Parsing The Tea Leaves Of Providence

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. Mike Abendroth and Steve Cooley. Buenos dias, mis amigos. M-L-A-N-S-B-Cooley. M-L-A? S-B-C. S-B-C, sorry. Yeah. S-B-C. S-B. Alright. Steve, last night, we had the Awana Banquet.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes, I�m aware. I do know approved workmen are not a shame, but I don�t know what the R stands for. Repeatedly. Repeatedly. When I was a kid, growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, we had the crew cut.

We had the�probably we didn�t have Jordache jeans. We had probably Lees. Lee jeans? Mm-hmm. I don�t think we could afford Levi�s, so we had one step below that, Lees. Maybe some Wranglers, and we had Tufskins, I think, for our knee, our knee patches.

Remember when you actually patched your knees? Now you buy jeans with holes already pre-made in the knees. Mm.

Uh-huh. I was so poor, I made my own T-shirt. You did. Tie-dye. Well, no, but I did pick out the fabric, and I actually made it.

You made your own T-shirt out of what fabric? Uh, it was some� Rayon or something?

No, some kind of cotton deal, but it was blue, blue stripes, red stripes.

Well, does that go against Levitical law, different things? Different colors? I don�t think so. Different colors. You have to make everything one solid color. Yeah, I don�t think that was a problem. Anyway, there was a weird kid in our neighborhood, and he always did these Bible things, and while I had a Cub Scout uniform, and then a Weebelo uniform, he had an Awana uniform, and he was inviting me all the time to come to his little Baptist church for Awana, and I just thought he was weird.

I wouldn�t even have known what an Awana was, you know, back then, so.

Now, did the Mormons have little clubs with uniforms and patches and.

Well, it was Cub Scouts and Weebelos and Boy Scouts.

But you didn�t have your own specific Job�s Daughters or something? No. Okay. I�m reading the story about Joseph Smith, something like an American Crucifixion. It�s a newer biography about him. That dude was a lot weirder than we think.

I just don�t even know how Mormons get their head around all the things that he was involved in. Yeah, I don�t get it.

Last night here at the church, we had our finale for Awana, and the children received their plaques, pins, rewards, there�s a little dessert banquet, and then we have council time. In council time, they get that every week, but this last time, I give it.

I think once in a while, you give it.

I think next year, you have to give it. Yeah, but you�re way better because you come up with all these dramatic. �What did you do last night Okay. Like, make half the audience disappear or something like that.

He does bizarre things.

I don�t even know where he comes up with this stuff. It was called Michael Lee Copperfield is what the whole story was. See? See?

There you go. I�m going to make this half of the audience disappear, and there�s nothing you can do about it.

So, my idea of this year, because how can you top last year? You know, it�s like Ed Young Jr. coming in on a tank for Ephesians 6, then what do you do the next week? Yeah. So, what I do make the congregation disappear, the next year, what do I do?

I mean, how do you top that? Anyway, I thought I would go to the Halloween store down by Quinsigamond College and get a bunch of really ugly masks, and then I was going to have kind of this beauty contest and have other children pick who was the prettiest out of all the ugliest, and it wouldn�t be the real kids.

It�d be the masks, you know. And then I would talk about how Jesus dies not for righteous people, but for enemies, for sinners, for the spiritually ugly, and I thought, �This is really going to work well and I could have the whole thing set up, and I had it all in my mind.

I go. I said to Kim, �The Halloween store is not going to be open. She said, �Yes, it�s going to be open. They�re open year-round. So, I drove there all happy, and it said, �Closed until Thursday.

Yikes. So, I went and bought a couple of really super-duper Nerf guns at Walmart, and I got them all loaded up, and I went into the sanctuary that said they fire up to 90 feet, and so I would stand by the pulpit and shoot up into the choir loft, and it would zip up there every time.

I thought, �This is fascinating. So, I got the gun all loaded up. I needed the other gun, and I realized someone had stolen the Nerf darts out of that particular box. So, I had to go back to Walmart to go get the other six bullets.

So, last night, I pull up a young lady and a young man. I said they had to be children of members of the church because they didn�t want any lawsuits. Trevor Burrus Membership has its privileges. Mike Abendroth.

That�s what I said. Mike Abendroth. And I said, �Tonight, my name is not Mike Abendroth. It�s Mark Abendroth, and you are going to have to try to shoot the mark. And so, I stood up in the balcony, the choir loft.

They stood below, had six shots, and I said, �If you hit me one time, you win the prize. And congregation kids, when they miss, you all say, �You missed the mark and you could tell where this is all going.

Trevor Burrus. And they hit every single time. Mike Abendroth. So, I thought, okay, they�re going to go all for six. Then I�m going to talk about the two greatest commandments, loving God, loving your neighbor, missing the mark.

Sin is transgression. It�s iniquity. It�s perversion. It�s a trespass. But mainly, the sin is called missing the mark. And then I talked about, I�m going to talk about how Jesus, you know, the analogy would be he would hit me every single time, right?

Jesus never missed the mark.

And so they hit you every time, and you said,. �And this is why, see, what Jesus did was.

Hit the mark every time. And I called, I think it was Andrew Goddard, he�s back there, and he shoots the first time and it hits me. I didn�t know what to do. So then I said, �If you hit me six out of six, besides the prize, which was the gun, the Nerf gun, I�ll give you $20 too.

And then it was Alyssa Brown, and her first shot missed, and her second shot, she hit me. I could not believe it. Anyway, then I said to everyone, based on Christ�s death and resurrection, I read Galatians chapter 2, �If you can get to heaven by the works of the law, then he died for no purpose.

And preached the gospel, told people they must believe, and if they don�t, they�re going to go to hell. But God loves sinners like them, and so today�s a good day to believe. So let�s have some dessert.

And then I made the other half of the church disappear.

I�ve made the church disappear on a few occasions. About halfway through the sermon, you look up and they�re all gone.

Twice in the last 20 years I�ve made about half the church disappear. And one time it was because I was too Reformed, and the other time it was because I wasn�t Reformed enough. How does that work? At least there are churches in the area that are TR, truly Reformed.

Reading the Tea Leaves of Providence

Steve, a while ago, I saw this article that Phil Johnson said is one of the best articles he�s read in the last while. Steve. A hundred years. Pete. And it made me think of the book that I had just talked about by this guy, and it is the book about George Whitefield written by Thomas Kidd.

I think it�s Thomas Kidd. At least it�s Kidd. Do you know the book? Something about our founding forefathers, spiritual forefathers, something. Anyway, let me read this and I�d like you to make a few comments.

Like many 18th century Reformed pastors, Jonathan Edwards was confident in his ability to discern God�s purposes in earthly events. For example, during a 1736 drought, he explained that God was chasing the New Englanders for the �corruption in our hearts.

Similarly, during a plague of crop-destroying worms in the 1740s, he suggested that the people�s neglect of the poor had precipitated the infestation. How do we look at events like that and then bring in, �Well, this is God�s judgment or this is God�s blessing.

You know, the Red Sox and the Bruins and the Patriots in the last 10 years have done pretty well, God�s blessing New England. How do we read the tea leaves of Providence?

Pete. An interesting question, especially in light of the election and what�s being said about the candidates and whatnot, but I think when we look at instances like that, you know, natural disasters, and we determine what the cause of them, you know, why God brought this upon us, I think we�re acting like Old Testament prophets.

You know, I mean, the Lord would often tell them, you know, why this was happening or why something was about to happen, �Look, there�s going to be a famine, you know, this is why and, you know, and here�s what you need to do to protect you and your family and da-da-da-da.

Okay, well, that�s one thing, right? It�s a whole other thing for us to look at it and apart from, I mean, this is like Sarah Young stuff almost, right? So yeah, I�d say this is pretty dangerous. This is a ledge I would not climb out on.

And Steve, even men back in those days who would have called themselves Reformers, Doctrines of Grace people, Five-Point Calvinist, Edwards, Whitefield, they slid into this. And there are, of course, many Five-Point Calvinist charismatics today.

I wonder if they slide into the same thing, yet we don�t know all the information. God knows more. A kid in this article talks about 1 Corinthians 13, 12, �We see through a glass darkly and he says, �We should be modest about interpreting current events.

I couldn�t agree more. Steve, how about, you know, who has known the mind of God, right?

I mean, and even though we have the Word of God, we don�t, there are many things, Deuteronomy 29, 29, �Secret things belong to the Lord right? I mean, there are things that we can know, and those things are the Word of God.

Other things we�re just kind of guessing at.

Pete Steve, Job didn�t know it was Satan attacking him, did he? The only reason we know is because it was given by direct revelation, and we know that specific revelation from God. And Job would not have known if it was God judging, God judging through Satan, just a coalition of events that happened simultaneously.

I mean, what did he know?

Well, at the time, nothing, you know? Could he have known later? Well, somebody had to write the book of Job, I don�t know who it was, you know, but this.

Was obviously revealed to somebody. Pete Steve, let�s talk big picture for a second. Isn�t it much better to look back in time and see how God has providentially brought us and our loved ones or this nation or whoever the people are?

That�s better to look backwards and say, �Do you know what? I see how God has orchestrated everything, and he brought me my wife, and he did this with the kids and all that stuff. Generally, I don�t mean specifically God�s judgment like Edwards was doing.

That�s a better thing to look backwards and say, �Isn�t God providentially wonderful in his providence instead of looking forward, trying to predict things and to not walk by faith.

Talk about the big picture. Pete. Yeah, I was recounting to somebody here not long ago last week, as a matter of fact, about how, I mean, I had a real, all the way from the time I was a child till, you know, really in my early 30s, I had a fear of speaking in front of groups.

And so then I just talked about how, you know, as a new believer, I found myself in a situation where through my own, you know, normal kind of practical joke sort of thing, I was being punished at work, and it seemed unjustly at the time, and ultimately I prevailed.

But it, you know, and it was not fun to go through. I was thinking this was not good, and it wound up with me shifting gears at work and eventually finding my way into this new position where my job for close to two years was standing in front of large groups of inmates and convincing them to go home on house arrest.

You know, at first I was just like, now I wanted this job, and the reason I wanted the job was the schedule. And you know, at first I was kind of nervous, and then I realized that I could stand up in front of these people, and as long as I knew what I was talking about, it really wasn't that scary.

And once I got them to trust me, it wasn't bad at all.

Steve, I like this kind of not reading the tea leaves of history, but you can look back in time, and for me, the exact same thing as you, I could not get in front of people and speak. My problem was more vanity and pride, and I wasn't a good public speaker, because how can you be a good public speaker if you never speak in public?

So I'd have to get up in front of nurses and doctors and talk about the operating room machines that I was selling, and then the Lord used that as a platform to help me overcome the fear of public speaking, because I have to do a lot of public speaking.

Pete. Do you? Steve I do. Pete. Hmm. Steve. Uh-huh. So looking back, I can see how God's wonderful providence has been working, right? He causes all things to work together. And then I say to myself, that same God who was in the past is the God of the present and the future, and He's going to be doing the same thing in the future, even though I might not see it all or realize it all until heaven, and the glories of heaven will certainly be focused on the Lamb standing as if slain.

But don't you think, Steve, part of heaven's awe will be as God shows us in heaven throughout the millennia, the thousands and billions and trillions of years? Look at how He providentially worked everything together for good.

Won't that be a neat part of heaven?

Steve. Well, wouldn't that make us worship Him and praise Him? And yeah, I think we'll be doing that kind of thing, yes.

In a kid's article that you can find on Reformation21 .org, he also says this. In a certain book chapter, Jonathan Edwards and the National Covenant, was he right? McDermott, the author of that article, examined Edwards' confident readings of worms, droughts, and other instances of how earthly events reflected God's disciplining hand.

Today, we associate such prophetic readings with the likes of Falwell, Robertson, and now Beck, who may have a more natural openness to the idea of God's ongoing revelations because of his Mormonism. Any comments on that?

Steve. Well, I mean, I've heard Glenn Beck from time to time, and he certainly thinks he knows what's going on. He kind of sees behind the scenes and, you know, is pretty confident when he makes proclamations and predictions about the financial calamity that awaits this country, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

So, yeah.

Pete Steve, what do you tell someone who is frightened of the future and the world is, I mean, it is maybe playing Devo music, right? De-evolution. It is just going from bad to worse. And I don't mean eschatological issues, but how do you just encourage a Christian in light of all these events?

And I can't say, oh, this particular, you know, Hillary is the judgment of God or President Obama is the judgment of God. I can't say any of these things because I don't want to read presidents like Edwards Red Worms.

But how do we walk in the future knowing that things are going to probably get a lot worse for Christians?

Steve. Well, I think we can just look at the Bible and know that things are going to get worse. I mean, there's obviously Romans 1, you know, we can just see the de-evolution of culture, but we also know that things are going to go from bad to worse.

That's what false teachers and false doctrines and all those kinds of things, that's what just happens. And I too think that there's a cultural event or lack of an event. I guess there's a cultural vacuum going on right now.

If you think about it, we haven't had any kind of major war since the end of World War II. I mean, we've had Vietnam and stuff like that, but nothing where the whole nation was mobilized. And we've gotten so comfortable with where things are.

I think that vacuum, the fact that we're not having to fight to survive right now, that vacuum has led to all sorts of cultural laxity, you know, and just kind of things that we used to think were just abhorrent are now normal.

Well, why is that? Because we've got all this freedom and all this wealth, really, because we're not fighting for anything. And I think our culture is just decaying at a frightening pace.

Pete Steve, when I get worried or anxious or think about my kids or the grandkids that one day I hope to have, I think to myself, you know, if you study the Bible and you read the Old Testament, for instance, you're going to see in the middle of the chaos of Israel, sometimes from the external, sometimes from the outside, sometimes from the inside, their own sin.

When God made the promise to Abraham, and then this week I've been studying the Davidic Covenant, that is going to come to pass. And it doesn't matter what kind of foe is there, internal or external, God was going to make sure that Israel was going to make it through.

And when He promised Israel, He promised Israel. I'm reading 2 Samuel 7 with the Davidic Covenant. There's going to be this Davidic King who's going to come in the middle of all the chaos. I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And God's promises in the Old Testament, I get encouragement by that because if Israel could have lost her salvation, she would have.

And of course for us, and I'm talking about national salvation, for us for spiritual salvation, if we could lose all that, we would, but God gives us these gifts and He will preserve us to the end.

Pete. Well, and time and time again, as you read through the New Testament, whether it's Israel trapped against the Red Sea and there's no escape and here come the Egyptian armies and what are they going to do, panic, or whether it's Israel in captivity, there's no way out, how are we going to get delivered, and then God provides the deliverer.

God delivers and God provides the way across the Red Sea. Every single situation, whether it's the Philistines, whatever, threat after threat after threat, and God always delivers the people. So if we think about that, God doesn't love us any less and we just need to not be focused on the current circumstances or even the future earthly circumstances.

I tell people all the time, listen, if your life right now, as bad as you think it is, if it never improves at all, and you know, you have to suffer for the next 35 or 40 years, do you think you can handle that in light of eternity?

You know, we kind of let, we lose our perspective, get so focused on the here and the now. You know, like when I was saying, when I went through my difficulty that eventually led to me having this platform to speak every day, when I was going through it, I did not enjoy it.

And I just thought, I did not blame God because I knew it was my fault. But I just thought, Lord, I just don't like this. You know, if I could get out of this, that'd be great.

But it was for my good. Steve, I was reading 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, studying some of this and Chronicles as well regarding the Davidic covenant. And even at the end of 2 Kings, and you got the chaos.

I mean, I used to always say to the kids, if you don't know when daddy says about a certain king and he did, you just say evil in the sight of the Lord, because most of the kings did that. But there are some exceptions.

And we have at the end of 2 Kings, Josiah dies in battle. And what's going to happen with Judah, captivity for Judah. And then I, I mean, I've read it before, but I never really thought of it. You even sense objectively, can you sense things objectively?

I can, but probably not most people. I know, because you can read the tea leaves of Providence and worms and such. Yes, it's true. At the end of 2 Kings, final paragraph, and in the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah in the 12th month on the 27th day of the month, evil Merdogak, king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin, king of Judah from prison.

And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments and every day of his life, he dined regularly at the king's table.

And for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king according to his daily needs as long as he lived. There's a little glimmer of hope for Judah.

And that's how I justified giving my kids an allowance right there.

Well, I'll tell you what goes through my mind and you can blame Dr. Abner Chow, the American born Chinese man. He said, there's Jehoiachin, he's the Chinese guy, and there's Jehoiachin, and he's the Korean guy.

That's what he would say. I didn't say it. He said it. Yeah, I don't think that's accurate. I didn't think that was accurate either. Early on, we have the lion of the tribe of Judah in Genesis 49. Here's Judah.

You think the Messiah might come from Joseph's line, but he's going to come from Judah's line. And then all of a sudden, I think Saul was Saul from Judah's line, Benjamin. Yeah, that sounds right. I'd have to, I'd have, it says Benjamin Judah, anyway, we do know that Jesus is from the lion of, he's the lion of the tribe of Judah.

And you read the old Testament, first Kings, second Kings, there are glimmers of hope. And I think, you know what, if God can bring Israel through, he can bring anyone else through. Yes.

Steve's calculating things. Well, I'm still, I'm still thinking, it seems like Benjamin should have his own tribe, right?

Yeah, but wasn't he down in the Judah area? Oh, okay. Oh, in that, in that case. In the south. Oh, yes. Well, yeah, I need a map right now. Well, we're going to find out for next show so we can speak properly.

I'm sure all the listeners will write in and say, no, Joe Strummer was from the clash. Probably. Uh-huh.

Uh, Mick Jones. Mick Jones, Joe Strummer, a lot of strife there.

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 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.