September 17, 2025 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (09/17/25), Hank answers the following questions:
Is the 666 in Revelation connected to the 666 talents of gold in 1 Kings 10:14? Mark - Vancouver, BC (0:51)
Is it biblical to make a faith promise to give money to missions? Greg - St. Louis, MO (4:31)
What is your opinion of Radical by David Platt? Is he a Word of Faith teacher? Lila - Sallisaw, OK (7:33)
Why don’t Christians keep the Levitical laws? Martin - Edmonton, AB (15:11)
What is the biblical view of divorce? How do you counsel friends going through marital problems or seeking a divorce? Emmanuel - Vancouver, BC (19:14)
What are your thoughts on Mike Murdock? Can you elaborate on the “seed faith” offering? Cynthia - Memphis, TN (23:04)
Is the 666 in Revelation connected to the 666 talents of gold in 1 Kings 10:14? Mark - Vancouver, BC (0:51)
Is it biblical to make a faith promise to give money to missions? Greg - St. Louis, MO (4:31)
What is your opinion of Radical by David Platt? Is he a Word of Faith teacher? Lila - Sallisaw, OK (7:33)
Why don’t Christians keep the Levitical laws? Martin - Edmonton, AB (15:11)
What is the biblical view of divorce? How do you counsel friends going through marital problems or seeking a divorce? Emmanuel - Vancouver, BC (19:14)
What are your thoughts on Mike Murdock? Can you elaborate on the “seed faith” offering? Cynthia - Memphis, TN (23:04)
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 Christian Research
Institute President Hank Hanigraph. Our mission at CRII is not
only to equip you with Christian doctrine, apologetic accuracy, and discernment,
but to help you become a faithful apprentice of Jesus Christ,
because life and truth matter. If you'd like to know
(00:28):
more about CRII and the Bible answer Man Broadcast called
eight eight eight seven thousand CRII eight eight eight seven
thousand CRII, or go to our website at equip dot org.
That's equip dot org. The following program was pre recorded
and now here's Hank canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Thank you, ndy, many of you hanging on. We'll go
right to the phone. Caller's first step is Mark and Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Hi, Mark, Hi, Hank is about the number six six
to six in the Book of Revelation. And I just
want to preface my question by saying, I'm I've heard
you talk in the past about how it's a parody
of the mark of the Lamb, but I've got a
friend who's a seminary student and recently mentioned how six
sixty six is also mentioned in the Book of First
(01:20):
Kings First Kings ten fourteen, and it's Solomon's six hundred
and sixty six talents of gold. I believe it is.
And he said that sixty six to six would have
been a really familiar reference to the audience reading Revelation
at the time, and they would have seen it as
a reference to money. And basically he said that six
(01:42):
six to six marks the point where Solomon was getting
all this money, and his spiritual life began to decline
after this point, and he began to, you know, intermarry
with other merry, other wives and things like that. And
so I was just wondering if you could comment on
that perspective, and I'll take my answer off the air
if that's okay, And thank you very much, and God
bless you, God bless you.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Mark appreciate your call so much. And the answer to
the question is quite simply this. The reference in First Kings,
as well as I believe Second Chronicles to six hundred
and sixty six talents has to do with money, that's correct.
But the reference that you have in the Book of
Revelation has to do with a man, and that's the distinction.
(02:25):
So they're not equivalent. They happen to be the same number.
But the one has to do, as Mark rightly points out,
with the way to the gold that Solomon received yearly,
not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from
all the Arabian kings and governors of the land. But
a far different thing is going on in the Book
(02:48):
of Revelation. And we know that because John, the author
of Revelation, is telling a first century audience that, with
wisdom and insight they would be able to calculate the
number of a man. In fact, it is called a
man's number, explicitly the number not six sixty six, but
(03:10):
six hundred sixty and six. Now, obviously, as I've pointed
out many times, no amount of wisdom or insight would
have enabled a first century audience to calculate the number
of a twenty first century beast, and therefore it would
have been cruel. It would have been misleading for John
to suggest to first century Christians that they could identify
(03:33):
the beast if, in fact the beast was a twenty
first century individual or institution. And of course what we know,
not only biblically but also historically, is that number is
the equivalent of Nero, a beast who ravaged the bride
of Christ in a historical milieu that included three and
(03:56):
a half years of persecution. Remember, in the end and
Paul themselves were persecuted and put to death at the
hands of this beast. And this was the only epic
and human history in which the beast could directly assail
the foundation of the Christian Church, of which Jesus Christ
himself was the cornerstone. So again in the Chronicles passage,
(04:18):
in the King's Passage, this has to do with money.
In Revelation, this has to do with a man, not
just a man, but a man described in the Book
of Revelation as a beast. Back to the phone lines,
we'll talk next to Greg Saint Louis, Missouri.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Hi, Greg, Hi, Hank. Thank you for taking my call,
and thank you for your program.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Sir, you got it.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
I was calling regarding the teaching of what's called Faith Promise,
which the church I attend seems to have an annual
program on trying to raise suns for missions, coordinated by
a program where you make a commitment for the year
fell out a pledge card and is taught under the
(05:00):
auspices of Paul and Corinthians regarding gathering up and offering
when he travels to a particular church and he comes
back for that at a later time, and they use
that under a premise of a faith promise teaching. And
I was just calling to ask regarding that, you find
that contextually solid or do you find out of a
(05:22):
manipulation of the scriptures to teach something that is more
of a man teaching and then using the scriptures as
proof text.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, well, I mean I don't think you find the
idea of a faith promise in the scripture. There are
texts that demonstrate the reality that money is necessary for
the mission of the Gospel. I don't think the text
that's being used here directly correlates to what's called faith
promised giving. But having said that, I don't see any
(05:54):
problem with faith promise giving as long as it is
perfectly considered with the same caveat that we add to
our prayers all the time, which, if it be Thy will,
that needs to be appended to all our prayers because
we see a snapshot in time. God sees the panoply
of our lives. So if you prayer fully consider a
(06:16):
faith promise, and you say, as God leads and provides,
I would like to give this much. This is what
God is laying on my heart. I don't see any
problem with it biblically, but I just don't see the
text actually directly cooperating faith promise giving as at least
it is defined in modern culture.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
All right, So I appreciate your input on that. I've
always tried to obviously support missionaries through our local church.
I believe it's biblical to do such, and I like
the way that our Ticketar church does it in a
very orderly fashion. I just wanted to make sure that
many times in the giving, as you've taught many times
on your program, people using different human manipulations and emotions
(07:02):
and such to try to manipulate the giving, when really
it's more, I think, just a thing between you and
the Lord, and your family and your spouse. What had
you been giving, and more of a prayerful station than
trying to come up with a sales program.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, I don't think this is manipulative, and I think
it's a perfectly legitimate way of challenging people to give
to missions. I just don't think the text absolutely coroborates
the modern idea of faith promised giving, but the idea
I think is thoroughly justifiable. Let's go back to the
phone lines. Lilah listening on the web in Oklahoma High.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
Hi there, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions,
if it's okay, And I also wanted to let you
know that about twenty years ago, cr I rescued me
from the word faith movement, and I was so bottomed
out from it that I was begging God to take
my life. And I would like you to know that
(08:02):
you were powerfully instrumental in rescuing me.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Thank you for that encouragement.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
You're welcome. I know you probably hear it a lot.
But first of all, I've become a little bit of
a mini apologist lately because I've run into a word
of say movement more and more. So I'm trying to
I'm trying to study up and I'm looking at uh
and when a book becomes really popular in the Christian circles,
(08:33):
I kind of doubt, I doubt its veracity. I have
to say, I've become kind of dated, and so I'm
looking at the book called Radical by David Platt. And
I've also been studying. I've studied both versions of or
both uh well in both Christianity and Crisis books. And
I noticed that a lot of those guys, like Kenyan
(08:57):
and various ones say that Jesus's physical guests could not
pay the penalty of sin. It didn't touch this sin
issue at all. And also that when he became sin quote,
his body became mortal, and then that's when Satan took
possession of his spirit. So basically, you know the sin
(09:19):
coming upon him. And I have to say, I see
some parallels between that and and I don't know. I
just wanted to get your opinion because I see a
possible parallel between that and David Platt's take on it,
where he's saying, do we really think that a crown
of thorns and rich and nails and all other facets
(09:40):
are powerful enough to save us? And ended actually, which
I sort of agree with, It was God's holy wrath
and hatred towards sin and sinners that was poured out
on him that was the most painful in that. But
then also that God turned away from Jesus because you
could not bear to see your sin and my so
on his time. And I don't know why. I mean,
(10:03):
he's kind of similar, and I wanted to see what
you think.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, well, let me say that the distance between any
Word of Faith teacher and David Platt is the distance
of infinity. I mean, that's a hyperbole, but look, David
Platt is a thorough going evangelical and he is absolutely
the real deal. I met him, I spoke with him
(10:25):
at a conference in Memphis, and I was absolutely taken
not only by his message but by his manner. He's
a humble but very effective communicator of the Gospel, so
I would always give him the benefit of the doubt.
This is a man that God is greatly using, and
(10:47):
I couldn't recommend him highly enough. So again, there's no
correlation whatsoever between the message and manner of David Platt
and what I've written about in Christian and Crisis twenty
first century. Thanks for your call and your encouragement. We
write back with more answers to your questions.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
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Speaker 2 (15:09):
Thank you very much, Randy, and we go right back
to our phone callers. Next up is Martin listening in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Hi Martin, how are you good? Thank you?
Speaker 6 (15:19):
You're talking about the levitical laws. Is there an easy
answer to why we don't follow those livitical laws.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah. I think what's really important is to recognize the
historical context in which the levitical laws were given. So
the distinction, for example, between clean and unclean animals was
symbolized in a particular way for a particular purpose. It
was to demonstrate the difference between that which was holy
(15:49):
and that which was unholy, within the context of a theocracy,
a theocracy meaning God ruling directly over a people. So
the ceremonial symbolism of the law is fulfilled in Christ,
who makes all things clean, or who makes the unclean clean.
And therefore the Bible tells us that we are not
(16:14):
to call anything impure that God has made clean, and
the same thing is true, for example, with the civilian
ceremony of laws such as seeding crops and sowing clothes. Again,
they were given to illustrate the spiritual and social distinctions
between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of light,
and therefore the mixing of different things was associated with
(16:36):
the syncretistic pagan practices that Israel had been warned to avoid,
So there was a purpose for those laws within the
context of a theocracy. Furthermore, those laws pointed forward to
Jesus Christ, and when Jesus Christ comes, he abrogates those
laws because he is the fulfillment of the type in
(16:59):
the shadow.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Okay, yeah, the exact I haven't been able to find
it in the Bible, but the one that I was
given was that y'arn't supposed to mix your pots. Is
that something that was like a pagan No.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
No, that's along the exact same lines of what I
was just talking about, you know, in other words, along
the same lines of using different types of materials in
sewing closed together or mixing different kinds of seeds in
the same seed bed. The idea here is that you
(17:32):
don't want to buy into syncretistic practices, and Israel is
within a context where this is very easy to do
because of where they're living. So there are object lessons
along the way that are very meaningful within that particular
ancient context and have no relevance whatsoever to us today.
Speaker 6 (17:55):
Okay, it's still hard to wrap your head around some
of those laws, but I guess God had a purpose
for the time.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Well, yeah, and I'm not disagreeing with the point that
it's hard to wrap your mind around these things. It
is very, very difficult, and I don't think you can
take very complex mosaic laws and render them superficial soundbites.
It takes some work, It takes some.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
Digging historical diggings. There might be you know, there was
a purpose for it at the time, you're saying.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
There was a purpose for it at the time. And
there's a difference between civil and ceremonial laws that are
fulfilled in Christ and enduring moral principles, and you have
to make the distinction between the two as well. So
again it doesn't lend itself to simplistic answers. I've given
a full explanation of these laws and how they should
(18:45):
be coateextualized in my book Has God Spoken. The reason
I did that is because on several West Wing episodes
and then picked up later by Barack Obama. I guess
he was watching the West Wing rather studiously. He was
coming up with the same arguments, and I thought, well,
I should let people know exactly what's going on with
these laws. So I lay this out and how to
(19:06):
read the Bible for all its wealth section in my
book Has Got Spoken.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
Perfect all have I guess stuff.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Thank you, sir, Hey appreciate your call back to the
phone lines of Manuel listening in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
A lot of Canadian listeners today, Emmanuel, how are you?
Speaker 7 (19:20):
I'm good. Thanks for having me, Hank. I'm really excited
to finally get on the show and ask your question. Okay,
my question with regards to marriage and biblical marriage, especially
with a New Testament, when Jesus says, man, what God
put together, let not man separate. I have a lot
of Christian friends who are going through divorce right now
(19:41):
or struggling on the brink of it. My question is,
what is God's take on biblical divorce. It seems obvious, yeah,
he doesn't want them to be divorced, but what if
it's to the point where it's like they're questioning what
this God's will for them to even come together in
the first place, and maybe in their life they would
actually be happier instead of this torment they're going through
in their marriage. How do you counsel your friends who
(20:03):
are going through divorce that it just seems like it's
only getting worse.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Well, the point is we're not called to be happy,
We're called to be holy and quite frankly, difficult marriages
really help in the sanctification process. But divorce is given
to us because of the hardness of our hearts. It
was never God's intent. But you do find that there
are biblical grounds that are given for divorce and scripture,
(20:29):
the two most noteworthy are desertion and adultery. But again
that's presupposing that the greatest good is always that reconciliation
be affected if possible. But of course, Paul says, if
an unbeliever leaves the relationship, the believer is not bound
in that circumstance. He says that in one Corinthians chapter seven,
(20:50):
and Jesus talks about adultery as an exception. But again
this is given because the hardness of our hearts, and
the ultimate good is to seek recondation, which of course
always takes two parties, someone willing to be forgiven and
someone wanting to forgive.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
M H.
Speaker 7 (21:07):
So you're saying, like, even I agree, and so it's like,
no matter what the circumstances prior to the marriage, if
they were you know, they had you know, you hear
I had even excuses kind of like cultural differences that
are really straining them, or all these things that they're
not happy with. But it's like, there really is no
excuse when it comes down to it, is there.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
No Because marriage is difficult in and of itself. I mean,
if two people were identical, one of them would be unnecessary.
What goes on in the marriage is you have two
rough pieces of wood that rub against one another, and
hopefully you wear off the rough spots over time. In
other words, you're conformed through the institution of marriage, and
(21:46):
you learn how to be a sacrificial giver. You learn
what love truly is. Love is not merely a feeling,
the feeling that the two people had at the time
that they got married. But love is a commitment, and therefore,
within the context of that commitment, there are times where
(22:06):
you wonder why you ever did this in the first place.
But that's not the time to go looking for the
grass that's greener on the other side of the fence,
because when you get there you find out it's dead.
It's the time to work on the relationship and in
that process you refine yourself, You become a better person,
a more usable tool. In the kingdom, the problem, quite frankly,
(22:27):
is we have relegated love to a mere feeling, and
what's the problem there? What feelings have been flow? So
there are times that you're madly in love and there
are times that you don't feel in love at all.
But that's if you relegate love to a mere feeling.
It does involve feelings, but it's much more than that.
It's a commitment out of which the feelings flow.
Speaker 7 (22:48):
Wow, Hank, I really appreciate that. I really bless me
and God bless you guys in your ministry. I really
got some good stut today.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You got it, man, And we have a great article
in the Christian Research Journal that's called Biblical Ground for
Divorce and Remarriage. It is available on the webityquip dot org.
Right back to the phone lines. We'll talk next to Cynthia.
She's listening in Memphis, Tennessee.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
Hi Cynthia, Hi Hank, Hi are you today?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
I'm well, Thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 8 (23:15):
For taking my call. I wanted to ask you about
this minister. I see him on TV Ali. His name
is Mike Murdoch. I believe that's his name. I never
really watched the full episode of his shows, but when
I do passing by, I always see him asking for
(23:36):
the seed faith offering, and I was wondering what did
you think of him? And could you elaborate more on
this seed faith offering? And I'll take your answer offline.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, a couple of things. First of all, Mike Murdoch
is a classic word of faith teacher. He is manipulating
people with give to get schemes, and one of them
is the seed con. I have delineated why this is
a spiritual con in my book Christianity and Crisis twenty
first century. You can get this book on the webit
(24:12):
equipped dot org. But I think it is really important
for us to recognize that the body of Christ is
being manipulated. It's important to give, and you can't outgive
the Lord, but there are all kinds of cons and
cover ups that are being used in order to manipulate
people into giving. And this whole idea of seed faith
(24:37):
is very reminiscent of what happened back in the Dark Ages,
so called. Although what was called the Dark Ages was
a useful term in terms of propaganda, the Ages weren't
dark at all, but it was certainly dark from a
standpoint of spirituality, where you had a crass and carnal
monk named Johann Tetzel who used to con the commoners
(25:00):
of his day with a catchy couplet as soon as
the coin in the coffer wrings the soul from purgatory springs.
And of course this was a way for him to
sell indulgences so they could build the basilica at Saint Peter's.
The same thing is being done by people like Mike
Murdoch today. And one of the things I point out
(25:21):
is this seed faith con is very synonymous with mail
me money, and it is used under the rubric of
give to get gospel of greed. I lay all of
it out exactly how they work it and why it's
unbiblical again in my book Christianity in Crisis twenty first cent.
We're going to have to leave it at that. As
you can hear, we are out of time for this
(25:44):
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Welcome to the Bible answer Man Broadcast with Christian Research
Institute President Hank Hanigraph. Our mission at CRII is not
only to equip you with Christian doctrine, apologetic accuracy, and discernment,
but to help you become a faithful apprentice of Jesus Christ,
because life and truth matter. If you'd like to know
(00:28):
more about CRII and the Bible answer Man Broadcast called
eight eight eight seven thousand CRII eight eight eight seven
thousand CRII, or go to our website at equip dot org.
That's equip dot org. The following program was pre recorded
and now here's Hank canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Thank you, ndy, many of you hanging on. We'll go
right to the phone. Caller's first step is Mark and Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Hi, Mark, Hi, Hank is about the number six six
to six in the Book of Revelation. And I just
want to preface my question by saying, I'm I've heard
you talk in the past about how it's a parody
of the mark of the Lamb, but I've got a
friend who's a seminary student and recently mentioned how six
sixty six is also mentioned in the Book of First
(01:20):
Kings First Kings ten fourteen, and it's Solomon's six hundred
and sixty six talents of gold. I believe it is.
And he said that sixty six to six would have
been a really familiar reference to the audience reading Revelation
at the time, and they would have seen it as
a reference to money. And basically he said that six
(01:42):
six to six marks the point where Solomon was getting
all this money, and his spiritual life began to decline
after this point, and he began to, you know, intermarry
with other merry, other wives and things like that. And
so I was just wondering if you could comment on
that perspective, and I'll take my answer off the air
if that's okay, And thank you very much, and God
bless you, God bless you.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Mark appreciate your call so much. And the answer to
the question is quite simply this. The reference in First Kings,
as well as I believe Second Chronicles to six hundred
and sixty six talents has to do with money, that's correct.
But the reference that you have in the Book of
Revelation has to do with a man, and that's the distinction.
(02:25):
So they're not equivalent. They happen to be the same number.
But the one has to do, as Mark rightly points out,
with the way to the gold that Solomon received yearly,
not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from
all the Arabian kings and governors of the land. But
a far different thing is going on in the Book
(02:48):
of Revelation. And we know that because John, the author
of Revelation, is telling a first century audience that, with
wisdom and insight they would be able to calculate the
number of a man. In fact, it is called a
man's number, explicitly the number not six sixty six, but
(03:10):
six hundred sixty and six. Now, obviously, as I've pointed
out many times, no amount of wisdom or insight would
have enabled a first century audience to calculate the number
of a twenty first century beast, and therefore it would
have been cruel. It would have been misleading for John
to suggest to first century Christians that they could identify
(03:33):
the beast if, in fact the beast was a twenty
first century individual or institution. And of course what we know,
not only biblically but also historically, is that number is
the equivalent of Nero, a beast who ravaged the bride
of Christ in a historical milieu that included three and
(03:56):
a half years of persecution. Remember, in the end and
Paul themselves were persecuted and put to death at the
hands of this beast. And this was the only epic
and human history in which the beast could directly assail
the foundation of the Christian Church, of which Jesus Christ
himself was the cornerstone. So again in the Chronicles passage,
(04:18):
in the King's Passage, this has to do with money.
In Revelation, this has to do with a man, not
just a man, but a man described in the Book
of Revelation as a beast. Back to the phone lines,
we'll talk next to Greg Saint Louis, Missouri.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Hi, Greg, Hi, Hank. Thank you for taking my call,
and thank you for your program.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Sir, you got it.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
I was calling regarding the teaching of what's called Faith Promise,
which the church I attend seems to have an annual
program on trying to raise suns for missions, coordinated by
a program where you make a commitment for the year
fell out a pledge card and is taught under the
(05:00):
auspices of Paul and Corinthians regarding gathering up and offering
when he travels to a particular church and he comes
back for that at a later time, and they use
that under a premise of a faith promise teaching. And
I was just calling to ask regarding that, you find
that contextually solid or do you find out of a
(05:22):
manipulation of the scriptures to teach something that is more
of a man teaching and then using the scriptures as
proof text.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, well, I mean I don't think you find the
idea of a faith promise in the scripture. There are
texts that demonstrate the reality that money is necessary for
the mission of the Gospel. I don't think the text
that's being used here directly correlates to what's called faith
promised giving. But having said that, I don't see any
(05:54):
problem with faith promise giving as long as it is
perfectly considered with the same caveat that we add to
our prayers all the time, which, if it be Thy will,
that needs to be appended to all our prayers because
we see a snapshot in time. God sees the panoply
of our lives. So if you prayer fully consider a
(06:16):
faith promise, and you say, as God leads and provides,
I would like to give this much. This is what
God is laying on my heart. I don't see any
problem with it biblically, but I just don't see the
text actually directly cooperating faith promise giving as at least
it is defined in modern culture.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
All right, So I appreciate your input on that. I've
always tried to obviously support missionaries through our local church.
I believe it's biblical to do such, and I like
the way that our Ticketar church does it in a
very orderly fashion. I just wanted to make sure that
many times in the giving, as you've taught many times
on your program, people using different human manipulations and emotions
(07:02):
and such to try to manipulate the giving, when really
it's more, I think, just a thing between you and
the Lord, and your family and your spouse. What had
you been giving, and more of a prayerful station than
trying to come up with a sales program.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, I don't think this is manipulative, and I think
it's a perfectly legitimate way of challenging people to give
to missions. I just don't think the text absolutely coroborates
the modern idea of faith promised giving, but the idea
I think is thoroughly justifiable. Let's go back to the
phone lines. Lilah listening on the web in Oklahoma High.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
Hi there, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions,
if it's okay, And I also wanted to let you
know that about twenty years ago, cr I rescued me
from the word faith movement, and I was so bottomed
out from it that I was begging God to take
my life. And I would like you to know that
(08:02):
you were powerfully instrumental in rescuing me.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Thank you for that encouragement.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
You're welcome. I know you probably hear it a lot.
But first of all, I've become a little bit of
a mini apologist lately because I've run into a word
of say movement more and more. So I'm trying to
I'm trying to study up and I'm looking at uh
and when a book becomes really popular in the Christian circles,
(08:33):
I kind of doubt, I doubt its veracity. I have
to say, I've become kind of dated, and so I'm
looking at the book called Radical by David Platt. And
I've also been studying. I've studied both versions of or
both uh well in both Christianity and Crisis books. And
I noticed that a lot of those guys, like Kenyan
(08:57):
and various ones say that Jesus's physical guests could not
pay the penalty of sin. It didn't touch this sin
issue at all. And also that when he became sin quote,
his body became mortal, and then that's when Satan took
possession of his spirit. So basically, you know the sin
(09:19):
coming upon him. And I have to say, I see
some parallels between that and and I don't know. I
just wanted to get your opinion because I see a
possible parallel between that and David Platt's take on it,
where he's saying, do we really think that a crown
of thorns and rich and nails and all other facets
(09:40):
are powerful enough to save us? And ended actually, which
I sort of agree with, It was God's holy wrath
and hatred towards sin and sinners that was poured out
on him that was the most painful in that. But
then also that God turned away from Jesus because you
could not bear to see your sin and my so
on his time. And I don't know why. I mean,
(10:03):
he's kind of similar, and I wanted to see what
you think.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, well, let me say that the distance between any
Word of Faith teacher and David Platt is the distance
of infinity. I mean, that's a hyperbole, but look, David
Platt is a thorough going evangelical and he is absolutely
the real deal. I met him, I spoke with him
(10:25):
at a conference in Memphis, and I was absolutely taken
not only by his message but by his manner. He's
a humble but very effective communicator of the Gospel, so
I would always give him the benefit of the doubt.
This is a man that God is greatly using, and
(10:47):
I couldn't recommend him highly enough. So again, there's no
correlation whatsoever between the message and manner of David Platt
and what I've written about in Christian and Crisis twenty
first century. Thanks for your call and your encouragement. We
write back with more answers to your questions.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
The famous British apologist G. K. 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,
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(11:24):
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(11:48):
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a war going on, not just on traditional morality, civility,
and decency, but even more fundamentally on historic notions of truth.
(12:12):
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
(12:36):
CRI Support Team members are not waving a white flag
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difference and enjoy all the benefits of Support Team membership,
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(13:08):
words of Scripture merely human in origin? Or are they
in fact the very words of God himself. Three years
in the making and based on two decades of research
and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumental book Has God Spoken answers
what is surely the most important question facing our world.
In Has God Spoken? Memorable proofs of the Bible's Divine inspiration,
(13:32):
Hank counters the contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly
shows that belief in the Holy Scriptures is not a
guess or wishful thinking. It is the only logical conclusion
after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence. Ordered Has God Spoken?
From the Christian Research Institute by calling eighty eight seven
thousand CRII or go online to equip dot org. Equip
(13:57):
dot Org the Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is
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Hannigraph has received throughout his four decades as host of
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million copies already in print, this newly revised and expanded
(14:18):
Collector's Edition helped seekers and skeptics alike sort through the
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(14:43):
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dot org. And now here's Hank canagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Thank you very much, Randy, and we go right back
to our phone callers. Next up is Martin listening in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Hi Martin, how are you good? Thank you?
Speaker 6 (15:19):
You're talking about the levitical laws. Is there an easy
answer to why we don't follow those livitical laws.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah. I think what's really important is to recognize the
historical context in which the levitical laws were given. So
the distinction, for example, between clean and unclean animals was
symbolized in a particular way for a particular purpose. It
was to demonstrate the difference between that which was holy
(15:49):
and that which was unholy, within the context of a theocracy,
a theocracy meaning God ruling directly over a people. So
the ceremonial symbolism of the law is fulfilled in Christ,
who makes all things clean, or who makes the unclean clean.
And therefore the Bible tells us that we are not
(16:14):
to call anything impure that God has made clean, and
the same thing is true, for example, with the civilian
ceremony of laws such as seeding crops and sowing clothes. Again,
they were given to illustrate the spiritual and social distinctions
between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of light,
and therefore the mixing of different things was associated with
(16:36):
the syncretistic pagan practices that Israel had been warned to avoid,
So there was a purpose for those laws within the
context of a theocracy. Furthermore, those laws pointed forward to
Jesus Christ, and when Jesus Christ comes, he abrogates those
laws because he is the fulfillment of the type in
(16:59):
the shadow.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Okay, yeah, the exact I haven't been able to find
it in the Bible, but the one that I was
given was that y'arn't supposed to mix your pots. Is
that something that was like a pagan No.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
No, that's along the exact same lines of what I
was just talking about, you know, in other words, along
the same lines of using different types of materials in
sewing closed together or mixing different kinds of seeds in
the same seed bed. The idea here is that you
(17:32):
don't want to buy into syncretistic practices, and Israel is
within a context where this is very easy to do
because of where they're living. So there are object lessons
along the way that are very meaningful within that particular
ancient context and have no relevance whatsoever to us today.
Speaker 6 (17:55):
Okay, it's still hard to wrap your head around some
of those laws, but I guess God had a purpose
for the time.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Well, yeah, and I'm not disagreeing with the point that
it's hard to wrap your mind around these things. It
is very, very difficult, and I don't think you can
take very complex mosaic laws and render them superficial soundbites.
It takes some work, It takes some.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
Digging historical diggings. There might be you know, there was
a purpose for it at the time, you're saying.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
There was a purpose for it at the time. And
there's a difference between civil and ceremonial laws that are
fulfilled in Christ and enduring moral principles, and you have
to make the distinction between the two as well. So
again it doesn't lend itself to simplistic answers. I've given
a full explanation of these laws and how they should
(18:45):
be coateextualized in my book Has God Spoken. The reason
I did that is because on several West Wing episodes
and then picked up later by Barack Obama. I guess
he was watching the West Wing rather studiously. He was
coming up with the same arguments, and I thought, well,
I should let people know exactly what's going on with
these laws. So I lay this out and how to
(19:06):
read the Bible for all its wealth section in my
book Has Got Spoken.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
Perfect all have I guess stuff.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Thank you, sir, Hey appreciate your call back to the
phone lines of Manuel listening in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
A lot of Canadian listeners today, Emmanuel, how are you?
Speaker 7 (19:20):
I'm good. Thanks for having me, Hank. I'm really excited
to finally get on the show and ask your question. Okay,
my question with regards to marriage and biblical marriage, especially
with a New Testament, when Jesus says, man, what God
put together, let not man separate. I have a lot
of Christian friends who are going through divorce right now
(19:41):
or struggling on the brink of it. My question is,
what is God's take on biblical divorce. It seems obvious, yeah,
he doesn't want them to be divorced, but what if
it's to the point where it's like they're questioning what
this God's will for them to even come together in
the first place, and maybe in their life they would
actually be happier instead of this torment they're going through
in their marriage. How do you counsel your friends who
(20:03):
are going through divorce that it just seems like it's
only getting worse.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Well, the point is we're not called to be happy,
We're called to be holy and quite frankly, difficult marriages
really help in the sanctification process. But divorce is given
to us because of the hardness of our hearts. It
was never God's intent. But you do find that there
are biblical grounds that are given for divorce and scripture,
(20:29):
the two most noteworthy are desertion and adultery. But again
that's presupposing that the greatest good is always that reconciliation
be affected if possible. But of course, Paul says, if
an unbeliever leaves the relationship, the believer is not bound
in that circumstance. He says that in one Corinthians chapter seven,
(20:50):
and Jesus talks about adultery as an exception. But again
this is given because the hardness of our hearts, and
the ultimate good is to seek recondation, which of course
always takes two parties, someone willing to be forgiven and
someone wanting to forgive.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
M H.
Speaker 7 (21:07):
So you're saying, like, even I agree, and so it's like,
no matter what the circumstances prior to the marriage, if
they were you know, they had you know, you hear
I had even excuses kind of like cultural differences that
are really straining them, or all these things that they're
not happy with. But it's like, there really is no
excuse when it comes down to it, is there.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
No Because marriage is difficult in and of itself. I mean,
if two people were identical, one of them would be unnecessary.
What goes on in the marriage is you have two
rough pieces of wood that rub against one another, and
hopefully you wear off the rough spots over time. In
other words, you're conformed through the institution of marriage, and
(21:46):
you learn how to be a sacrificial giver. You learn
what love truly is. Love is not merely a feeling,
the feeling that the two people had at the time
that they got married. But love is a commitment, and therefore,
within the context of that commitment, there are times where
(22:06):
you wonder why you ever did this in the first place.
But that's not the time to go looking for the
grass that's greener on the other side of the fence,
because when you get there you find out it's dead.
It's the time to work on the relationship and in
that process you refine yourself, You become a better person,
a more usable tool. In the kingdom, the problem, quite frankly,
(22:27):
is we have relegated love to a mere feeling, and
what's the problem there? What feelings have been flow? So
there are times that you're madly in love and there
are times that you don't feel in love at all.
But that's if you relegate love to a mere feeling.
It does involve feelings, but it's much more than that.
It's a commitment out of which the feelings flow.
Speaker 7 (22:48):
Wow, Hank, I really appreciate that. I really bless me
and God bless you guys in your ministry. I really
got some good stut today.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You got it, man, And we have a great article
in the Christian Research Journal that's called Biblical Ground for
Divorce and Remarriage. It is available on the webityquip dot org.
Right back to the phone lines. We'll talk next to Cynthia.
She's listening in Memphis, Tennessee.
Speaker 5 (23:09):
Hi Cynthia, Hi Hank, Hi are you today?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
I'm well, Thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 8 (23:15):
For taking my call. I wanted to ask you about
this minister. I see him on TV Ali. His name
is Mike Murdoch. I believe that's his name. I never
really watched the full episode of his shows, but when
I do passing by, I always see him asking for
(23:36):
the seed faith offering, and I was wondering what did
you think of him? And could you elaborate more on
this seed faith offering? And I'll take your answer offline.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, a couple of things. First of all, Mike Murdoch
is a classic word of faith teacher. He is manipulating
people with give to get schemes, and one of them
is the seed con. I have delineated why this is
a spiritual con in my book Christianity and Crisis twenty
first century. You can get this book on the webit
(24:12):
equipped dot org. But I think it is really important
for us to recognize that the body of Christ is
being manipulated. It's important to give, and you can't outgive
the Lord, but there are all kinds of cons and
cover ups that are being used in order to manipulate
people into giving. And this whole idea of seed faith
(24:37):
is very reminiscent of what happened back in the Dark Ages,
so called. Although what was called the Dark Ages was
a useful term in terms of propaganda, the Ages weren't
dark at all, but it was certainly dark from a
standpoint of spirituality, where you had a crass and carnal
monk named Johann Tetzel who used to con the commoners
(25:00):
of his day with a catchy couplet as soon as
the coin in the coffer wrings the soul from purgatory springs.
And of course this was a way for him to
sell indulgences so they could build the basilica at Saint Peter's.
The same thing is being done by people like Mike
Murdoch today. And one of the things I point out
(25:21):
is this seed faith con is very synonymous with mail
me money, and it is used under the rubric of
give to get gospel of greed. I lay all of
it out exactly how they work it and why it's
unbiblical again in my book Christianity in Crisis twenty first cent.
We're going to have to leave it at that. As
you can hear, we are out of time for this
(25:44):
edition of the Bible answer Man Broadcast. We do need
people to stand with us prayer fully and financially. If
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(26:05):
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triple eight seven thousand and the letters CRI. Thanks for
tuning in. We look forward to seeing you next time
with more of the show.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Thanks for tuning into the Bible answer Man Broadcast. Our
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can also listen to the broadcast, download archived programs, get
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(26:38):
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Broadcast is supported by listeners like you. We're on the
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