Ray Comforts Discomfort

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.

Mike Abendroth here. Just a couple of quick announcements as I've been promoting. We're getting down to crunch time, we've just got a few weeks left. If you'd like to join us and head off to Israel together, then you need to get your deposit in to Bethlehem Bible Church slash No Compromise Radio ministry by the end of October, this October, 2014.

We are going to Israel. I think this will be the fourth time I've been there, the third time leading a trip. And so we go to a site and then we say the rosary and have a mass at every site there in Israel and then off to the next place, back on the bus.

No, we don't do that. We go to all kinds of places and we sit there in Caesarea Philippi and we open up our Bibles and who do you say that I am? And we go through the passage and teach certain Bible passages at the spot.

And it is a great trip. No Compromise Radio ministry, hosting with the church, nocompromiseradio .com. Look for the Israel link, we'd love to have you go and wherever you are, we have some folks that are interested going with us from South Africa, from Florida, from other places.

And so we either meet you in Tel Aviv or we meet you in Boston. I think Pat Abendroth and the Omaha Bible Church folks are meeting us in New York. We'll all fly over together. And I'm also helping out a ministry called Get Fed Online and I'm teaching Christology for them October 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th.

If you want to go to Get Fed Online, I think they've got a website for Facebook as well. And I'll teach for them. It's an interactive live teaching through Skype, several students. And that's coming up here soon.

Jim Bakker and End-Times Marketing

Okay, in the news, disgraced televangelist now selling food for the apocalypse. And I don't know really when this is going to air, no compromise time. I'm all mixed up. Why? Well, I'm still sick. And so I went to the doctor and he said, well, you need more steroids.

And so I've got a 12 day dose. And so I took six tabs of 10 milligrams or whatever it was the last two days, finally get sleep last night. Two nights ago, I couldn't sleep. I just lay in there going, hmm, now what do I need to do with the steroids?

And then I'm on five today. So I feel a little weird, a little aggressive, a little road rage, roid rage, red room. So who knows if I'm just going too fast or I'm all over the map, you know why. Plus I just had a dopio espresso Campana.

So that helps as well. September 16th, 2014, Fox News, it says, remember Jim Baker, you know, and they throw his old federal prison stuff in here. Jim Baker is now selling end of the world biscuits. I don't know.

I mean, if I could go back in time and have some of my grandmother's biscuits, Hedwig Erna Clausen Abendrot, if I could have some of her biscuits, that would be awesome. You know, you miss your grandma, you miss biscuits.

Probably the biscuits we do now are, I don't know, those ones you buy in tubes in the grocery store and peel off the other, the outside and then whack it on the side of the counter to open. But these, he's selling biscuits.

He's also selling time of trouble beans and other survival gear, according to the New York Daily News. Well, of course, if the New York Daily News has seen it, it must be true. While I'm thinking about it too, we're starting to do lots of no compromise, Facebook posts, and we are also doing a lot of Twitter stuff.

I used to send out theological articles every day, four or five days a week, that is. And I'm doing that mainly through Twitter now. So sorry that those aren't the way they used to. I think when you ponder Jim Baker's times of trouble gourmet meal kit, by the way, it costs jimbakershow .com, it only costs $3 ,000.

Many will come in my name saying, I am he and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars and end of world biscuits and time of trouble beans, you will, do not be alarmed.

This must take place, but the end is not yet. That's not found in the Bible. That's not found in the message. That's not found in anything. But it shows you that if you want to make some donations or give some love gifts, the time of trouble beans, 14 totes full of black bean burger mix for $3 ,000 and you can get some end of the world gravy and Kevin's, of course, to keep with the theme because you want the consistent end times, eschatological theme, world ending biscuits, time of trouble beans, abomination of desolation sauces.

Be on guard. I have told you all these things beforehand that actually is in the Bible. You've also got Kevin's crazy with a K lasagna, so isn't that fascinating? You can get an assortment of all this kind of survival gear.

You can get canteen kits, a baker's dozen extreme canteen kit. You get 13 ponchos, packs of ponchos, thermal blankets, glow sticks, and whistles for 500. I guess that's above and beyond for 500. You also get a live warm suit jacket.

It can keep you warm and comfortable when the temperatures are minus 30 Fahrenheit for a donation of $250. So then they give a little bit of stuff about praise the Lord and Jessica Hahn. I just find it fascinating that he's back in the news.

They've got a picture of him and his wife and you know, he looks pretty dapper. And then there's a big tub, seven years of food, gourmet meals. And so maybe they sold a lot of those in Scotland before they were voting last week.

Okay. What else is in the news? By the way, you can always write us info at nocompromisedradio .com, Mike at nocompromisedradio .com. Mega church pastors ask Christians to talk less, act more. September 19th, Christian post.

I read the Christian post, I don't know, probably every day. In the old days, I, what would I read daily for online blogging stuff? I don't go to ref 21 every day because they don't post every day. And I'm most interested in Carl's articles anyway.

No offense to the other folks. Rick Phillips, I like his post too. I mean, the other posts are fine, but I'm just, I have particular things I look for. I used to look at Between Two Worlds every day, except that's kind of what novel you should read and promoting C .S. Lewis all the time.

So I don't go there as often as I want to. So many good posts in the past, but not the current trajectory, or maybe just it's the, you know, probably No Compromise doesn't have great shows all the time.

So it's just maybe a theme these days for novels. And I don't know, I just, for me with novels, I try to read some of the old novels that I didn't pay attention to in high school. But now if I'm not going to read a book about God's word or his son or about theology, then I'm probably going to read a biography, some nonfiction.

The ones that I've read recently, I just read one about the Jeannette and how it went to try to get to the North Pole and what they had to do for 800 or some days, you know, not stepping out of the boat and eating shoelaces and eating shoes and that kind of stuff.

I read that one and the Houdini biography I just read, which is fascinating. Houdini, by the way, needed information for his seances. And so where did you find information for people in those days, back in the late 1800s, excuse me, early 1900s?

And family Bibles contained all the information. And so Houdini thought, how can I get into the family Bibles of people to learn about them? So then when I had a show and I could talk about relatives and dead relatives and I would know their names and when they got married and to whom they married, how can I get into the family Bible of people?

And so he began to sell Bibles door to door, really deluxe ones. And then he would show, look at this Bible that I'm selling, how wonderful it is. And let's see your current Bible. And he would open it up and he had a good memory.

And so he would remember what he saw in the Bible as he would compare Bibles. And so anyway, I am reading Christian Post back to that topic. See how these steroids work? Mega church pastors ask Christians to talk less, act more.

So now we have more pushing from Carrie and Chris Shook, founders of Woodlands Church outside of Houston, because remember these people and be the message book that they wrote. They're weary of sermons in words.

And so we want you to talk less and act more. And I just have to keep saying this over and over and over, because in our day, we have lots of problems. And these are the problems. The problems are we think that the gospel can be lived out.

We think that the gospel can be mimed. We think the gospel can be acted. We think the gospel is our lifestyle. And so it's not. The gospel is a proclamation. The gospel is good news. The gospel is something we must say.

Of course, I don't like hypocrisy. Of course, I want my life to match up with what I say. But there's only one person whose life matched up with what he said. And that's not me. And it's not you. And we are not going to solve the problem in evangelism, saying to ourselves and be the message, waking up to the gospel, not just a gospel of words and sermons, but the gospel of intention and action and people and how doing so change their family, church, personal relationship with God.

According to the publisher, it's their story of taking one step after another to live out God's gospel in the world. And it's their call for us to do the same. What did the shook say? Something shifts inside you when your faith is acted out.

You are the gospel, they said. That's bad news. First of all, it's really bad news for them because their theology is so poor as they make the category error of the gospel is acted out. No, because of the gospel has changed us because of life and death of Christ has affected us.

And here we have this risen Savior who has his spirit regenerate us. We are different. You know, I just think of indicatives. I think of imperatives. I think about these things. And just when I read our goal is that by the end of the book, you will be able to clearly see the life message of Jesus.

And you also have a much clearer view of what your life message is. And even that talk life messages. The book starts off by saying, they say, we start the book by saying, quote, I'm sick of sermons. Now, even that, are you sick of sermons?

I hope not. I hope you say to yourself, the pinnacle of worship is hearing from God. Yes, it's amazing that God would use a sinful, fallible man to proclaim his truth. Yes, it's doubly amazing that God just doesn't have us read scripture on Sunday, because then we'd be sure not to mess it up.

But going back to Deuteronomy chapter one, verse five, where Moses is expounding as explaining the message of God and telling the people God's using frail instruments. And yes, there's going to be a disconnect with what people say and what people do.

That's why it's so important to say the right things and to talk about Jesus to be sick of sermons. I pay money to go to conferences to be preached to, to listen to sermons. It's one of the reasons why I know I'm saved.

I love sermons. I love Bible preaching. I want to learn. I want to grow. I want to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord. Don't you? I know you do. That's why you listen to the radio show. So when people start saying, I'm sick of sermons and I want to live out the message, this is this confusion.

You need to read Machen's book. One of my top five books of all time, outside the Bible, top five books, you know, along with Machen, there are the Imputation of Adam's Sin, John Murray, and there is A .W. Pink, Attributes of God.

There's my own book that I wrote. I just was looking at my desk here. There's a copy of Things That Go Bump in the Church. That's not my favorite book because I only wrote one third of it. See, because I'm so narcissistic, I have to have only books that I completely write.

So it's right up there. Top three or four books, Christianity and Liberalism, 1929-ish, Erdman's. You've got to read that book because that book just explains, through Jake Gresham Machen's words, this very thing.

The gospel is the triumphant indicative, as Machen would say. And when people start saying, you know, we don't want sermons anymore, and how do we change the world? It's this social gospel that's influenced.

And, you know, we want sermons and they're important, but we want to live sermons out. My point, bringing this up, because I did a whole show on it. My point now is, BeTheMessage .org, they're everywhere.

And it's a big push. And there's the marketing push behind it. And maybe I should go with this company that has such a marketing push. All right, what else here do I have on my desk? Ray Comfort. I haven't said much about Ray Comfort over the last five years of radio shows.

I don't even think I maybe mentioned him one time. We did some discussion about the way of the master. And is it the way of the master or a way regarding evangelism? Jesse Johnson did the review of that at the Shepherds Conference.

Maybe I talked about that a little bit. But I am happy that Ray talks about the Lord Jesus. I'm happy he talks about the resurrection and sin and substitution and atonement, God's standards. I'm happy for all that.

But when he says this, I read this on Facebook a while ago. Why I'm neither Calvinist nor Arminian. Now, see, initially, I think that's cool because I don't want to follow Jacob Arminius. I don't want to follow Calvinist, Calvin, Calwi.

How do you say it in French? I don't know. I don't know. S 'il vous plait. So that part I like, you know, I want to be a biblicist. I want to teach what the Bible teaches. I want to teach what it's in scripture and not follow a man.

But, you know, when we use these terms, Calvinist, Arminian, they are historical terms. They're theological terms. And to me, they're used for economy of words. So I don't have to say, by the way, God's sovereign in salvation.

And let's talk about some solas. Let's talk about who initiates salvation and what the result is, the place of faith. Is it a cause? Is it a result? Is it a fruit? Is it an effector? You know, there's all that.

So, you know, on No Compromise Radio that, well, maybe you don't know this, but Sunday mornings, I don't really say Calvinist, Arminian, maybe hardly ever, several times over the last 17 years. Sunday nights, maybe I'll do that more.

But Ray says why I'm neither a Calvinist nor Arminian. And here's what he's trying to say. He feels the tension between sovereignty of God and responsibility. And haven't we just done some shows on that recently?

The answer is yes. And so since he feels the tension, he doesn't want to say he's one or the other. But with the Calvinist position, we allow that tension. How do God's sovereign grace and man's responsibility to turn to him fit together?

Okay. We just did four shows. Ezekiel 33, 11. As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways, for why should you die?

It's clear from scripture that he grants us repentance, Acts 5, Acts 11. And he also gives us faith as a gift, Romans 12. But then he commands all men everywhere to repent and have faith. See Mark 1, Acts 17.

Okay. So far, so good. And so far, he would fit underneath everything that a Calvinist would believe. We also read whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Acts 2, Romans 10, John 3, 16.

Whoever means whoever. Well, it does mean whoever, but if Ray would open up the text, even in the interlinear, if he can't read the Greek, those calling upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. God, the love of the world in this particular way, that he gave his only begotten son, that those believing in him should not perish.

So that would be easy to find out. So whoever does mean whoever, that's a true statement. This means this, that means that. Charles Spurgeon proclaimed divine sovereignty, yet he preached man's responsibility.

Although he admitted that he didn't understand how they fit together. Okay. And Spurgeon is a Calvinist, obviously, along with almost every historically missionary in history, at least early missionaries from Adoniram Judson to William Carey.

They all were Calvinistic. Now, you say, well, what about Wesley? All right. I said almost. What about Jim Elliot? I said almost. But just because you believe in the sovereignty of God or call yourself a Calvinist, that doesn't mean you don't evangelize.

They are the ones that do evangelize. I've got many people in this city, Acts chapter 18, right? Is it 18? Don't have my notes here. This is just off the cuff, obviously. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, fly to Christ, sinner, humble yourself, Spurgeon's exhortations.

And he preached it's the sinner's responsibility to trust, trust Christ with all your soul. All right. So far, he gets it. There's a tension. Both are true. Spurgeon, even the Calvinist would say human responsibility, because, of course, that's what we believe.

We're not fatalists. We're not denying the responsibility of man. We're just saying the man's responsibility, since he's dead in sins, right? Almost every theological problem is solved by going back to the state of man.

How bad was the fall? And so now is when Ray Comfort says, the Arminian and Calvinist views are diametrically opposed to each other. Still on track. I, amen. Yet believers on both sides point to a multitude of verses to back their theology.

True. If you choose one view of the other, don't let your choice cut you off from others who may believe differently. Okay. So far, I'm with Ray all the way. And we typically, here's the paradigm, unless you grow up in a good church.

Here's the paradigm. You're born into this world as a Pelagian and you think you can do good. You think you can earn God's favor. Then you're born again. If God saves you and your eyes are opened, you probably will believe in some kind of synergism, some kind of Arminianism, some kind of you let God save you and you'll think more about your will than you ought to in terms of the freedom of it.

And does it cause, does it initiate, or is it an effect or a fruit? And then as you learn the scriptures, you'll realize that God opened my heart and I responded. Just both are true. God opens the heart and we respond.

But salvation is driven by God, initiated by God, ordained by God, decreed by God, done by God. And the list goes on. Aren't you glad for steroids? It's two shows in one. It is possible that two opposing views can walk together.

No. If it, it is, if all that is missing is some information to harmonize them, the day will come when we understand all things. Okay. So I get that part. When we're in heaven, we'll, we'll understand these seemingly irreconcilable truths, sovereignty of God and man's responsibility.

And, and there's no tension in heaven and we'll understand it better. He said, sadly, church history has shown us that Christ-centered men of God have clashed over these issues, Whitefield and Wesley.

More recently, I've seen brethren make a theological stand and much to their dismay, they were marked in their home churches as troublemakers. But I have to say, and maybe I don't get out much, but Calvinist, if they're mature, they're not mad at Armenians.

They just know Armenians are on the path and they'll learn and they'll grow and they'll be sanctified and they'll change their views. And if a Calvinist is out of the cage stage, the early stage, and, and has thought for a few seconds that the only reason why they believe what they believe, if it's true, it's because of the grace of God and God has given them teachers and books and opened their minds so they could understand these things.

Nobody's better. Calvinists aren't better. They've just been taught by God and they understand these things. And so to me, it's like with a Southern Baptist convention, the Calvinists aren't saying the Armenians need to get out and it's a devilish doctrine.

But I hear that kind of talk from Armenians caricaturizing Calvinists. That's, that's where the fight is. And when churches split over the issue, that doesn't mean we can't, that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about these things anymore.

Great comfort. So if you do think you have worked it out, be careful that you strive to keep unity among the brethren. I'm with you. Then focus on your God-given commission. I'm with you. Fight fires.

If you're a fireman, don't fight each other. I'm with you. Every moment that you and I spend arguing about theological interpretation is time we lost forever that we could have spent in prayer for the unsaved or in seeking to save that which is lost.

I wouldn't be surprised if much of the contention for this issue isn't based on a supposed love of the truth, but is rooted in sinful pride. Okay. Some pride is probably there, supposed love of the truth, that part, but that that's just kind of the weaselly way out at the end.

Every moment that you and I spend arguing about theological interpretation. All right. Well, was Paul arguing about theological interpretation for six chapters to the Galatians was Paul arguing for theological interpretation for 13 chapters in Hebrews?

This is where I part ways. First of all, Ray should understand that you could be a Calvinist and believe both of the things that he holds dear sovereignty of God and responsibility. I don't want to split churches with, you know, needless things, but we are to find the mind of God in scriptures.

We are to try to understand it. We are to try to understand his person, his work, his character, and his saving nature. And when you understand that you'll glorify him more and you'll evangelize more.

So he sets up this false bifurcation and, and my guess is eventually Ray's just going to say, you know what? I get it now I've studied enough and I just get it. So I appreciate his ministry and his desire to see the lost saved.

But I also desire him to say that he's a Calvinist one day, right? No Compromise Radio.

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.

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