SPECIAL BONUS (Newly Recorded today!): Health Update & COVID Lessons

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.

Health Update After COVID Pneumonia

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and it is good to be alive. This is, I think, November 4th, 2021, and this is my first new show, I think, since the end of August. I try to do a bunch of shows throughout the weeks, and then all of a sudden, before you know it, you�re in the hospital with respiratory failure from COVID pneumonia, and then it�s hard to talk, it�s hard to breathe.

I�ve been home now for five weeks and a day, but who�s counting? And if I sound like I�m breathing underwater, what I have to do to talk is I have to take kind of short breaths and short sentences, and so if this bugs you, I�m sorry, but it was on my list of things to do today to try to go in and record a show for No Compromise Radio ministry.

I�m wondering where the mute button is. There it is, so if I want to cough, I can. Thank you for prayers. Thank you for encouragement. I got notes from around the world. John MacArthur called my wife.

Todd Friel said he�d come up and preach for me on his dime and everything in between. I�m very, very thankful for the Lord�s goodness and mercy to me. I started feeling sick early September and took the ivermectin, took the hydroxychloroquine, took all the D and quercetin and all those things.

For a week, I felt pretty good, and then the next week, I didn�t, and so I can�t remember the days anymore, but I think I went to the hospital mid-September and was in there for 16 days. Quite fascinating to sit there in a hospital, negative pressure COVID room by yourself except for a few nurses and doctors here and there and contemplate eternity.

Early on, I didn�t think I was really that sick, and then the oxygen flow rate kept going up, and then they got me on to high flow, which I think is 50 liters I was on for oxygen flow rate, and it�s like, okay, I�m on my way to the ventilator.

I did not want to do that. When you�re listening to me now, if I need to talk like this, I can, I just can�t sustain it, so I need to go back into this mode right here. I am getting better and better.

I am better than I sound. I walked almost four miles yesterday and rode the stationary bicycle, I think, 15 minutes. I rode it 18 minutes today, 15 yesterday. I have a little pulse oximeter on, so I know what my O2 levels are.

I�m much better at getting around the house, can take out the trash, can do this, that, and the other. I�ll attend worship service, Lord willing, this Sunday. So I�m better than I sound. Gained 10 pounds back, so much for the Haagen-Dazs stuff.

I got to stop that. But I just wanted to see if I could do a radio show and express my thanks to the Lord and His mercies and receiving those through your prayers. Well, what is today�s show about? One of the things that I�ve been doing is I�ve been reading the Psalms, and it�s amazing when you go through trials and then you read the Psalms.

It�s not like the Psalms in a neo-Orthodox way, you know, the ones, the verses that really mean something to me. Those are God�s word. Those are God breathed. But in just a very personal way, you�re reading and you�re thinking to yourself, the plight of man, the fragility of man, the greatness of God, the power of God, God helps, and you read those.

I mean, I read Psalm 88 today, and I don�t know what it says in this Bible, or Psalm 88. I�m going to look it up, excuse me, and see. Sorry again for the coughing and the snorting and everything else.

I�ll tell you. It says here, �Cry out day and night before you. That�s what Psalm 88 says in the ESV Study Bible. I think my NAS is something like to be rescued from death or something like that. You read things like, �O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you.

Let my prayer come before you. Incline your ear to my cry, for my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol. I�m counted among those who go down to the pit. I�m a man who has no strength, like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, but they are cut off from your hand.

You�ve put me in the depths of the pit, in the dark regions and deep. Your wrath, excuse me, lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Excuse me, you read those and you think, �Oh, wow.

What is going on He goes on to say, verse 13, �But I, O Lord, cry to you. In the morning my prayer comes before you. O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors.

I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me. Your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like the flood all day long. They close in on me together. You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me.

My companions have become darkness. Psalm 88. You read that and you just go, wow. I read Ecclesiastes this week, a few chapters every day, and just thinking about the futility, I don�t think vanity is the best way to translate that Hebel word, Hebel.

And you could probably translate it, emptiness, futility, transitoriness, temporal. Things are just short, kind of like my breath today. They�re just short. They don�t last. Dogs die. People die. What�s the difference?

And if it�s not the Lord and His goodness, we are just like everything else. We�re going to die and everybody�s going to forget us, and then what? So today, my name is Mike Abendroth. Well, my name�s always that, but today on No Compromise Radio, I, Mike Abendroth, I�m not really going to teach anything.

I could teach on law gospel. I could teach about the errors of mono-covenantalism. I could teach about the covenant of redemption, something about the Lord Jesus, and that�s kind of what to show is today.

While it sounds like I am struggling for breath, I�m feeling really good. All systems go, not on any kind of medication at all. Every day, I try to do a little bit more than I did the last day. I hope to preach here in the next few weeks because I am getting better exponentially, but like I said, I got COVID pneumonia.

Probably half the lungs were affected. I went to the urgent care because I knew I wasn�t getting much oxygen, and so I go to urgent care, and they gave me some oxygen in there and an IV, and then they said to me, my wife was with me, they said, �Sorry, this isn�t your last stop.

And so there�s a hospital close by, like across the street, so I�m in the ambulance for one block. And the good news is, I think the ER there, I don�t know, had 50, 100 people or something. Everybody�s waiting to get in.

And so with the ambulance, you go straight to the back. Excuse me, I got a COVID room in the ER, and probably within five hours, I got my own room in the hospital and started getting worse, worse, worse, and sitting there thinking, well, I�m usually, I mean, this summer, I was riding the bike five or six days a week, in pretty good shape.

I do have a pre-existing condition with my blood. My whites are high, and it�s kind of like a pre-pre-leukemia, and my body�s already kind of fighting things, and that�s probably why I got in the situation I did.

But I, one day, you know, you�re riding the bike 40 miles, and the next day, you can�t walk to the bathroom, practically. I did walk every day to the bathroom at least once. I think I was 50 steps total.

So for many days, I ordered, I averaged 50 steps a day. And to walk 8 ,000 steps is amazing, and I�m thankful for that. So I was there 16 days. First few days, I�ve kind of been there doing calf raises and trying to find some kind of weight to do some tricep deal.

I�m still on kind of low oxygen, but I thought, you know, it had been two weeks since I had COVID, and I thought it was ending, but there was a few more days where the COVID pneumonia was growing or the disease growing, however you want to talk about it.

And so I was up then from 5 liters of flow of oxygen to 10. The max you can get off the wall is 15. And that�s jamming it. I mean, your nose is dry, but you�re getting a lot of oxygen. And I couldn�t stay with enough oxygen saturation at 15 liters.

So they wanted to put me on something called high flow. And you nurses and doctors, you know what that is. And a very moist, humid, warm system that they�ve got. So such a high rate of oxygen doesn�t dry you out.

So it�s all moist and got these big bags of not saline, but something else. And anyway, I didn�t want to go on that because that�s one step closer to the respirator. And I never got, nobody ever said to me, well, you�re unvaccinated.

So therefore you should be second class citizen. But I did receive a lot of pressure to get remdesivir, which I declined. And I�m not going to get into all the politics of this set and the other, but I just didn�t want it.

And that was the only pressure I really felt. So they couldn�t really do much except give me oxygen, steroids, making sure there was no bacterial infection, no bacterial pneumonia. So you�re on something that kills good and bad things, vancomycin, probably something like that.

And then you just wait it out. So I went to high flow 50 liters and pretty much had to convince me to go on that because I didn�t want to get closer to the ventilator because ventilators a couple more steps beyond that.

And so he said I get better if I was on the high float. In fact, I did. But here�s my point today on No Compromise Radio. It�s interesting that you have time to think in situations like that. Sometimes, you know, it�s going to be a car accident and you have like three seconds and then you�re dead, right?

You don�t have a lot of time for reflection. There in the room, the good news is I was by myself. Without a roommate, the bad news is I was by myself. I mean, the COVID isolation policies, even though I didn�t have any more symptoms of COVID after that, after a couple of days in, it�s just brutal.

And my son and his buddies and my wife and daughters, well, they were all, they all flew in town and then they�d stand out in the helicopter pad and wave and I�d wave outside the door and, you know, all kinds of very sweet things like that would happen and very emotional ones because, you know, I could FaceTime.

But I couldn�t really talk anyway because my voice was shot, if you think today�s shot. And again, if you just tuned in, I look and feel and act a lot better than my voice sounds. But for me to do 24 minutes on the radio, I just wanted to see if I could do it.

I don�t know if it�ll be a good show or not, but I want to say thanks for everybody to pray who prayed. And I�m thankful to the God who, as the psalmist says regularly, who does wonders. So I�m sitting there and I�m thinking, okay, what am I going to do?

I didn�t want to watch TV all day. I watched some at night and some football games and stuff like that. I had too much brain fog to read. So I�d listen to the Psalms, listen to the Gospels on my phone.

Somebody was nice enough to bring me a charger because you need that. And then I listen to podcasts and just think. Sometimes I would, since I don�t pay for Spotify premium or Pandora premium or anything like my kids try to get me to do, I would go to YouTube and listen to songs.

Over and over and over. And the song I probably listen to the most, I�m not really a Christian music guy, but I listen to Fernando Ortega and I listen to his song, �Give Me Jesus. I think the three stanzas are, when I come to rise, like in the morning, give me Jesus.

When I am alone, and I was so alone. Once, no, no, twice, one of my doctors, Dr. Petullo, a very kind man, sat down on my bed. I was in the lounge chair and talked to me like I was a person. Normally, many doctors will call you on the phone.

They�ll ask you all the questions and then they�ll come in the COVID room all gowned up and everything. Underwater suits and stuff. Radiation, you know, Chernobyl suits. And then they listen to your lungs and then off they go.

But he sat down, talked for 10 minutes, two times, very, very kind. I usually ask people in there, is there any way I could pray for you? And they looked at me like, you need the prayer spell, not me.

Some said, yes, pray for my daughter or I�ll let you know or whatever. But anyway, I didn�t want the chaplain there, the lady, the liberal lady. But I thought, well, maybe I could be the chaplain. Well, back to the point.

The point is you have a lot of time to think and you contemplate eternity. Now, all of us as Christians and myself included, we think about that. The final stanza of Ortega, by the way, is when I come to die.

That�s what I�m thinking about. Okay, when do we die? I�m 61, fairly healthy. And then all of a sudden now things aren�t looking too good. When they come in and say you�re stable today, you know, that was about the best news I could get.

Um, my wife every day brought me a big bag of stuff. She couldn�t see me. She couldn�t get into the door, but she downstairs could give like a box, a goodie box full of protein bars and protein drinks, uh, cookies, uh, chipotle burrito.

One day she got a whole food sushi. I didn�t really taste much, but I was very kind of her to do. I was known as the guy who got the good gift baskets from his wife. And so sitting there thinking, okay, what am I going to do?

I need to tell my wife where the life insurance policy is, which I did. Passwords to everything, which I did. Make sure you don�t leave anything unsaid. And then you think, okay, eternity. Um, what�s going to happen?

Uh, now I know what I preached. I know what I believe. And I�m confident of that and the Lord�s work. And then all of a sudden, you know, you�re tired. You can�t breathe. Uh, you don�t feel good. You�re like, okay, it�s time to just reflect on all that.

And so I don�t know if the thought process you can relate to, but it�s my show. You get what you pay for anyway, a no compromise radio. I sat there thinking, okay, eternity. Let�s make sure this is right.

Does that make sense? If you�re going to die, which you are, you want to make sure you believe the right things. Um, short of just annihilationism and you�re out of existence. Um, eternity is eternity.

And of course, I don�t believe those earlier ones. So I thought, okay, what�s going to happen? It can�t be that there�s something that I can do to merit heaven or to get in. It just can�t be because I know I�m sinful.

And I know even good things I do are tainted with sin. And how could I have a great motives and perfect motives? And how could I obey? How could I do this and live? How could I be perfect? Because my heavenly father is perfect.

It can�t be that. So God, I�m going to stand before you. Maybe soon. I don�t want it to be. I would pray, Lord, I�ll go whenever you want me to. I�ll submit your sovereign. And I don�t want to do a second Kings 20.

I think that�s the passage. Hezekiah prayer where we somehow, you know, sound like we�re manipulating the Lord. And then I live to see a bunch of trouble later on in my life. I didn�t want it to be that.

But I did ask the Lord to, for my wife�s sake. She�s young, 57. My kids, one�s married, three aren�t. And I�ve never seen any grandkids or anything like that. And the church, not that the church needs me.

I mean, the church is carrying on fine without me now. But from a human perspective and just in terms of I�m the dad. And I�m the husband. And I�m the pastor. And please be merciful. But if you�re not going to answer my prayer that I could live, then I�m going to stand before you.

And it�s been a great life. I have a great wife and kids and ministry. And compared to what, especially what I deserve, I�ve received so many blessings. And even through this radio show and speaking around the world and everything else, it just really has been wonderful.

So thank you, Lord. But now to stand before you, what goes through your mind? I mean, what would go through your mind? You have 16 days to sit and think about it. And I don�t know, probably the 10th day was maybe the worst where I was wondering about all these things.

What goes through your mind? There�s nothing I can do. Even if I said I�m going to get in on my baptism, well, not all my motives for baptism are correct. When I was baptized as an infant, those motives are correct because I�m not thinking about anything.

Then as a believer, where my motive is perfect regarding that step of obedience. So whether you�re pedo or credo, how�s that working out? I�m thinking, all right. But the other thing I know is God�s holy.

And since God�s holy, I can�t have any sin to stand before Him. You know, this whole idea of I�ve got more good than bad and that I�ll outweigh it, that�s just rubbish because I�m standing before God.

It�s not like, well, you know, I�ve committed murder and adultery by looking at somebody with lust in my heart, but I was nice to somebody else. You know, that just doesn�t work. So I sat there, especially that night, listening to that song over and over and over, just crying and asking the Lord for mercy and help.

I don�t know about you, have you ever been so sick? You can�t really think too well and pray so well, so you just say help. You just say please. You just say have mercy. That kind of thing. And if you think about your kid so sick, they just say, Daddy, help me.

You�re not mad at them, are you? Because it�s not some kind of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, acts prayer. And I just remember saying, Lord, my only hope, since you�re holy and I know I�m sinful, is it�s the work of Christ.

That�s my only hope. My only hope is sola fide. I�m trusting that Jesus lived for me, died for me, and was raised for me. That�s it. And without taking a verse out of context, I remember saying, Lord, into your hands I commit my spirit.

I commit my eternal life to you. And if Jesus was wrong, didn�t live perfectly, didn�t die for others, died for himself or whatever, then I�m smoked. But I�ve got one mediator, one intercessor, one hope, and I�m just going to trust in him.

I�m all in on Jesus. And I just kept thinking, eternity is long. There�s no do-overs. There�s no I�m sorry�s. There�s no forgives me�s, forgive me�s. It�s a long time, eternity. And so I just say, Lord, I have nothing else.

I have no other hope. And I just believe in the Jesus of the Bible. And even a weak faith or a tiny faith or a struggling faith or a sick faith or my I�m so tired and sick hospital faith doesn�t matter.

It�s the right object. And so the object, he, Jesus, is strong, powerful, and mighty to save, great intercessor. And so that was the night that was kind of the most impactful for me in the midst of all that.

And I don�t know if it�s the next day or the day after because they all kind of blend together. The one doctor said, I think we�ve turned a corner. And to hear those words, and then slowly my oxygen went from 50 liters down to 40, down to 30, down to 20, down to 15.

When can I go home? When it�s down to four. And so sometimes when they weren�t looking, I�d just turn it down a little bit just to get back. And then I got down to four and the doctor said I could go home that day at about 1130 a .m.

And so I got my street clothes all ready, put on. They got the IVs out. I had to wait until about 530 that night to be discharged, get all the oxygen set up. And then to be wheeled down to the lobby, saw the people there in the ER thinking they�re me now.

And then to see my wife. My family flew in and to see them there. I�m just, I could easily cry when I think about it now. It�s just so wonderful to see them and to be at home and to get home and just think, okay.

So since then, way better. And even now as I�m talking a little bit, I hope you can hear that I�m, you know, can manage. And I�ll do scripture reading this Sunday at church, Lord willing. But anyway, it just, I think my, the practical lesson here is you want to make sure you believe in the Lord Jesus.

That�s what you need to do. You need to just think through. One day I might be where Abendroth is, so I want to make sure these things are settled now. And you�re trusting in the risen Savior. Lots of people texted.

Lots of people sent me videos, cards, letters. I especially remember the videos people would save. And I had all kinds of people say. And even a couple people that maybe, you know, aren�t necessarily my great friends anymore.

And we�ve run into trouble between one another. They�d call me or they�d email me and say, I�m praying for you. And I really appreciate that. So, dear No Compromise Radio listeners, it is good to be alive.

It is good to be the recipient of the mercies of God. And with Psalm, the next Psalm, Psalm 89, I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

And I just want you to know that no matter what�s going on in your life, God�s faithful. And even if we�re suffering and even if we�re not thinking rightly on every little issue, the Lord�s still faithful.

And so, to know that the Lord Jesus loved me and gave his life for me is wonderful. To know that you prayed for me, thank you. Hopefully, we�ll be back to a bunch of regular shows so Fred�s not too mad.

But anyway, thanks for listening to No Compromise Radio and thank you for praying.

Closing Credits and Ministry Information

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 bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.