Christianity Today

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. Steve Cooley is here.

It must be Tuesday. It must be Tuesday somewhere. Well, I am so glad you're doing the extended

Uber version of the Tuesday Guy on Saturday. And you can just let that podcast roll.

Yeah, somebody had to do it. It sounds like C .W. McCall back in the early 70s.

Let those truckers roll, 10 -4. Now that was not rehearsed.

And what you could not see on radio, Steve and I looked at each other with the same facial expressions.

I think there's, what's that monkey see, monkey do? Is that how that works? Yes, it is. We got a mighty convoy rolling through the night.

When I think of that song, it's time to move on is what I basically need to say. Steve has a

Saturday podcast that I believe if you go to iTunes or nocompromiseradio .com,

you can download those. They won't be on WV &E because V &E actually heard

Steve a couple of times and they were going to charge us quadruple. What a sweet deal that would have been too.

They said that they would put you on their show right before the Seventh -Day

Adventist false teachers and just before that continuationist. That would have been great because I would have done week after week about the errors of Seventh -Day

Adventism. And then the Bob George deal, whatever they call it now, people after he was defrocked now it's called

People to People or something, People Loving People. People to People, People Over the People, People, People, People, People Magazine.

Purple People Eaters. Yes, great. In the late 70s, early, yeah, it must have been late 70s, we had

Alan Page, Jim Marshall. Who are the other two? One of the guys' names was Ellis, right? Carl Ellis? Carl Ellis, yes.

And one more, Minnesota Vikings, front four, wasn't it the

Fearsome Foursome? That was different. No, see, I was going to say Alex Karras, but that was the Detroit Lions. I think

Alan Page actually picked up a football one time. It was a fumble. He ran the other way. Or maybe that was

Carl Ellis. Was it really? Yeah. I used to really not like the Vikings because they and the

Rams were big rivals. Well that's true. I remember when Chuck Foreman, number 44, the halfback, fullback, someone threw a slush ball from the stands and hit him in the eye and hurt his eye.

But that was not in Los Angeles, obviously. That was when there was the nuclear winter. So today we're going to talk about Christianity Today, November 2012.

This will air, I think, actually in November, Steve. No way. Yes. Seriously? Yes. I think it's going to air just before Thanksgiving.

Now, when you say air, you mean A -I -R or E -R -R? It's going to be broadcast on the

Areopagus. Oh, excellent. Okay. Yes. So it's got on the cover, Let Freedom Ring, but that's not really the first thing

I want to talk about. Steve, you're kind of behind the eight ball here because you don't know where I'm going. Just the first page inside Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, and it has a picture of a young lady, and it says,

I am thankful to be part of this community, which is multicultural and multi -denominational, and then with different colors in the font, resembling

God's kingdom in its diversity and purpose. Devin McCarley, MDiv, 2013.

Now, here's my question for you, Steve. We do this a lot of No Compromise Radio. If you have one page ad in Christianity Today, and I'm not against that,

Southern Seminary does that, or Master's Seminary, I'm not sure if RTS does, or what's another school?

Oh, Westminster Escondido, I don't think they do. I know they don't. But I'm not against the advertisements, but I just don't think

I would wear my sleeve, the shingle of the seminary, I wouldn't have it be multicultural, multi -denominational, and basically multi -racial, multi -ethnic, even though I'm not against multicultural, multi -ethnic.

I am pretty much against multi -denominational, but why do they have to promote this? Pick a seminary, and we're multi.

Yeah, I don't even understand why, you know, she's going to get a Master of Divinity.

Well, that's the other point. See, I go for the multi, Steve goes for the theology. Well, I'm just like, okay,

Master of Divinity. What's she going to do with that? Well, maybe she'll be a good pastor's wife.

Yeah, I'm sure that's it. But yeah, it's a really odd thing, you know, and to stress diversity, resembling

God's kingdom, this is the part I really didn't like, in its diversity and purpose. So God's kingdom is multi -purposed?

I thought he had one purpose, his glory. Well, I actually thought, in light of what I've read in the past 10 years, that he had 40 different purposes is what he had.

Everything comes back to Rick Warren, doesn't it? You know, I mean, it's like, how many degrees of separation to Rick Warren?

I don't know. Steve saw me the other day. We had this book here sent by one of the publishers, or maybe you didn't see it,

Steve. It's endorsed by Rick Warren. So what does that tell me? Recycle. Recycle.

Maybe we could put a new seminary out, No Compromise Radio Seminary, and we're known for recycling and reusing.

Recycling all the stupid books we get sent. Yeah, so I think that works out perfectly.

I think if you're going to be a local church and you don't like people that don't look like you, then you've got a major problem.

Because, of course, in heaven we know that there are many different tribes and tongues and nations extolling the virtues of Christ Jesus.

Steve, I think racism probably is a problem in many churches across the land, but some places it's not a problem.

Well, and let me be clear. It should never be a problem because, you know, in Christ we're all the same and there is no difference between black, white,

Greek, Gentile, however you want to define that. You know, there are no differences there. Of course, that's often misused to justify women being in ministry, but that's neither here nor there.

The point is I get concerned anytime I see... I don't like to see any kind of ethnic church. I just don't...

I mean, I guess it's understandable when you first land in the United States to want to stay together, you know, so maybe it would be the...

For me, if I was landing... This is going to be good. It would be the Irish, German, Swedish, you know,

Baptist church kind of thing, you know, where only people of those particular backgrounds could all come in.

Isn't it fascinating to think in Ephesians chapter 2, which contains the first imperative in all of Ephesians?

You get a bunch more in chapter 4, of course. Don't forget you're a Gentile. Remember you're a

Gentile. And so that pretty much... If you want to have a distinguishing mark between people in the church, it's

Jew and Gentile, and now that's gone because of the abrogation of Mosaic law that separates the two.

Steve, I think potlucks and pot providences are better when we have multicultural, multi -ethnic, multi...

Sure, because I'm hoping somebody will bring something bland enough for me to eat. Well, then you would have liked the

Czech Republic because the people were super kind there and the men were fired up for the word of God.

But the food was fairly... I was looking for some salsa or some picante or some pico de gallo.

The Czechs are well known for their salsa. When I think of the Czech Republic, I think salsa.

That's right. All right. So overall... Oh, this is interesting. Steve, in James chapter 2, it talks about show no partiality, hold the faith in our

Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. When you see Jesus, the Lord of glory, and with His effulgent glory and how great

He is, compared to Jesus, we're all no ones and no ones and nobodies and nobodies.

Did I just repeat myself? No, not at all. No, not at all. So when I compare myself to someone else and I say,

I have more pigment in my skin or less pigment in my skin, and therefore I'm better, that is crazy.

And so James chapter 2 settles it for me. I just don't want to promote the church even. By the way, we're turning into a multicultural church.

Did you know that? Yeah, I think we should promote it. It's so crazy. You think to yourself, all right, let's promote

Christ Jesus, sovereign, free, distinguishing grace, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, triune salvation, whatever.

And by the way, dress casually if you'd like, come as you are, and it doesn't matter what color you are, all are welcome.

In one sense, I guess I do want to defend it in one sense, because when you look at the racial history of this country, and even within the churches, it's pretty ugly.

But I mean, how could you ever go to a church where, I don't know if they did this, but signs up on the door, your kind is not welcome here, fill in the blank.

Things like that should never have been, they were, but those kind of barriers do not exist anymore.

And I think to just kind of, like you said, put that sort of on your sleeve, this is what we're known for.

Academic rigors, no. Theological... Prowess? No. Hewing straightly to the

Bible, no. But we are known for multiculturalism and multidiversityism, whatever that is.

In the egalitarian setting of Gordon -Conwell. That's so beautiful. But compared to Gordon College, they're no longer related.

Gordon -Conwell is. They're not related? No. Did they get a divorce? So, you know what,

I think we need Steve on the next page. I saw here, page 10. I think what we need is a new model for church.

Oh, you know, I've been waiting for a new model. A new model for church is desperately needed. Those who lead in ministry are exhausted with the failure of the modern consumer -driven church.

Are you exhausted for that reason, Steve? I'm worn out. And they're starting over by the thousands, as we say in Deutschland, the thousands.

The thousands. A fresh work of God is moving through the body of Christ today like a prairie fire.

Consuming all in its path. Revitalizing existing churches and igniting new church plants.

Your church can have a window -rattling, earth -shattering, life -altering, tattooing pastoring.

Oh no, sorry. Experiences with God week after week. My question is, do you have to call FEMA after that happens?

I don't know. Sorry, we're in New England. That's FEMA to you. Yeah, I mean, well, that's a bone.

But I mean, what do you do? You know, okay, your church has just had its windows rattled, its earth shattered, and its life altered.

You know, that sounds to me like a FEMA call. 1 -800 -we -need -a -national -disaster -relief.

I guess I understand how Lifeway is marketing such tripe. Hear from James McDonald's new book.

And we say that with all due respect. Yeah, lifeway .com, vertical church. You need new windows.

I guess the old way is boring. What would the antithesis of this be? Your old church is what?

What does he say? It is failure. We are exhausted. It's consumer -driven.

Steve, I just don't get this whole vertical deal. Do you? Well, the only thing I can say to defend it, and, you know, somebody has to defend it, so I will.

He says if you're tired of the failure of the modern consumer -driven church, so he's like throw away that model and then get the new consumer -driven model, not go back to the

Bible. You know, that would be...in other words, it should say not a new model for churches desperately needed, but an old model, right?

That's what it should say. If you're tired of trying to bend to the whims of the culture, well, then bend to this new whim of culture.

No, no, go back to the Bible. Let's just think about it. Call me old -fashioned.

You're old -fashioned. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and prayers.

By the way, the response there in Acts 2, verse 43, and awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common.

And the text goes on. See, I don't want new. But that was window -rattling and earth -shattering, wouldn't you say?

Life -altering. That was it right there, right? And what were they doing? Just listening to, you know, the apostles preach.

That's all that was going on. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

It reminds me of Horton's old article 20 years ago. What if your testimony isn't exciting? What if you weren't saved out of heroin addiction and drug addiction?

Spice it up. I was a junkie. My life was consumed by that.

And it's not wrong because your motivation is right. You know, I noticed here, Steve, on this page, you've got a DVD slash

CD. You've got a little workbook. You've got a poster. You've got a little box set here and stuff.

And it comes complete with a tattoo kit so you can get this military sergeant insignia tattooed on your arm, crookedly,

I might add. Nice. What would it say if you were the pastor who wrote this book? You got a tattoo of this on your arm, but it was crooked.

What would that mean? That would be bad. But you know what? This is true. This is, what's the word

I'm looking for? This is multi, this is a different multi. This is the multi, it comes to you in a different multi of, multiplicity of ways.

But here you go. This is a multimedia. Look, it's got the book.

It's got the DVD. It's got the tattoos. There's a new media for communication, right? Well, I think so.

So it sounds like to me, with the multiplicity thing, it's the superfluity. We don't do sermons anymore.

We just show our new tattoos and everybody just kind of gets the word from that. Yeah, because that's like Russian icons.

And so when you can't really have the printed text, then you do the icon thing. And this points over here.

The tattooed text. What would Lucas Cranach say about this? I don't know. Okay. Now let's go to page 25.

No, no, no. We want to just keep working our way through on No Compromise Radio. Crisis of Faith Statement 16. Okay, 16.

So here's what happens. Here's what's going on in No Compromise Land. This is very directly related to No Compromise Radio because we don't want to compromise.

We would like to be biblical, provocative, in that order. Don't forget, Steve has a new email, tuesdayguy at nocompromiseradio .com.

Or you can write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com. If you're mean, I send you to Ray.

He responds. Which is only fair. That's the way it works. So we have a statement of faith here at the church, and lots of organizations do, especially

Bible colleges and Bible schools, because you want to tell donors and students and parents of students, this is what we believe.

This is what we teach. Anything wrong with that? No, that's absolutely the right thing to do. And probably in my mind,

Carl Truman would certainly agree, the larger the statement of faith, the better. Sure. So you could say

I have no creed but the Bible, but what would be wrong with that? Well, because a lot of people could say that and mean entirely different things by that.

I mean, certainly, let's just say there are a lot of false religions and false churches that would say that.

We just teach the Bible. No, you don't. Okay, I agree. So here, an article by Melissa Steffen.

It's entitled, Crisis of Faith Statements, subtitled, with a little note here, does it matter why

Christian professors agree with their college doctrine? College is doctrine. So Cedarville, not one of my most favorite schools in the world, but I'm sure they have some people there who are

Christians. Yeah, sure. I think so. So hired theologian Michael Paul, P -A -H -L, and they relieved his teaching duties less than one year after they hired him.

Okay, well, what's going on there? She says, the issue at stake, a historical Adam and Eve, a debate that dates back to Augustine and has recently cropped up at evangelical schools such as Calvin and RTS.

What appears new in Cedarville's situation is the trustee's requirement that the faculty hold particular beliefs for particular reasons.

Paul affirms the Ohio School's doctrinal statement. Now, you're going to like this, Steve. I read it. This is a nice wiggle room here, regarding human origins, but his beliefs are based on literary reading of Genesis 1 and 2.

This man says, I hold a historical Adam and Eve, though not on exegetical grounds, end quote.

Yeah, I don't necessarily believe the text teaches that. I mean, but that's not the issue, is it? You know, as long as we come to the right conclusions, what does it really matter if we think it's, you know, figurative language or it's a literary example or just a, you know, flowery speech, you know, whatever?

What does it matter as long as I come to the right conclusion? It says here, the doctrinal statement, quoting this man who was released, does not mandate specific exegesis of specific biblical passages.

Yeah, sure. So if I say, you know, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and I go, well, you know, that doesn't really mean he literally breathed it out of nothing, you know, he could have used the

Big Bang Theory. There's nothing wrong with that. Steve, if you're a professor and you're going to work at a

Christian university and you're a theologian, I don't know what his particular title was or what classes he taught, but I guess probably having something to do with the

Bible. He was in charge of parsing and farsing. Now, what does this mean?

I hold to a historical Adam and Eve, though not on exegetical grounds. On which grounds, then, would he hold an historical

Adam and Eve? Maybe on scientific grounds. I mean, there have been plenty of DNA studies, you know, where they say, well, obviously, we all have one, you know, male ancestor and one female ancestor.

So they go, and he could say, well, therefore, I believe in Adam and Eve. Whether his name was Adam or not is really beside the point.

What would it mean in Genesis chapter 2, verse 7, Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

What would that mean? The Lord God formed the man of dust from the monkey, from Neanderthal.

There you go. Here it says, from the ground. What would that mean? Is that a literary device? Yeah, it's just a picture, a word picture.

You know, I mean... We have a grandchild, you know, she's two years old.

And sometimes we just kind of... It's not important that she get everything literally right as long as she sort of understands the idea.

You know, that's... And obviously, Moses, if he was the one who wrote it,

J -E -P -F -G -M -I -C -K.

What would it mean, Steve, in 1 Corinthians? I'm going to preach this in a couple weeks.

I'm wondering, could you just kind of help me with this? What would this mean? Thus it is written, the first man,

Adam, became a living being. The last Adam, speaking of Christ, became a life -giving spirit.

What would that mean, literally? Him becoming a living being would just mean that he was the first in the evolutionary series to receive a spirit from God.

In other words, all the other ones were animals, and then human beings came on the scene.

That would be one, perhaps, false interpretation of that. Steve, while we might not agree with Walt Kaiser's view on egalitarianism, we would agree with his view of, you know, high view of the

Old Testament and towards exegetical... What was his preaching book? Toward an exegetical understanding.

Something like that. Exegetical preaching. I love Walt Kaiser when it comes to money and colleges and donations and trust.

I love his money. Yeah, I love Walt Kaiser's money. More money, baby. But when it comes to...

What is it called when you give money over time? Giving? To an institution.

Endowments? Endowments, yes. Thank you. I love it because what happens to these schools like Cedarville?

In the old days, they were faithful to the text, and good for them that they got rid of this guy too. But Cedarville changes, and they've changed on some things.

And what if, you know, I was super conservative. They were conservative. I said, every year out of the endowment that I have, you get a million dollars, but then they change.

I think they should refuse the money. Well, if they had scruples, but that's, you know... But it's a literary device for them to accept the money instead.

Well, and I mean, when you can parse and farce and march your way around things like this.

I mean, it reads like, let's see, how can I put this? Like a political press conference, the way he phrases that, you know?

I mean, he's just dancing. He knows that he doesn't agree with them, but he's just gonna, you know, eventually they got rid of him.

But it's pretty shameful. Not really very honest. I tip my hat to Cedarville.

Good. Calvin College, recently they investigated tenured professors of religion,

Daniel Harlow and John Schneider, after they published controversial articles that questioned the existence of a historical

Adam. Don't they have better things to do than go after Adam? Why do they do that?

I'm just surprised because John Schneider, after the years on Dukes of Hazzard, I would have thought he would have known better than that.

So, well, it just goes to show you when you've been in the media, you get affected by those things. What would it say if Britney Spears was the new professor at the multi -college?

If it was Gordon Conwell, it wouldn't surprise me at all. She might be the new preaching professor or something.

So you use modern technology so you can throw your voice better. It would not surprise me at all.

So today on No Compromise Radio, we're just talking, we're discussing these things. We would want you to think biblically about issues.

Aren't we supposed to examine everything carefully? Yes, we are. Would that be good? I think it would be excellent. Closing thoughts in the last minute and a half about the election or anything like that?

Closing thoughts. Well, I would just say to everyone or anyone who couldn't find themselves fit to vote for a

Mormon that they should not be surprised at what they're getting right now. And, you know, I think what we're going to see over the next few years, just in terms of the key issue for me, which is life, abortion, everything like that, is going to be shameful.

And I think the church is going to be sorrowful for the next four years.

And probably longer. But pray for the president. You know, the greatest thing in the world that could happen would be if our leaders got saved.

Imagine the Supreme Court, a presidency, Senate, House of Representatives, where the majority of them were actually converted

Christians who believed the Bible, this country would be transformed, at least legally.

Morally, it wouldn't change at all. But legally, for a time, it would certainly change and many lives would be saved.

Right. Well, on No Compromised Radio, we encourage you to pick up your Bible and read, as the song said, the child song that Augustine heard and then he picked up and read.

The key is for the nation. It's a spiritual transformation from the inside out. So why don't you tell someone about forgiveness today in Christ Jesus alone, the resurrected

King. That's probably a good place to start. It's a great opportunity. NoCompromisedRadio .com. No Compromised 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 bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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