

Rome denies that Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary was all-sufficient, but rather they teach that Christ must be continually sacrificed again and again in the blasphemous Mass.

This is despite the Scriptures clearly showing that Christ’s sacrifice was once for all.

Romans 5:8-9 says: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

Look at this passage, those who believe on Christ are described as “being now justified”.

It doesn’t say partially justified, it doesnt say might be justified at some point in the future if you fulfil certain sacraments, those who believe are “now justified” by the blood of Christ. There is no uncertainty in that.

Romans 6:8-10 says: “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.”

We are told here that Christ “died unto sin once”, that he “dieth no more” and “death hath no more dominion over him”.

This shows that Jesus died once and it will not be repeated, nor does He continue to suffer through His offering for sin.

Hebrews 10:12 reaffirms this when it says: “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God”.

We are told again in 1 Peter 3:22 that Christ is seated at God’s right hand. He is not being offered again and again for sin by any practitioner of Papal priestcraft such as those who Jean Vanier was, sadly, mistakenly placing his faith in.

1 Peter 3:22 says Christ “is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God”.

Rome simply refuses to teach that Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary is all-sufficient, yet the Presbyterian Church, in its official publication, is extolling a man who subscribed to this false doctrine.

Indeed, so highly thought of was he that a leading Roman Catholic news website called him a “living saint”.

An article written by that outlet’s editor is headlined: “With the death of Jean Vanier, Catholicism loses a living saint”.

Relaying a previous conversation he had with Vanier, the writer recounts: “When I asked Vanier if Pope John Paul II had become a more powerful symbol for the people he lived and worked with because the aging pontiff was himself, in a sense, “disabled,” Vanier lit up.

“His response was simple and unequivocal: ‘The pope has never been more beautiful than he is right now,’ he said.”

Is the Presbyterian Church happy to exalt a man who considered the Pope, who by his very titles blasphemes God, to be beautiful?

Is the Presbyterian Church happy to exalt a man who adored the Pope, the man who heads up a system which leads its poor deluded adherents to hell?

If anyone reading this is a member of or affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, are you happy that the Presbyterian Church, in its official publication, is exalting a man who believes the Pope is “beautiful”?

This is a man who, despite his good works, was a devotee of the Pope.

Indeed, his good works are the central part of the false Romanist gospel.

Sadly the Presbyterian Church has decided to use him as the basis for an edition for their magazine.

Sadder still, as we previously alluded to, they are far from the only so-called Protestants or leaders at supposedly Christ-exalting churches to do so.

Stuart Bothwell (pictured, above), a leader in Lagan Valley Vineyard, based in Lisburn, County Antrim, took to Twitter the day Jean Vanier died to say: “We lost a giant today. May we never lose his vision”.

Neil Young, lead pastor at Causeway Coast Vineyard, based in Coleraine on Northern Ireland’s north coast, just last week was quoting Jean Vanier on his Twitter page.

The leader of the leaven-filled Alpha Course, Anglican vicar Nicky Gumbel (pictured, below), a high priest of the charismatic movement in the UK, also called Jean Vanier “a living saint” and said it “was an utter privilege” to have met him.

This serves to demonstrate the widespread departure from God’s Word at large in much of today’s professing church.

For many, doctrinal differences, no matter how crucial, matter not one jot.

It doesn’t matter to so many if someone is teaching or relying on a false gospel, as long as they come under the banner of ‘Christian’ then they’re ok.

We are to be so much more discerning than that and we are to “try the spirits” (1 John 4:1).

Would that the Presbyterian Herald would have done so before putting forward a committed Romanist as someone to be admired.

Let us ever be vigilant and dedicated in our own lives to fight for the truth of the gospel and not to be careless in what we are seen to be espousing or supporting.

Let us not muddy the waters by praising those who, while undoubtedly responsible for some good works, ultimately stood upon a false gospel of works-based righteousness.

Let us be ever mindful of the simple requirement placed before the jail keeper in Philippi as to how he might reach heaven. It was simply by faith.

Acts 16:29-31 says: “Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”.

If you are as yet outside of Christ or relying on your good works, church attendance, charitable donations or good citizenship to get to heaven, won’t you even come to Christ, the only way to salvation.

John 14:6 says: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

John 10:9 says: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

God is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9), if we but come to Him in humble repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 tells us that “The Lord is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Won’t you even come in repentance to Christ today and be saved and spend eternity in heaven with Him?

Ezekiel 18:31-32: “Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.”

Alpha Course conference and Nicky Gumbel celebrate Papal Mass

The Alpha Course has for some years now been a favoured method by which many churches seek to attract in new people.

‘That’s fantastic’, some might say. ‘Who wouldn’t want to see churches growing and attracting in new people?’

The problem, of course, is that the Alpha Course, while offering much that is perfectly orthodox, thus enticing the unsuspecting, is also contaminated with a significant amount of leaven.

And, as we are told in Galatians 5:9: “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”

What is that leaven? Well, it very much relies on emotionialism and puts an over emphasis on the Holy Spirit to the detriment of focusing on the blood of Jesus Christ, which alone can atone for sin.

This is a common feature of much of the charismatic movement and the Alpha Course’s leader, Nicky Gumbel (pictured, top), falls very much into the charismatic category.

A 1994 Time Magazine article entitled “Laughing for the Lord” says:

“It’s Sunday evening in London’s fashionable Knightsbridge neighborhood. Though pathetically tiny flocks of Londoners attend many Anglican services, Holy Trinity Brompton has a standing-room-only turnout of 1500. After the usual Scripture readings, prayers and singing, the chairs are cleared away. Curate Nicky Gumbel prays that the Holy Spirit will come upon the congregation. Soon a woman begins laughing. Others gradually join her with hearty belly laughs. A young worshipper falls to the floor, hands twitching. Another falls, then another and another. Within half an hour there are bodies everywhere as supplicants sob, shake, roar like lions, and strangest of all laugh uncontrollably. This frenzied display has become known as the ‘laughing revival’ or ‘Toronto Blessing’. After first appearing at Holy Trinity only last May, laughing revivals have been reported in Anglican parishes from Manchester to York to Brighton.”

Does that sound much like true worship of the almighty, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God?

How can roaring like a lion and laughing like a hyena be in any way pleasing to God? Where is such nonsense found in the Bible?

The answer of course is that it is not found in the Bible.

Nicky Gumbel would claim this was a sign of the Holy Spirit coming upon his congregation.

However, any look at the Bible would see that those who were filled with the Holy Spirit acted in a manner so far removed from laughing like a hyena and roaring like a lion that to even make the comparison is rendered blatantly ludicrous.

Acts 13:6-12: “And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.”

Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, reproved the worker of iniquity and his expounding of doctrine led to the conversion of Sergius Paulus. No mention of him rolling on the floor like an eejit.

Acts 11:24: “For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.”

This passage speaks of Barnabas, who was “full of the Holy Ghost”. Nowhere is he recorded as being in some sort of trance like state. His infilling of the Holy Ghost was demonstrated through his faith.

Exodus 31:1-3: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship”.

How was the infilling of the Holy Spirit of Bezaleel, who played a key role in the construction of the tabernacle, manifested? Through his wisdom, understanding, knowledge and workmanship. None of these are consistent with laughing uncontrollably while rolling around the floor and roaring like a lion.

And given the unholy nature of this charismatic campaign waged by Nicky Gumbel and the practices and he behaviours he espouses, it should make us very wary indeed of the Alpha Course.

Sadly, it has gained much ground and has elevated Nicky Gumbel to essentially the position of the Pope of what is known as the emerging church, the non-denominational, charismatic, easy-believist fellowship type churches which have sprung up in the past 25 years, with the Emmanuel Church in the Craigavon area and Causeway Coast Vineyard Church two of the most prominent examples in our land.

Each year, Alpha hosts a leadership conference and the most recent one, which took place last May but whose speakers we have only recently became aware of, included a lengthy, fawning interview with a Roman Catholic cardinal.

Cardinal Luis Tagle is the most senior Roman Catholic churchman in the Philippines, a devoutly Roman Catholic country.

And a major theme of the saccharine interview was a Papal Mass, at which 6 million poor deluded people were in attendance, which Cardinal Luis Tagle organised.

He received a warm round of applause from the congregation in attendance for enabling so many people to be misled by “that Antichrist”, the Pope.

This is how Nicky Gumbel introduced that practitioner of Papist priestcraft to the audience: “Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is Archbishop of Manila in the Philippines, where there are 82 million Catholics. He serves as president of Caritas International, the Catholic relief organisation, which is the largest charity in the world. He is president of the Catholic Biblical Federation, which operates in 126 countries around the world. In January 2015, he hosted Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines which included the fourth largest ever gathering of people in history, when 6 million people gathered in a Papal Mass. We are very honoured to have him here, would you give a warm welcome to Cardinal Tagle.”

Cue much whooping and cheering and clapping from the audience.

We are reminded of 2 John 1:10-11, which says: “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

It is an appalling situation.

The love-in of an interview saw the perma-smirking Nicky Gumbel gush over the wonderful skills of this incredibly senior emissary of Papal deceit.

And such sycophancy towards a representative of the evil Romanist system has the very clear and obvious effect of making the dupes in attendance believe that Rome is not so bad and the Pope is someone to at least be faintly admired, rather than treated with revulsion.

Nicky Gumbel then asked Cardinal Luis Tagle about the spiritual disciplines he follows, and Cardinal Luis Tagle revealed he is a follower of the ‘Examen’, the meditative prayer ritual created by the Jesuit founder and leader of the Counter Reformation, Ignatius of Loyola.

Interestingly, it is also the same ritualistic spiritual practice which was disgracefully espoused by Emmanuel Church leader Alain Emerson at a service he led there back in November.

Discussing the spiritual disciplines he follows, Cardinal Luis Tagle says: “I have learned from my seminary mentors, who are Jesuit priests, to do the examination of consciousness.”

That sounds very much like meditation, doesn’t it? Also, Cardinal Luis Tagle is very open about his influences from the Jesuits, the order which led the Counter Reformation in which untold numbers of Protestants were murdered for defending the doctrine of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone.

Nicky Gumbel, as the minister of Holy Trinity Brompton, an Anglican Church, would know this, but he has clearly decided to ignore it and reject that knowledge which would make any minister worth their salt put clear water between them and Rome.

And it makes his response all the more appalling and reprehensible.

He says: “Explain that for us who haven’t had the benefit.”

Nicky Gumbel chooses to encourage an emissary of Papal deceit to spread false practices, holding him up as someone to follow.

This is the action of the man behind the Alpha Course and we would encourage anyone who attends a church which runs the Alpha Course or advocates it to challenge them on why they are running it.

We would certainly implore you not to submit yourself to this course or any who promote it.

Let us be separate from all such error and manifestations of compromise with the lies of Rome.

2 Corinthians 6:17: ‘Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you”.