Letter from a JW

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, a ministry. We just had a good laugh, Pastor Steve. Off air, did we not? It�s a needful laugh. Any laugh is a good laugh these days. SBC, Schlepp Bible Church? Schlepp it.

Schlepp it all the way.

What is Schlepp Yiddish? I believe it is. Okay. How many Yiddish words do you think you know? Um, too many is the correct answer.

Too, uh, too period many. Well, we are glad to be on the air today and our responsibility and privilege is to talk about the Lord Jesus and to try to encourage you and I think we can have some fun sometimes, can�t we?

I don�t know if that�s permitted. I mean, with some of the stuff that I�ve had to deal with in the last week, not only personally for some health issues, but also just other, I mean, I have my own sin issues and now as a pastor, as pastors, we deal with other people�s sin issues.

The last 10 days have been quite a doozy in my mind and so we have to have some fun once in a while.

I think people, you know, it�s so funny that you say that though because I think people tend to underestimate, how many times have you heard, you know, how easy this job is, right? You have it so easy.

You just show up on Sunday, you talk for 45 minutes, that�s it.

So this last Sunday, Steve, I talked for 45 minutes times two and then I talked before the service, in between the two services, and then there was a nice young couple that have come to the church a couple times and so we invited them over for lunch.

And I just, everybody seemed to have fun and they were all talking. Of course, Luke and my kids are in town and so I just walked back to the bedroom, turned on the fan and took a 10-minute nap and came back.

I don�t think anybody knew. Thanks for coming. I�m going to go get some snoozage. And it�s interesting, maybe this is how we�ll start the show and we do have a plan here, but I talked to the young man and he basically said, �I�ve never really heard preaching like this before.

Right, when we�re just used to living in a high view of God, verse-by-verse, textually-driven world, and then somebody, maybe is it a seeker-sensitive TED Talk, who knows what kind of church, you know, every sermon�s kind of just here�s a verse and then that�s it.

Why We Preach Verse by Verse and Preach the Whole Counsel of God

And so, I guess here�s my first question. Why do we do what we do, methodologically, philosophically, when it comes to teaching the Bible?

Why do we do what we do? Well, I think there are a number of reasons. One is, you know, just even with my background, where people would just talk about their experiences in the Mormon Church. My experiences are not really all that edifying and they�re not what the Bible commands us to do.

Paul wrote to Timothy, he said, �Preach the Word. So, we want to preach the Word. We preach the Bible. We want to preach the entire counsel of God, right? And so, how do we do that? Well, we do that by going verse by verse by verse, and there�s a good reason for that.

I mean, there are many good reasons, but one, I think, is because it removes us from the process per se, I mean, in a sense. In this sense, we don�t get to ride our hobby horse and choose whatever we want to talk about.

And you know, the topic du jour, we have to go to whatever is next in the text and focus on that. And it, you know, it stops it from being Mike�s church or Steve�s church or whatever, and it brings the focus back to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Steve, as you were talking, I was thinking about Jeremiah chapter 23, false prophets, people that won�t preach the Word of God, right? They preach themselves or their own kind of mystical divination. When one of this people or a prophet or a priest asks you, �What is the burden of the Lord

Right? If somebody comes along and there are these false teachers, you shall say to them, �You are the burden, and I will cast you off declares the Lord. As for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, �The burden of the Lord, I will punish that man and his household.

And the whole point of this issue in Jeremiah 23, some people don�t preach the Word of God. They preach anything but. And so maybe that�s a good lesson for all of us. We have a message from the Lord, and we need to proclaim it to people.

It�s an excellent lesson. So I think what this guy was saying is, �Oh, you know what? I�m just not used to having the text rule everything. And by the way, don�t you think, Steve, when that does rule the way you preach, I know this is subjective, but I feel much more authoritative.

I feel much more confident. I think I have somebody�s message, and so I just deliver it.

Well, I mean, if somebody says to me or to you, you know, at the door, �Oh, thank you for today�s message I always just find myself thinking, yeah, boy, you know, if that was from me, that was really bad, but you know, praise the Lord is the correct answer, you know.

That�s right. Well, there�s our five-minute intro to this particular topic. We get mail here pretty often, right? They just send stuff.

Sure. Normally, it�s, you know, notification of fraud. We�ve received those.

I just got another one last week. Somebody�s claimed unemployment for some person�s name who doesn�t work here. It�s like Mary Lou, you know, Jenner or something.

Well, I mean, pretty much anybody�s name doesn�t work here. You know, I mean, it�s me, you, and dog name Sue. Yeah.

So, we get a letter to Bethlehem Bible Church, and it�s got the address of the church, and then it says it�s written to Executive Officer Michael Abendroth. I did not know. I�m an executive officer.

You�re the second in charge, that�s what they�re saying, right? The commanding officer is in charge. That�s right. Yep.

That�s right. And so, then I opened it up, and it�s a letter from a lady named Christine. She lives in Lemenster, Massachusetts. And here�s what she says. �Dear Mr. Abendroth, my name is Christine, and I am reaching out to local businesses as part of a community service.

Hmm.

What? She�s got her finger on the pulse. I mean, they must be auto-generating this somehow, right?

Seriously, people don�t know why you�re saying that, but they�re going to find out real soon. Okay. Okay? �People of all nationalities and backgrounds are concerned about good rulership. No, what is that?

What�s a good rulership? Is that when the governor of New Mexico says you can�t go to a grocery store, or Pennsylvania governor, you can�t buy alcohol?

Is that good rulership? Or when they say in Pennsylvania you can�t have more than six or Oregon, Oregon it was can�t have more than six people. If you do, the police will come to your door and Snitching.

�In 2009, a United Nations publication said that bad rulership increasingly being viewed as one of the root causes of evil within our societies. During the entire month of November 2020, Jehovah�s Witnesses worldwide are participating in a campaign to help people become aware of a government that will make a true difference.

Mmm. So, and then inside of this letter, we receive the Watchtower tract from the Bible Society. All along the Watchtower. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I like Hendrick's version. So maybe in honor of Jimi Hendrix, we should read this upside down, since he's the left-handed, you know, he played the guitar left-handedly?

I don't think that will work.

It will make a lot more sense, most likely.

The cover of the enclosed issue of the Watchtower asks the question, �What is God's kingdom Worldwide millions of people daily repeat the phrase, �Thy kingdom come� in what is commonly known as �Our Father� or �The Lord�s Prayer.

Is that known as �Our Father�? Among Roman Catholics. Oh, okay. All right. Though the term �kingdom� is not commonly used in everyday speech, I always use �fiefdom.

Instead of �kingdom. I, I, kingdom all the time, because my wife will say something, �My Lord, what would you have in your kingdom today

Sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know why when I laugh on the radio, it sounds like I've got the smoker's cough. Uh-huh. The Watchtower enclosed magazine will answer six questions about God's government and what it will mean for mankind.

I'm offended. It would be humankind, sir. I'm available to answer any questions you may have regarding the beliefs, practices, and activities of Jehovah's Witnesses within the community. My contact details are included above.

Wow.

Well, you know what? At least they have the, the courtesy to, you know, tell you who they are and to actually proclaim what they believe in spite of the fact that it's doctrines of demons.

It's true. Well, when I think of doctrines of demons, what is that passage in 1 Timothy chapter 4, Paul is writing to Timothy, his understudy, or as S. Lewis Johnson says, his legate, his, his legate.

His legate. �Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. Now, here's the interesting part.

It's not like the demon shows up to teach. The demons use people through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created, et cetera.

And so while we strive to teach God's word and, and, and proclaim that truthfully, um, if you're going to teach it's justification by works, or you teach that Jesus isn't the eternal son, then it's a doctrine of demons, uh, through you.

I'd hate to be that person. I wouldn't trade places with them. No. No. How, how similar do you think the Mormons are, Steve, to the Jehovah's Witnesses? And why I'm asking that question is, let's say there are people listening and they're like, well, what's really the difference and do I really have to study both of them to figure them out or, or is there a common denominator so I, I know I can just get to the gospel?

I mean, there are a lot of similarities, you know, they believe Jesus was a created being. That's one. Um, they believe in extra biblical revelation. That's another, um, they believe in work salvation, you know what I mean?

So they, they have those, but one of my best friends when I was growing up was a Jehovah Witness and there are a lot of, there are a lot of differences too. I mean, I, I didn't, uh, I didn't ever find myself thinking about, uh, Mike was his name and thinking, you know, gee, we, we are so close in our beliefs.

I mean, the only thing we really had together, cause our, our friends were funny. We were, uh, we would joke around with each other about a lot of things, including race and religion. And when we talked about religion, it was always the Trinitarians versus us.

You know, we were on one side and they were on the other. Did you think that way?

I mean, you're talking about it now as Trinitarians, but what about then?

Yeah, but I mean, I, I didn't really, I just thought that Trinity was a weird idea, you know, because I'd never heard of it.

Speaking of weird ideas, as I'm looking at this watchtower tract, uh, they always have the weird pictures of God, weird of Jesus violating second commandment, a weird of like God on some kind of throne and this, that, and the other.

Don't you find that kind of weird?

Well, yeah. I mean, I find most things about it weird now, you know?

Right. I feel like getting my crayons out and coloring over this or something. When I was a kid, anybody, uh, that I would color, uh, including Batman, uh, I would put boots on because I love cowboy boots.

So I would just make boots on Batman, even though he didn't have real boots.

Aren't you glad you're listening today? You're learning so much about Pastor Mike cowboy boots when he was a kid.

The Difference Between Jehovah's Witnesses and the Gospel

So Steve, how about this? Let's boil it down to what you were talking about Trinitarian before. What about works versus grace? What about, um, uh, trying to receive the favor of God and forgiveness through belief and then works?

Why is that so damning?

Well, it's damning because what we're really saying is the work of Jesus Christ is insufficient. You know, uh, and we, we see this in a lot of different religions, whether it's even something as mainstream as Catholicism or even in some Christian thinking, right?

Or maybe Jesus, his death gets you up to neutral and then you have to work the rest of the way. Um, but it's the, it's that kind of thinking that where do you just go, wait a minute, what Jesus said, it is finished.

What did he mean? Did he mean it's partly finished or here's the torch? I hope you can make it. What did he mean?

That's excellent point. I've been reading Galatians regularly this last week and Paul understands that these Judaizers, Judaizers, um, they're thinking that Jesus is eternal son, that he's divine, that he's the God man, that he was raised from the dead.

I think they've got a view of Christ that would be pretty good until they say, you know what? But the way we receive the benefits of Jesus is by faith and trust, faith slash trust and doing the works and it destroys the whole thing.

And then Paul says, well, you're damned. So it's almost like you can have the right Jesus. He's this conquering King, uh, over sin and death and hell, but I'm going to receive his benefits by, I need to help him a little bit.

That's what you were saying.

Right. Right. And I mean, there are some religions, I mean, Mormonism, it kills me now to, I'm reading, you know, looking at what my relatives are writing on Facebook and friends, you know, from my Mormon past and they're giving thanks right now for things and you read them and you think they sound like Christians.

With this little enclosure that we received from the church, from Christine, from Lemonster, I opened it up and there's a picture of, well, Jesus and he, he looks like he's, I don't know, Jack from Twitter.

But that's more manly than the typical Kenny Loggins thing. I will say that.

You know, but it just like, that's not what Jesus looks like. Well, he's, he's pretty white. But to your point, there's a list of things here about who's the King of God's kingdom and he's going to be chosen by God.

Psalm 2, they list, heir of the King of David, Isaiah 9, 6, born in Bethlehem, Micah 5, 2, rejected by men and executed, Isaiah 53, raised from the dead and glorified, Psalm 16, 10. That's why I think it's so insidious and so demonic is because you're reeling people in with some quotes and truth, but it's going to be torqued as you then continue to read.

Well, it's, it's kind of a bait and switch thing, right? And I mean, even as I was turning to 2 Corinthians 10, it is about spiritual warfare for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We destroy arguments, these strongholds, and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. This is, you know, these philosophies, like you said earlier, they're philosophies of demons, they're doctrines of demons.

And they're really meant to mislead people, to get, you know, so close to the truth. But then they steer you away into what your heart wants anyway. Your heart wants to work because you want to know that you, what you have done is pleasing to God, right?

We want God to pat us on the head, as it were, and say, well done, you know, good job, Steve.

Well, Steve, as I look through this little magazine that they sent us, there's those verses about Jesus. And then instead of talking about reconciliation, propitiation, right? How he has to be a representative and substitute.

They start doing some really weird things. They talk about, well, Jesus cared for people and he taught us, you know, what it means to love. And then it moves straight into perfect health you get, peace and security, meaningful work and a clean environment.

That's what's coming in God's kingdom. So it's like, what do people want today? What do millennials want? Well, they like health, right? They want peace and security. They want work that matters and they want a clean environment.

And like, those are the benefits.

It sounds like the new world order, right? I mean, it's like the UN is going to end, you know, I mean, the Federation of Planets, this is Star Trek, right?

Those guys there, I think that guy walking over there with peace and security, he's got that red engineer's outfit on, they're the ones that die right away. He's done. Well, maybe one of the things that we could do to try to help our listeners today is when you receive things like this in the mail, I mean, I just glance through them and throw them away.

Or if I'm at a hospital and they're sitting out, I just throw them away so the next guy doesn't get them. But you might ask yourself the question, there seems to be a lot of Bible verses, but I'd like to know, how can I stand before God on judgment day?

That's what I'd like to know. Because then it's going to drive you to the person of Christ and how he has to be the eternal son and how he has to also be human because we need a representative and we need a substitute.

I don't see any of that stuff here, except there is a clean environment at least.

They got that going for him. Yeah. Well, I mean, in the case of the Jehovah Witnesses, you know, again, this would be a difference if they believe and they do that he's the Archangel Michael, right? Then he can't be a substitute for us.

He, you know, he's not fully human. He wasn't actually human.

When it comes to Jehovah's Witnesses and their view of Jesus, you've got me speechless here. Steve just gave me the look. I think somebody's at the door. They're looking for tables. Oh, okay. Well, I was thinking about the benefits of what Jesus did.

And I wasn't thinking about perfect health and clean environment. I was thinking about justification and the benefits in Romans 5. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have obtained access.

We can rejoice in our sufferings. Those are the kind of things that I think they should be talking about.

Well, you know, what they're addressing here in these pictures and words and everything like that are our current desires, you know, our earthly desires. You know, let's, I mean, this is like, what if we could have heaven on earth, you know, kind of thing.

And that's what they're promoting.

Right. Steve, I think we could fall into that same trap when we say to ourselves, what's heaven going to be like? Well, it's going to be an absence of pain and no more tears. And I get to see my mom and all these other things.

And true, true, true, true. But there's something more important, right? There's a centerpiece to heaven, right? Like the throne and the lamb standing as if slain. Not all these other things. I'll be glad for those things, but those aren't the main attraction.

I mean, it is interesting because we do have pictures of heaven, but we don't have a complete picture of heaven. And so I want to fill in those pictures with our own ideas. And what I typically hear people or see people portray heaven as is what, you know, just a better earthly life.

And I don't really think it's going to be, I don't think that's what it's like. You know, I'll have an endless supply of Coke Zero. I don't, I don't think so.

Steve, as you were talking, it additionally struck me with all this stuff and these perfect families and everything else, and they're walking and talking and all that. It says one of the things about this great kingdom that God's going to accomplish is the wicked people will be removed.

Oh, they'll be removed. You know, what's so interesting to me, why in evangelicalism and why in these false cults as well, why do we hear so much about unrighteousness and so little about self-righteousness?

I think we should preach against unrighteousness, obviously. But what about self-righteousness, which from the human perspective, it damns more because then you say, I have no need for righteousness.

Well, it's pretty easy to fall into that, right? I mean, you know, especially as you're obeying things and you're thinking, well, this is the world I want. These other people don't want it.

They must be bad. I mean, how shocking is it when one of the things in God's kingdom is going to be abolished false religion?

What? You mean no more idolatry? I thought we were going to be able to do that forever.

Religions that have taught lies about God and that have made life difficult for people will be gone. The Bible portrays false religion as a prostitute. Its destruction will come as a shock to many. I mean, the first section, there's lies about God, but have made life difficult for people.

Like real Christianity, and you're going to suffer. It's God's will for you to suffer.

Well, and you know, what makes life difficult for people? The idea that they can never measure up to God, you know, in his perfection.

So they have to keep trying harder. That's why they're going to muzzle us in the future.

But I mean, what are these people doing? They just keep putting burden and burden and burden on people, right? Even during a pandemic, you have to find a way to get the gospel out, the gospel of Jehovah Witnesses, or you're not being faithful and you won't reach the highest kingdom.

144 ,000. Yeah. There's a lot. It's already sealed, by the way. They're talking about a glass ceiling, you know. 144 ,000 and you can't get in.

What's the show where there are some dudes in a world that's encapsulated or something and they can't get out? Yeah. You mean the movie, The Truman Show? Yeah, Truman Show. I was starting to watch it.

I thought it was a documentary about Truman Capote Show, but it didn't. It didn't do what he said. The only time I ever watched Jeopardy or Family Feud, it's on at the gym, nonstop. Family Feud? Yeah.

Over and over and over. I don't care for that. The other thing I think of, Steve, when I watch Joe Osteen, I think of almost every other religion that's a false religion. I not only think works, but I also think theology of glory.

That is to say, theology of suffering. Jesus, it's through the cross, then he's glorified. Satan said, no, no, go for everything good now and then bypass suffering. When I watch Joe Osteen, I just say, theology of glory.

I read this. It's all this perfect environment, clean, meaningful work relationships, and I think theology of glory. If only we could have that right now. The perfect world. We want the world and we want it now.

We want the airwaves, baby. Well, if you talk to a Jehovah's Witness, my main advice to you is ask them, do you have any good news? And they're going to talk about work, and then you're going to tell them about the work of Christ.

Because they have bad news. Knocking at the door with strict nine bad news.

I don't want any bad news. Give you some more law, right? We don't want law. We want grace. We want sufficiency of Christ proclaimed his life, his death, his resurrection. Amen.

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.