January 30, 2026 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (01/30/26), Hank answers the following questions:
If I prayed for help from the Devil in the past, what does that mean for me now? Joe - Tulsa, OK (0:52)
I used to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. What is the biblical belief about the new heaven and new earth? Gary - BC (4:56)
How do I find the faith I had as a child? Alan - Charlotte, NC (15:10)
If I prayed for help from the Devil in the past, what does that mean for me now? Joe - Tulsa, OK (0:52)
I used to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. What is the biblical belief about the new heaven and new earth? Gary - BC (4:56)
How do I find the faith I had as a child? Alan - Charlotte, NC (15:10)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Heard all across the United States, Canada, and around the world.
This is the Bible answer Man Broadcast with Hank Hannagraph.
Hank is president of the Christian Research Institute at CRI.
Our desire is to equip you to not only defend
the historic Christian faith, but become an apprentice of Jesus Christ,
(00:27):
because life and truth matter. To learn more or to
find resources to help you grow in grace, call eight
eight eight seven thousand CRII that's eight eight eight seven
thousand two seven four, or go to our website at
equip dot org. The following program was pre recorded and
(00:48):
now here's Hank Hanagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thanks very much for Randy, and let's go right to
the phone calls. First up is Joe listening Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hi, Hey, Hank,
how are you doing good? How are you?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm doing pretty good. I want to first thank you
and all of your staff for everything you do. And
I've used your website and got some valuable information from there.
My question of today is if I've prayed for help
from the devil, what does that mean for me?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Well, let me ask you. Are you a believer? Now?
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I am?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You sounded very much like a believer when you gave
the prolog to your question. So in a sense, I'm
asking you to confirm what you already know, and that
is you are a believer. You realize that you are
a sinner. You've repented of your sin, including once praying
to the devil. You've repented of your sin and received
Jesus Christ as savior and Lord of your life. The
(01:48):
old is gone, the newest. Come. Forget what is behind
and press on. You can know what is behind, so
you don't repeat the error. But you now know Satan
is the adversary, that Satan is not the one that
you pray to. It is God that you pray to,
and it is God that sustains you. It is God
(02:08):
that gives you every breath. Forget the past, press on,
serve Him with all the zeal you have in the
entirety of your being. Yes, sir, God completely forgives you.
We've all done things, and you know, sometimes I think
it's instructive to go to Psalm fifty one and maybe
(02:29):
even memorize Psalm fifty one. Have mercy on me, o, God,
according to your unfailing love, blot out my transgressions. Just
pray sincerely that God will forgive you, and he will
forgive you, and he will cleanse you from all unrighteousness,
and not only that, He will lay before you purpose,
(02:52):
provision and a future of service to him.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Okay, some of my doubts stems from an experience I
had in a church. I feel like now I've felt
the only spirit pushing me to accept Jesus, and I
didn't know what I was doing or what was going on,
and I kind of set back and I just didn't
(03:18):
answer that. I guess and it's it's been in my
head since then.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
But you're here at a particular stage, and at this
point in time, you can say, I realize that I'm
a sinner. I've repented of my sin, which is simply
saying I've made a U turn on the road of life.
I'm no longer living by the dictates of my own will.
I'm turning and following Jesus Christ. Now that doesn't mean
(03:47):
you're doing things perfectly every day. You're not neither am I,
But you are forgiven. You've repented and you have received
Jesus Christ is save. You're in lord of your life
and now is conforming you to his image. So go
from where you are right now, a realization that if
(04:10):
in fact you have recognized Jesus Christ confessed him as
Savior and Lord, you have everlasting life. So press forward.
What you've done in the past is in the past.
Press forward. Use your life. Make it a life of service,
make it a life that counts. Okay, grow, do the
(04:33):
things you need to do. To grow. You have to
exercise disciplines, read the Bible, pray, be involved in a healthy,
well balanced church. Learn to communicate what you believe in why,
and live with eternity in mind. Yes, okay, all right, Hey,
good talking to you, Joe. Thank you, you got it.
(04:55):
Want to go back to the phone line. Talk to
Gary listing in British Columbia.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Hi Gary, Well, Hi Hank, It's good to talk to you.
I've been listening to Chope quite a while now, and
I have one question. I studied the Bible years ago
with Jehovah's witnesses. Yes, and I know they believe that
like the Kingdom, God's kingdom will be on heaven on
earth as compared to heaven. Yes, and what is the
(05:22):
actual biblical belief to that.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, Jehovah's witnesses actually believed that God has two people.
He has unearthly people and he's got a heavenly people
one hundred and forty four thousand, and that's completely unbiblical.
The biblical view is that when Jesus Christ comes again
or appears a second time, he will put all things
(05:46):
to right, which is to say, this universe is going
to be restored to what it was before the fall.
So paradise lost will become paradise restored. God himself will
live with us, which is to say, if you read
Revelation chapter twenty one, John sees the new Jerusalem coming
(06:07):
down out of heaven, prepared as a bride, beautifully adorned
for a husband. Hears a loud voice from the throne saying,
now the dwelling of God is with men. He will
live with them. They will be as people, and God
himself will be with them and be their God. Now
that is an indication that what has been lost will
(06:27):
be restored. As God walked with Adam and Eve in
the cool of the day, So God will be with
us in a restored universe, no longer bearing the stain
of sin and sickness, of destruction and decay and disease,
all of that will have passed away. So that's what
(06:51):
the entirety of scriptures about. It's the fall, where man
falls into a life of constant sin, terminated by death,
all the way to the restoration, where we once again
are completely restored to intimate fellowship with the Lord. So
we will have then in reality, what we only know
(07:14):
faintly now. So even though you have been redeemed, you
still have a sin nature. We still live in a
cursed creation. The creation still groans in travail, awaiting its
liberation from bondage to decay, Paul says in Romans chapter eight.
So we're waiting for what we do not yet have,
and we are earnestly expecting it. That's what we look
(07:37):
forward to.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Okay. So the belief that when we die we'll just
fly away to heaven, that is a fallacy.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yes and no. Remember when you were born, when your
mother conceived you, she didn't just conceive a body. She
conceived a body soul unity. That's what it means to
be human. She conceived a human being. At death, there's
an unnatural rending between the body and the soul. The
soul goes to be with the Lord. As a believer,
(08:09):
absent from the body, present with the Lord, the body
goes back to the Earth from whence it came. When
Jesus appears a second time, the soul will return to
the body. In other words, you will be truly human again,
and you will be restored to what you would have
been had Sin never entered the world. The DNA that
(08:31):
makes you you will be the DNA that makes you
you for all eternity. But that DNA will flourish in
a complete, pristine universe, so it will never devolve. So
when you are transformed in mortal, imperishable, incorruptible, you will
become the you you would have been if sin had
never entered the world.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I see, Okay, do you have a scripture that I
could look up for that?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yes, a couple of scriptures. The first, the most significant one,
is probably the one that you would find in First
Corinthians chapter fifteen. And I wouldn't say just the verse there,
but I would say the entirety of First Corinthians Chapter
fifteen would be significant. Then also Second Corinthians chapter five.
Home in the body means absent from the Lord. Absent
(09:21):
from the body means to be home with the Lord.
So at present. If you were to die today, your
soul would be with the Lord. When Jesus returns again,
then your soul would be with the Lord, but it
would be in a body. In other words, you would
be truly human again.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
I see. So when the Bible says that God will
make us kant with man, that means that when Jesus
returns to Earth, then he will be with us on Earth.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Absolutely in a renewed universe. Okay, yes, And if we
can exhaust exploring this universe, God can create other universes
for us to explore.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Okay, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you
very much, Hank. I really appreciate your show.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
You get it. Thank you, Thank you so much for calling.
And I wrote about all of this and much more
in a book called Resurrection. I am absolutely astounded at
the misconceptions people have about death in the afterlife, and
as believers, we should have a proper understanding of these things.
That's what we look forward to, that's what we long for.
(10:25):
That's the cornerstone of the Christian faith, the resurrection of
Jesus Christ ensuring our resurrection again. All of that in
my book Resurrection. Check it out on the web at
equipped dot org or simply talk to our resource consultants
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Speaker 1 (10:43):
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(11:49):
tune out. Hank Hanagraph will be back with more right
after this.
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Speaker 1 (13:00):
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now here's Hank. Can I graph.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Let's go back to the phone lines. Now, talk to
Allen listening in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi Ellen, Hey, Hank,
how are you. I'm well, good talking to you.
Speaker 6 (15:18):
Good talking to you too. Got a question for you.
I lost my faith about ten years ago, and lately
I just catch myself, you know, listening to programs like yours,
and I'm having a hard time, you know, finding the
faith that I had as a kid. Yes, and I'm
wondering if you had any suggestions as to you know,
(15:40):
I've been told to, you know, keep an open mind
and so on, and I've tried that and it just
ain't coming to me.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
Well, Ellen, looking for some guidance.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Sure, so glad you called. Let me see that. What
I would do is go back to basics. This is
what I do when my faith gets shaken, And all
of us, at one point or other, are going to
have our faith shaken by circumstances, but never broken, because
you can go back to those pillars and posts that
(16:11):
are unbreakable, which is to say, we can go back
to a certain knowledge that God created the universe, that
we're not functions of random chance. The notion that nothing
creates everything is absurd in an age of scientific enlightenment.
So the notion that an uncaused first cause created what
(16:35):
we see makes nothing but good common sense. Every effect
and effect, like the universe, has to have a cause
equal to her, greater than itself. So once you establish
the notion that there is a God, the second thing
you can look at is whether that God is knowable.
(16:55):
And in a biblical worldview, you can know that God
is knowable because he's not just transcendent. He made himself
knowable in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So
then you want to know is Christ just another good
teacher or was he God? And I think the essential
evidence for Jesus being God comes to us from the
(17:18):
resurrection of Jesus Christ, wherein we see that he had
not only the power to lay down his life or
to die, but the power to take up his life again,
which sets him apart uniquely as God, as being divine,
and there's a cumulative case that can be built for
(17:39):
the resurrection that's unshakable. Then thirdly, you have to look
at the Bible that you've read cover to cover several
times as not merely human but divine in origin, which
is to say that you can look at manuscript evidence,
archaeological evidence, prophecy, scripture, synergy, and again you can see
(18:02):
a case for the fact that these cannot be the
words of men alone. They have to be the words
of men inspired by God, such that what you have
in the Bible corresponds to reality. What's interesting about the
Bible is not only that the people, the places, and
the particulars correspond to what has been discovered archaeologically. So
(18:26):
we see that the Bible's rooted in history and evidence,
but beyond that we see prophecy made in the Old
Testament miraculously fulfilled in the New demonstrating that God must
be superintending the writing, because you can't pawn off these
prophecies to luck or good guessing or deliberate deceit. These
(18:48):
are not prophecies like the prophecies of Nostrodonomus. These are
prophecies that can be verified and can be rendered invalid
if in fact they were in In other words, they're falsifiable.
So I think you go back to those pillars in posts,
and I have some really good resources in this regard.
(19:09):
I have a book on origins, which demonstrates that the
creation origin is the only the only model that's acceptable
in age of scientific enlightenment, quite frankly. And then I
also have a book on Resurrection, which gives you all
of the evidence for not only the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
(19:30):
but your resurrection as well. And then I have some
information that can help you with respect to seeing that
the Bible's divine is opposed to merely human in origin.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
I was gonna say, because I've got disagreements with about
everything that you just said, or reason's why I just
can't make it a click. I can't believe it.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Well, let's start with number one, have faith. Let's start
with the first thing I said. Let's start with the
issue of origins. Correct, what's the problem?
Speaker 6 (20:00):
Can't believe in a I mean, you were talking about
a first mover. You know, my question is, if that
keeps popping up my mind is, Okay, where did God
come from? There had to be something that created God.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
No, because the universe had to have a beginning according
to modern science. But unlike the universe, God is eternal,
and therefore there's no necessity whatsoever to suppose that God
has a cause. To suppose that because the universe had
a cause, the cause of the universe had to have
(20:33):
a cause always leads to a logical dead end because
what you have there is an infinite regression of finite causes,
and that does not answer the question a source. It
merely multiplies the effects. But simple logic dictates that the
universe is not merely an illusion. It didn't spring out
(20:54):
of nothing, It hasn't eternally existed, so it had to
be caused, right, I mean, simple logic tells you that
the universe didn't come about by itself.
Speaker 6 (21:06):
Okay, I could grant that that plausibility, But then we
get into you know, is this God the watchmaker type
and just lets it run or the personal God that
you talk about.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Well, again, this question is answered alan by looking at
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Or the incarnation of Jesus
Christ to begin with.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
In other words, I mean many other holy texts, you know,
the Quran and lots of Middle Eastern texts talk about
resurrections as well. Well not I'm not saying that they're
they're all all of these books are equal. Obviously you
have your choice in it, but you know there's lots
(21:49):
of these others. So just to me, it's an issue
of you know, if I if I had been born
in Saudi Arabia, it would be a Muslim. Hey, I
would have a choice, but be that's what I would
have been. I'd be listening to a guy on the
radio talking about that. So it comes down to where
you're born.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
No, it doesn't. What it comes down to alan is
not where you're born, but whether you want to receive light.
That's what it comes down to. And that's a biblical statement.
When Paul was arguing this very question on Mars Hill
in Acts chapter seventeen, what he points out is that
from one man, God made every nation of men that
(22:27):
they should have it the entire earth. He determined the
exact times and places that they should live. And God
did this so that men might reach out for him
and find him, though he is not far from each
one of them, which is to say that the problem
is not where you're born, because if you're born in
Saudi Arabia, you can still see the sun come up
(22:49):
every morning, you can still see the stars at night,
you can still see the moon, you can still see
irreducible complexity in biological systems. And on the basis of that,
you can recognize that there has to be a creator.
And if we look at a basketball, we say there
has to be a basketball maker. Much more the universe
(23:12):
requires a creator. So if you're born in Saudi Arabia,
you still have the light of creation. If you're born
in Saudi Arabia, you still have the light of conscience.
In other words, you still have a knowledge of God
imprinted upon the tablet of your consciousness. So you have
an outer light and you have an inner light wherever
you live on the planet. And Jesus Christ said, if
(23:35):
you respond to light, you will receive light. The reason
people don't respond to light is because they love darkness,
which is another point that Jesus Christ made with Nicodemus.
It's not that there's not enough light, but men love darkness.
Rather than light because their deeds are evil. So again,
it doesn't matter where you're on the planet. You have
(23:56):
the light of creation, you have the light of conscience,
and if you respond to that, you can have the
light of Christ. But you're not in Saudi Arabia. You're
right here talking to me, and I'm telling you all
of the evidence, so you don't have to read it
in a book, you don't have to look it up
on the internet. I'm dialoguing with you about these things.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
Right, But that's where my issue comes into. It's the
lack of faith, and I don't know how to find
that faith.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Again, well, you have to understand what kind of faith
you're looking for. You're not looking for blind faith. You're
looking for faith in evidence. And that's why I'm saying,
look at the evidence. And the reason I'm passionate about
this is I was in your position when I was
twenty nine years of age. I looked at the evidence
for origins, which I doubted the creation model. I looked
(24:46):
at the evidence for the Bible, and I looked at
the evidence for resurrection, which has taken me on the
path that I've taken in life. So it's never a
blind faith Alan, It's always faith in evidence. So you
examine the evidence, and does the evidence correspond to reality?
That's the question. They're only you know, you look at
the universe, and it's not like there are a million
(25:06):
different options. Either the universe eternally existed, as the Greeks thought,
that doesn't fly anymore in an age of scientific enlightenment,
or the universe sprang from nothing. Nobody credible thinks that.
So what are you left with is an illusion? Maybe
some benighted person in some Eastern country thinks that, but
(25:27):
certainly we don't believe that. In an age of scientific
enlightenment in the West. Even a full blown Sullipsys looks
both ways before it crosses the street. That leads to
only one other choice, and that is in the beginning.
Speaker 6 (25:39):
God, I'm gonna have to look into those books of yours.
I actually take a look at the evidence myself.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Start with the issue of origins. That's the place to start.
I wrote a book called The Face that demonstrates the
farce of evolution. I also have a shorter version of
that called Fatal Flaws. So you hang on, I'll get
one of those books into your hands, all right, Thank you?
You got it, Alan, call me if you need anything else.
Appreciate y'all, you too, appreciate your candidness, and that's why
(26:08):
we do what we do. We're at a time for
this edition at the Bible answer Man Broadcast. See you
next time with more.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Thanks for tuning into the Bible answer Man Broadcast. Our
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(26:38):
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Speaker 5 (27:01):
Hank Hanigraph has dedicated his life to defending truth because
truth matters. Yet, an encounter with Christians in the Underground
Church of China left Hanograph contemplating his Christian experience. They
were experiencing something beyond truth. They were experiencing life. Truth matters,
Life matters More by Hank Hanigraph is two books in one,
Because Truth Matters, Part one equips Christians to defend the
(27:25):
essential truths of the historic Christian faith. In Part two,
Hank explains why life matters more and how we can
experience the height of human existence union with God. Prepare
to move past intellectually knowing about God to experientially knowing
God in Christ. To receive your copy of Truth Matters,
Life Matters More, the unexpected beauty of an authentic Christian
(27:46):
life called eight eight eight seven thousand CRI, and make
a gift to support the Christian Research institutes Life Changing
Outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand CRI or visit us
at equipped dot org.
Heard all across the United States, Canada, and around the world.
This is the Bible answer Man Broadcast with Hank Hannagraph.
Hank is president of the Christian Research Institute at CRI.
Our desire is to equip you to not only defend
the historic Christian faith, but become an apprentice of Jesus Christ,
(00:27):
because life and truth matter. To learn more or to
find resources to help you grow in grace, call eight
eight eight seven thousand CRII that's eight eight eight seven
thousand two seven four, or go to our website at
equip dot org. The following program was pre recorded and
(00:48):
now here's Hank Hanagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Thanks very much for Randy, and let's go right to
the phone calls. First up is Joe listening Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hi, Hey, Hank,
how are you doing good? How are you?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm doing pretty good. I want to first thank you
and all of your staff for everything you do. And
I've used your website and got some valuable information from there.
My question of today is if I've prayed for help
from the devil, what does that mean for me?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Well, let me ask you. Are you a believer? Now?
Speaker 3 (01:24):
I am?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
You sounded very much like a believer when you gave
the prolog to your question. So in a sense, I'm
asking you to confirm what you already know, and that
is you are a believer. You realize that you are
a sinner. You've repented of your sin, including once praying
to the devil. You've repented of your sin and received
Jesus Christ as savior and Lord of your life. The
(01:48):
old is gone, the newest. Come. Forget what is behind
and press on. You can know what is behind, so
you don't repeat the error. But you now know Satan
is the adversary, that Satan is not the one that
you pray to. It is God that you pray to,
and it is God that sustains you. It is God
(02:08):
that gives you every breath. Forget the past, press on,
serve Him with all the zeal you have in the
entirety of your being. Yes, sir, God completely forgives you.
We've all done things, and you know, sometimes I think
it's instructive to go to Psalm fifty one and maybe
(02:29):
even memorize Psalm fifty one. Have mercy on me, o, God,
according to your unfailing love, blot out my transgressions. Just
pray sincerely that God will forgive you, and he will
forgive you, and he will cleanse you from all unrighteousness,
and not only that, He will lay before you purpose,
(02:52):
provision and a future of service to him.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Okay, some of my doubts stems from an experience I
had in a church. I feel like now I've felt
the only spirit pushing me to accept Jesus, and I
didn't know what I was doing or what was going on,
and I kind of set back and I just didn't
(03:18):
answer that. I guess and it's it's been in my
head since then.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
But you're here at a particular stage, and at this
point in time, you can say, I realize that I'm
a sinner. I've repented of my sin, which is simply
saying I've made a U turn on the road of life.
I'm no longer living by the dictates of my own will.
I'm turning and following Jesus Christ. Now that doesn't mean
(03:47):
you're doing things perfectly every day. You're not neither am I,
But you are forgiven. You've repented and you have received
Jesus Christ is save. You're in lord of your life
and now is conforming you to his image. So go
from where you are right now, a realization that if
(04:10):
in fact you have recognized Jesus Christ confessed him as
Savior and Lord, you have everlasting life. So press forward.
What you've done in the past is in the past.
Press forward. Use your life. Make it a life of service,
make it a life that counts. Okay, grow, do the
(04:33):
things you need to do. To grow. You have to
exercise disciplines, read the Bible, pray, be involved in a healthy,
well balanced church. Learn to communicate what you believe in why,
and live with eternity in mind. Yes, okay, all right, Hey,
good talking to you, Joe. Thank you, you got it.
(04:55):
Want to go back to the phone line. Talk to
Gary listing in British Columbia.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Hi Gary, Well, Hi Hank, It's good to talk to you.
I've been listening to Chope quite a while now, and
I have one question. I studied the Bible years ago
with Jehovah's witnesses. Yes, and I know they believe that
like the Kingdom, God's kingdom will be on heaven on
earth as compared to heaven. Yes, and what is the
(05:22):
actual biblical belief to that.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, Jehovah's witnesses actually believed that God has two people.
He has unearthly people and he's got a heavenly people
one hundred and forty four thousand, and that's completely unbiblical.
The biblical view is that when Jesus Christ comes again
or appears a second time, he will put all things
(05:46):
to right, which is to say, this universe is going
to be restored to what it was before the fall.
So paradise lost will become paradise restored. God himself will
live with us, which is to say, if you read
Revelation chapter twenty one, John sees the new Jerusalem coming
(06:07):
down out of heaven, prepared as a bride, beautifully adorned
for a husband. Hears a loud voice from the throne saying,
now the dwelling of God is with men. He will
live with them. They will be as people, and God
himself will be with them and be their God. Now
that is an indication that what has been lost will
(06:27):
be restored. As God walked with Adam and Eve in
the cool of the day, So God will be with
us in a restored universe, no longer bearing the stain
of sin and sickness, of destruction and decay and disease,
all of that will have passed away. So that's what
(06:51):
the entirety of scriptures about. It's the fall, where man
falls into a life of constant sin, terminated by death,
all the way to the restoration, where we once again
are completely restored to intimate fellowship with the Lord. So
we will have then in reality, what we only know
(07:14):
faintly now. So even though you have been redeemed, you
still have a sin nature. We still live in a
cursed creation. The creation still groans in travail, awaiting its
liberation from bondage to decay, Paul says in Romans chapter eight.
So we're waiting for what we do not yet have,
and we are earnestly expecting it. That's what we look
(07:37):
forward to.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Okay. So the belief that when we die we'll just
fly away to heaven, that is a fallacy.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yes and no. Remember when you were born, when your
mother conceived you, she didn't just conceive a body. She
conceived a body soul unity. That's what it means to
be human. She conceived a human being. At death, there's
an unnatural rending between the body and the soul. The
soul goes to be with the Lord. As a believer,
(08:09):
absent from the body, present with the Lord, the body
goes back to the Earth from whence it came. When
Jesus appears a second time, the soul will return to
the body. In other words, you will be truly human again,
and you will be restored to what you would have
been had Sin never entered the world. The DNA that
(08:31):
makes you you will be the DNA that makes you
you for all eternity. But that DNA will flourish in
a complete, pristine universe, so it will never devolve. So
when you are transformed in mortal, imperishable, incorruptible, you will
become the you you would have been if sin had
never entered the world.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I see, Okay, do you have a scripture that I
could look up for that?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yes, a couple of scriptures. The first, the most significant one,
is probably the one that you would find in First
Corinthians chapter fifteen. And I wouldn't say just the verse there,
but I would say the entirety of First Corinthians Chapter
fifteen would be significant. Then also Second Corinthians chapter five.
Home in the body means absent from the Lord. Absent
(09:21):
from the body means to be home with the Lord.
So at present. If you were to die today, your
soul would be with the Lord. When Jesus returns again,
then your soul would be with the Lord, but it
would be in a body. In other words, you would
be truly human again.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
I see. So when the Bible says that God will
make us kant with man, that means that when Jesus
returns to Earth, then he will be with us on Earth.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Absolutely in a renewed universe. Okay, yes, And if we
can exhaust exploring this universe, God can create other universes
for us to explore.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Okay, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you
very much, Hank. I really appreciate your show.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
You get it. Thank you, Thank you so much for calling.
And I wrote about all of this and much more
in a book called Resurrection. I am absolutely astounded at
the misconceptions people have about death in the afterlife, and
as believers, we should have a proper understanding of these things.
That's what we look forward to, that's what we long for.
(10:25):
That's the cornerstone of the Christian faith, the resurrection of
Jesus Christ ensuring our resurrection again. All of that in
my book Resurrection. Check it out on the web at
equipped dot org or simply talk to our resource consultants
Triple eight seven thousand CRII.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
The Church of Almighty God, also known as Eastern Lightning,
is a socially subversive pseudo Christian cult. It follows a
self proclaimed female Christ whose heretical doctrines incite violence, denying
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(11:03):
disrupts families, and has even perpetrated physical assaults in graphic language.
The counterfeit Christ exhorts followers to abandon their families and
devote themselves to recruiting new converts, branding those who refuse
as worthless. You can read more about the iron Rod
of this false Almighty God in a special print issue
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of the Christian Research Journal. To receive your copy, call
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That's eight eight eight seven thousand CROI, or visit us
online at equip dot org. That's equip dot org. Don't
(11:49):
tune out. Hank Hanagraph will be back with more right
after this.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
Truth Matters, Life matters More. Details Hank Hanigraf's personal pilgrimage
from his long defensive truth to his discovery that life
matters more. Essentially, two books in one. Part one equips
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Part two explains why truth is necessary but hardly sufficient.
(12:22):
That the map is not the territory, the menu is
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Speaker 1 (13:00):
The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive
collection of the most often asked questions Hank Hannigraph has
received throughout his four decades as host of the Bible
answer Man broadcast. With more than half a million copies
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(13:23):
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The number of wolves surrounding the Christian flock is growing,
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and they relish nothing more than docile's sheep, utterly incapable
of defending themselves from militant secularists at home to militant
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but Christian Research Institutes Support Team members aren't in favor
of feeding these wolves. Instead, each day they're making possible
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an array of outreaches that defang these wolfpacks with solid
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What's more, support team members are equipping themselves with criis
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(14:47):
To learn more about the benefits of membership, simply visit
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now here's Hank. Can I graph.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Let's go back to the phone lines. Now, talk to
Allen listening in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi Ellen, Hey, Hank,
how are you. I'm well, good talking to you.
Speaker 6 (15:18):
Good talking to you too. Got a question for you.
I lost my faith about ten years ago, and lately
I just catch myself, you know, listening to programs like yours,
and I'm having a hard time, you know, finding the
faith that I had as a kid. Yes, and I'm
wondering if you had any suggestions as to you know,
(15:40):
I've been told to, you know, keep an open mind
and so on, and I've tried that and it just
ain't coming to me.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
Well, Ellen, looking for some guidance.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Sure, so glad you called. Let me see that. What
I would do is go back to basics. This is
what I do when my faith gets shaken, And all
of us, at one point or other, are going to
have our faith shaken by circumstances, but never broken, because
you can go back to those pillars and posts that
(16:11):
are unbreakable, which is to say, we can go back
to a certain knowledge that God created the universe, that
we're not functions of random chance. The notion that nothing
creates everything is absurd in an age of scientific enlightenment.
So the notion that an uncaused first cause created what
(16:35):
we see makes nothing but good common sense. Every effect
and effect, like the universe, has to have a cause
equal to her, greater than itself. So once you establish
the notion that there is a God, the second thing
you can look at is whether that God is knowable.
(16:55):
And in a biblical worldview, you can know that God
is knowable because he's not just transcendent. He made himself
knowable in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So
then you want to know is Christ just another good
teacher or was he God? And I think the essential
evidence for Jesus being God comes to us from the
(17:18):
resurrection of Jesus Christ, wherein we see that he had
not only the power to lay down his life or
to die, but the power to take up his life again,
which sets him apart uniquely as God, as being divine,
and there's a cumulative case that can be built for
(17:39):
the resurrection that's unshakable. Then thirdly, you have to look
at the Bible that you've read cover to cover several
times as not merely human but divine in origin, which
is to say that you can look at manuscript evidence,
archaeological evidence, prophecy, scripture, synergy, and again you can see
(18:02):
a case for the fact that these cannot be the
words of men alone. They have to be the words
of men inspired by God, such that what you have
in the Bible corresponds to reality. What's interesting about the
Bible is not only that the people, the places, and
the particulars correspond to what has been discovered archaeologically. So
(18:26):
we see that the Bible's rooted in history and evidence,
but beyond that we see prophecy made in the Old
Testament miraculously fulfilled in the New demonstrating that God must
be superintending the writing, because you can't pawn off these
prophecies to luck or good guessing or deliberate deceit. These
(18:48):
are not prophecies like the prophecies of Nostrodonomus. These are
prophecies that can be verified and can be rendered invalid
if in fact they were in In other words, they're falsifiable.
So I think you go back to those pillars in posts,
and I have some really good resources in this regard.
(19:09):
I have a book on origins, which demonstrates that the
creation origin is the only the only model that's acceptable
in age of scientific enlightenment, quite frankly. And then I
also have a book on Resurrection, which gives you all
of the evidence for not only the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
(19:30):
but your resurrection as well. And then I have some
information that can help you with respect to seeing that
the Bible's divine is opposed to merely human in origin.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
I was gonna say, because I've got disagreements with about
everything that you just said, or reason's why I just
can't make it a click. I can't believe it.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Well, let's start with number one, have faith. Let's start
with the first thing I said. Let's start with the
issue of origins. Correct, what's the problem?
Speaker 6 (20:00):
Can't believe in a I mean, you were talking about
a first mover. You know, my question is, if that
keeps popping up my mind is, Okay, where did God
come from? There had to be something that created God.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
No, because the universe had to have a beginning according
to modern science. But unlike the universe, God is eternal,
and therefore there's no necessity whatsoever to suppose that God
has a cause. To suppose that because the universe had
a cause, the cause of the universe had to have
(20:33):
a cause always leads to a logical dead end because
what you have there is an infinite regression of finite causes,
and that does not answer the question a source. It
merely multiplies the effects. But simple logic dictates that the
universe is not merely an illusion. It didn't spring out
(20:54):
of nothing, It hasn't eternally existed, so it had to
be caused, right, I mean, simple logic tells you that
the universe didn't come about by itself.
Speaker 6 (21:06):
Okay, I could grant that that plausibility, But then we
get into you know, is this God the watchmaker type
and just lets it run or the personal God that
you talk about.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Well, again, this question is answered alan by looking at
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Or the incarnation of Jesus
Christ to begin with.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
In other words, I mean many other holy texts, you know,
the Quran and lots of Middle Eastern texts talk about
resurrections as well. Well not I'm not saying that they're
they're all all of these books are equal. Obviously you
have your choice in it, but you know there's lots
(21:49):
of these others. So just to me, it's an issue
of you know, if I if I had been born
in Saudi Arabia, it would be a Muslim. Hey, I
would have a choice, but be that's what I would
have been. I'd be listening to a guy on the
radio talking about that. So it comes down to where
you're born.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
No, it doesn't. What it comes down to alan is
not where you're born, but whether you want to receive light.
That's what it comes down to. And that's a biblical statement.
When Paul was arguing this very question on Mars Hill
in Acts chapter seventeen, what he points out is that
from one man, God made every nation of men that
(22:27):
they should have it the entire earth. He determined the
exact times and places that they should live. And God
did this so that men might reach out for him
and find him, though he is not far from each
one of them, which is to say that the problem
is not where you're born, because if you're born in
Saudi Arabia, you can still see the sun come up
(22:49):
every morning, you can still see the stars at night,
you can still see the moon, you can still see
irreducible complexity in biological systems. And on the basis of that,
you can recognize that there has to be a creator.
And if we look at a basketball, we say there
has to be a basketball maker. Much more the universe
(23:12):
requires a creator. So if you're born in Saudi Arabia,
you still have the light of creation. If you're born
in Saudi Arabia, you still have the light of conscience.
In other words, you still have a knowledge of God
imprinted upon the tablet of your consciousness. So you have
an outer light and you have an inner light wherever
you live on the planet. And Jesus Christ said, if
(23:35):
you respond to light, you will receive light. The reason
people don't respond to light is because they love darkness,
which is another point that Jesus Christ made with Nicodemus.
It's not that there's not enough light, but men love darkness.
Rather than light because their deeds are evil. So again,
it doesn't matter where you're on the planet. You have
(23:56):
the light of creation, you have the light of conscience,
and if you respond to that, you can have the
light of Christ. But you're not in Saudi Arabia. You're
right here talking to me, and I'm telling you all
of the evidence, so you don't have to read it
in a book, you don't have to look it up
on the internet. I'm dialoguing with you about these things.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
Right, But that's where my issue comes into. It's the
lack of faith, and I don't know how to find
that faith.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Again, well, you have to understand what kind of faith
you're looking for. You're not looking for blind faith. You're
looking for faith in evidence. And that's why I'm saying,
look at the evidence. And the reason I'm passionate about
this is I was in your position when I was
twenty nine years of age. I looked at the evidence
for origins, which I doubted the creation model. I looked
(24:46):
at the evidence for the Bible, and I looked at
the evidence for resurrection, which has taken me on the
path that I've taken in life. So it's never a
blind faith Alan, It's always faith in evidence. So you
examine the evidence, and does the evidence correspond to reality?
That's the question. They're only you know, you look at
the universe, and it's not like there are a million
(25:06):
different options. Either the universe eternally existed, as the Greeks thought,
that doesn't fly anymore in an age of scientific enlightenment,
or the universe sprang from nothing. Nobody credible thinks that.
So what are you left with is an illusion? Maybe
some benighted person in some Eastern country thinks that, but
(25:27):
certainly we don't believe that. In an age of scientific
enlightenment in the West. Even a full blown Sullipsys looks
both ways before it crosses the street. That leads to
only one other choice, and that is in the beginning.
Speaker 6 (25:39):
God, I'm gonna have to look into those books of yours.
I actually take a look at the evidence myself.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Start with the issue of origins. That's the place to start.
I wrote a book called The Face that demonstrates the
farce of evolution. I also have a shorter version of
that called Fatal Flaws. So you hang on, I'll get
one of those books into your hands, all right, Thank you?
You got it, Alan, call me if you need anything else.
Appreciate y'all, you too, appreciate your candidness, and that's why
(26:08):
we do what we do. We're at a time for
this edition at the Bible answer Man Broadcast. See you
next time with more.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Thanks for tuning into the Bible answer Man Broadcast. Our
website equip dot org has an abundance of resources to
sharpen your discernment skills and help you grow in life
and truth. We provide books, videos, and informative articles. You
can also listen to the broadcast, download archived programs, get
answers to pressing Bible questions, or connect with us via
(26:38):
social media. All this and more at equip dot org. Again,
the address is equip dot org. The Bible answer Man
Broadcast is supported by listeners like you. We're on the
air because life and truth matter.
Speaker 5 (27:01):
Hank Hanigraph has dedicated his life to defending truth because
truth matters. Yet, an encounter with Christians in the Underground
Church of China left Hanograph contemplating his Christian experience. They
were experiencing something beyond truth. They were experiencing life. Truth matters,
Life matters More by Hank Hanigraph is two books in one,
Because Truth Matters, Part one equips Christians to defend the
(27:25):
essential truths of the historic Christian faith. In Part two,
Hank explains why life matters more and how we can
experience the height of human existence union with God. Prepare
to move past intellectually knowing about God to experientially knowing
God in Christ. To receive your copy of Truth Matters,
Life Matters More, the unexpected beauty of an authentic Christian
(27:46):
life called eight eight eight seven thousand CRI, and make
a gift to support the Christian Research institutes Life Changing
Outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand CRI or visit us
at equipped dot org.
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