The Archbishop
of Canterbury, Justin Welby, caused a minor stir recently when he said the
following in an interview with Alastair Campbell published in GQ magazine.[1]
Campbell:
'Will you go to Heaven?'
Welby: 'Yes.'
Campbell: 'Will I go to
Heaven?'
Welby: 'That's up to
you.'
Although
Archbishop Welby’s answers sound arrogant to Orthodox ears, they are entirely
consistent with his beliefs and not just personal conceit. Welby also categorically states in the same interview that he believes
in the Virgin Birth and the Divinity of Christ so he is not a liberal in the
Anglican sense.
Welby’s
background in the Evangelical parish Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) could explain his certainty that he is going to Heaven. HTB became famous in the
1990s for embracing the ‘Toronto Blessing’ and events there made the UK and
international press:
The youthful throng
buzzes with anticipation more common at a rock concert or a rugby match. 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.[2]
Alpha
Course literature no longer mentions the Toronto Blessing, but earlier editions
of the talks that accompany the course mentioned it specifically:
Ellie Mumford told us a
little bit of what she had seen in Toronto then she said ‘Now we’ll invite the
Holy Spirit to come’ and the moment she said that, one of the people there was
thrown, literally, across the room and was lying on the floor, just howling and
laughing … making the most incredible noise … [3]
This
behaviour resembles the actions of those possessed by demons that we read about
in the Gospels:
And one of the multitude answered and
said, Teacher, I have brought unto you my son, who has a dumb spirit; And
wherever he takes him, he throws him down: and he foams, and gnashes with his
teeth, and wastes away: and I spoke to your disciples that they should cast him
out; and they could not. He answered him, and said, O faithless generation, how
long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? Bring him unto me.
And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, immediately the spirit
convulsed him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming (Matt. 9:17-20).
At Pentecost, the apostles did not bark like dogs, roar like lions or writhe on
the ground. On the contrary, as we hear in the service for Pentecost, ‘each one
of them there present heard spoken his native tongue’. In other words, the
apostles were given the gift of speaking foreign languages.
We
don’t have time in this article to discuss the Alpha Course in great detail,
but the Course, and the worship at HTB are rooted in the so-called Faith
Movement. This movement promotes many heretical beliefs, one of which, ‘faith
in faith’, is outlined below by the Baptist pastor Dr. Nick Needham:
‘Faith’ is an
independent spiritual force, a basic law of the universe. God Himself is a
‘faith God’: He created the universe by His faith. This involved God in
visualising the universe in His imagination, and then speaking it into
existence with ‘faith-filled words’—saying ‘Let it be’ and believing that it
would be. Man also can use the same power and create his own reality. This
involves visualising what you want, and then speaking it into existence with
faith in your creative words (‘Positive confession’—sometimes called ‘Name it
and claim it’).[4]
According
to the above theory, people can ‘create’ reality by wishing it into existence. Followers
of the Alpha Course, for example, invite Jesus into their life and this becomes
a reality because they have ‘named it and claimed it’. This theory also
explains why follows of the Alpha Course believe that they will go to Heaven.
The
Alpha Course has also been criticized by Reformed Protestants for promoting
‘easy believism’ – the belief that one needs to accept Christ as Saviour but not necessarily as Lord. In other
words, ‘easy believers’ can continue their lives without obeying
Christ’s commandments as long as they accept Christ as Saviour. In similar fashion, the Alpha
Course ignores Christ’s role as Judge and Lord in order to promote a more
accessible Jesus. HTB’s own magazine describes the course as ‘fun and
unthreatening - just like our Lord Himself!’ [5]
We have only quoted a small part of Welby’s
interview, but it is clear that the idea he is putting forward here is not Orthodox.
We cannot be saved simply by telling ourselves we are. Nor can people can save
themselves solely by their own actions. This idea was condemned by the Orthodox
Church in the fifth century – it is called the heresy of Pelagianism.
People
who are convinced that they are going to Heaven are forgetting that we will be
judged by God for our deeds on earth as Saint Paul teaches: ‘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’ (2.Cor. 5:10).
Christ
is the Judge of All and Almighty God. Christ Himself says: ‘As I hear, I judge;
and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him
who sent Me (John 5:30) ‘And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not
alone, but I and the Father that sent me' (John 8:16).
We
preach Christ as Saviour and Lord Who, when He comes again in glory, will reveal
the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of our hearts (cf.
1. Cor. 4:5). Christ teaches:
Many will say to me in
that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have
cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity (Matt.
7: 22-23).
Even
though Christ is a Just Judge, the chances of us entering the Kingdom of Heaven
are far from certain. Even St. Paul did not dare to say that he was already
saved or going to heaven: ‘Not that I have already obtained this or have
already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own’ (Phil. 3:12). In a
similar vein, St. Paul likens our Christian life to an athletic race: ‘Know ye
not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run,
that ye may obtain (1. Cor. 9:24).
We
must repent of our sins and struggle to run the race well, but we cannot earn
salvation by our works. It is for reason that the Church describes our
spiritual life as cooperation with the Holy Spirit. This cooperation between
our works on earth and grace is called synergy. St. Paul uses the word ‘synergy’
in this context when he says: ‘We are fellow workers (synergoi) with God’ (1.
Cor. 3:9).
Salvation
is not solely up to us, because as Christ says: ‘Without me ye can do nothing’
(John 15:5). However, our contribution is indispensable because, as St. James
the Apostle teaches, ‘Faith by itself, if
it does not have works, is dead (James 2:17).
Our
personal salvation is therefore not assured unless we continue to ‘fight the
good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life’ (cf. 1 Cor. 6:12). Who among
us can say that we are fighting this good fight as well as we should? Who among
us can say that we have no sin? We cannot, therefore, declare that we will go to
Heaven.
We
are all sinners and we must repent, acknowledging how far we away from even
beginning to keep Christ’s commandments. It is for this reason, that time and
again in the services of the Orthodox Church we ask for the mercy of God. For
example, in the Orthodox funeral service we chant:
I am an image of Thine
ineffable glory even though I bear the wounds of sin; take compassion on Thy
creature, O Master, and cleanse me by Thy loving-kindness; and grant me the
desired fatherland, making me again a dweller of Paradise.
We
cannot, like Archbishop Welby, say that we are going to Heaven. We acknowledge that
we are sinners, but we trust in the mercy and love of God ‘Who
desires that all men be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Tim.
2:4).
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