July 19, 2024 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (07/19/24), Hank answers the following questions:
Can you explain what Jesus meant when He said, “…the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,” in Matthew 11:12? Lenore - Hopatcong, NJ (1:02)
Can you address the ministry of Smith Wigglesworth? Jason - St. Joseph, MO (2:50)
Was Eve speaking to the serpent via mind-to-mind communication? Vernon - Omaha, NE (8:04)
What is the best way to minister to a homeless person? Are there certain circumstances where we should abstain from helping the homeless? Louie - Modesto, CA (9:44)
How can I learn to interpret Scripture properly? What about 1 Chronicles 16:22, which says not to touch God’s anointed? Byron - Nashville, TN (15:14)
Are Ezekiel’s prophecies about a future millennium where we will still observe Old Testament feasts? John - Nashville, TN (20:57)
Can you explain what Jesus meant when He said, “…the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,” in Matthew 11:12? Lenore - Hopatcong, NJ (1:02)
Can you address the ministry of Smith Wigglesworth? Jason - St. Joseph, MO (2:50)
Was Eve speaking to the serpent via mind-to-mind communication? Vernon - Omaha, NE (8:04)
What is the best way to minister to a homeless person? Are there certain circumstances where we should abstain from helping the homeless? Louie - Modesto, CA (9:44)
How can I learn to interpret Scripture properly? What about 1 Chronicles 16:22, which says not to touch God’s anointed? Byron - Nashville, TN (15:14)
Are Ezekiel’s prophecies about a future millennium where we will still observe Old Testament feasts? John - Nashville, TN (20:57)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
You're just in time for the BibleAnswer Man broadcast with Hank Canagraph, the
radio outreach of the Christian Research Institute. Our purpose here at CRII is to
equip Christians to provide Biblical answers tolife's most important questions, to read the
Bible for all it's worth, andcounter the teachings of cults and world religions
(00:28):
that deviate from the plumb line ofGod's word, because life and truth matter.
For more information, to order resourcesor donate, call eight eight eight
seven thousand CROI, or go onlineto equip dot org. That's equip dot
org. The following program was prerecorded. Now here's the president of the
(00:52):
Christian Research Institute, Hank Canagraph.Thank very much. Randy is always great
to be in studios. We answeryour questions throughout the United States and Caah
Dead Blood of you. Hanging on. We'll go right to the phone calls
first up leonor listening in New Jersey. Hi Leanor, Yes, Hello,
Hank, I bless you, God, bless you. I have a question
(01:15):
Matthew eleven twelve, where Jesus saysthe Kingdom of God suffers violence, and
the violence take it by forth.I've meditated on. Then I don't quite
understand what that means. Yeah,well, of course Jesus is talking about
John the Baptist in context where hesays, among those born of women,
there has not risen anyone greater thanJohn the Baptist. Yet he was leased
(01:40):
in the Kingdom of Heaven is greaterthan he. And then he says,
from the days of John the Baptistuntil now, the Kingdom of Heaven has
been forcefully advancing, and forceful menlay hold of it. Now in context,
there are revolutionary zealots who wanted toestablish the kingdom by military force.
(02:01):
But Jesus is talking to another aspectof force. He is saying that the
force needed is spiritual courage, thekind of spiritual courage manifested by John the
Baptist. So spiritual courage and powerand determination in face of persecution, and
(02:24):
no doubt imbued in the words ofJesus. Christ is a forward looking to
the very fact that John would oneday be beheaded. But this is what
the lot of all those who arefollowers of Christ will be, not necessarily
to be beheaded, but to sufferpersecution. And that's why Jesus says Blessed
(02:44):
are those who are persecuted because ofrighteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of
Heaven. Let's go back to thephone lines. Talk to Jason in Saint
Joseph, Missouri. Hi, Jason, Hello, I've wondered if he heard
of a guy named smith Less.Yeah. I actually wrote about him in
my book Counterfeit Revival because he wasa forerunner to a lot of the modern
(03:08):
day faith healers. He was veryextravagant in his methods. He would hit
people in the area of their maladies. If someone had appendicitis, that's the
part of the body that he wouldtarget, and he would hit people or
rather brusquely or abruptly. So hewas oftentimes, even within his own denomination,
(03:30):
called to task for his extravagant antics. And of course he was a
forerunner to the kinds of healing fantasiesthat you find in the ministries of people
like Benny Hinn today. The reasonI call him healing fantasies is I remember
having dinner with Benny Hinn a numberof years ago, and he was talking
(03:51):
about all of the millions and millionsof documented miracles that take place in his
ministry. So I said, well, and deal with millions, but send
me your three best I mean,you choose the three best, most compelling
miracles that you can come up with, and let me take a look at
them. So he did, andI looked at all three of them,
(04:13):
and turns out that all three ofthem were bogus. In fact, I
took the three that he sent meand I unpacked them in my book Christianity
and Crisis in a footnote. Sothat can be the devil when people get
healed. Well, what I'm sayingis that healing is conspicuous by its absence,
So it's a ruse. The realityis that God can heal, but
(04:38):
healing is conspicuous by its absence inthe ministries of people like Benny Hint today
and Smith Wigglesworth of old. BecauseI have a friend he's into that.
Because I was in a wreck andI mess up my palace. I can
walk though it's inflammation. I said, all my back's killing me. And
he says the Bible said, twistthe scripture and uses it to when he
(05:03):
says, back, it's all inyour mind. Well, it is not
all in your mind. It isa very real accident that you experienced,
and it is a real pain thatyou're experiencing. And God can supernaturally heal
these kinds of things, but that'snot the normal course of things. The
normal course of things is that theyheal through medical practices, through disciplines such
(05:29):
as exercises. There are all kindsof things depending on what the problem are.
But this is the normal course ofthings. And of course, in
the normal course of things, weall get sick, and eventually we all
die as well. The death rateis one per person, and we're all
going to make it so. Yes, I mean, the miracles that you
find in the Bible actually a testto who Jesus Christ and the disciples are,
(05:53):
and why we now can test allthings in light of scripture and hold
fast to the good. But itis unfortunately true that many of these healing
ministers will use passages in Isaiah andelsewhere. Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows. Yet weconsidered him stricken by God, smitten by
(06:15):
him, and afflicted. But hewas pierced for our transgressions. He was
crushed for our iniquities. The punishmentthat brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds, we arehealed. So you'll hear the faith healers
say by His stripes, we arehealed. But what they don't do is
read or quote the entirety the passagesI just did. What are we healed
(06:38):
of? We're healed of infirmities,but what are they well? They are
being pierced for our transgressions and beingcrushed for our iniquities. So we are
healed of our sin. That isthe context, not sick Now. It
(07:00):
is true that healing ultimately is providedfor in the Atonement, but the outworking
of that comes in a new Heavenand a new Earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
So we wait for what we donot yet have. We long for
it patiently. Whose part of thesickness is part of the fallen earth?
It is, I mean, Andthat's the reality. We're not promised a
(07:21):
panacee in this life. We're notpromised perfect health or wealth. What we
are promised is peace in the midstof the storm, and that's the best
we can look forward to, peacein the midst of life storm. So
Christianity doesn't give us a peaceful wayto come to terms with the difficulties of
life. It gives us something fargreater, a way to overcome them through
(07:43):
the abundant life that we can havein Jesus Christ, and ultimately through looking
forward to a time in which there'sno more death, morning, crying,
or pain, because, as Johnputs it in the Book of Revelation,
then the older things will have passedaway and all things will have become new.
Well, thanks for having me,You got it, Jason. Thank
you for your call back to thephone lines. Vernon, Omaha, Nebraska,
(08:07):
Hi Vernon, Hey, brother Hank. What I got in about the
conversation between the serpent and the woman, Yeah, and what I know it
was a conversation between chapter three,verse one, Okay, And what I'm
thinking about is here is that shealso gave some to the to demand that
was with her. And what I'mwhat I'm saying is this is that it
(08:30):
wasn't it mine that she was talkingto her mind? Because if she was,
if he was speaking out loud,wouldn't Adam have heard him talk to
her? Can you explain that tome? Please? Well, know,
I mean, I think you're absolutelyright in the sense that what is going
on in the deception with respect toSatan is mind to mind communication, and
(08:50):
Moses uses the metaphor of a snakefor a reason. He's communicating to his
audience that Satan is lethal, thathe's that he's deceptive, and therefore is
using the metaphor of a snakes,by the way, very much like what
John does in the Apocalypse, wherehe uses the metaphor of a dragon.
(09:11):
Now, dragons aren't stuff with theology, they're the stuff of mythology. But
again, in both cases, bothauthors are not communicating what Satan looks like,
but rather what Satan is like.So you're right in suggesting that Satan
deceived Eve exactly the same way ashe attempts to deceive us through mind to
mind communication, and that, bythe way, is precisely why the apostle
(09:33):
Paul warns us to put on thefull armor of God so that we can
stand firm against the wiles of theevil One when he seeks to tempt us.
Okay, thank you, thanks foryour call. Back to the phone
lines. Talk to Louis Modesta,California. Hi, louis you doing good?
All right? So? I hada question about homeless people. At
my church, we do this thingevery Christmas where we do this big pancake
(09:54):
breakfast and anyone who's anyone can comeand have a Christmas breath. And my
turn's heart on the matter is justkeep giving, give, give, give
as much as you can all thetime. And I get that. I
understand that, you know what we'recalled to give, we're called to serve
that sort of thing. But partof me feels like like, if we
keep giving, I feel like we'realmost doing a disservice to certain people.
(10:16):
I mean, are there circumstances wherewe shouldn't give? Personally, I have
an uncle and my wife has anuncle, who both homeless, and they've
been ministered to and I feel personallythat they've been given plenty opportunities to kind
of get up on their feet.But you know, these certain people just
seem to keep taking and keep taking, just never growing, never moving,
never sure, and you can actuallyfacilitate them, and that further exacerbates the
(10:41):
problem. You're bringing up a verygood point, But given that, I
think in many cases we neglect totake care of the orphans, the widows,
and the homeless. And Jesus himselfsaid, when I was hungry,
you gave me nothing to eat.When I was thirsty, you gave me
nothing to drink when I was stranger, You did not invite me in.
(11:01):
When I needed cloth, you didnot clothe me. But those who genuinely
care about the kingdom take care ofthe downtrotdom in this life as well.
Be right back to find out moreabout the materials mentioned on the show,
call a CRII resource consultant toll freeat eight eight eight seven thousand cri that's
(11:24):
eight eight eight seven thousand CRII.Our website is also an excellent reference destination
to help you. Just go toequip dot org and find articles by Hank,
books, CDs and DVDs. Again, that's equip dot org. Or
write CRII pobox eighty five hundred,Charlotte, North Carolina, ZIP two eight
(11:48):
two seven one. The Bible answerMan will continue in just a moment.
Has God Spoken? Are the wordsof Scripture merely human in origin? Or
(12:09):
are they in fact the very wordsof God himself. Three years in the
making and based on two decades ofresearch and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumental book
Has God Spoken answers what is surelythe most important question facing our world.
In Has God Spoken? Memorable proofsof the Bible's divine inspiration. Hank counters
(12:33):
the contentions of the Bible attackers andclearly 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.Order has God Spoken from the Christian Research
Institute by calling eighty eight seven thousandCRII, or go online to equip dot
(12:54):
org equip dot org. The CompleteBible answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive
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as host of the Bible answer Manbroadcast. With more than half a million
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(13:20):
skeptics alike sort through the truth ontopics such as reliability of the Bible,
religions and cults, the resurrection andafterlife, and many more issues vital to
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your copy of the Complete Bible answerBook Collector's Edition, Revised and Expanded,
(13:41):
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(14:05):
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(14:26):
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(14:50):
dot org. Once again, that'sequip dot org. Now back to the
Bible answer Man Broadcast and your hostand Canagraph. Thanks so much for r
(15:13):
Andy, and we go right backto our phone callers. We'll talk about
Byron next to Nashville, Tennessee.Hi, Byron Hey, Hank, How
are you good? Thank you.I appreciate your ministry. I just,
quite frankly, I'm calling because I'ma little frustrated with Christianity. You know,
we have a Bible, we havethe Holy Spirit. We have the
(15:33):
same Bible, we have the sameHoly Spirit. Yet you have hundreds of
different interpretations of particular scriptures. Andyou know, as I've searched for truth,
I've listened to certain people, veryarticulate, learned men and women,
and they give their commentary on certainscriptures. Yet they're all different, and
that's quite frustrating for me. AndI'm just searching for truth. So my
question is, and again, I'veheard so many Christians use scripture out of
(15:58):
context, and you know, thingsthat we say Christian lingo, and it's
just it's just frustrating. So myquestion is is there a tool? Is
there a commentary? Is there somethingthat I've use to properly interpret scripture,
because it's very frustrating. For instance, if a pastor does something wrong or
you can't correct him because the Biblesays, that's not mine anointed to do
(16:19):
my profit no harm. Well,you know, I mean, I'm pretty
sure there's shoes out of context,and but I don't know how to I
don't know how to properly interpret thatscripture. And I think you do.
I mean, I think the prologueto the question demonstrates that you do,
because you've pointed out the context,and you actually even quoted this passage in
(16:41):
context. This has to do withkilling the king. It has nothing to
do with being able to test whatpeople say in light to scripture and hold
fast to the good. But inthe general sense of answering your question,
I would say, yes, thereare some great tools that help us read
the Bible. For it's worth now, the main in the plain things are
(17:03):
so simple that a child could understandthem. But there are secondary issues so
complex that theologians drowned in them.And so you need to have the art
and science of biblical interpretation as atool in your arsenal. It's an art
in that the more you apply theprinciples, the better you get at it.
(17:26):
It's a science in that, ofcourse, there are principles involved,
and you should know what those principlesare. For example, the literal principle
of biblical interpretation is not that weare to take things in a wooden literal
sense, but in the sense inwhich they're intended. So if John in
Revelation talks about golden bowls full ofincense, well we should not take this
(17:48):
literally, because John himself interprets itfiguratively. He says that the golden balls
full of incense are the prayers ofthe saints. So the art and science
of biblical interpretation means that we readthings in the sense in which they're intended.
If Jesus Christ is using prophetic hyperbole, we take it as such.
If a simile is being used ora parable, we don't try to make
(18:12):
the simile or parable walk on allfours. We read things in the sense
in which they're intended. If wedon't do that, even in common parlance,
we'd have a lot of trouble.I mean, if you're watching the
British Open and you see someone draina snake, and that's what the commentator
says happened, well, it doesn'tmean that someone submerged a snake in water
(18:33):
or poured a snake out of apail. No, it means that a
long pot that curled back and forthalong the green disappeared into the hole.
It's just a way of saying that, and if you know golfling go,
you know that. So we talkthat way all the time. And you
have to understand that the Bible usesmetaphors and figures a speech. One of
(18:53):
the big problems people have is theycome to the words of Jesus Christ in
the Olive A Discord and they thinkthat Jesus Christ is talking about the second
Coming when he's talking about his comingin judgment, and therefore then they call
him a false apocalyptic prophet because hesays he's going to come in judgment within
a generation, but they think itmeans he's going to come in the second
(19:14):
Coming within a generation, and hedoesn't. Therefore he's going to be a
false prophet. But this is allpart and parcel of not knowing how to
read the Bible for all it's worth. So there's the literal principle of biblical
interpretation, there's the illumination principle,the grammatical principle, the historical principle,
the principle of typology, and then, of course what's really important is scriptural
(19:37):
synergism, which is to say thatto understand the parts of scripture, you
have to understand scripture as a whole, and to understand the whole of scripture,
you have to understand its individual parts. And you should always read the
whole scripture in light of its individualparts. In other words, text should
(19:59):
always be interpreted within the immediate butalso the broader context of scripture. Okay,
so is there like a book thatcan help me along with that?
Well, I've actually put together aflip chart which might be really helpful.
So there's two things that I recommend. One is the flip chart. It's
actually called lights on your Path readingthe Bible for all It's worth. And
(20:22):
then I've also devoted an entire partof my book Has God Spoken to this
very issue, where I use illustrationsand I go through the principles in the
art and science of Biblical interpretation.I also use that same kind of format
or grid for my book on Eschatology, The Apocalypse Code. But all of
(20:42):
them are designed to teach you toread the Bible for all it's worth,
or as I like to say,mind the Bible for all its wealth.
Okay, thank you so much.I appreciate your ministry and God bless you.
Okay, God bless you. Thankyou for your call back to the
phone lines. We'll talk to Johnnext thing in Nashville, Tennessee. Hi,
John, how are you doing?Anate good? Thank you? Hey.
(21:04):
I've got a question related to thefestivals and the feast and the millennial
reign of Christ and reading it.You know, coming from an evangelical church
background, you look into that starreading in a sequel and it's towards the
end of Ezekiel, and I apologize, I don't have the exact versus.
Somewhere af around forty to forty sixrange. It talks and goes into details
(21:26):
about the millneal reign of Christ andhim coming back and how his people are
going to celebrate the feast again andthe festivals, and we don't do that
as an evangelical church at church system, most people do not do that.
Yet, we know that the lastnight Jesus was alive, that he was
celebrating passover, and so we knowthat he was doing them, and so
(21:49):
I'm not sure why we feared allfor what your thoughts on that are,
well, First of all, rememberthat Jesus ultimately instituted a new passover,
and this is what we do inremembrance of him. Every time we take
the cup or break the bread,remember the broken body and shed blood of
(22:10):
Jesus Christ for the complete remission ofsins. So passover is a type.
The antetype is found ultimately not inpassover, but in communion, because now
the ultimate passover Lamb has come.As far as temple priest and sacrifice are
concerned, we should never go backto temple priest and sacrifice because the ultimate
(22:37):
sacrificial Lamb has come. And tolook at Hebrews is to look at a
warning, because Hebrews says that togo back to these kinds of types and
shadows when the substance has come istantamount to trampling upon the sacred blood of
Jesus Christ. So we should neverreinstitute temple sacrifices. And those who believe
(23:02):
that this is what is going tohappen in the millennium are simply mistaken.
This is not what's going to happenin the millennium. First of all,
to suggest that there's going to bea thousand year semi Golden Age in which
there's going to be not only sinand corruption, but the greatest apostasy in
the history of humanity is to simplybelieve in fairy tales. The Bible never
(23:30):
communicates such a thing. The hopeof my father when he died in nineteen
ninety seven was not that he wasgoing to come back in a resurrected body
to an imperfect world, but thatwhen Jesus appears a second time, he
would put all things to right.The dead would rise, immortal, imperishable,
incorruptible, The universe would be transformed. No longer would the old order
(23:53):
of things be manifest, but everythingwould have become new. What people do
is they take the thousand years inRevelation and they interpret it in a wooden
literal sense, when the entirety ofthe passage is obviously metaphorical from the first
(24:15):
words of Revelation chapter twenty on,and you have to take the metaphors in
the sense in which they're intended.When you see an angel coming out of
heaven holding the key to the abyssand holding in his hand to great chain,
you don't think he really has achain a key and there's an abyss
that you can open the lid,close it and lock it. I mean,
this is nonsense. Angels are noncorporeal. So when people read these
(24:37):
things in a wooden literal sense,you have to simply with grace and with
charities, say, look, itmight be good for you to get a
primer on the art and science ofbiblical interpretation. And by the way,
if in fact Jesus presides over atemple with reinstituted temple sacrifices, well then
(25:00):
what happens is bi logical extension.His passion on the Cross didn't atone for
all sins. It was insufficient becausenow you have these modern day prophecy pundits
saying that those temple sacrifices actually atone for ceremonial uncleanness and biological extension.
Of course, that means that Christatone on Lacrosse did not atone for all
(25:22):
sin. So this is all partand parcel of not knowing how to read
the Word of God for all itsworth. Have written about this in many
different places, most principally have writtenabout this in my book The Apocalypse Code.
I think that once you digest thatinformation, you recognize that a lot
of the sensationalism that you're hearing todayon Christian radio and television is just that
(25:48):
sophistry and sensationalism. I was inLos Angeles and as I was writing around
in the car, I was listeningto Christian radio, and I was appalled
at the sensationalism and selling by namebrand evangelical Christians who are titillating the masses
with their prophecy punditry. Thanks fortuning in today, Thank you for joining
(26:12):
us for the Bible answer Man Broadcast. If you'd like more information about the
Christian Research Institute or to order resources, just call eight eight eight seven thousand
CRII. That's eight eight eight seventhousand, two seven four, or visit
equip dot org where you can listenlive or download archived broadcast. Again,
(26:33):
that's equip dot org. You canalso write to us at Post Office box
eighty five hundred, Charlotte, NorthCarolina, zip code two eight two seven
one. The Bible answer Man Broadcastis supported by listeners like you. We're
on the air because life and truthmatter. Has God Spoken? Are the
(27:07):
words of Scripture merely human in origin? Or are they in fact the very
words of God himself? Three yearsin the making and based on two decades
of research and reflection, Hank Henagraph'smonumental book, Has God Spoken answers what
is surely the most important question facingour world In Has God Spoken? Memorable
(27:30):
proofs of the Bible's divine inspiration.Hank counters the contentions of the Bible attackers
and clearly shows that belief in theHoly Scriptures is not a guess or wishful
thinking. It is the only logicalconclusion after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence.
Ordered Has God Spoken? From theChristian Research Institute by calling eighty eight
(27:51):
seven thousand CRII or go online toequip dot org. Equip dot org
You're just in time for the BibleAnswer Man broadcast with Hank Canagraph, the
radio outreach of the Christian Research Institute. Our purpose here at CRII is to
equip Christians to provide Biblical answers tolife's most important questions, to read the
Bible for all it's worth, andcounter the teachings of cults and world religions
(00:28):
that deviate from the plumb line ofGod's word, because life and truth matter.
For more information, to order resourcesor donate, call eight eight eight
seven thousand CROI, or go onlineto equip dot org. That's equip dot
org. The following program was prerecorded. Now here's the president of the
(00:52):
Christian Research Institute, Hank Canagraph.Thank very much. Randy is always great
to be in studios. We answeryour questions throughout the United States and Caah
Dead Blood of you. Hanging on. We'll go right to the phone calls
first up leonor listening in New Jersey. Hi Leanor, Yes, Hello,
Hank, I bless you, God, bless you. I have a question
(01:15):
Matthew eleven twelve, where Jesus saysthe Kingdom of God suffers violence, and
the violence take it by forth.I've meditated on. Then I don't quite
understand what that means. Yeah,well, of course Jesus is talking about
John the Baptist in context where hesays, among those born of women,
there has not risen anyone greater thanJohn the Baptist. Yet he was leased
(01:40):
in the Kingdom of Heaven is greaterthan he. And then he says,
from the days of John the Baptistuntil now, the Kingdom of Heaven has
been forcefully advancing, and forceful menlay hold of it. Now in context,
there are revolutionary zealots who wanted toestablish the kingdom by military force.
(02:01):
But Jesus is talking to another aspectof force. He is saying that the
force needed is spiritual courage, thekind of spiritual courage manifested by John the
Baptist. So spiritual courage and powerand determination in face of persecution, and
(02:24):
no doubt imbued in the words ofJesus. Christ is a forward looking to
the very fact that John would oneday be beheaded. But this is what
the lot of all those who arefollowers of Christ will be, not necessarily
to be beheaded, but to sufferpersecution. And that's why Jesus says Blessed
(02:44):
are those who are persecuted because ofrighteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of
Heaven. Let's go back to thephone lines. Talk to Jason in Saint
Joseph, Missouri. Hi, Jason, Hello, I've wondered if he heard
of a guy named smith Less.Yeah. I actually wrote about him in
my book Counterfeit Revival because he wasa forerunner to a lot of the modern
(03:08):
day faith healers. He was veryextravagant in his methods. He would hit
people in the area of their maladies. If someone had appendicitis, that's the
part of the body that he wouldtarget, and he would hit people or
rather brusquely or abruptly. So hewas oftentimes, even within his own denomination,
(03:30):
called to task for his extravagant antics. And of course he was a
forerunner to the kinds of healing fantasiesthat you find in the ministries of people
like Benny Hinn today. The reasonI call him healing fantasies is I remember
having dinner with Benny Hinn a numberof years ago, and he was talking
(03:51):
about all of the millions and millionsof documented miracles that take place in his
ministry. So I said, well, and deal with millions, but send
me your three best I mean,you choose the three best, most compelling
miracles that you can come up with, and let me take a look at
them. So he did, andI looked at all three of them,
(04:13):
and turns out that all three ofthem were bogus. In fact, I
took the three that he sent meand I unpacked them in my book Christianity
and Crisis in a footnote. Sothat can be the devil when people get
healed. Well, what I'm sayingis that healing is conspicuous by its absence,
So it's a ruse. The realityis that God can heal, but
(04:38):
healing is conspicuous by its absence inthe ministries of people like Benny Hint today
and Smith Wigglesworth of old. BecauseI have a friend he's into that.
Because I was in a wreck andI mess up my palace. I can
walk though it's inflammation. I said, all my back's killing me. And
he says the Bible said, twistthe scripture and uses it to when he
(05:03):
says, back, it's all inyour mind. Well, it is not
all in your mind. It isa very real accident that you experienced,
and it is a real pain thatyou're experiencing. And God can supernaturally heal
these kinds of things, but that'snot the normal course of things. The
normal course of things is that theyheal through medical practices, through disciplines such
(05:29):
as exercises. There are all kindsof things depending on what the problem are.
But this is the normal course ofthings. And of course, in
the normal course of things, weall get sick, and eventually we all
die as well. The death rateis one per person, and we're all
going to make it so. Yes, I mean, the miracles that you
find in the Bible actually a testto who Jesus Christ and the disciples are,
(05:53):
and why we now can test allthings in light of scripture and hold
fast to the good. But itis unfortunately true that many of these healing
ministers will use passages in Isaiah andelsewhere. Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows. Yet weconsidered him stricken by God, smitten by
(06:15):
him, and afflicted. But hewas pierced for our transgressions. He was
crushed for our iniquities. The punishmentthat brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds, we arehealed. So you'll hear the faith healers
say by His stripes, we arehealed. But what they don't do is
read or quote the entirety the passagesI just did. What are we healed
(06:38):
of? We're healed of infirmities,but what are they well? They are
being pierced for our transgressions and beingcrushed for our iniquities. So we are
healed of our sin. That isthe context, not sick Now. It
(07:00):
is true that healing ultimately is providedfor in the Atonement, but the outworking
of that comes in a new Heavenand a new Earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
So we wait for what we donot yet have. We long for
it patiently. Whose part of thesickness is part of the fallen earth?
It is, I mean, Andthat's the reality. We're not promised a
(07:21):
panacee in this life. We're notpromised perfect health or wealth. What we
are promised is peace in the midstof the storm, and that's the best
we can look forward to, peacein the midst of life storm. So
Christianity doesn't give us a peaceful wayto come to terms with the difficulties of
life. It gives us something fargreater, a way to overcome them through
(07:43):
the abundant life that we can havein Jesus Christ, and ultimately through looking
forward to a time in which there'sno more death, morning, crying,
or pain, because, as Johnputs it in the Book of Revelation,
then the older things will have passedaway and all things will have become new.
Well, thanks for having me,You got it, Jason. Thank
you for your call back to thephone lines. Vernon, Omaha, Nebraska,
(08:07):
Hi Vernon, Hey, brother Hank. What I got in about the
conversation between the serpent and the woman, Yeah, and what I know it
was a conversation between chapter three,verse one, Okay, And what I'm
thinking about is here is that shealso gave some to the to demand that
was with her. And what I'mwhat I'm saying is this is that it
(08:30):
wasn't it mine that she was talkingto her mind? Because if she was,
if he was speaking out loud,wouldn't Adam have heard him talk to
her? Can you explain that tome? Please? Well, know,
I mean, I think you're absolutelyright in the sense that what is going
on in the deception with respect toSatan is mind to mind communication, and
(08:50):
Moses uses the metaphor of a snakefor a reason. He's communicating to his
audience that Satan is lethal, thathe's that he's deceptive, and therefore is
using the metaphor of a snakes,by the way, very much like what
John does in the Apocalypse, wherehe uses the metaphor of a dragon.
(09:11):
Now, dragons aren't stuff with theology, they're the stuff of mythology. But
again, in both cases, bothauthors are not communicating what Satan looks like,
but rather what Satan is like.So you're right in suggesting that Satan
deceived Eve exactly the same way ashe attempts to deceive us through mind to
mind communication, and that, bythe way, is precisely why the apostle
(09:33):
Paul warns us to put on thefull armor of God so that we can
stand firm against the wiles of theevil One when he seeks to tempt us.
Okay, thank you, thanks foryour call. Back to the phone
lines. Talk to Louis Modesta,California. Hi, louis you doing good?
All right? So? I hada question about homeless people. At
my church, we do this thingevery Christmas where we do this big pancake
(09:54):
breakfast and anyone who's anyone can comeand have a Christmas breath. And my
turn's heart on the matter is justkeep giving, give, give, give
as much as you can all thetime. And I get that. I
understand that, you know what we'recalled to give, we're called to serve
that sort of thing. But partof me feels like like, if we
keep giving, I feel like we'realmost doing a disservice to certain people.
(10:16):
I mean, are there circumstances wherewe shouldn't give? Personally, I have
an uncle and my wife has anuncle, who both homeless, and they've
been ministered to and I feel personallythat they've been given plenty opportunities to kind
of get up on their feet.But you know, these certain people just
seem to keep taking and keep taking, just never growing, never moving,
never sure, and you can actuallyfacilitate them, and that further exacerbates the
(10:41):
problem. You're bringing up a verygood point, But given that, I
think in many cases we neglect totake care of the orphans, the widows,
and the homeless. And Jesus himselfsaid, when I was hungry,
you gave me nothing to eat.When I was thirsty, you gave me
nothing to drink when I was stranger, You did not invite me in.
(11:01):
When I needed cloth, you didnot clothe me. But those who genuinely
care about the kingdom take care ofthe downtrotdom in this life as well.
Be right back to find out moreabout the materials mentioned on the show,
call a CRII resource consultant toll freeat eight eight eight seven thousand cri that's
(11:24):
eight eight eight seven thousand CRII.Our website is also an excellent reference destination
to help you. Just go toequip dot org and find articles by Hank,
books, CDs and DVDs. Again, that's equip dot org. Or
write CRII pobox eighty five hundred,Charlotte, North Carolina, ZIP two eight
(11:48):
two seven one. The Bible answerMan will continue in just a moment.
Has God Spoken? Are the wordsof Scripture merely human in origin? Or
(12:09):
are they in fact the very wordsof God himself. Three years in the
making and based on two decades ofresearch and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumental book
Has God Spoken answers what is surelythe most important question facing our world.
In Has God Spoken? Memorable proofsof the Bible's divine inspiration. Hank counters
(12:33):
the contentions of the Bible attackers andclearly 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.Order has God Spoken from the Christian Research
Institute by calling eighty eight seven thousandCRII, or go online to equip dot
(12:54):
org equip dot org. The CompleteBible answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive
collection of the most often asked questionsHank Hannigraph has received throughout his four decades
as host of the Bible answer Manbroadcast. With more than half a million
copies already in print, this newlyrevised and expanded Collector's Edition helped seekers and
(13:20):
skeptics alike sort through the truth ontopics such as reliability of the Bible,
religions and cults, the resurrection andafterlife, and many more issues vital to
a better understanding of God in Christand our relationship to Him. To receive
your copy of the Complete Bible answerBook Collector's Edition, Revised and Expanded,
(13:41):
call eight eight eight seven thousand,CROI and make a gift to support the
Christian Research Institute's life changing outreaches eighteight eight seven thousand CROI or visit us
at equip dot org. Bertrand Russellfamously said most people would rather die than
(14:05):
think, and many of them donot so with CRI Support Team members.
Support Team members are not only seriousthinkers, but their membership and CRI's Support
Team helps to equip hundreds of thousandsof fellow believers around the globe each and
every month. Are you not amember, then you're missing out. Not
(14:26):
only do Support Team members form thebackbone of Christian Research Institute's outreaches, but
they enjoy their selection of resources fromour Equipping Essentials library to discover how you
can make a difference twenty four toseven and equipping believers at home and abroad
to stand for life and truth.Check out the benefits of membership at equip
(14:50):
dot org. Once again, that'sequip dot org. Now back to the
Bible answer Man Broadcast and your hostand Canagraph. Thanks so much for r
(15:13):
Andy, and we go right backto our phone callers. We'll talk about
Byron next to Nashville, Tennessee.Hi, Byron Hey, Hank, How
are you good? Thank you.I appreciate your ministry. I just,
quite frankly, I'm calling because I'ma little frustrated with Christianity. You know,
we have a Bible, we havethe Holy Spirit. We have the
(15:33):
same Bible, we have the sameHoly Spirit. Yet you have hundreds of
different interpretations of particular scriptures. Andyou know, as I've searched for truth,
I've listened to certain people, veryarticulate, learned men and women,
and they give their commentary on certainscriptures. Yet they're all different, and
that's quite frustrating for me. AndI'm just searching for truth. So my
question is, and again, I'veheard so many Christians use scripture out of
(15:58):
context, and you know, thingsthat we say Christian lingo, and it's
just it's just frustrating. So myquestion is is there a tool? Is
there a commentary? Is there somethingthat I've use to properly interpret scripture,
because it's very frustrating. For instance, if a pastor does something wrong or
you can't correct him because the Biblesays, that's not mine anointed to do
(16:19):
my profit no harm. Well,you know, I mean, I'm pretty
sure there's shoes out of context,and but I don't know how to I
don't know how to properly interpret thatscripture. And I think you do.
I mean, I think the prologueto the question demonstrates that you do,
because you've pointed out the context,and you actually even quoted this passage in
(16:41):
context. This has to do withkilling the king. It has nothing to
do with being able to test whatpeople say in light to scripture and hold
fast to the good. But inthe general sense of answering your question,
I would say, yes, thereare some great tools that help us read
the Bible. For it's worth now, the main in the plain things are
(17:03):
so simple that a child could understandthem. But there are secondary issues so
complex that theologians drowned in them.And so you need to have the art
and science of biblical interpretation as atool in your arsenal. It's an art
in that the more you apply theprinciples, the better you get at it.
(17:26):
It's a science in that, ofcourse, there are principles involved,
and you should know what those principlesare. For example, the literal principle
of biblical interpretation is not that weare to take things in a wooden literal
sense, but in the sense inwhich they're intended. So if John in
Revelation talks about golden bowls full ofincense, well we should not take this
(17:48):
literally, because John himself interprets itfiguratively. He says that the golden balls
full of incense are the prayers ofthe saints. So the art and science
of biblical interpretation means that we readthings in the sense in which they're intended.
If Jesus Christ is using prophetic hyperbole, we take it as such.
If a simile is being used ora parable, we don't try to make
(18:12):
the simile or parable walk on allfours. We read things in the sense
in which they're intended. If wedon't do that, even in common parlance,
we'd have a lot of trouble.I mean, if you're watching the
British Open and you see someone draina snake, and that's what the commentator
says happened, well, it doesn'tmean that someone submerged a snake in water
(18:33):
or poured a snake out of apail. No, it means that a
long pot that curled back and forthalong the green disappeared into the hole.
It's just a way of saying that, and if you know golfling go,
you know that. So we talkthat way all the time. And you
have to understand that the Bible usesmetaphors and figures a speech. One of
(18:53):
the big problems people have is theycome to the words of Jesus Christ in
the Olive A Discord and they thinkthat Jesus Christ is talking about the second
Coming when he's talking about his comingin judgment, and therefore then they call
him a false apocalyptic prophet because hesays he's going to come in judgment within
a generation, but they think itmeans he's going to come in the second
(19:14):
Coming within a generation, and hedoesn't. Therefore he's going to be a
false prophet. But this is allpart and parcel of not knowing how to
read the Bible for all it's worth. So there's the literal principle of biblical
interpretation, there's the illumination principle,the grammatical principle, the historical principle,
the principle of typology, and then, of course what's really important is scriptural
(19:37):
synergism, which is to say thatto understand the parts of scripture, you
have to understand scripture as a whole, and to understand the whole of scripture,
you have to understand its individual parts. And you should always read the
whole scripture in light of its individualparts. In other words, text should
(19:59):
always be interpreted within the immediate butalso the broader context of scripture. Okay,
so is there like a book thatcan help me along with that?
Well, I've actually put together aflip chart which might be really helpful.
So there's two things that I recommend. One is the flip chart. It's
actually called lights on your Path readingthe Bible for all It's worth. And
(20:22):
then I've also devoted an entire partof my book Has God Spoken to this
very issue, where I use illustrationsand I go through the principles in the
art and science of Biblical interpretation.I also use that same kind of format
or grid for my book on Eschatology, The Apocalypse Code. But all of
(20:42):
them are designed to teach you toread the Bible for all it's worth,
or as I like to say,mind the Bible for all its wealth.
Okay, thank you so much.I appreciate your ministry and God bless you.
Okay, God bless you. Thankyou for your call back to the
phone lines. We'll talk to Johnnext thing in Nashville, Tennessee. Hi,
John, how are you doing?Anate good? Thank you? Hey.
(21:04):
I've got a question related to thefestivals and the feast and the millennial
reign of Christ and reading it.You know, coming from an evangelical church
background, you look into that starreading in a sequel and it's towards the
end of Ezekiel, and I apologize, I don't have the exact versus.
Somewhere af around forty to forty sixrange. It talks and goes into details
(21:26):
about the millneal reign of Christ andhim coming back and how his people are
going to celebrate the feast again andthe festivals, and we don't do that
as an evangelical church at church system, most people do not do that.
Yet, we know that the lastnight Jesus was alive, that he was
celebrating passover, and so we knowthat he was doing them, and so
(21:49):
I'm not sure why we feared allfor what your thoughts on that are,
well, First of all, rememberthat Jesus ultimately instituted a new passover,
and this is what we do inremembrance of him. Every time we take
the cup or break the bread,remember the broken body and shed blood of
(22:10):
Jesus Christ for the complete remission ofsins. So passover is a type.
The antetype is found ultimately not inpassover, but in communion, because now
the ultimate passover Lamb has come.As far as temple priest and sacrifice are
concerned, we should never go backto temple priest and sacrifice because the ultimate
(22:37):
sacrificial Lamb has come. And tolook at Hebrews is to look at a
warning, because Hebrews says that togo back to these kinds of types and
shadows when the substance has come istantamount to trampling upon the sacred blood of
Jesus Christ. So we should neverreinstitute temple sacrifices. And those who believe
(23:02):
that this is what is going tohappen in the millennium are simply mistaken.
This is not what's going to happenin the millennium. First of all,
to suggest that there's going to bea thousand year semi Golden Age in which
there's going to be not only sinand corruption, but the greatest apostasy in
the history of humanity is to simplybelieve in fairy tales. The Bible never
(23:30):
communicates such a thing. The hopeof my father when he died in nineteen
ninety seven was not that he wasgoing to come back in a resurrected body
to an imperfect world, but thatwhen Jesus appears a second time, he
would put all things to right.The dead would rise, immortal, imperishable,
incorruptible, The universe would be transformed. No longer would the old order
(23:53):
of things be manifest, but everythingwould have become new. What people do
is they take the thousand years inRevelation and they interpret it in a wooden
literal sense, when the entirety ofthe passage is obviously metaphorical from the first
(24:15):
words of Revelation chapter twenty on,and you have to take the metaphors in
the sense in which they're intended.When you see an angel coming out of
heaven holding the key to the abyssand holding in his hand to great chain,
you don't think he really has achain a key and there's an abyss
that you can open the lid,close it and lock it. I mean,
this is nonsense. Angels are noncorporeal. So when people read these
(24:37):
things in a wooden literal sense,you have to simply with grace and with
charities, say, look, itmight be good for you to get a
primer on the art and science ofbiblical interpretation. And by the way,
if in fact Jesus presides over atemple with reinstituted temple sacrifices, well then
(25:00):
what happens is bi logical extension.His passion on the Cross didn't atone for
all sins. It was insufficient becausenow you have these modern day prophecy pundits
saying that those temple sacrifices actually atone for ceremonial uncleanness and biological extension.
Of course, that means that Christatone on Lacrosse did not atone for all
(25:22):
sin. So this is all partand parcel of not knowing how to read
the Word of God for all itsworth. Have written about this in many
different places, most principally have writtenabout this in my book The Apocalypse Code.
I think that once you digest thatinformation, you recognize that a lot
of the sensationalism that you're hearing todayon Christian radio and television is just that
(25:48):
sophistry and sensationalism. I was inLos Angeles and as I was writing around
in the car, I was listeningto Christian radio, and I was appalled
at the sensationalism and selling by namebrand evangelical Christians who are titillating the masses
with their prophecy punditry. Thanks fortuning in today, Thank you for joining
(26:12):
us for the Bible answer Man Broadcast. If you'd like more information about the
Christian Research Institute or to order resources, just call eight eight eight seven thousand
CRII. That's eight eight eight seventhousand, two seven four, or visit
equip dot org where you can listenlive or download archived broadcast. Again,
(26:33):
that's equip dot org. You canalso write to us at Post Office box
eighty five hundred, Charlotte, NorthCarolina, zip code two eight two seven
one. The Bible answer Man Broadcastis supported by listeners like you. We're
on the air because life and truthmatter. Has God Spoken? Are the
(27:07):
words of Scripture merely human in origin? Or are they in fact the very
words of God himself? Three yearsin the making and based on two decades
of research and reflection, Hank Henagraph'smonumental book, Has God Spoken answers what
is surely the most important question facingour world In Has God Spoken? Memorable
(27:30):
proofs of the Bible's divine inspiration.Hank counters the contentions of the Bible attackers
and clearly shows that belief in theHoly Scriptures is not a guess or wishful
thinking. It is the only logicalconclusion after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence.
Ordered Has God Spoken? From theChristian Research Institute by calling eighty eight
(27:51):
seven thousand CRII or go online toequip dot org. Equip dot org
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