Christian Countercult Website Profiles
ALPHA Internet Ministries
Statement of Faith Statement of Purpose Religious Groups Considered History Discussion
Group or Owners: Dennis Robbins
Education: Unknown
Position: Executive DirectorAssociates:
Randy Wilkins, Senior Editor
Bill Woodrum, Editorial Consultant
Brian Wilson, Technical Director
Date started: February 19, 1996
Last accessed: October 29, 1999
Total hits on frontpage: 31,133
Religious Affiliation: Independent, fundamentalist, conservative Baptist: Berean Baptist Church
501(c)3: No
Location:
While there is no explicit statement of faith offered on the site itself, both the Executive Director (Robbins) and the Senior Editor (Wilkins) attend Berean Baptist Church in Lilburn, Georgia. The statement of faith for this independent, fundamental Baptist congregation includes:
- Core Doctrines for all Bible Believers
- Verbal inspiration of the Scriptures
- Blood atonement
- Second Coming of Christ
- Virgin Birth of Christ
- Deity of Christ
- Salvation by Grace
- Historic Baptist Distinctives
- Bible is the only rule of faith and practice
- Regenerate church membership
- Autonomy of the local church
- Priesthood of the believer
- Two ordinances: Baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper
- Two Offices: Pastor and Deacons
- Separation of church and state
- Separation from sin
- Independent Baptist Distinctives
- Missions: locally evaluated and approved
- Literature: locally evaluated and approved
- Budget: no money sent to denominational headquarters for disbursement
- Policy: no external pressures concerning emphasis, direction, cooperation, etc.
There is also no explicit Statement of Purpose on the site; however, on the frontpage the site operators inform visitors:
"Inside you'll find the first Christian Education Center on the Internet built exclusively for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--by non-Mormons! We cordially invite you to come in and find a comfortable seat in the conference room. We have attempted to present this material in the spirit of a statement made by Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt, who said:
...convince us of our errors of doctrine, if we have any, by reason, by logical arguments, or by the word of God, and we will be ever grateful for the information, and you will ever have the pleasing reflection that you have been instruments in the hands of God of redeeming your fellow beings from the darkness which you may see enveloping their minds. The Seer, pp. 15 - 16, (1853)"
On the main page of the site, for which the frontpage serves as gatekeeper as much as gateway, the operators continue:
"Our purpose for providing this Educational Center is to inform and instruct in a spirit of love. Please don't react or make false accusations about our motives -- if you find things with which you have serious disagreements, just let us know what they are and we will give our best effort to provide an additional explanation."
This site is dedicated to counter-Mormon apologetics.
Unknown. Site operators contacted, but did not reply.
Beneath the introductory message on the gatekeeping page--which includes a quote from Orson Pratt--is a warning to those who would judge ALPHA Internet Ministries harshly for what they are trying to do with their site. It is obvious that they have experienced the indignance of Latter-day Saints who have objected to the attack on their faith represented by this page and others like it. The site operators address those criticisms by suggesting that "if you are just looking for a verbal battle, then we highly recommend you save yourself the false sense of piety that comes by thinking your faith is strengthened by leveling criticism at our efforts."
Those who wish to continue are invited into the main page of the site, called "The Conference Room." Similar to the prolepsis on the gate page, though, on the main page one finds: "Note: Many have completely missed the point of this site, spending perhaps 5 or 10 minutes to make a quick judgement . . . please do some serious digging before 'shooting one across our bow'" (colour emphasis in the original). The page, however, is little more than a annotated list of links, some of which navigate to other counter-Mormon sites, others to brief essays on standard counter-Mormon and evangelical Christian topics.
At this access, of fifteen links, three are directly to other sites, including a link to James R. White's Alpha and Omega Ministries, and the online version of his Letters to a Mormon Elder ("Reading this book may prove to be one of the most important events in your life"--colour emphasis in the original). Most other links navigate to material borrowed from other counter-Mormon authors.
Evangelical Christian links include: "God's simple plan of salvation," a litany of biblical texts quilted together to support the fundamentalist belief that "no matter HOW much good a person does. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross provided redemption whereby we may know beyond any doubt that we may spend eternity with God in heaven." "Notes on the Virgin Birth of Christ!" ("We clear the air on the LDS position of the virgin birth of Christ. Don't miss this well- documented feature") presents evangelical Christian arguments for the virgin birth as opposed to L.D.S. teachings. However, these are not written by the site operators themselves, but link to brief essays by James White and Ron Rhodes. Similarly, "will the Church tell the truth about the Bible?" is a reprint of an essay by counter-Mormon John Farkas, "Will The Mormon Missionaries Tell People How Unreliable The Bible is?" of Berean Christian Ministries.
While this site has been operational for three years, their claim to being the "first Christian Education Center on the Internet built exclusively for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--by non-Mormons!" appears a bit dubious. Very little of the material on the site is original; site formatting is straightforward and uncomplicated, but also uninspiring; the critiques of Mormonism and the evangelical counterclaims follow no logical sequence, but appear to be grouped together with little forethought.
In view of the fact that very little of what appears on this relatively insubstantial site is actually produced by the site operators, one has to wonder why they require an executive director, a senior editor, an editorial consultant, and a technical director.
Douglas E. Cowan, Ph.D.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City
Copyright © 2000 Douglas E. Cowan