Volume Twenty Four – September 2007

By Michael C. Gaudiosi - The Noble Berean
 

WE'LL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES! Many pastors have used this argument to justify the soul winning methods of their ministries. They believe the simple, yet powerful, preaching of the Gospel is not enough, and base their “ends justify the means” mentality on the second part of 1 Corinthians 9:22 - “...I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

However one “pastor” has taken this passage of scripture DOWN to a whole new level! Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson South Carolina has used many techniques, from hip-hop, to rock and drama skits to get the unsaved sinner to, as he puts it, “meet Jesus”. However, in this one particular case, he uses something many people would never dream of hearing in a church service...the AC/DC song “Hell's Bells”.

That's right, Hell's Bells! A song inspired by Satan himself, by a heavy metal group with a string of dark hits such as “Highway to Hell”, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, “Back in Black”...etc. Hell's Bell's is such an “inspirational” song with with lyrics like: “I'll give you black sensations up and down your spine. If you're into evil you're a friend of mine. I got my bell, I'm gonna take you to hell, I'm gonna get you, Satan get you”. You can see this for yourself here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5y5OKl5t1c

It would only be natural for a fundamental, conservative, Baptist Christian like myself to be offended by this. Of course, Perry Noble has an answer for those like me who think the use of an evil song like this in church is offensive. He simply shrugs it off and claims people, like myself, who disagree with his tactics need to “meet Jesus” and get saved.

Here is what Noble says about this:

“I know somebody probably, you know, got a little offended...(unintelligible), and you've already got the email in your head that you're gonna send in, let me just kind of say this, let me save you the trouble. Don't send it in, a hundred and ten people met Jesus today and if you've got a problem with that...(people cheering), if you have a problem with that show up next week and we're prayin' that you will meet Jesus.” - (Perry Noble, Pastor, NewSpring Church Anderson South Carolina).

If you read his quote carefully, he is actually saying if you have a problem with the method I used to get one hundred and ten people to “meet Jesus” that's just too bad, don't bother to send me your emails. I don't care about what you think or how you feel, so quit your whining and “meet Jesus” for yourself. So according to Noble, I'm a non believer who needs to “meet Jesus” because I disagree with his “hellish” song choice for his altar call!

SOLA SCRIPTURA – THE SCRIPTURE ALONE!

This is why I ask “what is going on here?” Not with this one church only, but with Christianity as a whole in America. It never ceases to amaze me the number of churches in our cities and suburbs. I mean, you can find a church on almost every street corner! If you don't believe me, go take a look at the Yellow Pages under “churches”. You can go to almost any bookstore and get a bible, it is so readily available for anyone to read at any time!

There is no other nation on earth where the Gospel is more abundant and available than in America, one would think this is a spiritually mature nation! Yet there is so much spiritual blindness and ignorance! This church is just one example of this! Why is this happening? We have our Christian TV and radio networks and conferences. We have all our books, tapes, CD's and DVD's by so many ministers with their theology degrees and so on...yet things like this continue to go on in many churches across the country and so many people remain spiritual babies! This is what Hosea 4:6 really means:

Hosea 4:6 - My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Although God is speaking to the priests who taught His people Israel the Word of the Lord, this can very well ring true for most of these so-called preachers and teachers in the Church today. You can't expect true conversions and spiritual maturity to the tune of “Hell's Bells”, even if Perry Noble claims a hundred and ten, or a million and ten people “met Jesus”.

I have to wonder what will happen to these weak, compromising, liberal churches when persecution comes to America. I mean real persecution. The kind you see in other nations of the world. What will most people in these churches do when they are given the choice to either deny Christ or die? I pray this will never happen in America, but given the state of Christianity in this country today, I fear someday it will. Evangelist and Missionary Paul Washer said it best:

“When you walk in to a group of people who know absolutlely nothing about the Gospel, you stand there as a man absolutlely helpless. Or, you stand there as a man armed with armaments of the flesh. You know we think we can put up a media screen, and do all kinds of things and have a few movies, and we can somehow emotionally manipulate people into the Kingdom. That is not true, and when we try to do that we're no longer going to see the power of the Holy Spirit.

What we have to do, and I always teach my men this on the field, I say give me one man, who believes God with a Bible in his hand, stick him in the middle of the town square and let him preach until he is stoned to death or till someone's converted cause God will bless that type of preaching”. - Paul Washer.

Proverbs 14:34 - Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

Search the Scripture for yourself! SOLA SCRIPTURA! The Scripture ALONE! May the Lord bless you!

If you would like to respond please send your comments to: email@thenobleberean.org. Copy write 2007 The Noble Berean. This may be used in its entirety for non-commercial personal use. Changes/edits are not permitted without the express permission of The Noble Berean.