Celestial Messages

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.

Cancer, Anxiety, and Learning to Minister Through Suffering

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, my name is Mike Abendroth, and this is the seventh show since our Shabbat, since our Sabbatical. After my brachytherapy for my prostate cancer, I asked my surgeon, a Jewish man named Dr. Michael Zalewski, I would encourage you to go to him if you need brachytherapy, and he has a yarmulke on, and a very kind man, nice man, on the cutting edge of different procedures and techniques and journal articles.

Pretty much, I handpicked him with some help, and I asked him afterwards, I was just trying to figure out ways to talk about the Lord. I said, �Did I say anything funny, doctor, with the Versed wearing off and under anesthesia and stuff like that

He said, �Oh, no, you didn�t. I said, �Well, I�m a pastor, so that means I know Greek and Hebrew, and I didn�t know if I just started reciting the Shema in Hebrew. And so when he didn�t laugh, that made me think he was not liberal, he was not a liberal Jewish man, he was orthodox.

So I just changed the subject. Thank you for praying for me. I appreciate that. I mean, I could die today, right? I was all worried about prostate cancer and what I was going to have done, and I was trying to decide that proton therapy, photon therapy, ginger, vitamin D, juicing, sluicing, caboosing, brachytherapy, da Vinci, open prostatectomy.

I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And by the way, just a side note, I love you and all that, but don�t send me any more natural cures. You know, I should have done such and such because I already did it.

Brachytherapy�s done. If you want to give me something that would help my brachytherapy, my post-brachytherapy radiation and recover better, I�m all for it. But this whole, you know, you should have gone to the hyperbaric chamber and should have given your blood in Switzerland and have them run it through the centrifuge and then send it back via avion, flukezoid, it�s already done, friends, it�s done.

You know, they either cut you or they radiate you or something, but this was a decision I had to make with my family. I�m 57, other than cancer. I mean, they asked me, �How�s your health Great, except I have cancer.

And so hopefully it�s taken care of and done and I will be around until the Lord gets rid of me. So anyway, I was in Germany for two months serving and just seeing the world and relaxing at Christian Andreessen�s place and we went to Paris and Normandy and we went to Zurich and Geneva and these kind of places, London.

I borrowed a bicycle from Matthias and it was a nice carbon fiber, I think it was Ultegra all around and I almost got hit by a car, it would have killed me. It would have been really, really bad, it was a bad wreck.

And I thought, �Here I am worried about cancer and I�m going to die from something else. I mean, it�s true, we have all these worries about the future. And, you know, I had to just say, �God, I�m worried and I�m anxious, forgive me, increase my trust in you.

I�m supposed to go look at the birds and if you�ll take care of birds, ravens, dirty birds, schmutzig flug, what�s a bird, fogel, schmutzig is dirty I think, yeah, yeah. Anyway, this fight of anxiety and faithlessness, not faithless that I�m not trusting in the Lord Jesus, I still did, but just responding in a way that would make you think, �What are you doing?

You just don�t trust your father Anyway, I could have died doing something else and so, you know, this North Korea thing is going to be big in my opinion and a lot of people could die and maybe it will be some of them, I don�t know.

Maybe I don�t need the hyperbaric chamber with all the ginger. I am drinking here today, not Pete�s coffee, not a monster drink. I know what you�re saying now. Some of you health people, you�re thinking, you know, if you would have been drinking aloe vera juice this whole time and not monster drinks, you wouldn�t have gotten prostate cancer.

Maybe true, but today I�m drinking muscle milk, non-dairy protein shake, 160 calories, 25 grams of protein, chocolate. And I think there�s actually a typo here because it�s not chocolate. I think it says chalk.

Let�s try it again. I appreciate the calls, cards, letters, gifts. Sometimes people do send gifts and I�m very encouraged by that. Thank you for your prayers. We have a good outlook and the Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

The Lord reigns. God is good. He�s compassionate. And I now have an opportunity to serve people and minister to folks in a way I never thought I would. I mean, if you tell me, you told me a year ago, I�ve got cancer, I think I would have been nice to you.

My mom died of cancer, dad died of cancer, grandpa, grandma, et cetera. But now there�s just a special way that I can talk because I have it and it�s not lip service. I know what it�s like staying up late at night trying to watch these YouTube videos for cures and trying to find the right insurance and just, you know, when do you have the procedure?

Which one do you have? Which doctor? Which hospital? I�ve been there. And that�s the way the Lord often works is we go through something, then we can help other people. And when I first got diagnosed, my wife said, �This will make you a better pastor.

I cried and thought, �I want to be a better pastor, but I didn�t want to do it this way. Ouch! Did I ever tell you radiation seeds burn? I can hold babies now though. They don�t want you to hold babies for a while.

Half-life is such that you can hold babies. So let me see your children. I�d love to say hello to them. There�s just something about it. Someone has cancer and you have cancer, I�ve had it, and you can just talk to them a certain way.

When I first got out here 20 years ago, I had said something from the pulpit about my dad died of cancer at 55. And then this guy, he doesn�t attend here anymore, but he said, you know, �My dad died of cancer at 55.

I know you understand. And he ended up giving me his dad�s golf clubs. I don�t think I�ve ever used them. They�re a nice new set. I still have them kind of as a token of ministry. When God puts you through something, then he�s preparing you for something else.

I don�t know if I�m a better pastor or not, but I want to be. And I would imagine my kindness factor is better than what it was. So, anyway, what it also does to you is it gives you this internal perspective and when people criticize you or condemn you or call you certain things and you think, �Based on what I�ve already gone through, that�s all you got kind of thing, it�s just why.

I mean, there�s a time to criticize, of course. And I do it here on the radio show and go after certain ideas and thoughts and ministries and everything else. But it really does. It just levels the playing field and every other slogan that we can think of that�s trite, it happens when you have cancer.

Anyway, I�m thankful for all that. Thank you again for your prayers. I appreciate it. What else is here on my desk today? Don�t forget about the trip to Israel. You can go to Israel with us if you�ve got the cash.

We�re flying out of Boston or Omaha. I think we probably end up in Newark of all places. And we�re going to go, Lord willing, for about nine to ten days. I think it�s around 3 ,300 the more people show up.

I think I have 25 slots. I think my brother is full and I�ve got a lot of slots to fill. But I�ve been busy doing other things. The S. Lewis Johnson commentary on Colossians, it�s been close to being done for a year.

I could put it out any time. But there�s a few things I wanted to do, a few touch-up things that I think could go from excellent to excellent plus. But I just haven�t been able to do it. I need some editing help.

If you are an editor and you�d like to help me, what will you get out of the deal? Your name in the front of the book, that�s about it. And I�m trying to figure out a different way of formatting instead of formatting and then having to do all the editing again.

There�s got to be a better way. I don�t know how to do that where it�s like a Word document and then it can go straight into CreateSpace. It will be a CreateSpace NoCo Media book via Amazon. Zondervan did not want Discovering Colossians to follow up on Discovering Romans.

But that�s all right. We�ll put it out anyway. I think you�ll be encouraged to read S. Lewis Johnson�s Insights, kind of more journal article-y than the last one. The last one, the first three chapters were that way, three chapters of Romans.

But this is all four chapters of Colossians. So that is something that I am working on, but I�ve just been so busy doing everything else, Reformation Conference in New Zealand coming up in October. If you�re from New Zealand, we�d love to see you.

And I have nothing else. I have one Sunday where I�ll be gone from Bethlehem Bible Church�s pulpit up until Israel. So just one ping and one ping only. So I was going to say, �I don�t know what. Don�t waste your cancer.

I have in front of me the Bible study. Oh, books, yeah. And then I have a few other books that I�m working on just piecemeal. And the one that I would like to get out the soonest would be one on the doctrine of hell.

And I have taught hell, the subject at different conferences throughout the years, and especially related to what did Jesus experience on the cross when it was dark and God was judging him. Was it like an eternity of hell compressed into three hours?

Was hell so bad that it required Jesus� death? Was Jesus� death so awful that rejection of that requires hell? There are different questions that are related to the atonement. Those aren�t necessarily questions.

I�m just talking off the top of my head. So we�re trying to do that. There�s one on biblical masculinity. There�s a parenting mistakes book that�s halfway done, but I�ve got a few more kids. I�m hoping they�re going to turn out all right before I release it.

But I�m okay because it�s, hey, it�s mistakes, parenting mistakes, you know, because that�s for me, ministry and everything else, mistakes that I�ve made. And that�s why when people on social media, you know, call me names and stuff, but Spurgeon, you know, my first reaction is to defend myself.

Well, Spurgeon was right when he said if people knew the real you, they�d make worse accusations that would end up being true. And you know, we are all so wicked and we are all so sinful. And even as redeemed people, the sin principle that dwells in us, our flesh, it�s bad.

So that�s why we need to talk much about who Jesus is. I got this book called The Bible Study, and I think it comes with Christianity Today. And this is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation edition, the Bible revolution.

And this is a lot of, you know, advertisements for Israel, and there�s one here on celestial messaging. That�s very important for the Reformation, very. So, I just want you to know that I�ve been to seminary and I�ve taught at seminaries.

I don�t know what celestial messaging is. A message to you, Rudy, would that be the right one? Message in a bottle. I prefer Modest Yahoo�s version over Police�s version. The story of Deborah and Barak in Judges 4 to 5 is a familiar one to Bible students.

Deborah judged Israel at the time of oppression after God sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Cana, Judges 4 .2. As a punishment for repeated apostasy, Barak served as commander of Israel�s freedom fighters.

His chief military opponent was Jabin�s commander, Sisera, who had 900 chariots of iron at his disposal, Judges 4 .2 -3 and verse 13. Eventually the two forces met on the battlefield, Barak emerged victorious, and Sisera lost his life at the hand of an opportunistic woman, Je-el, see tent peg.

That�s my own edition. Whenever I meet someone, they say they�re young, and they say the Bible�s boring. I always relate that story with my arm up in the air as I�m smashing the hammer down into Sisera�s temple, signifying Je-el.

Just think about all the brain matter everywhere, the blood, ooh. That�s the part you�re talking about that�s boring? Oh yeah, I didn�t read that. I thought so. While it�s clear enough that one providential factor in Barak�s victory was a flash flood 521 readers often miss a curious detail about the battle and its outcome.

From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera, 520. What does it mean that the stars fought from heaven and from their courses? It�s clear that the Bible speaks of the stars like an army, as the Hebrew word translated �host� in phrases like �the host of heaven.

It�s the same term used for human armies. But most scholars don�t think Judges 520 is about a horde of angels descending against Sisera�s forces. Rather, the language is likely a reference to a common ancient Near Eastern belief that the stars could foreshadow events in this case, defeat for Sisera.

The phrase �from their courses� lands weight to this perspective. The Hebrew word translated �course� is a term used frequently in the Old Testament for a road or highway. The statement that the stars fought from their courses could mean that the position or alignment of the stars communicated an unfavorable outcome.

Or it could be suggesting that the normal behavior of the signs in the sky had been altered, perhaps pointing to the appearance of a comet or an eclipse. Scholars have leaned toward the latter option, using an eclipse of 1131 B .C. to date the battle.

Here you have it. I did not know that. We just had the eclipse, and now I dare you that we have celestial messaging. What else? Something about Martin Luther. We had a great time in Germany as we looked at Luther.

Look at that. Here�s a book, Moody Press, long before Luther, �Tracing the Heart of the Gospel from Christ to the Reformation Nathan Busenitz. What do you know? My hope is built on nothing less than Schofield notes and Moody Press.

How did he get that deal? Wow, encountering Christ in the Psalms? That�s important. I appreciate that. What do we have here? Is there anything else that�s interesting? The faith of the just in Habakkuk.

How to interpret the theology intertwined for John Calvin from scripture to doctrine. Nothing like celestial imaging. The Bible from 30 ,000 feet, Skip Heitzig. I think he�s Calvary Chapel, isn�t he? Greg Laurie, I think, has become a Southern Baptist and he also has written a book about the faith of Steve McQueen.

Now, when I was trying to describe Steve McQueen to my kids, they knew him because of The Great Escape and I don�t know why the other show was Bullitt or something, but some of the younger ones don�t.

You have to say, okay, Steve McQueen and James Dean, kind of same thing and then who�s the guy now that died in the car wreck that they say is like the new James Dean? I don�t know. All right. We have the Christian Basics Bible, equips you with the tools you need to know biblical truths and to build your life on a firm foundation.

That�s the new living. Immerse yourself in scripture. We�ve got the big museum there inside our capital, DC, museumofthebible .org. I haven�t been. If you�ve been, maybe you�ll let me know. If you like it or not.

And then we have one thing in here that should prove interesting. Joel E. Kim has the Living in God�s Grace, Eight Weeks in Romans series and Joel Kim is at Westminster Escondido and I believe he is the new professor.

Robert Godfrey has retired and now Joel E. Kim is the president of Westminster Seminary California, PCA guy. So how about that? I want to say he was there and then got promoted. Does that seem to make sense?

Okay. And then the very back, of course, which is important in books like this. This is the Bible Study, Bible Reformation, Faith Life. Oh, it�s Faith Life. So I think that�s Lagos, September, October.

In the back, this is what we�re leading up to here. This is why you pay big money for this show. Death in Adam, Life in Christ. Yay. Romans 5, 1 to 21, ESV, Yay, and it�s a puzzle. And so it�s got all the letters across columns and rows.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and you have to circle the words. It could be diagonal. It could be reverse diagonal. It could be and these are the words that you have to find in the special little puzzle.

You got the puzzle. This is in the comics and puzzle section. The comic says, as someone�s nailing a piece of paper to a door that says, �Milk, Eggs, and Bread the comic says, �It doesn�t have quite the same impact when you post mom�s grocery list on Mr. Wittenberg�s door.

Can I get a job doing that? We need a little extra, you know, here at No Compromise Radio. That would be a good way to maybe get some. The words that you want to try to circle here in this book, they are abounded.

Okay, I like that. Adam, character, that�s early on in the chapter. Christ, death, died, endurance, following, free, gift, grace, Jesus, justification, life reconciled, reign, rejoice, sinners, therefore, trespass.

I found �as. I found �has. I found �sit. I found �yarn. Oh, I just found �endurance. I just found �grace. Let�s see what else. Bounded. Where�s bounded? There�s no bounded. Oh, abounded. Oh, abounded.

Blessed be the tie that binds, and I just found �trespass. Oh, brother. If you�d like to write me and have any shows that you would like me to talk about, maybe you want me to talk about John Murray�s new book, �O Death, Where Is Thy Sting

That�s at WTS .edu. Maybe you want me to talk about �eternal generation. Maybe we talk about �new perspectives. Maybe we talk about �justification by faith alone. Maybe you want to talk about Luther.

Maybe the five solas. If you have something you want me to talk about on No Compromise Radio, I�m always looking for something, because otherwise, I just get these little mini Jesus pocket figures that has a bonus bumper sticker in them.

That�s all I get. It�s the Jesus, pocket Jesus, is strength, and then I get the bumper sticker. So I mean, if you don�t call me and let me know, then I�m just resorted to things like this. This is on my desk.

Somebody just gave it to me, a mini Jesus pocket figure with an inspirational quote and then the bumper sticker. And here�s the bumper sticker. Oh, I wish I wouldn�t have read it. PocketJesusForYou .com.

It�s got a picture of Kenny Loggins, and it says, �Send Jesus a knee mail. Pocket Jesus is strength. Really? �Send Jesus a knee mail. And that�s what we�ve come to when it comes to this just Christian karma chameleon.

The bottom of this, it says, �TM�, that means trademark and copyright, �Rocket USA. And it�s got this, I don�t know, Jesus with bad hair. His hands are open like the top of the statue in Brazil, and then it says, �Strength.

All right. Well, there�s only so much I can do to stall around here. We are starting up this fall a Bible discipleship group in my study during Sunday school, Berkhoff reading certain segments, selections in the book of Systematic Theology Book, Berkhoff, Briefings in Berkhoff.

And so if you want to get Berkhoff, I would think that would be a good systematic theology for you to get. I�m re-reading Calvin now, the Latin edition. I think it�s 1560 instead of 1559. No, 1559 was Latin and 1560 was French, and that was the latest one that he dabbled in.

So I�m going to try to re-read that since I�ve read the McNeil Battles, but it�s just good to try to read. CEOs, did you know, read 60 books per year, the average CEO in the United States, and you can too.

If you want, you can order �Sexual Fidelity� and �Things That Go Bump in the Church� at BethlehemBibleChurches, excuse me, at NoCompromiseRadio .com. Both of those books get shipped out by me, and so if you want some of those, that would be great.

If you want a discount, just email info at NoCompromiseRadio .com. Well, my name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. Fred, you�ve been waiting for non-reruns. Today, are you sure it was worth it?

NoCompromiseRadio .com. Don�t forget about Israel and Jesus. 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.