Q&A: A Thousand Years as One Day, Suicide, and the Role of Church Leaders

On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (11/26/25), Hank answers the following questions:

Can you explain, “a thousand years is as one day” in 2 Peter 3:8? Ron - Springfield, MO (0:47)
My aunt follows the late psychic Jane Roberts, who allegedly channeled Seth. How do I share Christ with her? Terri - Prescott, AZ (4:13)
Will Christians who commit suicide go to heaven? Roy - IA (7:25)
If we are married on Earth, are we also married in Heaven? Karen - Houston, TX (16:01)
According to Acts 6:2-4, what is the role of the pastor, deacons, and the church body? Bill - OK (16:59)
I prayed for reconciliation with my ex-wife, but nothing happened. I feel that I’m without fellowship with God. David - Memphis, TN (19:32)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Broadcasting across the United States, Canada, and around the world.
This is the Bible answer Man Broadcast. Your host for
the program is Hank Cannagraph, president of the Christian Research Institute.
We're on the air because life and truth matter. For
more information resources or to donate to cr I, call

(00:29):
eight eight eight seven thousand CRI, or go online to
equip dot org. That's equip dot org. The following program
was pre recorded to start today's Bible answer Man Broadcast.
Here's your host, Hank Cantagraph.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
A lot of you hanging on. We'll go right to
our phone callers. First up Roun listening in Springfield, Missouri. Hi, Run, Hello,
how are you. I'm doing great. It's good talking to you.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
And my question was Britaining two Peter, Chapter three, verse eighth,
and it says, but beloved, be not ignorant of this
one thing, that one day is with the Lord as
a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day.
Could you just shed a little light on that if
you may.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing that you
should take out of this is that the passage should
not be interpreted literalistically, because Peter does not say a
day is one thousand years, but he says a day
is like a thousand years. In other words, it's a simile,
it's an analogy, it's a comparison. It's not a comfortable

(01:40):
So when the Psalmist says a thousand years is like
a watch in the night, and a watch in the
night is three or four hours, we don't suppose that
a thousand years is equal to four hours. Right. The
point here is that God's relationship to the past of

(02:00):
time is different than our relationship to the passing of time.
We think our lives are long. From God's perspective, our
lives are but a vapor. And I think that's what's
going on. The thousand years. There is a metaphorical reference.
And if you compare scripture to scripture, you see this

(02:22):
over and over again. In the scriptures. For example, God
increased the number of the Israelites a thousand times, Well,
that's obviously a Metaphor God owns the cattle on a
thousand hills. God keeps his covenant to one thousand generations,

(02:43):
the least of Zion will become a thousand and the
smallest a mighty nation. Or as we've just seen, a
day in God's sight is better than a thousand. Elsewhere,
God shows love to a thousand generations. Now, when the
Bible says God shows love to a thousand generations, we
don't suppose that he doesn't show love to one thousand
and one generations. Again, it is a metaphor to point

(03:08):
out that God's love is everlasting. Just as when the
Bible says God owns the cattle on a thousand hills,
it's a metaphor to say that God owns everything. So
this is what's called reading the Bible in the sense
in which it is intended.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
All right, I appreciate that makes sense. Definitely a lot there. Yeah, yeah,
especially with the thousand years I was reading in Second Chronicles,
if I remember, and it was speaking about David that
he numbered his kingdom and that the number that Joe
I ever came back with was a thousand, thousand and

(03:49):
one hundred thousand. So the thousand as a metaphor and
literal is very powerful in the Bible.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, exactly. And whenever a thousand is used as a
whole number, you can make a pretty good educated guest
that's going to be used in a metaphorical way. That's right,
appreciate your card.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Well, I appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Thank you so much. Back to the phone lines, we'll
talk next to Terry and in Prescott, Arizona.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
Hi, Terry, Hi, I've learned so much from you and
thank you so much for your ministry.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Oh, thank you for your encouragement.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
I have an aunt who follows the psychic Jane Roberts,
who is now deceased, who allegedly channeled set And every
time I quote the Bible Tour, she quotes Seth. And
I finally really came out with it and said, you know,
Jesus is the way the truth in the life. And

(04:47):
she said, well, I don't believe in hell, and i
don't believe in the Bible, and I've been witnessing tour
for years. And my husband said, just let it go and.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Pray for What do you think, Well, I think, yes,
prayer is firing the winning shot. But I don't think
we only pray. We put feet to our faith, which
is to say, as believers, we must be equipped always
to give an answer or reason for the hope that
lies within us. With gentleness and with respect. You can't
talk her into the kingdom. You can't talk her from

(05:19):
Seth to the Savior. But you can point out the
difference between Seth and the Savior, which is to say
that if you look at Seth and what Seth communicates,
the channeled Seth, that is, you'll find that it doesn't
correspond to reality. If you look at what Jesus Christ says,
you will find that it does correspond to reality. And

(05:42):
that which corresponds to reality is truth. The same thing
about the Bible. I think one of the primary reasons
I wrote the book Has God Spoken is to demonstrate
that this is divine, and therefore it becomes the standard
by which you test Seth Seth in light to scripture

(06:02):
and hold fast that which is good, because scripture can
be demonstrated to be authoritative, it can be demonstrated to
be the words of God as opposed to merely the
words of men. And again, that's why it took the
time to write a book that lays all of this
out in memorable fashion, so you not only get the information,

(06:23):
you can remember the information, and you remember the information
so that you can use the information. Again, you have
to be able to demonstrate that the Bible is divine. Now,
you can't force feed someone with this but once you
have the information, I can promise you that God will
give you an opportunity to use the information and pray

(06:43):
and be equipped. The issue is never evangelism, but equipping
for evangelism. If you're equipped for evangelism. If God doesn't
give you an opportunity in this case, he will give
you an opportunity in other cases.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
Okay, and I can get that book out through the
ministry that Christian Research Institute.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
You can order it by just hanging on, or if
we lose you just go to equip dot org on
the web.

Speaker 4 (07:07):
Okay, thank you so much. I will read the book
and not give up on her.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Well, bless you, Terry, appreciate your call.

Speaker 4 (07:14):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Also, resource consultants are standing by a triple eight seven
thousand cris so another way to order via the phone.
Want to go back to the phone lines. We'll talk
next to Roy. He's listening in Iowa HIROI Hi good,
how are you good?

Speaker 5 (07:33):
I have a quick question. I'm just wondering if a
person in Christ, if accepted Christ and know Him as
their savior in their struggle with the human condition, as
they see that at some point, you know their only
way out is suicide, is that person still going to
have access to heaven.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Well, here's the thing. Suicide is not the unpardonable sin.
But someone who is a believer would not in their
right mind commit suicide because as suicide is taking a prerogative,
that is God's progative. The progative of life and death
is the progative of God. It's not the progative of
human beings. And therefore we dare not choose the end. Rather,

(08:13):
we recognize that this is the province of God. So
it is inconsistent with Christian commitment. Now, certainly is possible
that someone that is not in their right mind, so
to speak, would commit suicide, But this is not something
that any Christian ought to contemplate actively, because again they

(08:34):
realize that this is the province of God, not the
progative of human beings.

Speaker 5 (08:39):
If they did, would they would they spend eternity in heaven.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
Well, again, the only unforgivable sin is not a single act.
It is a continuous, ongoing rejection of forgiveness. Those who
refuse forgiveness through Christ will spend eternity separated from His
loving grace. Those who sincerely desire forgiveness can be absolutely
certain that God will never spurn them.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
Okay, well, thank you for taking my call. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
You're welcome. I think it's a very relevant call because
in the society of stressed out people, suicide is not
a singly secular problem, nor is it relegated to any
particular segment of society, and the incidents a suicide continues
to skyrocket, and therefore, I'm frequently asked this question. The

(09:30):
Bible answer Man broadcast and devoted an entry to this
question in the Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition. And again,
while suicide is not an unforgivable sin, those who take
the sacred name of Christ upon their lips should not
contemplate suicide. Our lives belong to God and he alone
as the prerogative to bring our lives to an end.

(09:54):
God says, see now that I myself am he there
is no God beside me. I put to death and
bring to life I have wounded, and I heal that
no one can deliver out of my hand. Suicide remembers murder.
It's the murder of oneself. As such, it is a
direct violation at the sixth commandment, you shall not murder

(10:17):
suicide is a direct attack on the sovereignty of the
very one who knit us together in our mother's wombs,
and therefore, again, as Christians, we should never contemplate suicide again.
I wrote about this in the Complete Bible answer Book
Collector's Edition, which is available through the ongoing ministry of
the Christian Research Institute. Will be right back with more
of your questions answered right here in the Bible answer

(10:38):
Man Broadcast, So please don't touch that dial.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
The Church of Almighty God, also known as Eastern Lightning,
is a socially subversive pseudo Christian cult. It follows a
self proclaimed female Christ whose heretical doctrines incite violence, denying
the Trinity and Biblical authority. Eastern Lightning uses psychological intimidation,

(11:03):
disrupts families, and has even perpetrated physical assaults in graphic language.
The counterfeit Christ exhorts followers to abandon their families and
devote themselves to recruiting new converts, branding those who refuse
as worthless. You can read more about the Iron Rod
of this false Almighty God in a special print issue

(11:26):
of the Christian Research Journal. To receive your copy, call
EIGHTA eight seven thousand CROI and make a gift to
support the Christian Research Institute's mind shaping, life changing outreaches.
That's eight eight eight seven thousand CROI. Or visit us
online at equip dot org. That's equip dot org. Don't

(11:49):
tune out. Hank Hanagraph will be back with more right
after this. 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

(12:11):
the Bible answer Man broadcast. With more than half a
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

(12:31):
vital to a better understanding of God in Christ and
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

(12:51):
eight eight seven thousand CRII or visit us at equip
dot org. The number of wolves surrounding the Christian flock
is growing, and they relish nothing more than docile's sheep,
utterly incapable of defending themselves from militant secularists at home

(13:12):
to militant Islamists abroad. The assaults on biblical Christianity are
growing dangerously, but Christian Research Institutes Support Team members aren't
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making possible an array of outreaches that defang these wolfpacks
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(13:33):
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(13:54):
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.

(14:14):
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 Cantagraph has
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(14:35):
to ensure that just as you prepare your home for Christmas,
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(15:07):
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(15:30):
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(15:53):
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Hank Kanagram.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Thank you, Randy, and back to the phone lines. We'll
talk next to Karen listening in Houston, Texas.

Speaker 6 (16:04):
Hi, Karen, Hi, I have a question about marriage. If
you're married on Earth, are you married in heaven?

Speaker 2 (16:13):
No, Earth is the breeding colony, Heaven is the homeland.

Speaker 6 (16:17):
Well that's what I thought, but I heard a pastor
say that, and I don't quite understand where he was
coming from.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
Well, certainly not from the Bible, because Matthew twenty two
point thirty tells us that at the Resurrection, people will
neither marry nor be given in marriage. They'll be like
the angels in that sense in heaven. But look, that
does not mean that you will not have a relationship
with the person who is your spouse now on earth.

Speaker 6 (16:42):
Okay, what about my late husband who died thirty years ago.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
As a Christian, you will have a relationship with him
for all eternity, and that relationship in heaven will be
better than the best thing we can imagine on earth.

Speaker 6 (16:55):
Well, thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
You got it. Karen. Back to the phone lines. We'll
talk to Bill in Oklahoma.

Speaker 7 (17:01):
Hi, Bill, brother Hank, how you doing today?

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Good her? Are you well?

Speaker 7 (17:05):
I'm tired, got in from work and just ordered a
couple of your books. And my question is, I know
what Acts six two through four says about the disciples
and not being right for them to serve tables. What
is exactly in today's church is the role of the

(17:26):
pastor and the beacons and the church body, Like basically,
who cleans the toilets if there's no one hired to
do that?

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Well, the body of Christ needs to function, as Paul
described in Romans chapter twelve. So we all have different
gifts and we have to exercise those gifts. So if
a man's gift is prophesying or teaching, he has to
exercise that gift according to the faith or grace that
is given to him. But there are other people who

(17:53):
have to exercise other gifts. Because we're not all fingers,
we're not all toes, well, not all heads, we're not
all hands. Where different parts of the body, we have
different gifts, and collectively using those gifts makes the body function.
So deacons, and particularly in choosing of the seven, you
have a role that is laid out, a proposal that

(18:16):
pleases the whole group from a biblical standpoint. They choose Stephen,
a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and
a number of others, and they present these men to
the apostles, who prayed and laid hands on them, so
the word of God spread. So you have in this
context both people who are exercising an apostolic ministry, but

(18:39):
also people who are serving the role of waiting on
tables as were serving the needs of other people. And again,
these different roles, and there are many others that could
be talked about. Collectively, allow the Body of Christ to
function as the Body of Christ as a corporate unity,

(19:00):
a corporate unity that has structured such that when the
world looks on, they say, see how they love one another.

Speaker 7 (19:05):
Okay, okay, well, thank you very much, brother. I appreciate it.
And I've listened to you since ninety five and the
word the same age.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Oh wow.

Speaker 7 (19:15):
Been trying to serve to thees since eighty three and
you started pretty close in there. And I really love
your program and I learned BOOKOO from you. Keep up
the good work. Brother.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Well, thank you so much for your encouragement. Let's go
back to the phone line STARCT to David is listening
in Memphis, Tennessee.

Speaker 8 (19:37):
Hi, David, Hey, Hey, I got a serious problem.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (19:44):
My first wife she'd left me and married another man,
and I'm bipolder and when that hit me like that,
I prayed for her to come back. And my second wife,
I got out of the hospital. She said she wasn't
gonna take care of me anymore. And I prayed for

(20:07):
her to come back and prayed. Like in the books
of Morn Carruthers, ken Hagen and Jim Baker, they were
almost promising that I would get my marriage fixed. Almost
seems like a magic formuler, not much different than a
manual of Swedenburg's writings and Paul Twitchell's back of a Car.

(20:31):
And I've been praying for my wife to get back
with me, and she died last month, and I just
it's like I've lost with faith. And like David prayed
for d God not to take his spirit from him. Yeah,
and Simpson didn't even know what it was gone, And
I miss having faith in God. It happened. Marbret A

(20:54):
fellowship with him. I'm I'm probably sure I still have
a relationship, but I I don't have the fellowship before.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yes. Well wow. The first thing that comes to mind
is not my words, but the words of David. These
have touched me so deeply at many junctures in my life.
And one thing that I would really recommend, David, if
there's any possibility that you would do this, I think
it would be transformational, is to take the words as

(21:24):
Psalm one thirty nine and imprint them on the canvas
of your consciousness. In other words, memorize them, no matter
how much it takes. Yeah, and I want to go
to those words for a second to just reinforce the
power where David says, Oh Lord, you have searched me,
and you know me. You know when I sit and

(21:45):
when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You
discern my going out and my lying down. You are
familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on
my tongue, you know it completely. O Lord, you hem
me in behind and before you've laid your hand upon me.

(22:06):
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for
me to attain. And I underscore that point in particular
in saying that you can break your communion with God.
You can't break your union with God. But communion with
God requires time and effort, even when you feel that

(22:30):
God is far off. And David certainly felt that way
when he said, where can I go from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence? If I go
to the heavens, you're there. If I make my bed
in the depths, you're there. If I rise on the
wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far
side of the sea, even there, your hand will guide me.
Your right hand will hold me fast. Which is to say,

(22:53):
there's no place that you can be that the love
of God cannot find you and sustain you and reanimate
your life. There's no difficult circumstance that God doesn't walk
through the circumstance with you. And you said something very
profound early on in the prologue to your question. There

(23:14):
are people that want to give you magic formulas, but
there are no magic formulas. The reality is Christianity does
not promise us a panacea. What it does promise us
is peace in the midst of life's storms. And I
want to emphasize that it doesn't give us a peaceful

(23:36):
way to come to terms with the difficulties of life, divorce, desertion, pain,
but it gives us something far greater, something that transcends it,
the hope of resurrection. So in the midst of pain,
in the midst of difficulty, we look forward to a

(23:56):
certain hope, which caused Job to say something profound. Though
he slay me, yet will I trust in him? So you, already, David,
know enough about God to know that you can trust
Him in difficult circumstances. And God will not answer the
why question, but He'll teach you to trust in the
midst of your wives, in the midst of your circumstances.

(24:18):
I don't know all the details surrounding the circumstances, but
what I can say is God does, and He loves
you in spite of the details, in the midst of
the details, and he will point you to a destination
that's your hope. And that's what you have to fix
your gaze upon. And that's why, ultimately there's no magic solution.

(24:40):
What you have to go back to is the Bible, prayer,
being involved in a healthy, well balanced church, and learning
to live with eternity in mind, recognizing that anything you
go through is a light and momentary difficulty from the

(25:01):
perspective of eternity. We want to help you, not just
on air, but off ear. So I want you to
hang with us and someone will pick up and talk
to you off air as well for everybody listening in
as well. I want to say what Psalm one point
thirty nine promises us is the darkness will not be dark,

(25:22):
the night will shine like the day, for darkness is
his light to God. Remember, God created our inmost being.
He knit us together in our mother's womb. He is
concerned with every single detail and exigency of our life. Unfortunately,
we're out of time for this edition of the Bible
inswer Man Broadcast. Do you remember resources I've talked about

(25:45):
on the broadcast. You can see them on thewimitequipped dot org,
or you can pick up your phone talk to our
resource consultants A triple eight seven thousand, and the letters CRI. Again,
thank you so much for your encouragement, your support for
tuning into the Bible NSmen podcast. We look forward to
seeing you next time right here with more of the broadcast.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
Thanks for joining us for the Bible Answer Man Broadcast
with Hank Hannagraph. Our daily commitment here at CRI is
to defend the faith once for all, delivered to the Saints,
and equip believers to become true disciples of Jesus Christ.
If you'd like to order resources or listen to the
broadcast online, visit our website at equip dot org. That's

(26:28):
equip dot org, or call a resource consultant at eight
eight eight seven thousand, two seven four. Of course, you
can write to CEURI 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.

(26:50):
We're on the air because life and truth matter. 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

(27:12):
Man Broadcast. With more than half a 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 our relationship to Him.

(27:36):
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 dot org.