Mike interviews Mr. Irish Calvinist - Erik Raymond

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.

We're here to take your calls as well. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Concert Announcement and Book-Burning Contest

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. This is your host, Mike Abendroth, and today we have a special guest, but before I get to my special guest, just two things of note. We have a concert at the church, Bethlehem Bible Church, Friday, December 4th, and it's a Christmas concert with all kinds of great music, the gospel preached, kids' bell choir, I don't know, whatever you want, we probably have.

It's a good anti-postmodern concert. It's December 4th, 7 p .m. You need tickets to get in, so just call the church, 508 -835 -3400. We'd love to have you if you live in the Worcester area as a guest to come to Bethlehem Bible Church for a Christmas concert.

Maybe you have an unbelieving friend or grandparent and you want to bring them, that would be wonderful. And then item two, regarding these book-burning contests, if you have a book that you'd like to burn, I'd like to have the picture of the book and you before you burn it, and then what the picture of the book looks like after you burn it, and you send it in, and the winner, December 31st is the end of the contest.

The winner gets a bag of books that are good books, five books here from No Compromise Radio ministry, and then you can read those. So what I need is an email with a picture before what the book looked like with you, and the picture after you've burned the book, and we'll see what we can generate here at No Compromise Radio ministry.

Erik Raymond’s Background and Ministry

Well, on the line I have with me my friend and co-labor in the ministry, Eric Raymond. He is from Massachusetts originally and is the author and inventor, and I don't know what else you are, Eric, of irishcalvinist .com, but welcome to the program, Eric Raymond.

Hey, Mike, how you doing? Thanks a lot for having me. You know, I want you to talk a little bit, Eric, and I want everybody to hear the homegrown Worcester slash Lemonster accent, and I want you to correct me on air how I don't pronounce Worcester properly.

Yeah, I don't know how you, you got a pronouncing going on. I do. You gotta, just wisdom.

You gotta be missional, Mike. Well, you know, I've got a problem. You're from Lemonster? Yeah. When people, when charismatics around Worcester cast demons out, you know, demons can't be everywhere, so you've cast them out of your church in West Boylston, you gotta cast them someplace.

I usually cast them to Lemonster. That makes sense. I've heard, can anything good come out of Lemonster?

Well, you have the plastic factory there, right? The plastic museum? Yeah.

Eric, tell Tim's diner, too. I've been telling you for years, you gotta go see Tim's diner. Well, I think I just might.

Maybe the people at Tim's diner are gonna comp me since they hear this on the radio. Hey, Eric, tell us briefly your background in Roman Catholicism and how God saved you and then how you're in the gospel ministry now.

Sure. Yeah, I grew up, like you said, in Lemonster.

Catholic kid, New England Catholic kid. Really wasn't into it, just kind of did the, went through just a lot of facts. It was really quite confusing, honestly. I remember believing in reincarnation and evolution and all kinds of other, and be a man, but at the siege by guilt and uneasiness and the uncertainty of judgment and, you know, really, it led into a period upon myself.

I'm able to get out of this. Plus, a man, you need to help me. You've got an issue. And BDU Panthers has done the issue of how you could be forgiven, and that you could be forgiven. And I just remember at one point in that conversation, man, do I need to shave my head?

You know, I got all these issues. I can't figure it out. It's a gift to me to teach about 10 years in between.

And so now you're the, what's your actual title? You're the preaching pastor at Omaha Bible Church South Campus, or how does that work? You got it, yeah.

Yeah, ministry down there, and we come together on Sunday nights and other events.

IrishCalvinist.com and the Glory of Christ

And if people want to have good preaching with a Lemonster accent, what's the website at Omaha Bible Church that they can go to to listen to some of your sermons?

Funny, they can go to omahabiblechurch .org, just forward slash South. And that takes us, we share the same domain. Hey, Eric, how strange is it?

You grew up in Lemonster, and now you're preaching in Omaha, and I grew up in Omaha, and I'm basically preaching in Lemonster. It's hilarious.

It's funny, I don't live too far from where you grew up, and I go running and run through Tomahawk area, where you grew up.

Tell us a little bit about your website, Irish Calvinist. Is it com or .com or .org? Yeah, it's .com. .com, and many times, Eric, you'll talk about the glories of Christ and Christ's majesty and wanting to increase the fame of Christ.

Is there a relationship between your desire to do that and your understanding of what God saved you from your wretchedness and your sin and from God's wrath himself? Yes, absolutely. Right, and interact with thankful.

My main thing, as you mentioned, you have the glory of Christ, beholding that, and that really comes from, we behold the glory of the Lord, we're being transformed into that same image for one degree.

And that, and I need to constantly have my mind directed to the glory and greatness of the King about my own glory. Gospel to yourself.

What's the most controversial thing that you've written based on feedback that you received? Most controversial, well. Hey, this is no-compromise radio. I know.

You know, the funny thing is, all time, the all-time, I didn't even write it, stinging review of Velvet Elvis, and it went out there. I'd say that's probably, you know, stuff on Joel Osteen gets a lot of show, you know, whether it's.

Well, when I read your information, I think you're an excellent writer and you write on excellent subjects, which is helpful. And so what happens is, when I'm reading something about goodness and moralism and why these things just don't help us, I think that just resonates with people.

Gospel of Grace Versus Moralism

Why do you think Christianity in general is so desirous to grab hold of what I call, it's good to be good and it's nice to be nice? This is, there's two different religions, the gospel of grace and the gospel of goodness.

And you write about that a lot. Tell me why.

Yeah, I think that's human nature. I mean, that's part of the fall. You know, we're convinced of our own goodness and we are depravity and something of value and de-emphasize the value of Christ. And I find it of what is true or in a local church or wherever you happen to be.

I think Pat has told me stories where you have ministered together overseas and fellow comrades in the ministries, and the ministry has basically just preached moralistic, be good, non-gospel messages.

Yeah, that's really frustrating. That's, and Pat and I, you know, sitting next to each other and doing that, it's frustrating because, you know, then what oftentimes happens is you've got to be better and you eliminate, ultimately you eliminate Jesus from the equation, and it just becomes a book of moral rules.

And, you know, that's not Christian. The gospel is because we can't do what God has called us, can't save, can't console. All it does is inflate egos or bring guilt, and then you run back to yourself to do anything.

Moral anity. I'm going to steal that from you. That is excellent. It's yours. That's a good book title. Speaking of Old Testament books, Eric, you've been preaching through Leviticus, and I want, I don't know anybody who's preached through Leviticus yet.

I know I want to and need to, but tell the listeners on WV and E760 radio why Leviticus is such a wild, life-changing book for the Christian today, and why they ought to read it, and how they ought to read it.

Yeah, absolutely. In terms of why we,.

Listen, I just sat back, and then, you know, what the, in the Bible, because I think that would be the most Christian.

Hold on, let's just stop right there for a second. What's the bloodiest book? Let's go into that a little bit more. Just, let's pick the bloodiest book.

Well, I mean, you know, blood points to Jesus. So if anything like that, I mean, from a book forward to Jesus Christ. You know, you read, well, when Jesus, I mean, ultimately points to Jesus, he fulfills these things.

Moses spoke of Jesus. John said, I want to be faithful to the text. What does it mean? How does it, you know, as an expository preaching would be taking the doubt by God and, and improfitable for teaching.

Well, that's a challenge. And what do you do with it? Although there's a whole bunch in there from, you know, the call to be holy, the call to reflect God, the priority of drawing near to God and for people.

Well, you need a mediator, you need blood, and you need a tone of Christianity, right?

Absolutely. And have the people there that you've preached to at Omaha Bible Church South,.

What's been their reaction? That's been great. I mean, for my, selfishly, I've enjoyed it. It's rocked my world, as you said. I mean, it's been being impressed with Christ, but then just at the beginning, it was one of the things I needed to, I mean, I preached this, we needed to push and that happens.

And then ultimately.

Evangelicalism, the Church, and Legalism

Tell us about some issues that you're thinking about in evangelicalism, issues that people should be concerned about, the latest controversial thing and how to buttress our minds against it. Anything that you can think of that's happening right now that's controversial in evangelicalism?

Yeah, I think, you know, I know you had Ted Cluck on a while back, so I won't reset everything he said, but I really enjoyed his book with Kevin DeYoung on the church. The emphasis on the institutional church and organized religion, as the book is subtitled, is huge.

You know, with the kind of momentum of the community, it's very dangerous. Another thing, I think the 40-year-old guys, in this particular, maybe have a lot of energy, dream, if you will, want to engage culture, we want to be thoughtful with culture, we want to do that.

We can't do this, you can't do that, whether it's, you know, drinking or Masha 'allah. Masha 'allah. Masha 'allah. Exactly, go to concerts, right? So what is the opposite extreme? Somebody's sick there, Eric?

Yeah, it's my son, Luke. He's over here, he's got, he usually has the trifecta sneeze. I think he just did. Sorry. He's good. Okay, keep going. I have another child that sneezes seven.

Oh, really? That's interesting. I think that would be Schofield sneezing. Yeah, exactly, all right.

So, but the other side is to be, okay, we have been, now, man, we're going full boy. What's wrong with you for not going there with me? You know, so, why don't you, let's say, you know, why don't you have tattoos?

What's wrong with you? You should. Why don't you drink? You should. Why don't you listen to that kind of music? And now they go back on the other side, so look around, and you start to distance yourself from.

So I think it's just really dangerous. I think it's really prevalent with young guys that are energetic, even gospel-loving guys that are like, come on, let's engage the culture. Let's do this. And meanwhile, now you become the standard, which is just legalism.

I think that's a great point, Eric. And what happens is sometimes.

The fundamentalists say, we're known for what we don't do. We don't do this, and we don't do that. And then the person who understands the gospel but doesn't want to focus on Christ, he wants to be known for what he's allowed to do instead of being known for following Christ.

That's exactly right. And I think, you know, we went through Colossians,.

And I thought it was really interesting that when Paul broke up that elemental spirit of the world, you know, and he tied it back to the gospel issue in chapter two. If you died to the elemental spirit of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to the regulations?

And I think that can go either way. If you think that things on earth can either condemn you before God or commend you to God, earn or keep God's favor, or condemn you before God, I think that's his point there.

You can enjoy things, or you can abstain from things. Sin that commends us to God. So therefore, if we're clinging to anything else for righteousness.

Evangelism to Roman Catholics and Justification by Faith

Amen. This is Mike Ebendroth talking to Eric Raymond on NoCompromiseRadio .com, WVNE 760 here locally in Worcester, talking to one of Worcester's finest, I think, Leominster's finest, Eric Raymond. Eric, tell us a little bit about evangelizing Roman Catholics.

One of the things I love about you, I've seen it with my own eyes, and I hear it a lot from Pat, your heart to preach the gospel to the lost, whether it's evangelistic training for other people, going to the prisons, you're just kind of, God has given you just a heart to preach the gospel to the lost.

What would you say, I've got about four minutes, so let's make it three so we can wrap it up, in about two to three minutes, if there's a Roman Catholic person driving down the street listening in Worcester today, what would you tell them about Christ?

Yeah, I think you have learned in your catechisms in your church that God is a holy God, that is, he cannot be in the presence of sin, and that he's a just God, but you also learn that he's a loving God, and he forgives sin.

Attributes of God coexist. How can God be both holy and righteous? That is, he punishes sin, and he cannot be in the presence of sin, but also welcome and invite sinners to himself. What is your answer to that?

And a lot of times, it'll be something that I can do, and then you have to go right back to it and say, well, you're basing your standing before God based on something you can do, whether you are tipped or you're relying upon the church.

At the end of the day, you are not resting holy in Christ. The only way that God can be both just confirmation, your priest, the magisterium, in order to go against everything, even creed.

Does the Roman Catholic ever think about the resurrection and the validity of what the resurrection does for the Christian faith? Is that something they think about?

Probably not. I mean, I know as a Roman Catholic, I'm a Roman Catholic, I think that that is a great point because you have to get back to the...

Absolutely. When I was a Lutheran and I was fairly Catholic, I guess, in my mindset, it was a works righteousness message. Oh, well, yeah, Jesus rose from the dead, but I had no reason to ask why. Tell us, Eric, as we wrap up our program, how great is it to have your mother and father both born again by God from above?

Oh, it's fantastic. I mean, totally different. You wouldn't just see my dad dig into the Word, you'd hear my mom talk about what she's learning and enjoying and good experience.

Would you ever wanna come back to Massachusetts and pastor?

You know, it's one of those deals where we'll have to make things clear. I mean, we're put to do that. So those from, you know, Red Sox.

Well, can you, speaking of stripping idols, what was going on with Belichick's call? I mean, everybody's tried to spin it here in the radio, you know, Boston land with all these fishhacks and radio land here, but it is just amazing.

And people, I talked to one guy at the bike shop up in Lemonster. He said, I went to bed thinking about the game and I woke up thinking about the game. And I thought loving the Patriots with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

That's how we're supposed to think of Christ. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Anyway, my name is, we've got about 20 seconds. Tell us the church website and tell us your website.

And we'll wrap things up, Eric. Sure, church website, omahabiblechurch .org, and we're on the South Campus, which is forward slash South and Irish Calvinist is irishcalvinist .com.

Eric Raymond on live with Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. You've been listening to Thursday's show and we say, God bless you. We'll see you next week.

See you, Eric. Hey, thanks a lot, Mike. Thank you. 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.