November 13, 2025 • 28 mins
On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (11/13/25), Hank answers the following questions:
Why did God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden? Is it possible that Satan put it there? Nicholas - Wildwood, NJ (0:45)
Are retirees required to tithe? May - St. Louis, MO (4:17)
When we pray, “Give us today our daily bread,” are we asking for physical bread as well, or just spiritual bread? Lori - Calgary, AB (6:57)
What is your opinion on the rapture? Where does the Bible talk about this? Dan - MN (15:11)
Is the cursing for disobedience in Deuteronomy 28:32-33 talking about African-Americans today? Gedaliah - St. Louis, MO (18:14)
Jesus says He is the “I Am” in John 8:58, but Colossians says Jesus is the firstborn. How to resolve this apparent contradiction? Ermias - St. Louis, MO (22:23)
Why did God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden? Is it possible that Satan put it there? Nicholas - Wildwood, NJ (0:45)
Are retirees required to tithe? May - St. Louis, MO (4:17)
When we pray, “Give us today our daily bread,” are we asking for physical bread as well, or just spiritual bread? Lori - Calgary, AB (6:57)
What is your opinion on the rapture? Where does the Bible talk about this? Dan - MN (15:11)
Is the cursing for disobedience in Deuteronomy 28:32-33 talking about African-Americans today? Gedaliah - St. Louis, MO (18:14)
Jesus says He is the “I Am” in John 8:58, but Colossians says Jesus is the firstborn. How to resolve this apparent contradiction? Ermias - St. Louis, MO (22:23)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From the Christian Research Institute in 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):
Thanks very much, Randy. We'll go right to our phone callers.
First up, Nicholas listening in Wildwood, New Jersey. Hi, Nicholas, Hey,
I'm good.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
How are you great?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Long time listener. I pray for you, your family, and
your ministry all the time.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Thank you for everything, bless you.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Thank you so much for that.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Okay, quick question and Regarden of Eden, when he put
Adam and even there, why did God make it so
perfect and then have that tree in there? Would it
be that God is omnipotent and Satan has a little
bit of power, and maybe Satan put that in there
to bring sin into the world.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
No, here's how I would put it, And I'm going
to lay this out sequentially for you because I think
it deserves a full and a complete answer, Because the
Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil is a
prime example of physical reality highlighting spiritual truth. So, to
begin with, God placed the tree in the middle of
(01:41):
Paradise as a test, but Satan perverted it as a
temptation in eating from the tree of which God said,
when you eat of it, you will surely die. What
Adam and Eve did was to challenge God as arbiter
of good evil, and not only so. The Tree of
(02:03):
the Knowledge of good and evil is emblematic of choice,
in other words, choice between obedience and disobedience, between majestic
revelation or God's truth and moral relativism my truth. So
this is a choice of saying, I'm going to do
it God's way or I'm going to do it my way,
(02:27):
because I think my way is better. One more point,
though Adam sinned, God ends up responding, as he always
does in mercy. He drove Adam and Eve from the
Garden of Eden so that they no longer had access
to the Tree of Life. But here's the good news.
(02:49):
Adam's posterity can yet embrace the Tree of Life, which
was also in the garden, where the personification all that
is good paid an ultimate price to take the knowledge
of all that is evil upon himself. So that's what
you have in the Bible, an unfolding plan of redemption.
(03:11):
The Tree of Life, which was in the middle of
the garden. You also find in the very last chapter
of the very last book of the Bible, where the
Angel shows John the river of the Water of Life,
as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God
of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street
of the city. On each side of the river stands
(03:32):
the Tree of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding
its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree
are for the healing of the nation. So in that
vision John sees the restoration of all things, Paradise lost
becoming paradise restored, the best of all possible worlds, a
world in which we will forever be able not to send,
(03:54):
a world in fact, in which we will forever worship
God and want to do it His way because we
love Him, and we are forever in the new universe
in which we can learn and grow and develop without error.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Okay, all right, thank you buddy, I could ready to
talk to you.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Thanks all, thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And it's really good to talk to you as well.
Back to the phone line's main next in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Hi May, Hi Hank.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
How are you good?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
How are you?
Speaker 6 (04:25):
Okay? I appreciate you, Hank. Now, I just want to
say that I believe that you are here to help
us to live a good, golly life according to the
word of God.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Bless you. Thank you so much and I appreciate.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
That so uh.
Speaker 6 (04:44):
But my question to you is does retirees have to
pay their attie? I heard that after your retire you
have to do is pay offering. Is any truth to that?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well, I think that's setting up an artificial situation. Here's
the thing that you have to do, and that has
learned to revere the Lord your God always to trust
in the arm of God as opposed to trusting in
the arm of flesh. So you need to be faithful,
you need to be fruitful. You need to recognize that
you're living for eternity, but you're not under any kind
(05:18):
of legalistic prescription. You are giving because you want to
extend His kingdom as opposed to extending your own. You
want to recognize your trust is based in Him, not
in your own resources. And so you want to say, God,
I trust you with my talent and with my time
(05:40):
and with my treasure, and I hold everything that I
have with an open hand, so that you can take
out and put in as you see fit. So I
don't want you to get bound up in some kind
of legalistic prescription. And that's not the point. In fact,
that would be rightly said to be missing the point,
because if you look at the Mosaic law with respect
to tithing, what does the Bible say in this regard
(06:03):
we tithe so we might learn to revere the Lord
or God always? Due to Rondomy fourteen points that out.
And learning to reverence the name of God, as I mentioned,
is a timeless principle. It's as crucial today as it
was in the days of Moses. But if you're giving
(06:23):
in some kind of a legalistic way, you might as
well hang under your money. I mean, look, that's precisely
what the New Testament says about the Pharisees. They tithe
their mint, but yet they neglect the weightier matters of
the law. Justice and righteousness and equity. So it's an
outward expression without an inward reality. The real issue here
for you is it's a matter of the heart. It's
(06:45):
an issue out of the heart, out of which flows
everything else. I've written about this in many places, including
the Complete Bible Answer, but Collector's edition, which is available
through the ministry. They can check it out on their
waybityguib dot org. Let's go back to the phone lines.
Talk to Lory in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Hi, Laurie, Hi Hank,
how are you.
Speaker 7 (07:06):
I'm fine, Thanks for taking my call. I've been trying
to find an answer for a long time. Like in
John six thirty five, and I think it's forty eight
to fifty eight, Jesus said that he's the bread of life,
and like him mask you. I don't have descriptions in
front of me, but I read it and Jesus said, like,
(07:26):
don't worry about food, don't even think about what you're
gonna eat. God knows he'll take care. He shows them
the flowers, the birds, gave the analogy and all that,
and like in the prayer and in the prayer of Jesus,
I understand that this is spiritual food. Like God. When
Jesus said, give us this day of daily bread, it's
(07:47):
like we need to ask God for spiritual food, Like
we don't go to our earthly father every day and said, Daddy,
are you going to feed me today? But you know,
like I talk to people about that and they say, no,
it includes everything, Like you know, I can see thanking God,
thank you, Thank you God for what you gave me
today and what you do. But I don't think I
need to ask him every day for my food and
(08:08):
clothes and stuff. I need to ask Him for my
spiritual food. Give me this day my daily bread. So
I don't want to take a whole bunch of more time.
But like if you say, well, it's everything and it's
both that we need to ask for every day, I'll
go with that. I just need to get an answer
to this question that's nagging at me.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Sure, well, the short answer is yes, when you are
asking or petitioning, give us today our daily bread is
Jesus Christ taught us to pray that encompasses far more
than food, and that has been a position held to
by the historic Christian faith. The word bread in the
(08:46):
petition encompasses all things belonging to and necessary for the
sustenance of this body and life. And this is one
of the beautiful things about the prayer of Jesus or
the Lord's prayer. It is not a method, so to speak,
but it is a manner of praying. And what you're
ultimately praying for is a relationship with your Lord and Savior,
(09:09):
Jesus Christ. And I love my kids to ask before things,
but my kids also know that they have a relationship
with Me out of which everything else flows. And that's
one of the things I write about in the Prayer
of Jesus. It's not some kind of mechanical method by
which you extract things from your heavenly Father, but it
(09:31):
ultimately is what prayer was intended to be a way
of developing a relationship with the lover of your soul.
But the short answer to the question is what I
said earlier. Yes, when you pray, give us today our
daily bread. This encompasses all things that belong to and
(09:53):
are necessary for the sustenance of our daily life, all
those things that are required for the necessary, peaceable, honest
ordering of this life. And that applies to the nation,
the family, productivity of the ground profitable weather and the like.
Speaker 7 (10:14):
Does that also food?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
It certainly includes food. Yes, And you know, we live
in a state where we are very, very spoiled, so
we can go into our refrigerator, in our cupboards and
find all kinds of food. Do remember that most of
the world does not live that way, and therefore, when
we pray give us today our daily bread, we're not
(10:37):
just praying for ourselves. We're also praying for the daily
necessities of others. So it's not a solitary prayer. It
is a prayer that encompasses the world in which God
has placed us. I've written about this in the Prayer
of Jesus alluded to earlier. You can find that on
the webitiquip dot org. Right back with more of your questions.
(10:58):
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Speaker 1 (11:00):
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Speaker 2 (15:09):
Thank you very much, Randy, and let's go right back
to the phone lines. We'll talk next to Dan. He's
listening in Minnesota.
Speaker 8 (15:15):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Dan.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
I had just a couple of quick statements, and then
I was wondering. I wanted your opinion or your take
on it. And one is the rapture theory. And when
I read the Bible, it it just seems pretty clear
that Jesus borned just over and over again that that
(15:42):
state and will returns before he does. And not to
be don't let anybody misseead you or whatever. He says
that over and over again. And I was just wondering
because I hear a lot of people talk about the
raptor theory and stuff, and I just don't I I
just don't see that when I beat it, and I
(16:03):
was wondering, Now where it talked about that in the Bible?
Are Vidom?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Well, if you're asking about a pretribulational rapture, I don't
think the Bible does teach that. And I think that
the passages that are often adduced in this respect or
passages that do not teach a pro tribulational rapture. For example,
first Thessalonians chapter four is a great and glorious passage
and resurrection, and there's nothing in that passage about a
(16:30):
secret coming seven year tribulation, than a second coming, than
a thousand year semi golden age. Rather, it talks about
the return of Jesus Christ with a loud command, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call
of God. So no, I don't think the passages that
people point to in scripture do teach a pre tribulational rapture.
(16:51):
The hope of the believer is in the second appearing
of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, when he puts
all things to write. At that time, the day will rise, immortal, imperishable, incorruptible,
and the universe, the world itself that now groans and travail,
will be liberated from its bondage to decay, and a
new order of things will be instituted in which there's
(17:13):
no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. For the old
order things will have disappeared. All things will become new.
And as far as Satan is concerned, let me say this,
Satan is involved in this world just as the world
itself and the flesh are involved in this world. And
(17:34):
when the Bible talks about the world, the flesh, and
the devil, it's talking about the temptations that all of
us endure until the time that we are glorified. And
that is the time that Jesus does appear again a
second time and puts all things to right. In the meantime,
we have to resist the temptations of the evil one
(17:54):
by putting on the full armor of God. And I've
written about that in a book called The Covering God's
Plan to protect you from evil, So you can learn
exactly what the full Armor of God is that covering?
And how to apply each piece of the full armor
of God or the covering so that you are invincible
in spiritual warfare. Let's go back to the phone lines.
(18:16):
We'll talk next to get a liah. Nice to talk
to you.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Hi, Hank. I'm gonna need a little long suffering from
your disc one, Hank. Okay, you know, instead of doing
an ancestry dot com type of thing, I believe the
history book to be the Bible, you know. And I
was doing some studying in Deuteronomy, chapter twenty eight on
the curses for disobedience, and I'm just gonna go with
(18:43):
verses thirty two and thirty three when it says, well,
you know, thy sons and our daughter should be given
into another people, and our eyes should look and fail
with longing for them all the day long, and there
should be no mit in that hand, and think all
the curve for the disobedience for the people. And then
in that verse thirty six, where it say that thirty
(19:06):
seventy now should become an astonishment, a proverb and a
by word among all nations, whether the Lord shall lead thee.
And I'm just trying to do a composite type of
like you know, deductive reasoning type of situation. And it
seems to me like these people that the African Americans
(19:27):
in America today, would that be a decent hypothesis.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
No, not at all. In fact, to the point, here
is a general statement that applies in a specific situation,
and you have delineated specific verses which apply to that
specific situation. God is telling his people, the people who
are gathered together around types and shadows that point ultimately
(19:55):
to Jesus Christ, that if they follow in obedience, they
will experience blessing, but if they follow in disobedience, they
will experience cursings. And you are right to point to
Deuteronomy twenty eight thirty seven. You will become a thing
of horror, in an object of scorn and ridicule to
(20:18):
all the nations where the Lord will drive you, Which
is to say, what God tells the people is that
if they do not follow the law of Moses, then
they will suffer cursing. Indeed, if they follow the detestable
ways of the pagan nations in the land before them,
(20:38):
the land will volmit them out, just as it vomited
out the pagan nations who were in the land before
they were in the land. But the general principle applies
to all people at all times. Blessings for those who follow,
cursings for those who disobey. We, ultimately, as believers in
(21:01):
the infallible repository of redemptive revelation, believe that that principle
is applicable in the sense that we are called to
follow Jesus Christ, and when we do, we will experience blessings.
Now that does not mean that we will experience a panacea,
but we will experience the blessing of peace in the
(21:23):
midst of the storm. So this doesn't have anything to
do with African Americans. The Bible doesn't know anything about
race except or run the race where true Israel. If
we are in Jesus Christ, then we are Abraham, seed
and air according to the promise. Whether you're Jew or Greek,
whether you're Dutch, or whether you're African American, or whether
(21:44):
you're Italian, it really doesn't matter. We're all people and
God loves us because we are objects of His love,
and we can either spurring that love and God will
ratify that, or we can hands and embrace our love
for him by casting ourselves upon his righteousness and mercy
(22:08):
and justice, his love in Jesus Christ, who did what
we could never do. He lived the perfect life which
we could never live, and as a result that we
can be reconciled to God, not only for a time,
but also for eternity. Let's go to Ermaeus in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Speaker 8 (22:28):
Hi, thank you, I'm from Ethiopia.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Nice to talk to you.
Speaker 8 (22:33):
Thank you. I don't say thank you for you standing
for the truth. I heard you for the last fifteen years.
Oh thank you, And I'm telling you from my heart,
thank you for you standing for the truth. Oh, bless you, Hank.
My question is Jesus said I am, Yeah, I am.
Means that he doesn't have any beginning or ending. But
(22:53):
Karashians one fifteenth said he's the first creative. What does
it mean he's the first.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Creative than well and actually says the first born. And
you know, if you look at the Bible, and you
need to read scripture in l like a scripture always
and that's how you get the meaning of a word
in scripture. You look at how it's used within the
context of scripture. And I'll give you a couple of
examples of that. Ephrium is referred to as the Lord's
(23:18):
first born in Jeremiah thirty one, even though Nassa was
the one born first. As we see if you go
back to passages like Genesis forty one, in like fashion,
David is appointed the Lord's first born, the most exalted
of the kings of the earth, despite the fact that
he is the youngest of Jesse's sons. So he isn't
(23:40):
the first born in terms of chronology. He is the
first born in terms of pre eminence. And that's the
way first born is used with respect to Jesus Christ.
It's not a chronology of birth, but rather a pre eminence.
He is the pre eminent one, and thus we can
write they say he's the one who spoke in the universe,
(24:02):
leapt into existence. The mistake that cults like the Jehovah's
Witnesses make is they say first born means chronologically he
is the first one born, and thus they say that
God created him as his first born, and then he
becomes a junior partner in the creation of all other things.
And that's misunderstanding biblical terminology, or in the case of
(24:24):
the witnesses, twisting.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
It so he was not created.
Speaker 8 (24:29):
Nobody created Jesus.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yet that's correct. Paul refers to Jesus as the firstborn
over all creation, and the passage that you're referring to
not the firstborn in creation. As such, Paul says, he
is before all things, and in him all things hold together. So,
as I mentioned previously, the force of the language is
(24:50):
such that the Jehovah's witnesses, who ascribed to the ancient
aryan heresy that the son is not preexistent and co
eternal with the Father, have been forced to take that
passage and insert the word other into the text, so
that he is the creator of all other things. And
therefore they can stay with this notion that he was
the first one born chronologically. But that's not what the
(25:11):
text means. He is the firstborn over all creation, not
the first born in creation. And this has to do again,
not with a sequence, but with pre eminence.
Speaker 8 (25:24):
What about the scripture you said in Jeremiah which verses
that in Jeremiah.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, Jeremiah thirty one nine is the text. Ephraim is
referred to as the Lord's first born in Jeremiah thirty
one nine, even though Manassa was born first, and you
see that sequence of birth in Genesis forty one fifty one.
But you also see the same thing with respect to David,
where he's called the Lord's firstborn in Saw eighty nine,
(25:50):
verse twenty seven, despite the fact that he is the
youngest of Jesse's sons, as you see in First Samuel sixteen,
verses ten through thirteen. Coming up to a hard right,
Gonna have to leave it at that. These are the
correct references. You can check them out. Test all things,
hold fast to that which is good. We look forward
to seeing you're right back here next time with more
(26:11):
of the show.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
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From the Christian Research Institute in 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):
Thanks very much, Randy. We'll go right to our phone callers.
First up, Nicholas listening in Wildwood, New Jersey. Hi, Nicholas, Hey,
I'm good.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
How are you great?
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Long time listener. I pray for you, your family, and
your ministry all the time.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Thank you for everything, bless you.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Thank you so much for that.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Okay, quick question and Regarden of Eden, when he put
Adam and even there, why did God make it so
perfect and then have that tree in there? Would it
be that God is omnipotent and Satan has a little
bit of power, and maybe Satan put that in there
to bring sin into the world.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
No, here's how I would put it, And I'm going
to lay this out sequentially for you because I think
it deserves a full and a complete answer, Because the
Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil is a
prime example of physical reality highlighting spiritual truth. So, to
begin with, God placed the tree in the middle of
(01:41):
Paradise as a test, but Satan perverted it as a
temptation in eating from the tree of which God said,
when you eat of it, you will surely die. What
Adam and Eve did was to challenge God as arbiter
of good evil, and not only so. The Tree of
(02:03):
the Knowledge of good and evil is emblematic of choice,
in other words, choice between obedience and disobedience, between majestic
revelation or God's truth and moral relativism my truth. So
this is a choice of saying, I'm going to do
it God's way or I'm going to do it my way,
(02:27):
because I think my way is better. One more point,
though Adam sinned, God ends up responding, as he always
does in mercy. He drove Adam and Eve from the
Garden of Eden so that they no longer had access
to the Tree of Life. But here's the good news.
(02:49):
Adam's posterity can yet embrace the Tree of Life, which
was also in the garden, where the personification all that
is good paid an ultimate price to take the knowledge
of all that is evil upon himself. So that's what
you have in the Bible, an unfolding plan of redemption.
(03:11):
The Tree of Life, which was in the middle of
the garden. You also find in the very last chapter
of the very last book of the Bible, where the
Angel shows John the river of the Water of Life,
as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God
of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street
of the city. On each side of the river stands
(03:32):
the Tree of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding
its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree
are for the healing of the nation. So in that
vision John sees the restoration of all things, Paradise lost
becoming paradise restored, the best of all possible worlds, a
world in which we will forever be able not to send,
(03:54):
a world in fact, in which we will forever worship
God and want to do it His way because we
love Him, and we are forever in the new universe
in which we can learn and grow and develop without error.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Okay, all right, thank you buddy, I could ready to
talk to you.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Thanks all, thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And it's really good to talk to you as well.
Back to the phone line's main next in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Hi May, Hi Hank.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
How are you good?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
How are you?
Speaker 6 (04:25):
Okay? I appreciate you, Hank. Now, I just want to
say that I believe that you are here to help
us to live a good, golly life according to the
word of God.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Bless you. Thank you so much and I appreciate.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
That so uh.
Speaker 6 (04:44):
But my question to you is does retirees have to
pay their attie? I heard that after your retire you
have to do is pay offering. Is any truth to that?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well, I think that's setting up an artificial situation. Here's
the thing that you have to do, and that has
learned to revere the Lord your God always to trust
in the arm of God as opposed to trusting in
the arm of flesh. So you need to be faithful,
you need to be fruitful. You need to recognize that
you're living for eternity, but you're not under any kind
(05:18):
of legalistic prescription. You are giving because you want to
extend His kingdom as opposed to extending your own. You
want to recognize your trust is based in Him, not
in your own resources. And so you want to say, God,
I trust you with my talent and with my time
(05:40):
and with my treasure, and I hold everything that I
have with an open hand, so that you can take
out and put in as you see fit. So I
don't want you to get bound up in some kind
of legalistic prescription. And that's not the point. In fact,
that would be rightly said to be missing the point,
because if you look at the Mosaic law with respect
to tithing, what does the Bible say in this regard
(06:03):
we tithe so we might learn to revere the Lord
or God always? Due to Rondomy fourteen points that out.
And learning to reverence the name of God, as I mentioned,
is a timeless principle. It's as crucial today as it
was in the days of Moses. But if you're giving
(06:23):
in some kind of a legalistic way, you might as
well hang under your money. I mean, look, that's precisely
what the New Testament says about the Pharisees. They tithe
their mint, but yet they neglect the weightier matters of
the law. Justice and righteousness and equity. So it's an
outward expression without an inward reality. The real issue here
for you is it's a matter of the heart. It's
(06:45):
an issue out of the heart, out of which flows
everything else. I've written about this in many places, including
the Complete Bible Answer, but Collector's edition, which is available
through the ministry. They can check it out on their
waybityguib dot org. Let's go back to the phone lines.
Talk to Lory in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Hi, Laurie, Hi Hank,
how are you.
Speaker 7 (07:06):
I'm fine, Thanks for taking my call. I've been trying
to find an answer for a long time. Like in
John six thirty five, and I think it's forty eight
to fifty eight, Jesus said that he's the bread of life,
and like him mask you. I don't have descriptions in
front of me, but I read it and Jesus said, like,
(07:26):
don't worry about food, don't even think about what you're
gonna eat. God knows he'll take care. He shows them
the flowers, the birds, gave the analogy and all that,
and like in the prayer and in the prayer of Jesus,
I understand that this is spiritual food. Like God. When
Jesus said, give us this day of daily bread, it's
(07:47):
like we need to ask God for spiritual food, Like
we don't go to our earthly father every day and said, Daddy,
are you going to feed me today? But you know,
like I talk to people about that and they say, no,
it includes everything, Like you know, I can see thanking God,
thank you, Thank you God for what you gave me
today and what you do. But I don't think I
need to ask him every day for my food and
(08:08):
clothes and stuff. I need to ask Him for my
spiritual food. Give me this day my daily bread. So
I don't want to take a whole bunch of more time.
But like if you say, well, it's everything and it's
both that we need to ask for every day, I'll
go with that. I just need to get an answer
to this question that's nagging at me.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Sure, well, the short answer is yes, when you are
asking or petitioning, give us today our daily bread is
Jesus Christ taught us to pray that encompasses far more
than food, and that has been a position held to
by the historic Christian faith. The word bread in the
(08:46):
petition encompasses all things belonging to and necessary for the
sustenance of this body and life. And this is one
of the beautiful things about the prayer of Jesus or
the Lord's prayer. It is not a method, so to speak,
but it is a manner of praying. And what you're
ultimately praying for is a relationship with your Lord and Savior,
(09:09):
Jesus Christ. And I love my kids to ask before things,
but my kids also know that they have a relationship
with Me out of which everything else flows. And that's
one of the things I write about in the Prayer
of Jesus. It's not some kind of mechanical method by
which you extract things from your heavenly Father, but it
(09:31):
ultimately is what prayer was intended to be a way
of developing a relationship with the lover of your soul.
But the short answer to the question is what I
said earlier. Yes, when you pray, give us today our
daily bread. This encompasses all things that belong to and
(09:53):
are necessary for the sustenance of our daily life, all
those things that are required for the necessary, peaceable, honest
ordering of this life. And that applies to the nation,
the family, productivity of the ground profitable weather and the like.
Speaker 7 (10:14):
Does that also food?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
It certainly includes food. Yes, And you know, we live
in a state where we are very, very spoiled, so
we can go into our refrigerator, in our cupboards and
find all kinds of food. Do remember that most of
the world does not live that way, and therefore, when
we pray give us today our daily bread, we're not
(10:37):
just praying for ourselves. We're also praying for the daily
necessities of others. So it's not a solitary prayer. It
is a prayer that encompasses the world in which God
has placed us. I've written about this in the Prayer
of Jesus alluded to earlier. You can find that on
the webitiquip dot org. Right back with more of your questions.
(10:58):
Please don't touch that dial.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
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(11:46):
Or visit our website at equip dot org. We'll return
shortly with more from Hank hanagraph Bertrand Russell famously said
most people would rather die than think, and many of
(12:07):
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(12:52):
Once again, that's equip dot org. What the Angel said
to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good
news of great joy that will be for all the
people today in the town of David. A savior has
(13:13):
been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. This
will be a signed to you. You will find a
baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger Luke
Chapter two, verses ten through twelve. While many of you
will soon enter the hustle and bustle of the holiday season,
Hank Canagraph has penned The Heart of Christmas, a devotional
(13:34):
for the season, to ensure that just as you prepare
your home for Christmas, you likewise prepare your heart. Order
The Heart of Christmas, a Devotional for the Season, by
calling eight eight eight seven thousand and two seven four
or by going online to www. Dot equip dot org.
Also available is the Heart of Christmas Audiobook, dramatically read
(13:57):
by Hank Hanigraph. The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition
is the comprehensive collection of the most often asked questions
Hank Hannigraph has received throughout his four decades as host
of the Bible answer Man broadcast. With more than half
a million copies already in print, this newly revised and
(14:17):
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. To receive your copy of
(14:37):
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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. And now here's Hank Canagraph.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Thank you very much, Randy, and let's go right back
to the phone lines. We'll talk next to Dan. He's
listening in Minnesota.
Speaker 8 (15:15):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Dan.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
I had just a couple of quick statements, and then
I was wondering. I wanted your opinion or your take
on it. And one is the rapture theory. And when
I read the Bible, it it just seems pretty clear
that Jesus borned just over and over again that that
(15:42):
state and will returns before he does. And not to
be don't let anybody misseead you or whatever. He says
that over and over again. And I was just wondering
because I hear a lot of people talk about the
raptor theory and stuff, and I just don't I I
just don't see that when I beat it, and I
(16:03):
was wondering, Now where it talked about that in the Bible?
Are Vidom?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Well, if you're asking about a pretribulational rapture, I don't
think the Bible does teach that. And I think that
the passages that are often adduced in this respect or
passages that do not teach a pro tribulational rapture. For example,
first Thessalonians chapter four is a great and glorious passage
and resurrection, and there's nothing in that passage about a
(16:30):
secret coming seven year tribulation, than a second coming, than
a thousand year semi golden age. Rather, it talks about
the return of Jesus Christ with a loud command, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call
of God. So no, I don't think the passages that
people point to in scripture do teach a pre tribulational rapture.
(16:51):
The hope of the believer is in the second appearing
of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, when he puts
all things to write. At that time, the day will rise, immortal, imperishable, incorruptible,
and the universe, the world itself that now groans and travail,
will be liberated from its bondage to decay, and a
new order of things will be instituted in which there's
(17:13):
no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. For the old
order things will have disappeared. All things will become new.
And as far as Satan is concerned, let me say this,
Satan is involved in this world just as the world
itself and the flesh are involved in this world. And
(17:34):
when the Bible talks about the world, the flesh, and
the devil, it's talking about the temptations that all of
us endure until the time that we are glorified. And
that is the time that Jesus does appear again a
second time and puts all things to right. In the meantime,
we have to resist the temptations of the evil one
(17:54):
by putting on the full armor of God. And I've
written about that in a book called The Covering God's
Plan to protect you from evil, So you can learn
exactly what the full Armor of God is that covering?
And how to apply each piece of the full armor
of God or the covering so that you are invincible
in spiritual warfare. Let's go back to the phone lines.
(18:16):
We'll talk next to get a liah. Nice to talk
to you.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Hi, Hank. I'm gonna need a little long suffering from
your disc one, Hank. Okay, you know, instead of doing
an ancestry dot com type of thing, I believe the
history book to be the Bible, you know. And I
was doing some studying in Deuteronomy, chapter twenty eight on
the curses for disobedience, and I'm just gonna go with
(18:43):
verses thirty two and thirty three when it says, well,
you know, thy sons and our daughter should be given
into another people, and our eyes should look and fail
with longing for them all the day long, and there
should be no mit in that hand, and think all
the curve for the disobedience for the people. And then
in that verse thirty six, where it say that thirty
(19:06):
seventy now should become an astonishment, a proverb and a
by word among all nations, whether the Lord shall lead thee.
And I'm just trying to do a composite type of
like you know, deductive reasoning type of situation. And it
seems to me like these people that the African Americans
(19:27):
in America today, would that be a decent hypothesis.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
No, not at all. In fact, to the point, here
is a general statement that applies in a specific situation,
and you have delineated specific verses which apply to that
specific situation. God is telling his people, the people who
are gathered together around types and shadows that point ultimately
(19:55):
to Jesus Christ, that if they follow in obedience, they
will experience blessing, but if they follow in disobedience, they
will experience cursings. And you are right to point to
Deuteronomy twenty eight thirty seven. You will become a thing
of horror, in an object of scorn and ridicule to
(20:18):
all the nations where the Lord will drive you, Which
is to say, what God tells the people is that
if they do not follow the law of Moses, then
they will suffer cursing. Indeed, if they follow the detestable
ways of the pagan nations in the land before them,
(20:38):
the land will volmit them out, just as it vomited
out the pagan nations who were in the land before
they were in the land. But the general principle applies
to all people at all times. Blessings for those who follow,
cursings for those who disobey. We, ultimately, as believers in
(21:01):
the infallible repository of redemptive revelation, believe that that principle
is applicable in the sense that we are called to
follow Jesus Christ, and when we do, we will experience blessings.
Now that does not mean that we will experience a panacea,
but we will experience the blessing of peace in the
(21:23):
midst of the storm. So this doesn't have anything to
do with African Americans. The Bible doesn't know anything about
race except or run the race where true Israel. If
we are in Jesus Christ, then we are Abraham, seed
and air according to the promise. Whether you're Jew or Greek,
whether you're Dutch, or whether you're African American, or whether
(21:44):
you're Italian, it really doesn't matter. We're all people and
God loves us because we are objects of His love,
and we can either spurring that love and God will
ratify that, or we can hands and embrace our love
for him by casting ourselves upon his righteousness and mercy
(22:08):
and justice, his love in Jesus Christ, who did what
we could never do. He lived the perfect life which
we could never live, and as a result that we
can be reconciled to God, not only for a time,
but also for eternity. Let's go to Ermaeus in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Speaker 8 (22:28):
Hi, thank you, I'm from Ethiopia.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Nice to talk to you.
Speaker 8 (22:33):
Thank you. I don't say thank you for you standing
for the truth. I heard you for the last fifteen years.
Oh thank you, And I'm telling you from my heart,
thank you for you standing for the truth. Oh, bless you, Hank.
My question is Jesus said I am, Yeah, I am.
Means that he doesn't have any beginning or ending. But
(22:53):
Karashians one fifteenth said he's the first creative. What does
it mean he's the first.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Creative than well and actually says the first born. And
you know, if you look at the Bible, and you
need to read scripture in l like a scripture always
and that's how you get the meaning of a word
in scripture. You look at how it's used within the
context of scripture. And I'll give you a couple of
examples of that. Ephrium is referred to as the Lord's
(23:18):
first born in Jeremiah thirty one, even though Nassa was
the one born first. As we see if you go
back to passages like Genesis forty one, in like fashion,
David is appointed the Lord's first born, the most exalted
of the kings of the earth, despite the fact that
he is the youngest of Jesse's sons. So he isn't
(23:40):
the first born in terms of chronology. He is the
first born in terms of pre eminence. And that's the
way first born is used with respect to Jesus Christ.
It's not a chronology of birth, but rather a pre eminence.
He is the pre eminent one, and thus we can
write they say he's the one who spoke in the universe,
(24:02):
leapt into existence. The mistake that cults like the Jehovah's
Witnesses make is they say first born means chronologically he
is the first one born, and thus they say that
God created him as his first born, and then he
becomes a junior partner in the creation of all other things.
And that's misunderstanding biblical terminology, or in the case of
(24:24):
the witnesses, twisting.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
It so he was not created.
Speaker 8 (24:29):
Nobody created Jesus.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Yet that's correct. Paul refers to Jesus as the firstborn
over all creation, and the passage that you're referring to
not the firstborn in creation. As such, Paul says, he
is before all things, and in him all things hold together. So,
as I mentioned previously, the force of the language is
(24:50):
such that the Jehovah's witnesses, who ascribed to the ancient
aryan heresy that the son is not preexistent and co
eternal with the Father, have been forced to take that
passage and insert the word other into the text, so
that he is the creator of all other things. And
therefore they can stay with this notion that he was
the first one born chronologically. But that's not what the
(25:11):
text means. He is the firstborn over all creation, not
the first born in creation. And this has to do again,
not with a sequence, but with pre eminence.
Speaker 8 (25:24):
What about the scripture you said in Jeremiah which verses
that in Jeremiah.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Yeah, Jeremiah thirty one nine is the text. Ephraim is
referred to as the Lord's first born in Jeremiah thirty
one nine, even though Manassa was born first, and you
see that sequence of birth in Genesis forty one fifty one.
But you also see the same thing with respect to David,
where he's called the Lord's firstborn in Saw eighty nine,
(25:50):
verse twenty seven, despite the fact that he is the
youngest of Jesse's sons, as you see in First Samuel sixteen,
verses ten through thirteen. Coming up to a hard right,
Gonna have to leave it at that. These are the
correct references. You can check them out. Test all things,
hold fast to that which is good. We look forward
to seeing you're right back here next time with more
(26:11):
of the show.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Thank you for joining 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 seven thousand, two seven four,
or visit equip dot org, where you can listen live
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(26:37):
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five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code two eight two
seven one. The Bible answer Man Broadcast is supported by
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