Harry Deligiannides Interview

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 ministry.

Interviewing Harry Deligiannides and the Priority of Preaching

My name is Mike Abendroth, and we have kind of a theme. That theme is always biblical, always provocative, always in that order, and usually on Wednesdays, I like to interview people. And sometimes I interview friends, sometimes enemies, sometimes relatives, sometimes people at the church.

And so I thought I'd bring a false teacher in today and talk to him about works righteousness. Just kidding, today is my friend and fellow pastor, Harry Delegianides. And Harry, welcome to No Compromise Radio.

Thank you, it's good to be here, especially as a false teacher. You're the first false teacher I've had on the radio. People ask me, why don't I call up and interview some of these people? Probably because Benny Hinn won't answer my phone calls, and I just don't want to do that.

I just want to blast them when they're not here. So Harry, tell us a little bit about your ministry here at Bethlehem Bible Church.

So the folks can get to know you a little bit. My involvement is in a few areas. I lead the college and career group, also involved in new membership classes, do some teaching in our IBS classes and also my primary passion is preaching and teaching the word of God.

All right, so you're an elder here.

Yes. Yes, tell the folks about the $10 ,000 fee that you had to pay to come on board.

Oh, it was quite a heavy fee, let me tell you. It was quite a heavy fee.

Now, Delegianides, did I pronounce that correctly? Yes. Is that the American way to pronounce it?

Give me the Greek way to pronounce it. Okay, the Greek way is Veligianides. Okay. Okay. Only a false teacher could say it that way.

Well, see, you're the first person also on No Compromise Radio who has spoken in tongues. So can you say We need an interpreter, don't we? We do. Now, tell us, can you say something in Greek? Tell us something.

Preach the word in Greek and pass it on.

Kyrixon ton loron, vita Timotheou, delta Theou. Preach the word, 2 Timothy 4 .2.

Now, tell us about preaching. Why is that a passion for you?

It's a passion because it's the primary means that the head of the church, Jesus Christ, has disseminated to his body to build up the church. And because he is the head of the church, the Lord of the church, we are to follow his command in scripture.

And so that's why it's my passion.

Harry, I know you know this, but just for some of the listeners out there, it's interesting in 2 Timothy 4, right after Paul says, preach the word, he says, be ready in season and out of season. And there are seasons over the past decades and eons that preaching's kind of in, people like preaching, but there are other seasons where preaching's out, yet we're still supposed to preach.

Do you think we're in a season now where preaching's really kind of out or in?

I'd say it's out. We're more generally speaking in the evangelical culture about discourse and having everybody say a say, not the idea of thus saith the Lord, because that's not tactful for today's audience and culture.

Why do you think people like this whole dialogue? Instead of a monologue, who are you to stand up there and preach to me? Let's just kind of talk about it a little bit, dialogue. Why is that so prevalent these days?

Well, I think people, because everything is so focused on felt needs, everybody wants to give a chime and tell them a little bit about what I think, what my needs are, and it's a self-centered gospel.

That's why I think there's all this dialogue. Rather than a God-centered gospel, let's hear what God has to say about it.

Harry, when I look at Facebook and blogs and even news articles on the internet, there's always a space down at the bottom so you can respond, and I think that's indicative of what's going on in local churches, too.

Who are you to tell me that you're up behind that wooden box in New England. Years ago the Puritans would call the pulpit the desk because there was an intelligence behind studying the Word of God? Yes, it's more than academic, but it was to be focused to the mind and soul.

And so these days, everybody wants to chime in a little bit. When you've been preaching over the years, has anybody ever shouted out a response to you while you were preaching on Sunday morning?

It happened once, and actually it almost happened once since I'm doing a wedding coming up. It happened at a wedding that I did. Nobody ever chimed in, but somebody was raising their hand, and one of the others behind them thought, oh, they were just raising their hand.

They were charismatic and praising the Lord, but the person wanted to shout an objection. They never did, but they did approach me at the reception after. And what'd they say? Oh, they said everything I had to say was a bunch of baloney, basically.

Preaching the Gospel at Funerals and Taking Scripture in Context

Now, Harry, you have told me over the years that you've preached at funerals and preached at weddings, and when you have an opportunity, you want to tell them about free forgiveness found in Christ alone, but you have a way, you've almost got an Abendroth-like style to you in the sense that you go to a place just wanting to preach the Word and then back off and just socialize, but people come up to you.

People go after you. People confront you. Tell me about that time where you preached at the funeral and then they came after you.

Yeah, it was a funeral of a friend of mine, his brother had passed, and I wasn't the pastor of the church where the funeral was held, but I was asked by my friend to say a few words, and so I gave five minutes of the gospel, the gospel that Jesus Christ of first importance died for our sins according to the Scriptures and was risen the third day.

But part of my challenge was because I knew the audience, it was a church that I grew up in, grew up in an evangelical culture. They were very Pharisaical religious. I confronted them with the idea in Matthew 7 when Christ said, depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.

Those are the people who said, but Lord, we did this in your name and that in your name. And many people got offended. I confronted the pastor that he let somebody up there who was a false teacher, so to speak, who was basically claiming this deceased person was saved.

And a lot of people didn't like that. And I was confronted and told I was being unloving. Of course, one of the confrontations people approached me with was they were quoting me 1 Corinthians 13, but not by faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.

And I said, well, I personally like things, taking things in context. So 1 Corinthians 13 says, love rejoices with the truth. Well, we like John 3, 16. I said, I do too, but I also liked the full passage of John 3, 16.

The one who does not believe stands condemned already. So it was kind of fun.

Greek Orthodox Religion, Works Righteousness, and Baptismal Regeneration

See, Harry, you are a perfect guest for No Compromise Radio. I think when I go out of town, you need to be the guest host, but maybe Steve's still on sabbatical. It's a super sabbatical. Now, Harry doesn't know this, but I have something in front of me that's got some Greek writing on it.

And would you just translate a little bit of that? This is not a setup, well, he's getting set up, but he doesn't know this ahead of time. Can you read that in Greek there at all?

Yeah, I can read it, but it doesn't mean I understand it.

We stand behind the products here that they are genuine and authentic. Okay. And what Harry is holding is olive oil from Galilee, holy soil from Jerusalem, and holy water from the Jordan River. And so now with your special Greek blessing, I feel like it's extra anointed.

Oh, I think so too. Yeah, do you have the anointing? Not as a false teacher, I don't. All right, let's hear a little bit more of your background, Harry. I'm glad to serve with you here at Bethlehem Bible Church.

Tell me what your ministry has been in New England.

In New England, my ministry has been, before here I pastored a church, a local body. My passion was preaching, but also discipling men. I used to have a Saturday morning men's group. We used to meet with some men in the church, meet with them for discipling and building and investing into their lives.

And where was the church? It was in Boston? It was in Newton, Newton Corner.

Now, when I was just over in Greece, pretty much the default religion there is Greek Orthodox. And of course, there are some other folks that are around and probably some Turks here or there, some evangelicals here or there, maybe evangelical Turks, as far as I know.

Yeah, and is it similar here in America when you have a Greek population in Boston or maybe in New York City? Are they pretty much Greek Orthodox?

Yes, most I would say are Greek Orthodox. Actually, friends of mine that I met in New York when we first were ministering there before in Boston, they were amazed to find Greeks who were evangelical.

And if people are listening today and they have Greek Orthodox friends, what is the Greek Orthodox person generally? And then how should our listeners approach evangelism when it comes to Greek Orthodox people?

Well, the content obviously stays the same. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15, as we mentioned, the death and resurrection of Christ, who God is, that he is holy, a righteous judge and sovereign, and man is desperately wicked and depraved in his heart, and only God can change that.

And they need to turn to Christ in repentance and faith. But in terms of understanding where they're coming from, they're very religious, very fair circle. They believe that a works righteousness, that because they've followed all these rules in the Greek Orthodox Church,.

That they're on their way to heaven. Harry, I don't know if it's like this here in the United States, but when I went into the Church of Titus on the island of Crete, it was fascinating. I don't know if actually Titus was ever there or not.

And then there was a door in the back of the sanctuary, kind of by the altar, but only the priest could go through the door and then come back. I don't know what he did back there, but what's that all about?

In my mind, it was, he's the priest, he's the mediator, he has access to God, but I don't.

Did I read that correctly? Yes, I would say so. It's very similar to the Catholic system, though an Orthodox, a Greek Orthodox person, if you compare them to being Roman Catholic, they don't like that.

But from our perspective, it's very similar in that way.

Baptismal regeneration, works righteousness. Okay, tell us about your family.

Oh, I have, my wife's name is Meta, or Morphoula in Greek. I have three children, two daughters, Isabella is seven, Elizabeth five, and my little boy, my son, Zachary, has just turned one a month ago.

That is exciting. And I think it would be encouraging for our listeners to hear your testimony, that God has been faithful in your life, even though there've been super hard times. You had another son as well, didn't you?

Tell us about that. We did, we had infertility issues. My wife and I were just praying, asking the Lord's blessing to bless us. And He did with, she got pregnant back a few years ago, and we just thanked God when we found out on the phone, after we got the call, we paused and prayed and thanked God for the blessing.

And four and a half months into it, she gave birth to a premature son who died at birth in our home.

Suffering, Job, and Comforting the Bereaved

And did that shake your faith? How did that, how did you process that with knowing God is sovereign, but still suffering such a horrible loss?

It was difficult because that was our first one, and we knew we struggled with infertility, but the scriptures are always what encourages us. For us, it was, for both my wife and I, Job really ministered to us, the book of Job.

Job 121, Job said, "'Naked, I came from my mother's womb, "'and naked I shall return the Lord gave, "'and the Lord has taken away. "'May the name of the Lord be praised.'". That was particularly for me.

For my wife, it was Job's response to his wife when his wife told him you should curse God and die. Job said to her, shall we accept good from God and not evil? And that's what particularly ministered to my wife.

Harry, if people are listening today and they know someone who has lost a child or lost a parent or suffering in some way like this, what pastoral advice would you give them? I mean, I guess the one approach would be just run up and quote Romans 8 .28 to people.

And there's nothing wrong with quoting Romans 8 .28, but how do you approach suffering Christians as another Christian? What would you tell them?

Well, first you find out why they're suffering. And of course you wanna be, I always tell people God did give us a mouth, but he also gave us two ears, is to be a good listener to what they're going through and then to be able to direct them to the Lord and to the scriptures.

You can use Romans 8 .28, but I think part of approaching suffering Christians is to tell them that you're there to comfort them. You know, I think of 2 Corinthians 1, the God of all comfort who has comforted us in all our afflictions so that we can comfort from the Greek paraklesis, to come alongside as the Holy Spirit does to comfort others with the same comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God.

And isn't it true that for Christians who wanna comfort, whether they're unbelievers or believers, lots of times for me, I don't really say anything. I just wanna be there and to cry with and to hug. And people just like it that there's someone else there.

I mean, I guess if someone said, could you please quote me the Westminster Shorter Catechism about whatsoever comes to pass, you know, God has ordained, that would comfort, but it's gotta be at the right time.

And so most of the time I don't really say anything until I actually have to get up and do the funeral.

Yeah, timing is important. Proverbs has a lot to say about that. An apt answer is in the timely word.

Ministry in New England, Conversion, and a Call to Serve Humbly

So now you have three children and are you gonna have any more? I haven't asked you this before,.

So I'll ask you on the radio. Well, you asked me after that about the second one and I said, no, so I guess I lied. And so I'm a false teacher and a liar.

Well, and I have a bad memory because I have forgotten that I've asked you the question.

Yeah, so I guess I can go along since you were at Crete. It says Cretan is always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. This testimony is true.

Actually, when I was over in Greece and then we went onto the island of Crete, I said to our tour guide, I said, I just wanted to come to Crete. It's not known for much now and it's just, it's kind of industrial.

And she said, to this day, the people in Athens think that the Cretan, the people on Crete are still kind of almost like second-class citizens.

I would agree. I was born in Athens, so I'm an Athenian. Oh, you are.

Now we are No Compromise Radio. Today we have Harry Delegianides on. If you'd like to email him, you can always email me at info at nocompromiseradio .com. He preaches a lot here in local churches. And if you're in Central Massachusetts and you need pulpit supply, you can also email me and we'd love to send Harry there for fiery messages.

That's what I like about you because you, and maybe this is just because I'm sinful and I'm prejudiced, although I know I'm sinful, but I don't think I'm prejudiced. I like it that you're just this Mediterranean, fiery Greek preacher.

What's gotten into you? Well, I think of, as we talked earlier, my former professor, Howie Hendricks, who went to be with the Lord recently, he used to have this saying, it is a sin to bore people with the Word of God.

So how can you preach the Holy Writ and not be passionate about it?

Tell us about your education and how can we still be friends since I'm a master Southern guy and you're a DTS guy?

Because I got converted after I graduated. What kind of conversion? Not unto new life. No, not unto new life, but God opened my eyes eventually to see what salvation was really all about. And I actually, as a result, changed my testimony.

I was telling somebody recently, I had thought that God saved me at a certain point in my life at the age of 12, but then I realized that God really saved me at the age of 18 and realized that I can't just commit to Jesus Christ only as a Savior, but as a Lord, since that is the primary term used in the New Testament.

Who are some of the other professors at Dallas that really impacted you?

J. Dwight Pentecost, Prof. Hendricks, some others who were in my particular department that I can't think of offhand right now. That's quite an impact they had.

I can't even think of them. What's his name? We had a really personal, close relationship. Dwight Pentecost was preaching at Mount Hermon several years ago when his wife was still alive, and he was influenced by Donald Gray Barnhouse.

And of course, I love Dr. Barnhouse, and Dr. Barnhouse was preaching when S. Lewis Johnson, DTS grad and DTS professor for many years, got saved. And so there's this connection between Pentecost and Johnson and Barnhouse.

And Pentecost got up, he was preaching Romans 6, and he says, this is at the Dallas Seminary Mount Hermon Conference, and he said, there's no such thing as free will. We are slaves to sin, is what Romans 6 says.

And I about fell off my pew there, but it was a good thing to hear from a Dallas grad. J. Yes, it was good. I'm not as surprised that he said that.

I would have been surprised if he said that Jesus Christ only died for the elect and not for the whole world.

D. That would have been interesting. Tell us a little bit about your desire for the future in terms of ministry here in New England. I'm not trying to get rid of you. I'm glad you're here. But you just, are you sold out, in other words, to New England, or where would you like to go?

H. Yeah, I think I'm sold out to New England. This is a dry, barren area. I kind of grew up in this area, and I think it's a tremendous soil to work in.

D. Harry, tell our listeners, especially for the ones who are in leadership positions, how they can help and assist the pastor. One of the things that you excel in is even though you have been a senior pastor and you are discipling men and preaching from the pulpit and teaching the career group, you could draw people away from the Lord and His work here, and you could draw them to yourself.

Or you could say, you know what? I don't want people to follow Mike. I want them to follow me. And of course you know I don't want them to follow me either. But how can leaders or associate pastors or even youth pastors help unity by doing what you're doing?

Tell us what you do and why you do it, because it's a rare thing these days. Lots of church splits happen because a pastor like you comes along and then decides he wants to run the show.

H. Yeah, when I first came here, I was intentionally low-key, so much so that one of the guys I'm discipling now said to me that he thought I was really stuck up. So that was kind of funny. But I was intentionally low-key, knowing I didn't come in here with fanfare, saying, oh, I'm a pastor and I'm here on board.

But I just came here low-key with the attitude that I just want to serve. So the way you can serve your pastor is to have that attitude of just staying low-key and being available and willing to serve when the opportunity arises.

Because otherwise, we will be guilty of the problem that the Corinthian church had, where Paul says, I appeal to you brothers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and there be no divisions among you.

What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul, I follow Paulus, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? So I think that's an important, it's a mindset, a way of thinking, of coming in with a humble attitude and willing to serve at any cost.

Discipleship, Sanctification, and Favorite Teachers

When it comes to discipleship, tell our listeners what your philosophy of discipleship is. Some people think it's a word that you've got to go to seminary to understand. Should everybody disciple? Should everybody be discipled?

What is it? I think discipleship is,.

In essence, the men that I'm working with, I tell them it's where Paul says in Galatians, for I'm in the pains of childbirth again until Christ is formed in you. Of course, the Holy Spirit's role is to form Christ in believers, but he uses us as vessels to come in and invest our time and our lives in other people to help them become more Christlike in the process of sanctification.

So I think, yes, it is for everybody. Everybody should be discipling and helping others to continue in the process of sanctification. Who are some of your favorite authors? Oh, well, this you know already.

Some of, I love Pastor John MacArthur. Tozer, I like. I like Arthur Pink. Martin Lloyd-Jones probably also, though I prefer, I know we've talked about it. I love his writings, but I like to listen to him even more, which I know for you it's the opposite, I think.

I don't know why that is. For years, I listened to him and his But God message, for instance, in Ephesians chapter two verse four. I mean, that is a life-changing truth and the way he delivered it. But I don't know.

I guess maybe it's because I can only listen to so many people, and these days it's S. Lewis Johnson.

Yes, I like S. Lewis too, former DTSS.

Did you ever have him at the

I never did. He was before my time, yes. How old are you? 46.

46, okay. And tell us how the Lord converted you.

Well, I grew up not Orthodox like most Greeks. I grew up in an evangelical Protestant home, going to church since I was a kid. But I was rebellious in my own way. It manifested, sin manifested itself differently.

You know, I wanted to do my own thing, serve me, myself, and I. And at the age of 12, I prayed the sinner's prayer. And I thought I was converted there because I actually ran through that religious hoop.

And then I realized at the age of 18, when God got a hold of my heart, that that's when he saved me and realized that I needed to submit and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

So then when you first got saved, you were at, what church were you at?

At the time, I think my parents were, we were locally here at Grace Chapel. Okay, that's interesting. Yeah, when Gordon McDonald's first did. Okay.

And then tell us about how the Lord called you into gospel ministry.

It was during the time when I was at college at Worcester Polytech, or Worcester, as we would say here in Massachusetts.

Although my GPS, when it says something, it says, turn left on Worcester.

Worcester, yes, exactly, Worcester, W-O-R-C-H. So while I was there, I was involved in collegiate campus ministry, evangelism, discipling young students, and by my senior year, I knew God's call in my life was clear.

Others had confirmed it. It was a desire that he had laid on my heart as 1 Timothy 3 says, he desires this as a noble thing. And so right from there, I went right on to seminary.

You know what I like, and the listeners can't know this because we're not like Todd Frio with a nice studio. You can't see us in this radio studio. When you quote verses, you're not flipping your Bible around, they're just in your heart.

They're just in your mind. Yes. And so I appreciate that. Well, you're listening to Mike Abendroth and Harry Delegianides today on No Compromise Radio. Harry is an elder here at No Compromise Radio. We have elders for no-co.

Well, we should, shouldn't we, on half of these shows? And we are gonna keep him in the studio for another show, and the show that's gonna come up next Wednesday, I'm gonna just give you a little hint, I'm gonna give you a little teaser.

It's called How to Smoke Out an Armenian Pastor.

I think that's fun. Since they wanted to smoke out Calvinistic pastors, here we are.

So we'll do that next time. If you'd like to get in touch with Harry, some pulpit supply, or you wanna write him, or maybe you have some questions about discipleship or preaching, you can write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com.

And I think that's pretty much it, because I wanna get to the Smoking Out the Armenian Pastor. That's not Armenian pastor, is it? No. I actually knew some Armenians who weren't Armenians, they were Calvinistic.

Yes, exactly. My name's Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio. Info at No Compromise Radio. Don't forget this October 4th and 5th, the Bible conference that we have here, Omaha Bible Church Pastor, Pastor Pat Abendroth.

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 six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.