Drifting to Liberalism

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. It is a staccato show today with Steve Blum.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, yeah, staccato. Steve, off air, we were talking about shows that are on Netflix or TV or movie theater shows and all that, and, you know, they just have to throw in the gratuitous, not just violence these days, but it seems like sex.

I long for the day, the days. Remember the good old days, Steve? I know Ecclesiastes says we probably shouldn�t say that, but remember the days when you could go sit on an airplane and they would have a movie edited?

And I would think, especially as a brand -new Christian, �Oh, you know, I�m not a fundamentalist where I can�t see any movie anymore.�

You know, I didn�t fall for the trap where you can�t go see any movie except you can go rent a VHS and then take it home and watch it.

That�d be okay. Wasn�t that fun when you got to sit on a plane and watch a show without language and sex? That was good when

I got to sit on that airplane. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I appreciated the fact that they would edit them like that, and, you know, you do kind of wonder sometimes why you can�t, you know, do that.

Just hit � I mean, like I remember, I think it was when DVDs first came out.

They said, �Oh, yeah, you�re going to be able to take an R -rated movie, and just by pushing, you know, I want the G version of it, you know, it�s going to do all this for you.�

Somehow that never happened. Well, the authors � I mean, the artists, rather, and the directors and producers, that violates what we want to do.

That�s like the Mona Lisa without the nose. Our artistic vision. Uh -huh. I mean, now, you fly internationally, and you get all the channels, you know, all the satellite channels, and I�m thinking of that because I�ll fly next week over to the

Muslim country of Germany. And there are people watching things on TV, on airplanes, and I�m thinking, �This is like pornography.

What if you got kids in there ?� See, I haven�t even had that experience of watching somebody else watch, you know, because I�m usually either paying attention to my own thing,

I don�t really ganzer around a whole lot. I do tend to notice when people are watching MSNBC or Fox News, but that�s about it.

But yeah, I don�t get all that. I had another thought, and now it�s escaped me.

Okay. That�s all right. I�ll pick it up while you�re thinking. I was looking through some Google Books the other day doing some research, and I came across �Charts for a

Theology of Evangelism� by Thomas P. Johnston, �Charts for a

Theology of Evangelism� by Thomas P. Johnston, a B &H book that is

Broadman and Holman, that�s a Southern Baptist book, and here�s what I found, Steve.

I found a page � Only one page. Yeah. I only found one page.

I couldn�t really � you know how sometimes you can�t scroll down because it�s like this is copyrighted material? They�re all stuck together. Yeah. Okay. Chart 66 continued.

It says, �Number 64, introducing the evangelical drift portrayed in Charts 65 to 77, continued.

Evangelical drift.� So now you can tell why I was on that site. Sure. Because I�m in � Drifting away.

I know. I�m in Hebrews chapter � Don�t be great. 2 about lest we drift, and these people were drifting away from faith.

That was the big sin, was the sin of unbelief in Hebrews. Make sure you believe, and if you believe, keep believing.

And there's a belief that doesn't save. Anyway, it talked about Billy Graham and his views on sin.

Now, I found that fascinating because Southern Baptists like Billy Graham, and there's lots about Billy Graham that I like.

Yeah? You're shaking your head like you're singing. I mean, is there something on those headphones? I just got, you know, drift away playing in the background.

Oh, I thought it was Balkan beatbox. Balkan beatnik.

And here, this Southern Baptist, I mean, even at Southern Seminary, they have the

Billy Graham School of Evangelism. And why wouldn't they? There's all kinds of tie -ins. And it just said,

Billy Graham on sin. In 1947, he taught total depravity. In 1951, depravity.

In 1955, sin as a sickness. 1960, sin as waywardness, degradation.

In 1977, the two faces of man, his basic goodness and basic evil.

And they were trying to show, as they would examine Billy Graham's theology, that he just kind of drifting a little bit.

A little less talk about penalty substitution for substitutionary atonement, and more a relational, therapeutic, maybe moving from the courtroom to the family room when it comes to the atonement.

Give me the beat, boys, and free my soul. You know, I want to get freed. Billy Graham aside, don't you see,

Steve, that that is, especially in light of psychology and in light of an avoidance of what we call

Calvinism and total depravity, spiritual inability, don't you see people saying, let's get out of that courtroom language, guilty, not guilty, stern judge?

Even with maybe a remnant of Roman Catholicism, where Jesus is such a stern judge, you've got to have a mediator between man and Jesus, and her name is

Mary. Now we move to this family thing, where it's the family model, and it's relational, and how we get along with one another, and now we'll think about God that way.

What's your take on that? Steve McLaughlin Well, how do you reach massive quantities of people?

How do you get them to come forward, right, and to recognize the fact that they're a sinner or that they're, you know, if you say, you know, how many of you want to renounce your old way of life?

Well, there'd probably be not that many. How many of you want to say that you have an illness? You know, you're not feeling too well today.

You'd like some spiritual help. You'd like some spiritual guidance. You'd like some spiritual tips.

You know, I mean, you can just lighten it up every step of the way, you know. You'd just like somebody to come alongside you and put their arm around your shoulder and, you know, kind of be your spiritual helper.

You know, and so every step along the way, instead of saying, friend, you need to renounce yourself.

You need to do away with yourself. You need to put that man of sin to death. Instead of that, you could just say, you know what, you've got a few flaws that it would be great if you could just work on them.

Steve, I see that. In Luke 13, there were some present at that very time who told him about the

Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, and he answered them, do you think that these

Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you.

But unless you follow these tips. Unless you allow me to put my arm around your shoulder and guide you.

Unless you get some serious spiritual help. Unless you start, you know, living some of the principles of the gospel.

Don't you feel, Steve, and I use that word on purpose. Don't you feel, because I feel the desire to soften the gospel blow.

It's blunt force trauma when you realize how sinful you are as an unbeliever.

And the world has been telling you everybody gets a trophy. Everybody gets a red plate. All these kind of millennials and this entitlement generation that we see, whether it's at Charlotte or someplace else, entitlement, entitlement, entitlement breeds a lot of this trouble.

It's all focused on the person. And then to say basically that person is so sin -wrecked and sin -wracked, you need a new you.

You need to be born again. Don't you feel that you want to kind of soften that? Yeah, but you know, some of the ways we can do that is with our tone.

You know, instead of like, you are a sin -wrecked wretch, you know, you could say, you're a mean one.

Yeah. Or you can say, you know what the truth is? Your life has been wrecked by sin.

Your soul has been wrecked by sin, you know? So there's a huge tone difference that you can say almost exactly the same words or even the exact same words, and they sound nicer because you sound nicer.

And I'm not advocating this kind of relational preaching style, but certainly one -on -one evangelism style where you can say, listen,

I have firsthand experience about this very issue because whatever degree you are in terms of a sinner, you just ratchet that up about, you know, exponential two for me.

I understand how bad I am. And that was a really hard thing to come to grips with, how bad

I was and that I needed to be saved because most people today, they think they only need, just like you said, some hips, some hips, some tips and some help.

You know what? If more unbelievers had some hips out there, that'd be better. It reminds me of Isaiah Moses, hip number 32, who was a running back in the late 70s, early 80s at University of Nebraska.

I am him. Now I'll tell you what, that mother of his and father of his, I don't think the father was around.

I think he said his mother named him. I think she had some biblical background. Isaiah Moses. Oh, nice.

Uh -huh. From the prophets to the law. She probably knew something. Isaiah Moses hip. Somebody knew something.

And he was nicknamed I am hip. Those were the days. But, you know, to get back to this analogy that I was kind of making, you can say things like you're an enemy of God.

You stand condemned. Or you can say, friends, apart from Christ, you are enemies of God.

You're separated from him. You have no hope. You know, so, I mean, it's all how do you – you can say exactly the same things in a condemnatory way, which is not wrong, right?

Or you can say – or you can appeal to them. And I mean, I find it easier to be appealing than appalling.

But because I think it's just easy to give the kind of – how is it

I want to say? You know, the Calvinistic, the Reformed Baptist, you know, body slam with all due respect to and love for my

Reformed Baptist. Some good people there. There are good people. Or you can – I think the

Spurgeon -esque way is to say you can say it, but you want to say it in such a way where you're just like – you're not saying it – you are pointing the finger, but you're pointing it in the nicest possible way, you know?

And almost like at the same time you're pointing it at them, you're like inviting them to come.

You know? I'm watching Steve do that, and I'm thinking one – you know, when you point at someone, that's one finger going to them and three coming back to you.

So then you give them the – What direction is my thumb? So then you give them the forefinger, like, won't you please come?

Steve, as I watch the slide and the drift in evangelicalism, it's my opinion, and I think you might corroborate this, back me up on this, help me with this.

I'll co -sign. Give me some tips on this. And some hips. Once you abandon what

God says about mankind that happened at the fall and the consequences thereof, that's when all the trouble happens.

In other words, we go from man is evil, corrupt, depraved, unable, and we go to man's got some goodness, and this is what happened in the

Enlightenment, this is what happened in different cycles of rationalism, when we exalt man.

And I don't mean as a creature, a creature made in the likeness and image of God. I don't mean that, but when we just end up calling evil good, we're going to be in big trouble.

Do you think it – to what degree, in your mind, does it relate to anthropology? Well, I think it totally does.

I mean, we have – we live in a society, you know, since – like you said, since Enlightenment, and now even looking forward as we interact with unbelievers, what do we find them saying?

That man is inherently good, that, you know, the world's getting better and better, and that if we could only stop having war and stop thinking in terms of tribalism and all this, that, and the other thing, that we would form some kind of Star Trek world, you know, where we would all be united, and wouldn't that be lovely, and there'd be no more famine and no more, you know, and you're just like, yeah, except for you're forgetting a few things like total depravity, you know, and the inherent selfishness of man.

Steve, you know I like Star Trek, and, you know, we don't call it Star Track. That's what we did in Nebraska.

Right. Star Trek. And, of course, the original one in the late 60s, middle to late 60s with Gene Roddenberry, of course, as the – you know, he's the one that thought it all up.

Okay, we've got the Cold War going on. Russia's the enemy. What would the future look like? Well, Russia's going to be a friend, so we have to have

Pavel Chekhov. And Chekhov's got to be there and, you know, there's racial tensions in the 60s, so we need to have one of the officers,

Uhura, right? And we have to have Nicole, whatever her name is, Williams or Simpson or somebody, who is it?

I don't think it's Simpson. I don't think it is either. Sorry about that. That was an honest mistake. Anyway, Nicole Nichols.

That's right. Yeah. Or Nichelle. Is it Nichelle? Yeah, I think so. That's right. Okay. Well, if we had the modern – oh, and then we fast forward to the next generation and what do we have on the next generation on the bridge?

Of course, we have Sean Luke Picard and you've got number one. And then you have an added person that's not on the original bridge of the original

Enterprise Star Trek series, Desilu Productions. You have the counselor, Counselor Troy, because you've got to have a shrink everywhere, right?

In the old days, if there's a bad thing that happens in town, a shooting, a tragedy, you call the rabbis, you call the priests and you call the pastors.

They will come and help. And now when something bad happens, and I guess even in the backstage of The Voice production of the movie, a

TV show, The Voice, if you get rejected and filleted by them or the Simon Cowell deal or whatever that one is,

American Idol, you have counselors in the background. Or maybe that's the Shark Tank. As well, they should, right?

Yeah. So now we have to add on the psychologist. What would they have to add in the future? So that your self -esteem isn't shattered, right?

Yeah. You got to add that there's a terrorist on the bridge now because terrorists are all not friends.

How does that work? I don't know. I mean, I'm sure that, you know, at some point, if there are enough iterations of Star Trek, we'll wind up with, you know, atheists and Christians and Muslims and Hindus all working in harmony, you know, and probably holding joint worship services.

I guess one of Gene Roddenberry's thoughts was to do a Star Trek back in the late 60s.

It was something about killing Jesus or discovering Jesus or something. I think it didn't go very far.

And then Bill O 'Reilly got it. Mike Gabendross, Steve Cooley. This is

No Compromise Radio. We want to talk to you about biblical issues in kind of a spicy, provocative manner.

And even though my palate might like spicy things and maybe Steve's doesn't, but both of us like spicy theological topics.

I love spicy food. Give me some seconds on that. Do you like spicy food? Oh, he just doesn't like you. It's violent.

It's, you know, mean to me. So pretty much, can you eat after like 7 p .m.?

Like last night, we had a great dinner at your house with some other elders from another church as we were trying to make a coup and take over all of New England.

Raise the flag of BBC over yet another church. I know. Taking over churches one at a time.

How about, you know, I know you're up late because I got some emails back and forth late, but were you able to sleep after you ate at 7 p .m.?

Yeah, eventually. It was my wife's, you know, twice -baked potatoes that kept me up for a while.

Those are so good. They were so good, and that's why I only had a little because I could have just scarfed the whole thing down.

Yeah, that's really, really very good. Yeah. So I usually try not to eat late, and I try not to eat too much, and I don't normally eat real food either.

So those are my big tips. So here's what we're after, or at least this is my personal goal.

I know it's Steve's goal as well. While we don't want to have theological drift in any category, especially when it comes to anthropology and the fall and Adam, and you get rid of the first Adam, who needs a second

Adam? There's a domino effect that could happen. You're going to evangelize differently.

You're going to preach differently. You're going to look at the lost differently. We don't want that. But we want the opposite of drift.

We want growth and maturation in what Steve was calling the delivery of that bad news.

There's a way to go about it, and I think 25 years ago, we probably both preached the gospel 20 years ago differently than we do now.

I didn't preach the gospel. I made that up. I had to make it, I amended that, amended version.

So we want to be kinder and nicer in our delivery, right? Well, I mean, you know, it's like when you're in the hospital.

I mean, there are a couple of ways to deliver bad news, right? Your husband, you know, you could say, hey, your husband's a goner.

Or you can, you know, kind of put your arms around the person and just say, you know what, I don't think he's going to make it.

And I mean, essentially, you are giving the news of life and death from the pulpit, right?

You're inviting people to life, and you're telling them they are in death. And so why,

I mean, you can bless them. I mean, it blasts them. But I just think the words of Scripture, the

Holy Spirit, that's the – Pete That's the hammer. Jared That's the weapon right there. Pete That's Jeremiah's hammer.

Jared That's exactly right. And, you know, you don't have to be the hammer. The Word does that. Steve And just think when the

Holy Spirit is pleased to work through that Word and convict people, and they come to an end of themselves, and then they cry out, what must

I do to be saved? Our Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. That's the response of the sinner. I was thinking about hospital rooms and somebody losing a spouse.

And this is back to a couple shows ago. It seemed like about an hour ago, but it was probably three weeks ago, Steve. In the hospital room, not giving people

Romans 8 .28, I mean, eventually, if you have to sit down with someone and say, we are to grieve like those who have hope, and that hope is resting in the sovereignty of God.

And here even in the middle of your trials, Romans 8 says that the Spirit of God will testify to you that you've got a

Father, God the Father. He's a good Father. There's a way to go about it after, but you just don't go into a room. I mean, the most

I usually say, besides, could I please pray, could I pray for you, is you could do very tangible things like nothing but just sit there.

Can I go get you some soda or something from the cafeteria? They'll normally say, no, thank you, which is, I think, right, because they're focused on other things or, you know, understandable rather.

Lots of times I just say, you know what? We did this with my mom and my mom did it with the dad.

Why don't I just help you slide your loved one's body over? I don't say dead body.

It's obvious they're dead. And I'll guard the door. And if you want to climb in and hug your husband or your wife one last time,

I won't look, but I'll guard the door. Nobody else will come in. Just give them a big long hug.

They've been hurting in pain and now they won't feel the pain. That's about all I'll say, because that's,

I don't need to say anything. I'll just guard the door. And so, sorry to make you cry.

Can't see Pastor Steve crying on the radio. What you don't know about Pastor Steve, I mean, as tough as he sounds sometimes, honoree, he's sweet and he cries,

I think, more than I do, but sometimes you'll see a tear. I'm just not a very tough guy. You know, the truth is

I'm not tough at all. But I just think, you know, there is, if, you know, as preachers, if we think about the people who are listening to us, if we think about those people being souls who are, you know, maybe on the precipice of meeting their maker, how different will we talk to them as opposed to just thinking about them as,

I don't want to say objects, objects of wrath or whatever, but almost as like targets of our fusillade, you know?

They're not, yes, our sermons should, Lord willing, crush them, but it's not because of the force of the delivery.

It's the force of the Word of God. It's the force of the Holy Spirit. It's him who causes the change.

It's not us. You know, and I mean, sometimes I think I listen to some sermons and they're no better than Arminian in their approach because they're really kind of making the speaker the motivating thing and the

Word always is. The Word is going to transform people. The Word is going to change people. So we need to think of them and just think, well, if these are

Christ's sheep, we want to come alongside them. We want to help them. We want to guide them. We want to love them.

And if they're not, even so, we don't want to be the rock of offense. We want Christ to be the rock of offense, right?

That's what scripture says. Scripture says the gospel's foolishness. We don't want to be the fool. We don't want to be the person who turns them off.

We want them to consider the truth claims of Christ and in their own sinfulness, reject them on their own.

But if the Holy Spirit's convicting them, we don't want to be any kind of obstacle at all.

Amen. Mike Abendroth here with Steve Cooley at No Compromise Radio. I have a desire, or I have lots of desires when

I preach, and I want to be faithful to the text. I want to talk well, speak well of Christ.

But I'm hoping that as I'm preaching, imperceptibly over the five or ten minutes, people begin to say, well,

I'm not really thinking about Mike now. I'm just thinking about the text, and I'm engaged in the text, right?

There's not an exact moment, but it's this, oh, there is a person. God has ordained a fallible person to speak, and now we're in the text, and you start thinking about who

God is, and the text, and who you are in light of God, and who you are in Christ. And then you kind of forget about the guy, and then you're like, oh, yeah.

That was just that guy up there. So that's my desire, that I just fade into the background slowly and imperceptibly.

I agree. I mean, again, I don't think the guy who wants to be the, you know, the object of attention is kind of missing the point.

You know, as much as you can, you want to put Christ on display. You want to put the truth on display and just get out of the way.

Pete It's hard to do, man. Pete Yeah, it is. Pete It's so easy to say it's so hard to do.

Pete It is. I'm not going to say I haven't, you know, obviously, I'm not going to say I haven't nailed down. Pete If you'd like to order the new book,

Evangelical White Lies, you can go to Amazon. There's a Kindling version, a

Kindle version. Those are hard to burn. Pete It's super light paper where you can just, you know. Pete Yeah. I got one of those little

Pharaoh rods, and Kim's like, what would you ever use that for? Well, I might need it sometime. Pete Yeah, you never know.

Pete Mike Abendroth, Steve Cooley, No Compromise Radio. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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