September 19, 2025 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (09/19/25), Hank answers the following questions:
What are your thoughts on the Spiritual Warfare Bible from Charisma Media? David - St. Louis, MO (1:05)
How can I explain to my pastor that astrology is unbiblical? Which passages of Scripture teach against this? Ed - Jefferson City, MO (6:23)
Was Jesus a Nazarite? Manga - San Francisco, CA (16:02)
Is the Assemblies of God church legalistic? Manga - San Francisco, CA (18:38)
If Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father, how can they be related? Tonya - St. Louis, MO (21:02)
What are your thoughts on the Spiritual Warfare Bible from Charisma Media? David - St. Louis, MO (1:05)
How can I explain to my pastor that astrology is unbiblical? Which passages of Scripture teach against this? Ed - Jefferson City, MO (6:23)
Was Jesus a Nazarite? Manga - San Francisco, CA (16:02)
Is the Assemblies of God church legalistic? Manga - San Francisco, CA (18:38)
If Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father, how can they be related? Tonya - St. Louis, MO (21:02)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From the Christian Research Institute and Charlotte, North Carolina. You're
listening to the Bible answer Man broadcast with Hank Canagraph.
We're on the air because life and truth matter. The
mission of the Christian Research Institute is to equip believers
to answer life's essential questions soundly and persuasively, and to
(00:27):
give the reason for the hope that you have with
gentleness and respect. For more information, go online to equip
dot org. The following program was pre recorded and now
here's Bible answer Man host Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Thank you very much. Randy is always great to be
with you as we answer your questions throughout the United
States and Canada. Our contact information as we begin the
broadcast post Office box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina,
zip code two eight two seven to one. On the web,
ats equipped dot organ Via the phone, it is triple
eight seven thousand and the letters c R right. Let's
(01:04):
go right to the phone lines. First up as David
and Saint Louis, Missouri listening on KSIV.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Hi David, Hi, Hey, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
You're welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I had a question about a Bible I received as
a gift it's called the Christian Warfare Study Bible by
Charisma Publishing. Do you have any thoughts on that? Well,
reading it has a lot of quotations and stuff in
it concerning curses and stuff like that, I just kind
of found it to be kind of I don't know,
(01:35):
I don't know what to think about the Bible. Normally
use the NIV Bible, but since I've gotten this Bible,
I don't know. I just seem kind of different, unusual
with all the quotes about curses and stuff like that.
I'm new to Christianity, by the way.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
So well, I'm glad you called because this is just
a reprehensible Bible. It is absolutely incredible to me that
we live in an epic of time where something like
this can be published under the rubric of Christianity. It
contains more than two hundred and fifty one sentence and
declarations and prayers that affirm your determination to confront Satan
(02:16):
with the Holy Spirit's help. But this is not done
using a biblical model of spiritual warfare. It is a
classic example of pulp culture beckoning in postmodern Christians taking
the bait. It's what's called a deliverance model of spiritual warfare,
and therefore, by using their formula, you can get rid
(02:38):
of the demon of accidents, the demon of miscarriage, the
demon of difficult birth, the demon of caffeine, the demon
of flood. Whatever demon might be troubling you, you can
get rid of it in a quick fix kind of fashion.
And this comes actually from the culture, in the sense
that the fascination with demons in the culture at large
(02:59):
led to this deliverance movement within Christianity. And of course
you'd be hard pressed to come up with a better scheme,
because whatever your problem, whether it's depression or anxiety, or
substance addiction or even a runaway sexual appetite, what we
have now is exorcism ministries that will happily claim expertise
(03:23):
for dealing with the problem, and then they give you
a bonus. You know, here's the value added bonus. It's
like buying Ginzu knives. You're not personally held responsible for
the problem. In dwelling, demons are mainly to blame, and
getting rid of them is the key to moral and
(03:43):
psychological redemption. So what's happened? Well, again, as I pointed
out earlier, we have lost the ability to think biblically,
and therefore we're being transformed from cultural change agents and
initiators into cultural co formists and imitators. So, you know,
the culture beckons and we take the bait. And as
(04:05):
a result, the discipleship model of spiritual warfare, which was
championed by Christians in the past, has given way to
a deliverance motif. So the passion for exercising the spiritual
disciplines in order to become like Christ has given way
to the quick fix of exercising your demons. And I
should point out that it's really important to grasp the
(04:30):
biblical notion that if you are a believer, you are
in dwelt by the Holy Spirit, and your tempo will
not be shared by demons. Jesus makes that abundantly clear,
so clear that no one who reads the Bible credibly
could miss his point.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, well, thanks for your answer. I kind of thought
along the same lines. And like I said, I've been
using the NIV, but I also have one other Bible,
the NST. What do you think of that, as far
as it seems to be easy to read, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Well, it isn't a translation in the truest sense of
the word. It is a paraphrase. Now, if you read
the paraphrase for what it is, it can be helpful,
but recognize that it's a paraphrase and that it goes
beyond the range of meaning allowed from the translation of
the original language into the receptor language, in this case English.
(05:28):
So it goes beyond at places the range of meanings
of words and context that would be allowable in terms
of just translating from one language into the receptor language.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Okay, so the NIV would be my best bet.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Then, well, I think it is a very good translation.
It's what's called a dynamic translation, so rather than being
a word for word translation, it's a thought for thought translation,
and as such renders the intent of the original authors
in the original languages very well in English.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Okay, well, thank you for your answer. That helps a lot,
and for your show. Thank you, Hank.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Well, you are welcome. And I do want to mention
a book that I wrote on spiritual warfare. It's called
The Covering God's Plan to Protect You from Evil. As
I've said many times on the broadcast, if you put
on the full armor of God, you're invincible in spiritual warfare.
If you do not, you're a guaranteed casualty. Let's go
back to the phone lines. I want to talk to
Ed next. He's listening in Jefferson City, Missouri.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Hi, Ed, Hey, how are you doing good?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Thank you? How are you?
Speaker 4 (06:32):
I'm doing okay, missed your show.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
I was in the Philippines for almost three years and
came back. My question is one of the leaders that
I was affiliated with in his church. He's a very
good pastor and everything, but sometimes when you go to
his Facebook page, you'll say, well, my astrological reading for today,
you know Libra, all the scientists. He'll say, well, am
I reading for today with this and this? And I've
(06:56):
tried rebuking saying we don't rely on astrology. And I
was trying to remember biblical verses to support this, but
I couldn't really remember any right now. So I was
wondering if you could help me with that.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Sure. Well, Scripture clearly condemns astrology as a practice that
is attestable to the Lord in Deuteronomy chapter eighteen, and
then Isaiah goes so far as to say that the
council of the astrologers and stargazers who make predictions month
by month not only wore out the Babylonians, but did
not save them from their future ruin. So despite the
(07:29):
clear condemnation of Scripture, there are still those who maintain
that there's a Biblical precedent for using stars to chart
the future. And what they do is they mistakenly cite passages,
for example, the Magi, But if you look at the contexts,
it reveals that the star that the Magi followed was
(07:49):
not used to foretell the future, but to forthtell the future.
In other words, the Star of Bethlehem did not prophesy
the birth of Christ. It pronounced the birth of Christ.
But I think, more to the point, science has debunked
astrology as a pseudoscientific paradigm that's based on the odd
predilection that galaxies, rather than genes, determine inherited human characteristics.
(08:14):
And not only so, astrology cannot account for the problem
posed by mass tragedies and twins. So people with a
wide variety of horoscopes all perished on nine to eleven,
for example, and twins born under the same sign of
the zodiac frequently end up with widely diverse futures. And
remember Daniel, even King Nepik Anddnezzer's astrologers recognized the impotence
(08:38):
of their craft. Remember when Nepek Kdnezer asked them to
remind him of his dream and then interpret it, while
they responded in terror, saying no man on earth can
do what the king asks. In other words, when he,
recognizing that they were gaming him, put their lives on
(08:59):
the carpet, they exclaimed the truth. They don't know the future,
nor could they tell the future. They could in so
much as be able to tell the dream, much less
what it pretended for the future. And I think what
you have here with astrology is you are subverting the
(09:19):
natural use of the stars, which of course is ordained
by God, for a superstitious use of the stars, which
God clearly disdains. And Genesis chapter one, the very first
chapter in the Bible, points to the natural use of
the stars to separate the day from the night, to
serve as signs, to mark seasons, days years, to illuminate
(09:42):
the earth. And of course they can also rightly be
used for all kinds of purposes, ranging from navigation to
natural revelation. And therefore sailors could use astro navigation to
chart their course. But we as Christians should not use
astrology to chart our careers. This is something clearly spoken
(10:04):
out against in the very first text that I cited,
from Deuteronomy eighteen. I think is all you need to.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Know, Okay, Doumy eighteen. What I'm just trying to get
some specific verses I can say, pastor look at this verse, look.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Of that verse.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, I think what I would do is I would
go to Doudorummi chapter eighteen. I think it's verses ten
through twenty. I think the Isaiah passage that I mentioned,
I believe it's Isaiah forty seven thirteen through fourteen, but
you have to check it out then. Also, Daniel, Daniel
is a very powerful and I think persuasive demolition of
(10:38):
the whole paradigm of astrology, and you'll find that in
Daniel chapter two.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Okay, all right, Well, like I said, I was over
there for about three years and I was like, oh
I mister, I wanted to scar the Bible answer man,
but I couldn't hear you so much. So you know,
I appreciate your mystery and your time.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You got it. It is my pleasure. Thank you so
much for calling.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Okay, thankful lot coubless God.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Bless you was well coming up to the station. Break, be
right back with more answers.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
The famous British apologist GK. Chesterton once noted, the true
soldier fights not because he hates what is in front
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Because at CRII we love what is behind us, our faith,
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Speaker 2 (11:42):
That's eight eight eight.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Seven thousand CRI. Or visit our website at equip dot org.
Stay with us. Hank Canagraph will return in a few moments.
The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive
(12:04):
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
already in print. This newly revised and expanded Collector's Edition
helped seekers and skeptics alike sort through the truth on
topics such as reliability of the Bible, religions and cults,
(12:27):
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a better understanding of God in Christ and our relationship
to Him. To receive your copy of the Complete Bible
answer Book Collector's Edition Revised and Expanded, call eight eight
eight seven thousand CRII and make a gift to support
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Endless predictions about end time events and published timetables counting
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percent of the time. When doomsday predictions fail, there is
(13:13):
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and the public image of Christianity is damaged, making Christians
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(13:36):
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(15:08):
Man Broadcast and your host and canigraph.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Very much, Randy. And before we go back to the callers,
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number triple eight seven thousand and the letters CRI. Let's
go right back to the phone lines. We'll talk next
to Manga in San Francisco, California.
Speaker 6 (16:07):
Hi Manga, Hello, Hank, thank you very much for taking
my call.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You're welcome.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
I have a question. You know, my pasta said in
a prayer meeting to his staff and to us. As
he said, Jesus Christ was a Nasaite like Sampson he
never cuts his hair, he never drank quine sas wrong.
He was a Nazarene, so different. I looked it up.
I knew it from the Bible. What should I say?
(16:35):
Should I tell him or should I let it go
in look for a NASA church.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Well, I mean, I think you should go to your
pastor with gentleness and with respect. And I think that
you're absolutely right. Jesus was a Nazarene. He was an
inhabitant of Nazareth, but he was not a Nazarite. And
you're also cracked and pointing out that the Nazarite vow
included abstaining from wine, even grapes and raisins, but Jesus
partook of wine. If Jesus had practiced abstinence from all wine,
(17:05):
he would not have been accused of being a wine bibber.
So you're absolutely right. And I appreciate the fact that
you did the research because you're giving a credible answer.
And again, if you give it with gentleness and with respect,
it all depends on how the pastor responds. If he says,
I don't really care what the truth is. What I
really care about is what I have said. I'm going
to stick with it anyway, then I would say that
(17:27):
the pastor might not be displaying the proper attitude of
being teachable all of us. I mean I learned from
people all the time, and I think that we all
should be an attitude of being teachable.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
Yeah, and you know he's Assembly of God. He will
a pastor who led this woman who was a Buddhist.
She pushed her her, she said, send Jesus Christ. And
I had to go through, say district attendant from the
Assembly of God, and he was on my side. And
(18:00):
they called me before support and I mean, I'm eighty
one purpose to call for an ASO church, But I
pushed it through. I said, no, you know, says only
one way to God. And I showed them scripture and
I told them said the church has to be a
spiritual safe place and cannot put out all those things.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Well, good for you for standing for principle.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
Yeah, I'm getting tired. Well I should look for an
ASO church.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yes, and it's always difficult when you've been with the
church for a long long time.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
I will say it before he came. Yes, yes, what
is the Assembly of God so very legalistic?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Well, some are, yes, for sure, some are very legalistic,
but not all. It is a Pentecostal denomination that believes
in the Second Blessing. They believe that tongues is not
a but the Second Blessing, and I would agree with
them on that point. But again, that is a secondary
(19:03):
issue which we can debate vigorously. We ultimately don't have
to divide over. But by and large, the Assemblies of
God have stood firm when it comes to a central
Christian doctrine. Although I have to say that in recent
years many of Assembly God pastors have given a platform
to Word of Faith preachers, so there's been an unhealthy
union between the two. I'm gonna have to leave it
(19:24):
at that. Thank you so much for your call. By
the way, had Jesus been a Benjamite, or even a Levite,
or had he been a Nazarite, he would have immediately
been exposed as a fraud. Had Jesus not been of
the house and lineage of David, his antagonists would have
been keenly aware that his ancestry did not match the
(19:48):
ancestry of the prophesied Messiah. And of course, considering everything
they had done to undermine Jesus, the obvious would not
have gone unchallenged. What was predicted by the Old Testament
prophets should never be forgotten. Jesus was going to be
the sea of the woman. He was going to be
(20:08):
a descendant of Abraham, not Lot. The line would proceed
through Isaac, not Ishmael, through Jacob, not Esau, and the
fourth of Jacob's sons, not the first. He would be
the legal heir of David, in the long awaited king
of the Jews, who would ultimately restore true Israel from
(20:28):
their exile in sin. One thing we have to know
for certain, Jesus had to be a Jew, not any Jew.
He had to be the Jewish descendant of Israel's quintessential king,
through Jesse by way of Judah, and in the lineage
of Jacob. And of course, God sovereignly directed the course
of human history from the woman Eve who was deceived
to the woman Mary, who conceived a son who alone
(20:52):
could emerge through the doorway of Old Testament prophecies. This
is one of the great proofs that the Bible is
divine as opposed to merely human and origin. Back to
the phone lines, we'll talk to Tanya next in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Hi Tanya.
Speaker 7 (21:07):
Hi, Hank, I'm glad you talked about the ancestry. I
have listened to you every day for about five years,
and I know you can help me out with this question.
I'm reading Luke and it goes through the lineage of Jesus,
and I've asked many people. I've asked many pastors. No
one can give me an answer. So as I'm reading through,
(21:27):
when it gets down to Joseph and how Joseph's directly
related to David. But as we all know, Joseph is
not Jesus's father biologically, so I'm a little confused as
to how Jesus is related to David if Mary is mother.
Do you get my question?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah, I do. And I think this brings up a
bigger issue, and that is what is the emphasis of
the genealogies as they're presented in the Word of God.
So when you look at at the emphasis, you see
that there are different explanations for the dissimilarities between the
genealogies as they are presented. Now, let me catch that
(22:11):
out for you. Matthew actually traces the genealogy through David's
son Solomon. Luke traces his genealogy through David's son Nathan. Now,
it might be that Matthew's purpose was to provide the
legal lineage from Solomon through Joseph, and Luke would have
(22:34):
an entirely different purpose. His purpose was to provide the
natural lineage from Nathan through Mary. Now, on the other hand,
it could also be that Matthew and Luke are both
tracing Joseph's genealogy. In that case, you would have Matthew
the legal line and Luke the natural line. And as such,
(22:58):
the legal line di verges from the natural line in
that the lever Right law stipulated if a man died
without an air, his genealogy could legally continue through his brother.
And here's something else that I think is very important.
The fact that there are a number of ways to
resolve dissimilarities rules out the notion that the genealogies are contradictory.
(23:22):
And also, I think there are many other things we
have to look at, and that is the audience. Lucas
writing to a primarily gentile audience, and therefore he extends
his genealogy past Abraham to the first atom. Why because
he's highlighting that Christ the second atom, as he's referred
to in scripture is the savior of all of humanity.
(23:45):
Not only that, but calling Adam the son of God
and strategically placing the genealogy between Jesus' baptism and the
desert temptation. Luke masterfully reveals Jesus as and this is
a theological term, but it's very useful theanthropists the god Man.
And it's also instructive to note that while Luke's genealogy
(24:08):
stretches from the first atom to the second, only mountain
peaks in the lineage are accounted for, and therefore it's
impossible to determine how many years elapse between the creation
of Adam and the birth of Jesus Christ. So there's
a lot of things we have to take into consideration
when we look at genealogies. What I love is to
look at what Matthew does. I mean, Matthew doesn't give
(24:29):
you comprehensive genealogies. What he does is he gives you
a very congruent and masterful tapestry. What he does is
he records fourteen generations from Abraham to David, and then
fourteen from David to the exile, and then fourteen from
the exile to Christ. Well, he's a former text collector,
he loves numbers, and he's skillfully organizing the genealogy of
(24:52):
Jesus around three groups of fourteen. What does that happen
to be, Well, it's the numerical equivalent of King David's name.
So the point here is, even if we can't resolve
the genealogies, we should see that there's a masterpiece there
and rather than disregard them, do what you're doing is
scratch your head and saying I want to find the
(25:12):
deeper meaning here, because I think it's very significant. It's
not gratuitous, it's not just names. There's a purpose, and
that purpose actually fits not only the message, but also
the audience that Luke and Matthew are running to.
Speaker 7 (25:27):
Yes, thank you for that, because as I talk to
people that are non Christians, I want to I know
that's going to be a question because when I asked
it to pastors they told me, well, that's just one
of the things that there's no answer to. And I
know that there has to be a reason why they left,
you know. So that helps me try to bring someone
(25:47):
over instead of just going, oh, well that's just a
must take it.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Yeah, I've written about this in various places. One of
the places is a Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition.
I believe there's an entry there and then also in
a book as God Spoken memorable appruise for the divine
inspiration and scripture. Thanks for tuning in today. We'll look
forward to seeing you back here with more of the show.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
You've been listening to The Bible answer Man Broadcast with
Hank Hanagraph. To learn more about Hank or the Christian
Research Institute, just go to equip dot org. Equip dot
org is a fountain of information and resources designed to
help you defend the faith and grow in your knowledge
of the truth. You can also stream the broadcast live
(26:29):
or download archived broadcast. To talk with a resource consultant
by phone, call eight eight eight seven thousand CRII, or
you can write to us at Post Office Box eighty
five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, two eight two seven one.
The Bible answer Man Broadcast is supported by listeners like you.
(26:50):
We're on the air because life and truth matter. The
Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive collection
of the most often asked questions Hank Hannigraph has received
throughout his four decades as host of The Bible answer
(27:12):
Man broadcast. With more than half a million copies already
in print, this newly revised and expanded Collector's Edition helped
seekers and skeptics alike sort through the truth on topics
such as reliability of the Bible, religions and cults, the
resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues vital to a
better understanding of God in Christ and our relationship to Him.
(27:36):
To receive your copy of the Complete Bible answer Book
Collector's Edition, Revised and Expanded, call eight eight eight seven
thousand CRII and make a gift to support the Christian
Research Institute's life changing outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand
CRII or visit us at EQUIP dot org.
From the Christian Research Institute and Charlotte, North Carolina. You're
listening to the Bible answer Man broadcast with Hank Canagraph.
We're on the air because life and truth matter. The
mission of the Christian Research Institute is to equip believers
to answer life's essential questions soundly and persuasively, and to
(00:27):
give the reason for the hope that you have with
gentleness and respect. For more information, go online to equip
dot org. The following program was pre recorded and now
here's Bible answer Man host Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Thank you very much. Randy is always great to be
with you as we answer your questions throughout the United
States and Canada. Our contact information as we begin the
broadcast post Office box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina,
zip code two eight two seven to one. On the web,
ats equipped dot organ Via the phone, it is triple
eight seven thousand and the letters c R right. Let's
(01:04):
go right to the phone lines. First up as David
and Saint Louis, Missouri listening on KSIV.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Hi David, Hi, Hey, thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
You're welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I had a question about a Bible I received as
a gift it's called the Christian Warfare Study Bible by
Charisma Publishing. Do you have any thoughts on that? Well,
reading it has a lot of quotations and stuff in
it concerning curses and stuff like that, I just kind
of found it to be kind of I don't know,
(01:35):
I don't know what to think about the Bible. Normally
use the NIV Bible, but since I've gotten this Bible,
I don't know. I just seem kind of different, unusual
with all the quotes about curses and stuff like that.
I'm new to Christianity, by the way.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
So well, I'm glad you called because this is just
a reprehensible Bible. It is absolutely incredible to me that
we live in an epic of time where something like
this can be published under the rubric of Christianity. It
contains more than two hundred and fifty one sentence and
declarations and prayers that affirm your determination to confront Satan
(02:16):
with the Holy Spirit's help. But this is not done
using a biblical model of spiritual warfare. It is a
classic example of pulp culture beckoning in postmodern Christians taking
the bait. It's what's called a deliverance model of spiritual warfare,
and therefore, by using their formula, you can get rid
(02:38):
of the demon of accidents, the demon of miscarriage, the
demon of difficult birth, the demon of caffeine, the demon
of flood. Whatever demon might be troubling you, you can
get rid of it in a quick fix kind of fashion.
And this comes actually from the culture, in the sense
that the fascination with demons in the culture at large
(02:59):
led to this deliverance movement within Christianity. And of course
you'd be hard pressed to come up with a better scheme,
because whatever your problem, whether it's depression or anxiety, or
substance addiction or even a runaway sexual appetite, what we
have now is exorcism ministries that will happily claim expertise
(03:23):
for dealing with the problem, and then they give you
a bonus. You know, here's the value added bonus. It's
like buying Ginzu knives. You're not personally held responsible for
the problem. In dwelling, demons are mainly to blame, and
getting rid of them is the key to moral and
(03:43):
psychological redemption. So what's happened? Well, again, as I pointed
out earlier, we have lost the ability to think biblically,
and therefore we're being transformed from cultural change agents and
initiators into cultural co formists and imitators. So, you know,
the culture beckons and we take the bait. And as
(04:05):
a result, the discipleship model of spiritual warfare, which was
championed by Christians in the past, has given way to
a deliverance motif. So the passion for exercising the spiritual
disciplines in order to become like Christ has given way
to the quick fix of exercising your demons. And I
should point out that it's really important to grasp the
(04:30):
biblical notion that if you are a believer, you are
in dwelt by the Holy Spirit, and your tempo will
not be shared by demons. Jesus makes that abundantly clear,
so clear that no one who reads the Bible credibly
could miss his point.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah, well, thanks for your answer. I kind of thought
along the same lines. And like I said, I've been
using the NIV, but I also have one other Bible,
the NST. What do you think of that, as far
as it seems to be easy to read, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Well, it isn't a translation in the truest sense of
the word. It is a paraphrase. Now, if you read
the paraphrase for what it is, it can be helpful,
but recognize that it's a paraphrase and that it goes
beyond the range of meaning allowed from the translation of
the original language into the receptor language, in this case English.
(05:28):
So it goes beyond at places the range of meanings
of words and context that would be allowable in terms
of just translating from one language into the receptor language.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Okay, so the NIV would be my best bet.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Then, well, I think it is a very good translation.
It's what's called a dynamic translation, so rather than being
a word for word translation, it's a thought for thought translation,
and as such renders the intent of the original authors
in the original languages very well in English.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Okay, well, thank you for your answer. That helps a lot,
and for your show. Thank you, Hank.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Well, you are welcome. And I do want to mention
a book that I wrote on spiritual warfare. It's called
The Covering God's Plan to Protect You from Evil. As
I've said many times on the broadcast, if you put
on the full armor of God, you're invincible in spiritual warfare.
If you do not, you're a guaranteed casualty. Let's go
back to the phone lines. I want to talk to
Ed next. He's listening in Jefferson City, Missouri.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Hi, Ed, Hey, how are you doing good?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Thank you? How are you?
Speaker 4 (06:32):
I'm doing okay, missed your show.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
I was in the Philippines for almost three years and
came back. My question is one of the leaders that
I was affiliated with in his church. He's a very
good pastor and everything, but sometimes when you go to
his Facebook page, you'll say, well, my astrological reading for today,
you know Libra, all the scientists. He'll say, well, am
I reading for today with this and this? And I've
(06:56):
tried rebuking saying we don't rely on astrology. And I
was trying to remember biblical verses to support this, but
I couldn't really remember any right now. So I was
wondering if you could help me with that.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Sure. Well, Scripture clearly condemns astrology as a practice that
is attestable to the Lord in Deuteronomy chapter eighteen, and
then Isaiah goes so far as to say that the
council of the astrologers and stargazers who make predictions month
by month not only wore out the Babylonians, but did
not save them from their future ruin. So despite the
(07:29):
clear condemnation of Scripture, there are still those who maintain
that there's a Biblical precedent for using stars to chart
the future. And what they do is they mistakenly cite passages,
for example, the Magi, But if you look at the contexts,
it reveals that the star that the Magi followed was
(07:49):
not used to foretell the future, but to forthtell the future.
In other words, the Star of Bethlehem did not prophesy
the birth of Christ. It pronounced the birth of Christ.
But I think, more to the point, science has debunked
astrology as a pseudoscientific paradigm that's based on the odd
predilection that galaxies, rather than genes, determine inherited human characteristics.
(08:14):
And not only so, astrology cannot account for the problem
posed by mass tragedies and twins. So people with a
wide variety of horoscopes all perished on nine to eleven,
for example, and twins born under the same sign of
the zodiac frequently end up with widely diverse futures. And
remember Daniel, even King Nepik Anddnezzer's astrologers recognized the impotence
(08:38):
of their craft. Remember when Nepek Kdnezer asked them to
remind him of his dream and then interpret it, while
they responded in terror, saying no man on earth can
do what the king asks. In other words, when he,
recognizing that they were gaming him, put their lives on
(08:59):
the carpet, they exclaimed the truth. They don't know the future,
nor could they tell the future. They could in so
much as be able to tell the dream, much less
what it pretended for the future. And I think what
you have here with astrology is you are subverting the
(09:19):
natural use of the stars, which of course is ordained
by God, for a superstitious use of the stars, which
God clearly disdains. And Genesis chapter one, the very first
chapter in the Bible, points to the natural use of
the stars to separate the day from the night, to
serve as signs, to mark seasons, days years, to illuminate
(09:42):
the earth. And of course they can also rightly be
used for all kinds of purposes, ranging from navigation to
natural revelation. And therefore sailors could use astro navigation to
chart their course. But we as Christians should not use
astrology to chart our careers. This is something clearly spoken
(10:04):
out against in the very first text that I cited,
from Deuteronomy eighteen. I think is all you need to.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
Know, Okay, Doumy eighteen. What I'm just trying to get
some specific verses I can say, pastor look at this verse, look.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Of that verse.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, I think what I would do is I would
go to Doudorummi chapter eighteen. I think it's verses ten
through twenty. I think the Isaiah passage that I mentioned,
I believe it's Isaiah forty seven thirteen through fourteen, but
you have to check it out then. Also, Daniel, Daniel
is a very powerful and I think persuasive demolition of
(10:38):
the whole paradigm of astrology, and you'll find that in
Daniel chapter two.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Okay, all right, Well, like I said, I was over
there for about three years and I was like, oh
I mister, I wanted to scar the Bible answer man,
but I couldn't hear you so much. So you know,
I appreciate your mystery and your time.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You got it. It is my pleasure. Thank you so
much for calling.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Okay, thankful lot coubless God.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Bless you was well coming up to the station. Break, be
right back with more answers.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
The famous British apologist GK. Chesterton once noted, the true
soldier fights not because he hates what is in front
of him, but because he loves what is behind him.
Because at CRII we love what is behind us, our faith,
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(11:24):
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Speaker 2 (11:42):
That's eight eight eight.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Seven thousand CRI. Or visit our website at equip dot org.
Stay with us. Hank Canagraph will return in a few moments.
The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive
(12:04):
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
already in print. This newly revised and expanded Collector's Edition
helped seekers and skeptics alike sort through the truth on
topics such as reliability of the Bible, religions and cults,
(12:27):
the resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues vital to
a better understanding of God in Christ and our relationship
to Him. To receive your copy of the Complete Bible
answer Book Collector's Edition Revised and Expanded, call eight eight
eight seven thousand CRII and make a gift to support
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(12:52):
seven thousand CRII or visit us at equip dot org.
Endless predictions about end time events and published timetables counting
down the end have proven to be wrong one hundred
percent of the time. When doomsday predictions fail, there is
(13:13):
double duty damage. Many theologically juvenile and scripturally superficial Christians
abandon the faith as a result of these failed predictions,
and the public image of Christianity is damaged, making Christians
appear to be hopelessly naive and easily duped. Biblical Bumpkins
Hank Hanigraph's book Prophetic Stars in the Constellation of Biblical
(13:36):
Prophecy will equip you not only to interpret biblical prophecy correctly,
but to remember it as well. To receive your copy
of Prophetic Stars as our thank you for your gift,
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(14:03):
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do not so with CRI Support Team members. Support Team
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(14:47):
out the benefits of membership at equip dot org. Once again,
that's equip dot org. Now back to the Bible answer
(15:08):
Man Broadcast and your host and canigraph.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Very much, Randy. And before we go back to the callers,
do want to mention how important it is for you
to stand with us at this time financially as well
as prayer fully. When you become a Support Team member,
and we need many of you to consider doing that,
you commit to support the Bible answer Man Broadcast and
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(15:34):
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(15:57):
number triple eight seven thousand and the letters CRI. Let's
go right back to the phone lines. We'll talk next
to Manga in San Francisco, California.
Speaker 6 (16:07):
Hi Manga, Hello, Hank, thank you very much for taking
my call.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
You're welcome.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
I have a question. You know, my pasta said in
a prayer meeting to his staff and to us. As
he said, Jesus Christ was a Nasaite like Sampson he
never cuts his hair, he never drank quine sas wrong.
He was a Nazarene, so different. I looked it up.
I knew it from the Bible. What should I say?
(16:35):
Should I tell him or should I let it go
in look for a NASA church.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Well, I mean, I think you should go to your
pastor with gentleness and with respect. And I think that
you're absolutely right. Jesus was a Nazarene. He was an
inhabitant of Nazareth, but he was not a Nazarite. And
you're also cracked and pointing out that the Nazarite vow
included abstaining from wine, even grapes and raisins, but Jesus
partook of wine. If Jesus had practiced abstinence from all wine,
(17:05):
he would not have been accused of being a wine bibber.
So you're absolutely right. And I appreciate the fact that
you did the research because you're giving a credible answer.
And again, if you give it with gentleness and with respect,
it all depends on how the pastor responds. If he says,
I don't really care what the truth is. What I
really care about is what I have said. I'm going
to stick with it anyway, then I would say that
(17:27):
the pastor might not be displaying the proper attitude of
being teachable all of us. I mean I learned from
people all the time, and I think that we all
should be an attitude of being teachable.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
Yeah, and you know he's Assembly of God. He will
a pastor who led this woman who was a Buddhist.
She pushed her her, she said, send Jesus Christ. And
I had to go through, say district attendant from the
Assembly of God, and he was on my side. And
(18:00):
they called me before support and I mean, I'm eighty
one purpose to call for an ASO church, But I
pushed it through. I said, no, you know, says only
one way to God. And I showed them scripture and
I told them said the church has to be a
spiritual safe place and cannot put out all those things.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Well, good for you for standing for principle.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
Yeah, I'm getting tired. Well I should look for an
ASO church.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yes, and it's always difficult when you've been with the
church for a long long time.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
I will say it before he came. Yes, yes, what
is the Assembly of God so very legalistic?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Well, some are, yes, for sure, some are very legalistic,
but not all. It is a Pentecostal denomination that believes
in the Second Blessing. They believe that tongues is not
a but the Second Blessing, and I would agree with
them on that point. But again, that is a secondary
(19:03):
issue which we can debate vigorously. We ultimately don't have
to divide over. But by and large, the Assemblies of
God have stood firm when it comes to a central
Christian doctrine. Although I have to say that in recent
years many of Assembly God pastors have given a platform
to Word of Faith preachers, so there's been an unhealthy
union between the two. I'm gonna have to leave it
(19:24):
at that. Thank you so much for your call. By
the way, had Jesus been a Benjamite, or even a Levite,
or had he been a Nazarite, he would have immediately
been exposed as a fraud. Had Jesus not been of
the house and lineage of David, his antagonists would have
been keenly aware that his ancestry did not match the
(19:48):
ancestry of the prophesied Messiah. And of course, considering everything
they had done to undermine Jesus, the obvious would not
have gone unchallenged. What was predicted by the Old Testament
prophets should never be forgotten. Jesus was going to be
the sea of the woman. He was going to be
(20:08):
a descendant of Abraham, not Lot. The line would proceed
through Isaac, not Ishmael, through Jacob, not Esau, and the
fourth of Jacob's sons, not the first. He would be
the legal heir of David, in the long awaited king
of the Jews, who would ultimately restore true Israel from
(20:28):
their exile in sin. One thing we have to know
for certain, Jesus had to be a Jew, not any Jew.
He had to be the Jewish descendant of Israel's quintessential king,
through Jesse by way of Judah, and in the lineage
of Jacob. And of course, God sovereignly directed the course
of human history from the woman Eve who was deceived
to the woman Mary, who conceived a son who alone
(20:52):
could emerge through the doorway of Old Testament prophecies. This
is one of the great proofs that the Bible is
divine as opposed to merely human and origin. Back to
the phone lines, we'll talk to Tanya next in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Hi Tanya.
Speaker 7 (21:07):
Hi, Hank, I'm glad you talked about the ancestry. I
have listened to you every day for about five years,
and I know you can help me out with this question.
I'm reading Luke and it goes through the lineage of Jesus,
and I've asked many people. I've asked many pastors. No
one can give me an answer. So as I'm reading through,
(21:27):
when it gets down to Joseph and how Joseph's directly
related to David. But as we all know, Joseph is
not Jesus's father biologically, so I'm a little confused as
to how Jesus is related to David if Mary is mother.
Do you get my question?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Yeah, I do. And I think this brings up a
bigger issue, and that is what is the emphasis of
the genealogies as they're presented in the Word of God.
So when you look at at the emphasis, you see
that there are different explanations for the dissimilarities between the
genealogies as they are presented. Now, let me catch that
(22:11):
out for you. Matthew actually traces the genealogy through David's
son Solomon. Luke traces his genealogy through David's son Nathan. Now,
it might be that Matthew's purpose was to provide the
legal lineage from Solomon through Joseph, and Luke would have
(22:34):
an entirely different purpose. His purpose was to provide the
natural lineage from Nathan through Mary. Now, on the other hand,
it could also be that Matthew and Luke are both
tracing Joseph's genealogy. In that case, you would have Matthew
the legal line and Luke the natural line. And as such,
(22:58):
the legal line di verges from the natural line in
that the lever Right law stipulated if a man died
without an air, his genealogy could legally continue through his brother.
And here's something else that I think is very important.
The fact that there are a number of ways to
resolve dissimilarities rules out the notion that the genealogies are contradictory.
(23:22):
And also, I think there are many other things we
have to look at, and that is the audience. Lucas
writing to a primarily gentile audience, and therefore he extends
his genealogy past Abraham to the first atom. Why because
he's highlighting that Christ the second atom, as he's referred
to in scripture is the savior of all of humanity.
(23:45):
Not only that, but calling Adam the son of God
and strategically placing the genealogy between Jesus' baptism and the
desert temptation. Luke masterfully reveals Jesus as and this is
a theological term, but it's very useful theanthropists the god Man.
And it's also instructive to note that while Luke's genealogy
(24:08):
stretches from the first atom to the second, only mountain
peaks in the lineage are accounted for, and therefore it's
impossible to determine how many years elapse between the creation
of Adam and the birth of Jesus Christ. So there's
a lot of things we have to take into consideration
when we look at genealogies. What I love is to
look at what Matthew does. I mean, Matthew doesn't give
(24:29):
you comprehensive genealogies. What he does is he gives you
a very congruent and masterful tapestry. What he does is
he records fourteen generations from Abraham to David, and then
fourteen from David to the exile, and then fourteen from
the exile to Christ. Well, he's a former text collector,
he loves numbers, and he's skillfully organizing the genealogy of
(24:52):
Jesus around three groups of fourteen. What does that happen
to be, Well, it's the numerical equivalent of King David's name.
So the point here is, even if we can't resolve
the genealogies, we should see that there's a masterpiece there
and rather than disregard them, do what you're doing is
scratch your head and saying I want to find the
(25:12):
deeper meaning here, because I think it's very significant. It's
not gratuitous, it's not just names. There's a purpose, and
that purpose actually fits not only the message, but also
the audience that Luke and Matthew are running to.
Speaker 7 (25:27):
Yes, thank you for that, because as I talk to
people that are non Christians, I want to I know
that's going to be a question because when I asked
it to pastors they told me, well, that's just one
of the things that there's no answer to. And I
know that there has to be a reason why they left,
you know. So that helps me try to bring someone
(25:47):
over instead of just going, oh, well that's just a
must take it.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Yeah, I've written about this in various places. One of
the places is a Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition.
I believe there's an entry there and then also in
a book as God Spoken memorable appruise for the divine
inspiration and scripture. Thanks for tuning in today. We'll look
forward to seeing you back here with more of the show.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
You've been listening to The Bible answer Man Broadcast with
Hank Hanagraph. To learn more about Hank or the Christian
Research Institute, just go to equip dot org. Equip dot
org is a fountain of information and resources designed to
help you defend the faith and grow in your knowledge
of the truth. You can also stream the broadcast live
(26:29):
or download archived broadcast. To talk with a resource consultant
by phone, call eight eight eight seven thousand CRII, or
you can write to us at Post Office Box eighty
five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, two eight two seven one.
The Bible answer Man Broadcast is supported by listeners like you.
(26:50):
We're on the air because life and truth matter. The
Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive collection
of the most often asked questions Hank Hannigraph has received
throughout his four decades as host of The Bible answer
(27:12):
Man broadcast. With more than half a million copies already
in print, this newly revised and expanded Collector's Edition helped
seekers and skeptics alike sort through the truth on topics
such as reliability of the Bible, religions and cults, the
resurrection and afterlife, and many more issues vital to a
better understanding of God in Christ and our relationship to Him.
(27:36):
To receive your copy of the Complete Bible answer Book
Collector's Edition, Revised and Expanded, call eight eight eight seven
thousand CRII and make a gift to support the Christian
Research Institute's life changing outreaches eight eight eight seven thousand
CRII or visit us at EQUIP dot org.
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