November 22, 2025 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast, Hank shares a letter from a Methodist pastor who became an atheist while still leading his church.
Hank also answers the following questions:
Can you expound on John 4:22-23 in relation to Messianic Judaism and Jesus being the Torah made flesh? Ron - Springfield, MO (4:19)
I fell from the Lord. I read Psalm 71:1-11. How can I claim these things? Roger - St. Joseph, MO (7:26)
What is your opinion on the rapture? Where does the Bible talk about this? Dan - MN (15:11)
Is the cursing for disobedience in Deuteronomy 28:32-33 talking about African-Americans today? Gedaliah - St. Louis, MO (18:14)
Jesus says He is the “I Am” in John 8:58, but Colossians says Jesus is the firstborn. How to resolve this apparent contradiction? Ermias - St. Louis, MO (22:23)
Hank also answers the following questions:
Can you expound on John 4:22-23 in relation to Messianic Judaism and Jesus being the Torah made flesh? Ron - Springfield, MO (4:19)
I fell from the Lord. I read Psalm 71:1-11. How can I claim these things? Roger - St. Joseph, MO (7:26)
What is your opinion on the rapture? Where does the Bible talk about this? Dan - MN (15:11)
Is the cursing for disobedience in Deuteronomy 28:32-33 talking about African-Americans today? Gedaliah - St. Louis, MO (18:14)
Jesus says He is the “I Am” in John 8:58, but Colossians says Jesus is the firstborn. How to resolve this apparent contradiction? Ermias - St. Louis, MO (22:23)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're just in time for the best of the Bible
answer Man broadcast with Hank Canagraph, the radio outreach of
the Christian Research Institute. Our purpose here at CROI is
to equip Christians to provide Biblical answers to life's most
important questions, to read the Bible for all it's worth,
and counter the teachings of cults and world religions that
(00:29):
deviate from the plumb line of God's Word, because life
and truth matter. For more information, to order resources or donate,
call eight eight eight seven thousand CRII, or go online
to equip dot org. That's equip dot org. The following
program was pre recorded. Now here's the president of the
(00:52):
Christian Research Institute, Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
If you've ever wondered how important a ministry like the
Christian Research Institute it is, the following letter may underscore
its value in a way that you may have never
considered before. Here's a testimony, and this is from an
active Methodist pastor who says that he's also an atheist.
(01:17):
He goes on to side again the ministry full of
great dreams and full of faith in what I preached. However,
over time I began to realize that the truth I
was preaching wasn't so true. I resisted my doubt at first,
but the nagging in my brain wouldn't stop. So I
embarked on a journey of researching and discovering that what
(01:41):
I had believed for so long this wasn't true. I'm
still in the pulpit. There are a couple of reasons
for this. First, I made a commitment to my church
and my denomination to serve this appointment. Second, the financial issue.
If I walk away now, my family will suffer greatly.
(02:02):
Trust me, This decision to stay for now hasn't been
an easy one. Every week I feel like I am
a fraud. Every week I struggle with the fact that
I'm lying when I stand before my congregation. I'm leading
a double life. I do have an exit strategy, but
it will require some time. Until then, I will continue
(02:23):
to serve my church and fight the battle in my mind.
Thanks to the Clergy Project, I'm able to find a
supportive community who understands and encourages me during this time.
The friends I've made are invaluable. They're open, They're honest
with their struggles, and continually offer support not only to me,
but all the others in my position. And here you
(02:45):
have again a Methodist pastor who no longer believes that
the Christian worldview is true and in this kind of milieu,
and he is not alone. When I go home, I
have my kids carrying on debates on their computers with
people who are utterly demolishing the Christian faith. They think
it's nonsense, and so they're being equipped to respond in
(03:09):
the process becoming usable tools in the hands of the
Holy Spirit. And that's just the point. We ought to
be able to demonstrate that the Christian worldview corresponds to reality.
That God created the universe, where not functions, a random chance,
that nothing could not have created everything, that life could
not have come from non life, and it's simply a
stretch to believe that the life that came from non
(03:29):
life produced morals. We ought to be able to communicate
that Jesus rose from the dead. That's not something we
believe in blind hope, but rather we believe through faith
and evidence, and that the Bible is divine as opposed
to merely human in origin. Many of the answers that
one of my sons was asking me yesterday in witnessing
(03:51):
to a friend answered in a book called Has God Spoken?
So we kept going back to that book because the
canards thrown out by a person that didn't believe. We're
addressed in substance in my book Has God Spoken, and
that book available for those who support the ministry, those
who join the support team in fact, and we hope
(04:11):
many of you do. I'll send you a personalized copy
of Has God Spoken for your gift. A lot of
you hanging on. We'll go right to the phone lines.
First up is Ron listening in Springfield, Missouri. Hi.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Ron, Hi, how are you doing today?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I'm good.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
How are you? Oh?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Blessed is always always happy to get a chance to
talk to you too.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Here you're busy right now.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I'm coming from a verse in John and I would
like for maybe our dialogue to just open up from
here concerning Messionic Judaism and the message of Jesus being
the tour made flesh. And I really just want to
start on John four in verse twenty two. You Samaritans
(05:05):
worship that you do not know. We worship what we
do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a
time is coming and has now come, when the true
worshiper will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for
they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. Yes,
(05:26):
could you expound on that?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, I think there's a fundamental principle here that you
have to understand when you read the Bible for all
it's worth, or mind the Bible for all its wealth,
and that is there's a distinction between that which is
true Israel and that which is ethnic Israel. And that
distinction is made throughout the Bible, which is to say
that there are those who call themselves Jews, but they
(05:50):
are not. They're a synagogue of Satan, as you're read
in the Book of Revelations. So in Biblical theology, true
Israel is not function of your ethnicity or your genealogy.
It is a function of your relationship to Yahweh, the
God of Israel, revealed in Jesus Christ. So in the
Old Testament you can have Rahab or Ruth, though one
(06:14):
is a Canaanite the other a Moabite in the lineage
of Jesus Christ. In true Israel. The same thing is
true in the New Testament. You can have anyone who
believes in Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Greek, whether slave
or free, whether male or female, being the royal seed
(06:35):
of Abraham, and so in Biblical theology, Abraham only had
one seed. That seed is Jesus Christ. If you are
in Jesus Christ, then you are the seed of Abraham
or true Israel and an air according to the promise.
I've laid this out in great detail for you in
(06:56):
my book The Apocalypse Code. One of the problems from
MESSI I think Judaism, it's a potential liability, is to
go back to types and shadows when the ultimate sacrificial
lamb has come. So once you have Jesus Christ, going
back to civil and ceremonial laws or types and shadows
(07:17):
is anathema. It is in the words of the writer
of Hebrews, it is tantamount to trampling on the sacred
blood of Jesus Christ. When I got back to the phone lines,
doctor Roger listening in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Hi Roger, Hi, AINK,
how are you doing? I'm good?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
How are you? Paul?
Speaker 5 (07:35):
I'm just confused as all.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Hm. Well, let's see if we do something about it.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
All right, I've been at Christian since do more. My
mother was, I mean she raised me, toldally, scripturally, and
for the last three years anyway, I've just wrecked about
my whole life. And so I'm back and trying to
straighten it out. And you read the Bible and in
like Psalm seventy one through a liven how do you
(08:01):
claim those things? How you've praised him always and now
you've done this and that, and he asks for help.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, well, Roger, you're the perfect candidate. Christianity is not
for those who do everything right. The entrance requirements into
the Kingdom of God is to recognize that you are
hopelessly lost. You have no hope of saving yourself. So
you're turning to the one who can save you, and
that is Jesus Christ. He bridges the gap between your
(08:32):
sin and the righteousness of God. And therefore, if you
repent of your sin, which is a u turn on
the road of life, a change of mind, a change
of heart, a change of the will, and receive Jesus
Christ to save your lord of your life, then you
can have all of the riches of Scripture appropriated to you.
(08:56):
In other words, you are then eternally in Jesus Christ,
and now you're working from your salvation you're covered by
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You're yet a sinner, and
you will continue to struggle with sin until the day
that you die. So yeah, you're going to struggle. You're
going to continue even to struggle with your past. But
(09:17):
you are covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And
the one who justifies you, Roger, is also the one
who is daily conforming you to the image of Christ.
So he is, as it were, sanctifying you, transforming you
from the inside out. And that's an ongoing process. And
when you are subjectively involved in that process, you don't
(09:38):
think that there's a lot of headway in the right direction.
But trust me, people looking from the outside objectively at
your life recognize that you're making great strides.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Well that's very helpful, is you know, like say, you
square everything up and you read and you pray, and
you ready to go, and then you loading in tomorrow
and sooner, letter, it's going to get tired yearn for me.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Well, but remember there is change that takes place. You're
not going to be the same person a year from
now that you are today. You are daily being conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ. You're being changed from
the inside out. And the beautiful thing that you can
take heart in, Roger, is that the one who justified
you is also involved in sanctifying you. So it doesn't
(10:27):
only save you, but he changes you from the inside out.
So take heart in that. But you have to obviously
appropriate the means of grace, which is to say, you
should be part of a healthy, well balanced church. You
should be in the Word of God. You should be
building a relationship with the lover of your soul through prayer.
You should partake of the spiritual disciplines, because through the
(10:49):
spiritual disciplines you will ultimately affect growth in your life.
There's a book that I wrote in this regard that
might be very helpful to you. It's a book called
the Prayer of Jesus. If you hang on, I will
set it is my gift to you, along with the prayers,
that you will grow continuously in the grace and knowledge
of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Will be right
back with more answers to your questions. So please don't
(11:11):
touch that dial.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
To find out more about the materials mentioned on the show,
call a CRII Resource consultant toll free at eight eight
eight seven thousand cri that's eight eight eight seven thousand CRII.
Our website is also an excellent reference destination to help you,
just go to equip dot org and find articles by Hank, books,
(11:37):
CDs and DVDs. Again, that's equip DOTRG or write CRII.
PO Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, ZIP two
eight two seven one. The Bible answer Man will continue
in just a moment. Has God Spoken? Are the words
(12:08):
of Scripture merely human in origin? Or are they, in
fact the very words of God himself. Three years in
the making and based on two decades of research and reflection,
Hank Henagraph's monumental book Has God Spoken answers what is
surely the most important question facing our world. In Has
(12:28):
God Spoken? Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine inspiration, Hank
counters the contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly shows
that belief in the Holy Scriptures is not a guess
or wishful thinking. It is the only logical conclusion after
an honest examination of overwhelming evidence. Order Has God Spoken?
From the Christian Research Institute by Calling eighty eight seven
(12:52):
thousand CRII or go online to equip dot org. Equip
dot org. What the Angel said to them, do not
be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people today in the
town of David. A savior has been born to you.
(13:14):
He is Christ, the Lord. This will be a signed
to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths
and lying in a manger Luke chapter two, verses ten
through twelve. While many of you will soon enter the
hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Hank Canagraph has
penned The Heart of Christmas, a devotional for the season,
(13:35):
to ensure that just as you prepare your home for Christmas,
you likewise prepare your heart. Order The Heart of Christmas,
a devotional for the season, by calling eight eight eight
seven thousand and two seven four or by going online
to www. Dot equip dot org. Also available is The
Heart of Christmas audiobook, dramatically read by Hank Hanigraph Bertrand
(14:01):
Russell famously said most people would rather die than think,
and many of them do not so with CRI Support
Team members. Support Team members are not only serious thinkers,
but their membership and CRI's support team helps to equip
hundreds of thousands of fellow believers around the globe each
(14:22):
and every month. Are you not a member, then you're
missing out. Not only do Support Team members form the
backbone of Christian Research Institute's outreaches, but they enjoy their
selection of resources from our Equipping Essentials Library to discover
how you can make a difference twenty four to seven
and equipping believers at home and abroad to stand for
(14:45):
life and truth. Check out the benefits of membership at
equip dot org. Once again, that's equip dot org. And
(15:07):
now here's Hank Kanagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Thank very much, Randy, and let's go right back to
the phone lines. We'll talk next to Dan. He's listening
in Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Dan.
Speaker 6 (15:17):
I had just a couple of quick statements and and
then I was wondering. I wanted your opinion or your
take on it. And one is the rapture theory. And
when I read the Bible, it it just seems pretty
clear that Jesus borned just over and over again that
(15:41):
that state and will returns before he does, and not
to be don't let anybody misfead you or whatever. He
says that over and over again, and I was just
wondering because I hear a lot of people talk about
the raptor theory and stuff, and I just don't. I
don't see that when I beat it, and I was wondering,
(16:04):
now where it talked about that in the Bible?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Are vicdom Well, if you're asking about a pro tribulational rapture,
I don't think the Bible does teach that. And I
think that the passages that are often adduced in this
respect or passages that do not teach a pro tribulational rapture.
For example, first Thessalonians chapter four is a great and
glorious passage and a resurrection, and there's nothing in that
(16:29):
passage about a secret coming seven year tribulation, than a
second coming, than a thousand year semi golden age. Rather,
it talks about the return of Jesus Christ with a
loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trumpet call of God. So no, I don't think
the passages that people point to in scripture do teach
a pro tribulational rapture. The hope of the believer is
(16:53):
in the second appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
when he puts all things to write. At that time,
the dead arise, im mortal, imperishable, incorruptible, and the universe,
the world itself that now groans and travail, will be
liberated from its bondage to decay, and a new order
of things will be instituted in which there's no more death, mourning, crying,
(17:14):
or pain. For the old order things will have disappeared.
All things will become new. And as far as Satan
is concerned, let me say this, Satan is involved in
this world just as the world itself and the flesh
are involved in this world. And when the Bible talks
(17:35):
about the world, the flesh, and the devil, it's talking
about the temptations that all of us endure until the
time that we are glorified. And that is the time
that Jesus does appear again a second time and puts
all things to right. In the meantime, we have to
resist the temptations of the evil one by putting on
the full armor of God. And I've written about that
(17:57):
in a book called The Covering God's planned to protect
you from evil. So you can learn exactly what the
full armor of God is. That covering and how to
apply each piece of the full armor of God or
the covering, so that you are invincible in spiritual warfare.
Let's go back to the phone lines. We'll talk next
to get a liah. Nice to talk to you.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Hi, hank I'm gonna need a little long suffering from
your disc one, hank O. You know, instead of doing
an ancestry dot com type of thing, I believe a
history book to be the Bible, you know. And I
was doing some studying in Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight on
the curses for disobedience, and I'm just gonna go with
(18:43):
verses thirty two and thirty three when it says, well,
you know, thy sons and our daughter should be given
into another people, and our eyes should look and fail
with longing for them all the day long, and there
should be no mit in that hand, and think all
the curse for the disobedience for the people. And then
in that verse thirty six, where it say that thirty
(19:05):
seventy now should become an astonishment, a proverb and a
by word among all nations, whether the Lord shall lead
thee And I'm just trying to do a composite type
of like, you know, deductive reasoning type of situation. And
it seems to me like these people that the African
(19:26):
Americans in America today, would that be a decent hypothesis.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
No, not at all. In fact, to the point, here
is a general statement that applies in a specific situation,
and you have delineated specific verses which apply to that
specific situation. God is telling his people, the people who
are gathered together around types and shadows that point ultimately
(19:55):
to Jesus Christ, that if they follow in obedience, they
will experience blessing, but if they follow in disobedience, they
will experience cursings. And you are right to point to
Deuteronomy twenty eight thirty seven. You will become a thing
of horror, in an object of scorn and ridicule to
(20:18):
all the nations where the Lord will drive you, which
is to say, what God tells the people is that
if they do not follow the law of Moses, then
they will suffer cursing. Indeed, if they follow the detestable
ways of the pagan nations in the land before them,
(20:38):
the land will volmit them out, just as it vomited
out the pagan nations who were in the land before
they were in the land. But the general principle applies
to all people at all times. Blessings for those who follow,
cursings for those who disobey. We, ultimately, as believers in
(21:01):
the infallible repository of redemptive revelation, believe that that principle
is applicable in the sense that we are called to
follow Jesus Christ, and when we do, we will experience blessings.
Now that does not mean that we will experience a panacea,
but we will experience the blessing of peace in the
(21:23):
midst of the storm. So this doesn't have anything to
do with African Americans. The Bible doesn't know anything about
race except or run the race where true Israel. If
we are in Jesus Christ, then we are Abraham, seed
and air according to the promise. Whether you're Jew or Greek,
whether you're Dutch, or whether you're African American, or whether
(21:44):
you're Italian, it really doesn't matter. We're all people and
God loves us because we are objects of His love.
And we can either spurn that love and God will
ratify that, or we can in hands and embrace our
love for Him by casting ourselves upon His righteousness and
(22:08):
mercy and justice, his love in Jesus Christ, who did
what we could never do. He lived the perfect life
which we could never live. And as a result that
we can be reconciled to God, not only for a time,
but also for eternity. Let's go to Ermaeus in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Speaker 7 (22:27):
Hi, thank you, I'm from Ethiopia.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Nice to talk to you.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
Thank you. I know I don't say thank you for
you standing for the truth. I heard you for the
last fifteen years.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 7 (22:39):
And I'm telling you from my heart, thank you for
you standing for the truth. Oh, bless you, Hank. My
question is Jesus said I am, Yeah, I am. Means
that he doesn't have any beginning or ending. But Karashians
one fifteenth said he's the first creative. What does it
mean he's the first creative?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Than well, and that she says the first born. And
you know, if you look at the Bible, and you
need to read scripture in l like a scripture always
and that's how you get the meaning of a word
in scripture. You look at how it's used within the
context of scripture. And I'll give you a couple of
examples of that. Ephrium is referred to as the Lord's
(23:18):
first born in Jeremiah thirty one, even though Manassa was
the one born first. As we see if you go
back to passages like Genesis forty one, in like fashion,
David is appointed the Lord's first born, the most exalted
of the kings of the earth, despite the fact that
he is the youngest of Jesse's sons. So he isn't
(23:40):
the first born in terms of chronology. He is the
first born in terms of pre eminence. And that's the
way first born is used with respect to Jesus Christ.
It's not a chronology of birth, but rather a pre eminence.
He is the pre eminent one, and thus we can
write they say he's the one who spoke in the universe,
(24:02):
leapt into existence. The mistake that cults like the Jehovah's
Witnesses make is they say first born means chronologically he
is the first one born, and thus they say that
God created him as his first born, and then he
becomes a junior partner in the creation of all other things.
And that's misunderstanding biblical terminology, or in the case of
(24:24):
the Witnesses, twisting it.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
So he was not created. Nobody created Jesus.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yet that's correct. Paul refers to Jesus as the firstborn
over all creation, and the passage that you're referring to
not the firstborn in creation. As such, Paul says, he
is before all things, and in him all things hold together. So,
as I mentioned previously, the force of the language is
(24:50):
such that the Jehovah's witnesses, who ascribed to the ancient
aryan heresy that the son is not preexistent and co
eternal with the Father, have been forced to take that
passage and insert the word other into the text, so
that he is the creator of all other things. And
therefore they can stay with this notion that he was
the first one born chronologically. But that's not what the
(25:11):
text means. He is the firstborn over all creation, not
the firstborn in creation. And this has to do again,
not with a sequence, but with pre eminence.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
What about the scripture you said in Jeremiah, which versus
that in Jeremiah.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, Jeremiah thirty one nine is the text. Ephraim is
referred to as the Lord's first born in Jeremiah thirty
one nine, even though Manassa was born first. And you
see that sequence of birth in Genesis forty one fifty one.
But you also see the same thing with respect to David,
where he's called the Lord's firstborn in Saw eighty nine,
(25:50):
verse twenty seven, despite the fact that he is the
youngest of Jesse's sons, as you see in First Samuel sixteen,
verses ten through thirteen. Coming up to a hard break,
Gonna have to leave it at that. These are the
correct references. You can check them out. Test all things,
hold fast to that which is good. We look forward
to seeing you're right back here next time with more
(26:10):
of the show.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Thank you for joining us for the Bible answer Man Broadcast.
If you'd like more information about the Christian Research Institute
or to order resources, just call eight eight eight seven
thousand CRII. That's eight eight eight seven thousand, two seven four,
or visit equip dot org, where you can listen live
or download archived broadcast. Again, that's equip dot org. You
(26:37):
can also write to us at Post Office box eighty
five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code two eight two
seven one. The Bible answer Man Broadcast is supported by
listeners like you. We're on the air because life and
truth Matter has God Spoken. Are the words of Scripture
(27:09):
merely human in origin, or are they, in fact the
very words of God himself. Three years in the making
and based on two decades of research and reflection, Hank
Henagraph's monumental book Has God Spoken answers what is surely
the most important question facing our world. In Has God Spoken?
(27:29):
Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine inspiration, Hank counters the
contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly shows that belief
in the Holy Scriptures is not a guess or wishful thinking.
It is the only logical conclusion after an honest examination
of overwhelming evidence. Ordered Has God Spoken from the Christian
Research Institute by calling eighty eight seven thousand CRII, or
(27:53):
go online to equip dot org. Equip dot Org
You're just in time for the best of the Bible
answer Man broadcast with Hank Canagraph, the radio outreach of
the Christian Research Institute. Our purpose here at CROI is
to equip Christians to provide Biblical answers to life's most
important questions, to read the Bible for all it's worth,
and counter the teachings of cults and world religions that
(00:29):
deviate from the plumb line of God's Word, because life
and truth matter. For more information, to order resources or donate,
call eight eight eight seven thousand CRII, or go online
to equip dot org. That's equip dot org. The following
program was pre recorded. Now here's the president of the
(00:52):
Christian Research Institute, Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
If you've ever wondered how important a ministry like the
Christian Research Institute it is, the following letter may underscore
its value in a way that you may have never
considered before. Here's a testimony, and this is from an
active Methodist pastor who says that he's also an atheist.
(01:17):
He goes on to side again the ministry full of
great dreams and full of faith in what I preached. However,
over time I began to realize that the truth I
was preaching wasn't so true. I resisted my doubt at first,
but the nagging in my brain wouldn't stop. So I
embarked on a journey of researching and discovering that what
(01:41):
I had believed for so long this wasn't true. I'm
still in the pulpit. There are a couple of reasons
for this. First, I made a commitment to my church
and my denomination to serve this appointment. Second, the financial issue.
If I walk away now, my family will suffer greatly.
(02:02):
Trust me, This decision to stay for now hasn't been
an easy one. Every week I feel like I am
a fraud. Every week I struggle with the fact that
I'm lying when I stand before my congregation. I'm leading
a double life. I do have an exit strategy, but
it will require some time. Until then, I will continue
(02:23):
to serve my church and fight the battle in my mind.
Thanks to the Clergy Project, I'm able to find a
supportive community who understands and encourages me during this time.
The friends I've made are invaluable. They're open, They're honest
with their struggles, and continually offer support not only to me,
but all the others in my position. And here you
(02:45):
have again a Methodist pastor who no longer believes that
the Christian worldview is true and in this kind of milieu,
and he is not alone. When I go home, I
have my kids carrying on debates on their computers with
people who are utterly demolishing the Christian faith. They think
it's nonsense, and so they're being equipped to respond in
(03:09):
the process becoming usable tools in the hands of the
Holy Spirit. And that's just the point. We ought to
be able to demonstrate that the Christian worldview corresponds to reality.
That God created the universe, where not functions, a random chance,
that nothing could not have created everything, that life could
not have come from non life, and it's simply a
stretch to believe that the life that came from non
(03:29):
life produced morals. We ought to be able to communicate
that Jesus rose from the dead. That's not something we
believe in blind hope, but rather we believe through faith
and evidence, and that the Bible is divine as opposed
to merely human in origin. Many of the answers that
one of my sons was asking me yesterday in witnessing
(03:51):
to a friend answered in a book called Has God Spoken?
So we kept going back to that book because the
canards thrown out by a person that didn't believe. We're
addressed in substance in my book Has God Spoken, and
that book available for those who support the ministry, those
who join the support team in fact, and we hope
(04:11):
many of you do. I'll send you a personalized copy
of Has God Spoken for your gift. A lot of
you hanging on. We'll go right to the phone lines.
First up is Ron listening in Springfield, Missouri. Hi.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Ron, Hi, how are you doing today?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I'm good.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
How are you? Oh?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Blessed is always always happy to get a chance to
talk to you too.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Here you're busy right now.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
I'm coming from a verse in John and I would
like for maybe our dialogue to just open up from
here concerning Messionic Judaism and the message of Jesus being
the tour made flesh. And I really just want to
start on John four in verse twenty two. You Samaritans
(05:05):
worship that you do not know. We worship what we
do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a
time is coming and has now come, when the true
worshiper will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for
they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. Yes,
(05:26):
could you expound on that?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, I think there's a fundamental principle here that you
have to understand when you read the Bible for all
it's worth, or mind the Bible for all its wealth,
and that is there's a distinction between that which is
true Israel and that which is ethnic Israel. And that
distinction is made throughout the Bible, which is to say
that there are those who call themselves Jews, but they
(05:50):
are not. They're a synagogue of Satan, as you're read
in the Book of Revelations. So in Biblical theology, true
Israel is not function of your ethnicity or your genealogy.
It is a function of your relationship to Yahweh, the
God of Israel, revealed in Jesus Christ. So in the
Old Testament you can have Rahab or Ruth, though one
(06:14):
is a Canaanite the other a Moabite in the lineage
of Jesus Christ. In true Israel. The same thing is
true in the New Testament. You can have anyone who
believes in Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Greek, whether slave
or free, whether male or female, being the royal seed
(06:35):
of Abraham, and so in Biblical theology, Abraham only had
one seed. That seed is Jesus Christ. If you are
in Jesus Christ, then you are the seed of Abraham
or true Israel and an air according to the promise.
I've laid this out in great detail for you in
(06:56):
my book The Apocalypse Code. One of the problems from
MESSI I think Judaism, it's a potential liability, is to
go back to types and shadows when the ultimate sacrificial
lamb has come. So once you have Jesus Christ, going
back to civil and ceremonial laws or types and shadows
(07:17):
is anathema. It is in the words of the writer
of Hebrews, it is tantamount to trampling on the sacred
blood of Jesus Christ. When I got back to the phone lines,
doctor Roger listening in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Hi Roger, Hi, AINK,
how are you doing? I'm good?
Speaker 1 (07:33):
How are you? Paul?
Speaker 5 (07:35):
I'm just confused as all.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Hm. Well, let's see if we do something about it.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
All right, I've been at Christian since do more. My
mother was, I mean she raised me, toldally, scripturally, and
for the last three years anyway, I've just wrecked about
my whole life. And so I'm back and trying to
straighten it out. And you read the Bible and in
like Psalm seventy one through a liven how do you
(08:01):
claim those things? How you've praised him always and now
you've done this and that, and he asks for help.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, well, Roger, you're the perfect candidate. Christianity is not
for those who do everything right. The entrance requirements into
the Kingdom of God is to recognize that you are
hopelessly lost. You have no hope of saving yourself. So
you're turning to the one who can save you, and
that is Jesus Christ. He bridges the gap between your
(08:32):
sin and the righteousness of God. And therefore, if you
repent of your sin, which is a u turn on
the road of life, a change of mind, a change
of heart, a change of the will, and receive Jesus
Christ to save your lord of your life, then you
can have all of the riches of Scripture appropriated to you.
(08:56):
In other words, you are then eternally in Jesus Christ,
and now you're working from your salvation you're covered by
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You're yet a sinner, and
you will continue to struggle with sin until the day
that you die. So yeah, you're going to struggle. You're
going to continue even to struggle with your past. But
(09:17):
you are covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And
the one who justifies you, Roger, is also the one
who is daily conforming you to the image of Christ.
So he is, as it were, sanctifying you, transforming you
from the inside out. And that's an ongoing process. And
when you are subjectively involved in that process, you don't
(09:38):
think that there's a lot of headway in the right direction.
But trust me, people looking from the outside objectively at
your life recognize that you're making great strides.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Well that's very helpful, is you know, like say, you
square everything up and you read and you pray, and
you ready to go, and then you loading in tomorrow
and sooner, letter, it's going to get tired yearn for me.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Well, but remember there is change that takes place. You're
not going to be the same person a year from
now that you are today. You are daily being conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ. You're being changed from
the inside out. And the beautiful thing that you can
take heart in, Roger, is that the one who justified
you is also involved in sanctifying you. So it doesn't
(10:27):
only save you, but he changes you from the inside out.
So take heart in that. But you have to obviously
appropriate the means of grace, which is to say, you
should be part of a healthy, well balanced church. You
should be in the Word of God. You should be
building a relationship with the lover of your soul through prayer.
You should partake of the spiritual disciplines, because through the
(10:49):
spiritual disciplines you will ultimately affect growth in your life.
There's a book that I wrote in this regard that
might be very helpful to you. It's a book called
the Prayer of Jesus. If you hang on, I will
set it is my gift to you, along with the prayers,
that you will grow continuously in the grace and knowledge
of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Will be right
back with more answers to your questions. So please don't
(11:11):
touch that dial.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
To find out more about the materials mentioned on the show,
call a CRII Resource consultant toll free at eight eight
eight seven thousand cri that's eight eight eight seven thousand CRII.
Our website is also an excellent reference destination to help you,
just go to equip dot org and find articles by Hank, books,
(11:37):
CDs and DVDs. Again, that's equip DOTRG or write CRII.
PO Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, ZIP two
eight two seven one. The Bible answer Man will continue
in just a moment. Has God Spoken? Are the words
(12:08):
of Scripture merely human in origin? Or are they, in
fact the very words of God himself. Three years in
the making and based on two decades of research and reflection,
Hank Henagraph's monumental book Has God Spoken answers what is
surely the most important question facing our world. In Has
(12:28):
God Spoken? Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine inspiration, Hank
counters the contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly shows
that belief in the Holy Scriptures is not a guess
or wishful thinking. It is the only logical conclusion after
an honest examination of overwhelming evidence. Order Has God Spoken?
From the Christian Research Institute by Calling eighty eight seven
(12:52):
thousand CRII or go online to equip dot org. Equip
dot org. What the Angel said to them, do not
be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people today in the
town of David. A savior has been born to you.
(13:14):
He is Christ, the Lord. This will be a signed
to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths
and lying in a manger Luke chapter two, verses ten
through twelve. While many of you will soon enter the
hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Hank Canagraph has
penned The Heart of Christmas, a devotional for the season,
(13:35):
to ensure that just as you prepare your home for Christmas,
you likewise prepare your heart. Order The Heart of Christmas,
a devotional for the season, by calling eight eight eight
seven thousand and two seven four or by going online
to www. Dot equip dot org. Also available is The
Heart of Christmas audiobook, dramatically read by Hank Hanigraph Bertrand
(14:01):
Russell famously said most people would rather die than think,
and many of them do not so with CRI Support
Team members. Support Team members are not only serious thinkers,
but their membership and CRI's support team helps to equip
hundreds of thousands of fellow believers around the globe each
(14:22):
and every month. Are you not a member, then you're
missing out. Not only do Support Team members form the
backbone of Christian Research Institute's outreaches, but they enjoy their
selection of resources from our Equipping Essentials Library to discover
how you can make a difference twenty four to seven
and equipping believers at home and abroad to stand for
(14:45):
life and truth. Check out the benefits of membership at
equip dot org. Once again, that's equip dot org. And
(15:07):
now here's Hank Kanagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Thank very much, Randy, and let's go right back to
the phone lines. We'll talk next to Dan. He's listening
in Minnesota.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Dan.
Speaker 6 (15:17):
I had just a couple of quick statements and and
then I was wondering. I wanted your opinion or your
take on it. And one is the rapture theory. And
when I read the Bible, it it just seems pretty
clear that Jesus borned just over and over again that
(15:41):
that state and will returns before he does, and not
to be don't let anybody misfead you or whatever. He
says that over and over again, and I was just
wondering because I hear a lot of people talk about
the raptor theory and stuff, and I just don't. I
don't see that when I beat it, and I was wondering,
(16:04):
now where it talked about that in the Bible?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Are vicdom Well, if you're asking about a pro tribulational rapture,
I don't think the Bible does teach that. And I
think that the passages that are often adduced in this
respect or passages that do not teach a pro tribulational rapture.
For example, first Thessalonians chapter four is a great and
glorious passage and a resurrection, and there's nothing in that
(16:29):
passage about a secret coming seven year tribulation, than a
second coming, than a thousand year semi golden age. Rather,
it talks about the return of Jesus Christ with a
loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trumpet call of God. So no, I don't think
the passages that people point to in scripture do teach
a pro tribulational rapture. The hope of the believer is
(16:53):
in the second appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
when he puts all things to write. At that time,
the dead arise, im mortal, imperishable, incorruptible, and the universe,
the world itself that now groans and travail, will be
liberated from its bondage to decay, and a new order
of things will be instituted in which there's no more death, mourning, crying,
(17:14):
or pain. For the old order things will have disappeared.
All things will become new. And as far as Satan
is concerned, let me say this, Satan is involved in
this world just as the world itself and the flesh
are involved in this world. And when the Bible talks
(17:35):
about the world, the flesh, and the devil, it's talking
about the temptations that all of us endure until the
time that we are glorified. And that is the time
that Jesus does appear again a second time and puts
all things to right. In the meantime, we have to
resist the temptations of the evil one by putting on
the full armor of God. And I've written about that
(17:57):
in a book called The Covering God's planned to protect
you from evil. So you can learn exactly what the
full armor of God is. That covering and how to
apply each piece of the full armor of God or
the covering, so that you are invincible in spiritual warfare.
Let's go back to the phone lines. We'll talk next
to get a liah. Nice to talk to you.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Hi, hank I'm gonna need a little long suffering from
your disc one, hank O. You know, instead of doing
an ancestry dot com type of thing, I believe a
history book to be the Bible, you know. And I
was doing some studying in Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight on
the curses for disobedience, and I'm just gonna go with
(18:43):
verses thirty two and thirty three when it says, well,
you know, thy sons and our daughter should be given
into another people, and our eyes should look and fail
with longing for them all the day long, and there
should be no mit in that hand, and think all
the curse for the disobedience for the people. And then
in that verse thirty six, where it say that thirty
(19:05):
seventy now should become an astonishment, a proverb and a
by word among all nations, whether the Lord shall lead
thee And I'm just trying to do a composite type
of like, you know, deductive reasoning type of situation. And
it seems to me like these people that the African
(19:26):
Americans in America today, would that be a decent hypothesis.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
No, not at all. In fact, to the point, here
is a general statement that applies in a specific situation,
and you have delineated specific verses which apply to that
specific situation. God is telling his people, the people who
are gathered together around types and shadows that point ultimately
(19:55):
to Jesus Christ, that if they follow in obedience, they
will experience blessing, but if they follow in disobedience, they
will experience cursings. And you are right to point to
Deuteronomy twenty eight thirty seven. You will become a thing
of horror, in an object of scorn and ridicule to
(20:18):
all the nations where the Lord will drive you, which
is to say, what God tells the people is that
if they do not follow the law of Moses, then
they will suffer cursing. Indeed, if they follow the detestable
ways of the pagan nations in the land before them,
(20:38):
the land will volmit them out, just as it vomited
out the pagan nations who were in the land before
they were in the land. But the general principle applies
to all people at all times. Blessings for those who follow,
cursings for those who disobey. We, ultimately, as believers in
(21:01):
the infallible repository of redemptive revelation, believe that that principle
is applicable in the sense that we are called to
follow Jesus Christ, and when we do, we will experience blessings.
Now that does not mean that we will experience a panacea,
but we will experience the blessing of peace in the
(21:23):
midst of the storm. So this doesn't have anything to
do with African Americans. The Bible doesn't know anything about
race except or run the race where true Israel. If
we are in Jesus Christ, then we are Abraham, seed
and air according to the promise. Whether you're Jew or Greek,
whether you're Dutch, or whether you're African American, or whether
(21:44):
you're Italian, it really doesn't matter. We're all people and
God loves us because we are objects of His love.
And we can either spurn that love and God will
ratify that, or we can in hands and embrace our
love for Him by casting ourselves upon His righteousness and
(22:08):
mercy and justice, his love in Jesus Christ, who did
what we could never do. He lived the perfect life
which we could never live. And as a result that
we can be reconciled to God, not only for a time,
but also for eternity. Let's go to Ermaeus in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Speaker 7 (22:27):
Hi, thank you, I'm from Ethiopia.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Nice to talk to you.
Speaker 7 (22:32):
Thank you. I know I don't say thank you for
you standing for the truth. I heard you for the
last fifteen years.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Oh thank you.
Speaker 7 (22:39):
And I'm telling you from my heart, thank you for
you standing for the truth. Oh, bless you, Hank. My
question is Jesus said I am, Yeah, I am. Means
that he doesn't have any beginning or ending. But Karashians
one fifteenth said he's the first creative. What does it
mean he's the first creative?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Than well, and that she says the first born. And
you know, if you look at the Bible, and you
need to read scripture in l like a scripture always
and that's how you get the meaning of a word
in scripture. You look at how it's used within the
context of scripture. And I'll give you a couple of
examples of that. Ephrium is referred to as the Lord's
(23:18):
first born in Jeremiah thirty one, even though Manassa was
the one born first. As we see if you go
back to passages like Genesis forty one, in like fashion,
David is appointed the Lord's first born, the most exalted
of the kings of the earth, despite the fact that
he is the youngest of Jesse's sons. So he isn't
(23:40):
the first born in terms of chronology. He is the
first born in terms of pre eminence. And that's the
way first born is used with respect to Jesus Christ.
It's not a chronology of birth, but rather a pre eminence.
He is the pre eminent one, and thus we can
write they say he's the one who spoke in the universe,
(24:02):
leapt into existence. The mistake that cults like the Jehovah's
Witnesses make is they say first born means chronologically he
is the first one born, and thus they say that
God created him as his first born, and then he
becomes a junior partner in the creation of all other things.
And that's misunderstanding biblical terminology, or in the case of
(24:24):
the Witnesses, twisting it.
Speaker 7 (24:26):
So he was not created. Nobody created Jesus.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yet that's correct. Paul refers to Jesus as the firstborn
over all creation, and the passage that you're referring to
not the firstborn in creation. As such, Paul says, he
is before all things, and in him all things hold together. So,
as I mentioned previously, the force of the language is
(24:50):
such that the Jehovah's witnesses, who ascribed to the ancient
aryan heresy that the son is not preexistent and co
eternal with the Father, have been forced to take that
passage and insert the word other into the text, so
that he is the creator of all other things. And
therefore they can stay with this notion that he was
the first one born chronologically. But that's not what the
(25:11):
text means. He is the firstborn over all creation, not
the firstborn in creation. And this has to do again,
not with a sequence, but with pre eminence.
Speaker 7 (25:24):
What about the scripture you said in Jeremiah, which versus
that in Jeremiah.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, Jeremiah thirty one nine is the text. Ephraim is
referred to as the Lord's first born in Jeremiah thirty
one nine, even though Manassa was born first. And you
see that sequence of birth in Genesis forty one fifty one.
But you also see the same thing with respect to David,
where he's called the Lord's firstborn in Saw eighty nine,
(25:50):
verse twenty seven, despite the fact that he is the
youngest of Jesse's sons, as you see in First Samuel sixteen,
verses ten through thirteen. Coming up to a hard break,
Gonna have to leave it at that. These are the
correct references. You can check them out. Test all things,
hold fast to that which is good. We look forward
to seeing you're right back here next time with more
(26:10):
of the show.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Thank you for joining us for the Bible answer Man Broadcast.
If you'd like more information about the Christian Research Institute
or to order resources, just call eight eight eight seven
thousand CRII. That's eight eight eight seven thousand, two seven four,
or visit equip dot org, where you can listen live
or download archived broadcast. Again, that's equip dot org. You
(26:37):
can also write to us at Post Office box eighty
five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code two eight two
seven one. The Bible answer Man Broadcast is supported by
listeners like you. We're on the air because life and
truth Matter has God Spoken. Are the words of Scripture
(27:09):
merely human in origin, or are they, in fact the
very words of God himself. Three years in the making
and based on two decades of research and reflection, Hank
Henagraph's monumental book Has God Spoken answers what is surely
the most important question facing our world. In Has God Spoken?
(27:29):
Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine inspiration, Hank counters the
contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly shows that belief
in the Holy Scriptures is not a guess or wishful thinking.
It is the only logical conclusion after an honest examination
of overwhelming evidence. Ordered Has God Spoken from the Christian
Research Institute by calling eighty eight seven thousand CRII, or
(27:53):
go online to equip dot org. Equip dot Org
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