January 8, 2026 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (01/08/26), Hank addresses criticisms of Noah’s flood being comical.
Hank also answers the following questions:
When a Christian struggles with fear, is going to a counselor for help permissible? Tammy - New Egypt, NJ (3:20)
If Jesus became sin per 2 Corinthians 5:21, does that mean for a moment God hated Jesus because God hates sin? Jordan - KS (15:44)
Why did God reject the sacrifice of Cain but accepted the sacrifice of Abel? Was it the blood? Patsy - Bradford, AZ (20:36)
Hank also answers the following questions:
When a Christian struggles with fear, is going to a counselor for help permissible? Tammy - New Egypt, NJ (3:20)
If Jesus became sin per 2 Corinthians 5:21, does that mean for a moment God hated Jesus because God hates sin? Jordan - KS (15:44)
Why did God reject the sacrifice of Cain but accepted the sacrifice of Abel? Was it the blood? Patsy - Bradford, AZ (20:36)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From the Christian Research Institute and Charlotte, North Carolina. You're
listening to the Bible answer Man broadcast with Hank Canagraph.
We are on the air because life and truth matter.
The mission of the Christian Research Institute is to equip
believers to always be prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you, to give the reason for the
(00:27):
hope that you have with gentleness and respect. For more
information resources or to donate to CURI, call eight eight
eight seven thousand CRI, or go online to equip dot org.
The following program was pre recorded and now here's Bible
answer Man host Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Thank you very much. Randy. Want to start out with
an entry in my Creation answer Book, the book in
which I answer somewhere between seventy five and one hundred
questions and origins of the issues that I've dealt with
is Noah's flood, because from the perspective of a biblical worldview,
the primordial del huge is the most catastrophic event in
(01:13):
the history of humanity, and yet from the perspective of
internet spoofers, it's also the most comical. But is it
really silly as they suppose? Well, I respond by saying
that common sense demands that we allow for both natural
(01:35):
and supernatural explanations to make sense of the universe in
which we live. Realities such as the origin of life
and the phenomenon of the human mind pose intractable difficulties
for merely natural explanations, and then reason forces us to
look beyond the natural world to a supernatural designer who
(01:59):
not only sustains the world, but supernaturally intervenes in the
affairs of his created handiwork, which is precisely with a
genesis flood account entails. And if we're willing to believe
that God created the heavens and the earth, as opposed
to the untenable notion that nothing created everything, that life
(02:22):
came from non life, and that the non life produced morals,
there's little difficulty believing that Geness's flood account. Flood caricatures
all seem to have a common threat, a close mindedness
that permits natural but precludes supernatural explanations. For an event
(02:45):
such as the primordial deluge or Noah's flood. We can
believe in Noah's flood, the Bible teaches Noah's flood, and
we can show that the Bible is divine as opposed
to merely human in origin. And again I do with
this not only in the Creation answer Book, but also
has God Spoken, where I point out that even corrupted
(03:07):
flood accounts point to the real McCoy. So these books,
they're intended to equip you to always be ready to
give an answer, a reason for the hope that lies
within you. Withou gentleness and with respect, let's go right
to the phone calls. First up, Tammy, New Egypt, New Jersey. Hi, Tammy, Hi.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
My question is when a Christian is struggling working through
some fears and strongholds and going to Christian counseling and
just trying to work through them and having a hard
time doing so by also using a so called Christian
psychology or Christian psychiatry, is that kind of contradicting really
scriptural truths?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, not necessarily. I mean, if it's truly biblical counseling,
then it begins with the premise that people are sinners
in need of a savior. But oftentimes you find that
the world has invaded the Church rather than the Church
invading the world, and as a result, you have psychological
constructs which begin with the premise that man is basically good,
(04:12):
so they start with a flawed foundation. You got to
remember Sigmund Freud, who was the founder of modern psychology,
was also a faithful follower of Charles Darwin, and his
belief that man was merely a sophisticated animal led him
to postulate all kinds of fallacies, including the notion that
(04:33):
mental disorders were the vestiges of behavior that had been
appropriate in earlier stages of evolution. So he started with
a flawed premise. Make sure then that the counseling you
are getting is truly biblically based counseling, as opposed to
counseling that starts with the wrong presuppositions. And the reality
(04:56):
is this that every psychologist brings his or her bias
to the counseling process. So it's important again that the
psychotherapies are biblically based rather than based on a flawed premise.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
When it starts to delve deep into trying to pick
apart your past, searching for the reason why you're having issues,
that kind of stepping out of the.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Biblical sometimes and sometimes no, I mean, certainly the past
is an important factor in determining present behavior, but the
issue of sin has to be at the root of
where you start with the construct that you are imposing
(05:42):
in the psychological discernment process, because you have to realize
that people are sinners in need of a savior, as
opposed to the notion that people, as I said before,
are basically good. And the popularity of psychotherapy is more
the result of the church's failure to nurture its members
(06:03):
than the myth that it is the great solution to
all of our problems. So again I'm not simply pupooing this.
I'm just saying that the problem with a lot of psychotherapies,
even if they go under the flag of Christianity, oftentimes
they've been polluted by a false premise at its very foundation,
and you've got to be careful of that. So good
(06:26):
counseling is what you need, and you have to start
with a principle that every single maxim for successful daily
living is found in the Bible. Every problem ultimately has
a spiritual route to it. We're all sinners and as
(06:46):
a result of that, we suffer from all kinds of
common maladies, and so what we don't want to say
psychiatry is bad, but if it is based on principles
that are more evolutionary in concept rather than biblical in concept,
which is quite often the case. Then we have a
flawed premise, and often it leads to a flawed psychotherapy.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Is there any truth? A pastor have told me that,
like a certain issues of what I was speaking with him,
that was a demonic oppression. Not so much fear and strong.
You just generalized demonica opression. You just need ministry, not psychology.
He felt that the psychology and psychiatry will stem from
old paganistic rituals. Is there any truth to that?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You know?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well? Again, I think that there is some truth to that.
But that does not mean that psychotherapies in the present
are all completely unredeemable or unusable. But here's the principle.
We must examine psychology through the lens of the Bible
rather than examining scripture through the lens of psychology. So
(07:53):
we need to make sure that we don't have the
cart pulling the horse, but we have the horse pulling
the cart. As far as the question with respected demonology
is concerned, this is another problem. Often times in even
biblical counseling, we have this presupposition that Christians can be
demon possessed and as a result of that.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Well, oppression is different than possessed.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Well what does that really mean? You know, we need
to make sure we don't get stuck in a linguistic
halimrrors here, because there are all kinds of kind of
weird interpretations of what that means. Certainly we have the world,
the flesh, and the devil to contend with, but how
do we contend with that. We contend with that biblically
by putting on the full armor of God. If we do,
(08:39):
we're invincible in spiritual warfare. If we do not, we're
guaranteed casualties. But if you have this idea that Satan
can be at the root of your problem, Let's say
you have cancer, You've got a cancer demon, or if
you have some kind of psychosomatic malady, Satan's at the
root of it. You can often look at your problem
(09:02):
as being a problem that you solve in a mystical fashion,
as opposed to really getting the root of the problem. So,
for example, if someone comes in and says, well, I
get a problem with lust, and the counselor says, well,
you know, here's the issue. You have the demon of lust.
Let's get rid of the demon of lust which is
oppressing you or possessing you. Then you have an attended benefit. Well,
(09:24):
I'm not even the one to blame. And that's why
I say you get to start with the premise in
biblical counsel that people are sinners in need of a savior,
that sin is at the root, at the heart of
the problem, and not the premise that man is basically
good and it is an in dwelling demon who is
mainly at fault, and the cure is getting rid of
(09:45):
the demon. That's a magic solution that doesn't correspond to reality.
Perhaps we have something to help you here at the
Christian Research Incident in terms of an article. If you
hang on, we'll see if we can dig.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Something up for you.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Thanks for your call, Thank you, You've got it. So
often we have articles in the Christian Research Journal and
these critical cutting edge issues and we provide a balanced
biblical perspective, and certainly do that with respect to psychology.
It is an absolute must. I mean, I learned so
much myself by reading articles in the Christian Research Journal
(10:21):
and continue to be edified, equipped, exhorted, and encouraged, and
it helps me greatly in doing what I do on
the Bible Instrument broadcast. I want to find out more
about that, and you can go to the web at
equipped dot org. And again, remember that when you give
to this ministry, you're not merely giving to an organization,
but through a ministry, the Christian Research Institute, so that
(10:45):
we can touch the lives of people for time and
for eternity. This is an eternal enterprise. We're dealing with
the souls of people and equipping you to have a
maximum impact through the power of the Holy Spirit. Well,
be right back with more of your questions.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
The famous British apologist GK. Chesterton once noted, the true
soldier fights not because he hates what is in front
of him, but because he loves what is behind him.
Because at CRII we love what is behind us, our faith,
our families, and our freedoms. We will never retreat quietly
from the growing assaults on life and truth, even when
(11:24):
the costs are great. We will stand to join like
minded friends in making a difference at home and around
the globe, and to equip fellow believers to stand their
ground courageously. Become a member of CRI's support team. Simply
call eight eight eight seven thousand CRII that's eight eight
eight seven thousand CRI. Or visit our website at equip
(11:48):
dot org. Stay with us. Hank Canigraph will return in
a few moments. Bertrand 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
(12:12):
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 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
(12:36):
Essentials library to discover how you can make a difference
twenty four to seven and equipping believers at home and
abroad to stand for life and truth. Check out the
benefits of membership at equip dot org once again, that's
equip dot org. Has God spoken? Are the words of
(13:08):
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
(13:28):
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. Ordered Has God Spoken?
From the Christian Research Institute by calling eighty eight seven
(13:51):
thousand CRII, or go online to equip dot org equip
dot org. The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is
the comprehensive collection of the most often asked questions Hank
Hannigraph has received throughout his four decades as host of
the Bible answer Man broadcast. With more than half a
(14:14):
million copies already in print, this newly revised and expanded
Collector's Edition helped seekers and skeptics alike sort through the
truth on topics such as reliability of the Bible, religions
and cults, the resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues
vital to a better understanding of God in Christ and
(14:34):
our relationship to him. To receive your copy of the
Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition, Revised and Expanded, call
eight eight eight seven thousand CRII and make a gift
to support the Christian Research Institute's life changing outreaches eight
eight eight seven thousand CRII or visit us at equip
(14:56):
dot org. Now back to the Bible answer Man with
Hank Hannagraph. To find out more about the materials mentioned
on the show, call a CRII resource consultant toll free
(15:17):
at 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,
CDs and DVDs and all the latest news on your
faith in our world. Again, that's equip dot org. And
(15:39):
now once again here is Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Say very much, Randy. Let's go right back to where
phone callers. Next up is Jordan. He's listening in Kansas,
Sie Jordan, Hi, Hank, how I'm good.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
Great. First of all, I'll say thank you for your program.
It really blesses me.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Well, bless you, thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Henk. I had a question about second Current five point
one Bible says that God made him who had no sin,
to be sin for us. Okay. Also the Bible talks
about God hates sin. So my question is, is if
Jesus became sin for us so that we may be righteous?
Did God hate Jesus for a brief moment?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Good question, and it underscores a problem which relates to
the art and science of biblical interpretation. God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, says Paul.
But what he's doing there is he's using a word
or a phrase substituted for another associated word or phrase,
(16:45):
which is to say, since it is impossible that Christ
or any person could be literally made sin, you can't
take this as a way of saying that Jesus Christ
literally became sin, because to interpret that passage of saying
that Christ was transformed into sin is to strip the
(17:09):
Savior of his personal being. It's to reduce him to
a mere abstraction. And not only is that notion unbiblical,
it's utterly absurd. Jesus did not literally become sin. Sin
was imputed to him. So the idea is he is
(17:32):
the unblemished lamb upon whom the sins of the world
were laid. He is not in any way touched by sin,
and therefore he's a sweet smelling savor unto God. He's
the unblemish lamb. If he was blemished in any sense,
he could not be our sacrifice. All you have to
(17:54):
do is look back to the types in shadows that
pointed forward to him as the un blemish lamb upon
whom the sins of the world were laid. So you
have to read this in the sense in which it's
intended and recognize that sin is a deprivation of good
(18:15):
and as such, sin is characterized by a lack of
something rather than being something in itself. It's not an
ontological reality in itself. So what's really going on here
is he becomes the sin bearer. He doesn't become sin itself. Again.
(18:37):
To reduce him to sin would be to communicate an
unbiblical notion that is utterly absurd.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
That makes perfect sense. I believe completely in reading the
Bible for all it's worth, as you say, and that's
baffled me for quite a while, and I can never
find an answer.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah. Actually, there's a book that I dealt with the
very question in because it's an issue so often brought
up by the faith teachers. They say that Christ became sin,
and they use that as a pretext for the fact
that Jesus Christ had to be born again. And so
I dealt with this in a book called Christianity in
Christis twenty first century, so it's available there. Also deal
(19:20):
with the question what is sin and point out that
it's a deprivation of something rather than a nontological reality
itself in my book The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Great, great, thank you, Hank. You know, honestly, I don't
agree I to ie with everything that you say, but
you know, the important thing is that we believe Jesus
Christ is a savior. In one of these days, I'll
shake your hand and we're up there with our Lord.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah. And I like that because I'm not the final
quote of arbitration. That is not to say that I
don't take very seriously what I do, which is to say,
I have a healthy fear of God with respect everything
that I say, So I don't simply say something off
the cust. I try to think through what I say.
Because there's a platform here, there's teaching here, and with teaching,
(20:06):
there is a stricter judgment, so I'm well aware of that.
But I don't expect you to believe everything I say.
I do expect you to test everything I say and
then hold fast that which is good. And then we
can always stand shoulder to shoulder on a central Christian doctrine,
which is the line of demarcation between the Kingdom of
Christ and the kingdom of the cult, so that we
(20:27):
debate vigorously secondary issues and ultimately we learned.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
From one another.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
So I'm right there with you, sir.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Thank you. My friend Patsy next, she's listening in Bradford, Arizona.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Hi, Patsy, Hi, I want to ask you a question
about Kim and Ibel. I had always thought that the
sacrifice was started when God killed the animals in night
covering for Adam and Eve. And then we were talking
to a man the other night and he said, when
you say that scripture that says able sacrifice was accepted
(21:02):
and Caine's wasn't. It doesn't have anything to do with
the blood. It doesn't say the reason it was not accepted.
And I wanted you to tell me you know why
I wasn't it accepted?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Well, God knew what was in the heart of kin,
he knew his motivation forgiving, and that ultimately is at
the root of it. But having said that, there's also
typology that's going on here by which we can read
something more into the text in terms of a type
(21:35):
or a shadow, pointing ultimately in some sense forward to
the ultimate sacrificial lamb. But we don't want to extend
that typology beyond what is intended for. Ultimately, sin lurked
in the heart of Cain. His offering was given from
the wrong motive, and we can see this throughout the scripture.
(21:56):
I mean, we see that with Anonias and Saphira, they
could have kept everything, they didn't have to give it,
it was their own. But when they had a false motivation,
when they lied, and not only lied to men, but
lied to God, there was a penalty to their sin.
(22:17):
So ultimately it is what is in the heart of
the real difference between Able and Cain. Sacrifices was an
animal and plant, but true faith and sin. That's where
the distinction lies.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Okay, he said the sacrifices hadn't been established. The blood
sacrifice wasn't established until Abraham, you know. But I was
thinking if they were supposed to give a sacrifice, the
sacrifices had been you know, already established.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Well, the sacrificial system had not been established. The very
types and shadows the civilian ceremonial laws that would ultimately
set Israel apart as a light to the nations hadn't
been established in that sense. But principles are still principles,
and those principles still apply. We sacrifice everything to God,
(23:10):
don't we. I mean, we are living sacrifices to God
in our persons, which is to say, we hold everything
that we have with an open hand, so that God
can take out and put in as he sees fits.
So in some sense, though there is a tithe in
the Old Testament, and that tithe is uniquely geared or
(23:30):
established around a theocratic system, it doesn't mean that the
principle doesn't apply today. The principle still applies, Okay.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
And I noticed too, you know that. I mean God
gave kind of another chance. He didn't want to take it,
you know, because he told him right after that that
he could have you know, he was giving him another
chance to make a right sacrifice. So I guess it
was the heart, not of what he was bringing ye,
I've just never seen it that why.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, And again, that is the difference, That is the distinction,
that is what should be paramount in our thinking. Able
and Caine's sacrifices aren't delineated as being evil because one
is a plant sacrifice and the others an animal sacrifice,
but rather because something far grander is going on. The
(24:26):
difference between true faith and sin is being identified. Acceptable
worship is that which flows from a pure heart. And
it seems unwarranted to conclude that Abel's offering was accepted
because it was a blood sacrifice. In fact, the text
(24:47):
emphasizes offering, not sacrifice, and both offerings are referred to
as first fruit offerings. Thus the difference was one of
motivation or one of the heart.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Okay, I can truly understand that because I was a
lost church member for twenty years and when I was
twenty nine, Jesus saved me. Anyway, Praise and bless his
holy name. Ain'mmen, and thank high.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
When you were twenty nine, when I.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Was twenty nine, Jesus saved me. I was born again
when I've heard the sermon that caused me to see
myself as lost and on the way to hell, I
almost had to jump apew and run down the aisle
name Jesus as my savior. So I understand what you're
talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
And we have something in common because I bowed my
knee to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord when I
was twenty nine years of age, even though I grew
up in a Christian home. But I didn't want to
believe the Christian Gospel because I didn't want to live
within the parameters that got such fourth for us to
live within, and so I tried to rationalize them out
(25:48):
of existence. And so I bought into the evolutionary paradigm,
not because I couldn't believe, but because I wouldn't believe.
But all that changed when I was twenty nine years
of age. So we have that in common. Thanks again
for two in. We look forward to seeing you next
time with more of the broadcast.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
We appreciate you tuning in to the Bible answer Man broadcast.
Before we sign off today, here's our contact information by
phone dial eight eight eight seven thousand CRII, which translates
to eight eight eight seven thousand two seven four On
the Internet, go to equip dot org. That's equip dot org.
(26:26):
You can also write CRII at Post Office Box eighty
five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina. The zip code is two
eight two seven one. Our prayer is that today's broadcast
has equipped you to better defend your faith and encouraged
you to pursue sound doctrine and godly living. Thank you
for listening. The Bible answer Man broadcast is supported by
(26:48):
listeners like you. We're on the air because life and
truth matter to Anyone who's been paying attention knows there's
a war going on, not just on traditional morality, civility,
and decency, but even more fundamentally on historic notions of truth.
(27:12):
And the enemy isn't just the onslaught of fake news,
facilitated by a post truth culture and turbocharged by growing
legions of ideological spinductors. Note the real enemies of truth
range from postmodernist convictions that there is no objective truth
to militant scientism that claims that only science can determine
truth and religion is little more than primitive superstitions. But
(27:36):
CRI Support Team members are not waving a white flag
of surrender. They're holding the fort by undergirding everyone of
Christian research Institute's mind shaping and life changing outreaches twenty
four to seven. To learn how you can make a
difference and enjoy all the benefits of Support Team membership,
simply visit equip dot org
From the Christian Research Institute and Charlotte, North Carolina. You're
listening to the Bible answer Man broadcast with Hank Canagraph.
We are on the air because life and truth matter.
The mission of the Christian Research Institute is to equip
believers to always be prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you, to give the reason for the
(00:27):
hope that you have with gentleness and respect. For more
information resources or to donate to CURI, call eight eight
eight seven thousand CRI, or go online to equip dot org.
The following program was pre recorded and now here's Bible
answer Man host Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Thank you very much. Randy. Want to start out with
an entry in my Creation answer Book, the book in
which I answer somewhere between seventy five and one hundred
questions and origins of the issues that I've dealt with
is Noah's flood, because from the perspective of a biblical worldview,
the primordial del huge is the most catastrophic event in
(01:13):
the history of humanity, and yet from the perspective of
internet spoofers, it's also the most comical. But is it
really silly as they suppose? Well, I respond by saying
that common sense demands that we allow for both natural
(01:35):
and supernatural explanations to make sense of the universe in
which we live. Realities such as the origin of life
and the phenomenon of the human mind pose intractable difficulties
for merely natural explanations, and then reason forces us to
look beyond the natural world to a supernatural designer who
(01:59):
not only sustains the world, but supernaturally intervenes in the
affairs of his created handiwork, which is precisely with a
genesis flood account entails. And if we're willing to believe
that God created the heavens and the earth, as opposed
to the untenable notion that nothing created everything, that life
(02:22):
came from non life, and that the non life produced morals,
there's little difficulty believing that Geness's flood account. Flood caricatures
all seem to have a common threat, a close mindedness
that permits natural but precludes supernatural explanations. For an event
(02:45):
such as the primordial deluge or Noah's flood. We can
believe in Noah's flood, the Bible teaches Noah's flood, and
we can show that the Bible is divine as opposed
to merely human in origin. And again I do with
this not only in the Creation answer Book, but also
has God Spoken, where I point out that even corrupted
(03:07):
flood accounts point to the real McCoy. So these books,
they're intended to equip you to always be ready to
give an answer, a reason for the hope that lies
within you. Withou gentleness and with respect, let's go right
to the phone calls. First up, Tammy, New Egypt, New Jersey. Hi, Tammy, Hi.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
My question is when a Christian is struggling working through
some fears and strongholds and going to Christian counseling and
just trying to work through them and having a hard
time doing so by also using a so called Christian
psychology or Christian psychiatry, is that kind of contradicting really
scriptural truths?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, not necessarily. I mean, if it's truly biblical counseling,
then it begins with the premise that people are sinners
in need of a savior. But oftentimes you find that
the world has invaded the Church rather than the Church
invading the world, and as a result, you have psychological
constructs which begin with the premise that man is basically good,
(04:12):
so they start with a flawed foundation. You got to
remember Sigmund Freud, who was the founder of modern psychology,
was also a faithful follower of Charles Darwin, and his
belief that man was merely a sophisticated animal led him
to postulate all kinds of fallacies, including the notion that
(04:33):
mental disorders were the vestiges of behavior that had been
appropriate in earlier stages of evolution. So he started with
a flawed premise. Make sure then that the counseling you
are getting is truly biblically based counseling, as opposed to
counseling that starts with the wrong presuppositions. And the reality
(04:56):
is this that every psychologist brings his or her bias
to the counseling process. So it's important again that the
psychotherapies are biblically based rather than based on a flawed premise.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
When it starts to delve deep into trying to pick
apart your past, searching for the reason why you're having issues,
that kind of stepping out of the.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Biblical sometimes and sometimes no, I mean, certainly the past
is an important factor in determining present behavior, but the
issue of sin has to be at the root of
where you start with the construct that you are imposing
(05:42):
in the psychological discernment process, because you have to realize
that people are sinners in need of a savior, as
opposed to the notion that people, as I said before,
are basically good. And the popularity of psychotherapy is more
the result of the church's failure to nurture its members
(06:03):
than the myth that it is the great solution to
all of our problems. So again I'm not simply pupooing this.
I'm just saying that the problem with a lot of psychotherapies,
even if they go under the flag of Christianity, oftentimes
they've been polluted by a false premise at its very foundation,
and you've got to be careful of that. So good
(06:26):
counseling is what you need, and you have to start
with a principle that every single maxim for successful daily
living is found in the Bible. Every problem ultimately has
a spiritual route to it. We're all sinners and as
(06:46):
a result of that, we suffer from all kinds of
common maladies, and so what we don't want to say
psychiatry is bad, but if it is based on principles
that are more evolutionary in concept rather than biblical in concept,
which is quite often the case. Then we have a
flawed premise, and often it leads to a flawed psychotherapy.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Is there any truth? A pastor have told me that,
like a certain issues of what I was speaking with him,
that was a demonic oppression. Not so much fear and strong.
You just generalized demonica opression. You just need ministry, not psychology.
He felt that the psychology and psychiatry will stem from
old paganistic rituals. Is there any truth to that?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You know?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Well? Again, I think that there is some truth to that.
But that does not mean that psychotherapies in the present
are all completely unredeemable or unusable. But here's the principle.
We must examine psychology through the lens of the Bible
rather than examining scripture through the lens of psychology. So
(07:53):
we need to make sure that we don't have the
cart pulling the horse, but we have the horse pulling
the cart. As far as the question with respected demonology
is concerned, this is another problem. Often times in even
biblical counseling, we have this presupposition that Christians can be
demon possessed and as a result of that.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Well, oppression is different than possessed.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Well what does that really mean? You know, we need
to make sure we don't get stuck in a linguistic
halimrrors here, because there are all kinds of kind of
weird interpretations of what that means. Certainly we have the world,
the flesh, and the devil to contend with, but how
do we contend with that. We contend with that biblically
by putting on the full armor of God. If we do,
(08:39):
we're invincible in spiritual warfare. If we do not, we're
guaranteed casualties. But if you have this idea that Satan
can be at the root of your problem, Let's say
you have cancer, You've got a cancer demon, or if
you have some kind of psychosomatic malady, Satan's at the
root of it. You can often look at your problem
(09:02):
as being a problem that you solve in a mystical fashion,
as opposed to really getting the root of the problem. So,
for example, if someone comes in and says, well, I
get a problem with lust, and the counselor says, well,
you know, here's the issue. You have the demon of lust.
Let's get rid of the demon of lust which is
oppressing you or possessing you. Then you have an attended benefit. Well,
(09:24):
I'm not even the one to blame. And that's why
I say you get to start with the premise in
biblical counsel that people are sinners in need of a savior,
that sin is at the root, at the heart of
the problem, and not the premise that man is basically
good and it is an in dwelling demon who is
mainly at fault, and the cure is getting rid of
(09:45):
the demon. That's a magic solution that doesn't correspond to reality.
Perhaps we have something to help you here at the
Christian Research Incident in terms of an article. If you
hang on, we'll see if we can dig.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Something up for you.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Thanks for your call, Thank you, You've got it. So
often we have articles in the Christian Research Journal and
these critical cutting edge issues and we provide a balanced
biblical perspective, and certainly do that with respect to psychology.
It is an absolute must. I mean, I learned so
much myself by reading articles in the Christian Research Journal
(10:21):
and continue to be edified, equipped, exhorted, and encouraged, and
it helps me greatly in doing what I do on
the Bible Instrument broadcast. I want to find out more
about that, and you can go to the web at
equipped dot org. And again, remember that when you give
to this ministry, you're not merely giving to an organization,
but through a ministry, the Christian Research Institute, so that
(10:45):
we can touch the lives of people for time and
for eternity. This is an eternal enterprise. We're dealing with
the souls of people and equipping you to have a
maximum impact through the power of the Holy Spirit. Well,
be right back with more of your questions.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
The famous British apologist GK. Chesterton once noted, the true
soldier fights not because he hates what is in front
of him, but because he loves what is behind him.
Because at CRII we love what is behind us, our faith,
our families, and our freedoms. We will never retreat quietly
from the growing assaults on life and truth, even when
(11:24):
the costs are great. We will stand to join like
minded friends in making a difference at home and around
the globe, and to equip fellow believers to stand their
ground courageously. Become a member of CRI's support team. Simply
call eight eight eight seven thousand CRII that's eight eight
eight seven thousand CRI. Or visit our website at equip
(11:48):
dot org. Stay with us. Hank Canigraph will return in
a few moments. Bertrand 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
(12:12):
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 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
(12:36):
Essentials library to discover how you can make a difference
twenty four to seven and equipping believers at home and
abroad to stand for life and truth. Check out the
benefits of membership at equip dot org once again, that's
equip dot org. Has God spoken? Are the words of
(13:08):
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
(13:28):
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. Ordered Has God Spoken?
From the Christian Research Institute by calling eighty eight seven
(13:51):
thousand CRII, or go online to equip dot org equip
dot org. The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is
the comprehensive collection of the most often asked questions Hank
Hannigraph has received throughout his four decades as host of
the Bible answer Man broadcast. With more than half a
(14:14):
million copies already in print, this newly revised and expanded
Collector's Edition helped seekers and skeptics alike sort through the
truth on topics such as reliability of the Bible, religions
and cults, the resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues
vital to a better understanding of God in Christ and
(14:34):
our relationship to him. To receive your copy of the
Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition, Revised and Expanded, call
eight eight eight seven thousand CRII and make a gift
to support the Christian Research Institute's life changing outreaches eight
eight eight seven thousand CRII or visit us at equip
(14:56):
dot org. Now back to the Bible answer Man with
Hank Hannagraph. To find out more about the materials mentioned
on the show, call a CRII resource consultant toll free
(15:17):
at 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,
CDs and DVDs and all the latest news on your
faith in our world. Again, that's equip dot org. And
(15:39):
now once again here is Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Say very much, Randy. Let's go right back to where
phone callers. Next up is Jordan. He's listening in Kansas,
Sie Jordan, Hi, Hank, how I'm good.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
Great. First of all, I'll say thank you for your program.
It really blesses me.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Well, bless you, thank you.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Henk. I had a question about second Current five point
one Bible says that God made him who had no sin,
to be sin for us. Okay. Also the Bible talks
about God hates sin. So my question is, is if
Jesus became sin for us so that we may be righteous?
Did God hate Jesus for a brief moment?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Good question, and it underscores a problem which relates to
the art and science of biblical interpretation. God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, says Paul.
But what he's doing there is he's using a word
or a phrase substituted for another associated word or phrase,
(16:45):
which is to say, since it is impossible that Christ
or any person could be literally made sin, you can't
take this as a way of saying that Jesus Christ
literally became sin, because to interpret that passage of saying
that Christ was transformed into sin is to strip the
(17:09):
Savior of his personal being. It's to reduce him to
a mere abstraction. And not only is that notion unbiblical,
it's utterly absurd. Jesus did not literally become sin. Sin
was imputed to him. So the idea is he is
(17:32):
the unblemished lamb upon whom the sins of the world
were laid. He is not in any way touched by sin,
and therefore he's a sweet smelling savor unto God. He's
the unblemish lamb. If he was blemished in any sense,
he could not be our sacrifice. All you have to
(17:54):
do is look back to the types in shadows that
pointed forward to him as the un blemish lamb upon
whom the sins of the world were laid. So you
have to read this in the sense in which it's
intended and recognize that sin is a deprivation of good
(18:15):
and as such, sin is characterized by a lack of
something rather than being something in itself. It's not an
ontological reality in itself. So what's really going on here
is he becomes the sin bearer. He doesn't become sin itself. Again.
(18:37):
To reduce him to sin would be to communicate an
unbiblical notion that is utterly absurd.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
That makes perfect sense. I believe completely in reading the
Bible for all it's worth, as you say, and that's
baffled me for quite a while, and I can never
find an answer.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah. Actually, there's a book that I dealt with the
very question in because it's an issue so often brought
up by the faith teachers. They say that Christ became sin,
and they use that as a pretext for the fact
that Jesus Christ had to be born again. And so
I dealt with this in a book called Christianity in
Christis twenty first century, so it's available there. Also deal
(19:20):
with the question what is sin and point out that
it's a deprivation of something rather than a nontological reality
itself in my book The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Great, great, thank you, Hank. You know, honestly, I don't
agree I to ie with everything that you say, but
you know, the important thing is that we believe Jesus
Christ is a savior. In one of these days, I'll
shake your hand and we're up there with our Lord.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah. And I like that because I'm not the final
quote of arbitration. That is not to say that I
don't take very seriously what I do, which is to say,
I have a healthy fear of God with respect everything
that I say, So I don't simply say something off
the cust. I try to think through what I say.
Because there's a platform here, there's teaching here, and with teaching,
(20:06):
there is a stricter judgment, so I'm well aware of that.
But I don't expect you to believe everything I say.
I do expect you to test everything I say and
then hold fast that which is good. And then we
can always stand shoulder to shoulder on a central Christian doctrine,
which is the line of demarcation between the Kingdom of
Christ and the kingdom of the cult, so that we
(20:27):
debate vigorously secondary issues and ultimately we learned.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
From one another.
Speaker 5 (20:33):
So I'm right there with you, sir.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Thank you. My friend Patsy next, she's listening in Bradford, Arizona.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Hi, Patsy, Hi, I want to ask you a question
about Kim and Ibel. I had always thought that the
sacrifice was started when God killed the animals in night
covering for Adam and Eve. And then we were talking
to a man the other night and he said, when
you say that scripture that says able sacrifice was accepted
(21:02):
and Caine's wasn't. It doesn't have anything to do with
the blood. It doesn't say the reason it was not accepted.
And I wanted you to tell me you know why
I wasn't it accepted?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Well, God knew what was in the heart of kin,
he knew his motivation forgiving, and that ultimately is at
the root of it. But having said that, there's also
typology that's going on here by which we can read
something more into the text in terms of a type
(21:35):
or a shadow, pointing ultimately in some sense forward to
the ultimate sacrificial lamb. But we don't want to extend
that typology beyond what is intended for. Ultimately, sin lurked
in the heart of Cain. His offering was given from
the wrong motive, and we can see this throughout the scripture.
(21:56):
I mean, we see that with Anonias and Saphira, they
could have kept everything, they didn't have to give it,
it was their own. But when they had a false motivation,
when they lied, and not only lied to men, but
lied to God, there was a penalty to their sin.
(22:17):
So ultimately it is what is in the heart of
the real difference between Able and Cain. Sacrifices was an
animal and plant, but true faith and sin. That's where
the distinction lies.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Okay, he said the sacrifices hadn't been established. The blood
sacrifice wasn't established until Abraham, you know. But I was
thinking if they were supposed to give a sacrifice, the
sacrifices had been you know, already established.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Well, the sacrificial system had not been established. The very
types and shadows the civilian ceremonial laws that would ultimately
set Israel apart as a light to the nations hadn't
been established in that sense. But principles are still principles,
and those principles still apply. We sacrifice everything to God,
(23:10):
don't we. I mean, we are living sacrifices to God
in our persons, which is to say, we hold everything
that we have with an open hand, so that God
can take out and put in as he sees fits.
So in some sense, though there is a tithe in
the Old Testament, and that tithe is uniquely geared or
(23:30):
established around a theocratic system, it doesn't mean that the
principle doesn't apply today. The principle still applies, Okay.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
And I noticed too, you know that. I mean God
gave kind of another chance. He didn't want to take it,
you know, because he told him right after that that
he could have you know, he was giving him another
chance to make a right sacrifice. So I guess it
was the heart, not of what he was bringing ye,
I've just never seen it that why.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, And again, that is the difference, That is the distinction,
that is what should be paramount in our thinking. Able
and Caine's sacrifices aren't delineated as being evil because one
is a plant sacrifice and the others an animal sacrifice,
but rather because something far grander is going on. The
(24:26):
difference between true faith and sin is being identified. Acceptable
worship is that which flows from a pure heart. And
it seems unwarranted to conclude that Abel's offering was accepted
because it was a blood sacrifice. In fact, the text
(24:47):
emphasizes offering, not sacrifice, and both offerings are referred to
as first fruit offerings. Thus the difference was one of
motivation or one of the heart.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Okay, I can truly understand that because I was a
lost church member for twenty years and when I was
twenty nine, Jesus saved me. Anyway, Praise and bless his
holy name. Ain'mmen, and thank high.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
When you were twenty nine, when I.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Was twenty nine, Jesus saved me. I was born again
when I've heard the sermon that caused me to see
myself as lost and on the way to hell, I
almost had to jump apew and run down the aisle
name Jesus as my savior. So I understand what you're
talking about.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
And we have something in common because I bowed my
knee to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord when I
was twenty nine years of age, even though I grew
up in a Christian home. But I didn't want to
believe the Christian Gospel because I didn't want to live
within the parameters that got such fourth for us to
live within, and so I tried to rationalize them out
(25:48):
of existence. And so I bought into the evolutionary paradigm,
not because I couldn't believe, but because I wouldn't believe.
But all that changed when I was twenty nine years
of age. So we have that in common. Thanks again
for two in. We look forward to seeing you next
time with more of the broadcast.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
We appreciate you tuning in to the Bible answer Man broadcast.
Before we sign off today, here's our contact information by
phone dial eight eight eight seven thousand CRII, which translates
to eight eight eight seven thousand two seven four On
the Internet, go to equip dot org. That's equip dot org.
(26:26):
You can also write CRII at Post Office Box eighty
five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina. The zip code is two
eight two seven one. Our prayer is that today's broadcast
has equipped you to better defend your faith and encouraged
you to pursue sound doctrine and godly living. Thank you
for listening. The Bible answer Man broadcast is supported by
(26:48):
listeners like you. We're on the air because life and
truth matter to Anyone who's been paying attention knows there's
a war going on, not just on traditional morality, civility,
and decency, but even more fundamentally on historic notions of truth.
(27:12):
And the enemy isn't just the onslaught of fake news,
facilitated by a post truth culture and turbocharged by growing
legions of ideological spinductors. Note the real enemies of truth
range from postmodernist convictions that there is no objective truth
to militant scientism that claims that only science can determine
truth and religion is little more than primitive superstitions. But
(27:36):
CRI Support Team members are not waving a white flag
of surrender. They're holding the fort by undergirding everyone of
Christian research Institute's mind shaping and life changing outreaches twenty
four to seven. To learn how you can make a
difference and enjoy all the benefits of Support Team membership,
simply visit equip dot org
Popular Podcasts
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.
iHeartOlympics: The Latest
Listen to the latest news from the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the XXV Winter Olympics We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Milan Cortina Winter Olympics so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.