Gil Vargas Interview

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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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

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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.'"

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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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.

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Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name's Mike Abendroth, and it's a rare thing, but we do make exceptions on occasion.

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Sitting next to me, it's not Steve Cooley today. It's Gil Vargas. Welcome to No Compromise Radio.

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Thank you for having me. You are a friend of No Compromise Radio. How do I know you, and how do you know me?

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Well, I'm definitely a friend of No Compromise Radio, and a fan as well. You are my pastor.

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So I come to BBC, and I get fed by you and the word of God. Gil, I have to say, and this is a testimony to the word of God and the grace that he provides through his

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Holy Spirit, you're not the same guy I met years ago. How many years ago did I meet you? Oof, I'm gonna say about six years now.

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All right, and tell me your background. What was your theological background? What kind of church did you go to?

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Growing up, my mother definitely was a woman of the Lord, but she raised me through the

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Pentecostal faith. So there was a lot of things that were not, I don't wanna say heretical, but I mean, it does fall in the heresy category in certain teachings.

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But she did teach me to love the Lord. She taught me who Christ was and what he did on the cross, but I didn't really have a true relationship with his word and God himself.

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It wasn't until I was about 22, 22 years old, and that's. All right, hey

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Gil, we know each other well enough, so I think I can ask the question without you taking offense. When you first started coming to BBC, I don't know how many people here are white, 75%, 80.

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I'm not sure of the exact number. Did people in your family think Calvinism's kind of for white people or for richer people?

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It's not for folks in Worcester. Was there anything like that, or am I just crazy? For me, no, there wasn't anything racial.

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For me, it was more the spirit of confusion is what

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I got. You know, that's you listening to man, and you know.

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Oh, you were gonna be receiving spiritual confusion. Yes, from coming here and learning these

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Calvinistic doctrines, and once I started regurgitating them to everyone around me, they were like, oh,

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I didn't teach you that, and where did you get that from? That sounds like the spirit of confusion is working in your life, and honestly,

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I've never heard of that. Yeah, you know what, I have several degrees, theological degrees, and what's the spirit of confusion?

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I don't know. I guess it's a demon that specializes in that. I think Pastor Steve sometimes on Tuesdays has that.

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You think so? I think maybe he's not gonna be happy to hear that. Gil, you're a member here at the church, faithful member, and you have musical talents that the

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Lord has given you. Tell us about your new, is it okay to call them album now because it's not really vinyl, right, it's a

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CD? I guess, yeah, if you wanna be politically correct, you would say project now. Oh, it's a project, oh,

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I gotcha, see. During the day, you're a barber, right? Yes. And why can't

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I, you know, if I used to have hair, where were you then? Now I have no hair, and I have no need for you.

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Yeah, well, I'm in the same category. I'm losing mine, so. Now, where does a barber go for haircut?

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A barber gets his haircuts from his colleagues. Yeah, okay, gotcha. So, as you have learned and you've grown, you've had a theological kind of,

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I wouldn't wanna say evolution, but in a sense, it's a sanctification, and now you've got this new album. What's the name of the album?

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The album is called How I See It. How I See It, and the other day, I was in Ruth, preaching from Ruth chapter two, and you sang a song that fit so luckily, by chance.

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What? By serendipitous fortune, you sang a song called

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Beneath Your Wings, and I was preaching from that very passage. And I don't know if your reference was from Psalm 91 or from Ruth, but this idea of the

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Lord, you know, it's just a neat picture of a bird covering her chicks, protecting them.

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What was your inspiration for the song? It was Psalm 91. You know, being a singer, and in this world where topics are very sought after, you know, having the hot topic and what to talk about.

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And for me, for this album, I didn't wanna have, you know, topics that tickle ears.

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You know, I wanted to have things that are actually rooted through the word, that will actually speak to people. So, Psalm 91,

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I was reading over it, and, you know, it spoke to me, you know, not inaudible, but, you know, it spoke to me as far as conviction and seeing what

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God does in our lives, how he protects us and, you know, how he completes us. So, I just thought about writing something like that.

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And then you put some other biblical material in there. It's not a rehearsal of every word in Psalm 91, but the main concept.

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And what else were you singing about in the song? I liked how you wove some things together. Yeah, well, you know,

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I just wanted to basically take the essence of that scripture and not add to it, but, you know, kind of elaborate on the,

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I don't wanna say emotion, because I know we're not in an emotional -driven church, but basically the feeling behind it.

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Like, what was David really saying? You know, what was he trying to convey when he said, you know, take me underneath your wings?

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So, that's basically where I took that song. Gil, I think it'd be fair to say, I bet you'd agree with me, that you tried to do in the song what

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I would try to do with the passage when I preached it, right? So, you preach it and you try to get the background and the mood, and instead of me using just my words, because, you know,

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I can't sing, you used your voice. Exactly. See? That's exactly. Now, the song,

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Beneath Your Wings, I thought was a, you know, the first thing I do, of course, you know me, is

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I wanna check for theological clarity and biblical accuracy.

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I have to say you get an A plus on there, because if you got like a B or less, you wouldn't be on the show today. Well, thank you so much.

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I have good teachers. I think what we should do is let's play that first song, Beneath Your Wings, and then we'll come back after that and talk a little bit more about what the

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Lord's doing in your life and some of the other songs on the album. This is Gil Vargas, Beneath Your Wings.

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♪ Life's nothing but a vapor ♪ ♪ Next thing you know it's gonna leave ya ♪ ♪

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When I face the Creator ♪ ♪ My only hope is the Savior, oh ♪ ♪

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I believe in His promise ♪ ♪ He set me free from these chains of sin ♪ ♪

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In agreement with the psalmist ♪ ♪ I'm taking refuge in the shadow underneath your wings ♪ ♪

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Head to the ground, cast to my crown ♪ ♪ Praise be to the King of kings ♪ ♪

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Hands to the sky, praise the Most High ♪ ♪ Sovereign over everything ♪ ♪

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Lamb of the Lord, Savior assured ♪ ♪ Through your holy sacrifice ♪ ♪

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Glory to God, my holy God, my holy God ♪ ♪

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Time slipping away like a shadow ♪ ♪

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In the evening before the sunrise ♪ ♪

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On a housetop like a lonely sparrow ♪ ♪

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Haily awake, looking up to the sky ♪ ♪ Hiding beneath your wings, oh ♪ ♪

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Hiding beneath your wings, mm -mm ♪ ♪ Beneath your wings, a righteous sinner who's a worthy

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Lord ♪ ♪ Lord, I could never earn your favor ♪ ♪ Selfishness independent from me,

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Lord ♪ to the ground, cast him a crown, praise be to the king of kings.

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Hands to the sky, praise the most high, sovereign over everything. Lamb of the

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Lord, saints who are sure, through your holy sacrifice. Glory to God, my holy

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God, my holy God. Time slipping away like a shadow, in the evening before the sunrise.

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On a housetop like a lonely sparrow, I lay awake looking up to the sky, hiding beneath me.

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Hear me, oh God, when I cry, your face do not hide from me.

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From the day of my distress, incline your ear to me,

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God, answer sweetly, God, when I call to you.

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Time slipping away like a shadow, in the evening before the sunrise.

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All right, well, I wish I could have played that in studio. I didn't get to hear it, but our audience did. How does that work through editing?

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Mario, you got your work out of you. That's right. Gil, tell us about some of the men that you're collaborating with to produce this album and to have some other singers.

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Some of the guys I know, some I don't, but I bet you our listeners do. Well, actually, you know them all. The artists that I have collaborating with me have been honored to work with these guys because they are definitely men of God.

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They don't compromise their message. They are not trying to tickle ears or trying to get fame.

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They are just here to proclaim truth, and that's it. And I loved working with them.

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But the guys that I have is Mario Escobar, who did the

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Tulip album that I was featured on. I have Jovan McKenzie, which is great, very humble.

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He's so knowledgeable, very convicting because he is just so bold in preaching truth everywhere he goes.

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I was able to see him perform live, and he just stopped the whole show to give the gospel.

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And that is not something you see a lot with the hip hop and that genre.

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And then I also have Jovan, I mean, I'm sorry, Ivy Hisson.

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He's also on my album and also a great brother, very humble.

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I've learned so much from him just seeing his walk, seeing him work with James White and speaking on behalf of hip hop and talking about why it's relevant today and why it's helpful.

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Not that it helps God and deliver the message, but just the fact that it can do good within the

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Christian realm. So yeah, I mean, I have a really good lineup, you know, and I'm just really excited to see what

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God does in this album. Gil, as we just heard, the song that was just played was more of contemporary

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R &B. How would you describe it? And there are some hip hop songs, some kind of rap stuff on the album, but it's what you call it before the show, eclectic?

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Yes. I don't want to say it's a crossover. What's crossover? I thought that's a dribble. I thought Dr. J had a crossover dribble.

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I mean, to me, crossover would be like if I was a Spanish artist and then I went into English, that would be like a crossover.

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Spangly. But basically, yeah, my album is definitely eclectic.

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I, being a brand new artist, I'd never really created anything on my own, so I didn't really know what direction to go as far as what style, whether I wanted to do contemporary or R &B or hip hop.

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So, you know, Mario and I just sat down and we just decided to dabble with all of them.

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So we have a little bit of contemporary, which I would believe Beneath Your Wings is, is more contemporary worship.

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Then we have some hip hop and some R &B, you know, different. Gil, what would you say if someone who's listening to No Compromise Radio, they didn't hear the

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Jovan McKenzie interview, and they said to you, by genre, hip hop is bad, you know, rap is bad.

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And I associate that with gangsters and sex drugs and rock and roll and all these kind of horrible things.

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Can this genre be redeemed? And if so, how? I definitely believe that hip hop is something that can be redeemed and something that can be used for God's glory.

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My answer to people when they say, oh, you know, this is bad or that's bad, I would say, you know, nothing adamant, not an object or things can be evil.

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It's the heart that speaks out. Well, on this album, you've got a song that can be sung for special music at a fairly conservative church.

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Don't you think we're pretty conservative? Yes, definitely. I'd have to say we are. And then you have other songs that might not be suitable for special music, but are suitable for Christians to honor the

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Lord and worship Him through good, solid doctrine, right? What you believe about God is important.

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And it was Luther who said, you want to change people's theology, use songs because of the rhyming and how you just remember songs.

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The other day I was in the car and The Age of Aquarius came on. It's early 60s San Francisco kind of sound.

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I knew the lyric skill from that song. I don't think I've heard it for 25 years. It's the power of music to memorize things.

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Arius, who believed no such thing as the Trinity, he didn't believe in the Eternal Son. He said the way we get people to stop believing

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Jesus is the Eternal Son is to sing songs. So, tell me some of the themes on the album in terms of doctrinal themes that might surprise our listeners.

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Well, Tulip, the first album that I did with Mario, was very doctrinal heavy.

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It went over the five points of Calvinism. It was very direct. This one, it still has the doctrines present, that we cannot choose

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God, that it is God who chooses us, that we're unable, within ourselves, to change our lives and give ourselves a new heart.

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It's all God and the Holy Spirit that does the work. But it's not as doctrinal heavy.

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For instance, one of the songs is called Vanity. What we cover is how a man could have all the money in the world, all the riches and everything, and still there's an emptiness inside.

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There's no fortune or fame or anything like that that can ever satisfy that emptiness.

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It's only Christ who can fully complete a person. Then we have a song for the ladies.

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If you look at Facebook from afar, you can see how women just glorify the opposite sex and having a relationship.

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Then if that goes down the drain, they're bad -mouthing the guy and saying all these horrible things, and they're not worth life and just terrible.

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That song basically addresses that. If there's any man you can put your trust in, it would be Christ. It's just world issues that I've seen, whether it was

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Facebook or since I work in the barbershop. Tons of conversations that I get to observe, and I get to see what the world is really asking for.

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Do you shave a man's face as well with a straight razor? I have, many times. Do you put up the straight razor against his jugular and tell him to repent and believe or else?

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I haven't done that one yet, but I've had some very interesting conversations.

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That's a good opportunity to witness, right? You've got a captive audience right there, and the guy brings up the subject, or you bring it up, and off you go.

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Tell me about how to get the album. If somebody wants to order the album, they're listening to the show, what do they do?

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Okay. Well, if you're definitely interested in the album, which I hope you are because it is definitely going to feed you, you can go to deathtolifeproductions .com.

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That's deathtolife productions, and that's the number two, not T -O. You can get it there after March 29th, which is the day of the album release.

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Good. And speaking of which, if you're listening locally, March 29th, is that the album release party here under the sacred banner of the church building?

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Yes, it is. Is there going to be some kind of partying going on or something? Do I have to watch you? I would love for you to come.

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I would definitely love for you to come. Well, I think I authorized that, didn't I? This is crazy. We're going to have the revolt of the legalist fundamentalist, probably.

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Probably should bring your King James Bible and quote that a little bit, and maybe they'd be okay with it. Well, I was thinking of dressing up like Spurgeon, maybe.

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We're talking to Gil Vargas. Why don't we play the next song, Gil? Beneath Your Wings was the first one, and this one's

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Greeted by a Kiss. Give the listeners some background before we play it. Greeted by a Kiss is inspired by the last moments of Christ from when

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He was deceived—I mean, not deceived, but betrayed—all the way up into the cross. And basically,

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I just wanted to give that person that feel like they were right there with the disciples and seeing this whole thing play out.

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What a horrible deception by a man who kisses Jesus. I just read the other day,

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Gil, that Jesus was betrayed with a kiss and not a slap. How much more insidious and sinful to betray the

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Lord with a kiss. Gil Vargas, Greeted by a Kiss. His followers are lost, led by only fear.

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Death is in the air, His disciples disappear.

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These are the last moments of the Christ. He rose from the dead,

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He gives eternal life. We're living in the last moments of the end.

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Christ is alive, He will return again. And all you hear is false testimonies out of hate.

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The high priest is probing, he's looking for the bait.

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They give him what he's looking for, what he's looking for. With hatred in his heart, he demands an answer he won't see in the dark.

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These are the last moments of the Christ. He rose from the dead,

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He gives eternal life. We're living in the last moments of the end.

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Christ is alive, He will return again.

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Peter denies Him, Judas hung himself. Pilate delivers

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Him, the Son of God Himself. Mark and ridicule, crucified on the cross.

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He rose from the dead after dying for the Lord. And He will return again,

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He'll return again, He's coming for the chosen ones. To judge the world,

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I just hope you won't, cause He will return again. And He will return again, He'll return again,

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He's coming for the chosen ones. To judge the world, I just hope you won't, cause

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He will return again. Well, Gil, I'm super glad to have you on No Compromise Radio.

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The time goes by so fast, 24 and a half minutes. I mean, come on, how fast is that?

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Especially after Mario leaves some things on the cutting room floor. So that's March 29th at Bethlehem Bible Church in Lancaster.

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You can write us at, yeah, no, not in Lancaster, on Lancaster Street in West Wilston. You can write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com

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if you'd like to have more directions or more information. And it's a free concert, right? Yes, it is.

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We don't charge. What about the No Compromise cut? Just say NOCO90 at the door and you get in free.

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I mean, the album will be sold there. You could definitely get the album if you're, you know, blessed by it enough where you want to.

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I love having these kind of concerts at the church because there are folks that come, like with Mario's album.

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There were people that walked in the door here at Bethlehem Bible Church, they'd never walk in on a Sunday morning or probably wouldn't walk in on a

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Sunday morning, but here we had, was that Harry preaching the gospel? Yeah. Harry was preaching the gospel.

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You guys were singing about who the Lord is. And so our family looks forward to the time where we could come and march.

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Gil, tell me what your future plans are, another album. What do you want to do? Yes, Mario and I have gotten together with another gentleman,

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Josh McDonald, who you also know. We're putting together something different, something that has not been done before.

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I don't want to give too much because it's still in the works, but there'll still be albums that we'll be doing,

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Mario and I, but we're looking at the bigger picture. And what that is, you guys will find out.

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You can go to Death to Life Productions with the number two, or you can go write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com.

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I'll make sure to forward the email to Gil if you'd like to be in contact with him. March 29th, if you're local here at West Boylston with Gil.

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And will Mario be here as well? Yes, he's actually going to be performing as well as Diligent and Shadow.

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Those are the lineup for that night. Sounds good. This is Mike Abendroth with Gil, No Compromise Radio. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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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.

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Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6.

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We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org

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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.