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Want a rational and theological assessment of the current crisis? Don’t tune if if you are woke.
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. My name is Mike Abendroth, Michael Lee Abendroth, 60 years old. I was born in 1960, and now I am 60. That�s amazing, 60 years old.
I guess when you�re younger, you don�t think you�ll ever make it to be that old and maybe if you listen to a lot of Who, Pete Townshend songs, �I hope I die before I get old. Am I old now? I hope I don�t die.
Lord, come back. That would be good. That would solve all kinds of problems. Of course, in real time, this is June 5th, and there are lots of things going on in the world. And just a brief little comment, I�m sure this will be old by then, but this is the week of the riots and everything else.
The good news is about this, besides some of the obvious, like the Lord�s on His throne, but I think we�re getting to see the true colors, that is, the real internal motivations of many large evangelical organizations and people and leaders and what they�re trying to do.
One of the ways we could think through this deconstruction of evangelicalism is there are a lot of people and I think they are misconstruing and combining or reorganizing the Great Commission into the Second Great Commandment.
That is to say, in other words, in my opinion, see how we have all these breaks, segues, bridges, theological, verbal bridges. Okay, now somebody is calling me. I�m not going to take that call. What we have is the Great Commission, and that is, you can look at the Great Commission in Luke 24 or in Matthew chapter 28, and go make disciples by going, teaching, baptizing.
And lo, I will be with you even until the end of the age. That�s our Lord Jesus, and we�re going to go by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we want to evangelize, and after God saves at His will, then we want to teach, right?
We want to teach them, and to be followers, and to be learners, and what that looks like in the process of sanctification. Well, loving your neighbor is important, right? The two Great Commandments. Love God.
Love your neighbor, if I could summarize them. Summary of the Decalogue of the Ten Commandments, you see them repeated by Jesus in the New Testament. But all of a sudden now, the big push is to love your neighbor.
I�m not against loving your neighbor, but loving your neighbor, while a Great Commandment for Christians, it�s not the Great Commission for the church. And I see a lot of people, I think, mixing those things up.
This was the week that Drew Brees made an apology, but that�s not enough. He�s already made the second apology, and I think what Drew is going to find out is the appeasement factor for people who don�t think biblically is off the charts.
I would not be surprised by the time you hear this if Drew Brees has retired. You can spend millions of dollars helping New Orleans, and then if you say something that the politically correct people do not like, you are smoked.
I think this is a good day for us to say, you know what, we�re not going to trust in horses, we�re not going to trust in chariots, but we�re going to put our trust in the name of the Lord. He�s our high tower and our refuge and our fortress.
If you�ve been listening to this show at all, you realize that that�s how we have to think through things. And if I were you, if you�re upset or you�re worried, I would read 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Chronicles, for that matter, Samuel, and you will see that history is theological history and that there�s an end to all this.
There�s the means and the end and that God is working things together and you�re not going to have to worry. I�m not saying you can�t prepare yourself for this, that, or the other, but you�re not going to have to worry.
We are seeing Marxism in churches. We are seeing the bifurcation of oppressed and oppressor. And do you really think that�s the way we should think about biblical categories? I prefer to see people as either saved or lost.
I prefer to see people as image bearers. I prefer to see one race, Acts chapter 17. And when I look at people, honestly, I can tell you, I don�t say to myself they�re better or worse based on how they look.
That just doesn�t factor in anymore. I don�t like being told that I�m a racist even though I�m not a racist and see therefore since I�m white and I don�t think I�m a racist, it shows how convoluted my thinking must be.
Actually, as many of you know here in No Compromise Radio World, one of the reasons I know I�m a Christian, there are many. One is I used to be a racist and now I�m not. And so I see the power of God in my hand.
And this contradicts what people say like at Southern Seminary, Matthew Hall, I believe is his name, the video is, if I recall correctly, that I�ll always be a racist, he said. Or that he�ll struggle with that his whole life.
I can�t remember the exact quote, you�ll have to look it up. But I�ll tell you from my perspective, in my opinion, I look at my life and I think when we lived in the white suburbs in Omaha, cheap suburbs but still suburbs, and then all my friends and neighbors, they were all white, they were Catholic is what they were.
There was a Catholic church right across the street from our home, St. James Catholic Church, which is a better name, by the way, than Our Lady of the Lake or John the Guardian of the Lady. There�s one in Clinton, Massachusetts, it�s cool on the inside, literally and figuratively.
Interesting. I just remember when the black neighbors moved in, the Floyds, what my dad said and how that then externally, his influence and my grandparents influence just fed my own heart in terms of all that.
Well, I know I�m saved because I don�t care who my children marry, I always have the same rules for my children. You have to marry somebody who�s of the opposite sex, number one. Number two, they�ve always had to be the opposite sex.
Number three, they have to be born again. Number four, they need to have a high view of the sovereignty of God. And that�s about it, right? I guess you have to like them, right? If they�re a man, they have to be able to provide for you.
So there�s probably a few other little qualifications there. But you won�t find in any of the qualifications race, you won�t find, because there�s one race, you won�t find any skin color, pigment, lack of pigmentation, etc.
So frankly, I don�t like it if people tell me that I have latent racism when it is the power of the Spirit of God in salvation, and while now I�m getting sanctified, that I don�t have any of that. It�s just completely gone.
So I think to myself, has God changed me before I was saved and after I was saved? Can I see a change in my life? And of course, I know there�s a change in my status in the courtroom of God. I am justified by the work of Jesus Christ, His law-keeping, meriting righteousness.
He did the right thing, born of a woman, born under law, that He might redeem those under the law. And when you think about these legal terms, law, righteous, right, He�s merited obedience, given to me freely by imputation.
And then He has taken my disobedience by imputation and paid for all that. And I know that because He�s the right hand of the Father now. And then I say to myself, but have I changed in any other way?
Well, I love Bible teaching. I love to study the Bible. I love to evangelize. I love to be with God�s people. I love to see people grasp the deep things of God. I love to love. And I love people that don�t look like me.
And Los Angeles was good for me in that regard because, and I know it�s cliche, but it just, you know, I like all kinds of foods, therefore it�s good when you don�t hate people that don�t look like you because then you can learn from them all kinds of things and what they do in their cultures.
And I like that. I like to learn. If I go to India, the three times I�ve been there, they don�t act like I do in many areas of culture and many areas how they deal with each other socially and everything else.
But when I�m there with Christians, there�s a kindred spirit, a deep kindred spirit. And the same thing if I�m in, where have I been? If I�m in Zambia, it�s the same thing. If I�m in South Africa, Pretoria, it�s the same thing.
So anyway, I don�t like it if you tell me I�m still a latent racist when I see the power of God in my life. I�m not. So back off, I�m tired of that and I�m not going to cow to your Maoist, Marxist, white privilege, oppressor, oppressed, built in the system, everybody�s a victim.
Whatever privileges I have, I don�t attribute it to my white skin. I attribute it to the grace of God and he has blessed me in many ways. And kind of a tangential thing, this is kind of like if I were to say to you, for whatever reason, generally speaking, God has used white people in theological history more than he�s used non-white people.
Does that make you mad? Does that make you say, you know what, I can�t even believe you just said that? Does that make you boycott No Compromise Radio? By the way, there�s not that many that listen, so it doesn�t matter if you boycott me all you want.
I�d have more free time during the week if that was the case, because I just do the show for you. No, I�m glad to do it, it�s a good overflow of what�s going on. I get to talk about these things that I usually don�t talk about from the pulpit.
Okay, so what does that even mean? Let�s just say my hunch is that God has used, in the last several centuries, white people more than non-white people with theological commentaries, Reformation, preachers, okay, so?
So if I want to go back to the 300s and 400s and go to Athanasius, and I don�t know what color Augustine was, I know he lived in Africa, okay, so let�s just say at least one of those two, Athanasius at least, he�s not white.
So am I bugged some of these great men of God that God used in that era were non-white? I could care less. I don�t care. I don�t care if, what if India produced the Reformation and for several hundred years most of the great works?
What if Luther was an Indian? What if Calvin was an Indian? What if John Knox was an Indian? What if John Wycliffe was an Indian? What if Jan Hus was Sri Lankan? Do I care? I don�t care at all. Remember, this is going back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
This is God sovereignly saves and adds to the church. And when he does, he, the Holy Spirit, grants spiritual gifts to people. And he�s the one that providentially put together the backgrounds of these people at just the right time.
I mean, if you say, okay, what about Luther? How do you, how do you craft a reformation in a town like Wittenberg, tiny out in the middle of nowhere? Well, one, you get the printing press within the last century.
Number two, you have it by a river because you have a city by a river because of traffic and flow. Three, you put a university there where there's some people who are thinking about academic type of things.
That's how it all happens. You have the printing press, you have the university, you have a river, and you have a guy named Martin Luther. All that's the providence of God. Anyway, when we receive blessings from people, I just think we should count them as that very thing.
Right? And then you can name them one by one, count your blessings, see what God has done. So Mike Capen wrote today, No Compromise Radio, just thinking big picture, should you love people? Yes. Should you love all kinds of people?
Yes. Should you love Christian people especially? Yes. In terms of doing good to them, the household of God, Galatians chapter six, Hebrews 13. Should you love unbelievers? Yes. By the way, these people that you see on TV that do this, that, and the other that you disagree with politically or they're rioting or looting or whatever, I challenge you not to hate those people.
I challenge you to think about those people, pray for those people. There's a battle. If you think about the Nicene Creed, for instance, something about, I believe in God the Father maker of heaven and earth, and maybe that's the Apostles Creed, of all things visible and invisible.
There's an invisible war going on, Ephesians chapter six, swirling around. And by the way, the more you read your Bible, the more you're going to be able to say, oh yes, so I ought to think about it that way.
This is not an issue that can be thought of without any kind of theological categories. You know how I'm always talking about categories, theologically, how to think about this theologically. Now when we had our children sitting around the dinner table, when they were younger, after dinner, we always did the same thing.
The kids would say, may I please be excused? No, you may not. Dad wants to hear about your day, and Dad wants you to teach you something about Jesus from the Bible. And so I'd teach, and then I'd dismiss the kids, you know, may please be excused?
Yes, you may. Push in your chair, right? We've lost that art. If you push in your chair in my office after we're done talking, I'll say to you, finally somebody's doing the right thing. And then thank Mom for dinner, and then help her clean up the dishes.
So I mean, we just did that all the time. As the kids got older, though, and they were at school, sometimes private, sometimes home, but sometimes public, I would want to ask the kids certain questions so they could think through these issues theologically.
How do you think through riots and looting and protests theologically? How do you think about so-called white privilege theologically? How do you think about latent privileges that make you unable to talk because if you don't have these things, you haven't gone through these things in life, you have no way to talk.
You sit in the back, right? And we see even some universities doing that. If you're white, you sit in the back. You don't talk, you listen, because that's what we're here to do, is to have you listen.
Because now, since we've been oppressed for so long, we're the ones that get to talk. We're talking about now, even when it comes to commentaries, there are going to be commentary series that are woke, that are politically correct, even politically in a theological way correct.
And we're going to talk about, you have to be of color to write in particular commentary series, or I haven't heard about an all-female commentary series, but I'm sure that's coming. I don't know if a transgender commentary series is coming.
By the way, when you look at commentary series, they're not all good, right? So if there's a series out on Baker or on Moody or Word, does Word even exist anymore? They get bought by Tyndale or somebody, Broadman, Holman.
It just depends on who the author is. You can say generally, this is evangelical, right? Expositors, both edited by Gabeline, but you don't really know exactly what you're getting until you get into it some.
So buy some series, but buy individual commentaries of series with reputable names. That would be, I think, a better way to go. But that's not my point. My point is, most women, I think of Joyce Baldwin, they write books on what books of the Bible?
They write commentaries on what books? Ruth and Esther. Why? Why is that? They only allowed to do that? That was a big thing in seminary for me. Can you read commentaries written by women and just, you know, that's just, I guess that's just the way life goes.
So my name is Mike Habenroth. This is No Compromise Radio. I would like you to think about biblical categories. And of course, in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 16, do not forget to do good and to share with others for with such sacrifices, God is pleased.
You guys don't have any sacrifices. You Jewish people who don't come to the temple anymore and say you believe in Jesus, where's your sacrifice? Well, the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, and I could ask you the question.
Just how thankful are you? How much praise do you offer God? Thanksgiving and praise and delight. Sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. That's pleasing to God. We're to continually offer up those things.
By the way, we don't live in this world. You want to think theologically about all this stuff as they destroy our cities. Every city they're starting to try to destroy. You say to yourself, but there is a city, there's a city that's not a lasting city.
We seek the city that is to come. When they're taking down monuments, oh, by the way, yes, with this whole monument deal taken down, it's not going to end well. It's going to end with all the monuments down.
But when you look at George Washington's life, will his monument stay up? When you look at Abraham Lincoln's life and what he said, will his monument stay up? When you go to Germany and if they start taking down monuments, you go to Wittenberg in the town center there, that big Luther monument, will that stand?
This is pretty amazing. Taking all these things down because you can't have any association with people that are less than perfect. If I only studied people, I only listened to preachers who didn't have any faults, we're talking about grave faults.
You look at, what is it, Heidelberg Catechism 114, 115, right in there. We've been converted, but we're just slowly with small steps, with minor bits of obedience growing in grace and in our walk. That is to say, nobody has mastered Christianity.
And therefore, if you haven't mastered Christianity, I guess we could only have one monument according to the world, and that would be of the Lord Jesus, and then that would be a violation of the second commandment.
So we're monument-less is what we are. But it's just rage. You look at Jesus and His words in the Sermon on the Mount and anger in your heart and murder. This is why people need a Savior. You can just see it.
It's just seething underneath it all, waiting for an opportunity where it can all come out. How can it come out? It can come out when they're going to dismantle the police force. What's worse than having some bad policemen and policewomen?
Well, having none. Right? And I don't know what... It's just so odd to me. You say to yourself, we have to dismantle the Minneapolis police force. What about if you just say, whoever was... Let's say there was a cover-up.
Let's say that from the highest levels, this stuff was just pushed to the bottom and they were going to just try to ignore it or whatever the criminal things are. Then let's remove those people and let's prosecute people.
There are rights that people have and we have laws here. And if those laws have been broken, then the police arrest, and then off to court we go. Right? For prosecution and or acquittal. I mean, you think about law and order, the policemen go out and make the arrest and then it goes in the courtroom.
Anyway, this is just... It's an interesting world. God has given government as an ordained good. And from the earliest times, the Lord knew that there would be bad people in government. And that doesn't excuse their badness.
That just... This is just part of the... This is just part of it. This is the human condition. I think we need a better anthropology to realize just, in fact, how depraved people are. How sinful even Christians are.
I don't think we really understand how sinful we are as Christians. I think we cover it up. I think we have self-righteous things. I think if we just pay our taxes, we don't cheat on our spouses, we read the Bible, get the kids to church, we think we're good.
I think in all this unrighteousness that's going on out in the world and in cities and in police forces and on the beat and other things, what's going to be eclipsed is going to be the sin of self-righteousness.
Because now, oh, hey, I shaved my head because I'm an associate with Black Lives Matter. Or I'm going to virtue signal this, that, or the other. We are going to see, in a day and age of rage and unrighteousness, not doing the right thing.
We are going to see self-righteousness come to the top. And that's actually probably a worse sin to deal with, because you don't think you really need a Savior. Everything's set and good and fine and dandy.
And therefore, you'll see a lot of Jesus' scathing rebukes and addresses to the self-righteous. Anyway, you could look at Luke 18 if you'd like to do that. I sat down today to talk about Hebrews 13, and what did I end up talking about?
Rage against the machine. We are filling up our Israel trip. I have some dates, I think, and flight information, even, but still waiting for the prices. If you want to go to Israel with us, we're still planning on going, and we will see the land where Jesus was.
You might not want to call it the Holy Land today, I understand what you're saying, but the city we're looking for is an enduring city, right? The one that is to come. No lasting city here. So you can write me, Mike, at NoCompromiseRadio .com.
Some maybe want to come from London, some come from California. We're all going to meet at Newark Airport and or Tel Aviv, and enjoy some special fellowship together. No Compromise Radio. And also, Pat Abendroth, Pastor Pat, at Omaha Bible Church.
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.