Alpha’s
Road Leads To Rome
By Cecil Andrews,
"Take Heed" Ministries,
Cecil Andrews, PO BOX 13, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AL, Northern Ireland. Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com
WEB-SITE
- http://www.takeheed.net
There is a well-known saying that ‘All Roads Lead To Rome’
- in fact that expression was used by Michael de Semlyen
as the title for his excellent book that exposes the efforts of Rome to
utilise the modern ecumenical movement as a means of bringing ‘separated
brethren’ back into the Pope’s flock. Incidentally this book
can still be obtained from us [price £6.50 includes p&p].
In the March-June 2004 issue of ALPHA NEWS
there is a detailed account of a visit by Nicky Gumbel, his wife Pippa and
their son, Jonny to Rome and in the course of the visit they ‘were
presented to the Pope by Father Raniero Cantalamessa, Preacher
to the Papal Household’. ‘Father’ Cantalamessa
has featured previously on the front page of ALPHA NEWS and last year was
a guest ‘preacher’ at Holy Trinity Brompton.
Not only did Nicky Gumbel meet the Pope ‘at the end of a General
Audience’ but he also met representatives of ‘The
Congregation on the Doctrine of the Faith’. This ‘Congregation’
is simply the modern title since 1967 of what was previously known as ‘The
Office of The Inquisition’ – the Papal approved organisation
charged to root out and destroy heresy and an honest look at history will
tell of how the blood of many true Christian martyrs bears testimony to
its ruthless efficiency.
Peter
De Rosa in his book ‘Vicars of Christ’
wrote ‘It is clear from this that the aim of the Inquisition
was to defend, not the faith, but the papal system [p 232]…once a
pope like Gregory 1X had initiated the inquisition, pontiffs preferred to
contradict the Gospel [rather] than an “inerrant” predecessor,
for that would bring down the papacy itself [p 245]…An anonymous Catholic
once said “It would be better to be an atheist than believe in the
God of the Inquisition” [p 251]’.
The article in ALPHA NEWS quoted glowing references
from Roman Catholic clergy who view ALPHA as a vital tool
in heeding the present Pope’s call for a ‘new evangelisation’
– when the Pope speaks of a ‘new evangelisation’
he is not of course speaking of preaching that salvation is by grace alone
through faith alone in Christ alone according to the Scriptures alone and
for the Glory of God alone. The Pope’s ‘new evangelisation’
is aimed at educating and galvanising Roman Catholics to go out and Romanise
and Sacramentalise the world.
In another article I recently wrote this about ALPHA –
| As
long as ALPHA continues to present what I would describe
as an ‘anorexic skeleton’ of Christianity,
Rome is quite happy to let her people attend. However, afterwards,
by way of follow up, Rome ‘fleshes out’ this
‘anorexic skeleton’ by showing her people a series of
videos entitled ‘Drink From The Wells of The Church’
[not the Scriptures!] This series of videos feature ‘Father’ Raniero Cantalamessa [a welcome guest ‘preacher’ at the Holy Trinity Brompton Church – home of ALPHA] who is a ‘Papal Preacher’ and in them he introduces those watching to all the “damnable heresies” [2 Peter 2:1] of Rome. On the order form to purchase these videos it states – ‘ideal for group use to follow Alpha’. |
The absence of faithful, meaningful, biblical doctrinal content in ALPHA means that we read the following comments [with some comments by myself added] in this ALPHA NEWS article –
| ‘Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop
of Lyon, France has taken a close interest in the growth of Alpha
in the country…he said “For the French Church, Alpha
is a great opportunity for our time. It is a wonderful gift that
we have received from England” |
Alpha
may for Mrs Hagar be ‘bringing into reality the church that
she has always dreamed of’ but in reality Alpha is helping
to up-build ‘the church’ that God specifically warned His people
against in Revelation chapter 17.
The ALPHA NEWS article quotes Nicky Gumbel’s comments
upon his return from Rome. For any true Christian, one who knows anything
about Rome’s treatment of true believers down through the ages and
up to and including today, these comments will make sad reading.
Nicky Gumbel said [with some comments by myself added] –
| ‘It
was a great honour to be presented to Pope John Paul 11, who has done
so much to promote evangelisation around the world
[like setting his seal of approval upon the 1994 ‘Catechism
of the Catholic Church’ that teaches every soul-damning (2 Peter
2:1) Roman Catholic heresy?] We have been enormously enriched by our interaction with Catholics in many countries. It is a great privilege to meet inspiring leaders from different parts of the church – Catholic, Baptist, Salvation Army, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Methodist, and so many more – and discover that what unites us [ERROR!] is infinitely greater than what divides us [what divides is ‘gospel truth’]. As Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa has pointed out, the battle today is similar to that of the first century [like Paul’s rejection of the ‘false gospel’ of the Judaisers (see Galatians 1:6-9) whose modern-day counterpart is found in Roman Catholicism and its ‘gospel’]. The battle is around the King [Is Nicky Gumbel aware that ‘When the triple crown is placed on the head of a new pope at his “coronation” ceremony the ritual prescribes the following declaration by the officiating Cardinal – “Receive the tiara adorned with three crowns, and know that thou art the Father of Princes and Kings, ruler of the world’ (Roman Catholicism by Loraine Boettner p 127)] Is Jesus a Universal Saviour, or just one among many? [The ‘Jesus’ of Roman Catholicism is very much a “Universal Saviour” – in fact he is so “Universal” that according to Rome it is not even necessary to hear about him or believe on him in order to be saved - as you can hear by listening to the audio extract by Pastor John MacArthur posted to our web site. This Roman Catholic ‘Jesus’ is not the Lord Jesus that Paul wanted the lost to hear about so that they might be saved, for without hearing about Paul’s Lord Jesus they would not be able to believe and be saved – see Romans 10: 10-15]. Thus, on the crucial issue of our day, we can be united [in error] and proclaim this Jesus [not the biblical Lord Jesus] to a desperately needy [sinful] world’. |
I said recently in a talk that I gave on Alpha –
| ‘it is again my view that any PASTOR, PREACHER or BIBLE TEACHER who co-operates with Rome rather than confronting Rome – such a person, and NICKY GUMBEL is one such person, should not be entrusted with teaching the Word of God for he and they are not, in Paul’s words to Timothy – “faithful men” [2nd Timothy 2: 1-2]’. |
This report of Nicky Gumbel’s visit to Rome and his audience with the Pope serve only to strengthen my expressed convictions.
Cecil Andrews – ‘Take Heed’ Ministries
– 18 March 2004
