Boy Scouts and Guns

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, "...but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you."

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is

Mike Abendroth and I'm here with Steve Abendroth. Steve Abendroth. Well, you know what,

I think maybe my parents almost called me Steve. Did they really? No, my mother said she almost called me

Nick. So I would have been Nick Abendroth, but... Saint Nick. Well, that's true, isn't it?

Steve, anything going on in your life that we need to be updated on? There's absolutely nothing going on in my life, although I did just recently spend a weekend with one of my grandchildren calling me

Pom Pom all weekend. Pom Pom. Now, was she looking at your stomach or looking at your biceps?

Which one? No, it's just, you know. She figured out that I would respond to that. But you know, everywhere

I went in the house, because they were here for the storm, everywhere I went in the house, she was just like, Pom Pom, Pom Pom, Pom Pom.

It was making my wife kind of, I don't want to say frustrated, like in a sinful sense, but she was just like,

I spend more time with her. Why doesn't she have a name for me? Grandma.

Yeah. Steve, I'm just going to throw out. This is kind of a Carl Truman deal, or maybe James, excuse me,

Todd Friel, where I throw out something and then you have to respond. What if I throw it back? Well, then

I'm sitting by the control power. The founder of the

Jesuits, Ignatius Loyola. Okay? Loyola University. Yeah. Remember Loyola Maramount, and Hank Gathers, and Bo Kimble?

Those guys were fun to watch coached by Paul Westhead, if I believe correctly. Yeah. And one of the highest scoring games ever against LSU and coached by Dale Brown and with Shaquille O 'Neal.

Well, they actually had - It was panting during that game, I think. Loyola Maramount had a six second shot clock rule.

I love that. It was fun to watch. Here's what Ignatius Loyola, founder of the

Jesuits, said, if we wish to proceed securely in all things, we must hold fast to the following principle.

Okay? So this is a - The following principle. This is a lifeline. This is guidance for life. He's going to say sola scriptura.

Yeah, well. What seems to me white,

I will believe black if the hierarchical church so defines.

That's a little bit breathtaking. Cited in Lewis W. Spitz, the Protestant Reformation, 1517 to 1559,

Harper and Rowe. So I will believe a lie if someone with enough authority -

I mean, that is - I mean, I don't even know how to say it.

That's authoritarianism, that's fascism, that's everything all kind of rolled into one. That is just craziness.

Now in no compromise time, this is, I think, towards the end of February. But in real time, this is, what, the 14th of February.

What's your take on the whole Pope thing, giving up being the Pope for Lent and all that? What are you giving up this year for Lent, Your Holiness?

I'm giving up being the Pope. What are you giving up? I know it's an old joke, but it's funny.

How does that happen? Well, basically, I've heard all the Catholic apologists, you know, talk about it and they say, well, in today's day and age, the

Pope just really has to be everywhere. And having had a pacemaker put in here a few months ago, he's not physically able to do all these things.

So it's for the good of the church. And I'm like, so what do you call the guy now? You know, and they're like, well,

I'm still going to call him, you know, Your Holiness or whatever. So there's going to be two Your Holinesses running around.

So I think the last Pope that retired was 600 years ago because of the Great Schism. And so now we have the

Great Chasm. Think about it, Steve. Here's my take. I haven't read this anywhere. This is just my own personal no -co machinations.

I think that John Paul wielded so much power because he was elected as a young Pope and he was energetic and he got a lot of things done.

And the people behind the scenes who have power besides the Pope said, all right, now

John Paul's dead. We need a new Pope. And if we hire some 50 -year -old guy, he could have the same amount of power, could be 30, 40 years.

Let's hire someone who's older. Let's give the white smoke to this guy. And let's tell him, though, how long has he been a

Pope, eight years or something? Oh, so you're doing the whole Illuminati thing, right? We'll tell him he needs to go.

But if you can't do your job, we're going to hire you at 78 or whatever the number was. When you can't do your job and do all these things, we're going to have to ask you to step down.

And that's part of your requirement of taking the job as the vicar of the

Church. You think? I think that's what happened. Wow. Yeah, that's kind of conspiratorial.

You know, for me, I'll just kind of take it as at face value. But I'll tell you what I do. I'm going to, you know, a little homage to the

Pope, if I may. What I like about Pope Benedict is unlike John Paul II, this

Pope is willing to be Catholic. He's Catholic and he's proud of it. And anybody who doesn't agree with him is bound for the pit of hell.

And I like that. You know, it's good to have a Pope who says, all you reformers, all you

Protestants, all you so -called former separated brethren, you guys are just wrong.

And I'm like, I'm pretty happy that there's somebody bold enough to be Catholic who is the

Pope. Steve, it seems to me you're holding to the principle that what seems to me white, I will believe black, if the hierarchical church so defines.

I just think that is a phenomenal quote. I mean, you know, if they say, don't believe the

Bible, then you don't believe it because the hierarchy says, don't believe it. I quoted that from an article in Modern Reformation, and the article is entitled,

I don't know what's it entitled, From Bishop to Pope, a timeline by Tom Wegner. And I would encourage people, if you want to subscribe to a magazine for lighter reading,

Modern Reformation is right up there. Christianity Today is up there too, but that's just for no co -fodder.

Christianity Today Today. Okay, let me tell you what's on tap today,

Steve. Next on tap, the PCUSA proposes stricter gun control as a gospel imperative.

I'm not kidding. The Aquila Report, written by Jeff Gissing, and this was originally an article that appeared in the

Institute on Religion and Democracy's blog, and so this is what's happening. The PCUSA is responding to the horrible tragedy in Sandy Hook, and we have to make sure that we don't continue this culture of death and tragically devaluing life, although they say nothing about abortion, and they continue their quiet support for that.

How many more millions have been killed by abortion? Yeah, and they say nothing.

PCUSA, long ago, far away, used to actually hold to the gospel.

Now here's what I'd like to know. If I said, oh, you say it's a gospel imperative, well, what is the gospel?

And then I'd just like to sit back and have him answer that because— So I gave you the little, I'm going to ask you a question, make a comment, you make a response.

Let's do it again here, in this context of stricter gun control as a gospel imperative. Gospel imperative, by the way, do those two words even go together?

Well only if you say, you must be born again, then you have a gospel imperative, right? Okay, here we go.

We need to be willing to ask ourselves whether we should voluntarily limit our ownership of guns so that we may be more faithful stewards of the gospel.

That's what the PCUSA— What does that have to— I mean, if I'm running around carjacking people and telling them, you know, and giving them the gospel as I'm throwing them out, then you may have a good—well, not you, but this art.

What do guns have to do with the gospel exactly? I'm completely confused. They do try to say that their stated purpose is to create a peaceable kingdom, a society where God's justice reigns.

Well, because God is not capable himself of establishing that kingdom, so we have to help him out, give him a little booster.

Now listen to this quote. This is in the report that they've got here. The church's primary calling.

Primary calling. Yeah. Ready? I would think it would be to make disciples. I'm ready for Luke chapter 24 with you,

I'm ready for Matthew chapter 28, the commission that Jesus gives. Yep, yep.

That would seem to be right. Here we go. The church's primary calling is to help people prepare for the possibility of a real spiritual awakening that can instigate a social movement.

What? I mean, that sounds—here, let me get just—I'm going to get political for just a minute.

That sounds more like a political party talking point than it does anything from a church, a denomination.

Is there a Bible verse attached to that, by the way? No, but they try to quote Calvin out of context to make him a pacifist, because after all, they're

Presbyterians. Okay. Right? So here's Calvin's quote. We are required faithfully to do what in us lies to defend the life of our neighbor, to promote whatever tends to his tranquility, to be vigilant in warding off harm, and when danger comes, to assist in removing it.

What does that have to do with gun control and requiring licensing, registration, and waiting periods?

And you know what? If we were trying to remove threats from our neighbors, supposing that that threat is an armed threat, then what do we do?

Use harsh language to defend them? Steve, what business is it of the church to get involved with banning semi -automatic assault rifles and raising the age of handgun purchasing?

What is that? None, but I, you know, I mean, any more than any other non -moral.

This is not, guns are not moral or immoral in and of themselves.

It's the people who hold them. I mean, if a police officer has a gun, do we say that gun is immoral? No, but suddenly when it's used for some purpose that we don't like, it's the gun that becomes immoral?

It's the people. People are the problem. They were the problem in Aurora, Colorado.

They were the problem in Newtown, Connecticut. People are the problem, not guns. And sorry if I sound like a gun nut, but I mean, this is just,

I'm really not. I don't own any guns at the moment. Don't tell anybody. But the point is, this is not what the church is to be about.

If we completely ban guns and we usher in some kind of age of Aquarius, people are still going to be going to hell.

We have to give them the gospel, and taking away guns is not ushering them into the kingdom of God.

Yes, but Steve, we've got those guys at churches, you know, especially maybe Reformed Baptist churches or PCA churches, probably a lot of OPC guys, they have these gun clubs and they get together and they go skeet shooting, trap shooting, and you know, gospel and guns.

That just gives the church a bad name. I don't know what to say. I mean—

That's a first for Saturday. They might go fishing or skiing or, you know, biking too.

I mean, heaven forfend, they might even do some snowmobiling. I mean, this is a lot of hoo -ha.

I mean, let's say there's a motorcycle club at a church. Is that terrible? Because they're polluting the air, they're ushering in some kind of global warming.

I mean, these people just need to get a life. Steve, there's an article called Gun Violence, Gospel Values.

They never define the gospel because, you know what, I don't think they know it biblically. It's hard to define when you don't know it.

It says, quote, These people have no idea what they're doing.

It's an apostate denomination. And I don't even know why Christians who are listening today who are in the

PCUSA stay. Now maybe there's a good pastor out there somewhere in the PCUSA who's just trying his best to hold the line.

But nine times out of ten, 99 % of the time, if the people don't even know what the gospel is, a good news declaration about what

God has done in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, His life, death, burial, resurrection on behalf of sinners like us,

I don't know what they're doing. I think they hate all violence, don't you? Well, yeah.

And so how can you love the gospel and hate violence because there had to be war before there was peace, and God the

Father was pleased to crush the Son, and it was a violent death. Crucifixion was violent.

Add to that the wrath of God poured out on the Son for those three dark hours at Calvary.

There was violence before there was peace. Well, here's a question for our fine PCUSA—PCAU or PCUSA, whatever they are—the

Presbyterian Church USA. These spears that were thrust in the side of our

Lord, were they evil? Were the spears evil, or was it the men who were using the spears?

Maybe those nails in His hands and feet, maybe they were really evil. It sounds like some spooky show.

I'll never forget, Steve, and you know what I'm talking about. Spooky show. Daryl Gates was the police chief in Los Angeles, then the

Rodney King riots happened, and then he resigned or got pushed out or whatever. But anyway, he said in the middle of it all, talking about the policemen, he said, well, the problem with the

LAPD is we hire people from the wrong race. And of course, they were looking for any way to throw racism at his direction.

And he said, the human race. And I think Daryl Gates, although not a

Christian man that I know of, although I saw his wife get baptized at Grace Church, he understood that the human race is depraved and fallen, and there are bad people in every group, whether it's racial, ethnic, national, gender, whatever.

We are fallen people. That's what he was after. And you know what? He was only quoting, seriously, from Jack Webb on the old

Dragnet show. Seriously? Yeah. I posted that from YouTube maybe about two weeks ago, because I knew in my head that he'd said that once, and you know,

Jack Webb, his character on the show, Joe Friday, gets asked a question.

He goes, well, you know, we work at a disadvantage, and the guy says, well, how's that? And he goes, we have to recruit from the human race.

And I'm like, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. Steve, I guess probably this portion of No Compromise Radio should be titled

Shame on me, because why would I ever think the PCUSA, Presbyterian Church USA, would actually do the right thing after they've capitulated on the gospel, the

Bible, men's roles, homosexuality, and about every other topic that the world is clamoring for them to change?

Yeah, in fact, if there's a PCUSA pastor, male or female, who's listening today, who actually—did you like that ?—who

actually wants to uphold the gospel, first of all, if you're a lady, please resign. Secondly, if you're a guy, drop us an email.

We will talk you out of the PCUSA. That's not—that'll be the easiest conversation we've ever had. Steve, you know as well as I do, there are some difficult parts of Scripture, and there are passages that I know

I'm going to have to teach eventually, but I have not gotten there yet. For instance, I haven't taught through Ezekiel yet.

I think that's going to be quite a challenge, don't you? Well, at least the beginning of it. And there's a lot of great stuff, but, you know, chapter one may be in five minutes.

I have read the Bible before, many times. I've read the complete Bible, I don't know how many times.

And so far, I haven't caught all this stuff about this pacifism, and this nonviolence, and guns, and having the church get involved with social programs like this.

You know what? Well, come on, Mike. Come on. Jesus was silent like a sheep before its shearers.

If he didn't, and he said his kingdom was not of this world, otherwise his men would be wielding swords.

So if he said that, then obviously we're not to wield swords and we're to be pacifists. I guess one more reason to do faithful exposition sequentially through the text, because you'll eventually get to the gun control issue for the church.

Speaking of which, not gun control issue of the church, but faithful exposition.

When we look at a faithful exposition of the scriptures, Steve, how can that be brought to bear as we analyze the

Boy Scouts' capitulation, our soon capitulation into embracing and advocating homosexuality?

I don't think they're going to cave in, and I certainly hope not. You may or may not know this, but I actually had a

Scoutmaster when I was growing up who turned out in the long run to be a homosexual.

And it really kind of left some marks, I mean, some unfortunate marks on a lot of guys in my troop.

He did some really things that I thought were just odd. You know, when I was 12 and 13, 14, we didn't really understand it.

And then later on, we're just like, oh, wait a minute. Some of those things were not right.

And so I don't even know how anybody could do this with, pardon me, a straight face, saying that having homosexual leaders is going to have no impact.

Listen, maybe that's true of some homosexuals, but the vast majority of them are not – well,

I think you and I had this conversation off the record before. It would be something like taking a morally – or not a morally straight, but a heterosexual and putting them in charge of your daughters for the weekend.

You know, your teenage daughters. Would you do that? No. Well, then what's the difference? And it's the same idea, although we're supposed to believe that homosexuals are somehow better than heterosexuals.

They're more pure. Steve, do you remember the Boy Scout Oath? Not entirely, no.

Okay, I have it. On my honor. Okay, yeah, I have that in front of me. So here's the Boy Scout Oath.

On my honor. That was a pretty good start, Steve. Thanks. It's been a few years. I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the

Scout Law, to help other people at all times – now here's the interesting part – to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

But see, here's the thing. There is so much public pressure for organizations, churches, businesses to cave on this issue.

The homosexual agenda is not going to be satisfied until it is a complete takeover.

But I mean, think about how – you already know this is insane, but think about how insane this is. The Roman Catholic Church goes through this – and we come back to the

Roman Catholic Church – but it comes back – it has this huge scandal where they have these pedophile priests and, you know, now the cardinal in L .A.

sort of apologizes for his shenanigans. But – and now we're supposed to believe that putting homosexuals in charge of scouts and integrating homosexual young men in with heterosexual young men is going to have no impact on them whatsoever.

None. Steve, 2000, the year 2000, U .S. Supreme Court ruled the

Boy Scouts did have a constitutional right to have certain standards for membership, quote.

For 2004 in the group, Boy Scouts said, the Boy Scouts of America believes that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the obligations in the scout oath and scout law to be morally straight and clean in thought, word, and deed.

So now we have nine years later, what's the difference? I think the Boy Scout leaders and the top people in the organization still believe that, but they're caving.

They're capitulating. I just don't – I don't believe they're going to cave, and I'll tell you why. And you probably don't know this, but I think if you look at the numbers,

I'm going to guess between one -third and two -thirds, somewhere in that number, of all the

Boy Scout troops in America are sponsored by the Mormon Church. You know what?

I did know that because I read Al Mohler's article. Well, see, I didn't read it. So what does he – does he cite a number?

He does someplace, but I can't seem to find it. Because I'm going to guess it's a pretty massive number, and they are not going to go for this.

And so if all of a sudden, you know, one -third of your troops or whatever it winds up being… Here it is. The scale of potential membership lost to the

Boy Scouts of America is staggering. Conservative religious bodies sponsor the vast majority of Boy Scout units.

Mormons lead with more than 37 ,000 units and 400 ,000 boys involved.

United Methodists place second with 11 ,000 units nationwide. Roman Catholic Church sponsors more than 8 ,000 units.

Yeah, but I mean, by far, the biggest group there was the Mormon Church. And so when I – and so it gets back to my point, which was well -made,

I think, which – It's true. It just took me a while to look it up. There is no way that they can cave on that because they will – you know, whatever they gain in corporate sponsorships, you know, if Apple or whoever decides to float them some money, it's not going to matter because it basically comes down to this.

How many boys are they going to have? And their numbers are going to plummet. What kind of person, even if they're not religious at all, if they have a conservative bone in their body is going to think, oh, it's a good idea for me to send my son off to hang out with this homosexual who says he's not a pedophile.

But I have no way of knowing. Steve, years ago when the Boy Scouts needed a place to go, and I think this was in 2004 when all this other stuff was happening, we said, oh, you can come to the church for free.

You don't have to pay anything. We'd love to have you meet at the church to have your scout meetings and troop meetings and do your badge requirements and stuff like that that, you know, when you need inside accommodations for the winter.

And we tried to do that because we were glad they were standing up for, in a sense,

Christian Judeo values. And so now what happens to people like us when the Boy Scouts come calling?

If they were to capitulate, then what do we say? Absolutely not. Yeah. So I'm sure there are other churches like that.

The Mormon Church isn't going to go for that. And then the Boy Scouts of America turn out to be Boy Scouts of, I don't know,

New York City and New Jersey. Yeah. There aren't going to be very many of them. Well, and besides that, it's a kind of a paramilitary organization.

They have uniforms, oaths. Guns. Yeah, guns. I mean, look,

I shot, I got my rifle and shotgun merit badge. Totally. I got my archery merit badge. You know,

I mean, what they teach is the antithesis of the modern male, which is, you know, to be manly and forget that.

I mean, I remember watching one of my scout leaders pick up a rock, a giant boulder and smashing a rattlesnake and, you know, just imagine that and, you know, some of the troops that would be coming forth later.

I promise to do my duty to God and my country. Well, my name is Mike Abendroth. You've been listening to Steve Cooley as well on No Compromise Radio.

You can listen on Facebook, on iTunes, on No Compromise 90,

Tuesday Guy on Saturday. And you can write Steve at Tuesdayguyatnocompromiseradio .com.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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