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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 Avendroth.
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, ministry. This is Mike Avendroth again in the studio with Steve Cooley, and Steve, typically, New England offers us all kinds of different weather, including the pouring rain of today.
Yes, but it's a beautiful rain. Looking out at the grass, it's green. There's a sheen on the grass from the
I think that's the mosquitoes that are multiplying rapidly.
Well, you know, it's all in the providence of God.
Well, that is absolutely true. I just have a book in front of me, Steve, before we get back to topic. 500 Things Your Minister Tried to Tell You, dot, dot, dot, but the guy sitting next to you was snoring so loud you couldn't hear.
I kid you not. Who's the publisher of such a book? It's probably Zulon Self Publisher or something. Bethlehem Press. Bethlehem Bible Press. Let's see, Starsong Publishing. Oh, nice. I'm just gonna, for fun, this is not a setup.
This is just on the go here, spirit-led kind of ministry. I'm gonna open the book to the center randomly and I'm gonna point my finger. I'm not looking right here and read one of these.
This is a valid scripture. Yeah, yeah.
This is by W .T. Ussery. Satan never slumbers and we are admonished to be vigilant. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I was wanting something funnier. Yeah, that's really not that funny. Here's something from St. Teresa of Avila.
For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. Well, last week, we were talking about 10 ways Christians tend to fail at being Christian. A review of John Shore's internet article.
And we looked at, number one, too much money. Number two, too confident God thinks we're all that in a leather-bound gift Bible. Number three, too quick to believe that we know what God really means by what he says in the Bible.
If you weren't here listening last week, it would be obvious because it was only Steve and I in the studio. But if you didn't listen to last week's show, you need to get that show because we're going to not review those.
We're going to pick right up with number four, just dealing with issues from a Christian perspective and how to think critically, how to think with judgment, how to think like a mean intellectualist.
Well, number four is too action-oriented. We Christians, you know, when I just first read this, I was thinking, what is that, like Rambo, you know, or something? We Christians could stand to spend less time acting in the name of God and more time reflecting on the ever-subtle majesty of God.
Well, that's the fourth way Christians tend to fail at being Christian. And Steve, I think in the liberal churches, in the mainline churches, the main denominations, that's probably true because they're so focused on the social gospel, helping the poor and alleviating, you know, teenage pregnancies or whatever they do, good things, good goals, but they're so overemphasizing those things, I think they should start reflecting more upon the majesty of God.
Now, so far he's doing well. Does he say something dumb after that? Oh, sorry, I can't say dumb. People email me, we don't like how you say things and you're too sarcastic, you're too blunt. And it's not me, I'm Steve Cooley who says these things.
So, right, so today we're going to be more erudite. He goes on to say, quote, we need more passivity and less activity.
Oh, that's kind of, that's just wonderful writing. That's wordsmithing, that's But I've got more.
Yes, okay, I like this next one. More meditation, less machination.
Well, if I was going to be really nice, I would say something like this. I'm glad the author's so transparent. He makes me feel connected with other people. Do you know, lots of people think they have a lot of head knowledge, but it never turns into heart knowledge.
This is really boring radio. What John Shore says is he says it's too action-oriented, people's faith, and they never sit and contemplate God. Here's what we would say at No Compromise Radio. In the Bible, there's a mixture of imperative and indicative.
Imperative, do this, here's a command from God. Indicative, a statement of fact. So let's even give you the gospel with indicative imperative. Jesus died in the place of sinners and was raised from the dead.
Indicative, a statement. Here's a fact, and in light of that fact, it should cause a response. Repent and believe. For the Christian, it's the same thing, indicative imperative. You have been buried with Christ, died with Christ, buried with Christ, risen with Christ, Romans 6.
Therefore, what does Romans 12 say? By the mercies of God, you should have your mind renewed. So in light of who God is, do something. And so I think that's right, Steve, don't you? That there's too much doing without contemplation.
That's right, but then again, you know, you can have too much contemplation without any doing. You know, if you know a lot and don't act upon it, then of what benefit are you to the kingdom? Absolutely none.
So this is really, I mean, I think this is a generalization and basically I think there needs to be a balance in the Christian life. You know, you have to both act and think. You can't bifurcate the two, you can't divide the two.
And certainly Steve is not saying.
We need balance in everything in life. Don't you think that's a mantra these days? Everything's got to be balanced. You're too imbalanced and they don't really know how you're imbalanced, but they just think that's a good idea to say because they've got to criticize you somehow.
Well, yeah, but in this case, you know, I mean, the idea that we need to just think more, I mean, if you take it far enough, you wind up in some kind of a either nunnery or monastic environment. And so there needs to be kind of a doing and a thinking.
We have to, exactly as you said, we have to think about God rightly and in light of that, we act.
Well, I hate to quote Shakespeare, but I just thought of get thee to a nunnery.
And empty it out, I don't know. Number five.
Okay, number five. I feel our last show is probably better than this show so far, but I think it's the material. I don't think it's the hosts.
Absolutely not, because the hosts are par excellence. The hostess with the mostess.
Okay, number five. All right, why don't you read it and then I'll interrupt. I like that game. Okay.
Too invasive. Yeah, it's funny that you're talking about interrupting and then this one. Too invasive of others generally. And notice, and I'll go back to my erudite voice. It is my personal humble opinion that anyone seeking to mix church and state has failed to understand the nature and role of either.
Well, I wish you'd use a different voice. That one's kind of annoying, Steve. I want you to have like from James Bond, Q's voice or something like that, M's voice. Or maybe I'm switching Star Trek around.
I think there's a Q in Star Trek as well, wasn't there, The Next Generation? Yes, there is. Didn't he know a lot of stuff? Yes, he did. All right then, that's for Pete. Yeah, that's a shout out to Pete and Maynard.
What happens with evangelical Christians or liberal Christians, they like to try to tell people, Steve's laughing his head off over here. They like to just say this, Christians are too invasive of others generally.
Kind of don't get involved in politics. I know I have friends who are very smart men who are very adept politically, and it's almost like they try to quiet me and I'm not allowed to talk about homosexuality, I can't talk about abortion, I can't talk about things that are in the Bible but happen to be political footballs.
I think I am allowed to talk about those things, and Proverbs 31 says I'm supposed to stand up for people who can't speak for themselves, including children. And so too invasive of others, if that means I'm trying to turn this government into a Republican government, then I don't wanna do that.
Do you know where he's going? Well, he says later on here, religion is a personal subjective affair for the individual. Politics and public policy is an impersonal objective affair for everyone.
Well, I guess politics is for everyone, but heaven and hell, it's just for those who are obsequious enough to believe in some kind of triune God. I don't get it, but I think that one that he has there, the first one, too much money, that was a clank.
God thinks we're all that in a leather Bible. That was kind of a backboard swish. Knowing what the Bible really means, that was an airball. That was like a backwards airball. And then this one here, this is just boring.
Well, yeah.
And the whole idea, he says here somewhere else that attempting to mix the inherently exclusionary imperatives, that's a nicely phrased phrase, attempting to mix the inherently exclusionary imperatives of a particular religion into the resolutely inclusive system of the United...
Anyway, I mean the whole idea, it's this idea that somehow Christians are trying to impose their will on the government of the United States. And you know what? I don't hear too many Christians or too many politicians in particular saying that we really have to get back to the Bible in terms of running this country.
Because most of us understand that while certainly God's hand was evident in the founding of this country, I don't think we would say that the founding fathers were all solid Christians. Faith of our father's holy name.
Whose almighty hand.
Number six, too invasive of others personally. We didn't like that one. We Christians are too often, according to John Schur, too eager to get into the faces of others about their personal religious beliefs.
And then now this is Mike Ebenroth here, but I'll pretend like I'm Jonathan Schur writing. We Christians tend to think that the Great Commission is for other people besides the apostles and the disciples in Matthew chapter 28.
We tend to think that what Jesus said to them is for us too.
Well, and just to clarify this totally, he says it's likely to push. In other words, if you evangelize someone and try to talk them into being a Christian, it's likely to push the non-Christian further from God.
Huh? What are we here for? I mean, if this was all about just letting people go their own way, then as soon as we got saved, God could take us immediately up to heaven. Instead, he keeps us here. Why is that?
Well, one of the reasons would be for evangelism, so that we might proclaim the excellencies, the glories of Christ, and that other people would get saved. How do people get saved? By hearing the word of God, by having it applied to their lives.
Sometimes it's in one-on-one conversations. So the idea of not pushing Christianity would be to abandon Christianity altogether.
Well, when people don't like something, when an unbeliever doesn't like a certain part of the gospel, I just go back to 1 Corinthians 1 and basically say, well, then I'm just gonna give them more of what they don't like because I only have one thing to give them, and that is the cross, the cross that tells them that their whole life up to that point has been not neutral, not positive, but negative.
It's gone against them. It's counted against them. It's a demerit, and that they think they're wise, but their wisdom will not last. They want some kind of sign from God or some kind of wisdom, but what did Paul say?
But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews' stumbling block and to Gentiles' foolishness. And so we just have to take our mandate from Paul via the Holy Spirit, and if others take that too personally, they do.
I'm not saying we should run up to people's faces and stick our fingers out and say things meanly to them, but I think if you are aggressive in your evangelism, I'm glad. I'd rather, you know, let's get back to balance again, Steve.
Would you rather have somebody too aggressive in evangelism or not aggressive enough?
Too aggressive? I mean, what he's kind of giving here in point six is sort of, I'll call it the Stuart Smalley school of evangelism, which is, you know, walk up to people and say they're good enough, you know, they're bright enough, they're smart enough, and doggone it, God loves them.
You know, it's this kind of, this whole idea that everybody's good enough. Well, we're not good enough, and so to have the nerve, to have the temerity to tell people, you know what, none of us is good.
We all deserve hell. That's not putting somebody else down. That's just saying, look, before I was saved, I was in the same boat. I thought I was okay with God. I thought it was only really bad people who were going to hell.
This is what we ought to be doing.
The seventh way, John Shore says, Christians tend to fail at being Christian, is too quick to abandon logic. When talking to others about our faith, we Christians too often resort to a language and line of reasoning that leaves good old fashioned logic sitting on the ground behind us, waving a sad goodbye.
Now, before we read the next comment there, Steve, in one sense, I think John is right. He's absolutely correct, because I think he probably sees Christianity from the perspective I see lots of people coming from subjective mysticism.
How do I know Jesus is alive? He walks with me. He talks with me along life's narrow road. He lives. He lives. It's this subjective thing, and there's no thinking to the Christian. You know, what was the Bloom's book?
You know, the demise of the Christian mind.
Yeah, the closing of the American mind. But, and this is kind of a Kierkegaardian, you know, caricature of, for those of you who don't know, Soren Kierkegaard, a philosopher who claimed to be a Christian.
Do you know how he actually learned what Kierkegaard meant? It was the churchyard, and his father took care of the churchyard.
Kierke, yeah, church. So it's this idea that Christianity is not a religion of the mind, but that it takes a leap of faith. That was his famous phrase, Kierkegaard, that Christianity was a leap of faith, a leap of logic, as it were, that there was no real rational basis for Christianity.
And that's a dangerous position.
Well, we believe in historical facts. We believe Jesus was a historical man. He lived on the earth. He breathed the air. He lived and died. He was physically raised from the dead. And so we are not trying to abandon history nor logic.
I don't really know what, you know, I guess what people mean, Steve, is that to believe in Christianity, you have to not be logical. When we're trying to say to believe in Christianity, you must believe that something beyond nature, something beyond the natural must exist.
And so we are unequivocally supernaturalists. And so I don't want to make the mistake of saying I'm illogical because I'm a supernaturalist. If you're a supernaturalist, you are logically going to have to infer that things happen that maybe you can't explain with Einstein's relativity or force equals mass times acceleration.
Wow, we're given a lot of stuff here today. I mean, this is a lot of facts. But listen to this quote. He says, it's true because the Bible says it's true is no more proof of truth than is, apples are the best of the fruits because I think that's true.
That's just wrong. Christianity is not about religious opinion and religious subjective experience. Christianity is about the objective truth of the Bible. Everything he says here under point seven basically says that scripture should not be trusted as the final word of truth.
Well, it's like these folks that say Jesus really is alive because he has been raised from the dead in my heart. And so we just don't believe that. My name is Mike Abendroth. I'm here with Steve Cooley.
It's Tuesday, No Compromise Radio. You can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com. Write us with one of your stories. Tell us why you like the show. Tell us why you don't like the show. Tell us why you don't like Steve.
You can do whatever you want, why you don't like me.
That is so unfair because I was just about to say the same thing about Mike.
Oh, number eight. We have three more to go. And since this has been drab, dull, and boring enough of a show, we can't go for three parts on 10 ways that we fail at being Christians.
That's called self-deprecating humor.
10 ways Steve and Mike fail at this Tuesday show from being biblical, provocative, and that order. I think this is the best show ever. Oh, I'm just gonna give you a Holy Ghost back rub right now to kind of boost your self-esteem.
How about the Holy Ghost Hokey Pokey? All right. You can get online. What's the YouTube site for that? I don't know, but it's YouTube. Type in YouTube Holy Pokey Ghost. Holy Ghost Hokey Pokey. It's sad.
All right, I get to do this next one. Too fixated on homosexuality. Christians are too fixated on homosexuality. Here's the issue. I think there probably are some Christians who are too fixated upon it.
As I've said before on the radio, the sin of homosexuality is a sin. But I think here's where he gets it wrong. This forgivable sin, like adultery being a forgivable sin, like gluttony being a forgivable sin, like laziness being a forgivable sin, I don't see gluttons and lazy people up in arms politically, socially, trying to change the laws to try to silence Christians regarding this sin.
Homosexuality is a sin that a lot of the extreme people in that movement want us to celebrate homosexuality and not just tolerate it. We tolerate people. We love people. We accept people. But we don't have to say, now you have to make me believe that it is something that is righteous, holy, and upright.
And so since they're attacking the church, we have to stand up and say something. Like Luther, if I abandon my retort for those who have attacked the church in this area, then I'm a coward.
And he goes on to say, maybe we Christians could just give that issue a rest for a while. What does that mean? I mean, like you said, should we just give all of sin a pass and just kind of ignore it? We don't go after homosexuals any more than we do anyone else.
And the objective is to go out and proclaim Christ, not so people will stop being homosexual, but so that they will understand their sin and their need for salvation. And in that light, they will repent of their sins, which among them would be homosexuality.
Yeah, it's this thing where he says, maybe for just a week, a day, a month, we could concern ourselves with something else and let them be. I'm letting people be. I don't go into people's bedrooms or houses and tell them they can't do those sins.
But if they allow me to talk to them, I will tell them, you are living an unrighteous lifestyle shown by your actions, whatever those actions are here, shown in homosexuality, plus other sins that you commit, and you can have forgiveness.
You can have forgiveness found in Christ Jesus, and you can be forgiven. You've got to identify sin first. I'm not gonna be like Brian McLaren, who said five years ago almost, we need to have a five-year moratorium about discussing homosexuality as sin, and then come back and examine it.
Well, that's good to get a big base and to get a lot of followers, but it's bad if you actually say you believe the Bible.
Right, and you know, he says, let's wait. Well, why would we wait when we know that life is a vapor, as you just preached recently, and that at any moment, we could die and pass into eternity? Why would we allow people, if we care about them, be they gay, lesbian, whatever, to just pass into eternity without presenting the truth of the gospel to them?
Good, all right, we've got number nine and 10 left. What's number nine, Steve?
Number nine, we're too insular. Number nine. And he says, when I became a Christian, one of the things that most amazed me about Christians is the degree to which they tend to hang out with only other Christians.
We should stop doing that. And he goes on to note, Christian or not, we still want to throw good, fun parties, don't we? Well, let's face it, the heathens have all the good music. You know, maybe we should invite them and they'll bring their CDs.
Yikes. Well, I think Christians probably are too insular. You've got the Christian youth group, the Christian coffee club, the Christian women's breakfast, the Christian bicycle club, the Christian shotgun club, the Christian 4-H club, and all of a sudden you only hang out around Christians.
How pitied are you that you have no unbelieving friends? I think there's probably some truth to this, even though he says it in a way.
That probably rubs me the wrong way. Yeah, but I mean, the idea, certainly, I mean, the idea of throwing a party and inviting unbelievers, I mean, it's fine if you're controlling the party, but if it's, you know, the typical kind of drunken, debauched party, then why would you want to have that kind of party?
Yeah, if you want to use money, filthy money, as Jesus would call it, to influence friends and win them over, I think that's good stewardship with your money, but probably at the very end, you should turn off the music, turn off ACDC and Alice Cooper, and say, I'd like to make a little announcement.
The reason why I made this party free for you is because I love Christ Jesus, and I want you all to know that you're sinners who can have your sins forgiven if you repent and believe and trust in the risen Savior, Christ Jesus, who died as substitutionary atonement for all those who would believe, even a guy like you.
And you want to turn it off during. No More Mr. Nice Guy, so you can say, and no more Mr. Nice Guy, I'm gonna tell you the truth right now. Oh, I'd love to see R .C. Sproul.
Golfing with Alice Cooper. That's a true story, but it's just one of those pictures that you can't get out of your mind quite quickly enough. No, you can't.
All right, we've got one more. Too uneducated about Christianity, generally speaking, which of course is the most offensive way to speak to any group of people, Christians know nothing about the long process by which men decided which texts would and wouldn't make it into the Bible.
Steve, I love it when he says, if you're a Christian who doesn't know the difference, who doesn't know the great schism from the great Santini, are the diet of verms well from the diet of verms, then you've got homework to do.
I agree with this one. That's why we exist even as a show. We want to educate you. On Tuesdays, we try to be funny, or at least I try to be funny, and you should see Steve's face. We try to be funny a little bit on Tuesday, and that's just what we do.
We have fun and enjoy ourselves, but we're trying to teach you. We're trying to get you to think, like today, about current events the right way. Pick up some books. What would be some good books that they could study?
I don't know, but if you think Mike is funny, then write us at info at BBC.
Arr, arr, arr. And we have a variety of different emails, funny at No Compromise Radio. It'll go straight to Steve's desk.
404 pages not exist. What are some good books to read? Well, I mean, you could read books about the origins of Scripture. What is the name of that book? But anyway, the point being, I think what he's really arguing about, and what he's presenting is this idea that books maybe have been excluded from the Bible.
Yeah, that they've been torn out, as it were. The very pages of Scripture have been torn out. This is the great schism.
Formerly nicotine-stained hands. Stop it. And
10 seconds. He's just wrong. I mean, he's just wrong in kind of this veiled assertion that he's making that somehow the Bible isn't what God intended it to be, and that we have the wrong books in there.
See you tomorrow.
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 six. 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.