CHRISTIAN POST ENGAGES IN DAMAGING GOSSIP?

Yes, Perry Noble is an abusive false teacher – but false teachers are often victims of their own vices and false teachings. NewSpring Church will be making an announcement about Perry Noble this Sunday, addressing “growing whispers that Perry Noble, the church’s founding and senior pastor, was fired this week.”

Our ChurchWatch sites often receives emails, or are contacted by leaders and insiders from Hillsong, C3 or CHC and other spiritually abusive churches, expressing their biblical concerns about their leadership. However we don’t publish information until there is something called EVIDENCE.

We say this to highlight the appalling “gag rag” journalism of the Christian Post for stating this in their piece about Perry Noble:

“The Christian post was informed Thursday by a source close to the church that Perry’s alleged firing was triggered by a “terrible marriage, alcoholism and maybe more.”

If this media outlet wants to be considered the “Christian” Post, where is their “Christian” integrity when it comes to the teaching on accurate reporting?

“Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” 2 Cor 13:1

Isn’t the Christian Post engaging in rumor and hearsay by relying on ONE witness? Where are the other two or three witnesses? They should behave like everyone else and wait to hear what NewSpring has to say on Perry Noble.

Jordan Hall from the Polemics Report has published an article that attempts to make sure that all of our hearts need to be in the right place.

Don’t Spike the Football on Noble’s Ignoble Departure

Is Noble gone? Is he just a rotten drunk with a bad marriage as news reports suggest? Is this just a publicity stunt? Will he enter the stage like a rock star, making the ‘sign of the horns,’ head-banging to Highway to Hell? Or will the Leadership Team for Futuristic Vision Transition come out and tell us Noble is on an extended sabbatical until forever because he couldn’t get his life together? Or have we been punk’d?

One thing is for sure. We’ll know Sunday.

Might I make a suggestion? Could I possibly suggest that we polemicists and discerning Christians not spike the football if it turns out that Noble makes an ignoble departure?

Sure, if the pastor who called “the guy who wants to go deeper [in the Bible] ” a “jackass” is fired for effectively being an equus africanus asinus, those saying “I told you so” will naturally want to do the Ickey Shuffle. You might want to refrain. Here are the following reasons you want to demonstrate self-restraint if Noble’s church tells us that God has moved his vision-dispensing conduit to a different meat puppet.

1. Noble is a person. You know, with a soul and everything. Imago Dei. He has a family. He has feelings. The Bible exhorts us to have compassion for all people. In the Mosaic civil code, even if you executed a criminal and hung him up as a warning, you had to take his body down before sunset. If Noble is proverbially strung up, might we cut the corpse down before the day is over?

2. Noble isn’t beyond saving. Sure, the chance of him being a Christian is questionable. For a megachurch pastor to have that little understanding of the Scripture, his sanctification seems so slow it might just be nonexistent, and that’s scary. Furthermore, his deception in covering up things and his attacks on those desiring discipleship reek of being closer to demonic than sanctified. But Jesus died for worse offenses. I’d hate for this to be used to lead him to repentance and the first thing he faces on the way into orthodox christianity is a gauntlet of scary-eyed discernment folks swinging their sock n’locks.

3. It’s not like we didn’t know this – or something similar – would happen. We (polemicists) called it with Driscoll and sooooo many others. I get it; it’s annoying when you’re told to refrain from I told you so. But let’s be honest. Was it hard to call it? Megachurch pastor regularly beats his sheep. Megachurch fires pastor. That does not seem like a suspense-filled storyline. Furthermore, the proclivity for dishonesty and deflection alone meant that Noble would sooner or later go the way of Driscoll, who by the way, recently spoke at Noble’s leadership conference (is it too late for attendees to get their money back?).

4. There are Covenant people at NewSpring who will be hurting. Frankly, that’s sufficient commentary in itself. Do you want them to hate you discerning souls or in the dark and quiet think to themselves, “Wow. They were right all along. I should listen to them in the future.” Wherever the redeemed fellowship (even in a very troubled church with a very troubled impastor), there the Bride of Christ is. If she stumbles, pick her up. Don’t kick her.

5. The reason for Noble’s ignoble departure probably won’t be what it should be. Whatever the Committee for Mantle Passing and Vision Casting at NewSpring tells the world on Sunday, I highly doubt they’ll tell us that Noble’s been given the left-boot of fellowship for turning the Ten Commandments into the Ten Promises. I doubt they’ll say it’s his scripture-twisting. I doubt they’ll say it’s the eisegesis. If they did, even I might be tempted to spike that football. But, it will probably not be.

I exhort the discernment community to act according to the calling given us. We do desire repentance from some. We are aware of God’s imprecatory judgments. We do plead with those to flee from the wrath to come. But sufficient is the day in its own trouble. We don’t have to add to it.

Pray that Noble is not led to excessive sorrow (2 Corinthians 2:7). If he repents, treat him gently – and watch out for yourself, that you are not likewise tempted (Galatians 6:1).

Source: By Jordan Hall, Don’t Spike the Football on Noble’s Ignoble Departure, Polemics Report, http://polemicsreport.com/2016/07/09/dont-spike-the-football-on-nobles-ignoble-departure/, Published 09/07/2016. (Accessed 09/07/2016.)

Categories: NewSpring Church

Tags: Jordan Hall, Perry Noble