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Pope and Circumstance
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. I just got done recording The Eight Temptations, and I was trying to think of a song that the Stones did from The Temptations, and I thought it was �Miss You.
Just kidding. It was �My Girl No, I think it was just �My Imagination. Is that not true? I think so. That�s pretty good harmony right there. If this was a show reviewing songs, that would be it.
Excellent. Well, you can always write me if you don�t like my music. I figured once we did the ELO stuff last time, we might as well do it this time, too, but now I can�t get rid of this. It�s hard to find good music, isn�t it?
There we go. Pope says serpent temptation in Bible is first fake news. Is this actually true, vaticannews .va? This is some type of isn�t this fake news? The Pope says serpent temptation in Bible is first fake news.
Pope Francis has denounced the snake tactics. Snake Plissken. Pope Francis has denounced Snake Plissken from Manhattan. The snake tactics. What�s a snake tactic? The snake did not, he also played for the Oakland Raiders, Kenny Stabler, remember him?
He denounced the snake tactics of those who spread fake news, saying, �The first case of misinformation is in the Bible when Eve is tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit. And he said, �Dire consequences can stem from such fake news as the Pope warned in a document.
This is actually from where is this from? This is my next one. I think it�s from vatican .va. According to this report here, I don�t know where it�s from, it doesn�t have it here. It�s a reader mode printer set up.
He urged social media users and journals to unmask manipulative tactics that foment division. Hmm. �Spreading fake news can serve to advance specific goals, influence political decisions, and serve economic interests the Pope said.
Well, here�s what I would have to say. When I went to Europe last year, it was kind of a rainy spring in Deutschland, and we flew to Rome, and we had some of the best that Rome offers. And we went to go see the Pope.
That�s a different paragraph, different subject. And I just thought, you know, we�re in town, so we got the tickets, and he�s there every Wednesday or whatever at St. Peter�s. They still have plenty of room there for migrants and stuff, but I hadn�t seen any there since I was there last time.
And the Pope got up to speak, and he goes around in the Popemobile and all that. It�s kind of this funky clown music, the kind of music that used to come from the old school bomb pop man in Nebraska selling icicles.
The ones we had, they had 7-Up, kind of a white bomb pop, and it had almost like carbonation. It had a bite to it. And then, of course, there was the red, white, and blue bomb pops where the blue tasted like blue raspberry.
What is blue raspberry, by the way? Raspberry beret. And then the red was, I don�t know, what flavor was that, cherry? And then the white, I think, was that 7-Up, heads down, thumbs up, 7-Up, bomb pop man.
No wonder we have people who listen that are 50 and above. I don�t get any of the demographic of the 20 to 30-year-olds anymore. Where are you? Car 54, where are you? And so when we went and saw the Pope, he got up to speak.
And so I was thinking, you know what? If I was able to get up and talk for, I don�t know how long his homily was�have you ever had homily? If you put enough butter on it, it�s not too bad. If I was able to get up for 10 minutes and talk, I would talk about sin and the Savior.
I�d talk about grace and gratitude. I�d talk about righteousness, unrighteousness, self-righteousness, righteousness of Christ. I would preach the gospel. Jesus dies not for His sins, but for our sins.
God raised Him from the dead. And faith in Christ Jesus alone, the God-man, the sin-bearer. I would do that. And what�s Francis do? I mean, of course he�s a false teacher. We know that. But, you know, when people come here on Sundays to Bethlehem Bible Church, the building here, I want people to walk in thinking, you know what?
If we want to hear about fake news, if we want to hear about the patriots, if we want to hear about social constructs, if we want to hear about education, if we want to hear about movie reviews, if we want to hear about book reviews, if we want to hear about other things, we can get that in the world.
We can get that on Fox, CNN, MSN, at Havad, but there�s only one place, and I don�t mean this is the only church, but there�s only one place where we can hear the good news about Jesus Christ saving sinners, and that�s at a local church where a man, a weak man, a frail man, a sinful man, gets up and preaches the anything but weak, anything but sinful, anything but frail, powerful, living, active, scrutinizing Word of God.
Can I get an amen? That little lead-up there, that preaching lead-up deserves some type of amen. Well, it didn�t deserve it, but I wanted it. Then for the pope to get up and talk about, don�t spend so much time on your phone and social media, spend more time with your family.
I mean, it�s just sheer moralism. If that�s what I�m supposed to do, well, then to get to heaven, I just need to do that perfectly? What if I�ve slipped up? What if I�ve messed up? What if I�ve sinned?
It�s just ridiculous. If you�re a Bible teacher, then teach the Bible, and of course, if you�re a false cult leader, then you�re going to say everything but. But still, I mean, even, I�m sure there are some Catholic masses where they talk about Jesus.
Please, just a little bit, maybe, from the pope? If not, I would say it�s like spreading fake news that can serve to advance specific goals, influence political decisions, and serve economic interest, don�t you think?
Don�t you think that�s probably something that would happen? Whoa, what is that? How did that happen? That is amazing. You know, this is also a temptation song. Did you know that? I�m not sure if you did, but when the pope calls education for truth, it makes me think of the temptations.
This is not just a job, it�s a mission, he said, for the journalists. I guess now journalists can serve as what, missionaries for the pope? Exploring the underlying causes of conflicts, he said, is what you should be working on.
Instead of breaking news, instead of news at 11, instead of all these things, you should be exploring the underlying causes of conflicts. How about, like, sin, but isn�t that your job, pope? I think it is.
This is the new intro music for No Compromise Radio. This is it. I think we�ve found it. This is amazing. Right here, just with a little saxophone in the background, we found the fake news truth shall set you free plagues of 2017.
You�re waiting for the lyrics to start, aren�t you? I know that. Me too. Took too long. Pope Francis releases 2018 World Communications Day message. This is vaticannews .va, and his message for the World Communications Day, Pope Francis calls for a journalism for peace in response to the threat of fake news, which, quote, �thrives on the absence of healthy confrontation with other sources of information end quote.
All right. So, see, they are mixed. They�re mixed here. What the Holy Father says, can you imagine you call him the Holy Father, and he�s talking about fake news? I wonder if he�d ever call into No Compromise Radio.
I doubt it. Maybe if he likes the Papa was a Rolling Stone. Dear brothers and sisters, communication is part of God�s plan for us and an essential way to experience fellowship. Made in the image and likeness of our Creator, we are able to express and share all that is true, good, and beautiful.
We are able to describe our own experiences and the world around us, and thus to create historical memory and the understanding of events. But when we yield to our own pride and selfishness, we can also distort the way we use our ability to communicate.
This can be seen from earliest times in biblical stories of Cain and Abel in the Tower of Babel. The capacity to twist the truth is symptomatic of our condition, both as individuals and communities. On the other hand, when we are faithful to God�s plan, communication becomes an effective expression of our responsible search for truth and our pursuit of goodness.
In today�s fast-changing world of communications and digital systems, we are witnessing the spread of what has come to be known as �fake news. This calls for reflection, which is why I have decided to return in this World Communications Day message to the issue of truth, which was raised time and time again by my predecessors, beginning with Pope Paul VI, whose 1972 message took as its theme �Social Communications at the Service of Truth.
In this way, I would like to contribute to our shared commitment to stemming the spread of fake news and to discover the dignity of journalism and the personal responsibility of journalists to communicate the truth.
Now, that�s as bad as it gets. So you get an opportunity to talk about the Lord Jesus, and this is what you talk about? This is why I have zero respect for this office and for this particular pope, because it�s not just disinformation, it�s not just, I mean, you want to talk about lies, you want to talk about the father of lies, you want to talk about sin, it�s amazing.
I cannot take it anymore. Alright, is there anything in here about Jesus? I mean, this goes on and on and on and on. Here�s how he ends it, with a Franciscan prayer. Make us instruments of your peace.
Help us to recognize the evil, latent in a communication that does not build communion. Help us to remove the venom from our judgments. Help us to speak about others as our brothers and sisters. You are faithful and trustworthy, may our words be seeds of goodness for the world.
Where there is shouting, let us practice listening. Where there is confusion, let us inspire harmony. Where there is no compromised radio, let us tune in daily. Where there is ambiguity, let us bring clarity.
Where there is exclusion, let us offer solidarity. Where there is sensationalism, let us use sobriety. Where there is prejudice, let us awaken trust. Where there is hostility, let us bring respect. Where there is falsehood, let us bring truth.
Amen? Amen. That�s exactly right. That�s the prayer from Pope Francis. Has there been a kookier Pope ever? Has there been a more left-wing Pope ever? This is, I don�t know how people put up with it. I mean, it is amazing to me what people will do when they abandon truth.
This is what you get. This is the Pope the Catholic Church deserves, that�s all I have to say. All right, what else do we have? From Justin, �Hey, just an idea for a show topic. I have loved MacArthur and Sproul�s friendship over the years.
How about a show or two talking about the differences between dispensationalism and covenant theology? What then is new covenant theology? I don�t know how current bro Mike is on the shows, but that is one I�d like to hear.
Well, I think I want to do that, bro Justin, but I don�t have the means at the moment because I�d like to, you know, how do we do shows here at No Compromise Radio? Well, we just throw them together.
Obviously you can tell that, but I want to just put a few things down and then on the computer and then we�ll do the show. Coming from a dispensational background, and I have dispensational friends of course, I first of all wanted to find what is dispensationalism, and there�s a spectrum, and then what is covenant theology, and there�s a spectrum, and where do we lie?
If you want me to just say it briefly, I think the way you should look at the world as the Bible has taught you to look at is through a system of covenants. God is a God to his people, and when you think of the three covenants that, as far as I�m concerned, right now we won�t deal with any kind of eschatology, but the covenant between the Father and the Son, covenant of redemption, the covenant of works, Adam, the covenant of grace, Christ.
This is what God has done. It seems to me that dispensationalism has at least the old seven, you know, Darby kind of Schofield dispensations. Here�s a test for man, here�s how man fails, here�s the next test, and that seems to be very man-centered versus God being a God to his people, so we�ll do that sometime, won�t we?
I think we will. Thanks, Justin, for writing in, appreciate the free coffee. I don�t know if the show is going to be any good or not, but I find it fascinating that you�ve got the Tortured for Christ movie coming out, TorturedforChrist .com from The Voice of the Martyrs.
That should be interesting. If I were to try to make a lot of money, probably one of the best ways to do it, at least it seems like it from the advertisements in Christianity Today, deal with pornography in a biblical way, and it seems to me that that is very, well, of course it�s needed, but it seems like it�s, they pay for a lot of ads, that�s certainly the case.
All right, what else do we have here in No Compromise Radio? All right, let�s, we�re 16 minutes in. How can I go back and deal with my series here on sovereignty and responsibility when I�m already 16 minutes in?
I can�t do that. So, let me just read something from Galatians chapter 4, �But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
And because you were sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, �Abba, Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. When I was preaching Romans chapter 8 at Faith Bible Church in Marietta, California a couple weeks ago, I was talking about this very passage, crying, �Abba, Father because there�s something similar in the middle of Romans chapter 8.
And St. Clair Ferguson talks about this word �cry� as not a baby whimpering. It�s a shriek, and when you fall down and hurt yourself as a kid, you cry, �Daddy and that, you know, �I need help from you and the Spirit of God for the Christian prompts you to call out in the midst of a trial, I was going to say crial, that�s a crying trial is a crial, and that is a testimony to the work of God in your life when the Spirit has you do that.
It�s not crying, �Abba, Father it�s a shriek, it�s a yell, it�s a bellowing out for help, not a little whimper, not just, you know, a kid kind of barely crying. And when I said that cry, I kind of cried out, and a kid in the audience, a little one, started crying out pretty loudly.
And I said, that was second service, I said, �Where was this baby, you know, at the first service? Where was that baby at? Where is you at That is a sign of your Christianity is when you�re hurting, you cry out to help for God as a son would to a father.
All right, what else here is in Christianity Today? C .S. Lewis, Summer Institute, Communicating the Gospel, C .S. Lewis Style. No thanks. Oh, man, Communicating the Gospel, C .S. Lewis Style. What style would that be?
I mean, let�s just think about it. You know, I�m not a big C .S. Lewis fan. Obviously, the guy could write, but his theology was, you know, there�s a lot of heterodoxy in there, let�s put it that way.
What if I would say this? Let�s just forget C .S. Lewis for a minute. How would I advertise this? This is at Wheaton College, by the way. Communicating the Gospel, John Calvin Style. Communicating the Gospel, Martin Luther Style.
Communicating the Gospel, Meredith Klein Style. That would be with a dash. Communicating the Gospel, Ann Voskamp Style. That would be with rambling words that don�t make sense, emotionally driven. Communicating the Gospel, Sarah Young Style.
That would be no gospel at all. But see, it just doesn�t sound right. Communicating the Gospel, C .S. Lewis Style. I went back and was rereading some of Mere Christianity. That�s a big sound out there, this ice coming down.
And I thought, you know, I thought I liked it when I first became a Christian, but I didn�t know any different. I didn�t know anything about penalty substitution. I didn�t know anything about hardly anything.
I just thought it was kind of tricky, liar, lunatic, lord, although that�s from someone else too, previous to when C .S. coined it. Anyway, if you reread it, I don�t think you�re going to find much that you�re going to like.
Leadership seminars. We�ve got expos for leadership, and we�ve got expos and leadership things that you can go to. Jesus Christ says, �Come in the flesh. Doctoral student at Trinity. Hey, we don�t get much doctrine here in this Christianity today.
So, hey, how about the First Testament? John Goldengay, �Hear God�s Word in a New Way, Sneak Peek. Psalm 23, �My shepherd being Yahweh I don�t lack. He enables me to lie down in grassy pastures. He leads me to settled water.
He turns my life back. Amen for Yahweh there. We�ve talked about that on the show other times, but I don�t know. The First Testament, a new translation by John Goldengay. I prefer committees. David Lamb said, �A fresh alternative, providing a rare glimpse into the language, culture, and worldview of ancient Israel.
Hmm, hmm. What about surrogacy? There�s a whole chapter on that. Interesting. �Ten Bible translations you�ve never heard of. Okay. You know, actually, I like that title, don�t you? That seems nice.
It wants me to kind of ask what those are. What do you mean I haven�t heard of those? This is the Four Gospels, Penguin Classics, E-V-R-U, R-I-E-U, is that how you say it? Roo? So that�s called the Four Gospels.
There�s the New Testament in Modern English by J .B. Phillips, I�ve heard of that. Tyndale, the October New Testament, New Matthew Bible. I have the Tyndale translation, but I don�t know who this Ruth Magus and Davis is.
William�s New Testament in the Language of the People. I don�t think I have a copy, but I know about it. N .T. Wright, the Kingdom New Testament, a contemporary translation. That�s all we need is N .T. Wright coming up with a new translation.
In the beginning was the Word, the Word was close beside God, and the Word was God. In the beginning He was close beside God. All things came into existence through Him. Now, one thing that exists came into existence without Him.
Life was in Him. And this life was the light of the human race. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. Why do we want a New Testament translation from Him? Well, here�s what the preface says.
Because translating the New Testament is something that, in fact, every generation ought to be doing. This is a special, peculiar, and exciting point about the very nature of the Christian faith. Just as Jesus taught us to pray for daily bread, we can never simply live on yesterday�s bread, on the interpretations and translations of previous generations.
I just have one word for that, �forget you. That�s no good. The New Testament with an analysis of several books and chapters, John Wesley, never heard of that. Don�t you think you want to do them all?
God�s New Covenant, a New Testament translation by Heinz Kassier, Erdman�s 1989, don�t know that. So, I know about half of them. Gospel of Luke and Ephesians, First Nations version, the New Testament by Regimund Latimore.
I think this is going to prove to be a very interesting radio.
Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio. 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.