Our Favorite Heresies (Part 1)

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.

Studio Banter, L'chaim, and the Show's Tone

No Compromise Radio, a ministry, L 'chaim. L 'chaim. Steve and I are in the studio, and usually right before the show begins, that is, the record button is depressed. Is it depressed? Is that the right word?

I don�t know. We don�t want to depress anyone. We have some great things to talk about, and so we quickly, and maybe prematurely, hit the record button. So, Steve, I hope it�s going to be good now. What was that whole L 'chaim thing you were talking about?

Because you said you�ve switched from two gigabyte cards here to eight gigabyte cards, and so now you�ve got like 98 hours, is it, instead of whatever it was before? 98 hours, and I�m like, �Hey, we should do a L 'chaim marathon.

That was Billy Bob Joe Briggs� funny things he had on �God Stuff the show was called. You can still watch it on YouTube right now. And he would flip around from, I don�t know, Kenneth Copeland to all these different people, and then he would go to the Jewish telethon, and he would have the rabbis dancing.

Let�s have some more of that funny rabbi dancing. One thing I enjoy, Steve, and I don�t think you like him as much, but I like the music of �Modest Yahu.

Well, I like �One Day. I don�t know any other songs.

And you think, oh, it�s interesting, and back in the day, he would dress up in the whole Hasidic thing and very, you know, what�s the street there in New York? I can�t even remember. It�s not �Crown Heights.

It�s the �Crown Heights� look. Well, then he shaved off his hair and beard and blah, blah, blah. I mean, after all, he�s a Gentile. But when you go to Jerusalem, there�s like so many �Modest Yahu�s.

I don�t usually see that garb unless I�m paying attention to the songwriter and singer. But then when you go to Israel, they�re all �Modest Yahu.

Yeah, I remember we had a taxi driver over there in Israel, and he wasn�t too thrilled with all the �Modest Yahu�s because he said they�re the first ones that leave if there�s a war.

You know, they just kind of check out. Well, can you imagine? They don�t have to. I believe the Hasidic Jews do not have to be involved in military service. They get the waiver.

Yeah. So they live in New York, you know, and then go visit and do all their religious stuff. And if it gets really hot, then they just fly back.

I watched the documentary of the real Hacksaw Ridge guy, the Seventh-Day Adventist. And of course, you know, listeners, what we will think about Seventh-Day Adventism. But the guy was staying true to his convictions and his buddies, of course, hated him.

They weren�t his buddies early on because why do you get out of this particular duty on a Saturday when we have to work? And even the rabbis would work on a Saturday, but he wouldn�t do any work on a Saturday.

For those who might not be familiar, this was World War II. They�re getting ready to go over and fight the Japanese. And so they�re training and he was just not he was a conscientious objector, not going to carry a gun, not going to touch a gun.

And so I don�t even remember the guy�s name.

I forgot his name too. I think it was Pete Maravich. Pete Maravich. Yeah, it was before he became this basketball star. He was a real modest yahoo. Anyway, if you�d like to write us, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

And additionally, we have strange things, strange sightings email that you�d like Steve and I to discuss. And we have a literal and new email address, henno at nocompromiseradio .com. Henno. It�s true.

H-E-N-N-O. And for those newbies who are listening, we are not swearing. It is a funny greeting that my grandmother gave and it�s the equivalent of hello. It�s the equivalent of what? That�s exactly right.

Anyway, Steve, what we typically do is I have something in front of me and you are very good at just following along and adding comments and sometimes taking over which is fine by me. But now the shoe is on the proverbial other foot.

So you�ve got stuff in front of you. I�ve got nothing but a Bible. I guess that�s a bad thing to say, nothing but a Bible. I guess if you have the Bible, you have everything. I was stripped of everything but the Bible.

I had no defense except the Bible. So what do you have in front of you? I have a list from Christianity Today.

Well, that�s going to be mighty as my kids used to say when they were kids. That�s real picey, dad.

Real picey. This was compiled by Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries.

Now how did they get together? Probably in a cafe in Orlando. Probably at a bar in Orlando. And then they realized they had to order Shirley Temples because the Baptists were there.

Yeah, I don�t think that would be good.

Do you know there is a drink? This is apographa but this is I think true at least. Probably true. There�s a drink in a particular place in Orlando called RC Cola and it�s not RC Cola.

It�s something else. It�s not the really bad flavored cola?

No, it�s a different drink. Yeah, the RC. It doesn�t stand for Roman Catholic by the way. It doesn�t. No, I don�t even know what RC stands for. Reform Confession? Wait, okay.

Maybe. Kind of off guard with that one. Okay. So, this list, they did the survey and this is a bunch of, there�s a survey of a bunch of people, so-called evangelicals. So, these would be people that, you know, it always cracks me up.

What does it mean to be an evangelical? We�re going to find out maybe today.

It doesn�t mean a whole lot. Okay? What it does mean and what it doesn�t mean. Right.

So, here are 12 areas that they say, you know, many evangelicals have gone astray. Okay? So, this is agree, don�t know, disagree. And this is kind of interesting because the number who don�t know is, I mean, the number of people who disagree with some of these statements is pretty frightening.

Okay.

Now, these, Steve, to be fair, these aren�t lifeway people and Ligonier people. Those are the ones that did the study. Right. And who are they talking to?

Just people off the street or what? Well, I mean, there are people who are self-identified evangelicals. Okay.

Isn�t that funny? I self-identify as an evangelical.

Well, I mean, these, you know, typically would be people that have some affiliation with an evangelical church. Okay. You know, so, it could be anything from, you know, Saddleback to Gospel Coalition.

Yeah, to go and further beyond that too.

Would Ann Voss Camp be a self-identifying evangelical? I don�t know. Let�s ask her. She�s actually in this magazine too. She is? Yeah. When Desiring God had an article the other day kind of quoting her.

How does that work?

Who did that? Desiring God. I don�t know. But unless you�re going to like Critique. Yeah. I don�t think she�s somebody I would care to quote. It�s the broken way, Steve. It�s broken. We�re all broken.

Broken. Okay. There�s a brokenness. Okay. So, number one. And you tell me what the, I guess you�ll just have to answer from the Bible. That�s kind of scary. Okay. 82 agree with this statement. And let�s see.

Wow. It looks like maybe like 1 disagree with it. Survey said People have the ability to turn to God on their own initiative. Wow.

Well, let�s think about this from the Wesleyan quadrangle. Isn�t it fascinating, Steve, when you think of theology, if your anthropology is messed up, if your view of the fall and what happened in the garden is messed up, everything else is messed up.

Now, of course, Satan doesn�t repent for you and God doesn�t repent for you and your Catholic Church can�t repent for you. But something had to happen before you had an initiative and it was a God�s initiative and it�s John 1, verses 12 and 13.

It�s not by your will. It�s not by your running or doing, Romans 9. It�s of God. So, I think that was a big goose egg by then. Yeah, that kind of goose egg. They�re shooting people. The only day I didn�t bring my gun to the studio, now they�re shooting.

When you started in Genesis, I just started thinking, you know what? I mean, sometimes it looks like you�re really close, you know, and then over time, you know, those two points just continue to diverge.

And I�m like, so if you look at Genesis, you know, three, let�s say, or two or one, whatever.

But one�s poetry, so we can�t start there. And you go, I was this close.

And then, you know, you just continue on and by the time you get to it�s like.

Steve, I think of, let�s say, Apollo 13 and they�re trying to plan the trajectory back to Earth and they�re only off a quarter of a percentage point.

So, you know, what�s the worst thing that can happen?

They�re still floating by Jupiter. Yeah, they just don�t make it.

Okay. So, and I just find it frightening. It looks like, you know, because it�s just they don�t give you the numbers on the other two. But it looks like 82 agreed with that. Probably about 17 didn�t know and 1 disagreed.

And I�m like, that�s incredible. So, only 1 essentially got it right.

So, Steve, what happens in evangelicalism? All right. It�s back to kind of the main point. Self-identifying evangelicals are typically synergist. They work together with God. God and them working together.

And, of course, they would say we believe in grace. But it�s what they do and grace. It�s typically Roman Catholic. You know, when we could do a different show. How has Roman Catholicism crept into modern-day evangelicalism?

It�s almost the same thing.

You know, I�ve thought about like writing an article or book or whatever called Racing Back to Rome because I think there�s a lot of that going on in so-called evangelical circles. Let�s call it dashing.

Dashing through. Dashing. Dashing back to Rome. Now, see, this is kind of nice, Steve, because you have the onuses on you to kind of drive the show. And I can just my only job today is just think of little quips.

So, you�re like Ed McMahon. No, I�m like you. I�m now you. And now when I think of quips, I also think about that cereal. Remember that cereal you used to have? Quisp. Quisp. Quisp cereal. Uh-huh, yeah.

Yeah, but that�s not right. OK. Number two. Individuals must contribute to their own salvation. Seventy-four percent agreed to that.

Well, of course, here at No Compromise Radio, we might do the Horatious Bonar saying you contribute your own sin, right? You contribute the need for it. But what would the contribution be? I guess if you�re Roman Catholic, maybe some works of some certain type or something.

But how foolish is this? I mean are these feministic evangelicals or these are some kind of socialistic ideology evangelicals? I mean what are they doing when communism has snuck into evangelicals?

It looks only like maybe about three or four percent disagreed with that. And individuals must contribute to their own salvation. I don�t even get that.

Steve, it�s like this. You think, OK, in this category of study and survey, we cannot have strongly agree or strongly disagree because those are categories only reserved for radio show hosts and discernment bloggers.

I strongly disagree that I had no part of my salvation except I was a recipient. How dumb is that? Strongly agree. We can�t have that category because it hurts my feelings.

I mean I wonder if they included Mormons in this. It would make sense to me because they can actually, they probably might not even agree with that. I don�t understand how anybody agrees with that.

The good news is, Steve, let me just alleviate your pressure of making this one show. We can make this into two. So just take your time.

OK. But I just go I�m just thinking John 6. No one can. No one can come to me.

No one has the ability. So why does Jesus have to go through what he went through if we�re able in some degree to kind of make it? Shouldn�t he just be more of a helper and a coach and kind of a cheerleader?

I can just see Jesus up in heaven. He could have just shouted down some exhortations. Come on, Steve. You can do it. You�re 40 percent there on your own. Can�t I coax you and coach you into the next 60 percent?

Christ as Creator, God's Sovereignty, and the Limits of Human Understanding

Now this is shocking. Number three is absolutely shocking. Seventy-one percent agreed with this statement. Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God. Seventy-one percent. I mean it�s funny but it�s

If you believe that, if you�re listening to the show right now and you believe that, you need to repent. You are a Jehovah Witness, a Latter-day Saint, but you are a heretic and you are bound for hell if you believe that Jesus Christ is a created being.

And how can I say that? You know, does theology really matter? Well, I think it does. If you don�t believe what the Bible says about Jesus, that he is eternally God, I don�t know how you can expect to get into heaven.

Why do the creeds pop into my mind where I think they say one thing and then they say the opposite to make sure they�re covering their thorough bases? Begotten, not made.

Yeah. Begotten doesn�t mean that he�s created. And in fact, he�s the creator of all things and without nothing or without him, nothing came into being.

Steve, if Jehovah�s Witnesses came to your door and you said �protodokos� and then just slammed the door, how would that work? I could say it with the cadence of �get thee behind me, Satan�, but here I just say, you know, �firstborn, the preeminent one of all the people who were ever born.

And of course Jesus was born, but he had already existed.

We could say �protodokos�. And then just slam the door. Yeah, be done with it.

I think we have another word that�s similar to that, �forget you.

I have one word for you, �forget you.

This is compelling radio. Compelling. I�d pay for this. Big time. Todd Friel, eat your heart out. Oh, I am hosting for Todd Friel. Are you? I�m going to record it ahead of time. December 19th and 20th, it will air.

No kooks, no Barneys. I�m going to just be in my best behaviors.

No Murray Christmas, none of that stuff.

Would that be an Ann Murray or a Bill Murray Christmas?

Well, I�d rather have Ann Murray singing.

I think I probably watched an Ann Murray Christmas special with my grandparents. I think it was on right after Lawrence Wilk, like on a Sunday night.

I think you got some you ever mixed up with somebody else? I mixed up with a. I think that was Bette Midler or something. Oh, no, that was Cindy Lauper. She wasn�t even on the scene yet when you were a kid.

Okay. Next one. No, I�m sorry. 65 agree with this statement. Now, this doesn�t surprise me all that much. God knows all that happens but doesn�t determine all that happens.

So said Clark Pinnock. Yeah. So said Open Theist. So said probably Rob Bell and a host of other people.

But this is somewhat understandable because if you look at it from a purely human perspective and your desire is to guard God against the idea that he would do anything bad, right, which we would agree with.

We would agree with God can�t possibly sin. So God knows all that happens but doesn�t determine all that happens. So he�s kind of not just surprised but he�s dismayed sometimes.

Steve, this is the conundrum that people find themselves in and through and by. Oh, no. That�s Constitutionalization. It�s the heresy comedy show. There are certain concepts that are obviously too great for us to wrap our arms around, our minds around, and I think sometimes we just need to let these things exist simultaneously and that is to say we have free agency.

I didn�t say we had free will, but we have free agency and we are responsible for our actions or lack thereof. And God is sovereign and to use the language of Scripture, he has a single purpose, a solitary decree.

And we think of if-then statements and flow charts and everything else and how do these things go together. And if God is in charge of everything, including sin that is even the crucifixion of Jesus, how can he not be the driver or the originator of sin?

And people just freak out and try to protect God. But I don�t see the Scriptures doing that at all. It just makes a statement and it�s like, okay, you either accept it or you don�t. Because what�s the option, Steve, if God isn�t as sovereign as the Scriptures say he is?

Isn�t that a bigger problem? Yeah, because I�d like to know how he knows what�s going to happen in the end, right? And, you know, this goes back to our salvation. This goes back to all kinds of things because if God doesn�t know what�s going to happen in the end, if he doesn�t know that Satan loses and gets, you know, cast into the fire and et cetera, et cetera, if he doesn�t know all that stuff, then how does he know anything?

How is he in control of anything? And ultimately, how can I trust him to do what he says he�s going to do?

Steve, I think some of these Arminian friends of ours and maybe even, you know, less than Arminian friends. I thought you were going to say less than friends. I don�t mean less than Arminians in some kind of, you know, negative way, but Arminians and those who aren�t even Arminians, they have problems too that they try to, it�s almost like you try to have, you have to flatten out everything and make sure everything is easily accessible.

But aren�t we dealing with an infinite God and we�re not only finite people, but our minds are tainted by the fall. And actually, and this is not a, this is not just lip service here. I actually enjoy the sensation and the feeling and the thought of these are beyond me.

Your ways are past finding out because I don�t want to be on the receiving end of God�s questions, i .e., Job 38, 39, and 40.

Well, I think there�s great danger in trying to make God fully comprehensible, you know, to where comprehensible, where we can fully understand because I�ll tell you what, I think what you wind up with, and I�ve said this before, I think you wind up with something like Mormonism, where how can we possibly understand God?

Well, you know what, God isn�t that much different than us. He just, he perfected himself and, you know, became a God. And if you perfect yourself, you can also become a God.

Steve, I like that kind of thinking where people default to, well, he�s like me but just a hundred times greater. Yeah. Versus transcendently other and different and holy and foreign. And that�s why even when we use the word, speaking of Christ�s righteousness imputed to our account, we use a word like alien righteousness because it�s so holy, W-H, different.

He�s so different. And if you think, well, he�s just man but he�s like the bionic man, right? He�s the hundred times man, the six million times man.

And what you�ve done is just reduce God to, you know, so that we can understand him and we can go, oh, now I get it.

Steve, does not that then affect the view of the incarnation? Where you think, you know, okay, it�s not that big a deal really, the incarnation, because he�s just this ubermensch, he�s this uberman, he�s a superman.

Versus, no, he�s the eternal God and now he, it�s a condescending by adding humanity versus a humanity on steroids that finally gets to be a God. It�s going the wrong direction.

That�s exactly right. And when we think we�ve got, you know, God, I hate the whole God in a box thing, but when we think that we finally got God fully understood, that we can just explain him in an easy kind of way, then we�ve, I think, sort of plunged into the pool of heresy, if I may say.

Steve and Mike here on No Compromise Radio. Steve, how can this help me, like the other day when I bit down on the chunk of mint in a peppermint bowl of ice cream and I shattered my tooth and I have to now get an extraction and then an implant?

And how does that relate to the sovereignty of God?

Well, I don�t know, but I was thinking of the humanity of Christ and I�m going, you know what, if he ate that bowl of ice cream, the same thing could have happened to him.

Right? Can you imagine, how about the eternal God has to eat? I mean, here�s a good question. Did Jesus have to eat? Well, if he wanted to live, he did. He actually had to eat and to breathe air, probably some kind of dusty, arid air in the middle of, you know, Israel.

And it probably wasn�t a very pleasant odor, I would say, probably most of the time.

It was, Steve, to use the word malodorous. Yes, I would agree with that.

Church Discipline and the Authority to Excommunicate

All right. So, next one, and this is, I guess we're kind of going down the scale here. So, you know, they become less believed by so-called evangelicals. Uh-oh. Okay. So, this is by 57%, 57 of evangelicals believe this.

�My local church has the authority to withhold communion and excommunicate me. This is asked of evangelicals who attend church at least once a year. �My local church has the authority to withhold communion and excommunicate me.

And how many people said that? 59

57%. Well, that�s kind of an odd one to me because we live in a society where we don�t want to impinge on what you have to do or not do and membership. Who needs membership? Just come and go as you please.

It�s almost like when you go to a screen on the Internet and it says, you know, �Register, are you registered? Log in. Or it just says, �Skip registration and, you know, you can buy this product as a guest or something.

Right? No commitment. So, for 50, almost 60 of the people that say they can excommunicate me, to me that�s� It�s pretty high. That�s not bad. That doesn�t mix with the other stuff that�s so far off biblical base.

How can they be right here?

I think it has to go with what they� or a lot of it has to do with what they hear, right? And I mean, I think if you�re hearing sermons that are mostly, you know, self-help sermons, I can imagine why you might have a low view of God and a high view of self and that kind of thing.

Steve, if someone is excommunicated properly according to Matthew 18 or Titus 3, we would withhold not only communion from them but fellowship.

See, I can�t help but wonder. We�re almost out of time here, but I can�t help but wonder if this� My local church has the authority to. But when it actually gets done, it would be shocking to them and revolting to them.

What�s the percentage of them actually doing that? That would be very high. Very low. You can write us, thetuesdayguy at No Compromise Radio or Mike at No Compromise Radio. We�d love to hear questions, comments, suggestions.

We have not received any hate mail for quite some time. What? Literally. And so why don�t you write us a letter saying, you know, that� I hate you. I hate you. Remember that football player? He hate me.

I hate you. Just one word. I hate you. 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 10 .15 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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