September 29, 2025 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (09/29/25), Hank answers the following questions:
Why can’t theistic evolution be true? Rob - Oklahoma City, OK (0:42)
How can I witness to my friend who is an atheist? Brad - Nashville, TN (6:14)
My brother-in-law claims to hear from God but has been wrong many times. How should we handle this? Janice - Baltimore, MD (15:11)
I am a new Christian. Can you explain the rapture? Shane - Penticton, BC (19:14)
Who is Melchizedek? Joel - St. Louis, MO (21:59)
Why can’t theistic evolution be true? Rob - Oklahoma City, OK (0:42)
How can I witness to my friend who is an atheist? Brad - Nashville, TN (6:14)
My brother-in-law claims to hear from God but has been wrong many times. How should we handle this? Janice - Baltimore, MD (15:11)
I am a new Christian. Can you explain the rapture? Shane - Penticton, BC (19:14)
Who is Melchizedek? Joel - St. Louis, MO (21:59)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to the Bible answer Man Broadcast with your host,
Hank Cantagraph. The Bible answer Man is the radio ministry
of the Christian Research Institute designed to equip believers to
defend their faith and become true disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because life and truth matter. Our phone number
is eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. You can find
(00:31):
us on the internet at equip dot org. The following
program was pre recorded, and now to begin today's broadcast,
here's Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thanks very much, Randy Wooker right to the phone lines.
First up is Rob in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Rob?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Hey, how you doing, Hank?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'm doing good hair?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Are you well? Thanks for the broadcast. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You got it.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hey, I was discussing with my wife evolution. I'm a
Christian of the God could speak of being into existence,
but I don't know, kind of thinking and doubting. Maybe
why couldn't evolution? Maybe not in the Darwinistic sense. Why
couldn't you have used evolution to create? There is like
a method?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, I mean I think the first question we have
to ask is did he and I think the evidence
from both scripture and science says he did not, which
is to say that if you look at the Bible,
it makes very clear that kinds reproduce after their own kind,
(01:36):
that one kind does not evolve into another kind. But
when you look at the fossil record, the exact same
thing becomes apparent. There's no evidence whatsoever for the Darwinian mechanism.
And I would say the Cambrian explosion has uprooted in
an age of scientific enlightenment Darwin's tree of life. So
(01:58):
if you ask the question did he I would say
the answer is emphatically no. But not only that evolution
is the cruelest, most inefficient system for creation imaginable. In fact,
I'm often fond of recalling the words of Nobel Prize
winning evolutionist Jacques Manaut, who said, the struggle for life
(02:19):
in the elimination of the weakest is a horrible process
against which our whole modern ethic revolts. And therefore he
went on to say that he was surprised that the
Christian would defend the idea that that's the process that
God more or less set up in order to have evolution.
And one other point that I would make is that
theistic evolution, from my perspective, is just a contradiction in terms,
(02:41):
It's like talking about flaming snowflakes. God can no more
direct an undirected process than he can create a square circle,
and that is precisely what theistic evolution presupposes. And thus
I would argue that when evolutionism is fighting for its
very life in an age of scientific enlightenment, rather than
(03:02):
prop it up with theories such as theistic evolution, I
think thinking people, particularly Christian thinking people, should be on
the vanguard of demonstrating that this is just an untenable
theory and it should be dispensed with.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
That's kind of what I meant by not necessarily darwinistic evolution,
like I believe it, like God created the paint, and
then he used the paint and mix it together to
create other things I don't believe, like monkeys turned into humans.
That's not what I meant. But maybe he created the
elements and cause those elements to come together in a
way that it created the lives.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Well, I'm not sure exactly what you're saying, but here's
the deal. If you look at the evidence for evolution,
it is conspicuous by its absence. The whole notion of evolution,
whether you're talking about Darwinian evolution on a macro level,
is false. But whether you then want to equival keet
(04:00):
on the word evolution and talk about microevolution, well, of
course it's true. We all can see that there are
changes within kinds, but the Darwinian evolutionary paradigm presupposed that
kinds evolve into other kinds. I have no problem whatsoever
with micro evenence.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, that's not what I was questioning at all. I'm
on there.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, microevolution is a fact. I don't think there's any
question about that whatsoever. There are changes within kinds.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I guess what I was saying, like, maybe how to
how to relate to somebody who doesn't have the fates
that I have, Like, how how could you use science
as as an evidence that maybe, I mean, we do
come from what we breathe water when we're babies inside
of a mother's bellies, and we evolved. I guess I'm
not just presenting the question, right, I guess No.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I think you're doing fine. But I think what's important
for us as Christians is to do good science and
also to do good scripture, which means that we need
to learn to read the Bible for all it's worth,
but we also need to learn to think God's thoughts
after him. In fact, that's what gave rise to science
in the first place. Science would never have arisen in
(05:06):
the Greek environment, where you had the Greek thinkers believing
that the universe was ministered by moody gods. It only
arose when you had thinkers like Augustine who believed that
reason devoid of revelation always leads to the blind ditch
of ignorance, and therefore God's revelation. That revelation, both in
(05:31):
the Bible and the Book of Nature, is what led
to the breakthroughs not only with respect to Christian universities
or universities in general, but also to science in the
first place. The greatest scientists were scientists who not only
were men of science, but there are men of God.
Think of Robert Boyle, or think about Leonardo da Vinci,
(05:55):
or think about many of the other stalwarts that were
again men of God and men of science at the
same time. So a lot of times people think that
we have to make some kind of a bifurcation between
the two. Nothing could be Father from the truth.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
All right, I appreciate you. John.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Hey, good question, good discussion. Thank you so much for
calling back to the phone lines. We'll talk to Bread next. Nashville, Tennessee. Hi,
Brad HIANK. How are you good? Thank you good?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
My question is this. I have a friend who has
talked to you a few times. He is an atheist.
He believes in evolution and everything of that sort. Man,
I've asked him, what would it take for you to
believe in God? You know, what would have to happen
for you to just have a complete change of heart
and mind? And his response was something to the matter of, well,
(06:41):
Jesus would have to show up at my house and
we'd have a conversation, and he could do some magic
for me and then poof in the air. How do
you or how should I witness to someone who just
absolutely does not believe whatsoever in God and believe in
the evolutionary process thoughnianism. I mean, what what do you
(07:01):
do there?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Well, a couple of things that I would point out.
First of all, there is no such thing as a
genuine atheist. There are people who profess not to believe
in God. But the reality is this the atheist who
professes not to believe in God, when he looks at
the universe around him, he has to want darkness instead
of light, because the luminous bodies above him shout forth
(07:28):
the fact that there's a creator. No rational person in
an age of scientific enlightenment, in particular, believes that nothing
could produce everything, And that's precisely what an atheist or
a philosophical materialist is forced to believe. That nothing creates everything,
that life comes from lawn life, and that the life
(07:51):
that comes from non life produced morals. Moreover, there is
a knowledge of God written on the very canvas of
his consciousness, and therefore again he has to decide that
I want to stay in darkness because the light not
only of creation, but the light of conscience, directly points
(08:14):
to God. So I think the thing that I would
point to is the very universe in which he resides
and the very knowledge that he has on the canvas
of his consciousness. In terms of evolution, certainly we would
fight for a person's right to believe in macro evolution,
but all the evidence is against it. So if he's
(08:34):
willing to look at the evidence with an open mind,
as I did, many years ago, you find out that
the evolutionary paradigm is bankrupt. The Camerian explosion, as I
said earlier in the broadcast, uprooted Darwin's Tree of Life
for example. So the whole notion that lower life forms
evolved into higher life forms simply doesn't correspond to reality.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
And I have your creation answer book in the comp
Bible answer Book, and I've watched you know, the Privileged
Planet and Case for the Creator, and in all of
these sources and these resources that I try to use
to share this information with him, he discredits as propaganda.
They're not from reliable sources. They haven't been scientifically proven,
(09:19):
you know, And so you.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Got to take it step by step. I mean, these
are gross generalizations, so you got to take it. Okay,
what hasn't been validated by science, you know, you have
to get to the specifics.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Right, Okay. I just feel like I'm not doing a
good job of relating this information to him, or relaying
this information to him in that he's just so closed off,
like he doesn't want to hear it. He doesn't, right, But.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
You got to remember, and this is important, Brad, I
think for everybody listening in it's important for us to
be equipped, but we should also recognize that we can't
change anybody's heart. Only the Holy Spirit changes the heart.
So we need to be those who are prepared to
always be ready to give an answer, a reason for
the whole that lies within us, with gentleness and with respect.
But we also need to recognize the truth of Christ's
(10:05):
words when he was talking to Nicodemus, light came into darkness,
but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
are evil. The issue, oftentimes is not that you can't believe.
It's that you won't believe, and you can't force someone
who won't believe to believe. The only thing you can
do is prepare yourself so that if he is open,
(10:29):
you are ready and available to seize the opportunity and
use it as a springboard to share the gospel.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Okay, what's a great answer, and I appreciate that answer.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
You got it. Thank you so much for your call.
Right back with more answers to your questions.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
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Speaker 2 (15:09):
Thank you, von't your Indian We go right back to
our phone callers. Next up is Jennie. She's listening in Baltimore, Maryland.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Jenis Hello, Hi.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
I want to thank you very much for your ministry.
I have a comment in a question. As a young Christian,
my sister married her husband. He was very extreme and
still is with what he believes. He's someone who believes
that people die, I mean, they don't die, they go
to heaven and visit and come back and that sort
(15:38):
of thing. He believed that God speaks to him personally
over the years. They were married for thirty eight years.
Over the years, he was wrong about many things and
she supported him all along. And what happened was a
couple of months ago she came down in leukemia and
he told her that God told him that she was
(16:00):
not going to die, that she would live, and so
they did not have she did not have treatment, and
she died eleven weeks later. And we are all very
devastated out a Christian family. But none of us believe
the same way that said he does. And what I
want to know is what do we say to him.
(16:24):
I mean, I'm mixed between I'm so angry and I
have compassion. Is he really a Christian? Can a real
Christian go on year after year believing these things that
are so undifficult.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Well, he certainly can be deluded, And I think what's
important is to be equipped, always ready to give an answer,
a reason for the hope that lies within you, with
gentleness and with respect. You can't change anybody's heart, but
you can be prepared with a well reasoned answer. Now,
you can't force feed him. You can only hope that
(16:59):
he will be open into instruction. And you need to
be available as well, so that people do not fall
into the dangerous trap of believing these subjective anecdotes that
can lead to real destruction, as you've found out in
a very tangible way, And I've had so many examples
(17:20):
of that given to me anecdotally on the Bible answer
Man broadcast over the years of ministry, where people will
stop taking medication because someone gets a subjective word from
the Lord saying that they're going to be healed, or
saying that if they had the kind of faith that
biblical characters had, that they wouldn't have to take their medicine.
(17:42):
And that kind of thinking is always a function of
people who do not correspond to reality in the circumstances
of a real, tangible world. So it's a very dangerous proposition.
It's one of the reasons I read Christianity in christis
twenty first century.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
Yeah, okay, so all right, I.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Mean I think the important thing is to be equipped.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
So I mean this does not mean that I mean
I shouldn't look at him and assumed that he's not
a Christian or I mean, is it just something that
I won't know whether he really is or not? Is
he just deceieve is he not really a Christian? I
don't understand.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I think you're right in saying that you cannot make
that call. We look at the outward appearance. God looks
at the heart. If you would have been around at
the time that Judas, you would have said, wow, I
want to be like Judas. He performed miracles, he was
in christ inner circle. You would have wanted to be
just like Judas. But Jesus saw beyond the externalities and
saw the heart of Jesus and recognized that he was
a devil. And so again I think that underscore is
(18:48):
the reality that we can't make that judgment call. But
what we can do is always be ready to give
an answer. I've often said that The real issue is
never evangelism, it's equipping for evangelism. If you're prepared, God
can use your well reasoned answer as a springboard or
an opportunity to make a difference.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Yes, okay, thank you, you got it.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Thank you. Janis appreciate your call. Back to the phone lines.
We'll talk next to Shane listening in British Columbia, Canada.
Hi Shane, Hey, how you doing good?
Speaker 6 (19:19):
How are you good? My question is I'm a new Christian.
I was just baptized like probably six months ago, and
I'm reading the Bible and I'm trying to grasp the
uh like, the details of the rapture. I'm just like,
you know, there's different references that I've picked up. But
you know, I talked to various other Christians and it
(19:41):
seems to be a belief where it's going to be
post apocalyptic or pre apocalyptic, you know what I mean.
I just you seem really intelligent when it comes to
these facts. So I just went in your opinion on it.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Well, the whole idea of a pre tribulational rapture is
a rather novel or new idea in Christian his Now,
the fact that it's new does not mean it's not true,
but I think it does warrant examining it carefully in
light a scripture than holding fast to that which is good.
What you'll find when you look at the Bible is
(20:14):
that there is no indication whatsoever in all of scripture
that there's going to be a secret coming of Jesus
Christ followed by a second coming of Jesus Christ, the
two separated by a seven year tribulation period. I think
that's something that is imposed on the text of scripture,
(20:35):
as opposed to taken from the text of scripture. For example,
the principal passage one Thessalonians chapter four, in reality, when
you read it carefully, is a great and glorious passage
on resurrection. In fact, it's a passage in which Paul
tells believers that he does not want them to grieve
like the rest of people who have no hope, because
(20:57):
Jesus died and rose again, and therefore we can be
assured that we too will rise, immortal, imperishable, incorruptible. But
that passage oftentimes has been used as a pretext for
a pretribulational rapture, whereas in reality, there's no basis for
that whatsoever. So I think the real issue is examining
(21:17):
scripture to see if these things are true. And that's
as important for a new believer as it is for
someone that's been in the faith for a long period
of time. The Word of God is the final court
of arbitration by which all things must be tested. If
you want to get a good grasp on this, I've
written a book. It's called The Apocalypse Code. Find out
(21:40):
what the Bible really says about the end times and
why it matters today.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
The Apocalypse Code. Where can I get that?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
If you hang on, we can get a copy out
to you, or you can just go to the webit
equipped dot org equip dot org.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
Okay, well, I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Thank you know what I'll do that.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Thanks, Hey, you got it. Thank you so much for
your call. I want to go back to the phone
lines to to Joel Saint Louis, Missouri.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Hi, Joel, Hello, sir.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
I'll make it quick.
Speaker 6 (22:08):
I keep hearing reference to Melchizedek, and I don't know
what that term is. I was wondering if you could
elaborate and kind of explain.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
What that is.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Well, Melchizedek is described in the text of Scripture as
someone who is without father or mother, without genealogy, without
beginning of days or end of life. Now that in
itself should be a bit of a clue. But Scripture
further goes on to say that he did not trace
(22:39):
his descent from Levi, and yet he collected a tenth
from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And
without doubt, the lesser person is blessed by the greater person.
In the one case, the tenth is collected by men
who die, but in the other case by him who
is declared to be the living. Just that phrase, again,
(23:02):
declared to be the living, ought to be another clue,
because in contrast to men who die, Melchizedek is declared
to be the living. When you look at the whole
corpus of Scripture, what you find is that Melchizedek is
a pre incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. And you see
(23:24):
that in graphic detail when you look at the account
of Abraham, who was king of Salem or Jerusalem, the
very region where God gave him victory in the Battle
of the Kings, and the very region in which God
called him to establish a righteous nation of kings and priests.
(23:44):
So from the perspective of heaven, in this scene, it
is Melchizedek who is the King of Salem and remains
a priest forever, as opposed to Abraham. And as such,
Melchizedek appears as a human king and priest, yet is
without beginning of days or end of life, a priest
who offers bread and wine from the Jerusalem that is above,
(24:06):
the Jerusalem that's free, and is our mother. So Scripture
not only designates Melchizedic king of righteousness and King of Peace,
but overtly tells us that again he's without father or mother,
without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life,
and that like the Son of God, who remains a
priest forever. So in total, what we have is a
picture of a christophany, which means a pre incarnate appearance
(24:32):
of Jesus Christ. I've actually written about this in a
lot of detail in my book has God spoken memorable
proofs for the divine inspiration of Scripture, And one of
the proofs that points in this direction with more clarity
is what has been found in Cave eleven of the
Dead Sea scrolls, the Melchizedic scroll. It sheds further light
(24:53):
in answer to the question you had.
Speaker 6 (24:55):
Well, thank you so much, and I'll definitely pick up
your book. I've been meaning to, so I appreciate you
got it.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Thank you so much for your call, and we are
at a time for this edition of the Bible inch
Men Broadcast. We'll be right back here tomorrow with more
answers to your questions. In the meantime, pray for us,
and please, if you can, if the Lord has given
you some of his resources financially, please invest them in
the ministry of the Christian Research Institute. We need you
now more than ever. You can do so in a
say secure fashion on the web equipped dot org. You
(25:23):
can also write and in close a check at Post
Office box eighty five hundred Charlotte, North Carolina's a code
two eight two seven one, or just pick up the
telephone talk to one of our resource consultants that number
triple eight seven thousand, and the letters CRI. Look forward
to being with you tomorrow with more.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Thank you for joining us for the Bible answer Man Broadcast.
In today's post truth culture of confusion, the Christian Research
Institute exists to equip listeners like you with answers to
communicate the Gospel of hope to a world in desperate
need of life and truth. Because life and truth matter.
(26:01):
In addition to truth, we want to equip you with life,
not simply to know about God, but truly to know Him.
Experiencing union with Christ enables us to live life not
merely by our own energy, but with the energy of
the Lord Jesus working powerfully through us. For more information,
(26:22):
call eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. That's eight eight
eight seven thousand CRII. You can also write CRII at
Post Office Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina two
eight two seven one, or just visit us online at
equip dot org. That's equip dot org. The Bible answer
(26:47):
Man Broadcast is funded by listeners like you. We're on
the air because life and truth matter. Breaking the Code.
If the Book of Revelation has become an international obsession,
(27:07):
the result has been rampant misreading of scripture, bad theology,
and even bad politics and foreign policy. In the Apocalypse Code,
find out what the Bible really says about the end
times and why it matters today. Hank Canagraph argues that
the key to understanding the Last Book of the Bible
is the other sixty five books of the Bible, not
(27:28):
current events or recent history. The Apocalypse Code offers sane
answers to some very controversial questions, such as, what does
it mean to take the Book of Revelation literally, who
are the Antichrist and the Great Horror of Babylon? And
what is the real meaning of six hundred and sixty six.
Order The Apocalypse Code by Hank Cantigraph today, available in softcover,
(27:50):
MP three, CD or MP three download from equip dot
org or call eight eight eight seven thousand CRI
Welcome to the Bible answer Man Broadcast with your host,
Hank Cantagraph. The Bible answer Man is the radio ministry
of the Christian Research Institute designed to equip believers to
defend their faith and become true disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because life and truth matter. Our phone number
is eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. You can find
(00:31):
us on the internet at equip dot org. The following
program was pre recorded, and now to begin today's broadcast,
here's Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Thanks very much, Randy Wooker right to the phone lines.
First up is Rob in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Rob?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Hey, how you doing, Hank?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I'm doing good hair?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Are you well? Thanks for the broadcast. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You got it.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hey, I was discussing with my wife evolution. I'm a
Christian of the God could speak of being into existence,
but I don't know, kind of thinking and doubting. Maybe
why couldn't evolution? Maybe not in the Darwinistic sense. Why
couldn't you have used evolution to create? There is like
a method?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, I mean I think the first question we have
to ask is did he and I think the evidence
from both scripture and science says he did not, which
is to say that if you look at the Bible,
it makes very clear that kinds reproduce after their own kind,
(01:36):
that one kind does not evolve into another kind. But
when you look at the fossil record, the exact same
thing becomes apparent. There's no evidence whatsoever for the Darwinian mechanism.
And I would say the Cambrian explosion has uprooted in
an age of scientific enlightenment Darwin's tree of life. So
(01:58):
if you ask the question did he I would say
the answer is emphatically no. But not only that evolution
is the cruelest, most inefficient system for creation imaginable. In fact,
I'm often fond of recalling the words of Nobel Prize
winning evolutionist Jacques Manaut, who said, the struggle for life
(02:19):
in the elimination of the weakest is a horrible process
against which our whole modern ethic revolts. And therefore he
went on to say that he was surprised that the
Christian would defend the idea that that's the process that
God more or less set up in order to have evolution.
And one other point that I would make is that
theistic evolution, from my perspective, is just a contradiction in terms,
(02:41):
It's like talking about flaming snowflakes. God can no more
direct an undirected process than he can create a square circle,
and that is precisely what theistic evolution presupposes. And thus
I would argue that when evolutionism is fighting for its
very life in an age of scientific enlightenment, rather than
(03:02):
prop it up with theories such as theistic evolution, I
think thinking people, particularly Christian thinking people, should be on
the vanguard of demonstrating that this is just an untenable
theory and it should be dispensed with.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
That's kind of what I meant by not necessarily darwinistic evolution,
like I believe it, like God created the paint, and
then he used the paint and mix it together to
create other things I don't believe, like monkeys turned into humans.
That's not what I meant. But maybe he created the
elements and cause those elements to come together in a
way that it created the lives.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Well, I'm not sure exactly what you're saying, but here's
the deal. If you look at the evidence for evolution,
it is conspicuous by its absence. The whole notion of evolution,
whether you're talking about Darwinian evolution on a macro level,
is false. But whether you then want to equival keet
(04:00):
on the word evolution and talk about microevolution, well, of
course it's true. We all can see that there are
changes within kinds, but the Darwinian evolutionary paradigm presupposed that
kinds evolve into other kinds. I have no problem whatsoever
with micro evenence.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, that's not what I was questioning at all. I'm
on there.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, microevolution is a fact. I don't think there's any
question about that whatsoever. There are changes within kinds.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I guess what I was saying, like, maybe how to
how to relate to somebody who doesn't have the fates
that I have, Like, how how could you use science
as as an evidence that maybe, I mean, we do
come from what we breathe water when we're babies inside
of a mother's bellies, and we evolved. I guess I'm
not just presenting the question, right, I guess No.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I think you're doing fine. But I think what's important
for us as Christians is to do good science and
also to do good scripture, which means that we need
to learn to read the Bible for all it's worth,
but we also need to learn to think God's thoughts
after him. In fact, that's what gave rise to science
in the first place. Science would never have arisen in
(05:06):
the Greek environment, where you had the Greek thinkers believing
that the universe was ministered by moody gods. It only
arose when you had thinkers like Augustine who believed that
reason devoid of revelation always leads to the blind ditch
of ignorance, and therefore God's revelation. That revelation, both in
(05:31):
the Bible and the Book of Nature, is what led
to the breakthroughs not only with respect to Christian universities
or universities in general, but also to science in the
first place. The greatest scientists were scientists who not only
were men of science, but there are men of God.
Think of Robert Boyle, or think about Leonardo da Vinci,
(05:55):
or think about many of the other stalwarts that were
again men of God and men of science at the
same time. So a lot of times people think that
we have to make some kind of a bifurcation between
the two. Nothing could be Father from the truth.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
All right, I appreciate you. John.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Hey, good question, good discussion. Thank you so much for
calling back to the phone lines. We'll talk to Bread next. Nashville, Tennessee. Hi,
Brad HIANK. How are you good? Thank you good?
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
My question is this. I have a friend who has
talked to you a few times. He is an atheist.
He believes in evolution and everything of that sort. Man,
I've asked him, what would it take for you to
believe in God? You know, what would have to happen
for you to just have a complete change of heart
and mind? And his response was something to the matter of, well,
(06:41):
Jesus would have to show up at my house and
we'd have a conversation, and he could do some magic
for me and then poof in the air. How do
you or how should I witness to someone who just
absolutely does not believe whatsoever in God and believe in
the evolutionary process thoughnianism. I mean, what what do you
(07:01):
do there?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Well, a couple of things that I would point out.
First of all, there is no such thing as a
genuine atheist. There are people who profess not to believe
in God. But the reality is this the atheist who
professes not to believe in God, when he looks at
the universe around him, he has to want darkness instead
of light, because the luminous bodies above him shout forth
(07:28):
the fact that there's a creator. No rational person in
an age of scientific enlightenment, in particular, believes that nothing
could produce everything, And that's precisely what an atheist or
a philosophical materialist is forced to believe. That nothing creates everything,
that life comes from lawn life, and that the life
(07:51):
that comes from non life produced morals. Moreover, there is
a knowledge of God written on the very canvas of
his consciousness, and therefore again he has to decide that
I want to stay in darkness because the light not
only of creation, but the light of conscience, directly points
(08:14):
to God. So I think the thing that I would
point to is the very universe in which he resides
and the very knowledge that he has on the canvas
of his consciousness. In terms of evolution, certainly we would
fight for a person's right to believe in macro evolution,
but all the evidence is against it. So if he's
(08:34):
willing to look at the evidence with an open mind,
as I did, many years ago, you find out that
the evolutionary paradigm is bankrupt. The Camerian explosion, as I
said earlier in the broadcast, uprooted Darwin's Tree of Life
for example. So the whole notion that lower life forms
evolved into higher life forms simply doesn't correspond to reality.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
And I have your creation answer book in the comp
Bible answer Book, and I've watched you know, the Privileged
Planet and Case for the Creator, and in all of
these sources and these resources that I try to use
to share this information with him, he discredits as propaganda.
They're not from reliable sources. They haven't been scientifically proven,
(09:19):
you know, And so you.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Got to take it step by step. I mean, these
are gross generalizations, so you got to take it. Okay,
what hasn't been validated by science, you know, you have
to get to the specifics.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Right, Okay. I just feel like I'm not doing a
good job of relating this information to him, or relaying
this information to him in that he's just so closed off,
like he doesn't want to hear it. He doesn't, right, But.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
You got to remember, and this is important, Brad, I
think for everybody listening in it's important for us to
be equipped, but we should also recognize that we can't
change anybody's heart. Only the Holy Spirit changes the heart.
So we need to be those who are prepared to
always be ready to give an answer, a reason for
the whole that lies within us, with gentleness and with respect.
But we also need to recognize the truth of Christ's
(10:05):
words when he was talking to Nicodemus, light came into darkness,
but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
are evil. The issue, oftentimes is not that you can't believe.
It's that you won't believe, and you can't force someone
who won't believe to believe. The only thing you can
do is prepare yourself so that if he is open,
(10:29):
you are ready and available to seize the opportunity and
use it as a springboard to share the gospel.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Okay, what's a great answer, and I appreciate that answer.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
You got it. Thank you so much for your call.
Right back with more answers to your questions.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
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tune out. Hank Hanagraph will be back with more right
after this Breaking the Code. If the Book of Revelation
has become an international obsession, the result has been rampant
misreading of scripture, bad theology, and even bad politics and
(12:13):
foreign policy. In the Apocalypse Code, find out what the
Bible really says about the end times and why it
matters today. Hank Canagraph argues that the key to understanding
the last Book of the Bible is the other sixty
five books of the Bible, not current events or recent history.
The Apocalypse Code offers sane answers to some very controversial questions,
(12:35):
such as what does it mean to take the Book
of Revelation literally? Who are the Antichrist and the Great
Horror of Babylon? And what is the real meaning of
six hundred and sixty six Order The Apocalypse Code by
Hank Cantigraph today available in softcover, MP three CD or
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Speaker 2 (15:09):
Thank you, von't your Indian We go right back to
our phone callers. Next up is Jennie. She's listening in Baltimore, Maryland.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Jenis Hello, Hi.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
I want to thank you very much for your ministry.
I have a comment in a question. As a young Christian,
my sister married her husband. He was very extreme and
still is with what he believes. He's someone who believes
that people die, I mean, they don't die, they go
to heaven and visit and come back and that sort
(15:38):
of thing. He believed that God speaks to him personally
over the years. They were married for thirty eight years.
Over the years, he was wrong about many things and
she supported him all along. And what happened was a
couple of months ago she came down in leukemia and
he told her that God told him that she was
(16:00):
not going to die, that she would live, and so
they did not have she did not have treatment, and
she died eleven weeks later. And we are all very
devastated out a Christian family. But none of us believe
the same way that said he does. And what I
want to know is what do we say to him.
(16:24):
I mean, I'm mixed between I'm so angry and I
have compassion. Is he really a Christian? Can a real
Christian go on year after year believing these things that
are so undifficult.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Well, he certainly can be deluded, And I think what's
important is to be equipped, always ready to give an answer,
a reason for the hope that lies within you, with
gentleness and with respect. You can't change anybody's heart, but
you can be prepared with a well reasoned answer. Now,
you can't force feed him. You can only hope that
(16:59):
he will be open into instruction. And you need to
be available as well, so that people do not fall
into the dangerous trap of believing these subjective anecdotes that
can lead to real destruction, as you've found out in
a very tangible way, And I've had so many examples
(17:20):
of that given to me anecdotally on the Bible answer
Man broadcast over the years of ministry, where people will
stop taking medication because someone gets a subjective word from
the Lord saying that they're going to be healed, or
saying that if they had the kind of faith that
biblical characters had, that they wouldn't have to take their medicine.
(17:42):
And that kind of thinking is always a function of
people who do not correspond to reality in the circumstances
of a real, tangible world. So it's a very dangerous proposition.
It's one of the reasons I read Christianity in christis
twenty first century.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
Yeah, okay, so all right, I.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Mean I think the important thing is to be equipped.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
So I mean this does not mean that I mean
I shouldn't look at him and assumed that he's not
a Christian or I mean, is it just something that
I won't know whether he really is or not? Is
he just deceieve is he not really a Christian? I
don't understand.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I think you're right in saying that you cannot make
that call. We look at the outward appearance. God looks
at the heart. If you would have been around at
the time that Judas, you would have said, wow, I
want to be like Judas. He performed miracles, he was
in christ inner circle. You would have wanted to be
just like Judas. But Jesus saw beyond the externalities and
saw the heart of Jesus and recognized that he was
a devil. And so again I think that underscore is
(18:48):
the reality that we can't make that judgment call. But
what we can do is always be ready to give
an answer. I've often said that The real issue is
never evangelism, it's equipping for evangelism. If you're prepared, God
can use your well reasoned answer as a springboard or
an opportunity to make a difference.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Yes, okay, thank you, you got it.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Thank you. Janis appreciate your call. Back to the phone lines.
We'll talk next to Shane listening in British Columbia, Canada.
Hi Shane, Hey, how you doing good?
Speaker 6 (19:19):
How are you good? My question is I'm a new Christian.
I was just baptized like probably six months ago, and
I'm reading the Bible and I'm trying to grasp the
uh like, the details of the rapture. I'm just like,
you know, there's different references that I've picked up. But
you know, I talked to various other Christians and it
(19:41):
seems to be a belief where it's going to be
post apocalyptic or pre apocalyptic, you know what I mean.
I just you seem really intelligent when it comes to
these facts. So I just went in your opinion on it.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Well, the whole idea of a pre tribulational rapture is
a rather novel or new idea in Christian his Now,
the fact that it's new does not mean it's not true,
but I think it does warrant examining it carefully in
light a scripture than holding fast to that which is good.
What you'll find when you look at the Bible is
(20:14):
that there is no indication whatsoever in all of scripture
that there's going to be a secret coming of Jesus
Christ followed by a second coming of Jesus Christ, the
two separated by a seven year tribulation period. I think
that's something that is imposed on the text of scripture,
(20:35):
as opposed to taken from the text of scripture. For example,
the principal passage one Thessalonians chapter four, in reality, when
you read it carefully, is a great and glorious passage
on resurrection. In fact, it's a passage in which Paul
tells believers that he does not want them to grieve
like the rest of people who have no hope, because
(20:57):
Jesus died and rose again, and therefore we can be
assured that we too will rise, immortal, imperishable, incorruptible. But
that passage oftentimes has been used as a pretext for
a pretribulational rapture, whereas in reality, there's no basis for
that whatsoever. So I think the real issue is examining
(21:17):
scripture to see if these things are true. And that's
as important for a new believer as it is for
someone that's been in the faith for a long period
of time. The Word of God is the final court
of arbitration by which all things must be tested. If
you want to get a good grasp on this, I've
written a book. It's called The Apocalypse Code. Find out
(21:40):
what the Bible really says about the end times and
why it matters today.
Speaker 6 (21:45):
The Apocalypse Code. Where can I get that?
Speaker 2 (21:46):
If you hang on, we can get a copy out
to you, or you can just go to the webit
equipped dot org equip dot org.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
Okay, well, I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (21:54):
Thank you know what I'll do that.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Thanks, Hey, you got it. Thank you so much for
your call. I want to go back to the phone
lines to to Joel Saint Louis, Missouri.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Hi, Joel, Hello, sir.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Thank you for taking my call.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
I'll make it quick.
Speaker 6 (22:08):
I keep hearing reference to Melchizedek, and I don't know
what that term is. I was wondering if you could
elaborate and kind of explain.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
What that is.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Well, Melchizedek is described in the text of Scripture as
someone who is without father or mother, without genealogy, without
beginning of days or end of life. Now that in
itself should be a bit of a clue. But Scripture
further goes on to say that he did not trace
(22:39):
his descent from Levi, and yet he collected a tenth
from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And
without doubt, the lesser person is blessed by the greater person.
In the one case, the tenth is collected by men
who die, but in the other case by him who
is declared to be the living. Just that phrase, again,
(23:02):
declared to be the living, ought to be another clue,
because in contrast to men who die, Melchizedek is declared
to be the living. When you look at the whole
corpus of Scripture, what you find is that Melchizedek is
a pre incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. And you see
(23:24):
that in graphic detail when you look at the account
of Abraham, who was king of Salem or Jerusalem, the
very region where God gave him victory in the Battle
of the Kings, and the very region in which God
called him to establish a righteous nation of kings and priests.
(23:44):
So from the perspective of heaven, in this scene, it
is Melchizedek who is the King of Salem and remains
a priest forever, as opposed to Abraham. And as such,
Melchizedek appears as a human king and priest, yet is
without beginning of days or end of life, a priest
who offers bread and wine from the Jerusalem that is above,
(24:06):
the Jerusalem that's free, and is our mother. So Scripture
not only designates Melchizedic king of righteousness and King of Peace,
but overtly tells us that again he's without father or mother,
without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life,
and that like the Son of God, who remains a
priest forever. So in total, what we have is a
picture of a christophany, which means a pre incarnate appearance
(24:32):
of Jesus Christ. I've actually written about this in a
lot of detail in my book has God spoken memorable
proofs for the divine inspiration of Scripture, And one of
the proofs that points in this direction with more clarity
is what has been found in Cave eleven of the
Dead Sea scrolls, the Melchizedic scroll. It sheds further light
(24:53):
in answer to the question you had.
Speaker 6 (24:55):
Well, thank you so much, and I'll definitely pick up
your book. I've been meaning to, so I appreciate you
got it.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Thank you so much for your call, and we are
at a time for this edition of the Bible inch
Men Broadcast. We'll be right back here tomorrow with more
answers to your questions. In the meantime, pray for us,
and please, if you can, if the Lord has given
you some of his resources financially, please invest them in
the ministry of the Christian Research Institute. We need you
now more than ever. You can do so in a
say secure fashion on the web equipped dot org. You
(25:23):
can also write and in close a check at Post
Office box eighty five hundred Charlotte, North Carolina's a code
two eight two seven one, or just pick up the
telephone talk to one of our resource consultants that number
triple eight seven thousand, and the letters CRI. Look forward
to being with you tomorrow with more.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Thank you for joining us for the Bible answer Man Broadcast.
In today's post truth culture of confusion, the Christian Research
Institute exists to equip listeners like you with answers to
communicate the Gospel of hope to a world in desperate
need of life and truth. Because life and truth matter.
(26:01):
In addition to truth, we want to equip you with life,
not simply to know about God, but truly to know Him.
Experiencing union with Christ enables us to live life not
merely by our own energy, but with the energy of
the Lord Jesus working powerfully through us. For more information,
(26:22):
call eight eight eight seven thousand CRII. That's eight eight
eight seven thousand CRII. You can also write CRII at
Post Office Box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina two
eight two seven one, or just visit us online at
equip dot org. That's equip dot org. The Bible answer
(26:47):
Man Broadcast is funded by listeners like you. We're on
the air because life and truth matter. Breaking the Code.
If the Book of Revelation has become an international obsession,
(27:07):
the result has been rampant misreading of scripture, bad theology,
and even bad politics and foreign policy. In the Apocalypse Code,
find out what the Bible really says about the end
times and why it matters today. Hank Canagraph argues that
the key to understanding the Last Book of the Bible
is the other sixty five books of the Bible, not
(27:28):
current events or recent history. The Apocalypse Code offers sane
answers to some very controversial questions, such as, what does
it mean to take the Book of Revelation literally, who
are the Antichrist and the Great Horror of Babylon? And
what is the real meaning of six hundred and sixty six.
Order The Apocalypse Code by Hank Cantigraph today, available in softcover,
(27:50):
MP three, CD or MP three download from equip dot
org or call eight eight eight seven thousand CRI
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