I have debated in my heart and prayed about how to respond to articles and blogs that I have seen that present Pastor Perry Noble of NewSpring Church in Greenville, South Carolina as a false teacher and heretic. In particular, there have been blog posts made that target his teaching at the Christmas Eve service, questioning its biblical truth. I feel led to simply share our experience of the Christmas Eve service at Newspring. First, let me say that my family is not a member of Newspring Church. Until Christmas Eve of 2014, we had never heard a single sermon from Perry Noble, at least not to my knowledge. I am in no position to defend Newspring Church or Perry Noble nor am I in any position to persecute the church or its pastor. I have heard from friends that attend Newspring and have seen on facebook the praise that he receives for his sermons and teaching. I have also seen and heard the cries that this man is a heretic, false prophet and a tool of Satan. However, our goal for attending Newspring on Christmas Eve was not to see and hear Perry Noble preach and it was also not to seek out ammunition to charge this man with heresy. We went to worship and praise God for the gift of Jesus Christ.
We were spending Christmas week in Myrtle Beach away from our home church but wanted to worship on Christmas. So after doing some searches of local churches, we felt led to give the Myrtle Beach campus of Newspring a try. Now, some articles I have seen online claim that in this service, Perry Noble attempts to rewrite the Ten Commandments. However, this was not the message I received at all. In fact, the spirit opened my eyes to some truths about the bible that I had not noticed before or at least needed to be reminded of. I do believe that the 10 commandments were laws given to the people of Israel by God through Moses, just as I believe there are many commandments given to us throughout the old and new testaments. Jesus tells us to love one another...that one right there is enough to exclude most of us from being perfect. How many of us have those few people in our lives to whom we honestly just cant seem to show love? I know I do. But the measage I received from God was that there is more to the bible than a set of rules or commands. Am I, as a Christian, not allowed to pray a prayer that says, "Father God, fill me with the Holy Spirit today. I find myself looking on Facebook at the things my friends get to do and have. The bigger houses, the newer cars, the trendy clothes for their kids and I find myself angry and jealous that I cant afford to give these things to my family. Father, fill me with the spirit so that you can change my focus to be thankful for what you have given me and remove my anger and jealousy in Jesus name Amen." And can we not pray a prayer that says, "Father fill me with your spirit because I recognize the things in my life that have become idols. These things I place above you. My job, my family, my desire to go deer hunting or watch the NFL playoffs instead of coming to worship you. Remove these idols from a position that is above you and restore in me the desire that in all things I will worship and praise you first in Jesus name amen."
These are the promises that God opened my eyes to because if I can't pray these prayers and KNOW that God will answer them, then two things are true. One, I will fail and two, what Jesus did on the cross was a scam. Jesus died not just to forgive our sins but to free us from sin. We are a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). But if I have to rely on myself to denounce sin and worldly ways, I will fail. If it is up to me to follow the commandments of the bible then all hope is lost for me. But God promises that along with these commands, he can give us the strength and power through the holy spirit to follow his word and the example given us through the life of Jesus. That is the message I received from God through the Christmas Eve service at Newspring. That by saying yes to Jesus, we say yes to God's holy power through the spirit to live a life that glorifies him. And that is promised to me by GOD.
That is also the message that my 11 year old son Drew received that night. My son gave his heart to Jesus at that service. He didnt give it to Perry Noble or Newspring (nor was he asked to do so)....he gave it to Jesus. He prayed a prayer. I dont know what he prayed exactly because quite frankly that is a private conversation between he and his creator. But as I was praying, I felt a tug on my arm and I looked down and my son had written his name on a little name tag they had in the bulletin. He whispered to me "Mom, I said yes to Jesus." He turned and tugged on his father's sleeve and told him the same thing. He then got up and without asking any of us to go with him, he stepped out into the aisle and with a big smile on his face walked to the front and placed his name tag on a poster that said "Yes". What a bold, public profession of faith! When he came back I looked into his eyes. I saw Jesus in his eyes. Growing up in church, I have seen hundreds of people make decisions for Jesus and the ones that are truly real, you can see something in their eyes and that something is Jesus. I praise God for that. My family, all four of us, will be in heaven.
The spirit moved in that service. I can't tell you about Hebrew words or Jewish teachers or if Perry Noble wants to rewrite the bible as these articles claim. But I can tell you that in that place, on that night, the spirit moved and people were saved. For that, every christian should rejoice and for anyone to say that it wasn't God and that it wasn't real....thats the real heracy.
Be very careful who you call a false teacher. Again, I make no defense for Perry Noble because I dont have enough experience or knowledge to do so just as I dont persecute him for the same reasons. But just remember that the Bible is full of men who were different that preached the word of God. Imagine a man wearing woven camel hair, with long scraggly hair bursting into a church in the middle of a preacher's sermon shouting about the coming of the Lord. I would guess that 98% of these churches would have the volunteer security committee jump up and escort him out yet God used such a man in John the Baptist to precede the coming and announce the arrival of the King of Kings. We should be careful who we lable a heretic or false teacher and have God given assurance that our accusations are true. Otherwise, we are the enemy. We fight a battle against one of our own. I believe the military calls it friendly fire. Just be sure....
As for me, I will rejoice in the fact that the Lord knocked...and my son answered and I thank God that my son heard HIS message and responded to HIM. I am also thankful that we were led to attend the Newspring service. Had we not, that decision may not have ever been made. Had we said "No God.....I want to go to another church because I have heard from other people that their preacher is not a man of God" my son's salvation would have been placed in jeopardy. I apologize to no one for following where God leads me.
Blessings,
Dalinda
