Ravi Ravi Ravi

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.

Public Prayer and the Meaning of Praying in Jesus' Name

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, my name is Mike Abendroth. I don't have my monster drink anymore here in front of me, but I do have my cold still, my flu. In spite of the probiotics, still have it. In spite of my Bible-verse-laden bread-cutting CBD trinket board, still have it.

What about praying in Jesus' name? Now what I'm not talking about today is, do you have to say in Jesus' name at the end of a prayer for the envelope of your prayer to get to heaven? Because without a stamp, it comes back, return to sender.

So without, in Jesus' name, it doesn't go to heaven. And so, I'm not talking about that. In Jesus' name, the name of Jesus, all that he is, all his attributes, all his person, all his work, in light of who he is and why this prayer should give him glory, in Jesus' name, amen.

Do we pray in Jesus' name or not? Well, if you're praying at home and you forget to say it or something like that, but what does it signify? What does it exactly mean? I've done other shows on that, but today I'm talking about public prayer in Jesus' name.

So if your pastor has an opportunity to pray at the Baccalaureate, to speak at the Memorial Day Parade, to pray at the Memorial Day Parade, Veterans Day Parade, there's all kinds of opportunities for pastors, in the old days, not so much now, to pray in Jesus' name.

Should you, would you, could you, I sound like Seuss, don't I? Washington's Prayer for the Nation, i .e., George Washington, written by George Washington at Newburgh, June 8th, 1783, and it was sent to the governors of every state.

I don't know how many states were there back in those days. I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know the prayer. Here's the prayer. Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection, that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government.

That's Romans 13, isn't it? That's 1 Peter 2, isn't it? And entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. This is George Washington's prayer.

And finally, that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the divine author of our blessed religion, and with a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.

Grant our supplications, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. That comes right from Yvonne Bennett, chaplain of U .S. Army, chairman of the editorial committee, song and service book for Ship and Field, Army and Navy, A .S. Barnes Company, New York, 1941.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. Hmm. We've come a pretty long way, haven't we? What do we do with praying to Jesus in a public setting? You're going to get vetted if you're going to pray at the high up functions, and they're going to say, are you going to pray in Jesus' name or not?

Now if you say yes, they're not going to let you, so you could say practically, pragmatically, well, I'd like to say what I'm going to say, I'd like to pray, I'd like to yawn while I talk on the radio, but you know what?

I won't say in Jesus' name, because I can get this other stuff said. How about the first prayer of the Continental Congress, delivered September 7, 1774, by the Reverend Jacob Duchesne. How about this?

This is how the prayer ends. Prayer of the First Continental Congress, or the first prayer of the Continental Congress. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy Son and our Savior, Amen.

Instead of, in Jesus' name, Amen. It's kind of like all one word because we're afraid to say it, in Jesus' name, Amen. What would be worse? Compromising and not saying it at all, in a public setting like that.

But I guess then the next rung up the ladder of what not to do, in Jesus' name, Amen. But here you can almost hear the words slowly, and said articulately, articulately, articulate, to be articulate, articulately, all this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy Son and our Savior, Amen.

Pretty impressive. Pretty impressive. So if you had a pastor and he were to go pray for the governor's function, presidential inauguration, national day of prayer, would you like it if he said, in Jesus' name, Amen?

In Jesus' name, Amen? In God's holy name, Amen? Through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy Son and our Savior, Amen? By the way, wouldn't you be listening? I wonder what he's going to say at the end. I wonder, does he have the courage?

Does he have the boldness? Will my pastor preach the gospel at a funeral? Will my pastor preach the gospel at a wedding? Will my pastor call sin, sin, and talk about the merits of Christ Jesus, the great Savior who made propitiation, who accomplished redemption, who made reconciliation, who was raised from the dead?

Will he talk about such a Savior? Jesus' own words to the Spirit of God in 2 Timothy chapter 4, preach the word in season and out of season. There's a time and a place where people really don't want to hear what you have to say.

And will you pull the trigger? Are you qualified to be an elder? And why do you have elder qualifications if it's not for these kind of things? Are you a man pleaser, a people pleaser? Do you want to please the Lord?

Don't you say, hmm, now my old pastor, John MacArthur, if he had to get up and pray, I would never say to myself, hmm, I want to feel, say in Jesus' name today at this public prayer. And again, the show is not, must you always say in Jesus' name at the end of your prayer for the prayer to be answered?

We know all prayers answered through only the mediatorial work of Christ Jesus, right? God, man, the gulf, sin, holiness, sinfulness, a mediator, someone who becomes man. He stays God. But he's the God slash man, God dash man, instead of God and man, it's God's forward slash man, the God man.

He is the one through whom prayers are answered. I'm not saying if, you know, you spank your kid's hand if he doesn't say in Jesus' name, amen, after he eats. I am talking about though, public prayer, because do we compromise?

Do we bow down to political correctness? And we say, well, yeah, I think so. I think we need to do that because otherwise we're not going to be able to pray. I mean, that's like me here in West Boylston.

I've been here 17 years, coming up on 18 years, and I've never been asked to pray at the Baccalaureate. I'm informed that my presence is welcome, but I'm not allowed to pray. I have been asked on several occasions and people at our church, especially the veterans on many occasions to pray at the end of the march during Memorial Day parade.

And I usually have one of the men who served, Lewis Brown especially did a good job, Lieutenant Colonel, and he would wear his uniform and pray. And then he had lots of leeway to say whatever he wanted.

But what I say in Jesus' name, if someone said, you can't say in Jesus' name or you can't pray, I'd say, I'm a minister of the gospel. And as a minister of the gospel, I talk about Jesus Christ and I'm not ashamed to talk about him.

Oh, I might not like the pressure of all the condescending looks, but I'm going to say it anyway, because I'd get home, my wife would say, what are you doing compromising? But I more than wanting to please my wife and be a man in front of my wife and kids, I want to honor the Lord.

If you don't want me to say Jesus Christ, I especially want to say Jesus Christ. I want to be like Reverend Jacob in 1774, all this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy son and our savior, amen.

And if you're listening today in the car, you should say amen. So when we read, when people say, we're not going to do this prayer, how do we think about the whole issue? Well, it wasn't that long ago.

It was 2008, President Bush proclaimed the 57th annual National Day of Prayer, March 1st, 2008. And there's going to be a lot of different prayer breakfast all throughout the day. Washington, D .C., there's going to be some Bible reading.

And we had an honorary chairman who was to deliver the prayer at an interdenominational National Day of Prayer at Washington, D .C., concluding with the prayer in God's holy name. Now, if you want to say in God's holy name when you want to pray sometime for dinner, for food, if your pastor prays that way on a Sunday once in a while, I have to admit, I don't have any problem.

I always say in Jesus' name just because I read the Bible and think about how to pray in the name of Jesus and what it means. But when you know you're not supposed to say Jesus, according to the government, according to the pressure of political correctness, then I'm going to say it.

If they ask me, are you going to say in Jesus' name, I'd say, yes, I am. Okay, you can't pray. Okay. I wouldn't lie and say, well, I won't say it, and then I do, and then how did he get the words back in?

I'd keep my word. But I'm a minister of the gospel. See, this is why I like men like S. Lewis Johnson and John MacArthur and others, because they probably care what other people think, but they don't care that much, right?

I care what the Lord thinks. So all this to say, you have to be careful. You have to be careful for lots of reasons. But when Ravi Zacharias prays in God's holy name instead of in Jesus' name, amen, I've got a problem.

Ravi Zacharias, Joyce Meyer, and the Problem of Compromise

And then time goes on, and it wasn't that long ago when Ravi Zacharias said that heretic Joyce Meyer, word, faith, false teacher, Joyce Meyer, in my opinion, one of the most dastardly, had the most dastardly effects on people, watched so much.

He endorses, could have been that, endorses great Joyce Meyer when he's on her radio show, and he calls her, quote, a great Bible teacher. And so when I wrote Ravi Zacharias, you know, RZIM, well, he's always preached Jesus and all that.

This is just, it's just sheer compromise. And when you see responses by RZIM regarding calling Joyce Meyer a great Bible teacher, we have Rick Manafo, who works for RZIM, here's my point, he said, there's great diversity in the kingdom.

Joyce Meyer has devoted her life to the preaching of the word. She may be more eccentric than some and more charismatic than some feel comfortable with, but she has served the kingdom well in her capacity with her gifting.

In that snippet, Ravi was referring to a verse of scripture to which he realized she must have taught on many times, great doesn't mean best or always right, but she has been faithful. Do you really want to learn from an apologist who apologizes over that?

I just don't, I don't, I don't have any idea what goes through people's minds. Do you? That's just completely unacceptable to call Joyce Meyer a great Bible teacher. And then I'm leading up to this, to go to Salt Lake City, to speak to Brigham Young and then not say what needed to be said is the ultimate compromise for Ravi Zacharias.

Well, I'll go to BYU. First of all, the first strike against him was getting invited back. If you want a Kook and Barney award, let's give it to Ravi Zacharias, because when you get invited back, you know, the first time he didn't blast them enough.

And when I mean blast them, I mean, tell them that the Jesus of Mormonism is the wrong Jesus. Salvation of Mormonism is damning. You've got to give them the hope of the good news, not confirm them in a sweet lullaby of peace.

Ravi said on his website, I never compromised the message. I accepted the invitations to Utah and Utah in two conditions, that I could choose the topics on which to speak and I could bring my own musical guest, Fernando Ortega.

Okay, fine. Say what you want. And then what do you end up saying at the very beginning? Then you talk about things. What do you talk about? Well, here's how you start off. I'm truly honored and privileged to stand behind this pulpit and do not take it lightly.

That's 2004 at the Mormon Tabernacle. Then what do you do at Brigham Young University? Just take a deep breath, Mike. Zacharias on Facebook. When asked about my goals for visiting with the LDS community here, I said that I hope in our discussions we come to a biblical understanding of who Jesus is.

I always want to leave the door open for dialogue and show everyone the love of Christ. And I hope that through the process of interaction, we arrive at the truth. I'm grateful for the courage that the LDS church leadership has demonstrated in inviting someone like me, and I'm very honored by their kindness.

I don't think they were very courageous or not. I don't think they were very courageous, because in my opinion, they knew that Ravi would just lukewarm it. Say a few Bible verses, all the Mormons agree.

Assume they're all on the same team for the sake of standing against secular humanism and post-modernism. They all agree. He gets up and starts talking about, well, we've got a problem in our generation and in our culture, you know, wrong definitions.

Yeah, and Mormons, here's the thing. If I was Ravi Zacharias, I was Rocky Raccoon, I almost said, if I was Ravi Zacharias, I would have said, thank you for the time. Thank you for the invitation that you would let me talk about whatever subject I want to talk about is more than generous and gracious.

It's amazing. The hotel's been great. The food's been great that you brought along my wife. Super nice and kind. You've been more than generous host. Thank you. And as you know, from the ministry that God has given me, that I must open up the Bible and tell you with love and compassion and consideration that you worship the wrong Jesus.

See, it's what Ravi didn't say. And I'm going to show you that Mormonism and Christianity are not compatible. Both can't be right. Either the Mormons are right and evangelicals are wrong, vice versa, or they're both wrong, but both can't be right.

And we aren't on the same team when it comes to spiritual things, 2 Corinthians 6. Therefore, we can't be on the same team for social causes. And it's my desire that you'll just hear me out and that you'll let me tell you about Jesus who paid for sinners' sins at Calvary, not at Gethsemane.

The Jesus who was the eternal Son of God who cloaked Himself with humanity, who's not who you say He is. Let me tell you who Lucifer really is. This is what the Bible teaches about faith, salvation, the scriptures, repentance, and the false God of Mormonism.

And if they yank you, they yank you. I mean, this show was called No Compromise Radio. I don't want to compromise, and I'm glad we serve a Savior who never compromised. I'm glad for that. But this is such a no-brainer.

When you go to speak to someone and you know they believe in false God, false cult, false... I always think about it with three S's. They've got the wrong source of authority, right, because it's the scriptures plus the Doctrine and Covenants plus the Book of Mormon plus, plus, plus.

They've got the wrong view of Jesus. He's not the biblical view of Jesus who has to be the priest and the offering and the mediator and fully God and man and the eternal Son. And you've got the wrong view of salvation.

You're saved by grace after all you can do. That's right from the Book of Mormon. It's not true. This is what grace is. I'm here to defend sovereign, free grace. This is what grace is. Even if he said, you know, we all love the song Amazing Grace and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has played Amazing Grace and sung it so wonderfully.

What is grace? And since you said I could talk about whatever I wanted, let's talk about grace. This is grace according to Mormons. This is grace according to the Bible. And I would like to tell you today that the biblical view of grace is more amazing.

It's more amazing. The biblical view of Jesus is more amazing. The biblical view of salvation is more amazing. Let me tell you about the Jesus who accomplished salvation. Let me tell you about the Holy Spirit who applies salvation.

Let me tell you that it's not too late for you to repent and to believe in this real Jesus. You've got the wrong object of your faith. I'm sorry, you'll probably never invite me back. I'm not mad. I'm not yelling.

I'm just pleading with you. I'm begging with you. Turn from Mormonism to the gospel of Christ Jesus found in the scriptures. You're on the broad road that leads to destruction. With all your morality, it even damns you more because you think somehow these good works are efficacious, friends, comrades, no, friends, same team, no, friends, same spiritual platform, no.

You asked me to come and preach. I've got to tell you, I've determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I'm glad Ravi read Philippians chapter two. That part's good, but it's what he didn't do.

He didn't call them to repentance. Friends, aren't the people that you admire the ones who do call those to repentance? Hudson Taylor, let's go overseas. William Carey, let's go overseas. David Brainerd, right here in Massachusetts.

George Whitefield, the list goes on and on. Think about missionaries. He was sent in as a missionary. I'm building bridges. No, you're capitulating is what you're doing. You got one message. If Brigham Young asked me to come and speak, you say, well, put your money where your mouth is.

I'll do exactly what I just told you. I'll say, thank you for the invite. Thanks for being my wife. You've been more than wonderful hosts. I've enjoyed the meals, enjoyed the city, enjoyed everything.

The architecture is wonderful, but I have to tell you from the get-go, we don't believe the same thing, and I'm concerned. I'm concerned for your soul. Let me tell you from John chapter 10 who Jesus is and what He's done.

We have a great shepherd found in the scriptures, and I want you to believe in this Jesus. That's what I would do. I would call them to repentance. You have to ask yourself the question, what do people not say?

What did Ravi not say? And then to get on Facebook afterwards and do the YouTube deals and we're here and teaching the gospel and all that stuff, what a farce. What a farce. And then people just send in their money, the great apologist.

Anyway, my name is Mike Avendroth. It's No Compromise Radio. Info at NoCompromiseRadio .com. Make sure you read the online accounts, and make sure when you pray, it's in Jesus' name. The true Son, the eternal Son, the only Son.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Avendroth 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.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.