Book De-recommendations (Part 2)

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. It is another Tuesday with Pastor Steve here, back in the laugh tracks room.

We�re just recording some new laugh tracks. I�m back. Hey, here�s

Steve. Hey, haters. Hey, skaters. That Stephen Furtick, �Hey, haters ,� video, and then somebody put the funny voice on there.

It was so funny. Was it like bad lip -reading? Oh. You know,

I�m going to pull it up on this while we�re talking a little bit, but before we� Hi, because I haven�t seen that. I mean, even watching the real thing makes me laugh because it�s so bad.

Why does anybody go to that church? Well, I�ve got a question. Why didn�t anybody, you know, why didn�t someone say to him, �This, you know, is what you think and believe, but let�s not put this out.

This would be a bad thing to kind of put out.� I couldn�t tell you.

Well, I mean, it�s like there are some people in life that no one�s ever said no to, you know, and he might be one of those guys.

Well, you know what? Here�s what we have, Steve. As many athletes have never been told no, right, because they�ve been coddled at junior high level, at senior high level, at college level, at pro level, and they become these people.

Basically, no one can tell them no. We have a word for that, �psychopath.� But they�re functional psychopaths, many of these professional athletes, because nobody can ever tell them no.

They don�t want to damage the goods that they receive from them or whatever. I wonder if there�s a realm of evangelicals like that, that nobody can ever say no to them.

Well, especially in the pastorate, you know, if you�re at a church and the church is really growing, who comes alongside you and says, �You know what,

Steve, that�s probably not the best idea.� And the answer is nobody, because what do you know?

You�re not the one blowing the church up, you know? You�re not the one who�s taken this little band of 75 people and seen it go to 2 ,000, you know?

Steve, if I was making this church millions upon millions of dollars per year, it would be very hard to tell me no, right?

Because I�m the cash cow. It wouldn�t be hard for me. That�s my job. Yes. But I�m saying, if it�s my name that makes all the money, you know, just kind of like, you know, the

NOCO radio ministry, all the money that that makes. The billions that come in, that pour in from all around the world.

Anyway, just make it harder. Mostly from Russian banks. Here is the Max Holliday dub. That�s called the

Duracell ad. But here comes the Max Holliday dub, �Hey,

Haters ,� �Church

Day Soleil.� Here we go.

It�s showing his suit. See, they can�t, the radio audience can�t see this.

Hey, haters, your day is done.

See, we�re done with the way you sling shame and blame in the face of anyone. See what you see, read what you read, think what you�re thinking.

It�s not about you. Well, it was a long intro, but still very funny.

I don�t know how we got onto that subject. I don�t know. Oh, books. Here�s what I want to say before you turn that page to that book,

Christian Book Deal, Christmas Gift Buying Guide. There�s an illuminated Bible, ESV, and it says, �Art

Journaling Edition, The Illuminated Bible.� Ooh. Now, here�s my positive than negative comment.

Positive comment is ESV, I think, has done a good job generally trying to market a

Bible for the masses with an evangelical philosophy. And when we�ve worked with them, they�ve tried to give us, you know,

Crossway has tried to give us deals, and people can�t afford Bibles, and they have done a much better job than NES has.

Well, NES has tried to bury the Bible translation they have. ESV has tried to market it in a good way.

But then there�s a couple of these kind of dopey things, because when I think of illuminated Bible, Steve, I would have picked something else, call it an art journaling

Bible, because the illuminated Bible, it�s a misnomer, right? When there�s revelation, inspiration, and illumination, when it comes to the

Holy Spirit and His work with the Word, if we want to say past tense or future tense or current tense, but present tense, illuminated

Bible, when the Spirit of God illumines the Bible, right, to the minds of the people,

I want to talk that way, not when you journal it, it becomes illuminated. Yeah. When I see this,

I just think, boy, when I�m reading it and, you know, something really strikes me, then do those words just light up?

It�s illuminated neo -Bartian Bible, neo -Orthodoxian Bible. It�s illuminated to me, you know?

So yes. Yeah. But I�m a visual learner. Well, come on. Instead of reading the

ESV study notes to the side, which I think actually are pretty good, I like to doodle some.

Oh, yeah. Uh -huh. Uh -huh. A little doodle will do ya. That�s the old -fashioned kind of commercial.

Well, I mean, does this come with a 64 -pack of Crayolas, or how does it work? Yeah, but you know what?

The thing is, the back, when it�s got that little sharpener, it never seems to work very well. No.

All my best colors and stuff. Well, since it�s the illuminated one, shouldn�t it come with, like, a laser sharpener in the back?

I think there was a big to -do about Crayola crayons and the colors that were in there.

They had all kinds of, I don�t know, chartreuse and sky blue pink and periwinkle and everything. And then maybe they had something that was skin color or flesh or something like that, and it was more of a lighter pigment, so that was causing all kinds of problems, that that was the flesh color.

I think the question they have to answer is, can they paint with all the colors of the wind? Well, I think there�s a

Hey Haters video for that. You don�t even know what that�s from, do you? It�s Pocahontas or something.

Okay, you do know, okay. Of course. I wasn�t born in a barn. Barn in a barn. Actually, the word �born� and �barn� in New England...

Same. They sound the exact same. We born in a barn. We born in a barn.

Now that is funny. That is so funny. Were you born in a barn?

So anyway, this whole idea of illuminated Bible, that was really a bad call. How about how about the wonderful the wonder of for the greatest gift?

What would that be like? You know, what was the the snowman from frozen what's -his -name

Oh It's not Frodo it's what is his name? Anyway, what if he kind of talks like that and I'm like, you know, this is like what if?

Steve Furtick was that guy from frozen. That's what it sounds like to me. It's hysterical I you know what?

I've seen Pocahontas, but I have not seen frozen Well, I've just seen despicable me one two or three

I've only seen little clips You know the kids love those minions you can pull up minions

Like, you know a couple minute thing of minions on YouTube. The kids will watch it for You know days

I think it's fascinating now any little kid knows if you pull out a phone they come right over to watch

They know something goods coming out of that phone Yeah, well, I'm Declan, you know the youngest of I mean

He's not even a year and a half yet and he's like already trying to use Janet's iPad and you know How do they go to the

TV and start swiping Do that on my computer and I'm like, you know, uh -huh.

I know I know well here the special advertising section It has actually, you know, there's something good there.

That's the ESV study Bible. I like that a Journaling Bible, you know if you want to have some, you know, write some stuff on the side about who

God is that's fine I'd like to know though if I went to your journaling Bible Steve What I find more about this is who

God is and his word or I'd find more about how I Feel about a particular passage.

What would I find in such a journaling Bible to your journal today? I Mean if you're if your journal

Bible reads like, you know, a 13 year old girl's diary Bad move, especially if you're a 13 year old girl

It's like Sarah Young Jesus calling the Jesus that she writes about in that book Sounds like a middle -aged single woman who's an author

Funny how that works cat lady. Yeah, I don't know if she's single or not, but that was just my guess Does she have cats?

I don't know but she probably does. She probably does. Yeah, probably the worst one on here though is the

Charles F. Stanley life principles Bible and It says that there are 30 principles that have guided him through his ministry controversy

I Congregationalism any other ones that start with a C, I don't know but we're about to get controversial

That was funny Is let's just talk about this so there can be something edifying on the show when we read the

Bible Is it a book of life principles? Is that what we're looking for when we read the Bible? Generally, I'm not saying there there isn't a principle in the

Bible, you know pay off your bills and don't you know? Don't loan your coat if it you know, blah blah blah

Nine Dunker. Yeah, so so tell me when you read the Bible, how should you read it? If you don't look for life principles, what should you look for?

Well, let's see. Let's just back up a minute. What is the Bible God's revelation to man right where he discloses himself?

So when I read the Bible, I want to read what God wants me to read which is about him, right?

Am I gonna see about people? Absolutely, you know, am I gonna learn about myself? Absolutely But that's gonna be the overflow the number one objective as I read scripture should be to learn more about God to understand him better and to You know have a better relationship with him when

I think of Jay Gresham Machen's 1923 Erdman's book,

I think it was 23 Christianity and liberalism The liberals were the ones that wanted to do the principal

Polarization that sound right? Yes principal icing. Yeah, they're the ones so you get the Bible. It's a handbook for living

We get some principles. Let's ignore some of the stuff, you know, Jesus is the only God or Reprobation or you know any of that kind of yeah, there's no place

I can flee from his spirit. Yeah. Yeah. I just need a principle What's my principle because I've got some living to do

Right that I think that's a good country song. I've got some living to do maybe George Jones sang that song

To this day Steve, you know, I'm not a big country music fan, but I'm fascinated by George Jones Well, you know the fact that you're not you should be fascinated by Merle Haggard There are a lot of people that shouldn't fastening and Merle Haggard is pretty fascinating to you.

Well when I listen to Lance Armstrong talk about What's his name who's the guy the marijuana guy

Willie Oh Willie. Yeah Willie seems like a he seems like a decent fellow

I'm not talking about anything spiritual at all No, yeah, so so back to principal ization if you have a

Bible Is it let's just think bigger picture Steve. Is it okay to have a study Bible? Should it just be you and the

Spirit of God only no You know and I say this all the time and I'll say it again If it's just you and the

Holy Spirit what you're really saying is I can ignore 2 ,000 years of church history All the gifts that God has given over the centuries to the church and just kind of come up with my own sort of theology

I think Joseph Smith tried that how they didn't work out very well. Yeah, no If I have a

Bible and I want to use a study Bible I try to pick a study Bible Steve that helps me understand what the text says and means

I don't want it to teach me what the application is, right? So years ago, they had the life application

Bible and I remember Romans 12. It was talking about some dopey psycho They're dropping drug

Well, you take psychotropic drugs in the tropics, it's really weird because that humidity exacerbates the problem, dude

Dude We've got the study Bible and it helps me with application, but you know lots of times you just have these general

Statements in the scripture or imperatives. Let's just give a couple Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself Do you really need to tell people these are ten ways that could be fleshed out?

You could when you're preaching certainly say here's a few ideas about how to love your neighbor or who is your neighbor?

That to love would be a better question, but what does God mean when he says love your neighbor as yourself

I think that's what we're really after in the context of the paragraph the book the

Testament the Bible itself What does it mean? And and I think when

I have a study Bible Steve I want to study Bible that helps me understand the meaning of the text.

So those kind of study Bibles. I like mm -hmm So when I was growing up as a new

Christian, it was the Ryrie study Bible, that's what everybody had then the MacArthur study Bible Reformation study

Bible the ESV study Bible ESV study

Bible. Yeah, I didn't think I was gonna like those notes, but a lot of those notes I like Yeah, the the the chapters with the topics in the front or the back.

I actually like those a lot, too. I Like the ESV study notes better maybe than the

ESV translation itself, how's that it's not too surprising but how about having a life

Application Bible or the life principle Bibles from Charles Stanley when he says here You know as you explore practical life examples and learn how to make them a part of your everyday life

You know, is that I mean again There might be some decent illustrations for a sermon or something here

Is that Is that helping me understand the Bible better I think is the right answer or the right question to ask and the answer

Even by the description here is no Steve it's funny to me on this page

It has these different Bibles and there's the evidence that demands a verdict study Bible That's fascinating to me and the and Voskamp the wonder of the greatest gift study

Bible. It's pretty fast. It's actually not I But they do have the swindle study

Bible I didn't say swindle I said the swindle study Bible and what would you expect if you had a

Charles swindle study Bible? I like to hear Chuck swindle speak. I used to attend even as an unbeliever

Evie free in Fullerton, California. I would expect to hear a lot of great stories because he's got okay.

He's got a ton of them So he's funny. Yeah, he's practical He's a great storyteller he can he can he can spin a yarn

Yeah, would that be true? I mean, he's like the the really saved version of Andy Griffith, you know

I mean, it's just like, you know Homespun kind of humor and stories and I heard him at Mount Hermon several times and as a camp speaker, especially yeah

He's a great camp speaker. He's up there in his shorts and he's talking stories about you know Worry and an anxiety and trust in the

Lord. I really like I like him and I like his storytelling Well, I like a study Bible though.

That's another question. Yeah, it says here. This study Bible was designed with you in mind

Danger will run maybe he didn't write that you know, you have these these publishers as you read the scriptures imagine me

Oh, I guess this is him talking Imagine me sitting beside you and sharing personal stories

Important insights inside for living and hard -earned lessons that will encourage you to walk more closely with Jesus Christ after all

That's why God communicated his word to us that we may become like his son Jesus Christ the central figure of his book now

Is that part true? Is that like seminary president true? This is why he wrote the book that we might become like Jesus Mmm that we might walk more closely with Jesus Christ I Hear it says this is why

God communicated his word to us that we may become like his son. I Think it's one of the one of the effects of it.

But is that why you know, I think the answer I think it was that we might believe you know The God is who he says he is and that Jesus is who he said he was, you know

So I think that part is true and you know, does he use his word to conform us in the image of his son?

Yes, clearly I Mean this is it's just a little too mushy for me

It says trusted wisdom practical application refreshing insight

Now, I don't think Chuck has any you know, I'm in it for the money kind of thing That's not my because it comes with a free app

Well, that's nice. I thought that was was like nachos and cheese or what? It's an

MRE a free appetizer, you know what at the back free application It's an MRE that they have attached to the back

And it's the nacho nachos and and jalapeno MRE Tell me about MRAs.

Did you like them? I never had MRAs actually when I was in we were still eating the one of the older ones than the

MRE is the Really nasty, I mean they were like from World War two in the Korean War.

I mean they were old Probably a packaged in lead and such It wouldn't

I mean they were they were they were packaged for the long I mean like things like you had you needed a can opener and you know for beef stew and stuff like that So if you couldn't eat or heat up the beef stew, the potatoes would be like tree roots

I mean they were like solid as a rock. So that would be like pre Diddy Moore beef stew Oh, it was it was yeah, it was bad

Steve. What was the worst thing in military service when you served? How long were you in four years three years three three years?

What was the worst thing? What was the worst thing? I think that I think this see I know you well I think it's gonna contain the sentence is gonna contain the word knucklehead.

No, I know I think I mean, you know Directly involved with the duties.

I would say, you know, every time it it snowed we had when I was in Maryland We had to go straight down to the motor pool

We'd form up in March down to the motor pool to check on our jeeps I never understood that but that's what we do every single time and it really struck me as being odd But we'd go see make sure they'd started and everything else and I'm like, okay, this doesn't make any sense to me

But all right, I I just didn't like going out in the field. I did not enjoy that at all playing army, you know digging the

Trenches and Sleeping in tents and doing all that stuff and then coming home and it like, you know

Seven o 'clock in the morning or whatever after we just got back going and cleaning up our Equipment and then falling into formation right away.

So that wasn't just wasn't my thing What if you had though in the middle of all your glamping experiences every man's

Bible? What if you had that because this is a man's type of Bible straight talk about the challenges of life

Every man's Bible has thousands of notes on topics from any guesses work Uh -huh sex.

Uh -huh and competition to integrity and trusted advice from the pros just for men

This is from the author of the best -selling series Steve Arterburn. So if you want to know a

Lot about what the Bible says about sex. This is the book for you. Yeah. Well, I've seen we saw

Steve Arterburn speak down at Saddleback, he filled in for Rick Warren and I believe he told a diarrhea joke

I all I can remember I do remember this the intro because it was so bad.

The whole thing was so bad He said he after the music was done and the music is, you know top drawer there and he said man

He said I feel like I'm in Las Vegas And if you'll recall I said loudly

Amen, and everybody was turning around looking at me like I was a troublemaker and things went downhill from there well, you remember that and I I Remember thinking okay.

This is this is Saturday service number three or two or whatever it was It wasn't the 430 service.

It was 630. So he's already told the diarrhea joke once Now if I told a diarrhea joke from the pulpit you probably at the end of the first service would say

Mike You know what? We all do dumb things. Just you know, let's not repeat that We don't need to do that You know any kind of like scatological references from the sermon outside of our righteousnesses is like, you know dung

We should just avoid don't you think I think that would be wise So every man's Bible if you have a

Bible and you're reading it We are very glad for that. If you don't have a Bible, you can't afford one

Somehow I think we could probably help you if you have a study Bible we suggest you get a study

Bible that helps you understand the text better and Something like the

Reformation Study Bible Would help you even with categories to think about different categories and if you're not much of a reader you can get one of these

Yeah, yeah, so we turn the page and what do we find there we find? The biggest story

ABC Kevin DeYoung. I have that at home. Yes, and you know what? It's really good It's just not supposed to be in place of the

Bible. Well, you know, but if you're a really bad reader yeah, yeah, because it's it's

It's ages one to three. Yeah. All right. I think NIV is at eighth grade. So this is this

ABC is from first First year now we have a girl's life

Application study Bible and so the men's Bible to use their order of importance is work and sex

Let's see what they've got for the girl's life application. Does it say sturdy Bible or study

Bible? Why would the men need the flimsy Bible outrageously slim and the girls?

Need the sturdy Bible that seems opposite to it's it's study. Okay, okay

The tween girl in your life is precious to you and her life is rapidly changing right before your eyes

The girl's life application study Bible was personally designed to help her discover

How to take the car in the middle of the night without you finding out as she wait a second

Don't don't intersperse your life stories. Well, hey, that's sturdy advice So it doesn't tell us what it's actually talking about but it's for the tweeners.

Mm -hmm. Yeah So what if they had an iPhone study Bible do you think they'd be more apt

No joke, no pun intended app to read it. Yeah. Yes All this stuff though, you know

What why are there so many study Bibles? Why are there so many different Bibles printed etc, etc, etc.

Why is that Mike? Well on bad days, I wake up thinking it's money. Oh No Come on on good days

I've got teens so then I get the teen life application study Bible NLT because I need I need a stocking stuff

NLT I prefer the BLT translation. Uh -huh. Well, you know what a little avocado on that really helps too

Uh -huh. We call that the bolt Bacon avocado lettuce and tomatoes some people really like the

MLT the mutton lettuce and I Was in India once and they said we were gonna go speak all day and night and come back and and they didn't have a whole lot of money at this particular home that we were staying at and so it's a lot of veggies or as they would

Call them wedgies. I Said no, I don't need any more wedgies things but they said would you like chicken or mutton and They were really gonna go out of their way to buy some meat for the guests the special speakers

And I wanted to try to be nice and here's how I tried to be nice Do you know what either ones fine by me, right?

I don't want to put you out. That was my point So since I didn't say they bought both And so I had mutton with Bill Shannon and chicken.

Hmm. I Didn't get sick bill got really sick Last time

I saw Bill He was taking a train down to Hyderabad and I was going to the airport to fly to Austria or something

Poor bill, you know, he just turned 67 the other day 67 yeah, is he a nicer aren't you supposed to get nicer when you get older?

He's so nice. Anyway, I know he's a nice man I know So anyway if you like a study Bible we suggest getting a

Bible that you can read and understand what the text says and means better and We don't think you need to have any niche

Bibles. Is that what we would say here at the show? No, we'd say niche Is it

Nietzsche or Nietzsche? No Compromise radio with pastor

Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston Bethlehem Bible Church is a

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Exposition of the sacred text, please come and join us Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6 or right on route 110 in West Boylston You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org