Alan Campbell (pastor)

Alan Campbell, B.A. is a Pentecostal pastor in Belfast, Ireland and a prominent scholar and lecturer in the British Israel movement, although he is also popular in Historicist (http://www.objectsspace.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Historicism#Biblical_historicism) circles because of his identification of the Pope as the Antichrist of Bible prophecy.

Alan was born in Belfast on August 6, 1949 into a staunchly Presbyterian home, albeit in an area heavily populated by Roman Catholics. His "grandmother was a very firm adherent of" the doctrine of Anglo-Israelism, and thus he was exposed to this teaching "from a very early age", in his words. Despite his upbringing, however, he didn't experience a true conversion to Christianity until September 19, 1965, when he repented in the Ravenhill Free Presbyterian Church after listening to Ian Paisley preach on Matthew 8:12 ("But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth").

Alan himself explains that, shortly after being saved, "I began to attend Bible Studies on the subject of Prophecy at the Revival Hall on the East side of Belfast. My only problem was that these people were Pentecostals who spoke in tongues, which ran contrary to everything I was taught at my own Church where speaking in tongues was forbidden. However after some time I reached the conclusion that if the folks at the Revival Hall were correct about the Israel message then they must also be right about the Pentecostal experience and so I began to seek for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit." After several nights of prayer, Alan finally spoke in tongues for the first time under the ministry of Bryn Jones, and has subsequently written a tract not only chronicling this experience but defending Pentecostal phenomenon entitled "What the Bible Teaches About the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Speaking in Tongues" (http://www.1335.com/hsbaptism.html). Because of his "Kingdom Identity" views (which hold that Israel, not the church, is the bride of Christ, in contradiction to the teachings of the Westminster Confession of Faith) and his conversion to Pentecostalism, Campbell left the Free Presbyterian Church, and, while he continues to promote Ian Paisley and his literature (as well as adhere to the Presbyterian doctrine of Calvinism), many of the clergy that Dr. Paisley moderates have attacked Mr. Campbell, such as Reverend T.A. Dunlop, whom Mr. Campbell refuted in his tract [British-Israel, Fact or Fiction? (http://www.orange-street-church.org/text/british-israel%20fact%20or%20fiction.htm)].

Alan Campbell was ordained to the ministry in 1974 by Dr. Francis Thomas and was baptized by full immersion in 1979 (although he had already been baptized by sprinkling as an infant). He graduated from the University of London with an Honours degree in History and from Queen's University, Belfast with a Certificate in Biblical Studies. He currently serves as the Head of Religious Studies at Newtownabbey Community High School near Belfast. He is author of a number of Bible study books and has lectured on Protestant and Prophetic platforms throughout the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia. However, his ministry is decidedly centred in Ulster, and many of his messages and website updates deal with the political situation there. So controversial are his views on "the Roman Catholic terrorists of the Marxist IRA" that he was even sent a death threat on June 7, 1999 in the form of some mailed ammunition and a warning to leave the country in 72 hours, prompting "an urgent call to prayer" in the Open-Bible Ministries' "Kingdom Tidings" webpage.

Alan Campbell preaches obedience to God's Laws to the point of condemning interracial marriage, sometimes using rather questionable interpretations of certain verses to justify his objections to race-mixing. In the second part of his series Jeremiah: From Jerusalem to the Emerald Isle (http://resources.christianity.com/1335/talkInfo.jhtml?id=40888&JServSessionIdroot=055hi85zz1), he quotes Jeremiah 2:22 ("for though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD") before asking his audience: "What sin could the people of Israel have committed that soap and water wouldn't wash away?" He answers his own query with "miscegenation", explaining that "they had mingled the holy seed with the other races and peoples and nationalities", and, as he does in his sermon The Unholy Land - (2) (http://resources.christianity.com/1335/talkInfo.jhtml?id=15767&JServSessionIdroot=055hi85zz1), he teaches that Isaiah 3:8-9 refers to the "alien" facial features adopted by the Hebrews through mongrelization. However, although he believes Old Testament statutes should be observed, he does not have a beard. It is unclear what his view on the Sabbath is; he conducts Bible studies in Cregagh S.C. Hall, not on Saturday, but on Wednesday and Sunday nights. On the other hand, in his sermon on The Real Saint Patrick (http://resources.christianity.com/1335/talkInfo.jhtml?id=24470&JServSessionIdroot=4xe73osqq1), he says, in an apparently approving tone, "The Celtic Church taught obedience to God's Laws and they didn't keep the same festivals as the organized Roman Church, and, although I'm not getting into this tonight, I have read some accounts by various authors who actually state that the ancient Celtic Church, for a period of time (not their whole history, but for a period of time) were Saturday worshippers." He does not eat pork (although some of his disciples do), and defends the observance of the food laws in his pamphlet "Did Christ and His Apostles Keep the Food Laws?" (http://www.1335.com/foodlaws.html).

Although he disassociates himself with Armstrongism, like Herbert W. Armstrong, he teaches "soul sleep" and denials the immortality of the soul, as well as uses the phrase "begotten again" in preference to the traditional "born again". It is unclear what his views on the Trinity are; however, he has referred to Pastor Gordon Magee, a Oneness Pentecostal preacher most renowned for writing a booklet entitled "Is Jesus in the Godhead or is the Godhead in Jesus?" promoting the ancient heresy of Sabellianism, as "an apostle sent of God to restore truth to the body". On the other hand, the only translation used at his Bible study meetings is the King James Bible, which contains the famous Johannine Comma in 1 John 5:7. Unlike most Ruckmanites, however, Alan also uses an Amplified Bible, a Ferrar Fenton Bible, and a Lamsa Bible in his personal research, but he insists that "I'm only looking at them in the same sense as I would look at a concordance or a lexicon, and I'm not looking at them in the same way as I view the Authorized Version of the Scripture, from which I preach".

External Links

• Open Bible Ministries (http://www.1335.com/) is Alan Campbell's website.
• Several of Alan's sermons can be downloaded for free at Open Bible Ministries Online Resource Centre (http://resources.christianity.com/1335); however, the opening song by Billy McGibbon and closing hymn (which can be heard on the cassettes) are usually cut out.
• Newtownabbey Community High School (http://websites.ntl.com/~nchs/), where Alan is employed, mentions him on their Staff List (http://websites.ntl.com/~nchs/NCHS_STAFF_PAGE.html). (Note: Website often down.)
• The Death Penalty — Is It Scriptural? (http://reactor-core.org/death-penalty.html) and The Mark of the Beast (http://uk.geocities.com/alexandercain/cd41.html) are typical essays by Alan Campbell.
• An interview of Pastor Campbell conducted by Peter Salemi, pastor and president of The British Israel Church of God (http://www.british-israel.ca/Watchman%20Program.htm), can be downloaded at the church's website.

Pro-Campbell Links

• Historicist.com (http://www.historicist.com) promotes Alan's eschatologically-oriented cassettes in its "Midnight Oil Ministries" mailing list.
• The Ensign Trust website (http://www.ensignmessage.com) contains several articles of interest to British-Israelites and Protestants, including essays by Alan Campbell.
• Armageddon Books (http://www.armageddonbooks.com/) advertises Alan's exposition on Revelation 9 on their page selling Historicist (http://www.armageddonbooks.com/historicist.html) literature, and links (http://www.armageddonbooks.com/alt.html) to his website.
• This Independant Baptist's website (http://www.picknowl.com.au/homepages/rlister) has scanned Alan's anti-Catholic booklet The Idol Shepherd of Zechariah (http://www.picknowl.com.au/homepages/rlister/cath/idol.htm), which presents the case that the Biblical book of Zechariah prophecied the Papacy as the Antichrist. (You can hear Alan himself preach on this subject online (http://resources.christianity.com/1335/talkInfo.jhtml?id=37420&JServSessionIdroot=pjnwvi0a11).)
• The Jubilee Newspaper (http://jubilee-newspaper.com/) links to Alan's website on their Sites to See (http://jubilee-newspaper.com/links.htm) page.
• Although Alan has openly denied that British-Israel is a racist doctrine (he told Pastor Peter Salemi that "we're preaching, not that Israel is a master race, but that we are a servant people chosen by God to bless all of humanity and to lead them into obedience to the Lord Jesus"), the white supremacist congregation The Church of the Sons of YHVH (http://www.churchofthesonsofyhvh.org) provides the link (http://churchofthesonsofyhvh.org/links.htm) to his website. However, as a disclaimer, the COSOY writes on their "Links" page: "These links are provided for informational purposes only. The Church of the Sons of YHVH does not necessarily agree with all of the information contained in the links provided."

Anti-Campbell Links

• “British Israelism” Examined and its Errors Exposed (http://www.ivanfoster.org/page.asp?bi) contains several of the characteristic criticisms of Alan levelled by Presbyterian ministers.
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  The Truth About KJV Only (http://moriel.org/articles/discernment/ruckmanism/truth_about_KJV_only.htm) first appeared in the summer and autumn, 2001, edition of Moriel Newsletter, and was written by the director of Moriel Ministries (http://www.moriel.org/moriel.htm), Messianic Jewish preacher James Jacob Prasch (http://www.moriel.org/jacob_prasch.htm). This article claims that Alan "recently ran scared from a debate challenge by a distinguished Professor". However, when asked about this proposed debate, Prasch has given a muddled and contradictory answer. In point of fact, when Jacob Prasch visited Belfast in September of 1997 and denounced British-Israelism at the Agape Christian Fellowship, Pastor Campbell preached a sermon the following week refuting Mr. Prasch's criticisms entitled "Identity Truth Defended 1997 (An Answer to J. Prasch)". Alan also made a point-by-point rebuttal to Mr. Prasch's anti-KJV article in June of 2002 entitled "Jakob [sic] Prasch vs. the King James Bible". Recordings of both sermons can be purchased from Open-Bible Ministries' website (http://www.1335.com/catalogue.html), although the former is referred to as "REPLY TO JACOB PRASCH" in the catalogue.
• Irish Republican News (http://republican-news.org/) refers to Alan as "a fringe figure" who "launched an Internet site to promote his brand of hardline loyalism" in one of their articles (http://republican-news.org/archive/1999/May06/06past.html).
• Guardian Unlimited: The Observer (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/) refers to Alan in an article on anti-Catholicism in the Orange Order (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,341465,00.html) as "one of the most truculent Protestant preachers" in Ulster and states that he "has since set up his own religious grouping which regurgitates the fantasy that the people of Ulster are the lost tribe of Israel" and that he "has penned a raft of anti-Catholic pamphlets with titles such as 'The Beast Has a Banner'. In his taped sermons, he refers to Catholics as 'people of the wafer God'." In a more recent article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1504687,00.html), he is described as a "shadowy figure" who propagates in his Rome Watch (http://www.1335.com/rome.html) newssheet (which is called an "ultra-loyalist hate sheet") "revolting bigotry", while his British-Israelite views are derided as "patent nonsense".